Family Secrets

Italians were among the many diverse ethnicity fleeing to the New World for freedom and prosperity. New York was the drop-off point for most. Ellis Island was the gatekeeper to the interior sections of America. Vincent and Josephine Delagatta were among the Italian immigrants to settle in Brooklyn, New York. Michael was one of five brothers born in the New World. During this time, small pockets of young gangs started to band together and the American Mafia was born. In the beginning, it was a rag-tag operation until one man decided to make the organization run like a business. That man was Lucky Luciano. He was branded with the nickname Lucky, because after being shot several times and left for dead, he lived. After taking out his enemies, he formed the Commission, consisting of devoted Italian members who were loyal to this new organization. It took decades to build an empire of illegal money making rackets within several dozen states. Prohibition was the most lucrative money-maker, along with loan sharking, prostitution and several other ventures. The Commission functioned like a well-oiled machine, with bosses, captains and workers. It was decided that five of the original members would be the bosses of the groups they controlled within the organization. They were known as the Commission members. They agreed that for decisions to be made, they had to come from and be approved by the Commission only. The decisions were final and anyone who did not follow orders was terminated. It was later decided that a member of the Commission would be made the counselor and spokesman for the entire Commission. Because the bosses were busy running the daily operations in different states, they needed someone to act as the voice that spoke for all of the bosses. The counselor would be a separate entity from the five family bosses, with his own crew and members who worked for him only. They could be loaned out to the other bosses if needed, but they were independent from the five families and loyal to their boss. The counselor was the go-to person for a variety of needs such as paid politicians, police department employees and government officials who were in the pockets of the mob. Along with many other duties, the counselor was responsible for setting up special meetings, new contacts, bribing judges and setting up fake corporations along with other official duties needed by the families and their associates. John Kennedy was the son of Joe Kennedy. Joe wanted his son to be President of the United States. John ran for the presidency as a favor to his father. The Commission decided to rig the votes and get John elected to the highest office as President. They assumed that by helping Joe get his son elected, they would have better control and that John, also known as Jack, would find favor and turn a blind eye to the family organization and its illegal money-making operations. Everything was fine until Jack appointed his brother Bobby to the position of Attorney General. All hell broke loose when Bobby started going after organized crime and the bosses. Unacceptable to the Commission and its members, they tried to persuade Jack and his father to do something about it and to tell Bobby to back off, but Bobby was intent on destroying the band of what he called “hoodlums and thugs.” Michael, being the nephew of Vincenzo, was expected to rise to the position of Capo and eventually take Vincenzo’s place upon his death with the blessings and approval of the Commission. Michael was given the task of organizing and overseeing the intended assassination of either Jack or Bobby based on the decision of the Commission and its final orders. Both Vincenzo and Michael were against killing either Jack or Bobby and tried to negotiate with both Joe Kennedy and the bosses of the most powerful organization in the world. The Commission made the decision that John Kennedy had to go. In their view, “cut off the head and the body dies with it.” There were dozens of people and even countries that wanted Jack dead, including many government agencies within the United States. Vincenzo and his closest associates were ordered to do something to stop the destruction of the Mafia and what they ultimately did would put all their lives in danger. Although this novel is fiction, I should point out that a percentage of the outcomes and actions are true and documented facts. I will not say or point out what is fact and what is fiction. It is up to you to find the real history and come to your own conclusions as to what really happened and why. Every effort was made to use fictional names; however, there are eight billion people in the world. If the name of any character in this story is the same as or resembles someone you may know, it is purely coincidental.