Chapter 01: That Period from 1969

It was a rainy night in the middle of October. Gravatto, the Cavani underboss, was sleeping in his bed. Everything was normal. The room phone started ringing. He was still asleep, so his wife got up and grabbed the phone, putting it to her ear. Before she could say anything, a man from the other side said, "John, you should come to the city hospital, quick." The way the man talked, like something very bad had happened, this made the wife panic. She quickly went to her husband's bedside, aggressively shaking him to wake him up.

"Honey! I got a call from a man telling you to go to the city hospital quickly, and the way he said it…" She took a deep breath. "I think something bad happened."

John, not fully awake, said, "Who was that man?"

"I don't know, but you should hurry."

"Okay, let me dress quickly. Please stay here; let me go alone."

His wife nodded her head as a sign of approval. John went to his wardrobe, took a pair of pants and a polo shirt, wore them, and then went to the car. From there, he drove to the hospital.

Upon arrival at the hospital parking lot, he was met with Tony and Sammy, two of the family soldiers.

"We were waiting for you," Tony said. "It was Jerry (family captain) who called."

"What the fuck happened?" John said furiously.

"You better follow us," Tony responded.

John, with the two soldiers Tony and Sammy, went up to the third floor of the hospital, where the emergency rooms are. There, he found Jeje Saparri and Jerry Masati in the waiting room. He approached them directly and, with a slightly raised voice, asked, "Who is here?"

Saparri stood up, using his hand to point at a room, and in a quiet voice, said, "This is the reason for the late call."

John, with small steps, walked to that room. While he walked, his head was already filled with the worst suggestions. But what he saw from the window of the door was worse than his worst suggestions. His friend, colleague, and boss, Don Mickey, was laying in the bed.

Quickly, John, with all his strength, tried to open the door, but it was locked. With anger and sadness all over his body, he hit the door and turned to Jerry, who was facing him. With a tone mixed with anger and frustration, he said, "What is happening, and why is the door locked?"

Jerry said, "He was at his home when he suddenly fell. His wife called an ambulance and called us. At this moment, we don't know much, but the doctor said he had a heart attack. The door was locked by the doctor. He said we are not allowed to enter for now and should wait a few hours until we can meet him."

John, with nothing he could do, first went to call his wife to tell her about what had happened. Then, silently, he went to the waiting room, sitting with the two soldiers, Jerry and Jeje. Quickly, other family members arrived, and almost all of them had the same reaction as John.

Five hours had passed by. Every minute from those five felt like a day, and every hour felt like an eternity. Everybody was silently waiting, extreme fear and anxiety all over them. Paul, as an example (family captain), was heavily sweating even in coldness of October, incessantly rubbing his hands, rapidly tapping his foot to the floor.

Finally, a doctor came out from Mikey's room, slowly heading towards the waiting room where all the made men were. Fear was all over his face as he was about to talk to the city's most notorious gangsters. Stuttering, he started to say, "So... so... sorry, I know you... you are waiting to see Mr. Spatiri, but we can't allow you for now." Taking a deep breath, his face all covered with sweat, he continued, "He is in a critical condition, and by the orders of the hospital board, he needs to stay at least a week." Pulling his face a little bit, hardly closing his eyes, squeezing his hands in his clothes, ready to take the blast, he was shocked when he saw all the men silently sitting in their chairs.

Without hesitation, he turned back, walking away with fast footsteps. He entered the doctor's office, which was close, two rooms away on the left from Mikey's room.

The men silently looked between them with dead faces, everyone understanding each other. They stood up, went straight to the elevators, and from there to the hospital parking lot, everyone to his car.

The next day, news of Mikey being in the city hospital spread like wildfire. Thugs, politicians, policemen, regular citizens—everybody was talking about it. It became the headline in every newspaper in and out of the city. Soon after, reporters from all the TV channels arrived at the main entrance, trying to push past security to enter the hospital.

John, from the window of Mikey's hospital room, saw all this. He turned around, went and opened the door. Outside, two made men were standing guard. "I need to talk to you inside."

Inside the room, John started to talk. "As we expected, the news people are here, so the main entrance is locked. We need to take the boss to a secure place."

Joey, a soldier within the family, interrupted John. "You mean County Hospital, right?"

"Yes!" John snapped. "I talked to them and they're willing to hide our little secret." He caught his breath and continued, "The boss is not awake. Use the stairs to go to the parking lot where you're gonna find Roy alongside an ambulance."

Joey interrupted again. "What the fuck we gonna do with an ambulance?"

John's face turned red, seeming about to explode from Joey's interruptions. "You better shut the fuck up and listen! I order and you do—no questions asked. This is the last time you ever disrespect a man higher than you. Do it again, and be ready." He took a long breath and flashed an evil smile. "Be like Donny here—the silent type. The preferred type in this life."

Joey, ashamed of himself, slowly and silently put his head down while a small smile appeared on Donny's face.

"Okay," John continued. "I convinced one of the docs to take the Don's bed to the elevator, and from there to the parking lot. You take the bed and put it into the ambulance, and you drive him. Now go." He locked eyes with them. "You know what to do."

Directly after John finished talking, the door started to slowly open. The three turned only to see the same doc that delivered the Don's health state news standing in front of them, his body slowly shaking, face and hands sweating, eyes to the ground.

"Here you are. You came in the right moment," John said, then proceeded to walk toward him. He put his hand on the doc's shoulder, then proceeded to talk: "These two friends here will escort you to the parking lot. From there, your job is done. Understood?"

"Ye... yes," the doc responded in a low sound.

John put his hand in his pockets, took a pile of money, and put it in the doc's jeans pockets. "A little gift for your silence." Then he backed up, letting the doc pass.

The doc started pushing the bed while Joey opened the door. On the way leading to the elevator, the Don's bed went first with the doc, then from the back Joey and Donny. They passed three people—two of them were doctors, all of whom were playing dead. They knew that if they talked, they'd be on the mafia's list. Nobody wants to be on the mafia's list.

They entered the elevator, from there to the parking lot. The door opened in front of them—the ambulance and Roy were there waiting.

"Here he is!" Joey shouted.

They pushed the Don's bed (who was still unconscious) to the ambulance while the doc returned inside.

"Now the real question is, how are we gonna get out?" Joey questioned.

"We're gonna use the second exit to avoid any person seeing us," Roy answered him.

The three loaded the bed inside. Donny stayed in the back of the ambulance with the Don, Roy drove, and Joey sat in the passenger seat. Roy started to drive, going to the second exit. There was a guard. He stopped the vehicle, gave the guard a couple hundreds of dollars.

"You never saw anything," Roy said.

"Saw what?", guard responded

A small smile appeared on Roy's face, then he continued to drive to his destination: the County Hospital