The title of Chapter 001 is "1927 NY."
Official Blurb[]
New York, 1927.
In a corrupt city where crime rules the streets, Firo Prochainezo is Camorra, an Italian criminal syndicate distinct from the mafia. A member of the relatively small Martillo Family, Firo's nevertheless got big ambitions and is determined to make his mark. But while the Martillos may not be the biggest bad guys on the block, they've got some distinct advantages working in their favor. Does Firo have what it takes to become a made man?
Characters in order of Appearance[]
- Felix Walken
- Firo Prochainezo
- Luck Gandor
- Keith Gandor
- Berga Gandor
- Kanshichirou Yaguruma
- Ronny Schiatto
- Seina
- Randy and Pezzo
- Maiza Avaro
- Casino manager
Synopsis[]
In 1927, Firo Prochainezo dreams of his childhood self racing downstairs to find a similarly-aged Claire Stanfield standing in front of an open doorway. Claire announces he is "going on ahead." Luck Gandor, Berga Gandor, and Keith Gandor follow him as young adults, explaining to Firo that they are taking over the Gandor Family for their late father. Firo reaches for them, pleading "I still...I don't...there's nothing..."
The dream shifts to Kanshichirou Yaguruma catching Firo in the act of stealing his wallet. In the instant Firo's dreamself hits the ground, Firo falls out of bed and jolts awake. He asks himself, "What I am I now, exactly?"
Firo reacts to the taunt of 'girlie.'
Later, in a New York City alleyway, Firo encounters several men beating a boy who had attempted to steal one of their wallets. Firo roughs up the men to the admiration of the boy, who asks if he belongs to the mafia. Camorra, Firo says, before imparting some parting advice: pickpockets should mind whose turf they operate on.
As he continues on his way, he contemplates how the Gandors, who are like family to him, are running their own Family while he remains an associate. He wishes that the Martillo Family would make him an executive already.
Another associate lets Firo into the bustling Alveare speakeasy just as Ronny Schiatto is on his way out to work, stopping briefly to tell Firo that they shall have to postpone their knife match. A table of poker-playing associates remark on the astonishing notion that Ronny is going to negotiate with another Family alone. Firo clenches his fist, implicitly comparing the caliber of a top executive like Ronny to his own. top level executive) for doing it on his own.
Seina brings the associates more honey liquor and a lecture about how they ought to perform their own "manly" feats instead of admiring Ronny's from afar; it is as if, she says, the associates are content to remain "two-bit thugs" for the rest of their lives. One associate snarks that Firo ought to take Seina's advice and quit street brawling, which causes Seina to notice Firo's scrapes and bruises. She leaves, aggrieved, to fetch the first aid kit. Firo retaliates by pointing the cards hidden in the associate's sleeve when the associate 'wins' a straight flush. One of the other players praises Firo's sharp eyes, attributing them to Firo's pickpocketing days. Randy and Pezzo interjects that such petty past accomplishments pale compared their own; the former claims he stole a jewel from a museum years ago, while the latter claims he singlehandedly robbed a bank.
Randy and Pezzo's introduction.
Maiza Avaro approaches Firo to ask for a favor: he wants Firo to scout a new casino that has been operating on Martillo turf without the Martillos' permission and get a feel for its size, interior, and number of people involved. Firo is a touch too eager upon accepting the money that Maiza gives him for betting, causing Maiza to caution him against recklessness.
Firo arrives at the casino to gamble alongside its bustling patrons, soon winning a 35-fold payout at roulette. He abandons the game immediately upon noticing he has drawn the casino manager's attention, and his own attention is soon caught by a group of poker players who invite him to join them. Firo declines in favor of joining five other players setting up a game of Texas Hold 'Em. He wins the first round with a full house but loses the next several rounds, all the while wondering how many of the players are in cahoots with the dealer; the house, he knows, has been keeping tabs on him since his big roulette win.
The manager.
Eventually fed up with losing, Firo tosses a few chips into the pool—knowing, too, that this rashness is what separates him from the Martillo executives. The other players laugh, with one lady condescending that Firo is "still too young for casinos, kiddo." One particularly raucous man contends that one can never turn the table if one does not "bet big." Though Firo doubts whether such people deserve Maiza's money, he follows the man's advice by betting all his chips. However, before the dealer can reveal the river card, Firo drives his knife between the dealer's fingers to pin the card to the table and accuses the dealer of cheating.
Although Firo is correct, the dealer calls him a sore loser, him out for having no proof, and threatens to break the "Miss'" fingers next time (s)he accuses him of cheating. One player reveals his hand—a full house—and nervously proclaims himself the winner. Firo reveals his own hand: a royal straight flush. This is the rarest and strongest of winning poker hands—and one that should have been impossible for Firo to make according to how the dealer has fixed the deck.
Firo reveals his true colors.
Shocked, the dealer rejects Firo's apology and accuses Firo of cheating. Firo breaks the man's accusatory index finger, mockingly using the dealer's earlier threat against him. The dealer realizes that Firo switched cards while everyone's attention was on his knife. Firo does not deny it; not only are his eyes sharp, he says, his fingers are sticky.
The casino manager apologizes to the crowd for the commotion, which gives Firo an opportunity to loudly complain about the dealer's cheating accusation and cast aspersions on the casino's trustworthiness. Patrons titter and depart, leaving Firo behind to fend against what hostile men remain—one of whom recognizes Firo as the Martillo who assaulted him in the alley. His allies, however, are disinclined to take Firo as seriously as he does; they cackle at the idea of the Martillos sending a lone person to handle them.
Firo muses out loud that singlehandedly crushing at least half of their numbers would be a feather in his Martillo cap and his alone. Even if his boss Molsa Martillo will not be pleased, he absolutely refuses to forgive or allow the men their insults against the Martillo Family. Just then, Maiza strides through the door and asks Firo to wait outside while he speaks with the manager. Firo's inchoate protestation falters as soon as Maiza gently remonstrates Firo for having started a fight without his permission. Once outside the building, Firo worries not for his own Family standing but for Maiza's safety, as he has never heard of Maiza fighting and doubts whether he can; his is a struggle to reconcile his faith in the ability of executives and his stereotyping of contaiuolo-, i.e. accountant-types as brains over brawn. Firo comes to the upsetting conclusion that any harm that befalls Maiza will be his fault.
When Maiza eventually emerges and thanks Firo for waiting, Firo is so relieved to find him unscathed that he not only apologizes for acting "out of line," he admits that he lacks both power and skill and should have therefore "kept his nose clean." Maiza kindly tells him that since everyone runs at their own pace, Firo risks losing everything to an accident by "running full tilt" in order to catch up. So saying, Maiza pulls Firo out of the way of a speeding vehicle and adds, "Mind your life." Firo murmurs acknowledgement and remains quiet until they are further along the street, at which point he cannot resist expressing surprise over Maiza's lack of injury. Maiza explains that he "showed them civility...and they listened quietly to what I had to say."
Inside the casino, the dazed manager dazedly takes stock of his men lying prone amidst scattered chips and cards. Through gritted teeth, he asks, "What the hell was that...?"
- Flashback
Maiza is stabbed.
Maiza introduces himself as the Martillo contaiuolo to the derisive casino manager and claims that his appearance coinciding with his associate's "mess" is mere coincidence; the Martillos had long intended to send someone to "chat" with the casino crew. Neither the manager nor his men are much interested in 'chatting,' especially the man who plunges a knife into Maiza's abdomen. Maiza falls to his knees and attempts to staunch the spattering blood with his hand, though blood continues seeping between his fingers.
The manager affirms his intention to discuss nothing before jeeringly questioning what sort of mobster would be so "nuts" as to confront a gang of men by himself. Maiza replies that he also, in fact, intends to discuss nothing. His blood slides off the fingers and knife of his attacker, flowing through the air—like the blood spatter across the floor—back into the wound whence it came. While the wound seals, Maiza clarifies that he did not come for a discussion, he came to talk.
Aghast, the manager deplores Maiza as a monster. Maiza stands, hoists him by his lapel, and rebuts that if Maiza were one, then the manager could save himself by finding refuge the nearest church—but, alas, exorcisms have no effect on the Martillo Family.
"Mind your lives," he says. "When people die, they don't come back."
- Present
Maiza regenerates.
Firo notices that Maiza's coat sleeve is torn, which Maiza excuses with the claim that his suit is long-worn. Between the panels are the following words: "It's a world where the spiral of destiny...brings people who are still strangers together. Quietly, the wheel begins to turn—
"Now let the crazy ruckus begin."
Enclosing this last line are fragments of events that take place during November 1930: Maiza and Firo walking down a street; Ennis following Szilard Quates; are depicted in the following order: Dallas Genoard and James pilfering a wallet from a fallen man; Isaac & Miria carrying large sacks while dressed as Santa Claus, and the Gandor brothers conversing with liquor on hand.
Trivia[]
- A royal straight flush, or "royal flush," constitutes an Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and Ten of a single suit—in Firo's case, spades. According to the dealer whose finger Firo breaks, the odds of achieving a royal straight flush are 1/650,000.
New Characters[]
- The casino manager.
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