"All those who wish to leave now wish to leave must indicate now or hold their tongues forever." He scanned the place carefully in search of a hand or something as small as a whisper, but none appeared or was heard. "Then let us begin" he said as walked back to his seat, sitting down as he always did, like a king. The Czechs were something to be worried about, don Vicente had never come up against a group as large and organized as them and he knew that even though he was strong, he needed the company and help of his subjects. An old friend by the name of Mauro, just Mauro, a specialist in the arts of travel, stepped up to speak. Mauro was the man you went to for things unknown, and while you knew the tales of the dons dead or alive, Mauro knew all the secrets. "Send me" said Mauro, 'Give me six months to prepare these new enemies and I will deliver you to you Porto's head"
Mauro knowing his friend was a great planner had asked for time to make time for don Vicente to prepare for an enemy they knew nothing about. He was a spy at most, a green snake in green grass, a needle, erect in the dark. He handled all assassinations away from home.
In the gathering were the members of the five families, don Allegri, don Vito, no not that Vito, this one was Vito Andoni, this man was the one in the government, he spoke on behalf of the mafia when they presented their case. Don Renaldo Motta, who covered all the transportation needed. The cars, the boats, the private jets, they all came from don Renaldo Motta. Then there was Mauro of whom you already know. You see, Ace Vicente never needed don Luca Bonaventura anyway, he did not add anything to the table, he only took from it. And while he was not hot or cold, the entire table knew that his time would soon come.
"Rodrigo here, he knows the roles that must be played by everyone else, he will give you all the briefing you need. And the stamps to make it all happen." As the don walked away from the group, he and them all finished their drinks. Caputo returned with a detonator in his hands ready to push the button that would blast don Luca Bonaventura away into the lines of the gods and down into the underworld where belonged. "No, Caputo. There will be no bloodshed today."
OPERATIONS GO
Whenever there came a time to start something new, a ritual for arrangements would be prepared, the men at the helm would be drawn to a place of calm by don Vicente himself to plan the operation ahead. One might have said that Ace Vicente was not Italian at birth. He was well travelled, and with a knack for inviting foreign cultures to his home.
His home was a place he shared with more people than anyone else around him had ever seen, his men, men of his men, their wives and children, gardeners and their families, and the list goes on. At the brink of an operation, all that were involved with him joined him to carry out a series of rituals, based on your beliefs, they prayed to many gods as led by their various religions. "God is one, regardless of where you were from." He would say. "Pray to your god to grant you success on this one." He echoed. Amongst his ranks were men from Spain, Kike, Arsenio and Sergio, the Portuguese men had names as long as sentences and as such are hard to spell, one would spend hours trying to learn the right pronunciation of their respective names. There were the Arabs who lived as Italians no matter where they went, and in that rank, Libyans, Qatari, Saudi and others who had travelled far and wide in the name of the great don. The Nigerians, Senegalese, South Africans and more from the south who carried his orders back in Africa and many more, would all gather to partake in the rituals. It was usually a quiet meeting for which even though the don was Christian, he would partake in the prayers of each religion represented in his court. "You are mine and I am yours, you flesh is mine as mine is yours," he would say.
Tonight, the stars aligned specially for this event, don Vicente and his men had all taken to their various positions for prayers. At the end, as he had taken from everyone, so would everyone take from him. He would set up a communion and they would all partake as he had with them. "Because we are one, we will go together, and return all, together." He said as they all, packed up and prepared for the journey ahead.
The specifics of the jobs were usually shared to one man from each group, it was not to be passed to anyone else as instruction will be dished as the job went on. This system helped don Vicente to avoid moles who would take his plans outside. Betrayal of course, was not a new thing to him and those who did and were caught had an early visit to hell. But one must be careful less they feel too strong. And the don knew just not to over play his card with that kind of trust in anyone. Perhaps a man, all men must find someone eventually to trust but the day for now, had not come and his protection was his business. At least for now.
The outside would call out the fact to his men that he gathered them together and called them his flesh and blood and whatever he would say to them, but still he would go on to keep vital information from them at the time it was needed the most. But what he did not give as information, he gave in the best of trainings possible along with the right kind of ammunition to protect themselves with.