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Excerpt from Alone in the Fight

This excerpt contains foul language. If bad language upsets you, then please do not read it and get a nice book from the library.

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In the book Alone in the Fight, the Naples Camorra mob decided to take their dead business — their clandestine operation of supplying cadavers to European medical schools — to the United States. Sittimo Bontavelli was sent to Philadelphia from Naples to build the operation and, as a courtesy, before going on to the Hill, stopped to see Philadelphia mob boss Angelo Bruno in South Philadelphia. Camorra mob boss Tomaso Gubiannie told Settimo, “Make-a sure you do this Settimo, it’s a-respect. We don’t want no trouble from the Philadelphia or New York organizations."

 

     Settimo stood in baggage terminal 6 at the Philadelphia Airport, waiting for his driver. The New Your Gambinos sent a driver to take Settimo first to South Philadelphia and then to the Hill section on the edge of Philadelphia.

     Teodoro gently took Sittimo's leather travel bag from his hand, and together, the two men slowly walked toward the airport exit. Forty minutes later, Teodoro pulled up in front of 954 Snyder Avenue, the home of mob boss Angelo Bruno.

     The door opened before the men reached the front porch, and Tedoro returned to his vehicle.

As a proper courtesy, Don Gubiannie of the ruthless and murderous Naples Camorra requested that Settimo see Don Angelo Bruno as soon as possible. 

     "Thank you, Don Bruno. It is a pleasure to meet you."

     "Let me introduce you to my capos, Louie DeJessup and Michael Maganucci."

Settimo shook hands with both men. They were polite and respectful, but Settimo could instinctively feel the terror in each handshake. These men are killers, he thought. Settimo slowly sat in the chair directly in front of Angelo Bruno.

     "Thank you for taking the time to see me on such short notice, Don Bruno."

     "The Naples Camorra is always welcome in Philadelphia, Settimo. But I am curious. What business do you have here?"

     Settimo shifted his weight and sat up in the chair. He looked directly at Don Bruno.

"The Naples Camorra is in the dead business," Settimo replied. "For many profits, we deliver dead bodies to medical schools so students can experiment and find cures. It is how we do business.

     "On dead bodies?" Bruno responded.

     "Yes," he replied. "That is how many diseases are cured."

     "Well," Don Bruno said, "how do you get these dead bodies?"

     "In many ways, Sir. We have a producer, the Frenchman. He can kill about ten people a week. We get those bodies and deliver them to medical schools. We also plan to get dead bodies from the undertakers in South Philadelphia the natural way. We hope that is appropriate for you."

     "Sure. Hell, we don't want any dead bodies. And if we do, we get rid of them fast." The two capos chuckled. Settimo quickly glanced at them without moving his head."

     "So, if I can ask a question," Capo DeJessup said. "So, these dead bodies. The students try to bring them to life or something?"

     "Oh, no," Settimo replied. "Nothing like that."

     "Then what the fuck do they do with them?"

"Hey, hey," Don Bruno said to DeJessup, a touch of anger rising in his voice, "have some respect. He is our guest, our visitor from the Old Country. You address him politely."

     Settimo nodded ever so slightly and barely smiled.

     "Yes, Sir," DeJessup said, quickly sitting up. "My apologies to you, Mr. Settimo."

     Settimo never looked at DeJessup and stared straight ahead at the Philadelphia Don.  

     "So, what do these students do with the dead bodies?" Bruno asked.

     "Well," Settimo replied, "to find a cure to a disease, you have to see what the body will take and not take."

     "But these bodies are dead," Bruno said. "How can they tell you anything?"

     "I'm not a medical expert, Don Bruno, but the medical professors tell me the dead bodies can tell them about diseases."

     "Sounds like somebody's getting ripped off here," capo Maganucci chuckled. "I mean, if you don't mind me saying, dead bodies can't talk, so how can they tell you about a disease?"

     "You say this producer will kill people," Bruno said. "He walks around killing people? Just like that?"

     "In a way," Settimo replied, nodding. "He must shoot them without losing a lot of blood or any of their major organs like the brain and heart."

     "So where does he shoot them? DeJessup asked. "In the balls?" And he chuckled and looked at Bruno and Maganucci.

     "In the lips," Settimo answered without taking his eyes off the Don.

     "The lips?" Bruno said. "He shoots them in the lips?"

     "That's right, Don Bruno."

     "Excuse me, Sir," capo Maganucci said. "I whacked a lot of people but never shot nobody in the lips. How can you whack somebody by shooting them in the lip? Jesus Christ," and he glanced briefly at Don Bruno.

     "This is a proven fact," Settimo said. "Shooting someone in the middle of the upper lip will assist in striking the medulla oblongata, the pons, and the cerebellum, virtually destroying the brain's capacity to regulate or control involuntary functions such as breathing and heartbeat. At the same time, not destroying the brain's structure for medical research."

     Settimo's hosts blankly stared back at Settimo. They didn't know what to say.

Finally, DeJussep spoke up. "So, if he shoots them in the lips, how do these students who talk to them know one from the other?" 

     "The students don't talk to them. They cut them up and do experiments on them."

     "Cut them up," De Jessup said. "Madone. "These students cut up dead bodies. What the fuck. Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

     "How do you tell if one's a boy or a girl?" Maganucci asked.

     "That's easy," Dejessup said. "By the clothes they are wearing."

     "They don't wear clothes," Settimo said. "When the students get them, they are naked."

     "You're shittin' me," Dejessup said. "Holy hell. So how do you tell if it's a boy or girl?"

     “Easy,” Maganucci responded. "They look and see if it has a cunt or balls." Then, both capos laughed. Bruno chuckled, too.

     "I'm sorry," Dejessup said, still chuckling. "I don't mean to be disrespectful, Sir. But this is off the fuckin' wall."

     "The Camorro of Naples have done this work for many years," he said.

     "But Jesus Christ. Shootin' 'em in the lips," Maganucci said, shaking his head.

     "Once this producer shoots a stiff in the lips, what do you do with the body? In our work, the body is evidence," Bruno asked.

     "We quickly move the body and get it to an undertaker in our network," Settimo replied.

      "But if you shoot somebody in the face, there's going to be eyeballs, teeth, jawbone, and shit all over the place. You leave that there?" Maganucci asked.

     "If the shot is placed properly, nothing is left behind," he explained

     The three men looked at Settimo as if he were an alien from space.

     "So, what happens to the body?" Bruno finally asks.

      "The process we used in Italy involves the undertakers and the church."

     "The Church?" Bruno says. "Why church?

     "Parish priests connected to our organization will say Mass and have a fake reception. These priests have a buffet layout and invite all their parishioners to the Mass and fake luncheon."

     "Fake?" Bruno asked.

     "Yes, the body has no friends or relatives. But a reception is held in the church hall, with lots of food. The people know that the food is, er, how you say, favoloso, and the nuns attend."

     "Nuns?" DeJessup said. "What do the nuns do?"

     "The nuns make the Mass and fake reception legitimate. Who would question nuns? We have a process where immediately after the Mass, the nuns surround the coffin and place rosary beads on the deceased. One nun, the Mother Superior, puts a fake death certificate inside the coffin."

     "These nuns connected to your organization, too?" Dejessup asked.

     Settimo nodded. "Yes," he said.

     Dejessup said, more so in a loud whisper, "Jesus, fuckin' Christ."

     Bruno sat back in his chair. Not sure what to say. The two capos were dumbfounded. Finally, Bruno said, "But why nuns? I mean, why would nuns do that?"

     “Because," Settimo continued, "of the food layout in honor of the departed, the nuns get to take all the food back to the convent to distribute to the poor. In Italy, nuns are honorable. No authority would question a process by priests and nuns. 

     "They got pasta fazool at them receptions?" Maganucci asked. Then he laughed and looked at Bruno and Dejsessup.

     "Jesus Christ," Dejessup said. "This is a hell of an operation. Who came up with the idea of using priests and nuns?"

     "Do the nuns know the death certificate is fake?" Bruno asked. 

     Settimo smiled.

     “Boss,” Maganucci said. "Maybe we can get them nuns to run our numbers operation?"

     "Fuck that," Dejessup said, "Get 'em to run our prostitution houses. He just said, who'd question the nuns? Them nuns can whack any John with a ruler who misbehaves."

     Settimo smiled and nodded.

     "If you don't mind me asking, where will you set up this operation?" Maganucci asked.

     "There's a town across the river from Manayunk called Belmont Hills," Settimo replied.

"Not sure I've heard of it," Bruno said.

     "Wait, I know that place," Dejessup said. "They got all hills there and a lot of dagos with vegetable gardens. The people call it the Hill. You got to watch that place, them people are fuckin' crazy."

     "You'd have to be, Maganucci added, "to handle this dead business," and he laughed, too.

     "Well, Settimo, "I wish you luck in this operation," Bruno said. "If we need to whack somebody, we can let you know, and you can take the body away, right, gentlemen?

     Both capos: "Of course. We'd be happy to help. By all means."

     "Other than that," Bruno said. "You are on your own, Sir."

     "Don Bruno, you have no problem with us carrying out this operation in Philadelphia and on the Hill?"

     Bruno stared at Settimo for several seconds, then said, "No, not at all. You can have all the dead bodies you want. No problem." Then he stood. 

     "Settimo, I appreciate you coming to tell me about your operation, and I wish you the best."

Settimo stood and offered his hand. "Thank you, Don Bruno. I will send this good news back to the Naples Camorra.​

Costello's Books

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