A REVENGE SERVED COLD

About the Book

The Mafia follows the fictional Ferlito family of Sicily. Vincenzo Ferlito, husband and father, is a member of the Sicilian Il Manno Negri (the Black Hand), a powerful organized crime family centered in Palermo. To conceal his identity, he owns a successful tailor shop and haberdashery serving the mayor and other prominent citizens while maintaining underworld connections. His daughter, Giusipina Ferlito, marries Antonino Reale, who becomes close to Vincenzo and is taught the ways of Il Manno Negri. Eventually, the Crime Family’s leadership selects Vincenzo to relocate his family to America, where the organization evolves into what becomes known as the Mafia. America offers opportunities to expand through control of unions and businesses. In Brooklyn, the family’s operation is hidden beneath the successful restaurant La Casa Storta, headquarters for their illegal activities. The family grows through racketeering, bookmaking, loan sharking, and union control. Vincenzo brings trusted confidant Francisco Fabio from Sicily to assist Antonino, and both become made members of the Sicilian faction in America. During a shakedown by corrupt police officers, Antonino is killed and his eighteen-year-old son, Sonny Reale, is wounded. Now a Capo Regime, Vincenzo swears Sonny to the Sicilian oath of La Vendetta, promising revenge for his father’s murder. Vincenzo grooms Sonny to replace his father, partnering him with Francisco Fabio. Sonny eventually becomes a made member, controlling the waterfront, unions, and airports. Determined to fulfill La Vendetta, Sonny recruits his nephew, Louis Basile, directing him to join the NYCPD as a mole. Louis’s weakness for women, despite Sonny’s warnings, leads him into temptation. The finality will get you captured by an unexpected explosive ending when the Oath of La Vendetta turns its vicious head around. …A REVENGE SERVED COLD

About the Author

LOUIS A. BALESTRIERI IS A RETIRED NYPD ORGANIZED CRIME DETECTIVE. HE GREW UP ON THE MEAN STREETS OF BROOKLYN NEW YORK. SURROUNDED BY PROMINENT ORGANIZED CRIME PERSONS AND THEIR FAMILIES, HE DEVELOPED RELATIONSHIPS WITH MANY OF THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OR OTHER FAMILIY MEMBERS THAT WERE ALL AFFILIATES OF ORGANIZED CRIME PERSONS.HE ATTENDED HIGH SCHOOL WITH SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF ORGANIZED CRIME MEMBERS, SOME WHO LATER BECAME PART OF THAT LIFE. HIS MOTHER’S PARENTS CAME FROM SICILY. HIS GRANDFATHER WAS FROM PALERMO AND CAME TO AMERICAN TO BE A MEN’S TAYLOR. HIS GRANDMOTHER WAS FROM A TOWN CALLED CATELLA MARE DEL GOLFO, WHICH AS SHE EXPLAINED WAS THE BIRTHPLACE OF “IL MANNO NEGRI” OR THE BLACK HAND. HIS FATHER’S FAMILY WAS BORN IN AMERICA, BUT HIS GREAT GRANDFATHER WAS A STOW AWAY ON A SHIP FROM NAPLES. GROWING UP HEARD TALES, AND STORIES OR EVENTS THAT THEY SAW GROWING UP AND PASSED THOSE ALONG TO LOUIS WHO WAS ALWAYS INTENTLY IMPRESSED WITH HOW THINGS USED TO BE. MOVING TO A PROMINENT AREA OF LONG ISLAND KNOWN AS MASSAPEQUA, HE LEARNED QUICKLY THAT THE NEIGHBORHOOD WAS ALSO FULL OF ORGANIZED CRIME PERSONS. HE GRAVITATED TO THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THESE AFFILIATED PERSONS AND BEGAN DVELOPING STRONG RELATIONSHIPS AND BONDS WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE. AFTER DEVLOPING A FACINATION WITH THE WAYS OF ORGANIZED CRIME HE BEGAN TO MIMIC THEIR RULES, HANGIN WITH WANNABES THAT WERE LIKE THEIR OWN MINITURE CREW. HE BOUNCED AROUND IN NIGHTCLUBS AND BARS THAT WERE FREQUENTED BY CRIME MEMBERS, ASSOCIATES AND OTHERS. THERE WERE TIMES HE HAD OPPORTUNITIES TO MAKE ILLEGAL EARNINGS, THAT SURELY DIDN’T GO UNNOTICED BY THE POWERS THAT BE. HIS ASSOCIATIONS HAD HIM TAKING MORE ILLEGAL CHANCES UNTIL ONE DAY HE CAME CLOSE TO FACING AN ARREST. BEING FROM A FAMILY OF COPS, HE DECIDED TO FOLLOW THE WAYS OF HIS FAMILY AND BECAME AN NYPD POLICE OFFICER. FROM THAT POINT FORWARD HE LEFT THOSE OLD FRIENDS AND ASSOCIATES BEHIND. HE NEVER FOLLOWED ANY ILLEGAL OPPORTUNITIES AGAIN, IN THAT HE SWORE TO A NEW LIFE OF LAW AND ORDER. HE WAS A VERY ACTIVE POLICE OFFICER AND WITHIN SIX YEARS WAS PROMOTED TO DETECTIVE IN NARCOTICS.DUE TO HIS ABILITY TO WORK IN AN UNDERCOVER CAPACITY AND HIS KNOWLEDGE OF THE OPERATIONS OF ORGANIZED CRIME HE WAS RECRUITED TO INVESTIGATE ORGANIZED CRIME’S CONTROL OVER THE PRIVATE SANITATION INDUSTRY. THIS INVESTIGATION BECAME THE LARGEST ORGANIZED CRIME CASE IN THE HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY AT THE TIME. UPON RETIRING ON AN INJURY THAT LEFT HIM DISABLED, LOU DECIDED TO USE HIS IMAGINATION TO CREATE AN ORGANIZED CRIME RELATED PRACTICE WHICH IS KNOW AS “LA VENDETTA”, THE WAY ORGANIZED CRIME SEEKS REVENGE……………….