In 1919, Nilo Sesta is sexually abused by three men
while working on a fishing boat
in his hometown of Castellammare del Golfo in Sicily.
When the men finish with him,
they toss him into the sea, but he reboards the boat and
brutally murders the men. He
returns home and tells his father what happened. The next
day Nilo and his father go
to the palatial home of Salvatore Maranzano. After
listening to Nilo's story, he
gives him a slip of paper with his N.Y. address, urging him
to contact him there if he
needs help. Nilo is sent to Naples where he boards a
ship for New York. He is
ready to start his new life and make his fortune.
He moves in with the Falcone's, his relatives, but jobs are
scarce. The only jobs Nilo
can find is digging ditches. Remembering the card, he
visits Salvatore Maranzano at
his fancy office. He is a Dom, a Maffia Chief, powerful
and protected by body guards.
Salvatore gives Nilo a test. He orders Nilo to destroy a
still at one of his
competitor's location. Nilo sets a fire, burns the still,
and kills six people in
the building. After reporting back, the Dom offers Nilo a
job and slowly grooms him
to become his right hand man in the Organization.
The Falcone family, Nilo's relatives, is well respected in
their community. Tony
Falcone is a dedicated policeman. He is honest, hard
working, and believes in
justice. Married, he has two sons, both decorated war
heroes, and a daughter. Mario
is a parish priest. Tommy wants to be a lawyer, but
until he earns his tuition, he
joins the force. Tina wants to be an opera singer. They
are a close knit family who
eventually falls apart due to Nilo Sesta, his Maffia ties,
and corruption.
There are lots of surprising twists in this saga. Lots of
secrets of ambitious men
who want money and power at any cost, no matter who gets in
the way. The research by
Warren Murphy about the Maffia years and the beginning of
the Cosa Nostra is
exceptional. BLOODLINE hooked me from page one.
The journey of main characters, Tommy and Nilo, takes me on
an emotional roller
coaster ride of highs and lows. I have feelings of strong
admiration, support and
love for Tommy who always loves his family first and
forever. I cheered when he
decides to follow his father's mantra, "Never Surrender"
and continue to fight crime
and win. Nilo betrays and shatters his family, and I find
him easy to hate. There is
fear and a touch of terror as he kills so brutally with no
remorse. Once these men
swore to be brothers. Now on opposite sides of the law,
Tommy and Nilo are enemies,
the oath taken by them long forgotten. BLOODLINE is a book
you won't be able to lay
down. I recommend it to everyone who enjoys an exciting
adventure that promises
terror and lots of action. In the end, revenge is sweet.
Bloodline: a gritty historical novel about the Mafia in
1920s New York, from Edgar Award-winning author Warren Murphy.
The Falcones are an immigrant family living in New York City
in 1920. Their patriarch, Tony, is a respected policeman.
His sons, Tommy and Mario, both served in the Great War and
are now upstanding citizens-a cop and a priest. But their
cousin Nilo has a dark past, and he fled to America after
causing several deaths in a fight in Italy.
Nilo soon falls in with Don Maranzano, a Mafia boss who
comes from his hometown in Italy. Maranzano grooms Nilo as a
"real estate broker," but after a few months, Nilo is
offered the chance to do some serious work. He becomes a
useful still-wrecker, assassin, and skilled criminal. The
papers give him the name "Kid Trouble." Tommy and Mario try
to turn a blind eye, but it's hard to hide his underworld
affiliations.
As conflicts in the city begin to erupt into a violent war
involving gangsters from all parts of the country, Tommy and
Mario struggle to stay out of the dark world into which Nilo
has dragged the family. But when things take a turn for the
worse, the Mafia may be the only place for them to go.
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