You won't get a name. In his whole life Don Vincenzo Carmuso never gave a single interview, and he explained it briefly: “Only brides and dead men get photographed.” I'm no bride, and I'm in no hurry to qualify the other way. So there's no name on the cover and no photograph on this page.
Here's what I can tell you. For forty years I studied at Don Vincenzo's kitchen table, with no weekends and no holidays. There were no diplomas, the exams came every day, and there were no resits. Bankers asked me where I'd studied politely; investigators asked with interest. I told them the truth. Over those years I buried more than one Don. Don Vincenzo lived to eighty and died in his own bed, which in our line of work is an achievement in itself.
What did the Family do? Three laundries, three blocks apart, and a small wholesale trade in olive oil for the restaurants in the neighbourhood. Disappointed? Don't be. The Don was no mafioso; he owned laundries. But his secret was the same as anyone's who lasts in any trade: don't chase the noise, keep your word, count the money, and don't quarrel with people you can't do without. In our world, mistakes on those four points cost more than they do in your office. Then again, we learned faster.
I put what I know into three books. Business, the Family Way is about what you sell and to whom, about reputation, deals and keeping your word, about the money that stays in your pocket, about power and people. Money, the Family Way is about how money works, what risk is, and why the big game prefers to beat the people who are sure of themselves. Words, the Family Way is about how to listen, what people really want, how they come to say yes, and how to talk within the Family. The books don't follow on from one another; start with whichever you like. In each of them I'm talking to a young capo, which is to say, to you. All they share is the Don, the kitchen table and one question: “How much of this is ours?”
There are three kinds of stories in these books, and I don't mix them. True ones: people, dates, trials. Where little is known, I say so. Scenes from novels and films: I always name them, so you don't mistake cinema for history. And my own memories of Don Vincenzo and our affairs. I've changed the names in those: the statute of limitations, you see, doesn't run out on everything.
I'll be blunt, for those who read the small print. I have changed the names, the addresses and the details of the Family's business: in our line of work that is the custom, and I'm not the man to break it. If anyone recognises himself or his neighbour in these pages, it's a coincidence. The historical episodes come from public sources: the work of historians, court records, memoirs and journalism.
The Editor
The books were edited by Sergio Killuminati. I'll say nothing more about him: in an editor, as in a good secretary, what counts is what he knows and doesn't say. An ICA project — International Center of Advertisement.
Business, the Family Way · Money, the Family Way · Words, the Family Way