A Mob Boss's Honour

23. Affairs

It was late night. Lothario Alessandrini was sitting in his study working, He was reading through the reports on his desk.

A knock came on the door. He said "Come in."

Luigi entered the room "Hello." and closed the door. He walked to the sofa that was situated in front of his father's desk and sat down. Every day at some point mostly at the end of the day before going to bed he always went to his father's study and checked if he wanted to talk to him about anything related to his business. It had been his routine for a while now. Gianluca had a similar routine. Their fathers mentored their sons about their business. They had the opportunity to be listening, learning , discussing and giving their opinions. That was how Luigi knew so much about the Bianchi case. His father had filled him in on everything relating to his business. He was expected to be ready to take over any time his father demanded him to do so.

Lothario was looking at the papers "Do you want to hear the good news or bad news?"

Luigi was alarmed. He said "Whichever you prefer to tell me first."

Lothario looked up, leaned back in his chair and put his arms on the chairs arm rest. "I give you the good news first. I have just come back from a long meeting. The good news is that the Irish-Italian relations are not as critical as before right this minute because of some improvements. The Irish criminal sides who had caused trouble at the borders of some Italian criminal territories have backed off for now.... So we do not need to hold that urgent meeting with heads of all Italian families this weekend who reside on this side New York. We will still hold that meeting but it does not have to be this weekend. It will be better if it is on a later date because there were a few heads of families who could not make it this weekend due to their other commitments. I think it is best to have this meeting later but with full attendance. The whole point of the meeting is to make sure we come to a unanimous decision on what we can do to enhance peace and avoid war. And of course the meeting will be about how we can prepare just in case the Irish declare multiple mob wars at the same time which is the direction they were heading towards recently. If all do not attend we have to hold another meeting again later. Not ideal."

Luigi asked "How did they back off? I mean how did those Irish crime families who caused the tensions get convinced?"

Lothario said "Christopher Kavannagh... He told them to back off and not cause a war unprovoked. They did not dare say no to him. Those Irish families who were problematic have no powers that matches the Kavannaghs single handedly. Even if they unite they can not beat the Kavannaghs because the Kavannaghs have many powerful allies who will not hesitate to defend Christopher Kavannagh if any threats come his way. They will defend him without hesitation."

Luigi asked "That is unexpected. Wouldn't he want the Italian American crime families to suffer?"

Lothario said "I can tell you what reasons he has given. He has said that if these tensions keep going the relations would be getting worse and worse to a point of war. He does not want it to happen unless it is necessary. He has said that if there is a war, the Irish should initiate it only if a reason is given to them... He is a reasonable man. Yes. He does not tolerate any Italian-American crime families trespassing in his territory and he will shoot them dead if any are mad enough to trespass there. But he has said that does not think giving rise to tensions for no reason or provocation would benefit the Irish. He thinks if a war happens it should be a for a valid reason that justifies the sacrifices and the losses."

Luigi said "It makes no sense... Why would Christopher Kavannagh do this?

Lothario said "It makes perfect sense. I think he did it for his grandson, Christian. Is there anything that he wouldn't do for keeping his grandson content? I suspect it is something to do with him... I have a theory based on the little evidence I saw... I went to your school this morning to have a meeting with the headmaster to ask how you and Lena have been settling in this new school. They informed me that the Italian and Irish partner schools have planned to have a joint home coming dance on a neutral territory. They will send invitations soon to parents to give consent but some students had already signed up. I checked that list that the headmaster had available. Christian has signed up and there was already a tick next to his name in the parental consent box. I have no doubt that in his mind, Christopher Kavannagh no matter how much he may despise the Italian crime families for murdering his loved ones and how much he would like to see the down fall of these families he will not sacrifice the happiness of his grandson. He does have a big place in his heart for keeping Christian happy and giving him a normal life... I have a theory that his actions to encourage peace are to do with Christian and even this joint homecoming dance... One theory is that maybe he knows that if there is a war it can spread to the territories of some families who attend the two schools. Maybe he wants that Homecoming Dance to happen because most likely his grandson wants it to happen. If there is war, some families may boycott it. They may not want their kids to party even under a safe roof with the children of the enemies who are using their machine guns to harm them in their territories."