by Tony Bertot
“Wow, the bullets don’t cost this much,” Theo said.
“Don’t worry about it. It was fun watching you shoot. I heard stories about you and wanted to meet you. You’re a local hero. Heard you shot some twelve Germans and held them until the Americans came; saved a whole village,” Fredo told Theo.
By now, Theo was used to people exaggerating what he actually did and after a while simply stopped contesting every half truth.
“I guess,” Theo responded.
“How would you like to work for me?” he asked Theo.
“Doing what?” Theo asked.
“Shooting,” Fredo, responded.
“Shooting what?” Theo asked.
“We have an annual event where the best shooters compete against each other for prizes and money,” Fredo explained.
“I don’t know. You will have to ask my Grandfather and Grandmother,” Theo replied.
“Well then let’s go and ask them,” Fredo answered.
With his grandparents permission Fredo entered Theo in several competitions. Over the next few years, Theo’s reputation grew as he continuously placed first or second in every contest he entered. By the age of thirteen, he was one of the most popular competitors. In the inner circles, he was the one to beat.
Because of his winnings, he was able to help his grandparents fix up their little shop. They put money away for him and by the time he was eighteen he had accumulated a tidy sum.
As for Mr. Fredo Nicoletta, he was making a fortune through illegal bets. Life was good until one day Theo decided he did not want to compete any longer, which angered Fredo Nicoletta.
“What do you mean you don’t want to compete anymore? You crazy or something? Look at all the money you’ve made?” he shouted at Theo.
“I don’t want to do it anymore,” Theo calmly responded.
“Well you better listen up. You will compete in the next event or I will beat the crap out of you. Do you understand me, you little shit?” Fredo asked him as he grabbed Theo by the lapels and slammed him against a nearby wall. Theo felt hurt and betrayed as he realized he was seeing the real man for the first time.
When Fredo went to wake Theo the next morning he found him gone.
After the argument with Theo, Fredo realized his winning streak was coming to an end. Believing he had scared Theo into participating in the next competition he decided to bet it all on this last contest. Now unable to find Theo he realized he was in trouble.
Theo woke up in the middle of the night and hitched a ride with a local driver who had mentioned he was going to Palermo, some sixty miles away.
By the time Fredo woke up, Theo was already sitting at his Grandparents shop. He had arrived early enough to help them open for business.
“Theo, what are you doing here? I thought you had a competition today in Trapani?” asked his Grandfather.
“I quit,” is all Theo said.
“I see. Well, then, why don’t you go upstairs and rest and you can come down later and we will give you something to eat,” he told Theo.
“OK,” Theo responded.
“Where is Mr. Nicoletta?” his grandfather asked.
“I don’t know, grandpa. Probably jumping up and down right about now,” Theo responded laughing.
“What. Oh, never mind. Go up and get some rest,” his grandfather told him.
Six months later Fredo Nicoletta showed up at their bakery.
When Fredo tried to leave Trapani in pursuit of Theo, several men who, due to the size of the bet he put down, had instructions to keep a close eye on him. Caught trying to leave town they figured he was trying to skip out on the bet. Though he assured them he was simply going after Theo, to bring him back, they were not convinced. After spending months in a local hospital, where he had been admitted with a broken arm and leg as well as several cracked ribs and internal injuries, he was released. With no money and no one to turn to, Fredo made his way back to Palermo.
Fernando Gresco first spotted the disheveled bearded man behind the counter.
Not recognizing him, he asked,
“May I help you, sir?”
“Where is Theodore Gresco?” the man asked in a slurred voice.
It was obvious the man had been drinking.
“Who is asking for him?” Theo’s grandfather asked.
“Never you mind!” Fredo replied pulling out the gun he had tucked in his pants and raising it towards Fernando.
“Oh, my God,” someone screamed while others ducked down.
“Put the gun down, mister,” Fernando ordered him.
Fredo fired.
The bullet grazed Fernando, as he ducked for cover behind the counter.
At that instant Angelina came through the back door and screamed when she saw Fredo shoot at her husband.
Fredo turned and fired at her, hitting her on the right shoulder causing her to spin.
Theo was upstairs when he heard the gunfire and grabbed a gun, located under the nearby dresser, and ran downstairs. He saw his grandmother laying in the entryway at the bottom of the stairs. He went to her side and as he bent down he heard the cocking of a gun to his right. He turned, raised his pistol and fired hitting his mark without so much as a blink. A man had been standing there with a gun drawn aiming at him when Theo fired. The bullet ripped into the man’s chest sending him reeling backwards onto the tables against the wall. The man landed on his back and started to get up with the gun still in his hand. He began to raise the gun again, aiming towards Theo. Theo got up and without hesitation or fear, walked towards the man firing his weapon. One shot hit the man in the right shoulder and the third and final shot hit him in the face. The man slumped down and Theo watched as he saw his life fade from his eyes. At the age of fifteen, Theo had taken another life.
Theo turned and ran to his grandmother who was lying motionless on the floor. He turned her over and she smiled up at him.
“I’m ok, Theo,” she said to him.
“Go check on your grandfather,” she told him.
He quickly got up and ran behind the counter where his grandfather was getting up.
“Grandpa, grandma has been shot,” Theo told him.
His grandfather immediately got up and ran to her. Helping her up they headed outside as people began to run into the shop.
“Someone call the doctor. Angelina has been shot,” someone yelled out.
Though Theo knew who the man was, he never told anyone. The authorities, at that instant, ruled the man was a drunk who had gone crazy.
Theo’s grandfather later on questioned Theo about the incident.
“That man asked for you by name,” he told him.
“Yes, grandpa, I knew him,” Theo replied.
“Well, who was he?” his grandfather asked.
“It was Fredo Nicoletta.” Theo told his grandfather.
“What? That was Mr. Nicoletta?” he asked Theo now staring at him.
“Theo, listen to me. No one must know this. You cannot reveal his identity to anyone. Do you understand?” he asked Theo while holding him by the shoulders while looking into his eyes.
It was the mortician, who recognized Fredo Nicoletta and alerted the police. The police, in turn notified Fernando and Angelina Gresco they identified the man. That the police now had identified the man was alarming to Fernando
“Grandpa, what’s wrong?” Theo asked seeing the concern in his Grandfather’s face.
Pulling him to the side his grandfather lowered his voice and began to speak.
“Fredo Nicoletta was a relative of a powerful crime family here in Sicily. It is a matter of time before they come after you and us,” Fernando told his grandson.
“But why, he was shooting at us?” Theo asked.
“It doesn’t matter. They don’t care who was right or wrong. All they care about is he is dead and someone must pay. That is their way. You kill one of theirs and they want revenge,” his grandfather explained to him.
Theo thought long and hard on what
his grandfather told him and decided to do something about it.
The next day Theo went to the nearby police station to talk to one of the officers he had befriended over the last three years. He explained to him what had happened and his grandfather’s fears. The officer did not doubt that their lives were now in danger. He had seen it too many times before.
“We had no choice but to advise Mr. Nicoletto’s family about the incident. We tried to explain to them it was in self defense. Mr. Nicoletta was drunk and began firing indiscriminately. They were not pleased at all and simply dismissed us with a gesture of distaste. We warned them any form of retaliation would have dire results. I don’t think it made a difference to them,” The officer told Theo.
Theo stared at him for a few minutes and then asked,
“When do you think they will come?”
“Within in a couple of days after they have buried Fredo Nicoletta,” the officer responded.
“We do not have enough men to provide your family with protection. My suggestion is you and your family pack up and leave. Leave now while you still have a chance,” the officer told Theo.
Nodding, Theo thanked him and walked away. On the way home he decided it would be best if they left town. Thinking this through, Theo approached his grandparents.
“Grandma, Grandpa you have to leave here. Your lives are in danger,” Theo pleaded with them.
“Theo, we are not afraid of these men. We have been through a lot and they do not scare us,” his grandfather told him.
“But, Grandpa, it’s my fault. It has nothing to do with you. I am the reason why they would want to harm you. Fredo Nicoletta was looking for me and it was me who killed him,” Theo told them.
Though Theo insisted they go, they refused and said they will be ready for whatever comes.
“It is not our way to run from danger, his grandfather told him. If someone harms any of us, it is our way to settle the score as they will try to do. It does not matter where we go, they will find us. So we fight right here,” his grandfather told him.
Theo thought about what he was saying,
“We do not run away. We settle the score,” is what he said.
He settled with Herr Kaiser for killing his mother and now Fredo Nicoletta when he tried to harm his family.
Now there is a new danger.
Theo also thought about his father and how he and his mother ran away to Sicily, allowing his killers to get away.
It was three days later when a black Lancia Aprilia pulled up in front of the shop. The four men who stepped out of the car were met by over sixty people who had been waiting and had seen them coming. These people had gone through the worst of times and many had seen their loved ones die in the previous war. Many were armed and it was obvious their being there was no accident.
“What do you want here,” asked one of the villagers.
“We have heard this bakery has the best bread in all of Palermo,” replied one of the men with his hands held up as a gesture of peace.
Two people approached the car from the driver’s side and opened the back door. They found a couple of submachine guns lying on the floor.
“What were you planning to do with these?” they asked as they pulled out the weapons.
There was no response.
The villagers approached the men and disarmed them. They checked the rest of the car and removed any weapons they found.
Fernando came out of the shop when he noticed the commotion.
“What is going on here?” he asked everyone.
“These men came to visit you, Fernando,” someone told him.
“None of you should be involved with this. You are putting your lives in danger,” Fernando Gresco told them.
“It is our choice. Anyway, we cannot let Theo down. He is our local hero and he asked us for help,” another villager said.
Fernando looked around and did not see Theo anywhere.
“Where is Theo?” he asked.
“We don’t know,” someone replied.
“We were asked not to let any of these men in the shop and if any of them tried, he would stop them.”
“Is that so?” Fernando asked.
Fernando looked around, scanned the rooftops but saw no one. Nonetheless, he knew. He knew Theo was somewhere watching everything that was going on and he was watching through the lens of a sniper’s rifle.
“You men go back to where you came from. Tell your boss the next time we will not let you get this far into our village. Tell him not to come back or we will be coming for him. Tell him there are over ten thousand people in our village and he won’t be able to ever come out of his villa again if anything happens to any of the Gresco family,” said one of the villagers.
The men got into the car and pulled out. They had never encountered such a problem before and they knew their boss would not be happy. He would not be happy at all.
Three weeks later a small caravan of about six cars were stopped about two miles outside their village. The alarm went out, but it was too late to prevent the occupants from firing at the three villagers at the roadblock. It was, however, enough time for Theo to position himself atop a nearby hillside and witness the slaughter of villagers. Taking careful aim, he fired twice killing the drivers of the first and second cars. The occupants of the first car scrambled to take cover behind the car while one of them pulled the dead driver out of the car and got into the driver’s seat. A third shot rang out and he slumped forward as a bullet now occupied his left temple.
Now all of the men were using the cars as cover.
“Anyone see where that shot came from?” one of the men shouted.
One of the men cautiously peered over the side of the car trying to determine the location of the gunfire when another shot rang out and a bullet grazed the top of his head.
“Marone,” he screamed as he hit the ground.
“I saw the shot. It came from the top of the hill on the right,” one of the men said.
“You men at the other end make a run for cover behind that rock while we cover you,” one of the men shouted.
“On the count of three, ready?” someone commanded.
“Yeah, we’re ready,” one of the men shouted back.
“One, two, three,” the men behind the first three cars opened fire while the three men behind the fourth car made a beeline towards some rocks.
There had been no return fire.
The men who made it to the rocks waited. They cautiously peered from both sides of the huge rock they were behind but saw no one.
“Wait,” shouted the man giving the orders.
He waited for some response as he bopped his head cautiously and rapidly from the top of the car.
He scooted to the end of the car where he could see the men behind the rock but the shooter could not see him and he motioned them to move forward.
The men behind the car opened with a barrage of gunfire while the other men moved from behind the rock and headed up the hill.
Two shots rang out and the man closest to the one giving the orders fell dead at his feet while another man grabbed his throat as blood trickled between his fingers. He stood up and fell backwards. Another two shots and another two men lay dead.
Realizing that the shots were now coming from behind them they nervously crawled to the other side of the car not knowing if there were two shooters.
“You men come out with your hands up and no one else will be shot,” they heard a young voice shout out.
The men looked around at each other.
“What do we do?” one of the men asked the others.
“We do what he says,” came the reply.
“Alright, we are coming out. Don’t shoot,” one of the men shouted as he stepped out from behind the car with his hands raised.
A few minutes later, all the men were in front of their cars with their hands held up high.
“Drop all your weapons in front of you,” they heard someone shout.
“No
w pick up your dead garbage and put them in the cars.”
The men scrambled and picked up their men and did as ordered.
“Now get into your cars and wait for further orders,” they heard.
One of the men who got into the driver’s seat turned on his car and began to put it in reverse.
A shot rang out and the car came to a slow stop.
“I did not say that anyone could leave,” they heard someone shout out to them.
The rest of the men in the car froze.
“No. No, please don’t shoot anymore. It was a mistake,” shouted one of the occupants of the car now with the dead driver.
“Take him out and put him in the trunk with the others,” they heard the voice order.
Two of the men stepped out of the car, pulled the driver and placed him in the trunk.
Neither of the two men wanted to get into the driver’s seat but after a few seconds one reluctantly did.
“Now you tell your boss he had better hide because I am coming for him. You killed some of our villagers after we warned you not to come back and you didn’t listen. Go back and tell him,” the voice shouted out to them.
The men waved their hands indicating they understood.
With that, Theo ordered them to leave.
Though Theo never made good on his promise, the men never returned and due to an uprising within their organization, the capo was overthrown and executed by his own men.
Theo, now at the age of fifteen, had killed over twelve men.
At the time the local police dismissed the unsupported rumor there had been a massacre a few miles outside of Palermo as just that, a rumor. It would be several years later the police decided to investigate further as others came forward with the same story.
A Family Gathering
South Wabash/Chicago
Twenty-one year old Theodore Gresco lay in bed staring up at the ceiling, reminiscing about events that led him back to Chicago. Over the last five years, he managed to elude the Sicilian police who wanted to question him about a rumor involving the execution of several men.
Theo could not understand why anyone would care about those bastards, but nonetheless avoided the police just the same.