“Now, will you please explain to the court what was going on in New York while Mr. Diamond was causing such an uproar in California?” the Prosecutor asked Joe “Pro” Provenzano.
Joe cleared his throat and replied, “The question with all five families was what to do about Joey. See, the Commission asked—”
“Excuse me, Mr. Provenzano, didn’t mean to cut you off but—”
“Then why did you?” Joe Pro said sharply, showing how much he hated to be cut off. A few snickers were scattered around the room.
“Could you explain who and what the Commission is?”
“Why didn’t you say that? Okay, so the Commission is the central body, the government of the underworld, so to speak. The Boss of each of the five families makes up the main body, and then a few families around the Country, too: like Buffalo, Cleveland, St. Louis, and a coupla other places. They all have a vote on who gets made, and if a Made Man can be whacked. It also governs territory, et cetera, et cetera. Are we clear?”
“Crystal,” the Prosecutor replied.
“So yeah, where was I…oh yeah, everybody’s like, ‘what the hell do we do about the kid?’ We go to his father, Vincenzo, but Vincenzo wants to give him a pass. Even though he tried to kill him, it’s still his son, so it’s understandable. Only, it’s outta Vincenzo’s hands because Vincenzo is a Boss and the cardinal rule is you can’t kill a Boss without the approval of the Commission,” Joe Pro explained.
“So you’re saying, Mr. Provenzano, that Mr. Diamanti had unilateral power to protect his son, even though he himself was the victim?” the Prosecutor started trying to put it in court jargon.
To which Joe Pro replied, “Uni—wha?”
“Unilateral power to—”
“Look, Mr. Prosecutor, I said what I said, so if you let me say it, you’ll understand,” Joe Pro retorted.
A smattering of laughter scattered through the courtroom.
“Please proceed, Mr. Provenzano.”
“So yeah…you can’t kill a Boss. So Vincenzo’s hands are tied. But outta nowhere, up steps Salvatore Romano, Boss of the Romano family. He says, maybe Joey didn’t do it, but everybody knows he did it! Nobody else would’ve hit the Don. But the Don won’t say either way, and since the Romanos carry just as much weight as the Diamantis, Sal’s non-vote becomes a veto. But it puts us all in a pickle, because no one can touch Joey, and he’s busy putting the squeeze on the Coast,” Joe Pro said, breaking it all down, play-by-play. He stopped to clear his throat then began talking again.
“And it’s obvious he’s trying to spark a war with the Piazzas because of the disrespectful statement he made about the underboss Tommy’s mother. Something had to be done. So it was decided that since Sal wanted to give the kid the benefit of the doubt, he would talk to the kid. Whole time, Vincenzo’s gotta be screamin’ because he and Sal hate each other’s guts. So everybody knows that Sal’s got an angle, but no one knew what it was. And that’s how Joey became a member of the Romano family,” Joe Pro concluded.
But it was much more complicated than that.