The city of Reggio, nestled along the coastline, stretches from north to south with the sea to its west and rolling hills and mountains to its east.
To the east of Reggio, about ten kilometers from the city center, lies a funeral home near a large cemetery. This funeral home is also owned by the Glorious Society.
The funeral industry, along with businesses like restaurants, bars, nightclubs, parking lots, and waste management, has traditionally been a staple of mafias around the world. Not only is it highly profitable, but it also facilitates money laundering. The late Steve Ross, former chairman of Time Warner, famously began his career in New York by running a funeral home.
Steve Ross's mafia background is well known, though he successfully transitioned to legitimate business and fully laundered his image.
At 2:50 AM, when the entire city was thrown into chaos by several simultaneous incidents, Antonio Danelli was secretly taken by two members of a four-person team to this remote funeral home on the city's outskirts. The other two remained at his residence.
The funeral home was eerily silent.
As Antonio Danelli got out of the car, he saw that his two brothers, Paul Danelli and Giovanni Danelli, had arrived almost simultaneously, along with two of his subordinates who had accompanied him to the USA, Mark Honorato and Frank Paoli.
Sensing that the Stefano family was doomed, the five men followed their captors' instructions and arrived at a room inside the funeral home. The captors did not follow them in but indicated they should go inside by themselves.
Antonio Danelli thought he was finally going to meet the mastermind behind everything. Upon entering, the five of them froze in place.
They were in the cremation room of the funeral home.
While most Italians still follow traditional burial customs, there is also a demand for cremation.
The naturally cold room wasn't the worst part; the critical issue was the number of people inside—some unconscious with hoods over their heads and many more in body bags.
Seeing the scene, all five men had the same thought: escape.
However, they knew that trying to leave would mean certain death, not just for them but possibly for their families as well.
Antonio Danelli was the first to divert his gaze from the people in the room to a nearby simple iron table. On the table were five silenced pistols, a thick file, and an object that looked like a speaker.
After a moment of silence, a voice came from the speaker: "Well, everyone's here."
The voice belonged to a middle-aged man.
His Italian was not fluent but quite standard.
After a brief pause, he continued: "You are lucky. The boss originally planned to send you all to heaven but changed his mind. You can live. And if you're not too useless, you'll live well."
The voice spoke slowly, pausing again, seemingly giving the five men time to digest his words.
Hearing some form of assurance, the previously tense Antonio and his companions relaxed a bit.
Then the voice continued: "There are five guns on the table and eleven living people here. I don't think I need to explain what to do. Once you handle these matters, you can take the file on the table. Inside is a list of people who can help Antonio Danelli take over the Stefano family. As for the future, I think I don't need to explain. But rest assured, the boss has no interest in your businesses. No matter how much you make, it's yours. Your only obligation is to do what you're told when the boss needs it."
After finishing, there was another pause, and as if seeing Antonio and his companions still standing motionless, the voice reminded them: "I suggest you start immediately. The cremator is already on, and you have two hours until dawn. If you haven't finished by then, someone will come to do it for you."
After these last words, the speaker fell silent.
After a few minutes, noticing that his four companions were looking at him, Antonio Danelli made a decision. He walked to the table, picked up a gun, and approached the living people.
As the new day dawned, news quickly spread throughout Reggio and then the entire Italian underworld.
Overnight, the Stefano family, which had dominated Reggio for years, vanished.
The large family, started by the six Stefano brothers, consisted of 27 members, male and female, old and young. Regardless of whether they were in Reggio, including two Stefano children studying in Switzerland, they all disappeared without a trace. Along with them, many bodyguards and servants surrounding the Stefano family vanished as well.
After inspecting the crime scene, the remaining two factions of the Glorious Society in southern Reggio immediately confirmed that this could not have been done by the authorities.
The official government has rules to follow.
However, the three families in northern Reggio, initially under suspicion, were quickly ruled out as well.
Feedback from people around the crime scene indicated that the entire incident happened within a half-hour window between 2:00 and 2:30 AM. The actions were swift and left no time for anyone to react.
Especially in the Stefano family godfather Horace Stefano's mansion, there was significant commotion, including gunfights and explosions. Even the power and communication in the surrounding blocks were cut off. Then, as if in the blink of an eye, everything returned to normal, leaving only a mansion full of bloodstains but devoid of people.
Such formidable and professional actions could not have been carried out by the three families in northern Reggio. If they had the capability to make an entrenched mafia family disappear within half an hour, they would have already unified the Calabria region and possibly become the rulers of Italy's entire underworld.
So, the question is, what exactly happened?
The invisible enemy is the most terrifying.
Since someone could make the Stefano family disappear overnight, the other families in Reggio could also vanish in an instant.
Thus, the underworld of the Calabria region was thrown into a panic, with everyone on edge.
Usually forcing others to hide in fear, the core members of the Glorious Society hastily sent their families to what they believed were safe locations. Some even broke the unspoken rule of not cooperating with the police, trying to find clues through official channels.
But they found nothing.
Actually, it wasn't entirely fruitless.
The night before the incident, the Stefano family's eldest, Giorgio Stefano, noticed someone might be monitoring the Glorious Society and, together with the other two families, devised a counter-strategy.
Rechecking everything, they noticed an unusual number of 'strangers' in Reggio recently. Some rented numerous apartments across the city in a short period. Following this lead, within three days, they discovered over a hundred abandoned rentals across Reggio and even in Messina, on the opposite side of the strait, which belongs to the Sicilian Mafia.
Then, the Sicilian Mafia also panicked.
Such a big incident couldn't be hidden.
Soon, the Italian media got involved.
Ordinarily, exposing mafia secrets would at least result in threats of broken limbs. This time, however, none of the 'parties involved' came forward to cause trouble, and the chaotic Glorious Society had no time to care.
Thus, the explosive news of an entire southern Italian mafia family disappearing overnight quickly made its way to major newspapers, becoming a hot topic among Italians and even spreading overseas.
Such sensational news couldn't be ignored by the Italian government.
Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian billionaire who was elected Prime Minister earlier this year amid recent political turmoil, stated in an interview that if necessary, the authorities would investigate the matter.
Like Germany, Italy has a parliamentary system.
The president is symbolic, while the prime minister holds actual governmental power.
Berlusconi, a political newcomer who rose to the pinnacle of Italian power, immediately became a target for everyone after taking office. With various scandals emerging and a series of investigations by the Italian government, his position was already precarious.
This highly sensational event could help divert significant public pressure if it were to escalate. However, for some reason, the Prime Minister, who had sworn to pursue the matter and even convened a special meeting with the Ministry of Justice the previous day, suddenly went silent, as if nothing had happened.
Moreover, when some senior officials from Calabria or Rome publicly expressed their desire to investigate, they quickly faced media attacks.
The assassination of Judge Giovanni Falcone two years ago was still fresh in everyone's memory.
So many Italian citizens suffered under mafia oppression without anyone stepping forward, but now, just because some deserving mafiosi died, officials wanted to make a big deal out of it. Were they suggesting that mafia interests were more important than those of Italian citizens? Whose representatives were they?
Italy's electoral system means that no one can afford to ignore public opinion.
With such a large hat placed on them, no one dared to respond.
Additionally, the Glorious Society, originally much less famous than the Sicilian Mafia and the Camorra, quickly gained notoriety.
Traditional TV and newspapers hesitated to delve into the Glorious Society's crimes, but the burgeoning internet had no such qualms.
The Glorious Society's numerous misdeeds soon surfaced online.
The recent internal strife within the Glorious Society led to over a thousand murders, with many innocent victims, including women and children. Their drug trafficking network supplied tens of tons of various drugs annually to Italy and Europe, causing countless youths to fall into addiction and happy families to be torn apart. All businesses within their territory were forced to pay protection fees and launder money, leading to widespread suffering. Their control over human trafficking and smuggling networks resulted in thousands of women falling into degradation each year… Each accusation could be backed by actual cases.
As these revelations spread online, the Glorious Society, once overshadowed by other mafia organizations, quickly became infamous.
Thus, even
fewer people dared to speak up for the Glorious Society.
After a cursory 'official investigation,' the Italian authorities directly classified the entire incident as a gang vendetta, implying that this was an internal mafia matter and the government would not intervene. To appease public pressure, they also sent a large police force to the Calabria region and conducted a small-scale anti-mafia operation in Reggio in early September.
The public has a short memory.
When September arrived, the Italian media's focus quickly shifted back to the increasingly intense internal government struggles, with speculation that Berlusconi might resign soon to escape lawsuits and scandals.
It was clear that Berlusconi would be another short-lived prime minister, the third in two years since the start of the 'Clean Hands' operation, which had already led to the dissolution of two long-established parties and the resignation of two prime ministers. Berlusconi was the third in this period.
As a political novice, Berlusconi had no political scandals, but he was a businessman.
Italy also has a tradition of blurred lines between politics and business. To achieve anything, businessmen must maintain good relations with the government. Years later, global corruption indices would still show Italy in glaring red compared to the pristine green of Northern Europe.
Due to continued investment in Italy over the years, the Clean Hands operation also brought some investigations to Melisandre Company.
Fortunately, Berlusconi's sudden rise to power came at a critical moment. Berlusconi had secretly been a strategic ally since the late 1980s when the Westeros system first entered Italy. His media company had collaborated extensively with Daenerys Entertainment over the years, and last year they jointly invested in Christie's auction house.
Berlusconi's sudden reversal on the Glorious Society incident was naturally due to these ties. Otherwise, he wouldn't have missed the chance to shift public focus.
After the night of August 23, Simon was called back to North America by Jennifer.
His assistant claimed she needed a break, forcing Simon to spend half a month at home as a stay-at-home dad while she and Janet flew to Australia and Africa, launching a medical charity project in Rwanda to help children fight parasitic diseases.
It wasn't until the Venice Film Festival opened on September 9 that the two women returned to North America, allowing Simon to travel back to Europe.
Simon understood the women's intentions.
He was aware of his own changing mindset. As his wealth and status grew, his heart hardened again.
The higher you go, the colder it gets.
Jennifer had once tried to take Simon to church, but that attempt failed.
This time, the two women hoped to soften his change through their children.
It worked quite well.
Spending half a month at Cape Dume Manor with his three blood-related children, Simon's accumulated anger from the bullet incident at Sophia's house in late July gradually dissipated.
However, things must come to an end.
Since the purpose was to intimidate, just carrying out the act wasn't enough. Those who needed to understand had to know what had happened.
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