Road to Respect ~ Sopranos

Chapter 3

Joseph

"John Gotti. Life in prison. No chance of parole." The news station guy spoke. Joey looked around the room and saw Tony, Paulie, and Silvio counting money on the desk while Chris was smoking and doing bicep curls over on a poker table. Joey meanwhile was reading one of Meadow's old history books from school just to catch up for when he goes to school. "We've seen arrests and prosecutions in Florida and elsewhere of top Mob figures."

Paulie got tired of the man's voice and changed it. "What are you doing?" Tony asked. "Put that back." He snatched the remote away and put it back to the news.

"What's the situation on the ground today, right now, in the Mob?" The news guy asked his guest right as Pussy walked into the room with another bag of money.

"Confusion." The guest answered. "Instability. Vacuum at the top."

"What caused the decline?" The news guy asked.

"Your sister's ass." Paulie answered and Joey chuckled in the corner.

"An aggressive government policy over two decades to behead the crime families." The guest answered.

"But wasn't it, at least in part, a disregard within the Mob itself, of the rules that served the old dons so well?"

"If the shoe fits." Tony mumbled. "Sil, cheer me up."

Silvio threw the money back onto the table and stood up. "'Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.'" Sil says very dramatically earning a chuckle from the room and a high five from Tony.

"Fucking spitting image of Pacino." Paulie says.

"Vincent Rizzo." The News guy said getting Joey's and Tony's attention.

"Yes." They saw a man with black hair and tanned skin with a wide goofy smile on his face through the TV screen.

"Former soldier in the Genovese family." The news guy explained while Tony shot a rubber band at Rizzo. "Government witness-turned bestselling author. Do you agree with U.S. Attorney Braun?"

"The party's over." Rizzo said, getting the attorney and the news gut to laugh.

"He is a wise guy." The news guy chuckled. "Please elaborate."

"Cloning." Pussy said interrupting the TV.

"Mexicans are huge in that." Christopher responded.

"Fascinating, gotta admit it." Pussy ignored Chris.

"Because they work as parking valets." Chris continued.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Pussy asks.

"Chris, he's talking about the new study they did in a lab." Joey said looking back down at his book. "They take sperm and egg from a man and a woman and put it into another woman, effectively making a clone of those two people. I think they only got it for sheep right now though." There was silence when Joey looked up, he saw everyone staring at him. "What?"

"How the fuck do you know that?" Silvio asked.

Joey just shrugged. "I was looking into new shit on the computer before I started school. Saw an article and it looked interesting."

"What are you going to do with that stuff?" Chris asked. "Going to be some scientist now?"

"No, I just remember stuff." Joey shrugged before looking back down at his book. Silvio grabbed the book and pulled it away. "Hey."

"Ok, let's see." He skimmed through the pages Joey already read. "Who was the Admiral... Yie?"

"Yi." Joey corrected. "He was a Korean admiral who fought against the Japanese after the Shinjuku Judi."