Crawford: The Gotti Case

Chapter II: The Boy and The Red

Brescia, Italy

June, 1975

As I've said, I'm a man of honor, principles, and standards. In me rests the peaceful mind of a once 16-year-old boy who loved to party, go around breaking car mirrors, and do all kinds of wreckages and sins, until that day. The day I met the mafia, was also the day I met the love of my life. Cecile Riggionni, a redheaded 15-year-old girl who would take away every single breath in a room without making a move, that's indeed how deadly her beauty was.  Her elegance and the way she moved to the Italian ballads was something to be really captivated by. It's no wonder why she was very solicited by the Italian fellas around me. But there was something else about her that really made me curious, I'd never seen her before in this area, which is fine I guess, maybe she was there because of a trip or maybe on vacation with her family? I think I'm just a very curious idiot who couldn't stop staring at her beauty.  She was always by the side of her two brothers, one of them who seemed friendly enough to approach her, the other one was Emerito, and my God was he frightful. A 6 5¨ motherfucker who was always looking for trouble everywhere he would find, but I knew him enough to be like ¨Buongiorno! Hey, I'm just here to take your sister out for a dance.¨ Just be yourself and it should be fine with him. So, that's exactly what I did, or at least what I planned on doing. Right? Just be yourself, Jake, just be yourself. And so I removed some dust from my shirt and approached her, under the summer's Italian golden sun, I was terrified to do it, but I didn't even care about her brother, for the first time in my life I was terrified of getting rejected, I wasn't very proud of who I was or the way I looked at the moment. So, as I moved between the masses, I turned around and figured that I wouldn't be enough for her so I wouldn't even try to do it. And so the days went by, I stopped messing around with my friends, and I even dressed properly each time I went. Each time looking at her and finding out a new way to talk to her and tell her how she was the most beautiful woman God had ever created. I went back home that day, as usual, alone and in the darkness but nothing was going to happen since it was a very small town that nobody was aware of. I went to sleep and ended up doing the exact same thing the next day, twenty-one consecutive days doing the exact same thing. I arrived and the plaza where we used to hang out and imagined the moment they would arrive so I would have the courage to ask her out and finally get to know who she was. The only problem, I couldn't find her and that really began to worry me. I began to look desperately as they played music in my ears, I was worried she had been gone and she didn't know of my existence, God why was I such an imbecile? It's just talking to a girl and it would've been pretty nice if I had the balls to do it. I looked down, with a fountain of tears in my eyes and heart. I turned around to get home and cry my day out. Just as I looked up and turned around I felt a hand on my shoulder and a gentle angelic voice said to me: ¨You look like you need some saving¨. I wipe my eyes dry and turn around, she's there and she is looking at me. 

¨You came a bit earlier than usual¨ she says as she wipes away a bit of dirt off my jacket.

 ¨Maybe you were looking for me? Or maybe I was just looking for you.¨ I couldn't even say a word to her, I just smiled at her wonderful eyes and so I nodded to everything she said.

 The singer was playing ¨Can't Help Falling in Love¨.

 ¨Would you care to dance with me to this song?¨. She looked at me and smiled. ¨I thought you'd never ask¨ she said.

 We danced to that song repeatedly all night, without saying a word. As the night ended, she looked at me and said: ¨Would you like to go on a trip tomorrow morning...? This is when you tell me your name so I can talk to my momma about you.¨

 I suddenly blushed and smiled, ¨Jake... Crawford... Jake Crawford, that's my name.¨ I said.

¨Okay Jake Crawford... I'm glad you remembered that.¨she replied.

¨I'll see you here at 6 am tomorrow, I'll bring some cheese, you bring the wine.¨ she said.

 I just nodded and looked at her until she left up the hill. I couldn't sleep all night thinking about her and that moment we had. I was there at 5:45 am the next day with a bottle of wine and flowers for her. It was the very first time in my life I felt love and I'm not going to lie, it felt weird and random, but more than that, it felt beautiful. I couldn't stop and think of anything else because there was nothing else to think about. That's the very first time and the only time I've ever fallen in love with anyone. I hopped in the car as she arrived and she said ¨You ready for our trip beautiful boy?¨ to which I replied: ¨I'm more than ready beautiful Red¨.

 ¨A bit cheesy, but I like it.¨she laughed. And so we went on countless trips and it was the most beautiful story ever written.

January 12, 1986

Bronx, New York

I wake up sitting by a barrel, and I know this wasn't because of a hangover or anything. I'm in an alley. I start walking across it, it's bare night at least, and my head starts to ache... Jones. It hits me. Where the fuck is Jones? I hear sirens at a distance and my heart starts to pound. I look down at my jacket and I have a small bag in my pocket. It honestly feels weird, so I take a quick glance at the bag... Is that a fucking finger? Is that his fucking....? Attached to it I can see a label or some sort of card you stamp on presents with the initials: J.J.G. Now this is personal, I believe.