Faced with the strange looks from the room, David quickly explained, "I know him pretty well, but it's not what you think. I'm not involved in Mafia crimes. We just have a personal connection. He helped me before."
The others looked doubtful. That familiar with the Mafia? Everyone knows the Mafia doesn't deal with cops unless they absolutely have to.
"Come on, man, that's not funny. The Mafia and the police being friends? At best, they pay you to look the other way. Help you? No way."
"The Mafia lives by omertà. These Italians don't testify in court. They don't betray the family."
"Believe the Mafia would help the police? You might as well believe pigs can fly."
The room burst into laughter. Even the captain chuckled. "Mills, what did he do for you? Find ten bucks on the sidewalk and hand it over?"
David shrugged. "He helped the NYPD crack the Seven Deadly Sins homicide case. Yes. He deserves a lot of credit."
Silence.
Even Richie blinked. "He helped you solve the Seven Deadly Sins case?"
The captain stared. "Mills, did you sample the narcotics from evidence? The celebrity murder case?"
David Bear spread his hands. "Besides that one, is there another Seven Deadly Sins case?"
"A Mafia guy helping the police?" a narcotics detective scoffed. "Is it April Fool's Day?"
David continued, "He also helped with the Times Square case. The civilian who was interviewed on TV. That was him."
Now everyone looked like they'd seen a ghost.
Richie cleared his throat. "I've met Luca Greco a few times. Honestly? I have a good impression of him. He's helped me personally—he even helped David and me recover stolen money. He comes across as… decent. Trustworthy."
A room full of cops trying not to laugh.
Trust a Mafia man?
Richie hesitated. "Can he really help us? The sniper case and Seven Deadly Sins had nothing to do with the Lucchese family. This time it's different. It's his own people. Would he break omertà?"
"Worth a try," David said. "Don't forget his nickname—Luca the Dove. The Dove of Peace. He believes in protecting New York. Taking down drug dealers protects the city, doesn't it?"
If it sounded surreal that Black gangs had overtaken New York's drug trade—achieving what the Italians hadn't done in a century—then imagining a Mafia captain acting like a concerned citizen was even more absurd.
Still, David and Richie described Luca's past "miracles," painting a strangely contradictory image.
One officer muttered, "I thought Richie turning in a million dollars was crazy enough. This tops it."
Richie nearly snapped. "Can we stop bringing that up?"
The captain finally said, "Fine. Mills, this is yours. See if you can convince the Dove of Peace to testify against the Lucchese family."
The next afternoon, at a coffee shop in New Jersey, David met Luca with hope.
The answer was no.
Luca refused to testify. He refused to go undercover. He refused to inform.
"I thought you'd help me," David said quietly. "We're friends."
"If this were anything else, I would," Luca replied. "But betraying the family? There's no negotiation there. I won't testify. I won't go pentito my family."
He looked at David steadily. "You understand what happens to traitors. The Lucchese family wouldn't just kill me. They'd kill everyone connected to me. They wouldn't even spare Matilda."
Matilda. That bright, smiling little girl.
David felt sick.
They were so close. Luca's testimony would make the drug case airtight.
In the end, they parted at the door.
Back at the precinct, the reaction was predictable.
"I knew it."
"The Mafia is the Mafia."
"Dove of Peace? That's just branding."
David didn't argue.
The captain closed the matter. "We move on."
Driving back toward New York, Luca sighed.
"I can help. Just not like that."
This case involved family interests. The family tolerated his public persona as long as he didn't harm them. Fame meant nothing—look at Joseph Colombo. One of the Five Families, openly holding Italian-American rallies, appearing like a celebrity—yet never admitting the Mafia even existed.
Public image was theater. Loyalty was real.
Luca would not become the next Henry Hill.
If betrayal was necessary, it would be done quietly.
Brooklyn.
As Luca passed a billiards club in Bonanno territory, he smiled slightly.
He knew something interesting.
There was already an FBI informant inside the Bonanno family.
He couldn't testify.
But someone else could.
Three nights later, outside a Chinese restaurant in New York.
A black Cadillac idled at the curb.
Two men stepped out of a car ahead.
The younger one: FBI undercover agent Joseph "Donnie" Brasco.
The older man with tinted glasses: Benjamin "Lefty" Ruggiero, Bonanno soldier.
__________________________________________________________________________
[Character Card Discovered: Joseph "Donnie Brasco" Pistone (Unlocked)]
Rank: A
Source: Donnie Brasco
Skills: Infiltrator; Jewelry Appraisal.
[Bond: Stranger]
[Character Card Discovered: Benjamin "Lefty" Ruggiero (Unlocked)]
Rank: B
Source: Donnie Brasco
Skills: Emotional Corruption.
[Bond: Attention]
__________________________________________________________________________
Luca watched carefully.
In another timeline, their story was tragic. Years of friendship. Loyalty and betrayal intertwined. Donnie gathering evidence. Lefty trusting him like a son. Ultimately, hundreds indicted. Many convicted. The Bonanno family humiliated.
Lefty paid the price.
History remembered Donnie as a legend.
The family remembered Lefty as a cautionary tale.
Luca stepped from his car.
"If I can't become Pentito," he murmured softly, "that doesn't mean the war against drugs excludes the Dove of Peace."
He followed them inside.
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