But they got a tutor for the other kid and he not only finished high school, but they got him into Harvard and they put him through in style. I mean he didnât lack for anything. Then when he got through Harvard, they sent him down to the University of Virginiaâs law school. I hear he breezed through that.â
âAnd this is the man in Washington who wants to see me?â I said.
âHeâs the one.â
âHow did he get to be Sacchettiâs godfather?â
âBecause Angelo Sacchetti was Sonny from Chicagoâs kid and Sonny from Chicago once saved this guyâs life.â
âYou lost me again.â
Small sighed, this time more deeply than before. âI shouldnât be telling you all this. Itâs just going to get you in trouble.â
âFrom what youâve said, Iâm already in trouble.â
He thought about that for a moment and then seemed to come to a decision. Or perhaps he was just acting it all out; I could never tell.
âAll right,â he said finally. âThis Sonny from Chicago, nobody ever found out his real name, showed up in New York one day with a one-year-old kid on one arm and a violin case in the other.â He paused and looked at me skeptically. âYou think Iâm kidding about the violin case, donât you?â
âYouâre telling it,â I said.
âThen keep your looks to yourself.â
âGo on.â
âWell, it seems that this Sonnyâs wife was an ex-hooker who had got into some trouble with one of the Chicago outfits and they dumped her into Lake Michigan. I donât know what kind of trouble it was. So this Sonny takes his violin case and takes out seven of the guys who he thought were responsible for it and he brings his kid and his Thompson down to New York. Well, by this time the kid I went to high school with is through with law school and heâs back in New York and running a few errands for Costello. He meets this Sonny from Chicago whoâs also gone to work for Costello and they start palling around together. You know why?â
âI couldnât even guess,â I said.
âBecause this Sonny from Chicago looks nice, you know, neatâjust like a college kid. He speaks well, dresses conservatively, and this kid I went to high school with has turned into something of a snob because of his education. You follow me?â
âSo far.â
âWell, the guy whoâs gone to college gets into troubleânot with Costello, but with somebody else, it doesnât matter who. But itâs bad trouble, very bad, and Sonny from Chicago and this kid get caught in a fight down in the Village. Somehow Sonny saves the kidâs life and the kid promises that heâll make it up to him.â
Small gave me another of his long pauses. âWell?â I said.
âWell, they catch Sonny from Chicago trying to cheat in a crap game two weeks later and they just nail him to the wall and leave him there. The college kid hears about it, so he takes this one-year-old baby of Sonny from Chicagoâs to raise. He becomes his godfather.â
âAnd the baby was Angelo Sacchetti.â
âThatâs right.â
âWhy the name Sacchetti?â
âI donât know, but somebody once told me that he got it off a box of noodles.â
âWhat happened to the college kidâthe godfather?â
âThey sent him to Washington.â
âWhy?â
âWhy does anybody send anybody to Washington? As their lobbyist.â
âIâd say he forgot to register.â
âDonât kid yourself.â
âWhat does he do?â
Small managed a pained expression. He did it very well, I thought. âLetâs just say he looks after their interests.â
âAnd this guy reared Angelo Sacchetti?â
âHe tried to anyhow. Maybe you donât know it but Angelo had about nine governesses and maybe as many tutors. He was