Ciao, I am Jake Bello. I was Born in Sicily, 1915. I don't know who was my papa, I remember my mamma, she died when I was 9. I was raised by the owner of Bar Giuseppe, Luca Falcone, where my mamma worked. The owner was a good person, he always treated me like his own son; when I turned 15, he told me that my mamma was raped and killed by a bastard of the Vincent Family. They didn't killed me, neither Luca, but they shot Luca on his leg to make him incapable of doing anything in his life. That night still horrifies me — I wasn't that strong to say that "I will take my revenge on them".

Anyways my life wasn't going that easy; I had to tend to every customer who enters our bar—most of them were douches, some were from the Vincent's and others from different families.

It was a cold winter night of 1932. We were just closing, but Luca heard gunshots nearby and told me to get inside immediately. And I did as he said. It was a huge clash between Vincent & Greco families. There were five main families leading Sicily at that time. They were Greco, Vincent, Graviano, Motisi and Clemente Family.

Luca was just gonna close the shop and lock it from inside, but one of the Vincent's pal pointed a gun at Luca and said  "Those bastardo shot at my arm, let me in or I will shoot you!!". Luca was afraid, I was watching everything from behind a door. Suddenly someone came and shot all the lights and killed that man, Luca took cover behind the bar table. That man started walking in to insure that the the Vincent's man is dead. His footsteps were audible and increasing second by second and I was afraid of losing Luca, so as soon as that man entered the bar, I crushed his head with a metal rod, but that attack wasn't that great. He was going to shoot me, but Luca came between us and pierced that man's neck with a wine bottle and saved me, for which he got shot in his belly. His last words were  "I know your father, he was the one who let your mother die and someday he'll use you to kill someone else's mother. Leave this hell, leave Sicily with Flavio and never come back here; all I have earned in my life won't be enough for you both to survive in this world, but I know that you'll make through these times. I love you my son, always." These were his last warm lines to me. I took all the money from Luca's locker and left with Flavio before the first sunshine. I was confused where to go, then Flavio told me that we should go to New York, America. Flavio also was a bartender of my same age and he was totally alone in this world.

He was also an orphan like me. We were heading to our future, without caring if it'll be bright or dark. I was reborn that day, I saw the cruelty of humans and how dangerous a person can be in the disguise of a gentleman!!

After a few days, we arrived at port New York Harbor, it was a city beyond my imaginations. There were so many vehicles, trains and huge buildings. It was a dream for me, that place was looking way better than Sicily. But I still miss those old days with Luca. Anyways, my language was a big problem. I didn't know English, just Italian. But after meeting father John Adams, me and Flavio learnt English, not too fluently but understandable.

During that period, we were working as goods loaders at a port. That was never a good job, Derek Smith was the owner of the port. He was very cruel, his mind never changed to show mercy to the poor workers. At that time, around 1880 to 1925, people from various countries immigrated to the United States; the reasons were simple—they immigrated because of war, famine, epidemics and when their own country refused them to stay there. Polish, Italian, German, Irish, European people immigrated to the United States. It was a lot of chaos in the beginning, but still, most of them tried to make their colonies legally and succeeded.

There were some things I always managed to do with Flavio, like roaming around the whole city in father Vertigo's Ford V8; those wheels were so nice and that reminds me of watching girls out of their dorm. Going for movies like David Copperfield, and just messing around.

One night, when I was taking groceries to home, I saw two greasers, guys always in leather jackets, who were following a dorm girl and teasing her. She was looking uncomfortable; I wanted to go home as soon as possible, but after watching that, I parked the car near a gas station. It was snowing heavily, I was wearing a woolen coat. There was a drunk cop sitting on the stairs of a motel. I was helpless, but I chose to do it the hard way—or you can say, my way. I moved towards the cop and took his pistol, coat and hat. After wearing them all, without being seen by anyone, I started to move towards greasers, who got pale after seeing me with a gun in my hand. I said out loud "Hey!! Why at this time of the night are you both fellas chasing a lady?" They were really afraid; I wasn't in that much light that they could see my face. But few more steps of mine made them go all the way back.

That girl was standing there; I thought that she wanted to thank me, but without caring anymore, I started to head towards my car.

But my luck wasn't with me, as the cop woke up from his slumber and yelled,  "Stop there! Who are you and why are you in my uniform and with a gun?" I was thinking, "Why in the world did I even choose to help someone". But suddenly I heard a sweet, angel-like voice behind me which said,  "He is my friend, officer. He wore your uniform to save me from those greasers."

The cop agreed with her in a very polite and humble manner and said, " Yes!! Miss Elena Miller, as you say." and then he took his things and measured his own way. She thanked me, I moved my head around, and there was a real angel, the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. I was amazed and stunned by her glow; I also thanked her to save my back. She introduced herself by her name, Elena Miller. My name is Jake but I never used any surname ever, but went with how Flavio and others used to call me. I introduced myself as Bello Jake. She laughed very respectfully... her laugh became one of the precious moments of my life. She replied, "Sì, you are really handsome." At that moment, it became clear that she was also an Italian. And yeah, Bello means 'handsome'. I don't know even if I was handsome or not, but her words really touched my soul, and all the pain of my previous life just got buried somewhere I couldn't find and wouldn't find, even if I tried to. After reaching home, my whole night was spent just thinking about her.

I am writing all this for no reason; I don't know if anyone will ever read this. But still, to collect my previous life in one shell, I am writing this. The cops and the Vincent's men are on my trail. I am a dead man already, but they are not gonna find me that easily; I know that I will die tomorrow. So, it won't hurt to do one good thing in my life by writing.

So, after waking up since that beautiful night, I started to get ready and move to my work. I left to work with Flavio.

Flavio was a good guy. Pushing himself to help everyone, keeping his damn broken heart in camouflage of his fake smile, that was how he was. His parents died during the civil wars inside Italy about which Luca told me one day. They died without harming anyone, just in vain.

The place we worked, that port, was maybe worst place ever in the whole city. Sometimes, poor old workers were beaten like hell by those guys who used to take protection money from us. It was Saturday maybe. Flavio was suffering from intense fever but those bastards just kept him for loading work. But he collapsed there because of his fever and empty stomach. A worker told me that he was working inside the warehouse. After hearing that, I tried to leave the place in a rush to get to him, but one of the guys, who used to keep an eye on us, stopped me and said, "Hey!! You son of a bitch, don't try to leave, just get to your work if you don't wanna lose your fucking job." I requested him, but he didn't try to listen a word. So, I broke his head using a hammer. He tried to grab me but I slipped away from there. I reached the loading site, where Flavio was lying on a cart and a person was saying, "Get to your work, you Sicilian idiot." I pushed 'em away and took Flavio on my shoulders; he was barely conscious, sweating like ice in that hot summer. He wanted to say "Give me some water." But that asshole didn't even listen to him. Luckily we got to a hospital in time, and I admitted him. It was a relief. After a few hours, I was lying on a chair outside the patient room, when a Doc came and said that he wanted to have a chat in person. We started walking and his face was so serious. I said "Okay Doc, what was you gonna tell me?"

"Flavio has tuberculosis, he doesn't have much time.", he said. I said ,"What is it? What are you talking about? Can't you fix it?" He was understanding my feelings, maybe he just didn't want me to get high. I asked him if I could meet Flavio, and he agreed.

Flavio looked very sick, he asked as I entered, " So how are you pal, when am I leaving?"

I replied, "Soon enough...there is a new movie going to release. We will go for it."

His eyes were saying that he knew everything about his disease.

I told him about Elena. He wished me good luck for my upcoming life. I wanted to cry but I held my tears which could have made him cry too.

The nurse gave me medicines and asked me to sleep. I greeted him good night and he gave me a promise to meet me soon.

I left that hospital and drank litres of Scottish whiskey at a local bar, where some greasers took my money and beat me and I asked them to give it back, I found myself sitting near a junk bin with a broken whiskey bottle, like my heart.

I fell there unconscious, but when I woke up, I saw a place clean, shiny, and a bed with the softest cushions—it was something different that happened in my life, and I was confused about that place until she came in—it was Elena.

It shocked me, and my broken heart was getting sewn together. She asked, "Did you sleep well? I found you outside a bar with torn clothes, and you were drunk. Would you tell me what happened?"