“It isn’t that difficult anymore to impersonate someone,” Emmanuelle said. “Actors do it all the time. You study their mannerisms, the way they walk, the kinds of language they use, the tilt of their head when they talk. You need a lot of video, and you watch it over and over. You listen to the sound of their voice. You have to have the same body type, obviously.”
A waitress came in and no one spoke while she took their orders. She was very familiar with the family and clearly wouldn’t have repeated anything, but no one would take chances or put temptation in her way.
Valentino turned the idea of impersonation over and over in his head. If someone was using Marco Messina’s identity, they were definitely risking the wrath of his father if they were found out. If Val could prove such a thing and take it to Tibberiu, that would solidify his position even tighter with the Messina family. That couldn’t hurt anything.
The deception had to have been planned very carefully, years earlier, by someone who knew Marco very well. Someone he was close to. Friends with. When he was in college or before? Theater. People changed appearances in theater.
“What are you thinking, Val?” Stefano asked.
“Emmanuelle could be on to something. If someone has been impersonating Marco, they probably know him. Most likely they’ve known him a long time and either are still close friends with him or were very good friends with him in the past. To put a network like this together takes time. Years. It has to grow. It started small somewhere. My guess, in a school. Whoever started this maybe pimped out his girlfriend for unpaid debts or just for kicks to see if she’d whore for him. He started a little side business and made money.”
If his family was involved in organized crime, he might feel entitled to sell drugs or women, even in high school, if they did that sort of thing and he was aware of it. Most of the families flew under the radar these days, not wanting to look like they did in the old days.
Valentino texted Bernado to have him start hunting down any connection between Marco Messina and anyone around his age from any of the other families that might be considered a possibility. He could see that Stefano was setting his investigators on the trail as well. He found it a little disconcerting to be sharing information with the Ferraros, but Stefano was equally as generous with him. As long as that continued, he would use every resource and try to come to terms with having a larger family than he’d expected.
He glanced at Dario who was frowning, watching the interaction with Stefano and Geno as they both were as busy on their phones as the two of them were. He had the feeling they would be expected to go to the Sunday dinners at Stefano’s penthouse with Emmanuelle’s family. That would be interesting. Dario might lose his mind.
“Let’s say Marco has a friend in high school or college who gets the bright idea of impersonating him and using his identity to set up a human trafficking ring,” Stefano said. “Why? Why would he determine from the get-go that it would be better to use Marco’s identity rather than his own even at the start of the endeavor?”
“That’s easy enough,” Vittorio said. “The Messina name carries the most clout. If you’re young and you want to impress people much older, get them to listen to you, you choose the heavy hitter. In our family, we have all kinds of cousins. Someone young wanting to make an impression isn’t going to throw out the name Greco, they’ll use Ferraro.”
There were nods of agreement all around the table. That made sense to everyone.
“Now, he’s got a good start and he doesn’t want to get caught.” Lucca took up the narrative. “All suspicion is going to fall on Marco, not the imposter or his family. It’s win-win at this point. He’s been at it a long time now, and the money is good. He’s not going to stop.”
“Val took down an arm of his pipeline and crippled part of his territory. He’s going to want to get that back. That means he has to eliminate you. He’ll look to see who takes over Miceli’s territory, and if he thinks he can, he’ll approach him with a proposition, but he’ll have to kill you, Valentino,” Dario said.
“We did,” Valentino clarified. “Everyone in this room.”
“He’s only looking at you, Val,” Stefano said. “He’ll be looking to hurt you. That includes getting at you through Emmanuelle.”
Geno glanced at his watch. “My people are taking apart that car right now. My investigators can’t find any ties to any kind of crime by the driver. He’s definitely not a hit man. No money trail that they could find. He looks clean.”