There were no towering skyscrapers. Under the clear, open sky lay an ancient city packed with multi-story buildings in warm ocher tones. Walking through its streets and alleys felt like strolling through history rather than the modern age.
If Magic City and Tokyo gave the impression of modern concrete jungles, while London and Paris were respectively an elegant British gentleman and a charmingly promiscuous lady,
then Rome was an aristocratic matron from an old family, beautiful with age yet carrying a classical antiquity.
But as had already been said, a city's beauty had nothing to do with whether the people inside it were good or bad.
Every city had its glamorous side, but each also possessed shadows unknown to most.
And when Rome—no, when Italy's famous things were mentioned, what came to mind?
Whatever it was, one name should have been among them.
—the Mafia.
Southwest of Rome, an underground casino.
Dim, suggestive lighting; the clatter of chips and roulette wheels; cards forming flushes across green felt; music that stirred hormones and adrenaline.
People there to gamble and launder money held scantily clad women as they entered private rooms. There was a market where "goods" were traded in secret. Everyone who came here was stained with "gray."
This was a den of excess unknown to ordinary people in the real world.
What had begun as a band of outlaw heroes had, over time, completely evolved into a criminal organization engaged in illegal activities.
The meaning of unrestrained desire and decadent indulgence was displayed to the fullest in this underground casino run by the Mafia!
Yet beyond the "business area," in a luxurious room at the very back of the casino,
the sound of something smashing through a tabletop suddenly rang out!
"An entire morning! You're saying so much happened in