A Completely Completely Different Telling

She was young and pretty and sick. Lillian Gandor, the third daughter of Ricky Gandor and his wife Jeanette. It was 1932 in New York City and the prohibition had given birth to a dark mob mentality.
New York was dominated by the members of the Camorra Martillo family and their cohorts. There were others, rivals who periodically challenged the Martillos, but these were few and were usually too busy feuding with themselves to pose any true threat to the Martillo. However, there were a few Mafiosi families who had aligned themselves with the Martillo, and as such, had gained substantial sway over certain areas of the state. The Martillo operated something like a spider-web of people, all over the country. They dominated the world of organized crime in the USA, or as the FBI called it, the American crime Syndicate.
The Gandors were one such Mafiosi Family in league with the Martillos. Connections between the two families went all the way back to their Italian origins. The Gandors of Italy had strong connections to the Camorra of Naples and by association, the Martillos of New York. When the Gandors began to immigrate to America back in the 1890’s they were warily (as is always the case with the Mafia) welcomed by the Martillo. But they received no immediate integration into the Martillos’ world. The Gandors started out independently. While being careful not to encroach on Martillo turf the Gandors began their own ring of bootleggers, protection rackets, and other shady dealings. In the world of organized crime they were the successful independent business.
Over the next five years the Gandor Empire began to be successful enough to cause even the Martillo genuine concern. Two large criminal powers would inevitably oppose one another eventually, and usually this conflict would result in the ruin of both organizations. Even now brief squabbles were breaking out between the subservient members of both families. One specific event caused particular trouble. One Aberto Gandor and one Renzo Giordano (a peripheral member of the Martillo) met in a neutral bar one night, words led to blows and before anyone really knew what had happened both young men had drawn knifes. It was a fight to remember regardless of which side you were rooting for. It lasted for hours, and resulted in the deaths of both participants.
Afterward a meeting was arranged between the head honchos of the Martillo and the Gandor families. It was a tense situation, no one knew who was going to come out of that room alive, or if this event would cause an all-out war between the Gandor and the Martillo. But the Camorra head, Alfonzo Martillo was not a stupid man, nor was Giuseppe Gandor (the head of the Gandor family) rash. They and their constituents agreed that the deaths of Aberto and Renzo were a tragic event, especially between two families that were not truly enemies. They decided, that in order to preserve the peace between the Martillos and the Gandors they would instead, align their interests. Being on friendly terms was the best resolution for a tragic mistake.
Over the next thirty years this arrangement proved to be perhaps the best decision in the histories of both families. The Gandors and the Martillos operated as separate but friendly organizations, which gave them a unique advantage over many other criminal powers. The fact that the two organizations were on friendly terms was not widely known, which meant that the one family always had a wildcard up their sleeve. The Gandors never grew as numerous as the Martillo due to their preference for keeping the business in the immediate family, but the Martillos never lost the respect they had for the Gandors’ efficient and productive heads for business. The Gandors had a handle on the information industry.
As with every family, and especially the Mafiosi, secrets abound behind certain closed doors. The Martillo and Gandor families were no exceptions to this rule. But, though many were criminal in nature, there was one secret these two families shared that was different from the rest, and infinitely more dangerous. And this is where our story begins, in the year 1935, in the back room of a dingy apartment on the Hudson River, where there once lived the family of Ricky and Jeanette Gandor.