Son of the Mob

Vince resolves to win back Kendra by hanging up homecoming nomination posters in the high school hallways. Alex discovers him doing this and admits to having been the person who first hung up these posters. In his jealousy, Alex had hoped that the posters would cause tension between the couple.

This chapter contains other revelations as well. In Vince’s New Media class, an offhand comment by a classmate named Fiona about one of the advertised cats on his website having the same name as a wounded horse in a horse race leads Vince to that day’s New York Post. There, he reads about the race, and realizes that his website is a site for illegal horse-betting. He further realizes, upon remembering his older brother’s sudden interest in his website, that Tommy is the bookie for these bets.

In this same New York Post, Vince comes across an article about three businesses that were destroyed in the previous night’s storm. These businesses were: the Platinum Coast, Java Grotto and Return to Sender. Once again Vince panics and worries for Jimmy and Ed. However, when he reaches Jimmy by phone, Jimmy is surprisingly cheerful. It seems that he and Ed burned down these places themselves, in order to get out from under their debt. It further seems that Jimmy had believed that this was what Vince was subtly directing him to do, that day in his club bathroom. Jimmy congratulates Vince on his business savvy, telling him: “You got the gift, kid, just like your old man” (230). 

Vince reflects hopelessly that he never wants to be a good criminal, and that among his extended family circle, “Only Ray is a real person” (231). He then remembers that it was right after Ray checked up on him and Kendra during their dinner date that Kendra’s father found out about the two of them. He has the sudden realization that it is Ray who is the FBI’s inside man. 

Vince drives to Ray’s building, taking the day off from school. Ray at first denies being an inside man, then threatens Vince with a gun. Vince reminds Ray that he is “one of the good guys” and succeeds in getting Ray to put the gun down (236). The two then begin to bargain. Vince tells Ray that his days of investigating the Luca crime family are over, and that he can guarantee that his father will not come after him. Ray protests to Vince that it is Vince’s “duty as a citizen “to turn in his family, and Vince tells Ray that he wants only to get as far away from his family as possible (239).

During this exchange, Vince learns some startling information about his mother. It turns out that it was she who had ordered the hit on Mario Calabrese, a murder for which the Lucas are being investigated. It further turns out that it is Vince’s ex-girlfriend, Kendra, who is indirectly responsible for Vince’s mother not being prosecuted: a nine-year-old Kendra recorded herself singing karaoke over an FBI recording of Vince’s mother ordering the hit.

Ray defends Vince’s mother to Vince, telling him that she had no choice but to order the hit, because Calabrese would have killed her husband otherwise. He also tells Vince that even Anthony Luca does not know that it was his wife who ordered the hit. The two of them part in a mood of mutual rueful affection; Vince tells Ray that he is “glad [Ray] turned out to be legit,” while Ray tells Vince that he will miss him (243).

Ray quickly disappears, while Vince reveals Ray’s true identity to his father. His father is surprised and outraged, particularly when Vince tells his father that he cannot go after Ray. He tells him that Tommy has been running an illegal booking site on his New Media website, and that he, Vince, has hidden the incriminating floppy disk, but that he will give it to the FBI, should anything happen to Ray. 

Vince’s father has some surprises of his own, however. It turns out that, while Jimmy and Ed did indeed burn down their own places of business, it was Vince’s father who burned down the Platinum Coast. In doing so, he dispensed justice in his own way: Jimmy and Ed are now out of debt, even while Boaz and Rafe are in trouble, having sold seven hundred percent of their club to angry investors. As Vince’s father tells Vince, “Maybe there’s more than one King Solomon in this family” (253).

Vince’s father further reveals that he had known about Vince taking Ed and Jimmy’s payments out of his own bank account. He also tells Vince that this bank account is legitimate, even if it is located in Tijuana, and that he, Anthony Luca, is an investor in it: “I may not wear fancy suits, but I’m every bit as much of a businessman as those clones on Wall Street” (255).

Vince is forced to admit that, as precocious and smart as he is, his father is still a few steps ahead of him. However, he takes some residual satisfaction in letting his father know that he is dating the daughter of “Agent Bite-Me.”

Back at school, Vince learns that only three people nominated himself and Kendra as Homecoming King and Queen. He knows that two of the people are Alex and himself, but he cannot figure out the identity of the third person.

He is grateful for the high grade that he receives for his website in his New Media class, which he knows will help him to escape to a fancy college. Even so, he shuts down the Media Marketplace section of his website, providing a link to local Humane Society branches for any potential cat-owners.

Later in the day, Vince is surprised to see Kendra waiting for him at his locker. She reveals to him that it was she who was the mysterious third voter, and tells him that it was Ray who changed her mind. It seems that, prior to disappearing from their lives, Ray stopped by her house to tell her that Vince was merely trying to aid Jimmy and Ed. Vince reflects that despite everything, his instincts were correct about Ray Francione: “[H]e took the time to visit my girlfriend and straighten everything out before he had to disappear, thanks to me. If that’s a rat, I’m moving to the sewer” (261).

Vince and Kendra resolve to stay together, even though both of their families now know about them. They agree that doing so will not be easy, but that everything should be fine, as long as they “never bring the folks together for a meet-and-greet” (262).