Cambridge Street

In 1917, the world was changing. A war raged in Europe and soon the Spanish flu would ravage the planet, ultimately killing 50 million, including 650,000 Americans. People around the world were hungry; many sought new lives and new beginnings as the Great Migration continued. It is a planet in turmoil. Even given world events, the Tomaso family is content, living on a sweet-smelling citrus farm in the rolling hills of Sicily. The clan had farmed the area for two centuries but now, with taxes out of control, an incompetent government and crime rampant, their happiness is shattered. They realize that to survive, the family has to split. The three brothers must immigrate to America. In a heart-breaking sequence, grandparents say good bye to their grandchildren, knowing they will likely never see them again. Reluctantly, sadly, tragically, the brothers board a ship bound for America. On a freezing Christmas Eve, they arrive in their new home: a fourth floor apartment in a tenement building on Cambridge Street in Chicago's Little Sicily. The squalid neighborhood is also known as Little Hell, a well-deserved nickname hung on the district by the newspapers. The family quickly learns that they are not welcome or wanted in their new homeland. They are now in the lower class with no money, no language skills and with little opportunity. To make matters even worse, crooked politicians, dirty cops and violent gangsters run the streets and the businesses here, just like at home. Paolo, the oldest, gets a job as a slaughterhouse laborer doing backbreaking work twelve hours a day, six days a week for just enough money to pay the rent and put food on the table. His wife, Gianna, takes care of their two kids. The youngest of the brothers, the always sweet and smiling Leonardo, known affectionately as Nardo, finds work as a busboy and dishwasher. Middle brother Renzo, more of a con-man and never much of a worker back in Sicily, seeks more of an easy path. Iron-fisted crime boss Don Malo Tancredi and his five brothers run Little Sicily. In the beginning, as small operators, they forced local merchants to pay protection, ran gambling dens, operated brothels and stole whatever and whenever they could. However, in 1920, they became bootleggers as did other gangs in Chicago and around the country. Ten years roll by unnoticed. Paolo and Gianna add three daughters to the family. Nardo meets and falls madly in love with Francesca. Renzo and his pal Mario find a way to make a lot of money quickly, but it's foolhardy, at best. Through a series of unfortunate events, the brothers incur the terrible and vicious wrath of Malo Tancredi, who decides that Paolo should be killed publicly as an example of his power and absolute control of the neighborhood.All avenues of escape are closed. There is no help. Paolo and Gianna stand alone against Tancredi's violent killers, who wait outside to slaughter the young immigrant. All hope seems lost for the couple who must somehow survive knowing that their actions will determine their fate and the futures of their five children. Contact author Steven Decker@ Cambridge Street@comcast.net
About the Author: Author Steven Decker grew up in a large, thriving Sicilian family on the north side of Chicago. He never forgot the family stories about the struggles of his immigrant grandparents: how they survived terrible poverty, life during Prohibition and their encounters with gangsters. He has woven many of those true events into an exciting fictional tale spanning a half century. "Cambridge Street is for the millions of immigrants from Italy and the world that came to America to give their families better lives," said Decker. "They helped build our country, feed its people and fight its wars. Now, with the passing of years, their bravery and sacrifices are being forgotten. We must not let that happen."