Latifondo At Sunset
The Latifondo at Sunset
The interior of the Matazarro household was almost unpleasantly over furnished. The house had been previously owned by one of the oldest landowners of Palermo’s most notorious latifondo operations, which involved a high profit agricultural estate divided between selected migrant workers with the close supervision of assigned wardens to keep a close eye on the workers by horseback. The main exception on the estate however, allowed these wardens to freely use violence against any workers who chose to make error on the property.
First error was punishable by unnumbered strikes to the back by whipping or being thrown down the well of the estate’s water supply. Second error was punishable either by a blow to the back of the head by horseshoe or the act of being beaten by a wooden club and left unconscious. Third error mostly involved the act of being hung from the estate’s clock tower where the employer’s torsos would be devoured and decapitated by caning or sometimes left to the pigs for further guillotine where their remains were to be thrown in the furnace with the remaining compost from the estate.
D’aminco Matazarro, the owner of a local salt mine and south-end lemon grove, inherited the property as prime economic shareholder and estate caretaker after the reign of Mussolini in 1946. D’aminco was only thirty nine years old when he inherited the estate and was already known as one of the local high end campieri within the lower portion of the Black Hand. By D’aminco’s sixty seventh birthday, the blood that had been draped over the years behind the walls of the estate was the only memory of its hardship, as its physical nature was nothing more than a condition of wilt and decay. D’aminco’s wife, Rosetta, along with their three daughters, Leonora, Dora and Sofia, had made it their highest priority to compensate the unpleasing look of the estate’s exterior by overly beautifying the interior. The architecture was purely Sicilian, which was classically labeled as a Tuscan country home style.
Raymond Peppino visited the family estate quite frequently for afternoon meals and chats over coffee and pastries. Raymond was on the council commission for the local Christian democratic council, an organization that often collaborated with the low end of the mafia in exchange for patronage and control of the Black Hand’s local use of violence. Raymond was pleasantly involved with their eldest daughter Leonora, who had no intentions of keeping close attention to her figure or toward any future employment prospects, which was choice that was decently accepted by her mother and father. Raymond was highly unattractive with huge gaps in his teeth and disfiguring moles all over his face and body, yet the relationship was only better for business. The only attribute that Raymond could hold for himself was his position on the council, where he could legally attain anything he wanted, most accordingly, money, property, drugs and women.
Seeing that it was illegal by the church and local authorities for a woman to walk the streets of Palermo alone without the presence of two other women or at least the escort of a member of the woman’s family, Raymond chose to befriend the women he fancied by becoming intimate with their families. Truthfully it was the Matazarro’s youngest daughter, Sofia, that Raymond was most infatuated with. Sofia was only nineteen years old and was truly one of the most beautiful women in Palermo, Italy. It was her green eye combination along with her long raven-hair and voluptuous slim figure that drove the local men fanatical.
One afternoon following a four course brunch crafted by Rosetta and Dora and a long political discussion concerning the future of the church’s involvement with the commission, the family was enjoying an after meal nap with the exception of Sofia who was tending to the laundry in the den, and Raymond who was sitting in the formal living room next to a slumbering Leonora nursing a cup of espresso. Raymond, while picking away at a sugar cube in his espresso cup, slowly rose from the couch and walked quietly into the kitchen to set his cup down on the counter next to the sink. Sofia could be seen through the window of the kitchen in the den where she was washing the white colored sheets in a huge vat of boiling water. Sofia caught an eye of Raymond’s glance and mildly ignored him while hanging the contents of her laundry on the clothesline to dry. Raymond entered the den and quietly approached Sofia from behind where she slowly turned to face him.
“Oh, Mr. Peppino, I hope I didn’t wake you” she whispered.
“No, not at all, I’ve just had one to many cups of coffee I suppose” said Leonard.
“Well if you like I can wake Leonora and she can make the three of us some more espresso” Leonard began to pace around her while she remained with her hands reaching above onto the clothesline.
“You know, I’m a very high admirer of your father, he’s done so much for this neighborhood and for the community, in many ways he’s more of a business man than the mayor.”
Sofia turned away from her laundry and gave Raymond a forged but genuine smile.
“Yes, well he does manage to make a lot of money for your commission, and it’s even more magnificent that you’ve grown so close to Leonora, my father is so pleased with you two, being together, she just adores you.” Leonard walked over to the opposite side of the clothesline and turned to directly face Sofia.
“You look so beautiful standing there, with the sunset behind you, you almost resemble royalty with the sunlight shining against your body.”
Sofia clipped another sheet onto the clothesline and gathered the remaining pile of sheets into a basket and walked briskly into the kitchen. Leonard remained still, standing in the same place and continued glancing at Sofia standing through the kitchen window. Leonard hastily ripped off a piece of rope from the clothesline and ran into the kitchen grabbing Sofia from behind and pulled the piece of rope around her neck tight. Sofia coughed and struggled in gasps.
“What are you doing? Let go of me!” Leonard proceeds to cover her mouth with his palm.
“If you speak one more word, I’m going to break your fucking neck”
Sofia struggled to reach for the rope around her neck but could not manage to break it loose.
“Now, you listen to me, I’m going to quietly walk back through the den where we were, and you’re going to do nothing but cooperate and then we’re going to walk across the yard and then into the maid’s quarters, and I swear on Omerta if you even mutter as much as whisper when we’re outside, I’m going to throw you from the fucking balcony.”
Sofia shook back and forth with all of her strength while her screaming was muffled under his palm. Gasping for air, Sofia nudged forward toward a pile of cooking pots that were placed next to sink and managed to knock over a plate full of silverware all over the floor. Leonard jammed his knee into Sofia’s back knocking the wind out of her and dragged her into the den and then outside onto the grounds of the estate.
The abrupt noise awakened D’aminco from the master bedroom upstairs, where he heard the sound of the back door of the house slam shut. D’aminco walked toward the front window of the bedroom to see that Raymond’s car was still parked out front. He reached down for his pants and robe and proceeded into the hallway downstairs.
Raymond continued to drag Sofia’s squirming body across the crop yard located through the gate behind the house. Sofia repeatedly attempted to bite into Raymond’s palm as he continued to pull the piece of rope tighter around her neck with his right hand while keeping his left palm pressed tightly onto her mouth. They finally reached the front door of the guesthouse where Raymond kicked open the door and threw Sofia’s body into the doorframe and slowly reached his foot around to close the door. Once inside, Raymond threw Sofia down onto the bed, of the small one room guesthouse and began to beat her down across her face with his fists.
“Are you gonna fucking squirm? Huh? Are you?” he asked while sliding his hands onto her neck. Sofia remained quiet and lied there calmly as he began to clasp his hands tightly around her neck. She slowly placed her hands on top of Raymond’s and pulled them away from her neck. She then reached gently up toward his face and pushed him to a stand so she could kiss him. Raymond gave her a long wide-eyed glance and ripped the front end of her dress down revealing her bare breasts. He reached his hands down to her left bosom and began to caress it gently while kissing her.
Meanwhile D’aminco paced around the house to figure out what caused the struggle inside the kitchen. He discovers Leonora who is still asleep on the couch and slaps her to wake her up.
“Wake up you fatso! You’re always sleeping” he yelled.
Leonora screamed and broke down into tears and ran upstairs into the bedroom to her mother. D’aminco continued to pace around the living room when Rosetta walked furiously down the stairs.
“Why are you beating up your own daughter? Are you a madman?” Rosetta asked.
Leonora peeked her head from the top of the stairs.
“Because your stupid fat daughter said something to Raymond to make him throw things in the kitchen and storm out of here!”
“I didn’t say anything to him! I was asleep! I don’t know where he went” yelled Leonora.
“You’re a liar you little brat!”
Rosetta yelled for both of them to stop and stood between them.
“What’s the matter with both of you? You’re both brats! Jumping to conclusions without even finding out what actually happened. Leonora, you go wait in the bedroom, and D’aminco, go outside and look for Raymond on the grounds, I can’t believe how stupid both of you are for acting this way, you’ll always be children, I’m the only one in this house that doesn’t have the mind of an infant.” D’aminco wiped the sweat from his head and walked through the back door of the den.
After Raymond had fondled down Sofia’s body, he reached down toward his pant zipper and began to unzip it quickly. He reached for Sofia’s head and pulled it down toward his crotch. Sofia gasped in terror and backed away. Raymond slapped her across the face and clasped her cheeks and faced them up toward him.
“No more hesitations god damnit! You’re going swallow whatever I give to you, and you’re going to love every drop of it.” Raymond released Sofia’s face and then slapped her again with a forceful blow. “Because if you don’t you won’t be able to recognize yourself anymore when you sit down at your vanity mirror in the morning, now open your mouth!”
Sofia did as she was told and began to give Raymond hesitant oral pleasure. While in the act, Sofia looked up at Raymond’s face and began to blow faster. Raymond reached for the back of her head and motioned along with her thrusts while lightly moaning. Raymond began to slow her down to indicate that he was about to climax, when Sofia bit down with all of the strength her jaw muscles could generate, and shook her head back and forth to crunch into his foreskin causing blood to squirt all over the bedroom. Raymond cried out a high shriek of pain and misery as he grabbed a small clock from the night table by the bed and smashed it on top of Sofia’s head.
Sofia remained still with her jaw tightly clasped shut firmly on Raymond’s penis. He began to howl with a loud ache, slapping and kicking Sofia all over her face and body until he managed to pull off a piece of her scalp by heaving the root of her hair that managed to shed blood down across her face which left her fallen to the floor in throbbing pain.
Raymond, in hysterics, grabbed Sofia by her neck and threw her onto the bed and ripped the remains of her dress and panties and began to penetrate her violently even with a throbbing open wound on his penis. Sofia screamed in shock as Raymond continued to penetrate her and hammer her head into the front end of the bed frame. The sound of Sofia’s cries of pain could be heard all across the crop yard of the estate.
D’aminco kicked open the front door of the guest house and charged into the bedroom where he grabbed Raymond by his shoulders and pulled him away from Sofia. He clutched Raymond tightly and pushed him down on the floor with his hands on his neck and began to viciously suffocate him. Raymond began to cough and retire from struggling as D’aminco pulled him up to his feet and threw him outside the door face down onto the ground where he proceeded to kick him repeatedly in the stomach. He pulled Raymond’s face high off the ground and slammed it down hard onto the cement doorstep of the guesthouse, Raymond lied there motionless, face down on the pavement with the remains of some of his teeth and a pool of blood.
D’aminco ran inside the guesthouse to find Sofia lying in the corner of the bedroom on the floor unconscious. He picked her up off the floor and ran outside the guesthouse screaming for Rosetta to come outside. The sun had set completely as the moonlight began to surface softly lighting the exterior of the estate.
Four hours later, Sofia was asleep in her bedroom where she was being cared for by a local doctor and her mother and sisters. She was treated for minor wounds around her neck, scalp, face, and lower body near her pelvis.
She had also suffered a major concussion as well as temporal damage to her vaginal cavity. D’aminco slowly paced outside the guesthouse around Raymond’s body that still lied motionless on the doorstep with the exception of an occasional bodily thrust from the fatal injuries. He continues to pace back and fourth until he rests his hands behind his back and faces Raymond’s body.
“It is sacrilege and nothing less of disgraceful that you’re still alive. What you’ve done to my family is only the beginning. Your brief future is the only thing I’m completely confident about tonight. Your actions have not only had repercussions on the future of my family but they’ve completely destroyed Sofia’s forthcomings. She can never return to her normal life after this madness. She will be shamed and forsaken by the all and sundry of Sicily. The only place where she can find salvation and deliverance is the church. The Benedictine nunnery is now her new home; Omerta can be mended there, and only there. I am not a conservative man, nor do I frown toward the cause for social consciousness and the restraint of the market. All I know is that I love my family, and my business, and the interests of the Black Hand can no longer be exchanged for our patronage. It will not be compromised, and without the endorsement of your Christian democracy, our commission will regain what he had always possessed, which is ferocity in exchange for privilege and concession. Your fate as Raymond Peppino, senior member of the DC will be the new public definitive indication of our new direction as a respective and reputable commission.”
The next morning in the Quattro Canti central square of Palermo, the everyday routine of the neighborhood was suddenly intermittent with the sight of Raymond Peppino’s wounded remains placed in a sitting action on the front steps of the central offices of the DC democratic labor party, known to Sicilians as the Christian Democracy. A wooden sign was placed in his right hand that read the word “Omerta”. Everybody who knew of the Matazarro wing of the Black Hand knew that all Omerta matters are handled in public.
Copyright © 2007 Tarek Karkoutly |