ITALY: The Code

When he was a dashing young man of only 22, many a maid of Calabria, the wild and desolate region in the toe of Italy, cast longing glances at Giuseppe d'Agostino, but Giuseppe only had eyes for one—the slender Caterina Anariti of Reggio di Calabria. Caterina's family furiously objected. "Giuseppe has nothing," they said. "Not a piece of land, not a house, not even a mule." But one day, defying the stern code of Calabria, where no offense is ever forgotten and none ever forgiven, Giuseppe carried Caterina off to a hideout in the hills. When she had submitted to him, he was sure she would marry no one else.

The only trouble was that even captured brides must eat, and Giuseppe could find no work. In desperation he teamed up with another man to rob an old woman who sold fruit. The woman fought and screamed, the men panicked, and one plunged a shoemaker's knife into her breast. During Christmas week of 1932, convicted of murder, Giuseppe was sentenced to prison for life—and on that day, Caterina found that she was pregnant.

Though Caterina bore a daughter, she gradually began to lose her feeling for Giuseppe, and in time she found a man who would marry her in spite of what had happened. But her family could not forget so easily—not even her brother Antonio, who was only a year old when Giuseppe carried Caterina off, and knew him only from an old photograph. Antonio grew into a hulking youth with fierce black eyes and a violent temper, and it was said in Reggio that he had once beaten a man almost to death. Whenever Antonio thought about Giuseppe still alive in the Porto Azzurro prison on the island of Elba, he could barely swallow his rage.

Ironically, it was a well-meaning Reggio lawyer who brought the final tragedy to Giuseppe. Looking through some prison records, the lawyer found that Giuseppe had been a model prisoner and was entitled to parole after so many years. He entered a plea of clemency for him, and it was approved by President Gronchi.

At last Giuseppe's greatest dream came true—he was released before Christmas, found his daughter, now a mother living in Reggio, and the two wept with joy. But Antonio heard what had happened and began making plans.

He borrowed a Fiat, drove to Samba-tello, where Giuseppe was visiting, and waited by a bus stop. Finally the man he had come to know from the old photograph appeared. "Are you Giuseppe?" Antonio asked, and the grey-haired man said yes. "Do you remember Caterina?" asked Antonio, and Giuseppe nodded.

"Well, I am her brother," shouted Antonio, and with that he fired two shots at Giuseppe and then two more. A few hours later Giuseppe died, but when police asked about Antonio, the Calabrians only shook their heads. No one would tell where Antonio was hiding, for though it had taken all of 27 years, a wrong was avenged.