Don Raymonde Aprile, head of a mafia clan in New York, sends his children to private schools—unwilling to have them follow in their father’s footsteps—and he sees them only on holidays. He names Astorre Dzeno as his successor: the son of his late friend. And the young man begins, step by step, mastering the “criminal science,” so that after the death of his benefactor he can take the reins of “the Family” into his own hands...