Updated on 9/15/20

Omerta Journey to the Past   

By Sasha Fino

            Victor Torino gazed at Adriane Rosenberg, inquisitively. “Don’t you ever wonder if we know the whole story between my dad and your mom?” he asked as they packed up her late father’s house. Charlie “Gus” Rosenberg, Adriane’s father, was a top Chicago mobster. The only survivor of a turbulent love triangle that shook the very foundations of the Mafia’s Las Vegas Empire. Much to their surprise, among her father’s belongings, Victor and Adriane discover her mother’s carefully preserved diary dating from the late 1970s and purposely left behind by her father for her to find. Thus begins a harrowing and heartwarming tale of undying love and devotion between Victor’s father, Tony Torino, the Mob Boss and King of Las Vegas, and Evelyn Rosenberg, Gus’s wife, a hustler, and onetime showgirl. Through the vivid and brilliant use of flashbacks, juxtaposed with current events, we witness Tony and Evelyn’s insatiable love pitted against the violent and unforgiving life and the law of the Mafia. As Victor, a forest ranger who wants nothing to do with the Mafia and Adriane, an attorney being pressured to work for the Mafia. Reading through the diary, old hatreds and new alliances rise to leave us to wonder if history will repeat itself.

            Omerta; Journey to the Past is a fresh twist on the contemporary romance genre. I wanted to write a story that tells hows a mafia boss and showgirl/hustler Tony and Evelyn. Finding true love within each other and how their love would survive the challenge of the harsh world of the Mafia. Years later, their love affair was rehashing when Evelyn’s ex-husband dies. Leaving all the pieces to Evelyn’s daughter Adriane and Tony’s son Victor to piece together. Adriane and Victor have their own past to deal with the pressure of Mafia upon them. It was a joy to write with so many twists and turns in the storyline. You may think some of this story you have heard before. In fact, you have.

     Living in Las Vegas, Nevada, I had grown up with all of the stories from family and friends about how the mafia kings and queens were living the high life. Before greed, envy destroyed them from within.  As I started to dig into my city’s past, I became fascinated with the affair between Tony Spilotro and Geri Rosenthal. It had started me thinking, what if they were star-crossed lovers? How would it turn out?

            I was very intrigued by Tony Spilotro’s reign as the Las Vegas Mafia boss. He had it all, running the Crime underworld, corrupt cops, hit contracts and such, Money, and Sex. Then when he could have any woman he wants in Las Vegas. Yet Tony became romantically involved with a mob associate and a childhood friend Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal’s wife, Geri Rosenthal. That was one of the main no-nos to sleep with another man’s wife in the Mafia.   

 This was all at the back of my mind since I was working on another project at the time. One night I was bored, decided to try my hand at writing a Fanfiction to the 1995 movie Casino–a short story on my interpretation of the Nicky and Ginger’s affair.  Then I thought to take it forward a generation and let their children (Ginger’s daughter and Nicky’s son) sift through the intrigue that colored their parents’ lives. I called it, Journey to the Past: A Casino Fanfiction (That’s not up anymore)

    I was spending all of my time researching and writing this Fanfiction. All of my family and friends, even Frank Cuttolla just loved the story.  By then, I had three chapters on Fanfiction and a fourth chapter ready to go.  My family felt it should continue in book form, so I did continue writing it until I was happy with it.  What a fabulous experience this has been!  It is a marvelous journey that continues! Thank You, Uncle Frank, for your help with this book. May you find peace.          

Sorry time had ran out to get you freebie of this book. You can get it now only for 99 cents, click the photo below to get it today!