The Bronx Redemption

 Chapter 1

Its 1936, the era of the Great Depression, Sonny is just a simple taxi driver, living his ordinary life. Sonny was just a ‘typical’ guy, you know? Quiet but intelligent. He wakes up, goes to work and at the end of the day, comes back home. He was just trying to make a living.

    He was the kind of guy would always dress in simple and dull clothes. He would wear a simple dress shirt, black bounder trousers, a black vest and a grey flat cap.

   Sonny and his parents migrated to America in 1919 when he was still a young child. He went to school nearby their old place where other Italian and American kids used to go. At the age of 14 he met another Italian called Vito, the school’s bully. Sonny offered him a fight for a place in his gang and since then they have been like brothers. Sonny would always get in trouble for fighting, and soon enough this caused him to drop out of school. A few years later he got his drivers license and he became a taxi driver.

   One chilly night, after his night shift, Sonny was having a cigarette in his taxi before going home. He thought of listening to some music so he started roaming through the endless radio stations of his car radio, while he was inhaling his cigarette deeply.

  Slowly taking the last few drags remaining, he stepped out of the taxi, grabbed his flat cap and loudly closed the door. He slowly walked down the street, humming his favourite song and swinging his arms to the rhythm. He turned around the corner when he heard a loud and uncomfortable tyre screech which made him shiver. Shortly after that, a series of bullet shots followed.

  Sonny immediately started running straight back to his taxi, trying to reach his car keys which were hidden deeply in his tight pocket. He got them out, sat in his taxi, turned the engine on and drove up the street. His instinct was telling him to drive as fast as he possibly could and he did.

  As he started speeding up, two men ran out onto the road. One of them was waving at Sonny vigorously and attempted to make him stop. Sonny madly stepped on the break, stopping just a few meters away from the two men.

  He heard one of the exclaiming: “Paulie lets get into that taxi” and when the two men turned around, Sonny saw that one the men was highly injured. He immediately realised that he could get into a lot of trouble because the two men that were going to enter his taxi were not only dangerous because they were involved in a shooting just a few minutes ago, but also because he didn’t know who tried to murder them.

  The two guys ran towards the taxi and one of them opened the left, back door and helped the other injured one to get in. The moment he rapidly closed, in anguish, shouted “Drive” while the other one was looking out of the back window to see if anyone was going to follow them.

  Sonny shifted gear and drove away. Suddenly a car appeared behind him with two mobsters shooting with Tommy guns, from the wide windows of their car. Paulie anxiously informed Sonny to drive faster. Sonny reacted angrily, exclaiming; “I’m trying but this piece of shit won’t go any faster”. Soon Tony the badly injured man, exclaimed in devastating pain “Jesus Christ, cant you just lose them?”

  Sonny, who was now under unimaginable pressure and in fear of losing his life, stepped on the pedal with great strength and drove away, leaving the mobsters who were after them behind. He pulled over on the side of the road where he got told buy Paulie where to go next.

  After calming down a bit, he started up his car engine again, which this time made a loud, banging noise before firing up.

  A few minutes later they arrived at Salieri’s restaurant and that was when Sonny realised that the two men he just rescued weren’t just some punks who think that they are playing it big, but that they were working for Don Salieri.