Death's Witness (36 page)

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would try to locate Ellen J. M. Banfield in New Mexico. There was no Ellen J. M. Banfield in New Mexico.

Angela Rosselli found that her husband, fluent in Italian (at least Brooklyn Italian) since birth, was very helpful to her when she translated not the literary types but the Italian crime novelists.

Because of his background, Vincenzo Moscatti—now with a beautifully groomed gray-and-black beard—was able to give her the New York English equivalents of the tough talk in the grittier Italian novels she translated.

Ellen J. M. Banfield once dedicated a translation to “VM—The Virgil who led Dante through hell, but stayed on for the ascent to heaven.”

Much of Vincenzo’s time was spent taking Pia to and from school. She never noticed that on their walk to the American School in Rome, along the freshly washed sidewalks, a black Lincoln Navigator with tinted windows followed them. There were, after all, many black SUVs on Rome’s narrow ancient streets.

In fact, many of Pia’s classmates were driven to and from school in either black SUVs, American-made limousines, or gleaming German cars. Vincenzo and Angela worried sometimes that Pia knew that her parents were as wealthy as her classmates.

But Vincenzo and Angela put that small worry to the side. It was an inevitable consequence of the fact that Angela had “inherited”

well over one hundred million dollars—now located in banks in Liechtenstein, Switzerland, the Cayman Islands, and elsewhere in
P A U L B A T I S T A

the world—from Pia’s dead father. Small fractions of that money were wire-transferred monthly to a beautiful retirement village in Arizona where Pia’s father’s parents now lived, after their years and years of survival in the harsh Massachusetts winters. Sometimes Vincenzo sent one of the men who drove the Lincoln Navigator from Rome to Arizona to give Lou and Mary pictures of the child as she grew. Lou’s Alzheimer’s was so advanced that the pictures of the beautiful child meant nothing to him. Mary, alert and vital even in her mid-eighties, framed each of the pictures and knew enough not to ask the pleasant man where the pictures
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were taken. The visitor would stay for fifteen minutes, have coffee, and leave with a pleasant wave.

Vincenzo had never had children of his own. With Pia in his life, he found himself baking cookies with her and taking her to the movies. He read to her at night. She called him Papa.

And in Vincenzo’s long quiet nights in the ancient city, as he stretched naked behind his beautiful wife’s pregnant, also naked body, he dreamed about their new child. Vincenzo would be almost sixty when the boy was born. Vincenzo’s own father had died at ninety.
There was still all that time
, Vincenzo thought,
all
that time
.

D E AT H ’ S W I T N E S S

About the Author

Photo

Educated at Bowdoin and Cornell, Paul

Credit:

Batista is one of the leading criminal

Larry

defense trial lawyers in America. He is also one of the country’s most familiar and

Bussacca

widely known television personalities, with hundreds of appearances on Court TV,

MSNBC, and CNN over the last fifteen

years. His articles have appeared in the
313

New York Times
, the
Wall Street Journal
, and elsewhere. He is the author of several legal textbooks, including
Civil RICO
, the leading treatise on the federal racketeering law, now in its third edition. His poetry has appeared in such leading literary magazines as
Poetry International
,
Pegasus
,
Press
, and
Parnas-sus
. He served in the United States Army in the early 1970s. An avid marathon runner, he lives in New York City and Sag Harbor, New York.
Death’s Witness
is his first novel. He is at work on his next novel.

D

“Grabs a reader by the

throat from page one

E

and won't let go.”

Praise for
Death’s Witness

—SUSAN JACOBY

author of

“The verdict on Batista’s debut legal thriller: guilty of delivering not only A

Freethinkers: A History of

Tom Perini, legendary Heisman Trophy winner

American Secularism

sharp courtroom drama but steamy romantic escapism as well.”

turned successful criminal lawyer, has just

—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

T

entered Central Park for his evening run. The

“Only a veteran trial lawyer could write a thriller like this! The plot twists and
PAUL
lightfromthesettingsunwashesoverhisfaceas turns are incredible! It made me want to leap from the anchor chair Perini enters the no-man’s land where Harlem into the courtroom and try the case myself!”

H

and East Harlem join at an invisible seam.

—NANCY GRACE
, anchor on CNN and Court TV

Within minutes Tom Perini’s life turns into a

“From the terrifying opening scene through the riveting cross-examination

’

mystery—with murder at its heart.

to the ever-shifting plot line and finally to the dramatic denouement, this well-crafted legal thriller has the feel of the real, because it was Bussacca

S

written by a first-rate lawyer who is also a very good writer.”

BATISTA
PaulBatista,oneofthecountry’sforemost defense lawyers, has written a tale of killers

—ALAN DERSHOWITZ
, author of
Preemption:
Larry

©

The Knife That Cuts Both Ways

and criminals so devious, and a courtroom photo

drama of corruption and greed so authentic,

“Grabs a reader by the throat from page one and won’t let go...Batista’s

“Only a veteran trial lawyer could write a thriller
it reads like tomorrow’s headlines.

One of the leading criminal defense trial W

New York will now take its place alongside Raymond Chandler’s
like this! The plot twists and turns are incredible!

Los Angeles as an iconographic image of urban power and frailty.”

lawyers in America, Paul Batista is also
It made me want to leap from the anchor chair into
Enter a venomous world populated by an

one of the country’s most familiar and

—SUSAN JACOBY
, author of
Freethinkers:
the courtroom and try the case myself!"

A History of American Secularism

imperial drug lord addicted to poetry, a widely known television personalities.

—NANCY GRACE

killer who slithers through the city with Over the past fifteen years he has made

I

anchor on CNN and Court TV

“One of America’s leading trial lawyers, Paul Batista, total anonymity, and a beloved but

hundreds of appearances on Court TV,

T

has written a gripping thriller. A great read!”

MSNBC, and CNN. His articles have

hopelessly corrupt Congressman—all of

—FRED GRAHAM
, anchor on Court TV and appeared in the
New York Times
, the whom have to watch their backs when

Wall Street Journal
, and elsewhere. He N

former CBS News correspondent

one of the world’s great criminal

“A spectacular new addition to the legal thriller genre. Fast, smart and is the author of several legal textbooks, lawyers finds himself involved in ways

exciting, with richly drawn characters and a racehorse pace, including
Civil RICO
, the leading trea-he never dreamed could happen. As the

tise on the federal racketeering law, now E

the book will pull you in from the first pages and crimes mount and the betrayals hit

barely let you up to catch your breath.”

in its third edition. Paul Batista is also a closer to home, he will have to find the

—JACK FORD
, anchor on
Good Morning America
published poet.

S

DEATH’S meanstoprotecthimselfandthe

“Paul Batista has a winner. There’s true crime, passion, suspense fueled woman he loves before they become

by richly crafted characters. Be warned: do not start this book S

Death’s Witness
.

late at night... you won’t put it down before morning... and you’ll be surprised all the way to the last page.”

—RIKKI KLIEMAN
, former Court TV anchor and author of
Fairy Tales Can Come True

www.sourcebooks.com

WITNE