Son of the Mob

“My father. They call him Honest Abe Luca instead of Anthony because he’s so straight in his business dealings, no matter how illegal they happen to be.”

Anthony Luca is straight in his business dealings, but that does not mean that he is easy to follow or to read, as Vince finds out over the course of the book. In his dealings with Jimmy Rat and Ed Mishkin, Vince keeps thinking that he has outpaced his father, only to find out that his father is one step ahead of him.

“Think what a terrible burden it is for a high school kid: if you say the wrong thing in the privacy of your own home, you might end up sending your father to prison.”

Vince is both aware and not aware of the pressures that his family are under. He understands that his house is bugged by the FBI, but he does not yet understand just who in his family is being investigated, or for what crime. He has also not yet met Kendra at this point, the FBI agent’s daughter who will make his situation even more complicated. 

“The incident is never mentioned at our house, but from that day on I understand that Mom has a titanium backbone to go with her heart of gold.”

Vince is referring to an early episode in his life, in which he heard his mother intimidate a young upstart in her kitchen by shoving his hand into a hot casserole. The irony of this quote is that while Vince may recognize that his mother has a strong will, he still does not understand just how central of a role she has played in the Mafia organization, as well as in his own family life. 

“He’s such an awesome person that every now and then I have to stop and remind myself that he’s a criminal.”

Vince is speaking of Ray, who turns out not to be a criminal at all, and also not to be completely straightforward. Even so, Vince’s initial instincts about him are somehow correct, as the two remain friends even after Ray’s true identity as an FBI informant has been revealed.

“But maybe that’s what he likes about it–that his younger son did something he disapproves of.” 

Vince faces a seemingly impossible quandary in trying to separate himself from his father, because his father also has rebellious, criminal instincts. Therefore, the more that Vince tries to rebel from him, the more he only proves how much alike they are.

“Of all the ways my Dad’s business screws up my life, this is the most insidious.” 

As much as the stigmatization that comes from belonging to a crime family is painful for Vince, the perks and exceptions that are a part of his situation can be just as frustrating. He knows that he is not being treated reverentially for who he is, but rather for who his father is. It is insidious because such treatment is hard to resist, even if Vince knows that it is not sincere.

“Moral of the story? If you’re going to break a law, break all of them.”

While Vince’s family are prisoners of the FBI in their own household, outside of the house they enjoy a freedom that law-abiding citizens do not. They can commit minor crimes, such as parking in no-parking zones, with impunity, because they know that the police want to arrest them for much more serious crimes.

“It’s fine for sin to pay the bills, so long as I’m squeaky clean.” 

Keeping up appearances is very important for the Luca family. It is a way for them not only to hide their criminality, but to solidify their family bond. A criminal must also be quick and alert, which is why excessive debauchery is not a good idea (and which is also why Ed Mishkin and Jimmy Rat are not especially successful criminals).

“They even call it The Life. Dad and Tommy don’t work at their jobs; they live them.” 

Vince’s girlfriend, Kendra, as an FBI agent’s daughter, also knows what it is to have a parent who lives their job; this is one thing that she and Vince have in common. Since Kendra’s father is investigating Vince’s family, he must live his job as much as they do theirs.

“Sex is no different from a television set in my father’s business. A commodity–something to be traded, bought, sold.” 

Vince is scandalized by the prostitution ring that his father manages, and the coarse, transactional attitude towards sex that it engenders. Even so, he is susceptible to the beauty of the Mafia prostitutes. This is one of many instances in which Vince is not as free of his family’s influence as he would like to be, perhaps partly because his family’s values are not so different from the values of his suburban high school peers.

“Your brother–sometimes I wonder if he’s got brains or coleslaw in there. But his heart–that’s pure gold.” 

Tommy may be limited intellectually, but this does not mean that he is not capable of deviousness, as is revealed by his hijacking of Vince’s website. Vince’s mother is also somewhat dismissively described as having a “heart of gold,” and also reveals herself, by the end of the book, to be wily and resourceful. 

“You always have to do things your own way. I love that about you, Vince.” 

This is an infuriating statement for Vince to hear from his father, as it tells him that there is nothing he can do to escape his father’s influence. If he rebels, he is a promising criminal; if he does not rebel, he is an obedient one.

“Across my chest it says FBI. Me, Vince Luca. This is like Captain Ahab in a SAVE THE WHALES T-shirt.” 

Putting on Kendra’s father’s tee-shirt makes Vince feel a sort of backhanded family loyalty. While at other times he feels that he does not belong in his family, wearing the T-shirt of an FBI agent makes him feel acutely aware of his Luca identity.

“As I leave the Silver Slipper, it occurs to me that seventeen years living under Anthony Luca’s roof couldn’t make a criminal out of me. That took half an hour in Kendra Bightly’s basement.” 

In getting involved with Kendra Bightly, the daughter of an FBI agent, Vince finds himself rebelling not only against the law, by purchasing an illegal cell phone, but also against his family. He is trying to protect Kendra and his family from one another, which is why he is resorting to illegal measures, for the first time in his life. In this way, the relationship gives him a new independence, and forces him to evaluate his own idea of what is right and what is wrong, rather than simply either following orders or reacting against them.

“[Tommy] isn’t a model citizen, but he has some good qualities all the same.”

Vince is touched by Tommy’s confiding in him and by his seeming respect for his superior intellect, and he makes the mistake of thinking that Tommy means him no harm. For all of this, he is probably not wrong about Tommy having good qualities. Theirs is a typically complicated and rivalrous sibling bond, but it is a bond nevertheless.

“Honest Abe Luca and Agent Bite-Me of the FBI. Sometimes I have trouble telling them apart.” 

Vince is being sarcastic, but in fact his father and Kendra’s father do have a lot in common: not only the consuming nature of their work, but also what their work concerns, and even their places of business. Ironically, Kendra–who does not yet know what Vince’s father does for a living–perceives this more than Vince does. The degree to which their identities are intertwined can be seen even in their nicknames: Vince’s father, the gangster, has a nickname that suggests an upstanding, moral nature; while Kendra’s father, the FBI agent, has a crass and vulgar nickname.

“The e-business economy isn’t about sense, it’s about traffic.” 

Mr. Mullinicks, Vince’s New Media teacher, cares only that his students’ website projects attract a lot of customers and “hits”; it does not concern him that this traffic might be illegal. In this way, he stands out as a morally-indifferent character, even in a novel that is predominantly about gangsters.

“Sure, I figured Dad did some bad stuff, but it was all nonspecific. Nobody had a face or a name or a ninety-three-year-old great aunt on life support.”

Vince has known about his father’s criminal activities for some time, and has even seen some gory evidence of them. But it is becoming involved in helping out Ed Mishkin and Jimmy Rat, themselves gangsters, that has made him see the human dimensions of his father’s business. This has been far more of an awakening to him than was seeing a passed-out body in his car trunk.

“I am involved in this thing, and nobody can undo that, not even the great Anthony Luca.”

Even while Vince is deceiving his father by continuing to involve himself in Jimmy Rat’s and Ed Mishkin’s situation, he is, here, angrily mocking his father’s capacity for deceit. He is referring to his father’s own evasive habit of calling murders “things” or “situations."

“I always used to hate our ‘Special Status.’ But tonight I see it through Kendra’s eyes, and I’m not even embarrassed to admit I’m psyched.”

While Vince’s “special status” can refer to his family’s criminality, it can also confer on him special treatment, because of this very criminality. This is part of what makes it so hard for him to escape his background. The fact that Kendra, who at this point knows all about his Mafia family, remains impressed by this royal treatment is an indication of just how far-reaching Vince’s family’s influence is.

“When Kendra has something she wants to record, she’ll pick up the nearest tape, jam it in the deck, and start singing.” 

Kendra’s habit of impulsively taping herself singing karaoke is out of character for her, just as Vince’s organized approach to helping out Jimmy Rat and Ed Mishkin with their finances is seemingly out of character for him. Vince and Kendra have more in common than they believe that they do, beginning with their fathers, and it is Kendra’s impulsive streak, rather than her sensible and law-abiding streak, that will ultimately end up saving Vince’s family. 

“A line has been crossed, and I can never look at my father in quite the same way again.” 

It is not his father’s violent criminal activities that have so shocked Vince but his dishonesty about his father’s business dealings that seems to go against his reputation and his nickname. Yet even at this point, Vince still does not know everything about his father, and he will be surprised by him yet again.

“To me there can be no greater insult than to be told I have a talent for my father’s line of work.”

Vince is perceived as being like his father, even or especially when he is trying to undermine him. In this case, he did not intend to advise Ed Mishkin and Jimmy Rat to burn down their places of business, nor is he yet aware of his father’s own role in this “accident.” A further difficulty in trying to escape out from under his father’s influence, then, lies in the fact that others are always ready to see Vince as his father’s heir.