Denver, 1942 -While most of the country is anxious that the United States could soon be pulled into the growing conflict overseas, Charlie Salardino has no such concerns. As the unchallenged head of organized crime in the Rocky Mountains, life is good for Salardino.
Backed by the Chicago Outfit, Salardino won a bloody battle with the Carlino brothers to control the mob in the region more than a decade earlier, and since that time Salardino had consolidated power and sits atop an organization that pulls in millions through gambling, loan sharking and prostitution. Salardino's control of the mob is an illusion, however, and it's quickly shattered in a hail of bullets in the sitting room of Salardino's modest Denver home.
With Salardino's death, Black Jack Scaglia, a young second-generation Italian American from Potenza, becomes the unquestioned leader of organized crime in Denver. His shrewdness and cunning, along with a viciousness that will leave a trail of enemies in his wake, leads the Denver mob to unparalleled heights over the next two decades.
The Donatos, another family from Potenza that emigrated around the same time as the Scaglias, took a different path when they arrived in the new world. Originally a clan of farmers, the Donatos are part of large contingent of Italian immigrants who enter the burgeoning carnation industry in Colorado during the early part of the 20th century. But they find their path to success shut off by Anders Lindgren, a particularly violent Swedish immigrant who controls the floral industry in the region.
By the time the 1960s roll around, the Donatos are faced with a hard choice - either remain under Lindgren's thumb, or reach out to their old family friends, the Scaglias, and possibly sell their souls for the American Dream.
Sons of Potenza is a novel about family and faith, and what lines you are willing to cross for the ones you love.