When the blurry first video showing Little Martin's murder finished playing, the crowd was already getting restless.
But when the second video played—showing Alberto directing Johnny Tran to execute over a dozen capos—the situation inside the church instantly exploded completely out of control.
Joining the Mafia often relies on introductions from friends, or even direct family ties.
Therefore, many guys in that room were blood relatives or close friends of the murdered capos.
Little Martin was, after all, just a second-generation rich kid who didn't care about family business. Most members had no real connection to him.
But those capos were the guys they bled with in the trenches every single day.
However, absolutely no one expected Antonio to be the first one to jump out.
"Francis Ricci! So you're the one who murdered Little Martin! After everything Mr. Bonanno did for you! And you orchestrated the Korean restaurant massacre too, didn't you!"
Antonio ruthlessly pinned absolutely everything squarely on Francis's head.
Francis's face turned completely pale as he instantly fired back.
"Antonio! You and I explicitly planned that Korean restaurant hit together! Why else did every single one of your capos walk out of there untouched?"
"Bullshit! I didn't! I had nothing to do with it!"
The two started frantically tearing into each other, exposing each other's dirty laundry. Joker watched with intense amusement, soaking up the drama, while most of the crowd just stood there completely stunned.
After trading vicious insults for a minute, Antonio couldn't hold back anymore and started screaming.
"You idiots, what the hell are you waiting for? Francis Ricci murdered Little Martin Bonanno and ordered Alberto to slaughter our brothers! The evidence is right here! Are you waiting for a damn judge to sentence him?"
For violent organizations like the Mafia, internal violent deterrence is absolutely critical. Without that deterrence, discipline crumbles, and the syndicate collapses.
Whatever Francis did had to be handled strictly in-house by the Bonanno family. Letting the federal justice system handle it would completely destroy family morale and unity.
Hong Kong triads have their own brutal internal punishments—like "three knives, nine holes"—specifically to maintain absolute internal stability.
The Bonanno members in the room ultimately listened to Antonio. After all, Francis's actions were solidly backed by two videos, whereas Francis's accusations against Antonio currently lacked hard evidence.
Consequently, several Bonanno members surged forward to grab Francis.
Seeing the situation completely blow up in his face, Francis quickly drew a pistol and backed away.
"Stay back! Take one more step and I'm calling my guys in!"
That made Joker literally laugh out loud.
"Hehehe! You mean the guys guarding the perimeter outside? They're long gone. How else do you think I just walked right in?"
Francis frantically looked at Alberto, whom everyone had completely ignored. Alberto was holding a radio in his uninjured hand, desperately trying to contact the perimeter muscle.
"Fuck! Where the hell are you guys?"
"Mr. Bruno, didn't you just radio that the job was done and we could stand down?"
"I said that? That's fucking impossible!"
Alberto obviously never gave that order, but the perimeter guys absolutely heard his voice.
Because Joker had hacked their comms. Standard civilian radios like those use basically the same frequencies; finding the right channel to hack in is incredibly simple.
Combine that with the Mockingbird Trump Card to perfectly mimic Alberto's voice, and the problem was instantly solved.
Alberto obviously wasn't monitoring the radio non-stop during the sit-down, so he was completely blind to what happened outside.
With his absolute last card burned, Francis had zero moves left. Gritting his teeth, he lunged straight for Sofia, clearly intending to take her hostage.
Sofia was enjoying the drama so much she completely failed to anticipate Francis coming for her. She just stood there totally frozen, like a deer in headlights.
Luckily, Joker had been tracking Francis's every single movement. The second he realized Francis's target, Joker drew a small yellow-and-black pistol and fired.
Two darts shot from the small gun and embedded themselves into Francis. In his intense panic, he didn't even notice them hit.
The next second, a massive jolt of electricity surged through Francis's body, causing his muscles to instantly seize up as he collapsed violently to the floor.
A faint smell of ozone and urine filled the air.
The ozone smell was from the electrical discharge burning his clothes, not because he was fried to death.
As for the urine... intense electrical shocks often cause the bladder and sphincter to completely lose control, resulting in incontinence.
Francis managed to avoid crapping himself, but his bladder definitely lost the bet.
The sudden chaos terrified Sofia. Her deeply ingrained cowardice almost seized control again, making her want to just turn and run.
But right then, she saw the man in the Joker mask explicitly wink at her.
Instantly, an overwhelming sense of absolute safety washed over her. It felt like even if the world was ending, she would walk out completely untouched.
After Joker dropped Francis with the Taser, the remaining Bonanno members rapidly subdued Francis's crew, including Alberto.
Antonio immediately demanded that Francis and his crew be executed on the spot, strictly according to family rules.
But Felice saw exactly what Antonio was playing at and immediately countered him with his signature snide tone.
"Antonio, you seem highly eager to put a bullet in Francis Ricci. Could it be because everything he just said about you is actually true?"
"Felice, what kind of absolute bullshit are you spewing! Everyone knows I am completely loyal to this family! If Mr. Bonanno were here—"
"The problem is Mr. Bonanno isn't here, which is exactly why your ambition got the better of you!"
It was highly obvious Felice was just throwing mud at Antonio, regardless of whether Antonio actually conspired with Francis or not.
With Francis completely neutralized, if Felice could sideline Antonio too, he would instantly become the de facto boss of the Bonanno family. Even if Luca Pastore returned, it probably wouldn't matter.
Therefore, Felice was insanely desperate to nail Antonio to Francis's sinking ship.
Stoked by Felice's accusations, Antonio's situation became highly precarious. Francis's earlier desperate accusations had been extremely effective, planting seeds of intense doubt in everyone's minds.
But Joker absolutely refused to let the script play out according to Felice's plan. Felice seizing control of the Bonanno family benefited Lawson zero percent.
Suddenly, Joker started clapping loudly, drawing everyone's attention.
"Gentlemen, it seems you've completely ignored one highly crucial opinion."
Felice frowned at Joker. The guy had definitely done him a massive favor, so Felice kept his tone relatively polite.
"Are you referring to your own opinion?"
"No, no, no! I'm talking about Mrs. Bonanno's opinion!"
Sofia's eyes went wide. Even though she was completely used to being the center of attention, this was the first time it wasn't strictly because of her looks.
"Me?"