Godfather’s Twins
Godfather’s Twins
This book series illustrates 143 years of Sicilian family life - their love and devotion, traditions, commitment, loyalty, royal families merging, wealth, survival, and crime. All these factors influenced the world, both in America and abroad.
The author began to research and document five generations of historical events in an effort to learn what happened to Duke Vito and Duchess Marie Cornino twenty years ago, along with their eight grandchildren, who were four of the five sets of twins, and the great-grandchildren of Countess Athena Marie Castellammare and Duke Don Vito Cornino, the godfather of Palermo, Sicily. Baron Tony and Baroness Florence Zibelli, along with seven other family members, their security, domestic, and medical staff, as well as their two pilots, were last seen in Zurich, Switzerland, in August 2001, while conducting banking business. They mysteriously disappeared, and no one has seen or heard from them since. Rumors have spread that they were in a plane crash; others say they were in a shipwreck; and still others have said they are on a private island in the South Pacific. Another theory is that they were kidnapped by the Russian Mafia.
It all begins in 1857 in Castellammare, Sicily, with Baron Felix Castellammare sitting on the porch of the 1,000-acre Castellammare Villa Estate overlooking his fields, olive groves, and grape vineyards. Baroness Roseanna, Countess Athena’s great-grandmother, has passed, leaving eight-year-old fraternal twins, Baron Vittorio and Baroness Vittoria. A revolt was brewing in the village, and Count Don Carlos was going to use the revolt to take the Castellammare Villa Estate from him by force.
What happens to the Baron and the twins is told, and we follow them into tragedy and bitterness as they reclaim the Castellammare family treasure hidden in the castle.
Duke Don Vito Cornino, the Godfather of Palermo, Sicily, and the grandfather of Vito Jr. & Marie Cornino. He organized the Castellammare area, which became one of the strongest Mafia areas in Sicily in the late 1800s, and was then introduced to the United States in the early 1900s
Baroness Vittoria, Countess Athena’s grandmother, arranged the marriage of her fraternal twin daughter, Countess Sophia, to Count Don Carlo’s son in order to take back Castellammare Villa Estate. Countess Athena, a fraternal twin born in 1888, arranged the marriage of her twin daughter, Duchess Maria, to Duke Don Vito Cornino’s son, Duke Vito Cornino, the Godfather of Godfathers.
In this book, you will follow the lives of five generations of royal twins. You will also learn how, where, and when the Kennedys became millionaires, Baron Tony’s family is killed, and Duke Don Vito comes to his rescue. For his safety, the young boy is hidden in a wagon under hay to sneak him away from the killers and get him to a steamboat headed for America. Walk in Baron Tony’s shoes and discover how the phrase ‘concrete boots’ came about and is known worldwide.
You will also learn about the deal between President Roosevelt and Duke Don Vito, which enabled the United States military to transit through Sicily to Europe during World War II.
In 1936, Duke Vito and Duchess Maria Cornino purchased a pre-Civil War plantation home on the Mississippi River near New Orleans as their winter home, where fraternal twins Vito Jr. & Marie Cornino were born in 1939.
The plantation home is where the mafia triangle was incepted.
To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the last victory of the Battle of the Wilderness in the American Civil War, a Plantation Ball was planned and proved to be one of the finest affairs of that time, remembered for years to come. The theme was inspired by “Twelve Oaks” from the novel “Gone with the Wind.” Why Murders Inc. decided to use hit-women as well as hit-men is revealed during the Ball.
Following the Plantation Ball, Duke Don Vito & Duchess Sabrina and Count Mario & Countess Athena remained at the Plantation awaiting the birth of Duchess Maria and Duke Vito’s baby, or babies, as was common in the Castellammare family. During this time, Countess Athena spent several hours each day sharing the history of Castellammare with her daughters, Duchess Maria and Baroness Florence. The legacy of the Castellammare family was passed down from generation to generation and was shared with the author, Lewis Barton, 40 years later.
This book series was inspired by real people, places, and events. Some of the names have been changed to protect the guilty.