Family / 23 October 2013
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The True Story of Bruno Caporrimo: from Mafia to Jesus' Follower
Yenny Kartika Official Writer
In the late 1900, World War I had created a big wave of Italian immigration to America. In a major city like New York, they formed a secret criminal society known as the mafia. After World War II, Bruno Caporrimo and his family moved to New York. But the life in New York was not easy.
War wept a lot of things, including food. Bruno didn’t like living in America. “I didn’t like America. My dream was Italy,” Bruno said. Hence, Bruno preferred to spend his time in his room, shut himself in for 3 months.
Then in February, Bruno’s father came and said, “You’d better stop weeping for yourself. Mom’s got cancer!” Since then, all his dreams were shattered. Bruno had to put his dream down to be a lawyer and worked full time in order to help paying his mother’s medical bill.
“I fully regretted my mother’s death. I was very depressed, I was angry with God. God was not real,” Bruno said disappointedly. To him, God was the cause of his mother’s death. Bruno told God, “If you’re real, You won’t do this to me, but most likely You’re not real.
Bruno’s father also fell in depression. Later, after her mother’s death, Bruno’s father died.
“Why God? Why did You have to do this to me?” little Bruno had to deal with the reality. He lived without any parents.
*****
Bruno had a difficult life in New York. His life’s filled with alcohols, bad decisions, and even breaking the law. Once upon a time, he was driving car with his friend. They were drunk. A pedestrian hit by the car and then they fought each other. Bruno was arrested. He was taken before the judge.
“I hereby sentence you six months at the Ricker Island Penitentiary,” the judge said.
In prison, he met a mafia named Salvatore. They were good friends.
“Hey Bruno!” Salvatore said. “When you come out, you look me up.” He said so because he ran card games. Salvatore was going to employ Bruno after he was released from prison.
Bruno kept the address that given by Salvatore, that was Diamond Doll Club.
*****
When Bruno went to the club, he started drinking, smoking cigarette, and even now he was gambling every night.
Bruno put all his money, but in the night, he lost it all.
“I Owed 15.000 dollars. If I don’t pay, they’re gonna kill me. How could I get 15.000 dollars?” Bruno said.
In the city, there was a professional jewelry thief called Murf the Surf. He intended to help Bruno.
“Follow me, I will get you the money,” Murf the Surf told Bruno.
Later, they went to Las Vegas. There, they robbed jewelry from a billionaire. Now, Bruno was a thief.
“I got 15.000 dollars. I go back to Salvatore. I pay the mafia,” Bruno said.
Bruno now works with the mafia. He becomes the link between the club and the police. He regularly delivered payment to them in order to secure police cooperation.
“But the more money that I made, the more money I lost. I wanna get rich. So, the more I stole, the more I wanna steal. The more I gambled, the more I wanna gamble. The more women I had, the more women I want. The more I drank, the more I wanna drink. Never fulfilled.. never.”
Bruno spent many years of his life under the shadow of mafia, until he met a girl named Angela. He fell in love and married her. He decided to have a good life, away from the mafia, and moved to California.
“I’m gonna open up a restaurant. I work hard, 20 hours a day. Within two years, I built 2-million-dollar business.”
Beyond his successful business, Bruno had to deal with frightening circumstance: his lovely wife fell into drugs abuse. The white powder that he found was cocaine instead of flour. Bruno resisted his wife’s behavior.
Not only Angela fell deeper into drugs, but Bruno’s business also went down. They lost a lot of money. Angela started stealing some money from the business outcomes to satisfy her drugs addiction.
One particular night, she went out to store more drugs. She lied to Bruno, told him that she was shopping. But later, the tragedy happened.
Unintentionally, Bruno, which was driving car, hit his wife while she was crossing the street.
“She’s in comma for fourteen days, and I had to pay 120.000 dollars for the medical treatment. So I took all my money to go to Las Vegas. But when I went to restaurant, there was a preacher there, soft-talking Christian.”
“Are you the owner of this restaurant?” the preacher asked Bruno.
”Yes, yes I am. How can I help you?” Bruno replied.
“You look like you’re in a bit of rush. Where are you headed to?”
“I am going to Las Vegas right now, you know, gambling,” Bruno said.
“Don’t do that. So let me pray for you,” the preacher said.
Bruno just accepted the praying offer from the preacher, but he has determined to go gambling because he needed money.
But the preacher then said, “Money’s not gonna fix it. Whatever problems you have, Jesus would help you.”
“Jesus will fix it. You just need to tell him that you’re a sinner,” the preacher said.
Bruno was shocked. “Shut up!” he said. “I’m not a sinner! You’re calling me sinner? I’ll show you what the sinner is!”
And Bruno punched the preacher on his face. He got hurt, but was only silent and did not retaliate. Suddenly, Bruno felt that he was very mean.
*****
In Vegas, Bruno won more than 100.000 dollars. Unsatisfied, he decided to place all of his money to two football games. The next day, he checked the score. Bruno lost both games.
He was frustrated. He wanted to kill himself. “I took the gun and I was ready to blow my brains.”
“What should I say to my family? Angela has probably dead by now.”
Bruno lost his mind. But when he was about to pull the trigger, Bruno was reminded of the preacher’s words.
“As a matter of fact, the problem is not about money. Whatever problems you have, money’s not gonna fix it. Just confess that you’re a sinner, and Jesus will forgive you.”
Bruno was startled. In his confusion, he realized. “Oh my God, this guy’s right.” Bruno decided to call upon Jesus whom the preacher talked about.
When Bruno said, “Jesus, I want to know You, come into my heart, come!”, he felt the power came inside him.
Bruno was overwhelmed with forgiveness and freedom. He asked God to heal Angela.
But suddenly someone came and brought a bad news. “Angela has passed away few minutes ago.”
Bruno was so miserable.
Bruno came near to bed where his wife laid down, and kneel beside her. He prayed, “Jesus, I will go anywhere to serve You. Bring Angela back. You got the keys, God.”
Suddenly, the anoint of God was inside the room, like an invasion. Like somebody opened up the door, and Bruno watched his own eyes like lights went to Angela’s body. And Angela came alive!
*****
At that moment, Bruno finally found the answer he has been looking for. His repentance has brought to his redemption. He left all his wrong ways and surrendered his life to God. Bruno found one thing that satisfied him, Jesus Christ.
“Now I got God in my life. I’m really grateful because God has forgiven me, redeemed me, even transformed me and made me a better man that I am now and never been before. And He has built my character and made me the man that He intended me to be,” Bruno said.
“Being Christian is not a religion, it’s the way of life,” Bruno said in the end of his true story.
Source:
Bruno Caporrimo
Sumber : V130924113653
