Chapter 13
Rocco entered a federal plea the following year.
Racketeering-related financial offenses.
Money laundering.
Illegal gambling conspiracy.
Obstruction tied to older conduct.
His cooperation with the trust audit and his order preventing witness intimidation mattered.
It reduced exposure.
It did not erase guilt.
He received a substantial prison sentence.
Before surrendering, he completed the diversion for slapping Seraphine.
The misdemeanor was dismissed under the agreement.
He did not celebrate.
He had learned that avoiding one conviction did not make the act honorable.
Seraphine eventually entered a negotiated plea on the assault and financial charges.
She admitted to shoving Adeline and to misleading the lender and trust advisers.
She did not admit wanting the baby dead.
The court did not require that admission to sentence her seriously.
She received years in custody, restitution obligations, forfeiture of improper fees, and permanent removal from any Bellandi trust or foundation role.
At sentencing, Adeline spoke.
Not dramatically.
She stood with one hand on the podium and one photograph of newborn Matteo.
“You treated my child as a deadline. You treated my body as leverage. I want the court to remember that the business documents and the staircase are the same case.”
The judge did.
Seraphine did not look at her.
Rocco watched from the gallery with his lawyer beside him.
No threats.
No whispers.
May you like
No old-world justice.
Just a courtroom doing what his family had spent generations avoiding.
