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Sofia instinctively looked up. Saw guy in purple suit, carrying duffel bag and wearing Joker mask standing right at St. Lucy's Church entrance.
Voice was completely different, but Sofia's gut screamed this Joker was Lawson.
Sudden objector made Francis feel situation was slipping. He had explicitly stationed fringe muscle outside church.
But this was crunch time. Even though Francis sensed massive red flags, he had to keep playing his part.
"You aren't Bonanno family! What gives you right to object? Alberto, throw his ass out!"
"Yes, Mr. Ricci!"
Alberto immediately signaled few guys to grab Joker.
Before muscle even got close, Joker ripped his suit jacket open, revealing C4 explosives strapped to his chest.
(Here we go, Joker in purple suit)
Sight practically scared shit out of surrounding Bonanno members. These guys had never deployed to Middle East; they'd never seen suicide vest in person.
"Nobody move! Payload on this C4 is enough to blow everyone straight to heaven! Don't believe me? Let me run quick demo!"
Before Italians could react, Joker yanked block of C4 off his chest and tossed it.
C4 is highly stable. Won't detonate from impact or open flame. Only goes off with blasting cap.
More importantly, it easily bypasses X-ray security checks, and K9 units without highly specialized scent training can't detect it, making it absolute favorite among certain professionals.
Joker then pulled out what looked like detonator and hit button.
Movement made everyone dive for deck in absolute terror.
However, zero explosion. When everyone finally looked up, they saw Joker smacking detonator.
"Looks like I grabbed wrong one! Hold on, let me check! Not this one, not this one either..."
Francis realized he was getting completely played. Furious, he started screaming at Bonanno members.
"He's fucking with us! Grab him!"
Few guys immediately scrambled up and lunged at Joker.
Right then, Joker magically produced TV remote from god knows where.
"Found it! This is one!"
He smashed button.
BOOM!
Nobody had time to react. Massive shockwave left everyone completely deafened and stunned.
Block of C4 Joker threw blew massive, gaping hole straight through St. Lucy's Church wall.
Keep in mind, American churches are totally tax-exempt. They don't use cheap wood framing to cut construction costs like standard residential houses do.
Yeah, only reason standard American homes use so much wood framing is strictly to dodge heavy property taxes.
Property tax is calculated based on construction value. Building with concrete is obviously way more expensive than using wood.
Origin of this property tax calculation is actually completely hilarious. Some paint salesman had bright idea and successfully lobbied Congress to pass bill.
Logic was simple: wood houses are cheap to build, but rot and pest control are massive headaches, especially termites.
America has highly severe termite problem, forcing homeowners to regularly repaint their houses.
Gotta admit, that paint salesman was absolute genius.
Point of all this is simply to prove Joker's C4 packed insanely lethal payload, easily shredding thick church walls.
Those older churches were literally built solid enough to serve as military bunkers during wartime.
"My bad. Guess I packed way too many dummy detonators and got wires crossed."
Joker's highly casual tone made nearby Bonanno member instinctively blurt out question.
"Why hell would you pack so many dummy detonators?"
"Hehehe! Doesn't not knowing which detonator is real add special element of surprise? Especially when you press wrong one and accidentally blow up wrong bomb!"
Joker's words sent pure ice straight through everyone's veins. Guys standing closest were instantly drenched in cold sweat.
This absolute disregard for human life—including his own—was highly terrifying. Nobody could predict what Joker would do next.
So, as Joker casually tossed TV remote in his hand and walked toward Francis, absolutely no one dared stop him. Everyone backed hell away.
If it wasn't for sheer humiliation of being first to run, half room would have already sprinted out front doors.
Watching Joker step closer, Francis was sweating profusely. Situation had completely slipped out of his hands.
"What... what exactly do you want?"
"Didn't I just say it? I object to you becoming Bonanno family boss."
"Why hell are you objecting?"
Right now, Francis's tone was massively dialed back and compliant.
Everyone is equal before C4. Doesn't matter if you're Mafia boss or street rat; you sit down and shut up when Joker speaks.
Joker in purple suit completely ignored Francis, turning instead to wave at crowd.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I happen to have two highly interesting videos here. Care to take a look?"
Dead silence. Nobody dared utter a single word.
"Hehehe, appreciate silent support! Let's roll tape!"
Joker pulled laptop out of his duffel bag, getting ready to play footage.
Francis instantly knew what was coming. Completely ignoring suicide vest threat, he shrieked at Alberto.
"Stop him!"
Alberto hesitated. He worked for Francis strictly for payout; he definitely wasn't trying to die for it.
Francis went completely psychotic, looking like he wanted to physically bite someone's head off.
"Drop him right now! He's not holding detonator!"
Joker indeed wasn't holding detonator. Both hands were occupied setting up laptop.
Gritting his teeth, Alberto drew his pistol, aiming to gun Joker down.
Second he raised his gun, high-caliber round smashed through St. Lucy's window, striking pistol dead center.
Gun was instantly blown out of his grip, violent recoil severely injuring Alberto's wrist.
Crowd completely panicked again.
It was highly obvious Joker had sniper overwatch.
Only viable elevated sniper nest near St. Lucy's was small hillside over 500 meters out.
Nailing pistol from that range proved sniper had insanely elite marksmanship.
If they could hit a handgun, putting a bullet through anyone's skull was child's play. Heads are significantly larger targets.
Joker quickly explained.
"Hehehe, relax everyone! As long as nobody does anything stupid, my friend won't shoot! She's actually total pacifist!"
Absolute bullshit! Nobody bought that for a second.
Marksmanship that lethal isn't something average joe picks up at local range. Calling that sniper pacifist was exactly like US Presidents winning Nobel Peace Prize—a completely twisted, dark-ass joke.
But under heavy threat of this "pacifist," Joker smoothly fired up video on laptop, setting it on pulpit for entire congregation to watch.