Both Katie and David were looking at the ceiling in silence for answers.
      “Well, for starters,” David said after a while, “how would Capone get the gold to Italy?  Obviously, his using a rumrunner to connect with a German U-Boat didn’t work out as planned ”
      “Yeah, that didn’t go well,” said Katie. “But what if Mussolini approved a plan whereby Italian ocean liners could just pick up the gold with other shipments of goods?”
      “They had ocean liners in the 1930s?”
      “I’m pretty sure they did. Maybe it’s time to check in again with Edward Prus.”
      In fact, Italy had two of the grandest liners of the 1930s, the 880-foot Rex and the slightly smaller Conte di Savoia, which Mussolini ordered to be built as the new “Italian Line,” to compete with the transatlantic liners of several other countries.  As beautiful as they were to look at and sail in, they were also extremely fast, for Mussolini swore Italy would win the transatlantic speed record called the Blue Riband, which Germany had held for years. In August 1933, Rex (below) did take the record, in four days and 13 hours.
      Katie and David arranged a meeting for the next morning with Edward Prus, who was delighted to tell them all he knew about the Italian Line, bringing out sheaves of records, books, and photos.  He told them of how and why Mussolini had the ships built—the Conte di Savoia (below) had a revolutionary gyroscope system that improved stability measurably—and for their elegance, they were called the “Floating Riviera.”
      “They really were two of the most beautiful ocean liners ever built,” said Prus. “The Conte  had  a huge open-air swimming pool called the Lido, and a grand open-air promenade, a fully equipped gym, and even a Roman bath.”
      Prus went on to describe the vast interior public spaces, including the Grand Colonna Hall with a 24-foot ceiling, full of exquisite classical sculptures and a profusion of polished marble. There was even a motorcar garage below.
      Katie was fascinated by Prus’s effusive description of the ships, but David wanted to know more about the prospect of carrying Capone’s gold back to Italy. 
      “Both boats were strictly for transatlantic crossings from Naples up to Gibraltar than on to New York,” said Prus. “They didn’t ply a southern route on the Atlantic.”
      “So, they would not have gone to ports like the Bahamas or Bimini?” asked David.
      “No, those were not that important or profitable as the Europe-to-New York route.  Mussolini built these ships for the glory of Italy, not just as cruise ships from port to port.”
      “And, if Capone’s people wanted to load the gold onto the ships?” asked Katie.
      “They’d have to do it New York. But, if it was approved by Mussolini himself, he would have had safeguards to allow such cargo on without it being inspected. Gold bullion weighs an enormous amount, so someone at the docks would have to have been paid off to ignore it.”
      “Of course, Capone certainly had enough connections in the dockyards to accomplish his end of that operation.”
      “One would assume so. A lot of what goes onboard ships doesn’t get inspected if the dockworkers are told to look the other way.”
      “And when were the Rex and the Conte di Savoia sailing?” asked Katie.
      “Let me see,” Prus said, flipping through pages in a document. “Rex was christened in August 1932 and started regular service a year later. It won the Blue Riband (right) that year.  The Conte di Savoia made her maiden voyage in 1932. Both ships continued sailing until the onset of the war and were then used for transport. Both were later bombed and sunk by Allied air strikes.”
      “So the time scheme works,” said Katie. “The ships were sailing at the time the heist was made, and it’s possible that the truck with the gold heading east was bound for New York, where the transfer onto the ship was done. And then the ship sailed back to Naples.”
      Katie and David thanked Edward Prus for his help and headed off for lunch.
      “So what do you think?” asked Katie, obviously excited by the information they’d acquired.
      “I’m trying not to get overly hopeful,” said David, “but things do seem to line up. We know that Capone wanted the gold out of the U.S.,  where the feds couldn’t get at it. He failed in his attempt to get part of the gold to Germany. Italy was really the only other alternative, and, if  he had access to one or two Italian liners with Mussolini’s approval right at the time when he so desperately needed gold in his banks, it could have worked very smoothly.”
      Katie nodded.  “I think this might be our biggest clue.”
      “Yeah, well, remember what happened with our last one. It sank off Bimini.”
      “Yes, but we weren’t wrong about it,” she said. “We can’t prove to the feds that a gold shipment went down in the Caribbean, so we’re just going to have to work hard to prove the Italian connection.”
      David drew himself up in his chair and said, sternly, “Then we’re just going to follow our leads to . . . Italy!  But is your editor going to bankroll that?”
      “I don’t see why not, if I can give him solid reasons to do so. When you were a detective, wouldn’t the department send you to Italy to investigate a case?”
      “Well, you had to have a very good reason. It would have to be absolutely critical to the case, but yes, they not only would but they did on one occasion.  I went over to compare notes with the Italian authorities and Interpol.  I also used to work on the Gotti case with a detective named Joe Coffey (far left, arresting Joe Bonanno), who once got the okay to trail a low level mobster from Little Italy to Germany in a case that involved counterfeit securities. Coffey always liked the limelight—he took Son of Sam’s confession and loved to tell people how he once danced with Nancy Reagan.  Even called his bullshit memoirs One Cop’s War Against the Mob.”
      “So why’d he get to go to Germany?” asked Katie.
      David said that after Coffey became principal investigator for New York State’s Organized Crime Task Force he apparently listened to some wiretaps while he was investigating the mob’s attempt to take over the Playboy Club in Manhattan. Coffey overheard a hood named Vinnie Rizzo (below), who was involved in the famous Lufthansa heist, saying he was going to Munich—not a place lowlife Italian gangsters were likely to visit for fun.  Coffey got permission to fly over and got some Army intelligence officers to bug Rizzo’s hotel room in Munich.
      “What’d he find out?” asked Katie.
      “Rizzo was making plans with some Mafia guys to transfer counterfeit and stolen securities through the Vatican Bank.”
      “You’re kidding? The Vatican Bank?”
      “Oh, yeah. The Vatican Bank (below) is as good as a Swiss bank when it comes to not asking too many questions. They eventually charged an archbishop who was president of the Vatican Bank with money laundering. We might have to spend a little time looking into that angle on our own case.”
       “Hey, do you remember during the O.J. Simpson trial when the court sent two guys to Italy to see what they could find out about those—what did O.J. call them?. .”
      “‘Ugly ass Bruno Magli shoes,’” David laughed.
      “Right,” all the way to Italy just to find out how many pairs Bruno Magli sold with the same tread as the one they found at the murder scene.”
        “I doubt any New York City judge would okay that kind of idiocy,” said David.
  “See, there you go. We’ve got a great reason to go to Italy! I’m sure my editor will okay the trip for both of us.  We really haven’t spent all that much in expenses, maybe $3,000 total. So, how’s your Italian?”
      “Not great, how’s yours?”
      “Not bad. My father and mother tried to get my sister and me to speak it at home, and later I took it in high school and college. We’ll do all right.”
      “Lo Spero. I hope so.”
      “Bravo, andra bene, Signore Greco.”
      “I guess I’ll call some of my old contacts in the Italian police, and you can make the travel arrangements.”
 “Fine with me.”
      “How long you think we’ll be over there?”
      “Impossible to say,” said Katie. “As long as the expenses hold out. Better pack lightly.”