Blerim Burjani Author of the book The Butchers – father warns sons of rival gangs and family rules

The Family Meeting
“My dear sons,” father said one evening when he gathered us all together. “I have called you here because difficult times may come. One of you might be killed in conflicts with other gangs.”
“There are many gangs we may face: the Napolitana gang, the Kastra gang, and others. They are trying to take over the narcotics trade. They are recruiting many sellers, mostly children.”
“But we have a rule in this family: women and children must never be part of our conflicts.”
“We will fight anyone who attacks us or tries to take the money and power we have built. No one will take control of the drug market in the neighborhoods we dominate—in Pristina, Tirana, and Skopje.”
“One day all these territories must be controlled by us—the Butchers.”
“In this business there is no mercy. There is only money, violence, control, and beautiful women.”
“This world, my sons, is chaotic. The weak talk about morality. The clever give advice, the powerful rule. The poor are treated like failures. The rich are often fools who understand nothing except wealth.”
“People will do anything for money—even sell their own wives.”
“In this world there is no justice. There are only the capable and the incapable. Some people succeed through money, others through connections, and some through the revolver.”
He paused for a moment.
“We were once poor, my sons. No one ever came to ask if we had food, if we had a proper house, a television, or even a good bed to sleep in. My brothers and I worked the land in the village just to survive.”
“Back then people went to the mosque to pray and listen to sermons about morality—what is good and what is bad, what people should or shouldn’t do in life.”
“When my father came home, we would ask him: ‘What did the village religion man say today?’”
“And he would answer: ‘Nothing important. They only try to frighten you. But you’re already poor and already afraid.’”
“We lived mostly on vegetables and a little milk. Many people didn’t even have that. The mosque didn’t give us food—it only gave sermons about life.”
“My sons, life is cruel and dirty. And it is very short. To live poor is like dying slowly, like a man who has been defeated by life.”