So during a recent trip to the nearest LDS book store, only four hours away from Miami by car, I picked up Mario Facione’s amazing book “Mafia to Mormon.” This book is the true story of a Detroit temple worker who grew up nearly illiterate, became a medium-level mafia don and then got converted after conversations with two missionaries who wandered to his house. I’m still stunned at this story, most of all because it has taught me once again that the Lord’s ways are not ours.
My first thought upon reading this book was that Bro. Facione could not really have been much of a mob boss to be converted. He must have been on the edges of the mafia, right? Wrong. The first half of the book shows very convincingly how he once led dozens of illegal scams involving millions of dollars. He was right in the middle of the Detroit mafia scene. He owned several houses and had hundreds of thousands of dollars hidden away.
Bro. Facione describes himself as the kind of guy who used to beat up Boy Scouts (ironically, he ends up teaching them in the Church after his conversion, and they help him learn not to curse). He still writes and apparently talks in classic “Godfather” style, repeatedly saying the smartest thing a mafia man can do is “keep your mouth shut and don’t say nothing.” All of this begins to change when he travels to Salt Lake City to plan a mafia deal (in Provo, of all places), and he becomes fascinated with the SLC temple, which he saw from the air. Then, he has a dream where he is given a choice between two roads. He feels he is being warned that he needs to choose which road to take.
Just a few days later, two missionaries arrive at his front door. At first, he thinks they are trying to pull a scam on him. But something in the cleanliness and sincerity of their message draws him in. He takes the discussions and is shown a video of the temple and feels he simply has to get inside the temple. He is converted, baptized and a year later gets his endowments.
This sudden change brings huge problems to his life. His bishop warns him he has to change careers, and he writes convincingly that it’s impossible to leave the mafia alive. Yet he does. His wife divorces him and he is left nearly penniless, living in his only possession, a car, for a few days. But then somebody at church feels inspired to offer him a legitimate job, and it’s onto the straight and narrow from there.
A thought kept on going through my head as I read this inspiring book: “only the Lord knows the hearts of all people.” Who would have ever thought a man like Bro. Facione could be converted and turn his life around, yet he does. Come to think of it, who would have ever thought a man like myself could have been converted and turn my life around, yet I did. We all have a lot more in common with Mafia dons than we may think. This book proves it.