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“There are some who will know me by my name alone and will recall my past history. There are those who will sit in judgment of me because of my past but these are the people who do not really know me,” the chapter on Musitano’s testimony begins.

“I was born into a family — not just any family but ‘the family’ — in other words a family associated with organized crime.”

The chapter goes on to speak of his upbringing, being “constantly in and out of trouble with the law,” and his conviction for a murder conspiracy in a plea deal, after being charged with ordering hits on two rival Mafia bosses.

Both before prison and in prison, the chapter says, he saw “the worst of the human condition — beatings, stabbings and murder,” but after serving his sentence he tried to “distance myself from my past.”

It was hard for an ex-con, he said. He met the woman he would marry in 2008, and while they were expecting their first child, the book says, “God found me.”

I was born into a family — not just any family but ‘the family’

He saw a Bible on a friend’s table and started reading. He went straight out to buy a copy. He still struggled to make a better life until he realized he had to give up “everything from the past and start over” to move forward, the chapter reads.

“I made amends with God for my mistakes and He blessed me with peace and love,” it says. He realized, it says, “I have now taken a stand to help other young men and women to learn from my mistakes.”

Art Duerksen, a Hamilton missionary who helped gather the stories for the book, entitled Are You Looking For the Truth: I Found Him, said the story is a true reflection of the man he and others in the men’s group knew.