Something intriguing about Bruno that I think about often is the beginning of his mafia life.
From the information we’re given, Polpo takes an interest in him later in life (never says specifically what age, just says “a few years”) and then he make his own gang at 17. But we really don’t know what happened before that. A lot of people portray him as being alone, but I just don’t think that’s possible.
Passione is pretty known for using and throwing people away, so the average subordinate would eventually catch wind of the organization selling drugs because it would make no difference in the end. They would most likely be used up and killed anyways so why would it matter that they knew?
It would therefore make no difference if Bruno knew either because, if he really was completely alone with no one “caring” about him, his “I hate drugs” speech wouldn’t have mattered to anyone. Unless, of course, there was someone who was watching him, someone who was going out of their way to hide the fact that drugs were being sold from him. Someone actively manipulating him into believing the mafia was just as righteous as he had believed it was.
Sure, twelve year olds idolize things or people often, but a whole mafia organization for a whole teen hood is way over the limit of just a child’s naivety. He was constantly being made to believe these things even as he grew, and it was a pure accident that he found out about the drugs. The mafia didn’t accidentally manipulate and abuse him, is was all purposeful from someone we don’t exactly know.
So in short, Bruno’s crash out was completely valid.
