ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

After twenty-one years in prison, Angelo “Angie” Moretti steps back into a Washington that has changed its methods—and its loyalties. His old flip phone is dead, his daughter Sophia works for the Department of Justice, and Senator Harlan Graves still owes him. Graves wants another favor. Angie has not forgotten the debts in his past, but the city may have moved on without him.

At Rosa Esposito’s Eastern Market deli, old familiarity meets the hard questions of a life interrupted. Meanwhile, Marcus Kane—a former Hill staffer with a data-driven criminal operation—threatens the network Angie once knew. With Tommy “Two Phones” Ricci at his side and Sophia’s future in the balance, Angie must navigate political obligations, new-fashioned power, and the distance between being a father and being recognized as one.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA brings crime, dark comedy, and family drama together in a story of shifting loyalties and a city that never stands still. Sharp exchanges, neighborhood warmth, and uneasy bargains give Angie’s return its bite: can an old-school fixer find a place in a world that has learned to forget?