Italian Sayings: Tengo Famiglia

Imagine this scene: Police station. Interrogation room. Two detectives of the Italian Police force interrogated Mr. Rossi, an important civil servant, accused of taking bribes. After hours and hours of questions, he finally breaks down and confesses everything: he took bribes from shady people to close an eye on certain affairs. Thanks to his shameful behaviour, a lot of people suffered.  One of the detectives doesn’t understand why he took the bribes: he didn’t need money, he was respected by everyone thanks to his job and could have become an example to everyone if he exposed this corruption. “Why did you take the money?” asks the detective “Why did you ruin yourself like that?”.
A crying Mr. Rossi replies “Tengo famiglia“.

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