I am Judge Michael Randazzo, but by all odds, I never should have been. My story begins in a pop-up trailer—no electricity, no running water—born to parents who dropped out of high school and carried the weight of our family’s excommunication from the Sicilian Mafia. I came into the world premature, delivered by a veterinarian, clinging to life while doctors warned I’d never catch up. Crime and tragedy run through my bloodline: moonshining, sexual abuse, attempted manslaughter. My father struck deals with the Mexican Cartel and still battles opioid addiction. Every member of my family has been both perpetrator and victim. Yet, somewhere between generational sin and the chance to start over, I clawed my way through law school.

Today, I serve as one of Missouri’s youngest Presiding Circuit Judges. This memoir is my confession and my exorcism. It’s about the curse of inherited character flaws, the desperate hope to shield my children from them, and the heavy truth that even heroes—like my beloved Grandpa Nick—are deeply flawed. Each chapter opens a new door: from Grandpa Nick wrestling a grizzly bear to the darkest corners of family trauma, violence, and betrayal. What does it take to rise above a legacy of darkness? How do you reconcile love for those who did unspeakable things? My life is proof that the past shapes us—but it doesn’t have to define us.