"Killing IL Cattivo" is the story of Tino Martino: a feared NHL enforcer suffering from the debilitating effects of CTE: Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy - A.K.A. Brain Damage. Being an NHL enforcer is a polarizing profession; a predatory Goon to hockey purists, a noble Protector to his teammates. Tino always had fought; from fending off neighborhood bullies to protecting his abused grandmother from evil grandpa, the man she called “Il Cattivo!” (The Villain). A man Tino despised more than his own violent, dirt-bag dad. His ability to fight – brutally, relentlessly, victoriously – is how Tino escaped the poorest section of Syracuse, New York; how he can afford a good life for he and his wife, Ann; how he helped San Jose win their first Stanley Cup. It is why his mental capacity is severely diminished. Battling CTE goes beyond an enforcer's fist, possibly outside the scope of modern medicine. Will time allow for Tino to win one last fight? Or will the lines become blurred - tragically, irreversibly - between protector and predator. Who will finally kill - or possibly become - “IL Cattivo?"

 

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