Joey Mancuso Mysteries Box Set

by Owen Parr

  Dom was right. Of course, I wished my dad would have lived longer. However, he did make his own choices. “Very well. It looks as if Maestro, or M, was involved with the organized crime group before he brought in the partners, W and S. According to the notes, M was involved with money laundering going back to his days with AF, which I’m assuming means Abacus Federal. It was then that the FBI agent began developing a case against Maestro.”

  “Joey, we’ve never talked about this, but what family did your dad belong to?” asked Patrick almost apologetically.

  “It’s okay, Mr. Pat. People can rewrite history, but the facts are the facts. Let me give you a brief history lesson. In early 1931, Salvatore Maranzano organized the various gangs into five families, into what is still known as the Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese families. My grandfather, Vittorio Mancuso, and later my dad, belonged to the Bonanno family. Maranzano made himself the capo de tutti capo, or boss of all bosses. However, that did not sit well with Charles “Lucky” Luciano. By Maranzano making himself boss of all bosses, it broke the agreement he made with Luciano. As a result, Luciano, together with Giuseppe Masseria, ordered the hit on Maranzano in late 1931.”

  “So, what happened after that?” Asked Patrick, moving forward in his seat.

  “After that, Luciano created The Commission and eliminated the title of capo de tutti capo. No more boss of all bosses. Each of the five families, plus the Buffalo and Chicago families, would have equal say and control of all activities. They divided the United States and Canada into territories and had full control of all organized crime. Plus, as importantly, they The Commission, settled all arguments between the families.”

  “There’s nothing in these notes about the Bonanno family. Is it still called that?” Agnes asked.

  “The families kept their original name. Although those guys are long gone. Currently, the original Maranzano–Bonanno family has a figurehead. His name—” I paused for dramatic effect. “Are you ready for this?”

  “Who is it?” Dom said.

  “Michael ‘The Nose’ Mancuso,” I replied with a smile.

  “How do you know all this?” Dom said. “You’ve never shared any of it with me before.”

  ‘Would you believe me if I told you I found out on Ancestry.com?”

  “Oh my god. Is this Mancuso related to Vittorio?” Agnes asked.

  “To be honest, I don’t know. He was supposed to be released in 2019. But, the show Mob Wives, exposed him as the family boss, so he might be facing new charges, as a result.”

  “That’s crazy!” Patrick quipped. “Who’s the boss now?”

  “The Nose is still the boss. However, the word is that Thomas DiFiore is the acting boss.”

  “Really Joey, how do you know all this?” Patrick asked.

  “Agnes is not the only one who knows how to use the internet. Check it out. Wikipedia has a lot of this too.”

  I could see Father Dom was getting anxious, fidgeting in his chair to my left. Finally, not able to contain himself any longer, he said, “This is all good and well for history, but how does it move us closer to this case?”

  “Brother, the question was the fact none of the families seemed to be named in these notes. I was just getting everyone up to speed.”

  “Which brings me to the next question: - If Paolo Mancuso betrayed the family by allowing himself to be a CI, isn’t possible they killed him?”

  Patrick raised his right hand as if asking permission to reply.

  “Go ahead, Mr. Pat.”

  “Father, I’ve already asked that same question. From Joey’s conversation with Tony the Hammer, Tony specifically told Joey that it was not a family hit. That’s why he said, ‘Wetherly, Stevens, Barcelona.’”

  “So, you think Tony knew your dad was a CI?”

  “I doubt it, brother. My dad would never implicate Tony in such a thing. It may not have been a scheme at the top level of the family. Many of these sotto capos, underbosses, or caporegimes, captains like my dad, possibly had their own illicit deals going on, with or without sanction from the capo.”

  “Then, from what we have, Maestro was possibly dealing with an under boss or a captain. And they were laundering funds. Why get Wetherly and Stevens involved if he was already doing it?” Agnes asked.

  “Good question. Two possible reasons. One, there’s this thing called layering. That’s where you move dirty funds from one institution to another with the attempt of really cleansing it, like a double wash. They funnel the funds to a bank, and immediately they transfer to another institution. In this case, Wetherly Stevens. Now, Wetherly Stevens, invest the funds in stock, bonds, life insurance policies, annuities, and the like, perhaps in Barcelona under another named account. By the way, they could also have done it in reverse, right? Funnel to Barcelona’s branch and then back to the United States, and then to AmericanCiti Bank.”

  “You said two possible reasons. What’s the second?” Dom asked.

  “Right. The second could possibly be why Maestro got Susana involved with the partners. Having a second institution under the control of Susana, or even the partners, could easily increase the ability to expand on the number of illicit funds laundered. The more they launder, the more they make. Actually, maybe three reasons. The third could be the fear that the partners were closing down the company.”

  “We certainly have a bunch of dates and possible transfers between banks in these notes. What we don’t have is the names of the players, nor do we have the originator of the illicit funds. The sotto capo or caporegime, as you say,” Patrick said.

  “And that, Mr. Pat, is what we need to find out next.”

  35

  I shared our findings with Marcy that night, and she was trying to find a way for her unit at the Bureau to get involved in our case. However, she observed, as I had, that we needed more evidence that implicated our players. The Bureau was not going to get involved with suppositions either. And, at the moment, that was all we had.

  My immediate team of Agnes, Patrick, and Father Dom were all gathered again at the pub the next morning. The task at hand was finding a way to tackle this case and prove that one or more of these people had ordered the hit on my dad.

  “Joey, I forgot to tell you that I hired a lawyer to take over the lawsuit,” Agnes said.

  “You, hired an attorney?” I asked, surprised.

  “Yeah. Sorry I didn’t tell you. We were so involved yesterday. I figured you didn’t want to deal with this yourself.”

  “What lawsuit is that?” Dom asked, voice raised in alarm .

  “Brother, you’ve missed a lot while you were at your retreat. I’ll share with you in a minute,” I said. Turning to Agnes, I asked, “That’s nice of you, but don’t you think I wanted to speak to him before we hired anyone? Who is he?”

  “He’s really a nice guy and an excellent lawyer,” she began.

  “I don’t want a nice guy for a lawsuit. I want an asshole to defend me. Who is he?”

  “His name is Tad Love and—”

  “Tad Love? I hope he’s not a divorce lawyer,” I said, which brought a laugh from everyone. “Where did you get him from?”

  “He’s called numerous times to hire us for some of his cases. I’ve even met with him once. We haven’t had an opportunity to work with him.”

  “What kind of law does he practice?”

  “He’s a litigator handling civil cases. You know, lawsuits, personal injury cases, and stuff like that. He recently defended Congressman Sanders in an alleged sex scandal. It was in the news.”

  “Did he win?” Patrick asked.

  “He did. It was a bogus claim. All they wanted was a settlement, and they didn’t get it. I followed the case in the news. I'm surprised you guys didn’t hear about it.”

  “Okay. When does he start?” I asked, still a little perturbed at Agnes for hiring a lawyer without my consent. But, I appreciated her initiative nevertheless.

  “He’s already spoken to Sam Cohen.
I told him we were involved in a very time-consuming case, and he was going to try and push back your deposition.”

  “That’s a good start. When do I meet him?”

  “He said to call him. He’ll be happy to stop by any time.”

  “So, who is suing you and why?” Dom asked.

  “It’s more like we are being sued. Me individually, and Mancuso & O’Brian Investigations.”

  “For what?”

  “It’s bullshit. They claimed I mishandled the questioning of the kid, and some other crap about lying to senior Wetherly when I was on Daufuskie Island.”

  “Why am I not surprised?” Dom said.

  “As I said, Dom, it’s bullshit. All they want to do is slow us down and keep us from being able to talk to our suspects—them—directly.”

  “They know we’re investigating them?”

  “Yeah. I’ll tell you how later. Right now, we need to come up with a way to proceed with our investigation.”

  “That throws a wrench in our style of investigating, doesn’t it? I mean, we like to double up on the suspects,” Dom said.

  “I know. We’ll figure it out. Agnes, please flash the players on the whiteboard. Let’s talk about these people.”

  With a few clicks on her laptop, the pictures of our suspects appeared on the large whiteboard in the same fashion we had left them. Maestro in the top-center, flanked by Wetherly and Stevens on the right. Sofia and Susana to the left of Maestro.

  “Agnes put a blank box on top of Maestro. That would be the person or persons Maestro is working for.”

  “The organized crime boss?” asked Patrick.

  “Yes. Although, I still don’t think they ordered the hit on the FBI agent and my dad. However, they would be the reason why it happened,” I said, looking at the pictures on the board.

  Dom had a puzzled look on his face. Anticipating his question, I said, “Brother, this will all become clear in a moment. Maestro, from what we know now from the deciphered notes, was under investigation by the FBI for his possible connection to organized crime. That would be the blank box above him. He’d probably been doing this before, at each of the banks he worked for.”

  “How does he connect with the other people?” Dom asked.

  “Give me a minute. I know you’re playing catchup here. Maestro knew Sofia. We know she deposited the two million dollars from her divorce settlement at the bank where he worked. Abacus Federal in Green Point. Sofia introduced Susana to Maestro, and they began going out.”

  “I knew that from before,” Dom intoned, obviously bored.

  “Maestro also knew the partners and probably saw an opportunity to not only hook up the sisters with the partners, but also insert Susana in their investment firm.”

  “From the notes we have, the partners were already involved with Maestro in a money laundering scheme,” Patrick said.

  “Correct, but remember the partners almost broke up in 1997, or they had some issue which almost closed the company. Maestro knows Susana is a sharp operator and sees the opportunity to have her become the glue that keeps the company going. Gets his sister to fake her graduation from Harvard, and voila, he has an inside person moving quickly in management.”

  “We don’t know what happened in 1997 to the partners?”

  “A lot happened in 1997, but if you’re asking about the possible breakup, my idea is one of the partners wanted out of the scheme. The other perhaps was thinking they were too involved and saw no way out.”

  “That’s when Richard Stevens went to Barcelona. Wetherly stayed on to train Susana, then retired,” Dom added.

  “And more importantly, the laundering scheme, according to our notes, continued through the branch in Barcelona. So, what does that tell you?”

  “That Stevens is probably the partner afraid to stop the scheme, while Wetherly is the one who wanted out,” Dom replied.

  I smiled. “You are all caught up, Dom. That’s exactly what I was thinking. I’m sure Sofia kept Stevens in the game, as probably planned by Maestro and the both sisters.”

  “So, Tony the Hammer was pointing you in the right direction with his last words before he died,” added Patrick.

  “Exactly.”

  Agnes stroked her keyboard and moved Alexander Wetherly’s picture down on the whiteboard screen below Stevens. “I assume you wanted me to do that.”

  “Yes. Wetherly did not order the hits.”

  “Are you then saying Richard Stevens is our man?” Dom asked.

  “The only thing I’m sure of at the moment is that it was not Wetherly. It could be Stevens or the other three.”

  “At least we’ve started eliminating suspects,” Agnes said.

  “My thought is that it’s either Maestro or Stevens. I’m having a hard time picturing the sisters being ruthless enough to order two murders,” Patrick suggested.

  Mr. Pat had a point, but I had another observation. “Mr. Pat, the sisters had a rough life. Who knows how much they suffered at the orphanage or after they were adopted? They developed a deep bond after their parents were killed. Like I said before, these two ladies have grown up with a goal of taking care of themselves. I’m not ruling them out. Not yet anyway.”

  “The lawsuit prevents you from talking to the Wetherlys, not Maestro or Stevens,” Dom said.

  “Yeah, but they know who we are. I have an idea though.” I pointed to Agnes. “You said that Professor Achilles was coming to town soon?”

  “He arrives tonight.”

  “What time?”

  “At seven this evening.”

  “Did you have plans?”

  “Ah, yeah. Why?”

  “Tell you what. Can I pick him up at the airport? You can come along. I only need to talk to him for a bit.”

  “Sure, but I can drive,” Agnes said.

  Patrick and Dom exchanged glances. Patrick asked, “You plan on using the professor again?”

  “If he doesn’t mind. He can approach Maestro as a member of the Velentzas crime family.”

  “That’s a new one. Who are they?” Dom asked.

  “It’s a Greek-American crime family in New York, under Lucchese. They deal mostly with gambling, horses, and the like.”

  “Joey, that could be dangerous for the professor to get involved in something like that,” Father Dom warned.

  “Professor Achilles Persopoulus doesn’t have to infiltrate the family. All he has to do is pretend he’s part of it. He’s allowed to say no.”

  “Oh, he’s going to love it,” said a gleaming Agnes.

  I could see both Dom and Patrick shaking their heads. “Do you know how much mileage the professor got with the case of the antiquities collector? I’m sure his students at the University of Miami know all about it.”

  36

  Professor Achilles showed up at nine in the morning at AmericanCiti’s corporate offices on Park Avenue. The receptionist on the first floor greeted him with a friendly smile.

  “Hi, my name is Achilles Persopoulus. I’d like to see Mr. Charles Maestro.”

  “Do you have an appointment, sir?”

  “No, but you can tell him I was referred by someone who works for Mr. DiFiore.”

  “Why don’t you have a seat? I’ll see if he’s available.”

  Almost five minutes later, like a race horse at the opening gates, Maestro bolted out of the elevator, looking rather concerned. The receptionist pointed to Achilles.

  “Who the fuck are you?” Maestro asked, invading the professor’s space, going almost nose to nose with him.

  “Slow down friend,” Achi said, moving back two steps. “My name is—”

  “I don’t want to know your name. You walk in here dropping names like that and asking for me?” He shook his head aggressively.

  “Look, friend—”

  “Stop calling me friend. I’m not your friend. Walk out onto the street with me,” Maestro said, looking around the lobby.

  Once on Park Avenue, Maestro grabbed Achi’s arm. “Who sen
t you here?”

  “First, let go of my arm, or I’ll break yours right here in front of your building.” Freeing himself from Maestro’s hold, Achi went on. “Okay. That’s better. Now, I’m here visiting family.” Achi coughed to make a point. “This family member suggested I talk to you.”

  “Yeah. About what sport?”

  “Interesting you used the word sport. That’s exactly what I need to discuss. Look, I’m out of Miami,” Achi said, lowering his voice and moving closer to Maestro. “I run an operation there mainly dealing with sports and the horses, and I need to expand our banking relationships.”

  “What you say your name was?”

  “Achilles Persopoulus. It’s Greek.”

  “Yeah, I know it’s Greek, and I think you have your families confused.”

  “Understand something, the family of a family is still family. You want names of who referred me to you?”

  “No. If you want a banking relationship in Miami, there are hundreds of banks you can walk into to open an account.”

  “Now you’re being a smartass, Maestro.”

  “Actually, buddy, you’re the smartass walking in here without a call to introduce you. I can’t help you. I have no idea what you want and no interest in what you have to say.”

  “I’m disappointed. You came highly recommended.”

  “You want a loan to buy a Toyota, I’ll be happy to refer you to a branch, and they can finance it for you. Otherwise, get the fuck out of here, friend.”

  Maestro turned around to walk back to the bank, as he did, he took out his cell phone and made a call.

  The professor walked a few blocks, taking in the scenery. He took out his phone to dial Joey. As he ambled up Park Avenue he saw a black Lexus pull up by the curb ahead of him. “Joey, I’m telling you. He was pissed.” He walked by a man, who had just gotten out of the Lexus. As he did, he felt a bulge poke him in the back. The man ripped the phone out of his hand and said, “Get in the car.”