by Roy Glenn
“Story is that when Montel couldn’t pay, Sky said don’t worry about the money, just let me have your wife and we’ll call it even. That nigga said take her,” André told me, and said that wasn’t the only time he did that.
Me and Montel had a run-in over André’s money once and he had to feel pain … okay, I damn near killed him, so I wasn’t one of his favorite people. But that nigga clocked so much paper outta that game so like Silky, André let him do what he wanted, but that was then. Now, I had André’s blessing to do whatever I wanted as long as it made him more money.
“You gonna kill him too?”
“No, Wanda. I’m not gonna kill him. I’m just going to talk to him.”
“I’m just asking because I know you don’t like him.”
“It’s not even about that, Wanda. This is business.”
“Make sure you remember that.”
“Yes, mommy,” I said and Wanda took a playful swing at me.
“I ain’t Emily. If I was, I would have beat your little ass a long time ago,” Wanda said, and we both laughed.
I stood up. “What you getting ready to do?”
“I’m going home to bed. I need to get up in the morning and study.” Wanda paused. “But before you go, there’s something I need to tell you about.”
I sat back down. “What’s up?”
“I’ve been applying to law schools?”
“Really?” I said, and tried to act surprised. Her mother had told me she was applying a month ago. But even if she hadn’t, I know that Wanda has wanted to be a lawyer since we were kids.
“Really, Mike. And I’ve been accepted at New York Law School, Columbia Law, and the New York University School of Law.”
I hugged her. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you, Mike.”
“I am so proud of you. You decide which one you want to go to?”
“Not really, but honestly, Mike, unless I get a scholarship, I can’t afford law school.”
I stood up again. “You just decide where you wanna go and you let me worry about how we’re gonna pay for it,” I said and headed for the door.
“Mike.”
“What?” I turned and asked.
“Thank you.”
“You can thank me by graduating law school and becoming a lawyer.” I had a feeling we were going to need one.
“With the moves we’re making, having a strong criminal lawyer on retainer wouldn’t be a bad idea,” Wanda said, and then she got that look on her face that she gets when she wants something. “I’ll be our lawyer, Mike,” she said definitely and nodded her head. “But in the meantime, I’ll start making some inquiries. And before you say André got lawyers,” Wanda dropped her voice a few octaves trying to imitate mine. “There may come a time when our interests conflict with his and we need to be prepared for that.”
“I agree. Make it happen.”
Wanda is the smartest person I know, she always has been. I trust her like I trust Bobby.
“I know you'll always do what’s best for us,” I said and turned to leave again.
“One more thing.”
“What?”
“You really going to see Montel now?”
“Yeah, why?”
“How you getting there?”
“On the train. Kid has the schedules down pat.” I pointed to my head. “Kid’s sharp.”
“Why don’t you let me and Vickie take you?”
“Why you let Vickie get fucked up like that?” I asked to change the subject.
“I am her friend, Mike, not her mother.”
“You couldn’t say ‘you had enough’?”
“Honestly, Mike, I don’t know how she got so fucked up. We were hanging out at Ricky’s and like one minute she was fine, and the next.” Wanda shook her head. “I mean this happened while I was dancing. I come back and sit down and she’s talking all over herself. What did you expect me to do?”
“Nothing, I guess,” I started to leave again.
“So you want me to drive you to Montel’s?” Wanda asked as she walked past me.
“Okay, Wanda, you can drop us off, but take Vickie home first.”
“That’s exactly what I had in mind.”
It took a while, but once we found Vickie and convinced her that it was time to go, we left The Late Night. On the way to Wanda’s apartment, Vickie fell asleep. Talking all over herself and now, she’s crashed out on The Kid’s shoulder. I wondered not if she was sniffing blow, but how much blow she was sniffing. Me and Freeze waited outside while Wanda put Vickie to bed.
When we got to Montel’s building, Wanda parked down the street and I asked her why. “I know you don’t think you’re coming with us,” I said even though I knew that was her plan all along.
“Why can’t I go inside? It ain’t like I haven’t been there before. And besides, if you’re just going to talk, why can’t I go inside?”
She had a point. Wanda had been up in there plenty of times and since killing Montel wasn’t part of the plan, and there wasn’t a real good reason for her not to come … other than … because I said so … I didn’t say anything; I just started for the building. Freeze followed me and Wanda quickly locked her car and then rushed to catch up with us.
Once the doorman let us in, I looked at Freeze and pointed in his face. “I don’t have to tell you what your job is, right?”
“Protect Wanda.”
“With your fuckin’ life, my nigga,” I said, and went looking for Montel. When I saw him coming out of one of the back rooms with a hoe named Stylisha, I knew I had picked a good time to talk to him. I heard Stylisha got good pussy, so he’ll be in a good mood.
“What’s up, Black,” Montel said when I approached.
“You and I need to have a conversation.”
Montel laughed. “Sounds important.”
“It is.”
“Well, come on; let’s talk out on the fire escape. Too much noise in here,” he said, and began making his way to the window.
I made eye contact with Freeze. He tapped Wanda on the shoulder and they began making their way to the window behind me. When Montel and I were outside on the fire escape, I looked back inside, and saw that both Freeze and Wanda were standing there.
“So what’s shakin’, Black?”
I took my time and laid out our program, you know, that he and I were partners in this now, just like I did with Drew. Seventy-thirty his way and we still kick up twenty-five percent to André.
“Nigga you must be out your fuckin’ mind. Coming up in here and telling me some bullshit like that. Shit! You think just ’cause you got Emmet to roll over for you, that you can step to me … like this … all fuckin’ incorrect and shit. Yeah, mutha fucka, I heard about that shit and I ain’t the mutha fuckin’ one. Now, nigga, you need to get the fuck outta here before my boys throw you out,” he said, and grabbed my arm like he was gonna put me out his damn self.
I jerked my arm back and punched him in the face. I hit him so hard that he lost his balance. Then I hit him again, this time he stumbled back and went over the rail.
Chapter Seven
I looked over the rail at Montel’s body. I wasn’t really planning on killing him, so I was kinda hoping that he fell in the dumpster like they do in the movies, but that wasn’t happening. Montel was laid out in the middle of the alley and he wasn’t moving.
I looked back at Freeze and Wanda, her mouth was wide open. Freeze nodded his head, said something to Wanda and then he headed for the door. I opened the window and came back inside.
“I thought you weren’t gonna kill him?”
“I wasn’t, it just worked out that way,” I said, and looked around for Whitey. “Maybe he ain’t dead.”
“We’re on the sixth floor, Mike. I’m pretty sure he’s dead.” Wanda shook her head. “This is not good.”
“Why?”
“There’s a body in the alley. Somebody is gonna find it.”
“The Kid’s on it.”
<
br /> “The Kid? Oh … that’s reassuring.”
I spotted Whitey. “Relax, Wanda. He knows what he needs to do.” Or at least he should, he’s been with me when I had to drop a body enough times to know what to do.
Whitey Thompson was Montel’s muscle. They called him Whitey because the nigga was blue black. I mean dark as night black. I’ve known Whitey for years. You know, enough to say, what’s up and keep it moving until one day when André sent me to collect from or cause pain to a dealer named Mitchell Wright that owed him fifty large. I couldn’t find Bobby, Nick or Jamaica and André said that it wasn’t going to be a big deal; words I’ve since learned are meaningless coming out of André’s mouth. He just wants his money.
Long story short, I went alone and found myself surrounded by five guys. Now, I can hold my own in a fight, two, maybe three guys at a time, been there and I kicked their ass, but against five, chances were that I was about to get my ass kicked that night. That’s when Whitey came in. When he saw what was happening, he said, “Five against one? It ain’t goin’ down like that.” That night, me and Whitey kicked ass and André got his money.
We’ve been cool since then.
“Whitey!”
“What’s up, Black?”
“Let me holla at you for a minute,” I said and put my arm around him. I led him out in the hallway to break the sad news to him, or at least that was my intention.
But the second he closed the door he asked, “Did you kill that grimy bastard?”
“Yes.”
“Good,” Whitey said and spit on the floor. Then he looked at me. “You ain’t gonna kill me too, are you?”
I just looked at Whitey, tipped my head to one side and then I shrugged my shoulders.
“Awww, come on, Black, this me, Whitey T, the nigga that had your back on the Mitchell Wright thing.”
I said nothing.
“Shit, nigga, we go too far back for you to just fuckin’ blast me like that.”
I reached in the pocket where I kept my gun and Whitey closed his eyes. But then he opened them.
“Fuck that, if I’ma die, I’ma die like a mutha fuckin’ man, nigga,” Whitey said and beat his chest.
When he did, I started laughing.
“I ain’t gonna smoke you, Whitey. I just wanted to tell you that this is our spot now. You and me are partners. Seventy-thirty your way. You run the spot and we kick up twenty-five percent to André.”
Now Whitey was laughing. “I can get with that.”
I went back inside with Whitey and hung around until the spot closed, just in case anybody had a problem with Whitey taking over.
“One thing I learned a long time ago. You spread enough money around, niggas memory gets real short and their loyalty changes,” Whitey said.
“True, true.”
After a while, I went down in the alley to make sure that Freeze had done his job and taken care of the body.
It was almost eight in the morning when me and Wanda came out of the building and we walked to her car. Once we were in the car, she told me that she was hungry, so Wanda drove us to the Royal Coach Diner. Both of us ordered the Angus rib eye that came with three eggs and Wanda added French toast with a side of home fries to her order. I don’t understand how she can eat the way she does and not gain an ounce.
“What are you going to do now?” Wanda asked when we finished eating.
“I ain’t tired, so I don’t know. What about you?”
“I don’t know why, but I’m not tired either. I wanna do something.”
“Thought you had to study today.”
“I do, I just don’t feel like it. It’s been a while since we hung out all night and I’m having fun. Seems like all I do is study. Go to class and study.”
I stood up, reached in my pocket and dropped some money on the table.
“Come on, let’s ride and holla at Sherman.”
“You driving?”
I just looked at her.
“I didn’t think so.” Wanda stood up and grabbed her purse. “I’m gonna ride and holla at Sherman. You wanna ride with me?” she asked, as she passed on her way out of the diner.
Sherman Williams was a pretty large numbers banker who operated out of the bodega he ran with his wife, Ester, for a long time. He relied on André for protection from the cops that André was paying off, and he relied on Sherman for information. Sherman always seemed to know everything that was going on and since his bank was large, so was his influence.
As soon as I walked in the store, Sherman raised his hands. “You can kill me but don’t shoot Ester,” he said but when he saw Wanda, he put his hands down. “Oh, it’s okay, baby, Wanda’s with him,” he laughed. “If it was Bobby or The Kid, we might be in trouble.”
“Hello, Mrs. Williams,” Wanda and I both said as Sherman came from behind the counter.
“Let’s talk in the back,” he said, and led the way to his office in the back of the store. He locked the door and turned to us. “Are you here to kill me?”
“No, Sherman, I ain’t here to kill you.”
“Just thought I’d ask. So what’s really going on, Black?”
“Some people haven’t been coming correct, so I’m making sure that they do.”
“Word is you’re taking over the streets.”
“Same thing.”
Sherman laughed. “So, if you ain’t here to kill me, what are you doing here?”
If I was gonna do what I planned, I needed Sherman and his influence. See, my plan wasn’t just to take over a few gambling operations and tighten up on the rest. My plan was to organize. One of my best friends was a guy named Angelo Collette, so I spent a lot of time around the Italians. Me and Angee have done some things that have made us a lot of money over the years.
Anyway, he introduced me to his uncle, Big Tony Collette. He was a made man in The Curcio Family. Uncle Tony taught me alotta shit, but there was one thing he told me that I never forgot.
I hadn’t been working for André for very long when one night I was hanging out with Angee and he said that he had to go pick up something from Uncle Tony. So when we get there, I waited in the car.
“I’ll just be a minute, Mikey,” Angee says and he goes in. It couldn’t have been five minutes later when Angee comes out. “Uncle Tony says you should come in.”
I looked at Angee like he was crazy. This was a private club that only made man and their top soldiers went in. Only reason they let Angee in was because he was Big Tony’s nephew. “What are you fuckin’ kiddin’ me?”
Angee shook his head with a look that said he didn’t believe that shit either. “I ain’t kiddin’, Mikey.” He opened my door. “Now come on, Greasy’s waiting and we got shit to do. So, stop being such a fuckin’ pussy and come on.”
I got out of the car and followed Angee in. Since I had been hanging out with Angee for years, a lot of the guys in there had seen me before. But they all gave me that what the fuck you doing in here look.
Friend of Angee or not, to them I was still a mulignan.
“Mikey!” Uncle Tony yelled when he saw me and waved for me to come over. When I walked up, there at the table was Carmine Abandonato, he was the underboss of The Curcio Family. “Come here, Mikey,” Big Tony said, and puts his arm around me. “How come it been so long since I’ve seen you, Mikey?”
“I’m sorry Uncle Tony, I just been busy.”
Truth was, I was fuckin’ the shit outta his daughter Mirella, so I tried to stay away from him.
“I didn’t mean any disrespect.”
“Always showing respect.” Uncle Tony kissed me on the cheek. “That’s why I love this kid. Hey, Carmine. This is Angee’s friend, Mikey Black.”
Carmine nodded his head without speaking and went back to his conversation. After that, Uncle Tony led us to a table and he gives Angee what he came for. That was the first time I told him that I was working for André. He nodded his head. “André’s a smart guy, Mikey. You could learn some things from him so kee
p your mouth shut and your ears opened. You hear me?”
“Yes, Uncle Tony.”
“He’s smart, but he stupid, Mikey, you wanna know why?” he didn’t wait for me to answer. “He’s stupid because he has all that power, but he ain’t organized. If he was, he’d make a lot more money.”
It was interesting information at the time, but I really didn’t fully understand what he was saying, but as me and Bobby got closer to André and I began to see how he did business, I began to understand. For years, I had seen from a distance how they ran their thing. I became a student and studied the structure and how it worked. They controlled everything from the street corner drug trade, all the way to the highest levels of government.
That’s power.
Uncle Tony was right; André had that type of power, not on that same level, but power all the same. In their thing, associates and soldiers kicked up to capos and they kicked up to the boss. They were businessman that cooperated in the interest of making money.
That’s what I was doing, organizing.
“I know this ain’t just a social call.” Sherman said. “I know it’s a little early in the day, but can I get either of you a drink?” he asked, and pulled a bottle of scotch out of his desk drawer.
“No, thanks.”
“Wanda?”
“Definitely too early for me,” Wanda said as Sherman poured the scotch in a paper cup.
“I know by now you heard what’s going on?” I asked.
“Of course I have. In the last couple of days, you took over Emmet’s game and killed Henderson. Then you put Drew in charge of his joint. So I just got one question.”
“What’s that?”
“Is André dead?”
Me and Wanda looked at each other and laughed.
“I only ask because ain’t nobody seen or talked to him since you started this shit.”
“He’s alive.”
“Then he’s behind you in this?”
“He is.”
“So you here to take over my bank?”
“No. You keep what’s yours and you keep kickin’ up to André. I’m here to see if you were interested in making more money.”