It Was a Very Bad Year

by Robert J. Randisi

‘And they called it off when JFK got shot,’ Danny said, nodding. ‘Makes sense. Amsler & Keenan? You know those names?’

  ‘I don’t,’ I said.

  ‘What about Barry, Joe, or Johnny?’

  ‘Irwin’s name is Barney, but I doubt he would’ve misspelled his own name.’

  ‘Wait a minute,’ Danny said. He took his note pad from his pocket, flipped a few pages. ‘Here it is. Barney Irwin has a brother.’ He looked at both of us. ‘His name’s John.’

  ‘Johnny,’ Jerry said.

  If one of the kidnappers was John Irwin, then the others were either Barry Keenan and Joe Amsler, or Barry Amsler and Joe Keenan.

  ‘Danny, do you have a lead on Barney Irwin’s whereabouts?’

  ‘I’ve checked his studio and his house again,’ Danny said. ‘He ain’t been back.’

  ‘Maybe he was with his brother and these other guys in Canoga Park,’ I said.

  ‘We’ve got to call somebody,’ Danny said.

  ‘Not that prick Raggio, the Washoe County DA,’ I said.

  ‘What about Hargrove?’ Danny asked.

  ‘That asshole!’ Jerry said.

  ‘Who’s that leave?’ Danny asked. ‘The FBI?’

  ‘If I could find the guy who saved my ass in Reno I’d give the info to him,’ I said. ‘Agent Kent.’

  ‘What about the LA County DA?’ Danny asked.

  ‘Not as much of an ass,’ I said.

  ‘What about Frank?’ Danny asked. ‘We could give the info to him.’

  ‘Frank’s carryin’ a gun, Danny,’ I said. ‘He might go off the deep end if he found these guys.’

  ‘OK, not Frank. What about Entratter? What would he do with the information?’

  We sat silent for a moment, then Jerry said, ‘He might call Mo Mo.’

  ‘And then those guys turn up dead,’ Danny said.

  ‘There’s Frank’s lawyer, Mickey Rudin,’ I said. ‘He seems on the level.’

  ‘He does work for Frank, though.’

  ‘I don’t think he wants Frank on trial for murder,’ I said.

  ‘OK,’ Danny said, ‘OK, so you give the names to Mickey Rudin. He’ll probably give them to the DA, or the FBI.’

  ‘But the decision will be his,’ I said.

  ‘Frank’s gonna be pissed you didn’t tell him, Mr G.,’ Jerry said.

  ‘I’ll have to take that chance, Jerry,’ I said. ‘I can’t let Frank find these guys.’

  ‘Eddie,’ Danny said, ‘we got names now. I could try and track these guys. We could pick them up ourselves.’

  ‘It’ll take a while,’ I said. ‘They might get away in the meantime. We need to plant this info somewhere it’ll do the most good, so the cops and FBI can set up roadblocks and catch these guys. I’m not lookin’ to play hero, Danny.’

  ‘Then let’s back track,’ Danny said. ‘Evans, the FBI, or Rudin. The decision is yours.’

  I thought a moment, then said, ‘OK, I’ll go with Evans. He can mobilize both the LA cops and the FBI.’

  ‘OK,’ Danny said.

  The waitress came with our food.

  ‘I better get going,’ I said.

  ‘Mr G.,’ Jerry whined, ‘the food’s here.’

  ‘Take a half hour to eat, Eddie,’ Danny said. ‘You can call Evans after you finish.’

  ‘Yeah, OK,’ I said. ‘Suddenly, I’m starvin’.’

  ‘Me, too.’ Jerry picked up one of his burgers.

  ‘You?’ Danny said. ‘You’re always starvin’.’

  ‘I burn lots of calories.’

  Danny and I stared at him.

  ‘It’s true,’ he said. ‘I learned about it from the Joe Franklin Show.’

  FIFTY-FOUR

  Rather than drive back to my house or the Sands, Danny suggested I call Evans in LA from his office. Jerry and I walked there with him. I sat at Penny’s desk and made the call. It was after hours, but I got through to somebody at the DA’s office and told them it concerned the Frank Sinatra Jr. kidnapping.

  ‘I’m sorry, sir, Mr Evans isn’t here at the moment.’

  ‘I need to know where he is,’ I said. ‘I have information that could lead to the capture of the kidnappers. Can you give me his home number?’

  ‘He’s not home, either, sir. Why don’t you give me your name and I’ll have District Attorney Evans call you as soon as—’

  I broke the connection and swore, ‘Damn!’

  ‘What happened?

  ‘Evans isn’t in his office and they say he’s not home,’ I said.

  ‘Then where is he?’ Danny asked.

  I looked at Jerry and at the same time we said, ‘Nancy’s house.’ Well, I said Nancy, he said ‘Mrs S.’

  I had the number of Nancy’s house in my pocket. I called and the phone was answered by Ed Pucci.

  ‘Ed, it’s Eddie G., from Vegas.’

  ‘Hey, Eddie. What’s up?’

  ‘Is Evans still there?’

  ‘Yeah, he’s across the room from me. Hold on.’

  After a few seconds Evans came on the phone.

  ‘What is it, Mr Gianelli?’

  ‘I’ve got some information I think you should have, Mr Evans . . .’

  I hung up and looked at Jerry and Danny.

  ‘What’d he say?’ Danny asked.

  ‘He said “thank you”.’

  ‘Is he gonna tell Frank?’ Danny asked.

  ‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘He listened to me, I assume he took notes, then he thanked me and hung up.’

  Danny laughed.

  ‘What’s so funny?’

  ‘He’s gonna catch those kidnappers, and take all the credit.’

  ‘I don’t really care,’ I said, ‘as long as they get caught.’

  ‘Make sure you let Frank know it was you who gave Evans the information,’ Danny said. ‘Don’t let him take the credit with him.’

  ‘Yeah, OK.’

  Danny looked at Jerry, and saw Jerry nod once. If I didn’t tell Frank, the big guy would.

  ‘What are we gonna do now?’ Jerry asked.

  ‘I’m gonna talk to Hargrove,’ I said.

  ‘What for?’ Danny asked.

  ‘To find out if they tracked down Wayne’s killer,’ I said. ‘If they’re still lookin’ at me for it.’

  ‘That Irwin guy wouldn’t have the balls to do it himself,’ Jerry said.

  ‘Right. He sent those two guys to Reno to do me, and three to Brooklyn to do you,’ I said. ‘He’s got the nerve for that, he had the nerve to have Wayne killed. And maybe Hargrove managed to identify them as the killers.’

  ‘You walk into Hargrove’s arms, he just might hang on to you,’ Danny said.

  ‘I’ll take that chance,’ I said. ‘I didn’t do anything, and he can’t prove I did.’

  ‘I’ll go with you,’ Jerry said.

  ‘No chance,’ I said. ‘He sees you he’ll throw you into a cell.’

  ‘Don’t go to his office,’ Danny suggested. ‘Have him meet you somewhere.’

  I thought about it, then said, ‘Yeah, OK. I’ll have him meet me.’

  ‘Us,’ Jerry said.

  I looked at Jerry, saw that he meant it.

  ‘Yeah, OK, Jerry. Us.’

  FIFTY-FIVE

  To my surprise Hargrove agreed to meet. He picked the place, though. When we pulled up in front we realized what it was.

  ‘A cop bar,’ Jerry said.

  ‘That’s great.’

  ‘Wanna shitcan it?’ Jerry asked. ‘Make him pick someplace else?’

  I thought a moment. ‘No, let’s do it.’

  We got out of the car and walked into the bar. I didn’t know at the time if he had said anything to the others in the place, but it felt like they were all looking at us while we walked to the booth he was in. It reminded me of Clipper’s, Irwin’s hangout.

  He was sitting alone, no partner. He looked as if he had come straight from work, still had on his suit, but no tie and his collar was open. It was probably the first time I
’d ever seen him without a tie.

  ‘You brought your friend,’ he said. ‘Good. I won’t have to go lookin’ for him. Have a seat.’

  Jerry slid into the booth first, and I followed.

  ‘Beer?’

  ‘Sure.’

  He waved at the bartender, held up three fingers. The man immediately came over and laid down three mugs.

  ‘All these guys cops?’ I asked, looking around.

  ‘Cops, or ex-cops.’

  ‘They know who we are?’

  ‘No,’ Hargrove said, ‘but that don’t mean they won’t tear you apart if I say so.’

  ‘And why would you do that?’ I asked.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Hargrove said. ‘Why don’t you tell me what you’ve got on your mind?’

  I sipped my beer, made him wait.

  ‘You find your killer yet?’ I asked.

  ‘Not yet. We did find a couple more witnesses, though.’

  ‘Witnesses to what?’

  ‘Two men – one your size, and one his –’ he nodded at Jerry – ‘seen around a photography studio on South Decatur, where our victim sometimes worked.’

  ‘Worked? As what?’

  ‘We don’t know,’ Hargrove said, ‘we can’t seem to find the photographer.’

  ‘And I’ll tell you why.’

  I hadn’t yet decided what I would tell him about how we came to find the slip of paper with all the names on it. But since I’d given the information to the Los Angeles DA already, I figured there’d be no harm giving it to Hargrove. After all, I still wanted to find Barney Irwin, and whoever killed Wayne. And if we could find the two knuckle-draggers who worked me over, even better.

  ‘I just got back from LA, where I helped recover Frank Sinatra Jr. from his kidnappers.’

  ‘Is that a fact?’ Hargrove asked. ‘You’re a regular fuckin’ hero, aren’t you?’

  ‘Yeah, he is,’ Jerry said.

  ‘Hey, it talks,’ Hargrove said.

  ‘Detective, why make him mad?’ I asked. ‘He could do a lot of damage in here.’

  ‘And get his ass shot.’

  ‘Be worth it,’ Jerry said.

  Hargrove stared at Jerry for a few moments, but the big guy never even blinked. The detective looked back at me.

  ‘I can get a witness to ID both of you idiots in a heartbeat,’ he said. ‘Give me one reason why I shouldn’t.’

  ‘Because I don’t wanna be a hero,’ I said, ‘but I can make you look like one.’

  ‘How?’

  This was where I took a chance. I brought the slip of paper out of my pocket and put it on the table.

  ‘What’s this?’

  ‘Frank Jr. was kidnapped from Lake Tahoe and taken to Canoga Park,’ I said, pointing to those words on the page. ‘He said he was grabbed by three men named Barry, Joe and John – or Johnny. The photographer your victim, Wayne, worked for is named Barney Irwin. He has a brother named . . .’ I tapped the name on the paper. ‘. . . Johnny.’

  Hargrove looked at the paper again, this time more intently.

  ‘You’re telling me this photographer, Irwin, was involved in the kidnapping?’

  ‘At the very least he knew about it,’ I said. ‘And his brother was involved.’

  ‘What about this date? The twenty-second? The day JFK got hit.’

  ‘I think that might have been the original date they were gonna grab Frankie. The assassination changed their minds.’

  Hargrove picked the piece of paper up for the first time.

  ‘Where did you get this?’

  ‘If I tell you,’ I said, carefully, ‘I don’t wanna get pinched.’

  ‘Me neither,’ Jerry said.

  Hargrove chewed on the inside of his cheek for a few moments.

  ‘If this leads me to my killer,’ he said, ‘and Irwin, and it turns out he was involved in the kidnapping, you guys are off the hook.’

  ‘I got that out of Irwin’s desk, in his studio.’

  ‘What were you doin’ there?’

  ‘A favor for a friend.’

  ‘After the murder?’

  ‘Before,’ I said, ‘way before.’

  ‘What was the favor?’

  ‘That’s not on the table,’ I said.

  ‘Gotta be discreet with your show-business friends, huh?’

  ‘I don’t wanna get arrested,’ I said, ‘and I don’t wanna lose my job, either.’

  ‘I’m gonna keep this,’ he said, tapping the paper with his finger.

  ‘Go ahead. I copied it.’

  He put it in his pocket, drank some beer.

  ‘If this pans out, I’ll forget about breaking and entering and tampering with evidence,’ he said. ‘But I can’t forget about murder, if you had anythin’ to do with it.’

  ‘We didn’t,’ I said. ‘I guarantee it.’

  Hargrove looked at Jerry.

  ‘You,’ he said, ‘don’t leave town.’

  ‘Why would I?’ Jerry asked. ‘I love Vegas.’

  ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘Now get out of my bar. You’re makin’ me look bad.’

  ‘One more thing.’

  ‘What?’

  I told him about the two torpedoes who worked me over in Reno. I didn’t mention that Jerry had to kill three in Brooklyn.

  ‘I think Irwin sent them after me.’

  ‘Describe ’em.’

  I did.

  ‘Ring a bell?’ I asked.

  Hargrove sat back in his chair and regarded me for a moment.

  ‘Sounds like the Rienza Brothers.’

  ‘Italians?’ Jerry asked.

  ‘Working for Irwin,’ I said.

  ‘They work for anybody who’ll pay the freight,’ Hargrove said. ‘OK, I’ll look into them, too. Now will you leave?’

  ‘We’re gone,’ I said.

  ‘Remember,’ he said, ‘don’t leave town.’

  I paused getting out of the booth.

  ‘Now what?’

  ‘Might have to go to LA to see Frank,’ I said. ‘And the LA County DA wants to talk to me.’ I was stretching the truth.

  ‘Yeah, OK,’ Hargrove said, ‘if that happens, call me and let me know.’

  ‘You got it.’

  I slid out of the booth and Jerry followed me. As we walked to the door we were the center of attention, again. Or rather, Jerry was. My guess was they could always tell somebody who wasn’t working the same side of the street as they were.

  Outside Jerry said, ‘Don’t make me do that again, Mr G.’

  ‘Do what?’

  ‘Go in a cop bar.’

  ‘Yeah,’ I said, looking back at the door, ‘let’s neither one of us ever do that again.’

  FIFTY-SIX

  This time we drove back to the Sands. I got Jerry a room – ‘A regular one,’ he insisted – so he could spend the night comfortably. Then I went to see Jack Entratter in his office.

  ‘What’s goin’ on?’ he asked when I walked in. It wasn’t a demand. In fact, he was sitting back in his chair and said it very nonchalantly.

  I’d already explained it to DA Evans and Detective Hargrove, so giving it to Jack didn’t take very long.

  He thought the information over for a few moments, then said, ‘You didn’t tell Frank?’

  ‘Jack, when we went out to deliver the money, Frank had a gun,’ I said. ‘I don’t want him gettin’ himself in trouble.’

  ‘Guess you’re right,’ he said. ‘If he got the chance he’d probably blow the heads off those scumbags.’

  ‘So I told Evans, figured he’d act on it, then told Hargrove so he wouldn’t throw me into a cell.’

  ‘And I’m third on the totem pole, huh?’

  ‘Don’t get offended, Jack.’

  ‘I’m not offended,’ Entratter said, wearily. ‘I’m tired. This whole Frankie thing . . . if the kidnappers get caught, then I’m glad you told whoever you told. Now, what’s happening here, in Vegas, that’s gonna keep you from workin’?’

  ‘Nothing,’ I said. ‘
I mean, hopefully, when they catch the kidnappers, everything else will go away.’

  ‘So whatever you stirred up when you were helping Abby will be over, too?’

  ‘I said . . . hopefully.’

  ‘Yeah . . . take tonight off, Eddie. See you at work tomorrow.’

  ‘OK.’

  As I stood up he said, ‘Oh, wait.’

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘What about Jerry? Where is he?’

  ‘I stuck him in a room,’ I said. ‘A regular, normal room.’

  ‘Is he goin’ home tomorrow?’

  ‘He’s gonna stick around,’ I said. ‘Um, Hargrove kinda told him to stick around until everything is . . . resolved.’

  ‘Resolved,’ Jack said. ‘That’s a good word.’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘Tell me, what’s gonna happen when they catch the kidnappers in LA and Hargrove realizes you gave them the info before you gave it to him?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘I guess I’ll have to deal with that when the time comes.’

  ‘Get some sleep, Eddie,’ he said. ‘You look like shit.’

  I went home.

  Jack was right. I was exhausted. I fell on to my bed without getting undressed and when I opened my eyes, it was morning. Not early morning. It was ten. Jerry had probably had pancakes by now. That was good. I wasn’t quite up to watching him work his way through two stacks.

  I showered, got dressed, made myself a simple egg sandwich for breakfast, washed it down with coffee while I watched the TV. Frankie’s return home was a big story. Also, the fact that the kidnappers were still on the loose, and were being hunted. The police said that their capture ‘was imminent.’ I wondered if that was because of my information.

  I was getting dressed when the phone rang.

  ‘Hello?’

  ‘We gotta talk,’ a man said.

  ‘If I knew who you were—’

  ‘It’s Irwin,’ he said. ‘We gotta talk.’

  ‘About what?’

  ‘I can help you.’

  ‘Help me do what?’

  ‘Catch my brother, and his two idiot friends.’

  ‘Amsler and Keenan?’

  He hesitated. I could hear him breathing on the other end.

  ‘You know more than I thought.’

  ‘I know about Canoga Park, I even know about November twenty-second.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Irwin said, ‘they was gonna grab the kid that day. The JFK thing shit-canned all that.’