Edina and the men arrived at a location she did not recognize. They threw ice water on her to wake her up. She had passed out on the ride over due to shock. She could not identify the place. It looked like an empty room in someone’s home, just without windows. She was lying on a cot. Her wrists and ankles were still tied together. She looked down and noticed that her ankles were swollen and sore; therefore, she could not attempt to stand. She could hardly bend her knees. As three men stood by her, Enzo Ambrosino walked in. What Edina did not know was that the Ambrosino family had connections at the Drake Hotel. In fact, they had connections in hotels all over the city, as well as in Atlantic City and Philadelphia. One of those connections spotted her and alerted the associates.
Enzo wanted his money back in full, and he intended to use her as an incentive to dangle over John and the rest of them to get them to cooperate. Enzo did not know the extent of her relationship to any of them. If he did not have his four million returned to him very soon, she and the others would learn the consequences. He had the men remove the tape from her mouth. Enzo knelt down to her.
“You are a delicate woman, I can tell, but not very smart,” he said. She stared at him with frightened eyes. “Where’s my money, dear?” he asked her.
“I have some of it. Just take it,” she said with a shaken voice.
“I did not give you some of what you asked for. In my estimate, if this had worked out, it would have been a good deal for me. You’d save me tens of millions. But now, it will be free. Every cent comes back to me. Until then, you lay here,” he said. “Where are the rest of them?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she answered. “If you let me go, I can help you find them. We can work together.”
“I don’t work with people who steal from me, I demolish them,” He said. He motioned for the men to cover her mouth again.
Enzo sent his associates over to the Chimera offices in the middle of the night. They tossed multiple Molotov cocktails into the building, causing it to go up in flames. The fire was extensive, so hot that the Chimera symbol that hung out front, the steel sign that Bernie had taken so much pride in creating and displaying, melted. The building was gutted, and everything left inside was destroyed.
Ben and the money he took from Edina ended up back in the Bronx. He had abandoned the thought of hooking up with John and Jerome. He had also paid a visit to Celia’s, but he could not locate her either. He wanted to take the money and run away with her, to no avail. He and his dealer, Jose Jimenez, split the cash. They considered it payback for all the drug debts Ben owed to dealers in the area. Ben suggested to Jose that they join forces. Ben would share his contacts from working at Chimera, and they could expand beyond the Bronx and Harlem. Ben knew that some of the high-powered clients they had also used drugs on the low. Those users included homemakers and, shockingly, those who worked in religious sectors. He knew many of their secrets, and he told Jose he could use that information against them if they ever got out of line. Inexpensive heroin had a large addict chunk in the city courtesy of Italians and the mob, and Ben had many connections. Many of them had served in Vietnam, from where the CIA, through Air America, had heroin smuggled back in body bags.
Smugglers would hide heroin in cars being shipped into the United States, stashing it in every crevice of the vehicle. They did this through their connections to the warlords in Thailand, who were American allies. Heroin entered New York City directly through the Port Authority, which made it the main destination for narcotic-bureau investigators who worked with customs agents. Getting the narcotics in this way made the selling price on the street much greater because the odds of it being redirected and destroyed were much higher. Despite efforts to curtail heroin’s use and sale, two tons made it to the United States every year.
Jose was open to the idea as long as Ben did not smoke or shoot up the entire inventory, he joked. Ben did not find that funny. They combined their resources and began setting up a heroin and marijuana factory and farm in one of Jose’s relatives’ buildings in the South Bronx. Ben had some experience in cutting heroin. He would get the supply and blend it with milk sugar in the kitchen. It resembled baking flour. Cutting it made the heroin weaker. He and others who were working with them would sell each small packet for five dollars in the neighborhoods. An original bag of opium that they purchased from farmers and delivered here for three hundred and fifty dollars would net them half a million dollars on New York City streets.
Ben and Jose would have competition. Many gangs in the city also had their hands in the heroin trade. The Black Panthers who were tired of the destruction caused by the distribution of heroin would dump it into the sewers or destroy it by other means. They would never report their findings to the law-enforcement agencies. They knew that law enforcement would confiscate the paraphernalia and resell it to the dealers for a profit. Sometimes the police would forego an arrest altogether if the dealer handed over the drugs. The majority of the hard-core addicts resided in the ghettos and slums; the Bronx and Harlem held half of the nation’s users. Some corrupt law enforcement saw this opportunity as too lucrative not to have a hand in it. The NYPD filled the jails with drug abusers, whom they booked on possession alone, causing a case overload in the system. Many of these addicts could not afford money for proper legal aid.
Jose Jimenez was a third-generation Bronx-born Puerto Rican. Jose was eating at the Horn and Hardart Automat Café with a young female companion when he met Ben in Manhattan. Ben bought drugs from Jose and realized that the narcotics were good quality. Ben decided to keep in touch with him and make Jose his connection. When other clients wanted to buy good-quality drugs, Ben would call Jose to get the supply. Jose was part of the Ghetto Brothers, a mostly black and Puerto Rican gang based in the South Bronx. They were part tough, part political, and part social. The group considered Jose one of its heads. He was well respected in the community as a whole, and he loved to talk to people. Some community members felt that the Ghetto Brothers did a lot for them, such as cleaning the streets and helping children, despite some members being involved in high crime. Jose was one of the most lightweight members who were in the process of converting to Islam. He knew he was one of the few Islamic Puerto Ricans in the area, but Jose was not perfect. Before he fully changed, he continued to sell drugs to make ends meet. He was not employed by traditional means, and many of the residents of the Bronx shared his predicament. Half of the residents depended on public assistance because of the economic downturn, which affected poor blacks and Hispanics the most in the city. Jobs were scarce. Jose was not violent, and he vowed to deal only as a temporary means until he could become settled financially. He was sensitive to the excessive amount of homicides in the community. Any time one of his colleagues was hurt or killed; he provided counseling and comfort to the group. The group trusted him because he kept his street sense.
Jose knew that the conditions were causing many Bronx natives to flee the borough, and the population was dropping dramatically. Many of the buildings had been abandoned by not only the residents but also the owners. These empty places became money traps for the owners, so they would pay dealers to burn them down for the insurance money. Other abandoned buildings became refuges for the homeless or drug deals and crime. Some of the people involved had been found tossed out some of the windows after being beaten up or murdered. He knew that his heroin trade was the leading cause of death among young people in the borough and the surrounding area, and heroin deaths were unusually high for his people. Jose planned to move on soon, but he still had some more business to build before quitting for good.
In order to fit into the neighborhood, Ben had to include himself in one of the groups to survive. He decided to join Jose and become one of the Ghetto Brothers, which made him one of two Italian natives in the entire gang. Ben did not go through the same initiation as others because some saw no value in jumping him in. He was too connected, and he made them money. The Ghetto Brothers were inclusive, as they took in peop
le from the area. Despite their different ethnicities, they considered themselves a family, much like Chimera considered themselves a family, except in a more organized fashion. It took Ben a little time before they trusted him. The group did not want any law enforcement infiltrating them, and they had to make sure to vet him before giving him his jacket. They liked Ben because of his connections to Manhattan; the Ghetto Brothers were successful in the Bronx and Harlem, but they looked to branch out.
Edina’s parents became worried. Her connection at Pan American Airways contacted them, concerned about her whereabouts. The person informed them that she had missed a flight to Los Angeles and the airline could not reach either she or her husband at their residence. They wanted to check and see if Edina or John was there with the family. Edina’s family told them no. She never told them that she was taking a trip, but they said they would update the airline when they had more information.
Edina’s brother and father went to her residence and found that the door showed evidence of tampering. Edina was particular about how she kept things, so this seemed unusual to them. They walked in. Nothing looked out of the ordinary in the immediate living area. Edina kept her place impeccably. They continued to look around and found nothing out of order. Edina’s brother looked into her bedroom. A large box sat in the middle of the bed, and it was wet on the bottom. A printed note taped to the top of the box read, To Mother and Father. Her brother opened it, looked in, and gagged. It was Edina, in pieces.
Chapter 10
The day is bright, beautiful and the weather was just right. Everyone in view is in good spirits. Guests were settling and relishing in the drinks by the bar. Others were walking about, enjoying the music and atmosphere as the palm trees swayed in the wind. In the cool breeze by the blue waters, Celia laid her tanned body under a blue beach umbrella. Her giant straw fedora covered her face from the sun. She had her fruit bowl full of berries, her sangria, and her book by her side. She was indulging in a hardback copy of Our Bodies, Ourselves. Relaxed, she exhaled, closed her eyes, and began to nap. She let her mind wander off to the sounds of…gunfire. Celia quickly sat up, removed her sunglasses, and looked around, as did the other tourists, to see where it was coming from. She grabbed her towel, book, and bag and ran back to the hotel with other guests hoping not to be struck by crossfire. The sound reminded her of the place she was hoping to forget until she figured out what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. Once the staff and local law enforcement calmed the guests, she decided to return to her hotel room. She was staying in a medium-sized suite with ocean views. The room was not the best the hotel offered, but it compared to what she had at home, except without the traffic, smog, noisy people, blowing horns, and snow. She did not want to blow all of her money, as it had to go a long way until she could find other employment. When she woke up in the morning, she saw ocean views, breathed fresh air, and felt cool breezes.
Jamaica in the 1970s was a political hotbed. The tourists’ areas were supposed to be safe havens from the turbulences in the mainland. Opposition to certain policies by the recently elected prime minister spilled over to areas where holidaymakers frequented, scaring them off. The unrest did not bother Celia, as the violence was comparable to what she left in New York City. She rented a hotel room at the Playboy Resort in Ocho Rios for the month. In her eyes, once a bunny, always a bunny, and she felt comfortable in the familiar territory. Celia liked that the bunnies who worked there looked more like her and that the brown ones made up half the staff. She intended to plan the next few years of her life. After the argument with John back home, she did not think twice about cashing that check. If it had only been John in the picture, she would have reconsidered, but she felt that she could no longer emotionally ignore John and Edina’s union. She thought the best way to move on was to get away completely. The money gave Celia options. She would be able to return to school to pursue her music and teaching aspirations. It also made her wealthy where she was now. Two hundred thousand US dollars went a long way in Jamaica. The money would firmly place her in the upper classes in the region if she decided to stay. Celia and Jerome had relatives who had married into the wealthy community there so she would not have a problem integrating into the culture if she chose.
Before leaving New York for Jamaica with an advert in hand, Celia visited Rose. Rose was adjusting well at Juilliard. She had her own place, where she practiced her violin, much to the dismay of her neighbors. Unlike Celia, Rose was not a natural player; she required a lot of practice. Celia dropped off some items she wanted to keep at Rose’s apartment. She would send for them later. Celia did not trust leaving them at her apartment for fear that whoever was after the group would come to her eventually. Among those items, she included the spare bunny uniforms that she bought herself and the coat John bought her. She wanted to keep the outfits as mementos, and the fur coat from John was too beautiful to let go. Celia made Rose swear to keep her whereabouts secret for the time being; she did not want people to know what was happening until she had a plan. Bernie had taught her the importance of having a plan B. After seeing Rose, Celia then visited her mother to assure her that everything was fine and that she would call. She left without telling her mother that she was leaving the country.
Once the coast was clear and Celia had on her touring outfit, which consisted of a sweater, sunhat, sunglasses, and miniskirt, she headed out to sightsee. Celia slicked her hair back in a low bun, which was a departure from the perfectly coiffed roller-set hair that she took time every day to fix. She thought her former style was no longer practical because of the hot weather. She began her venture out into the mainland. She went to Kingston on the suggestion of one of the waiters who worked in the restaurant at the hotel. She wanted to see if it lived up to the stories she had heard from family members. Celia arranged for a trusted cab to chauffer her around for the day and went on a visual tour. Her driver introduced himself as Karlus; it sounded like he said Carlos, and Celia pronounced it that way. He told her that he didn’t mind; everyone did that. On their way to the city, she noted some of the graffiti written on the walls, buildings, and concrete barriers. Most of it comprised colorful drawings and writings. Others were political: Judas Manley, Liverance Now! Manley is a Traitor! JLP Yes, Cuba No! Celia asked Karlus what it meant. He explained everything to her.
The political unrest in the area resulted from Prime Minister Michael Manley’s collectivist policies, which mirrored the communist policies that Fidel Castro had enacted in Cuba. Manley and Castro were good friends. Manley wanted a socialist nation that was rooted in black pride and African heritage. He gave land to farmers and created jobs for the poor and women. He desired free education for every child and wanted Jamaica to be in charge of its own destiny, an ideology that mirrored Cuba’s. This was decidedly different from the philosophy of the United States, and it angered local businesses as well as officials from Washington, who were already having trouble with Cuba and Fidel Castro due to their policies. Celia thought the idea was refreshing. She knew that the economic downturn occurring in the New York area meant that many families had to suffer and that those who were already wealthy would make more attempts to separate themselves. Celia also knew that any effort to put poorer minority groups on equal footing made rich and some middle-class people nervous. She witnessed many people she knew fleeing from New York City to the surrounding suburban areas and taking all of their resources with them. She did not understand why people would be angry at Manley’s plans as it helped everyone.
As he drove through the main avenues and the narrow neighborhood streets, the driver pointed out prominent places in the area that she should visit. Many of the houses resembled shacks, but the residents took pride in their homes. The driver recommended that she try a beef patty as well as some jerk chicken and insisted that she would enjoy these better than the fried chicken, Chinese food, and burgers she was used to having back at home. He also suggested the curry goat. Celia promptly told him no, as she could not stomach
the thought of eating one of the goats they passed along the way. Goat was not one of the meats that she was used to eating. They did not eat goats in Manhattan. Karlus laughed.
On their way, they passed law enforcement keeping the peace in their navy and light-blue uniforms, which resembled the air force uniforms worn in the United States. Groups of schoolchildren walked to and from school. The girls wore navy uniform dresses and white shirts. The boys had khaki tops and bottoms. Some of them were eating icy cones, and others were riding their bikes in the street. Young people in scooters intertwined with the traffic. All of the children seemed happy. Celia thought they were neat, and the mood was a departure from the doldrums and despair of Harlem.
Once Celia and her driver arrived in Kingston, which took about two hours, she sought to stop by the St. Joseph Teacher’s College Education Programme. She wanted to see what they offered and review their teaching platform. If she liked it and decided to stay, the program would help her. Despite the unrest and harsh economic climate, Celia wanted to make Jamaica a real option for her education. She took a tour of the college and met some of the administrators. She loved it and promised to let them know of her decision to return.
Celia and Karlus headed back after a meal of jerk chicken, plantains, and vegetables. She took a few patties with her to bring back to the hotel. The driver told her that they were also building more schools in the area with the help of the Cubans. He thought that maybe she could consider helping with those once they opened. This made her excited. Celia would love to run a music program one day. They headed back along the scenic route filled with mountains, lush greenery, and exotic flowers. Throughout the ride, the cab driver flirted with her and complimented her on her beauty. She thought he was very sweet and somewhat handsome. He had a beautiful and even skin tone, which highlighted his bright smile. Karlus differed from the men she normally found attractive, but she thought that he would make a great friend and a connection for her to the mainland. He offered to help her the next time she needed something, and they exchanged contact information.
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