by Tony Bertot
"Uncle, he's with me," Denise said.
"Well, that makes all the difference," Benito said now mocking her. Denise responded with half a smirk.
Benito Randazzo looked at her and then back at Tyler.
"Oh, ok. But don't let this happen again," Benito commanded as he made his way to the back of the apartment, where he situated himself on a chair facing the window.
Tyler and Denise both sat down as Ana prepared herself to become more acquainted with this stranger. "Now tell me young man. What was your mother's name?" Ana asked.
"Her name was Sylvia Santiago, and I believe she lived in the apart..."
"Oh my God. What is your name?" Ana interrupted him excitedly.
"Tyler, ma'am. Tyler Santiago," he replied.
"Benito... Benito come quick," Ana shouted.
Benito came in moving much faster than before and in his shaking hands was a shotgun.
"Hold it, mister," Tyler said as he jumped up when he saw Benito appear in the doorway with the shotgun.
"No, Benito. This is Tyler. Sylvia's son," Ana said hurriedly.
Benito stared at Tyler for a second and then back at Ana. "Why did you scream like that? You could have given me a heart attack, and who the hell is Sylvia?" he told her.
"I'm sorry, dear. Please put the gun down. You remember Sylvia and little Tyler. Theo!" Ana responded.
"Theo?" Benito asked. Benito stared at her and then at Tyler. He remembered Theo.
"Let me see some identification," Benito said turning to Tyler. Tyler reached into his wallet and handed it over to Denise who opened it and looked into it.
"His name is Tyler Santiago and he lives in New York," Denise said.
"Where in New York did you live when you were a kid?" Benito asked Tyler raising the shotgun.
Tyler hesitated a second trying to make sure he had it right before answering. "We lived on St. Nicholas and 124th Street in Manhattan." Tyler responded.
"Oh, shit, I think that's right. I don't remember much, but that sounds right," Benito said.
Ana wheeled her chair closer to Tyler. "Sit down, Tyler," she commanded. "Benito, go put that damn thing away before you kill someone," she ordered.
"It ain’t even loaded," he responded as he turned around and went back to put the gun away. A few minutes later Benito joined them in the living room.
"Where you staying, Tyler?" Ana asked him.
"There's a motel several blocks down Wabash. Figured I'll stay there," Tyler responded.
"Nonsense! You are like family. We got an apartment available here in the building, one flight up you could use," Ana said.
"I got a lot of things to tell you," Benito said.
"Papa! We can wait till later, over dinner. Let him get some rest and perhaps he would like a nice shower or bath," Ana said.
Benito stared at her and then at Tyler. You could see he was anxious to say something, but instead nodded in agreement.
"Denise go up and make sure apartment 3A is decent for our young guest here," Ana said.
"Ok," Denise said as she grabbed a key that was hanging on the wall and raced out the door.
"Tyler, please join us around 6:00 p.m. for dinner," Ana said.
"Yes, ma’am," Tyler responded as he got up and walked toward the door.
Suddenly there was a scream from up above.
Tyler raced up the stairs and ran into Denise as she exited one of the apartments. "There is a naked man in there," she shouted pointing behind her.
Tyler raced into the room and was faced with a man covered by a towel from the waist down, holding a lamp as a weapon. "Who are you?" Tyler demanded.
"Who am I? None of your damn business?" responded Nick Costello.
Denise was now standing behind Tyler staring at the half naked man. "Who let you in here," Denise asked him.
"Calito Randazzo," responded Nick.
Denise was now less frightened of the man since it was her cousin who had let him in. In fact, Denise walked around Tyler and introduced herself with her hand outstretched. Nick stared at her as she approached him.
"Excuse me, young lady. I am not exactly dressed for formalities," Nick said giving her a look as he put the lamp down.
Denise’s cheeks warmed with color as she smiled. "Oh, don't worry, I don't get embarrassed," she responded.
Nick smiled at her and said, "Well I do, so please let me get dressed."
Through all this, Tyler was amused by Denise's candidness. "Umm... Miss Lazzaro, why don't we let the man get dressed," Tyler said as he placed his hands on the back of her shoulders and guided her toward the door.
"Oh, I don't mind," Denise responded. Nick laughed as Tyler led her out of the apartment and back to apartment 2A.
"Your son let someone else have the apartment upstairs," Denise said as she met Ana at the door.
Tyler was trying to tell them it was ok, and he could check into the nearby motel, but they wouldn't hear of it.
"Don't worry. We got another apartment on the fifth floor. The tenants won't be back for a few months, and they told us we can rent it out while they are gone. They go to Florida for the winter every year," Ana said.
"Are you sure?" Tyler asked.
"Yeah, it's ok. They usually rent out that room for a few months," Denise said reassuring Tyler that it was ok.
"Well then," Tyler said, as he turned to Denise so she could lead the way.
Tyler followed Denise as she climbed the stairs to the fifth floor and handed him the key to apartment 5C. "Thank you," Tyler responded smiling at her. Denise smiled back and headed downstairs, but not before reminding him that he was to join them at 6:00 p.m. for dinner.
As she reached the 3rd floor, she walked to apartment 3A and placed her ear against the door. Suddenly the door flew open. "Can I help you?" Nick asked her.
"Um... I was just going to ask you if you would like to join us for dinner," Denise said quickly, composing herself.
"Calito has already invited me," Nick responded.
"Oh... So are you coming?" Denise asked.
"Do you want me to come?" Nick asked her.
Denise stared at him as she blushed a little.
"Well... Only if you want to..." she responded rather sheepishly.
"Ok. Only if you will be there," Nick added.
"Oh... Yes...I...I will definitely be there," Denise said excitedly.
"Well then. It's a date. See you there," Nick responded and closed the door in her face.
Denise stared at the door with an open mouth for a couple of seconds before turning and going downstairs. Nick's response and action caught her by surprise, and she didn't know what to make of it.
Nick was looking through the peephole and holding back laughter. He was looking forward to seeing her again at the Randazzo gathering.
Two floors up, Tyler was laying on a very comfortable bed staring up at the ceiling, also looking forward to the gathering at the Randazzo apartment.
Wisconsin Penitentiary
November
A bitter cold greeted both agents as they stepped out of the Cessna twin engine that carried them from New York to Wisconsin that November morning. The twenty-mile ride in the rental from the airport was made in silence as both Sheila and Sam were caught up in thoughts of Tyler Santiago, and how he was related to the assassin they now knew as Theo Gresco. Sam could not help believing Tyler knew, while Sheila was more concerned about Tyler finding out he might have killed his own father. In her mind, Tyler was already on the edge of shifting sides. Sheila believed Tyler's judgment was consumed by the loss of his mother and uncle to violent crimes. After speaking with John O'Malley, Tyler's commanding officer, it was obvious he too shared the same feelings. It was also obvious the captain cared a lot about Tyler and the direction he was headed.
Upon landing, Sam and Sheila were met by the warden’s assistant, Wade Callahad, who after introducing himself escorted them into the facility. Leaving their weapons in a locker located at the entrance, all th
ree made their way up two flights of stairs to the Warden's office.
From the warden's office window was a view of six floors of catwalks that ran alongside the cells. From this vantage point, the warden was visible to all of the inmates; they could see into his office and he could see them. It was his idea to make this location his office, and to put a window where he could observe the inmates as a sign he had nothing to hide, and he could be trusted. Though there were a few occasions where his trust and openness was put to the test, it was soon clear he was no pushover, and it would be a mistake to get on his wrong side.
Warden James Clarence was definitely no pushover. As an ex-marine, he experienced firsthand the agonies of war when he and a few of his men had been ambushed and taken prisoners. During his captivity, he had been tortured several times. It was a little under two months before he and several of his men managed to escape. Instead of heading for the border, they managed to steal a radio and communicate with their allies providing the prison location coordinates. Several days later, an infantry of marines along with Korean allies invaded the prison and freed over 75 prisoners. Warden J. Clarence had the respect of his men as well as the prisoners they guarded.
"What can I do for the FBI," the warden asked as he met them halfway across the room with his hand extended.
Both Sheila and Sam shook his hand and sat down, opposite the warden’s desk, as he too took a seat.
"We are here to talk to one of your prisoners. A Mr. Joey Escalla," Agent Samuel Williams said.
"Joey Escalla, huh?" the warden responded as he seemed lost in thought for a few seconds. "Joey Escalla," he repeated. "I think you folks are a few weeks too late. Hold on a second. Hey, Wade didn't we just release a Joey Escalla?" he asked his assistant.
"Yeah, I think you are right; a couple of weeks ago. But hold on let me check our records," the assistant responded.
A couple of minutes later the assistant confirmed what the agents now feared, that Joey Escalla had been released.
"Damn," Sheila said aloud.
"What seems to be the problem, agents?" the warden inquired.
"We have reason to believe Joey Escalla isn't who he says he is. His real name is not Joey Escalla," Sheila responded.
"Really? The guy was here for over twenty plus years, and now is when you find this out," the warden said almost chuckling.
"So who do you think he is?" the warden asked them.
"We don't know. We only found out a few weeks ago, when records were being cross-checked, that someone going by the same name had been killed over twenty three years ago," Sam responded.
"Do you have the fingerprints of the Joey Escalla that was supposed to be dead?" the warden asked.
"Why, yes. I believe we do. Why?" responded Sheila.
"Well, it has always been the custom here that every prisoner that comes through these doors get their picture taken and is fingerprinted. We write up a quick dossier on the person and place it in what we call an active folder. When they leave, their folder is filed in our storage cabinets alphabetically, but not until six months after they have left. In your prisoner's case his file would still be located in our active cabinet. Several minutes later, they were looking at the folder containing the picture of the person they knew as Joey Escalla.
Sheila put in a call to Captain Connolly and brought him up-to-date on their findings.
"Ask the warden if this Joey Escalla befriended any of the prisoners while he was there," the captain told Sheila.
After relaying the information to the warden, he suggested they talk with some of the guards who might have witnessed Joey Escalla chatting with anyone.
From the start, it was obvious Joey Escalla was not the sociable type.
"Didn't talk to anyone,” “Liked being alone,” “Didn't take to anyone in particular,” and “He was in his own world," were the most common remarks Sam and Sheila heard from the guards.
Over the next several days, Sam and Sheila interviewed most of the guards. It was when they were almost done that one of the guards mentioned Joey Escalla liked to read. He had been seen chatting with one of the prisoners who distributed the books.
"Yeah, I saw him talking to Mr. Genova, known to the other prisoners as Slash," the guard told Sam.
Two hours later the warden, Sam, and Sheila were staring at Mr. Stan (Slash) Genova through a two-way mirror as he sat in a private interview room.
"Well what do you think, warden? Will this guy Slash say anything worthwhile?" Sheila asked him.
The warden stared at Slash, and then turned his back on the two-way mirror to face Sam and Sheila. "Why don't you let me handle this?" he asked them. Both Sheila and Sam agreed he would probably be the best bet in getting Slash to open up. The warden nodded and stepped out of the room. A few seconds later he reappeared on the other side of the mirror.
"Good afternoon Mr. Genova. Do you know who I am?" the warden asked Slash.
"Um... Yeah, I know you," responded Slash.
"I'll get right to the point on why I asked to see you," the warden said. "We have reason to believe that one of the recently released prisoners was not who we thought he was, and we suspect that you might know who he really is," the warden told Slash.
"What? Who are you talking about?" Slash asked.
The warden opened up the folder and slid the picture of Joey Escalla in front of Slash. "Do you know who this man is?" the warden asked him.
"Um... Yeah! That's Joey Escalla," Slash said nervously.
The warden noticed Slash's eyes look to the lower left, often a human trait of lying and deceit. He knew that Slash was not the type of man to be easily intimidated, and he knew that no amount of persuasion would make him betray whatever he was hiding. However, the warden also saw unmistakable fear in his eyes. Slash feared whoever this man was.
The warden realized the only way he would get Slash to open up is if he removed the fear and so he took a chance and said as he was getting up to leave, "Too bad. I was hoping you could shed some light on this guy. He was found shot to death three days ago."
"Wha... What?" Slash said looking up at the warden as he was making his way toward the door.
"The... the guy’s dead?" Slash asked.
"Yep, shot down in cold blood," the warden replied.
"Is that why the Fed's are here," Slash asked the Warden.
The warden stared at Slash, amazed at how quickly the news spread around the penitentiary. "Is there anything that doesn't get out into the population," thought the Warden.
"Yep, that's why they're here. Trying to figure out why he was gunned down," the warden replied.
"Man. Who would have thought! They finally got him," Slash said aloud.
"Who finally got who?" the Warden asked.
Slash looked up at the warden and before answering, he stopped himself. Now realizing he had nothing to fear he might be able to get something out of this.
"Look, warden. I know more than what I said. Sorry, but you know how it is; a man’s got to do what he got to do to survive in here," Slash told the warden.
"I understand. But exactly what is it that you know," asked the Warden.
"I ain't talking till I get something in writing. I want a transfer to a place closer to where my family can come and see me. You know, like in Chicago," Slash said excitedly.
The warden stared at Slash for a few seconds, got up, walked to the door, stopped, and turned. "I'll send the Feds in here and if what you have is good enough, you have my word that you'll get what you want. You understand?" the warden asked him.
Slash knew the reputation the warden had. He had never been known to break his word to anyone and he was an upbeat guy.
"Yeah, I'm ok with that," Slash said.
A couple of minutes later, both Sam and Sheila were sitting in front of Slash hearing what he had to say. It was like a mystery being unraveled in front of their eyes. Not only did Slash identify Joey Escalla as Nick Costello, he went into the rumor that Nick Costello and another fe
llow singularly took on the Sabrisio brother's organization. Both Sam and Sheila stared at Slash with opened mouths, saying nothing, afraid to interrupt him, as Slash went on. It was two hours later that the interview was finished.
"Is there anything else that you would like to tell us about this Nick Costello," Sam asked Slash.
"Yeah. I am fuckin glad that son-a-bitch is dead," Slash said.
"Yeah, we are too," Sheila, said smiling.
Before leaving for New York, they called the captain and briefed him on what they had discovered.
"Ok you two, good job. I'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning," Connolly said as he hung up the phone.
Though Captain Connolly was very pleased with his agents' abilities, he realized he now faced a more difficult task. The FBI had screwed up royally by allowing a killer of the highest caliber out on the streets. Nick Costello made them all look like incompetent fools. If the media ever got wind of this, heads would fly. There was no doubt that if his superiors ever found out Detective Tyler Santiago was related to the assassin, Theo Gresco, John Connolly’s head would be on the chopping block as well; regardless of whether Tyler knew or not. The only way for him to save his job and the reputation of the bureau was to bring Tyler Santiago before a board of inquiry and to bring Theo Gresco and Nick Costello to justice.
All of this was running through John Connolly’s mind as he started to plan a resolution of each one of these issues. Only Sam and Sheila knew the truth, and he had already warned them to keep this information to themselves. He had personally called the warden, emphasizing the need for complete privacy, and advised him that Mr. Stan (Slash) Genova should keep his trap shut, or he might face severe consequences.
Felicia Giordano
New York City/November
Though she had thought she would be out in just a couple of days, it had actually taken a few weeks for her to become strong enough to walk of her own volition.
Rumors circulated that Felicia would be released that day. The crowd and reporters went into a frenzy when three limousines pulled up in front of the hospital. The city of New York went into overtime to protect Miss Giordano as police converged into the streets and nearby buildings in anticipation of another attempt on her life.