The Hoods

by Grey, Harry

  Yeh, I was thinking of quitting soon. Maybe it was nerves, or maybe it was Eve. Something was bothering me. Maybe it was this cat-and-mouse game with Salvy. Who the hell knows? I watched Max, Pat and Cockeye. Goddamn, now that I thought of it, they seemed to be on edge, too. Patsy and Cockeye had a little argument over that singer, Rose, the other night. How could they go for a tomato like that? Nobody is like Eve. I wonder what she's doing with herself down there?

  Another week went by, then one night the Ape sat down at our table.

  “You on the level, Max, with Salvy?” he asked.

  “What do you mean on the level?” Max asked. “If you mean, we have no hard feelings against the Snake, sure. Why?”

  “Salvy contacted me last night. He's broke.”

  “He can come down here; he can have the run of the joint. The same as you if he wants to.”

  “I don't know what to do,” the Ape said.

  “Why?” I asked. “What now?”

  “Because he's hitting the needle again, and when he takes a shot in the arm, the sonofabitch likes to use his goddamn ice pick.”

  I said, “Well, that's up to him. If he behaves himself, he can come around for a meal, a drink, and a few bucks.”

  Max smiled wryly. “You're his friend, aren't you?” The dumb Ape nodded. “So you got to overlook his little faults with the ice pick.”

  “So the proposition still stands, Max?”

  The Ape was cautious. There was still a glimmer of suspicion in his eye.

  “It's okay by me one way or the other.” Maxie acted unconcerned. “We have a little business out of town for the next week or so. We're going to put a man in complete charge to run the place.” Max smiled. “If you want the job, it's up to you. Take it or leave it. We would rather have you run it. You know the joint, the customers, everything about this place.”

  The Ape was hesitant, but there was a gleam of delight in his eyes. He considered it for quite a while. Finally, he fell for it. We left him in charge. He was in his glory when we said, “So long, see you in two or three weeks.”

  We went downtown to Jake's place. We had a talk with Jake, Pipy and Goo-Goo. We told them to watch the Eden day and night. We gave them the phone number of Solly's place in Jersey, to call us every night and keep us informed when Salvy appeared.

  We spent four miserable days on the other side of the river, until one morning Jake over the phone said excitedly, “He came around, but stay there. I got to talk to you guys.”

  We met Jake at four o'clock that morning in the back room of Longy's speakeasy in Newark.

  He was agitated. He said, “No good, don't do it. Salvy's around, but he smells something. He isn't as dumb as the Ape. He planted two or three letters with different people saying if anything happens to him or Willie, to give those letters to the D. A. and the cops.”

  Max and I exchanged disgusted glances.

  “You guys better lay off. That Snake is hotter than a firecracker.”

  Jake said.

  “Now we really got to do something, but fast,” I said.

  “Why?” Max looked at me puzzled.

  “Did you happen to think how many people Salvy has had a run-in with through the years?”

  “So?” Max said.

  “So, if one of them takes it in his head to give him the 'business,' where will we be?”

  “Yep, you're right, Noodles,” Maxie said.

  “Sure. If one of his enemies was smart, he wouldn't hesitate, he would give him the business and be in the clear. Those letters would fix us up fine,” I snorted.

  Max frowned. “Yep, yep, you're absolutely right. What a lousy fix.”

  “Well, let's sleep on it, Jake,” I said.

  “Keep watching the joint. Keep us posted.”

  “You guys watch yourselves.”

  Jake was really worried.

  I gave an uneasy laugh. “Don't worry, Jake. We'll think of something.”

  “Pipy was watching the joint when I left,” Jake said.

  “Okay, Jake, you and Pip keep tailing him,” Max said.

  We played klabiash very uneasily the next day in the back room of Longy's waiting to hear from Jake. Finally Jake and Pip came in with their report.

  Pipy said, “Salvy has got himself a second-hand Chrysler.”

  “And?” Maxie said impatiently as Pipy and Jake helped themselves from the bottle.

  Pipy gulped his drink down and continued: “Nothing much more. He came into the Eden the other night about nine. He went into a huddle with Willie the Ape. I saw him pat the Ape on the back and laugh. Then he walked around the Eden like he owned the joint.”

  Maxie smiled ruefully. “Okay,” he said, “what else, Pip?”

  “Nothing much more. He bossed the entertainers and the help around quite a lot for one thing.” Pipy scratched his head in thought. “Yeh, then after a while he had an argument with that broad Rose on account of she began acting sweet to one of the customers.” Pipy smiled to himself at the thought. “You know that sister tap-dancing team you got down there, Maxie?” Max nodded. “It must be nice laying up with twins,” Pipy observed incidentally.

  “To hell with that,” Max said impatiently. “What else?”

  “Well, anyway, after the Snake and the Ape closed the joint at the usual time, four-thirty, they rode down to the hotel on Fifty-Sixth Street. They got rooms on the eighth floor. That's the same floor the twins are on.” Pipy had an envious look on his face.

  “How did you get the dope about them and the twins being on the eighth floor?” I asked admiringly.

  “I gave the elevator kid a pound note. He told me.” Pipy smiled modestly. “It wasn't so hard.”

  “Okay, Pipy, thanks, this'll cover the expense you had.”

  Maxie tossed him a C note.

  “Thanks, Max. Shall we tail him again tonight?”

  Maxie frowned. He looked at me.

  I said, “Yeh, keep tailing him.”

  We had a round of drinks. Jake and Pipy left.

  Max said to me, “What do you think?”

  “Well, for one thing we can't turn the contract back to the office and say give it to somebody else because we can't handle it, can we?”

  “Nah, of course we can't do that,” Max corrected himself. “I don't mean we can't if we wanted to. But we don't want to. We got to go through with it.”

  “Sure we got to go through with it,” Patsy said.

  “Jesus, we got to,” Cockeye said.

  I leaned over the table.

  “There's no question. We got to get it over with, and the sooner the better. So far we maneuvered them two on the 'spot' and we can 'take' them easy enough when we want to.”

  “Yep, like rabbits in a barrel,” Max grunted.

  “Yeh, that we did, we got them in a barrel. Now the thing is, them goddamn letters of Salvy's,” I said.

  “That bastard Salvy; he's just like a Snake,” Patsy said.

  “Can't we find out who he gave those letters to and clip them?” Cockeye suggested.

  “No good,” Maxie said, “it would take too long.”

  “Yeh, no good,” I said, “we got to get it over with fast. But first we got to establish an ironclad alibi.”

  “Jesus Christ, with those letters floating around, it's got to be goddamn ironclad,” Patsy said.

  CHAPTER 38

  We sat around the table in the back room of Longy's for hours discussing it. We finished two quart bottles of Mt. Vernon. The bartender brought a third, all with Longy's compliments. I opened the barred window for a breath of fresh air. Day was breaking.

  For some unaccountable reason my mind centered on the bars. Yeh, that's it, I said to myself. If we were behind bars, that would be a perfect alibi. Yeh, Solly can fix it. He runs the police department and just about everything in his town. I walked back to the table. We got into a huddle. I whispered my plan.

  “Yep, that's it, Noodles,” Max agreed.

  Pat and Cockeye nodded.

>   “I'll call Solly at his house,” I said.

  I put a coin in the wall phone and called, “Hasbrouck Heights.”

  Solly's sleepy voice answered.

  “This is Noodles, Solly,” I said. “Sorry to wake you up.”

  “That's okay, Noodles,” Solly said. “What's cookin?”

  “We want to cut some business up; we're coming right over.”

  “Okay,” Solly said.

  Over cups of black coffee and anisette, I explained to Solly what I wanted him to do.

  “Don't forget the silencers and Jersey plates for the car.”

  He nodded all through the conversation. “Sure, sure, yeh, I'll take care of everything,” he said. It'll take me three—four hours. Meet me in town at my place, three in the afternoon.”

  I called Jake. In guarded language I told him what we intended to do and told him to meet us.

  We went back to Newark and had a few hours sleep.

  At three o'clock we walked into Solly's place. We left all our hardware and money in his safe.

  Solly brought us to a small loft building in the middle of town.

  “Okay, fellas, here's the keys. The joint's on the first floor.” He grinned. “You're in business now.” Solly drove away in our Caddy.

  We walked up one flight. Maxie unlocked the door. We looked around. It was a nice set-up, cheap but fully equipped. There was the big blackboard covering an entire wall. The telephones, the birdcages, the dice table and a few slot machines around the sides.

  “No wheel?” Cockeye asked.

  “This ain't a casino,” I said. “This is just a horse room.”

  We wandered around the room playing the slots for about twenty minutes.

  Suddenly we heard a terrific bang. The door crashed in. Five big men came in.

  “Who's the boss of this joint?” one of the big guys inquired. He was a good actor.

  “We're all bosses,” Maxie smiled easily. He included all of us with a sweep of his arm.

  “Okay, you guys are pinched for operating a horseroom.” He motioned to one of his men. “Ronnie, stay here until the wagon comes to pick up this equipment as evidence. You guys come along,” he motioned to us.

  “What the hell do you guys think, you can just walk into town and open a horseroom? We don't tolerate gambling or vice in Jersey.”

  Meekly we followed him downstairs into a police car.

  At the police station, they searched and booked us. The Sergeant asked, “You guys want a bondsman?”

  Maxie said, “No, sergeant.”

  The sergeant looked curiously at us. “It's all right with me, but you guys will be locked up over night until the Magistrate's Court opens tomorrow morning. We have no night court in this town.”

  Maxie shrugged his shoulders, unconcernedly.

  They led us downstairs to a cell in the basement. It was a little cramped but we made the best of it. We took turns lying on two cots.

  We smoked and talked in the pitch dark. Every so often Maxie would strike a match and look at his watch. It was a tedious night. At about three-thirty a.m. we heard footsteps in the hall. We listened tensely.

  The footsteps paused at our cell. A key turned in the lock.

  A voice whispered through the door, “Down the hall to your left.”

  The steps hurried away.

  We waited a moment, then quietly we walked to the left, down the hall to an iron door with a key in it. Maxie turned it. The creaking door opened slowly. We walked down a dark alley. It led us into a side street.

  Solly was sitting in our Caddy.

  “The silencers and the rest of your stuff is under the back seat.” He got out and said, “So long. Good luck.”

  He walked down the street to a waiting car. I picked up the back seat. Our four rods were there, with the silencers already attached. I distributed them. We put them under our coats. We drove slowly to New York. It was four a.m. when Cockeye parked half a block from the Eden.

  A figure slouched over to the Caddy. I had my rod aimed at his head. It was Jake the Goniff.

  “They're both down there, with another guy,” Jake whispered.

  “Who's the other guy?” I murmured.

  “I don't know, I never saw him before,” Jake whispered.

  “The hell with him; he's got to go, too,” Max said coldly. I looked at Max. Max shook his head. His face was stony.

  “The three got to go.” His voice was acid.

  “Here's the key; they got the door locked,” Jake said.

  Max took it. “Okay, Jake, scram,” Max said.

  Jake scurried down the street.

  Cockeye remained behind the wheel with the motor purring.

  We filed down the steps, holding our rods.

  Max noiselessly unlocked the door.

  I slowly and quietly closed it.

  We saw the three of them. Their backs were turned. Salvy and Willie were counting money on the bar.

  The stranger was watching them.

  We tiptoed on the rug.

  They were too engrossed with the money.

  We were right behind them.

  Max was behind the Snake.

  I was behind the Ape.

  Patsy was behind the stranger.

  We had our rods an inch behind their heads.

  They saw us in the mirror, three pairs of horrified eyes.

  We blasted the three together.

  It was one muffled bang.

  Three big holes appeared in the backs of three heads.

  Three pairs of hands clutched the bar for support.

  “Once more,” Maxie said.

  Three arms with guns were raised.

  There was another muffled bang.

  Three pairs of hands let go of the bar.

  Three writhing bodies sank to the floor.

  “To make sure,” Maxie said.

  Three arms with guns were raised again.

  There was one more muffled bang.

  Three dead, dead, dead, motionless bodies lay on the floor.

  We walked upstairs with the smoking rods under our coats.

  “Back to Jersey,” Maxie said.

  Cockeye put the Caddy into first. She rolled smoothly down the street. Cockeye put the Caddy into second. She shot faster down the street. Cockeye put the Caddy into third. She flew away from murder into the night.

  On the boat, at about the middle of the river, we edged over to the rail and threw our guns into the middle of the Hudson River.

  We parked the car a block away from the station house.

  Solly was waiting for us.

  “Okay?” Solly said as he got into the Caddy.

  “Okay,” Maxie answered.

  Solly drove away.

  Singly, keeping in the shadows, we walked down the street into the alley.

  CHAPTER 39

  Quietly we walked down the steps to the iron door and into the building, feeling our way to our cell in the dark.

  The cell door was unlocked. We walked in. A few minutes later, we heard footsteps. They stopped at our cell. We heard a key lock our door. Then the sound of the steps disappeared down the hallway. The four of us sighed deep sighs. I lay down on a cot. None of us spoke a word.

  At seven a.m., a cop brought us some lousy coffee and dry toast.

  At nine-thirty we were standing before the Magistrate.

  “How do you plead, guilty or not guilty to operating a horseroom?” he droned.

  “Guilty, your Honor,” I said.

  “A hundred dollar fine for each one of you or ten days in jail.”

  Solly stepped up to pay our fines.

  I said to the clerk, “We want receipts.”

  “Income tax?” the clerk asked, smiling.

  “Yeh, that's it,” I said. “Please put the time and date on.”

  Outside, Solly was waiting with our Caddy.

  He handed us our money. I returned the money he had laid out for our fines.

  We drove back to New York.
/>   Maxie opened the door to the back room of Fat Moe's.

  We walked right into the waiting arms of the Four Horsemen. They were sitting around our table drinking double hookers. “We were waiting for you lads,” one of the big guys at the table said.

  “Sorry to keep you waiting, lieutenant. What's this, social or business?” I asked, trying to act unconcerned.

  “Strictly business.” The lieutenant gave me a sharp look.

  Maxie glanced at the bottle of Mt. Vernon they had on the table.

  The police lieutenant caught his glance.

  “Oh this?” He picked up the bottle. “I know you got the McCoy here. You don't mind if we indulge, do you?”

  “No, go ahead, lieutenant. All you want,” I said.

  The lieutenant said sarcastically, “Thanks,” refilled his glass, gulped it down and commented, “This is okay stuff. Now—” he hesitated, smiling. “How do you say it in Yiddish, Max? Tachlas, yeah, yeah. Let's get down to tachlas.”

  It sounded odd coming from an Irish police lieutenant. His manner changed. His pleasantness and smile were purely superficial. He handed Max a letter.

  “I finally got you bastards,” he said. “This just came in by carrier pigeon.”

  These four police officers were known from the Bronx to the Battery. They were nicknamed the Four Horsemen. They were vicious bastards in the sense of being rough to law-abiding citizens and hoodlums both. They glorified in brutality for brutality's sake. They tried to give the impression that they were honest and zealous police officers. We knew them to be phonies.

  They were bag men for themselves and higher-ups. They shook down speakeasies and bookmakers, allowing their cousins and brothers-in-law to operate illegal enterprises under their protection. They operated as we did, on the muscle, only they had the advantage: they had the law on their side. They had a crime syndicate all their own. We didn't hold them in too high regard, because anybody, as a last resort, could buy them with a charlotte russe.

  If they had thought for a moment they could get away with lumping us up without a fight, they would have tried it long ago, but they were chary. They knew it would be a battle royal. Therefore they had kept their hands off us. Of course, there were some honest police officers during that era, but this group definitely was not in that category.