The Heart of an Assassin

by Tony Bertot

  After hearing the direction the helicopter took, Nick headed toward the Westerly State Airport in Massachusetts, where he left his car and took an airplane to Kennedy Airport in Queens. As Tyler, Sheila, Eric, and the judge settled down for the night, Nick was arriving at Kennedy Airport, where he rented a car as Joseph Drummer and headed for Manhattan. Leaving the airport area, Nick pulled to the side of the road and turned on the mobile phone.

  “Hello. Is anyone there?” he spoke into the phone.

  “Is this Nick? Where are you?” Felicia asked.

  “Never mind that. Any word on where our pigeon may be?” Nick asked.

  “Yeah, they landed in Manhattan and went directly to the Twenty-Sixth Precinct” was the response Nick got.

  “You know, this job has become too complicated, too many people involved. So I have decided to withdraw from our contract,” Nick said.

  “You what?” Felicia screamed into the phone. After hearing his sister scream, Fabio rushed into the room, yanked his sister around, and put his finger over his lips.

  A moment later, Fabio spoke into the phone. “Okay, if that’s the way you feel. I understand,” responded Fabio.

  Nick was amused at how smart Fabio was. How quickly he could analyze a situation and take the appropriate action. Though Felicia was smart in her own right, Fabio was proving to be a lot sharper. Nick knew that he would be the bigger threat overtime than Felicia could have ever been.

  Turning off the mobile phone, Nick proceeded toward Manhattan. He knew his chances of catching up with the judge were pretty slim. But his gut told him that they were holed up somewhere in Manhattan and that he might get lucky.

  Half an hour later, Fabio scheduled another meeting for early in the morning. Additionally, he ordered that the FBI surveillance van across the street from their estate be taken out just before the meeting.

  The Giordanos Meet

  June 15, 1984

  At 07:50 a.m., there was a hit-and-run as a reckless driver accidentally rammed the FBI van and continued on its way. The impact caused an unexplained fire, which somehow started under the van. Though the occupants were able to exit the van unharmed, all the electronic equipment inside had been severely damaged by the fire that engulfed it.

  At 07:55 a.m., Felicia smiled as she looked out of her bedroom window at the smoke pouring out of a van across the street. So sad, she thought to herself.

  Downstairs in the conference room, Fabio sat in front of his lieutenants as they settled down for the meeting. Standing up, he looked around the room. They could see that he was not happy. That he was disappointed with the results of their efforts.“Does anyone have anything new to report?” he asked.

  “We believe the judge is holed up somewhere in Manhattan,” Leo Russo said.

  “Yeah, we got word that they landed at the Thirtieth Street heliport and then headed to the Twenty-Sixth Precinct in upper Manhattan,” added Erin Romano.

  “Fuck! Tell me something I don’t already know. We have lost over thirteen men. Five are dead, and one is wounded, and nothing to show for it,” Fabio added. “Our mobile phones are useless because the cops got a hold of some of them. So now we cannot communicate to our people.”

  “Sir, why can’t we use them to mislead the cops?” asked Adriana Romano.

  Silence engulfed the room as everyone looked at Adriana. All heads turned as Felicia entered the room in time to hear Adriana’s suggestion. Not saying anything, she settled into a corner chair to listen.

  Fabio stared at Adriana, digesting what she had just said. Smiling, he nodded as he walked over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Okay, okay. We will use the phones to steer the cops the wrong way,” Fabio said. “I have called in some additional hands from Chicago and San Francisco. They should be arriving shortly. We need to concentrate all of our resources on the whereabouts of the judge. If you hear anything, do not use the mobile phones. Call us directly here. As of this moment, all instructions received over the mobile phones are to be construed as a sign to call in. Does everyone understand this?” Fabio asked them.

  “Yes, sir.” They all nodded their overwhelming response.

  “Okay, go and get them,” Fabio ordered.

  As they all rose and began filtering out of the room, Felicia stood up and asked Adriana to remain behind. Fabio, Felicia, and Adriana took chairs next to each other at one end of the table.

  “Adriana, we want you to take a more active role in the family,” Fabio said.

  “Yes, we are quite happy with you,” added Felicia.

  “I . . . I don’t know what to say,” Adriana responded.

  “Commencing immediately, we want to bring you into our personal confidence and promote you to the family consigliore,” Fabio said.

  “Oh my God,” Adriana blurted out.

  “Yes,” responded Felicia.

  “What do you say?” asked Fabio.

  “I . . . I am honored,” Adriana said.

  “Then your answer is yes?” asked Felicia.

  “Oh yes. Yes, of course. My father would be proud,” Adriana replied.

  Both Felicia and Fabio smiled at her. After making a toast, they decided to invite her to lunch while they brought her up to date on what was happening in the business, probing her for her opinion on different matters. Both Felicia and Fabio were quite pleased with how much she had to offer, how much she was attuned to their way of thinking. But they were a bit sad that Adriana would need to be eliminated. After all, they could not have a snitch working for them.

  Adriana Romano

  June 15, 1984

  After losing two undercover officers to the Giordano family, John Connolly decided that he would never make that same mistake again; that he would never risk losing another officer. After lengthy conversations with his people, John decided to try and turn a member of the Giordano family instead.

  It wasn’t long before they realized that one of the prime candidates was Adriana Romano, daughter of Erin Romano and one of the key lieutenants of the Giordano family. If they could convince her that it would be in her family’s best interest to become an informant for the FBI, they would make it worth her while by not only entering her and her mother into the witness protection program but would include her father as well.

  Adriana knew that it was simply a matter of time before the FBI caught up with them and that maybe she would be able to save her father from being put in jail for the rest of his life. Understanding the risk, she agreed to work with them as long as she was not required to wear a wire. She would contact them when the opportunity presented itself and only when she was 100 percent certain that she was not at risk. Over the last two years, she had become over confident and risked her position by taking unnecessary chances. As a result, once when she had called FBI headquarters and could not reach John Connolly she confided with an agent who, unfortunately, was working for the Giordano family.

  Three days before Adriana had her meeting with Felicia and Fabio, John Connolly was visited by two of the FBI’s Internal Affairs agents. John, knowing that there was a leak in the department, ordered their phones tapped by IA. After conferring with the two agents, John was saddened to learn that Ed White had received a call from Adriana, which was never relayed to him.

  “Ed!” shouted John.

  “Yes, John. What is it?” he asked.

  “Did you receive a call recently from one of our people out on the field by the name of Adriana Romano?” John asked him.

  “Me . . . No . . . Uh . . . I don’t remember receiving one, John,” replied Ed. One of the IA agents placed a tape recorder on the table and hit the play button. On it they heard both Adriana and Ed identify themselves. Adriana advised Ed to tell John that the Giordanos were mobilizing toward Ravena, New York. This information hadn’t been relayed to John by Ed, but was relayed to him by the other agents situated outside the Giordano home.

  Ed stared at the tape and then slumped down on the chair closest to him. “They threatened my family
. They said they would kill my daughter and wife if I didn’t cooperate. I had no choice, John! You got to believe me. I didn’t want to do it,” Ed blurted out.

  “You need to go with these agents,” John told Ed. With that, the two agents escorted Ed out of the office, in handcuffs. John immediately called out for all available agents to come with him.

  Meanwhile, Felicia and Fabio decided to confront Erin Romano and put before him what they knew about his daughter. They had already decided that Erin would probably have to be eliminated as well, but wanted to give him a chance to redeem himself. This, they felt, would be very interesting to watch.

  Erin was met at the door by two soldiers who escorted him into the conference room, where both Felicia and Fabio were sitting with Adriana discussing their next moves in finding the judge.

  “What’s going on?” Erin asked.

  “Dad, the Giordanos have promoted me to be a consigliore,” Adriana told Erin.

  “What?” asked Erin. Staring at Felicia and Fabio, Erin was puzzled by this move since no outsider had ever been moved to this position. He walked cautiously to the table and sat down.“What’s going on? Fabio, Felicia, what’s going on?” he asked again.

  “It seems we have a problem,” responded Felicia as she stood up and walked behind Adriana.

  “What kind of problem,” asked Erin?

  As Fabio was about to elaborate further, they heard cars coming to a screech at the front of the house. “What the fuck is going on?” Felicia said, walking toward the windows.

  Just then, there was a banging on their door. “It’s the feds,” one of the soldiers said.

  “Let them in,” responded Fabio.

  Storming into the house was John Connolly with several agents and police officers. They marched right into the conference room where Erin, Adriana, Felicia, and Fabio sat. Two of the soldiers were reaching for their guns when Felicia waved them off. Walking straight up to Adriana, John grabbed her under the arm and ordered her to stand up. “Adriana Romano, you are under arrest. Your rights will be read to you on the way to the precinct,” John said.

  “What the fuck do you think you are doing?” screamed Felicia.

  Smiling at her, John said, “She is under arrest.”

  “For what?” Erin asked, standing up in defense of his daughter.

  “None of your business,” replied John while smiling at them all.

  “You can’t just come into my home and do what you want,” Felicia said.

  John stared at her for a second. “Take her away,” John ordered the accompanying police officers as he pushed Adriana toward them.

  As John turned and started to walk away, Felicia shouted at him. “My lawyers will have her out before the hour is up,” she shouted after him.

  John turned and smiled. “See ya then,” he responded. “Mr. Romano, may I suggest you accompany us. It would be in your best interest,” John said to Erin.

  “What? Why? Why should I go with you?” Erin asked John.

  “Your daughter has been working for us for the last three months,” John responded.

  Erin’s eyes filled with fear as what John said sunk in. “What . . . What the fuck are you saying?” he went on. Then Erin turned and stared at both Felicia and Fabio. “Oh my God, is that why you were having this meeting.”

  Both Felicia and Fabio stared back at Erin. “No. No, it’s not like that,” responded Fabio.

  “What are you talking about?” Felicia asked John.

  Erin turned to John and said, “I don’t need to go with you. Get the fuck out of here. I can take care of myself.” John stared at Erin and, without any further words, left.

  On the ride back to New York City, John explained to Adriana what had happened, and that she had been made. “What about my father?” she asked John.

  “There’s nothing we can do for him,” John replied.

  “No . . . No, we need to go back. We had a deal,” she pleaded.

  “I am sorry, Adriana. He chose not to come, so we can’t help him. I am truly sorry,” John responded.

  Without saying a word, Felicia, Fabio, and Erin remained in the conference room for a few minutes after John had left. Felicia turned to Erin. “What do you suggest we do, Erin, now that your daughter has turned on us?”

  Erin stared at them, knowing full well the penance was far worse than the crime. “She probably did it to protect me and her mother. She won’t talk as long as she knows that both her mother and I are alive. So get your lawyers and get her out of there. Then we can deal with the problem. I will not turn in my own flesh and blood, but I would never turn you in, either,” he responded to them.

  Both Felicia and Fabio stared at Erin for a few seconds.“Good. We will send our people to get her out,” responded Fabio.

  “In the meantime, I’ll move my wife to the estate, keep her out of FBI’s reach,” Erin commented.

  “Good idea,” Felicia said.

  “Want a few men to escort you?” Fabio asked.

  “No. No, I can do it on my own,” Erin responded. Erin got up and walked toward the door. “My own fuckin’ daughter. What a shame.” Erin commented.

  Erin jumped into his car and drove toward his home just a few miles away. Upon reaching his home, he ran inside and ordered his wife to pack some clothes. “What! What’s going on?” she asked.

  “Don’t question me. We don’t have much time. Just hurry the fuck up,” he shouted at her. Hurrying, they filled two suitcases and ran downstairs. Before exiting the house, Erin looked around and, seeing no other cars, ran to his own and threw in the suitcases.

  “Hurry!” he shouted out to his wife.

  Erin jumped into the driver’s seat, and a few seconds later his wife joined him. He looked down both sides of the street before pulling out and heading toward the Giordano family’s estate. Driving fast, he knew it would be a matter of time before they would catch up to him. About a mile from the estate, he turned and started heading toward New York City. This was the closest entry to the thruway, and he wanted it to seem as if he was keeping his word and returning to the estate. Erin had been with the Giordano family long enough to know that they could not be trusted, that it was simply a matter of time before they would consider him and his family a threat. They weren’t going to simply let his daughter live, much less him or his wife. Erin knew he was running for his life.

  A minute later, he was racing toward the Lincoln Tunnel, just an hour away from mid-Manhattan. As always, the traffic was backed up. It had come to a crawl, and was a stop-and-go process as they inched their way closer to the toll booths located just before the entrance to the tunnel.

  A couple on their way to New York City for the first time was amazed at the number of cars going into the Lincoln Tunnel. Suddenly the car in front of them came to a complete stop. They watched as the traffic in front of the stopped car proceeded forward. “Hey, wake up,” the driver shouted as he hit the horn.

  Cars were passing them on both sides; no one yielding to allow them to bypass the stopped car. Finally, the passenger, a girl of about twenty years of age, got out of the car. She approached the car, which had its windows down and yelled, “Hey, what’s wrong? Are you in trouble?” As the girl came up to the window she began to scream as she saw that the two passengers, Erin and his wife, had blood pouring out of bullet holes in their heads. Their final price for freedom was death.

  Nowhere to Hide

  June 16, 1984

  With Erin out of the way, the Giordanos only needed to concentrate on Adriana and the judge. They weren’t too concerned with Adriana as they already knew that it would be her word against theirs. They had already taken care of the bigger threat, her father, knowing full well that her credibility could be challenged. Any good lawyer could discredit her in a minute, especially if she suspected that her parents were killed by the Giordanos. What daughter would not lie to have her parents’ killers brought to justice, Fabio thought, smiling to himself.

  Around 3:00 p.m., a call c
ame into Giordano headquarters that a couple of unmarked cars were spotted sitting on the corner of 118th Street and Boulevard Avenue. At 3:02 p.m., Nick heard a call come in over the mobile phone that someone saw the judge at a hotel on Forty-Second Street. He immediately called Fabio, who in turn advised him that he believed they were at the Baltimore Boutique Hotel on 118th Street. Within five minutes, Nick, who was at a hotel on Forty-Ninth Street, was in his car headed uptown.

  Tyler was sitting with Eric in the room, sharing with him a dream he had the previous night. “It was about my mom. I dreamed that my mom was calling me. Isn’t that strange?” Tyler asked Eric.

  “Yeah, I guess it is,” he responded.

  “Something else,” Tyler added.

  “What?”

  “Yesterday, when we were driving to get the helicopter, we passed a car with a man who was staring back at me. I swear I have seen him before. I just don’t know where. But it was strange as if I should know him,” Tyler said almost to himself.

  “Yeah, well, maybe you do know the guy. So what?” Eric asked.

  “I don’t know,” Tyler responded.

  Eric got up and walked to the adjoining door and entered into the room where the judge was watching the television. Sheila was sitting next to the door, reading a magazine. The adjoining door to the next room was wide open, and Eric could see two of the police officers sitting at a table playing cards. “Anyone want to volunteer to get us some lunch?” Eric asked the police officers.