by Tony Bertot
On Monday, two days later, while at work, Theo mentioned to Calito he asked Sylvia to marry him.
“You did what?” Calito asked him, stunned.
“On Christmas I asked Sylvia if she would marry me,” Theo told Calito.
“Congratulations, I didn’t think you had it in you,” Calito told him laughing.
“Dad, Carmine, Theo is getting married,” he shouted.
“What?” Benito responded.
“I wonder who she is?” Benito continued followed with a huge laughter.
Each one came over to Theo and congratulated him. Even customers were cheering as they heard the news.
Theo was surprised by everyone’s interest and excitement.
“Hey, Theo, when did you buy the ring?” Benito asked him.
“What ring?” responded Theo.
“Didn’t you buy her a ring before you asked her to marry you?” Calito asked him.
Theo stared back and forth between Calito and Benito and then at Carmine. The blank look on Theo’s face told the story.
Benito walked over to Theo and placed an arm around his shoulder.
“Theo you didn’t buy your future bride a ring, yet?” he asked him.
“Uh… No. I was supposed to?” Theo asked him in a low voice.
“Come, let’s get our coats. We have someplace to go,” Benito ordered.
“Calito, Carmine you mind the store. Theo and I have something to do.”
Twenty minutes later, Theo found himself a few blocks away in a local jewelry store, looking at an engagement ring.
“Hey, Isaac, I want you to take care of my friend here. He asked Sylvia to marry him,” Benito told the owner of the store.
“Sylvia, oh my Lord. She is a beautiful and wonderful person. She used to work for me you know, years ago. I promise you a bargain,” he told Theo.
“You better because I’m paying for it,” Benito told him.
Isaac stared at Theo for a few seconds now wondering about Benito’s connection to this young man.
“Benito, you are a softie. Introduce me to this young man,” he asked Benito.
“Isaac Goldman, I want you to meet Theodosio Gresco, who is like a son to me,” Benito said.
“Pleased to meet you, Mr. Gresco,” Isaac said.
“Gresco, I use to know a Gresco. He had a store on the corner,” Isaac started to say when he saw Benito nodding at him and gesturing not to go any further.
Isaac stared at the young man before him and realized who he was.
“Sergio’s son, the boy with the camera,” Isaac thought to himself. My God, Isaac thought as his eyes began to water.
Quickly grabbing a handkerchief from his back pocket and composing himself, he said,
“Let’s see what we can find for you.”
They went through several engagement and wedding rings as well as a couple of wedding bands.
Theo asked them to pick what they thought would be nice. They were more than happy to choose.
“Ok, Isaac, what is the damage to my wallet?” Benito asked.
“My friend, I will pay for their wedding bands. You will have to pay for the engagement ring since it is the most expensive of the three,” Isaac told his friend laughing.
“What. Why?” Benito asked him.
“Sergio was my friend, too. Also he liked me more than you,” Isaac told him.
Benito stared at his old friend and nodded.
“You old fool. Sergio couldn’t stand you,” Benito told him.
They both started to laugh realizing how much they both missed Sergio and the times they had together, as Isaac once more wiped a tear from his eye.
They spoke quietly out of Theo’s earshot not to bring back memories of a sad time in his past.
When done haggling, they brought the rings over to Theo to see.
“How much do I owe you, sir?” Theo asked Benito.
“Don’t worry about it. It is a wedding gift,” Benito said.
“I threw in the wedding bands as a gift to you and Sylvia,” Isaac said ensuring his recognition for being part of the festive affair.
“Thank you. Thank you both,” Theo said.
Theo had no inkling of the cost of the items they had picked out or the relationship these men shared with his father.
“Now we have to go back to the shop and when Sylvia comes you need to propose again and present her with the ring,” Benito said.
Theo looked at the two men as they stared at him nodding yes like two puppets.
“Ok. If you think that’s what I’m supposed to do,” Theo responded.
As they started to leave, Isaac asked them to wait while he closed the store and went with them.
“I won’t miss this for the world,” he told them.
As they were walking down the street Isaac was telling everyone he knew about what was going to happen and before they reached the store there was a small mob of people following them.
As the crowd passed Sylvia’s home they were startled to see her coming down the steps.
She looked at Theo and Benito as they approached and smiled at them.
“What’s going on?” she asked them.
Theo stared at her and said,
“Come with us.”
“Mr. Goldman! How have you been? How is your wife? What are you doing here?” Sylvia asked in a flurry of questions.
“Nothing, but you have to follow us to the shop right now,” he told her.
“What?” she asked.
With Benito leading the march, followed by Theo, Sylvia and Isaac headed to the butcher shop.
When they got into the shop Theo turned to her, got down on one knee (as instructed by Benito and Isaac) and said,
“Sylvia Santiago will you marry me?” as he handed her his wedding band.
“The other one,” shouted Benito and Isaac at the same time.
Theo quickly put the ring back in his pocket, and pulled out the engagement ring and asked her again.
Sylvia, partly laughing and partly crying nodded yes, took the ring and went into his arms.
The crowd cheered.
“Coffee is on me,” Isaac shouted.
“Coffee is free here,” Benito shouted back at him.
The crowd erupted with laughter and cheers.
Less than a month later Theodore Gresco and Sylvia Santiago became husband and wife. Benito Randazzo walked Sylvia down the aisle and his son, Calito, stood by Theo as his best man.
Over the Next Four Months
Chicago/New York
Three times a week Nick Costello, Joe Bolano, Theodore Enzinola and eventually only one of Sabrisio’s henchmen picked up the loot made from running numbers and prostitution from several locations. On some occasions, they would stop by the butcher shop and get a sandwich and coffee before continuing on their route.
During one visit, Nick overheard the news about Theo’s marriage to Sylvia. As always, he would nod at Theo and give him a smile. However, after hearing about the marriage, Nick walked up to him, shook his hand and congratulated him. This caught the men that accompanied Nick by surprise since they didn’t know Nick knew Theo.
The Sabrisio brothers were happy with Nick’s performance and after a few months were convinced he had no inkling the Sabrisio brothers were responsible for his father’s execution. With that in mind, they expanded his territory to three new locations within a twenty mile radius. At one of these locations he met Mario Pierina and Rico Vitalia; the two men who killed Sergio Gresco.
Within a week after the murder of Ricardo Gallo, Fazio Giordano closed up his house on Long Island and moved to a secluded area in Queens. The relocation and move was organized and accomplished overnight, after they had discovered they were all being watched.
After some time, Tami Gates returned to Fazio; accepting his explanation and involvement with the crime family that once belonged to his grandfather, Anzio Giordano.
A month after Ricardo Gallo had been murdered Bolnaldo Costellino stil
l had not heard any public news confirming Gallo’s demise. It wasn’t until sometime later a news article reported Ricardo Gallo, a reputed mobster of the Giordano crime family, had died of a brain aneurism. This infuriated Bolnaldo as he realized it had been covered up and as a result, could not take the credit and respect he so richly deserved. His plans for using this as a message to the Giovanna family he was no longer taking orders from them failed.
On the other hand the Giordano’s acknowledgement of the hit was substantiated when it was reported that Fazio and his family had simply disappeared.
Bolnaldo saw this as good news.
“You can run but you can’t hide,” Bolnaldo said aloud upon hearing the news.
He had put fear into his enemies’ heart and this pleased him.
“What about Fazio’s broad? Anyone know where she is?” Bolnaldo asked.
“Yeah boss. We got an eye on her,” replied Clemente.
Al Giovanna was sitting in his office meeting with some of his lieutenants when Anthony brought him the news that Ricardo Gallo was dead.
“The newspapers are reporting that he died of a brain aneurism. Our sources tell us that it was Bolnaldo who ordered a hit on him,” Anthony told his father.
“What a jerk. Looks like his balls have outgrown his brains,” Al said aloud.
“What do we hear from the Giordano Family?” Al asked no one in particular.
“Nothing, they have not retaliated. As far as we know they’ve gone underground,” responded Frank Sabrisio.
Sitting there contemplating what his next move should be, Al gave the following orders,
“Get the word out Bolnaldo acted alone and the hit was not sanctioned by us. Make sure the Giordano Family gets that message. If Bolnaldo wants the credit, he can have it. I’m sure he will be rewarded handsomely for it,” Al said.
“Also get a card and flowers out to the Giordano and Gallo families expressing our deepest sympathy,” Al added.
His son and the men stared at Al wondering what would become of Bolnaldo Costellino now that he was out on his own. They also wondered if prison had weakened him; the old Al Giovanna would have sent a strong message to Bolnaldo Costellino for breaking one of his rules.
It was close to the end of April 1954 when Benito Randazzo’s cousin, Carmine Davino and a few military friends of his decided to have a reunion at a local bar called the Wabash Pub. By night’s end they were all hammered and raising hell when a few regulars approached them about keeping it down.
“What you mean? Are we hurting your delicate ears?” Carmine mouthed off to one of the men who approached him.
“Yeah,” said another member of the Carmine party.
Seeing it was getting out of hand, the bartender interceded.
“We are asking you nicely to quiet down or we are going to throw you out,” the bartender told them.
“You and what army?” asked another one of Carmine’s friends.
“You don’t know who you are messing with. Some years ago, some of you goons tried to take money from my cousin and when they came to collect, we kicked their asses back to hell. So you better watch out,” Carmine bragged pointing his finger at them.
“That’s it,” said the bartender as he waved at a few men to give him a hand.
With the rowdy bunch now out of the bar the place was quiet once more.
“Who were those guys?” one of the men sitting at the bar asked the bartender.
“Don’t know most of them. The loud mouth was Carmine Davino, who works at the butcher shop a few blocks up Wabash. He’s ok, just old soldier buddies blowing off steam,” the bartender commented.
The man who asked the question walked out to the entrance and watched as Davino and his buddies staggered down the street. He then walked over to a pay phone at the back of the pub and made a call to a good friend in the Sabrisio crime family.
After some wrangling Benito convinced one of his tenants to move and take Theo’s apartment so Theo and Sylvia could move into a larger flat and be closer to Sylvia’s mother. Both Sylvia and Theo were overwhelmed with the kindness everyone had shown them.
It was early in January when Sylvia found out she was going to have a baby. She was hesitant in breaking the glad tidings; unsure how Theo would respond to the news.
“Theo, there is something I want to ask you,” she said to him while he was sitting reading the paper.
“Sure, honey, what is it?,” he asked turning to her.
“Do you think it would be alright if we became parents?” she asked him.
“Of course it’s alright. If that’s what you want,” he answered.
“But how would you feel about being a father?” she asked him.
“I don’t know. I never thought about it,” he replied.
“Would you be upset?” she asked him now annoyed with his inability to connect the dots.
“Of course not, it would be great,” he responded.
“Ok then, we are going to have a baby in about eight months,” Sylvia announced.
“That’s great,” Theo replied smiling at her and returning to the paper he was reading.
“Aren’t you excited or happy?” she asked him almost at the brink of tears.
Theo got up and walked over to her. He put his knuckle under her chin and gently brought her eyes up to meet his.
“Honey, I thought having you as my wife was more than my heart could bear. Now you tell me we are going to have a child. Are you trying to make my heart explode with joy?” he asked as a tear rolled down his eyes.
Theo had found a happiness and warmth he thought he would never have again and though his heart had been hardened by the events that made up his life, it now contained a soft spot for what could be, if the cards had not been stacked against him.
Missing
South Wabash/Chicago
As is customary, the morning traffic of the butcher shop was hectic as the regulars were in and out getting their morning coffee and sandwich. Calito was running back and forth between making sandwiches and replenishing the coffee pot. Sonia wandered in about half an hour into the day and immediately stepped up to the plate by taking over the coffee detail.
“Hey, where’s Carmine?” she asked.
“No one knows. He didn’t come in this morning. Must be suffering from a hangover,” Calito responded.
Theo was busy in the back filling up the freezer with a delivery that came in earlier while Benito and Calito took care of the customers from behind the counter.
At around 10:30am the place finally calmed down as the morning traffic thinned out.
A few minutes after Maria Carmine came into the shop.
“Where is he? I’m going to kill him,” she announced.
Sonia had just finished refilling the coffee pot when she heard Maria.
“Good morning, Maria,” Sonia said turning to meet her.
“Where is Carmine?” she asked irritated.
“He’s not here. He didn’t show up this morning,” responded Sonia.
“Well he didn’t show up last night either and I don’t know where he is,” Maria announced with anger in her voice.
Benito, overhearing the girls’ conversation, came from around the counter.
“When did you see him last?” Benito asked Maria.
“Well I saw him yesterday afternoon. He was going out with some friends over to the Wabash Pub to have a few beers and shoot some pool. He’s gone there hundreds of times but he has always came home,” she responded.
“I called there this morning and they said he left last night with his friends, That was the last time they saw him,” Maria added.
“Did you call the police?” Sonia asked.
“No. I thought he would be here,” she told them, now concerned.
Benito was never a man to assume anything and quickly asked her if there was ever a time that Carmine did not come home. She responded,
“Never”.
This immediately troubled Benito.
Benito called the local prescient and asked a police officer come to the shop immediately; they had an emergency. He realized if he had told them they were looking for a friend who had gone out drinking with his buddies they would have dismissed it as nothing. Benito knew the local police would respond and he knew these officers well. Twenty minutes later a squad car pulled up in front of the shop and two officers came in.
“Hey Mr. Randazzo, what’s going on? We heard you got some sort of an emergency,” one of the officers asked.
Both of these officers had been to the shop hundreds of times to have their coffee and sandwiches.
“Carmine did not come home last night and I’m really worried about him. He has never done something like this before,” Benito told them.
One of the officers stared at Benito and nodded his understanding on why he was worried. The other officer started to complain about being called; this was not an emergency. The first officer pulled him to the side and said to him,
“Hey, Mr. Randazzo is a real good friend of mine and if he says it’s an emergency, it’s an emergency.”
“Ok, ok. We’ll put an all points bulletin out on him,” the officer told his partner seeing he got a little upset.
Having walked into the middle of the conversation Calito briefed Theo on the problem.
It was not till 10.00pm that night they received a call Carmine Davino had been admitted to a local hospital in critical condition.
Upon hearing the news, Benito Randazzo called a cab and along with his son Calito and Maria Carmine went to the hospital.
Maria almost fainted when she saw her husband. His face looked like it had been hit with a baseball bat. It was black and blue, and partially bandaged.
“Oh my God!” Maria gasped.
A few seconds later, a doctor came into the room.
“Mr. Davino was beaten severely. He has three broken ribs, two puncture wounds, and three broken fingers,” The doctor told them.
“Who would do a thing like this?” Maria cried.
“Doc, when will he be able to talk to us?” asked Benito.