by David Nees
“Why didn’t he call?”
“I don’t know, man. He don’t explain things to me. He just tell me what to do. Look, I got to give this to you and then I gotta go.”
“Okay, stand back.” The door unlocked. Dan had both hands on the bag, one partly inside with his .22 pistol at his finger tips.
The door opened and Dan sprang forward against Gino’s guard. Pressing the .22 to his chest, he fired two muffled shots. The man fell back to the floor, and Dan immediately swung the pistol to Gino who was reaching for his .45 semi-automatic.
“Don’t or you’re dead. Get on the floor and slide the gun over to me.”
Gino stopped.
“On the floor!” he commanded, “Or I’ll drop you like I did him.”
Gino did as he was told. Dan backed up and closed the door.
“You’re in big trouble. Do you know who you’re fucking with?” Gino growled.
“Gino Seppe. You work for Vincent.”
“Yeah, and Vincent’s not going to like you fucking with me—killing Sammy like that. What the fuck do you want?”
“To quote a line from an old western, ‘Your money or your life.’”
“You’re a dead man. You try to steal from Vincent, he’ll find you and you’ll die painfully. You better get out and run like hell while you can.”
“I got a better idea. You give me the money already here in the apartment, we wait together for the rest of it to come in, I leave, and you get to live. Don’t do what I say and you get killed like Sammy here.” Without waiting for a reply, Dan continued, “Now I’ve got to tie you up while I put Sammy somewhere out of sight. You put your hands on the back of your head. Here’s how this will work. I’ve got some handcuffs. You’re going to lie down on the floor. I’m going to put my knee on your back, you’re going to put each hand behind your back when I tell you. You try anything and I’ll put a bullet through one of your butt cheeks. Try something again and I’ll do the other cheek. Don’t worry, you won’t die, but you’ll have a sore ass.”
When Dan finished handcuffing Gino, he dragged the dead guard into the bedroom. Then he searched the apartment for weapons. He found a sawed-off twelve gauge, another .45 pistol and a Tec-9 machine pistol with two thirty round clips. Dan put the shotgun and Tec-9 in his bag.
He dragged Gino back up onto the couch. “Okay, Gino, where’s the money hiding? I know it’s somewhere here.”
Gino didn’t answer. He just glared at Dan.
“We can do this the hard way or the easy way. I’ll start by putting a bullet in your right kneecap. No one will hear the shot, but you’ll limp for the rest of your life. What’ll it be?”
Gino just stared at Dan.
“Okay, tough guy.” He pulled out the .22 and put it up against Gino’s knee. “Last chance.” He looked hard at Gino. “Think about what just happened to Sammy.”
“All right. Don’t shoot. The money’s behind the side wall of the kitchen cabinet. The one under the sink.”
“Wait right here. You leave this couch, even handcuffed, and I mess up your knee.” Dan went into the kitchen and found the money in a large plastic bag. Coming back into the living room, he said, “Now we just wait for company. I’m going to take off those handcuffs, but the same rules apply. Move without my permission and I pop you in the ass or in the knee—my choice. Got it?”
Gino just glared at him but didn’t move. Dan took off the cuffs and turned the TV back up so anyone coming to the door would hear it. He sat back on the other side of the room from Gino, cradling his silenced .22 in his lap, the barrel facing Gino.
“Why you want to do this? You know Vincent will come after you.” Gino said after some silence.
“I’m not worried about the heat,” Dan responded.
“Who are you?” Gino asked.
Dan smiled at him through his disguise. “Just an old man who wants to cash in on the action.”
“Bullshit, you ain’t no old man. You don’t move like one.”
“I stay in shape—no drinking or smoking. You should try it. I’m just out to get my share. Then maybe I just disappear.”
“You better. Vincent will hunt you down and kill you.”
“So maybe I should kill you? Leave no evidence behind? I’ve got nothing to lose.”
Gino’s eyes got larger. “I’m doing what you said. You got no reason to kill me, you said so yourself.”
“Just remember if anyone asks about Sammy you don’t explain yourself to these guys. You just want your money. Got it?”
Gino just glared back.
“I’ll be standing near you with a weapon clearly in view, just so these guys know that I’m doing Sammy’s job. I’ll take you and the courier out if you force me to.”
They settled back to wait. Around one a.m. the first guy came to the door. Dan opened it and stood next to Gino as he took the money. No questions asked, minimum fuss and time spent. This was just business and the quicker it was done the better. The couriers were clean after dropping off the cash.
At 3 a.m., the last runner arrived, and Dan stuffed the cash into his bag along with the shotgun and Tec-9. Grabbing both men’s cell phones, he handcuffed Gino’s hands behind his back and through the steam radiator piping. To get free, Gino would have to rip out the pipe with no leverage, something Dan figured he couldn’t do. He would stay put until someone came looking for him.
“Don’t go anywhere,” he said. “This looks like a good haul.”
“Enjoy it while you can, dead man,” Gino shot back, glaring at him.
Dan let himself out and disappeared down the back stairs.
Chapter 25
Marty Singleton was a homicide detective in the 66th Precinct in Brooklyn. He was two years away from retirement. As much as he tried not to, he was starting to count down the days to when he could step away from his job. His boss, Ron Donovan, had stopped by his desk that morning. Now Marty had a headache. There seemed to be an increase in street robberies and some killings to go along with them. The odd thing was all the victims were connected to the underworld.
The last bit of information came through earlier in the week when someone responded to shouts for help in an apartment, called the police and they found one Gino Seppe handcuffed to a radiator, along with a dead man in the bedroom. Gino said he had been robbed, but was vague about the apartment and its uses. The dead man was a low level hood with a long rap sheet. After being freed, Gino went all coy and quiet. That was similar to the other victims; they didn’t seem to want to talk to the police too much.
Gino, it turned out, was connected to a local crew under Vincent Salvatore’s control. Donovan wanted to know what was going on. The last thing he wanted was a gang war in his precinct. That was exactly the last thing Marty wanted as well. People could get killed and he didn’t want himself included in that group. Donovan however, was all about his clearance ratio and the killings were starting to make it look bad. With a sigh, Marty got out of his chair.
He called out to his partner, Jimmy McMurray, “We gotta go talk to Vincent Salvatore about all these robberies and shootings. Find out what he knows.” They had worked together for the last ten years and got along well. Jimmy often said he didn’t know what he’d do after Marty retired. Marty said that Jimmy should retire early and come along with him and his wife, Barbara, when they went traveling around in their RV. They could go to Florida and fish together.
“You think he knows something?” Jimmy responded as he grabbed his jacket.
“Vincent always knows something, you know that. All these guys were connected to him in some way. Now this Gino character…he was running some kind of scam from that apartment.”
“Yeah, we checked it carefully. There was no evidence of gambling or drugs. We did find a.45, but Gino said it belonged to the dead guy, Sammy. He was vague about his relationship to him.”
They headed to the garage. “Any prints come back from it?” Marty asked.
“Sammy’s, so it’s a dead end and
supports Gino’s story.”
“What exactly is his story?”
“He and this Sammy were hanging out. A guy knocks on the door, jumps Sammy, shoots him, cuffs Gino to the radiator and proceeds to rob them.”
“Why would someone go to that shit-bag apartment to rob someone?”
“They got something going on, a stash house for some mob money…drugs…who knows? All we know is that Gino said he had some savings hidden away under the sink and the guy found out about it and robbed him.”
“That’s convenient…some money saved. What, he didn’t believe in banks?”
“Guess not.”
“You find any drugs?”
“No, we looked hard for that, but the place was clean.”
They drove the rest of the way to the Sicilian Gardens in silence. Entering the restaurant, Marty told the manager he wanted to see Vincent.
“You have an appointment?”
“No. Didn’t know he took appointments, like a doctor or something. Don’t be cute. Tell him Marty Singleton from the 66th Precinct is here. It’s about the robberies and shootings. If he doesn’t want to talk with me here, I can bring him down to the station to talk. I figure I’m doing him a favor.”
The manager scowled.
“If it’s not too much trouble for you, boss,” Jimmy added.
He disappeared into the back room. A few minutes later he reappeared and motioned for Marty and Jimmy to come in.
“What can I do for you gentlemen?” Vincent asked, not rising from his desk.
Marty looked around the room. No one was there, but there was a back door. He’d bet a Benjamin that someone Vincent didn’t want them to see had just exited through that door. No matter, he had a different agenda today.
“We want to talk about this rash of robberies and killings going on in the neighborhood. All the victims seem to be connected to you.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Vincent replied.
“Vincent, we’re not stupid. These guys were runners delivering money to you. We even had some of them ’fess up about what they did.”
Vincent just stared back at him.
“Look, I’m not here to try to bust you on some minor gambling or numbers charge, but I don’t want a gang war in the neighborhood. My captain is serious about this. We need to cooperate to stop this before innocent people get hurt.”
“Detective, I don’t want innocent people getting hurt either. But I don’t know how I can help.”
“So you don’t have any idea who it might be.”
Vincent appeared to think about it for a moment then shook his head.
“You don’t think another gang is raiding your territory?”
Vincent just looked at him.
“You know the Russians or some Latino gang? We’re all friends here, we can talk off the record.” Marty said with a smile.
After a long pause, Vincent looked directly at him. “There isn’t a gang war going on. I’m just as mystified as you, but if I think of anything I’ll let you know.”
“Well that was helpful,” Jimmy said sarcastically in the car. “At least we got out of the office on a sunny afternoon. If we keep this kind of detective work up, we’re sure to win an award.”
“Funny man. Had to try though. I don’t think he knows what’s up himself, although he’s probably got some good ideas he isn’t sharing.”
“Same old crap. They’ll take care of it themselves.”
“And hopefully nobody gets caught in the crossfire.”
After the cops left, Frank and Joey came back into the room. Joey sat at the desk and Frank stood in the corner.
“They don’t know nothing,” Joey said.
“Yeah, but now they’re more focused on us, which isn’t good.” Vincent paused for a moment. “This has to be Dan. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“Yeah, but each person looks different. Do you think he’s got help?” Joey asked.
“I doubt it. Gino said the guy looked like some kind of bum, an old guy, but he didn’t move like one. It had to be a disguise. And all this starts just after Tommy and that girl get out of town. You two screwed up there.” Vincent glared at Joey. They had reported back how Tommy must have seen them approaching the apartment building; one chance in a hundred he had looked out the window at just the right time. Their story related how they looked hard for him and then had staked out Doreen’s car, but she had never shown.
Joey didn’t say anything, but he was pretty sure Vincent wouldn’t do anything about not getting Tommy or Doreen because Frank was involved. Without Frank, that mistake could have cost him his life.
“So he works in disguises, we still have to find him.” Frank suddenly spoke up.
“It makes it harder to see him coming,” Vincent said.
“So how many different looks has he given us?” Frank continued. “He’s gotta have a limit. We look for all the people who fit the descriptions.”
“So we just start shooting every bum we come across?” Joey asked.
Frank just looked at him with those eyes. Joey shivered, looking back at the gaze that told him, he was just a piece of meat. He turned away. Frank might just be that crazy. He just might shoot all the bums until he killed Dan.
“It’s a start,” said Vincent. “Get me a list of how each guy looked.”
Chapter 26
The black Lincoln Town Car pulled up near the wall in the warehouse parking lot. It was in the shadows of the side of the building, shielded from the street, and had a view of anyone coming into the lot. A few minutes later a black S500 Mercedes pulled in, drove past the Lincoln, turned around and pulled up in the shadows behind it. Frank got out of the Town Car and opened the back door. Vincent stepped out and walked back to the Mercedes which had its back door open. He got in.
“How you doing?” Carmine Gianelli asked as Vincent shuffled himself into the seat. Carmine was only five years older than Vincent. Unlike Vincent, Carmine presented a dapper look to the world. His hair was dark and slicked back, his voice smooth and mellow. He had a powerful build, one that indicated he exercised and kept in shape. A hard energy slipped through his smooth looks and manners, letting you know that he would not let anything get in his way. Vincent knew his good relationship with Carmine depended on continued performance, and now things were getting problematic.
Vincent began to sweat. “Could be better.”
“How’s Sheila?” Carmine was aware of Vincent’s sometimes tumultuous marriage, and he always worried about Sheila’s stability. One thing he didn’t need added to his problems was an unstable mob wife.
“She’s fine,” Vincent said. He didn’t share business with her and she only shared things with him when she was discontented which, unfortunately, was often.
“What’s going on with these robberies?” Carmine continued. “It’s starting to get noticed and it’s interrupting cash flow. I got the boss asking me questions. I need some answers.”
“I’m getting it under control.”
“How are you getting it under control?” Carmine asked.
“I think it’s one guy who uses disguises. Even knowing that, we’re still having trouble finding him.”
“One fucking guy? One fucking guy is taking out your runners? Stealing your money? I’m supposed to believe that?”
“I know it looks bad, but we didn’t see this coming, and it’s taking time to figure it out. We’ll get this guy. It’s only a matter of time.”
“So who is he anyway?”
“It’s a long story—”
“I got time, tell it to me.”
Vincent recounted the tale of Dan and how his wife got caught in a fire bombing and died. How it seemed to send Dan over the edge. He had disappeared but now seemed to be back, getting revenge by killing and robbing Vincent’s crew. Carmine listened calmly. Vincent couldn’t tell if the story was making him look better or worse. In any case, he had to tell it straight. Carmine could get the story from lots of sources, s
o better from Vincent than anyone else.
“He got family, friends in the area?” Carmine asked when Vincent was done.
“His best friend and the guy’s girlfriend skipped out of town before we could nab them. I think they saw this coming.”
“What about family?”
“Only the in-laws and they’ve disowned him. They blame him for their daughter’s death. They won’t talk to him anymore.”
“What are you doing about them?”
“I was taking care of them since their daughter died. You know, sending them a little money now and then. They didn’t blame me, they blamed their son-in-law.”
“Maybe you should squeeze them?”
“They moved away a month ago. House is all closed up. Don’t know where they’ve gone, but I got someone checking regularly to see if they come back. I still don’t know if that would help since they shut him out of their lives.” Vincent caught Carmine’s frown in the glow of the parking lot lights. “The guy and girl left town, but they’ll be back. He’s got a repair shop in town and she’s got a good job in Manhattan—they gotta be back soon. We’ll nab them as soon as they show up.”
Carmine turned to him, “You better not just wait for that to happen. If this gets worse the boss ain’t gonna like it. We’re not going have one local punk disrupt this family. You get this taken care of right away. You want any of my boys?”
“Not yet. I’ve got Frank Varsa. He’s tough and smart. We know what his disguises are and we’ll check out everyone who looks the part—”
“What about Joey? Seems he caused this problem.”
“Joey’s under control. Frank’s staying close to him and he’s scared shitless of Frank. Joey’s working hard to stop this guy.”
“Just so you know, I don’t like loose cannons. You run a tight ship…keep it that way.” Carmine reached up and tapped the driver, who got out and opened the door for Vincent. The meeting was over.
Later Vincent met with Frank. “You make a list of what each guy looked like in the robberies. Then we pick up anyone who looks like that. No violence, but we check to see they are not wearing a disguise. Be careful, this guy can handle himself. We got to find him and stop him quick or things are going to get hot for us.”