The Story of Charlie Mullins

by Jim Wygand

  “Good morning, beautiful. Does every Italian woman wake up looking as beautiful as you do in the morning?” Charlie asked.

  “I don’t know Charlie, I have never woken up with an Italian woman and I don’t plan to,” Gina laughed.

  “Point made and taken,” Charlie replied. “By the way, what time shall we head for your uncle’s place?”

  “I would suggest we go a bit earlier so you have plenty of time to talk. We should try to get there by about one-o-clock. Uncle Carlo likes to have lunch around two or three-o-clock on Sundays and, of course, we can stay for as long as you want. Don’t forget that you will have to wear the same cap and sunglasses.”

  “What? No false beard?” Charlie laughed.

  “Maybe next time wise guy!”

  “Oh my God, she’s serious!”

  They finished their coffee and Charlie went to the front door to pick up the Sunday newspaper. He refilled both their coffee mugs and settled back into bed to read the news. Gina cuddled close to him and said, “I used to dream of Sundays like this, you know?”

  Charlie kissed her forehead tenderly and said, “We’ll have lots of them and they will all be as pleasant and relaxing as this one. I love you.”

  “If that’s the case, then give me the funnies.” Gina said.

  They read the paper and then began dressing to leave for Carlo Rizzo’s home. Charlie grabbed his disguise from the closet and then took the elevator to the garage to leave in Gina’s Mercedes. When they arrived to Carlo Rizzo’s home, the same group of agents was standing around and one of them dutifully photographed Gina’s car as it entered the property and until the automatic gate closed.

  As soon as Gina’s car pulled up to the rear door of the house, the hefty Frankie was holding it open. “Hi Frankie, how’s the family?” Gina asked. Gina and Charlie exited her Mercedes and went into the kitchen.

  Frankie followed them into the house, “Everybody’s fine, Miss Gina, thanks for asking. Your uncle is in the living room. It’s good to see you again.”

  “Thanks Frankie, and give my regards to your wife and the kids.”

  “Will do, Miss Gina, thanks.”

  They entered the living room where Carlo Rizzo was waiting for them. He rose as they entered, “Look at my beautiful bambina!” he exclaimed, “This Irishman must be good for you! You look radiant.”

  Charlie flushed.

  “And you, my New Jersey Irishman, you look like a man who is being well-treated. Are you gaining weight from Gina’s cooking?”

  “Not yet, Mr. Rizzo, but I have to watch out. She’s dynamite in the kitchen.”

  “Eh, be careful she doesn’t give you the Sicilian ‘prosperity’!” Carlo laughed and patted Charlie’s stomach.

  “She told me about that, I’m being careful.” Charlie laughed.

  “Come in, come in. Have a seat. I’ve asked Paola to prepare her delicious antipasti for us. Let’s have some wine! It’s so good to see my bambina looking so beautiful!”

  Charlie and Gina sat on the sofa and Carlo sat across from them in a chair. “So, Charlie, Gina told me you wanted to see me about something.”

  “Yes sir, I need your advice on some business matters.” He told Carlo about Phillip Shaw’s heart attack and his assignment to prepare the company to go public.

  When he finished Carlo said, “Madonna mia! That young Phillip is a sharp guy. He wants to get into politics. I knew he would eventually. He has bigger ambitions that just being the CEO of a company his father set up. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if the whole thing was not a set-up from the start. It sure doesn’t sound like his heart attack was very serious.”

  “No sir, the story is that it was a mild one and that he will be back on the job in about a month or less.”

  “So, you’re the guy in charge of the scam? You’re the one who will do the background work to make an IPO possible?”

  “Yes, sir, the company has a lot of excess cash that will have to be invested before the company goes public or the sharks will buy it up for the cash value and possibly spin off the divisions. That would break up the Shaw Corporation and that is not what Phillip wants.”

  “Of course not, he wants to go out like a hero. You can’t run for office if you’ve put a lot of voters out of their jobs. He wants people to love him – and vote for him. He thinks like a Sicilian, that guy!”

  Carlo continued, “So he wants you to find some good acquisitions for him, right? He wants to make sure he has the cash locked up in longer term investments so no one will buy his money, right?”

  “Yes sir, that’s about it.”

  “So, how does this change your life, Charlie?” Carlo asked. “I’m sure you know how much the information you have is worth. You could make a small fortune if you told the right people...”

  “Yeah, except that I signed a confidentiality agreement. Besides perhaps going to jail, I would most certainly get sued by the Shaw family and whatever money I made would go to attorneys, fines, and paying back the Shaw’s. It would not be a smart move on my part.”

  “Smart guy,” Carlo answered, “just negotiating that information would not only be dumb, it would not be very subtle. It would make you into a ‘bad guy’. There are smarter ways to turn a buck in such situations.”

  “I suppose.” said Charlie, “But I have not seen how my situation has changed. I mean my plans are just as they were before. I want to marry Gina and I am going to. But I still have the same problem I had before except now I have a lot more on my plate.”

  “OK, that’s good that you don’t intend to negotiate the information. But before we continue, I want to raise some questions to you. There may be opportunity for you in this assignment Charlie, but I want to say some things first.”

  “Yes sir,” Charlie said.

  “First of all, stop calling me ‘sir’. I’m Gina’s uncle and father. You can call me Carlo, which I prefer, or if that bothers you, call me Mr. Rizzo. But let’s drop the ‘sir”, OK?”

  “OK. I might call you Mr. Rizzo once in a while, but I will try to call you Carlo.”

  “Good, now listen. You and I come from different ‘Americas’. Over there in Shoreville you live in a nice, quiet town that is like the ones in the Civics books that kids read in school and you see in the movies and on TV. You live in the Great American Democracy, at least the way it is sold to the public. I was raised in the American Plutocracy. In my world it was money that counted and it really didn’t matter too much how you got it. I told you a bit about my past when an engineer was taking part of my pay for no reason other than I was, in his view, an ‘illiterate guinea’. Whatever I got as a young man I fought for. Whatever you got, you worked for. Oh I worked, too, and I worked damned hard. But besides working, I had to fight. Many of those who came over here with me did nothing but work while the fat cats exploited them. They hoped for the next generation. They worked for the next generation. Some of them were lucky enough to get their kids through high school and college. Some weren’t. I decided that I would get my share immediately. It’s ironic I suppose that two different societies can exist so close to one another and yet be so different. I don’t remember much from my native Sicily. But I do remember being hungry. I remember the American soldiers, chocolate bars and getting cigarettes to trade for food. I remember that I didn’t have shoes. I remember the trip over here and the hardship. We had twenty-five dollars when we arrived. I couldn’t say a word of English. The Church helped us get settled. We also got help from the ‘Black Hand’. Of course, their help was always tied to something. They were the same people who exploited us in Sicily and they did the same thing here. I worked for them when I was just a little kid. I used to run numbers for them to pick up some extra money for the family. My father never knew it, but my mother did. I would give her my money to buy extra food. I’m willing to bet that kind of thing would have been unusual for you. You were out riding a bike, maybe even stealing some fruit from some small orchard, and I was running numbers at the same
age. Your father had something we didn’t have Charlie; he had hope. He believed that if he worked hard he would be able to educate his son, send him to college, and move ahead in life. That engineer taught me a valuable lesson. He taught me that I did not have and would not have the same hope that he had or your father had unless I took it for myself. He taught me that I could work hard and he would be the one who benefited. I didn’t envy his hope. I just wanted some of the same for myself. Since I didn’t get it, I took it. If I had been born into his family would I have done what he did? I don’t know. That didn’t matter to me. What mattered was that he was taking what was mine so I took it back. And I helped out my friends in the bargain. Are you with me, Charlie?”

  “Yes, I think so. It’s a different world for me.”

  “That’s my point, Charlie. It is a different world. I wouldn’t even expect you to understand my world. But I am willing to bet that your Irish ancestor would. He knew hunger. He knew rejection and discrimination. He knew violence.”

  “Now let’s look at Phillip Shaw.” Carlo continued, “He never knew any of that. I don’t begrudge him his luck – and it was luck. He just happened to be born into the right family. He never knew hunger. He never knew what it was like to not know if you would have dinner the next evening. He was never blacklisted from a job. He takes what he wants as a birthright. I just did the same. The fact that we were born into different circumstances is just a matter of luck. But we both have the right to the so-called pursuit of happiness. We have the right to the fruits of our labor and if someone tries to use his birthright to take away ours, we have the right and the obligation to fight back. I fought back and I prospered.”

  Carlo went on, “But now, Charlie, simply because you have fallen in love you have been thrown into my world. You will suffer because you fell in love with the ‘wrong person’. I know you have thought about that and you have made your decision with regard to Gina. The question is, are you ready to enter the ‘other world’ that awaits you? I know that you are emotionally committed to Gina. I know that you love her and I know that you will stop at nothing to be with her. My question is do you know what that means? Because, as far as I can see, it means you will be thrown into my world, like it or not. Do you really want to be in my world, Charlie?”

  “I’ve already made that commitment, Carlo. I love Gina. There is nothing I would not do in this world to be with her for the rest of my life.”

  “I believe you, Charlie. I see it in my daughter’s eyes. I see it in her face. You love each other and you would walk through fire, both of you, to be together. But you don’t know how, am I right?”

  “Yes, you are right. I had been thinking everything through when this new assignment fell into my lap. I still had not figured out what I was going to do when this whole new situation came up.”

  “Well, how does it change things, Charlie?”

  “It doesn’t, that’s part of my problem.”

  “Well, maybe the new circumstances provide you with the opportunity to solve your problem.”

  “I’m not sure I understand…”

  “Let me give you some more background, Charlie. Over the past 40 years I have been deliberately moving my operations into legitimate business areas. You know how I am perceived publicly. But there are things you don’t know. Unlike a lot of my colleagues, I never got involved in some of the nastier parts of our business. I have always believed that honorable men did honorable things. I never saw anything honorable in prostitution. I never saw anything honorable in drugs. I stayed out of those businesses. I was involved in money lending, gambling, and what the sociologists call ‘victimless’ crime. I have been under a lot of pressure from my colleagues and the guys who work for me to expand into those other areas. When I started getting the pressure, I figured it was time for me to start legitimizing a lot of my money. The younger guys in my business want to get into drugs. It’s profitable. It’s quick and easy money. My guys running numbers always come back to tell me how the drug guys are doing and how we are missing opportunity. My colleagues in other parts of the country want me to protect Philly for us instead of letting others move in. I know enough about this business to know that sooner or later someone will make a move on me. There’s too much money involved. The only reason no one has moved on me yet is because I am still very useful to a lot of people. My financial and political connections are good. But sooner or later I am going to have to relinquish my control over what have been my main lines of business over the years. Who’s going to take a nickel bet on a number when he can sell ten dollars worth of dope? What bookie is going to take a ten dollar bet on a football game when he can sell a kilo of heroin? There’s just too damned much at stake. Once I lose the loyalty of my people, I will be tossed out like a burned out candle. However, if I make the move before someone else does, I will be OK. I will have to let someone in my organization assume the reins of power and then I can bow out. I’m ready to do that now if I have to. I’m only hanging on because some of my friends still need me. But if I dropped everything now, I’d have no financial problems and I would get rid of a lot of other problems. Now, let’s get back to you. What do you think Phillip Shaw will do after the IPO?”

  “Well, like you said, maybe he will get into politics.”

  “No, I mean as regards you.”

  “I don’t know, I hadn’t really thought about it.”

  “I can tell you and you let me know if you think I am wrong. Phillip Shaw will thank you for a job well done once a few billion dollars have gone into his bank account. He will shake your hand, maybe even pour you a shot of expensive scotch and then move on.”

  “Yeah, I guess that’s about it,” said Charlie.

  “Right, and you will still be at Shaw Corporation, right? And under new ownership, right?”

  “Yes to both.”

  “And who do you figure those new owners will be?”

  “Well, most probably a bunch of banks, hedge funds, and pension funds in today’s economy.”

  “Right, Charlie, and will they continue to have contracts with the Defense Department?”

  “Of course.”

  “And will Shaw senior managers and employees involved in sensitive projects still have to have security clearances?”

  “Most certainly.”

  “And even if you survive in your current position, will you get a positive security clearance if you are engaged or married to Gina?”

  “No.”

  “And if you have to leave the Shaw Corporation will you find another high level job somewhere else?”

  “No.”

  “So, Charlie, as you yourself said at the outset. Nothing has really changed for you, right?”

  “Correct.”

  “So, Charlie, what if we decided to help each other?”

  “I don’t think I understand, Carlo.”

  “Oh, I forgot, Machiavelli was an Italian!” Carlo laughed.

  “Simple, Charlie. I have to get out of my current job and you have to get out of yours.”

  “Ahhh, Carlo, I think I understand where you are going, but that is very unfamiliar territory for me.”

  “I’m not so sure you really do understand, my Irish son-in-law-to-be, but you have the counsel of a wise old man to guide you. But think about one thing before you say another word. You might also wind up getting Fred Perkins’ job and maybe even have a crack at becoming CEO when the company changes hands. The new owners will need you and, at least in my view, you have what it takes. The problem is Gina.”

  Gina, bored until now by the business conversation, suddenly looked apprehensive.

  Charlie did not let her down. “No, Carlo, Gina is definitely not a problem. I love her and she loves me. I won’t give that up, not now, not ever.”

  “It seems to me then, that your decision has been made and your path chosen. But before you say ‘go’ I want you to think for a week about what I am about to propose. I don’t want an answer now. You think it all through very caref
ully. I admire you for your courage, Charlie. Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you.” Carlo Rizzo explained his plan to Charlie.

  When he finished Charlie looked perplexed. Carlo asked, “What is it Charlie. I’m sure you understood what I was saying. Is it the ethics that bother you?”

  “Yeah, I think that is at least part of it, maybe it’s the whole issue.”

  “I understand, Charlie, believe me I do. Even in my business, we have a sense of ethics. We call it ‘honor’ but fundamentally it is a question of ethics. Let me ask you just one thing. Just how ‘ethical’ is Phillip Shaw’s attitude? Has he asked his senior management if they would like to buy out the company? Has he told the employees that their jobs might be at stake if he goes public?”

  “No to both, Carlo.”

  “OK, Charlie, I want you to think about this conversation. Take a week and get back to me. I want Gina and you isolated from my kind of business and I want to see both of you happy. My game is one that is destined to end, Charlie. I saw that years ago and many of my friends did not. We are all a part of history. States are setting up lotteries. Casinos are popping up everywhere. There is even gambling on the Internet. I know one investment banker who has a one-hundred-thousand dollars a year cocaine habit. That’s just one guy who is dumping a hundred grand of after-tax cash flow Charlie! That’s a far cry from my weekly football or basketball bets from the same guy. And there are a lot more out there like him. Don’t you think my bookies would rather sell those guys their ‘fix’ than to take a lousy hundred dollar bet on a ball game? And what about the ‘ethics’ of that banker? Do you think he is serving his clients properly with a head full of coke?”

  Charlie looked at Gina. She had tears welling up in her eyes. She knew how difficult this would be for Charlie and she knew how much he must love her to even consider her uncle’s proposition. Charlie smiled at her and she smiled weakly back.

  “I want you kids to talk this over. It’s your life. I see the love you have for each other and it makes me happy. But life has a way of playing with us and hurting us later. I wish I could do as I always did and just decide for Gina. But this is too serious. It’s her life and her happiness that are at stake. Only she can decide that. And you, Charlie, only you can decide what you want from this life. I’m here to help the only way I can. Think about it! Now, let’s eat some lunch!”