Fahrenheit 1600 (Victor Kozol)

by Jerry Weber

  Just as when he got into this bad deal, he is now in with the law in an effort to extricate himself from Sam and company. In two days the FBI sets up a command center at the Woodlands on Route 315 about five miles from Duryea. Vic is called in for the first meeting on Monday morning. He is now sitting in a hotel room at the hotel with Agents John and Robert, plus a third guy they call Gus. Gus is an electronics guru who is manning computers and a tape recorder set up on a long table.

  “Vic, before we get into this, are you ready to take a lie detector test?”

  “Sure Bob, anything you say to get this done.”

  “Okay, this will come later, but for right now we have to give you your introductory 101 course on being an informant. There are some do’s and don’ts that have to be abided by you at all times.”

  “Do I carry a gun from now on?”

  “Vic, we don’t think that would be in your best interest.”

  “Yah, but I have this suspicion that they always are carrying in my presence.”

  “Let’s shift gears and get back on track. They are never going to return to Duryea unless we can get the crematory back and running as the bait. It’s the key to the whole operation, Vic.”

  “Well see, there is a financial problem there. The crematory leasing company isn’t going to give me another one, if I don’t pay them back nearly $50,000 I owe for the one that got destroyed. Before you say insurance, I screwed up there, and don’t have any, just for the building.”

  John knows that the mob is too savvy for a pretend scheme; he needs to build a real crematory in Duryea. They go back and forth the rest of the morning trying to figure out a way to get around this problem.

  Finally, Robert says, “Vic, I just got off the phone with my superiors, and here is what we are going to do. You will build a smaller garage for maybe half of the $60,000 insurance and we will come up with the other $20,000 to pay off the retort. This will clear the books with the crematory company and you will be able to lease a new one.”

  “You might have to up that to $30,000 because they will also want an upfront deposit on the new lease.”

  “Okay Vic, consider you have the money and let’s get the project rolling.”

  If only Sam knew that the FBI was facilitating the new crematory just to help them bring in more bodies, Vic thought to himself.

  “We will tap both incoming and outgoing calls on your phones. This will allow us to monitor you when you give Sam updates on the progress of the new crematory. We may even have you invite Sam down for a progress tour at some point. Then we can get pictures and maybe some more critical information.”

  “Do I really have to meet with him again?”

  “Afraid so Vic, he is your contact with the family. Vinnie appears to be only a low level runner and muscle man.”

  Vic can attest to the job description for Vinnie.

  “You said that you are going to have to go to New York and pick up the next body.”

  “Yah, that’s their way of punishing me for letting the retort burn down.”

  “We will have you wear a wire for that trip and have your SUV equipped with cameras.”

  “You don’t think these guys are not going to search me and the Suburban?”

  “We don’t know, but the New York office will be alerted to provide backup should anything get out of hand.”

  “Out of hand? This sounds like the movies where everyone comes out shooting. Everyone except me who doesn’t have a gun, remember?”

  “Vic it is our job to see that it never gets that far. You’ll just have to trust us on this.”

  CHAPTER 33

  Sam Tells Almost All

  The scheduled meeting at Rosselli’s is not all wine and roses. During the business session Carlo calls on Sal Travisi to report on his area of collections and enforcement. Sal, looks every bit a seasoned gangster, complete with scars and other markings testifying to an earlier life on the hardened streets of New York. Now a boss, Sal has others to break bones or sometimes wack offenders.

  “It is unfortunate that our collections are down, and I feel it is because there is a lack of fear on the street, because nobody is getting whacked for gross infractions of rules and extreme debts. We are owed in excess of $500,000 up from $200,000 a couple of months ago. Worse, we have a couple of “canaries” out on the street who might end up in the clutches of the FBI. These are the most unpredictable of the problems. We just never know when they can be picked up or surrender themselves to the law and start singing. Sal ends his commentary asking when can we start eliminating these problems again?”

  For the answer to this, Carlo turns to Sam. “You need to give us the answer, your ‘firestop’ was the key and now we have lost it.”

  Sam takes the floor. He is going to tell them most of the facts about the Duryea operation, but keep the details of Victor’s negligence out. Sam knows this will only reflect back on him, who at an earlier meeting assured Carlo and the others that he could control Victor even though he was an outsider. So, Sam stays positive. “We have told Victor Kozol that he is to rebuild the crematory post haste. While he has insurance covering the loss, he needs time for permitting and the construction of a new garage. The retort will be the last piece, and then we will be ready to resume “shipments.”

  “Give us a date,” barks Sal. “I don’t want to hear how you build a watch, just tell me the time.”

  Carlo who has heard enough looks at Sam, “You go to Pennsylvania and you get this project expedited ASAP. Further, since this Victor guy has no track record with us, I want him put under surveillance. If he proves to be a traitor, you have my permission to take him out.”

  “Consider it done,” responds Sam.

  Meeting adjourned.

  Sam now has two reasons for his unannounced trip to Pennsylvania. First, he will stop off and meet with Sonny Boddega, the Don of a smaller and less violent crime family in Northeast Pennsylvania.

  With $15,000 in an envelope that he slides towards Sonny while having lunch at the old Train Station Restaurant in Scranton, he makes the deal to watch Victor. He wants Sonny to assign a man to shadow Vic on a full-time basis and also find out about any unusual associates he might be meeting with. He is particularly interested in any law enforcement people hanging around the funeral home in Duryea. He then gives Sonny his cell number so that he can make timely reports. Next, it’s off to Duryea.

  “Hello Sam, I didn’t expect you today. Please come in.”

  Once in Vic’s office, they go over the details of the project. “Next week the Amish barn builders are coming, and in three days will raise a pole barn over the ruins of the old garage, which has already been cleaned up. If all the permits come through, in another week we can expect the delivery of the new retort. The final thing will be the plumbers and electricians to hook it up. After that a quick final inspection by the Boro and I should be ready to fire it up. I am thinking three weeks at the longest, Sam.”

  “Okay, but remember we have about $100,000 riding on this and I wouldn’t want to be the one to have to answer for a screw up, right Vic?”

  “Absolutely, Sam.”

  With Sam gone, Vic is shaking inside, but he hopes that Sam didn’t notice how nervous he really was.

  Vic now calls John on his private cell. “He was just here, did you get his picture?”

  “Who, Vic?”

  “You know; Sam.”

  “You were supposed to call and alert us if he was in town.”

  “That’s the problem. He just walked in on me. I couldn’t tell him, excuse me one minute while I alert the FBI, could I?”

  “Okay, point taken. Did it go alright?”

  “He seemed content when I told him we would be operational in three weeks.”

  “Good, I’ll expedite all your permitting with the Boro and the State so that we actually meet that timetable. Stay lose Vic, you’re doing fine.”

  John now calls Mike Shoemaker, the fire marshal and says, “Mike I need a favor.”
He then gives Shoemaker an update of the Kozol investigation I want you to close out the Kozol fire and list it as an accident of undetermined origin. Submit all the paperwork. After this is over, you can file the real report.”

  “Okay John, consider it done.”

  John and the FBI are the silent partners to the mob on this part of the project. What they don’t know won’t hurt them. The only thing John regrets is that he missed his chance to observe Sam when he was in Duryea. To prevent that from happening again he orders a full-time stakeout on Vic’s two properties. He is determined to not let these targets move around unobserved.

  As the day is quickly approaching for the installation of the retort, the FBI has to get moving. Vic’s suburban is taken to Philadelphia for a day where a crack team of electronics experts install cameras, mics, and a tracking device on the vehicle. The wiring is not the tricky part, it’s the concealment that they must be absolutely sure is undetectable.

  Meanwhile, Sonny from Scranton has posted a round the clock surveillance guy on Vic. He notices a plain gray ford seeming to shadow Vic’s properties, but doesn’t know who it is. It’s not the local police, but who? He duly reports to Sonny what he observes. Sonny tells them to keep looking for answers.

  Back in New York, Sam receives his first update from Sonny. Yes, Vic is building the new crematory. The ten ton monster piece of equipment has been rolled into the newly completed garage. But, what about the gray, unmarked car shadowing the operation? There seems to be only two answers here; one, the Fire Marshall or some other local police entity is investigating Vic on their own. Two, it could be a unit of the State Police Crime Investigation Department or worse the FBI, which would indicate Vic turned on them.

  In either case, Sam doesn’t like the new wrinkle and knows he needs insurance that Vic will carry out his end of the operation. If the heat is on too much, Sam will have to terminate the operation—and the operator. This is not a pleasant thought for him, as he will have to once again bear the bad news back to Carlo and the others of another failure.

  Pennsylvania is not lost yet, and Sam will only terminate the operation if he has proof of his suspicions. The investigation may be only temporary and it will all blow over; then again it may not. Sam only knows he is not walking away from ‘firestop’ without trying to salvage it.

  “Hello Sam,” Vic says excitedly over the phone. We had our final tests today and the retort is signed off by all local and state inspectors. We are back in business.”

  “Good work Vic, you know the drill from here. This time we call you and give you an address in the City, and you come to us for the pick-up.”

  “Of course Sam, just give me a little lead time.”

  Sam hangs up thinking, and that’s just what we won’t give him.

  So, how to manage the risks? What if I give him a disaster pouch with no body in it for a trial run? Vic will take it back to Duryea, and if those people who are shadowing him make a move on him there will be no evidence of any crime that could be connected back to the family. Vic would be busted, but even he hasn’t broken any laws that they can prove. If Vic is part of the entrapment, we will know if we see him cooperating with authorities back at the crematory. Then we lose our investment and move on; it is a cost of doing business. However, after the smoke clears, Vic will get a visit and come to regret selling us out. At least, Sam thought, “I finally have a plan.”

  CHAPTER 34

  Tested

  Vic and Karen are together in her apartment in Scranton. Ever since the start of all this craziness, Karen feels better meeting Vic away from his place. But outside, in an old, beat-up, nondescript van sits an average-looking guy in coveralls with a camera. Sonny has dispatched Mike Gerulo one of his soldiers to shadow Vic trying to get some more intel on him.

  Karen and Vic are tense because they know that with the retort being operational the main event is not far off.

  Vic says, “I’m glad it’s almost over, but like any book, you don’t know the ending until you get to the last chapter. For both of us, I hope it’s a happy ending.”

  “Yes Vic, but what will you do if this all blows over? Go back to slacking off and looking for the next fast buck scheme?”

  “Hey, that ain’t fair.”

  “No, but it’s true, isn’t it?”

  “Karen, I want to have a different life. But, I’m just no good at anything. You have nursing; I have a failed funeral home.”

  “This is our home. We could stay here and build a new life together.”

  “How? I dig ditches or sell hamburgers?”

  “No stupid, you become a real funeral director and get your business back. You could even take the crematory as a prize for all of this and make it financially successful.”

  “Yah, maybe.”

  “Look I’ll help, we could become a team. You know I am interested in the funeral business; I always told you I want to help you.”

  “I promise, if I live through this, you and I will work as a team.”

  “To be a respectable funeral director in a small town, you might have to get married Vic.”

  “Are you proposing to me? I accept! It would be wonderful, if we both get that far.”

  CHAPTER 35

  Trial Run

  It’s a Friday evening when Vic gets the call to leave for a warehouse in Brooklyn. He checks in with John who has Gus activate all of the electronics on Vic’s Suburban. They are depending on this to track Vic without putting a tail on him. John feels this gang is too street-smart to not discover that ploy. He also has the FBI field office in Brooklyn on standby. They are given the address, but told not to get too close unless they are called by John.

  After two-and-a-half hours Vic is outside the warehouse down by the docks. A garage door rolls up, and Vic is motioned in. He is then led out the other end of the building by another black van through a narrow dark alley.

  After several turns he, and the escort van, approach a second warehouse and again the door slowly opens and both vehicles drive in. With no lights on two figures dressed in black motion Vic to stop. The back doors of the Suburban are opened a pouch slid in and the doors bang shut. Vic is motioned to back out and told to return to Duryea.

  In five minutes it’s over. John asks Gus, “What did you get?”

  “Not much John, there was not enough light for pictures, the only voice recorded is a muffled command for Vic to return to Duryea.”

  “Call New York office, see what they got.”

  “They saw Vic’s van go in but it never returned, so they later looked inside and the place was empty. I guess they lost Vic.”

  “Tell New York to go home. We won’t need them anymore tonight.”

  John knows that the mob can be very elusive on their own turf.

  Just then, the phone rings and it’s Vic heading west on Route 80; he is returning with the package; there were no snafus.

  John meets Vic at the garage by entering from a back door which is not visible from the street. They pull the pouch from the van and unzip it. It’s a dead chimpanzee.

  John tells Vic, “We’ve been set up. They know we are watching and they did this as a safety check. If we swarm the place and you don’t call them back, they will know it’s over for them and we will never see them again.”

  Vic is thinking, Maybe that’s not so bad after all.

  John quickly adds, “But that doesn’t mean that they won’t lie in wait and punish you later.”

  “So what do we do?”

  “We go on with business as usual, you pretend to do your monkey cremation, dump these ashes I am giving you, and give them their all-clear code.

  “I will pull off all surveillance of this place and wait. They will come to one of two conclusions; one that we were setting them up forcing them to respond with a phony shipment. They will suspect the operation is busted and not contact you anymore.

  “The other scenario is that they figure whoever was watching you was from a lower level agency like the fire
marshal. After not finding anything suspicious they gave up the surveillance. We hope they go with the latter idea and try and ship you a real body in the future. We just have to wait and see.”

  CHAPTER 36

  The Real Deal

  Two weeks go by with no contact. But then on Friday night Vic gets a call from Sam. “Hi Vic, everything alright in Duryea?”

  “Yup, the last guy you sent was kind of small, not like the one before. I guess people come in all shapes and sizes. The crematory works fine and as I informed you the ashes were disposed of.” (The chimpanzee was actually sent to a lab in Philadelphia for any forensic evidence it might contain.)

  “Okay Vic, you will be hearing from us.”

  On the following Monday afternoon, Vinnie calls Vic and tells him he wants him to leave for the same address at the docks in Brooklyn he came to last time. It is now late afternoon when Vic gets the call off to John that he will be on the move to New York. John has Gus fire up all of the surveillance gear in the van. Plus, he alerts the Brooklyn Bureau to be on the lookout. Let the games begin.

  “Call us when you are free of the warehouse in Brooklyn heading home, and I will meet you at the garage.”

  “I’m with you,” answers Vic.

  Vic is really excited. This could be the end of a long bad dream. He really needs this to happen and be over.

  When Vic pulls into the toll booth at the Verrazano narrows bridge, he pays his toll and is handed a note by a shadowy guy standing next to the toll house. Vic pulls off to the side of the road to read the note.

  Vic,

  We just want you to know that we have Karen. She is safe as long as you complete your mission. Don’t call anyone or do anything out of the ordinary or Karen will be in need of your services.