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“And that would be?”
“A full-blown raid.”
He’d gotten my attention. “On what?”
“The gambling facility behind the dry cleaners, another one at the body shop. They knew exactly when to hit. One of the police officers on the payroll got nabbed too.”
I closed my eyes. My father had insisted on keeping the aging establishments. Yes, they made us significant money, more so than I’d ever imagined, but I’d learned a long time ago it was the mom and pop shops the cops were determined to take down. “How much did they grab?”
“Four million give or take. The fuckers arrested eight of our men in the process.”
Matteo wasn’t prone to demonstrative actions or overblown reactions to anything, but I sensed he was more concerned than usual. The men in my employ would die rather than sing, but the loss of numbers of both people and cash was only the beginning of my worries. The Feds would likely come after me for violation of my parole. While I’d only had ten months left to serve, if they believed I was behind the operation, I’d be tossed in jail awaiting a fucking new trial.
That wasn’t going to happen.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“We have a little bird in our midst.”
His words settled like a lead balloon sweltering in my gut. I’d spent the two weeks since my release checking on every aspect of our operations, providing insurance to both my father as well as my mind that we had a solid operation, no weak links. “I want him found. Now.”
“Boss, this don’t look good for you.”
“No,” I said under my breath. “But I’ve handled worse. Let me know if the Feds continue to sniff around.” If I had to guess, I’d say the reason the Feds had been sniffing around earlier was because the raid had been planned. Had they been determined to find the right time when they could do the most damage? Why did I have a feeling there was another phase of their planned takedown event?
“Yeah, I will, boss. When are you returning?”
“A couple days.”
“Let me know if you need me there.”
I laughed. “I’ll be fine. Just handle the other matter as we discussed.”
“Already in motion.”
An incoming call forced another exhale as I pulled my phone away. I should have known Edwardo would call as soon as he heard the news.
“Edwardo.”
“I told you to lay low,” he barked.
“And good evening to you as well.”
“Cut the crap, Alessandro. Your father is out of his mind worrying about this shit. It’s the last crap the family needed.”
The family. “Don’t you mean the business operation, Edwardo?”
“Semantics. I don’t think I can keep you out of prison.”
“Well, this wasn’t my operation to handle. How quickly you forget.” This was Cruz’s responsibility, although as head of the syndicate, all eyes and fingers were pointed in my direction. That’s what the fucking Feds had waited for.
“I don’t give a shit.”
“Listen to me. Find out exactly how the police found out. I don’t care how far you need to go into the rabbit hole. Find out. We either have a leak, or someone is fucking with us.”
Edwardo groused under his breath. “I’ll do what I can; however, I’ll be a little busy trying to keep you out of jail.”
“Which I’m certain you can do.” I ended the call before I was forced to ‘handle’ him in an entirely different way. While my father had never interfered with the way I managed the organization, he had warned me on the day of his retirement that I should accept that Edwardo was my greatest ally.
