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“Good evening, boys,” she tipped her head down in a polite manner, shuffling off in our direction. “For all its crudeness, Rocco’s remark about our meeting point is valid. You might want to refrain from meeting mobsters in secluded places such as this.”
“Thanks for the tip,” Cesare said, moving around Rocco.
“Frisk them,” Maggie ordered her man. I raised my arms in the air, my boys doing the same. I eyed her in annoyance, but that was all I could do. There was just no point in complaining—they would have done this anyway.
“They’re clean,” Rocco told her as we drew near her.
“Meet my crew, gentlemen,” she spoke, gesturing back to her men. “Julian Knight and Slater Winslow. Remember when I told you that two of my men were in hospital?”
“Yeah?”
“That was them,” she revealed. “Both of them suffered concussions, and Mr. Knight had four cracked ribs.”
“Why are you telling us all that?” I asked, a touch of discomfort in my tone. “Your boys were the ones who charged in that bar, guns blazing. And correct me if I’m wrong, but we never tried to blow them to pieces.”
“Thank you for reminding me why we’re here, Mr. Borelli,” she said, nodding with gratitude. “Now, I’d like to speak about my crew, but first, I need you all to be honest with me. What is it that you’re trying to achieve really?”
“We want a piece of the pie,” Cesare spoke out, taking a short step forward. “We robbed that armored truck to get the necessary capital to buy some guns.”
“Fucking amateurs,” Slater scowled, folding his arms across his chest. “You think the organization would just step back and let you have the arms trade? Guess again.”
“He’s right,” Rocco confirmed, returning to his goons. “The mob would have you whacked before you could sell a single cartridge.”
“If you really want in, there are onlytwoways to do it,” Julian interjected, making the appropriate gesture. “One? You join a family. You earn your stripes. Two? You whack the head of a family and take over in their stead. Anything and everything else is just a half-measure—a guaranteed way to get a bullet between your eyes.”
“We knew both,” I said, keeping my voice somewhat down. “We wouldn’t become anybody’s bitch, though. Errand boys don’t make much, and they do all the work. As for killing a mafia boss? We’d have to get pretty close; maybe too close. If we screwed up, we’d have an entire family on our tail.”
“I’m still waiting to hear about you and your crew,” Cesare complained, his gaze drifting from Maggie to Rocco. “These men… What are they? Your bodyguards?”
“That’s one way to put it,” she replied, offering him a polite smile. “For your information, Mr. DeLuca is a made man. Mr. Knight and Mr. Winslow aren’t, due to their non-Italian descent. The Roselli family walked away from all illegal enterprises in New York and elsewhere, when Nick Roselli fell to his death, about a year ago.”
“Walked away?” I cocked an eyebrow, struggling to believe her little narrative. “I thought this meeting was all about transparency. You asked us what we were trying to do, and you got a straight answer. Why won’t you giveusone?”
“Thatwasa straight answer. Almost,” Rocco remarked, turning around to face us. “It’s true. This family stopped all of its illegal activities when Maggie took over. Just one thing about Nick Roselli. His death wasn’t an accident. I pushed him off a hotel roof.”
“So, if you’re not running anything illegal, why are you still considered part of the organization?” I asked, my voice rising in volume and nerve. “I mean, that’s what a made man is, right? Part of the mob?”
“Correct,” Maggie answered, fast. “A made man is a lifelong member of the organization. There was a twist in the story of Nick Roselli’s death. You see, at the time, Rocco wasn’t a made man but Roselli was. Killing a member equals death. To avoid this fate, we had to strike some sort of deal.”
“Exactly,” Rocco went on, his posture stiff. “Anybody who earns for the organization is considered valuable. The ones who don’t are disposable. So, after having given up all the illegal stuff, we had to provide a service to the mob: Surveillance. Someone tries to steal from wise guys? We report first and shoot later, not necessarily in that order.”
“I get it, but you warned us first,” Cesare stated, curiosity growing in his tone. “Why? I mean, we’re nothing to you.”
“Because I was able to figure out your little plan,” Maggie explained, her voice losing some of its nerve. “It wasn’t so difficult if I’m honest. Three, small-time thieves, moving on to robbing armored trucks? That is amajorstep up. Plus, you made a serious mistake in selecting your target. Nine out of ten of those trucks belong to the organization. So, I figured you wanted to put a dent in a family’s cash flow, so that you could take their place.”
“We didn’t know that,” I confessed, waves of embarrassment hitting me. “We knew most of those trucks belong to casinos and banks, but mobsters? No.”
“Really?” Maggie asked, her voice a little more high-pitched. “Well, you fooled me there.”
“I tried to tell you, but you wouldn’t listen,” Slater broke his silence once more. “Those amateurs couldn’t have known who those trucks belonged to.”
“Then enlighten us, hotshot,” I demanded, flashing him an angry look.
“Easy, boys,” Maggie requested, her tone slower as she stared up at Slater first, before turning her attention to me. “We didn’t come here to exchange accusations. I must admit I gave you more credit than you deserve, but we can’t change that now.”
“That truck we robbed the other day,” Leonardo began, his voice echoing across the warehouse. “Whose was it? Can you give us a name?”
“I’m afraid I don’t have one for you,” she claimed, her gaze dropping to the floor for an instant. “I tell you what. I’ll pull some strings and get you that name, on one condition.”
