Growing up, I saw a whole lot. But I never understood what was happening until the day my father got killed. I was only 5 years old. I remember everything like it was yesterday. The summer heat that filled the whole block. The smell of food cooking on a grill and the sound of my mother popping her gum as Slick Rick played on a stereo nearby.
*
Brooklyn, New York
Summer
(July 17th 1981)
"D! Come over here and grab Anthony! I gotta go to the store real quick!" I heard my mother yell over to my father who was at the basketball court nearby.
"I'm coming!" He yelled back as he jogged over to us.
"Come on little man." He said as he picked me up and brought me over to the basketball court.
That's when I seen my uncle Will aka Rakim standing over by the bleachers. One thing about my uncle, if you ever saw my father anywhere, he was never too far behind. They met in middle school and were friends ever since. They always got in trouble when they were younger from what my uncle always used to tell me.
They stayed in the streets wanting to be the Nicky Barnes & Frank Lucas of Brooklyn and that's exactly what they became. They never left each others side. He's like a brother to him and that's why I consider him my uncle.
My father was an only child growing up. His father was in the game as well. He got locked up for life for the murder of one of his foot men who sold drugs for him and eventually stole over $500,000 worth of keys from him. So he didn't grow up with him in his life. Even though sometimes him and my grandmother would go visit him in prison.
My grandmother raised him on her own with the help of my grandfather's connections. She was able to pay bills and different types of stuff that had anything to do with my father when he was little. That's one thing I loved a lot about the game. The people closest to you helped you in your time of need. But you gotta to watch out tho, there's always a dirty fucking snake lurking around just waiting for you to slack off.
"Hey little man! What's up?" My uncle said to me as my father held me on his side.
I noticed my father looking around and then he stopped as he saw someone he knew.
"Ayo, hold him real quick. I see this nigga Nico over there. Let go me holla at him." My father said before he passed me over to my uncle.
"Nah don't go over there. I don't trust that nigga yo." My uncle stated.
"Chill, it's all good. We straight." My father said as he began to walk away.
That's when my uncle pulled him back. "Just cause he says y'all good don't mean shit. You see what he did to his homeboy in Harlem."
"Nobody knows who killed ol' dude. What makes you think he did that? Besides, this nigga was talking about splitting a large package coming through Staten Island a couple of days ago. Let me go handle this." My father said.
"When was you gon' tell me this?" My uncle asked confused.
"I wasn't until after I went with him to go get it. Also, I know how you feel about the nigga. I thought once we got half of the package, we'd be straight and you wouldn't be mad cuz we got some keys. Yo, whatever man, I'll be back." My father said about to walk away again.
"Domencio, don't go over there. I'm telling you. I wouldn't trust that nigga." He said again.
My father chuckled and he blew my uncle off and walked across the basketball court to this guy. I learned a few years later that the mans name was Nico. A drug dealer from Harlem. Back then niggas were saying he was connected to multiple murders throughout New York to D.C. Niggas used to call his ass a serial killer. But no one was sure if he actually committed these crimes or not cause it was all hear say.
But come to find out he did. He had all of those people murdered. A majority of them was over petty shit, nothing real serious. It was like the nigga enjoyed doing that shit. A sick motherfucker for real.
I watched my father, along with my uncle, as he started talking to the man. It looked as if the conversation was going well. They were laughing and just talking. That's when the guy reached out for my father's hand. My father attempted to shake the guys hand and that's when I seen another man run over and put a gun to my fathers head.
"DOMENCIO!!!!!" I heard my uncle yell as two shots went off.
It was as if the world had stopped and everything moved in slow motion. I saw my father head jolt to the side as both bullets entered his head. He then slowly fell towards the ground and as soon as he dropped, that's when everything went crazy.
People on the bleachers and standing around started screaming and running in every directions. My uncle, shocked at what just happened, stood there for a moment as we both watched the man laugh at my father dead on the ground and walk off like it was nothing. My uncle slowly walked over to my fathers body on the ground as he covered my eyes.
I heard the sound of him crying as he stood there looking at him. He then heard sirens and realized that he had to get out of there because he had me and he could be blame for his death. That's when he ran off with me back to his apartment.
*
A couple of minutes later at my uncles apartment, I remember sitting on the living room floor as I watched my uncle pacing back and forth. He was trying to call my mother. That's when my mother picked up and I heard her screaming and crying on the phone. My uncle was trying to calm her down but it didn't work.
"He's alright. He's with me. D handed him to me before he walked over to that nigga....it's okay Nina....Trust me I'ma handle this shit." He said before my mother hung up the phone.
After that I remember my mother coming to get me from my uncles apartment. She cried the rest of that day and I remember my grandmother coming over with a couple of men crying. They were talking about going after the nigga that killed my father. But for some reason, nothing ever happened.
It was as if everyone moved on and my father was just some regular nigga from Bed-stuy. Niggas acted like he wasn't a big time hustler and didn't do shit for anybody. I didn't find out until years later why nobody did shit..
Queens, New York
Summer
(July 17th, 1992)
~End Of Chapter 1~
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General FictionEver since Anthony Cruz was little, he was destined to be the biggest drug dealer in Brooklyn and take the place of his father, who was one of the biggest at the time. After his father's untimely demise by the hands of a rival drug dealer named Nico...
