The House Always Wins

Chapter Ten: Prison Scheme

Maxi had devised a plan just in case they got pinched. The plan consisted of a way for the Lestima family to keep the casino and a way to generate income for years to come. Maxi wrote his magnificent scheme all in a letter to Lasko and Red Shirt, as well as the other members of the Lestima family. Weeks went by with no action in the prisons. Life was boring until Maxi received a letter from Macu. It read "That's good. The Don said to go with it. I'll see you later. He's my cell mate so I guess that's good." For the first time in nearly 100 days, Maxi had a sign of hope. He started putting the plan into action. A very simple plan was all Maxi had done. Send money to the Don and have Stevie pull out money from Maxi's bank account. Stevie would send money to the realtor to keep hold of the building. That's all it was. It seemed like it might not make sense, and it didn't for a while until Maxi presented each member with a thousand dollars as to buy their approval and opinions. As crazy as it sounds, this scheme worked for days. Somehow Stevie got out of prison and was able to count the income. He had probably paid off a judge or guard. After a while, Stevie had started to report that no income was coming. As Maxi was finishing his letter to Stevie telling him to do something to bring in money, a knock came on his cell door. A guard opened it and said that Maxi was being taken into the FBI's custody. A silent 3-hour car ride followed suit and that's all she wrote. For a little more than a week, Maxi was held in a small cell no bigger than the trunk area of a Ford Explorer and life was boring. That all changed in a flash when Maxi was escorted to an interrogation room wearing full-body chains. He sat down in the metal chair and did not move as the guard chained him to the chair and table. Just as the guard left, a big man with broad shoulders walked in. He was wearing a black and white plaid button-up shirt underneath a blue and yellow FBI windbreaker. To complete the outfit he had a pair of black combat boots with khakis tucked into them. Maxi spoke for the first time in about two weeks. "Who are you? G.I. Joe or something?" The man glared at Maxi and walked closer to the table. "FBI agent Davis Cramerton. That's who I am. Now you thought you were being a sneaky little prat when you sent letters to all of your buddies containing plans to run the casino." Cramerton held up a white envelope containing his latest letter to Stevie. Maxi tried to rebound the statement. "Just a couple of business tips, that's all." Cramerton swiftly placed his right hand on the table before unleashing powerful words. "Business tips, huh? You one of those wise guys who try to small talk his way out of stuff? Business tips? Really? That's the best excuse you could come up with?" Maxi was speechless as the FBI agent walked toward the security camera and turned it off.