I woke up in the hospital a week later, riddled with bullet holes. Most of them would heal over time, but the one lodged in my knee would cause me pain for the rest of my life. Freddie and Jimmy weren't much better, but at least they were alive. I later learned that they had dragged me out of the fight and got me to a hospital just in time.
A few days later, something odd happened. It was a complete fluke. I had forgotten my sunglasses in my pickup and returned almost immediately to get them. There was someone inside! I drew my Glock .45 and approached cautiously. It was Alex! He was already getting out and walking quickly down the street, one hand to his ear and the other holding a bunch of wires. I looked around and saw a woman pushing a stroller suddenly look away, her lips moving quickly. Another Fed. I knew I was being watched, but I wasn't certain what Alex had been doing in my car.
I didn't learn what he had been doing till later.
I really wish I had known. It likely would have saved me a lot of hassle and difficulty later on. I should have realized that the FBI would have enough on me to get a warrant to start bugging my fancy condo and pickup.
It never seemed to end. Day by day, week by week and month by month, the money had to roll in. A successful capo could sit back and let his crew earn him a good living, but until things were running smoothly, I was always running the risk of being short on mypayments.
The Crew:
Jimmy: Earned required amount.
Freddie: Earned required amount.
Lisa: Earned required amount.
Daniel: Short $4000.
Rest of the Crew: Short $3000.
That meant that I owed $7000. It was a lot. It made me wonder if I should have let Daniel sell drugs after all.
The money from my various businesses were continually providing me with a comfortable lifestyle, but I had to find the balance between a good life and a happy boss. I went over my finances to see what extra money I had for the current tribute payment:
$300 from my drug rackets
$300 from my bookies
$250 from my loansharking
This was good news, I had enough money to pay the tribute.
Don Harcourt and the rest of the family was happy with my work.
"It's out of our hands," Nelson told me one day.
We spent a lot of time together in meetings, since he had become boss and I became a capo. Often it was business talk, deciding who was earning well enough and which members of my crew needed encouragement. Today he had news that left me speechless. Hiroto Yamaguchi, a Sato Family member, had become boss of the Family. Normally, that wouldn't have meant anything, since one boss was much the same as another, but the moment I saw a picture of him, I saw the problem. He looked eerily similar to the man that Tyler had killed all those years ago.
"It's his brother and he wants Tyler dead for killing a made man," Four Finger said.
"I thought it was all cleaned up years ago," I said. "Can they do this?"
"Unfortunately, yes," Nelson said. "New boss, new rules. Tyler killed him. And now, they want him dead. He broke the code. If we don't give him up, we'll have all four Families coming after us."
I didn't speak for a while before saying "Shit..okay, if he has to go down, I want to be the one who does it."
Nelson's eyes showed great amazement at my words. It would take a hard man to kill his best friend.
"If that's how you want it."
I drove Tyler out into a rough neighbourhood and shot him.
It didn't take great skill. Tyler never saw it coming, so he never fought back. It was over in a heartbeat.
