Employee of the Year

Chapter 31 - Visiting Hours

The next day I had a surprise visitor.

            “It’s not my lawyer?”

            “Not today,” the guard said.

            “Not my wife?”

            “It’s a different woman. She’s a pretty one too. Never would’ve pegged you for a ladies’ man,” the guard replied.

            Gina was waiting for me in the visiting area, staring through the glass. She had on one of her fancy suits from the BeverlyCenter. She could’ve passed for a lawyer except for her face. She didn’t have that hard face like a criminal attorney who deals with horror and tragedy all day every day. Gina was no stranger to misery and violence, but these things still rattled her. And she was clearly rattled. Her mascara was streaked with salty tears. She held a page from the morning paper in her trembling hands.

            “I can’t take it anymore,” she said. “What did we do to deserve all this? It’s like we’re all cursed!”

            “Gina, take it easy. Why are you here?”

            “Charlie’s gone, Temo. Another man gone for no reason.”

            “What do you mean?”

            Gina laid out the front page of the Metro section so that it faced me, so that I could read the article through the glass divider.

Four Killed in Harbor Gateway Shootout

            A series of gunfights between police, gang suspects, and civilians erupted in broad daylight yesterday near Passion Financial headquarters. The violence began when police tried to search a home linked to the investigation of Passion Chief Executive Officer Marcus Davis, who is charged in the murder of one of his call center employees.

            At approximately 3 p.m., Torrance police officers arrived at a 205th Street residence owned by Walter “Flytrap” Manzanilla, an ex-felon and alleged drug dealer.

When officers tried to deliver the warrant, they met armed resistance from two alleged gang members inside Manzanilla’s house. The gunmen were armed with assault rifles. They exchanged heavy fire with police for two hours before they were finally killed by SWAT reinforcements. During the standoff Manzanilla was able to escape through an alley next to a carriage house behind his primary residence.

            Shortly after escaping Manzanilla was confronted in a nearby hotel parking lot by two armed Passion employees, Charlie Park and Larry Vincent. Manzanilla and Park exchanged fatal gunshots in front of the Miyako Hybrid Hotel on Western Avenue. The men killed each other instantly. Vincent was also shot in the leg and taken to nearby Torrance Memorial Hospital.

Park is survived by a wife and daughter. The Korean-American immigrant was a seventeen-year employee at Passion who led the firm’s Security and Risk Management Departments. He joined the credit card banking firm after his own strip mall was destroyed in the 1992 riots. Manzanilla, who was suspected by police of running one of the largest illegal drug operations in South Los Angeles County, has no surviving family.

            According to Detective Elliot Kowalski of the Torrance Police Department, the search warrant delivered to Manzanilla’s house related to the upcoming trial of Davis and Passion employee Cuauhtemoc McCarthy. They are accused of conspiring to murder call center agent Roland Shavosian in the company parking lot last month.