The Durham Mob, page 22
“No, C. Red is picking it up.”
“Well, give him the details and it’ll go as smooth as silk.”
“How will we know what time he will arrive? asked William.
“Oh, I forgot. I’ll call you and tell you the flight number and the arrival time.”
“Don’t screw this up, big Daddy!”
“You got nothing to worry about,” he said in his professorial tone. That was his business one, the way he talked on his job, very professional.
“Okay, here is the money.” He handed him the envelope. “Count it.”
“I don’t have to count it. I know you wouldn’t try to cheat; your brother maybe, but not you.”
“I’m glad you trust me. Now, I hope I can trust you. I don’t do this kind of shit. I stay clean so if I’m gonna get this involved, it had better be righteous.”
“Everything’s gonna be alright.” William left feeling assured, but still nervous. His only consolation was that he was not going to be handling anything. He returned to New York feeling good about the deal, but still a little nervous. This is the most he had been involved since he gave his auto insurance check to that crook.
When he got back to his apartment, he immediately called C. Red. He told him the plan and told him to be on standby for a few days. Two days later, he received the call from Big Daddy. “Eastern Airlines flight 2648 will arrive at 3:40 p.m. You know everything else you need to know.” He hung up immediately. William called Red and gave him the info. Everything was set, but William began to worry. ‘What if Red is caught and tells the cops I’m involved? What if the delivery guy is caught and tells that someone is meeting him and they still catch him and Red?’ All of these scenarios were running through his head. He finally relaxed and hoped for the best.
The next day, Red came by and said, “I’m off to the races. See you in an hour.” Red was so calm that it made William relax. Red knew what he was doing. This would be a piece of cake for him. He never seemed afraid. He was fearless. An hour later, Red called and said, “I’m out here holding my dick in my hand and nobody showed.”
“Are you sure? Maybe you missed him. Look around.”
“Listen man, I watched everybody get off that plane and nobody wearing a Hawaiian shirt got off.”
“Hold tight, I’m gonna call Big Daddy. Call me back in five minutes.”
He dialed big Daddy’s number. “Hello.”
“Big Daddy, your man didn’t show. What’s the problem?”
“Oh, I just found out he had a problem and didn’t make the flight.”
“Why in the hell didn’t you call me. Red’s standing at the airport and I’m sitting here by the phone. I just knew something wasn’t right!”
Big Daddy knew how angry William was because he was yelling and he had never heard him raise his voice.
“Hold tight. I’ll straighten it all out. I’ll call you back.”
“I’ll be sitting here by the phone like I have the last few hours. Call me and let me know what happens next.”
“Will do,” he said in that baritone, assuring voice.
The phone rang. It was Red. “So, what’s the verdict?”
“He gave me some bullshit that something went wrong. He’s supposed to call me back. You can leave. Nothing’s happening today.”
“You know he’s scamming you?”
“I hope not, but we’ll see.” About fifteen minutes passed and William was still sitting by the phone waiting for the call. Finally, the phone rang. “Okay, I got it all sorted out. He’s gonna make the same run tomorrow, same plan, same time.”
“C. Red thinks this is all bullshit, that you are scamming me. Prove him wrong. Have I ever bullshitted you, you know me?”
“I’ve never done any business with you for you to bullshit me. Now, we’re gonna go along with this plan one more time. If he’s there tomorrow at the same time, we’ll know for sure.” He hung up the phone angry and thinking that he couldn’t do this again. The deal had to be real. Half an hour later, Red was back. “I don’t believe anything Big Daddy says from now on.”
“We don’t have to believe or not believe. We’ll know for sure tomorrow. I don’t see how he thinks he can scam me and get away with it.”
“If it’s not real, whatcha gonna do? He knows you’re not a gangster. You’re not gonna hire a hit man. You’re not gonna take him out yourself? What can you do? I don’t believe it anymore. I’ll make the run again tomorrow, but I don’t believe some guy is gonna show! I’m glad I don’t have any of my money in this!
“You made some good points. I just never thought he would try to pull a scam. Do you think he thought this through the way you just described it? Anyway, there’s no sense in going on with this. It’ll all come out in the wash. Tomorrow, we’ll know for sure. I sure don’t want to lose my brother’s five thousand dollars.”
“I don’t want you to lose it either. I was hoping this was real so I could make some money and keep on doing it.”
The next day, Red made the same run with the same results. Nobody showed. This time William didn’t call Big Daddy. He just decided to go down to St. Croix one more time. He hardly slept that night. He was angry and frustrated. He had been scammed and possibly lost five thousand dollars of Coy’s money. What could he actually do? ‘How could Big Daddy think he could get away with this? What did he think would happen? What did he think I would do?’
The next day he flew down to St. Croix, rented a car and drove straight to Big Daddy’s house. When he arrived at the house, he was furious. He noticed a Volkswagen bug parked in the driveway that wasn’t there before. It didn’t mean much because he was too angry to think clearly. Big Daddy opened the door with a surprised look on his face. “You got the stuff, didn’t you?”
“Are you out of your mind? What stuff? Nobody showed!”
“What, he didn’t show? The guy told me he made a successful run!”
“Do you think I’m crazy or stupid? There was no deal, there was no guy to deliver. You’re just scamming me and lying to my face. I can’t believe you think you can get away with this.”
“Hey man, I’m on the square. Let me call the guy and see what happened.”
William just stood there so angry he couldn’t speak for a few seconds. “What’s the guy’s name?”
“Carlos.”
“Sounds just like some movie, spy shit. Call him!” Big Daddy dialed a number and waited. After several rings, there was no answer.
“He’s not answering!
“Of course, he’s not. There is no he! I want my money back!”
“I gave him the money!”
“Where did you get that Volkswagen?”
“A friend of mind, who has two cars, let me use it for a while so I can get around.” William didn’t say another word. He walked straight into Big Daddy’s bedroom and began opening drawers searching for his money. Big Daddy didn’t resist nor say a word. After a few minutes searching, William found a small stack of money. He quickly counted it and it came to twenty-five hundred. He put it into his pocket. “You owe me twenty-five hundred. “That’s not the money you gave me. Carlos has your money.”
“Then, you get it from Carlos and give me the rest. How can you stand there with a straight face and still pretend that this wasn’t all bullshit? How can you steal from me? You must think I’m rich! You must think Coy gave me a lot of money and you can just steal a small piece from me. I can’t afford to lose this money, it’s not mine! Why am I explaining this to you? You’re a thief and that’s the bottom line!”
“Man, I wouldn’t do that!” Big Daddy went on protesting his innocence and lying about what happened. “I’m gonna get to the bottom of this and make it all righteous. I wouldn’t try to scam you!”
“You just did!” He didn’t want to hear anymore and headed for the door. Behind him Big Daddy was still proclaiming his innocence and swearing to get to the bottom of it and pledging to get the money back. “I gonna make good for that money if I have to hurt Carlos!” William no longer listened. He got into his rent-a-car and drove back to the airport to wait for the next flight back. He was fortunate that there were several flights a day between the Virgin Islands and New York City.
Back in New York, he recounted the whole story to C. Red. “You were right. It was all a scam and he played the hand until the very end. He never admitted anything. I’m sorry I got you involved.”
“You didn’t get me involved. It was business. We took a shot and it didn’t work. I’m glad I didn’t put my few dollars in. I’m sorry you lost your bread.”
“My brother’s bread.”
“He knows how this kind of shit happens better than you. He and Sid have probably pulled some shit on some people themselves. He’ll understand.”
“I’ll find out. I’ll tell him next week.”
The following week, William took the ninety-mile drive again bearing bad news. Coy entered the room smiling. They shook hands, something they never did when he was out. He sat down and quickly came to the point. “How did it go?”
William went through the whole story. “So now I’m out of twenty-five hundred dollars!”
“That’s true but it’s not just the money, it’s also the time and energy that Red and I went through trying to get it done. I spent a lot of time and energy trying to do this as much as I didn’t want to.”
“Time and energy are simply exercising. You can rest and get that back, but the money is gone and won’t come back. You can tell that fat son-of-a bitch, Big Daddy that if I had been dealing with him, had he tried to pull that shit on me, I would’ve sent someone to break his legs. I still might do that when I get out.”
“It’s over. We got had. At least I got some of it back. That asshole bought a used Volkswagen with your money. If he were in New York, I could’ve taken the car. He knew what he was doing. Red said Big Daddy thought you had big money put away, and that I had access to the money. You know how people sometimes don’t pay you money because they rationalize that you can afford to lose it. I guess he thought I was loaded. Anyway, it’s over. I can’t waste any more time or energy on a lost cause. We got had, and he knows there’s nothing we can do about it!” They finished the visit talking about his appeal and if Swazy gave Larry money for it. William had no answers and still wondered why he continued to talk about an appeal. In the meantime, Larry was taking money from every one of the homeboys getting richer without doing any work.
CHAPTER 41
There was a soul food restaurant downtown near Bellevue Hospital on Twenty-Eight Street and Third Avenue called Jack’s Soul Food. The owner was a Jewish guy named Julie Rosenfeld. At lunch time, there was always a line to get in. He had hired a black lady from Mississippi to cook soul food, and she did a great job. All of the brothers from uptown would drive that long distance just to eat there, and William was one of them. He would drive his Cadillac down, and since he was always dressed well, he looked quite prosperous. One day he was sitting there alone waiting for his food when the owner approached him. “Hi. I’ve seen you here several times.”
“Yes, I like your food. I’ve recommended it to many of my friends and many of them come here too” The owner got right to the point. “You look like a man of means. Would you be interested in owning this place?” William was caught off guard and hesitated to respond. “Of course, I would. What’s the catch?” He probably approached him because he looked like he had money.
“May I sit down? What’s your name?”
“Of course. William Smith.”
“Nice to officially meet you. My name is Julie Rosenfeld. Listen, I buy places like this and get them going and then I sell them. I don’t like the day-to-day operations over a long period. I’d like to sell this place and you look like a man who could afford to buy it. A young man like you could be even more successful than I have been. Would you be interested?” William was getting used to people to thinking he had a lot of money. This time it was probably because he was driving a Cadillac and wearing expensive looking clothes. “I’m definitely interested. What are you asking for it?”
“We can work out the details later but for now, are you definitely interested and can you come up with some money?”
“To both questions, the answers are yes. How much money?” William was bluffing a little since he didn’t have a lot of money and the initial investment could be a deal stopper. “When you finish eating, come to my office in the back.”
“I’ll do that.” Again, his mind began racing with too many thoughts at the same time. As he ate, he tried to focus and put things in order. He certainly would like to own that place which already had a clientele. It looked like it was making a killing. ‘Where will I get some initial cash?’ He only had about eleven thousand of his own, and a little more than six thousand of his brother’s money. He had just lost twenty-five hundred of his brother’s money and he probably wouldn’t want to risk anymore, even though this sounded like a guarantee. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t get too far ahead of myself. I should wait to hear what he’s asking.’
After he finished eating, he looked over behind the bar and nodded to Julie, that’s what he said to call him. Julie beckoned him to come towards the back. They went into his small office. “I’m grossing over a hundred thousand a month and after expenses which are not great, I average more than twenty thousand a month.”
“Explain to me again why you would give up this arrangement?”
“As I said outside, I have never run a business more than one year. I start them, build them up and sell them, and I always make a profit. You can benefit and so can I. What’s wrong with that? If you can put up a ten thousand deposit, you can get a bank loan for the rest, that is, if you have good credit. Do you have good credit?”
“I assume I do. I have no outstanding debts and no bad credit experiences against me.”
“The only questions remain are, can you put up ten thousand and do you want to run this business?”
“Again, the answers are, yes and yes.”
“Then let’s get the ball rolling. Bring me ten thousand in cash and I will give you a receipt. I know someone at Chase who can get you started.” William was puzzled why he wanted the money in cash, but he thought that it would be okay since Julie was giving him a receipt.
“You still haven’t told me what you are asking for the place.”
“Forty thousand and that’s not negotiable. It’s worth that and more, but I’m not greedy.” Julie was all business. He knew what he wanted and William looked like a good candidate. He would find out soon enough if he was right about William. He had nothing to lose. The ball was in William’s court.
On his next visit to see his brother, he told him the whole story. “Sounds like a good deal to me. How much money do you have? Can you put up the ten thousand?”
“If you had done right by me, this wouldn’t be a question. I would easily be able to pull this off. Maybe I could pay cash.” Whenever the opportunity arose, William, who still carried pain and disappointment about the way he was treated by his brother, would remind Coy that both their lives would be better if he had shared with him instead of wasting and giving money to hangers on. Coy would never respond. He would just briefly go silent, and advance the conversation to the issues at hand. What else could he do? He certainly could not be defiant and disrespectful, because he would risk alienating William and lose his link to the outside. “If you have the ten grand, you should do it. Getting a bank loan for a successful business is easy. I can help you when I get out.” William paused after hearing that. Although he would need an accountant and his brother was an excellent one, why would he share with him and trust him? He valued his advice on business matters but not on other aspects of life; but he wasn’t thinking about being in business with him, especially since he was not offering to contribute any of his money to get it started. William didn’t reveal his finances or his ability to put up the ten grand. He didn’t want his brother to try to use him. “I’ll let you know what happens.”
He took the ten thousand out of his account in cash and took it to Julie, who wrote him a receipt. “Now the ball is rolling. Call this number and ask for Herb Berkowitz and tell him I told you to call. He’s an officer at Chase. I have my accounts there.”
The ball was indeed rolling. William had never given ten thousand to anyone. In fact, he had never had that much money until the past year when a few crumbs fell off of Charles’ table. He was almost as nervous about this as he was about the cocaine deal. The difference was that one could have gotten him arrested, and this one could break him financially. But he had the consolation that the worst thing that could happen would be that the deal would fall through, and he would get his money back. That’s not such a gamble after all. There was also the second important thing, running the restaurant. He had no idea how to run a business, especially a restaurant. ‘I can always hire somebody,’ he thought to himself. Now he felt better after analyzing the situation. It would be easy now, only the process was ahead. He called the bank and spoke to Herb Berkowitz who gave him an appointment. William went to the meeting at the bank. There was Herb and an assistant, Leslie Fern. William had taught school for a long time and had good credit and no outstanding bills, plus, he had a receipt for the ten thousand deposit that he gave Julie. They told him that he would need a lawyer to handle the paper work and gave him the name of a lawyer, Phillip Stern whom they had worked with on other loans. The money for the lawyer would come out of the loan. William called the lawyer and made an appointment.
They lawyer’s office was in one of the tall office buildings in Manhattan. It was very impressive, so much so that it made him nervous. He had never spent a lot of time around wealth, not legitimate wealth. This guy had a big office with a large waiting room and a secretary sitting at a big desk. “I’m here to see Attorney Stern. I have an appointment for 3:30 p.m.”
