The Durham Mob, page 8
“Why the fuck did you still have checks?” asked Charles. He couldn’t contain himself. This was more times that Charles had used the word, “fuck” in an entire year. Sid still did not answer except to say, “It don’t, don’t matter now. It’s too, too late now. They have the checks.”
“I’m gonna let Coy know and maybe he can help clean this up,” said Charles. Charles called Coy and asked him to meet him at the Chinese restaurant on 181st street and Broadway. He railed to Coy and reminded him that he shouldn’t have allowed Sid to be so involved. Coy was visibly upset and nervous, although he never panicked in any situation. When the news got out to the others, everybody was very concerned and a little scared. Charles was yelling, “I told you not to let that fucking Sid get involved. I told you not to let him get that close. I told you he’d fuck up. You wouldn’t listen. If you want to track some pussy, he’s your man, but if you want to do business, he’ll always fuck up. I’ve known him longer than you have, Coy. He’s my roommate. I give him money each week but he has always been a fuckup.”
“It’s over and the books are good. They’ll be puzzled but they can’t find the solution, and it’s over now anyway. I’ll close the books on the summer and we’ll move on and so will they. They don’t want to look too closely because they might have to shine the light on some big fish. Other officials are stealing more money than we are.” Coy explained.
“I’m gonna have to trust you on this one. What else can we do? It’s done now. Whatcha gonna do about Sid?” Charles was just screaming and using profanity because he feared going to prison. “Lower your voice and calm down. Don’t let the whole world know what we’re talking about!” After all, Coy had assured that this caper was full proof. But now, Sid had opened a closed door so the authorities could peep in. “It’s over,” said Coy. “But Sid will have to quietly resign so he won’t be available to answer questions. We’ll give him some money for the next few weeks until we close shop.” Coy didn’t reveal to Charles that he was allowing Sid to make about $4000 on the side with those checks. “I’m not giving him shit! You can give him some of yours. I’m through with his ass. As long as I’ve known him, he’s done stupid shit, but we all used to just laugh it off, but that was little shit. We can’t laugh this off!” Sid was never questioned because the arrest was illegal, and the searching of his valise was also illegal.
Coy had discovered that some higher ups had been stealing more money than his gang; much larger amounts. However, if he had tried to expose them, he might have shed light on their own embezzlement. Sometimes, some executives would stare him straight into his eyes, as though asking themselves, “Does he know? He must know!” He understood the stare. They figured he must be dirty too or he’s inept. The game continued with no one making a move. The executives continued to steal, and Coy continued to pretend he was not aware. He believed that the higher ups had stolen millions. What the others didn’t know was that Coy was cashing checks for half a million dollars for the Mafia on the side. He had so much money that he was constantly trying to find a place to hide it. Only Lauren knew about some of the places, only because Coy used her to take money to a few hiding places. Lauren took $90,000 to N.C. to put in a safety deposit box that his sister secured for him. He didn’t explain anything to her, nor did she ask. Lauren gave her two thousand dollars and asked her to keep it to herself.
Coy had an acquaintance, Jason, who worked at a bank and asked him to help hide some money. He sent Lauren with a brief case full of money to meet Jason. Jason helped Lauren open a safety deposit box. When Lauren came back two hours late, Coy asked her why it took so long. She explained that she and the bank acquaintance were old friends. She had dated him when she was in high school, and that they had lunch together. A few weeks later when Jason met with Coy to get paid for his help, he blurted out that he was sorry about fucking Lauren when she brought the money. He said, “Man, I don’t want you to find out from someone else, or Lauren gets angry and tells, so I’m telling you. We were laughing and joking about the shit we did in high school and one thing led to another and we ended up in my apartment. And you know, no man can turn down fucking Lauren. Man, I’m sorry.” Jason didn’t want to do anything to interfere with the business between them. After all, he was receiving almost a year’s salary for doing something so easy. “I understand, man, let’s don’t let pussy interfere with our business.” Hiding the money was more important to him than Lauren fucking someone. He didn’t say a word to Lauren. He knew what he had. She was very trust worthy in helping him and keeping his secrets, but when it came to fucking, he knew he couldn’t control her.
Everything got quiet for a short time, but they continued the caper. Everybody kept getting money, partying, snorting coke and fucking the women that came and went. What they did not know was that the commissioner of the city’s youth programs was still puzzled about those checks. He just couldn’t figure out why there were no complaints from the kids. Finally, he told his personal assistant to solve the problem. “Find out why the kids who didn’t receive their checks did not complain. It makes no sense to me.” The assistant, Bergman took the checks to his office and called one of his investigators, Mark Shapiro, into his office. “These are checks we took from one of our workers. They should have already been cashed. Find out why these kids whose names appear on these checks did not complain. If we have these checks, that means they didn’t get paid. Who doesn’t complain when they work all week and don’t get paid? Remember last year when the kids didn’t get their money on time? They came down town in the hundreds complaining.” The investigator took the checks to his office. He put them on a table and stared at them. He began reading the names on them and the addresses. He decided that the next move would be to go to each kid’s house to ask him why he did not complain when he didn’t get paid. He took out the first ten checks and wrote down the addresses. He thought about giving the assignment to one of his subordinates, but he didn’t even want them to know what he was doing. He got into his car to personally do home visits. He went to the first apartment and knocked on the door. This was not in a safe neighborhood so the tenants were reluctant to open the door. “Who’s there,” said a voice inside. “I’m with the city government. Does Raymond Jones live here?”
“Nobody by that name lives here.”
“Well, do you know Raymond Jones?”
“He don’t live here and we don’t know who that is.” The investigator left and drove to the next address and repeated the same process. He got the same response. He visited all ten addresses that he had with him. In the end, not one of those whose names appeared on the checks lived at the addresses on the checks. He took the report to the commissioner. The conclusion was that the names of the people on these checks were of people who did not exist.
CHAPTER 15
There were just three weeks left until the summer program would be over. The kids would return to school and the embezzling would end. No one was interested in getting mere scraps during the winter. There were only a small number of kids working part time in the winter, and stealing would be difficult and the money would be small; like what Charles was getting before he was discovered by Coy. Everyone had made so much money that it was prudent to stop, let the program close and move on. The principles were so used to getting so much money that they had been living big. Charles didn’t seem to have a plan as to how he would continue living that expensive and fast life after the money stopped flowing. He was considering returning to law school. He would be better able to live big in the south where everything was so much cheaper, and there was not the night life to suck up lots of money. Pussy would be much cheaper. College girls would not demand so much. They would also be very impressed with the flamboyant Charles who still had a lot of nice clothes and jewelry and big bucks. Gene had saved most of his money. He hadn’t tried to impress people. He already had two nice cars and continued to live in the same apartment. He seemed to realize that the scheme wasn’t going to last forever. Coy was still the Director of Fiscal Operations which paid him a good salary, but not enough to continue to live and spend the way he had been doing for some time. He was living in an expensive apartment. Fortunately, all the furnishings had been paid for in cash, so the rent was the only legitimate bill. There would still be the coke bill and the fast night life. Lazy, girl chasing Sid would continue living off the fat of the land. He would continue living with Coy and doing little hustles on the side; sell a little coke, cash some stolen checks and whatever else he could do without having to get a job. Life was good but what did the future hold for these unique embezzlers?
The last three weeks went by quickly and they fattened their pots with more gold. They became real coke heads, snorting every night. Coy and Sid declared a silent war on everybody’s women. They began breaking the unspoken and unwritten rule about fucking the other homeboy’s women. They became cut-throat and nobody’s ladies were safe. They were living a good distance from the others, and with their splendidly decorated pad, attracted more ladies, especially after parties. Most ladies who came to the parties wanted to be invited back. They quietly collected phone numbers and contacted the ladies to invite them back. Besides the Cadillac, Coy had a Mercury Brougham that he bought in July when he was still sharing the apartment with William. In fact, William had traded his Volkswagen for a black, convertible Mercury. One of Coy’s contacts knew the general manager of the dealer and they both got a deal. The only difference was that Coy paid cash for his, and William financed his and made monthly payments.
William still had not gone to Coy’s new apartment, although Coy had given several parties. He had heard how breath taking the place was, and was asked on several occasions why he had not been to see it. Some seemed to have forgotten how Coy had been leaving him out of many happenings all summer. They did talk on the phone occasionally. As poorly as William had been treated by Coy, he held no grudge. He had a good life with many friends and a little money. He didn’t have the kind that Coy and Charles, and even a few other homeboys had, but he was happy. He was no longer disappointed that Coy was no longer the brother he knew before the money came. He still didn’t understand it, but he accepted it and moved on. He chose not to think about it, but deep down, when he did think about it, it hurt. One cannot dismiss thirty years of friendship, especially brotherhood, without some pain. There was just too much history. He dealt with it the only healthy way, just walked on and continued his life with other pleasures. He had the nice apartment, alone, with the custom, expensive drapes that Coy paid for. He had made plans to go to Stockholm on Thursday, September 12th. Coy had never been to Europe, so he made plans to meet William and to take Lauren with him.
William had been to Europe several times as a teacher on a low budget plan. He stayed in Pensions and on university campuses. This time, he had a little more money, so he went shopping to buy some new clothes. He wanted to dress a bit better this time because he remembered that the Swedes were well dressed people, and not as casual as the Danes. William packed early on Wednesday so he could leave on Thursday. He talked to Coy who said that he and Lauren would be leaving the following day, Friday, the 13th. He asked Charlie Red to drive him and his part time lover, Linda to the airport. They dropped him off and he reminded Charlie Red when he would be returning, “But I’ll call you a few days before to remind you. I don’t want to be waiting at Kennedy airport with my dick in my hand and you’re a no show.”
“I’ll write it down! Don’t give me a hard time before you even leave. I’ll be there to pick you up! Have I ever let you down?” William departed for Stockholm, Sweden. Charlie Red decided he wanted to try to get a little piece of Linda, and suggested, “Why don’t we go by Coy’s and snort some coke?”
“Sounds good to me!” So, off they went. When they arrived, Coy buzzed them in. When they got upstairs, they found Coy, Sid and Lauren passing around the coke. Linda and Charlie jumped right in. They all drank Ripple wine. They had this rhyme about Ripple, “What’s the price, thirty twice, for a thrill, get it chilled.” Coy bought the best coke and a quarter of a kilo at a time. He bought, “Hustler’s coke,” which had only been cut once instead of two or three times like the coke one bought in the clubs. The high was better and lasted longer. Charlie tried to get Linda to give him some head but she wasn’t interested. She was generous with the head but she wasn’t interested in C. Red. Red understood that after so much coke, a man can’t get it up so, realizing that nothing was happening, he just got higher. Sid snorted hard because there was no pussy around for him. He usually had a lady at the apartment every night. Coy was with Lauren, but he was used to Lauren and just wanted to get high.
William arrived in Stockholm the next day and checked into a four-star hotel for the first time. It was really luxurious right near a canal. Shortly after checking in, he went to the front desk to ask the location of the nearest club or disco. He had slept on the plane and was wide awake. Actually, the girls at the desk were stereotypical Swedes, blond and pretty. He wouldn’t have minded taking one of them out. Fortunately, the largest and most popular disco, Alexandras, was just across the street. He walked over and entered. The manager at the door was an African, Joshua, who had married a Swede. He and his wife were the owners. He greeted William. “My name is Joshua and I am the owner. Where are you from?”
“New York City.”
“What’s your name, my brother, and how long have you been here?’
“My name is William and I just arrived half an hour ago.”
“How long you staying?”
“That depends on the action.”
“There’s plenty of that here, especially for a Brother.” While they were talking, Joshua was surveying the giant disco dance floor as was William. William asked, “Aren’t there any ugly babes in here?” It seemed like a movie casting call. There were more pretty girls in one place than he had ever seen. “There must be a few,” replied Joshua. Just then, Joshua saw two lovelies passing nearby. He called them over. They approached smiling broadly and both embraced Joshua. He said, “This is my main man from the U.S.” He had forgotten William’s name. He whispered quietly and quickly, “What’s your name again?”
“William”
“William is at the Alexis Hotel across the street. Go over with him and I’ll be over later.”
“Okay,” they said in unison. William did not quite understand, and he was surprised, but he loved it. They got their coats and they left together. They went with William to his hotel room. He had a bottle of wine that he bought exiting the airport. They drank wine and made small talk, mostly about New York. About half an hour later, Joshua was knocking at the door. William let him in and was glad he was there so the party could begin. They both had sex with the two ladies. It was a wonderful welcome for William on his first night in Stockholm. Joshua left first, and a few minutes later, they all returned to the disco. William was accustomed to getting a lady’s number or information to see them again after an encounter like they had just finished. He had enjoyed screwing Anna, and wouldn’t have minded seeing her again. The girls just blended back into the crowd saying “Goodbye” to William. He didn’t know what to think. Later, Joshua told him, “They are just like guys. They enjoyed themselves and there was no reason to try to have a relationship. There are many more here. Enjoy yourself!” William danced with several young ladies and tried through the noise to talk to a few. He did meet two close friends who wanted to know more about him; where he was from, how long he was staying, why was he there etc. Eventually, they went outside to get some fresh air, except to William, it was very cold. They were used to the Swedish weather. They told him they were the best of friends. They were flight attendants for six months of the year, and ballet dancers the rest of the year. They had the bodies to prove it. They volunteered to pick him up from his hotel the next day to show him around. They said they would pick him up at 10:00 a.m. They went back inside and danced until the jet lag was getting to William, and he said that he would wait for their call to come by the next day. He returned to his hotel and went to bed. His last thoughts were, ‘What a night! Wait until I get home and tell the guys about this! They’ll all want to come over. It will be so different! Beautiful girls, lots of fun, and it doesn’t cost a dime, coke or cash.’
The next day, just as they promised, they called and showed up in the morning. They were dressed casually but stylishly. They were driving a small blue Volvo. They spent the next three hours showing William around. They stopped in the early afternoon to have lunch. It was a typical Swedish lunch of pea soup, pickled herring and mashed carrots. The food was fresh and good. When the check came, William insisted on paying. After all, he had more money this time than he ever had when coming to Europe. The ladies insisted on paying half. William was not accustomed to this. Most ladies whom he had dated in the States would not have offered, certainly not insisted. They showed him around and walked along the water front explaining and describing as if they were tourist guides. It was wonderful, he thought, having two lovely ladies spending their time with practically a stranger touring the city of Stockholm. They were just so friendly and pleasant. Around 5:00 p.m. that evening, they returned him to the hotel to get more rest because he was still yawning, and fighting jet lag. They said they wanted to see the new American movie, “The Graduate.” They said they would pick him up at 7:30 p.m. The movie was starting at 8:00p.m. On their way to his hotel, William asked to stop at a news stand to buy the international newspaper, The Herald Tribune. He wanted to keep up with the news from the states. He picked up the paper and was dropped off at his hotel. When he got to his room, he took off his clothes and poured himself a glass of wine, sat in a big chair and began reading the paper. There was a big headline that stuck out like a neon sign, “338G Youth Corps jails 6.” The New York Times even referred to them as, “The Durham Mob.” His eyes opened wider as he read on. These were his friends and his brother! William sat in disbelief. After he finished reading the article, he became slightly paranoid. Although he had not participated in the embezzlement, nor benefited, except for the money Charles gave him, he was afraid that he might be implicated. He picked up the phone and asked the hotel operator for long distance to the United States. He called Charlie Red. “Red, I just read the article in the international newspaper about you know what.” He was even afraid to say the words. “Are they looking for anyone else?” Red laughed and said, “No, they arrested all of the people they wanted to arrest.”
