"Flying on Air Force planes is not my favorite thing to do," Phil told Patty as they were seated for dinner in the Officers Club back at Barksdale Air Force Base.
"This last one wasn't too bad. It was pretty much like a small airliner, except the seats were turned facing the tail of the plane."
Patty knew that Phil didn't like flying, no matter what it was on, but that's not what she wanted to talk about. She had been worried about Phil's safety to the point that she had actually thrown up.
"I called Nita," Patty said, "and she told me how Morello tracked you to Dallas. You could have been killed right there in the airport."
"Mo and Sam were with me. They had guns," Phil said.
"Besides, they didn't track us to kill us. They were hoping we would lead them to Vinny Gennuso. They want to shut him up," Phil explained.
Phil could see how worried Patty was and this was the point where he feared she might ask a question like: "This is never going to end, is it?"
Then, Phil would have to admit that it probably wouldn't and he would have to ask if Patty wanted out.
Patty took Phil's hands in hers.
"I know I say this too much, but it's what I feel so strongly. I am so proud of you and I admire you so much for what you are doing. And I pray all the time that nothing terrible will happen to you, but if it ever should, I will have no regrets. I wouldn't change a single thing," she said, smiling broadly.
"But you've given up so much," Phil protested, fighting back tears of joy.
"Don't take my word for it. Just call Nita and ask her if she wouldn't change places with me," Patty teased, lightening the mood at once.
"Oh, that reminds me. Nita tells me you have a new girlfriend in Washington, a mysterious older woman named Maria. Sounds exotic. Is she Spanish?" Patty asked tauntingly.
"Italian," Phil answered, laughing, "and you should be grateful. Because she was the one who had the Air Force bring us home and that got us here tonight instead of next year."
"Nice try, Quimo Sabe, but Nita already told me that the governor was sending his plane to get you, before her highness in Washington butted in," Patty answered and punctuated her jibe with a pinch on Phil's forearm.
"Anyway, it looks like Nita and I are the only two people in your life who aren't Italian. So I don't think that's such a big deal."
They both laughed and Phil relished how good the laughter felt, how good life could feel when he wasn't wallowing in the filth that Carlos Morello made.
Except for the occasional meals at the Officers Club, Phil had given up trying to eat anywhere except in his office. It was too much of a hassle. The next morning, Phil and Eb were sitting at the conference table he had borrowed from the FBI having takeout breakfast.
"I had a good talk with Sam late last night, while you were out partying," the special prosecutor teased his friend.
"Apparently your talk made a big impression on our protected witness. Vinny agreed to tell us everything he knows about the Morello family, except for things that may implicate his cousins in specific crimes.
"The first thing the FBI wants to do is build a timeline, starting with Vinny's original contact with the organization. His connection was an uncle, not his father. There has been a special team put together in Washington to match his information with known crimes and to reconcile what Vinny tells us with what has been learned from wiretaps, surveillance and informants.
"Sam's staying for the long haul and will flag us with tips and material he develops related to violations of state law," Eb explained.
"This sounds almost too good to be true," Phil said, clearly pleased by what he had heard.
"That's because it is. Vinny told Sam he'd never killed anyone and had never been an eyewitness to any killings," Eb answered.
"So he's not a made man," Phil interrupted.
"I'm not sure that term has the same meaning in New Orleans that it would have in New York or Chicago. Vinny's certainly part of the family, but he's a jovial and personable guy. That's a lot of what made him such a great earner. He had the biggest book in the family, working the Quarter and Mid-City.
"The way Vinny tells it, there was virtually no enforcement activity in his area. People paid him before they paid the rent. That doesn't sound like the Mafia I've heard about around here, but Sam believes it could be true. Sam says it's impossible not to like the guy."
"So, this is going to take a long time to work through?" Phil suggested.
"Unquestionably, but we may pick up some stuff we can use to help with cases we're already working. And another thing, they're compiling a much more accurate organization chart than we've had in the past. That could be useful in working these tax cases. What the Jefferson DA gave us is all abbreviations and partial initials. We're bogged down with that stuff," Eb said.
Phil looked relieved and was about to say so when the phone rang.
"Good morning, Maria," Phil said, answering as another smile formed on his face.
"I'm just learning that we're making some real progress with our witness. And by the way, thanks for everything you did to get me back home," he said, then paused to listen.
"That's why I'm calling," Maria said.
"The boss wants you and Eb and Ken up here this afternoon to guide the people who are setting up the system to correlate the information we're developing. Tell me when you've got a pencil, I've got your flight information for you."
Phil began writing.
"Good thing we're having breakfast already. Looks like we've just got time to head for the airport," Phil teased.
Maria laughed.
"I'm sorry," she said.
"Don't worry. It's what I signed up for.
"Is that it?" he asked before saying goodbye.
"Not quite," Maria answered,
"Danny and Sam want you back where they are when we get through with you up here. I'll have to work that out with our friends in the blue suits."
Eb could see Phil cringe, but Phil said nothing into the phone to match the expression Eb observed on his friend's face. Everyone was careful not to use the words Altus or Oklahoma, especially over the telephone.
What Phil had suspected before they left for the airport turned out to be true once they were working in Washington. There was little or nothing he could contribute to setting up a system to organize the information being generated by the Vinny interviews. In stark contrast, Eb's skills made all the difference in how the project would be structured, but Eb would never have been invited without Phil. Someone, probably Maria, had put that together before the trip was set up.
"Eb's doing all the work," Phil admitted candidly to Sam that night when the two spoke by phone.
"Then why aren't you on your way down here?" Sam asked.
"Maria's working that out through channels, but I don't understand why you need me," Phil replied.
"I don't, but Vinny does. It's hard to explain, but we're not the kind of cops he's used to. I'm afraid neither Danny nor me would do well at NOPD," Sam said.
"Well, the interviews look great. I've been reading over them during the meetings," Phil offered.
"We need you to make sure that keeps happening. Vinny knows we're not politicians, that we don't have any juice. He knows you're close to McClellan and thinks you're a big wig at the justice department," Sam explained.
"So it's a question of respect? He thinks I can do something for him that you can't. Is that it?" Phil asked.
"Maybe. I can't put my finger on it exactly. It all seems to trace back to the build up Zip gave you to all the members of the organization.
"I'm not sure what the explanation is, but he keeps asking about you. And he was very much impressed when he heard you were in Washington this afternoon," Sam finished.
Phil laughed.
"Well, tell him I was with the attorney general today and handed him a folder containing some of Vinny's interview material. Maybe it will give his ego a boost," Phil said.
"Is it true?" Sam asked, a little disbelief revealed in the tone of his voice.
"Sure," Phil answered, pausing to laugh, "but I wouldn't put too much stock in it. It seems like they're working another protected witness up in New England. And I think the attorney general has our case confused with that one. You know, New England, New Orleans. They're both far outside the Washington sphere of importance."
Sam laughed.
"Well, I won't tell him that part. That's one thing about Vinny I'm truly convinced of. He believes he's giving up a whole lot to help us, so he needs a lot of reinforcement to keep himself convinced that other people feel the same way.
"Don't misunderstand me, things go well between us when we are talking. But I'm not sure he could find Shreveport on a map. The outer limits of his known world seem to be the Mississippi Gulf Coast and maybe Baton Rouge," Sam said.
Phil laughed.
"Maybe I should run out to a souvenir stand and get him a little brass paperweight of the Lincoln Memorial or something like that," Phil joked.
"Might as well bring him a moon rock. He wouldn't know the difference," Sam countered.
The next morning, Phil and Sam met for breakfast.
"There is not a hint of morality in that man," Phil said of Vinny.
Sam agreed.
"Psychologists would say he is an amoral personality, literally has no concept of right and wrong. It's a common trait in criminals, particularly so for professional killers."
"So are you saying we should doubt him when he tells us he's never killed anyone?" Phil asked.
"I can't say for sure, but I tend to believe him when he says that. It's probably not very important to us whether he did or didn't. It's pretty clear the Morello family has a lot of respect for him one way or the other. Danny says word is that bets are way down on the book he ran. He's a thoroughly likeable guy," Sam said.
Phil agreed. He'd spent about ninety minutes talking and drinking beer with Vinny the night before after arriving back in Altus.
When breakfast was finished, Danny showed up. Sam excused himself so he could go to the makeshift office they'd set up and make phone calls to Shreveport. Phil and Danny took coffee out to a little patio area near the club's swimming pool.
"This may be the first time since we got here the wind isn't blowing forty miles per hour," Danny said of the nearly perfect day they were sitting in, bright sun and a temperature of about fifty-five.
"Yeah, the winds were kicking pretty good when we landed at Tinker late yesterday on that KC-135. But by the time we took off in the Cessna 150 to fly out here, the sun had gone down and the winds were completely calm, just like now. It was like riding on glass up there," Phil said.
"You rode all the way from Maryland on a KC-135?" Danny asked.
"No, I rode to Omaha on a JetStar with a group of colonels from the Pentagon. The 135 from Tinker was up there training. They made a quick stop for some fuel and I rode with them back to Oklahoma," Phil replied.
"So, do you still think Vinny doesn't know anything?" Phil asked.
"Clearly, we believe now that he has a lot of knowledge about how the Morello family operates, a whole lot. But we're a very long way from turning any of that knowledge into direct evidence we can use in criminal trials," the treasury agent answered.
Phil silently marveled at how impatient people are, not just his friend Danny, but people in general. Danny didn't need chiding for his impatience, so Phil quickly turned the conversation back to his original point.
"What do you think I need to be doing here to help with Vinny?" he asked.
Danny sensed that Phil was eager to leave and also that Phil didn't realize that he really had special skills with witnesses in criminal cases, probably because Danny's young friend just couldn't think of himself as a cop. It was only a role he was filling reluctantly to catch the killer of his friend Aubrey Braud.
"Be Vinny's friend. He needs you and he's not someone we can count on to just do the right thing. This guy doesn't know what right is outside the concept of loyalty to supporting his family at home and being loyal to his family in organized crime," Danny explained.
"Vinny does get that you're a politician and an important one. People in his world are used to dealing with politicians. Sam and I are cops. And in Vinny's world, cops who aren't on the take are people to be avoided at all costs, mistrusted. They're the enemy.
"In short, there's no way Vinny can ever like Sam and me, but he likes you. I know I've said it before, but Zip told Vinny and the others often that you're a man to be respected," Danny added.
"But what about the notion that people cooperate with the police out of fear?" Phil asked.
Danny couldn't tell whether Phil wasn't buying his argument or just needed more convincing.
"Good people, law abiding people, might fall into that category, but Vinny's not afraid of us. He's afraid of Morello. We just remind Vinny that he's a rat, one who's gone over to the feds. And that's the worst thing a person can do in Vinny's world.
"Plus, Vinny is a man who lives on respect. Every time he walked into a bar in the Quarter, he could feel that respect. He knew he was important," Danny said.
"So he feels important having me around because I know John McClellan, because I shook hands with the attorney general, yesterday?" Phil asked.
"And because a full colonel flew you onto this airbase last night, which gets me to the most important point. When we checked the wiretaps this morning, we picked up a conversation between one of the other bookies and Zip. An airman at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi asked if information about Vinny's whereabouts was worth something to him.
"The bookie took a hundred dollars off the airman's tab and was told that Vinny was staying at Altus Air Force Base. We've got to get Vinny out of here. Do you think your lady in Washington can help us with that?" Danny asked.
"Okay," Phil agreed, standing to leave, "I'll make the call right now. Does Sam know?"
"No, I just found out before I came to join you. You think we need to get him out of here right now, don't you?" Danny asked.
"Yeah, I'm going to talk to the base commander and see where he can give us a ride to right away. When we get there, I'll call Maria and see what she can come up with. I just hope it's not some place with three feet of snow on the ground," Phil said, trying to lighten up an extremely bad situation.
Within the hour, a C-130 on a training mission for the Texas Air National Guard taxied right up to the open door of a hangar. Five minutes later, the whole task force crew was in the air. The C-130 did a series of touch and gos at Sheppard Air Force Base, then at Carswell Air Force Base and finally landed at Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene. Phil got extremely sick, but never threw up. The expression on Vinny's face was of deep concern as Phil headed off to find a phone. Phil looked a little less pale when he came back to the group.
"The Air Force is sending some lunch over to us," Phil announced.
"Geez, do you feel well enough to eat?" Vinny asked.
"Thanks. Yeah, I'll probably eat something. Maybe Maria will find a better ride out of here for us than the one I came up with on my own," Phil teased.
Phil headed back to the bathroom to wash his face again.
"Where we going, now?" Vinny asked a few minutes after the big KC-135 lifted off from Dyess.
"Offutt Air Force Base," Phil answered.
He was still a little shaky from the morning's airsickness, but feeling better. Lunch had helped and he knew that riding on the big tanker was likelier to agree with his stomach.
"I flew through there yesterday," he added.
"Is it cold there?" Vinny answered.
"I'm afraid, so," Phil answered, laughing, "but we're not going to be outside much, so it shouldn't be too bad."
"I'll bet Zip finds us in less than forty-eight hours. Whatcha say? Hundred bucks?" Vinny responded with a laugh.
"Dollar," Phil answered.
"I never bet more than a dollar. But it doesn't make any difference how long it takes him to find where we are. Offutt's the headquarters of the Strategic Air Command, the home of the guys with the B-52s and hydrogen bombs. We'll be in the area where access is controlled by armed guards.
"Of course, if nuclear war breaks out, we'll have to give up our bunks so the command staff can move in," Phil teased.
"That could be a challenge even for Zip," Vinny agreed.
Everyone laughed and Phil's face began to relax. The plane had climbed through the low clouds and the ride was smoothing out. Vinny turned serious.
"You know, you guys are spending too much time worrying about keeping me alive. They'll pick their spot and time and they'll hit me before I get in a courtroom to testify, but you've got bigger things to worry about," he said.
Phil looked at his new best friend and could tell that Vinny was genuinely concerned. He wondered if he should tell him that they would tape any testimony in advance just in case, but decided against it.
"What you should be doing is providing better protection for yourself. Just because nothing has happened yet, doesn't mean a thing. Morello will find a way to get to you," Vinny said.
He wasn't smiling and Phil turned serious as well.
"If you know something specific about a contract or anything else, now might be a good time for you to tell me what you know," Phil said.
"I don't know much. I know they've been following you and they know your routines. I know they've decided not to try anything on the airbase or in the federal building unless they have to. I haven't heard any specific plan, but I know they'll take Mo out first," Vinny said, looking at the trooper.
Phil looked quickly at the state policeman. His expression had turned cold, even deadly.
"What do you mean when you say that they wouldn't try anything on the airbase or in the federal building unless they have to?" Danny asked.
"Why would they have to and why would they possibly think they could pull off something on federal property without getting caught?"
Vinny's expression hadn't changed. It was serious, but not overly so, more like matter-of-fact.
"Oh, they know if they do it in one of those two places, the guy gets caught. They would never say so out loud, but they hope he gets killed in the process, cleaner that way, no loose ends.
"Again, I've never heard any specific talk about this, just me and some of the other guys sittin' around shootin' the breeze. But what we figure is they bring in somebody from Italy. He gets caught. He doesn't know anything, right? So he can't tell anybody what he doesn't know. He gets his orders in Naples or someplace like that. He never meets Zip or anybody, probably flies into Chicago or something."
Vinny looked directly at Danny.
"Anyway, you got to get serious about Phil's security. You need to get some decoy cars. You need to get Mo more help. Everybody agrees he's good, but he's just one guy.
"You thought about a sniper hit in the parking lot at the federal building? Cause, I guarantee you Zip's thought about it. Maybe the easiest way to get him is in Washington? I don't know. I'm not an expert, but believe me Zip is and he knows lots of guys in Chicago and other places. These guys have lots of experience takin' out federal witnesses and so on. Look how close they came to gettin' Sam," Vinny said.
When the group settled in at the airbase in Nebraska, Danny called Ken in New Orleans and reported the conversation with Vinny in detail.
"Gennuso's right," Ken answered, "things have been moving so fast that we've kind of lost track of the obvious. We're just making it too easy. I'll get on this and get back to you."
Ken Reilly made a call to John Brinker and relayed the information he had received from Danny.
"You're right," the assistant attorney general agreed, "we've taken our eye off the ball. I'm going to the director of the US Marshals Service and the commander at Barksdale Air Force Base. This investigation already has too many martyrs.
"There's one thing you didn't mention. We've got to get a safe place for Phil's girlfriend Patty to live and we've got to get her round the clock protection. You know what my biggest hurdle is going to be?"
"Phil," Ken answered.
John Brinker laughed.
"No, he's actually been pretty cooperative about the security. My biggest challenge is going to be to get marshals service to work with that trooper, Mo, because I know that Phil won't give him up."
There is no charge for reading this novel. If you like it, please refer your friends. Feel free to highlight, paste and print one copy for your private use. This novel is protected under U.S. Copyright and all rights are reserved. My email address is oakley.phil@gmail.com.
0 comments:
Post a Comment