Another Brother

We met in small abandoned warehouse in a neutral part of Northeast Philadelphia. Fathead was there with Roscoe...his head of security and Chris and I was there with Donald Smooth. Fathead's main man ,Ralph Mole was there too... Still Fat,still short and still sporting a process hairstyle. He was wearing Sun glasses, despite the fact that we were inside a very badly lit Warehouse. I chuckled just looking at him.

Instead of being a Gangster, Ralph Mole should have been a caterer... To my knowledge, he had no criminal record and all I had ever seen him do was set up meetings for Fathead and arrange to have food or whatever the bossman needed. He had done the same thing for Chris, when he was in the game.. He was good people though and loyal and from what I heard...would and could handle a gun if called upon to do so...I chuckled..I just couldn't imagine that.

Ralph Mole had the table set for four people...Had four bottles of water neatly set in each place and four Hoagies situated next to the water and four bags of chips. The man was efficient if nothing else.

We sat around the table quietly talking and then...He showed up...Victor Diaz...
the other Diaz Brother...The brains of their operation..He was tall,slender, dressed immaculately, with his hair slicked back and a pencil thin mustache.
He wore a very nice, sweet smelling cologne that I would have to cop for myself
when I got the chance.

Victor Diaz...Had no criminal record whatsoever and was rumored to have an MBA. He ran the Diaz Brother's criminal operation from top to bottom like a business and ran it quietly..as quietly as he could with a brother like Valdez.

Valdez was the muscle...The street boss...The one who decided who got hit and by whom...and the one who had a record...A conviction for manslaughter that got tossed out when one witness vanished and the other had a sudden "loss of memory"...A cruel and callous man who could kill at the drop of a hat. The fear of him on the street made it much easier for Victor Diaz to get consessions without having to raise his voice much...He just mentioned his volatile older
brother.

He walked in , hugged Chris and hugged Fathead and sat down.

"Chris...how long has it been papi?" he said.

"Too long baby." replied Chris with a smile.

"Fathead...have you lost weight??? Don't answer..the answer is no.?" said
Victor...

Everybody, including Fathead laughed and slapped palms...high fived each other.

Then we got down to business....

"Gentlemen..We are here to discuss this very grave business.....My brother is an idiot...I know and my nephew ,I'm afraid was no better...I understad that he and that stupid Johnny Peppers robbed your card game...but my nephew..wrong or not was family and you understand...that my brother just can't let that slide..."

"Vic....Your nephew tried to kill me..He was pulling a gun on me." said Chris.

"Yes...and the woman who shot him was protecting your life..I understand."
said Victor.

"Woman? Who said anything about a woman?" said Chris.

"Some of the players at your card game told us that a woman...a cook..shot my nephew dead." said Victor.

"She worked for me...I'll take the weight." said Chris.

"No need for that...Just give us the woman and we'll call it even...It'll end there."
said Victor.

"Are you crazy? Valdez would harm a woman??....a woman???? behind this?"
said Chris.

"Like I said, my brother is an idiot...what more can I say..That's his terms." said
Victor.

I looked at Chris, then I looked at Fathead... Valdez's people had already killed two of Fathead's drivers and torched two of his warehouses and he didn't have anything to do with this...In the past week, two gunmen had taken shots at Chris.. Gunmen that would no longer take shots at anyone else thanks to Donald Smooth's accurate shot and quick trigger finger... and to top it off, one of Chris's girlfriend's cars had been torched... We had called this meeting with the
more even tempered brother to keep this little dispute from escalating any further.

Both Chris and Fathead said "No" in unison.

"I'm not giving up any woman to that creep Valdez...and you can tell him I said so." said Chris.

"If he wants revenge..tell him to come for me...but he's not harming any woman, especially since she aint in the game..she was a civilian...scared for her life, who was protecting me..She didn't know who those guys were..They were wearing masks." screamed Chris, now visibly angry.

Victor raised his palms outward...

"Relax Chris..I understand and I agree with you...I will go and talk to my brother..but I can only control him but so much.." said Victor.

"Make him understand Vic...Make him understand that we don't want a war..War is bad for business " said Fathead.

"I know..I know...but he ..he listens to rap records...he watches "The Godfather"
He thinks he's the Latin Godfather...what can I say?" said Victor.

"Vic..You and me come up together..Remember? Me, you, Fathead and Chess's
cousin..Little Pistol..We were all kids...coming up together...You owe us a large effort on this...be right on this Vic..Nobody wants to see your brother hurt.." said Chris.

"I know...I will talk to him my friends..I'll do the best I can.....Chris..look,I want to do as you have done...retire from this dirty business..I hear that you and Chess have a good thing going...Apartments,Gyms, Juice Bars...and it's all legit...Why do you hold on to this crap game?? It's illegal??" said Victor.

"I hold on to it Vic, because it makes me a ton of money and it's quiet..at least when people aint trying to stick it up." said Chris.

"I understand..but how much money can you spend in a lifetime.?..You made a lot of money..more than you can ever spend already...Isn't this card game a pain in the butt esse? You can't have one foot in the game and one out...When I do get out..it's going to be all the way out my friend." said Victor.

Chris sat thoughtful for a minute..He said nothing...Then we began eating the delicious hoagies..For a minute...the storm that was coming...had settled..just for a minute.

(To Be Continued....)