The Bullets Are Coming

Things usually get worse before they get better. Six guys lost their lives in South Philadelphia in the next two weeks.... and seven more in North Philly.....an unprecendented eight guys got blasted in West Philly...All the handywork of the very lethal killer, Bobby Valentine and all at the behest of his boss, the laughing snake in the grass, Wally Gator...

The police and the feds knew that a war was brewing and that even though Frank "Big Daddy" White was behind bars on murder charges...his point man, Wallace "Wally Gator" Benson was determined to make Philadelphia his beach head. In North Philly, many independent crews were being shaken down as well as the Diaz Brothers, now being headed by their nephew ,Santiago Diaz. In West and Southwest Philly, Fathead Newton and his people were being targeted... Fathead, Ralph Mole and Roscoe had all gone to ground...as we expected..They were on that list...a list that was getting lower and lower.

Chris Thompson and I weren't actually players..We ran a business..a legitimate business...and in the tony neighborhod we were in we couldn't afford to have Bobby Valentine or one of Gator's other hitmen shooting the place up...We couldn't go to ground either..Like I said..We had a business to run...We had to draw him out...So we closed our downtown office until further notice..We moved our operations back to our old office on top of the gym and juice bar in West Philadelphia and we made our presence in West Philly known..

Chris wasn't doing anything to make the situation better..He was in Josie's, Mulberry Street and the newly opened and renovated Ciro's talking about Bobby Valentine like a dog...what a punk he was and how he dared him to try and take him out...

Bobby V. was no punk...He was good at what he did..It was almost as if Chris had a death wish.... It didn't take long though for Bobby V. to make his move...

One night Chris and a lady friend of his was coming out of Ciros when a shadowy figure began moving rapidly across the street from him...Chris walked the young lady to her car , said a few things to her and then waved to her as she drove off.

A black Volvo with tinted windows drove up and the driver and two men in dark suits got out....What they couldn't know was that Donald Smooth and I were sitting in a parked rental car that was hidden in an alley...As soon as these guys put in the ear plugs and pulled out their guns...They were as good as dead...Donald 'Smooth" and I both whipped out our pistols and gunned them down before they could do anything...

Then Chris produced a sawed off shotgun that was in his coat and fired at the shadowy figure... We heard a loud moan... and then the shadowy figure stumbled and fired a hail of gunfire from an uzi at Chris, who wisely ducked and took cover...Donald Smooth and I took cover and fired a fusilade of bullets at the

shadowy figure....

"Arrrrrrggggghhhhhhhh...I don't beleive it....I've been shot...argggghhhhhh.." came the moan...

It was Bobby Valentine... He was holding his stomach and running, still shooting.. Chris fired three rounds right over his head...Donald and I fired three more shots...One of which I know hit him in the back...

"Awwwwww, arrrrrrrghhhh.ohhhhh lawdddd jesus..I been shot again...awwwwwlawwwwwd.." came the moan as the killer fumbled for keys...got in the car started it and began to pull off... Chris fired his shot gun again and blasted the back window out of the car ,which now sped off into the night.

"Chess...Donnie..come on ..let's get out of here." said Chris as we got in the rental car...I backed the car out of the alley as planned and sped off in the opposite direction....That way, nobody could say that they saw us speeding off.

That night, Agents of the FBI arrested Wally Gator... They were tired of all of the

bloodletting and they wanted it to end... Naturaly, he smiled and said that he didn't know anything about it..He talked about the Phillies recent slump and how Reed Nelson was really making a name for himself at Josies...The Feds finnally let the talkative ,smiling gangster go. They had nothing to hold him on.

As for Chris and me...We went back to work in our Penns Landing Office. We hadn't killed Bobby V. We knew...but we had certainly put him out of commission for the time being.

The streets were quiet for close to a month and Fathead, Ralph Mole and Roscoe all resurfaced...We weren't fools..We knew that Bobby V. was somewhere with a

jackleg doctor healing and we knew that he'd be on the move soon...We had to find a way to smoke him out.

One night , Chris, Donald Smooth, and I met with our friend, Kevin and his pal,Clerow in Josies..

"Chess....My associates and I found Wally Gator's spot and we have it wired." said Kevin.

"What? How did you find him? We been trying to locate both of them..We been turning this city upside down." said Chris.

"I have my ways." laughed Kevin.

"You found Bobby V.?" asked Donald Smooth.

"Him? I have not...but check it out....I have Wally Gator on tape talking to Frank

"Big Daddy" White from prison....They're using a code, but it co-incides with several murders that Bobby V. has committed in the past month...Once I turn this in...This may put Big Daddy on ice and take care of your Wally Gator problem." said Kevin.

"Wow Kev, you good man..you good...I'm glad you're our friend." I laughed.

"Chess, me and you go back almost as far as you and Chris." he laughed.

I looked over at Chris ...He was smiling for the first time in a long time..then he quietly said....

"We still gotta locate Bobby V. See, it's personal with him.....He don't care about the politics....He wants me even more now because I shot him....With Wally ,it's just a street thing...That's between him, Fathead and The Diaz Brothers....But Bobby and me got this long standing score to settle." said Chris as he finished his drink. At least he was smiling..Relaxed.

I walked over to Gus out of their earshot and I asked him a question....Because I knew he would know.

"Gus...If I got shot and I didn't want to go to a hospital...because I couldn't...Where would I go? Who would I see?" I asked.

Gus looked at me funny, then he gave me the side eye....Then he quietly said-

"Doc Farber....Boston Farber....That's where your boy is.....He's in the back of his

practice...He got shot up pretty bad...but I guess YOU know that don't you?" said Gus with a smile.

"How do you know this?" I asked him.

"You learn a lot from just serving drinks, keeping your mouth shut and hearing people talk, yet not hearing them talk...Youknow what I'm sayin youngin?" said Gus.

"I'll remember that." I said.

"It's good that you will...You plannin to take him on to keep your boy Chris out of trouble or from gettin killed aint you?" said Gus.

"Not much gets past you eh Gus?" I said.

"I was young once and stupid." said Gus.

"I gotta do what I gotta do." I said.

"I know...Take Kevin with you....Be Easy Chess." said Gus.

"I will...and thanks Gus." I said.

I wasn't going to take Kevin...He was good for this type of job...but I was calling someone else..someone tailor made for this type of thing...My cousin, Little Pistol..Hadn't seen the boy in ages...I would call him tonight....This crazyness had to come to an end.

(Conclusion Next......)