Cleaning Up

Tulip, Kool Kat and I sat in a little diner a few blocks from the playground where Little Anthony held court the next morning....Kool Kat had two eggs over easy, some grits, bacon and a tumbler of coffee...Tulip had a western omelet, a slice of virginia ham and a tumbler of coffee, while I had an order of Blueberry Pancakes, suasage and orange juice...with a tumbler of coffee. Tulip had two of his guys outside the diner as lookouts and another actually sitting a few booths from us. Just a week before, he wouldn't have dreamed of being so thick in Little Anthony's domain...But Little Anthony was a king of nothing now...He had no product to sell, most of his "clients" were now behind bars or under indictment and he had no soldiers in his army..

I had picked up numerous cell phone calls all night, made to "Hell" and "Angel". They were never going to answer those calls. He tried calling around Newark, West Orange,Patterson ,East Orange and T-Neck for muscle....He was mostly laughed at and flatly refused...Nobody wanted to touch him now....What was even funnier was that, He had no idea...No idea at all how his luck had gone so bad in just one week.

To our surprise...Just as we were finishing our meal...Little Anthony and two of his guys..the only guys who were still riding it out with him entered the diner.. He took his seat...Onee of his guys went up and ordered his meal....He couldn't help but see Tulip and us sitting a few tables away..
He got up and strutted over to our table...

"Well, Well, Well....Mister Tulip...you lookin good for a dead man." he laughed.

Tulip smiled and then said-

"I could say the same for you...Cause you're dead as far as the streets are concerned....I heard business has been rather lacking." he said.

"Only until I get a new connect.....But if I was you...I wouldn't get too comfortable..."Hell" and ''Angel" are still around." he bluffed.

I couldn't help but butt in at this point....

"Hell and "Angel" huh? I heard of those two guys....How are they doin lately?" I laughed.

"Oh forgive my manners Anthony....This is Mister Morris and Mister Jones...They are visiting me from Philly." said Tulip.

Little Anthony said nothing...He looked at us and then thought about what I had said...He got the message immediately....He walked over to the table where his boys were....

"Tell em to cancel my meal..we outta here." he said.

Just then...a Portly White man and two well muscled white men in black muscle shirts and jeans
walked in...

"Going somewhere Anthony? I'm here for my money." he said.

One of Anthony's guys rose up and one of the muscled men cracked him in his jaw and knocked him over the table... The crowd in the diner got quiet...The other guy with Little Anthony turned and ran out the back door...

"Vladmir...take him.." said Nikolai..

The one named Vladmir gripped Little Anthony in the collar...Little Anthony let out a scream that sounded like a woman...and they pulled him out of the diner and shoved him into a Black BMW... The man named Nikolai looked at the mostly African-American patrons and tipped his hat courtesously and said...

"Sorry for the interuption....enjoy your meal." and then he left and got in the backseat and was gone. The guy who had been clocked...got up slowly..walked over and got what would have been Little Anthony's meal....sat down and preceded to eat it...as though nothing had happened. Kool Kat and Tulip busted out laughing....

"Where is the loyalty, huh?" asked Tulip.

"Kool Kat...did you put the GPS device under his car?" I asked.

"Yeah..Last night when we staked out his spot...Just like you said...Did you call your FBI guy?" he asked.

"Nah...I figured...I'd let you guys finish this , your way." I said. Tulip and Kool Kat's eyes lit up.
The three of us got up, paid for our meals and got in Tulips car. Since we had a tracking device..We didn't have to follow them closely... We arrived at the Newark Harbor ,just about twenty minutes after they had...The two muscular guys took Little Anthony into a small shack and then went about the business of beating him senseless...He screamed like a little girl the entire time...

I sat in the car...I was tired...I turned the music up....I didn't want to hear what I knew was about to happen...Kool Kat walked over to the window and tapped on it with his gun...The guy named Vladmir pulled out his pistol and aimed at Kool Kat....A big mistake...Kool Kat put a nice well placed round between his eyes...He was dead before he hit the ground...Tulip entered the shack....Nikolai and his other man went for their guns...Tulip's aim was quicker...He shot both of them through the heart before they could make a move and they fell to the floor dead as could be...

I got out the car ,walked into the shack and untied Little Anthony , who was still crying and breathing heavy....There was a wicked smell in the shack....He had defecated on himself....

"Whhhhooooooooweee....you aint ridin back with me." said Kool Kat..

"This piece of crap aint ridin period...He'll get home the best way he know how." said Tulip.

"You saved my life...I owe you man...you can have your territory...." said Little Anthony.

"Oh I KNOW I can have it...yours too..ya feel me?" said Tulip..

Little Anthony hung his head....He was beaten....He knew it...No need to go on pretending to have any sway...The three of us got in Tulip's car and pulled off...From the rear view mirror we could see Little Anthony walking away from the Harbor.

EPILOUGE:

The Newspapers ran the story of three Russian gangsters found shot to death in a shack near the Newark Harbor the next day...Police and FBI speculated that their deaths had been a" mob hit." Just what mob was up for questioning....Neither Pop Tooley or Sonny Stein ever returned to Newark. Since their testimony was needed to prosecute Little Anthony...all charges against him were dropped. Little Anthony left Newark and went to New York...Today, he's a rapper who raps about how he used to be a big time gangsta...

Nobody ever saw "Hell" or "Angel" again, nor cared too much that they were missing...Their whereabouts remain a mystery to this day...Even I don't know or care what was done with their remains.

Tulip no longer had a taste for being "The King of Newark'' He sold his bars and his connections to other Newark playas and officially retired. He didn't marry Monica Courtland . He married another girl from New York and moved to Atlantic City. Monica Courtland attempted to write her memoirs several times, but never finished...Today , she is still living in Newark.

That night though...Kool Kat and I....thousands of dollars richer, a payment for our "good work'' rode home on the train....

"Man ,I for one can't wait to get back to Philly." he said.

''Yeah me neither..I miss Sepia." I said.

"Yeah..I been messin with this gal that live across the street from me and another little number I met in Mulberry Street." He said. "Man Kev, first thing ima do when I get back is have me a big Porter House steak, a baked potato with butter drippin off of it and a bottle of wine..what you gon do, besides Sepia?...hahahahahahahahahaha.." he laughed.

"I'm going to take a nice long shower...see if I can wash some of this dirt off my shoulders." I said as I lay back in my seat.

"Yeah man...I hear ya...this was a dirty case." said Kool Kat.

Indeed!


(For SLC)