I sat in a room with Homicide Lt. Sissy Van Buren and FBI Special Agent in Charge,Frank Cotton and gave my statement concerning the shootout with now deceased hitman, Tom Collins.
"Kevin...this charactor was a real operator...He had a wife , two daughters and a son back in Patterson, New Jersey. They had no idea what he did for a living..They thought he was the manager of a waste management company...Can you believe that?" Laughed Agent Cotton.
"We went to his hotel room...Very fastidious..Very neat...We found several guns, ammo and a Laptop with the photos and names of people he was assigned to kill
,the names of people we think hired him and a record of pay offs dating all the way back to 1992. This guy was the most prolific killer I have ever seen." said Sissy Van Buren.
"Yeah...The word on the street is that he was very good." I said as I drank a tumbler of coffee...
"Guess what? We found Ramon's photo...It seems he was hired by a woman to kill him...." said Agent Cotton.
"A woman???" I said surprised...I expected it to be the lawyer...Roger Slezak..but then ,I thought about it...He's a lawyer...much too smart to place his name on anything...He used a middle man or in this case ,woman!
"Yeah...Her name is Filona Walker..She's a stripper and sometimes prostitute..We haven't been able to locate her..." said Sissy Van Buren.
"Your name and Photo was the last entry in his computer Kevin...and it's very interesting who paid him to kill you." said Agent Cotton...
"I know...the lawyer, Roger Slezak right?" I said.
"No...it was a West Oak Lane Playa named Harlan"Big Chicken" Platt...You know him?" asked Agent Cotton...
"I know him...and just wait until I see him.." I said angrily...
"No need Kevin...We picked him, Rollo Jones and three other persons up last night....They are all in custody." said Sissy Van Buren.
"I rousted them a few nights ago...I knew that Ramon was seeing Big Chicken's girls....I guess Big Chicken wasn't pleased with my manner of questioning." I said wryly...
"Guess not...but he's got problems of his own now that have nothing to do with this..." said Sissy Van Buren.
"By the way...That girl...Filona Walker...She's one of his girls...We can't find her,
Big Chicken says that he can't find her either...That she owes him money and he swears that he had nothing to do with Ramon's murder." said Agent Cotton.
"I believe him.....but I think I know who did...Give me 24 hours...I'll try and get something for you." I said.
"Kevin...I would tell you to be careful...but hell...maybe I should tell the bad guys to be careful." laughed Agent Cotton...Sissy Van Buren laughed too.. For some reason, I was in no mood to laugh.
II-
"This the address?" said Kool Kat as he looked at me.
"Yeah...this is him.." I said as Clerow cocked his gun and stood on the other side
of the door. It didn't take me long to get an address on the sleazy lawyer. We rousted a few ex-cons at the Mermaid Club hours before and they gave us his address with very little resistance.
We rung the bell for the third time and finally the door swung open....And there he was...The lawyer, Roger Slezak...a short portly white man with glasses. His dress shirt was out of his pants and his tie was untied...There were sweat stains in the underarm pits of his shirt. On the table in his living room was a half empty bottle of Jack Daniels....
"You with Big Chicken or Natividad?" he said.
"Neither" I said.
"You cops?" he asked.
"How bout I ask you some questions ?" I said as the three of us walked into his
house.
"It's okay...I'm going to hell anyway....I'll tell you what you want to know...You're from the Cuban Government right?" he asked.
Kool Kat and Clerow looked at me...I wanted to smile...but I didn't.
"Look...Natividad is Ramon's cousin...Natividad smuggled him out of Cuba, but that wasn't all he smuggled out of Cuba....He smuggled a high grade of Heroin, by way of Mexico through Cuba to the United States...He has all kinds of contacts.. I was his lawyer..His middle man...I come in Josie's a lot...I know a lot of the musicians and a few of the players..So I hooked up with Dollar Bill,Frankie Fingers ,Meek Rollins and Robby Brown and we got his cousin a place to stay and a place to play..It was all good..."
"Ramon paid us...paid for the girls..No problem...but he ran his mouth too much...He was tellin those whores too much about Natividad's Heroin smuggling ring...Natividad told me that his cousin was now a liability and that he was sorry he brought him here..I said "Tivi, baby..smack him around, tell him to shut his mouth...threaten to send him back to Cuba." But Natividad said No..he had to go...and to make it happen."
"Only gangster I knew was Big Chicken..and he doesn't have that much juice...but one of his main girls...had a customer...a Ken Jerkins, who knew of a real good hitter...I got in contact with the girl, Filona Walker and gave her some money to give to Jerkins, who brought in his man from Patterson, New Jersey.. a Tom something or other." said Roger Slezak.
"Tom Collins...He's no longer with us." I said. Kool Kat and Clerow burst into howls of laughter..slapping their sides...
"Yes ,I heard he caught a bullet last night." said Roger Slezak.
"He caught three bullets to be exact" said Clerow .....Kool Kat busted out laughing and slapped his sides.. I looked at them and just shook my head...Roger gave them the same look.
"Continue" I said, ignoring my two friends.
Roger Slezak frowned, then hung his head. He continued..
"Well anyway..Filona was there with Ramon in the bed that night.....The hitman came and knocked Ramon off and that was that...So I thought....Natividad decided that Filona knew too much too, so he hired Tom Collins to shoot her too. They dropped her body in the ocean...Don't even try to look for her.. I feel terrible about being a part of this....Natividad is a very evil man." he said.
"You willing to testify in court to what you told me?" I asked.
"Yeah...Yeah...I can't be a part of this anymore." he said and hung his head.
EPILOUGE:
Roger Slezak testified to a grand jury. Thanks to Him....The FBI, DEA and ATF were able to smash Natividad Hernandez's entire smuggling ring and their operatives...Natividad was arrested and convicted on so many charges ,including murder that I don't think he'll ever see the light of day again.
Thanks to the well kept records found in the late Tom Collins's Laptop, several
people in Philadelphia,New York City, Boston, New Haven, Washington D.C. and Detroit are on their way to jail....Close to one hundred murders, spanning decades have now been closed and cleared up...
Rather than face arrest and indictment, Ken Jerkins chose to take his own life...He was found shot to death in his hotel room!
Big Chicken was convicted only on unlawful solicitation and running an unlawful enterprise (Prostitution) He got six years...Rollo Jones and the others were released....
"Kevin...this charactor was a real operator...He had a wife , two daughters and a son back in Patterson, New Jersey. They had no idea what he did for a living..They thought he was the manager of a waste management company...Can you believe that?" Laughed Agent Cotton.
"We went to his hotel room...Very fastidious..Very neat...We found several guns, ammo and a Laptop with the photos and names of people he was assigned to kill
,the names of people we think hired him and a record of pay offs dating all the way back to 1992. This guy was the most prolific killer I have ever seen." said Sissy Van Buren.
"Yeah...The word on the street is that he was very good." I said as I drank a tumbler of coffee...
"Guess what? We found Ramon's photo...It seems he was hired by a woman to kill him...." said Agent Cotton.
"A woman???" I said surprised...I expected it to be the lawyer...Roger Slezak..but then ,I thought about it...He's a lawyer...much too smart to place his name on anything...He used a middle man or in this case ,woman!
"Yeah...Her name is Filona Walker..She's a stripper and sometimes prostitute..We haven't been able to locate her..." said Sissy Van Buren.
"Your name and Photo was the last entry in his computer Kevin...and it's very interesting who paid him to kill you." said Agent Cotton...
"I know...the lawyer, Roger Slezak right?" I said.
"No...it was a West Oak Lane Playa named Harlan"Big Chicken" Platt...You know him?" asked Agent Cotton...
"I know him...and just wait until I see him.." I said angrily...
"No need Kevin...We picked him, Rollo Jones and three other persons up last night....They are all in custody." said Sissy Van Buren.
"I rousted them a few nights ago...I knew that Ramon was seeing Big Chicken's girls....I guess Big Chicken wasn't pleased with my manner of questioning." I said wryly...
"Guess not...but he's got problems of his own now that have nothing to do with this..." said Sissy Van Buren.
"By the way...That girl...Filona Walker...She's one of his girls...We can't find her,
Big Chicken says that he can't find her either...That she owes him money and he swears that he had nothing to do with Ramon's murder." said Agent Cotton.
"I believe him.....but I think I know who did...Give me 24 hours...I'll try and get something for you." I said.
"Kevin...I would tell you to be careful...but hell...maybe I should tell the bad guys to be careful." laughed Agent Cotton...Sissy Van Buren laughed too.. For some reason, I was in no mood to laugh.
II-
"This the address?" said Kool Kat as he looked at me.
"Yeah...this is him.." I said as Clerow cocked his gun and stood on the other side
of the door. It didn't take me long to get an address on the sleazy lawyer. We rousted a few ex-cons at the Mermaid Club hours before and they gave us his address with very little resistance.
We rung the bell for the third time and finally the door swung open....And there he was...The lawyer, Roger Slezak...a short portly white man with glasses. His dress shirt was out of his pants and his tie was untied...There were sweat stains in the underarm pits of his shirt. On the table in his living room was a half empty bottle of Jack Daniels....
"You with Big Chicken or Natividad?" he said.
"Neither" I said.
"You cops?" he asked.
"How bout I ask you some questions ?" I said as the three of us walked into his
house.
"It's okay...I'm going to hell anyway....I'll tell you what you want to know...You're from the Cuban Government right?" he asked.
Kool Kat and Clerow looked at me...I wanted to smile...but I didn't.
"Look...Natividad is Ramon's cousin...Natividad smuggled him out of Cuba, but that wasn't all he smuggled out of Cuba....He smuggled a high grade of Heroin, by way of Mexico through Cuba to the United States...He has all kinds of contacts.. I was his lawyer..His middle man...I come in Josie's a lot...I know a lot of the musicians and a few of the players..So I hooked up with Dollar Bill,Frankie Fingers ,Meek Rollins and Robby Brown and we got his cousin a place to stay and a place to play..It was all good..."
"Ramon paid us...paid for the girls..No problem...but he ran his mouth too much...He was tellin those whores too much about Natividad's Heroin smuggling ring...Natividad told me that his cousin was now a liability and that he was sorry he brought him here..I said "Tivi, baby..smack him around, tell him to shut his mouth...threaten to send him back to Cuba." But Natividad said No..he had to go...and to make it happen."
"Only gangster I knew was Big Chicken..and he doesn't have that much juice...but one of his main girls...had a customer...a Ken Jerkins, who knew of a real good hitter...I got in contact with the girl, Filona Walker and gave her some money to give to Jerkins, who brought in his man from Patterson, New Jersey.. a Tom something or other." said Roger Slezak.
"Tom Collins...He's no longer with us." I said. Kool Kat and Clerow burst into howls of laughter..slapping their sides...
"Yes ,I heard he caught a bullet last night." said Roger Slezak.
"He caught three bullets to be exact" said Clerow .....Kool Kat busted out laughing and slapped his sides.. I looked at them and just shook my head...Roger gave them the same look.
"Continue" I said, ignoring my two friends.
Roger Slezak frowned, then hung his head. He continued..
"Well anyway..Filona was there with Ramon in the bed that night.....The hitman came and knocked Ramon off and that was that...So I thought....Natividad decided that Filona knew too much too, so he hired Tom Collins to shoot her too. They dropped her body in the ocean...Don't even try to look for her.. I feel terrible about being a part of this....Natividad is a very evil man." he said.
"You willing to testify in court to what you told me?" I asked.
"Yeah...Yeah...I can't be a part of this anymore." he said and hung his head.
EPILOUGE:
Roger Slezak testified to a grand jury. Thanks to Him....The FBI, DEA and ATF were able to smash Natividad Hernandez's entire smuggling ring and their operatives...Natividad was arrested and convicted on so many charges ,including murder that I don't think he'll ever see the light of day again.
Thanks to the well kept records found in the late Tom Collins's Laptop, several
people in Philadelphia,New York City, Boston, New Haven, Washington D.C. and Detroit are on their way to jail....Close to one hundred murders, spanning decades have now been closed and cleared up...
Rather than face arrest and indictment, Ken Jerkins chose to take his own life...He was found shot to death in his hotel room!
Big Chicken was convicted only on unlawful solicitation and running an unlawful enterprise (Prostitution) He got six years...Rollo Jones and the others were released....
Roger Slezak and his family are in Federal Witness Protection, last I heard!
A few nights later...I was in Josies.....Reed Nelson was on stage playing a trumpet solo....The gambler,Stephen Bristol was sitting in the crowd enjoying the performance...I sat down next to him...
"Hello Bristol" I said.
"Kevin!!! Good to see you...No, really,it's good to see you." he said..
"Really Bristol?" I said.
"Oh yes....Thanks to you....I'm a very wealthy man..." he laughed as he crisped some dollars in his hands..
"OH? How is that?" I asked.
"I was kidding with you the other night...I didn't bet on Tom Collins I bet on you ...To survive..." he said.
"That why you gave me a heads up?" I asked...
"Yeah...Had to make it sporting.Other wise..it wouldn't have been any fun..He'd of run up on you and killed you...but I figured that if you had a heads up...At least you had a sportin chance." he laughed...
I shook my head...
"He still might have killed you Kevin..He was good... A playa in Detroit sent seven guys after Tom Collins once and he and all seven of those guys...heavy hitters all are in the cemetary.Tom Collins is no joke." said Bristol.
"Was no joke Bristol...Was no joke...He's dead now!" I said.
"He sure is...You're a frighteningly efficient man...Pretty dangerous yourself." said Bristol.
"What you drinkin?" I asked..
"Oh I'm fine....I'm drinking ice water with a lemon...How bout I buy you a drink? Corona right?" he laughed..
"Yeah.." I said.
"To...The survivor!" he said.
"Yeah"...I smiled.
For SLC
A few nights later...I was in Josies.....Reed Nelson was on stage playing a trumpet solo....The gambler,Stephen Bristol was sitting in the crowd enjoying the performance...I sat down next to him...
"Hello Bristol" I said.
"Kevin!!! Good to see you...No, really,it's good to see you." he said..
"Really Bristol?" I said.
"Oh yes....Thanks to you....I'm a very wealthy man..." he laughed as he crisped some dollars in his hands..
"OH? How is that?" I asked.
"I was kidding with you the other night...I didn't bet on Tom Collins I bet on you ...To survive..." he said.
"That why you gave me a heads up?" I asked...
"Yeah...Had to make it sporting.Other wise..it wouldn't have been any fun..He'd of run up on you and killed you...but I figured that if you had a heads up...At least you had a sportin chance." he laughed...
I shook my head...
"He still might have killed you Kevin..He was good... A playa in Detroit sent seven guys after Tom Collins once and he and all seven of those guys...heavy hitters all are in the cemetary.Tom Collins is no joke." said Bristol.
"Was no joke Bristol...Was no joke...He's dead now!" I said.
"He sure is...You're a frighteningly efficient man...Pretty dangerous yourself." said Bristol.
"What you drinkin?" I asked..
"Oh I'm fine....I'm drinking ice water with a lemon...How bout I buy you a drink? Corona right?" he laughed..
"Yeah.." I said.
"To...The survivor!" he said.
"Yeah"...I smiled.
For SLC
5 comments:
Great Ending!
Loved the way this all came together!
Ditto what Tate 2 said.
Kevin indirectly got a lot of bad people taken off the streets...This caper yielded his most successful takedown...He put a dangerous drug smuggler behind bars...took down a psychopathic killer and his associate
and put a pimp behind bars to boot.
He's making law enforcement look like a joke in that city!
Dude was from 17th ave in Paterson. I went to Eastside High with him.
Great story and ending,
SLC
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