Johnny In A Box

If ever there was a day that someone should have stayed in bed, alone....This was probably it. I didn't have time for the mail...So all through the night...I had my wife, Sepia, Bonita,Robert Foxworth, Chance, Anita, Corabeth,Bernadette and Harry Charles delivering DVD's to all of the different women that Johnny Porter was known to stay with...

The DVD's had all of his sexual exploits...with other women! detailed....You can imagine that the women weren't pleased and that his phones were blowing up....I can even imagine that the woman he was staying with at this very moment was exploding in rage and telling him to get out....

''Johnny you lyin cheatin lout...Don't ever call me again."


''Baby, what you talkin about?"


"You Lyin dog...lose my number."


''Hey, I wasn't with no other woman."

"You are such a liar,it's all here on this DVD that was mailed to me."


''DVD? Somebody taped me.??..Hey that wasn't me..that was my lookalike cousin."


"Don't ever come to my house again."

''Baby please, let me explain."



Meanwhile, he was still worried as to where his driver/hitman, Theodore Hayer was and why he hadn't returned or called...Johnny had to drive his own car over to his girlfriend's house....

But wait!  It gets worse....The Philadelphia Police, Pennsylvania State Police and FBI Violent Crimes task force arrested close to 55 young street dealers during the early morning in a series of raids...They raided the Steak and hoagie shop and arrested Christopher "Mellow Man" White, and Calvin "Cheese Steak" Waller... Kwame "Monk"Peterson was arrested later that day at the train station...

Clerow and Kool Kat delivered the video and audio evidence anonymously to the neccesary authorities, which made it almost a wrap for Johnny Porter's street organization...

The FBI and DEA Drug task force arrested his connect in Atlanta and close to 39 associates and in the Bahamas....The DEA and local authorities arrested his other connect and close to 20 of his associates....Things were really getting bad....Johnny's associates from New York City were hearing the news and blowing his phone up, wanting to know who in his organization was snitching..

At Peeping Tom's house that morning we picked up this call to Johnny's cell...It was from New York City.

"Hello"


"Johnny, what the hell is going on in Philly man?" came a voice.


"Man, hell if I know..Somebody done sent DVD's to all of my girls...got me all jammed up." said Johnny.


"Man screw you and your ho's..You turned the news on? The cops been arresting your boys...All of em....and the Feds..
They got Solly in Atlanta and Ricky in the Bahamas...Those were OUR connects!!"


"Man, I don't know...I just woke up..." said Johnny.


"Well you better do somethin...Somebody in your shop is runnin their mouth, they gave up your whole operation..We sendin a guy down there to help you out..."


"I don't need no help." snapped Johnny.


"Get ya head out of your butt fool...I'm the only one that stands between you and sudden death...Talk to your people...and do it soon."


"Okay...Okay." said Johnny sullenly..


"When we sent you down there, we told you to keep things quiet...don't draw any attention..Now you all over the news and innocent people gettin knocked by the cops and the federallis."


''Alright man, let me get myself together and make a few calls." said Johnny.


(Click!)



Kool Kat, Clerow, Sean Jackson, Lockpick Johnson, Peeping Tom,Chance Howard and I all broke out into laughter as we listened to Johnny getting reamed out by someone backing him in New York...He had no idea how bad things were going.

On this morning....Johnny Porter's world was indeed upside down....Kool Kat,Clerow and I followed him as he attempted to drive to the funeral home and the crematorium only to see the Police arriving and arresting the three men working there and impounding information...Including the bodies of recently murdered Laura Aponte and Ingrid Williams..Apparently they hadn't gotten around to disposing of them the night before...

He was burning up the phones trying to find Theo Hayer, but it was too late...Per my instructions..He had already been dropped off to homicide , with a DVD that showed him murdering two women.....

Hayer was singing like a canary , talking not only about those two women , but the others, Old man Heffington, Beautiful Bobby, Big Goat, Fly Tyrone Wallace, Cakeman Raven, Kornbread Earl Evans, Manny Rodriguez and Tone Capone Muhammad. He even named a few that we didn't know about...He gave up the entire operation....to save himself from a needle...

By Mid afternoon the following day...Johnny Porter was a wanted man, Wanted for close to 17 murders as well as drug charges....He had gone from being a Kingpin to a has been just like that!
It felt good..

"Where do you think he'll go now?" I asked Kool Kat.

"He's probably got a safe somewhere...He'll go for the money.....He'll go to ground for awhile until he can get his head together and get out of town.." said Kool Kat.

"Well we aren't going to give him that chance." I said.

"We still got the GPS unit on his car" said Kool Kat.

"Yeah and we can still listen to any calls he makes on his cell phone." I added.

''My guess is...he's going to call his lawyer." said Kool Kat.

"Who is his lawyer?" I asked...

''Who else would rep a snake like him...Joel Slezak."said Kool Kat.

"Hey, he repped you once didn't he?" I added, laughing...

Kool Kat winced....

"Yeah...Yeah...Come on Kev...Let's get over to his office." he said....Now it was my turn to laugh.

II-

It didn't take Kool Kat and I long to get to Joel Slezak's office and lay it out for him...That he had no choice but to help us or he'd be going down with Johnny Porter.
This was a bluff, There was no mention of the sleazy lawyer on any of our tapes, but he didn't know that and I was pretty sure, he funnelled messages to the contacts and off shore accounts of Johnny and his associates as well as other quasi legal help that could get him censored or disbarred.

Around 5:00 pm...Johnny Porter called him...Just like Kool Kat and I figured he would-

"Slezak...You gotta help me." said Johnny.

"You're in a lot of trouble Johnny...All of your people are in jail...and a lot of em are talking and cuttin deals faster than they can be bribed . I can't get near any of em....The police have an all points bulletin out for you for several murders..Who did you piss off?" laughed the lawyer.

"Somebody is snitchin and they are dead as soon as I find out who.." snapped Johnny.

"That's the least of your worries now kid..." said Slezak.

"I know...I gotta get out of town...You gotta get to my safe deposit box...get me some dough...I need about five mill man...put it in a briefcase..and I'll tell you where to get to me." said Johnny.

"Hey man...I'm not going to risk being seen with you....The FBI is watching my office...
I'm going to send my guy to you with your dough." he said.

"What guy?" said Johnny.

"A guy who works for me...He'll bring your stash....Don't call me on this phone anymore, it's too risky." said Slezak.

"Okay....I'll be at the Emporium Rooming House....In two hours..." he said.

"My guy drives a brand new Lexus...He'll be there." said Slezak.

"Cool...thanks Slezak." said Johnny...

"Don't mention it....I mean really...don't mention it." he said.

He hung up.....

"Okay...I did what you want...Now leave me be." said Slezak..

Kool Kat pulled out his .357 mag and aimed it at the lawyer.....

"Hey,put that thing away!!!" he said.

"This is just a reminder...Don't get any fancy ideas about double crossing us ya hear?...My gun is in good workin condition." said Kool Kat gruffly...

Clerow walked in at just that moment..He was wearing a very expensive new suit and had a shiny .45 on him....He looked at us and grinned.

"Nice suit Clerow." I said.

"Yeah, hangin around me has paid off." laughed Kool Kat.

Clerow grinned that toothy grin of his...

"Clerow...babysit the shyster here..Make sure he doesn't make any unwarranted phone calls." said Kool Kat...

"Y-You...You can't do that." he said...

I looked at him and smiled....Kool Kat and I headed for the door...Clerow sat down, cocked his gun and grinned...

"Hey man..you got anything to drink in yo refrigerator?"

III-

I stopped by and picked up Sepia....I had her sit at the wheel of my car...I figured she wouldn't make Johnny feel uncomfortable or antsy...Kool Kat set up about a block away....I carried a steel brief case. I wore a grey,Italian cut suit...I looked like a banker or a lawyer....

After the longest thirty minutes in history or what seemed like it...Sepia said to me...

''Showtime Lover."

I smiled....

Johnny Porter and another man came walking down the street...The man was muscular, short and was wearing a sports jacket....I could see that he was packing heat...Oh Johnny...He never took anything for granted...

He saw Sepia and he winked at her...She didn't crack a smile...She pulled out a compact and began applying makeup...

"You with Slezak?" he asked.

"Am I?..Who might you be?" I asked.

"Hey, don't get smart, He asked you a question." said the other guy.

"How many times a day do you get slapped ?" I asked...

Just like  I thought, he went for his gun...Only to hear the click of Sepia's gun....She opened the door of my car and aimed a .38 smokeless at both of them...

Johnny smiled...

"Nice...you got a skirt workin wit you....Nice touch...Fine skirt too, Too fine for you....Just toss me my dough." he said.

I tossed him the briefcase...

He grimaced....

"It's kind of light." he said.

Then he opened it....It was empty!

"Heyyyy, what the hell is this...there's nothin in it." he said and he pulled his gun...Sepia cocked hers and fired a round over both of their heads...They both ducked...

"Nothin Johnny, that's what you got nothin..It's all over, You got no streets, no connects, no money, nothin...Not even any girlfriends....it's all over...and you know why?? Too many bodies Johnny..Too many ghosts...You killed too many people..." I said.

"You got nothin..nothin...none of those cats will rat on me...they too scared.." he snarled..

"Oh I'm afraid they already are...and you're wrong Johnny,I got you, I got you in a box...Nice and neatly wrapped up for delivery." I said.

Kool Kat walked up and disarmed both of them...Several Police Cars drove up and Lt. Sissy Van Buren, three Detectives and four uniformed policeman came with her...

She looked at Johnny Porter and frowned....


"You're Johnny Porter, the Kingpin everybody was whispering about?? I expected a little more." she said..

He shrugged his shoulders.

"Detective, read him his rights and book him on 17 counts of First degree Murder." she said.

"What about me?  I aint got nothin to do with this...I aint even from here...I'm from Brooklyn." said the short muscular guy.

Sissy looked at him and said-

"There's a Greyhound Bus headed back to New York tonight...Be on that bus."

''Yes mam...See ya around Johnny." he said as he ran off in a huff!... Kool Kat laughed.

"Call Clerow...Tell him to cut Slezak loose ." I said.

As the police hauled Johnny Porter away, Sissy looked at me and smiled...

"I guess I owe you an apology...When you say you're on to something, you're never wrong...Wow!..." she said.

''When are you gonna learn to trust me Sissy?" I asked.

''What makes you think I don't?  I'm here aren't I?"she said and smiled at me very sweetly.

I just smiled...

EPILOUGE:

Johnny Porter was convicted of 17 Murders...and sentenced to die by lethal injection....Theo Hayer who actually killed the 17 people on orders from Johnny was given Life without possibility of Parole.  Kwame "Monk" Peterson was also given a life sentence....Calvin "Cheese steak" Waller and Christopher White were given 25 years each...

With all of the major players either dead or in jail....Our area of the city was actually very quiet for a long while...Children playing on the street corners again and in the park and playgrounds was now a normal sight...
Old people were now staying out a lot longer...

With the police presence a little better, Most guys who thought about dealing drugs moved their operations elsewhere...

One afternoon, Sepia and I sat in the park...We had two bottles of Champaigne, two glasses and some ice..
We toasted each other..

"Wow Kev....what do you think about us going back to AC...Just you and me?" she said.

"That would be a great idea." I said.

"Did Robert and Conrad pay you for finding out what happened to Cakeman and the other guys?" she asked.

''Oh yeah, they payed...That's why I like working for lawyers..." I said with a smile...

"What's going to happen to that Funeral Home that Johnny owned?" she asked.

"They bulldozed it last week." I said.

"They did?" she asked.

"Yeah....Nothin there but an empty lot...We can drive over there one night...Sometimes I swear you can hear em." I said.

''Hear who?"asked Sepia..

''The dead.. Cakeman, Laura, Fly Ty, Beautiful Bobby, Mr. Heff....All of em...sayin "Thank you Kevin, you got that bastard that killed us." I laughed...

Sepia punched me in the arm playfully...

"You got some imagination lover." she laughed....

I laughed too...Indeed I did!