Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Unwilling Witnesses

I know Kool Kat would be livid if he knew what I had been doing the past few days....but I figured if I went by myself..I might stand a better chance of getting somebody to talk to me... I went back to those projects , alone and talked to everyone in the high rises and the project courtyards....Most people didn't know much and the people who I felt did know something about Ray Ray Jefferson wouldn't talk to me..

I found one guy who was willing to talk to me... He called himself ''Never Nervous "Pervis and his condition was if I gave him $100.00 and met with him at the Mermaid Club...I duked him $25.00 and told him he'd get the rest when he gave me something to go on...






We met at the Mermaid Club.... Kool Kat and Clerow sat about two tables away and Owen Todd sat in the car outside ...just in case this was some kind of scam or worse...Trap!

I sat down at the table when he walked in with another guy who I did not know.....He smiled....

"Okay...Where's my money? " he said.

''Where's my information?" I replied.

"Where's mine?" said the other guy...

"What is this...some kind of scam?" I said.

That was my code word....Clerow clicked his gun and stuck it in the back of the other guy and motioned for him to quietly get up...The guy's eyes got as large as saucers .....

''Hey...I -I.I.. was just playin....I don't need no money...Honest!" he said.

''Let's go boss." said Clerow, smiling that toothy grin...

"I'm gone kick yo butt Pervis...what you got me into ?" he said as Clerow marched him out of the bar...

Kool Kat sat down across from him and cracked his knuckles....Not saying a word.....

"What you got?" I asked.

"Look...Ray Ray was a stick up boy.....He was staying with this chick...this chick named Cheryl...She live in the projects....He had stuck up a number of drug boys...He wasn't too well liked." he said.

"That's all you got? Tell me something I don't know!" I said.

''I can give you her address." he said.

"I already know it..." I said.

''Her phone number?" he said...

"I already know that...Did you see the shooting?" I asked.

"No...I heard it...Somebody yelled "Halt Ray Ray....then I heard three shots...but I aint see nothin..." he said.

"That's all you got?" I said.

"Yeah man." he said.

"Get out of here." I spat.

"What about my money?" he asked.

"That was 25 dollars worth of nothin......Get out of here." I said.

"Awww man, you aint got no soul...."

"What did he just tell you?" said Kool Kat..

"Okay...Okay..I..I'm out...I'm out." he said and ran out of the bar....

Kool Kat and I walked out....Clerow and Owen was still holding his friend...

"He packin?" I asked.

"Only this knife and some brass knuckles." said Clerow...

"Let him go...Go on , get." I said.

Didn't have to tell him twice...He ran as fast as he could...

Kool Kat Laughed....

"Twenty five dollars worth of nothin...."

Owen, Clerow and I all laughed.

As far as I was concerned....Tonight had been a total waste of time and resources....

II-





The next day....I got a break.....A guy came up to me on the street and began talking to me...

''Your name Kevin Morris?" he asked.

"Yeah and you are?"

"Just a concerned citizen..." he said.

"Oh really?" I said.

"Yeah really....Look...I seen who killed Ray Ray Jefferson....It was a cop!" he said.

''A cop?" I asked.

"Or somebody dressed like a cop...I didn't get a name...or a  badge number, but it was dark...Look..I saw you and your boy chase him inside of the jects....I was there that night..I was leaving my girl's spot...Then I saw this cop jet by...I ducked back cause I had been smokin weed...He had been kind of layin in wait..He called out to Ray Ray to halt and Ray Ray did halt..He frisked him and took his gun out...then he executed him man...shot him three times in the back of the head like a dog and then put his gun in his hand..." he said.

''What?  You saw this?" I said.


''Sure did and I called it in....I called Homicide...I talked to a Detective Ray Stanton...I gave my statement...I told him the same thing I told you." he said.

"What did he say?" I asked.

"Sucka asked me for my name and date of birth and the name and date of birth of my mother, my brother and  my cousin..He say if any of them got any paper on em...He gonna come and arrest all of em, including me if I go forward with my story." he said.

''So you dropped it right?" I said.

"Damn right...I aint sayin a damn thing more...Neither is anybody else in them projects..They won't talk to you or anybody else...I'm just puttin you down , so you don't waste anymore of your time..."he said.

"You know this is a fantastic story you tellin me." I said..

"Yeah I know..but I don't plan to repeat it ...but I tell ya what....Go talk to his girl....She work in Victoria's Secret....she might talk to you." he said.

"And what did you say your name was?" I asked.

"I didn't.....Good luck wit that.....Just between me and you...I hope you bust this dirty ass cop." he said and then he continued walking down the avenue...


III-





I next went to Victoria's Secret where Ray-Ray's girl was working...Her name was  Cheryl Ellis...She hadn't answered my cell phone calls or my numerous attempts to visit her in the projects...When she saw me coming up to her counter, she was even more apprehensive.

"Goddddd, you don't give up, do you?" she said.



''No, I don't." I said.

"Look " she said whispering...... "It was a cop that shot him...Execution style.....He told him to halt...Ray-Ray halted....and dude shot him three times in the head...and took his pistol out of his waste band and threw it down next to him.  But I aint repeatin that and if you say I said it, I'm gonna deny it." she said.

"Yeah...someone else told me the same story and said the same thing you said ,that they wasn't going to talk to me....How many people witnessed this shooting?You ever see this cop before?" I asked.

"I saw it out the window and some other dude saw it...Wasn't nobody else out at the time...I saw the cop that did it, he's black and he's always around, he know that practically everybody in the projects is on paper and if they aint, they got a relative that is.....His name is stanton, Ray Stanton, he a narco and he's worse than the white cops...He used to shake down the drug boys, bust em, steal they stuff and then re sell it...Him and the bartender..." she said.

"What Bartender? " I asked.

"Petey Boy ,over at  Desperations...." she said.

"That dump? I thought they closed that years ago." I said.

"No, it's still open...Usually he would come around here in a suit or plain clothes, but that was the first time he had on his dress blues.." she said.

"Oh Really?" I said.

"Yeah, Really.....and everybody know what was up." she said.

"Oh? What is up? " I asked.

"Ray-Ray and Ricky come up here from D.C. last summer..They started stickin up the drug boys...cutting into their action...So Petey Boy and his cop friend ,Stanton killed him.It's as simple as that...If they hadn't of killed him...The drug boys woulda caught up to em eventually." she said.

"And naturally, you won't testify to this?" I said, knowing the answer....

"I don't want anybody to know I ever talked to you....So if you aint buyin panties or bras please leave me alone." she said.

"Gotcha doll, Nice talkin to you." I said with a laugh and I walked out.

"Only you didn't." she added..

"Right...I didn't." I said.

IV-


That night, Sean Jackson, Clerow and I sat outside of the bar Desperations...The window of our car was tinted....Sean took photos of a succession of unsavory people coming and going....For this to be a bar...They were coming in and leaving a little too fast....They were buying drugs...Petey Boy , the bar tender had set himself up as a major player....His partner, a cop of some kind was busting players and reselling their dope through him....We watched as Petey Boy closed the bar and exited.....Owen Todd was the next to last person to leave the bar...He walked over to our car and got in...

"I got the whole layout of the spot Kev...They got a back room where they do all of their business...No upstairs or anything." He said..

Clerow looked at me...  "Just got off the phone with Lockpick Johnson and Peeping Tom...they on their way." he said.

"Good....I want this place hooked up....This is where we make any case we got." I said.

"What kind of case are you trying to make?" asked Sean...

"Petey Boy and his murderous partner are ripping off the players and reselling their drugs...That's why they killed Ray Ray....He and his partner was stepping on their toes.. Gotta get them talking about drugs and murder." I said.

"And you can get them to talkin about that?" asked Owen...

"Oh I got a few tricks up my sleeve." I laughed.....Just then my android went off...It was Kool Kat.

"What's up Kools?" I asked...

"Kev...you heard the news?   They found the other stick up kid...Ricky Rector...Floatin in the ocean at Penn's Landing....and check this..He was shot in the back of the head and dumped in the water..." said Kool Kat.

''Oh man...these boys aint playin are they?" I smiled.

''You sure done stepped in some mess now Kev." said Kool Kat.

(TO Be Continued!)

4 comments:

Swaggie said...

Dayummmm, Kev done really walked up on some major street ish...Kool Kat was right..These boys are playin for keeps!

tate 2 said...

Man, I'm diggin this storyline...Crooked Cop, Bartender doublin as a Drug Kingpin...I'm lovin this.

Jazzy said...

Lovin this storyline fam!

James Perkins said...

I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for the next installment!~