Gangland

Two days later I found Attorney Robert Foxworth sitting alone in Josie's nursing two drinks....I walked over to him and passed him an envelope filled with crisp twenties....

"What's this?" he asked.

"It's money...what does it look like?" I remarked.

Robert smiled...

"Before our mutual client, Macaroni Tony's sudden demise...He did pay me handsomely.....This half is your end." I said.

"Any leads on who might have killed him? " asked Robert.

"No...but I am kind of wondering where you were the other night?" I asked.

"Very funny." said Robert who looked at me and laughed...

"Well at any rate, you're off the hook with him...He and his number two, Dominique are dead." I said.

"Groovy...How about Alden Jones? anything on him?" he asked.

"Nah...he's in the wind too!" I said.

"Kool Kat, Owen Todd and I had spent the day after the murders of Macaroni Tony and Dominique rousting several low level and mid-level players in the area.......None of them had any motive or the juice to hit Tony. I had called Alden Jones's wife and had asked to meet with her...but hadn't heard from her since and had just missed her when I stopped by her house yesterday." I said.

"You think she might know something?" he asked.

"Of course...I'm sure the FBI is watching her too...being that her husband is a fugitive now and 21 million dollars of those people's money was missing." I said.

"You know....His clients included Fathead Newton, Lin Chang and The Diaz Brothers..." said Robert Foxworth...

"Really?" I said..."Those are three of the biggest kingpins in town..." I said.

"Anyone of them could have had reason to go after Jones." said Robert.

"Yeah...Jones...but why Tony? Tony was a victim too...He wanted me to bring Jones down." I said.

"No he didn't...That's what he told you....Because it was the only way to get you to agree to work for him." said Robert.

"He wanted you to get the goods on him.....To get proof...So that he would have justification to hit him later or Blackmail him..Tony was a snake....Since he had me by the short and curlies...I couldn't say more...You know...as his attorney and all." said Robert.

I gave Robert the side eye...

"He told you this?" I asked.

"I know this...I know how guys like him think..You know how guys like this think...He knew you'd get to the bottom of it...get him solid proof that this guy was a thief...and then he'd take him out as an example.  Macaroni Tony was a cut different than say Fathead or Lin Chang or the Diaz Brothers....They would have just taken him out...Tony wanted proof, solid proof....He kind of had a code of honor." said Robert...

"Oh..an honorable gangster...Wow...gotta love him." I laughed...

Robert smiled...pulled out one of the crisp twenties...

"Hey Gus...Get Kevin two beers." he said.

II-

I was one of the few people who knew where Fathead Newton's safehouse was...  I had holed up there once...

The next day Kool Kat, Owen Todd, Clerow and I went to see Fathead...was the rare day that the West Philly Kingpin was actually there...

Roscoe, Ralph Mole and Fathead were actually sitting inside watching a boxing match from the night before on his 70 inch Flat screen...

''Wow Fathead...you got Verizon Fios?  That's a great picture...It almost seems like you're there." I said.

Fathead smiled... Ralph Mole passed us a bottle of cold water...

"So what brings you guys around?" asked Roscoe..

"Macaroni Tony!  You no doubt know what happened?" I said.

"Yeah...I heard." said Fathead....

Roscoe nodded.
"It wasn't us Kev...If that's why you're sniffin around...We were in business with him...I invested some money with his guy." said Fathead.

"His guy was a thief....and he's in the wind right now...you do know that right..It was a ponzi scheme..You got took." I said.

"Yeah..I know that too...but Tony told me that he had you on it , so I wasn't worried.. Besides...it wasn't that much money...about a quarter of a million...I wanted to see how it would do before I committed to more. " said Fathead..

''So when you found out that you were scammed, you wasn't a little bit mad at Tony?" I asked.

"I was mildly pissed...but Tony paid me my money back..He was good like that." said Fathead.

"He paid you back?" I asked.

"Yeah and he said he had you lookin into to it and when he got proof that this guy wasn't on the up..He was gonna deal with him himself.....We had no beef with Tony." he said.

That was good enough for me....Kool Kat,Owen, Clerow and I thanked them for the water..We shook hands and we left.

"I coulda tole ya that it wasn't them Kev...Fathead keeps a low profile now of days...He aint into that street mess...He sells product to the youngins and takes his cut off the top...He lets them determine how to distribute and how to run the corners....and he's barely into that...He's got a number of totally legit businesses that he's runnin now..He's slowly easing himself out of the streets man." said Kool Kat.

"Really Kools? Fathead loves bein a gangster..."I said.

"A man can change Kev." he said.

"Yeah...I guess you're right." I said.

III-

The Garden of Bejing was the most tony of Chinese Restaurants...It was in Chinatown....But the office upstairs was the headquarters of Lin Chang...who ran the Asian mob in Philadelphia....I had never tangled with him...but we knew each other...

Kool Kat, Owen Todd and Clerow ordered heaping bowls of General Tso's Chicken  with white or fried rice and steaming tumblers of Hot Tea...  While Lin Chang , who was close to 70 years old and his nephew ,Thomas Lee who was about my age sat with us....

"So Sorry to hear about Tony.....He and I were in business together." he said.

"What? You too? Let me guess...He got you to invest money with his guy, Jones right?" I said.

"Indeed...His guy turned out to be a very dishonorable man..." said Tommy Lee..

"Yeah...I'm searching for him...So is the FBI I'm sure."I said.

"They've been by here....We had men looking for Jones...But we had no quarrel with Tony." he said.

''Especially since Tony paid you your money back right?" I said.

"You are correct." he said. "Apparently Mr. Kevin you have all of the answers you need." he said with a smile.

"Yeah..apparently." I said.

He and I and his nephew looked over at the table where Clerow, Owen and Kool Kat were devouring the hot food.

"Your associates are really enjoying themselves ." said Lin Chang with a smile.

"Yeah...I can see that." I said giving them the side eye....

Tommy Lee, his nephew ...laughed.

IV-

We drove to Northern Liberties to meet with the Diaz Brothers...We stopped and Picked up Chess, Chris Thompson and Donald Smooth... Not because I needed more muscle...I didn't..Clerow, Owen Todd and Kool Kat were more than enough...but Chess, Chris Thompson and Donald Smooth knew these guys and knew how to get in contact with them...

They took us to a condo where The one living Diaz Brother, newly released from prison and his two nephews and his son resided....

We all sat in the living room....Unlike at Fatheads or Lin Chang, we weren't offered anything...

"The only reason I'm even talking to you is because Chris Thompson said it was cool....I'm trying to keep my nose clean....So let's get on with this." said Diaz Senior as I called him...

Kool Kat Sat next to me...Chris Thompson , Chess and Donald Smooth stood behind me.. Clerow and Owen were outside in the car..

Macaroni Tony!  You no doubt know what happened?" I said.

"Yeah...we heard." said Nestor Diaz, his son....
"It wasn't us ...If that's why you're sniffin around...We were in business with him...I invested some money with his guy." said Diaz Senior.

"His guy was a thief....and he's in the wind right now...you do know that right..He  was running a ponzi scheme..You got took." I said.

"Yeah..I know that too...but Tony told me that he was on top of it , so I wasn't worried.. Besides...it wasn't that much money...about a half of a mill..I wanted to see how it would do before I committed to more. " said 
Diaz Senior.

This was beginning to sound like a broken record...

"Tony gave you your money back when he thought he smelled a rat didn't he?" I said.

"Damn straight he did or else he would've been hit sooner....but nobody in my organization hit the guy...We liked him...He was an honest straight up guy...You don't meet that many guys like Macaroni Tony in this business.We didn't have no beef with Macaroni Tony." he said.

"Good enough guys..Nice talkin to ya." I said and stood up...I shook each of their hands and we all left...

"Thanks Chess, Chris, Smooth" I said as we all got in our cars...

"No prob Kev...Just be easy, you been all over gangland I hear...If Tony was hit by any of these locals...These guys would know about it...Whoever hit him was from somewhere other than Philly or someone not associated with these guys." said Chris Thompson... Chess and Donald Smooth nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, you're right." I said.

A little while later after everyone had gone their seperate ways and I was headed home, I thought to myself...

I've got a dead gangster who hired me to find out if he was being ripped off.... I find out and the thief vanishes and my client is murdered...I've been  all over town....I've got no murderer and no thief...I've got nothing...

Mann, I've been down this road before!

(To Be Continued...)