Lines and shadows (37 page)

The Barfers waited in a local cop bar called Bernie's. Within minutes Manny Lopez received a call at the bar. Deputy Chief Robert Burgreen was on the phone to tell him that the press was on the way. The Barfers were red-hot copy.

Manny Lopez turned to his men and yelled, "Everybody
out
a here! Go to Anthony's Harborside and run up a tab. On
me!"

Manny Lopez then hustled over to central headquarters, slipped in the side door and went to the office of Deputy Chief Burgreen, who said, "Chief Kolender is
not
going to recommend that charges be filed on Hernandez."

And Manny Lopez said, "That's
it
I quit."

"Don't you want to think about this?" the deputy chief asked.

"They didn't file on the immigration officer when he almost shot me! Now they're not gonna file on this cop who shot one a my men? I ain't got more than a hundred I.Q. if I take this shit again."

Thirty minutes later the deputy chief led Manny Lopez into the office of the chief of police, saying, "Manny's upset."

The chief of police was writing on a legal pad. Without looking up, he said, "Oh? And what is he upset about?"

Manny Lopez tried to remind himself that this was the superchief himself. He said, "I'll tell you what I'm upset about, Chief. They're not filing charges on Hernandez!"

"I know," the chief answered. "Homicide says it's a very weak case." Then Manny Lopez surprised both his superiors and himself by pounding on the desk, saying, "Fuck Homicide! Fuck this shit! You didn't ask
my
side of it. I quit! I quit!" And the chief said, "Do you mean the
department
?" file://C:\Documents and Settings\tim\Desktop\books to read\Wambaugh, Joseph - Lines a... 11/20/2009

dummy1

Page 191 of 256

That stopped him, because he sure as hell didn't mean the police department, only the Barf squad. So he added, "Well, I hadn't thought about
that
." Suddenly he started seeing his whole career slipping away and this was the scariest thing that had happened to him lately. He needed time to think, because the chief was calling his bluff.

Something else occurred to him. "Those fuckers're running a tab on me!" Manny cried. "I gotta go see my guys. They're at Anthony's."

And Deputy Chief Burgreen said, "Do you mind if we come with you? I'll pick up the tab."

"No, I'll pick it up," the chief of police said.

By the time they arrived at Anthony's Harborside that afternoon, the San Diego press relations representative had already informed the other Barfers that charges were not going to be filed on Chuey Hernandez. And since Manny Lopez was never a piker, especially when someone else was picking up the tab, he grabbed a waitress and said,

"Four bottles a good wine for my guys."

The chief of police surprised them all by saying to the Barfers: "I believe in you people. I've just talked to Manny and I'm going to ask the D.A. to
issue
charges on the Mexican officer." Manny Lopez figured he had won a major victory. He got good and drunk that night. Only one thing spoiled the evening for Manny. It was when Deputy Chief Burgreen said aloud,

"The thing that worries me about this is the danger. I'm afraid Manny's going to get killed out there."

Instantly, Eddie Cervantes' down-turned eyes started throbbing and bulging, and he cried,

"Manny's gonna get killed! Why only
Manny
?"

"Of course I'm equally concerned with all of you," the deputy chief added. "I only meant that Manny is… he's always out in front. That's what I meant." Later, Manny Lopez tried to placate a scowling Eddie Cervantes by saying, "Listen, fucker, things come out that way. I
always
tell the reporters that Cervantes did this or Salgado did that. I don't write the stories, fucker. I don't
write
em!" The next morning Manny was shaving, with a monstrous hangover, when his ten-year-old son came in and said, "What'd you do wrong, Dad? On television they just said they dropped charges on the guy you shot."

"THEY DID WHAT?" Manny Lopez screamed, almost cutting his own throat. file://C:\Documents and Settings\tim\Desktop\books to read\Wambaugh, Joseph - Lines a... 11/20/2009

dummy1

Page 192 of 256

As he was pulling on a jacket, ready to go out the door with his head feeling all mushy and inflamed, he said to his wife: "I'm gonna get fired today. Good-bye." When the BARF sergeant got to the chief's office, it was the first and only time he ever saw William Kolender uneasy.

"Chief, you promised you were gonna see that they issued charges!" Manny Lopez said.

"The case isn't strong," Chief Kolender said. And then he stood up, came around his desk and put his arm on the shoulder of the shorter man. He said, "Manny, I don't know
what
I'm going to be able to do."

"Fuck it, Chief, I quit!" Manny Lopez said.

And then Chief Kolender, who was no slouch at handling legendary Gunslingers as well as ordinary macho cops, said, "Manny if
you
quit, I'll get fired." It was worthy of Manny Lopez himself, this piece of : If
you
quit,
I'll
get fired. The implication being that Manny Lopez was such a fabled and mythic and legendary celebrity that he could displace the chief of police. And by implication, maybe the mayor. And shit, Governor Jerry Brown wasn't even safe!

It was like a diva refusing to sing until the impresario takes her in his arms and says, "But, Divinity,
I'll
be finished if you don't sing!"

Deep down she
knows
it's bullshit, but it sounds so glorious she goes out there and gets so many curtain calls the stagehands get hernias.

Then the chief added, "What if we issue assault charges and bind him over for trial at a preliminary hearing? Will
that
be enough for you?"

And Manny Lopez, now a king breaker as well as everything else, said, "Sure. I don't care if he never goes to trial. At least bind him over and that shows we didn't fuck up. Okay!

And, Chief, how about coming down to the station some night and telling my guys how much you think a them? It might be
nice
."

There
was
a person connected to the Barf squad by umbilical cord whom the chief did not particularly appreciate, nor did Deputy Chief Burgreen. Nor did lots of other ranking brass who felt that BARF was the tail wagging the dog. That was the man who had created it, Lieutenant Dick Snider.

Dick Snider at this point was like poor old Victor Frankenstein: nobody remembered his
intent
. And Dick Snider, as was his way, remained totally loyal to his mutant creation. He file://C:\Documents and Settings\tim\Desktop\books to read\Wambaugh, Joseph - Lines a... 11/20/2009

dummy1

Page 193 of 256

accepted the official interpretation—that is, the Manny Lopez interpretation of the international shootout—without much soul searching. Though he had long since been officially relieved of duty as the BARF officer-in-charge, unofficially, as a Southern Division watch commander, he was still the Barfers' uncle. Manny almost always showed him the courtesy of keeping him informed. Dick Snider repaid the courtesy with total allegiance to BARF, alienating the department brass in the process. Of course the alienation of the department brass had probably begun many months earlier when Dick Snider, through his one-man canyon crawling and publicity campaign, got the experiment going in the first place. When a deputy chief or inspector would suggest something like keeping the Barfers farther than fifty yards from the international border, Dick Snider would reply, "We already have one invisible line to work with. Don't give us another. Either let us work or disband us."

Deputy Chief Burgreen, whom the troops refer to as Bobby, and who looked like a blowdried middle-aged cherub, spoke for the administration when he said, "Lieutenant Snider was
not
interested in evaluations, route slips, councilmanic reports. He was vocal, a street cop, not an administrator, but his rank demanded an administrator. He might be a good guy and he might even be a good street cop. But he was
not
a good lieutenant." The department's position on the BARF creator was dramatized during a meeting of the big chief and several of his immediate subordinates during the difficult weeks following the international shootout. There was some serious talk about disbanding BARF. Manny Lopez, Dick Snider and the captain of Southern Division were there to opt for continuing the experiment. There were ideas being tossed around as to the feasibility of uniformed cops patrolling the canyons. There were suggestions of begging for federal troops to be stationed in the hills. There were suggestions that the city should somehow cede the land to the federal government and let Uncle Sam worry

about all of it Finally, there was a growing consensus that the BARF experiment was just too dangerous.

Manny Lopez was showing his reptilian sidewinding eyebrow and pointing his finger like a gun and talking triple time in his disingenuous style that charmed the chief of police, and he said, "We're
safer
than the guys on the street! They're not ready for it when some dude smokes them down while they're writing a traffic ticket! But my guys're
always
ready!" Dick Snider then removed his dangling cigarette and in his country drawl tried to add his thoughts. "Chief, I think what Manny is trying to say is…"

"Lieutenant, we
know
your position," a deputy chief interrupted icily. "I was talking to Manny."

file://C:\Documents and Settings\tim\Desktop\books to read\Wambaugh, Joseph - Lines a... 11/20/2009

dummy1

Page 194 of 256

And that was it. Manny Lopez returned to the Barfers and told them sadly that Burl the Pearl was no longer as big as John Wayne. He'd just been sawed off at the knees. Manny said, "Snider's sweet-guy personality… his . .
niceness
—it's a detriment to me now." Manny added something else when he'd had a Chivas or two that evening after work: "I got a relationship with the politicians. I got a relationship with the chief. I'm
surrounded
by news media. I love Dick Snider, but he can't help BARF anymore." Manny Lopez genuinely admired Dick Snider for qualities he did not himself possess. Manny privately said, "I had this interview with a young reporter and I told him that me and my guys have a Don Quixote syndrome. And sure enough he does this flowery piece about us fighting windmills. Well, maybe part of it was true, at least so far as Dick Snider's concerned. Saving people would be
his
motive. But the fact is, BARF was giving me this tremendous feeling! That I could do
anything
out there in those canyons!
That
was my motive."

Dick Snider, as correctly pointed out by Manny Lopez, did not have the temperament or the glibness to slug it out with the brass. Debate was an
outlet
for Manny Lopez. He was very good at it. Dick Snider had no outlet. And now Dick Snider knew for sure that they didn't need him. And didn't
want
him.

As for Manny, the meeting ended when the chief of police stopped all argument by saying,

"I don't think you gentlemen understand. Manny's saying that if it's not his way he's not leading the squad anymore."

The experiment was permitted to continue. And Chief Kolender tacitly approved whacking Dick Snider off at the knees that afternoon.

One day when the city council of San Diego drew up a resolution to honor the Barfers with a piece of parchment full of fancy "whereofs," the chief of police was supposed to make a speech on behalf of hitmen. Except that Manny Lopez was suddenly asked to say a few words. Manny wisely stood up and thanked all the politicians present
and
the chief of police for giving his men the chance to do what they did. He got a standing ovation from all.

When the chief did make speeches about the border crime problem he said it should be made a federal responsibility and he spoke like a Republican about the lack of direction in the Jimmy Carter administration. When Manny gave speeches, it was about facing bandits in the night and drawing against the drop. It was easy to guess whom people wanted to hear, Republicans and Democrats alike.

Dick Snider was never heard to verbalize a whit of resentment about being effectively banished from any further decisions regarding his brainchild. BARF belonged exclusively file://C:\Documents and Settings\tim\Desktop\books to read\Wambaugh, Joseph - Lines a... 11/20/2009

dummy1

Page 195 of 256

to Manny Lopez. Even when his career was, in the words of Deputy Chief Burgreen, "on the slide," Dick Snider was uncomplaining.

Just so long as they kept it going, just so long as Manny and his men were arresting bandits and protecting the aliens of the canyons, in his city, in
his
country. As Manny put it: "Dick Snider's motives were pure till the end. He was the only one of us whose motives were always pure. And the brass not only couldn't forgive him for it, they couldn't even
believe
it."

As to the danger to the Barfers themselves, Dick Snider would only say, "If there was a threat of robbery and rape and murder to the millionaires of La Jolla, we'd all be asked to
give
our lives if necessary. Without question."

During the weeks to come, during a media barrage on both sides of the border about the international shootout, Chief of Police Kolender, true to his word, did come to Southern Division to reassure Manny's men of what a hell of a bunch of gutsy hardballers they really were, and what a job they were doing out there, and that he was behind them all the way. The chief addressed the Barfers on their own turf just before they went out canyon crawling. After the pep talk he said, "The charges against the Tijuana policeman may be dismissed after the preliminary hearing. You should be aware of that." And suddenly up popped Ken Kelly, who, feeling especially militant and goofy, had the concoction of instant coffee and powdered chocolate smeared all over his face. And he'd wrapped his long blond hair in a bun and covered it all with a stocking cap to be less visible in the hills. He looked like a cocaine-inspired Hollywood version of a loony G.I. in Vietnam, sort of a cross between a punk rocker and a Jivaro headhunter. Ken Kelly, suffering the results of having been the only San Diego cop ever convicted in court of assaulting a civilian, wiggled his walrus moustache and said, "Chief, how come the Tijuana cop shoots a San Diego cop and walks? And I dust a number one prick asshole with a flashlight and get honked? How come?"