Mick Sinatra: The Harder They Fall (20 page)

“They’re all
under lockdown,” Reno said, “until we get some answers.”

“And you
guys still don’t know anything?” Sal asked.

“Nobody’s
taking responsibility for this,” Roz said, “if that’s what you mean.
 
I doubt if they ever will.
 
Besides,” she added, and then hesitated.

But the
Gabrinis knew what that meant.
 
She had
something more to tell.
 
“Besides what?”
Sal asked.

Roz
exhaled.
 
Reno rubbed her back.
 
She was a beautiful woman, she was Mick’s
woman, after all, but the trauma and stress was taking its toll on her entire
body.
 
She looked exhausted.
 
“Tell us what you were about to say, Roz,” Reno
said.
 
“We need to know everything.”

“When Mick
realized we were being ambushed,” she said, “he had to leap over his SUV and
knock me down.”

“That’s what
he was supposed to do,” Sal said.

“I know,”
Roz responded.
 
“And believe me, I’m
grateful he did because . . .”

“Because
what?” Tommy asked.
 
“Why is that
concerning to you?”

“Because it
seemed like I was their first target,” Roz said.
 
“It seemed like they were going after me when
we first got there.”

This was
surprising to all three men.
 
Even Reno
stopped rubbing her back and leaned back.
 
“You were the target?” he asked.

“At first,
yeah,” Roz said.
 
“It was like they were
too afraid to go after Mick.
 
They were
going after me instead.
 
But when he put
his body over mine, they saw their chance to get him and took it.
 
I don’t know, I might be wrong.
 
But that’s how it seemed to me.”

“You as the
target,” Sal said, his mind thinking hard.
 
“I’ll be damn.”
 
Then he looked at
Reno, and he and Reno looked at Tommy.

Tommy was
already thinking.
 
And then he was
nodding.
 
“It’s possible,” he said.
 
“But I think, more likely, they were going
after both.”

Reno
nodded.
 
“Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking
too.
 
But if Roz was the target, then man
. . .”

“That opens
up a whole different can of worms,” Sal said.
 
“But I’m with you guys.
 
It
doesn’t feel like that.
 
It feels like
Mick was the real target, and they were aiming at Roz to bait him out.”

Tommy
nodded.
 
“Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking
too.”

“And that’s
how we’ve got to play this until we know better,” Sal said.
 
“When we know better, we’ll do better.
 
Right now we don’t know shit.
  
So as far as we’re concerned, Mick is still
primary, but we keep Roz’s angle in mind.”

“Agreed,”
Reno said.

“Which
brings us to the security question, Roz,” Tommy said.

Roz looked
at him.
 
“What security question?”

“The lack of
security around this bitch,” Sal said.
 
“This isn’t going to work.
 
We
can’t keep Mick in this hospital.
 
He’ll
be too easy a target.
 
We’ve got to get
him to his compound where we can control all movement in and out and
around.
 
We can’t control shit here.
 
We don’t trust the cops.
 
We don’t trust the doctors.
 
We don’t trust the nurses.
 
This isn’t going to work.”

Roz was
confused.
 
“But what are you saying,
Sal?”

“We’ve got
to move him,” Reno said.
 
“Point
blank.
 
Sal is right.
 
This isn’t going to work.”

“But,” Roz
responded, seeking rationality in this irrational conversation.
 
“We can’t move him in his condition.
 
If we move him, it could kill him.”

“Staying
here could kill him too,” Tommy said.

“We don’t
know who the enemy is,” Sal said.
 
“But it’s
for damn sure whoever pulled this trick has some balls.
 
They have some nerve.”

“Which means
they might just have the nerve to come up in here and try to finish the job,”
Reno said.
 
“We can’t let that happen.”

Roz covered
her face, ran her hands over her hair, and then leaned back.
 
Her blouse had been unbuttoned one button too
many, probably during the action of the ambush, and revealed a sizeable amount
of her cleavage.
 
All three men saw it,
felt guilty, and quickly looked away.

And Roz,
just like that, crossed the Rubicon.
 
She
nodded her head.
 
“The hospital isn’t
going to like it, and neither are the police,” she said, “but who gives a shit?
 
I would rather have him home too, with his
own doctors and nursing staff to care for him, with his own security.”

She looked
at Reno Gabrini, who owned one of the most successful hotel and casino chains
in America.
 
She knew if it was going to
go down, he was going to be the one to organize it.
 
“Set it up,” she said.

Sal, Tommy,
and Reno were pleased.
 
It was going to
be a bear of a task, but they knew there was no other way.
 
Mick Sinatra had fallen, which meant to some
that the Sinatra crime family had fallen too.
 
They had to remind everybody out there that it wasn’t the case.
 
They had to remind every fucker who would
think about trying something stupid to think again.
 
Mick might have been down, but as long as the
Gabrinis had breath in their bodies everybody needed to know that Mick could
never be counted out.
 
And this audacious
move, from the hospital to the Sinatra compound, even as Mick was still
fighting for his life, would prove it in spades.

Helicopters
owned by Mick himself buzzed through the sky as a convoy of three private
ambulances and seventeen SUVs made their way from the hospital to Mick’s
estate.
 
Big Daddy and Brent were riding
in one of the ambulances, along with Roz, the twins, and Gloria, while Teddy
and Joey each rode in the other two ambulances to keep an eye out on the one
carrying their father.

Sal was
riding shotgun in the front group of SUVs, Reno was riding shotgun in the back
group of SUVs, and Tommy was riding in one of the helicopters.
 
All three kept their big, hawk eyes on any
attempts at an ambush.
 
It was a media
circus on purpose.
 
The Gabrinis needed
every wise guy who thought to take potshots during Mick’s low time, including
the ones who pulled off the attack in the first place, to think again.
  
They needed them to see the army, and the
real balls, they would be up against.

The hospital
took notice when the plan was first hatched.
 
Doctors objected.
 
They didn’t
want their patient moved at all.
 
The
Chief of Surgery even filed a formal complaint.
 
But they knew they couldn’t stop it.
 
It was still a free country.
 
Mick
Sinatra broke no laws.
 
They had to let
him go.

The police
department had never seen anything like it either.
 
A Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey
production had nothing on this.
 
But the
police were camera hogs themselves, and wanted to join the circus.
 
They offered an escort and traffic control in
the form of hotshot cops on motorcycles and horses, but Tommy Gabrini, in
charge of convoy security, declined.
 
They had their own hotshots on motorcycles.
 
Only these hotshots were not police officers
by any stretch of the imagination.
 
They
were Mick’s men.
 
They were hoodlums to
their core.
 
It was a slap in the face to
Tommy’s friend, the police commissioner.
 
But Tommy didn’t care.
 
Getting
Mick home safe and sound was his only priority.

They got Mick
home safe and sound and in an upstairs guestroom set up to accommodate Mick’s
hospital bed, hospital equipment, and full staff of doctors and nurses.

After
everything was set up, it was nearly nightfall.
 
Roz, Big Daddy, Brent and the children stayed at Mick’s bedside.
 
Although the doctors were monitoring Mick for
any signs of distress, they were monitoring him too.
 
Tommy, Reno, and Sal stayed downstairs, to
talk strategy.
 
To discuss if any of
their men found out anything.
 
To find
out how in the world they were going to handle this.

“There’s
nothing to handle,” Reno said as they sat at the full-sized bar counter sipping
drinks.
 
Sal was behind the counter and
had just poured Reno a drink.
 
Tommy was
already drinking.
 
“Mick’s entire army is
out there.
 
Our army is out there.
 
Mobsters of good will are out there checking
around too.
 
But everybody’s firing
blanks.”

“I still
don’t like how it went down with Danny Padrone and Angelo Jovanni,” Sal
said.
 
“How the fuck they gonna let their
boss rely on cops for his protection while they run the streets looking for
answers?”

“That’s some
shit, ain’t it?” Reno agreed.
 
“I
couldn’t believe it when I heard it.
 
They know better than that.
 
They
know you secure the boss first.
 
You
secure the boss’s family first.”

“And I dare
them to tell me Teddy made them do it,” Sal said.
 
“They know Teddy’s just getting his feet
wet.
 
They’re the old pros at this
shit.
 
They know better.”

“Where are
their asses anyway?” Reno asked.
 
“Did
anybody call them in yet?”

“I did,” Tommy
said.

Reno and Sal
looked at him.
 
Tommy was good at
behind-the-scenes details.
 
“What did
they say?” Sal asked.

“I didn’t
give them a chance to say anything.
 
I
had my men escort them to one of Mick’s safe houses and for them to wait there
until we got there.”

Reno
smiled.
 
“Backdoor Tommy.
 
Always one step ahead!”

“So what are
we waiting for?” Sal asked. “Let’s notify Big Daddy and Brent, and get the hell
over there.”

“What about
Teddy?” Tommy asked.
 
“Taking him with
us?”

“No,” Sal
said.
 
“He needs to supervise
security.
 
If he wants to be Mick’s
underboss, he needs to start showing some signs.”

“Because he
sure as hell didn’t at that hospital,” Reno said.
 
“He’s got a ways to go.
 
Like all of our sons,” he added.

“Except
Dommi,” Sal said with a smile.
 
“That
little fucker is a boss already.”

Reno shook
his head.
 
“Don’t remind me,” he said.

Danny
Padrone and Angelo Jovanni were fuming by the time the Gabrinis made it to the
safe house.
 
They were Mick’s top
men.
 
What was the meaning of this?
 
And before the Gabrinis arrived, they had a
lot to say about that meaning.
 
And none
of it was good.
 
They felt disrespected
and embarrassed.
 
If word got out that
Mick’s two top men were, in essence, being held captive by Mick’s big shot
nephews, they would never live it down.

But when
those nephews walked through that door, all of the big talk and complaints went
by the wayside.
 
Danny and Angelo put it
on mute.
 
They were angry as hell, but
they weren’t fools.

The Gabrinis
walked in, with Sal taking a seat in front of the two underbosses.
 
All three Gabrinis had mob connections all
their lives, especially Reno since his father was a major mob boss.
 
And like Mick, all three men ran international
corporations.
 
But unlike Mick, Tommy and
Reno’s primary responsibility was within their corporate interests.
 
While Sal, on the other hand, was more like
Mick.
 
He was the only one of the three
whose primary business was in the mob realm, not the corporate realm.
 
He was the only one of the three who ran his
own major crime syndicate, although he wouldn’t admit it.
 
He took the lead.
 

“How are
you, Danny?” Sal asked. “How are you, Ang?”

“What’s up,
Sal?” Angelo asked.

“I should be
asking you that.
 
What’s up, Ang?
 
What’s up with the fuck up?”

“We didn’t
fuck up,” Danny responded.
 
He couldn’t
hold his peace.
 
“We did what we were
told to do.”

“You did
what Teddy told you to do?” Sal asked.

“That’s
right!” Danny responded.

“Get the
fuck outta here!” Reno responded angrily.
 
“Since when do seasoned veterans like you take your cues from a kid like
Teddy?”

“Kid my
ass!” Angelo said.
 
“Mick put Teddy in
charge.”

“Bullshit!”
Sal yelled.
 
“Mick wouldn’t have put a
novice in charge of his organization!
 
Not yet.
 
Teddy’s not ready yet.”

“He’s Mick’s
right hand man.”

“So what?” Tommy
asked.
 
“It’s your job, as vets, to steer
him in times like these.
 
His old man was
nearly killed.
 
He’s traumatized.
 
Somebody should have stepped up, especially
when he ordered everybody to get in the streets and nobody to get to the
hospital.
 
You had to know that was the
wrong call.”

“Yeah, we
knew it,” Danny said.
 
“But you don’t
know, Teddy.
 
You can’t tell him
anything.”

“That’s
bullshit too!” Sal fired back.
 
“I know
both your asses.
 
You’re both mean as
junkyard dogs.
 
That’s why Mick hired you
on.
 
No kid was going to tell you how to
run a crisis situation.
 
Tell that
bullshit to somebody else.
 
No way would
you let that happen.”

“But that’s
not what this was about,” Tommy said to both men.
 
“Is it?”

Both men
began to hesitate.
 
“What’s that supposed
to mean?” Angelo asked.

“You know
what it means,” Sal responded.
 
“You
either had something to do with that ambush--”

Danny
Padrone nearly jumped out of his seat.
 
“How could you say a thing like that!” he yelled.
 
“I had something to do with offing my own
boss?
 
Fuck you, Sal Luca!”

Reno and
Tommy, and even Angelo were shocked by Danny’s nerve.
 
Sal, shocked too, pulled out his revolver and
put it to Danny’s forehead.
 
“Say it
again, motherfucker.
 
Say it again!”

“I
apologize,” Danny quickly said, holding up his hands.
 
“You know I didn’t mean any disrespect, Mr.
Gabrini.”

Sal hated
that he backed down so easily.
 
“If Mick
would have been here he would have killed you for apologizing,” he said.
 
“If Mick would have been here he would have
been proud of you for standing your ground.”
 

Sal
considered his options.
 
He could take
him out right here and right now, and prove his point.
 
But what good would that do?
 
He was already in Mick’s doghouse for
accusing him of having something to do with that stunt Joey pulled.
 
Killing one of his men wouldn’t help.
 
“But Mick’s not here,” Sal finally said, and
withdrew his weapon out of Danny’s face.
 
“Apology accepted.”

Danny let
out such a relieved exhale that Reno chuckled.
 
“Y’all some lucky bastards today,” he said.
 
“Sal Luca is in a good mood.
 
Who knew it was possible?”
 
Then Reno frowned.
 
“But keep fucking with us and your luck will
run out.
 
Now why the security
lapse?
 
What happened?”

“We were
obeying Teddy’s commands,” Angelo said.
 
“No lie.
 
Y’all think of him as
Mick’s kid.
 
But he’s more than
that.
 
He’s tough.”

“He ain’t
that tough,” Sal said.
 
“Not yet.”

“We’re
having a hard time believing you guys,” Tommy said.
 
“Nobody knows anything.
 
Nobody’s talking.
 
That’s not possible.
 
A mobster like Mick goes down and it’s
headline news.
 
Unless nobody knows
anything because it wasn’t an outside job.”

Danny shook
his head.
 
He wanted to lash out again,
but he heard about Tommy.
 
He didn’t show
compassion the way Sal might.
 
He was one
of those backdoor bastards.
 
He and Reno
were ruthless.

But Angelo
stood his ground.
 
“We didn’t ambush our
own boss,” he said.
 
“I’m sorry if you
don’t believe us, but think how we feel? We wouldn’t do that to Mick, and I
don’t think he’s going to appreciate you guys accusing us of doing something
like that.”

“He’s not
going to appreciate his two top guys dropping the ball on his security, and the
security of his wife and kids either,” Sal said.
 
“And I want you to try that
Teddy made us do it
bullshit.
 
I want you to try that on Mick.
 
I’ll see you at your funeral if you try that
shit on Mick.”

“Which
brings us to our point again,” Reno said.
 
“Which one of you fuckers set Mick up?”

“Neither one
of us!” Danny yelled.
 
“We wouldn’t do
that!”

Tommy
suddenly, and to everybody’s surprise, pulled out, not one but two guns, and
placed one barrel at Danny’s penis, and one at Angelo’s.
 
Both men couldn’t believe it.
 
“Now,” Tommy said firmly, “tell us what we
need to know.
 
Who planned that
ambush?
 
If it wasn’t you, who?”