The Heart of an Assassin (20 page)

To eliminate any suspicion of Giordano family
influence, a Supreme Court justice would be flown in from
Washington DC. This coordinated effort between the FBI, the local
police, and the Justice Department was as a direct result of the
testimony given by Agent Sam Williams, Lieutenant Eric Thomas,
Captain John O’Malley, and Special Agent John Connolly. The
seriousness of the situation was made clear during these
testimonies, resulting in this collaboration to bring down one of
the most powerful crime families in the United States. They felt
that this would be only the beginning, that once they had the
Giordano family the rest would fall like stacked dominoes.

Though most of these events were kept under
wraps, the news media somehow got a hold of what was going on and
were frenzied with excitement and anticipation. The headlines were
filled with innuendos and rumors about the Giordano family. A
coordinated effort between FBI and police efforts to bring the
Giordano family to justice filled the dailies. That a hit man had
been hired to kill the witness against the family was also being
reported. As a result, reporters lined the steps of the courthouse
every day, waiting for news, waiting to get a glimpse of the judge,
or to get exclusive interviews from anyone who knew anything.

Felicia and Fabio were also waiting for any
information on the whereabouts of the judge and those protecting
him. Three weeks had gone by, and in that time frame, Felicia and
Fabio put in place several plans to deal with the judge. They had
ordered all of their contacts to silently occupy downtown Manhattan
three days before he was scheduled to testify. Their lawyers had
been advised as to the time, date, and courtroom in which the judge
would make his appearance. Felicia and Fabio decided they would
need to delay the trial, and this would be the window of
opportunity they needed to resolve their issues.

Nick checked into a room in downtown
Manhattan a couple of days after his encounter with Tyler, and had
been busy scoping out the neighborhood around the courthouse. He
had gotten a hold of the building plans for Hundred Centre Street,
the courthouse. He memorized every floor, bathroom, and office,
developing several entry and escape routes. He knew this would not
be as easy of a job as any of his previous ones. This excited him.
They’d be talking about this for days if he was able to pull it
off.

The Giordanos shared their plans with Nick,
giving him a better chance of success. Nick knew that he would only
have one chance. Once he tried, he would not get another one.

A week before the judge was to testify, Nick
saw a version of himself on the front page of the local newspaper.
Grabbing a copy, he rushed back to his apartment.

Those assholes are getting too damn smart.
Looks like after this hit I may be out of business. Shit, this
sucks, Nick thought to himself. Nick once more was forced to change
his appearance.

After much thought, Nick decided to tell the
Giordanos to have the money ready for him at the courthouse. Both
Fabio and Felicia were named in the indictment against the Giordano
family, requiring them both to appear before the Supreme Court
Justice. This would make it easier for Nick to collect, once the
mark was out of the way.

A Shot Is Taken

July 9, 1984

John Connolly, Sam Williams, John O’Malley,
and Eric Thomas were anxiously awaiting the arrival of Tyler,
Sheila, and the judge. No one had heard from any of them since they
took off some three weeks ago.

Upstairs on the third floor, in courtroom
number three, they were getting ready to begin the opening
statements. It was determined earlier that Adriana’s testimony
would be inadmissible as much of it was hearsay. The testimony by
Judge Samual Livingston would implicate both of the Giordanos in
extortion since the judge had cleverly taped many of the
conversations he had had with them.

Additionally, the judge had gotten pictures
(from a camera he had hidden in his bookcase at his home) of both
Fabio and Felicia, sitting with him, discussing a few of the cases,
and revealing his receipt of several envelopes containing large
sums of cash.

The front of the courthouse was mobbed with
policemen, undercover FBI agents, curious onlookers, and the press.
The people were caught up in the melee the media perpetrated as the
last stand for the Giordano family. The fact that there was a hit
out on the judge only heightened the excitement. Some people in the
crowd were saying that the judge would never make it, that he would
be dead before he reached the steps of the courthouse.

Suddenly, a limousine pulled up in front of
the courthouse. The crowd surged forward as the police barricades
bulged, but the crowd was held back. Exiting the limo were Felicia
and Fabio, along with several lawyers. Their faces were known to
everyone, and some of the people in the crowd cheered as they
passed while others booed.

Both Felicia and Fabio smiled back at them as
they made their way up the steps. The lawyers led them through the
hallway into an awaiting elevator that took them to the third
floor. One of the lawyers was carrying a briefcase, which he was
instructed to leave inside the tank in the third stall of the men’s
bathroom on the third floor. Nick said that he would be collecting
his fee immediately after eliminating the judge. Though Felicia and
Fabio were not in agreement with the arrangement, they had no other
choice but to follow his instructions. They both decided they would
catch up with Nick at a later date when they could devote more
resources to his elimination, once and for all.

The courtroom was already filled to capacity
when the Giordanos arrived to take their seats. Among the
spectators in the courtroom where members of some of Chicago’s
crime families who had come to admire the Giordanos climb, and
wanted to see how this drama played out. After all, someone would
have to take over if both were arrested right here and now. Felicia
smiled at them, and they nodded and smiled in reply.

Suddenly they could hear sirens in the
distance coming up the block. As the sound got louder, Felicia
became a little edgy, looking into her brother’s eyes while he
looked into hers.“Don’t worry, we’ll be all right,” he said to her
while taking her hand.

One of the officers nearest to the window
shouted out, “They’re here!” Out on the street, Tyler was the first
one out of the car, followed by the judge, and then Sheila. They
were immediately surrounded by police officers and agents. A clear
path up the stairs and into the courthouse was laid out in front of
them. Tyler scanned the crowd, looking for anyone who looked
suspicious.

John O’Malley was at Tyler’s side. “Don’t
worry, we got this covered,” he assured Tyler.

As they entered the courthouse, Tyler
breathed a sigh of relief. Sheila moved quickly in front of the
judge with Tyler walking on one side and John Connolly on the
other.

“Quick, into the elevator,” ordered O’Malley.
They all piled into the elevator where both Sam and Eric waited. It
was crowded, but no one noticed. The ride up was deathly silent.
When they reached the third floor, Tyler stepped out first into the
awaiting police officers, and then Sheila followed with the judge
behind her. Behind the judge were Eric, Sam, O’Malley, and
Connolly.

The courtroom was down the corridor and to
the right; both sides of the corridor were filled with uniformed
policemen. All were cheering and clapping as Tyler made his way
down the hall. He smiled at them as he passed, feeling somewhat
proud of his accomplishment. Every once in a while, he would meet
the officers’ eyes as he passed, and then he saw them: the same
eyes he had seen so many years ago, when he was only a boy, the
same eyes he saw in Massachusetts. It was for only a moment, but he
was sure he saw them.

“Down!” Tyler screamed as he drew his pistol
and turned. But before he could react further, he heard the
sickening report of pistol fire.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Shots rang out from down the corridor.
Everyone hit the ground. Every police officer had their gun drawn
while Sheila had jumped on top of the judge.

Then again:

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

They turned toward the other end of the
corridor from where the shots were fired. There was no one
there.

“Get the judge out of here!” screamed
O’Malley.

Sheila reached down and grabbed the judge
under the armpits and tried to pick him up, but she couldn’t.
“Someone help me get him out of here!” she screamed. She tried to
stand and slipped on the river of blood flowing with purpose and
finality toward the courtroom door. There he lay with a hole in his
head, and all the king’s horses and all the king’s men could not
protect him; the judge lay there with his eyes open as his life
drained away. “Noooo!” Sheila screamed.

Tyler looked down and saw Sheila covered in
blood. “What the…?” Tyler said. He got up fast and looked around.
“Where the fuck did he go?” he screamed. “He’s wearing a uniform!”
They all looked at each other.

“Quick, that room,” Tyler said, pointing to
the closest door to them. They immediately rushed to the room.
There was another door on the other side where they found a
policeman’s uniform, with blood on it, on the floor. “Fuck! He
changed again!” Tyler screamed.

They started going through every room. A
couple of policemen charged into the men’s bathroom and did not
notice the officer behind the door, carrying a briefcase, exit
behind them.

Merging into the crowd of police officers,
Nick made his way to the stairway and turned to see Tyler staring
right at him as he quickly started to descend the stairs. Tyler
rushed past the rest of the officers, screaming that he was on the
stairway and that he was still dressed like a police officer. A
couple of seconds later, Tyler was flying down the stairs, followed
by Sheila and Eric. They reached the first floor in less than
fifteen seconds and rushed outside. The crowd had doubled in size;
there were officers everywhere. Tyler fired once up in the air,
causing the crowd to hit the ground, and then he saw him, the only
officer who did not turn but kept moving forward. Tyler ran as fast
as he could, with Sheila and Eric close behind him.

Nick turned and saw Tyler coming and began to
run. If I can make the train station a few blocks away, I could
lose them, Nick thought.

Nick ran between the people, pushing some of
them into each other, trying to cause chaos for his pursuers. Tyler
screamed, “Get out of the way!”

Tyler was running on the street, trying to
see if he could get a clear shot of him, but Nick continued to
dodge in between pedestrians, making it difficult for Tyler as he
continued north on Centre Street. Suddenly Tyler lost sight of Nick
as he turned left on Canal Street. Tyler reached the corner of
Centre and Canal in time to see Nick cross diagonally to the north
side of Canal.

“He’s headed for the train station,” Tyler
screamed back to Sheila and Eric who were about a quarter of a
block behind him. Eric stopped a cab, and he and Sheila jumped in,
shouting at the cab driver to go as fast as he could toward the
Canal Street train station. The cab rushed past Tyler as it hit the
corner of Centre and Canal in time to make the green light.

As the cab came around the corner, the driver
veered to the right, barely avoiding a woman pushing a carriage.
They only went about half a block before they came to a screeching
halt as the traffic was backed up. Both Eric and Sheila jumped out
of the cab and took off on foot with Tyler now half a block behind
them. Sheila spotted Nick going down into the subway system at the
north entrance of Canal and Broadway and shouted back to Tyler to
cover the south-side entrance. Tyler, now only a quarter of a block
behind, waved his gun at her to go on as he crossed back over to
the south side of Canal Street.

Nick rushed down into the subway and crossed
under Canal Street heading to the south-side exit. As Nick started
to rush up the stairway, Sheila and Eric were going down the
north-side entrance. Tyler reached the top of the south-side
entrance just as Nick was about to emerge. He ran head on into
Tyler’s gun.

“Freeze, you motherfucker!” Tyler shouted to
Nick. Nick, caught completely off guard, reached for his gun, but
could not move quickly enough. Not now. Not ever. Not Tyler.

Tyler fired, hitting Nick in the shoulder,
flinging him backward down the stairway. He fell flat on his back
dropping the attaché he was carrying. Nick, now with his gun drawn,
recovered quickly as people were screaming all around him.

“Stop him, he is trying to kill me,” Nick
shouted to the people. All that people could see was this guy
(Tyler in plain clothes) shooting at a police officer (an assassin
in uniform), and though most were scared, a few of them got in
Tyler’s way, hampering his attempt to apprehend Nick before he got
up.

“I’m a detective. This guy is not a cop. Get
the fuck out of my way!” Tyler shouted as he pushed his way
through.

Sheila and Eric had run into the train
station and were over the turnstiles when they heard the gunshot
coming from the other side of the train station. They both quickly
turned around and began heading back toward the turnstiles when
they saw Nick run by. “Hey you, asshole!” screamed Sheila.

“Freeze!” shouted Eric.

Sheila took a shot at Nick as he ran by but
missed completely, almost hitting a passerby. People began ducking
and screaming when they heard the gunshots. A transit police
officer drew his gun and fired at Sheila, just missing her. Sheila
almost returned fire when she saw Tyler run up behind the officer
and cold-cock him in the head as he continued his pursuit of
Nick.