ATONEMENT (5 page)

“Hey Uncle
Vin
!” Sal shouted sprinting to greet
the burly man
.

Vincent had the boy up with one hand, holding him in the air like a plane then set the boy on his feet. “What’s going on big Sal?”

“You missed
our
s
occer game!
”

They were walking and talking like old friends and Alfonzo had to tell Sal to go wash-up before dinner to get him to s
top
.

Selange
balanced
Allie on her hip, “Hi
Vinny
.”

Vincent smiled at the pretty woman and her equally adorable daughter. Alfonzo had a good-looking family. The man was lucky…damn lucky.
“Hey sweetheart
s.”
He
said as he
bent
low to
plant
kisses on the
ir
cheek
s. He also had an
ulterior motive. Selange w
ore
a V-neck top and
he got
an up close
view of her
succulent
cleavage.
She had to be a
size 3
6C
, it was just e
nough
for him to
handle.
All the guys thought their boss’ wife was hot, he put them in
check
of course
,
but hey, they
’re
men and men dream,
don’t
they?

She
informed
Alfonzo she was heading inside then left the men to
discuss business.
“So what’s going on?” Alfonzo asked the taller man.

Vincent was the other half of the
Serano
twins
, the funny
one
. Alfonzo could easily distinguish between the pair.
Nico had
a
lethal
stride;
it
sort of resembled a panther
’s
movements
, smooth
, coiled
and deliberate.
Vincent
walked
in a hurried fashion with loose limbs.
There were distinctions in the features,
as well
. Vincent
’s
nose slanted slightly at the base,
whereas
Nico’s
was
straight and sinister
,
almost
a
snarl. Everything about Nico was intense
, unlike
Vincent who was quick to crack a joke.

“Someone reported Dominick missing
. The
feds
paid a
visit
to
Don Gregorio this morning
. W
hat do you want me to do about it
, maybe eliminate the problem now
?”

Alfonzo elevated
Vincent
to the status of
Capo Bastone in
his
organization, his
left
hand man, a place he would
’ve
given Nico, had he stuck around.
Selange
would always
sit at
his right hand; it’s
a position he’d never assign to anybody else. They were partners
in life,
in marriage
, in
–everything. The lengths she went through
to
get at Frank
Monticelli
when he was in jail
proved she
’s
all the army
he needed
.
He smiled
thinking
back a
few months
to
New
York
when
she took charge. She got
Vincent out of
a
hiatus to watch
Alfonzo’s
tail
then like a clean-up woman
disposed of
incriminating
evidence
that could’ve landed
h
im
in jail
for the rest of his life.
Selange,
‘
h
umph,’ he thought,
she’s fucking fierce!

Then there
’s
Lou,
one of his father’s former crew. G
ood-natured,
a
middle-age man
and an
old school Sicilian. As
Lieutenant,
he
heads the
crew.
A handpicked group of men with skills necessary in a
lethal
brawl but intelligent enough to know when to perform a discretionary kill. He didn’t need hot-heads, braggarts or
men with uncontrollable vices. Those types were bad for business. He was reminded of the sagacity of this when he read about the Chicago mobster caught in a prostitution sting carrying an unlicensed
and
loaded revolver. The
stupid
fool, only hours
prior he’d
shot and killed a
n
informant with
the same damn gun!

‘
Geez
,
lack
of
common
sense
had
become
an
epidemic
!’

The only
potential
loose cannon
in the organization
is
Crazy Nicky
. The man
is
somewhat of a
mental case.
He’d never argue, simply bust your head with bottle and shove the glass down your throat. Yeah, it’s true. He actually killed a man like that in Venezuela for calling him an American. Nicky’s from
Calabria
and super proud of it. He worked for
Alfonzo
’s
father
f
or twenty-two years. Alfonzo gave him his blessing to retire but the senior man wouldn’t have it
and
said, “
Young Luzo
, whacking people is all I know how to do. Once I retire I might end up whacking myself. Give me something to do. I’m still useful, you know.”

He
floated about
, somewhere in
the hierarchy.
He
’d proven his loyalty
over the years and getting rid of him
just didn’t
sit
right. To be
safe
, Alfonzo
kept him on a tight leash.
The only time he unleashed him was when a problem
arose that
required an immediate and final resolution
, then
he sent Vincent and Crazy Nicky
to do the job
. Otherwise, he let
Crazy Nicky
manage the home security guys, this way he
didn’t
get into any trouble. So far,
he was doing
an excellent job.
 
            

“Send a reminder to the families.”
Alfonzo
answered.

If
t
he feds
were looking for Dominick, they’d
never find
him
or his henchman
Boris.
Both of t
he
ir
remains were
mixed with sand out on Miami Beach. A Dominick
look-alike boarded
a plane with
his passport
to Australia
, months ago
.
Men get lost in Australia,
Alfonzo chuckled
. He wished the feds luck in
solving the disappearance. The Australian outback is rough, with those man-eating crocodiles and shit.

A
s for Dominick’s
money
, well that went to pay-off his employees for their services and the rest was
divvied up
between
the Dons.
Alfonzo left no paper trail, nothing to connect him to the disappearance. Any of the Dons seeking to rat him out, well, they’d only be snitching on themselves. See,
Alfonzo
didn’t keep a dime of the money but he did keep something else, a bit of insurance.

“I’ll go.” Vincent volunteered.

“No. The feds
are probably
watching Gregorio, besides this isn’t serious,
I don’t want to
kill
Gregorio and Two Fingers. Once they see you coming they’ll shit their pants.”

Vincent laughed, “Yeah, they did smell
kinda
’ funky after I finished disemboweling those bodies.”

“
Y
ou enjoy death too much
Vin
.”
Alfonzo’s forehead crinkled. “
Have Lou
go. A friendly reminder will do, besides
t
he
two
go back awhile
, it’ll look as if he’s on a friendly visit
to
law enforcement
.
Sometimes, s
ubtle intimidation
is equally effective
big guy
.”