The Other Brooklyn: Joey Toranetti Trilogy (3 page)

10

M
y
father grew up in a home in Farmingdale, Long Island. He was there with his two
brothers Carl and Mike and his close friend Arthur Antonella.

Arthur became a well-respected man in our area and told my
father that if he ever needed anything to call him. Because of Arthur my father
received a lot of business from the known people in the area.

While I was in high school I wanted to join the baseball
team but because I had a history of asthma they would not allow me to join any
sports at all.

I was very upset and my attitude got in the way of my
thinking. I started to rebel by not going to class, not showing up at school,
and getting in with a bad crowd. These guys were all a bunch of thieves and
only wanted to fight and steal. I was in the middle of this and really wanted
to get out of it.

They had protection rackets, and money lending, and even
threatened many teachers to give good grades.

Dean Summers had me in his office many times in the next
four years. He had my father in a couple of times and my father would talk to
me and tell me that I was making a fool of myself. He would also say, “If you
continue staying around these people you will end up in jail. I will tell you
only once that you had better smarten up.”

I decided that I had better listen to my father. He always
taught me the right thing to do and I finally started to take my school work
seriously. I stayed away from the people I was hanging around with and I was
threatened by them a few times. I held my ground and told them I didn’t want to
end up in jail and if they had a problem with that I would only be too willing
to solve their problem. These guys knew that I meant every word I said and
decided that they didn’t need the extra trouble. I walked away and didn’t have
any other issues.

11

I
didn’t want to continue with school so my father said I would have to get a
job. He said, “Do you want to work with me in the shop or do you want to do
something else?”

I wanted to work with the Teamsters driving trucks. I have
always admired Uncle Tommy when he used to take us for rides in the truck he
was driving. I knew he was a big shot in the Teamsters so maybe he would get me
a job.

My father said he didn’t think it was a good idea to ask
for a favor from my uncle. I didn’t care.

My father asked, “Do you know how to drive a truck?”

“I know how to drive a car it can’t be that hard, it’s
just bigger.”

My father laughed and said, “Okay I will talk to him and let
you know what he says. In the meantime I could use your help at the shop.”

“Great Dad, thanks.”

About three months passed and my Uncle Tommy showed up at
the shop. I said, “Hi Uncle Tommy.”

“Hi Joey, so you want to drive a truck and join the
Teamsters. What do you know about driving a truck?”

“Not much but I am a very fast learner.” He laughed and
said, “Do you have a chauffeur’s license?”

“No.”

“That’s okay I will get you one. How old are you?”

“I am seventeen.”

“You need to be eighteen. Okay, get me your birth
certificate and I will fix it. On Saturday I want you to meet me in Maspeth at
Transamerica Freight. Be there at 7:00 a.m. I will have a good friend of mine
teach you how to drive a semi. I will also be there with your new license and
your new birth certificate. You will have to join the Union and the cost is
$125. Then you will need to pay dues of $20 per month. So have the membership
fee and two months dues at that time.”

I said, “I will be there and I will have the money for
you. Thank you Uncle Tommy.”

“I will see you on Saturday, Joey.”

My father came out of his office and asked my uncle to
come in. They disappeared into the office and they didn’t come out for at least
an hour. When my father and uncle came out of the office my uncle said goodbye
to me and my father and said to me, “Be there on time Saturday.”

“Yes sir.”

My father came over to me and said, “You realize that you
owe your Uncle a favor for doing this for you.”

“I know.”

12

T
ommy
Consiglio was a big shot in the union. He was well liked and feared by many
people. If he said he would take care of something you could count on it. But
you would owe him big time. He wasn’t very big in build but like my father he
knew how to handle himself.

He was actually a close friend of my father’s and I always
called him uncle. When I received confirmation I asked him to be my godfather
and he said yes.

I didn’t know until recently that he was in jail for five
years for manslaughter. My father told me he really wasn’t the person that committed
the crime he just took the blame for the other person. This is probably why he
was very much welcomed and liked in the neighborhood. He was known as a standup
guy and would never turn on anyone.

While he was in prison he had plenty of protection from
people that knew about what had happened. They were told to protect him.

When he got out he was given a job as a shop steward in
the trucking industry. A shop steward fights for the workers of a company for
the union. He was so good at this that he eventually became one of the few in
the biggest trucking union in our area.

Now I owed him big time for the job I was asking for.

13

I
arrived at Transamerica Freight 6:45 a.m. on Saturday and saw my uncle’s car in
the terminal, so I drove into the terminal and parked next to his car. I got
out of my car and walked to the steps leading to the door that said dock. I
walked in and saw my uncle standing next to a person in a suit and another in
work clothes. My uncle saw me and said, “Hi Joey, come on over I want you to
meet some people.”

I said, “Hi Uncle Tommy,” and walked towards them.

My uncle introduced me to the man in the suit first, Joey
this is the terminal manager of Transamerica, Eric Calder. We shook hands and said
hi to each other. This is John Talucchi the steward of this terminal. He is
going to teach you how to drive a tractor trailer (semi) today. We shook hands
and said hi. My uncle said, “You will probably be here all day because you will
start work on Monday morning. You have to understand that you will be the last
one to work because there are 79 workers ahead of you, these are union rules.
Do you understand me?”

I said, “Yes I do.”

My uncle said to me, “Let’s go outside and we will talk.”
When we got outside he said, “Did you bring what I asked you to bring?”

“Yes, here is my birth
certificate, driver’s license, and $165.00.”

“Great, I will have
these for you tonight and bring them to you, including your union book which
will show that you have joined the union and are paid up two months in
advance.”

“Thank you Uncle Tommy
I really appreciate this.”

“Don’t worry Joey, some
day you can help me; I am sure of that. Do well, learn fast, and I will see you
tonight.”

“Okay, I will.”

14

J
ohn
said to me, “Okay kid let’s get started with your driving instructions.”

“Okay, great.”

We went out into the
back of the terminal where all the tractors were parked. They all looked fairly
new and pretty big. I was a little nervous because the biggest truck I ever drove
was a pickup. These trucks were red with a white stripe on the bottom of the
door and the name on the side of the door said Transamerica. The first thing I
was told was to climb up into the driver’s seat and check out the distance from
the gas pedal. I would need to adjust the seat if necessary so my feet could
reach both the clutch and the gas pedal. So I made all the adjustments and got
comfortable.

The next thing I
noticed was that one shifter had a button on it. Now I really started to get nervous.
This looked like it had many speeds on it. John saw how I looked and said,
“Don’t worry Joey you will be shifting this transmission in a very short time.
For now we are only using the shifter. This is a Road Ranger transmission. The
button on the side of the shifter is for low and high. When you shift into
first gear and the button is down, this is the lowest gear, you will only use
this when there is a heavy load on the vehicle. Since we are going to drive the
tractor only we are going to start 3rd gear with the button down.” He then
showed me the pattern of the shifter for the gears. “Do you think you can
handle it?”

“I think so.”

We started the tractor
and I put the shifter into 3rd gear and bucked the truck and stalled. I tried
about three times and finally got it. I started to drive around the terminal
and got used to using all the gears except the high ones. The truck had air
brakes and I had to get used to them also.

After about an hour I
was able to use all the gears and got used to the air brakes. John said to me,
“You are doing great so now I will show you how to hook up to a trailer.”

We pulled up to a trailer at the front of the terminal and
he said, “I want you to back up as close as possible to the trailer and let the
back end of the tractor and the fifth wheel be directly in the middle of the
trailer.”

So I did exactly as he told me and he said, “Great, now
stand on the back of the tractor and take those lines and hook them up to here
and this is the lights line that goes there.”

I did what he said and he told me to get back in the
tractor. “I did.”

“Pull that handle down and back up the tractor until you
here it hook up to the trailer. Once you hear that pull the tractor forward and
tug a couple of times to make sure it is locked. The trailer should not move.

Now get out of the tractor and roll up the wheels on the
trailer.”

I did everything he told me and the he made me drop the
trailer and do everything over about 20 times until I knew what I was doing.

At noon time John said, “Let’s go to lunch, when we get
back you will drive around the terminal making right turns, left turns and
U-turns. After that we will practice backing in, then going on the road to see
how you can drive this thing.”

We went to lunch and had plenty of food and came back in
about one hour. John showed me how to handle the truck around the terminal, how
to turn in every direction and how to back up to a dock. I started to get
pretty good at it so he said, “Now for a road test, are you ready?”

I said, “Yes.” We went out on the road and I must say that
I did pretty well. I was proud of myself.

John said, “You have taken to driving these rigs real fast
I believe you are ready to go to work. I will see to it that the manager puts
you with someone who can show you the ropes and help you out.”

I said, “Thank you John.” We said goodbye. It was dark out
and my car was in the front of the terminal so I had to walk to the front.

As I was walking I heard a big crash on the street and walked
to the fence to look to see what happened.

What I saw was straight out of a movie, a guy dressed all
in black was walking over to a car that was against a light pole and he had
something in his hand. I finally realized what it was. A gun was in his hand
and he walked over to the car and just shot the person in it.

I saw everything. I even got a good look at the man with
the gun. He turned to go back to his car and saw me looking. He pointed his gun
and shot at me. I ducked behind the tractors hoping he didn’t see me. At that
time I saw John come running out of the terminal.

He saw me and said, “Are you okay?”

In the meantime the guy in black got into his car and took
off. I told John what had happened and he said, let’s go inside and call you
father. “You just witnessed a gang hit.”

15

W
hen
we got inside the terminal I was shaking. We called my father and John told him
what happened. My father said, “Put my son on the phone.” I got on the phone
and could hardly speak. My father said, “I know you are all shook up but you
need to calm down I will be there as soon as I can. One thing, if the police
come you didn’t see anything or hear anything do you understand me?”

I said, “Yes.”

“If the police do come, let John do
all the talking. I need to make a few calls and then I will be there.”

I said, “Yes.”

John and I heard the police and
ambulance sirens as they showed up across the street. They went over to the car
that was against the pole and looked inside. There they saw a man slumped over
the steering wheel and bleeding from his head. They were looking around to see
if anyone saw anything. They look over at the terminal and saw the office
lights on.

After they checked out the scene
they started to walk over to the terminal. When they got there they knocked on
the outside door and waited for someone to answer. John said to me, “Remember
what your father said; you didn’t see or hear anything. I will do the talking.
If they ask you anything, just short answers only, you got it?”

I said, “Yes.”

John walked toward the front door
and answered it. He said, “Can I help you?”

The one cop said, “I am Detective
Williams and this is my partner Detective Meyers. We were wondering if we can
come in and ask a few questions about the accident across the street.”

John said, “Sure but I really didn’t
see the accident.”

They came inside and saw me sitting
there and said who they were, “I am Detective Williams and this is my partner
Detective Meyers. We would like to ask the both of you about the accident
across the street. Did either of you hear the crash or see anything out of the
ordinary?”

I said, “I didn’t see it or even
hear it.” John said the same thing.

They said, “Are you sure?”

John and I said, Yes.”

Well a witness said that he saw
someone in this yard standing by the tractors in the back of the terminal. That
area had a great view of the accident. So, are you sure you didn’t see the
accident?”

I said, “Yes sir."

“Well would you mind if Detective
Meyers looks around by the tractors?”

John said, “No go right ahead.”
Detective Meyers left and went toward the back of the terminal. At that time I
remembered that the gunshot hit the tractor and probably made a bullet hole in
it. I started to get nervous again and Detective Williams asked if I was okay.

I said, “Yes, I have never spoken to
the police before especially detectives.”

John said, “He is a very sensitive
kid and gets nervous in front of people and I guess he gets more nervous with
people such as police.”

At that time Detective Meyers came back
and said, “Bill (Detective Williams) can I see you a moment?”

“What is it?”

He whispered something in his ear
and Detective Williams looked over at us and said, “I will need your names to
show that we spoke to you. Kid what is your name?”

 “Joey.”

He said “and your last name?”

“Toranetti.”

He said, “Are you Antonio’s son?”

I answered “Yes.”

“And your name is?”

“John Talucchi. I’m the shop steward
of this terminal.”

Detective Williams said, “Well I
think that is all I need for now, but here is my card and if you think of
anything else please give me a call. Have a good night.”

When they left I told John,
“Remember when I told you; the killer shot at me? Well he may have hit one the
tractors I jumped behind. I think they found the bullet hole and possibly the
bullet.”

John said, “Don’t worry about it. We
will come up with an answer for that.”

My father showed up about 20 minutes
after the police left. I was really glad to see him.