The Other Brooklyn: Joey Toranetti Trilogy (5 page)

21

Work

I
showed up at
work at 7:00 a.m. and saw John, the steward, and told him that the detective
was not going to be with me anymore. He feels that the shooter does not know
who I am so it is good to say that I am safe. John said, “Does your father know
this?”

I said, “Yes and he said he would handle it.” I
got my papers for the load I was going to deliver and went to the back of the
terminal and got in my tractor. I then found the trailer I needed and hooked up
the tractor. When I finished checking everything on the tractor and trailer and
went into the main garage and took a piece of lead pipe and put it in the
tractor between the seats.

Then I drove out of the terminal. I drove to the
street I needed to turn on to go around the cemetery. When I was about halfway
around I had to slow down to go around this big curve. As I drove around the
curve I saw the entrance to the cemetery. As I drove to the middle of the curve
the passenger door swung open, I tried to reach the pipe and couldn’t. I saw
that it was the person who shot Gino Barone so I spun the wheel to the left, he
kind of lost his balance, I pulled the tractor emergency air brake and the
truck stopped with a big jerk. The shooter slipped again and his gun went off
just missing me and going through the windshield.

I jumped out of the truck and saw him coming after
me and shooting at me as I ducked under the rear of the trailer and he hit the
outside tire which went flat real fast. I ran to the passenger side just as my
uncle pulled up, he jumped out of his car and shot at the shooter. He hit the
passenger door of my tractor that was still open. The shooter shot back and hit
my uncle.

My father then pulled up and started shooting at
the shooter as he was running toward a car in the cemetery. I saw the shooter
go down, but get up and get in the driver’s side of the car and speed away. I
ran over to my uncle and asked how he was. He said, I am okay he hit me in the
right shoulder.

My father said, “We will get him Joey, I promise
you.”

I heard sirens at that time and figured that
someone had heard the shooting and called the police. My father said to my
uncle, “Give me your gun you can’t be seen with a gun.”

My uncle gave it to him and said, “Thanks.”

The police showed up and wanted to know what
happened? I told him, “Someone tried to kill me.”

They asked my uncle and my father who they were
and when they told them they were not surprised. They called into the police
station to send an ambulance for my uncle and told my father that he was under
arrest and took him to the station house. They told me to leave the truck where
it was and they would take me back to my terminal.

I arrived at the terminal and told John what had
happened and he said, “Are you okay?”

“Yes, just really nervous.”

John immediately sent three men to pick up the
truck and my uncle’s and father’s cars. He said to me, “Are you good to drive
home?”

I said, “Yes.” He told me to take the rest of the
week off.

I said, “Thank you.” I went to my car and drove
home.

22

At
Home
Again

W
hen I arrived
home my mother was crying. She had heard on the news that an attempted
assassination happened in Queens and that two men were under arrest. The two
men were Tommy Consiglio and Antonio Toranetti. Mr Toranetti claimed that a
person tried to shoot his son Joey and Mr Consiglio confirmed it. Mr Consiglio
was wounded and was in the hospital with a nonfatal gunshot wound. Mr Toranetti
told the police that the shooter was shooting at his son so he shot back and
believes he hit the shooter. However, the shooter got up and escaped in a car
which had been parked in the cemetery.

My mother was hugging me, crying, and happy to see
me. She asked, “Are you hurt? I knew this would happen. I want you to tell the
police who this person is.”

“I don’t know who he is Mom, and I can’t do that.
I need to let Dad and Uncle Tommy handle this.” The police gave up on finding
this person and that’s why Dad and Uncle Tommy were there. They were there to
catch him.

My mother said, “But they didn’t. So now what?”

Rocco came down from upstairs and hugged me and
said he was glad I was okay. At about that time the phone rang and it was my
father, he said to me “Are you okay?”

I said, “Yes, I’m fine, but Mom is hysterical.”

“Put her on the phone.”

Mom it’s Dad he wants to talk to you.

She got on the phone and said, “What are you
doing? You almost got our son killed. You and Tommy need to tell the police
what you know.”

Then there was silence from my mom, I guess my
father was talking. My mother finally calmed down and said to him, “Yes
everyone here is okay.”

She hung up the phone and said, “Your father said
that he was on his way home and that we should not answer the door for anyone
but him and your uncle. He also said your uncle was okay and he will be here
also. John was picking them up and bringing them to their cars, and they would
be here shortly.”

I was still
worried about the shooter, who is he and is he still going to come after me? I
was getting myself very nervous and thought that I have to be ready to handle
any situation that comes along.

23

Arthur

W
hen
I woke up Saturday morning I thought, “I need to stop worrying about the
shooter.” I want to have a great day and a great date with Joanna. This was a
first date for me and I think it was the first date for her also. I wanted it
to be a fun date. I started to make plans in my head. I will ask her what movie
she wants to see and if she would like to go for a pizza first or after the
movie. I was getting very excited and at the same time very nervous.

I went down
stairs and said good morning to everyone and sat down for breakfast. My father
said, “After breakfast you and I are going to see Arthur with your Uncle Tommy.
We need to have a plan of action. I was told that Carlos Barone thinks he knows
who the shooter is but is having a hard time finding him. He believes that the
shooter is hiding at this time. Carlos will be at Arthur’s place also. So
finish breakfast so we can get going.”

I said, “Okay
Dad.” As I was eating breakfast I heard my mother and father arguing about me.
She was telling him that if anything happened to me it would be his fault and
she would never forgive him. He is going to be 18 in a couple of days if he
gets in trouble it will hurt him for the rest of his life.

I heard my
father say to her, “I would never let anything happen to Joey or Rocco even if
I had to die preventing it. Now leave me alone and let me handle this.”

My mother
walked away from my dad and came in the kitchen and said to me, “Joey please be
very careful.”

“I will Mom.”

My father came
out and said, “Are you ready Joey?”

“Yes I am
Dad.”

“Good let’s
go.”

We arrived at
Arthur’s Social Club and I saw some men outside that I had never seen before.
They were big and hard looking and they stared at us when we got out of the
car. We walked to them so we could go into the club and one of the big guys
said, “What do you want?”

My father
told him, “We are here to see Arthur, My name is Antonio Toranetti and this is
my son Joey. Are you here with Carlos Barone?”

He said, “Yes
and I will check to see if you can see them. Are you carrying any weapons of
any kind?”

My father
said “No. Please let them know we are here.”

The big guy
disappeared into the club. I asked my father who they were and he said
bodyguards for Carlos.

The guy came
out and asked “Do you mind if we check you for any weapons.”

My father
said, “Go right ahead.”

This was the
very first time I had been searched for any weapons and I felt weird. What if I
had my pen knife on me? Would they shoot me?

Everything
was okay and they let us in. We walked to where Arthur was and I saw my Uncle
Tommy. I assumed the other person was Carlos Barone. He was not a very tall
person but you could see that he was a leader the way he handled himself. He
was a little overweight I would say about 30 lbs. He had a scar on his neck
that looked like his throat was cut. I was kind of intimidated by him.

Arthur said,
“Welcome my friends please sit down. Joey, I want to introduce you to Carlos
Barone.”

“It’s nice to
meet you sir.”

He said, “It
is a pleasure to meet such a brave person Joey. I want you to know that between
all of us here we will find the person who shot my nephew and will stop him
from coming after you. Did you see his face clearly?”

“Yes sir. It
was dark but I think could recognize him if I saw him.”

He pulled out
a picture of a guy named Eric Bitterman and said, “Is this, the person you
saw?”

I recognized
him right away and said, “Yes sir. Did you find him?”

“Not yet
Joey, but we will. I promise you that.”

My father
said, “Joey, here is what we want to do so you don’t have to worry. We will
search everywhere until we find him. We have many men out there looking. The
sooner we get him the better for you. I know you have a big date tonight so I
think you should cancel it.”

I said, “No
way.”

“Joey if he
sees you, your friend Joanna could be in trouble also. Remember he is a killer
and won’t leave any witnesses.”

“I know Dad,
but he won’t be looking tonight because he is hurt and won’t take the chance of
getting caught. I believe that he will wait a while before he tries again.”

Carlos said,
“He does have a point Antonio. He will want to be in the best shape especially
when you and Tommy showed up at the scene so fast. He knew you guys were
following him. He does not want to be trapped again.”

My Uncle
Tommy said, “Antonio, let Joey go out on his date and I will have my best guy
follow them. They won’t even know they are being followed.”

My father
said, “I don’t know, Joey can you do this without getting nervous?”

“Yes Dad,
but, can I have something to protect us with?”

“You will
have Uncle Tommy’s guy behind you. I will not give you a gun if that’s what you
are asking. I know this date is very important to you but if you see anything
that is not right please turn around and come home with Joanna and I will see
that she gets home. Do you understand?”

“I will Dad,
I promise.”

24

Date Night

W
hen
we arrived home I went up to my room to decide what to wear. I chose a nice
pair of jeans and a blue button down shirt that I had never worn. Once I
figured out what to wear I called Joanna and see if she wanted to go for pizza
before the movies. I also told her to pick out the movie she wanted to see. She
said, “Would you mind if we saw Sleeping Beauty by Disney?”

I said, “I
would love to see Sleeping Beauty with you.”

I asked, “Do
you want to get pizza first?”

“Yes, because
the movie doesn’t start until 7:00 p.m. and it is one hour and 15 minutes long.
My father said “I would have to be home by 9:00 p.m.”

I said, “Is
it okay to pick you up at 5:30 p.m. and we will go for pizza then?”

She said,
“Yes.”

Once I had the
time I had to tell my father so he could call my uncle.

My father
said, “Okay but do not say anything to Joanna, you don’t want her to get
nervous. I believe that nothing will happen tonight so just be aware.”

I said, “I
will.” Then I went back to my room to get ready. I had to be there in one hour.

I arrived at
Joanna’s house at 5:30 p.m. and rang the bell. Her father answered. I said,
“Hello—Mr. McDonald?”

He said,
“Yes, I am Joanna’s father. She will be right down. Why don’t we sit down on
the couch while we are waiting?”

I said,
“Okay.” He could see I was very nervous and kind of smiled.

He said, “I’m
not going to bite, you know. I just want to get to know you so I can feel my
daughter is going out with someone I know.”

I said, “I
know sir, this is the first time I have asked a girl out and I promise I will
take good care of her.”

“Well that’s
great,” He said.

“I will have
her home by 9:00 p.m. Is that the time you had told her?”

“Yes it is.”

At that time
Joanna came downstairs and I said, “Hi Joanna.”

“Hi Joey, I
am ready to go, I’m sorry it took so long.”

“It wasn’t
long at all; I was talking with your father.”

“I hope he
didn’t scare you.”

“No he was
very nice.”

I said
goodnight to her father and we left to go on our date. I noticed my uncle’s friend
sitting in his car about 3/4 of a block away. I was hoping he wouldn’t stay too
close.

We drove to
Johnny’s Pizza place in Bay Ridge. The pizza here is great and it is well
known. It was early so we got a table right away.

I asked
Joanna what type of pizza she would like and she said, “I like a plain cheese
pizza.”

I said,
“Great me too.” We ordered the pizza and soda. Now I was nervous because I did
not know what to say.

Joanna spoke
first, “How is the truck driving job going?”

“It is going very
good, I was taught how to drive the truck by the shop steward and started on
Monday.”

“What is a
shop steward?”

“He is the
union representative for that job. If there is an issue with a worker and the
bosses he steps in and negotiates the issue so it is beneficial to the union
and the company.”

“That sounds
like a big job.”

“Yes, on this
job he has 80 workers he is responsible for.”

“Wow that is
a lot of workers. And you are now one of them.”

“Yes, and as
a worker the pay is really good.”

“Did your uncle
get you in the Union and the job?”

“Yes and I am
very thankful.” Just then the pizza and soda came. It was getting very close to
the time the movie starts so we had to hurry. The movie house was only 10
blocks away so I knew we would make it. I paid for the food and we left for the
movie. We arrived at the movie just in time to get the tickets, get popcorn,
and find seats. Joanna wanted to sit about halfway down the aisle. The movie
was very good but I kept looking over at Joanna. She grabbed my hand and I
looked at her and she smiled. We held hands through the whole movie. I was
feeling so good and also so nervous.

When the
movie ended we walked out and went to the car. I saw that it was close to 9:00
p.m. so we went straight to her house. I walked her to her door and said, “I
had a great time Joanna.”

“So did I
Joey.” And she kissed me on the cheek. I think my face turned red at that time.

I said, “Can
we do this again sometime?”

“I would love
to Joey.”

“Great, I
will call you.” I made sure she got into her house and I got back in my car and
drove home. On the way home I was saying to myself, I am so happy nothing
happened with the shooter tonight.

I got home
and went into the house. My father said, “How did everything go?”

I said,
“Great, she said she would love to go out again.”

“That’s
fantastic son. Were there any issues?”

“No, that’s
what made it great also. I am going to my room Dad, thank you for everything.”

“You’re
welcome Joey.”