Antonio's Confession

I was waiting down at a booth in the diner. Waiting for the guy I asked to meet up with. He was supposed to be here soon. Each glance up at the clock brought me closer to lunch, 12 o’ clock. When I would normally have it. Right now I only have a few minutes for that. Then again I had only just got here, the waitress came over with the smile most of them have. Trying to make the customer feel welcomed. Yet I know that look all too well. I had worked in one just like this year ago.

“Sir, could I get you anything?”

I looked past her for a moment to make sure nobody was looking at me before I said anything.

“A coffee would be nice, thanks, and make that two.”

I barely had enough in my pockets for the coffee. I was broke as all hell and I couldn’t do anything about it. The waitress didn’t even say anything, instead just walking away. I preferred not talking too much. Especially to people I don’t really know. Now most than any other time. At the door the bells rang as someone walked in. Suit almost like mine, a fedora. Though I imagine my appearance wasn’t one to be admired. My pinstripe suit wrinkled and my tie loose around my neck, hair falling in front of my face. Even my eyes looked full of dread. He was also carrying a folder. I was hoping this was the guy. He looked at me, paused for a moment then started walking towards me. My heart sank for a second then I knew. It was him, there was no mistaking it. He sat down across from me and put the folder on the table. He seemed serious.

“You Antonio?”

“Yes, I am.”

His voice was certain. Strong, American. He wasn’t like me. That was for certain, and for as much as I knew he knew nothing about me. I wanted to keep it that way.

“You said over the phone you had something for me.”

“Yeah I did, and it’s a lot.”

“Alright, what is it?”

He said more focused now. More interested in what I had to say. All this time I had been fighting guys like him. Now I seek help from guys like him.

“Ok, you know Marino right?”

“Yeah ‘coarse I do. The big time gangster right?”

“Yeah, him.”

That’s where our conversation kicked off.

I could remember back in ‘24 I was behind the counter of the bar. We’ve been having a good day, like nothing could get better, or worse. But something happened. Even now whether or not it was good or bad, still leaves all of those memories behind. It was when I first met Marcu, what most people called him. Not even those closest to him just referred to Marcu by his name Marcus Franchetti. Interesting guy. He had a funny way of walking that stood out to me. Like he had all of the confidence in the world. Something that I couldn’t forget. Some reason it stood out. Either way he had his eye set on me. Like a predator stalking its prey. Before I used to make booze and sell during the prohibition. Good money on it, I had lots of experience in that. Caught his eye or something like that. Before I would sell to him. He would always buy, bg smile on his face. One of pleasure, maybe greed too.  Doesn’t really matter but what does is what we said after that. He leaned against the bar and looked at me.

“Stop wiping the bar.”

I knew better than to ignore him.

“Yes? Marcu?”

“Do you want to do something that really helps? Really do something with your life?”

My heart started racing, I didn’t know what to expect. That was the thing with Marcu, you never fully know.

“Tony, you have been helping out with the family, I thought you might have wanted the pleasure to do a bit more than this for us.”

“Okay, what are you sayin’”

Smile grew across his face.

“How ‘bout I make you an offer you can’t refuse.”

That’s how I started, working only small time things. Mostly I still did with the booze and ‘collections’. That was until around ‘33 and the prohibition had just ended. That was it. No more cigarettes and booze. I thought that was it for me. I would be thrown out, two in the head. But instead that is what made them take me on collection.

The detective stopped me from talking. Abruptly with that loud voice, the kind when you try to talk to someone when they have hearing loss.

“So, Tony, you’re tellin’ me that you just came into the line of work because you sold alcohol?”

“Yeah, it felt like… like something else though.”

I didn’t know how to explain it. I tried to find ways in my mind but it simply wasn’t working. The only thing I could mutter out of my mouth was something else. Whatever the fuck that ment. Mostly I’d spend my time in the bar. Watching over it.  Was the owner of that place too.

“Yeah sure, maybe that’s what you think, or want to believe.”

He took another sip of the coffee. I was still peering out the window every so often just to make sure.

“Once I started making that stuff and selling it to the Rossi family. I came into big money, I was making it every step I took. Nothing could stop me. That was until ‘33. The prohibition ended. Then what I told you, I knew what it was like to be on the inside.”

My eyes tired as I was telling my story to the detective. The first time in my life that I have been talking to the cops. That was before I got involved though. Before I tried to be good on my feet but, what have the cops ever done good for me?

“I hear you, every day I hear something new about someone dying or someone's business being burnt down or shot up.”

I watched his hands as he opened up the folder. Part of me was expecting to see a gun inside. That I would have to run and find help elsewhere. I knew that Don Rossi would pay off as many people as he could to find me.

“I know, half of those businesses were probably me, and Marcu.” I had so much to say, I didn’t know where to start but I just did. “I could remember it like it had just happened. Like it was still fresh in my mind. Those nights we would stop by Frank’s. He would have everything we needed. Anything from guns all the way to bombs. If you wanted it Frank would have it. All you had to do was ask, or for the right price him to ‘borrow’ it from somebody. We never did ask what that meant. All we understood from it is that he did some bad shit. Frank was possibly the strangest person I’ve ever met. Sometimes late at night you could see his car leave the restaurant. Usually he would keep the headlights off. One night I followed him, Lost the car after going to one of the winding neighborhoods. After that I never bothered, maybe he knew it was me and just wanted to mess with me or he thought I was one of the Marino’s.”

The detective cut me off at the name.

“Marino?”

His posture slouched into one of more interest and curiosity. This was something he wanted to hear. And I could tell that it was.

“Yeah. They controlled most of Brooklyn at the time, we mostly handled the East coast, while they handled the West. We kept the peace for most years.”

“What happened after that?”

He started flipping through the folder.

“Once the prohibition had ended we were losing so much money. We had to start thinking on our feet.”

Marcu came up to me one day back in ‘35 I believe.

“The Don wants to see you Tony.”

My heart started racing, I didn’t know what he could have wanted. Maybe it was because I wasn't making as much as I should. Maybe I wasn’t ‘useful’ anymore.

“Ok, I will be right there.”

At the time I was just hanging around the back for a little bit, having my time with the dart board. I was getting pretty good. Luenzi taught me how to play. Before that I never learned. I don’t think I even had one in my bar back in ‘24. I’m not even from around here, I moved from the old country back in ‘09 at the time I was only eight. We used to tell stories about that place. The old country. But I set the dart down. Turned and made my way to Don's room. I have been working with him for eleven years. Now just waiting to get two in the back of the head, Maybe that’s when it will happen I thought. Sitting down he started to speak

“We are losing money and fast, soon we won't have anything to buy or handle. We need to spread out from bootlegging and into other stuff. I already put Marcu on top of the casino and Carlos on the prostitution.”

At the time I thought I was just here to listen to keep facts. Now that I tried to keep my bootleg racket afloat.

“Now Tony.”

I had to gain my composure. And fast.

“Yes.”

“I want you incharge of the bootlegging still but also the ‘protection’ alright. We do not get into drug trafficking , that is for the cartels.”

“Yes sir.”

I said as he dismissed the room. Me, Marcu, Carlos, and Egg man left. After that it was fine going. We had no problem with it. My ‘protection’ and bootlegging was going great.

The detective takes the last sip of the coffee before speaking up to me.

“So you had a lot of control, who is Egg man, Luenzi?”

He asked, trying to get to an answer.

“Yeah, that’s him. Me and him never really spoke, we controlled different places. The only difference is that he ‘struggled’ to listen. Always giving people a hard time.”

The waitress comes back over before either of us can get another word in.

“Could I  get you guys a refill?”

“Yes, thanks.”

The detective says as he holds out his cup. She pours into his, then mine. I took a sip before continuing my story. After waiting for her to walk away.

“During the second world war, around ‘40 kinda near the end of the depression. Luenzi asked us for some help.”

“What kind of help?”

The detective writes things down inside of the folder. I wasn’t sure what it was. Put me on edge almost. But maybe that was for the paranoia from death looming over my shoulder. I spilled what I knew about that. For a little while it was even in the papers and on the radio.

Luenzi walked into the bar and sat next to us. He put his arm on the back of the booth. It was me and Marcu. Now the three of us. He had that grin one would have after doing something that they shouldn’t have.

“I have a proposition for you’s.”

Me and Marcu looked at eachother. We had no idea what he was thinking about.

“We gotta do a pick-up. I want both of you’s to come alright.”

“Ok? That’s it?”

Marcu asked. Luenzi said something under his breath but either way we went out to his car. In the back was Carlos. We all got in, I was in the front passenger seat. Luenzi was driving, and Marcu was in the back with Carlos. As soon as all of the doors shut we drove off. He seemed stressed to me, mostly because he was. That’s when he broke the news to us.

“I trust you’s all with my life alright.”

By this time me and him started to get closer.

“You guys know the bank is down on main?”

“Yeah ‘coarse I do, what about it.”

Luenzi took a breath.

“I’ve been thinking and I have a really strong lead on it. I’ve been casing it for weeks and I have a great plan.”

“Jesus Luenzi tha—”

Carlos tried to say it was stupid, going behind the Don’s back like that isn’t something you do. Unless you are tired of life.

“I know, but once we get the money we can cut in the Don alright. He won't mind once he gets his money.”

“I’m not sure about this, man going behind his back like that. Have you lost your mind?”

Marcu tried to reason.

“I have everything we need in the trunk right now”

I hated the idea but as we got closer to the bank I started thinking about it. Maybe if we didn’t tell the Don but gave him money maybe, just maybe he won't care. That’s what I was hoping for at least.

The detective seemed impressed so far, but not the happy kind. More of the How did you pull that off kind of impressed me.

“So you didn’t rob it that day?”

“Nah, it was two days later. I was doing a mental prep before it. I have no idea what the others were doing. But later that day, we all met up.”

It felt so wrong ratting on the family like this but I had to do this. For my life. I can’t live with myself if I don't. I might not live if I don’t either.

“Where did you meet up?”

He was persistent in asking so many questions. Before this I, or someone else usually Marcu would have taken care of him. Taken him to a place where he would have been forgotten or just barely remembered. The only thing that would keep him even remotely alive would be pictures.

“We met up with Luenzi at the club. We would typically go there before we would do anything crime related.”

To us the club seemed like it would be a good spot because of the low amount of suspicion. Nobody looks for people plotting to do a crime in places like that. Not even any of the other guys would be there. Most of the time at least. Sometimes we would get some of the rival guys there. They didn’t own the place so they wouldn’t go very often. We had control over it.

“Is there any proof of that?”

“Yeah I’m sure of it because they always asked for a name and anyone who went into the place got marked into a book. I only know that because I saw it.”

“Is that one of the places you controlled?”

“Nah, I was for the protection of other businesses, not our own. There was no need for it. If something bad was to happen to other places they wouldn’t go unnoticed.”

“Back at the club though, we got up to some planning. We had a solid idea of what to do. All underneath the Don. A big risk on our part.”

“Did Mr.Rossi find out about the robbery.”

“Yea—”

“Wait. Before you answer, how did the robbery go?”

“It was a complete mess. So many cops that day lost their lives.”

On the day of the bank job. After the club it was me, Carlos, Marcu, and Luenzi. We were driving down the road towards the bank. Our hands were shaking from what we were imagining. Almost like you could see the fear and anticipation in everybody's eyes. Nobody wanted to do it but the money was good and fast.

“Mask up, we don’t need anyone seein’ our faces.”

Luenzi said, putting up his mask as he said it.

“Yes boss.”

Marcu jokes. The more I got to know him the more I felt like something about him was off about him. Like he wasn’t fully there. It was around that time when I really started to feel uneasy around him. I feel like he started to show who he really was. Like he wasn’t human. I don’t  really know. Pulling up to the front of the bank I could feel something wash over me. It was probably just the adrenaline shooting through my veins from the thought of robbing the bank. The cold feel of the gun that was in my hand. We was a little under equipped. But what the people inside would see. It didn’t matter what we had. Before we got out of the car, Luenzi spoke up.

“Ok, we got one guard, probably armed. Marcu, you will take care of him. And Carlos you will find the manager. He should be in the office upstairs. Tony, you will come with me and make sure there will be no trouble.”

“Alright.”

We all said almost in sync.

“Ok, now remember, don’t fuck up. The Don can't know about this until we get the money.”

We all agreed on that one thing. That the Don couldn’t know. If he ever found out that we got to the planning stages of this he would have us killed before we even woke up outta bed. We all got out of the car guns in hands and we made our way to the door. Luenzi opened it and shouted out to everyone.

“Be quiet!”

He went on. Not a soul to make a sound and going up to the guard Marcu knocked him out with the shotgun he had. We put him in crowd control. We figured that someone who looked like him would be intimidating enough to scare away any heroes. That’s the last thing that we needed. Marcu did a pretty good job at it though. Nobody even moved. From the blood stains I saw on the floor when I went back up I didn’t want to know how he did it. Down where me and Luenzi were, the guy who was guarding the deposit boxes was asleep on the desk. For ‘good measure’ Luenzi hit him in the head. After a moment I could see blood leaking onto the table. It was disgusting but had to be done.

I stop to take a sip of my coffee and that’s where the detective steps in again.

“So the robbery… Hell, I could have you thrown away for years just for that.”

“Yeah you could, but you’d never hear what happened to the rest of them.”

“Right, so the robbery. It was smooth sailing?”

I chuckled a little bit after hearing that. I knew it had to be anything but smooth sailing. If anything that mess up had to be the sloppiest thing ever. Though then again what do I know?

“No, no not at all. The way out to our car was the worst part. We were pinned.”

At the time it felt like a nightmare. Bullets were flying at us from every direction it seemed.

After getting the money from the safety deposit boxes it was clean getting out. But the biggest problem was trying to get out. It all started when we got to the top of the stairs back to the main food. One of the attendants must have pressed the alarm. We didn’t even know it happened. The alarm was silent, didn't even know that was possible. I could remember how we got out though. The way to the door was clear. Opening it up we were greeted with nothing but cops. More than half the NYPD was waiting for us. It was a massacre. It was lucky we got out with our lives. The chief was out there with his megaphone.

“Put the guns down and surrender!”

He let out with his megaphone. It was loud there wasn’t a way we wouldn’t be able to hear it. It was so loud. Though with all the money we had gotten there was no way we would listen to him. If we could get out there we would be set. At least half a million dollars in the bags we have. Carlos made the decision to run out the back way, completely out of plan but it was probably safe. So there it was. Us shooting our way out of the bank, our guns against theirs. Bodies dropping like flies. The car was a little ways before the police cars. But close enough to where we could get to if we were fast enough.

“Luenzi get to the car!”

Marcu yelled as he shot his way to the car. After a moment more shooting stopped and we made a run for the car. It was terrifying with all the dead bodies around the place. We hopped into the car and drove off. And for a little bit we was chased. The cops were right on our tail and we couldn’t do anything about it. We tried to get out of there as fast as we could. Luenzi’s foot on the petal as hard as he could. We were driving fast in slow cars. Coming closer to death every minute that we haven’t been outta there we went through alleyways. It was risky but it had to have been done.

I stopped myself trying to think of what happened after that. My mind is still cloudy from that whole thing.

‘One minute let me try and remember.”

The detective waited for me. Until he got impatient then he started talkin’ to me.

“How do you not remember what happened after that? I got it only a few months ago but still. I think that I would have remembered that if it happened to me.”

I looked at him with the notion of discontent. I didn’t like being disrespected. I don’t think that anybody would like to be disrespected. Back when I wasn’t going to the cops like this back in the mob nobody cared what I did. Anywhere I looked people treated me like a king. Like I owned the place. I enjoyed that. After hearing those words I could in-fact remember.

“Yeah, it was once we got away. Carlos wasn't in the car because he had gone out the back way but we lost the cops. We were hoping that they didn't pinch Carlos because he had some money from the boxes with him.”

“Were you going somewhere in particular, I imagine you didn’t go straight to Rossi.”

“Yeah, we went to Marcu’s casino where he kept his money. We thought if we put it there that nobody would find out. That’s how we wanted it to go at least. Completely without any trouble other than the cops.”

And sure enough, once we got there so was Carlos. He had already put the money inside.

Pulling the car into the parking lot we all got out. We brought the bags of money past Carlos and into the casino. We walked past everyone. They probably thought that we won big or something. To us it didn’t matter, we were just happy to have all the money that we did.

“So, how much did we get?”

Carlos asked as he watched us walk out of the back room. We had to wait for the money to be counted. It would take a little bit of time but that was fine. As long as this was out of the books we should have been fine.

“We have to count it but it should all be done by tonight. I’m going to pick it up, ehhh lunchtime? Tomorrow?”

I suggested, the time would be good. This had so many moving parts that I found it a little bit confusing.

“Yeah, lunchtime works for me. What about you guys.”

Luenzi looked at everyone else. We were standing in a square almost.

“Yeah that works.”

Marcu said and Carlos just nodded. He for some reason wasn’t very talkative. All of our hearts felt like beating out of our chests. I could feel mine trying to escape my body. It was such a rush of adrenaline and endorphins shooting through my veins. After that and putting the money away in the casino, I went home and relaxed. The drive home wasn’t that bad, it was a relief from the escaping we had to do when the cops were there. I was just hoping it wouldn’t be all over the news, if that happened no matter what we would be just that much closer to being caught. Felt like little kids trying to hide something they did wrong. Once I got home all I did was relax, I was going to try and sleep. And forget today for a long time.

I looked out the window of the diner, I saw two cars pull up both black. I didn’t think much of it mostly because people came and went. We were probably sitting in that booth for quite some time. I was almost done with my story.

“You know, eventually the Don did find out about the robbery.”

The detective looked shocked. His eyebrows raised above his head. Like he was shocked to hear that, even though it shouldn't have been one. You can’t hide something like a bank job from anybody.

“What happened after he found out?”

I wish this day never came. Fighting for my life by talkin’ to the feds. I felt disgusting doing so, but it was me or them.

“He started looking into who did it. Took him only a few days after hearing the news to find out. After that I told Marcu, Luenzi, and Carlos about it.”

“What did they say?”

“You know what they said, they said that we need to get as far away from here as possible. Trying to make amends with the Don was out of the question.”

He looked surprised, like learning a new fact.

“Was it? Why is that?”

I scoffed.

“Because if we even tried to talk to him he would have killed us right there on the spot and we would be dead. Nothing we would be able to do about it.”

“Christ, so how much trouble are you in right now?”

“Trouble? Not any right now I don’t think. Inside the city is where they wouldn’t be trying too hard to find me. They are probably out somewhere looking. But I do know everyone who was on that job. They got two to the skull.”

He looked disgusted just as I did. Hearing of death like that because all we wanted to do was make a quick buck.

“And you know, the Don. He took all the money for himself. That greedy bastard.”

The detective agreed with me on that. He almost couldn’t believe what he had been hearing.

“You know, I think that’s all I needed.”

He said as he closed the folder.

‘Ok, but head out the back way just in case. Something don’t feel right.”

“Ok.”

He said as he stood out of the chair. I did the same and shook hands. I left a few dollars on the table and stood there for a minute. I could feel the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stand up. I felt like a ghost just walked straight through me. The detective left through the back and I heard the door shut. I went over to the counter where the waitress was.

‘Thanks, I will probably be back later.”

“Ok.”

She said with a smile and a wave. I smiled back but as I went for the front door. I didn’t even make it two steps. Rossi found me. Those two cars out there were his. That’s why they stood out. Probably the one I drove too. I could feel and hear the bullets of Thompson's shredding through me like cheese on a grater. My body turned to a bloody and fleshy swiss cheese. I fell to my back, nothing but cold and pain flowing through my body. I wasn’t even dead. All I could do was groan, I couldn’t even scream. That’s when one person came in. Carlos. He was in on the whole robbery the minute it had been mentioned. It was a mistake ever letting him know. The only time I heard those words said to me was now.

“Don Rossi sends his regards.”

BANG.