Guilt Kills

Guilt Kills

Its 3:00a.m. and two shady looking men riding in a long, black Cadillac pull up to the docks of the Winston Street Wharf. They step out the car and quickly open the trunk. They grab a mangled carcass and cautiously dump it into the frigid waters of the Hudson River. Both men look around to see if anyone saw them and then they jump back in the car and leave, peeling out as they go.

“Sammy, call the boss and tell’em it’s done, be sure to ask him if he needs to see us.” The boss is Joe Di Lorenzo, the head of the notorious Di Lorenzo Crime Family.

“Yeah Boss, it’s been taken care of. We dumped the body in the river.”

“Good job,” Di Lorenzo says after a slight pause.

“Oh yeah, do ya need to see us tonight?”

“No, pass by the office in the morning, around 10 o’clock.” Di Lorenzo tells Sammy after taking a long puff on his cigar.

“Got it, Boss. See ya then.”

The body that was dumped is that of the late Tony Giacona, a former capo in the Family. Tony had been killed for not doing a hit on his Uncle Carlo, whom had fallen out of good graces with Joe Di Lorenzo, when it was learned he had been skimming off of their Atlantic City based casino, The Stardust.

“Hey Joe, da fellas said ya needed to see me?” Tony asks with a curious expression on his face.

“Yeah Tony, I sure do. Close the door. Won’tcha have a seat.”

Tony sits down and loosens his collar and then lights up a cigarette. “Well, Joe. What is it?”

“Tony I’ve been checking the books for the Stardust, and it doesn’t look good.” Joe has several bank statements laid out on his desk.

“Whatcha gettin at Joe? You’re trying to say Uncle Carlo is not on the level or something?” Tony says to Joe in a defensive sort of way.

“Well, that’s the way it’s looking my friend. He hasn’t given me a good count in three months. And don’t think I haven’t notice that big ass Cadillac he’s been riding around town in.

Tony stands up and says, “OK Joe. What ya want me to do about it? I guess I can have a talk with him.” Joe stares at Tony and becomes annoyed by what he believes to be arrogance.

“Don’t worry you’re going to do something about it, but it’s going to more than a talk. Sit back down. Will ya? I’m pissed enough as it is already,” Joe says as he taps his fingers on his desk.

After finishing his cigarette Tony immediately lights up another one and nervously takes a drag. “Alright, alright but would do I need to do?”

“You know how he loves to fish, I want you to take him upstate to do some fishing, and then on that trip I want him whacked.”

Tony tries to hide his surprise by Joe’s directive, but he is unable to resist, “Wait a minute, Joe! This is my uncle we’re talking about.”

“I know Tony. I know he’s your uncle. But this is business.” Joe says while giving Tony a cold stare. “And business will be taken care of.”

“Why do I have to kill him? You have probably a dozen guys you can get that can do this job. And you have to pick me. Why me?”

“You’re the one that recommended him for that job. You insisted that he be hired. I knew he had a reputation for not being able to be trusted.” Joe says pointing his index finger at Tony. “But you insisted. So you are the one that’s going to get rid of that son of a bitch. Or I can always do my second option.”

“What’s that boss?

“Get rid of you. How does that grab ya? Joe lets out a slight chuckle.

Tony shakes his head and disbelief and then runs his fingers through his wavy, black hair. “OK, I’ll take care of it. I’ll call him this evening and set up the trip for this weekend.”

“Now that’s what I wanted to hear, Tony ma’boy. Call me after you get everything lined up.” Joe pauses for a moment then says, “No funny business, ya hear.”

“You won’t have to worry about anything like that. You know I’m a man of my word.” Tony shoots back with an angry voice.

“I know you are Tony and I’m also man of my word,” Joe says with a huge grin on his face.

It’s Friday evening and Tony and his uncle are heading to their fishing cabin up around Black Lake, in upstate New York. Tony is going to try and persuade Uncle Carlo to go night fishing; and while their out in the boat he will shoot him in the head and dump his body in the lake. Once the job is complete he will head back to the city.

As Tony and Uncle Carlo make the two hour trip upstate, Tony has a million thoughts in his head - everything from memories with his uncle, to how he’s going to pull off the hit.

“Tony, remember those fishing trips we used to take with your Pop?” Uncle Carlo asks with a pleasant smile on his face.

“Yeah, how could I forget? I still remember that time when Pop was reeling that huge fish in and you went to grab the net.”

Uncle Carlo interrupts, “Yeah, yeah and when I went to scoop that damn fish up, I lost my balance, and then fell overboard.” Both men begin to laugh hysterically.

“We had some fun times. Didn’t we kiddo?” Uncle Carlo says as he gazes out his window.

“We sure did,” Tony replies.

Tony is beginning to get a sick feeling in his stomach, as if he almost forgotten the real reason for going the trip. He keeps reflecting back on the conversation he had with Joe Di Lorenzo. “So you are the one that’s going to get rid of the son of a bitch. Or I can always do my second option.”

“What’s that boss?

“Get rid of you. How does that grab ya? Tony and Uncle Carlo arrive at the cabin around six o’clock that evening. They unload the car and Tony persuades his uncle to go out on the boat to do some night fishing. The sick feeling in Tony stomach is getting worst. He has concealed his pistol in the glove box of the boat, but he doesn’t know how he is going to bring himself to using it.

“Tony, how far do ya want to go out?” Carlo asks while securing the fishing poles in the back of the boat.

“Ah, ah I don’t know. Tony nervously tells his uncle.

“What’s da matta kid?” Uncle Carlo asks.

Tony pauses for a moment, then replies, “Oh, I just caught a chill, that’s all.” He knows the time to knock off his beloved uncle is quickly approaching. The feeling of killing someone that is so closed to him is weighing heavily. For some reason when he first agreed to kill his uncle he did not feel as sentimental as he does now. However, he knows he is a dead man if the job isn’t done.

They ride out into the cool, brisk evening. As the waves splash up against the boat, Tony thinks about what will happen if he doesn’t kill his uncle. What story could I come up with?

“How about that spot over there?” Uncle Carlo tells Tony as he points over to the west side of the lake.

“Yeah, yeah that looks like a good spot,” Tony replies as his blood starts to run cold. Tony slows the boat down and tells his uncle to grab the anchor, which is located up by the bow.

“I got it. Slow the motor down and kill it.” Carlo then drops the anchor.

Tony says to himself, please don’t say kill it. He grabs for the pistol, clicks it off of safe and with his hand shaking, he points it at his uncle. However, he can’t pull the trigger. All the good times they have had together races through his head. He has convinced himself that he cannot go through with the hit.

Suddenly, Uncle Carlo turns around to see Tony pointing the gun at him. His eyes get real wide and he has a horrified look on his face. “What the hell are you doing Tony? “Tony then drops the gun and shamefully puts both of his hands over his face.

“Uncle Carlo the boss wants you dead. It’s about that skim job you’ve been doing with the casino,” Tony pauses for a second. “Well he’s onto it. And there is no way he will change his mind about having you whacked.

“Oh he is. So he wanted you to knock me off? That no good bastard! Well, what we going to do now, kid?” Uncle Carlo takes a flask of whiskey out of his coat pocket and takes a long swig. “Ya know I should’ve hooked up with the Marino family when I had my chance. I would’ve had a shit load of money and I would have had more back up. Oh well, the things ya don’t do always come back and bite you in the ass, dat fat bastard, Di Lorenzo. I knew this day would come sooner or later.

Tony lights up a cigarette and says, “Here’s what we’re going to do. You get a flight out of the country, maybe someplace over in Europe. I’ll go back and tell Joe that you’re dead and I dumped your body in the lake. Then he’ll probably put Joe Jr. in charge of the Stardust, because I think that is what he has wanted to do six months ago.

“Yeah that’s what this is all about. He wanted to put that damn kid of his in charge,” Uncle Carlo says angrily. “Screw Europe! I’m going to my beach house in Cancun, Tony. Let’em find me there, that no good bastard.”

“That’ll work, but you gotta keep your mouth shut. Don’t call any of your guys, ya here?” Tony orders his uncle. “Especially that bigmouth, Charlie Priola, because I’m dead meat if you do.”

“Don’t worry kid; everything will work out just fine. Di Lorenzo’s dumbass won’t figure out a thing.”

They head back to the cabin and load up Tony’s car. Uncle Carlo books an 11 pm flight to Cancun, Mexico and calls his wife, Roxanne to meet him there.

Watching from the bushes across the cabin, a rough, looking man by the name of Ray Santucci grabs his cell phone and calls Joe Di Lorenzo. “Hey Joe! He did just what you thought he would do. They both left in Tony’s car.”

“Oh that’s beautiful. Giancona’s ass is mine, now,” Joe says with a hearty laugh.

“Do you want me to follow them?” Santucci says in his gravelly voice.

“No Ray, your work is done. It’s time for me to call the Palermo brothers.”

Joe immediately calls and orders his enforcers, Sal and Sammy Palermo, and summons them to his office. He tells them that he wants them to wait at Tony’s house until he gets there. “I want y’all to take him from his house and bring’em to me. I want to have a few words with him before I have him whacked. If he doesn’t show there in twenty four hours then I want y’all to go looking for him. But I do still expect him to give me a call to tell me the job is done, unless he’s just gone totally stupid.”

The Palermo brothers are two physically imposing individuals. They both or well over six foot and weigh around three hundred pounds. They have worked their way up in the family by being ruthless, enforcers. Sal and Sammy have a notorious reputation for busting bones, loan sharking, and murder.

“Go it boss,”Sal says with a real serious look on his face.

Joe’s cell phone suddenly rings. He notices that it is Tony. He gives a slight smile to the Palermo’s and then answers. “Yeah, Tony, please tell me that the job is done.”

Tony tries to sound a little shaken, “Yeah Joe. It’s a done deal.”

“Fabulous! Just what a wanted to hear, baby. Now go home, be with the family, and take it easy for a couple of days. Capiche?”

“Got it boss.” Tony says with a sigh of relief.

Around 3 am the Palermo’s show up in Tony’s neighborhood. Sal Palermo is sure to park his car where Tony can’t see it. After parking they sit and wait for Tony to get home.

“Ya know Sal.” Sammy says while lighting up a cigarette. “It’s hard to believe the boss is actually having ol’ Tony G. whacked. They go way back to when they were kids.”

“Yeah I know. But business is business, little brother.”

Around 4 am Tony pulls up in his drive way. He gets out of his car and takes a good look to see if he notices anything unusual. He looks thoroughly, but he does not notice the Palermo’s vehicle parked about a block down the street.

The Palermo’s make their way towards the house. Sal goes to the front door and Sammy goes to the side of the house and then around to the patio, which is located directly to the back of the house. Sammy is waiting there just in case Tony doesn’t want to go to the front door and tries to escape.

Sal knocks and then rings the doorbell. Tony looks through the peep hole in the front door and sees Sal standing there. He thinks to himself- oh crap, what the hell is he doing here? He immediately grabs his pistol out of his coat pocket and makes his way to the back of the house. He slowly and quietly opens the sliding glass door. A soon as he gets his head out of the back door Sammy sticks his 9mm to the back of Tony’s head.

“Where ya goin Tony? Steppin out for a little fresh air? Huh?” Sammy sarcastically tells Tony.

Sal meets Sammy around back and pats Tony down. He takes Tony’s pistol and says, “Oh well chief, you won’t be needing this anymore.”

“What are you guys doing here so early in the morning?”

“We’re just taking you to see the boss, that’s all,” Sal replies before grabbing Tony’s arm.

An hour later they arrive at Joe’s downtown office. Tony looks up at the sky and sees the sun slowly rising over in the east. He thinks to himself this is the last time his face will see the light of day. I wish I would have kissed Barbara and the kids before we left, Tony thinks to himself. All Sal and Sammy have told him that the boss wants to see him, but Tony knows in his gut that Joe has found out about him not killing Uncle Carlo. He has been around Joe enough to know how he operates.

As the three men walk into Joe’s office he greets them, “Good morning fellas, Sal, Sammy, and Tony, you lying piece of shit.”

“Joe, I’m very sorry I couldn’t do the job, but telling me to kill Uncle Carlo is like telling me to kill my old man. Something you just can’t do.”

“Bullshit! This is a business you belong to. You took a freakin oath. This is about loyalty and now I see where you loyalty lies. Now it’s time for you to meet your maker. Take’m away fellas!”

The Palermo brothers take Tony down to the basement. They beat him unmercifully and then force him to his knees and shoot him execution style. They take his body to the back alley and put it in the trunk of the car. They wait till nightfall and they drive to the Winston Street Wharf to dump the body in the river.

Several days pass after Tony was killed and Joe Di Lorenzo is unable to sleep. His overwhelming guilt has put him in a state of paranoia. He is scared to even close his eyes for a second, because every time he closes them he sees Tony’s face.

Joe Di Lorenzo and Tony Giacona had been good friends since they were kids growing up in Brooklyn. Tony stood in Joe’s wedding; he was Godfather to Joe’s first born son. Joe can’t seem to get Tony off of his mind. He keeps thinking about what must have been going through Tony’s mind when the Palermo brothers were finishing him off. He keeps thinking about Tony’s body floating in the river. On several occasions, Joe can hear Tony’s voice whispering to him slowly, “Why Joe?”

One morning when Joe was shaving in front of his bathroom mirror, he could see Tony’s zombie-like face staring at back at him. Upon seeing this, Joe‘s blood runs cold and he feels like he’s going to faint. After several minutes Joe is able to gather himself.

Joe’s crew thinks that he just needs a good night sleep. However, Joe has been unable to sleep for a week, and he doesn’t plan on sleeping anytime soon.

On one occasion Joe asks the Palermo brothers to pass by the wharf and see if they can locate Tony’s body. Joe’s paranoia is at an all-time high, since it has been over a week and the police have yet to find the body. Sal tries to reason with Joe by telling him that both he and Al pumped Tony’s body with over thirty bullets, and they also stabbed him in the neck. “Quit worrying Boss, Tony G. has been food for the fishes for a week now,”Sal says with a chuckle.

“But you don’t understand Sal I keep hearing his voice and seeing his face. I know he’s coming after me,” Joe tells Sal with a grave look on his face. Sal looks over at his brother and both men give each other a wide eyed look. They know that Joe Di Lorenzo’s sanity is beginning to slip.

One rainy night Joe is sitting in his office located on the corner of 22nd and McKinley Street. Joe is looking at the 10 o’clock news. The anchor woman is reporting that NYPD is yet to find the body of mob kingpin Tony Giacona and there have been no further leads in the case. Tony thinks to himself because he’s not dead lady, that’s why.

Joe suddenly hears the sound of someone slowly walking up the stairs outside his office door. He thinks who can that be this time of night?

The door slowly opens and there stands Tony Giacona. Tony’s face, or what is left of it, is grey with patches of blood all over it. There are places on his arms and legs where the bone is exposed from where the fish have been feasting on him. His body is also covered in seaweed. And since he came walking in from the rain there is a puddle of water mixed with blood and maggots at his feet.

Joe has a look of horror on his face. He stumbles to find the words when he finally gets out, “Tony my boy, what bring you here tonight? I thought you were dead.”

Tony slowly replies, “Only half dead, Joe.”

Joe begins to slowly and cautiously reaching for his revolver in his desk drawer. He is beginning to sweat profusely. He then hollers out, “I’m sorry Tony, but it was business, just business! You lied to me!”

Tony replies as he moves closer to Joe, “Your business decision has left my kids without a father, and my wife without a husband, all because I wouldn’t kill my uncle.”

Joe finally grabs his revolver and unloads it on Tony. Blood and guts splatter everywhere, but Tony’s living dead body is totally unfazed. He keeps moving towards his former boss with both hands out reaching for his neck. Joe is paralyzed with fear; he can barely let out a scream. Tony grabs his neck and Joe lets out a muffled sounding “h-e-l-p!” Tony then uses his left hand to strangle Joe and his right to rip out his heart.

When Joe Di Lorenzo’s body is found the next day there are no signs that anyone had been in the room other than himself. There is no blood anywhere. And Joe’s body is untouched.

A few weeks pass when the results of the autopsy come in. The report says the following: Deceased male expired due to cardiac arrest while sleeping.