Red Fortunato’s Starlight Club in Queens is back, still teeming with mobsters and their “business” each night. Trenchie, Tarzan and Moose have returned. The Genovese family and others hang out amidst the grandeur of Red’s renovated baby – the Grand Ballroom. Columbia Pictures studio head, Larry Bernstein, is being blackmailed. “He knew that once any money had been exchanged, that this would not prevent any future demands. These people were nuts and nuts meant dangerous. There was no one in Hollywood he could trust. This was a gossip columnist’s dream scoop” that could ruin the studio. Big Red eagerly offers assistance, on his terms, with a caveat – a piece of Hollywood, and Swifty, the son he never had, is his ticket in the boxing ring and in glamour city. “Red was what some in the neighborhood called a ‘benevolent dictator.’ His neighbors loved him and his enemies knew he was the boss of a crime family that numbered a thousand men or more. It was just a given that no crime would take place in Red’s territory. The outcome was a reprisal called ‘the wrath of the Red Head’.” Too bad no one told the power hungry Detroit capo. He violated the “rules.” The phone was reminiscent of the red phone that led right to the White House. The council’s decision would stand. “The chief tapped the fingers of both hands twice. That was the signal” to Red that it was okay to proceed with justice – mob style. “The car moved slowly ahead until it reached a huge yellow machine. It was the car crusher. Reilly and his men instantly knew their fate. There were whimpers from inside the car, grown men pleading, pleading for their lives, begging for mercy.”
Genre: TRUE CRIME / Organized CrimeThis is the second book in the Starlight Club series. Ranking as of today is
#7 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > Movements & Periods > Modernism
#12 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Anthologies & Literature Collections > Short Stories
#643 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Mystery > Collections & Anthologies.
chapter one
1962
Swifty sat nervously in front of Red’s desk, tapping his fingers, one at a time on the side of his chair, fidgeting uncomfortably while he waited for Red to come talk to him. Red was pissed off about somethin’ – that much he was sure of – and the wondering made him nervous. He was probably thinkin’ that it was pay up day for all the money he owed Red.
So here he was, back at the club, and Swifty is nervous as hell just waitin’. What Swifty didn’t know was that Red had attended his fight on Saturday night. Red didn’t want Swifty to know he was there. He had bought seats in the bleachers – a section of seats they were called ‘in Sunnyside Gardens.’ Besides, Red could see better up there anyway. It was a six round bout and Red admired the tenacity and ferociousness of Swifty, the young neighborhood fighter. When the bout ended, Red shook his head and left before Johnny Addie announced Swifty as the winner.
Red came in carrying a spreadsheet. He sat down at his desk and just kept starin’ at that spreadsheet. Finally, he put it aside and looked at Swifty.
"Swifty, I’m calling in my marker,” he said. “You’re gonna pay me the money you owe me, but not for the reasons you think.” Swifty looked like somebody dropped a bomb on him. He was scared half to death.
“Look, Red,” he said. “I know I owe you money but I ain’t never stiffed you yet and you know it, so why do you want it now so bad?"
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Spanish
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Already translated.
Translated by Daniel Marchán
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Author review: Would definitely use this translator again |
