Carmine was sitting in his usual place inside his compound now in Pasadena instead of Downtown. Looking back on it he couldn't believe how far he had come. He used to be just a regular street punk trying to scratch out a name for himself on the streets. That landed him in prison for a few years. Now he was in charge of his own part of town in Los Angeles and head of his own family.

Currently he was trying to get his family into another business. He'd been told by close associates that he'd been bit by the ambition bug and if he was honest with himself he'd have to agree. Now he was looking for all kinda of things to get into. Both legal and illegal but he figured having some of one would pave the way for the other.

He was looking into figuring out how to find his way into construction places out here in California. With such a business mogul like James Sullivan also in the state he figured he'd figure some way out that the both of them could work together on this. So it was his original plan to call him over to the family compound for a meeting to discuss ideas. That was until he had seen the news paper. He usually didn't read the newspaper but it had been brought to his attention a particular article of interest and it wasn't a good one.

He had to fight back feelings of panic and anger inside of him and he had to remember to always keep his calm in these tense situations. Thinking about it logically his best choice would be to wait for Sullivan to get here so he can go over it with him. He looked at the bottle of scotch he'd been drinking and the glass which had already been refilled twice. He forced himself to stop as he would need to not be drunk during this meeting. So he had gone back to looking at construction companies and their business numbers while he awaited for Sullivan to show up.

I arrived in front of Carmine's compound, located in the lovely Pasadena. Carmine had called a meeting, which was incredibly rare!. I was contemplating on whether to be curious or anxious. None the less I wasted little time as to see what was on his mind. After knocking a few times, a gentlemen who I never seen before answered. I assumed he was a server by the way he was dressed.

He quietly walked me into Carmine's office, where I was greeted by my good friend. Carmine asked me to sit as we had a lot to cover.

"Got any whiskey Carmine?. Been awhile since I had one."

I unbuttoned my jacket, and straitened out my tie as I sat back and prepared to listen to what Carmine had to say.    

Carmine had greeted Sullivan in typical tradition. He gave him a quick handshake and hug and told him to take a seat on the other side of the desk. Carmine heard his friend ask him for whiskey so Carmine dug into one of the drawers in his desk and pulled out a a spare glass and wiped it with a clean little towel to make sure it was clean. He then poured a glass of whiskey and sat it in front of James. He then poured himself a glass before sitting in his own seat opposite of James.

He had been thinking about how to handle this meeting the whole time. He figured he'd better get straight to the point. He picked up the newspaper he'd been reading and opened it to the part that had grabbed his attention so much and had been the cause of all his worry. He could tell by the curiosity on James' face that he had no prior knowledge about what was concerning him. He handed him the paper so he could read it for himself. 

Witnesses come forth to Underworld Murder

The cold case murder that saw an out of town crime boss slain in the streets of New York in broad daylight, had left many questioning the competency of the NYPD.  About a week ago things have changed as witnesses to the murder have come forth and begun to identify the gun men at the scene of the crime.  Investigators now say with the shooters being charged they believe it's only a matter of time before everyone who played a part in this crime is brought forth and arrested.

Written by: John O'mara

Carmine gave James a minute to skim over it and saw as his facial features took a change as he begun to understand exactly what was going on here.

"You see that Jim. This is the problem we're dealing with right now. The hitters are gonna start fuckin' cooperating and that means pretty soon the feds will be at our door and we'll be staring at a prison cell for the rest of our lives if we don't figure this shit out."

Carmine said as calmly as he could and took a sip of his drink to let that sink in to his friend.

"How'd that shit end up with the Florida family? Did everything end peacefully? And also what the fuck was all that about anyway? The fuck were we dealing with some assholes from outta town for anyway? I know I'm late with the questions now but now that my freedom is on the line I think I have the right to know what I could possibly be doing a life bid for?"

Carmine asked with a bit of frustration in his voice. He was trying not to let this get to him but now that he wasn't the only one to know the reality of the situation had set in more.

I set the paper down on the desk, locking eyes with Carmine and getting right to the point.

"You do deserve answers, I agree completely." I take a sip of whiskey and give Carmine the full story to shed light on the situation, he deserved that much.

"The girl that works at my auto shop... Frankie Jo!. She ended up in Little Havana after shit hit the fan here in New York. Few weeks went by and I got a post card from her. I got on a plane and went down there. I searched for awhile until I finally found her!, she was working for an auto shop there. Was owned by a small time family. Anyway the guy who headed the crew, his nephew was beating Frankie senseless. Long story short I couldn't let it go, so we got into a tussle. Next thing I know he pulls a knife on me, which wound up in the side of his neck... multiple times!."

I paused for a brief moment to place my arm on the desk.

"I got her out of there as fast as possible. Days after arriving back home to New York I got a letter from the head of the family. The meeting went bad... real bad, in fact the hit you helped me with... that was the end of the meeting!. I got a visit at the auto shop a few days later, was a man of African descent. I worked a deal with him and now he is running Little Havana and we have no more issues down in that area."

I took a drink and let Carmine absorb everything. After giving him some time I speak up again.

"I told you, I owe you big time for that favor... so tell me how you want to handle this?."

I waited patiently for Carmine to think up a plan. He was level headed and calm under pressure, and I knew he would have a plan. Just needed him to relax a bit first before making any decisions. 

Carmine sat back in his chair and listened and took in all the information James had told him. He had to nod with the story. He knew a woman was involved and he figured this was James letting the little head get the big head and now himself in trouble. Now that he knew the whole story he couldn't blame James for how he handled the situation.

"That's street justice where I'm from. Ya did the right thing Jim. We don't let people abuse any women or children in this life of ours or anybody not apart of this life of ours. So that asshole got what he had coming. But that fuckin' hit Jimmy is fuckin' us."

Carmine said with a shake of his head. Thinking back on it he should've taken more time to put something more organized together. He never figured witnesses would come forth but that was when they were powerful back in New York. They now had moved to Los Angeles and a lot of New York had changed so these witnesses must have felt more bold by the shake up.

"That extends to these witnesses too Jim. They're outsiders so we can't pull any cowboy shit on them. To be honest the witnesses are your problem. You told me you had to finish the boss off yourself right? If you shot him on the street then those witnesses probably got a look at your face and if they can finger you you're going in for murder. My problem is now that the witnesses are coming forth and picking out the shooters, the fuckin' hitmen are rattin' each other out. It's only a matter of time before these feds figure out none of them were the brains and offers them a deal to give me up. Then we'll be picking out cells next to each other if they don't decide to give you death yourself."

Carmine said and finished with a sigh. He then rubbed his temples and needed to get all of this out. Also saying it out loud helped him to lay all his cards on the table and think. It didn't take him long before he was connecting dots and figuring out shit in his head. He poured James another glass of whiskey since he looked like he needed and poured himself one just to keep himself busy. He then looked to his friend with a light in his eyes to signify he had a plan.

"Well we only got a few plays here really. Either you turn yourself into the feds and fight this shit or you gotta lay low. They'll be sending out cops to take you in and since this happened in New York and we don't got much stroke there anymore it's not like you can punk the witnesses into not testifying. Your best bet is to lamb it. Find somewhere outta the country to lay low. I gotta find some way to get these assholes off this murder case to keep my own ass out the slammer. See if I can buy a judge or a juror or something like that gotta beat it the old school way. So we're gonna have lawyer me up and get you the fuck outta here as soon as possible. You need to go home pack a ba-." Carmine suddenly stopped and looked alert.

He'd felt something funny inside of him like a bad feeling and unless his ears were failing him he thought he heard car doors slam close. He quickly got up and looked out the window and saw the very thing he feared the most at this point.

"Fuck." He muttered almost too low to be heard by anyone but him but he had a feeling James must've heard as Carmine heard him moving behind him. It didn't really matter because he then heard the door to his office open roughly before he turned in time to see several uniformed cops come bursting in the room all with their guns drawn. There was nowhere to go and nothing to do and it was instantly obvious that any resistance would result in their death more than likely.

"Freeze! James Sullivan, you're under arrest for the murder of Luciano Bautista. Carmine Maldonado you're under arrest for Conspiracy to commit murder. Now come quietly and don't make us kill you two." One of the officers said. This one had a longer jacket and stripes on him indicating that he was probably in charge of this raid.

Carmine shot James Sullivan a look that he hoped he understood was telling him not to do anything stupid. Then Carmine gave a hard stare back to the cop who was yelling instructions before he put his hands in the air and the cops quickly approached him and put his hands behind his back and cuffs on his wrist.

I caught the look Carmine gave me. I stood still and let the cops do what they needed to do. I had to put all my trust in whatever plan Carmine had worked up.

One of the cops replied sarcastically, "Jimmy Sullivan!... back in New York police custody!, knew you would fuck up eventually."

I stayed quiet and walked out peacefully, even after getting put into the back of the car rather aggressively. I looked to Carmine, then leaned back and stared at the roof of the car in the backseat. started to hear the familiar noises I used to hear, like the nightstick being dragged against the cell bars. The riots, the beatings, everything nightmares are made of. I think the only positive side to all of this, if you could even fucking bring yourself to believe in a positive to this is that having already served almost 10 years in the can, you develop connections. So our stay should be somewhat peaceful, as we decided how the fuck we were going to wiggle out of this disaster.

I stared out the window as I watched the familiar sights of New York pass me by. After calming down a bit I finally looked back to Carmine, ready to talk... that was if he was. We seemed to be up shits creek without a paddle, but Carmine didn't get to where he is by being stupid, neither did I!.  

As Carmine and James were dragged outside of the compound in handcuffs, Carmine had seen why no one was able to warn him that they had unwanted guests there at the compound. The cops had taken down and detained everybody there in his employ. Some were being arrested for being guards and having guns on them that weren't legal. He'd have to have Carmeli handle these gun charges for the guards. The last thing he needed was more people being eager to rat out their organization in any way. He'd have Omar take care of those who seemed like they wouldn't be able to keep their mouth shut.

Carmine was brought back to reality as the officers pulling him had come to a stop at the sight of a police car. He was standing in front of an open backseat door and was all but gently placed inside. He wasn't disillusioned enough to believe he wouldn't be doing any time. All he could is hope that his lawyer could get him bail. He didn't wanna sit in a cell during and awaiting trial. He did about 20 years in the can already and he told himself he'd never go back. Funny how that works huh?

He took one last look at his compound and idly wondered when the next time was that he'd see it again. He didn't have long s the car was quickly started and was pulling off in a convoy of other police cars. He wondered how many of his boys were going to jail, he wasn't able to pay attention and count up all of them that had gotten rounded up. He just knew him and James were in some shit and he knew James was trusting him to get them out of it. That helped him as he didn't wanna think about the other things or the negatives. Like how he was leaving his pregnant newly married wife all alone to deal with so many things by herself.

He didn't know whether to be mad or sad about that. These fuckin' feds. Of course they would have to come now at a time like this. He got lost in his thoughts about his wife, his city and how he was setting up his family and how all of this could be on hold and he even let it slip into his mind it could be on hold for a very long time. He didn't think he'd be facing a life sentence like Sullivan but it's been a long time since he looked over law and criminal charges. He knew his were very serious nonetheless.

It took him awhile to realize they weren't going to a police station or a jail center or anything once he seen the familiar setting of LAX or Los Angeles International Airport. Not being able to help himself Carmine asked the obvious.

"So we're flying?" He asked as he could begin to see the planes in sight. To his credit he had never been flown to prison.

"We don't wanna be sitting in a car with you criminal bastards for all the time it would take to drag your sorry asses from here to New York. Plus the crime happened in New York so the case and the holding will be happening in New York. We don't want you to be to comfortable in your new homes in LA." One of the officers responded.

The cops moved pretty damn fast if that was the case. They had already put together a raid, knew they were in LA and had the warrants to arrest and the okay to fly them back to New York. Smart move by the feds. They planned all this out and kept it out the papers until everything was so set in motion it couldn't be stopped anyway. Not willing to be completely beaten and show weakness in front of these cops Carmine felt he had to respond in some manner.

"You guys shoulda told me we were flyin'. I would've wore my fuckin' sunglasses." He remarked wisely.

The cops didn't respond. He wasn't sure if he had gotten under their skin or if they just thought him some poor fool who was trying to keep up his bravado heading into a bad situation. To be honest Carmine didn't know which one he was either though he told himself he was the former so as to keep his thoughts positive.

He seen James be brought upon the private plane first before he himself was shoved up the steps by officers to board the plane. They were being chartered privately back to New York. He was sure this would be at his own expense and not at the government's. That was okay he didn't believe that his assets and money would be frozen and because they raided the premises and found him there was no need to tear up his compound either. He'd tell his lawyer to make sure they weren't out there doing things they shouldn't be doing.

The flight was a long one. In the beginning he couldn't sleep due to the officers who were watching him and Sullivan talking so much shit. They tried to keep the two of them as far apart from one another as possible but it didn't matter. Carmine knew that Sullivan wasn't crazy enough to even try to pull something while they were in the air and Carmine sure wasn't going to either. If he would win this fight he'd do it the right way, even if he had to lose some rounds before that happened.

Once more quieter officers took over the watch Carmine was able to get some sleep. When he had awakened it was early in the next morning and the plane had just landed. Roughly pulled up from his seat in the plane he was forced to walk down the stairs of the plane back to the concrete where they once again had more police cars awaiting there to take them to a holding cell before the trail of bail. At least that's what he assumed. 

"Good. The two jail birds are finally here. Good morning gentlemen. I'm assistant district attorney Robert Jefferson and I'm your welcoming committee here to tell you that you two have arrived just in time to make it to the court house to your bail hearing. Seeing as the people of this city want justice to be swift, we figured we'd get the proceedings done as soon as possible. We got you guys in to see the judge first thing in the morning so you should feel special. Don't worry your lawyers will be there and so will the prosecuting attorney. See you boys at court." A man in a brown suit had said as he stood outside a open car door.

This buffoon must've been waiting for them to land for quite some time and this only helped confirm Carmine's suspicions that this had all been very well coordinated. Carmine shook his head as he could hear some of the officers snicker as he was put into the back of another cop car and whisked away to his first of many trials to decide the fate of his and his good friend James Sullivan's life and future.