Imagine you are in your families headquarters one night visiting with your crew leader. You speak to him or her about current situations that are occurring. A few weeks go by and now you no longer are speaking about current situations because the two of you have become very good friends. Now imagine one morning you wake up and that friend, that leader, is completely gone. Not a trace of him or her anywhere to be found. No phone to reach them at. It is as though they completely vanished. That is the story i will share with you about Teddy Wilkinson and his former leader "the Iron Hammer" Douglas Rino jr. 

To set the mood my friends i want you to imagine yourself fifteen years ago. Some of use were still making our bones and others were stealing from food vendors so we could survive. Its New York City. There are six different crews in the city all with different styles of making money. Some sold drugs and others found it best to involve themselves in the prostitution rackets. Rino Jr., the Iron Hammer, was set up by his father and the reigning Godfather of New York City. Dymanic Douglas Rino Sr. To help the rest of this story i will refer to them by their nicknames.

The Iron Hammer, a tall muscled man, received his nickname when he was sixteen years old. At that time he was with his dad on business visiting one of the Bronx rackets. While they were there a fight broke out between the men who worked hard for their money and Dynamic Douglas sr. They argued back and forth until one man threw a punch at the soon to be Godfather knocking him off of his feet. Fearing for his fathers life the Iron hammer rushed to the work bench and picked up the first thing he could find. He bashed it into the mans skull repeatedly ending the construction workers life. By this time Dynamic had stood up and pulled his gun on the other men. He informed them he would be sending his associates to collect his pay and if anyone tried any funny business they were sure to meet the same fate. 

As Dynamic Douglas ushered his kid into the vehicle he stared at him and began to watch his son sob. The son had just taken his first life. Holding his teenager in his arms he assured him it was all going to be okay. Realizing that his son was not hugging back he looked down at his hands to see that junior was clutching on to the Hammer. Word spread fast around New York that the son of Dynamic would not hesitate to use a hammer upon a mans head and so people grew fearful of the Rino Crime Family. 

A couple of years had gone by and Dynamic had decided New York was to big for him not to own. He decided to quickly make deals with all the other families. Either they agreed to serve him and honor him as the new Godfather or he would make sure someone would fill their shoes. Not a single person disagreed. The Rino Crime Family was very well known for being violent, sometimes murdering just because they didn't like the way another person spoke to them. Douglas JR. was now one of the more well known hit-men of the family often hitting made men and leaving no trace of a body. 

The Iron Hammer, now nineteen was following his fathers footsteps and taking out the trash left and right. Setting up rackets as he pleased. He was the best of the best in New York and not a single person dared to combat the boy. His father felt that his status was reaching the top so he decided to give him his own crew. Douglas Jr could not be more ecstatic to lead his own family. He was only nineteen but his experience working with his father was undoubtedly one of the most knowledgeable ways he could grow. It didnt take long for him to begin recruiting he found himself running around the rackets and picking up people here and there. 

Junior was not so satisfied with whoever came and wanted to work for him. They had to have a certain aura about them. They had to have a style and a swagger about them that really just said they did not care whether they lived or died. Everyone he brought in became synonymous with the word Murder. Nightly he would issue his men challenges to see who could kill another mobster quicker. Junior was so twisted he would often try and kill two just to say he did it. 

One night as junior walked along the boardwalk in new jersey for a short vacation he ran into Timmy The Blade. Timmy was a mobster from Philly who was known for getting people to share information by cutting them open. There were always rumors that Timmy had wanted to out Douglas Junior floating around. It was about 2:30 p.m. in the afternoon when The Blade pulled his knife out in-front of Junior. "What do you think would win in a fight, a blade or a hammer?" With a few of his boys watching they all began to laugh. Junior stared with a face so cold it looked as though he had already killed Timmy.

"What about a bullet?" Junior questioned as he raised his gun from his side shooting Timmys friends in the chest. The Blade fell to his knees begging for his life. With his knife in his hand still Junior, taking it from him, thrusted it into his neck and pushed him into the ocean. Moments later Douglas Junior decided he still wanted to get a bite to eat so he went to a restaurant that was on the boardwalk. He was that insane. 

This is where Teddy comes in.

Teddy wasnt your kind of criminal who enjoyed murder. Infact it is often wondered if he ever killed anyone. Teddy was the kind of guy who liked to talk a lot and speak with people regularly. He was the closest friend to Douglas and was often seen with him on his nightly ventures. Teddy didnt care too much about how others perceived him because he knew how he perceived himself. A real stand up guy. He came from a broken family his father died when he was away at a boarding school and his mother found herself so depressed she took her own life. 

His anger was never really controlled. He would get in fights a lot but never allowed himself to take another life. He grew up boxing at the school and knew how to articulate his words to deactivate any mans defense. Teddy was headed to either be a politician or a bruiser. He chose the latter.

When they first met, Teddy and Junior, Junior found Teddy scrapping with some police officer about some protocol he broke. Junior watched the fight from afar off and when it was over he watched Teddy leave the two unconscious police officers as he ran towards his own house. He never actually knew he was being followed, but he was. He was followed for a while before the Iorn Hammer approached him. Exclaiming to him who he was and what he did he offered Teddy a place to live and grow in the streets of New York. Teddy Wilkinson decided he would sign up in the new regime. 

They found themselves together often speaking about this or that. Things that didn't even pertain to this world. They spoke a lot about the dreams and ambitions they had. What the two of them found most peculiar is that Teddy had so many things he wanted to achieve outside of the suit while his best friend only cared about the suit. 

Teddy was a good looking guy. Not the model type but close enough. He often flirted with the women at the night clubs and spoke to the girls at the rackets he found attractive. Always respectable. Thats how he won their hearts. When Teddy and Junior met up outside Treats Diner his eyes met a girls who just ravished his heart. It would not be long till they were dating.

The friendship of Junior and Teddy was so close that at this point there was no room for anything else than success. Junior had made it quite clear to Teddy that he had to either choose the life of crime or his new fling. Teddy was certainly in love with his new fling, Jessica Aphone. Infact Teddy was planning on marrying her and wanted Junior to be the best man at the wedding. 

Another few months had gone by and it was the night Teddy had planned to propose to Jessica. She was perhaps the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on and she loved him well. Douglas Senior had informed Teddy that if he wanted his own crew he would be given one. He knew that with Jessica in his life she deserved that time and not anyone else so he respectfully refused. The divorced Dynamic understood the situation completely. 

As they walked around the park with the snow falling he fell to his knee and asked her to marry him. Her response was an emphatic yes. Her excitement to marry the man of her dreams was ended as bullets grazed the two of them in the middle of the night. 

Teddy awoke in a hospital barely breathing. Dynamic and The Iorn Hammer were both by his bedside. They informed him that Jessica was gunned down by a rogue mobster. Some unknown who decided to go out with a bang. Not only did he waste his life but he took the life of such an innocent person who had no idea that Teddy was even tied up with this business. The Rino Crime family was trying to find out who dropped out from a crew to attempt such a hit on Teddy. 

After a few weeks of development they found a man by the name of Fulton Cario. Fulton was an impulsive man and not known for using his gun. Thats probably why he shot an innocent girl in the middle of her proposal. Teddy had decided he was going to kill this man. They made plans to meet him at his house where he and his children lived. The wife who was a nurse was away at work. Teddy and The Iron hammer knocked on the door. It opened.

It was one shot to the sternum. It sent Cario falling backwards. Gasping for air Teddy stared at the wide eyed man. His eyes misty his children screaming and all he could hear was Jessicas Yes. He stood over Cario and asked him why he pulled the trigger. Cario couldnt respond he was out of breath. Junior took his hammer and crushed the mans hand. Screaming at him again, why did he kill the woman. The man was in excruciating pain yelling out that he didnt shoot anyone. 

As he finished his sentence Teddy took the hammer and pounded it into the side of his head. The lifeless Cario was the revenge he had hoped he would settle. That restlessness in his heart.

Teddy had nothing to live for it appeared. He decided to go back to his way of living and this time found himself a killer alongside Junior. This time Teddy became more ambitious and started taking out more than just made men, he started taking out crew leaders in new york. 

One by one they fell to the hands of Junior and Teddy. The Rino Crime family had now run out every opposing force in the city. They decided to set up several other men to lead in the districts of New York. They were now considered Godfathers and the Douglas Senior was the Chairman. Everything was good.

Teddy awoke to his phone ringing. He had been absent from the world for a few days doing his own thing. Someone on the other line had asked if he had heard from Junior. With a quick no he decided he would just give him a ring. When Junior didnt pick up the phone Teddy began to get a little concerned. 

He strolled down to visit his house and again found nothing. His suit was still there. His bodyguards were still outside the house and had not heard of anyone leaving or entering. His bed was made as it always was because of Juniors severe OCD he couldnt leave anything unclean. Searching through the house Teddy began to grow anxious.

His thoughts began racing. His eyes looking at every man wondering if they had kidnapped Junior. No notes were on the counter. The keys to his Model T were still there. Money and wallet. Perhaps he was just going for a walk. Even then that was confusing as he wasnt seen for a few days.

Teddy decided to phone Douglas Senior. A wide city manhunt began to find the lost son. He was now 22 years old and was undoubtedly a high target for anyone in the mafia. There were no signs of struggle or blood in the home. It was as if he was never even there.

Weeks had passed before Teddy decided to give up on his friends return. They closed down his headquarters and ushered his bodyguards away. His crew members had grown hostile towards everyone feeling as though they were being lied to. His right hand would listen to the countless voice messages that were left and read the letters to see if there was some sort of signal that was left. All he found was this letter that was half written to his old friend Teddy. 

Teddy was called over and began to read the letter. It was in response to what he had asked him about what he was up to for the weekend. It was only tuesday when he started the letter. 

"Teddy, 

Yeah imma head out to the local bars in the city and catch up with some friends. Imma just finishing up some desk work now. I have to head out for a bit to visit my dad after this and then maybe shoot some pool or play some darts with the boys. Next week imma hoping to hold a leader meet for the leaders of New York to see what they need from us. Teddy i want you to know how grateful i am for your friendship brother. You have always been there. I will always be there for you. Imma see you soon.

D.R.J."

Teddy put the letter down and tears fell from his eyes. He would never know what happened to his best friend the moment he took off his suit. 

TammyDeLuca unfortunately these events did not really happen to my knowledge. This is a purely based fictional story created to help the listener to value their friendships inside and outside of the suit. Thank you for listening. I realize it took over an hour for me to wri...excuse me, say all of that.

BrotherHec fist bumps Tammy