It was a very hectic 3 weeks for Danny. College had been tough, but it would have been okay if he didn’t have to commute, getting up in the wee hours of the morning, rushing to catch the El, rush home; do some studying; eating dinner, trying to get some pitiful sleep; starting all over again. But now he, Tony and Louie were sitting in Mr. Capiloni’s office, waiting for his arrival. It was Saturday afternoon, and Louie had told Danny last night about the eventual meeting that Danny knew was coming. Mr. Capiloni had told Danny that he would see him in about three weeks and would tell him what would be expected of him. Now the time was on hand, not that Danny was nervous or anything like that, apprehensive, yes, for he had a darn good idea of what was to be expected of him.
“Hello boys,” greeted Mr. Capiloni, as he quietly walked into his office. As Danny would later learn, whenever, at any time, Mr. Capiloni walked quietly into or out of an office or anywhere, as a matter of fact, then there was some important business to be discussed. And there was no doubt that this was the time for important business discussions. “So, what say,” commented Mr. Capiloni, as he seated himself behind his desk and lit one of his huge cigars. “Ya all know why we are here, right? I told ya, Danny that we would meet in about three weeks ta talk about whatcha gonna do for us in the organization. Now the time has come for ya to know sumthin about us and what we do, and whatcha gonna do, capish?” Danny could only nod his head, not knowing what to say, waiting for Mr. Capiloni to continue.
“Foist of all, ya know sumthing about what we do. Ya know what happened in the garage that night. Ya saw Tony and Louie in action, Well that’s one of the things they do for me, that and lots more. I also toldcha that you wouldn’t hafta do anything like that, and I always keep my word.” Mr Capiloni continued. I woik for a big organization that’s big in gambling, prostitution, we’re into about anything ya can think of, booze and a lotsa other things. But we’re not inta drugs. That’s one thing we don’t do. We leave that to the other punk outfits. The organization put me in charge of this whole neighborhood, and I answer to them. Louie, Tony and now you, answer to me. I take orders from my boss, and you will take orders from me, your boss. You will do anything I tell ya ta do. The reason that Louie and Tony were beating up on that punk was because he welshed on a bet, and wouldn’t pay off what he owed us. We gotta do things like that because if we don’t, the other guys will think that we’re softies and will probably try to get away with the same thing. Naw, we can’t let anybody get away with anything, right”? Mr. Capiloni wasn’t expecting a reply, and continued, “So whatcha gonna do at foist is to hang around with the boys here to loin the ropes, then you’ll be on your own. Now I know thatcha not gonna have to much time at foist because you’re going to college and all, so for the time being you will doing this on weekends or any other time that you have time for.”
“So,” continued Mr. Capiloni, “At foist, the boys will show you how to call on customers and take their bets, and to collect their money, and if they win, be it the horses, the dogs, the numbers and things like that, you’ll take the money and pay them off. If a customer wants to place a big bet but doesn’t have the money right away, we’ll take his marker and loan the money to him at our going interest rates, and we’ll pay him off if he wins with no questions asked, but if he loses and welshes on the bet……well you know what happens. And this customer is blackballed, and will not be able to gamble anywhere around nor associate anywhere with the good guys.
“So Danny, this is whatcha gonna do at foist, and after ya learn the business, you’ll have more responsibilities, but remember, I will tell ya only this one time and never again. Ya have been spoken for by these boys here. You are their responsibility, and if you ever…….. up, then they pay for it, capish? Ya don’t hafta worry about money anymore, everything will be taken care of. Ya know I’m doing ya a big favor, and from time to time, maybe not right away, but some time, I will ask you for a favor. I know that it’s tough for ya going ta school and all, coming home to study, not getting much sleep and having ta get up early and get that train to college, so what I told the boys here to look for a place for ya near your school so ya wouldn’t have all these worries.” At this, he took a piece of paper from his desk drawer and handed it to Danny, grinning, he said, “here’s a little present for ya.” Danny, looked at the neat handwriting, not believe what he was reading. On the top of the sheet, he read, to Danny, welcome to the outfit and to your new apartment. Below, it had an address, which he recognized as about 4 blocks from CCNY. Enjoy, Mr. Capiloni.
Danny didn’t know what to say, he was flabbergasted. He had no idea that Mr. Capiloni had remembered when he told him about his commuting problems, but apparently he had. Danny also later learned that Mr. Capiloni was like this, as long as one kept his nose clean and obeyed orders, he would be getting favors like this. But he had no time to reflect upon the time when it was his turn to do a favor. “Gosh, Mr. Capiloni, I don’t know what to say except to thank you, for I certainly appreciate this. It means a lot to me and will take a lot off my mind, and help me quite a bit.” “Glad ta help ya out Danny, I wanta make it as easy for ya as I can. Ya go finish that College, learn a lot, and I’ll talk withcha later on.”
Outside with Tony and Louie, Danny said, “ why didn’t you guys tell me about this?” “Ya know better than that Danny,” replied Louie, “ya should know by now that Mr. Capiloni does all the talking. He wanted to keep it as a surprise, what kinda surprise would it be if ya knew about it before he toldcha?” Danny had no response to that. He knew that they were right, and that’s the way it would be all the time. “So what kind of apartment did you get me?” asked Danny, “you’ll love it,” said Tony, “it’s not fancy, but nice and clean, all furnished nicely, it’s one bedroom with 2 beds, and kitchen and a toilet.” “Sounds nice,” said Danny, “but why do I need 2 beds for?” “Well,” replied Louie, “we know all about your friend Steve. We checked up on him and we know how it’s tough for him as it is for ya, so we figured if ya wannta, he could share the apartment witcha, being a good friend of yours like, and ya know that a friend of yours is a friend of ours. Danny couldn’t take any more surprises, and all he could say was, “Thank you guys, you know how much I appreciate this.” “Say,” said Louie “It’s still early, what say, we take a ride to your new apartment, and look around.” “Yeah,” answered Tony, good idea, then maybe we can take Danny around, and introduce him to the other guys, and maybe meet a few of our customers “Okay witcha Danny?” “Sure,” replied Danny enthusiastically. Danny couldn’t wait to tell Steve about the apartment, boy would he be surprised. He wished that they both had telephones, but they didn’t, so it would have to wait till Monday.
~ To Be Continued ~
