Anyway, he introduced me to his uncle, Big Tony Collette. He was a made man in The Curcio Family. Uncle Tony taught me alotta shit, but there was one thing he told me that I never forgot.
I hadn’t been working for André for very long when one night I was hanging out with Angee and he said that he had to go pick up something from Uncle Tony. So when we get there, I waited in the car.
“I’ll just be a minute, Mikey,” Angee says and he goes in. It couldn’t have been five minutes later when Angee comes out. “Uncle Tony says you should come in.”
I looked at Angee like he was crazy. This was a private club that only made man and their top soldiers went in. Only reason they let Angee in was because he was Big Tony’s nephew. “What are you fuckin’ kiddin’ me?”
Angee shook his head with a look that said he didn’t believe that shit either. “I ain’t kiddin’, Mikey.” He opened my door. “Now come on, Greasy’s waiting and we got shit to do. So, stop being such a fuckin’ pussy and come on.”
I got out of the car and followed Angee in. Since I had been hanging out with Angee for years, a lot of the guys in there had seen me before. But they all gave me that what the fuck you doing in here look.
Friend of Angee or not, to them I was still a mulignan.
“Mikey!” Uncle Tony yelled when he saw me and waved for me to come over. When I walked up, there at the table was Carmine Abandonato, he was the underboss of The Curcio Family. “Come here, Mikey,” Big Tony said, and puts his arm around me. “How come it been so long since I’ve seen you, Mikey?”
“I’m sorry Uncle Tony, I just been busy.”
Truth was, I was fuckin’ the shit outta his daughter Mirella, so I tried to stay away from him.
“I didn’t mean any disrespect.”
“Always showing respect.” Uncle Tony kissed me on the cheek. “That’s why I love this kid. Hey, Carmine. This is Angee’s friend, Mikey Black.”
Carmine nodded his head without speaking and went back to his conversation. After that, Uncle Tony led us to a table and he gives Angee what he came for. That was the first time I told him that I was working for André. He nodded his head. “André’s a smart guy, Mikey. You could learn some things from him so kee
p your mouth shut and your ears opened. You hear me?”
“Yes, Uncle Tony.”
“He’s smart, but he stupid, Mikey, you wanna know why?” he didn’t wait for me to answer. “He’s stupid because he has all that power, but he ain’t organized. If he was, he’d make a lot more money.”
It was interesting information at the time, but I really didn’t fully understand what he was saying, but as me and Bobby got closer to André and I began to see how he did business, I began to understand. For years, I had seen from a distance how they ran their thing. I became a student and studied the structure and how it worked. They controlled everything from the street corner drug trade, all the way to the highest levels of government.
That’s power.
Uncle Tony was right; André had that type of power, not on that same level, but power all the same. In their thing, associates and soldiers kicked up to capos and they kicked up to the boss. They were businessman that cooperated in the interest of making money.
That’s what I was doing, organizing.
“I know this ain’t just a social call.” Sherman said. “I know it’s a little early in the day, but can I get either of you a drink?” he asked, and pulled a bottle of scotch out of his desk drawer.
“No, thanks.”
“Wanda?”
“Definitely too early for me,” Wanda said as Sherman poured the scotch in a paper cup.
“I know by now you heard what’s going on?” I asked.
“Of course I have. In the last couple of days, you took over Emmet’s game and killed Henderson. Then you put Drew in charge of his joint. So I just got one question.”
“What’s that?”
“Is André dead?”
Me and Wanda looked at each other and laughed.
“I only ask because ain’t nobody seen or talked to him since you started this shit.”