Rude Boy USA (19 page)

Ben was in the South Bronx. This was not his normal work area. Even though he had agreed to participate in the merger, the conversation with Edina had stressed him, and he had retreated to his dealer’s basement apartment. It was located in a brownstone on East 172nd Street. The streets that once were filled with lively culture and pride had morphed into a run-down depressed shell of themselves. The place resembled a war zone. Violent death was frequent among the youth in the community, and parents taught their kids survival early. The heroes were those in the gangs. There were abandoned buildings everywhere, garbage on the street, and plenty of burned-out skeletons of structures due to the many fires that occurred. Block after block was filled with storefronts that converted into churches and liquor stores. There were plenty of empty lots full of trash and abandoned
stripped cars. Numerous homeless people stood around at night keeping their hands warm with fire-lit garbage cans. Graffiti covered walls everywhere, and scores of sneakers and sometimes baby dolls with no clothes hung from various power cables and poles. When you saw a sneaker hanging, it was a sign that a drug dealer had marked the spot. The drug problems manifested the most here. Kids outside played on a dirty, shredded mattress, and addicts walked the street. Ben used to think that he was better than these people, but when it came to dependency, he knew he was no different from any of them.

He had gone from snorting cocaine to shooting heroin. He was beginning to feel guilty, like a complete failure. He knew that he should have done more when he had the opportunity to stop Edina or do something, say something. That had been his time to shine, but he had let his jealousy of John get to him. He felt that he was letting down Bernie, the only person ever patient enough to deal with his shenanigans. Chimera as they all knew it was over, and they had to regroup. Ben did not know what else to do but run away. He knew that his chances with Celia were dwindling by the second and that she may resent him if she found out that he was in on the deal. The only plus that he saw was that he felt he should get a cut of the money Edina made out of the deal. He could pay off his dealers once and for all. Ben was stressed. He took a syringe, injected himself, and passed out. He woke up later.

Edina held herself in her marital home. She had not turned on the news or read the papers in hours. When she did, the reports focused on the beginnings of Watergate, in which she had no interest. She spent the time staring at what was left of the four million in cash. She had paid Celia and cut Jerome a check. She needed to put the rest into the bank, but she knew that she could not handle all of that money at one time by herself. It would tip off the Internal Revenue Service. John was good at hiding money. She had thought he would assist her. They both had the love of money in common, if not anything else. Her mind was racing about what to do next. She was scared that John was not going to go through with the deal, and she could not locate Ben anywhere. The whole thing was falling apart quickly.

She could not believe that John had told her the marriage was over. They had their difficulties, but she knew that he would eventually want to settle down and come home to her. She turned on the floor television in the dayroom and watched the news. They began discussing the fire at the Ambrosino Westchester Mansion. She gasped. She had no idea this was happening, as she had barricaded herself in the apartment to protect the money.

John, Jerome, and the Jet guards cleared out all essential paperwork and items from the Chimera offices in what seemed like record time. They finished the entire operation in five
hours. They had guards posted outside to protect them. Jerome had sent a guard to collect Mariana and place her in a safe house in Yonkers. John took everything that was important to him and Bernie—photographs, keepsakes, personal papers, etc.—and left the office. He had Jet security pick him and Jerome up from the premises. Later on that evening, both Jerome and John continually tried to contact Celia to no avail. Celia was not on the radar, and John did not know how much information Edina had given to the Ambrosino family. He needed to get to Celia. Once John cleared his apartment of the items he wanted out, which included money, jewelry, and some of his favorite photos of the crew and Celia, he went to his safe house to drop them off. He left the camera that Edina had bought him in the apartment. He threw it across the room and broke it. He attempted to contact Celia again to no avail. Frustrated, he and Jerome got back into the car with security and went over to her apartment. By this time, it was early the next morning.

John and Jerome knocked on Celia’s door. They did not care that they were loud enough to wake neighbors, although Jerome suggested that they quiet down so the neighbors would not alert the authorities. Instead, he said they could pick the door. After ten minutes, they got in. Celia was not there. John and Jerome called for her. No answer. They realized that some things were missing that had been there before, like clothes, personal artifacts, photos, and her prized electronic organ. John went into her bedroom and
looked in her closet. It was half-empty. Her drawers were mostly empty. They found no sign of a wallet or keys left behind. They were worried. They hoped she went to a friend’s house.

Her phone book was still there. They took it and returned to their safe house. Once John and Jerome arrived, they began calling people. Most of them were relatives, and a few were friends from the Playboy Club that she kept in contact with over the years. They phoned almost everyone. Rose’s number was no longer working. Jerome called Agnes to check on her and see if Celia was with her. Not wanting to alarm Celia’s mother, Jerome only told her that he needed to ask her something. Agnes had not talked to her in two days, and she told Jerome that she’d had no indication that anything was wrong. The night ended, and they were no closer to figuring out where she was so they could talk to her. John and Jerome were becoming more anxious by the minute.

Edina’s doorbell rang. She was not expecting any company. She was uncharacteristically disheveled, as she had not bathed in nearly a day. What if it was John? She thought. She quickly straightened herself out and peeked through the peephole. It was Ben, and he was not looking clean himself. She let him in. “They’re looking for you,” Edina said to him. “What happened? Where were you? I’ve been calling everywhere.”

“You should have told me this was going down now. I need money,” he said. “What the hell am I supposed to do now?”

“You were supposed to talk to John. I’m dealing with this by myself. That was our agreement,” Edina answered.

“I’ll do that, but I need money, and I know they gave you money,” he said.

“How much do you need? A few hundred?” she asked as she went to the stashed money.

“A million,” he said.

“A million? Are you out of your goddamn mind?” Edina asked. “This is my family’s money. I never agreed to give you a cut. I decided to leave you in the group,” she said loudly.

“Fuck!” Ben rubbed his hair back, but since he had not washed it in days, it was greasy. “Your fucking husband and the rest of them have been shortchanging me for years. I’ve dealt with dis-re-fucking-spect for eight years! I am not going to deal with it from you either. Give me my fucking cut, or I’ll kill you right here,” he said. Ben’s voice had turned borderline demonic. His eyes were bloodshot, and Edina knew that he was angry enough to do it. Ben walked over and saw a cardboard box of hundred-dollar bills in stacks sitting on the floor of an open closet. It was one of two boxes of money she had in the apartment from the payment. She separated the money just to keep it neat. He picked it up and proceeded to walk out of the apartment with it.

Before Ben left, he gave Edina some advice. “You’re not one of us. Stick with what you know.” He walked away. That
box had over nine hundred thousand dollars in it. Scared out of her mind, Edina had a breakdown right in the middle of her living room floor.

Edina collected herself the next morning. She was scared about everything. She got up, took a bath, dressed, fixed her hair, and gathered what she needed for a trip to the bank with what was left of the money. Between the checks she cut and the box of money Ben took from the residence, the four million dollars had been reduced by almost half in about forty-eight hours. She had to do something before the Ambrosino family began calling her—or even worse, paying her a visit.

She hailed a cab over to the bank in Midtown. She arrived at the teller and handed her the box of money and a deposit slip. Bewildered at the amount of cash, the teller had to call a manager over to help her. The bank was familiar with Edina and knew that she was well off. They were pleased that she was depositing money. They did not question why she was carrying around a large sum of money, but they did speak to her about their concerns in a couple of days prior. Both Celia and Jerome had cashed their checks. John had emptied out the remainder of his personal bank account and the joint marital account. After the withdrawals and before this deposit, John, Jerome, and Celia had left Edina with eighty-three dollars to her name. Edina was offended and angry with John for betraying and abandoning her after everything she had done for him.

She knew she could not do very much about the with drawn money since she had written the checks to Celia and Jerome. John also owned those accounts and had a right to access them. Once she deposited all of the remaining cash, which was slightly over two million, Edina headed back to her apartment. On the cab ride back, she began thinking about whether she or anyone else in her family knew of any prominent divorce lawyers whom she could contact. When she made it in, she went straight to her phone. First, she called the police. “Hello. I’ve been robbed.”

Chapter 9