Read The Other Brooklyn: Joey Toranetti Trilogy Online
Authors: Bob Ieva
The Other Brooklyn: Joey Toranetti Trilogy
The Hitman
Life
in
Brooklyn
Bob Ieva
DocUmeant Publishing
244 5th Avenue, Suite G200
NY, NY 10001
Phone: 6462334366
http://www.DocUmeantPublishing.com
©2015 Bob Ieva All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any way by any
means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without the
prior permission of the copyright holder, except as provided by USA copyright
law.
Disclaimer:
All characters appearing in this work
are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely
coincidental.
Cover Design and Layout by
DocUmeant Designs
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Kindle
To Linda
,
for her
belief and support in my endeavor.
Thank you to Philip
Marks for all your work in editing this book.
CHAPTER 5:
First Day of High
School
CHAPTER 27:
Looking for Larry
& Pete
CHAPTER 30:
The District Attorney
CHAPTER 31:
Meeting with Mr.
Barone
I
t
all started in 1952. My name is Joseph Toranetti. I was 13 years old, very
short and husky, brown eyes and jet black hair. Being very head strong, I was
not afraid of anything or anyone. My brother, Rocco, was slightly taller than I
was, very thin, with brown hair and brown eyes. He was 11 years old.
One day he came home from school crying. I asked what was
wrong. He said, “Some kids took my books.”
I said, “Do you know who they were?”
“They were in your grade.”
“Will you know them if they are there?”
He said, “Yes.” My mother told me to help him get his
books back. My mother was a small person with blue eyes and blond hair. She was
always afraid of what people thought—that made her very nervous.
The school was only two blocks from our house in Brooklyn
so we got there pretty fast. When we arrived there were five kids playing in
the school yard. Rocco pointed at the two kids who took his books. I noticed
that one kid was taller than I was, his name was Larry Campoella. The other was
about my size, his name was Pete. I didn’t know his last name.
I asked very nicely, “Did you take my brothers books?”
The taller kid, Larry, said, “Yeah, and what are you going
to do about it?”
“Well I would like them back please.”
Larry said, “No,” and laughed. I turned my back on him.
Then I turned back as fast as I could, hit Larry as hard as I could and he went
down like a ton of bricks. His buddy, Pete came running over to help and I
kicked him in the groin so hard that he went down screaming like a little girl.
I grabbed Larry by his shirt, pulled him up and asked him
again where the books were. He said, “They are in the bushes in back of the
school.”
I said, “Let’s get them.”
Larry started to cry and said, “Okay.” He went into the
bushes picked up the books and handed them to me.
I said, “Thank you!” Then I helped him out of the bushes
and when he was on the sidewalk I told him, “If you or your friends ever bother
my brother again you will never see another daylight.”
T
he
next day I arrived at school and was told by a friend of mine that he heard
that I beat up the school bully. I said, “Well he had it coming.” I was then
told by my teacher that the principal wanted to see me. I went down to the
Principal’s Office and saw Larry, Peter, and a man I didn’t know sitting there.
This man was big and had a way about him that I did not like. He had a short
sleeve shirt on and I could see a tattoo that looked like the head of a horse
with a frame around the horseshoe around its neck. I was introduced to him by
the principal.
“Joey this is Luke, Larry’s father. He wants to know why
you hit his son so hard and kicked his friend in the groin.”
I asked, “Didn’t he tell you?” Luke answered, “No.”
I said, “I believe that he is the one to tell you what
happened.”
Luke said to me, “I know your dad and I will be summoning
him to come to my office. I can tell you this, he will not like it. You see
your father knows who I am and he will be very upset with you after we talk.
Now tell me why you hit him.”
So I said, “Again, I am not going to tell you why I hit
your son or his friend, they need to do that and I need to go to class.” So I
left the office and went to my class.
I knew I was in big trouble with my father since the
people he knows are really tough and they control the neighborhood.
After school I waited for my brother and we went straight
home. I told my mother, Rosa, what had happened and she got all upset. She told
me, “I just wanted you to get his books back. I didn’t say to beat anyone up.
Now your father is going to be in a lot of trouble with Luke Campoella. He runs
this area.”
That night my father, Antonio Toranetti
,
came
home and my mother told him what had happened. My father wasn’t very tall but
he was very strong. He said to me, “Why did you hit Luke’s son and his son’s
friend?”
After I told him there was a long pause, then he said, “I
will handle this before he even calls me. His son had no right to bother your
brother but you should have used more control and tried to negotiate getting
your brothers books back.”
I said, “I asked nicely, very nicely, for the books and he
said no and he just laughed at me. I said please give me back his books and he
laughed again, so I hit him.”
The next thing I knew my father was on the phone saying to
the person on the other end, “Set up a meeting with Luke Campoella for tomorrow
morning we have something to discuss, also call Arthur and tell him.” I did not
hear what the person on the other side of the phone said but my father said,
“Tell him it is important and we will straighten this situation out, thank
you.”
M
y
father was up early as always. He was reading his paper and drinking his coffee
when I came into the kitchen. I said, “Good morning” and he said, “I decided
that you are coming with me to this meeting.”
I said, “Why?”
He said, “Because, I want Mr. Campoella to see that my son
tells me everything, good or bad. And besides, Mr. Campoella was told by
someone else to bring his son to the meeting. The meeting is in one hour so eat
and get ready.”
The meeting was at Lucky’s Social Club about six blocks
from our home. This is where a lot of the neighborhood men hung out.
We arrived 10 minutes early. There were about five or six
men outside and they all said hello to my father. I was never in this club so I
was a little nervous. My father said to me, “Are you nervous?”
I said, “Yes.”
This is when he told me, “Try not to show you are nervous,
be polite, not rude, and give a firm handshake to anyone I introduce you to,
okay?”
I said, “Okay.”
At this time this older man came out from a back room and
said to my father, “Hi Tony.”
My father said, “Hi Arthur.” Arthur was probably six feet
tall and had real big arms. My father introduced me to him as Mr. Antonella.
Mr. Antonella put out his hand and said “It is nice to
meet you Joey,” and we shook hands. He then said, “I see we have a situation
here with Luke Campoella’s son and you. I heard that you refused to tell Mr.
Campoella why you hit his son.”
I said nervously, “I think that his son should be the one
to tell his father. I tell my father everything even if I was wrong.”
Mr. Antonella said, “That shows a lot of respect to your
father. That is a good thing.” He then said to my father, “Shall we go into my
office? Luke and his son are in there.”
We went through a door into the back of the club where
there was a large table and big chairs around the table. Arthur said, “Please
sit down and we will discuss the issue at hand. Let us start from the
beginning. Luke you can start.”
Luke stood up and said to Arthur “Joey came to the school
and beat up my son Larry for no apparent reason.”
Arthur said, “Thank you.” He then said to my father, “Tony
what do you have to say?”
My father said, “There was a real good reason and as my
son Joey told Mr. Campoella, he should asked his son what happened. If his son
does not tell him the whole story then we are at an impasse.”
Arthur said to Luke, “Has your son told you what
happened?”
Luke said, “Joey just came to the school and beat him up.”
Then my father said to Arthur, “If Luke’s son is too
afraid to tell his father what really happened then he has no respect for his
father.”
Arthur looked at Luke’s son and said, “Larry what
happened?” Larry started to sweat and twitch. He looked at his father and saw
that his father was getting red in the face.
Larry said very nervously, “I took his brother’s books
away from him.”
His father said, “Why?”
Larry said, “I thought it would be funny to see how scared
he would be.”
Luke said, “How old was this boy?”
“I don’t know; he looked younger than Joey.”
Luke looked at Joey and asked, “How old is your brother?”
Joey said, “Eleven years old.”
Luke’s face got real red and he stared at his son and said
to Joey and his father, “I am very sorry for this situation. I will take care
of my son when we get home.” Luke said to Joey and his son, “I would like to
see the two of you be friends and shake hands; and again, I am very sorry for
all this.”
Joey went over to Larry and they shook hands. Luke went
over to Tony and said, “We should be friends too.” They shook hands.
Arthur said, “Great everyone is friends now, so go home
and enjoy the rest of the day.”
The next day Larry came over to our house and apologized
to my brother and my mother. He told my brother if he ever needed help please
call him and he will be there.