Bound By Blood: The Rise of a Mafia Prince Page 24

  “Michael! Put that thing away, little boys shouldn’t play with loaded toys.” Carlo said calmly.

  Michael glared at Carlo, then without warring squeezed off a round that struck Carlo in the shoulder. The impact shoved Carlo back into his chair.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” Carlo asked in agony.

  “What am I doing, what are you doing? It’s time for a new change. From this day forward, I’m going to run this family or what’s left of it!”

  Mr. Spinelli looked in Michael’s eyes; he knew the situation called for drastic matters. He reached up and pulled Anthony down lower in the chair.

  The sudden movement caught Michael’s attention. He quickly turned the gun on Anthony.

  “Michael, why don’t you put the gun down and let’s talk calmly.”

  “Calm, I’ll show you calm.” Michael pulled back the hammer and fired a shot. The bullet whizzed by Anthony’s ear and struck a picture directly behind him. “Why did you have to come back? Why couldn’t you just stay away? Because of you, I lost a father and a sister! I wish you where never born!”

  The gunfire finally caught the attention of Bruno. He made his way through the café and into the back of the kitchen. He slowly crept passed Andrew’s unconscious body and now stood behind Michael. His gun barrel was buried in Michael’s rib cage.

  “Good bye Anthony!” Michael raised the gun.

  “Are you sure you want to do that?” Bruno shoved the barrel deeper into Michael’s side. “Why don’t you put that gun down and I won’t have to shoot your guts all over this hallway.”

  Small beads of sweat formed around Michael’s upper lip, but he still refused to lower his gun.

  “Michael? You have no choice, put down the gun. It’s over.”

  “It’s never over, never!” Michael pushed off and turned, squeezing off one fatal shot.

  Anthony watched in horror as the bullet struck Bruno in the chest. The force of the bullet from Michael’s high caliber gun threw Bruno up against the hallway wall. Michael fired again, but not before Bruno. His bullet struck Michael in the neck. Blood and human tissue sprayed the poker room. Michael fell to the floor. Anthony quickly rushed to Bruno’s side. “Hang in there, you’re going to be alright.”

  “I’m sorry I came in so late…” Bruno mumbled, as blood began to soak through his shirt. “Damn it, I just bought this thing…” Bruno closed his eyes and faded away.

  Anthony laid his body flat on the hallway floor. What was it about this café that brought so much death and misery? “You stupid motherfucker, why didn’t you just put down your gun?” Anthony screamed at Michael’s lifeless body. “Why don’t you ever fucken listen?” Anthony kicked at Michael with all his might. He reached down and picked up the cold hard steel and pointed it at Carlo. “It’s because of you this happened.” Anthony said violently. “You where the one that set all this up. You knew Michael was coming here tonight to try and end my life.”

  “Anthony, I had nothing to do with this. I asked you here, so that we could be associates again, not to start an all out war.” Carlo pleaded.

  “I think you and Michael had this all planned out from the moment you received my reply. The only thing you didn’t expect, the only thing that happened spontaneous, was Michael walking in here and betraying you. I came here tonight with hopes that you and I could be friends again. That I could find out the truth about the death of my mother, but I can see I was wrong. You said you didn’t want an all out war, well don’t worry, there isn’t going to be an all out war and do you know why?” Anthony replied angrily. “Cause I’m going to kill you, right here, right now!” He pulled back the hammer, just like Michael did. “But, before I do. I want the truth Carlo, why did you want me dead?”

  “Anthony, you have to believe me. I had nothing to do with that. I swear to you on my mother’s grave. I had nothing to do with that. You have to believe me.”

  Anthony paused. “I don’t.” He pulled the trigger. The sound of each shot brought thoughts of his mom and Helen sitting at that railroad crossing. Carlo fell back in his chair. His arms dropped by his side. The cigar, that he never had a chance to light, stuck to the bottom of his lip, still in one piece. After emptying the clip into Carlo’s body, Anthony dropped the gun. The smell of gunpowder and burnt flesh filled the poker room. Anthony stared blankly at the bodies around him.

  “Now you will never know who tried to kill you.” Mr. Spinelli said, as he crawled out from underneath his chair.

  “It doesn’t matter. I know it was one of them and now their both dead.”

  “We have to get out of here.” Mr. Spinelli grabbed Anthony by the arm and led him to the back door.

  “What about Bruno?”

  “There’s nothing we can do for him. We’ll have to leave him.” Mr. Spinelli said frantically.

  Anthony walked up to Bruno’s body and removed his wallet. “Rest in peace, my friend. I’m sorry I got you into this.”

  Meanwhile, Vincent started small fires through out the poker room and the kitchen.

  “What are you doing?” Anthony asked, after walking around to the front and pulling the car around to the back.

  “I’m trying to hide the evidence that we where here.”

  As they pulled away from the café and headed home, several small explosions rocked the tiny neighborhood street. When they made it to the corner, Carlo’s café was in gulfed with fire. The flames began to consume the building.

  Mr. Spinelli turned into the drive way and shut off the engine. Both men sat quietly and stared out the window. The door to Anthony’s house opened. Vinnie waited for Anthony to emerge from the car.

  “I guess you better tell Vinnie the bad news.” Mr. Spinelli said somberly.

  Anthony slowly exited the car and walked toward the house.

  “Everything go alright?” Vinnie asked. “Where’s Bruno?”

  Anthony walked by Vinnie and headed to the kitchen table. “We lost him at the sit down. Michael showed up late and started to shoot up the place. Bruno came in and tried to help, but Michael dropped him.”

  Vinnie listened to the horror, as Anthony continued.

  “I’m sorry Vinnie, I know you two where close. Bruno took one in the chest. He fired one shot that caught Michael in the neck. If he hadn’t shown up when he did, I’d be dead.” Anthony was drained physically and mentally. He got up and headed to his room. The score between him and Michael had been settled. The vendetta on Carlo’s head was settled, now the only thing left was to see how Sonny would react to the situation. Anthony opened the door to his bedroom and found Tina lying on top of his covers. Her long beautiful hair spread out perfectly. Anthony crawled up beside her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

  “Is everything al right?” She asked as she rolled over and placed her head on Anthony’s chest.

  “Everything is fine.” Anthony gently kissed her goodnight and drifted off to sleep.

  The next morning, Anthony woke up to the sound of the television blaring in the next room. “A large fire consumed a popular café on the Southside of town. Police where called, when firefighters discovered the remains of four charred bodies. Two of the men have been identified; the owner Carlo Sabbetini and his older nephew, Michael Mazellie. Police are not ruling out foul play, since both men are linked to organized crime. Meanwhile in sports last night…”

  “Turn that off.” Anthony asked irritated.

  “It’s all over the news.” Vinnie said, as he lowered the volume. “When they find Bruno’s identification, they’ll come looking for you.”

  “They’ll come looking for me even if they don’t find Bruno’s wallet. Which they won’t.” Anthony walked to his jacket and handed Vinnie Bruno’s wallet.

  Vinnie opened the wallet. Inside was five hundred blood soaked dollars and a picture of them two fishing in the Gulf of Mexico.

  “I’m sorry.” Anthony said again.

  “It’s not your fault. He was doing his job.”

  “No
, he did more than that. He saved my life. Like I said last night; if he hadn’t shown up when he did, I would’ve been killed my Michael.” Anthony wanted Vinnie to know that Bruno didn’t die in vein.

  As both men stood there thinking of Bruno, there was a forceful knock on the front door. Vinnie immediately reached for his gun. Anthony ducked in the hallway. Vinnie made his way to the front door. “Who is it?”

  “Police, we would like to have a word with Anthony Sakakini.” The voice on the other side cried.

  Vinnie opened the door. Detective William and detective Johnson pushed their way passed Vinnie and into the house.

  “Where’s Anthony?” Detective William insisted.

  “Right here.” Anthony stepped out from the hallway. “What seems to be the problem?”

  “Don’t play dumb. I assume you heard about the fire last night at Carlo’s?” Detective William paused to see Anthony’s reaction. “Where were you when it happened and where is your other buddy?”

  “Why do you ask?” Anthony leaned up against the doorframe.

  “I have reason to believe you killed Carlo and Michael and set the place on fire to cover your tracks. Furthermore, we found Bruno Felucca’s charred body at the café.”

  “Take a look at this.” Detective Johnson held up Bruno’s wallet that was sitting on the coffee table. “It’s his associate’s wallet. It looks like it’s covered with blood.”

  “He must have left it here.” Vinnie said.

  “Oh come on, you can do better than that.” Detective Johnson said.

  “Why don’t you two numb nuts get the fuck out of my house, before I personally remove you!”

  ”Anthony Sakakini, I placing you under arrest for the murder of Carlo Sabbetini and Michael Mazellie. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be held against you…”

  Anthony was placed in handcuffs and escorted out of his house. “This is such bullshit William and you know it! Vinnie, call Pennington and tell him to meet me down town.”

  ”What’s going on? Where are they taking you?’ Tina stepped out from the bedroom, still dressed in her nightgown.

  “Don’t worry about it, I’ll be out in an hour. Let them play their fucken game.” Anthony smiled and gave Tina a quick wink. He was taken down town to his cell and waited for his bail hearing.

  “I told you I was going to nail your balls to the wall, eventually.” Agent Shepherd stepped out from the shadows. “Make it easy on yourself and confess to the murders and I’ll see if I can get the arson charge dropped.

  Anthony looked through the bars and smiled. “See, that’s the problem with you F.B.I. guys, you try the strong arm tough guy routine and when that doesn’t work, you go to the sympathy card. It’s not going to work with me, you know why, because, I’m not scared of you. I’m walking out of here in an hour and there isn’t anything you could do to stop me.” Anthony smiled. “You have no proof I killed Carlo or Michael. You have nothing that links me to the crime. No finger prints, no witnesses, no murder weapon, if you think about it Shepherd, you don’t have a pot to piss in.”

  “I have evidence that was taken from one of the victims. That places you at the scene of the crime.” Agent Shepherd said calmly

  “What, the wallet?” Anthony chuckled. “That’s a stretch even for you.”

  “I’m having the boys down at the lab checking it out for…”

  Anthony quickly interrupted. “For what fingerprints, of course there’s going to be fingerprints on it, they found it in my house.” Anthony shook his head. “You’re not to bright, are you Shepherd?”

  “Not for fingerprints. For blood, you see if that turns out to be Bruno’s blood on that wallet. Then that will prove you where at the crime scene. Gottacha!” Agent Shepherd turned and walked away, with a smile on his face.

  “Fuck you Shepherd!” Anthony screamed at the top of his lungs. He watched the agent stroll out of the holding area like a prized fighter. Anthony grabbed the cell bars and shook them out of frustration. He paced back and forth like a caged tiger. This was starting to become a bad habit, the cell was now becoming his second home and he didn’t like spending time in a room that had nothing to offer, except bad company and a strong smell of urine.

  “Anthony Sakakini, please follow me.” A guard finally came, cuffed Anthony and took him out of his cell and into an interrogation room. “ Have a seat, someone will be here in a minute.”

  Anthony sat down at the large scratched and stained wooden table. Directly in front of him was a large two-way mirror. He knew someone was in there looking back at him. He sucked hard on his nostrils and spit over the table and onto the mirror. He watched as his nasty spit slowly slid down and resting on top of the metal frame. Moments later, the door swung open and in walked John Pennington. His hair was all a mess and his white shirt was half tucked. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days.

  “Where the fuck have you been? You know, I can’t stand this place!” Anthony asked heatedly.

  “I would have been here earlier, but I ran into agent Shepherd. He told me he was waiting on lab reports.”

  As they where talking, agent Shepherd swung open the door and smiled a great big smile toward Anthony.

  “What’s so funny?” Anthony asked.

  “The lab reports came back…”

  “And?” John asked curious.

  “I’m here to formally charge your client with murder of Michael Mazellie, Carlo Sabbetini and Bruno Felucca. Book’em.”

  Two uniformed officers grabbed Anthony by the arms and dragged him out of the interrogation room.

  “This won’t stick and you know it! I’ll see you in court Shepherd and that’s when I’ll have the last laugh!”

  ”When is the hearing?” John asked as he watched Anthony being dragged away.

  “In an hour.” Agent Shepherd said. He turned and started back to his office. “If I was you, I’d advice your client to plead guilty. I’m willing to drop the arson charges.

  “There’s no way he’ll plead to a triple murder wrap. Come up with a better deal that I can take to my client.” John said firmly.

  “I’ll talk to the prosecutor, but I can’t promise you anything. This is a high profile case and he wants his name in the paper.” Agent Shepherd walked into the next room and closed the door. It wasn’t more than a minute, when he stepped back out. “The prosecutor said; no deals, he’ll be charged with all three counts of murder and the arson charge, as well.”

  Anthony was returned to the interrogation room, where John was still seated. A look of anguish across his face, made Anthony nervous.

  “We need to talk.” John said softly.

  ”About what?”

  John motioned for Anthony to sit down. He leaned forward and whispered. “The government is going to charge you with three counts of murder, unless you cooperate.” He spoke softly, so the people in the room next door couldn’t hear them.

  “You sound upset, relax. They don’t have a leg to stand on.” Anthony said confidently.

  “Anthony, you need to work with me here. You’re looking at three counts of murder and not to mention the arson charge. Do you know what that carries? The death penalty.” John sounded frustrated. “I can’t help you, if you don’t want to help yourself.”

  Anthony leaned in closer and smiled peacefully. “Let me ask you something about the law? The two detectives that came to my house came to ask me question, they just happened to see the wallet, isn’t that illegal search?”

  Suddenly, John’s face lit up. “Are you telling me they didn’t have a warrant?”

  “Exactly!” Anthony slapped the wooden table. “They didn’t have a warrant.”

  ”Why didn’t you tell me this earlier, I could have saved you a lot of trouble.”

  “With all the confusion, I forgot.” Anthony said.

  “Well, that changes everything. Let’s go and have a little talk with agent Shepherd.” John began to get up, when Anthony pulled him back down
in his chair.

  “No.”

  “Whatta mean; no?” John asked confused.

  “I want to go to the hearing. I want to see the look on agent Shepherd’s face when the judge dismisses the case.”

  “Anthony, are you sure about the warrant?” John asked, again.

  “Trust me, there wasn’t any warrant. No matter what they offer or say, I want to go to the hearing.” Anthony smiled.

  An officer walked into the holding room and stood just inside. “I have to take the prisoner back to the holding cells.”

  “Very well Anthony, I guess I’ll see you in court. I hope you know what you’re doing.”

  As Anthony was led back to his cell, agent Shepherd was coming out of his office and down the hall. Both men made eye contact and Anthony smiled. When both men passed each other, agent Shepherd could hear Anthony laughing.

  “What’s going on with your client?” Asked agent Shepherd. “He doesn’t look like a man facing a triple homicide?”

  “You’re right agent Shepherd, he doesn’t. We’ll see you in court.” John walked away and exited the hall.

  The time had come for Anthony’s hearing. He was taken down a small hallway and placed with other inmates awaiting their bail hearing.

  “When I call your name step forward.” The bailiff said. “Anthony Sak… Sakkienie?”

  “It’s pronounced Sakakini.” Anthony said loudly.

  “Yeah, whatever. You’re first. Place your hands in front of you.” The bailiff reached into his back pouch and placed the cuffs on Anthony’s wrists.

  “Hey buddy, these things are a little tight.” Anthony tried to adjust the cuffs, that felt like they where cutting into his flesh.

  “Yeah, I don’t give a shit.”

  Anthony was led to another hallway, with a white door at the end. On the door was a sign that read, all prisoners must remain quiet, while in court. The bailiff stepped in front of Anthony and unlocked the door. The courtroom was large. On the wall behind the bench was the seal of Texas. They’re where two flags on either side of the bench, a Texas flag on the left and the American flag on the right. Anthony was led to a table in front of the bench, where John Pennington was already seated. The bailiff removed the cuffs and stepped back. Anthony took a quick look around the courtroom and spotted some familiar faces. Tina was seated with Vinnie in the far corner, out of agent Shepherd’s view.