by Jeff Ping
Chapter 7
The Wars
After the first year of operation The new Casino Palaci Las Vegas was operating very smoothly with the staff stabilized and revenues ahead of projections. And then everything went to hell. There was an outbreak of food poisoning in the hotel restaurant, snack bars, and room service. It was traced to botulism from a delivery of tainted meat.
Then there was a fire in the south tower of the hotel. Causing an evacuation and two rooms were gutted. There was a rash of car break-ins, and several reported muggings. Fortunately, no one died from the food poisoning. But between the health investigation and the remodeling required by the fires the casino was closed for over three months.
The extended closure cost the syndicate millions in income. The car burglaries were a lucky break because surveillance camera captured some excellent video and two of the culprits were recognized by the security staff.
Mike decided to involve himself in the investigation of the incidents. He said that he did not believe that their recent epidemic of problems were all coincidence. Using Reese Thompson and three of his men Mike took the two car burglars and a third man that was captured with them to his property northwest of town. The three punks were questioned for several hours. Then one of them died.
When the second of the punks lost consciousness someone threw water on him. When the man was revived he was given a rudimentary examination to see that he was able to dig. His hands operated and he could stand unassisted and shovel. So Reese determined that he could dig. Reese Thompson and Mike took the two young men out to dig a hole to bury their friend.
”Just go ahead and dig three holes. Then I won’t have to worry about neglecting to have them all dug.” Mike told the two prisoners.
One of the guys started crying and said that he would talk. The punk that had passed out earlier yelled for him to keep his mouth shut or the boss would have them both killed. Reese motioned for Ted, one of his men to shut him up. Ted cracked him in the head with his interrogation tool, a claw hammer. Ted then tied the punks hands behind his back then rolled him into the second hole. Picking up a bag of lime Ted gave each or the bodies a liberal sprinkling the set the bag next to the last hole.
When the third hole was deep enough Mike said, “Go ahead and start filling the holes in.”
“But Jason is still breathing” said the last kid. Mike looked into the hole and saw that the punk named Jason was indeed thrashing around in the hole due to the burning effects of the lime that covered him head to toe.
“No… I’m sure he’s dead. Just fill the fuckin holes!” Reese told him and raised his pistol and fired three rounds into Jason’s body.
The last kid was named Danny. He told them that Ari Mack had hired them to break into the cars.
“Ari gave us three hundred bucks for each registration that we brought him plus we got to keep any loot we found.” Danny told his captors. Danny said that Ari didn’t hire them directly but said he usually paid them himself so everyone knew that Ari Mona was the boss.
Even after repeated questioning with the hammers, the punk swore he didn’t know anything about the food poisoning. He said that the fire was the work of Freddie “The Match” Castro. Mike gave a signal and Reese motioned to one of his men and Danny was shot and rolled into the last hole he had dug. Then the three of them covered Danny’s body with lime then dirt.
That night they returned to the city and started scouring Mona’s territory for Freddy “The Match” and Ari Mona. Several hours later Freddy “The Match” was pulled over by a highway patrol officer on highway 95 headed south probably on his way to Los Angeles. Unfortunately, for Freddy “The Match”, the officer was one of many on Reese’s payroll. The officer called Reese Thompson and held him until two of Reese’s security people arrived to take him into custody. They returned him to Mike and his interrogators for questioning. As funny as it sounds it seems that Freddy Castro didn’t like and was terrified of fire, at least when he was the one on fire that is.
Before he died, Freddy gave up Ari’s name again just like the punk had. Any time the name Freddy “The Match” came up in a conversation after that he was always laughingly referred to as Freddy “The Human Torch” or just "The Torch". It took Reese five days to get Ari Mona and cost him six more people.
Ari was taken to the property Mike owned as well. Ari talked easier than his men had. After only four crushed fingers Ari told Mike everything he wanted to know. It turned out that one of Mikes own cooks helpers carried in a vial of botulism and poisoned the most recent meat delivery.
Mike told Reese that he had what he needed from Ari. Mike and Reese turned and walked to their cars. Ari’s interrogators stopped extracting revenge for their lost friends only after he passed out and couldn’t be revived. He might even have been dead when they buried him, no one checked.
The cook that poisoned the meat delivery quietly disappeared, quietly unless you were within a quarter mile of where he was staked out to die.
The accidents stopped after Ari disappeared. Ari didn’t have any strong organized crime ties. He was a hold out from one of the defunct crime families. No one seemed to care that he disappeared. Ari just disappeared. It was unknown if he had dropped out of sight because of debts or if he was in hiding. His family and associates claimed to not know his whereabouts. But no one was overly upset because the poisoning had stepped over the line. No one fucks with a casino’s business.
A few months later Ari’s casino closed and was auctioned off for debts. Due to the loss and damage done to his business and his dramatic response no one bid against Mike. The M.E.I. Group was able to buy it for pennies on the dollar. Mike spent three months revamping the casino. Mike renamed it the Adranus and staffed it and the firm had three casinos in Las Vegas.
At the end of Mikes fourth year in Las Vegas Lucien came to visit the casinos.
“I understand you had some small problems” said Lucien.
“Yes, we had a rough time for a while but it’s all smoothed out now. No war or anything just a few inconveniences and a few deaths. The worst of it was the loss of revenues from the hotel-casino for three months, that amounted to just over twelve million dollars. But we have a third casino and should be well ahead of plan with profits this month. So by year end we will still be ahead of the financial plan.”
“Michael… Michael, that’s one of the things that endear you to me, always looking at the bottom line.
Tony was always impressed with you being a ghost, never seen and never identified to a job. But you have the ability to deal swiftly, decisively, and effectively with problems that arise. Without your swift reprisal and subsequent decisive actions a long drawn out war could have ensued here as well. A war is costly in political capitol which in the long run can be even more expensive” smiled Lucien.
“Carlo Milo was almost old enough to be my father. Carlo was powerful when I took control of the firm from my predecessor. Ari Mona started out only about ten years before I came to power. Ari was of the old guard and spun off from his family when it was broken up and dismantled. And although we didn’t have any overlapping territories I was always aware of him. But over the last 15 years his power was chipped away. Both of these bosses were eliminated without a long drawn out war.
I always tried to run a tight organization but I couldn’t turn a profit with legitimate businesses. Both you and Vincenzo seem to have a good understanding of the legit world. But you in particular can deal with my world effectively as well. I am dependent on the firm for my money I w0ould stop generating new funds without it. You could walk away tomorrow and your wealth would continue to rise.” continued Lucien.
“I just started out to launder my money from the hits I was performing for Tony. But the Bar and the restaurants just kind of succeeded on their own. I credit your teaching me how to deal firmly but fairly with people as the reason for their success.” Mike said.
