Last Don

by Mario Puzo

  His reaction was one of impatience. He had suffered countless scams over the years, but this one was so stupid. And he liked Danny Fuberta; the man had earned many dollars for the Xanadu. He knew what Fuberta would claim: that he, too, had been deceived by the false IDs, that he, too, was an innocent victim.

  Gronevelt was annoyed by the incompetence of his Casino personnel. The Stick at the crap table should have caught on, and certainly the Box man should have picked up the cross-betting. It was not that clever a trick. But people went soft with good times, and Vegas was no exception. He thought regretfully that he would have to fire the Stick and the Box man, at least send them back to spinning a roulette wheel. But one thing he could not duck. He would have to turn the whole matter of Danny Fuberta over to the Clericuzio.

  First he summoned Pippi De Lena to the hotel and showed him the documents and the film of the Eye in the Sky. Pippi knew Fuberta but not the other four men, so Gronevelt had snapshots made from isolated video stills and gave them to Pippi.

  Pippi shook his head. “How the hell did Danny think he could get away with this? I thought he was a smart hustler.”

  “He’s a gambler,” Gronevelt said. “They believe their cards are always winning cards.” He paused for a moment. “Danny will convince you he’s not in on this. But remember, he had to certify that they were good for the money. He’ll say he did it on the basis of their ID. A junket master has to certify that they are who they are. He had to know.”

  Pippi smiled and patted him on the back. “Don’t worry, he won’t convince me.” They both laughed. It didn’t matter if Danny Fuberta was guilty. He was responsible for his mistakes.

  Pippi flew to New York the next day. To present the case to the Clericuzio Family in Quogue.

  After passing through the guarded gates, he drove up the long paved road that cut through a long plateau of grass, its wall armed with barbed wire and electronics. There was a guard at the door of the mansion. And this was in a time of peace.

  Giorgio greeted him, and he was led through the mansion into the garden at the rear. In the garden were tomato and cucumber plants, lettuce, and even melons, all framed by large-leafed fig trees. The Don had no use for flowers.

  The Family was seated at the round wooden table eating an early lunch. There was the Don, glowing with health despite his near seventy years, visibly drinking in the fig-perfumed air of his garden. He was feeding his ten-year-old grandson, Dante, who was handsome but imperious for a boy the same age as Cross. Pippi always had the urge to give him a smack. The Don was putty in the hands of his grandson; he wiped his mouth, crooned endearments. Vincent and Petie looked sour. The meeting could not start until the kid finished eating and was led away by his mother, Rose Marie. Don Domenico beamed at him as the boy walked away. Then he turned to Pippi.

  “Ah, my Martèllo,” he said. “What do you think of Fuberta, that rascal? We gave him a living and he grows greedy at our expense.”

  Giorgio said placatingly, “If he repays, he could still be a moneymaker for us.” The only valid plea for mercy.

  “It’s not a small sum of money,” the Don said. “We must have it back. Pippi, what do you think?”

  Pippi shrugged. “I can try. But these are people who don’t save for a rainy day.”

  Vincent, who hated small talk, said, “Let’s see the photos.” Pippi produced the pictures and Vincent and Petie studied the four armed robbers. Then Vincent said, “Me and Petie know them.”

  “Good,” Pippi said. “Then you can straighten out those four guys. What do you want me to do with Fuberta?”

  The Don said, “They have shown contempt for us. Who do they think we are? Some helpless fools who have to go to the police? Vincent, Petie, you help Pippi. I want the money back and these mascalzoni punished.” They understood. Pippi was to be in charge. The sentence on the five men was death.

  The Don left them for his walk in the garden.

  Giorgio sighed. “The old man is too tough for the times we live in. This is more risk than the whole thing is worth.”

  “Not if Vinnie and Pete handle the four hoods,” Pippi said. “That OK with you, Vince?”

  Vincent said, “Giorgio, you’ll have to talk to the old man. Those four won’t have the money. We have to make a deal. They go out and earn and pay us back and they’re home free. If we bury them, no money.”

  Vincent was a realistic enforcer who never let the lust for blood overcome more practical solutions.

  “OK, I can sell Pop that,” Giorgio said. “They were just helpers. But he won’t let Fuberta off.”

  “The junket masters have to get the message,” Pippi said.

  “Cousin Pippi,” Giorgio said smiling, “what bonus do you expect on this?”

  Pippi hated when Giorgio called him cousin. Vincent and Petie called him cousin out of affection, but Giorgio only did so when in negotiation.

  “For Fuberta it’s my duty,” Pippi said. “You gave me the Collection Agency and I get wages from the Xanadu. But getting the money back is hard so I should get a percentage. Just as Vince and Petie if they get some from the hoods.”

  “That’s fair,” Giorgio said. “But this is not like collecting markers. You can’t expect fifty percent.”

  “No, no,” Pippi said, “just let me wet my beak.”

  They all laughed at the old Sicilian idiom. Petie said, “Giorgio, don’t be cheap. You don’t want to chisel me and Vincent.” Petie now ran the Bronx Enclave, chief of the Enforcers, and he was always promoting the idea that the button men should get more money. He would split his share with his men.

  “You guys are greedy,” Giorgio said with a smile. “But I’ll recommend twenty percent to the old man.” Pippi knew that meant it would be fifteen or ten. It was an old story with Giorgio.

  “How about we pool it?” Vince said to Pippi. Meaning the three of them would share whatever money was recovered no matter from whom. It was meant as a friendly gesture. There was a far better chance of recovering money from people who were to live than people who were to die. Vincent understood Pippi’s value.

  “Sure, Vince,” Pippi said. “I’d appreciate that.”

  He saw Dante walking hand in hand with the Don far off at the edge of the garden. He heard Giorgio say, “Isn’t it amazing how Dante and my father get along? My father was never that friendly to me. They whisper to each other all the time. Well, the old man is so smart, the kid will learn.”

  Pippi saw that the boy had his face turned up to the Don. The two looked as if they shared a terrible secret that would give them dominion over Heaven and Earth. Later Pippi would believe that this vision put on him the evil eye, and triggered his misfortune.

  Pippi De Lena had gained his reputation over the years by his careful planning. He was not just some rampaging gorilla but a skilled technician. As such he relied on psychological strategy to help in the physical execution of a job. With Danny Fuberta there were three problems. First of all he had to get the money back. Second, he had to coordinate carefully with Vincent and Petie Clericuzio. (That part was easy. Vincent and Petie were extremely efficient in their work. In two days they tracked down the hoods, forced a confession, and arranged for compensation.) Then third, he had to kill Danny Fuberta.

  It was easy for Pippi to run into Fuberta accidentally, to turn on his charm and insist the man be his guest for lunch at a Chinese restaurant on the East Side. Fuberta knew Pippi was a collector for the Xanadu, they had necessarily done business over the years, but Pippi seemed so delighted to run into him in New York that Fuberta could not refuse.

  Pippi played it in a very low key. He waited until they had ordered and then he said, “Gronevelt told me about the scam.

  You know you have a responsibility for those guys being certified for credit.”

  Fuberta swore his innocence, and Pippi gave him a big grin and slapped him on the shoulder in a comradely way. “Come on, Danny,” he said, “Gronevelt has the tapes, and your four buddies already fessed up. You�
��re in big trouble but I can square things if you give back the money. Maybe I can even keep you in the junket business.”

  To back up his statement, he took out the four photos of the hoods. “These are your boys,” he said, “and right now they are spilling out their guts. Laying all the shit on you. They told us about the split. So if you come up with your four hundred grand, you’re clear.”

  Fuberta said, “Sure, I know these boys, but they’re tough guys, they wouldn’t talk.”

  “It’s the Clericuzio who are asking,” Pippi said.

  “Oh shit,” Danny said. “I didn’t know they had the Hotel.”

  “Now you know,” Pippi said. “If they don’t get the money back, you’re in big trouble.”

  “I should just walk out of here,” Fuberta said.

  “No, no,” Pippi said. “Stick around, the Peking duck is great. Look, this can be straightened out, it’s no big deal. Everybody tries to scam once in awhile, right? Just get the money back.”

  “I don’t have a dime,” Fuberta said.

  For the first time Pippi showed some irritation. “You have to show a little respect,” Pippi said. “Give a hundred thousand back and we’ll take your marker for the other three hundred.”

  Fuberta thought it over as he munched a fried dumpling. “I can give you fifty,” he said.

  “That’s good, that’s very good,” Pippi said. “You can pay off the rest by not taking your fee for running junkets to the Hotel. Is that fair?”

  “I guess,” Fuberta said.

  “Don’t worry any more, enjoy the food,” Pippi said. He rolled some duck into a pancake, anointed it with black sweet sauce, and handed it to Fuberta. “This is terrific, Danny,” he said. “Eat. Then we do business.”

  They ate chocolate ice cream for dessert and made arrangements for Pippi to pick up the fifty grand at Fuberta’s travel agency after working hours. Pippi grabbed the lunch check, paying cash. “Danny,” he said, “you notice how chocolate ice cream in a Chinese restaurant has so much cocoa? The best. You know what I think? The first Chinese restaurant in America got the recipe wrong and the ones that came after just copied that first wrong recipe. Great. Great chocolate ice cream.”

  But Danny Fuberta had not hustled for the forty-eight years of his life without being able to read the signs. After leaving Pippi he dived underground, sending a message that he was traveling to collect the money he owed the Xanadu Hotel. Pippi was not surprised. Fuberta was only using tactics common in such cases. He had disappeared so that he could negotiate in safety. Which meant he had no money and there would be no bonus unless Vincent and Petie collected on their end.

  Pippi drew some men from the Bronx Enclave to scour the city. The word was put out that Danny Fuberta was wanted by the Clericuzio. A week went by, and Pippi became more and more irritated. He should have known that Fuberta would only be alerted by the demand for repayment. That Fuberta had figured out that fifty grand would not be enough, if he even had fifty grand.

  After another week, Pippi became impatient, so that when the break came he moved more daringly than was prudent.

  Danny Fuberta surfaced in a small restaurant on the Upper West Side. The owner, a Clericuzio soldier, made a quick call. Pippi arrived just as Fuberta was leaving the restaurant and, to Pippi’s surprise, drew a gun. Fuberta was a hustler, had no experience in strong-arm. So when he fired, the shot was wide. Pippi put five bullets in him.

  There were a few unfortunate things about this scene. One, there were eyewitnesses. Two, a patrol car arrived before Pippi could make his getaway. Three, Pippi had made no preparation for a shooting, he had meant to talk Fuberta into a secure location. Four, though a case could be made for self-defense, some witnesses said that Pippi shot first. It came down to the old truism that you were more in danger with the law when you were innocent than when you were guilty. Also, Pippi had a silencer on his gun, in preparation for his final friendly chat with Fuberta.

  It helped matters that Pippi reacted perfectly to the disastrous arrival of the patrol car. He did not try to shoot his way out but followed the guidelines. The Clericuzio had a strict injunction: Never fire at an officer of the law. Pippi did not. He dropped his gun to the pavement, then kicked it away. He submitted peacefully to arrest and denied completely any connection with the dead man lying just a few feet away.

  Such contingencies were foreseen and planned against. After all, no matter how much care was taken, there was always the malignancy of fate. Pippi now seemed to be drowning in a typhoon of ill fortune, but he knew he had only to let himself relax, that he could count on the Clericuzio Family to tow him to shore.

  First there were the high-priced defense lawyers who would get him out on bail. Then there were the judges and prosecutors who could be persuaded to become stalwart in the defense of fair play, the witnesses whose memory could be made to fail, the staunchly independent American jurors who if given the slightest encouragement would refuse to convict in order to foil authority. A soldier of the Clericuzio Family did not have to shoot his way out of trouble like some mad dog.

  But for the first time in his long service to the Family, Pippi De Lena had to stand trial in a court of law. And the usual legal strategy was that his wife and children must attend the trial. The jurors must know that on their decision rested the happiness of this innocent family. Twelve men and women tried and true had to harden their hearts. “Reasonable doubt” was a godsend to a juror wrung by pity.

  During the trial, the police officers testified they had not seen Pippi with the gun or kicking it. Three of the eyewitnesses could not identify the defendant, the other two were so adamant in their identification of Pippi that they alienated jury and judge. The Clericuzio soldier who owned the restaurant testified that he had followed Danny Fuberta out of the restaurant because the man had not paid his check, that he had witnessed the shooting, and that the shooter definitely was not Pippi De Lena, the defendant.

  Pippi had worn gloves at the time of the shooting, which was why there were no prints on the gun. Medical evidence was given for the defense that Pippi De Lena suffered from intermittent skin rashes, mysterious and incurable, and that the wearing of gloves had been recommended.

  As maximum insurance a juror had been bribed. After all, Pippi was a high executive in the Family. But this final precaution had not been needed. Pippi was acquitted and deemed forever innocent in the eyes of the law.

  But not by his wife, Nalene De Lena. Six months after the trial, Nalene told Pippi they must divorce.

  There is a cost for those who live on a high level of tension. Physical parts of the body wear down. Excessive eating and drinking tax the liver and heart. Sleep is criminally evasive, the mind does not respond to beauty and will not invest in trust. Pippi and Nalene both suffered from this. She could not bear him in her bed, and he could not enjoy a partner who did not share his enjoyment. She could not hide the horror of knowing he was a murderer. He felt an enormous amount of relief that he did not any longer have to hide his true self from her.

  “OK, we’ll divorce,” Pippi said to Nalene. “But I’m not losing my kids.”

  “I know who you are now,” Nalene said. “I won’t see you again and I will not have my children living with you.”

  This surprised Pippi. Nalene had never been forceful or outspoken. And it surprised him that she dared to speak to him, Pippi De Lena, in such a fashion. But women were always reckless. He then considered his own position. He was not equipped to bring up children. Cross was eleven and Claudia was ten, and he recognized the fact that, despite his closeness with Cross, both children loved their mother more than they did him.

  He wanted to be fair to his wife. After all, he had received from her what he wanted, a family, children, a bedrock to his life, which every man needed. Who knew what he would have become if it had not been for her?

  “Let’s reason this out,” he said. “Let’s split without any bad feelings.” He turned on the charm. “What the hell, we’ve had a
good twelve years. We’ve had some happy times. And we have two wonderful kids, thanks to you.” He paused, surprised again by her stern face. “Come on Nalene, I’ve been a good father, my kids like me. And I’ll help you in whatever you want to do. Naturally you can keep the house here in Vegas. And I can get you one of the shops in the Xanadu. Dresses, jewelry, antiques. You’ll earn your two hundred grand a year. And we can sort of share the kids.”

  Nalene said, “I hate Las Vegas. I always did. I have my teaching degree and a job in Sacramento. I’ve already enrolled the children in school up there.”

  It was at that moment that Pippi, with a sense of astonishment, realized that she was an opponent, she was dangerous. It was a concept completely foreign to him. Women, in his frame of reference, were never dangerous. Not a wife, not a mistress, not an aunt, not the wife of a friend, not even the daughter of the Don, Rose Marie. Pippi had always lived in a world where women could not be an enemy. Suddenly he felt that rage, that flow of energy, that he could feel toward men.

  Out of that he said, “I’m not going to Sacramento to see my kids.” He always became angry when someone rejected his charm, refused his friendship. Anyone who refused to be reasonable with Pippi De Lena was courting disaster. Once he decided on confrontation, Pippi took it to the limit. Also, he was astonished that his wife had already made plans.

  “You said you know who I am,” Pippi said. “So be very careful. You can move to Sacramento, you can move to the bottom of the ocean for all I care. But you take only one of my children with you. The other stays with me.”

  Nalene looked at him coolly. “The court will decide that,” she said. “I think you should get a lawyer to talk to my lawyer.” She almost laughed in his face when she saw his astonishment.