Road to Paradise

by Max Allan Collins

  “Anna,” Michael said, “don’t do anything. Antonio, you have to listen to me.”

  Through clenched teeth, the wild-eyed kid said, “Fuck I do!” the mane of curly black hair catching the alley light in a shimmer, a side effect of how bad the boy was shaking.

  “Son.…”

  “Don’t call me that!”

  Michael raised two surrendering palms. “Mr. DeStefano, I know all about family loyalty. And can give chapter and verse on revenge. I could tell you it’s a dead end and you’d never believe me.…”

  “Shut the fuck up!”

  “…But you need to know a couple of things before you take this any further, starting with I didn’t kill your uncle. Sam Giancana did.”

  The kid shook his head, and sweat flecks flew. “You’re a liar! You’re a goddamn liar!”

  His voice as calm as young Sam’s wasn’t, Michael said, “You are looking at the two people who killed Giancana, just last night—because my daughter lost her husband, and she and I lost her mother, when Giancana framed me for killing your uncle, and the DeStefano crew came looking for us.”

  He shook his head, a dozen spastic times. “You’re not telling the truth! Why should I listen to this shit…?”

  “Because you’re about to lose your life, or maybe take a life or two, for the wrong reason. The man who killed Mad Sam DeStefano was Spilotro—the Ant? I’m sure you know that charmer, and he did it for himself and for Giancana.”

  “…The fuck, you say.”

  “I can prove it.”

  “Fuck you can!”

  “You followed us here from the Temple, right?”

  “What if I did!”

  “Because a bent marshal dropped the dime. Guy named Hughes.…Only he’s dead now.”

  The boy’s eyes somehow got wilder. “Who says he’s dead! And so what if he told me!”

  Patting the air, just a little, Michael said reasonably, “I knew that, only because I also knew this same bent cop sicced your DeStefano guys—and some Giancana crew, too—on me and my family. It was part of the same damn frame.”

  Spittle flitted. “Talk till you’re fuckin’ blue, you still killed my uncle!”

  “Are you Mario’s boy?”

  “No! He’s my other uncle.…”

  “Mario was in it with Spilotro.”

  Little Sam seemed about to cry, the gun trembling in his hand, but still pointed right at Anna’s face. “…Why should I believe you? You wanna send me off to kill somebody else? What kinda putz do you take me for?”

  Anna said, “Is that a trick question?”

  “Shut up, bitch!”

  “Anna…please.…Antonio, I am not suggesting you go after your uncle and that crazy asshole Spilotro.…You’ll really get yourself killed, then. But you need to know who you’re defending. Your father was Angelo, right?”

  His chin quivered; his eyes were moving side to side. “What, what are you bringing up that ancient hist—”

  “You never really knew him, though. Your father. He’s been gone a long time.”

  Little Sam’s voice seemed small, now, though the gun remained big enough. “What does that have to do with shit?”

  “Did you know he was a drug addict?”

  The voice grew large, again. “What the fuck business is that of yours! You are so going down.…”

  “You must have been told that your father was murdered.”

  “…That, that, that’s the kind of business we’re in, Satariano. You know that!”

  “What you don’t know is, your beloved Uncle Sam? The man everybody but you called ‘Mad Sam’?…killed your father. And everybody but you knows it.”

  Little Sam’s face whitened, and his eyes grew big. But the voice was back to small. “…You’re lying. That’s crazy. You’re lyin’, that’s crazy horseshit.…”

  “Everybody knows Sam was ashamed of Angelo—considered him an embarrassment, a burden. Mad Sam stabbed your father to death, in a car, and then he took him somewhere and washed him clean. Your uncle bragged about it. Told people he wanted to make sure his brother went to heaven with a clean soul. That’s why your father was found the way he was—naked… dead…freshly bathed. In the trunk of a car, right?”

  Little Sam was shaking, head to foot, including the .38 in his grasp. “…My uncle…my uncle wouldn’t.…”

  “How well did you know your uncle, son? Did you ever see his private workshop? With the ice picks? What kind of life advice did he give you? Do unto others? Fuck them before they can fuck you, maybe?”

  The boy swallowed; he was breathing very hard now, tears streaming down his face in glistening ribbons. He began to hunch over, the revolver limp in his hand.

  “I’m going to take that, son,” Michael said, stepping forward, holding his hand out for the gun.

  “You’ll…you’ll shoot me…you’ll…shoot my ass.…”

  But the boy allowed Michael to take the revolver from him, and Michael said, “No, Antonio, I won’t shoot you. Anna, put that gun down. Get our guest a glass of water, would you?”

  She looked at her father as if he were crazy, but the unspoken “Huh?” did not come out.

  “Anna? Please?”

  Into the kitchenette she went, smirking and shaking her head, but obviously relieved, though her definition of putting the gun “down” was aiming it at the floor, and not setting it anywhere. She switched a light on.

  The boy dropped to his knees. Hung his head. He was crying.

  “Forgive me,” Antonio said. “Forgive me.”

  Michael put his hand on the boy’s shoulder; then he knelt beside him.

  “Only God can do that, son.”

  “I’m sorry…I’m sorry…God forgive me.”

  “He will,” Michael said. “Pray to Him…right now, pray to Him. And ask. Just ask.”

  Antonio snuffled snot and nodded, black locks of hair shimmering in the dim light, and clasped his hands and began to pray, silently, while Michael squeezed the boy’s shoulder, his own head bowed, too.

  Knowing that this time, finally, he’d made the right choice.

  ROAD TIPS

  This novel follows Road to Purgatory (2004), the prose sequel to my graphic novel Road to Perdition (1998), on which the Sam Mendes film of 2002 was based, starring Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law, Tyler Hoechlin, and Stanley Tucci. To coincide with the release of that film, I also wrote a novel version of Road to Perdition based on my original work as illustrated by Richard Piers Rayner (and David Self’s screenplay adaptation); the book was originally published in severely truncated form, but I'm pleased to say the full text is now available from Brash Books, making the entire prose trilogy available.

  A second graphic novel, Road to Perdition 2: On the Road (2004), indicates my continuing interest in these characters, and the O’Sullivan family saga as it intertwines with organized crime in twentieth-century America, as does the graphic novel coda, Return to Perdition, published in (2012).

  Despite extensive speculation, supposition, and fabrication, this novel does have a basis in history. Many real-life figures appear under their own names, including crime figures Sam Giancana, Tony Accardo, and Sam DeStefano. Other characters are either wholly fictional—despite his real uncle, Little Sam DeStefano is an imagined character, as is Marshal Donald Hughes—or fictional ones with real-life counterparts, such as lawyer Sidney Horshak and WITSEC associate director Harold Shore.

  The major liberty taken here is time compression, with events that took place between April 1973 and June 1975 telescoped into a few months. As much as I pride myself on accuracy, the play remains the thing, and I make no apology for the “1973” of this novel containing elements of all three years, including pop culture and sociological references.

  My first two novels, written while I was still attending the Writers Workshop at the University of Iowa, were published in 1973; they had to do with a fifty-year-old bank robber on the run from his former mob bosses (so much for progress). Having written t
wenty-five or more historical crime novels, I found it sobering to be writing “historical” fiction set within my own career; also, had I known I’d be writing about the mid-’70s, I’d have paid more attention. Among the works that helped refresh my memory were the extensive booklet included with Have a Nice Decade: The ’70s Pop Culture Box (Rhino Records); Stuck in the Seventies (1995), Scott Matthews, Jay Kerness, Tamara Nikuradse, Jay Steele, and Greg White; and Rolling Stone: The Seventies (1998), edited by Ashley Kahn, Holly George-Warren, and Shawn Dahl. Homes depicted herein were influenced by the massive, lavishly illustrated (and dead serious) The House Book (1974), Terence Conran, and the hysterically funny Interior Desecrations (2004), James Lileks.

  Joining in this effort in reluctant nostalgia was my longtime research partner, George Hagenauer. George focused on Chicago crime, as usual, and was especially helpful on the Witness Protection Program, leading me to two key books: The Alias Program (1977), Fred Graham, and WITSEC: Inside the Federal Witness Protection Program (2002), Peter Earley and Gerald Shur (WITSEC founder). I also consulted On the Run: A Mafia Childhood (2004), Gregg and Gina Hill.

  Cal-Neva is of course a real casino and resort, and the back-story comes from research, though Michael Satariano’s tenure is heavily fictionalized and is in no way meant to negatively reflect on this landmark slice of Americana, still going strong. Books consulted on Cal-Neva and Lake Tahoe included, Tales of Tahoe (1969), David J. Stollery, Jr.; Wood Chips to Game Chips: Casinos and People at North Lake Tahoe (1985; 1999), Bethel Holmes Van Tassel; and The Last Good Time (2003), Jonathan Van Meter, the story of Skinny D’Amato, who ran gambling at Cal-Neva in the Sinatra ’60s.

  Although Frank Sinatra is not an on-stage character in this novel, his stormy history with Cal-Neva made it inevitable that much about the resort would be found in such books as: All or Nothing at All: A Life of Frank Sinatra (1997), Donald Clarke; Frank Sinatra: My Father (1985), Nancy Sinatra; His Way: The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra (1986), Kitty Kelley; Mr. S: My Life with Frank Sinatra (2003), George Jacobs and William Stadiem; and Rat Pack Confidential (1998), Shawn Levy. I thank all of these authors, and apologize to Nancy for listing her with Kitty.

  Though the John Looney aspect of this novel is minor compared to the previous Road trips, I would again like to acknowledge Rock Island historian BJ Elsner for both her invaluable book Rock Island: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow (1988), and her friendship. Also, my CSI associate Matthew V. Clemens helped me on Vegas questions.

  Several books by the late FBI agent William F. Roemer, Jr., were key, including Accardo: The Genuine Godfather (1995); The Enforcer—Spilotro: The Chicago Mob’s Man Over Las Vegas (1994); and Roemer: Man Against the Mob (1989).

  Gus Russo’s The Outfit (2001) is an excellent, detailed overview of the Chicago mob, and helped bring me out of the Capone/Nitti years, with which I’m so familiar, into the latter half of the twentieth century. The best book on Sam Giancana remains The Don: The Life and Death of Sam Giancana (1977), William Brashler, and I’m indebted. But helpful, too, were Double Cross (1992), Sam and Chuck Giancana, and Mafia Princess: Growing Up in Sam Giancana’s Family (1984), Antoinette Giancana and Thomas C. Renner. Richard Lindberg’s Return to the Scene of the Crime (1999) and Return Again to the Scene of the Crime (1999) are essential Chicago illustrated criminal histories, the Giancana and DeStefano entries critical to this novel. Key to understanding the interworkings of the mob-influenced gambling business was Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas (1995), Nicolas Pileggi. Other useful organized-crime books included The Last Mafioso (1981), Ovid DeMaris, and The Mafia Encyclopedia (1987), Carl Sifakis.

  Chicago references consulted included Chicago on Foot: Walking Tours of Chicago’s Architecture (1977), Ira J. Bach, and Architecture 3: Frank Lloyd Wright (1998), Robert McCarter (Unity Temple section only). The updated ’60s and ’70s editions of the WPA guides for California, Arizona, and Illinois were also helpful, as was the picture book Arizona (1978), David Muench and Barry Goldwater.

  The handling of notification of an MIA during Vietnam was derived chiefly from the excellent Vietnam: Angel of Death (2002), Harry Spiller.

  Various Internet sites provided vintage Tahoe photographs and details on criminals, geography, Vietnam, buildings, school colors, the 1970s, and even Sam Giancana’s final recipe; thank you to scores of cyber scholars and enthusiasts.

  I would like especially to thank and acknowledge my editor, Sarah Durand, not just for her intelligent and helpful editing, but her understanding and support when real life intruded on the writing of this book. Also, I would again like to thank Trish Lande Grader, who saw potential in my proposal for prose sequels to Road to Perdition.

  I am, as always, grateful to my friend and agent, Dominick Abel, who recognized movie potential in Road to Perdition, and to entertainment lawyer Ken Levin.

  Right to the end of the road, my co-pilot, Barbara Collins—wife, friend, collaborator—was with me for every twist and turn. More than any novel I’ve ever written, this one benefited from Barb’s suggestions and her ability to know when to be sounding board, and when to be editor; also, she attended college in Tucson in the late ’60s, and shared memories of the campus and the town. My son, Nathan, and my late father, Max Allan Collins, Sr., inspired this trilogy, and my love and thanks to them both.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Max Allan Collins, the 2017 Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster honoree, has earned an unprecedented twenty-two Private Eye Writers of America “Shamus” Award nominations, winning for his Nathan Heller novels True Detective (1983) and Stolen Away (1991), as well as the PWA “Eye” award for Life Achievement (2006). In 2012, his Nathan Heller saga was honored with the PWA “Hammer” award for making a major contribution to the private-eye genre. His graphic novel Road to Perdition (1998) is the basis of the Academy Award-winning Tom Hanks film, followed by two acclaimed prose sequels (also published by Brash Books) and several graphic novels. He has created a number of innovative suspense series, including Mallory, Quarry, Eliot Ness, and the “Disaster” novels. He is completing a number of “Mike Hammer” novels begun by the late Mickey Spillane; his full-cast audio novel Mike Hammer: The Little Death, with Stacy Keach, won a 2011 Audie for best original work. His comics credits include the syndicated strip Dick Tracy, his own Ms. Tree, and Batman.

  For five years, he was the sole writer on the novel series based on the popular TV show CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (and its CSI: Crime Scene Investigation spin-offs), writing ten best-selling books, four graphic novels, and four award-winning video games. His tie-in books have appeared on the USA Today bestseller list nine times and the New York Times list three times, including Saving Private Ryan, Air Force One, and American Gangster, which won the Best Novel “Scribe” Award in 2008 from the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers.

  As an independent filmmaker in the Midwest, Collins has written and directed four features, including the Lifetime movie Mommy (1996); and he scripted The Expert, a 1995 HBO World Premiere, as well as the film-festival favorite The Last Lullaby (2009). His documentary Caveman: V.T. Hamlin & Alley Oop (2008) has appeared on PBS and on DVD, and his documentary Mike Hammer’s Mickey Spillane (1998) appears on the Criterion Collection DVD and Blu-ray of Kiss Me Deadly. His innovative Quarry novels are the basis of a current Cinemax TV series, for which he is providing some of the scripts.

  His play Eliot Ness: An Untouchable Life was nominated for an Edgar Award in 2004 by the Mystery Writers of America; a film version, written and directed by Collins, was released on DVD and appeared on PBS stations in 2009.

  Collins lives in Iowa with his wife, writer Barbara Collins; as “Barbara Allan,” they have collaborated on nine novels, including the successful “Trash ‘n’ Treasures” mysteries, with Antiques Flee Market (2008) winning the Romantic Times Best Humorous Mystery Novel award of 2009.

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