Cartier Cartel

by Nisa Santiago

  Marianne opened the bag and peered down at the bloody, ripped clothing. "Thank you for giving me this, but you could have just thrown these in the trash," Marianne said. "They aren't any good anymore."

  Marianne tried to give the bag back to the RN, who refused to take them.

  "Don't throw that bag away if you know what I mean," the nurse stated. The nurse had a little sister, Regina, who knew Bam well. After Barn was assaulted, Regina called her sister at the hospital and told her to be on the lookout for Bernice. Regina wanted a play-by-play account of Bernice's injuries and if she was dead or alive. Kathleen wasn't any stranger to the drug game being born and raised in Brownsville. Her current boyfriend was a drug hustler who paid all her bills. Even though Kathleen had always been a good girl, she was only attracted to bad boys.

  Cartier had intentionally overheard the conversation and knew exactly what the nurse was saying. Without hesitation, she took the bag from Marianne and said, "I'll take it. That's Bam's favorite shirt. I'll sew it back together and fix it for when she comes home."

  Marianne was tired and making a beeline for home and getting some much needed rest was all on her mind. She would get some sleep, get on the other three girls, and return to the hospital to stay by Bam's side.

  veryone was tired when they reached Trina's apartment. Trina headed straight to her bedroom to get some sleep while Cartier and her crew went to her room. "Y'all know what's in this bag, don't you?" Cartier asked.

  "Bloody clothes?" Shanine answered.

  "You're as dumb as the day is long!" Lil Momma snapped. "What do you think Barn was almost killed over?"

  "Oh. . ." Shanine said.

  Carefully, Cartier rummaged through the bloody, torn clothing until she reached inside Bam's inside ski jacket pocket and retrieved $2,200 in cash and another $300 worth of heroin. The crew thought Donnie had someone rob Barn and beat her down. But with the money and product still on her person, they didn't know what to think.

  "Maybe she wouldn't give it up and that's why they did her dirty like that," Shanine commented. "All she had to do was give up the shit. Now look at her."

  Shanine's comments instantly pissed off everyone. "How you sound?" Cartier spoke up, rising up on Shanine. "You blaming Barn for getting a beatdown, instead of praising her for taking a beat-down. We crew. She stood out there and held her own for the crew and you talking down about her?" Cartier was disgusted with Shanine's accusation. As she glared into Shanine's eyes, she wondered what Shanine or the rest of the crew, including herself, would have done if placed in the same predicament.

  "I didn't mean it like that," Shanine replied in her defense.

  "Yes, the fuck you did!" Monya jumped in.

  "How you gonna tell me what I meant, Monya? You don't even think for yourself. Whatever Cartier says, goes."

  At this point everyone was shocked. Shanine was obviously speaking her true feelings, and no one appreciated her being candid.

  Cartier was furious. She was the leader and what she said was supposed to go. And that included Shanine.

  "First of all," Cartier began, "when I formed this crew it was understood by everyone that I was the leader. It if wasn't for me we'd still be out here starving and begging people for shit. My thinking is what got us-"

  "Is what got Barn nearly killed!" Lil Momma spat.

  Cartier got even more furious. She couldn't believe two members of her crew were turning their backs on her, or had the gumption to stand up against her. She was the leader. She ruled. She made the decisions, and whatever decisions she made, the crew suffered the consequences as one, as a team.

  "How you sound, Lil Momma?" Cartier asked, looking back and forth between Lil Momma and Shanine. "You siding with Shanine and all of this is my fault?"

  "Cartier, if you gonna take all the glory, then you gotta take the fucking guilt." Lil Momma stood her ground. "We all told you that it wasn't a good idea hugging the block alone, but you wouldn't hear it. Now look."

  Cartier's first instinct was to bust Shanine's and Lil Momma's asses. She felt they disrespected her on two fronts: first, disrespecting her in her own house and challenging her authority. As her chest heaved up and down, internally, she calmed herself. She read only a fool reacts out of anger. She wanted to be diplomatic about this. She knew she had to choose her words wisely and hopefully come to some sort of resolution, while still maintaining her crew's respect.

  "Look, we're all upset behind what happened to Barn, but at this point we don't know what happened until she's able to tell us," Cartier explained in her most rational voice. "We can sit around pointing fingers all day, but what's that going to get us? Not when there's still money to be made." She held up Bar's stash of cash and heroin to make her point.

  "We didn't lose our reup money," Cartier continued. "And we can't allow Barn's tragedy to be in vain. Whoever did this to Barn, did it to drive us apart. Now, more than ever, we need to stick together and go back on the block and prove that the Cartier Cartel don't fold under pressure."

  Lil Momma didn't like what she was hearing. She loved her life and from the moment she heard about Barn's beat-down, she had been reflecting on her life.

  "Go back on the block and sling drugs?" she voiced loudly. "Are you crazy? Do you want what happened to Barn to happen to me, or Shanine, or Monya, or hell, even you? What's wrong with you, Cartier? You're not thinking straight."

  "See, this is exactly what happened in the movie-"

  "This isn't a movie and we're not actors, Cartier," Shanine said, cutting her off. "This is some real shit. Barn got her brain smashed in! What's it gonna take to get through your thick head that we can't hang with the big boys? We all need to stay in our lanes and go back to boosting."

  Cartier had had enough arguing with her scary friends. She was disappointed and shocked that they wanted to throw in the towel so quickly.

  "Look, whoever don't want to be a member of the Cartier Cartel, can get the fuck out," she offered. "But remember, if you walk out that front door there's no coming back. We will no longer be crew and I will walk past you on the street like we never met."

  Shanine, Lil Momma, and Monya heeded her warning and thought about the consequences. For each member it was a tough call. Lil Momma and Shanine were the two who had to make a decision. They knew Monya's loyalty was to Cartier, although both Cartier and Monya were more jealous friends than true friends.

  Lil Momma was the first to speak up. "I'm out."

  "Me too," Shanine replied. Both girls looked at Monya, who shook her head. There wasn't any way she was going against the grain. She had big dreams now and boosting couldn't fulfill those dreams. Hugging the block for a couple years would get her closer to realizing her dreams. Plus, she did the math in her head and with Bam, Shanine, and Lil Momma out, the shares would be split into half. Her dreams would be realized faster now.

  "OK, it's done. Shanine and Lil Momma, bounce," Cartier commanded. "We're no longer sisters!"

  Both girls hesitated. They were hurt by Cartier's words and tone. But the one thing they had learned explicitly from the Cartel was business was business. They wanted their cut of the money.

  "No problem, Cartier, we out;' Lil Momma said. "But give us our share of the money."

  "Nah, Bee, you knew what it was from day one," Cartier replied. "I specifically said that if anyone abandons the crew, they walk away from all stakes in the game. That rule applies to you and Shanine. I wasn't talking back then just for my health:"

  Lil Momma's rebuttal was stopped by Shanine.

  "Cartier, it's all good, but God don't like ugly. Keep our money and I promise you, you won't get to spend it."

  "Oh, you threatening me, bitch?" Cartier jumped in Shanine's face.

  Shanine stood her ground and shook her head. "It's not a threat, it's a promise. The laws of the universe."

  "Don't worry about them silly bitches," Monya interjected. "They just scared. They'll be back."

  "Didn't you just hear what I said? They can
't come back," Cartier replied, rolling her eyes. She opened her closet and pulled out the shoebox that contained the crew's savings. She dumped all the money on her bed, adding the money from Bam's earnings, and she and Monya counted the money together.

  The crew had managed to save $31,800, not including the $12,500 of reup money. Cartier and Monya figured at this rate, they'd be millionaires in two years.

  ttorneys hated crimes in the hood, because witnesses were scarce. A crime could happen and a hundred people saw it, but not one would step forward. However, that didn't stop information on the crime from spreading. What the justice system didn't know, the hood knew twelve hours after the crime occurred.

  By ten o'clock that morning, Cartier's phone began blowing up. She was informed that Donnie had beat down Bam, and unfortunately not one witness had put an end to his savageness.

  "Yo, he gotta get it!" Cartier spat at Monya. "That punk motherfucker gonna bleed just like Bam. It ain't over."

  "That crab-ass faggot gonna get his one day!" Monya shouted.

  "One day?" Cartier replied in a surprised tone. "Today is his doomsday!"

  "Who you gonna get to fuck him up?" Monya weakly asked.

  "Who? You gotta be kidding me. We gonna do it."

  "What?" Monya knew Cartier was upset. She was hoping Cartier was just talking, but she knew her friend. She saw the seriousness on her face and the venom in her voice.

  "Donnie is a little punk. He ain't thorough. I know I gets busy with my hands, and if we catch him slipping, it's a wrap. Just have my back," Cartier beefed.

  "I don't know about this, Cartier. You know he carries a gun at all times."

  "He ain't gonna use it. If he was, why didn't he use it on Bam? 'Cause he's more pussy than my vagina, that's why. I'm tired of motherfuckers thinking they can play us. If we fuck up Donnie, do you know how much rep we'll get off that? Way more than we got off Shorty Dip. You see how no one wanted to give us our props off Dip 'cause our moms helped us fight. If we do this, then we'll get the props. No one else!"

  Are you crazy?" Monya yelled, questioning Cartier's sanity. Her voice quivered with each word. "That motherfucker carries a gun and pistol-whips bitches. What part of that don't you understand? Do you want to end up like Bam, 'cause I sure don't!"

  Cartier sucked her teeth. "Listen to how the fuck you sound. You saying we should just let this shit slide? I don't know about you, but my moms didn't raise me to back down to anyone!"

  Monya cut her eyes at Cartier's implication, and then ran her hands through her hair. She knew trying to talk Cartier out of confronting Donnie was like talking to a brick wall. Hopeless. Cartier was ready to set it off for her peoples and she needed Monya to have her back.

  "Cartier, I got a bad feeling about this;' Monya pressed the issue, "but if you want to do this, then you know I got you."

  Monya knew it was useless trying to talk Cartier out of this. She was obsessed with fucking up Donnie. She had to go along to get along in this matter and hope it ended for the best.

  That night Cartier got Jason to help lure Donnie back on the block. Donnie pulled up and immediately his eyes widened at the sight before him. Monya was hugging his block, slinging. Donnie jumped out of the car and started running toward Monya.

  When Monya spotted him, she ran. And just as they planned, Donnie gave chase. Monya bent the corner and ran into the narrow alleyway, before she eventually slowed down.

  "I'ma whip your bony ass, bitch!" Donnie managed to get out. He was winded. Although still young, his days of smoking had caught up with him, and those two blocks of running were gruesome. He leaned over, braced his hands on his thighs, and began to take deep breaths.

  Cartier witnessed everything. She was waiting for an opportunity to get Donnie when he was vulnerable, and this was the perfect moment. Cartier crept up behind him with a steel pipe in her hands and swung wildly. The first hit caught him by surprise, thrust him forward, and he landed on one knee. The second blow knocked him off balance and he collapsed face-forward.

  Before Cartier could swing the pipe a third time, Donnie swung around and caught the pipe with his hand and pulled Cartier to the ground.

  Monya stood frozen with fear as Donnie and Cartier struggled. She heard Cartier call her name, but fear gripped her. She could see Donnie's hands wrapped tightly around Cartier's throat and Cartier fighting frantically for her life. She had never known fear like this, a fear that controlled her whole body. Although she tried to will her feet to move, she stayed in the same spot, as if she was lifeless.

  As Cartier and Donnie continued to fight, Cartier was finally able to bite down on Donnie's thumb. She held on like a pitbull, until she tasted blood. The pain that shot through his body was enough to get him off Cartier. Donnie hopped up quickly and kicked Cartier in the abdomen with his size twelve Timberland boots.

  Cartier folded into the fetal position and clutched her stomach. She could hardly catch her breath. She gasped for air as she watched in horror while Donnie reached into his waistband for his burner.

  "Monya, help!" Cartier managed to scream before the loud blast of his cannon reverberated through the air.

  Cartier didn't move. She didn't know if it was seconds or minutes that passed. Time stood still for her. When she opened her eyes, she felt the heavy weight of a collapsed body lying on top of her. Her eyes popped opened in shock as Donnie's lifeless body covered hers like a sack of heavy rocks.

  Monya stood over both bodies, hysterical. Once again she was frozen with fear. She was terrified still. She saw Cartier's lips moving, but couldn't make out the words.

  Cartier knew Monya was catatonic for now. She saw the large, fourteeninch butcher knife protruding from Donnie's back. As he lay on top of her, she could feel his heartbeat slow down until it permanently stopped. Although she was mortified, she knew she couldn't panic. She pushed the heavy man off of her and got to her feet. It took all of her strength to dig the knife from his back. Next, as her hands trembled, she reached into his pockets and retrieved two wads of bills held together with rubber bands, his makeshift money clip. She then slid the Rolex watch off his wrist, and took his diamond chain and pinky ring.

  "Here, Monya, stuff this in your jacket!" She reached out to Monya.

  "Huh?" Monya was still in another world, grasping with what she had done.

  "Hurry up and listen to me or we're both going to jail," Cartier hurried, trying to stay on point. She didn't have time for Monya's feeling. She wanted to do what had to be done and worry about the rest later when they were safe and sound. "Stuff this in your jacket and put your hood over your head."

  Cartier wiped the knife on the back of Donnie's shirt, stuffed it in the sleeve of her jacket, put her hood over her head, and both girls calmly walked out of the alleyway. They knew someone probably heard the shot and would be calling the police soon, but they were in Brooklyn and Cartier knew the cops wouldn't be rushing to respond fast. Still, she decided to stay on the side of caution by exiting quickly.

  Her mind was reeling. Once again, she had underestimated the streets and put her and her friend in danger. She had no idea Monya had snuck a knife out of the house and she certainly didn't think Monya had the guts to use it. But the more she thought about it, the more it made sense to her. Monya was the scariest one in the crew, and she hated fighting and altercations. If anyone would make sure she had a weapon, it was Monya. Cartier realized what she asked Monya to do was way over her head.

  Once they were safe inside the confines of the apartment, Cartier sprang into action. She ensured they both washed their hands thoroughly. Then she grabbed several garbage bags from underneath the kitchen sink. She led Monya to her bedroom.

  "Stand exactly where you are and strip off all your clothes," Cartier told Monya. "Put everything inside this bag." She laid a bag on her bed for Monya.

  Monya remained quiet. She refused to say a word. She began stripping as Cartier had told her to do.

  Cartier began doing the same. The front o
f her jacket was soiled with Donnie's blood. All the evidence of the crime was going inside the plastic bags.

  "What are you doing with that jewelry?" Monya asked as Cartier began to dump it inside of the bag.

  Cartier looked at her, glad she was snapping out of her temporary comalike condition. "We gotta get rid of it," Cartier explained. "If the police comes around asking questions, or get a search warrant and find it, then we're going to jail for the rest of our lives."

  "Cartier, ain't nobody see us do nothing," Monya reasoned. "We could sell his jewelry and add that to our stash."

  "No Monya," Cartier began shaking her head. "I don't think it's wise. We can't afford to be greedy, that's how you get caught"

  "Then why did you take it?"

  "So the police will think he got robbed and murdered," Cartier continue to explain. "If this were a movie, this move is what would get us caught"

  "But this ain't the movies!" Monya's voice raised an octave. "And there ain't no CSI team coming up in the hood looking for trace evidence and hair samples to solve no murder in Brooklyn. This is the hood and people get murdered. That's the price we pay. They don't give a fuck about no dead drug dealer. A million motherfuckers could have wanted him dead and our names are at the bottom of the totem pole."

  Cartier exhaled. And against her better judgment, she thought about the events of the past few years. Monya was right. She personally had heard of at least nine murders in her hood and not one had been solved. And out of those nine murders, six of them weren't a whodunit. The whole hood knew who committed most of those murders, and yet nothing. No arrest.

  "OK, we'll keep the jewelry and get rid of our clothes," Cartier agreed. "But we gotta sell it off as soon as possible."

  Cartier couldn't believe she actually saw a smile form on Monya's face. She didn't know what to think. The last thing she thought she would see tonight was a smile from Monya after she had just murdered a man.

  Cartier tied up both bags and they took turns getting in the shower. Monya thought this was stupid too, but didn't want to hear Cartier's mouth. Once they got dressed, Cartier washed off the front doorknob with bleach, poured bleach down the bathtub's drain to wash away any trace evidence, in case any of Donnie's blood or hair was on her, and wiped off the bathroom and kitchen's faucets. After she was satisfied she'd done all she could, she and Monya left with the bags in tow.