My thoughts raced, as they often did. I recognize that I have chosen my destiny as much as it has chosen me.
In time, Max reengaged in conversation. I was glad when he did.
“Scythian, an infiltration operation is in progress, are you interested?”
“I’m interested.” I knew I had to get back into play.
“Excellent. A Palatini has penetrated a kidnapping ring operated across the borders of New York and Canada. Our asset is currently working alone. From the position they are in, they are at great risk. The asset has decided to go after the foreign elements. A Palatini is needed for the stateside operation. Scythian, this operation is extremely dangerous.”
“Sounds like my kind of job.” I couldn’t identify my feelings but I craved the excitement of danger coupled with the sense of justice.
Max smiled, “I will count on you then.”
Max gave a quick overview of the operation. “The Abbandanza crime family in Toronto and their American counterparts are the targets. They are politically connected and have a lot of protection on both sides of the border.”
“Who is the asset I will be working with?”
“Anna Sasins; I hope you don’t mind diversity in the work place.”
I was stunned.
Max smiled, “Anna says she already has your phone number and will call you tomorrow.”
“I always look forward to hearing from Anna.”
An excerpt from Lawless Measures,
Lyle’s next book, begins on the following page.
Lawless Measures
Chapter 1
Buffalo, New York
September 2002
I craved the arousal I felt as I lined up my shot. My trigger finger poised to unleash hell from my .223-caliber semiauto AR-15. My weapon spoke twice, Shuup … Shuup, as the GemTech Halo Suppressor belched a puff of fiery smoke with each round. My target wobbled to the ground, struck in the back, center of mass. Giuseppe “Pepe” Pelosi, aka the Pimp, laid face down in the alleyway. I watched for signs of movement, but the only observable motion was that of blood as it pooled around the body. I concluded my target was eliminated.
I am a proud member of a secret society known as Palatini. We are an ancient knighthood, resurrected as an Order of freelance assassins. We are, as were our medieval predecessors, champions of the people, paragons of virtue, chivalrous, and heroic, with righteous principles as our bond. We espouse our oath to deliver a less imperiled world through our personal judgment. Our mission is one of guardianship of the people, for the people, and by the people. More simply put, we don’t exactly call 911 in the face of heinous criminal events.
Not only was I proud to claim my allegiance to the Palatini, I was satisfied to claim the double tap as my signature. I was willing, however, to add a few extra slugs for good measure when needed. In this present situation it appeared two rounds were sufficient.
Pepe got shot square in the back. To some people, killing him this way might be viewed as a cowardly act, but I would disagree. It was an execution. Pepe was assassinated. There are no rules for murder, even a righteous murder. I didn’t care if he had no chance to defend himself. My one and only concern was that he was dead.
Pepe had not only been a pimp and street hustler, but a soldier for the Abbandanza crime syndicate. I surmised he was of no great loss or importance as a person to Domenic Bacca, the ruthless Caporegime of the Buffalo and Niagara Falls faction. However, Pelosi did have a certain flair for the creation of finances. Pepe’s premature death would be disruptive to the syndicate business, but not devastating. More of Bacca’s soldiers had to die to shatter his illegal immigration stronghold. Their deaths had to resemble dominos falling in rapid succession to be effective and cause the level of confusion I hoped to achieve. I had to move fast.
Why was Society Palatini interested in the crime family’s involvement in illegal immigration? The Abbandanza syndicate was not the run-of-the-mill coyotes. The pictures broadcast on television of foreigners huddled in box vans being snuck across United States southern borders, was not the business the syndicate was engaged in. Rather, they lured, tricked, or otherwise acquired underage girls with a belief they could obtain residency and nationality in America. Health, wealth, and happiness could be theirs for a small price. It was the answer to prayers for many third world inhabitants. But with the mob there was no path to citizenship, only a lifetime of slavery.
Pimp was more than a nickname for Pelosi; he was one of these facilitators. Anna Sasins, lead Palatini asset on this project, completed an extensive work-up on the crime family. As a result of her findings, Pepe was selected as a priority target to eliminate. Why Pepe first? He made the “arrangements.” He was tasked with logistics for moving underage girls across the Canadian border between New York and Ontario. Taking him out early disrupted the flow of girls in and out of the country and presented a greater calamity to the entire criminal structure.
The Abbandanza mobsters were involved at many levels of organized crime. They ran the gambit from gambling to cybercrime. However, the Palatini interest with the syndicate’s criminal venture was restricted to their underage sex rackets. Kidnapping and human trafficking were hallmarks of their illegal immigration enterprise. It was all too common and lucrative of a practice, and grossly overlooked by Federal Law Enforcement, who appeared to avoid any aspect of illegal immigration as if it were a hot potato.
Pepe, along with a couple of his minions, scratched out a scanty living on the streets of Buffalo’s Lower West Side, seemingly on the lowest rung of the family’s structure. His niche as it were, was to place girls in “service” at whorehouses to work off their indebtedness to the Abbandanza’s Freedom Underground program. Realistically it was the lowest of the scams; “freedom” was a goal never to be achieved. These girls were doomed to a life of prostitution.
Due Process Page 29
