CHAPTER NINE #2
Bella was floored. “Monk Paletti? Frankie? You’re at war with Frankie Paletti?” Then she looked at Mick. She knew how close Frankie was to the Sinatra family.
Although inwardly Mick was already devastated, he stood there with his big arms folded, and outwardly showed no emotion. “Go on,” he said to Buddy.
“When Dory didn’t kowtow to Danny like Danny figured he should, it was like he got jealous.
Like he knew Dory was the better man. So he went down there.
He started talking about how Tos was going around telling everybody that he ain’t Dory’s old man and that he has the DNA test to prove it.
And how Dory took over his organization when he was down on his luck and all that bullshit.
Tos kept insisting that the rumors were true and that you were really Dory’s father.
Danny kept saying how you threw Dory to Tos and now Tos didn’t want him either. That would hurt any man.”
“Just cut the commentary and tell us what happened,” Bella said. There was something about that guy she didn’t like.
“A man talk to another man like that, what you think happened? Dory tried to set the record straight. Dory tried to tell him that Tos was just being Tos and talking a bunch of bullshit, and that Mick the Tick was never any kin to him. Mick never had him to throw him to anybody. But Danny kept poking the bear. He wouldn’t let up. So they got into it.”
“And Dory got shot?” asked Bella. “Over that?”
Dory looked at her. “You don’t know shit, do you?”
“Go on,” Mick said, his jaw tightening. He didn’t like where this story was headed.
“So they fight and Dory wins. But Danny still wouldn’t let it go. Even as he was leaving, he was still poking that bear. He knew how much Dory loves Tos, and he was milking that cow for all he could milk it for. So we knew we had to take him out.”
It was only then did they get a reaction from Mick. “Take him out? What do you mean take him out?”
“I took him out,” said Dory. “What you think it means?”
“He disrespected me in front of my guys and I couldn’t have that. It’ll be the death of me if my guys think some punk like Danny Cerva can roll me. So I took him out. Him and all his guys. I wiped their asses off the face of this earth. That’s how we do it over here.”
Mick was floored. He frowned. “What’s with you young punks? You take out an entire crew because Danny said your daddy ain’t your daddy? Are you fucking kidding me?!”
“He disrespected me!” Dory yelled even as he was grimacing in pain. “I rule Rome. This is my territory. Nobody comes on my turf talking shit to me! It’s not done!”
Mick leaned his head back.
But Bella had a different question. “If it was so easy,” she said, “how did you get all shot up?”
There was long pause. “Monk Paletti ordered my assassination,” Dory said.
Mick went still. He was stupefied. “What do you mean?”
Dory could see that Mick was getting the point now. “He personally called me a couple days before the hit. He said if I think because I’m Mick’s kid that I’ll be protected from his vengeance, I’d better think again. Fuck Mick, he said. He can’t protect you from me.”
Mick stared at Dory. He was an asshole, but he was no liar. He’d heard enough about him down through the years to know that.
“So Monk send his goons to Rome. They tracked me down while I was at the market. Just minding my own business. Then this car drives up on me, yells out ‘hey, you. You Mick the Tick’s son?’ When I turned to see what that was about, they lifted their rifles, said they had a message from The Monk.”
“I go what message his ass got for me?”
“Then they said this was for Danny.” Next thing I know they’re pulling out rifles and shooting. They took out me and they took out my guys that were with me. Before I even had a chance to defend myself. Or my guys.”
Mick frowned. “But you just said they knew you were my son. That Monk himself knew you were my son.”
“I’m not your son. Matter of fact. But yeah, that’s what they believed. I told you Monk called me personally and told me that I was your son and that wasn’t gonna protect me.”
“And his guys said so at the market,” the butcher said.
“He absolutely believed I was your son,” Dory added.
Mick was incredulous. “He knew you were my son. And he gunned you down anyway?”
Dory and the butcher could hear the shock in Mick’s voice too. “Like a dog in the street he gunned him down,” the butcher said.
“Are you certain it was Frankie Paletti’s men?” Bella asked. She was as shocked as Mick.
“What did I just say? Hell yeah it was his guys. They announced themselves. Didn’t you hear what I said? His underboss declared war when he came on my turf and started messing with me. I finished that war. Then Monk picked it right back up. When I get out of this bed, I’m going to finish him too.”
But Mick couldn’t get over it. “He tried to take you out even though he knew you were my son?”
“That’s what happened,” said Dory. “He and his underboss disrespected me.”
“Now he’s disrespecting me,” said Mick.
There was a long pause that nobody interrupted. It looked as if Mick was thinking it through.
Then Mick looked at the butcher. “Keep his ass on lockdown,” he ordered, “even if he feels better.”
“Need some manpower, Boss?” the butcher asked him.
“No. I’ll launch my own investigation. If what I’m hearing is true, and it was indeed Frankie’s guys, then I’ll take it from there.”
Buddy smiled and nodded. “Yes sir, Boss,” he said.
Mick looked at Dory again. He didn’t see a tough guy. He didn’t see a boss. He saw a kid. A punk kid that got in over his head. A punk kid that was about to plunge him into a war he didn’t want but knew he had to wage.
It was a damnable life. Mick wouldn’t wish it on his worst enemy.
He left the room.
Buddy looked at Dory and smiled. “Once you see the master at work, you’ll run on hands and knees begging him to claim you as his son.”
“Get the fuck out of here,” Dory said half-heartedly. Because he, too, was impressed.
“Disrespect is a bitch,” Buddy added. “And if we don’t tolerate it, imagine how much more Mick the Tick doesn’t.”
“And especially from a man he thinks is their staunchest ally,” added Dory. “Some fucking ally!”
But Bella knew how Mick felt about Monk Paletti. She knew he had to be hurting. She hurried out behind him. He was almost at the exit when she caught up to him.
“Mick wait,” she yelled out.
But Mick didn’t break his stride.
“You’re actually going to war with Monk Paletti? Are you serious?”
Mick stopped and looked at her. “He knew Dory was my son. He knew it, Bella. And he went for him anyway. You think I’m going to let that stand?”
“But it’s Frankie, Mick.”
“I don’t give a fuck who it is! That cannot stand,” Mick said forcefully. “If that shit hits the streets, and I do nothing about it, my family is doomed. Don’t you understand that?”
“That’s why it’s a vicious cycle,” cried Bella. “That’s why it will never end!”
“Oh it will end. Let me do nothing and it’ll end alright. To my end,” he said.
Bella could see the anguish in his eyes. The weight of the world on his shoulders. She always knew if anybody could carry that weight, Mick could. But even he had to have a limit. When was enough too much for him?
She didn’t know and he wasn’t telling. He had work to do. He walked on out.
Bella stood there shaking her head. First Dory. Now Mick. All because of disrespect. That very word that started so many wars in mob land was about to start a very personal war.
And here she was thinking Dory was just like Ron. But now she knew better. He was just like Mick.