Page 40 of Teddy Sinatra: Go Your Own Way
“I can understand about Bengino’s syndicate,” said Reno. The Gabrinis had been briefed on why they didn’t just tear that syndicate down first and ask questions later. “But Denardo’s gang isn’t in that league. We can take them out in an afternoon.”
“Yeah but once you start taking out bad guys that might not have been involved with this shit,” said Teddy, “then you know what that becomes.”
“What it already is,” said Sal. “A shitshow. Led by you, Teddy. And you Nikki. Because your asses dropped the ball.” Sal frowned. “You didn’t tell Uncle Mick about those so-called suicides? On what planet was that okay? Had that been my guys I would have fired every one of them on the spot.”
“Pop did fire me,” Teddy said.
“And rightly so,” said Reno.
“Was that why Potts was recruiting you?” asked Sal.
“Nope,” said Mick. “He was recruiting Teddy before any of this happened.”
“Behind your back?” asked Reno. “And you still trust that motherfucker?”
“It wasn’t behind my back,” said Mick. “Potts told me about it before he approached Teddy.”
“And you allowed it?”
Mick hesitated. “Yes. I’m not making him stay where he doesn’t want to be.”
Reno shook his head. “I love you, Uncle Mick, but you’re a stubborn fucker. Not counting you or me or Tommy, but Teddy is the best leader of men I’ve ever seen.”
“Better than me?” asked Sal.
“I don’t know how to break this to you,” said Reno to Sal, “but Peewee Herman would have been better than you.”
Those in the room laughed. “Ah fuck you, Reno!” Sal proclaimed.
Mick’s desk intercom buzzed. He pressed the button. “Yeah?”
“Johnny Boreau is here at the gate, sir. He asks to be admitted in.”
“Send him through,” Mick said and leaned back.
And within a couple minutes, Boreau was entering the office. With news.
“It’s been confirmed, sir,” he said, “that Hal Janantoni did work for the Bengino gang. And that’s a hard confirm.”
“What about Potter Rarsi?” asked Nikki. “Was he the one who hired him?”
“That we haven’t been able to establish. Nobody’s talking over there. Their outfit is about as closed as Mr. Sinatra’s syndicate. Which meant we had to go elsewhere to get answers, which means all we got is a bunch of speculation. Was he recruited by Denny Bengino or Potter Rarsi or even Old Man Bengino? We flat don’t know yet.”
“Potts is boss over there, not Denny,” said Teddy, “and Claudio Bengino hasn’t hired anybody in years. If Janantoni worked there, then it was Potts that hired him or allowed him to be hired. Potts would have had to approve it.”
Mick and Teddy looked at each other. And Teddy knew what that meant. He pulled out his cellphone and waited for Potter Rarsi to answer. Teddy had the call on Speaker.
“Teddy T, how you be? I heard about what happened. How’s everybody doing over there? Everybody okay? The twins okay?”
“I don’t know about okay,” Teddy responded, “but they survived.”
“At least that’s good news.”
“I need your help, Potts.”
“Anything I can do.”
“Pops is going nuts over here after what happened, as you can imagine.”
