Page 13 of Kingpin
“Fucking peanuts,” he snips, grinding his teeth together as he counts the money. “Look at this shit. How am I supposed to earn on little shit like this? How am I supposed to get upped like this? I’ve gotta show that I’m an earner, and this ain’t gonna cut it!” He stuffs the money back in the envelope and shoves it into the glove compartment. “I’ve gotta get with the guys and work on a bigger score, because I’m just not doing it big enough with these little shops and delis. I’ll never be a capo this way.”
After all the time I’ve spent with my father over the years, I know what it is he’s trying to achieve. He wants to be promoted to a more powerful position in the family he’s a part of. It means more to him than anything, and I know the only way he’s going to be promoted is if he makes a lot of money and proves to the bosses he’s a good earner.
“Sorry, Dad,” I say to him. “I know how bad you wanna get upped, and I know you’ve been working on it a long time. It’d be different if you could make the casinos downtown pay a tax. Ten percent on them would be way more than ten percent from Lorenzo.”
My dad slowly turns his head and looks at me with eyes bigger than saucers.
“What did you just say?” he asks, and I’m instantly scared to answer.
“What? Nothing, I was just talking.”
“Casinos. Tax the casinos.”
He doesn’t say anything else for another thirty seconds, but I’m too scared to break the silence, so I wait for him to do it.
“You’re a fucking genius,” he says, but he still has the big eyes. “All those expensive casinos and hotels in downtown St. Louis. That’d be the biggest racket the Giordano Family has ever seen, especially if we can reel in two or three of them. That’d take a big fucking crew, and we’d have to be extremely organized, but if we pulled that off, it’d be huge. Holy shit, Dominic, you’re on a fucking roll tonight!”
My father finally starts the car and drives away. Luckily Lorenzo is unconscious or the cops would’ve been here already.
As we leave the parking lot my father turns to me again.
“I’ve got an idea of my own,” he says before turning his eyes back to the road. “We’re gonna make a little trip, okay?”
“Okay. Where are we going now? It’s not another collection, is it? Because I just got my shoes clean.”
“Nah, it’s not another collection. I’m gonna introduce you to some people. Some friends of mine. That okay with you?”
I nod my head. “Sure. Of course.”
As we drive on the highway back towards St. Louis, I can feel it. Everything I thought I knew is about to change.
