Summary: A father's soon to be legacy is thrust upon his son who struggles to maintain the balance of the first deadliest Spanish mafia around back to what his father originally wanted. Can he figure it out with a little help from his friends or continue the pattern of destruction to let it define him?
(To introduce this story to you real places are mentioned here. There is Spanish written in here, if you don't understand it please let me know and I'll translate it for you.)
Mafioso
Setting: Spanish Harlem 1980
Chapter One: Los Liberdores
The moment the front door closes behind him he could already smell the pateles that his wife was working on. With the holidays coming up, she was eager to get the spanish dish done running around the kitchen gathering the china plates together. "Paulito! I didn't hear the door papi. You came at a good time. I just got the food done." Lauren grins setting up their plates on the small wicker table.
Tossing his head aside, Paulito walks over to his two year old playing with wooden blocks on the floor. "Eh papito, how's my little man doing?" He grins craddling the wide eye toddler in his hand.
"Ay he was in his cranky mood today. And why you still got your coat on? Relax. I can't have you running off like you always do." Lauren breaths out standing before him adjusting his tie.
Batting her hands off him he smirks resting his son back on the floor. "You know how it goes with me. When business calls I gotta handle it amor." And he begins to ease his way to a chair settling down. "Now this is some food." He pats his belly inhaling the scent of the rice and beans with some avacodos and fried chicken legs. Digging into the food quickly, Lauren begins to retell her whole day starting from the moment their son Carlito awoke her up at six in the morning.
"Mami...you don't need to go through each hour with me...."
"But Paul..you aren't around enough...I miss being able to share things with you. Did you know your son can count?"
"Of course I know! What kind of father would I be not knowing that. "Its up to five right?"
Lauren clearing her throat, plays with a dishtowel in her hands quickly shaking her head "Actually he can count to ten. Julie his babysitter showed him along with me. It was nice to see him learn so much...."
Taking big chucks into his mouth, his cheeks full of food he frowns looking at the sad expression crossing his wife's face. Once swallowing, Paul puts down his fork eyeing her "What? Talk to me..."
"I miss you...I miss us. The whole family thing." Lauren walks over to him kneeling down taking his hand brushing it across her cheek. "And I miss your touches. You're barely resting here at home. I know you got the club to run but I thought with us having a child it would be easier. Instead I see you around less."
Hearing the soft babbles of his son in the background, he clasps his hand around hers "Mami I got news to share with you. This mafia thing I'm putting to rest. I have plans on closing down the sellings and trades with other crews and just being a family unit. The rest of us guys all got kids of their own now too I can't have all of that drag this down to our children. I want my son to be able to have something that is postive. So when its time for him to take over he doesn't have that burden of deciding what to do. We already set it up." Paulito grins seeing his wife's eyes lit up at the annoucement.
"Don't go playing around with me...this is for real right?"
"Of course it is mami! I wouldn't be making this up if I could. I wanted to surprise you when the deal goes through. I'm waiting for Jose to make the final callings. Tommorrow is a new day. I promise you that." Paulito leans over sealing the convo with a kiss on her lips.
As if on cue, his cell begins to go off pulling him away smiling at the call. "This is it...the final showdown. I'll be back in a few hours. See you tonight. I'll be back fast. It shouldn't take too long." And raising from his seat he grabs his jacket kissing the top of her head and ruffling his son's head.
"Bye hijo." Paulito turns one last time watching his son wave his hand happily "Bye bye papa." Carlito coos out clapping his hands happily going back to playing with the colorful toys before him.
~*~
"I don't think we should be meeting with them PR." Jose shakes his head "I got some feeling, it ain't right pa." The man pulls the black lexus slowly to a park at the edge of the sidewalk. They were suppose to be meeting Roberto the prime target of one of the hottest gun traders around. With the cops closing in on him from everywhere he was asking for a final truce that the mafia can finally close dealings with him. He was tired of running and for what its worth he was ready to pay the piper for all his ill dealings.
"You think this is some kind of set up?" Paulito digs into the dashboard compartment retrieving his pistol.
"Fuck yeah. I don't know what kind of man we dealing with here. But the idea he just up and wanna throw away all the good business we been giving him sounds fishy. He can be a rich man even behind bars. I'm telling you there's something more going on. I can feel that shit." The big man states scratching his goatee.
"K fine Jose if this is some kind of set up, would he really go through all this knowing we can kill his bitch ass right here right now cause he wants to grow angel wings?"
"Yo pa I dunno its just some gut feeling. I can't shake this shit off." Jose shuts off the engine flinging open the car door sliding out clipping the glock on his side under his shirt.
"We gonna be fine. Tell Luis to keep the car running. I expect this to be a fast meeting. I got a wife waiting for me and my son wants to show me his counting." Paulito grins locking the bullets in place heading inside.
"Nice! I can't wait till my boy starts counting. The only thing he can do right now is cry. And cry some more." Jose chuckles getting a pat on his back.
"It'll pass then he'll start talking and won't be able to shut his ass up." Reyes mentions leading them to the entrance.
The red and white colors of the wall and furniture crash against the black floor throwing off a odd view from the occassional peach table cloths indoors.
"Who the fuck decorated this place? A blind man?" Jose frowns strolling through the corrider heading to Roberto who is sitting at the head of a table.
"Glad you made it. I was beginning to wonder if you'd show up." Paulito grins shaking hands with the man who looks nervous in his ill fitted suit.
The grey color of the blazer draining his light complexion away. "I told you I'm serious about this." Roberto crosses his arms staring at the two men. "I thought you said no guns. This was suppose to be a quiet meeting. Just you and I."
"You think I was born yesterday? I walk in here and get killed come on. You know good and well there is a bounty on my head. I can't just rely on some fool's words now can I? I'm not Rey for nothing." Paulito taps the tip of his pistol on the man's cheek. "So this is what's gonna happen right now. We close off your dealings and you a free man till its time to check in with the popo. I walk away and out this shit last time. The club is no more and I get a ticket out of this rat ass neighborhood."
"Deal. Fine I don't give a shit either way. I'm a dead man anyway." Roberto digs into the blazer front pocket pulling out a folded sheet of paper for him. "I want this in print. I can't be walking around and people think I'm bluffing. You leave me alone and this transaction ends. You can do whatever the fuck you want after this as long as I'm left alone."
"Deal." Paulito pulls out a ball point pen as Jose scans around the restraurant with a frown on his face.
"Come on man sign..." Roberto breaths out sliding the paper across the table to him.
"I'm reading this shit first." Paulito grunts out quickly scanning over the writing as he bends down beginning to scribble his name. The quiet was rather haunting for a moment as he puts down the pen handing Roberto back his paper. "It was pleasure doing business with you. Glad you see you kept your part of the bargain. No people here."
"Fucking sucks that you didn't believe me. You on the other hand. Bringing your bodyguard now come on papi I thought we were hermanos here?"
"Even hermanos can't be trusted all the time. I need to see where your loyatly is at. Glad to see you real though." Paulito shakes hands with the man who smiles patting him on the back. Both parting ways, Paulito leads the way out of the front entrance only to get greeted by a group of rough neck latinos with guns of all shapes and sizes shooting directly at them. The bullets splatter the two bodies shooting up a spray of blood. By the end of the assassination, Rey's body laid crumbled on the ground bleeding through his coat. Even if he could protect himself there was no way he could have avoided all the bullets that slammed into his body. Jose was right. It was a set up. Damn.
~*~
-31 years later-
Flipping through a pile of manila records Jay closes the last one frustrated with the same ordeal. All the proof in the world couldn't stop the rising latin mafia from running New York's Spanish Harlem streets. Their name were still on people's lips. Since the death of their king, police reported that the freedom fighters as the mafia likes to be called were long gone. But recently events of drug traffiking and gun trading has picked up again leading them all back to the once long dead mafia.
Mekhi knocks on the door holding a manila folder in his hand.
Looking up over at the man, Jay waves his hand in allowing the officer to walk in.
"I think we got something here." Mekhi grins tapping the folder in his hands.
"You always say that and it leads us back to nothing." Jay perks up his eyebrows at the man before him.
"Nah nah this time its for real. Check this out: Los Liberdores right? They need to get stopped but here's the deal. With all the officers here we've been too close but unable to shut down the case." He eyes his partner with a raised eyebrow.
"And...you're informing me of this because?" Jay sits up twiddling his fingers freely over a box of cookies.
"Because out of the entire workforce here...you're the only latin detective...."
"Oh fuck no...are you saying what I think you are?" Jay perks up already getting annoyed. This was it. Exactly what he was fearing. Already he could see the apprehensive look cornering his partner's features. He was approached with the oncoming idea of trying to go undercover and masking as a member but that five years ago. Seems now as the mafia has gotten more stronger and deadly, his superiors were on their last hope.
"Jay...you gotta do this...come on. I know we brought this up to you before but now its that time. You need to get in there and become part of the members. You the only one that can be able to do this. You already know about the group and have related connections with them...why not use this as a chance to do something right with it?" Mekhi rest his hands on the desk eying the man.
"The past thirty years of me growing up to a father that died in that gang doesn't give me connections to anything. It just reminds me its not something I ever wanted to do in my life. If I do this...its gonna have some serious reprecussions, I can already feel this." Jay breaths out running a hand through his hair.
Growing up with his aunt and grandma was the hardest thing to do when his father Jose Hernandez was killed during an outing with the leader at the time. He despised the group from taking his unknown father away and till this day blames it all on their trenchery. Growing up to be the only man in a house full of women made him more weary of how badly the community he resided in; needed a better way out. Jay wanted to provide his mother with something she can actually be proud of. Back in 2000, Jay decided to enroll in the most anti gang thing he could think of: the police force .
"So you in?!" Mekhi grins giving his friend a cheer.
"I never said I was going with this. I was just informing you. I don't want anything to do with those people."
"My man you need to let go of the past. This is a whole new generation taking over and they're following the ways of what was. We gotta figure out why the sudden uproar after it was quiet for so long." Mekhi paces slowly before Jay's desk. "We know Rey's son is up and about seeking out whatever went wrong. And if anything you and I both know they gotten more deadly since the 80s."
Breathing out, Jay chews on his lips drumming his fingers over the manila folder resting on his desk. "Can we not talk about this? I got another case I'm working on and I can't be dealing with this gang shit."
"Jay! This ain't no kind of gang. This is some serious shit we got on our hands. Tell me you gonna think about this. You important in this case. You know you could meet with the leader and hook up something. None of us would come as close as you can on breaking this." Mekhi whispers gazing at his partner.
"Fuck...just...let me think?!" Jay pushes away from his seat grabbing the folder on his desk exiting the office.
Taking a brief walk down the corrider the soft whispers of his co workers glancing over or waving at spotting him got him uneasy. Biting his lip, he tries to distract his mind but his thoughts lingered back to what Mekhi mentioned. 'I'm needed....for that case to be closed. Maybe I can finally get some damn peace now.' Balling a fist, he paces down the hallway looking around at a few faces glancing over at him as he slides a few new items into the folder that he hasn't revealed yet to the rest of the office. Breathing out, Jay shakes his head reaching Mekhi's cluttered desk. Dumping the folder from his hand, he walks away just missing Mekhi who reaches the desk spotting the folder. Opening it, Mekhi smiles nodding quickly contacting on the phone the head chief of investigation.
Mekhi grins flipping through all the new black and white photos of each mafia member with detailed information about each of them, their past dealings and residential living. One of them: the son of Rey: Carlito stood with a semi automatic in the photo aiming at the camera man. "Well I'll be damned."
~*~
Adjusting the radio knob, Angel leans in listening to some breaking news that interuppted his fave song at the moment. "Come on they serious I don't wanna listen to this shit." Rolling his dark eyes around, he could hear the monotone reporter discuss a break in at a harlem church where gun men were apprehended for selling a trade of various guns from heavy artillery to the smallest ones invested. It meant business and somone was snatching up the freedom fighters trades fast. Snapping up in his seat, he adjust his sunglasses slamming on the pedal driving over to his where the chief is at.
"What I told you?! Wasn't I right?" Carlito tosses his head back throwing down a full house from his deck. The rest of the crew in the pool hall groan at this.
"You fucking cheat too much." Sean mutters throwing down his hand frustrated tempted to walk away already.
"Haha stop acting like a little bitch. Now pay up fatass." Carlito sticks his hand out waiting for the money. His thick spanish accent made it almost impossible to take the man seriously until you see how he handles his killings with such ease that a murderer would praise him.
"This what your mother showed you." Sean flips him off throwing a fifty at him chuckling. Moving away from the table he leaves the boss to take advantage of the others in the room for their money.
"Alright who's playing against me now? Come on don't be pussies about it. I'll even go easy on you all." Carlito grins shuffling his cards when Angel rushes through the doors, his short stocky figure almost knocking over a few in the way.
"Rey! Rey we got some big problems?!"
"Oyi. You don't see I'm in the middle of taking the rest of these fools money?" Carlito chuckles resting his deck down to focus on the small man before him.
"But Rey I just heard on the news that the latin kings got a hold of the gun accessories being sold over by 125 street." Angel looking frazzled starts explaining to his leader.
"Shut up. Idiota its a set up. I set it up so we can have a clear on the actual selling taking place tonight. If they were wise enough they would have seen it too. But as you can see...who's really running the streets now." Carlito sits back shuffling his deck humming calmly.
"You just got a large portion arrested..." Angel breaths out smiling impressed by his boss.
"Go clean up your drool and play with me. Everyone here is too boring for my taste." Carlito smiles watching two big breasted females manueving around his table eying him as if he was their main dish for supper.
"Oh yummy papi...what's your name? Is it true you really the king?" One of the color dyed ditz crows out.
His handsome face catches a glimspe of them and smiles "Give these ladies a private tour of my bedroom. Have them wait for me." He looks over to his trusted aid, Miquel.
"Come on ladies let me show you where the fun starts." Miquel ushers the women away leaving Angel to sit across from his leader.
"I'll let you go first. Just so you know I'm a generous man in this." Carlito grins widely hearing a snicker from a few around them.
Angel gently rest his hand over one of the cards face down swallowing hard. He was nervous but he wasn't sure why. "K...what game we playing? Poker."
"Nope...spit." Carlito grins. "Winner takes all. You win I let you out of here. If I win...well let's just say you don't want me to win..." Carlito chuckles as Angel manages a small chuckle.
"Eh boss....spit really? What are we? Kids again?"
"Oh Angelito...put aside your issues and just play. Its a stressfree game, just hands on. Fastest hands win....ready?"
And with a nod Angel wiggles his hands as his friend quickly deals the cards. With a quick go from his boss both begin playing as Carlito seemed almost possessed with how quickly his hands were working over the card table. In a matter of 30 seconds Carlito had cleared most of his deck throwing a card down yelling out 'Spit!" Angel a second late, slams down on the lighter pile feeling the cold iron tip of a pistol on his forehead.
"Aw...too bad...I won." Carlito chuckles softly looking into his friend's eyes pulling the trigger as the gun goes off sending a bullet slamming into Angel's cranium killing the young man instantly. A spray of the crimson blood sprinkles over the table and over Carlito's nose. "Told you, you shouldn't have let me won." Carlito whispers out with a frozen grin plastered over his tanned cheeks.
~**~
