Carlito's Way: Rise to Power (20 page)

Good-bye to a lot of things, Carlito. Good-bye to flyin’ to Panama to catch a fight. Good-bye to ringside at the Copa. Good-bye to Sinatra at the Fontainebleu. Goodbye to the lounges in Vegas. Good-bye to the dolls of San Juan. Good-bye to all that.

Well, de judge had the last laugh. He slapped thirty years on me like I was a common criminal, same as the other guys. He had to know I was light stuff compared to them thugs. He figured I was trying to break his chops—maybe I just knew I was sinking and wanted to go down smokin’. I don’t know, half the things I do I don’t know why I do them. Figurin’ things out is a pain in the ass. I just act most of the time.

L
EWISBURG IS A HOTEL COMPARED TO
A
TLANTA SO
I
HOPE
I get sent to Lewisburg. Hope they don’t send Amadeo there. He’ll have me whacked out for sure. But then again I might get lucky. There’s this Peruvian guy down there who got a big connection. But then again I ain’t ever liked the coke business. That means South America and I ain’t ever liked dealin’ with them people. There ain’t no gangsters down there. You got to deal with businessmen, diplomats, squares like that. You know they ain’t gonna stand up. And anyway, there ain’t ever been no real money in the candy trade
.

Maybe the horse is dead. Like Earl used to say, the feds has killed the golden horse, and all the riders gonna get splattered. Bullshit. Had me a hell of a time. We had a twenty-year run, figure—better’n Prohibition. Maybe the party’s over and the junk scene played out. Maybe
.

Best racket ever was. Nobody rode it better’n me. Can’t make no racehorse out of a jackass, well I’m the versa vice—I’m a Derby winner, irregardless they
sprung me out of a garbage lot outa 113th Street. Right from the jump I said, “Carlito, you ain’t stayin’ here.”

Right off the git-go everybody knew I was class. So like what, a cat with heart is gonna gig in some shoulderpad factory? Scoffin’ pimp steaks off a pushcart? Summerin’ on the fire escape? That’s cool for some fools, but I was mad like a motherfucker in the 1940s. The Ricans was into nothin’ in them days. Wasn’t no Mobilization this or Poverty that. Wasn’t nothin’ but the landlord with his foot on your neck. Wasn’t no way a P.R. could get indoors to rob like everybody else. Had to get his on the street where the man could see him. And don’t tell me that Horatio Falger faggot shit. Don’t wanna hear it. Wasn’t born to press my nose against no candy-store window—I’m comin’ through the fucking window. How you gonna be broke in the U.S.A. with all them goodies out there? I seen them in sneakers in the snow pushing racks in the garment center—got to be crazy. Meanwhile, money is walking on a rug on the sidewalk with the doorman holding an umbrella over his head till he gets in the limousine. Hey, motherfucker, slide your window down— lemme in on it, what’s the secret? Jiveass, grab hold with your hands, stuff it in your pockets. Get the money— anyway you get it is okay. If you sick, it’ll make you well— can’t be broke if you got it. That’s what goes on in this country. Climb up on a long pole, look down on the U.S.A.—wadda you gonna see? You gonna see the slick ones going after the chicklets and the jiveass will be dumbfounderin’ around. I seen that right away when I was a kid in Spanish Harlem. And I went for the bullseye
,
express train. Had to make a couple local stops. But that’s all right
.

That’s all this last bust is, a local stop. Battaglia’s a renegade, ain’t he? So you know he got to renege on the government. I can hear him from here. Where’s my house, where’s my car? I ain’t gettin’ no protection. They’ll fall out and when Joe Bats gets mad enough he’ll spin around again and turn on them. Which’ll mean a new trial for me, y’dig?

Shit, I’ll be on the street in no time
.

Glossary

abusador:
a bully.

Agárra!:
reach! draw your gun.

Aguarda:
Hold on!

B and E:
break and entry.

bacalao:
codfish.

beater:
a swindler.

blow away, blow up:
shoot dead.

bollo-loco:
a crazy broad.

boostin’:
shop-lifting.

buena gente:
good people.

bulls:
cops.

busted:
arrested.

button:
another word for made-guy. When a mob associate is elevated to membership, he is referred to as a button, as in “he’s got a button.” While on the fringe of membership, he can be referred to as “half a button.”

cabron:
cuckold; a guy whose woman is cheating on him.

caer pesao:
to lay heavy, to be a drag.

camarónes:
police;
camarón
is the Spanish word for shrimp.

candy:
cocaine.

cap:
bullet.

chiba:
stool pigeon.

chibs:
buttocks (f.).

click:
crew or gang, clique.

coglioni:
balls (Italian).

cojones:
balls (Spanish).

como los huevos del perro:
like the balls on a dog.

connected:
part of a gang, protected.

coño:
sex organs (f.); also, often used as exclamation.

contract:
(1) murder assignment; (2) a case in court which is “fixed.”

cornuto:
cuckold (Italian).

cowboy:
(v.) to shoot or kill spontaneously, without proper planning; (n.) a reckless guy having no discipline.

Cubiche:
Cuban.

delincuente:
a hoodlum.

doing a deuce:
doing two years in prison.

down cat:
a good guy.

droguero:
a drug-peddler.

echa pa’lante:
to move forward, from expression
echar para adelante
, which means to go forward.

el echao pa’lante:
the boldest (lit. he who first goes forward).

el que no la tiene del Congo, la tiene del Carabalí:
if you’re not from one African tribe, you’re from another.

embalao:
like a bullet; from Spanish word
bala
, meaning bullet.

Espera!:
Wait!

fenomeno:
phenomenon.

figlio di puttana:
son of a whore (Italian).

flake:
to frame.

Gallego:
native of Galicia, Spain.

garage:
“he’s from another garage”; he’s from another world.

ginso:
Italian.

git-go:
the beginning.

give up:
to squeal, to inform.

glom:
to steal.

gorilla
(verb): to intimidate, bully, push around.

gui:
boss (Italian).

Guido:
Gideon vs. Wainwright
, 1963. United States Supreme Court decision requiring that defendants have legal counsel at all stages of criminal proceedings.

Hatton, Rondo:
a bit player in the movies, known for playing ugly brutes, e.g., “The Creeper” in Sherlock Holmes films.

heavy hitter:
boss, person of authority, one who carries a lot of weight.

hermano:
brother, blood brother.

hijo de puta:
son of a whore.

hit:
n. a kill; v. to kill.

hit the bricks:
to come out of jail.

hodedor:
hoodlum. Phonetic spelling of Spanish idiomatic expression
jodedor
, an extension of the verb
joder
, which means to foul up or mess up.

hombría:
manhood.

ice:
(v) to kill.

jackpot:
trouble.

jeva:
girl.

jíbaro:
Puerto Rican hillbilly, dude.

joint,
a: marijuana cigarette.

Joint,
the: jail.

jump stink:
to fight.

juntos pero no revueltos:
lit., together but not scrambled (as in eggs). This expression is used to denote a relationship of alliance or association without loss of individual identity or freedom of action.

key:
kilogram (2.2 pounds).

kicks:
shoes.

large:
a thousand.

Later for (as in “Later for Snipe”):
He’s dead; that’s the end of him.

le comes el cerebro:
(lit. you eat his brains) to outsmart, to outfox.

lee-gate:
act as Peeping Tom. From Spanish slang expression
ligando
.

made-guy:
initiated mafioso. After years of association with the mob or syndicate, a candidate will be sponsored for membership. He must be of Italian descent. The initiation rites include having “made his bones,” which usually entails an assassination. Once his worth is established to the satisfaction of his sponsor and the presiding bosses, the candidate is “made.” Thereafter, he is a “made-guy,” with all the attendant privileges.

maldito sea la madre:
a curse on your mother.

Mapp case:
Mapp vs. Ohio
, 1961. United States Supreme Court decision that required all state prosecutions to exclude illegally obtained evidence.

maricón:
faggot, homosexual.

maton:
killer.

me cago en tu madre:
I shit on your mother.

Miranda:
Miranda vs. Arizona
, 1966. United States Supreme Court decision requiring that an arrested person be warned prior to any questioning that he has the right to remain silent, that anything he says can be used against him in a
court of law, that he has the right to the presence of an attorney, and that if he cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for him prior to any questioning if he so desires.

mope:
stupid person; mopery is stupidity.

moyete:
a negro.

niche:
a negro.

O.C.:
organized crime.

P. and D.:
premeditated and deliberated murder.

paint:
narcotics (word
paint
used as verbal camouflage).

paredón:
the wall used by the firing squad, as in Castro executions.

par’na:
partner.

pero no hay mal que bien no traiga:
There is no ill wind that does not bring some good.

pinch:
arrest.

plátanos:
plantains, a banana-like fruit grown in tropical zones.

popped:
arrested.

pound:
a five-year jail sentence.

Puñeta:
jerk-off.

Qué pasa?:
What’s happening? What’s going on?

rabbi:
protector, guardian angel.

rubia:
blonde girl.

sálvese él que pueda:
save yourself if you can.

shoo-fly:
police internal investigators, cops spying on corrupt cops.

short:
a short is any automobile, from a Maserati to an old Chevy.

short-timing:
serving a short jail sentence.

sidge:
Sicilian.