The Frenchman's Revenge (63 page)

It should have been
a night
like any other the past three years
. T
he process
which never failed
,
s
hould
have demonstrated
that Marcello’s brilliant
operation
was as flawless as ever.

But something went terribly wrong.
The first
report
was that five Irish
gangsters boldly
attacked the warehouse, the site of the money drop. They killed all eight off
-
duty cops guarding the perimeter, took out the six Marcello guards surrounding the warehouse
,
then
brought
down the four men loading up the loot. Two men survived and told the lurid
tale
of the brazen Irishmen who wiped out a force three times their size.

The
Irish
protested their innocence
,
and within a couple of days Rory Calhoun
took
the blame off his gang by producing a signed manifest documenting the receipt of the funds by Marcello’s men.
Moreover
,
the document
confirm
ing
that Marcello had the monies
was
signed by none other than Aldo’s lieutenant, Carlos
Santali
.

Within three days
,
there wasn’t a gang in New York that wasn’t gunning for Marcello, convinced that the despised gang leader stole the money and tried to blame it on the Irish. Perhaps if Aldo
was
admired or at least respected, he might have been able to turn the
tables,
calling it the fraud he knew it was.
But he had zero credibility with the other gangs and their hatred for him made his guilt a foregone conclusion.

When the news
hit California
that not only was the Marcello gang
being held
responsible for the theft
,
but that Aldo had been killed by members of the gangs he had raped, Greg knew without a doubt who
was
to blame.
He didn’t need to hear that Aldo
was
strung up on his
own torture
rack
by rival gang members
and murdered piece by piece to know who was behind it.
The audacity, the fucking brilliance of the attack
could only have been conceived of by
one man
.
Even though Aldo tried desperately to swing the blame from the Irish to the Chinks
,
no one was buying it.
From the distance
,
Greg watched and knew what had happened.
The Frenchman
had
struck at the belly of the beast
and
scattered
its
bloody
entrails
for
all
to see
.

The
final
confirmation came
from the
men
cr
itically important to the money laundering
operation
,
the bankers
Greg
had put in power
.
The day after the
heist
, he received the first call
fro
m one
of his
banking cronies
,
describing the squeeze on him.
Greg dismissed it
,
assuming the banker was trying to pull a fast
one
,
taking advantage of the uproar.
By the end of the day
,
Greg hear
d
from all
twelve
banker
s
in the
syndicate
.
Every one of them had
received an
invoice
detailing
the precise amount of money they personally
m
ade over the last three
years
f
rom
the
money laundering
scheme
. They each had five days to deposit the
monies in
Capital
F
inancier
I
ntégré or face
personal
and professional ruin
.

A
s angry as he was
about
losing his share of the
Friday
night
haul
, the takedown of the
bankers
was more
alarming
to Greg
.
He
waited two days for
Franklin
P
ierce
to return his call
and he opened the conversation with a bark.

“
Frank
, you son of a bit
c
h.
I’ve been trying to reach you for
two days
.
”

Franklin’s distain was palpable f
rom
three thousand miles away.

“Sorry if I seem rude
, Greg
.
My apologies.
I’ve been a mite busy
the
se
last two days
,
trying to
pick my
fucking life
up
off the floor
. What can I do for you
,
Greg?
”

Greg
ignored the sarcasm and
tempered his
response
,
knowing that he needed Pierce’s cooperation to get the rest of the money.

“One thing and one thin
g
only
, Frank
.
I know about the invoices and the
threats
.
Sorry
you guys lost
t
he
money
you
made from the
syndicate
.
I
nvestments don’t
always
pay
off the way we hope. I have a greater concern and you are the only one who can
lay
it
to rest.
I know Aldo
put
all of his personal wealth with you and Gordon Lincoln
. The two of you
hold multi millions of Aldo’s money.
”

“Save
your breath Greg. They
go
t
that
,
too.
Every goddamn cent that
Aldo made
over the last three years is now sitting in
Capital
F
inancier
I
ntégré via Tom Caldwell
.”

“You
cowardly son
of
a bitch
!
Yo
u
mean you turned over
Aldo’s
entire fortune to a goddamn
bunch
of Chink
s? You better hope I heard you wrong, Franklin, because if I didn’t …
”

Franklin
broke in and
didn’t hide his contempt.

“
Tell you what
,
Greg
,
do what ever you
goddamn
well
want to do. Why don’t you call Tom
Caldwell and tell him that it’s your money now that Aldo is dead and see if
t
he Frenchman will give it to you
.”

He took an audible breath
,
then continued.

“
Greg, they knew to the penny how much of Aldo’s money was in our bank.
To the goddamn penny, I tell you. And no one from my operation gave them that information.
Listen to me,
Greg
. Y
ou are in way over your head.
I’ve never seen an o
rganization
more skillful or more frightening in my life.
I’m just surprised they
didn’t
kill us
all
,
as well.
”

Greg
’s
voice
was
cold, threatening.

“
You are a banker, Frank. O
ne goddamn thing even you understand is that the money wasn’t yours to give away. I don’t know how you are going to do it
,
but you need to get that money back and get it back now or…”

Once again Franklin interrupted and this time his voice was as cold as Greg’s.

“
Three things, Greg.
First
,
even though I will grant the similarity,
as far as
I
know
,
you are not Aldo’s
son or
heir.
Second
,
it’s not your life on the
line
,
and third
,
you
fucking piece of shit,
I
don’t ever want to
hear your voice or
see
your
sorry ass
again
as long as I live
.
Connecting with you was the
single
biggest mistake in my
life
.
I hope you rot in hell, Greg”.

Greg
listened
to the
silence and
managed to
quell
his fury
. After several calls to N
ew York
,
he confirmed that by tomorrow evening
,
Frank
lin
P
ierce
wouldn’t have to worry about seeing or hearing f
rom
Greg. For that matter
,
he wouldn’t
be seeing anyone except his scummy cohorts in that special level of hell reserved for bankers and their ilk
.

The
t
hought of
Capital
F
inancier
I
ntégré
made Greg’s blood boil. For
three years
,
Greg watched Bai
buy up failing European banks at bargain prices and consolidate
them
in a Swiss entity he called
Capital
F
inancier
I
ntégré
.
The purpose of the entity w
as to
give
wealthy businessmen a safe
h
arbor
for their
monies
with no questions
asked
as to the source of the
funds
.
The
price of guaranteed secrecy was high
,
but those who required
anonymity
willingly
paid the exorbitant fees
.

T
he brilliance and boldness of the
initiative
both impressed and enraged Greg.
It was the kind of
enterprise
he would kill to
create
, but he didn’t have the resources, the contacts
,
or
,
frankly
,
the balls to pull it off.
Instead
,
he watched
from the sidelines
as Bai created what bec
a
me the leading Swiss banking
enterprise in the world.
The fact that Bai and Wyatt McManus
,
his partner
i
n the venture
,
had conceived and implemented
CFI
and become exponentially wealthier
in the process
incensed
Greg
.
The irony didn’t escape
him
,
as he was sure it hadn’t escaped
Bai, that
most of
CFI
’s
clients
were businessmen who had tangled
and lost to
Bai or Wyatt in the past.
Th
e
rogues
may have despised the two
men
,
but knew f
rom
their past t
humping
that their money w
as
safe because no one cared for money the way Bai and
Wyatt
did
.