The Legend of Johnny Hustle: Crown Me King (26 page)

              Renee grabbed me before I could do any damage.  Red pulled me away.

I won the crown, but my life as The King of Times Square came at the ultimate price.

THE END

Epilogue

              The criminal is a difficult species.  He is filled with double standards and is often unable to please.  He is the biggest hypocrite whose selfish desires keep him on his own, yet he will always profess to follow a code.  Johnny Hustle is not a criminal, he is an opportunist who escaped poverty.  By 1991 I was king of Times Square.  That year had a bunch of highs and lows.  I made over a million dollars from a single payment on the pyramid scheme.  I set up robberies for Sharieff through Webb and Jason.  My organization expanded to all types of schemes, and my stocks in the Marriott went up through the roof.

Red never left my side, and if I ever had a wife, then she would have to be it.  I keep her off the streets now because she means too much for me to lose.  When the Internet was born, she invested a hundred grand in Microsoft when it first went public.  You do the math.  Now, all she does is go to the gun range, get involved in politics, and sit around pleasing her man.

Roxy, was laid down next to Keiki.  When I need a place to feel safe, I go up to Woodlawn Cemetery to talk to my woman and the two children I lost and never had a chance to really have.  I kept my promise to her mother.

Joy?  She’s a major madam in New York.  She has three town houses in New York, and one in Beverly Hills, California.  She stopped turning tricks years ago.  She went to school and attained a degree in business.  From Red’s advice, she invested in Starbucks and married an old rich man, fifty years her senior.  She still stops by when she needs a tune up, because Viagra won’t help her old man keep it up.

Renee, she cut all her hair off.  She rented out her house and lives with us in the Marriott.  In 1991, her badge went into the Hudson River.  She spends her days working out with Red and helping with business.

Gloria still works here.  If you ever come through, she’s probably the one to take care of you.  Even though she’s worth more than a half a million dollars, she thinks working is what keeps her sex drive high.

Mimi isn’t little any more.  She’s studying for her Doctorate in Human Services.  She wants to attain her license in law.  She plans to revolutionize the Child Welfare laws so no child will ever be left behind.  Her mother died years ago.  Thanks to Mrs. Walker, she’s legally my daughter, which means, every dime I got goes to her when I die.

Suki had a baby boy, and thank God it didn’t look like me.  After they revamped Times Square and moved all the family-oriented businesses in, they renovated the Carter.  Suki owns a piece of it.

Lisa is a new girl that works for me.  She’s 6’5”.  I met her while eating lunch at a restaurant named
One Fish-Two Fish.
  She was my waitress.  The day I met her, I offered to buy
her
lunch and have someone serve her for once.  Within ten minutes, I was rubbing her feet, and when I offered her a job, she walked out with me.  Now she’s head of security.  Why do I need security?  Ask Red, it was all her idea.

A lot has happened since 1991.  In 2003, Lisa was selling powder to make extra money.  The maitre‘d had moved down to Florida to open shop, so I helped her out by hooking her up with the maitre‘d’s customers.  Then one of my financial advisors named X-man, led this mullotto girl name Ashley down here.  She ended up bettering herself, but initially she had
No Way Out
.

Sharieff fell in love and married a woman named Jill.  He later died and left her rich and lonely.

My crazy cousin Webb shot it out with the police, and went on the run for years.  Only to shoot it out again with the police a year ago.  He blew up a whole building with some cat from the Bronx named Scooter.  According to my sister, she hears from him all the time, but she’s going a little senile, so I don’t know what to believe.  What I do know is guns and illegal money don’t mix, so he need to stay wherever he is.

His partner, Jason, ended up doing a bunch of years in prison.  They were both
Lost and Turned Out
.
  Jason’s
mind led him instead of his heart.  He came home and met and married Jill (Sharieff’s wife).  Don’t look at me, it’s a small world.

Yoda died from heart disease.  I built a mausoleum in New Jersey for the hustlers to give praise to him.  I never held it against him for hustling me.  Game recognize game.  To this day, I still hear his voice.

Brave Dave went back to Panama; the whisper stream says he’s locked up.

Phil with bills sold some stuff to Billy Flemming again.  The boy smoked it, came to midtown, and they found Phil’s head in the exit of the Port Authority.  Billy is in a loony bin, and turns out he’s related to X-man, but you’ll read more about him and Billy’s brother, Akbar in
A 100-Miles and Running
.

Pee Wee is an assistant to Paris and Nikki Hilton.  I never got my money back, but that’s the game.

Cashmere is still doing his thing in a major way.  He made a few mill since I was with him.  We found out that Pierre was in fact my father figure at one time.  He, Cashmere, and Romeo are over on the West Coast, running an enterprise they call
Player’s Paradise
.

Money Russ overdosed off heroin on College Avenue in the Bronx.  A train hit his wife, Dot.  She was trying to get her syringe kit that fell on the tracks.

Proverb went and opened an oriental temple/church, down by the Brooklyn Bridge.  I hear they have a Hip-Hop night down in the basement.

Snow is around, and after September 11
th
, 2001, he somehow got recognized as an actual Rabbi.  How he did it?  I don’t know, but please don’t get me to lying.

As it stands, I know the hustle never stops, but the rules have to change.  Wish me luck with Strong City Records.  I had to get some of that Hip-Hop money, but you can read more about that in
You, Me & She.

Well folks, Zach got his money’s worth and I hope you did, too.  Tell a friend to tell a friend, and support him, because after this, the boy won’t have a dime.  There’s a whole lot that I couldn’t tell you, but I hope I successfully showed you the ups and downs when there
Ain’t No Half Stepping.

Meet Zach Tate

Zach Tate
is the critically-acclaimed, #1 best-selling author of the classic novels,
No Way Out, Lost and Turned Out
and
The Legend of Johnny Hustle
. He is the Maestro behind some of the best penned and most popular novels across many genres and is known as the “Ghostwriters Ghost Writer” for his ability to create authors who are living legends from his words and epic storytelling. Zach Tate comes well-equipped with a healthy dose of authentic storytelling complete with everything his loyal readers have come to expect from him. Born in the Bronx, New York and raised by the hard knocks of life, he’s reemerging with a mission to bring back quality stories full of substance. In his partnership with award-winning author and publishing mogul, Elissa Gabrielle, Zach Tate will release his catalog under “The Imprint” beginning in 2015. A writer of screen and stage plays, poetry, songs, novels and television shows, Zach wears the crown as King of Fiction proudly. He currently resides in North America, where he is building a legacy, enjoying the fellowship of his readers and working on the next big thing.