Every story teller arbitrarily chooses a point at which to commence the tale.
This must be so since each and every event is a consequence, in one way or
another, of a prior event. Indeed all of time is an inextricable chain of events
in which history seems to repeat itself all too often and we the people seem
none the wiser. My tale begins by introducing two good men who
unwittingly acted as enablers to a chain of events which to some, as it turns
out, could be characterized by that unforgettable quote “deja vus all over
again”.
Dennis Drewil and Bill McFee had known each other for a while. Once they
discovered that they shared certain common elements a casual friendship
had begun. They were both born in Edinburgh in the mid 1940‘s and they
both liked drinking scotch and smoking cigars. Bill lived in a large home on
the prestigious Dilworth Mountain. Dennis lived in a hotel suite, which was
provided as part of his employment compensation package. Dennis and his
wife would visit Bill every second week or so to talk about business or the
old country and swap stories of events long past. Until his relatively recent
retirement Bill had been an engineer who spent some thirty years working in
oil extraction installations. Due to his lengthy tour of duty in Saudi Arabia
and other Middle Eastern oil states he had accumulated the substantial nest
egg, which had afforded him the option of an early retirement. Educated
both academically and socially Bill was a good host and treated his guests
with warmth and generosity.
The Drewils did not share the same good fortune and were perhaps a little
envious of Bill’s acquisitions and financial security. For a while Dennis had
owned and operated a carpet cleaning business, which he sold because the
effort/reward ratio didn’t meet his expectations. Thereafter, he landed a job
in junior league hotel management that suited him well, because he didn’t
have to shed a drop of sweat while meandering through his daily duties.
It was while Dennis was in his first hotel management job that he met Tony
Carotenuto. There had been a degree of mystery surrounding this individual
when he arrived with his wife, two children and a plain clothes police escort.
The police officer was a very large man whose pugilistic face would
intimidate the most valiant of men and initially Dennis couldn‘t decide if his
role was custodial or protective. During the month or so that the Carotenuto
family and escort were ensconced in the hotel Dennis had struck up a
friendship with the group. In the process he learned a few scant details of the
mystery on the condition that he would not repeat any of the information he
had acquired.
Dennis was in many ways a good man who probably had under achieved in
his various pursuits of money and social standing. He rarely failed to
reciprocate a favour done for his benefit and probably expected the same
consideration from others whom he had favoured. For example, once he had
secured his position in the hotel he immediately awarded the contract for
cleaning carpets and upholstery to the Connors’, who had purchased Dennis’
former business. Dennis and his wife managed the Fiesta Hotel for about 3
years before accepting a more lucrative offer at the Landasia Hotel just
along the street.
About six months after he had taken over at the Landasia a brief but
memorable acquaintance resurfaced. Tony Carotenuto and his new girlfriend
checked into the hotel. Dennis was discreet and gave no indication of
surprise at seeing the very pale and thin young woman at Tony’s side. Of
course, later the two men talked and Dennis was apprised of Tony’s new
circumstances. Shortly after Tony had returned to Vancouver, he and his
wife went their separate ways. Actually it was more like Tony had
abandoned the family for fear of his own safety. Other than being very
Roman Catholic and feeling ashamed of a marriage breakdown, Tony’s wife
had in fact been happy to see him go.
But at the moment Tony, or Frank as he now preferred to be called, had a
situation. He needed a job for a while, until some people who were
safeguarding a ton of money for him could discreetly funnel it through
channels into his hands. He gave Dennis a long list of skills he possessed,
which embraced all the maintenance support that Dennis would ever need.
He could only work for ready cash but they could work a deal so that Dennis
too could benefit from the arrangement.
“Look” said Frank, “I do all the work, cement, carpentry, electrical, clean
the pool, paint the rooms, tile the floors, you name it and I can do it. I give
you a bill for say $15.00 an hour but you only pay me $12.00 an hour. It’s
like everyone wins. The hotel hide some cash and don’t pay tax on it, you
get some cash and don’t pay tax, and I get some cash and don’t pay tax”.
Without a doubt Dennis was acquainted with the possibilities of skimming
in this kind of business but, nevertheless, didn’t want to put his own
reputation a risk. He knew how much the hotel spent on maintenance
contracts. At between $60 to $90 an hour for certified trades people the cost
was in excess of one full time staff at $15 an hour.
“Tony, ”
Frank interjected “Frank!”.
Dennis continued, “Well to me you still seem more like a Tony. As I was
saying, I think we could work something out but you would have to sign for
the full amount of the cash every time you get paid. I do have to account for
every penny you know”.
“Yeah, I’ll sign what ever you want but it has to be Frank Marino ‘cause
that’s who I am now.
The hotel did in fact need a lot of work. Neither Dennis nor his son had any
inclination to do even the most simple of repair or maintenance work, so
there was a general decline until it was time for one of the bi-annual
inspections by the hotel’s owner, at which time there would be a flurry of
activity in order to face-lift the property. Clearly seeing the advantage of
having a ‘go-fer’, Dennis agreed to Frank’s terms and their union was
consummated.
I hesitate to suggest that Frank was industrious in his efforts, but he was as
industrious as he could be. It seems that no matter what the job, big or small,
it would always be done in a hurry. He would only superficially analyze the
task at hand and never prepare a plan of action. I suspect the phrase ‘brute
force and ignorance’ was invented to describe someone just like Frank. He
had no patience and no finesse. The end result of his labour would for the
most part be acceptable to his client, but only because they couldn’t see the
patchwork of corrected mistakes or the spoiled material that had been
thrown in the dumpster. Objectively speaking, the quality of his work was at
best second rate. Nevertheless, his presence made Dennis’ life much easier,
and, Dennis acquired a new friend.
Frank and his girlfriend stayed at the hotel for about a month before finding
an apartment to move into. Seemingly out of the blue Frank acquired an
infusion of cash. He bought a ‘suped-up ’78 Pontiac Lemans’. It was in
excellent condition with new wheels and a sparkling new paint job, and it
rumbled. Now everyone could hear him coming and it truly gave him a
measure of prestige and attention. Dennis was not a shy person and felt no
shame in saying, “So am I to assume your money came through?”
“Sure did” replied Frank and continued “we had a good year and plenty
more to come”.
“Does that mean you wont be working here any more?” asked Dennis.
“Fuck man no! I keep working here and since you’re doing me a favour
maybe I can do one for you”.
“Well, I suppose you’re doing me a favour just by being here, or did you
have something else in mind?” queried Dennis.
“Well remember I said ‘maybe’, I have to get the O.K. from Vancouver
first” Frank responded.
“I certainly hope you’re not going to get me a membership in your little club
are you?” said Dennis humorously.
Seeing the humour and chuckling Frank said, “Awe fuck man, no. I can’t
tell you much until I get the O.K. But there’s a lot of money to be made if
they let you in”.
“Wait a minute,” said Dennis with some consternation “I would like to
know what exactly I’m being let in on before we go any further”.
“Could you use an extra $100,000?” asked Frank.
“I don’t know many people who couldn’t,” replied Dennis pragmatically.
“O.K. then. We have a business operation. We lend cash and we finance
projects that are guaranteed. The interest rate is way more than you would
get from the bank in a hundred years”.
“That sounds like a risky business,” retorted Dennis.
“My friend, you know who we are and nobody fucks with us. If they even
think about it their dead”, a momentary pause and Frank continued “Hey
Dennis, if you’re not interested that’s O.K. The fact is we only let in people
we can trust and since you’re a good friend and I trust you I wanted to give
you a chance”.
“Tony, I’m interested but I need to know a little more,” responded Dennis
showing both interest and caution.
“I’ll tell you what,” said Frank knowing he had already sold the idea “we get
big investments and little investments. They all earn the same high return. If
Vancouver agrees I’ll wait for a small deal, anywhere from 5 to 10 thousand
and you can give it a try”.
“O.K. bud, but I’d prefer not to go more than $5,000 and then I’ll see how
things work out,” said Dennis, the excitement marginally winning over the
apprehension.
When I said Frank has no patience, I meant for work, the business of making
large amounts of money was pleasure and for this he had patience.
The Hotel had in excess of 60 suites. Each suite was the same comprising a
bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and lounge. An outdoors pool and hot tub were
the only social amenities the hotel provided. With Frank at his disposal,
Dennis could now consider repair and maintenance projects with a little
more enthusiasm. Since he would also be making an extra $25 a day from
Frank’s toiling he should endeavour to keep him busy for as long as
possible.
Dennis managed to convince the owner that a suite upgrade was necessary
and embarked on a project to replace the linoleum-covered floors in the
kitchen and bathroom with ceramic tiles. In addition, he proposed a tiled
splashguard between the kitchen counter top and the kitchen cabinets. The
cost of approximately $750 per suite was reasonable and provided months of
work for Frank. Work commenced in September and was scheduled for
completion by March.
About a month after their conversation regarding the guaranteed investment
project Frank approached Dennis with a proposal.
“Hey Dennis I got good news and I got good news”.
“Let me guess,” said Dennis wryly “you’ve finished one room and you’re
ready to start another,”
“I tol’yer the first one take longer ‘til I get a rhythm going” replied Frank
defensively.
He had started on the first suite over a week ago and things were not going
as well as he had predicted. The reality is that he did not have the experience
he claimed and thus was in a learning process. What with badly measured
tile cuts and uneven application of the tile adhesive he had wasted a lot of
time in re-doing and re-starting. However, he was getting better.
Hiding his hurt pride and with a big smile he said, “The people in
Vancouver said you can be in and yesterday I got a couple of opportunities.
I’m taking one for $15,000 but there’s another for $6,500 if you’re
interested”.
“So what’s the deal?” inquired Dennis.
“$6,500 gets you $3,000 in three months, can you beat that anywhere?”
“How do we write it up?” Dennis asked.
“What do you mean how do we write it up” shot back Frank.
“Well I need some sort of receipt don’t I?”
“’Course we write it up. But we do it so’s not to give the tax people
anything to go on. You understand what I’m saying?” said Frank settling in
to his best salesman groove.
“So I give you a cheque and you give me what?” replied Dennis with a little
nervousness in his voice.
“Fuck man, we don’ use cheques. Cash only. You give me cash and you get
cash back in three months time. Cheques leave a trail for the tax people and
we say fuck’em”.
“So what do you give me to say I gave you this investment?”
With weariness in his voice Frank said, “Look my friend, I give you a paper
that I sign but it’s just for our records. This whole thing is based on trust.
Fuck man, when I give my word its solid as gold. That’s the way we work.
Friends don’t fuck friends and nobody fucks us”.
“But Tony, you’re asking a lot”.
“If you don’t trust me Dennis that’s O.K. There’s another person who’s
begging me for more opportunities. But fuck man he’s made a pile of money
already. You been good to me and I want to repay you. But that’s O.K.”.
“But Tony it’s not a question of trusting you, of course I trust you or you
wouldn’t be working here. Maybe I need a little more time to think about it”
Frank was quick to respond, “Problem is I have to let them know by tonight,
I’ll have to give Ernie a call and tell him he can have it”.
Dennis was seduced by the prospect of making $3,000 in 3 months and
decided he should take the risk even though, because of his cautious nature,
he was feeling a little uneasy. A slight quiver in his voice he almost
whispered “O.K. Tony I’ll take it. When do you need the money?”
“You wont regret it, in three months you’ll be wanting to kiss me. Anyway, I
call Van tonight to tell them you’re in. I need the cash tomorrow so don’t let
me down. My reputation’s at stake and the people in Van get upset if we
make a deal an’ don’t follow through”.
The following day Dennis delivered the money and Frank attacked the tile
work with a newfound enthusiasm.
As he became accustomed to the work Frank was able to complete one suite
every 3 to 4 days. A professional would probably have needed only two days
but with Frank unable to concentrate on any job for more than an hour
without taking a 45 minute recess, during which time he would drink coffee,
apprise Dennis of the fabulous job he was doing, and make numerous
telephone calls to his Mob associates, progress was slow and, for Dennis, at
times a little painful. Still, knowing that he was also making $3.00 an hour
on Frank’s payroll and in addition making a thousand dollars a month in
Frank’s investment group he tolerated the situation. Chapter 1
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