Chapter 3

Tina and Brent Connor were an industrious husband and wife team who

operated a carpet and upholstery cleaning business.

They were both in their early fifties and when the kids had left home they

decided it was a good time to start a business venture of their own. They

certainly knew the carpet cleaning business would not make them rich, but it

would give them flexibility to make their own work schedule. For a few

thousand dollars they had purchased equipment, supplies inventory and

customer list from Dennis Drewil and had thus taken their first risk in

entrepreneurial investment.

One of their prime contracts was, at regular intervals, cleaning the hotel

rooms that Dennis Drewil managed. It was at the hotel that they became

acquainted with Frank Marino. Frank went out of his way to befriend the

Connors. He was ever willing to assist them in carrying equipment, moving

furniture or surprising them with cappuccinos at his own expense. In spite of

his rough edges the Connors developed a genuine liking for Frank.

While Brent’s heritage was Scottish and Irish, evidenced by his reddish hair

and fair complexion, Tina was of pure Italian extract. I suppose it is human

nature to bond in friendship with kindred spirits. Dennis and Brent the

Scotsmen, similar in nature and temperament, had an excellent rapport. Tina

and Frank, the Italians, felt a heritage bond and, though diametrically

opposite in temperament to the Britons, they too developed a kindred spirit

relationship.

Over a period of six months or so Tina, Brent and Frank had become friends

rather than mere acquaintances. The Connors’ had been invited into Frank’s

home a few times to share a bottle or two of red wine and feast on Frank’s

Italian cuisine. It should be said that Brent deplored Frank’s sometimescrude

humour and his untamed penchant for using the ‘F’ word, but since he

knew Tina enjoyed their occasional conversations in Italian he tolerated the

churlish aspect of Frank’s personality.

Tina had, on one occasion, called Frank to ask if he would be interested in

building a short stretch of fence on their property in order to prevent their

pet dog from wandering onto neighbouring properties and leaving his

business card.

No job was too small for Frank especially when friends were involved “Hey,

for you guys I do anything, and I give you a deal you can’t refuse”.

Less than a half hour after Tina had called, Frank was at her door. He took a

quick look at the place where they wanted the fence and said, “I do it”.

Tina, a little nervous at this point asked, “But how much will it cost?”

“For you I do it for nothing”.

Still dubious Tina persisted “But you can’t do it for nothing, materials and

labour. You have to make a living!”

“Don’a you worry. I make my money in other ways. Anyway I got a

’paesano’ that work in the lumberyard. He help me sometimes with

material”.

Tina needed no translation as to how Frank intended to acquire the wood

and while her conscience offered some resistance it wasn’t enough to

override the joy of having a fence built for nothing.

“O.K. lets do it,” she said eagerly. “But I still don’t understand why you

don’t charge, at least for the labour. My God, when we clean carpets for

friends we still have to charge. We give them a good deal but we’ve got to

live too!”

Frank didn‘t say anything immediately. He had a kind of ‘shall I tell her’

look on his face, and then with a sigh he said, “The truth is I do this work as

a cover. Me and my organization got a thing going here, you know some of

the people involved. We invest money and we make money. Lots of

money”.

Tina’s curiosity was bubbling over as she queried, “So what do you invest

in?”

“I can’t give you too many details but there are a number of ventures we

control or influence. Right now me and a couple of other people are

investing in the commodities futures market. The key is in having the right

information about what’s happening in other countries and we got contacts

all over the world. This is guaranteed success, we’ve been doing it a long

time and it never fails. I’ll give you an example I got two $5,000 deals right

now that will get $2,000 profit each in 3 months. You can’t get that kind of

return anywhere and these are all cash deals”.

“I’d sure like to have one of those deals,” commented Tina wistfully.

“Well I’d like to give you an opportunity ‘cause you’re friends, you work

hard and you deserve it, but there’s another guy who’s begging for a chance

to get in on the deal” Frank paused momentarily before exclaiming “Awe,

fuck him, if you want it and you’ve got five grand it’s yours”.

Tina was temporarily paralysed, in the space of about two minutes she had

the promise of a fence that was to be built at no cost, and, an opportunity to

make $2,000 with no sweat. Eventually she was able say “wow, that’s

incredible, but I’ll have to talk to Brent when he gets home from work. I’ll

have to explain to him how it works as well”.

Frank was ready for this and immediately gave his closing argument “O.K.

you know we only deal in cash ’cause we don’t want no revenue people

snooping around. I give you a note that we write up in code to say what you

invested, when the payout is due and how much interest you’ll get. All of

our business transactions are based on trust ’cause nobody fucks with us.

But I have to know tonight and the money must be ready tomorrow. The

guys in Van don’t mess around; if you miss the deadline they take the deal

away and give it to somebody else. And my reputation is on the line”.

The following day Frank collected $5,000 in cash from Tina.