Days of Darkness: the Legacy of a Broke Millionaire

[mustynutz]

We were located in such an unfortunate position on the block that there was nothing we could do but wait in the car until either the crowd behind us or the crowd in front of us cleared out enough so we could get the fuck outta there.

We had no weapons to defend ourselves if the mob decided to turn their attention towards us.

"Eddie, we got to get out of here man!"

Eddie jumped out of the car and started running back down 13th street toward the crowd rushing forward. He exited leaving the door wide open and the fucking car in drive! Fucking idiot!

"Eddie!, Eddie!"

I hollered for him as I grabbed the wheel and pulled myself over the bench rest and into the drivers seat.

I pulled the door shut, cracked the shifter up into reverse and floored it. The people rushing towards me opened up and split off to both sides of the car instantly. I was Moses of 13th street parting the black street.


Honestly, I wasn't even keeping an eye out for Eddie. I never saw him. Even if he would have seen me and called out as I passed I would not have stopped to pick him up. He panicked and bailed on me leaving me in the passenger seat of a car still in gear in a dangerous situation. Someone with that much of a lack of commonsense deserves to go through whatever their decision making skills produce. Fuck em!


I never saw Eddie again. When I got back to my hometown I parked his car in back of his house, wiped it down and called my wife to come pick me up a couple of blocks away at a turkey hill store.


"Hi babe, thanks for picking me up"

She just stared at me.

By now she didn't even bother asking what I was up to that would end me up stranded in town at 3am. I was glad because lying to her was more painful than anything the streets could dish out. If the streets punished me, I was deserving. But my bride did not deserve to suffer from my choices.


After about ten minutes she spoke.

"When am I going to get my husband back? When are our children going to get their Daddy back? What are you searching for that is more important than your family?"

Passing street lights revealed a look on her face that was killing me. I was drowning in shame.

My mind was screaming: "please just drop it, just be quiet! Don't make me lie to you.

"Why are you insisting on dying or going to prison?

"Everything is cool babe, just relax. My partner had some car problems. I could never get a taxi to drive up the country this late at night"

She did it. She made me lie to her. The pitiful part about lying to her then is that she knew they were lies as soon as I said them.

"Goddamnitt! Im not stupid! Everything is not "cool babe" you are a drug addict Brian! You are hardly at home, Jesus! Sometimes I don't see you for days! Your arms are a mess you're probably sleeping with whores who are sticking that garbage in their arms with you! And you are bringing shit like this into our home! Jeopardizing your family you bastard!

She pulled a bag of pills I had hidden in the basement from underneath her seat and threw them at my feet.

"Those are filled by that pharmacist who has been in the news and that is not even our doctor who prescribed them"

"They are legal prescription drugs, its not like its cocaine or heroin"

"Damn you! Don't talk to me like I am stupid anymore! 700 pain pills are not a legal prescription! And I went by your building yesterday, Carolyn from next door said no one has been working there in months! Where are you getting the money to pay the bills Brian? You are a scummy drug dealer! You sonofabitch! How could you do this to us?"

I cant describe the pain and shame I felt that night. I couldn't wait until we got home so I could go downstairs and start purging it out. But when we arrived home that night it became apparent that no amount of opiates would be able to mask what was about to transpire.

 

[mustynutz]

I want you to move out, or I will go live with my mom and dad with the kids, either way you cannot be with us, I cant subject the kids to the danger of your lifestyle, I want you to leave Brian" She had a bag packed for me when we arrived home that night..

It is not like she had not said things similar to this in the past, because she had. The difference between this time and the other times was she did not have any hope in her eyes that I would do what needed to be done to preserve my family. The other times were threats in hopes it would cause me to pull my fucking head out

The only thing I ever did right, the only thing that was pure in my life, my angel watching over me was giving up on the possibility that I would find the strength to make it through.

I left my home and my family that night.

Instead of using this event as a wake up call to smarten the fuck up and get clean, I proceeded to pump an obscene amount of dope and booze into my body I went on the run of all runs. I was reserved to the likelihood that at the end of this run I would die a hopeless junkie on the streets of Philadelphia.


Then one day sitting at a folding table in some rowhouse I was crashing at, I pulled my wallet out of my back pocket and looked at the pictures of my kids and my wife. I pulled them out of the little plastic pockets and placed them on the table. I began to arrange them by time-line. My kids I arranged From toddlers to kindergarten to teeball pictures then through each school grade. I only had one picture of my wife it was a picture from our wedding day. I touched the pictures with my finger tips I could feel that bumpy coarse textured paper that school pictures are developed on. I was trying to get more from the pictures than just the visual and the memories they evoked.

I gathered them up like a deck of cards, put them in my shirt pocket and stood up. I pulled out my works and all my dope and placed them on the card table I walked out of that house, I left Philadelphia and went home. Just like that I quit doing drugs. I really cant explain it.


There was no moment of clarity.

There was no dramatic path altering event. I just quit.

I didn't find Jesus >and he didn't come looking for me either.

I didn't find structure and stability for my life in a 12 step program.

I didn't go to detox again.

I just stopped doing drugs. And I never relapsed. Not once.

But that is just the way I do things. When I am done I turn my back. Do you understand what I am saying?

You would think that quitting the life would have taken me out of harms way. I thought so. But situations that have been developed over a number of years don't automatically rectify themselves just because you remove one equation from the mix in fact it makes the situation worse. The chaos began to jump off from all sides as soon as I walked away.

Things that I had buried began to claw their way out of their tombs. I thought I had lived through some hardcore shit in the life> it was nothing compared to life without the veil.

 

[mustynutz]

As soon as I got out of the life, the shit hit the fan. It seemed like every other day something very bad happened that very well could have affected me. My timing, although unplanned, was superb. The timing meant the difference between me sitting in my office writing this right now as opposed to doing a quarter of hard time in Lewisburg.


People that I associated with were being arrested, hunted, murdered, overdosing and dying, losing their homes, losing their families, getting divorced, forced to go on the lamb. And I was doing fine. I was clean, I had nearly lost it all but ultimately lost nothing except for my business, however, I was approached by an old business associate who asked if I would run a new company that he would back financially for a 50% profit and partnership. I walked waist high through a sewer for years and when I finally climbed out of the manhole, I smelled like a rose.


Unfortunately, that smell didn't last long. Eventually the District Attorney zeroed in on me. He had heard my name come up enough from the steady stream of people that were being arrested and was able to place my link in the chain that was growing daily, a chain that stretched from upstate New York to Florida. People were ratting each other out in the back of the cruiser on the way to the station to be questioned. It was pathetic.


Fortunately for me, that chain was not contiguous. There were many, many links missing. I knew that and the police knew that I was aware of how weak their case was but that did not prevent them from charging me with various crimes and arresting me numerous times.

The DA was aiming too high he was trying to make a name for himself, he wanted the whole goddamned chain. There were some big names in the chain, Rush Limbaugh for one. But his duckies were spread too thin. If he would have concentrated on his own city and given up on his grandiose plan of bringing down a whole cartel, I would most likely be in prison. Thank god he had a swelled head.!


Here is some advice if you ever get into trouble;

Now this advice is valid only if you have retained a competent attorney. Believe me, you don't need a high priced lawyer to get you out of a jam, just a smart one, preferably a smart family man who is working hard to take care of his family.


Lawyers:
Always pay your lawyer fees on time. Even if I was paid up with what I owed my attorney, I would make a payment each time I left his office. Never lie to your attorney either tell him the truth or don't say anything at all.

Police:
Never cooperate, keep your mouth shut no matter what, never plead guilty, be polite, never resist or lose your temper, if arrested, do what ever you can to make your bail.


Cops are some of the biggest mind playing bullshit artists on this planet. They will do whatever it takes to get the confession. They remind me of high pressure salesmen. Here is one snippet of a conversation I once had with the police;


"Do you know that selling just one prescription pill earns you 5 years of federal prison time? And we have you dead to rights selling tens of thousands. If you ever hope to be a free man before your kids are middle aged, you better start talking to us"

"Lawyer"

"That's real cute. Did you learn that on tv tough guy? Do you think your buddies are squawking lawyer like a fucking parrot? Or are they giving you up to save their own ass? How do you think we found you, by accident? You need to decide if you want to keep up with this lawyer bullshit and spend the next 25 years taking it up the ass, or just talk with us and possibly walk away with probation, fines and community service."

"Lawyer"

"You are gonna be saying that a lot, because when we are done with you, New York state has dibs on you, smart ass! Or Maybe you're a fuckin retard and that's all you know how to say."

"Lawyer"

_____________________________________

One Thursday morning after spending the night in the county jail, after being arrested and charged once again, I began making arrangements for my bail. I was pleasantly surprised when a CO called my name, I was already bailed out without making one call!

The whole time I was being processed for release I was wondering how my wife was able to bail me out so soon or why she had even done it. I had called her and told her not to worry about it. I said that she should just get the kids on the bus and go to work because I would be able to get a bondsman in the morning. But I was not complaining. In fact I couldn't wait to see her so I could grab her up in a hug and kiss her.

I stayed in the vestibule of the jail for about ten minutes waiting for my wife and periodically looking out the glass doors for our car when a CO approached me and asked me to leave. I explained that I had just been bailed out and was waiting for my wife.

"Oh, you were bailed out? I'm sorry..my mistake...GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!"


All heart he was. I had no coat and it was about 20 degrees with a cranking wind outside.

I walked down the steps and looked around for our car. It was not in sight. So I hit the sidewalk and started hustling to get to town and flag a cab.

As I passed a car, I heard the door open and a woman call my name.

When I turned around I saw A ghost standing on the sidewalk, someone who had died more than a year ago was standing in front of the jail smiling at me. Anne. Anne my dear and special friend was motioning for me to come back..


I stood their frozen (almost literally) I ran back and grabbed her in a bear hug. I was totally shocked and completely overrun by emotion I am not afraid to say that I cried like a little boy into her coat.

 

[mustynutz]

Wayne had told me Anne was dead because he didn't want me to come around and interfere with his exploitation of Anne and her brother. He knew how I felt about Anne and knew I would only stand for so much of his shit. I was too self absorbed and buried with grief that I did not even bother to look into attending the funeral. Wayne took a gamble that I would be too busy copping dope than to attend her funeral >he won that one, but lost the big game in the end.

If I would have at least tried to send flowers.

I should have known better than to have believed Wayne.

Anne knew nothing about Wayne telling me she was dead. She laughed about it. Sitting across the table from her in the diner that morning I wasn't to the place where I could laugh about it just yet.

Wayne had told Anne that I was having serious marriage problems and that I probably wouldn't be around anymore. He told her that one of the problems was her calling me on my cell. He said my wife was suspicious that her and I were having an affair she told me that she thought what he had told her sounded questionable but then when she didn't see me anymore she assumed what he had said was true.


Anne looked great! She wasn't doing drugs anymore, well, except for a cocktail of psychiatric medicine, and the combination of medicines had a wonderful affect on her. Goddamn! it was so great to see her without stringy hair and junkie eyes. She wasn't a walking skeleton anymore either. She had gained some weight back. The night I met Anne, I could see how pretty she most likely was, but the drugs were masking her beauty. She reminded me that night of the lead actress on the sitcom Will&Grace. Now that she was clean, her beauty surpassed that beautiful actress.



"First, thank you for going my bail, 2nd how the hell did you know I was in jail?

"I came into town a few days ago for a convention . after reading about all the trouble that was occurring here and reading the articles in the paper that included your name I didn't bother looking you up, I figured you had enough on your plate..."

She stopped talking and sat back in the booth looking everywhere she possibly could without looking at me. She was fighting back tears. After a short moment she had her emotion in check and continued.

"That's not the truth. I didn't contact you because I was mad at you for abandoning me with that bastard Wayne. I felt so betrayed by you> like our friendship meant nothing. That bastard Wayne! He really got over on us."


"Well, Wayne got his. So.how in the hell did you know I was locked up?"

"I ran into Blaise"


"Who"

"Blaise, remember?... the guy from Poland, he came to some of the parties"

"Nope"

"Well anyway, I ran into him outside of my hotel yesterday afternoon and I asked about you, he is the one who told me you had been arrested that morning"


"How the fuck did someone that I cant even remember know that I was arrested just hours earlier?"

As I spoke this thought aloud, the wheels were turning, I had found my rat.

 

[mustynutz]

My entire focus was on the task of finding and silencing this fucking Blaise. What the hell kind of name is Blaise anyway? I could see a member of Cypress Hill being named Blaze but a Polish Squealer should be named Prosna.

When I say silence I mean just that; silence. I never intentionally harm anyone. Even though I was in a life that was ruled by violence that just was never my way of dealing with people. However, Just because I never hurt anyone did not mean that people believed I was incapable of it.
It is a funny thing. I was as intimidating as the brutal bastards but never laid a hand on anyone. I guess it goes to human nature, the fear of the unknown. To be quite honest with you, I may be a pussy. I am big and I am strong but I may have a glass chin. I really don't know because the fact is no one ever had the balls to test it.

I gave up everyone in the life. I turned my back on people without a second thought> they were not true friends anyway. I know what a real friend is. I know what it is like to be able to trust someone completely with anything. I know what it is like to have a friend that accepts you despite your shortcomings> I sleep next to her every night.

Like I said, I turned my back on everyone I associated with, But Anne was different than all the rest.. Our friendship was not based on the drugs like all the rest. We had connected. We were both fish out of water in this life, we did not belong. And it is quite telling that she and I are the only ones that made it through. All of our other acquaintances were either dead, in jail or still junkies.

Although, I had not quite put my head comfortably above water at this point. I was clean, obviously alive, but prison was looming over me. I had to do something about that. As much as I didn't belong in the life, I didn't belong in prison either. I may have developed a hard exterior from a hard life and I knew I could survive in prison, but I owed my family more than that. This fucking Blaise character needed some correction.

"Can you drop me by where you last saw Blaise?"

"Sure I can, are you ready?, lets go"

Anne's family has more money than a roomful of doctors could earn in a lifetime and here she is driving a Caprice Classic> the car was an 80's model to boot. It was however fucking immaculate inside and out I suppose if you live a life where you don't have to beat the shit out of your vehicles making a living, your car can remain relatively"new".

Anne looked like a little kid behind the wheel of this huge car. She had the seat as far as it would go forward and her head was still just over the wheel.

I was determined to find this Blaise today. He was costing me a lot of money, and jeopardizing my freedom just to save his own ass. I desperately needed to remedy the Blaise situation.

I had beat every charge with my invariant silence and my representation by a very tenacious attorney. Which is good and bad; Good because of maintaining my freedom - Bad because after beating so many charges the DA had a hard on for me.

The funny thing about the whole situation was the police. At first they wanted me locked up as much as the DA. But after awhile, when they got to know me, they were apologizing when they arrested me. They could see that I got caught up as an addict and that I had turned away from that life. They knew I was not a criminal, and that I was living a life as a regular husband and dad. I truly believe that they were rooting for me to shake off each charge the DA brought against me. It was kind of bizarre actually. They never even cuffed me until they walked me into the jail, they had to because unlike them, the CO's did not particularly care for me; I was just another scumbag as far as they were concerned.

Anne dropped me off in front of her hotel. She was needed back in York that night so we never really got the chance to catch up. We exchanged cell numbers and promised to keep in touch. I wondered if she was sincere about keeping in touch or this was just a polite gesture on her part> I truly hoped that we would be able to re-establish our friendship.

I got lucky. I was only five minutes on the bricks, and I see this Blaise walking across the square and into a bar. I waited across the street in a coffee shop watching the door to make sure he didn't leave. I gave him an hour > ample time to get his jag on. Then I walked into the bar and hopped on the stool next to him.

 

[mustynutz]

"I'll have what he is drinking as long as it is Canadian straight up, and he is paying for it"

"Hey, Brian! What's up man? Its been a long time bro, good to see you"

I didn't bother with the bullshit chit chat. I just got right to the issue at hand.

"Eh, not much just getting arrested every other fuckin' week and refinancing my mortgage to pay for attorney fees"

"What? You got arrested? Sorry to hear that man, For what dude?"

That confirmed my suspicion about this prosna Blaise. Not only did this motherfucker tell Anne that I had been arrested yesterday afternoon but my name was in the papers and on the local news for months now there was no fucking way he had not heard of what I was going through. This is why I wanted to wait for him to get his jag on at the bar> I didn't want him to be crisp and weasel his way out. He didn't know it just yet, but he had just stepped on his dick.

There is a lot to be said for patience. When I was in my twenties I would have followed him into that bar and jumped his shit. Which usually got me nowhere fast. Carefully chosen and timely placed words are much more efficient means to beneficial ends.

"Are you saying that you haven't heard anything about my recent legal problems Blaise? I really find that hard to believe. Hey Stahu(I called the bartender down).

"My name is Stan smart ass"

"Ok, sorry bout that, listen I was just talking with my friend, and your fellow countryman Blaise here and he informed me that he has been living under a rock and was completely unaware that I have been experiencing legal difficulties, have you heard anything lately about my situation Stash?"

"Yea, and I hope you get 50 years asshole. I told you my name is Stan"

"Ok STAN!, I am trying to be respectful and address you by your proper Slovak name would you rather I called you roundheader?"

"Fuck you! Get out"

" Ok Stash, im going, before I get clubbed with the Kielbasa you got behind the bar"

"I guess right now is not the best time to INFORM you of my recent legal problems Blaise, I will catch you some other time and bring you up to speed"





I left and waited across the street again for him to leave the bar. About an hour later, A cab pulled up and blew the horn, Blaise walked out and got into it. I followed and watched him get dropped off at the "office" I had not been to the office in quite a long time, there was only one reason to go there and I was done with that. However this was a unique circumstance. I waited only long enough for Blaise to walk in and sit down before I walked in and stood behind him.

There was not a seat open on either side so I just stood there about 2 feet behind him staring at the back of his head until his perirhinal vision picked me up.



"What the fuck? Are you following me?"

The sound in his voice let me know that my presence was having the desired effect on him.

"Teddy, me and Blaise are gonna go downstairs, is that cool?"

"Yea, but that beer isn't free down there though"

"Have you ever been downstairs Blaise?"

"Uh, No."

"Well Come on Blaise let me give you the tour of the VIP area"

In the cellar of the office there were 3 or 4 card tables a busted foos ball table and lots of boxes of beer. The ceiling was exposed floor joists with hanging flourescent light fixtures and the walls were the slate stone foundation of the building..hardly VIP accommodations.

"Now I know you like to talk Blaise but right now lets do something a little different and ill talk while you listen ok?"

"Ok"

"Good. Alright now listen to me. This is how it could happen Blaise, just like this. It wont happen now because there are just too many people upstairs so relax. You have got yourself into quite a nasty situation and you have caused some very scary people a lot of hassle and to be perfectly honest with you these people want you gone, and I am not talking about gone fishing Blaise im talking gone to be WITH the fish. Because of your chatting it up with the police about me, the dominoe effect is that these people are wondering if I will get chatty and I got to tell you the truth, I am scared that I might take a swim before you one of these nights."

"Hey I, I dunno what you mean I ..."


"Shhh. Remember, what we agreed on? You just give your jaw a rest and let me finish alright?"

"Yeah, Ok."

"So like I was saying, these people are not pleased with you, and they are people with means. Do you really think it was a coincidence that you ran into Anne out of the blue yesterday? And Think about the past few weeks, haven't you felt kind of uneasy for no explainable reason? Maybe the reason you have felt that way is because someone other than me has been following you, maybe it was two guys in a green Malibu"


I basically gave him a mind fuck. There were no scary people with the means and the ability to kill him, it was a total coincidence that he ran into Anne, and for crissakes the guy is a drug addict he always feels uneasy, there were no guys in a Green Malibu following him but he didn't know that, and Christ there are tons of those cars rolling around he may have searched his mind while I was talking and remembered seeing one somewhere. My only hope was that I gave a good performance and freaked him the fuck out.

"Listen, I am here to help you just as much as myself. I am in trouble with these people too, but right now I have a little more favor with them than you do because they know I have kept my mouth shut. They have given me this opportunity to deal with you as I see fit. If I fail then they will deal with the problem and that may mean you and I both taking a swim. You are from Poland right?"


"Yeah"

"Is your visa still valid?"

"Yeah"

"Then I suggest you get the fuck outta dodge Blaise, I really don't want to put myself under anymore suspicion, but if it comes down to me or you, if you continue to make my situation anymore desperate with these people, you will force me to save myself if they don't get to me first"



He took the bait. In fact, I gave him the money for the airfare and just five days later, I drove him to the Newark airport. As I watched him walk onto that plane I was feeling pretty damn cocky about my performance I wondered if I had missed my calling and should have stayed in La instead of moving east and pursued an acting career. I grounded myself after a moment of these grandiose thoughts and realized Hollywood was only big enough for one Al Pacino

 

[mustynutz]

Getting rid of Blaise turned out to be quite an easy task.

Shaking the harassment of the DA was not the same.


I sincerely hoped that there were no other informants finking me out because the hard fact was I was tapped out. I could not afford to buy anymore plane tickets and my attorney funds were dwindling fast. I had my house out to the bank at 90%LTV Or so they thought. The LTV was actually upside down thanks to an appraiser that owed me a favor. My new business was not producing the kind of revenue to support my normal operating and household expenses plus support the "keep my ass out of the hoosgow legal fund".

I was finalizing arrangements for my family for the more and more likely eventuality of doing hard time, at least a nickel. The DA was fucking relentless in his pursuit for a piece of my ass.


On a Monday morning during this time I went on a sales call two counties over. I met my prospects at their home and presented my proposal. My proposal was very appealing because of the reasonable fees. I was desperate for income and I was in no position to lose a contract to a lower bidder. I was quite surprised by their reaction to my proposal, they were obviously pleased with the price but were hesitant to sign the contract and give me the deposit.

I attributed it to the possibility that they had heard my name on the news and very understandably had reservations about doing business with me. I put the contract back in my bag and said:

"Listen folks, I really don't think you should sign this contract today because you are obviously leery and bothered by something. This is a lot of money and it is something I think you should sleep on"

Saying something like that as a salesman is a hard thing to do especially when you desperately need the money, but sometimes you have to fight through what your feelings are and jeopardize the sale.

Now I was not giving up on my sale, but one sure way to lose a sale is to keep trying to sell something to people who have reservations that they have not yet put on the table for discussion. If people don't tell you what their concerns are, you have no way of resolving their concerns, and if they are not ready to tell you what's wrong, you can keep asking what the problem is until you are blue in the face but all that does is piss people off.

It may seem odd but a very strong way to gain a sale is to take the offer away. People want what they cant have. they strive for what is just out of their reach. This "take away"is the kind of tactic that opens up dialogue with your prospect. Persistence is key to being a successful salesman, however, constantly talking and trying to fish out what is bothering someone is the wrong kind of persistence. If you want someone to talk, you have to shut the fuck up first.



I have been a very successful salesman for quite a few years but I don't sell anything, people buy from me. I am the king of the left field approach basically because I am not afraid to say what is on my mind. Customers are not used to that, they are used to getting their ass kissed by salesmen. But that is a sure way of assuring your failure as a salesman. The customer may always be right but sometimes they need someone to tell them they are better off being wrong. I don't know if I can fully explain that seemingly illogical statement what I can say is most people don't use logic consistently especially when purchasing something> It is more of an emotional experience.


No matter how much I need a sale, before I walk into a prospects home I make a sincere effort to leave my personal baggage outside. I approach every sale in this manner, I say to myself:

If this was my home, what would be the most practical, economical and beneficial course of action.

I lose a lot of high priced sales that way but what I gain is residual business and referral business. When people are confident you are an honest person and are not out to screw them, they will tell a few of their neighbors, if you screw somebody, they will tell every person they know.


It turns out that my prospects had been the victim of a scam. Their trepidation had nothing to do with my legal problems they had not heard anything about me. They had responded to an ad in the newspaper for a contractor, the contractor gave them a low bid, they gave him a deposit, and never seen him again. So they were naturally suspicious of me because of my low bid.

It gets even better.

Ironically, my prospect happened to be the chief of police for this municipality and has been a police officer for 30 years. Here I was one foot in the big house sitting across the kitchen table from a cop.


This flim-flam scam that he was the victim of was not only about the money he lost, it was quite an embarrassment for him among his colleagues as you can imagine. Here this guy is, the chief of police inviting a scam artist into his house, and allowing him to walk out with a check. The reason it was so embarrassing is that this was a well known notorious scam artist> a criminal who had warrants out for his arrest. Someone he should have recognized being a top cop.

Well now that I induced my prospect to puke up all his garbage it was easy for me to move in to close the deal. But not before I jeopardized the sale once again. I told him who I was and the charges that were against me. I didn't want him to find out later and cancel the contract.

There are a lot of people who write a hell of a lot more high price contracts than I do, but they don't disclose everything fully and put all possible issues to bed before they leave with their contract. They say just enough to please the prospects, they keep the prospect focused on all the positive aspects but don't explain the negatives. Then, after they leave with the contract and the customers euphoria wears off, people are left with too many unanswered questions. They sleep on it, and wake up with the buyers blues.

Salesmen who write a lot of contracts without taking the necessary time to disclose everything get a lot of recision. And if they don't get recision on the sales, they get very unhappy customers when they start experiencing things that the salesman conveniently left out. As I mentioned earlier if you do something good for someone they will tell three people, if you screw them, they announce it to the whole town.

Fortunately, I was dealing with some understanding people. They respected my being forthcoming with them. They signed the contract and gave me a deposit. How fucking bizarre is that? A cop was inviting me to work at his home while I had indictments piling up on me like old newspapers.

This small business relationship resulted in one of the most unlikely chain of events I have ever experienced.

 

[mustynutz]

While I was working at the cops house, we became friendly. I would sometimes finish up my work for the day and hang out to shoot the shit for an hour or so with him. Not only did this cop get scammed by the home improvement sheenie, but during the time that I was working for him, his jeep was broken into at his summer house. He was ripped off for a GPS unit, the car stereo and a suitcase with his and his wives clothes for the weekend.

He mentioned the sheenies name one night and for some reason it sounded familiar to me. It is a very common name so initially I attributed the feeling of familiarity to that. It took about a week for me to put the name and the person together. It turns out that I had hired a mutt to do some telemarketing for me a few years earlier with the same name. When I mentioned this coincidence to the cop he asked if I would look in my old records for his application in hopes it may be the same guy and if so, he may have listed an address that he had not checked out.

I really don't save things like that especially from a guy who worked for me a total of two nights. (I fired him for smoking crack in the bathroom.) But I went through my file cabinet that night just in case I had saved it. Unfortunately I did not. However, I did come across a handwritten script from the guy which was unusual to have been saved by me. It was of no use to the cop as there was no personal information listed on the script other than his first name.

But the next morning I called the cop and asked him if the sheenie had left an invoice with his handwriting on it. I explained that I had found the script but it contained no personal information. However the handwriting was quite unique. If the same guy had written both things it would at least confirm our curiosity. He faxed me a bill of sale, it was completely apparent that it was the same individual.

This cop was not going to give up until he had the sheenie by the short hairs, you could see it in his eyes when he talked about it. He was hunting him.

He almost had him a few times, the closest time was when he was tracked to a motel he was holed up in. The sheenie had managed to slip out a bathroom window while two state troopers who were friends of the cop, were quietly waiting for the clerk to bring the key to the room. It is uncertain how he was able to know he was about to be busted, maybe the clerk called him, who knows? regardless, he ran into the thick Pennsylvania forest behind the motel.

Due to the fact that he did not pose an imminent danger as he was not a violent felon, they were unable to get permission to get the dogs after him. It was bitter cold January, had they been able to put dogs on him he would have surely been caught that night.

The more I learned about this sheenie and as the cop and I became more friendly I was considering trying to help him out.

My business is such that it requires me to have the ability and authorization to access credit reports as well as other confidential documents that are used to qualify a prospect for an installment payment contract. I know you would like to think your personal information is safe, I am here to tell you it is not. All you need is one piece of information about someone and you can bust them out.

Now I may have sold drugs but as far as being a "real" criminal or a thief that is something I am not. I have never exploited anybodies personal information for any reason, that is an unsaid un written rule. but I decided to break that rule. This fuckin sheenie was ripping anyone and everyone off. The cop told me how this guy took a deposit of $2800 from a couple up the country in their late seventies, then he came back the next day and told them that he had lost the check and he needed them to write another one. To cast suspicion off of himself, He told them to call the bank and report it was lost so it would not be cashed if someone found it. They wrote him another check for $2,800. The husband tried to call the bank to report the lost check after he left but the phone was dead. When the old man went out to his car to drive into town to the bank, he found his back tire slashed. And eventually found that the phone line had been cut. Which gave this fucker enough time to take these people off for near 6K.


The cop did not ask me to, but I pulled every piece of info that could be pulled on this sheenie. I risked losing my license, not to mention serious federal charges that included heavy fines and serious big house time. I handed the info to the cop and asked him to burn it when he was done with it. I didn't need to tell him that I had put myself into a potential jackpot by retrieving this info for him, he knew.

Well 2 days after I gave him the info he arrested the sheenie without incident thanks to info gleaned from what I had gave him. The cop was able to get a walk out with the sheenie outside the magistrates office by the local press and it was aired on the 6pm local news. I was happy for him, he finally got some vindication on this incident that caused him a lot of embarrassment.


It turns out that this event was going to make me pretty damn happy in the months that followed.
this gesture of mine is how I was delivered. It is how I was granted a pass by the DA. I cannot prove that, but right after this happened, every time I had a court date, the charges were dismissed for a lack of evidence. To this day nothing happened to me at all> which would have to be one huge ass coincidence considering the laundry list of charges I was facing. Maybe the evidence against me, that apparently included some video footage was "lost" by the police. I don't know, I don't care.

I had fallen into a cesspool and came out smellin like a fuckin cinnamon bun.



Maybe this incident was just good luck:

I was pulled over about a year ago, I was drunk no question about that, I had drank at least a pint of whiskey that evening. I never drive drunk but I made a foolish decision that night. As soon as the cop turned on his lights I was positive I was going to jail. When the young cop walked up to my window the first thing he said was "have you been drinking tonight?" no doubt because I reeked of whiskey, he could probably smell the booze coming off me as soon as he got out of his car. I did not bother to lie, I told him yes, that I had been drinking. He asked for the normal license insurance and registration papers then went back to his car. He came back a few minutes later, gave me my papers and told me to go home. I was ready to go to jail and he sent me home.

You ever here of that kind of luck in today's atmosphere of all but crucifying drunk drivers? Im sure you are aware of the enormous revenue drunk driving convictions generate.


I am like a bad penny.....

 

[mustynutz]

....

 

[Hu$tle530]

damn it's been about half an hour so far, I'll have to come back and read the rest of this, very intresting and kinda makes you wonder....

 

[mustynutz]

This installment is more about you; the people who bother to read and comment than it is a continuation of my sick biography

Yes. I came away unscathed. Sometimes I take it for granted because I am tolerant to the horror that I lived because well, I lived it. The one and only reason I write about it is to try and keep it fresh in my mind. If I didn't, I would most likely become complacent and stop appreciating the grace I was granted. I only share a glimpse with you. However when I am recalling these things in my mind I remember the ignominious manner that I lived my life.

Honestly, I am too ashamed to relate certain incidents to you. Although I am ashamed, I have been wrestling with laying the really nasty shit on you all for several months. Partly because I am not allowing you all the whole story and I feel obligated to do so because your loyalty and comments have been instrumental in my ability to perform this unique form of manual self therapy.


Several of you have emailed me and asked me questions regarding this series of short notes and offered a gesture of friendship to me. I hope that I have been able to answer your questions effectively, and if I have not said this to each individual, then as a group I would like to thank you for your gestures of kindness. It means a lot to me. Especially with my acute awareness that I am not the most easily approachable person, and that it requires some research to find my addy.

 

[mustynutz]

Warning: I am shitty drunk and writing this in the uber submission template so any mis-spellings or grammar faux pas will just have to be absorbed by you, fuck you! You are receiving me straight from the teet.


"I want everyones attention right now! I know You have all been watching and/or reading the news about the alleged child molestor Bill ******* who is charged with raping and sodomizing 9 little girls, I am here to tell you all that EVERYONE! Is innocent until proven guilty. The reason I am telling you this is that later this afternoon he is going to be transferred and held here in C cell with all of you. Myself, and the rest of the guards will not tolerate any abuse of this prisoner. To avoid any conflicts He will be housed alone in cell 111.

Everyone here i am assuming is pleading innocent in court right? and most of you are wrongly accused and did not perpetrate the crime for which you are charged... correct?


So again, I do not want any aggression towards this prisoner, anyone who is caught abusing this prisoner will automatically go to lockdown and assault charges will be added to your current charges. Have I made myself clear?...HAVE I MADE MYSELF CLEAR?"


A resounding "YES" filled the dayroom.

Billy the molestor was definitely fucked. Thats how it works in jail. It is not the prisoners alone who are guilty of "delivering" those who committ crimes against the little ones. The guards play a big part in the propagation of these "crimes" I place those little quotation marks around the word crimes beacause being a prisoner myself more times than I would care to recall I know that 99.9% of the time prisoners are guilty of that which they are charged AND IT IS NO CRIME TO DELIVER ONE WHO IS AN ACTOR AGAINST CHILDREN.

The guards cover their asses while they paint a bullseye on child molesters. I have seen it happen numerous times. Mostly because molesters are usually placed in the cells with the least violent criminals. But that only means that the security in these cells is more lax than the cells that harbour the "more" violent actors.


I have always been placed in the cell units with the "less violent" actors. The check kiters those delinquent to their child support obligations and the like. My felony charges have always been on the lower scale of violent offenders.

" yo mick....Hey! you snoring mother fucker, WAKE UP! YOU WANNA HAVE SOME FUN?"


what, What!"


" get up dude we need someone to deliver some serious pain"

"The chester?"

"Yea"

" im alll about that!"

It was on. The molestor had indeed been placed in cell 111... and the door Was "mysteriously" left unlockexd...


I never got my chance to "get my licks in"


Billy boy was delivered without my assistance.


Chevy went to town on billy.

I must admit tahat I enjoyed th e show... but I have to confess that Chevy delivered Billly boy without my assis6ance. It was all chevy... 24-7.

 

[mustynutz]

When Chevy finished teeing off on Billy the molester, he had beaten him unconscious my cellmate whom had woke me to join in the festivities was working on breaking apart a disposable razor. He retrieved the blade from the razor and proceeded to cut a hole in the crotch of Billys scrub pants and pull his dick out as Billy laid there motionless.

When he finished carving the head ov Billys dick it resembled a blooming onion.

The next few days were difficult in C cell. The guards had to go through the motions of punishing the entire cell block while each prisoner was taken away for interrogation sometimes as many as three times. The entire cell block had lost all privileges; No tv-no cards-no exercise yard-no visitation- all the meals were delivered as we were not allowed to leave at all not even to the mess hall or the canteen for smokes and newspapers

The guards did do what they could under the circumstances to show their appreciation. Like by the second day, most of us were out of cigarettes. That night while we were all locked down in our cells three guards walked the line and opened the doors tossing in 2 packs of marlboros and 2 packs of newports into each cell. The third night, they had 20 pizzas delivered. Il learned from chevy later, after he was released, that the pizzas were delivered to all the different cell blocks and were brought to C block by other guards to deter any suspicion.

That was the longest stretch I ever did in jail up to that point> an entire nine days...well besides longer juvenile sentences in the California youth authority. So I did not know these guys or why my cellmate had woke me up to join the small group of prisoners involved in the beating in fact my numerous observations of life in jail are based only upon several very short stays...usually just a day or so to arrange for someone to go my bail. I later found out from Chevy that the prisoners were going to pin the beating on me if the investigation got too hot.

I suppose that I must have been glowing green.

I happened to Run into Chevy on the outside in a primer bar and over the next several months we became friends. He eventually joined the group of guys at that bar who were all pretty tight. We were the group of guys that primarily made up this bars sponsored teams and leagues.


We gave Chevy a new nickname he had earned the nick mane chevy in jail because he had committed a hit and run and was caught because the police spotted his car the next morning as he drove to work with the mangled grill of the Chevrolet he had hit stuck in his front bumper. He told us that he was so wasted that he did not even know he was involved in an accident that night.

His new nick name was Mikey likes it. His name was Mike and similar to the kid from the Life cereal commercial that had spawned that catch phase, he wasn't picky...not about his breakfast cereal , but women. If there was a drunk beast in the bar trying to get laid we would say:" give her to Mikey, he'll fuck it...he'll fuck anything."


One Friday evening several winters ago the group was gathered at the primer bar. We were drinking fast in order to take full advantage of happy hour and discussing what to do that evening.


The boys decide they want to go to a tittie bar after reading that a feature dancer named honey melons was going to be dancing at a local club. This was back in the day when that kinda shit was still fun, nowadays, I have no interest in going to tittie bars. It has a lot to do with having a daughter who is a young woman now, like the girls who dance in those clubs. Instead of being able to appreciate the girls, I am plagued with a plethora of unpleasant feelings. Feelings like guilt, embarrassment for the girls, and just basically feeling creepy.

So me and the boys, 7 of us altogether, pile into my car. A 1972 Lemans. It is a big car but it's a coupe with bucket seats, not exactly comfortable for 7 men but we managed.

When we walk in, it is a packed house. There is a long but not too wide oval bar so we all start looking for a place to sit. Me and Frank head down one side of the bar and midway run into two other guys coming the opposite way. This side of the bar is very narrow because it is backed by a wall the whole length so we do our best to get out of each others way, as soon as we pass one of the guys stops and says to me

"hey I didn't mean to rub against you"

I ignored him.

We rubbed against each other, but I didn't think anything of it, I mean it's a narrow area no big deal, he didn't knee me in the nuts or anything.

I said nothing in response

So then he says
"hey just because I rubbed against you doesn't mean I'm gay"

I don't remember my exact words to him but they were probably something along the lines of
"Go fuck yourself"

This guy pursues it further and asks me outside. Now at this I am confused, what the hell is this guys problem with me? Did I do something to him in the past that I don't remember? I cant seem to remember any incident or recognize him.

I tell him:
"look asshole I just got here, but if you need your ass kicked I will take care of that for you later"

I sat down and turned my back to him. I figured he would get over what ever was bothering him after a few hours.

The rest of the boys had found seats directly across the bar from us.

After an hour or so I see this guy talking to two big black dudes who happen to be sitting next to our friends across the bar from us. He is pointing at me and they are all looking at me and frank. he comes back over to me and says:

"are you ready to go outside"

now I am pissed! I tell him:

"lets go"

Now I had not spoke with the boys but apparently they knew something was up, because as soon as frank and I stood up, the two big black dudes stood up, then the boys stood up, all five of them. Upon seeing this the two big black dudes sat back down.

Surprisingly, the guy still followed me and Frank out even though he had seen that the black dudes were not going to be backing him up. I carried my long neck with me because honestly this guy made me kinda nervous. He wasn't physically threatening, but he was either crazy or heavy either of those things could make this situation get ugly fast.

When we got into the parking lot and squared off, I threw my bottle at him and hit him with it in the chest then charged him. All he did was back up, I charged him again, he backed up again, the boys were side stepping along side us as we performed this ridiculous dance. I charged again he backed up again.

 

[mustynutz]

I said:
"fuck this"

And turned back to go into the bar, when Mikey likes it, takes off chasing him down the driveway with the boys right behind him, so me and frank go down as well.

When we got down to the bottom , Mikey likes it had tackled him by the creek next to the road and was pummeling the shit out of him, the guy was in big trouble Mikey likes it was in a groove, teeing off on his face.

Mikey likes it is a big strong dude he was a star free safety in high school who hit guys on the field like Ronnie Lott used to. Me and frank pull him off and start moving him up the driveway when the guy comes around and starts calling Mikey a pussy and yelling other shit, at this we let Mikey go. He ran back down and started right back on him where he left off, we went down and watched for awhile until it was apparent the guy was unconscious. But mikey was not stopping. Mikey had him face down in the creek smashing his head of a rock this time it took 4 of us to pull him off we dragged Mikey back up the driveway while frank pulled the guy out of the creek and dropped him on the bank.

When frank caught up with us he had a disturbed look on his face. I asked if the guy was alright, frank said:
"he is in bad shape"

about that time we heard sirens in the distance...

When ever I hear sirens that may be in response to something I am involved in that is always my cue to exit, stage left. We piled into my Pontiac and got lost.

This is not a simple drinking and fighting story.

The following spring I was at home watching the news with my wife when the anchor says that a decomposed body has been found in the same area as we left the guy.

I went white, my heart started beating out of my chest. I called frank after the news, and before I could say anything to him he asked me if I had watched the news.

 

[mustynutz]

Long story short, someone talked and we were all brought up on charges Mikey likes it got 5 years for manslaughter, he was out in 2. My lawyer got me and frank off with no jail time and 2 years probation the four other boys used public defenders and all spent between 6 to 9 months in county jail.

I never found out why the guy started in on me, at trial I learned that the guy's sister was a dancer at the bar. I've always thought that maybe I had said something to his sister on some previous night I was at that bar that had offended him. Obviously I will never know if that was the reason.
___________________________________________________________________________

***For those following the series, I am jumping back to particular instances that don't necessarily follow the loose sequence of editions to this series. For instance this post deals with a particular run in I had with Wayne, whose death I previously wrote about.

 

[mustynutz]

The McCain boys, every one of them was off their fuckin nut. Danny and Kevin were the extremely reckless type. The type of guys that amaze people who know them simply by the fact they are still living. They make Bam Margera and his troop of twits look like a group of cub scouts.

Danny and I did business occasionally. I even allowed him to come to my house. When I was in the life, I never did a lot of traffic out of my home except with people who were very close to me. Danny and I were not particularly close, however I knew there was absolutely no chance of a guy like Danny talking to police. He was like a dog. That may sound like a derogatory statement but it is not. Dogs have courage and loyalty, way more than any person I have ever known...Dogs possess loyalty and courage that they will take to the bitter ends if need be, without waiver.

So when Danny asked me to front him I did without hesitation. In fact he was only one of two people I would front to. He never asked me a lot, usually just when he had recently been released from jail and needed to generate cash fast to get back on his feet. I did this not based on his charachter alone but because I knew I would collect. Danny was not the kind of guy that people would try to screw.

He wasnt really a criminal, although he served a good share of time in the county jail. Most of his problems stemmed from his propensity to drink too much and fight.

Danny came to see me after being released from his latest assault and drunk and disorderly sentence in the county jail and asked me to front him. I wasnt holding a lot in fact I was on my way to the badlands to score enough heroin to keep myself from getting sick until the end of the month when all my scripts could be filled. I invited him along and bought an extra $1,200.00 in bundles that I fronted him.



Two nights after our trip into Philly he called and told me that he had been ripped off and needed help to get the heroin back.

"Hey man! I don't want to hear your shit! I want my fucking money! You got to get some help to do it, then do what you have to, don't call me for help I already helped you Danny!"


" too late, you're helping me, look outside"

I went to the window and looked out, Danny was standing next to his car in my driveway.


I walked outside and noticed Kevin in the backseat of Danny's car. His face looked like it had been stomped by a horse.

"I am coming to you only because you will know where to find Wayne if I knew where to find him, id already be there."

Fucking Wayne! The only guy stupid enough and crazy enough to rip off Danny.

"What happened?"

Kevin began to speak and I quickly learned that Danny had employed Kevin to move some of the bundles Wayne may have taken Danny off, but he would have thought about it long and hard and he would have disappeared for a good long time. But Wayne did not even know Danny's little brother Kevin.

Once again I had to lie my wife and leave her sick with worry. I reluctantly got into the car and rolled away. I smiled and waved to her on the porch. Her distressed expression eating me up inside.

"Wayne really went to work on you Kevin, I guess you didn't give it up easy"

Kevin didn't say anything.

I later learned Danny tuned Kevin up for letting himself get taken off.

 

[m.w.merlino]

i fuckin love this story..printed it out

 

[moonpizzle]

damn...just spent one hour reading this whole thing....carry on musty

 

[skoolin``]

i spent more than hour reading this...good read..and i still have this page to read...ill finish tomorrow

 

[skoolin``]

nevermind i read it right now = ) good story..