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By Root 953 0

not an early riser and rarely came in before 3:30 P.M. Then we’d take care of business: loan-sharking, shakedowns of drug dealers, accepting money that was dropped off, collecting other money owed, all the illegal activities, plus running the stores and bar we were involved with. In addition to the furniture/appliance store that I owned with Kevin O’Neil and the Court’s Inn bar that Jimmy and I bought, Jimmy, Stevie Flemmi, and I bought a liquor store in South Boston in 1983 and the Rotary Variety Store and the building that housed it at 309 Old Colony Avenue a year later. At the beginning, I would come down to one of the stores at eight in the morning to take care of what needed to be done. Later, I started coming in around noon and stayed till five. After his rounds, Jimmy would usually go to Theresa’s for dinner. Then, around nine, he’d call me and tell me where to meet him. He had code names for each of the stores, which was usually where I would meet him, hop into his car, and drive somewhere, staying out till midnight or later. Sometimes we worked on Sundays, too, but mostly it was a six-day-a-week job, so that he could spend Sunday with Theresa and her family and the evening with Cathy. And I could spend some time with Pam and the kids.

Jimmy always tuned into the weather reports, making sure we used the bad weather to commit certain crimes. Since most people stay in when the weather is bad, the only people out usually have their heads down or are carrying umbrellas and not paying attention. All they want to do is get where they’re going quickly. If we had to do some criminal activity, like moving guns, hurting someone, or meeting someone without being followed, Jimmy would check the weather forecast and plan accordingly, since these plans always worked better when it was raining or snowing.

Many nights, after midnight, when bars were closed and only crooks or cops were out, we’d pack it in and go home, rather than draw attention to ourselves at that hour. During a typical day, we’d put in around six hours, but if something was going on, it would be longer. But I was more than well paid for the time I spent working with Jimmy. Working at Triple O’s and the MBTA, I had been making around $800 a week clear. Once I had been working with Jimmy for a year or two, I was making thousands a week, and that didn’t include scores from shakedowns and extortions that would bring in additional lump sums. As the years went on, I figured I made between five and seven million, while Jimmy pulled in least thirty to fifty million.

With a lot more money to be enjoyed, I had no trouble finding ways to spend that money. Like buying new cars. In 1979, I was driving a blue Audi Fox, but I got rid of that and bought a 1980 Thunderbird. After that, every year I bought a new car, a Lincoln, a Cadillac, or a Pontiac, whatever I wanted. Even though I spent my money on clothes and jewelry, I didn’t do much traveling, preferring to take a vacation to play paintball. Jimmy was never happy when I went to tournaments all over the country or to the Caribbean. He worried that I was not thinking about the business or could get hurt. But I won many of these tournaments and found them relaxing, exciting, and competitive, as well as a chance to meet interesting people and get a good workout.

Jimmy and Stevie took vacations together, traveling to Europe or to Florida with different girls. I never traveled with them, but it was a vacation for me when Jimmy was away. Then I could take care of what had to be done and wouldn’t have to head out every night. It was a chance to relax and not be on twenty-four-hour alert for business concerns.

Jimmy’s health was pretty good, but he did have an occasional attack of arrhythmia. When I went with him to see his doctor at Massachusetts General, Dr. Pakau said it was nothing to worry about, that he was just experiencing a little stress. His advice to Jimmy was to simplify his life, so Jimmy cut down from four major women in his life to just two, Theresa and Cathy. We both agreed that the most stress in a man’s life