Judge & Jury - James Patterson [29]
“You testified that you’d been present in the general area at the time Sam Greenblatt was killed,” the prosecutor started in, “and that you spotted Thomas Mussina driving around. With someone else in the car. Would you remind the jury who that other person was, Mr. Denunziatta?”
“It was Dominic Cavello,” Denunziatta stated.
“Good.” Goldenberger nodded and turned a page. “Now, what I want to move on to are the events that took place subsequent to that. Would you say that you and your colleagues were satisfied with how the job was done?”
“I guess at first we were satisfied.” Ralphie shrugged. “I mean, we did the job, everyone got away, no one got hurt.”
“Other than Mr. Greenblatt, of course.”
“Other than Mr. Greenblatt, naturally.” The witness nodded with a contrite smile. “It was maybe the day after that, as I recall, that things started to fall apart.”
“What kinds of things are you speaking of, Mr. Denunziatta?”
“This guy that was involved in the hit, Stevie . . .”
“Steven Mannarino,” Joel Goldenberger explained.
“Yeah. The kid screwed up. It seemed he didn’t find clean plates for the getaway car like he was instructed. So he had to scramble.” He cleared his throat. “Apparently he located a set in Louis Machia’s yard.”
“In the yard of his friend, who had just participated in the killing, right?”
“Yes.” Denunziatta rolled his eyes.
“So how would you describe Stevie?” the prosecutor asked. “Was he an experienced guy in this sort of stuff?”
The witness shrugged. “He was a good kid from the neighborhood. I think he had asthma or something. He just wanted to be around.”
“Be around?”
“He just wanted to be in the club. He wasn’t the smartest kid, but Louie liked him. So we let him run errands. The kid would’ve done anything to get on the inside.”
“And this was his chance, wasn’t it? His big audition?”
“If it had gone well, who knows?”
“So what happened to Stevie, Mr. Denunziatta? After it came out how he had messed up?”
“At first, Louis wanted to handle it himself. The cops came to his house that night, after someone spotted the plates. But Louie had his own issues to worry about, and Stevie was going around making a lot of noise, like he wanted us to take care of him and get him out of the area. Away from the cops. No one had actually seen him at the scene, but he was scared.”
“So what did you do for Stevie, Mr. Denunziatta?”
“I told him I would work it out. I met with Tommy Moose. And Mr. Cavello. We took a walk at the Kings County Mall. I said we needed to get this kid out of town. My uncle Richie had a place in the Poconos. He could’ve hid out there. Tommy agreed that it seemed like a reasonable plan.”
Goldenberger nodded. “So that’s where Stevie went then, after the Greenblatt hit?”
“Not exactly,” Denunziatta said, and cleared his throat.
“Why? You were in charge of the hit. The person you reported to agreed. No one could pin that the guy was involved, right? Why didn’t Stevie end up in the Poconos?”
“Because Dominic Cavello didn’t go along with that,” Ralph Denunziatta said, looking down.
“He didn’t go along with it?”
“No.” Denunziatta shrugged. “The Boss said Stevie’s gotta go.”
“Stevie’s gotta go,” Joel Goldenberger said. He took a step or two toward the witness. “He said it just like that, Mr. Denunziatta? Those words? ‘Stevie’s gotta go’?”
“No, not those exact words.” Ralphie shifted in his seat. He cleared his throat, twice. “As I recall, his exact words were, ‘Cut the fat fuck up and stuff him in a can for all I care. The kid has got to go.’”
Chapter 31
“‘CUT THE FAT FUCK UP and stuff him in a can for all I care. The kid has got to go.’”
The prosecutor paused to let the effect of the words fall on the jury. Everyone in the courtroom seemed stunned.
“You heard Dominic Cavello say those words? Give you a direct order to kill Steven Mannarino?”
The witness swallowed uncomfortably and shot a quick glance toward the defendant. “Yes.”
A heavy silence settled over the courtroom. All the while, Cavello just sat there with his elbows