Surviving the Mob - Dennis Griffin [38]
“And my brother-in-law helped me out by lining me up with a job. He was an engineer with a company in Manhattan and he got me a job at Madison Square Garden steam cleaning the outside steps and sidewalks. The job started very early in the morning before there was much pedestrian traffic. The company I was working for wanted its employees to look professional. We were required to wear uniforms that included a bow tie.
“It was my first day. It was summertime and it was hot. On top of that I was using steam, which made it twice as hot. I had my shirt off and was in my tank top doing my thing. All of a sudden this guy walks up to me. He says, ‘Excuse me. You work for such and such a company, don’t you?’
“I said I did. He said he did too. He told me his name and that he was watching me from his office window across the street and noticed I wasn’t in uniform. I said, ‘Well, I’m using the steam cleaner and that’s two hundred twenty degrees. And the temperature today is about another hundred. I don’t know what you expect me to do.’ He said, ‘Well, I expect you to be in uniform.’
“I said, ‘You were in your air-conditioned office watching me work and you decided to come down here and bust my balls because I’m not wearing a bow tie? Get the fuck outta here!’ And then I started to squirt him with the steam hose. I chased him down the steps of Madison Square Garden with the steam machine. Needless to say, I got fired. That was the first legitimate job I ever had and it only lasted a few hours.”
SAM KARKIS
When Sam Karkis was questioned after the Burzo shooting, he told the police they had the wrong guy. He’d been working that day. When further investigation revealed that Sam’s story wasn’t true, he was indicted on the same charges as Andrew, plus an obstruction count for lying to police investigators. Andrew asked his lawyer to arrange for an associate to represent Karkis.
As time passed, Andrew believed the prosecution had a very weak and beatable case. Burzo himself couldn’t remember what happened to him. The closest he could come to naming Andrew as his assailant was to place him at the scene. The only witness, Mrs. Raiola, was unable to positively identify Andrew as the man she’d seen arguing with and squatting next to Burzo that day. And the gun hadn’t been found.
Andrew’s financial situation even got a boost when Karkis tipped him off to a drug dealer who was ripe for a robbery. Andrew made about $18,000 on the score and was able to kick some money up to Nicky, which pleased them both.
All in all, Andrew was feeling pretty optimistic about his situation—until the air started seeping out of his balloon when he learned that Karkis had switched lawyers, which is one of the early-warning signs of trouble for a person facing criminal charges. When a co-defendant changes lawyers, it’s often an indication he’s considering cooperating with the prosecution. And that was exactly what went through Andrew’s mind when he heard that Karkis had fired his Ed Rappaport-arranged attorney.
Andrew talked over the Karkis situation with Anthony Gerbino and Mike Yannotti. After that Vinnie Dragonetti went to see Sammy at his house. He told Sammy they didn’t care what lawyer he used. But then he reminded him that in his previous statements, he said he didn’t remember what happened the day Burzo was shot. And that it would be in his best interests to stick with those statements come trial time.
“I could see the writing on the wall, though,” Andrew says. “Sammy started avoiding me like I had the plague. I got with Anthony and Mike again to talk about what we were going to do about him. The decision was that we couldn’t kill Sammy on speculation. But if he did actually become a witness, Anthony and Mike would deal with him personally.
“I’d always been there for those guys when they needed help, so I wasn’t surprised by their