Surviving the Mob - Dennis Griffin [50]
However, unknown to the authorities, the man who ran the aircraft-cleaning business where Andrew was to be employed was a friend of his and a Lucchese associate. In reality, Andrew was employed there only on paper. And sleeping at his mother’s five nights a week didn’t last very long. He quickly made other arrangements the powers that be knew nothing about. With these freedoms, Andrew was ready to get back into business.
“When I got to Edgecombe in late September, I met with a counselor,” Andrew recalls. “He called my mother to confirm my living arrangements. Then he called my friend at the airport to verify my employment. After that, I called Dina to let her know that I wanted to see my son the next morning. After the gates opened, my first stop would be at her mother’s place where they were living.
“News of my release must have gone around the neighborhood like a shot. The next morning I stepped out onto the streets for the first time in four years. Parked right out in front was an Oldsmobile Regency with its motor running. As I neared the car, the window rolled down. To my surprise, Mike Yannotti was inside. Our relationship had turned pretty sour, but that morning it was all hugs, kisses, and smiles. It was as though our last year of not speaking had never happened.
“Mike told me Dina had called him and that he wanted to be the first to welcome me home. I’d barely sat down in the car than he put two thousand dollars in my hand. Then he filled me in on what had been happening with the crew. After that he talked about Sammy Karkis. Mike assured me that he’d sat on Sammy’s house for a week waiting for an opening to put two [bullets] in his head. But before the right opportunity arose, Nicky sent word to back off. Before I could ask why Nicky called off the hit, he changed the subject. He said a few of the crew members were concerned that I was mad at them. They didn’t want that; they just wanted things to be the way they used to be. But they were so concerned about what I might do that they went to Nicky and asked him to intervene just in case I had bad intentions. Mike told me I should see Nicky as soon as possible.
“Mike then took me over to Dina’s mother’s place. Everybody looked at me like they couldn’t believe I was really back. I got my son out of bed and hugged and kissed him. He wasn’t fully awake, but he hugged me back and it felt good. After a few minutes, I had to leave for my job and Mike gave me a ride to the airport.
“The very next day I was called to see Nicky at his social club. Instead of saying welcome home, he said, ‘Everybody here loves you. These guys would do anything for ya’. If you’re gonna be mad at anyone, be mad at me. I put a stop to the Karkis thing and I’ll tell ya why.’
“Then Nicky explained that with all that was going on [with the Colombo war], he didn’t need the heat the Karkis killing would have brought on the crew. But the hypocrite bastard was lying to me. Mike Yannotti had already told me that our crew had done work [murdered people] during the war to make it look like a retaliation hit from the other side. With the Colombos getting blamed for the killings, the Gambinos were able to keep their hands clean.
“After that bullshit, Nicky gave me this fuckin’ lecture about the family. He said it was bigger and more important than him or me as individuals. We needed to do what was right for the family, and at the time it was best not to kill Sammy. And then he looked me in the eye and said, ‘But now that