Surviving the Mob - Dennis Griffin [54]
“I was still kicking money up to Nicky once in a while and I gave him a little from the money scam. But he was still pissed off about all the time I was spending with Billy.
“It came to a head one day when I went to see him about a new business I was thinking about getting into. I knew I was in trouble when I got to the club and one of the guys gave me a warning. He said, ‘When you talk with that guy [Nicky], no matter what he says, agree with him. If he tells you the walls are purple and the sky is maroon, you say okay. Understand?’ I understood. I was on thin ice and if I argued with Nicky, I might not leave the club alive.
“When I saw Nicky, he said, ‘So I hear you wanna be released from the crew.’ Remembering the warning I’d been given, I told him I’d thought about it, but hoped we could work things out. And then he let me have it with both barrels. He said, ‘If I liked you, I’d entertain the idea of your release. But I don’t, so you have only one alternative. You were born here and you’ll die here. And from now on, start bringing guys in the crew with you when you earn.’
“I knew at that moment my crewmate had given me good advice. If I didn’t agree, my life would have been taken from me that day. So I assured Nicky there was no problem. I’d do whatever he asked. As I said those things, I knew my road with Nicky from then on would be hard and dangerous. The chances of him ever pushing to get me straightened out [become made] were remote, no matter how much I deserved it. I’d be overlooked until he taught me a lesson. And then if I started to kiss his ass like some of the other guys, maybe he’d have a change of heart. I made up my mind that he’d have to wait until hell froze over for that. I walked out of that meeting on my own power. But I knew it could easily have gone the other way.”
As July approached, Andrew was getting ready for what was to be his first official parole hearing. In the eyes of the system, he’d accomplished 10 months of steady employment without incident. He hadn’t been in trouble with the law or had any other difficulties that might hinder his chances for parole. Even the matter of his picture being shown at the grand jury was still a non-issue due to the slow identification process. The only thing Andrew had against him was the severity of his crime.
Even with all that going for him, he was extremely apprehensive. He committed so many crimes while on the work program that he walked into the hearing room expecting a shoe to drop. Just the night before, he was involved in a major drug deal with some Gambino associates from the 17th Avenue faction.
“To my total surprise, I was out of the hearing in minutes. I was told I showed a positive change and looked like I was on the road to rehabilitation, and they gave me a release date for early September. At that point I was walking on air.”
Andrew had every right to be happy. His work-release jobs had been scams. He’d violated almost every program rule and resumed his life of crime as soon as he got outside of Edgecombe’s gate for the first time. He was walking a fine line with Nicky Corozzo. But he’d gotten away with it all.
14
Free Again
Andrew was still walking on air when he attended his first official parole meeting a day after being released. He entered the office anticipating that he’d meet his parole officer, who would give him the rules and send him on his way. He had another thing coming.
He walked in, asked for his newly appointed parole officer, and was taken to his office where FBI agents and NYPD detectives immediately put him in handcuffs and told him his house was being searched. Somebody had called parole and told them Andrew was running drug and counterfeit-money rings. They had photos of him with known gangsters, probably the same surveillance images they had at the grand jury. But now they’d had identified him.
Then the parole officer said that if they found any evidence at Andrew’s mother’s house, they’d hit him with new charges, plus