Surviving the Mob - Dennis Griffin [57]
“He gave me the excuse that he’d been in a bad way when the abuse took place. He’d gotten into drugs and wasn’t himself. I told him my concern was the well-being of my sister and her children. If he could straighten up, fine. If not, he should do himself a favor and take a walk.
“He was pretty nervous and wanted to get on my good side. He said he was doing business with these two guys from an air-conditioning and refrigeration company on Utica Avenue in Brooklyn—my old stomping grounds. Maybe if I met them, we could do some things together. I said sure.
“My brother-in-law introduced me to his friends and we got along right from the start. The best thing about it was that the brother of one of them in San Diego was one of the biggest marijuana suppliers in the United States at the time. And the brother was sending marijuana to the air-conditioner place through UPS.
“Robert Arena and me made a deal for twenty pounds at a time. We wanted more, but that’s all they let us have at one time until they saw how things worked out. So we got our deliveries of twenty pounds every ten days or so. Robert and I had our own distributors, including a guy who lived in a college town upstate. We funneled five pounds of weed to him out of every delivery. It was a nice marriage and we did really good with that. Our supply allotment went up to fifty pounds at a time and we were earning big time.”
Andrew knew it was likely Nicky Corozzo would learn of his marijuana operation at some point. To protect himself, he slipped Corozzo some money from time to time. But he didn’t pay what he should have. He held back for two reasons. One was that it galled him to pay his boss anything at all. The other was that a larger tribute would indicate the amount of money he was making. And if a guy like Corozzo knew the true amount involved, he might try to take over the operation.
His California connection was a reliable supplier for almost the entire year. However, the operation came to a halt when the guy overdosed and lapsed into a coma. As far as Andrew knows, he never regained consciousness.
In addition, his new business associates at the air-conditioning company provided him with yet another illegal earning opportunity. One of the guys had a girlfriend who worked in the main business office of Marriott Hotels. Her position there gave her access to blank checks. When Andrew heard that, he got a brainstorm. Why not get some of those checks and use them to pay Andrew’s Clean Machine for cleaning carpets at the Marriott?
“The girlfriend stole an initial supply of about fifteen blank checks. Marriott’s procedure was that each check had to be signed by three of its people. So each week I’d fill in one of the blank checks for ninety-five hundred dollars. We figured by keeping the amount under ten thousand, there would be less chance of the transaction getting flagged. My brother-in-law and the air-conditioner guys each forged one of the authorizing signatures. And then I deposited the check in my carpet-cleaning business account. After a couple of days, the money was available in my account and we split it equally. This was a great thing and we rode it until the wheels fell off.
“I remember that after several weeks, I got a call from a lady at my bank telling me that fraudulent activity had been detected involving my account. The last Marriott check hadn’t cleared. She said she wasn’t sure of the details, but I was a valued customer and the bank would work with me any way possible to resolve the problem.
“I went to the bank and played the part of the injured party. I said that while the situation was being looked at, I still had my workers to pay. They were counting on their paychecks from me to keep their own bills paid and put food on their tables. What was I supposed to tell them?
“The banker said not to worry about it. She gave me ninety-five hundred in cash to take care of my employees while things were being ironed out. She also told me that I should go to the local police