Surviving the Mob - Dennis Griffin [70]
“When I left Mike’s, I figured he wasn’t very happy with what I’d told him. And I was pretty sure that trip down through the cellar was part of a setup. The next time, we wouldn’t be alone. I knew I had to take stock of what the future held and how much time I had before Wild Bill, Danny Cutaia, or Nicky made their move. Even that line about killing Danny could have been bullshit to keep me on the reservation. For all I knew, the three of them might be plotting together to get rid of me.”
Shortly after his meeting with Mike Yannotti, Andrew decided to seek some stress relief by taking Charlotte and her daughter to Florida to visit Disney World. He figured a few days there would allow him to get his thoughts together and plan for the future. As he was preparing for the trip, he contacted his local marijuana connection to tell him he’d be out of town.
The connection told him he had a buddy who might be able to help him out with false identification. When they got together, the friend told Andrew he had blank California birth certificates, blank Social Security cards, and a UPS photo identification card that could show Andrew was an employee.
They filled out all the necessary information, then drove out to a Department of Motor Vehicles office on Long Island. Andrew applied for a driver’s license under the name of Joseph Conti, the name of his mother’s boyfriend. He took the written test and made an appointment for a road test. Before he left, they issued him a non-driver identification card.
“My Mercedes was registered and insured in Joseph Conti’s name. To get by until my road test, I had Conti tell DMV he lost his license and needed a replacement. At that time they sent a non-photo license right away, followed a few days later by the real license. I took the non-photo license. It happened that I got stopped at a drunk-driving checkpoint. I showed my paperwork and got waved on with no questions asked.
“Within a month, I had a brand new driver’s license as Joseph Conti. A lot of guys in the life who are on the run get caught for stupid things, like driving without a license or not having proper identification. That was one less worry for me. I gave my guy a couple hundred for the fake identification and put him to work in my marijuana business.”
After the trip to Disney World, Andrew took another getaway jaunt to San Diego. While he was there, he just rested and didn’t conduct any business. However, back in New York, his marijuana partner came up with another way to enhance their operation and profits.
Andrew’s associate had a friend who drove a tractor-trailer to California every 10 days. Their San Diego connection could load the truck and start sending product back that way. It sounded like a good deal and they entered into negotiations to set it up.
While he was waiting to put the new delivery system into effect, Andrew snuck a visit to one of his sisters. He parked about a block and a half away and started walking toward her place. When he rounded the corner of 58th Street and Avenue N, he saw two guys standing on the street talking: Wild Bill Cutolo and Danny Cutaia.
“Here I was on the run from the law and I bumped into my two biggest organized-crime enemies. What were the odds of bosses from two different families having a conversation on a street corner at the very same time a guy they hated walked by? Wild Bill saw me and said, ‘Well, look who just walked into the lion’s mouth.’ I answered that it would mean somethin’ if the fuckin lion had any teeth. An argument ensued.
“Wild Bill said, ‘Listen, you motherfucker. You owe me money and I want it. I’m gonna go to Nicky and Lenny. If they don’t go to bat for you, you’re gonna have a big fuckin’ problem. Do you understand that?’
“If I hadn’t been so stressed, I might have handled the situation differently. I had a lot of respect for Wild Bill and I loved Billy. Only a year or so earlier, I wanted to transfer to his crew. But on that day I said to him, ‘You listen to me and you listen good. I’ve got the FBI, the cops, and the parole people