Surviving the Mob - Dennis Griffin [88]
“Literally two days later, I received a visit at my father’s home from two law-enforcement officials. I wasn’t under any obligation to report my father’s disappearance to the FBI or the police, so I ignored them at first. They left business cards from both the FBI and the NYPD.
“But after a while, I reached out to a detective and an agent I knew. I’d been in the company of the detective before, even though we were on opposite sides. I’d also gotten to know the agent over the years and he was a straight shooter. They knew my father was missing and presumed he was dead. They offered their condolences and warned me about the possible repercussions if I took vengeance on my own. After that they asked me, ‘Do you want to know what happened to your father? Would you like to aid in the investigation?’
“Up until then, my only friend was a silent one. It was a friend without a conscience. It held fifteen in a clip and one in the chamber. And I wanted the blood of the men who killed my father so bad. I wanted their families to feel the pain of losing a father, a grandfather, and a husband like we had to endure. For me, killing those responsible would have been easy. Refraining from killing them would be much harder. But I forced myself to think. My father had warned me that if you kill one, two come at you. You put two down and four are coming, and so on. I knew he was right. And I had a wife and a son of my own to worry about. So I decided to break the cycle. To save spilling their blood and hit them another way.
“And so I did. In the next few seconds, my whole life changed. I became a member of the guys in the white hats and was no longer an outlaw in black. Now my anger was channeled and fueled with fire. I hit them and hit them hard. For almost two years, I secretly aided in the investigation. I caused havoc amongst the hierarchy of the Colombo family.
“The men I knew were responsible for my father sent for me on numerous occasions and I ignored them. When they sent two morons to threaten me if I didn’t go where they wanted to take me, I introduced them to my silent friend and his sixteen buddies. They quickly left, saying only, ‘Okay, Billy. We brought you the message.’ I told them not to come back unless they thought they could carry me out. That if they were really my friends, they wouldn’t have come with the message they did.
“At that point, I had no time in my schedule for pussies like them. I considered myself a man’s man as I’d been taught by my father. At one time, nobody had more respect for the life than I did. But that went away with my father. Now my only loyalty was to him and the promise I’d made to him.
“Each time I went out to get information for the investigation, it was a rush and the more cocky I got. I was daring them to do something to me. But it never came. Call it what you will, but I say my father was looking down on me and kept me safe. He’d fed me the paranoia that still lives in me today. He always told me, ‘Paranoia is good. It keeps you sharp.’ It worked for me. My mind remained keen and I stayed alive.
“Right to this day, some people are still mad at me for not going out with guns blazing. That doesn’t bother me. I’d do it all over again if I had to. My only regret is that I couldn’t tell my family what I was doing. I wanted to, but I was warned that it wouldn’t be a good idea. So I had to keep them in the dark.
“I delivered for the law, too. Even without