The Last Don - Mario Puzo [202]
“Slavery,” Jim Losey said. “Demoralizing. It was too easy a life for them so it made them too dependent. Freedom was too hard. On the plantations they were taken care of, three meals a day, free rent, they were clothed and they were given good medical attention because they were valuable property. They weren’t even responsible for their children. Imagine. The plantation owners fucked their daughters and gave those children jobs for the rest of their lives. Sure they worked but they were always singing, so how hard could they be working? I’ll bet five white guys could do the work of a hundred niggers.”
Dante was tickled. Was Losey serious? It didn’t matter, he was expressing an emotional view not a rational one.
They were enjoying themselves, it was a balmy night, the world they observed gave them a comfortable feeling of security. These people were never a danger to them.
Then Dante said, “I’ve got a really important proposition to put to you. Do you want the rewards first or the risks first?”
Losey smiled at him. “Rewards first, always.”
Dante said, “Two hundred grand cash up front. A year later, a job as head of security at the Xanadu Hotel. With a salary five times what you get now. Expense account. Big car, room, board, and all the pussy you can eat. You get to do all the background checks on the hotel showgirls. Plus bonuses like you make now. And you don’t have the risk of being the primary shooter.”
“Sounds too good,” Losey said. “But somebody has to get shot. That’s the risk, right?”
“For me,” Dante said. “I’m the shooter.”
“Why not me?” Losey asked. “I have the badge to make it legal.”
“Because you wouldn’t live six months after it,” Dante said.
“And what do I do?” Losey asked. “Tickle your ass with a feather?”
Dante explained the whole operation. Losey whistled to express his admiration for the daring of the idea.
“Why Pippi De Lena?” Losey asked.
“Because he’s about to turn traitor,” Dante said.
Losey was still looking doubtful. It would be the first time he committed the crime of cold-blooded murder. Dante decided to give it something extra.
“You remember that Boz Skannet suicide?” he said. “Cross made that hit, not personally, but with a guy named Lia Vazzi.”
“What does he look like?” Losey asked. When Dante had described Vazzi he realized it was the man accompanying Skannet when he had stopped him in the hotel lobby. “Where can I find this Vazzi guy?”
For a long moment Dante considered. He was doing something that broke the only really holy law of the Family. Of the Don. But it might get Cross out of the way, and Cross would be someone to fear after Pippi’s death.
“I’ll never tell anybody where it came from,” Losey said.
Dante for a moment reconsidered, then he said, “Vazzi lives in a hunting lodge my family owns up in the Sierras. But don’t do anything until we finish with Pippi.”
“Sure,” Losey said. He would do what he liked. “And I get my two hundred grand right up front, right?”
“Right,” Dante said.
“Sounds good,” Losey said. “One thing. If the Clericuzio come after me, I’ll sell you down the river.”
“Don’t worry,” Dante said amiably. “If I hear that, I’ll kill you first. Now we just have to work out the details.”
It all went as they planned.
When Dante fired the six shots into Pippi De Lena’s body and when Pippi whispered, calling him a “fucking Santadio,” Dante felt an exultation he had never felt before.
CHAPTER 20
LIA VAZZI, FOR the first time, deliberately disobeyed the order of his boss, Cross De Lena.
It was unavoidable. Detective Jim Losey had made another visit to the Hunting Lodge and had again asked questions about Skannet’s death. Lia denied all knowledge of Skannet and claimed he had just happened to be in the hotel lobby at that particular time. Losey patted him on the shoulder, then lightly slapped him across the face. “OK, you little guinea prick,” he said, “I’ll get you soon.”
In his mind Lia signed a death warrant for Losey. No