John Sposato ran his fingers through his greasy, shoulder-length hair and looked at his watch again. “Why isn’t he calling back, Rich? We gonna wait here all day?”
Richard Kuklinski looked up at the sky. He was leaning against the fender of his white Cadillac in a supermarket parking lot in Millville, New Jersey, sipping coffee from a styrofoam cup. A flock of honking Canada geese flew overhead in a V formation. He didn’t answer until the geese had passed and couldn’t be heard anymore. “Don’t worry. He’ll call.”
Sposato started pacing in front of the phone booth. He’d already shredded his coffee cup, and the pieces were all over the ground. “I’m gonna get something to eat,” Sposato suddenly said, and he started toward the supermarket. “I’ll be right back.”
Kuklinski caught his eye, and Sposato froze. He didn’t have to say a thing.
“This is nuts, Rich. The guy is bullshit. He ain’t calling back.”
Kuklinski muttered behind his coffee cup. “Dominick is not bullshit.”
“Then why ain’t he calling?”
“Tied up with what? This is bullshit. The guy’s yanking your chain, Rich.”
Kuklinski just stared at him. Sposato blinked and had to look away.
“He’s not bullshit, John. You know ‘the store’? Dominick walked in there one day with two hundred grand in cash. Lenny DePrima saw it. Dominick is for real.”
“Okay, so he’s for real. But he ain’t calling us back, so what’s the point?”
“It’s not worth waiting a few more minutes for a half million bucks?”
“C’mon, Rich—”
“No, John, you c’mon. The guy wants all kinds of guns and shit. Last time I talked to him he told me he’s buying for some broad in New York who’s with the Irish Republican Army. They want big stuff, a big order. I’ve already told you all this, John. You don’t listen.”
“No, Rich, that’s not true. I do listen. I do.”
“Then you don’t listen the right way. You only hear what you wanna hear. That’s your whole problem.”
John Sposato shook his head, but he wouldn’t look Kuklinski in the eye. “That’s not true, Rich.”
Kuklinski grinned behind his coffee cup. He knew Sposato was thinking about what had happened after he’d made the mistake of going to his house with the two Puerto Ricans that time. He knew not to cross Richard Kuklinski again.
“You really think he’ll come up with that much cash, Rich?”
Kuklinski shrugged. “We won’t find out unless we try.”
“Yeah, but—”
Kuklinski closed his eyes and shook his head, and Sposato stopped talking. “Listen to me, John. Do what I tell you, and this’ll work out nice for the both of us. When Dominick calls, I’ll give him to you. I’ll tell him your name is Tim. Okay? That’s all he needs to know. You tell him about all the guns you can get for him. Don’t tell him you can get him everything he wants because then he’ll start to think you’re bullshit. Make it sound real, but keep him interested. Give him all that NATO jazz, you know what I mean?”
“Yeah, yeah. I know what you mean.”
“We’ll get him a sample of something, something small, anything, just something to show him we’re for real. Then we set up the big deal, tell him to bring cash. We’ll do it down in Delaware, at the warehouse. When Dom’s not looking, we shoot him in the head, take his money, and then dump him. The more we get, the more we split. Simple as that.”
“Yeah, but—”
“Believe me. Just keep it simple, and it’ll all work out. I’ve done it before.”
“Yeah, I know. You told me.… Okay. We’ll see what happens.”
Sposato was nodding, looking at the ground. He was finally coming around. Kuklinski could tell. He’d seen it happen before with plenty of other guys, and it always amazed him when it did. People believe what they want to believe. It’s human nature. Sposato really wanted to believe that Kuklinski was letting him in on his plan to rip off Dominick Provenzano. It was amazing how stupid people get when it comes to money.
“You know, Rich, I was thinking—”
The pay phone started to ring, and Sposato jumped.
Kuklinski grinned as he got off the car and went to the booth. “There he is. You ready, John? You know what to say?”
“Yeah, yeah, go ’head. Answer it.”
“Take it easy. I got it.” Kuklinski reached into the booth and answered the phone. “Hello. Dom?”
“Rich?”
“Yeah. How ya doin’?”
“All right. How about yourself?”
“I’m okay.”
“Yeah, I’m in south Jersey. Listen, I have a fella here with me who will tell you all about the product they have here, okay?”
“Okay.”
“His name is Tim.”
“Tim?”
“Right. And I told him your name is Dom. All right?”
“Okay, fine.”
“Hold on.”
Kuklinski stepped out of the booth and handed the phone to Sposato. Kuklinski went back to the Cadillac and leaned on the fender, crossing his arms over his chest and listening to “Tim” make his pitch.
“Twenty-millimeter? Yeah, sure, I got some. I got a million two hundred rounds, twelve lengths. I got four hundred thousand rounds, fourteen lengths. That’s hermetically sealed, electric primers. NATO stuff … You need C-4?” Sposato glanced out at Kuklinski. “No, I don’t have any right now.”
Kuklinski nodded to him. He was doing okay.
“Machine guns? Maybe. Someone’s making me an offer right now, but it’ll be a couple of weeks before I can check this stuff out, so I don’t want to make you any promises until I know the merchandise is good.…”
Kuklinski looked up at the sky and watched a cloud passing in front of the sun as he listened to Sposato telling Dom about all kinds of military arms he had access to, telling him how he did business, telling him that he required a 30 percent deposit on all deals, telling him that yes, he could also get him small handguns fitted with the “quiet things,” silencers. Sposato had a good line of shit. He looked like a pig, but if you didn’t have to see him, he could sound very knowledgeable, almost like a Harvard grad. He was a clever guy, no doubt about that. But not quite clever enough for Richard Kuklinski.
Just like everybody else in the world, John Sposato was greedy, and his greed was going to be his downfall. Kuklinski knew that in his mind Sposato already had the money spent that they were going to take from Dominick. But that’s just the way some people are. Money makes them stupid.
Richard Kuklinski shaded his eyes as the sun started to beam through the wispy ends of the passing cloud. When the time came, and he put a couple of slugs into Dominick’s head, Sposato would be jumping out of his skin, his eyes bugging out, thinking about all that money they were taking. But Kuklinski couldn’t wait to see Sposato’s fat face when he turned the gun on him and put a few slugs into his head. Two birds with one stone. Dump the two of them and the whole kitty would be his. Could be as much as five hundred grand. Not too bad. It would be the biggest score he’d ever pulled off by himself. Not bad at all.
“Hey, Rich. Rich.” Sposato had his hand over the mouthpiece. “He wants to talk to you.”
Kuklinski took the phone and exchanged places with Sposato in the booth. “Hi. Dom?”
“Hey, Rich, I told Tim what I needed. Now tell me the truth. Is this guy gonna deliver? I don’t wanna hear a lotta promises, then get a lotta excuses down the line. You know what I’m saying?”
“You don’t have to worry, Dom. If he says he can get you something, he’ll get it. If he can’t, he’ll be straight with you.”
“All right. I don’t wanna end up looking bad on this. My IRA girl, she looks like a schoolteacher, but she can be a real ball-buster. You disappoint her once, that’s it, no second chances. She’ll find somebody else. And I’m telling you, she’s one customer I do not want to lose. You understand me?”
“I hear you, Dom. I hear you.”
“Now I understand that Tim’s got all his heavy stuff in the Mediterranean, so it’s gonna take some time to get us some samples. But let’s keep my girl happy, okay? Get me some silencers so I can show her something. Just something I can show. I’ll pay you for it—don’t worry about that. But just get me something.”
“Did Tim tell you he had silencers available?”
“Yeah.”
“Here?”
“Yes.”
“Then don’t worry about it. We’ll get you something as soon as we can.”
“Okay, but don’t make me wait. I’m telling you. We can both make a lotta money off this broad. Let’s not screw it up. Okay?”
“I hear you. Don’t worry.”
“Okay, Rich, let’s stay in touch—”
“Say, Dom, you didn’t get any word on that stuff I was looking for. You know what I’m talking about?”
“Yeah, I know. I talked to my people, but they’re all nervous about this Lipton soup thing.”
“Why? That was a couple of weeks ago.”
“They heard that there’s a lot of federal people going around asking questions about all that shit. Now I know they got a chemist who gets that stuff for them, but like I said, they’re all nervous. I got stuff like that from these people before for other customers of mine, so I’m pretty sure they can get it. They just wanna wait till this Lipton soup thing cools down before they’ll give it to me. In the meantime, I’ll get you the other stuff, the—you’re on a pay phone, right?”
“Yeah, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, of course. Now the coke I can get you, but the other stuff, the cyanide, you gotta be careful because, you know, I don’t know how you fucking want to use it. But that’s your business, Rich. I’m not asking.”
“Well, it won’t be a problem of exposure. I don’t intend to resell it to anybody. I’m intending to use it myself.”
“Yeah? Well, don’t you take it.”
Kuklinski laughed. “No, no, I don’t intend to. I just have a few problems I want to dispose of. I have some rats I want to get rid of.”
“Yeah? Why not use a fucking piece of iron to get rid of these fucking people? Why fuck around with cyanide?”
“Why be messy, Dom? You do it nice and clean with cyanide.”
“Lemme ask you something then. You do the same thing I do once in a while. But I always use steel. You know what I’m saying?”
“Yeah, I understand what you’re saying.”
“So what I’m asking is, would you be willing to do a—you know—a contract with me?”
“Dominick, if the price is right, I’ll talk to anybody.”
“Yeah?”
“Sure.”
“And you mean to tell me your way is nice and clean, and nothing fucking shows up?”
“Well, it may show, my friend, but it’s quiet, it’s not messy, it’s not as noisy—”
“Yeah, but how the fuck do you put it together, you know what I’m saying?”
“Well, there’s always a way. There’s a will, there’s a way, my friend.”
Dominick laughed. “All right, listen, we’ll have to talk about this sometime. It sounds interesting.”
“There’re even spray mists around.”
“Yeah?”
“Sure. You put that stuff in a mist, you spray it in somebody’s face, and they go to sleep.”
“Fast? How long does it take?”
Kuklinski snapped his fingers. “About that fast.”
“No shit. I thought—you mean, you don’t have to put it in the guy’s drink, something like that?”
“Not necessary. That will work, too, but it’s very detectable that way.”
“Yeah?”
“You make it up as a mist. As soon as they inhale it, they’ve already had enough.”
“Just one squirt?”
“That’s all it takes.”
“Well, shit, if it’s that easy, Rich, there are definitely a couple of things we could get involved with, without any fucking problems. You know, as I said, contracts.”
“Can do it either way. If a guy wants it done with lead, then it could be lead. If the guy wants to prove a point and he wants steel, it could be done with steel. I’m not averse to guns, I’m not averse to knives, I’m not averse to, you know, whatever.”
“As long as he’s dead, that’s the bottom line, Rich.”
“Well, that’s the thing, isn’t it? If that’s what they want.”
“Your way sounds like a fucking James Bond movie, but if it works, then—”
“Dominick, I’ve done it all ways, whatever you’ve known or heard. There aren’t too many things I haven’t tried. I’ll try whatever sounds workable. Some guys want it done messy and they want it as proof of the pudding. They want it shown. So I’ll do it that way.”
“But your way, what you were telling me, with the cyanide—there’s no problem with that?”
“I don’t have a problem. I’m not saying it’s not detectable. I’m just saying it’s quiet and it’s fast.”
“In other words, you’ve done this before. You know there’s no problem?”
“Well, nobody’s going to give you proof of anything like that, my friend—”
“I’m not saying proof. I’m just asking if it’s really been done.”
“It’s been done.”
“This sounds interesting. We gotta fucking go for coffee, break bread over this thing. It sounds good.”
“Well, Dom, you know what they say. There’s more than one way to skin something.”
“It all depends on how determined you are to get it done.”
They both laughed.
“As long as it gets done. Right, Rich?”
“As long as the guy who’s paying you gets it done the way he wants. It’s the finished product that they’re interested in. And I haven’t had any complaints because as you can see, I’m still around. If I had any complaints, I’m sure I wouldn’t be here.”
“I hear you, brother. I hear you. But getting back to the other stuff with Tim, what should we do? You wanna beep me or should I call you?”
“Why don’t you call me this weekend? But just in case I’m not at that other number, lemme give you my beeper number.”
“You got a beeper now, Rich?”
“Yeah. This number is for me and Tim. We both use it. Okay?”
“I understand.”
“Okay, the number is 1-800-402.…” Kuklinski gave Dominick the number, and Dominick repeated it back to him. “Now like I said, one of us will be carrying the beeper, either me or Tim.”
“Okay.”
Kuklinski looked out at Sposato, who was waiting by the car like a puppy desperate for a little attention. “Tim and I will work together on this. We work together pretty much on a lot of things.”
Sposato was grinning. If he had a tail, he would’ve been wagging it.
“All right, take care of yourself, Dom. Bye-bye.”
Sposato practically lunged as soon as Kuklinski hung up the phone. “He went for it, Rich? He really bought all that stuff I told him?”
Kuklinski stepped out of the booth and nodded. “Yup.”
“How much is he gonna buy, Rich? How much money will he bring?”
Kuklinski stared up at the sky. The sun was bright and warm on his face. “Don’t know yet. Dom’s gotta talk to his buyer. You know that.”
“Yeah, I know. I just thought he would’ve told you something.… You know what I mean?”
Kuklinski didn’t answer. He took out his dark glasses and put them on so he could face the sun and soak up the warmth. The hook was in. Sposato had dollar signs in his eyes. He was ready to do anything to make this deal happen. Same thing with Dominick. He was eager to make this buy. Maybe not as eager as Sposato, but he’d get there. They all do. It never fails. They all want the easy buck, and they all get stupid. Just like the pharmacist.
He adjusted his glasses and soaked up the warm Indian summer sunshine. It felt nice. It was gonna be a nice day.