Judge & Jury

Chapter 34

AFTER MUSSINA'S TESTIMONY, the jury members filed into the jury room for lunch. No one seemed particularly hungry."You see that asshole sitting there?" Hector shook his head angrily."He barely moves a muscle. Like he's got the world under control. Evenus. "

"Well, he won't have it under control much longer if I have anything to do with it." Rosella crossed herself."God rest his soul.In hell. "

Andie sat down. She glanced at Marc. The writer was just leaning on the windowsill, staring out at lower Manhattan.

"That poor dancer. Some getaway fund, huh? I have a little boy. That could've been me at another time in my life," Andie said.

Marc nodded sympathetically."Whichclub was it you said you danced at?"

"Very fu

"After this is over we should all meet. I know this farm in the Poconos," John O'Fly

Winston, the mechanic, laughed."Yeah, just watch out for all the large mounds of dirt."

Lorraine let one of her loud, high-pitched giggles go. That set everybody off. It was amazing that after all the grisly testimony they could just kick back and laugh.

" Lorraine," Andie said,"I have a dare for you. We all put ten bucks into a kitty, and the next time the Eyebrow makes one of those ridiculous statements about Cavello being a good citizen, you let rip one of your laughs."

"That would be priceless." O'Fly

Lorraine must've liked the image, because she let another one loose. Shrill and penetrating. Everybody laughed even louder than the first time.

Andie had to admit that over the past week she had gotten close to these people. Maybe it was the nature of what they were doing. Sharing the same room, hearing the same sick, unsettling testimony.

She looked around the room."Listen, it's my kid's birthday tomorrow. I arranged for him to come back with us and spend the night. What do you guys say about soda and cake in my room after di

"Hey, a party," O'Fly

"We'll get party hats and noisemakers!" Rosella exclaimed."Like New Year's Eve. Be a birthday he'll never forget."

"Courtesy of the United States government," Marc said."They owe us something after all this, right? What's the little guy's name?"

"Jarrod." Andie smiled."That's great. Thank you, guys. There's just oneother thing. I kinda promised you'd all bring presents."

Chapter 35

I WATCHED THE JURY file back in for the afternoon session. Minutes later, another star witness was on the stand. He was an ex-mobster named Joseph Zaro, a former union official in the Local 407. The 407 was the contracting union Cavello controlled in New Jersey.

Zaro explained how for years contractors were squeezed for payoffs to get building contracts. How it literally took a hundred thousand dollars in a suitcase dropped at union headquarters if you even wanted workers to show up for the job. Or, if a contractor wanted a mix of union and nonunion labor to save money, that cost you 20 percent of the savings up front.

For years, we knew it was the biggest racket going in New Jersey, and that Cavello was literally skimming millions off the top. We just couldn't catch him.

"How many contracts did you rig for Mr. Cavello?" Joel Goldenberger asked Zaro.

"Dozens. Hundreds?" The witness shrugged."And there were two other guys like me doing the exact same job."

"The exact same job? Meaning extortion?" Joel Goldenberger pressed him.

The witness shrugged again as if it was the most natural thing in the world."Yeah."

"And what would happen," the prosecutor asked,"if the contractor refused to pay?"

"Then they wouldn't get no labor, Mr. Goldenberger."

"And if they still refused to pay? Or if they used outside workers?"

"You meanoutside our union? " the witness asked.

"Yes."

Zaro looked around blankly for a second; then he scratched his head."You understand, we were talking Dominic Cavello here, Mr. Goldenberger. I don't think I ever recall that happening."

A few people around the courtroom laughed.

Goldenberger smiled, too."So this was basically a monopoly? Mr. Cavello over there could dictate terms to the entire construction business?"

"There wasn't a building went up in north Jersey, and parts of New York, that Dominic Cavello didn't get a piece of." The witness laughed out loud.

Even Cavello seemed to curl a smile at that one. As if he was proud of his business acumen. We had him dead to rights. Murder. Union tampering. Fraud. You could read it on every face in the courtroom. You could even read it on Cavello's face, beneath the cold stare that seemed to say,This doesn't bother me at all.

Now the prosecution had one final witness, one who could testify about an even uglier side of Cavello. One who could drive the nail into his coffin for good.

Me.

Chapter 36

I TOOK THE STAND the next afternoon.

"Please state your name." Joel Goldenberger stood up and faced me."And what your association is with this trial."

"Nicholas Pellisante," I said."I'm an SAC in the New York office of the FBI. I'm the head of a unit known as C-10. We oversee organized crime."

"Thank you. And in your role as head of this unit, Agent Pellisante, you are the senior law enforcement agent on the investigation into Dominic Cavello, is that correct?"

"That's correct." I nodded."Other than the assistant director and the director."

"The assistant director and the director?" Goldenberger cocked his head."You mean of the New York office?"

"No, Mr. Goldenberger." I paused, then moistened my lips with a sip of water."Of the entire FBI."

Goldenberger looked impressed."Those are pretty good credentials, Special Agent Pellisante. Now, you haven't always held this position, have you, sir?"

"No. Before that I was an agent on the task force for five years. Prior to that I taught a class in criminal anthropology at Columbia. I also worked at the Justice Department in DC for three years. And before that I was in law school."

"And you hold a law degree from where, Mr. Pellisante?"

I played along because this was designed to set me up as even more impressive to the jury. I took another sip of water." Columbia."

"So you've been investigating organized crime for how many years?"

"Eleven. Five as a special agent. Six as the special agent in charge."

"So it's fair to say, in the course of your experience, you've come across some pretty bad people, isn't that right?"

"The absolute worst. The Colombian drug cartels, Cosa Nostra, the Russian mob. I think I've looked into some of the most corrupt and violent organizations on the planet. My specialty, I guess."

Goldenberger smiled politely."And in the course of these investigations, how would the defendant, Dominic Cavello, rank in terms of your experience?"

"Rank?"

"In terms of the criminal behavior you've investigated."

I cleared my throat."Mr. Cavello is the most ruthless and cold-blooded killer we've ever looked into. He'spersonally ordered the deaths of over thirty people we can directly tie him to. He is an evil human being."

"Objection!" Hy Kaskel shot up. I expected that."The defendant is not being charged with any of these alleged homicides. The government's investigations and pet theories are not of interest to this court."

"Correction, Your Honor." Joel Goldenberger waved."The government will rephrase. I guess what I'm asking is, does your experience with this man go beyond just your investigation? You've had personal experience, haven't you, Agent Pellisante? You've seen Mr. Cavello's brutality firsthand?"