Judge & Jury

"Yes." My gaze shifted to Cavello. I wanted him to feel my eyes. I'd waited a long time to say these next words.

"I've personally witnessed Mr. Cavello commit murder.Twice. "

Chapter 37

I'D ASSEMBLED HUNDREDS of wiretaps and recorded conversations as part of my testimony, but we just started withmy story, what I had seen myself.

"Would you describe for this court the events surrounding Dominic Cavello's arrest?" Goldenberger asked me.

I glanced toward Ma

"We had been told that Cavello was going to attend his niece's wedding at the South Fork Club in Montauk on July 23, 2004. We had multiple warrants outstanding."

"You had tried to arrest Mr. Cavello before?"

"Yes. Cavello had gone underground, though. He was a threat to leave the country."

"So you staked out the wedding on this tip. Can you describe for the court some of the other agents who assisted you there?"

"Sure." I swallowed back some emotion. I talked about Ma

"And Edward C. Sinclair, he was with you there as well?"

"Ed Sinclair was as exemplary a special agent as we had in the unit," I said. I nodded to his wife, Marya

"So can you paint the picture for the jury, Agent Pellisante?" Joel Goldenberger placed a blown-up aerial photograph of the scene on an easel across from the jury box."Agents Oliva and Sinclair are where in the stakeout?"

I walked over and took a pointer."They were on the beach, outside the club grounds, blocking any escape." I described how Cavello had disguised himself as an old man in a wheelchair. How, as my special agents moved in, he jumped out of the chair, trying to escape. How he shot one of my agents who was posing as a waiter, Steve Taylor.

"He ran down toward the beach. Ma

"Can you describe what happened next? I know this is difficult for you, Agent Pellisante, and for the family members of the agents who are present in the courtroom."

"I heard a volley of shots." I clenched my teeth."I counted five-two quick ones, then three in rapid succession. I ran down from my position over the dunes and saw the bodies in the sand."

There wasn't a sound in the courtroom. I looked away from the easel, and every eye was focused on me.

"Then what did you do?" Goldenberger asked.

"I went over to the bodies." I cleared my throat."Ma

"And did you see Dominic Cavello?"

"He was ru

"Then I went after him and fired my weapon, hitting him in the thigh. In the time I was calling for help he must've hurled the gun into the ocean."

"So you never found a weapon?"

"No." I shook my head."We never did."

"But you have no doubt who killed your agents, do you?"

"None whatsoever." I shook my head. I looked squarely at the defendant."Dominic Cavello. There was no one else near Ed and Ma

"Just to be perfectly clear"-the prosecutor turned and raised his voice-“do you see the man you chased on the dunes that day? The man you saw ru

"That's him," I said, gesturing toward the second row."Dominic Cavello."

For the entire trial Cavello had gazed stoically ahead, but now he was focused on me.

And I found out why.

Suddenly Cavello leaped out of his chair. He pulled himself up on the table like some enraged madman. His face was red, the veins in his neck about to explode.

"Fuck you, Pellisante! You son of a whore! You lying piece of shit!"

Chapter 38

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT was total bedlam.

"Lying bastards!" Cavello bellowed in a hoarse, crazed voice. He slammed his fist on the table, sending papers and documents flying.

"And fuck you to this court!" He glared at the judge."You have no hold on me. You think you have, because you've bribed a few of my old enemies to carry your lunch pails. But you don't have shit.I have you! "

The marshals sprang into action. Two of them jumped in and grabbed Cavello by the torso, wrestling him to the ground. People were screaming. A few ran out the exits.

Cavello fought like a berserk animal."You don't have me, Pellisante! I haveyou! "

A third guard jumped into the fray, and finally they forced the mobster to the floor. Two of them held him down while the third squeezed a set of cuffs over his wrists. He was still shouting at the top of his lungs.

"This court is a joke! A mockery! You'll never convict me no matter how many traitors and wiretaps you have. It's too bad, Nicky-about your friends!But whoever killed those scum, I would kiss them on the lips."

"Get him out of here," Judge Seiderman called out from the bench, trying to regain control."Mr. Cavello, you have lost your privilege to sit in on this trial. You are in contempt. You are barred from this courtroom. Jurors, you will go back into the jury room immediately. Bailiff!"

Pandemonium continued in the courtroom. The jurors looked shell-shocked. Members of the press were already ru

"Take me out of here! Bar me!" Cavello twisted his face toward the judge."I don't want to be here any fuckin' longer!" His voice bellowed throughout the courtroom."Your court is a joke!"

Blood trickled from Cavello's mouth. His formerly neatly groomed hair was tousled and wild. The guards lifted him up and tried to drag him through the side door. They had gotten one leg through when he wildly jerked around, and I saw something I could hardly believe.

The bastard was smiling.

Chapter 39

THE JURORS WERE STILL buzzing about what had happened. Shocked. Blown away. The court officials had rushed them all into the jury room. No one could recall ever seeing anything like Cavello's blowup in the courtroom.

"The asshole just made it easy for us." Hector shook his head. Everyone seemed to agree.

Maybe it just got to him, Andie thought.His case was shot to hell. He cracked.

The jury was going to be leaving the courthouse earlier than pla

As the elevator hit the lobby, Andie tried to regroup. Jarrod was here! In his Stephon Marbury number 3. Rita was waiting with him in the lobby. As soon as Jarrod saw his mother, he ran up and jumped into her arms.

"Happy birthday, honey!" It was wonderful just to see his happy face and give him a big birthday hug and kiss. Cavello, what had happened in there, didn't matter anymore.

"What's going on, Mom?"

Andie squeezed him double-tight."Don't worry about it, sweetie."

The bus was waiting right there on the street. Andie and Jarrod climbed on first and made their way into one of the rear seats. Hector and Rosella, who sometimes spoke to each other in Spanish, sat in front of them. O'Fly