Giant Problems

[RedsoxRockies]

Larry is dead!!!!

[OregonDuck1989]

asianinvasion: Thanks for the bump!
RSR: Yeah, the Italians are ruthless. Maybe you should just mention your Irish side around these parts

Note:Quick posts for now and early tomorrow then tests hit so it may be another long break like this one before I post again...

******

1344 34th Street Manhattan
Jimmy Coonan’s Office


In four months I had been shot at twice, in four months I had watched two men die and had witnessed my brother being kidnapped. In four months I had moved from New York hoping to get away…but New York had followed me.

***

I walked into Jimmy’s office with a sickening feeling in my stomach. The more days that passed the more days I feared my brother was dead. I sat in the waiting room chair and looked around. White marble covered the floor and hardwood covered the walls. In a typical seventies wise guy fashion Jimmy had put up pictures of everyone he had ever known while he had led the mob. Closest to the desk hung a picture of Bobby and himself from ten years ago. Before Jimmy had led the war on Hell’s Kitchen and before the Westies had been born. His secretary was a classic blonde bombshell. She sat fingering her hair and glancing up and around the room, smiling at me each time. I’m not sure if she did any work but I doubt Mr. Coonan hired her for her experience.

A voice piped up from the door and the secretary nodded before smiling at me one more time.

“Mr. Coonan can see you now, Mr. Donnelly,” she said. I nodded and walked towards the door. Can see me now? I thought as I opened the door and walked in.

“David,” Coonan’s voice boomed as I walked in. “Please, have a seat, I hope I didn’t keep you too long.”

“No, no, only about ten minutes,” I said and sat down in front of his desk.

“I do apologize, with all this Italian business going down, you never know how busy you can get,” he poured himself a whiskey from his private bar to my left and asked if I wanted one. I nodded and he poured another. “So tell me about the West Coast…how is that going?”

“It’s going fine, I guess,” I said as he handed me my glass. “We’re pretty small time right now so it’s not going to catch the attention of the big boys but we’re still pulling in some decent green.”

“That’s good. Without you I don’t know what our business would be like, David. A lot poorer,” he laughed and took a sip.

“Is this all you wanted to talk to me about?” I asked.

“No, David,” he said and sat up in his chair. “But what did you want to talk about?”

“How about my brother?”

“Your brother is being located by Featherstone and friends.”

“And friends? How about finding him?”

“David, this isn’t a game of Hide and Go seek.”

“No, this is a game of find my brother, Jimmy. You just killed 17 Italians…if they have Jimmy we could find his body within a week.”

“I don’t think they have Jimmy.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“I just have a feeling, listen can we talk about something else?”

“Something else? What else is there to talk about? Mr. Coonan I’m not here to shoot **** with you or make small talk. I need to find my brother and I’m trusting you to find him.”

“It could take three weeks before we even hear from his captors.”

“Three…three weeks?” I yelled. “Not good enough.”

“Then find him yourself, Mr. Donnelly. I won’t tolerate this.”

I stood out of my chair and left the office. I nodded to his secretary, then stormed into the pouring rain of New York.

Three weeks? I thought. He’s probably already dead.

[RedsoxRockies]

Oh yea, thats a really quick post

[OregonDuck1989]

RSR: As quick as I make them

*****

Baseball Report: Month of April

NL West Standings:  W L
Los Angeles Dodgers 13-11
San Francisco Giants 12-12
Atlanta Braves 13-14
Houston Astros 12-15
San Diego Padres 10-18
Cincinnati Reds 9-19

Other division leaders:
NLE: Philadelphia Phillies 18-9 2 GA
ALE: Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees 16-11 2 GA
ALW: California Angels 16-11 ½ GA

(Well our division rests as the most mediocre division in baseball but that is good news for us coming out of April. Our rivals LA sit one game above us and we have played the worst month of .500 baseball I have ever seen. Apart from Marichal and Perry our rotation is in shambles and our lineup continues to not produce. If we don’t get hot soon we could find ourselves very far out of the race by the middle of July.)


Team Statistical Leaders:

AVG: Ken Henderson (.352)
HR: Bobby Bonds (6)
RBI: Jim Ray Hart (22)
SB: Bobby Bonds (4)
ERA: Gaylord Perry (2.21)
Wins: Juan Marichal (3)
K: Gaylord Perry (35)

(Well, I’m glad Bobby got on track after a tough opening first couple of weeks but we need to improve our speed, a bit. Only 5 total team stolen bases after the first month. In the pitching department…it’s all in the front two. Our 3 and 4 starters Halicki and Montefusco are both winless with ERA’s above 5.4…with Halicki in the 7’s.)


League Leaders:
AVG: Manny Mota (LAD) .424
HR: Hank Aaron (ATL), Bob Robertson (PIT) 10
RBI: Willie Stargell (PIT) 47
SB: Lou Brock (STL) 14
ERA: Gaylord Perry (SFG) 2.21
Wins: Jim Bunning (PHI) Chris Short (PHI) 5
K: Nolan Ryan (NYM) 49

(Yeah Gaylord!)

Notable injuries and retirements:

CAL 2B Sandy Alomar broke his tibia and is out until June.
BOS SP Bobby Bolin broke his ankle and is out until at least the end of June possibly into July
PHI SP Dick Selma has severe elbow tendonitis and is out until at least August
No notable retirements

*********************

Giants May Report: Week One

Record: 15-18 (Current Streak: L1) 4 GB of LAD

Positives: Perry. We’re not hitting well and Marichal had a rough start this week so the only positive to this team right now is Gaylord Perry.

Negatives: Pretty much everything. We’re still not hitting, the rotation still lacks behind our top two and Marichal had a dificult start. We go 3-6 to start the month, I’d say that is pretty bad.

Next up for the Giants: 3 at Cubs, 4 vs. Braves

[PotatoOfCouch13]

What? This is a baseball dynasty? I thought it was just a mob story...

You're absolutely right though. It is way too early to panic, and you're only a few games out anyways. Just keep riding Perry and Marichal, and hope that the offense and the back of the rotation wake up.

[OregonDuck1989]

Potato: I know, I'm sure everyone forgot about the Giants completely . And I know. The computer called up Gary Matthews as well and he has done well in his first few games so I think the Giants will be getting back on track soon. They are talented.
****
May 7, 1971

News in the Baseball World:

The National League meets to discuss the Cincinnati Reds, the team is not competing and is also in somewhat dire straits financially and could be deep into debt by the end of the year. The Reds have offered to sell and the potential buyers may move the club somewhere else. The Reds are considered baseball’s oldest organization. If they leave Cincinnati…baseball’s history would change forever. I did not attent the meeting but Stoneham gave me a play by play of what occurred. He said that the league opened debate and that the overall consensus was to keep the Reds in Ohio…but as the debate moved onward some switched sides for a move and by the end of the meeting the Reds were officially up for sale.

Hank Aaron hit career home run 600 on May 3rd. By the 7th he has 603 and is 32 home runs behind Willie Mays for second all-time on the career home run list.

The Washington Senators are discussing sales in the American League. Stoneham told me not to worry…it isn’t our problem. But if the Reds AND Senators both move it could show the major leagues are in financial problems…which isn’t the case at all.

May 9, 1971
San Francisco, CA

I held my head in my hands. The last two months had taken it all out of me. Baseball, for the first time in nearly 20 years, was an after thought to me. I had lived through a lot, my father dying, losing my uncle Mike to alchoholism, my best friend Packie being shot down in broad daylight, but this was the one that broke me. I lost it when Jimmy got kidnapped and now I feared the worst. If he was the Italians we would be getting his body within the week. I lost it.

The phone rang and I jumped at the sound. I picked it up on the second ring and answered slowly.

“David?” Big Man’s voice echoed back.

“Yeah?” I said.

“We’re getting Jimmy back at the end of the month. They contacted us.”

“Who is they?”

“No clue, but they have Jimmy and we’re picking him up at the end of the month.”

“Where?”

“In Jersey. Where your father was threatened.”

I stopped. Full circle… I thought.

“Do you want me to be there?”

“Do you want to be there?”

I sighed. I looked around my office and looked at the television and caught a glimpse of a Mets game. The Mets were down big 11-3. Maybe it is a good thing I left New York after all… I thought.

“I’ll be there,” I said.

[OregonDuck1989]

May 9, 1971
New York

Ross Lorenzo stared out the front window of the patrol car he rode in. Officer Carcetti made a quick left turn into a run down Italian neighborhood and he instantly noticed people beginning to make their way inside as they saw the black and white of the car. He looked at Carcetti and took a sip of his coffee.

“How does anyone get caught for murder around here if no one likes the police?” he said.

“That’s a good question,” Carcetti replied as he pulled in front of an especially run down house. “And the answer rests in the low murder clearance rate we carry here at NYPD.”

Lorenzo opened his door as the car stopped and looked out at the house. “Who lives here again?” he said.

“No one, this is your new office,” Carcetti replied. Lorenzo looked at him.

“Are you serious?” he said as Carcetti stopped the car and got out.

“Yeah, mob crime unit is moving to where mob crime actually happens.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier to just put a stake out on this place?”

“You think anything would happen on a stake out? This is me and you Ross. Working together to bring the mob down from here undercover.”

“Undercover? It looks a little weird to pull up in a cop car then doesn’t it?”

“Sure, but this is just to make sure no one lives here, we move in tomorrow.”

Lorenzo stared at the run down building, it’s windows boarded up with graffiti on them. It’s doors cracked and the walls falling apart. It stood two stories but it looked like it could only support one.

“And we’re supposed to live here?”

“Most of the time.”

“Welcome to the NYPD…” Lorenzo walked to the door and kicked it once. It fell over and made a loud noise as it crashed to the ground. “Awesome…”

Lorenzo took a few steps inside and stared at the run down room. Dust covered every inch of the floor and cobwebs appeared in every corner. “This is it.”

“This is how we bring down the mob,” Carcetti said.

“One cobweb at a time,” Lorenzo kicked a box into the middle of the room and it’s contents spilled out everywhere.

“What is that?” Carcetti said and walked over to it.

“Holy…” Lorenzo stopped as he saw the contents on the floor.
************************************

Giants May Report: Week Two

Record: 17-23 5.5 GB (Current Streak: W1)

Positives: Absolutley nothing. A God awful week.

Negatives: The offense fails to support Marichal and Perry. The pitching fails to defend any offense we put up when they aren’t pitching and we get swept by the Cubs and split at home with the Braves in a terrible week of baseball for the Giants.

Next up: 2 with the Mets, 3 at the Expos, 3 at the Braves

[OregonDuck1989]

Note: The mogul file has been corrupted . The bad news: no more mogul involved in this story, how horrible. The good news: the story will continue. And I can move the story a little quicker then I thought I would have to. I had a sequel planned for 1972 and another for 1973 but I can move that up faster as this story continues and the years don't matter. I will still use baseball as a part of David's personality. And still use some of the story lines (Stoneham, the Reds and Senators, etc.) But like I said...no more mogul

Anyway...the story continues...

****

May 15,1971
New Jersey

Derrick Carter didn’t hang out around old abandoned marine warehouses much. In fact, he doesn’t do it at all. This was a special occasion. Derrick Carter was looking for Jimmy Donnelly, but to no avail. The brother of David Donnelly was now a huge priority for Derrick’s boss Bobby O’Shea. Derrick didn’t want to say it out loud. But Jimmy was second in command. If O’Shea went down, Jimmy would need to step up before Jimmy Coonan could take over the Five Points. Derrick was the only man outside of Bobby to know this fact. Unfortunately, for Derrick and O’Shea was that as of right now…no one had any idea where Jimmy Donnelly was located…or even if he was alive.

“I don’t know where he is,” a voice said from outside the warehouse. Derrick shot a quick look at the door. Someone was coming.

“Why are we looking in a warehouse for him?” another voice said, this one gruff.

“Because this is where he is supposed to be dropped off,” the first voice replied.

Derrick jumped up a few stairs that were to his right and waited for the men to come in. That is when he spotted it. A finger. A human finger.

The men stopped and he heard someone putting money in the pay phone outside. Derrick jumped back down the stairs and looked at the finger. A note attached.

Jimmy Donnelly needs 5 million to live. By the way. He now has only 9 left.

“Five million dollars…” Derrick said aloud. The sound of the payphone stopped. Derrick jumped to the side as Mickey Featherstone and Homer Miles walked in. Derrick was well covered by a box he had found. He had never seen either of these men before.

“I swear I heard a voice in here,” Mickey said.

“I heard it too, but…maybe we are hearing things,” Homer said. Derrick pulled out his pistol and loaded a cartridge.

“I haven’t heard things since I got out of Vietnam last year, this was a voice,” Mickey reached for his pistol and looked around. Homer started walking towards Derrick.

“Don’t shoot anybody,” Homer said. Mickey chuckled and Homer kicked a box. The box uncovered a man pointing a pistol at his face. “What the fu…”

Bang.

Mickey turned to see a shot of blood scatter across the floor as Homer’s lifeless body dropped to the ground. “Jesus Christ,” he yelled.

“Wrong,” Derrick said and fired again. He hit Mickey’s leg. Featherstone dropped to the ground in pain.

“We’re here for Jimmy Donnelly,” Mickey cried. Derrick walked towards him and kicked his pistol away.

“I bet you are,” Derrick said. “But Bobby O’Shea has already claimed him.”

“Bobby…” Mickey said. “I think we are on the same team.”

“I find that hard to believe,” Derrick raised his pistol to Mickey’s face and struck him. Featherstone dropped to the ground and spit blood. The second strike knocked out a tooth, the third knocked him unconcious. Derrick left Mickey where he lay and walked outside towards the payphone. Homer Miles’ body lay like a cross on the floor. Derrick chuckled.

He placed the money in the payphone and quickly dialed the number.

“Big Man?” he said through the phone.

“What is it? Are you on a pay phone?” Bobby O’Shea returned.

“Yes, and I found Jimmy Donnelly’s finger.”

“His finger?”

“With a note, they want five million dollars, they know we’re sneaking around the warehouse. I just killed one of their guys and took another captive.”

“Stay there,” O’Shea said. “Don’t leave.”

“Got it.”

[RedsoxRockies]

They should eat Jimmy's finger!

[OregonDuck1989]

Note:Mogul file not gone. I found a copy of it starting third week of May so nothing will change More of the story...
*****


“I’m no expert but I think when you guys find my brothers finger at the scene…they mean business,” I cried into the phone at Bobby.

“David calm down, this is good news, if the Italians had him, we would have gotten his head.”

“Christ, I guess you’re right, but can we please get on this? Two more weeks of waiting for these dickwads to show up with my brother?”

“I understand your concern, but we are doing our best.”

“I don’t like Coonan.”

“We know.”

“Speaking of Italians…I heard you were delivered the body of Carter Doulls the other day.”

“Yeah, Carter was a good dealer.”

“Anything else on him?”

“A note, it said I was next, nothing to worry about.”

“The usual threats, I guess,” I said saracastically.

“Don’t worry about me, too, David. Worry about your job.”

“Yeah, Yeah.”
**************************

May 15,1971
NYPD “Undercover” House

Lorenzo had no idea what he was looking at but he knew it was a big deal.

It was a picture.

“Worth a thousand words?” Carcetti asked.

“Or a million dollars. We got somethin,” Lorenzo said. “We got somethin big.”

He threw it on the table and Carcetti picked it up.

“What do you want to do with it?” he asked. Lorenzo stared into space.
“We got two options,” Lorenzo said and stood up. “We turn it into the police…they take him down, we end the case right away. Or we don’t act like particularly pissed off boy scouts and take this to him and we leak every dollar out of him we can to keep us quiet.”

“What if he decides to kill us? This isn’t some mayor or police chief…this is the mob.”

“He won’t know exactly who we are.”

“I don’t see this as working, Lorenzo.”

“Then you don’t have to be involved Officer Carcetti.”

Carcetti paused and looked at the picture again. He thought to himself the pros and cons of what they were talking about.

“Count me in,” he said. Lorenzo smiled and took the picture.

“Call me a Perrato,” Lorenzo said.
*******************************
May 16, 1971

It was just after midnight when Bobby O’Shea pulled into the warehouse in New Jersey in his black Cadillac. He shut his lights off and looked to the door as Derrick Carter opened it and poked his head out warily. Bobby got out of the car and walked towards the door lightly as Derrick opened the door wide.

“Thank God, I thought you were another one of them,” Derrick said.

“You haven’t seen any others?” Bobby asked as he entered the warehouse and saw a dead body covered by a large length of sheet paper Derrick had apparently found in the warehouse.

“No, no one has come by, but the one I took captive keeps yelling that he is on our side and claims he is someone named Featherstone,” Derrick said as he lifted up the sheet paper and showed Homer Miles face. Big Man grimaced.

“Mickey Featherstone?”

“That’s what he said, yeah,” Derrick started walking back toward the back of the warehouse, O’Shea followed him. “I’ve never heard of him.”

“I have,” Bobby said. He got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach as they approached a man laying on the ground. Derrick walked to the man and kicked him. The man rolled over and groaned. Bobby’s bad feeling was realized as Mickey Featherstone looked up at him and recognized him. “Jesus Christ.”

“What?” Derrick said looking at the man.

“That is Jimmy Coonan’s right hand man,” O’Shea said. “You just killed a member of Jimmy’s search party for Donnelly and knocked out the other, now he knows it was us.”

Derrick stared at Bobby with fear.

“You might have just gotten us killed, Derrick,” Bobby walked towards the exit quickly. “I’ll be back in the morning, stay with Featherstone, make sure no one finds out he is here, I gotta do some damage control.”

“But what if Coonan comes?” Derrick yelled.

“Then kill Featherstone and act like a crazy russian or something,” Bobby opened the door and left. He hopped into his Caddy and drove off in haste. “Jesus Christ,” he said to himself over and over. “Jesus Christ.”

[PotatoOfCouch13]

Awesome! Excited to see this back.

By the way, love your signature! 'Sunny' and 'The Office' are the cornerstones of my Thursday night entertainment.

[RedsoxRockies]

You should make this into a movie or TV show, seriously

[OregonDuck1989]

Potato: Between It's Always Sunny, The Office, and 30 Rock I'm pretty much set for Thursdays
RSR: Thanks! I'll email it to NBC, right away!

May 17, 1971

Michael Perrato sat in the back of his “Perrato!” strip club with the music blaring and the lights flashing. The private room he had did nothing to quiet the noise and divert the lights. Perrato did not sit alone. A man, covered by a jacket and the odd placement of darkness in his area, sat across from him.

“We both want O’Shea done in, correct?” the man said.

“It seems so,” Perrato said.

“I can get it done, then,” the man said.

“Why haven’t you?”

“Like great men have said…if you are good at something, don’t do it for free.”

Perrato laughed. “How’s 500 grand sound?”

“Much more then I expected, you have a deal Mr. Perrato.”

“I want him dead by the end of the month.”

“It will be done.”

The music surrounded the room as the man opened the door of the room and left. Perrato smiled. He had a win-win. If O’Shea died, he had power over a struggling mob. If the man didn’t come through he never lost the 500 thousand dollars. It was perfect.

May 19,1971

Jimmy Coonan stared into the endless expanse that was his office. It seemed endless now. He was bored. Mickey Featherstone hadn’t been seen in three days and whether Jimmy liked it or not he was starting to get worried for his right hand man’s safety. Coonan played with the buttons on his black pinstriped suit. The phone rang.

“I know where Featherstone is,” a man said.

“Who is this?” Coonan replied.

“A man who knows how to locate things, I know where Featherstone is, New Jersey, by the docks. Last warehouse on the road.”

“How do I know I can trust you?”

“Because if you couldn’t I would have told you to come alone to a dark alley. Featherstone is alive. Meet him where they expect Donnelly to die.”

“Donnelly? Die? What the hell does that have to do with this?”

“Docks. New Jersey. He waits.”

[OregonDuck1989]

May 19, 1971
LaGuardia Airport

It ain’t me! It ain’t me! I ain’t no seantor’s soooon son.

The radio blared over the cab as we left the airport and headed toward Manhattan. I didn’t tell Bobby I would be coming to visit and I had hoped that the surprise of seeing me might force him to call the Ukranian back a little early to get my brother. “So where are you from?” the cab driver, with a thick indian accent asked.

“San Francisco,” I said.

“Here on business?” he asked as we stopped at a stop light.

“You could say that, I guess,” I looked out the window.

“You look familiar, are you famous?”

I looked up. “What do you mean?”

“I think I’ve seen your face in the papers recently.”

I sat up in my chair and looked at the man as he looked back at me.

“What are you talking about?”

“You were in the papers I believe, sir.”

“When?” I reached for the handle of the car and pulled out my wallet.

“Three days ago, New York Post.”

I threw the man a twenty dollar bill. “Keep the change,” I said and I jumped out of the cab and into the street. The rain poured onto me as I held my jacket over my head for coverage. I was in the paper? I thought as I ran towards a news stand. I crossed traffic dangerously as the rain soaked my jacket and my body. I jumped the curb and ran to the stand where the man looked at me.

“Awful weather,” he said.

I chuckled. “Listen do you have the paper from three days ago?” I asked.

“Three days ago? The sixteenth?”

“Yeah,” I said as the rain soaked my face. It was a pure north eastern downpour. The man rummaged around a bin underneath the desk.

“Post or Times?” he asked.

“Post,” I said quickly. He continued to rummage. People pushed past me with angry faces as I blocked half the sidewalk.

“Got it!” he cried and raised up to hand me the paper. I dropped a dollar on the counter and rushed off.

“Sir, no charge for a three day old paper!” he yelled but I just kept walking. I looked for an open door to look at the paper and keep it dry. I spotted a hotel lobby and jumped inside quickly. The paper was damp but it opened perfectly. I saw myself, I saw Micheal Perrato, and then I saw a package being transferred through us. The headline was quick and simple.

Police make breakthrough on Perrato.

Apparently, I was that breakthrough.

[OregonDuck1989]

May 20, 1971
New Jersey

Before the chaos started Derrick Carter sat across from Mickey Featherstone with his eyes on him. Mickey stared back with fire. Before the chaos started Bobby O’Shea drove his Caddillac towards New Jersey as fast as he could with the radio blasting the news of the latest Perrato find. Before the chaos started Jimmy Coonan loaded his pistol in his car outside of a New Jersey warehouse he had never seen before. Before the chaos started David Donnelly rode in the back seat of a cab staring at a newspaper that may very well be his downfall. Before the chaos started a Ukranian man unloaded a man with a hood over his face out of his trunk outside of a New Jersey warehouse he had never seen before. Before the chaos started Derrick Carter loaded his pistol in front of Mickey Featherstone and simply said “One might be for you if your lucky.”

Before the chaos started, Bobby O’Shea parked out in front of a New Jersey warehouse he was all to familiar with and walked towards it with haste.

Then the chaos started.