Reno and Sal remained at the closed door of the office as Frankie made his way to Mick’s desk. Mick stared him dead in the eyes as he walked toward him. To Mick it was vintage Frankie Paletti as he walked in wearing one of those off-the-rack baggy suits he favored against their sharp, tailored suits (although Reno’s suit was always tailoredandwrinkled). And Monk wore his signature brown fedora hat that always made him look like a classic gangster from the 1950s rather than the third most powerful mob boss in the world.
But he walked up to the desk of the most powerful boss in the world without flinching. It was their moment of truth.
“Dory Toscano murdered my second-in-command,” Monk said in a matter-of-fact tone. “He murdered Danny Cerva and his entire family. He took out his wife. He took out his six children.His children,” Monk said with emphasis. “I gave the order to take Dory out.”
Big Daddy could see Mick’s jaw tightened. “You knew he was my son,” Mick said.
“Yes.”
“And you did it anyway?”
“He took out my underboss and his entire family, Mick!” Monk was suddenly shaking with rage. “What the fuck was I supposed to do?!”
Nobody, not even Teddy, had ever seen him so enraged. But he calmed back down. “Then you showed up in Rome and took out an entire brigade of my men from Rome back to the States. Sixty-five of my men.”
Sal shook his head. He still couldn’t believe that shit. Mick took viciousness to another level.
“Do you realize you took out sixty-five of my men?”
But Mick was unrepentant. “Yes I took’em out. And the rest of your men hid like roaches or I would have taken them out too.”
It wasn’t the answer anybody in that room wanted Mick to give. Monk obviously wanted a truce. Mick obviously was too far gone to bend.
But Monk could turn unbendable too. “Dory Toscano started this shit. Dory started this, not my guys. He started it. Did you not realize that too?”
“Yes I realized it just like you realized he was my son but that didn’t stop you from ordering his assassination.”
“He killed women and children, Mick!”
“He was my son!” Mick bellowed it out so loud and with such emotion that he nearly jumped up from his seat. The tension in that room was palpable. “Nobody touches my children but me! You could have called me, Frankie.”
“Would you have called me if my guys would have killed your underboss and hisor herentire family?”
It was clear that no way Mick would have made that phone call had the shoe been on the other foot. It was clever, they all thought, that Monk had asked it. But Teddy needed this to end. He needed answers from his (former?) best friend.
“Why would you kidnap my little brother,” Teddy asked, “just to return him five hours later?”
Monk looked at his (former?) best friend for the first time since he arrived in that office. “After your father took out my men, I did blow up that tanker as a warning. And then I took out one of your cargo ships to fulfill that warning. I minimized casualties, but I had to respond. But I would have never,” Monk said in a voice most emphatic, “kidnapped Duke or allowed any harm to come to that young man. I would have never done any such thing and you should have known that, Teddy.”
They all stared at Monk as if he had just said something profound. Even Mick didn’t expect to hear those words.
“What are you saying?” Big Daddy asked him. “Are you saying you didn’t snatch Duke?”
“I would have never done that.”
“You didn’t return him as a gesture of good will?” asked Reno.
“No!”
“Then why are you here?” asked Teddy.
“I knew it was Mrs. Sinatra’s opening night, so I had my men spying to see if anything was being plotted or planned by Mick against my organization. When my guys saw Duke being snatched, and they were far enough away from the craziness thatensued, I gave the order for them to follow that van. Which they did. Since the van avoided the heaviest traffic areas and took to side streets, I ordered them to commandeer it. And they did at a red light.”
“They took control of the van?” asked Big Daddy.
“At gunpoint, yes. It was my guys that dropped Duke off and held the kidnappers hostage instead.”
“Oh Frankie!” a relieved Roz said and hurried from around that desk even as Mick was grabbing for her not to go anywhere. But she hurried to Monk and hugged him with a big bear hug.
