Warning: Strong Language and Content

As Cassie’s life hung in the balance, Amato was turning up the heat on the thugs they arrested in the bistro raid.  To his surprise they brought in a familiar face, and it was just the thing this case needed.  Anthony Vello, was a mob associate with no loyalties, in essence, he was a rat and not a very smart one.  Anthony used to loan shark, and steal for his bosses but he got caught up too many times in the system.  It did something to him, he wasn’t the hardass he used to be.  Prison will do that to a man, and now that he was pushing his fifties, he was most likely terrified of doing time.  Amato personally watched as members of the Cosimo family would refer to him as Big Pussy, that character from the Sopranos.  It had to irk him a little if not, infuriate Anthony, after all, he took many for the team.  Amato wondered, if he would still protect his bosses?  There was only one way to find out, leaning back in his chair, Amato, began the interrogation, “State your name for the record.”

Crossing his arms, he said, “Ant-nee Vello”

“Mr. Vello, have you been informed as to why you’re here?”

“Yeah, they said summin’ bout a murder.” Anthony answered then began laughing.

“Mr. Vello, what’s so funny?”

Trying to straighten his face, Anthony answered, “U’s guys, are trying to set us up.”

“Mr. Vello I can assure you no one here is trying to set you up.”

“Oh yeah, then how come that bitch Destiny ain’t here wit us?”

“Destiny who?” asked Amato.

“Stephano’s broad.”

Now he was getting somewhere, intrigued Amato asked, “Does this Destiny have a last name?”

“I don’t remember, they said she used to do tricks at the Sapphire Club on 9^th.  Damn shame, she told Stephano she was some sort of model.  Pfft.” He said rolling his eyes and chuckling, “She had him hypnotized or summin’.”  Taking notes, Amato was going to be sure to look this up in the database.  If what Anthony was saying was true, this Destiny chick had to have been booked for prostitution at some point, but that was only if he was telling the truth.

Amato had reason to believe that Anthony was only playing the game, just to keep his head above water.  There was so much more that he knew and was part of but Amato had to stay focused, Cohen said he wanted answers and so he was going to get them.  “Who else is working with Destiny?” he asked.

“Dunno.” Anthony answered.

“Bullshit!” Amato said after rolling his eyes. “If you think I’m gonna believe that some stripper is shot calling you’re out of your mind.”

“Believe what you wanna, I said enough.” And he was right, Anthony threw Amato enough crumbs to distance himself from the murder charges.  Hell, at this point he couldn’t even get him on conspiracy charges.  So Amato pushed, “It’s common knowledge that women aren’t allowed in the mob.”

Not impressed with Amato, Anthony said, “What can I say, it’s a new day.”

Losing his patience Amato growled “Who called the hit?”

“I dunno.”
“So you’re taking orders from ‘dunno’.  Amato said shrugging his shoulders in an over exaggerated way. “Come Anthony, you can do better than that.”

“Can I have a lawyer?” Anthony said, ending the interview.  It was like a bucket of cold water for a detective but he wasn’t a cop, he was an agent and agents had more leeway when interviewing suspects.  “Okay, Anthony you can see a lawyer but these processing papers are tricky for us to hang on to. You know what I mean?”  Confused Anthony just looked on while Amato started packing up his things.  “If something were to happen to these papers, well, nobody’s gonna know where to put you in the jail.”  This was a vague threat and Anthony didn’t take it lightly. If he ended up in the wrong cell block that could mean death.  His brother was killed while being processed at Ricker’s Island.  As he stood in line waiting to be given his bedding and toiletries, he was stabbed in the neck by a Cosimo who just happened to be in the next line.  “God damit, it ain’t never enough for u’s.  What more do you want?”

“No you didn’t.”

After that the only sound in the room was the buzzing from the clock on the wall.  Amato noticed Anthony breathing really hard as he struggled to stay loyal to his boss.  Fixated on his face, Amato watched the anguish of a man who had to finally stand on his own.  No bosses, no crew, no help.  As his walls shattered, Anthony covered his face with his hands and took a deep breath, “If I say anything, I want immunity.”

“I swear, if you give us the boss, you won’t have to face the death penalty.”

“Aiight, Danny Marchesi, ordered the hit on Stephano and Cassandra.”

Standing up, Amato said in his most professional voice, “Thank you for your cooperation in our investigation, I’ll be sending you back to holding until we work something out with the DA.”  Seeing Anthony’s body almost deflate as he realized what he was really doing, Amato repeated his promise, “If you testify, you will most likely be put in witness protection and you won’t have to worry about retaliation.” Not like it mattered to him, the life that Anthony knew before was over, no matter how things turned out.  Amato couldn’t bring any comfort to him because there wasn’t anything he could do.  All he could do right now was find Danny and Destiny before they carried out their hit.  That’s if they didn’t do it already.  Amato knew the pressure was on both Danny and Destiny to flee New York and they were most likely heading off to some country without an extradition treaty.  No matter how he looked at it, time was running out for Cassie.