For the Love of Money

Money is power and the root of all evil. Jack Pinoli knows this too well, going from honest accountant to being tainted by the green. Nobody's safe from the love of money.

As many times that I have encountered death in my lifetime, I somehow find myself knocking on his front door waiting him to answer. My name is Jack Pioli, let's just say that I was a laundering specialist for the De Luca family. I was damn near part of the family, a distant cousin, if only that were true. I am now a star witness for the prosecution against the head of the crime family, Michael De Luca. I am also the man that has a million dollar green light over my head. I was a honest man in the beginning, did everything by the book, I even was in the process of launching my very own accounting firm. But see here, New York City is a tough place to survive in on its own, but once you get involved with a somebody like Michael De Luca, the big apple will turn brown on you very quickly. To this day I regret the day De Luca found me, my life would never be the same again.

 

I walked into Ralph's Coffee Shop on 118th Street in Queens and took my seat in the back facing the entrance. Michael De Luca, the Don himself strolled into the coffee shop sporting a all black Armani suit and a blood red tie, tailored to perfection to only fit the man wearing it. Being a mob boss explained why he came over and asked to sit with me at my table, he always has his eyes on the entrance in any place. "Hell of a game the Yanks played last night, won me a bunch of money that's for sure." He called over the waitress to place his order, "I'll have a coffee, black please. Hey Jack, what'll it be for you, it's on me." How did he know my name I said to myself, I didn't want to insult the man so I ordered two eggs over easy and a few pieces of bacon. He grimaced at my order, "I gave up swine years ago, you should think about it Mr. Pinoli." I shook my head and ate the bacon first, something told me there was a reason for this encounter, I was about to find out. Mr. De Luca moved his chair closer to me and said, "Jack, I know you're probably wondering how I know your name and why I'm here." Of course I was, but I stayed quiet, assuming the statement was rhetorical and didn't require a response. "I'm here today because I have a job for you that will indeed leave you a very rich man upon completion my good friend."

 

It's not everyday that a mob boss offers you a job, however, because he is a mob boss I knew the job had to be criminal, but being a rich man had me very enthused and curious so I continued to listen to his pitch. "Jack, I've heard nothing but great things about you and I genuinely believe that you have the skill set that is crucial for this job, I also believe you will get it done mistake and hassle free." Now I'm not going to sit here and lie to you, but I thoroughly enjoyed the acknowledgement and appreciation for my work, I left the door open for more details and let him proceed with no indication if I am agreeing or not. " You see Mr. Pinoli, obviously you are well aware that I run a very lucrative business, but one thing about it all is that 90% of all of my profit is tax free which is an Ideal situation that the IRS are trained to sniff out. The task that I would have you do, is to create a new account based in the Caiman Islands under the name of Rosa Baglio, an alias that I have made up as well as all the credentials that you would need. After the account is up and ready I will email you all the details you will need to wire the assets. We are going to do one transfer of 100 million dollars, and once you have done that and my money is safe in a foreign bank, I will personally wire 10 million dollars into your personal account."

 

I was so preoccupied with digesting all of that info, I didn't even notice that the waitress delivered our orders. I stood up at the table, and without much contemplation I told him he had a deal. He stood parallel to me and extended his hand to seal the deal. You're probably thinking right now, "You just made a deal with devil." Well let me tell you, you're probably right, but 10 million dollars can be very convincing to any man or woman. The next morning, I walked into work feeling unnecessarily nervous, and the manila envelope labeled "Rosa Baglio" on my desk didn't make matters any better. I opened the envelope and pulled out two documents, one was a scanned copy of Rosa's photo I.D, probably hired by the Don to pose as Ms. Baglio. The second document was all the credentials I needed to open this account, I got to work immediately. Setting up the account was the easy part, now comes the time to perform the wire transfer. I called Mr. De Luca to progress to phase two, "Hello Mr. De Luca, Jack here. The account is up and running and ready for the transfer. He was talking to someone in the background before answering, "Great job Jack, all the info you need is being emailed to you as we speak, call me when it's done." He hung up before I could say anything, not that it was going to be important anyways. Well, here goes nothing.

 

I proceeded with the wire transfer, but when I went on to complete the transfer, it was immediately red flagged and an email was sent to me simultaneously. I franticly opened the email to try to fix the situation, but that was now impossible, the email read as followed, " Mr. Jack Pioli, The assets you recently attempted to wire transfer have been seized by the Federal Government pending investigation. I was a dead man, anybody with half of a brain knows that if you mess with the Mob's money, you were a done deal, and I just lost 100 million dollars of Michael De Luca's money, I didn't even call him to let him know. I did the best thing I could do in that situation, I went to the police, that's the only way I could be protected. I waited in the interrogation room puffing on a Newport when the detective finally came in. "Hello Mr. Pinoli, my name is Vince Pantuso, I will be handling this case." I could tell he was the roughneck type and he wore that on his sleeves. "So let me get this straight, you were hired by Michael De Luca to launder 100 Million dollars into a foreign account and you would be payed ten percent of that, but you messed up and got all of that seized by the feds, and now you're here because your afraid for your life. I got that right?" I just shook my head and sat there. "Well let me tell you something my friend, from what I see and what I know, you have but two choices. One you can get De Luca on the phone and get him to implicate his self in this crime, or you can be a wise guy and we can charge you with money laundering. Laundering 100 million dollars and being convicted of it, we may not see you again for ten years plus. I'm sure you'll make the right decision.

 

So now here I am, of course I decided to go with option number one and I successfully set up crime boss Michael De Luca. They finally called us into court, and as I walked into the court room, you could cut the tension in the room as the De Luca family all stared at me. I refused to make eye contact with any of them, I fixed my eyes on the spiral pattern on the floor. After all the boring formalities of everyday court, the prosecution was ready to call their first witness, which happened to be me, I made my way to the stand already sweating. The questioning began and was straight to the point, "Mr. Pinoli, is the man that hired you to launder 100 million dollars into a Caiman account present in the court room today? If so can you please point him out for the record. I replied only yes and proceeded to point out De Luca. He had no emotion, but the glare he gave me could have killed me. After the first round of questioning, the judge called for a 15 minute recess, unfortunately I wouldn't have the opportunity of standing in this court room again.

 

As I made my way towards the exit with my attorney, I heard the bailiff yell out, "He's got a gun!" But before I could react to that call, a gun shot rang out and I fell to floor. My back was on fire and I no longer had feeling in either of my legs, at the very moment I knew I would never walk again, I fell unconscious. I woke up in the hospital hooked up to every machine known to man, Detective Vince was seated in the chair opposite of the bed. I could tell he felt sorry for me, but I new he wouldn't say it. Instead he proceeded to say, " I am very sorry for this tragedy Jack, but if it means anything, Michael De Luca was shot and killed outside the courthouse today, you're safe now. Also I had a meeting with the D.A and we have decided not to charge you due to your service and this unfortunate situation you landed in. I'll see you around Jack." A tear formed in my eye but I refused to let it fall, I called out to the detective before he left, " I just have to say, the love and desire for money can overwhelm anybody even the a good guy like yourself, trust me I know from experience. But all I'm saying is money is power, the De Luca Family will come for me and I'm sure being in this wheelchair just might make it easier for them." For the first time since I met him, Detective Vince finally smiled and said, "Not on my watch." A sense of relief came over me, and for the first time in a long while, I slept peacefully. Now that's something money can never buy. 

 

 

Author's Note

reviews welcome.

Reviews

[Marie]

I enjoyed this story. A little long, but interesting. The very last part shows a weakness, though. If the mob wants this man, they'll get him on anybody's watch. Money really is power, and a lot more than the law will ever have.