The Venetian and the Rum Runner - L.A. Witt Page 0,148
left the marinas.” Danny shrugged. “Couple of the lads are good with engines, and it ain’t nothing to catch the boats and ‘inspect’ them after they’ve taken on cargo.” He paused. “We don’t do it often, though. Too much and we’ll get caught. Most of the time we just take whatever we can find at a marina.”
Joe studied Danny. “So, you steal boats to run merchandise?”
“Aye, we do.” Danny nodded. “Never go out in the same boat twice.”
The boss watched him for a long, unnerving moment. Then he laughed and slapped the table. “You hearing this, Giuseppe?” He gestured at his consigliere. “You hearing—I can’t believe this guy.” Pointing at Danny, he said to Carmine, “You got yourself a genius, Battaglia. A damn genius.”
Carmine smiled. Danny laughed, obviously relieved.
Joe took a drink of wine. “I want to hear more.” He folded his hands on the table and directed his piercing stare at Danny. “Once you have your hands on a boat, how do you and your boys do it? You like speedboats and gun crews, or what?”
“Oh, we like speedboats just fine,” Danny said. “But we try not to give the Coast Guard a reason to chase us.”
Joe cocked his head. “Yeah?”
Glancing at Carmine, Danny swallowed. “Aye. We sail right past them more often than not.”
“Is that right?” Joe sat back, twisting slightly to rest his elbow on the back of the chair as he laced his fingers together. “How do you do that?”
“Well.” Danny was quiet for a moment, then, “One time, we stole a yacht. Big flashy thing up in Montauk.”
Joe’s eyes widened.
“We sailed around a while,” Danny said. “Wandered about on the water like rich people do. When we was sure they didn’t have any interest in us, we went out to Rum Row, picked up everything we’d come to pick up. By the time we headed back, there was boats everywhere—Coast Guard, fishermen. All kinds of them. We sailed around like rich assholes a while longer, then cut off the engines and flagged down a patrol boat.”
Joe lowered his hands and sat up. He exchanged glances with Giuseppe, who seemed equally intrigued by the story.
Danny cleared his throat. “When the patrol boat came over, we told them our engines had broken down, and we asked them to tow us back to shore.”
Joe’s lips parted. “You asked the Coast Guard. To tow a boat full of hooch. Back to shore.”
“Yes, sir.” Danny nodded. “The patrol boat was too small for a yacht that big, so they radioed over a cutter and had them give us a tow instead.”
“And they did?”
“Yes, sir. Took us all the way back to the marina in Montauk.”
“Did they board the boat? Search it?”
Shaking his head, Danny chuckled. “I don’t think they ever suspected a thing except that we was a bunch of rich idiots with a busted boat.” He paused, then added, “One of my boys even kept shouting at them not to scratch it. By the time we made it to shore, I think they just wanted to be rid of us.”
Joe stared at him for a moment. Carmine could feel the nervousness coming off Danny in waves, and he wished he could put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
Then Joe laughed again. Really, really laughed. He smacked his palm on the table like he had before, and he wagged his finger at Danny as he said to Carmine, “Where did you find this crew? These boys are brilliant!”
Carmine and Danny laughed, and Danny definitely sounded relieved now. Their eyes met for a fleeting moment—half a second at best—before Danny looked away. Carmine did too, heart racing. One look, and he was a distracted mess.
What could he say? Danny did more for him than any liquor ever would.
After the meeting was over, they left the café and got into the car. Sal took his place in the front while Carmine and Danny slid into the back.
As Fedele drove away from the café, Danny turned to Carmine. “So what happens now? They just… They take over everything?”
“It’s not quite that simple. You and I, we’ll still operate the way we have.”
“Oh.” Danny looked puzzled.
“As Maurizio explained to me,” Carmine said, “there are men in this city who you’re better off having as your boss than your enemy.” He gestured over his shoulder in the direction of the café. “That man is one of them.”
Danny gulped.
“And it’ll put the Morello family behind us,” Carmine added. “Il Sacchi might think twice before he hassles