He looked me over, and nodded before opening a small personnel gate to the side of the big heavy one across the driveway. I went in, and was immediately met by a couple of largish guys in suits who told me "Sorry, sir, but we gotta check to make sure you're not wired, or carrying."
"That's fine. I left the hardware with the FBI boys out front; I don't think I want a wire any more than you do – but go ahead."
Both of them nodded, and politely – but thoroughly – frisked me, and checked to make sure I wasn't wearing a listening device. Both gave me a look when they realized I was wearing a vest, but didn't say anything.
One of them escorted me to the front door of the house – easily a dozen rooms – which opened as we got close. Another man in a suit came out, and the one with me told him "He's clean. Got a vest, though." The one who came out nodded, and led me into the house, and on into a large room. Inside, there was a sizeable conference table.
At one end sat an elderly man, with a couple of younger men seated to each side of him. Behind him stood a couple of heavy-set fellows, with a couple more standing off to each side of the room.
When I went in, the elderly man stood up, and introduced himself "I take it you're Dan Andrews. My name is Benito Falcone. My nephew, Jules, tells me that it might be worthwhile for us to have a little talk."
"Glad to meet you, Mr. Falcone. I'm hoping that we can sit down and talk out this problem that we seem to have, before anybody gets hurt."
About that time, the guy that met me at the door walked over to him and whispered something into his ear, then left.
Francone looked at me a moment, then said "I understand you were brought here by some FBI people. That was not a friendly thing to do, I think."
"The FBI people were assigned to me by their office. It seemed better to have them with me, out in the open, than have them scurrying around where nobody could see them. You know they're there. They know I'm in here. It helps prevent any problems or misunderstandings."
He gave a small laugh, and said "And makes it easier for you to leave here. Okay, I'm not playing with a dummy. But we've still got a problem. I understand that you found some information that you gave to the FBI about some associates of mine. This information is going to cause them some problems. When it causes them problems, it causes ME problems, and I don't LIKE problems. I think the easiest thing would be for me to get rid of the cause of all these problems."
"That wouldn't do you any good, Mister Falcone. All the information I have is already in the hands of the FBI. Even if something was to happen to me, it wouldn't hurt their case even a little bit."
"Perhaps. But if something was to happen to you, it might let other people know that it isn't a good idea to make me unhappy."
"I think that there are people who would tell you that it isn't a good idea to make ME unhappy, either, Mister Falcone."
"You're talking about Vinnie? Yeah, I suppose he would – but then again, he's not going to be happy with you when he can move around again."
"As long as he's unhappy someplace else, I'm not going to concern myself about it. I just want to see an end to OUR problem."
He looked at me for a long moment, then said "You want an end to our problem, but you're not giving me anything to work with, here. What's to keep me from having some people pay you a little visit, and maybe deal with you that way?"
"Because if you did, those people might not find it so easy to visit anyone else after that – THEY might be the ones that get dealt with."
He got an outraged look on his face, and exclaimed "What? You're talking to me like that? What do you think, you're some kind of tough guy?!"
I just stood there, and shrugged my shoulders.
Behind me, I heard Jules tell him "Uncle Benny, he doesn't think he's a tough guy. He's what tough guys WANT to be."
Falcone calmed himself a bit at that, and watched as Jules and I shook hands before he pulled me into a hug, and said "It's good to see you again, Boomer. Even like this."
"Nice to see you learned how to stay out of trouble in helicopters, Guido."
He hugged me again, and turned to Falcone to say "Uncle Benny, this man, he doesn't scare. Not because he's stupid, but because he's a lot tougher and a lot smarter than most people give him credit for.
You remember I told you about how I got shot down in… that place?"
Falcone nodded, and Jules went on to tell him "This man here, and some others, are the ones that pulled me out before I*really* got into trouble. Even then, it was pretty exciting getting back. Anybody you send after him, they won't come back. God's honest truth, I'm surprised Vinnie and Charlie did. I talked to them. Neither one of them has the faintest idea of what he did – all Vinnie knows is that he woke up in the hospital; all Charley knows is that he was looking down the barrel of a.45 before he even knew this man moved. You know Charlie – and this man SCARED him."
"Okay, so maybe he's tough. But dammit, he's costing me a lot of money!"
"Uncle Benny, you KNEW those people were crooks when you went into business with them. Now you're gonna get all upset that they stole your money?"
"Them I can take care of. But I don't like this one going to the FBI and making trouble. I think maybe I need to take care of him, so nobody else gets any fancy ideas."
"Uncle Benny, I promise you: you don't want to start that kind of trouble with him. Believe me, I saw what him and his friends can do.
They don't make war. They ARE war. They're the people Uncle Sam sends in to soften people up before war happens, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. So maybe he's lucky. I bet he can't be lucky forever."
"He doesn't have to be. Uncle Benny, I don't think you understand just what this man can do. If he got it into his head that he wanted to kill you, there's nothing anybody in this room could do to stop it. NOTHING."
"He'd be killed, if he tried."
"Maybe – but I can tell you that HE wouldn't die until after YOU did.
And he'd probably take everybody else in this room with him. Then when his friends heard about it, they'd take care of the rest of us.
They know I'm not in the business, so I'd probably wouldn't get hurt too bad – but by the time they were done, this family would be nothing but widows and orphans."
That gave the old man something to think about. When he stopped to take a drink from the glass in front of him, Jules told him "Uncle Benny, remember when I was younger, and started sniffing after the girls? Remember what you told me – that I had to think with my brains, not my balls? I think it's time I reminded you of the same thing."
The old man looked at him a moment, before nodding his head slightly.
Here, I spoke up again, offering something I'd thought about that morning.
"Mister Francone, there's something else for you to think about."
"What's that, tough guy?"
"I told you that the FBI already has everything I know. You could be using this time to cut the damage you're going to have, instead of fussing over me. There are going to be people that the FBI is going to want to talk to – people you should talk to FIRST. From what they told me, they think they can take out as much as half your organization. I'd think you'd want to stop that."
He asked me "Why you telling me this, instead of just watching them do it?"
"Because I don't want any trouble with you – trouble that wouldn't do either one of us any good. I give you a little warning so you can save some of what you've got here, and you decide that I'm not worth messing with. That way, both of us come out of it with something, instead of both of us losing everything."
That was an idea that he could understand – a little mutual backscratching. And keeping at least SOME of what he already had. I could see in his face that he knew he had a serious problem with the FBI investigation.