Jake was a natural at police work. His youth, street smarts, and network of informants were advantages that got him into places older, more seasoned officers couldn’t infiltrate. He soon went into undercover work and penetrated an area of the racketeering arm of the local mafia. During his undercover work, he discovered some dirty cops, and his work lead to several major crime convictions of both criminals and dirty police officers. Over the course of his undercover work, he had been shot three times when his cover was blown. His department took him out of undercover work, promoting him to detective as one of the youngest officers in the NOPD history.
Jake had been assigned to head the undercover operation for the organized crime auto theft unit almost two years before Wade and Ed first met him. At that time, the Coletta gang had expanded into the largest auto theft ring in the city’s history. This crime syndicate had become a major problem to the city. Pisano had been able to connect the Coletta ring to some of the big organized crime Mafia bosses he had identified in his prior undercover assignment.
Jake Pisano lived knowing that he had a contract out on his life — ordered directly by the ranking crime boss in the city for his previous undercover work. Pisano’s persistent style did not allow him to approach his new auto theft undercover assignment lightly. The undercover men on his team were all hand picked. He required that each member not only be from the streets, but also well versed in auto mechanics and car parts. There was one member of his team who Pisano felt didn’t have enough knowledge about auto mechanics. Pisano sent him to Delgado Trade School to take two courses in auto repair.
His undercover team had its own section of the motor pool repair garage. The large room had engine and chassis parts taken from seized vehicles for the team to practice on. Pisano wanted his men to be able to take apart an engine and know how those parts went back together. He also wanted them to know the cost of the parts on the open market and the going prices for junk yard replacements. Pisano’s men had to be convincing in their undercover roles. He firmly believed that their lives would be at stake if they made a mistake in negotiating or in the mechanical lexicon used when dealing with the real criminals.
Hanna and Langer had never met Pisano or heard anything about his background or undercover operation. They were a bit surprised by his young age at their first meeting. Ed Langer’s face was still swollen and bruised from the beating he received from arresting officers. Hanna and Langer hadn’t spoken to each other since the night of the arrest. Neither man knew what this meeting was about or what would happen to them.
Pisano sounded relaxed and confident as he started talking. “You guys are probably wondering why I called the meeting. Both of you were arrested for auto theft, and Ed, you were also arrested for possession of an illegal weapon, resisting arrest, and assaulting a police officer.”
Langer and Hanna looked at each other, wondering where the surprising list of charges came from but said nothing. Pisano continued, “You could both serve long sentences at the ‘house’ with what we have now. The evidence is overwhelming. You were caught in the act. We have the hubcaps, the weapon, and the testimony of at least four arresting officers. Do you guys understand that?”
Both nodded.
“To show our good faith, we let you two go that evening and no paperwork has been filed for now. In other words, there is no police record on file yet for either of you. The way this works is we need information on the people you work for. We’re not interested in you guys but we’re interested in the ring you work for and how they operate. Do you understand?”
Hanna spoke up, “Sir, I don’t work for any ring.”
Pisano cut Wade off mid-sentence. “I know each of your stories. You were the driver and an integral part of the theft. It was your car that was used, so let me continue. I run an undercover operation for the NOPD on this theft ring. In order to get information we need, you’ll have to work undercover. Do the two of you know what that means?”
Both nodded again, but Hanna still had a puzzled look on his face and was about to speak. Before he could say anything, Pisano pointed at him and said, “I’m coming to you.” Pointing to Langer he said, “You work for the largest auto theft ring in the city. That ring has established ties with the mafia, and both groups are expanding into other states and even Central America.”
Langer responded, “But, sir, I only work for the two guys I report to. I don’t know anything about a large ring or organized crime.”
Pisano interrupted, “Langer you are small potatoes, and that’s how we want to keep it. We get our best information from lower level people who are expected to ask dumb questions. The two of you need to consider me as your parole officer. You have to look at your involvement here as working off the crimes you have committed. If you provide us with the information we need and things work out, we will forget the matter of your arrest and destroy the files we have on you. You go back to a normal life. If you can’t or won’t cooperate, I simply tell the arresting officers to turn your files over to the DA for prosecution. That is the way it works.”
He continued. “You guys are what we call ‘dead meat’. Whether you go to prison or work for us undercover, we have plausible deniability if anything bad happens to you. I don’t think I have to give you a lecture on what happens to young men in Angola. If you’re lucky, you’ll spend a long time as a girlfriend or wife under the protection of one of our fine inmates. If you’re not lucky, you will probably be dead within six months.”
Langer and Hanna were now nervously looking back and forth at each other. The two young men thought the same thing without saying a word, The choice is simple: we don’t have a choice.
Pisano looked at each of them and said, “I’m not going to kid you about undercover work; it’s dangerous. One wrong move and you’re gone, as in dead. I can tell you from my point of view, you are worth more alive than dead. If you’re dead, you just become another crime statistic for us to file.” Pisano continued, “I can tell you both I spent many years undercover. If you listen to me carefully and follow my instructions, both of you will probably get through this. If you’re good at undercover work, you’ll develop a feeling, a sixth sense about a problem before it happens. It’s like a mystical sense or warning system you develop when you know something bad is going to happen. You need to let me know when you get that feeling. It’s saved my life many times.”
There was silence for a moment. Then Pisano asked, “So, what’s it going to be?”
Hanna and Langer looked at each other and nodded yes.
Pisano didn’t accept their weak responses. “That’s not good enough. I need to know whether you are in or out.”
They nodded more vigorously and said, “We’re in.”
Langer spoke up then. “What do we do now?”
Pisano pointed his finger at him, “For you, I want you to go back and do exactly what you were doing, reporting to the same people, selling stolen parts and doing transactions just like before. I want you to continue selling Hanna and your other customers parts the same way you’ve been doing it.”
Pisano told Hanna, “For right now, I want you going back doing what you did before also. Attending school, working at your garage, racing cars, and buying parts from your buddy here. I want to meet again in two weeks. I’ll call you both to set up that meeting.”
“The key is for you both now is to act like nothing has happened.” Looking at Langer, he instructed, “If they ask you how you got beat up, say that you had a fight with a rival gang over parts.”