EYEHEARTZOMBIES

I settled into work and life pretty quick, truth be told. Manny was in town, working for the same casino that Max was. I remember the name now, but I don’t want to say anything. Manny still works there and so far I’ve done nothing but get myself into hot water. I don’t want to endanger his freedom or life, so I’m going to try and keep him as clean as I can.

A few weeks or a month went by with no real trouble arising. I walked the floor every day and night, watching for cheaters, counters, scams, and ruses. I caught a few on my own, but mostly the “eye in the sky” people saw them and just sent me in. The Mooch was great at picking out the undesirables, too. He’d sit at the table, playing a few hands with them, then suddenly reach up and grab their neck with his meaty hands. Those fuckers were the size of salad plates! They squeal like they’d been cut open from stem to stern and drop whatever cards they had hidden up their sleeves. Or you’d see their accomplices jump up from their games and run for the door. We’d pick ‘em off one by one as they reached the revolving glass door and we’d end up with a group in the back, all trying to sell each other out.

It was one of these roundups where I first saw the raw side of Sonny. Mooch had snatched two guys at one table, one in each hand, and me and three other guards had grabbed a guy each near the door. The guy I had in my hands tried to buy his freedom, promising me he’d cash in his chips and give me all the winnings. Over $5,000 he said. I just shook him a bit and continued to goose-step him back to the offices.

When we got there, the other three guards left and Mooch and I were left alone to tend to the five con artists. They had been sat in chairs and tied down with nylon rope.

The only door into the office, the one we had come through and Mooch and I had our backs to, opened and Sonny came in. He was dressed in a dark blue Gabardine suit, fitted out to the nines, so to speak. He had a quiet voice most of the time, low and invasive. It got in your ears and just wouldn’t leave. He looked at us, nodded, then turned to face the prisoners.

“Why do you boys want to steal from me?” He said. Quiet, as always. But there was an edge there. He wasn’t as nice as you wanted to believe when he spoke to you. “Huh? Why do you come here to cheat me?”

They didn’t speak; didn’t move. They just sat there, staring at their knees. I heard some whispered prayers from one or two of them. I had only been here a month but I had heard stories about how Sonny treated those who skimmed and stole from him. It just added to the story of him telling Lucky about Bugsy. I wonder if he’s the one that put the five slugs in Bugsy’s skull?

He walked over to one of ‘em, the guy that tried to buy me off. He tapped him on the shoulder, then smacked him on the back of his head. The guy looked up - startled up - then his eyes met Sonny’s and he looked down again. “Why do you want to steal from me?” His voice had started to rise and I could see the guy he was standing next to start to shake a little. The guy mumbled something. I thought I heard “sorry.” Sonny just ignored him, walked to the next guy.

He hit this head in the back of the head first off, no shoulder tap for this one. This was one of the two that Mooch had grabbed, so he was probably one of the ring leaders. “Why the fuck are you going to steal from me?” Sonny was definitely starting to yell.

He went around to the other three, doing the same thing, ignoring any comment or sound they made. Not that they really made any noise anyway. They muttered and mumbled, but that was about it. When he questioned all five, he turned the Mooch and me and said “Well, boys, we tried to get it out of them. Just an apology. A simple ‘I’m sorry, Sonny. I fucked up.’” He looked at us with complete sincerity.

“Yeah, boss. They just won’t fess up.” The Mooch’s strained voice seemed out of place somehow.

Sonny walked over to one of the cabinets on the side of the room. He opened it up and took out a baseball bat and a hacksaw. “You boys have another chance to apologize,” he called back, over his shoulder. All five of them erupted in apologies, but Sonny turned a deaf ear. I was a company man. I didn’t intervene. He handed me the bat, but I gave it to the Mooch. I didn’t want any part in this. Sonny shrugged when I handed the saw over and then turned back to what he was about to do.

I don’t really want to go into too much detail on this. You’ve all heard the stories. I’m sure you can picture it in your head. I didn’t approve of this. I thought Sonny should have made an example, yes, but not to this degree. Needless to say, the five cons weren’t in much shape to go anywhere once the Mooch and Sonny finished with them. They all had broken bones, ribs. Missing teeth. And three of them were missing fingers courtesy of Sonny’s hacksaw.

He went too far for me. But it wouldn’t really matter in the end. Everything changed soon after that.