Some People Need Killing by Patricia Evangelista

Author:Patricia Evangelista [Evangelista, Patricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2023-10-17T00:00:00+00:00

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The list of dead targets grew longer, said Simon. He knew most of them by their aliases: Toyo, Joseph, JC, Antonio, Pinuno, Sitoy. “We were confident,” said Simon, “because if we showed the police our ID, or even if we didn’t have ID to show, we’d just give them our names and say we were Commander Maning’s men. They’ll hold us at the PCP….They’ll take us for a ride and hold us. If they prove we’re positive [as the CSG], they’d let us go.”

Not every target was killed on police orders, said Simon. One woman on the target list, a dealer the locals called “Mommy,” knew there was a hit out for her and refused to leave her house. “So they took it out on her son instead.”

“It depends on the orders,” said Angel. “Doesn’t matter if you’re a kid or an adult. That’s how it works. If Maning says to kill someone, because the police paid him, he’ll say, ‘Go, drop the guy, he’s pissed off a lot of people inside. Do it.’ ”

Once Commander Maning announced a target, the surveillance team would fan out, four to seven men. They would watch the target, sometimes for days, from across an alley or the stoop of a corner store. They would listen when plans were made, befriend neighbors, and note when children came home. Sometimes the surveillance men would look through windows or knock on the door to purchase a sachet of meth—no problem, no worries, here you go, the folded hundred-peso bill just a quiet deal between friends.

Once the target was “positive,” a team would be selected. “Someone would go, ‘You, you, and you, go with him so it’s safe,’ ” said Angel, pointing at imagined cronies. “Four in front, the rest to the side. In every area you have a backup. That corner, two backups there. Those in front are on motorcycles. On the other side, two more. The target safely down, and no screwups.”

Sometimes they would use a van one of the members owned, sometimes a motorcycle with unregistered plates. If the target survived the first shot, another man would be waiting. He could be sitting at an outdoor canteen with a bowl of noodles. He could be on his phone, standing by the side of the road. He moved only after the target fell and the shooter ran. If the target twitched, he would fire the killing shot. They called him the finisher.

“I finish the job,” Angel said.

It took time for the vigilantes to develop more efficient methods for murder. They made mistakes along the way. They said they accidentally shot a twelve-year-old. That they killed a man wearing the same color shirt as their target, while the target ran away. They said they occasionally panicked and found themselves bunched into a cramped knot at the mouth of a narrow alley, just as their armed target walked by.

“I told them that’s how we would get screwed,” said Simon. “If anyone sprayed us with bullets, then we’d all be dead.

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