Westies by T. J. English

Author:T. J. English
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: MysteriousPress.com/Open Road
Published: 2012-01-02T17:44:50+00:00

11

THE FEDS AND LITTLE AL CAPONE

In the wake of the Whitehead homicide, the Intelligence cops began their most concerted initiative yet. Ironically, it had nothing to do with the events surrounding Whitehead’s November 22, 1978, demise in the basement of the Opera Hotel. By early December, detectives from the 4th Homicide Zone were still investigating the murder, running evidence through ballistics and trying to track down the “Bobby” whose love letter had been left next to Whitehead’s corpse. As of yet, nobody had connected anything to Coonan or Featherstone.

But even as Homicide continued pursuing the Whitehead matter, the Intelligence Division was following up on a totally unrelated lead of their own—one that would eventually overtake the Whitehead investigation, incorporating it in a barrage of criminal charges designed to get the Hell’s Kitchen Irish Mob off the streets once and for all.

Intell’s latest line of investigation had actually begun roughly six weeks before Whitehead’s death, in September ’78, when Greg Derkasch, a Special Agent with the U.S. Secret Service’s New York Field Office, called Sergeant Tom McCabe. “Hey,” said Derkasch, “we’re holding a guy here named Coonan, James Coonan. Possibly a counterfeit rap, definitely gun possession. We know all about him, but we’re trying to track down a possible partner of his. All we got is a first name, Mickey. Know anything about it?”

“Oh, man,” replied McCabe, “are you kiddin’?”

After McCabe gave Derkasch an extensive rundown on Featherstone, the Secret Service agent let out a loud, sustained whistle. “Wow. That’s some file you got.”

“Yeah,” said McCabe. “We been hopin’ to nail these guys for months. So what’s this about Coonan?”

Derkasch told McCabe that a few days earlier, on the morning of September 14th, he’d gotten a call from the manager of Bowery Savings Bank on Lexington Avenue in midtown Manhattan. The manager was holding a woman who had just tried to deposit what looked to be two counterfeit $100 federal reserve notes. Derkasch went to the bank immediately and examined the bills. They were counterfeit alright, and not particularly good ones at that. He recognized them as part of a series that had recently started circulating in the New York metropolitan area.

The woman who’d tried to deposit the notes identified herself as Joanne DePalma. She’d gotten them that night at her place of business, the Spartacus Spa #1, an upscale massage parlor located at 146 East 55th Street. Ms. DePalma, it seemed, was a high-class hooker, and she’d received the bills for services rendered.

Derkasch escorted DePalma back to Spartacus, where he was introduced to the night manager and another working girl named Felicia “Monique” Ledesma. It was around 6 that morning, Derkasch was told, that two guys, one named Jimmy and the other Mickey, entered the club and had a few drinks. Then they had “sessions” with Joanne DePalma and Monique. DePalma remembered that the guy she was with had a tattoo on his right arm with the name “Mickey” written underneath it. Mickey and Jimmy gave the girls a $100 bill apiece and paid the club’s fee with a third C-note.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.