The Butcher by Philip Carlo

Author:Philip Carlo
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Random House UK
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

25

PARTY GIRL

One would think, considering how quickly Pitera killed, that he was invincible; that all his troubles could be solved with murder. Murder was like a coat of armour that Pitera constantly wore.

Surely, nothing could hurt him.

If Pitera had a weakness, it was Celeste LiPari. No matter how many times he confronted her, she continued to do drugs. No matter how many fights they had, she did drugs. He did not believe in hitting women. She caused him pain. She caused him turmoil. He felt, sooner or later, that her drug use would cause her to get involved with other men, other women, scenarios that would embarrass him. After all, he had an image, a profile to maintain. He was a man of respect. What kind of man of respect had a girlfriend who was abusing drugs in after-hours clubs and being put-upon and hit on by every coked-up, horny Tom, Dick and Harry, every guido in Brooklyn? He knew for a fact that Phyllis Burdi was a loose woman – a whore. He knew she was having sexual relations with half the New York Mafia. He knew, too, that one of her lovers was Eddie Lino. Eddie and Tommy were friends. They genuinely liked each other. They did business together. And here was Phyllis Burdi, the biggest puttana in all of Brooklyn, hanging out with his beloved Celeste.

By way of Frank Gangi, Tommy sent word to Phyllis over and over: stay away from Celeste; stop hanging out with Celeste; stop getting high with Celeste! It did no good. He kept hearing that the two were seen here, there and everywhere.

Murder . . . Pitera’s remedy for all problems became a possible solution. Pitera had a meeting with Gangi in the Just Us bar.

‘Look,’ Pitera said, ‘you have to try to understand this situation. I do not – do not – want Phyllis hanging out with Celeste. It’s bad. I’m hearing things. Everyone knows.’ He shook his head from side to side, dismayed.

Frank wanted to tell Pitera he should be talking to Celeste, not him. It was Celeste who was doing the drugs. It was Celeste, he knew, who often asked him if he had some coke on him. He’d run into her at different bars and after-hours clubs and the first thing out of Celeste’s mouth was, ‘You got any blow?’ Gangi knew that Phyllis Burdi was promiscuous, but she was also a coke whore. She not only did coke but heroin, too. What Gangi would have liked to say to Pitera and what he did say were two radically different things. He had come to believe that Pitera was an out-of-control psychopath. The last thing he wanted to do was insult him, to get him angry.

‘I’ll find her,’ Frank said. ‘I’ll talk to her again.’

With that, Gangi called Phyllis and met her at a bar near her house. They sat on stools at the bar and ordered drinks.

‘Phyllis, how do I say this? I’ve said this so many times to you already.

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