Act of Revenge by Robert K. Tanenbaum Page A

of the Bollano crime family and presented his Machiavellian analysis of their various rivalries. The Bollanos were the smallest of New York’s Mafia families, not looking to expand at all, but what they held, they held very hard. Their base was the Lower East Side, and Anselmo had charts and tables showing their various estimated sources of income, so much from drugs, so much from prostitution, so much from shakedowns and loan sharking. This was boring. Who cared about the enterprises or politics of thugs, except someone planning to write one of those inside-the-Mob books? Karp’s instinct was for the concrete, for the facts, for the evidence. They had a crime; was there a case? Anselmo came to the end of his aria. In the silence that followed, Karp asked, “So you like Joe Pigetti for it?”
    â€œYeah, I do. It’s the only scenario that makes sense. Pigetti and Catalano were the two most powerful capos. Catalano was tight with Little Sally, Pigetti was on the outs with both of them, but he was Charlie Tuna’s protégé and he had more or less replaced Tonnati with Big Sally. If the old don were to kick off, though, he’d be up shit’s creek. Or maybe he heard that the two of them were going to do him. So he goes to the don and lays something bad on Catalano. Some betrayal, he’s skimming—whatever. The old guy’s not so sharp, so he gives the okay. For Pigetti it was a good career move.”
    Karp seemed to give this serious attention. “Roland?”
    â€œWell, Pigetti’s out as the actual trigger,” said Roland. “He’s alibied to the neck. Apparently there was a big party the night of. One of the don’s nephews was getting married, and the goombahs threw him a party at the Casa D’Oro on Elizabeth. Pigetti was there until two or so, and then he and a bunch of them went out clubbing until four-thirty. Catalano was at the party and he left around one-thirty, or it could’ve been an hour earlier or later, because all the boys were feeling pretty good by then and vague about the time. In any case, it happens that we know the exact time of death because one of the bullets fired into the back of Catalano’s skull came out through his eye and broke the dashboard clock at three-fourteen a.m .” He paused to see what effect this detail had on the assembled group.
    â€œThat’s a fancy touch,” said Karp carefully.
    â€œIt is a fancy touch,” Roland agreed. “A little fancier than we’re used to from the wise guys. Call me cynical, but you might suspect that it was done on purpose that way to give Joe an alibi. It turns out that a little before three, Joe was checking into the valet parking at a club at 57th off Eighth. So clearly the cops are looking for an associate of Joe’s who doesn’t have an alibi for the time of, and they come up with Marco Moletti. Moletti was also seen leaving the Casa D’Oro with Catalano and a couple of other guys. Catalano was going to drop by his girlfriend’s house, and he took this bunch along for the ride, maybe call up some ladies and continue the party. But Mutt and Jeff got talking to some girls at a light and they bailed. According to Mutt and Jeff, Marco was the last guy in the car. According to Marco, Marco wasn’t feeling so hot, having overindulged at the fiesta, so after dropping Catalano at the girl’s place at Park and 36th, he handed over the keys, walked to his place, Lex and 49th, and crashed. He says.”
    â€œThat’s a long walk, you’re not feeling so good,” said Karp.
    â€œThe cops thought so, too,” said Roland. “Besides that, Catalano never made it to the girlfriend that night. The cops think Marco stuck a gun in Catalano’s back, made him drive to under the highway, and popped him there. Then either someone picked him up or he walked away and took a cab or the subway home. In any case, Marco was the last person