That was curious. Checking his notes, he discovered that she was a nurse. It was just a detail, one of those bits that easily could have been overlooked. But Tommy figured that wherever she was she had to be working. Bills had to get paid. He knew she couldn’t get a nursing job under an assumed name. Whoever hired her would have checked her license. “I figured what the hell, let me take a shot. If she’s stupid enough to be working as a nurse under her real name, I’m going to get him.”
Whatever she was doing, he figured she needed a car to do it. He did a massive computer search, looking for a car registered in the mother’s name. And there it was. A woman with that name had leased a car in Florida and after a couple of years had stopped making payments. The car had been repossessed. Tommy called the precinct in Florida covering the area in which the car had been repoed. He spoke with a detective and asked, “You got any hospitals around where you are?” There were two of them. “Do you have any connections to them?” The detective knew people in administration. “Do me a favor, would you? Call your people at those hospitals and see if they got a woman with this name working there.”
The Florida detective called back fifteen minutes later. A woman with that name was working in one of the hospitals. Unfortunately, that hospital was in a different precinct. It was out of his jurisdiction.
Two hours after Tommy had sat down determined to solve this case he was speaking with a detective in the correct precinct. This detective contacted the head of security at the hospital and got the mother’s home address. Tommy faxed the arrest warrant to Florida. Less than an hour later, three hours total, the detective called Tommy. “He was sitting on the front stoop when we got there,” he said. “He didn’t give us any trouble.” Hynes pled guilty to the assault and was sentenced to five to fifteen.
Turned out Hynes was very lucky. Ironically, after Hynes had been sentenced one of the college kids died of his injuries. The case had finally become a homicide. Tommy spoke with the victim’s family, asking them what they wanted the DA to do. Vecchione was willing to go back to courtwith the more serious charge. But the family had had enough. They didn’t want to dredge up those memories.
When Dades and Vecchione began working the Casatelli case their relationship had been strictly professional. Cops and lawyers often get along about as well as cats and Chinese chefs. A lot of detectives consider the DA’s office their enemy. They’ve spent too much time working with prosecutors who didn’t believe them, or found a thousand ways to make their job more difficult, or just wouldn’t get with the program. Some prosecutors aren’t exactly passionate about cops either. But Tommy got along very well with most of the people in Joe Hynes’s office. In fact, he got along with them so well that other detectives used to kid Tommy about these friendships, warning him that if he ever got in trouble in Brooklyn the DA would have to appoint a special prosecutor because everybody in the office was his friend. He was up-front with his objectives and always delivered what he promised.
Occasionally Dades and Vecchione would have dinner. Occasionally eventually became frequently. There were barbecues at their mutual friend Joe Ponzi’s place on Staten Island. Mike was divorced but Tommy got to know his two sons, whatever new woman he was dating, and his father. Mike got to know Tommy’s wife, Ro, and their kids and Tommy’s mother. Mike and Tommy got together about once a week, but they’d speak on the phone at least once a day. If they were working a case they might speak three or four times a day. Their conversations covered all the ground between the gossip about the latest mob hit and Mike’s son’s football game. When Tommy started boxing in NYPD shows and fund-raisers, Mike and Joe Ponzi were usually sitting
Whatever she was doing, he figured she needed a car to do it. He did a massive computer search, looking for a car registered in the mother’s name. And there it was. A woman with that name had leased a car in Florida and after a couple of years had stopped making payments. The car had been repossessed. Tommy called the precinct in Florida covering the area in which the car had been repoed. He spoke with a detective and asked, “You got any hospitals around where you are?” There were two of them. “Do you have any connections to them?” The detective knew people in administration. “Do me a favor, would you? Call your people at those hospitals and see if they got a woman with this name working there.”
The Florida detective called back fifteen minutes later. A woman with that name was working in one of the hospitals. Unfortunately, that hospital was in a different precinct. It was out of his jurisdiction.
Two hours after Tommy had sat down determined to solve this case he was speaking with a detective in the correct precinct. This detective contacted the head of security at the hospital and got the mother’s home address. Tommy faxed the arrest warrant to Florida. Less than an hour later, three hours total, the detective called Tommy. “He was sitting on the front stoop when we got there,” he said. “He didn’t give us any trouble.” Hynes pled guilty to the assault and was sentenced to five to fifteen.
Turned out Hynes was very lucky. Ironically, after Hynes had been sentenced one of the college kids died of his injuries. The case had finally become a homicide. Tommy spoke with the victim’s family, asking them what they wanted the DA to do. Vecchione was willing to go back to courtwith the more serious charge. But the family had had enough. They didn’t want to dredge up those memories.
When Dades and Vecchione began working the Casatelli case their relationship had been strictly professional. Cops and lawyers often get along about as well as cats and Chinese chefs. A lot of detectives consider the DA’s office their enemy. They’ve spent too much time working with prosecutors who didn’t believe them, or found a thousand ways to make their job more difficult, or just wouldn’t get with the program. Some prosecutors aren’t exactly passionate about cops either. But Tommy got along very well with most of the people in Joe Hynes’s office. In fact, he got along with them so well that other detectives used to kid Tommy about these friendships, warning him that if he ever got in trouble in Brooklyn the DA would have to appoint a special prosecutor because everybody in the office was his friend. He was up-front with his objectives and always delivered what he promised.
Occasionally Dades and Vecchione would have dinner. Occasionally eventually became frequently. There were barbecues at their mutual friend Joe Ponzi’s place on Staten Island. Mike was divorced but Tommy got to know his two sons, whatever new woman he was dating, and his father. Mike got to know Tommy’s wife, Ro, and their kids and Tommy’s mother. Mike and Tommy got together about once a week, but they’d speak on the phone at least once a day. If they were working a case they might speak three or four times a day. Their conversations covered all the ground between the gossip about the latest mob hit and Mike’s son’s football game. When Tommy started boxing in NYPD shows and fund-raisers, Mike and Joe Ponzi were usually sitting
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