Well, as you know my name is Maria De La Cruz. And even if your life is not enough to pay for all the damage you did, I will try to make your last days the most miserable of all, and your death will be a gift.- You have said it, besides what do you expect from a decadent old man like me.- There are some issues to resolve and you know it.- I know, but I can't do anything about it, because first of all I don't regret anything. Power blinds you, separates you from the good people, forces you to be part of the bad people, and darkens you. And secondly, you can do with me as you please, even torture would not hurt me, because I no longer feel anything, and when you killed my wife, you did me a favor, thanks to that I could get rid of my grandson, which by the way my son stole, although in reality he took what belonged to him, and gave it to a dirty Mexican woman.When he heard those last two words, a slap in the face knocked the old man out of his chair, he hit himself hard and his head
Okay, that's the situation, madam, you must tell me, without worrying, what exactly your beloved does for a living.- I can't tell you, I swear -she cries-.Maria De La Cruz, takes a step back and in a sudden movement with her hand after a signal, gives the order to execute, in her own style. The hooded deli-crouch puts the gun on the forehead of Del Valle's son, and without hesitation, leaves the stain that gives so much adrenaline power to the Mexican, suddenly everyone cries from Europe, the transmission is cut to continue later, she leaves the place, turns off the lights, and warns them that they will stay there, without water, without food, and without light until they speak, and that the next video will be dismembering her grandchildren. He leaves the room, turns everything off, but the microphones and cameras remain on.Maria De La Cruz's anger filled her with hatred, and when that happened the people around her run the risk of dying, even if they were innocent, she feared for
that day they said goodbye to the beloved cave, and went into the road, maybe they were lucky and someone would give them a ride, and confirm where they were stranded.Tent into the road, maybe they were lucky and someone would give them a ride, and confirm where they were stranded.Despite being quite far away, they felt in the peace and quiet of the flora an annoying noise of cars, they knew it was relatively close, they walked a few kilometers, where their ears led them and finally arrived. With water perhaps, enough to live on for a few weeks, they were walking through the dangerous Mexican desert. Dangerous, because there are plenty of animals that only seek the death of their prey, and also to quench their thirst, but after three hot days, an old truck belonging to a farmer, knew how to shelter them from the dark asphalt.They traveled for hours, and on the way they talked only about the farmer's life, they were able to feel comfortable, and he felt comfortable with them, that is
After getting the luxuries, the expensive cars, eating the best food, and having everything at your disposal, being undercover in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Mexico is not an easy task for anyone on this planet earth.But these two characters were about to open up a range of realities that until then were hidden from their knowledge. So they prepared themselves, rented a modest house, and decided to set themselves in the murky suburbs of the place.The new house of the family, from that moment on called Los Romero, at the beginning was a nest of insects where there were only broken wood, some moves in hands states and so on, but then in a matter of weeks, it was already a humble house worthy of living, she returned to teach history classes, and some other subject that had quite clear that knowledge. Little by little people were approaching friendly, on several occasions they wanted to rob them but of course they knew how to defend themselves, and they were not afraid of anyone
After an exuberant investigation, they managed to contact the blind man, this was an old man who lived in one of the most precarious houses that existed in that area, however the old man was very respected in the place because no one messed with him, apparently he would have been a great legend for everyone.They knocked on his door but he did not answer, they insisted, but they continued without cooperating, suddenly a young boy, badly dressed in a nasty dirty way, and maybe he had a little bit of hallucinogenic substances on him, anyway he answered too badly and shouting at them they had to leave so as not to continue calling the attention of the neighbor, but without a doubt they would return that same day at night to resume the lack of respect that made María De La Cruz so bad-tempered; poor Emiliano Romero was about to die of shock at seeing so much disorder around him.That same night, exactly at two o'clock in the morning when the dark shadows abound in the streets, they went o
Leaving the precarious house, they quickly took refuge in their home in Mexico, but the matter of opening the safe deposit box was quite complicated, because it had a security system that if it was violated, what was inside would catch fire, and nobody wanted to miss reading that hidden information. David Del Valle was one of the few options they had, and the only way to locate him was to let him be seen, that is, to expose himself to danger. Before that day was over, they started their way back to Miami, there would never be any problems crossing the border, since Maria De La Cruz's high influence would protect them. When they arrived at her mansion, they entered through the back door, because the main door, for some unknown reason, was under lock and key. When they entered, they noticed that all the furniture was covered with white cloth, and their personal belongings were stored inside a box. That made the Mexican woman burst with anger, and she quickly called the person in charge
A gunshot deafened his senses, he felt the blood leaving his body and falling on his face, preventing him from having a good vision. He ran with all his strength, without letting go of the box, got into his truck and drove aimlessly. She didn't understand very well what was happening, she didn't know who had shot her, but what she did know was that Emiliano Romero was an accomplice of those gangsters, and the information in that box was key for her. She drove through a marginal neighborhood for fifteen minutes, deducing that if she had not died yet, it was simply because the shot was not accurate, thanks to the fact that she was able to dodge it just in time. She left her car on the side of the road, she knew these places very well, as she had sometimes delivered narcotics, one of the thugs recognized her, hid her and helped her to clean her wounds while they set the car on fire. She could not waste too much time, she was not sure, but someone was definitely following her. He said he
Before returning to Argentina to begin her plan of revenge against Emiliano Romero and his brother David Del Valle, she wanted to go back to her childhood neighborhood, and remembered the houses of some friends, one of them Lupita, she called her when she saw her walking quietly between the most dangerous streets of Mexico, but with the gun in her waist, she only gave the impression of being part of there, and in fact she was. When Maria saw Lupita, she crossed the street to meet her, there they entered a large house, one of the best, three stories, white, surrounded by fences and more precarious homes, the lack of the place was noticeable. That afternoon they spent the whole day together, but in the evening Maria wanted to return to Guanajuato, since she had rented an apartment there, just before leaving, her friend found a folder with a particular manuscript that she said was from her mother when she was a little girl. Their mothers had been friends in ancient times, and apparently
When she picked up the phone, however, she heard the stern rebuke in her father's voice, who shouted, "Arlyne!" She withdrew her hand. With one brief command, Irving had just firmly excluded her from his most intimate affairs. That was the way things worked in the Weiss family. Doors that slammed shut. Mirrors that stared back. And telephone rings that hid secrets. Maria De La Cruz would have been slow to reflect on her mother's writings, at least she discovered that her real name was "Arlyne", and that she had made a kind of auto-bibliography written in the third person, but how could I find out? Well, those sheets hid an admirable truth and bandit, they coincided perfectly with her father's chest. She was confused for a few days, she wasn't sure what her real surname was, her real name, and she certainly had become quite messed up in her mind. However, in the shadows of her questions, she was filled with relief and emotion for the blood that ran in her veins; even though they carrie
Irving and Billie, who were used to frequenting classier joints, had to pop in from time to time, basically because one of the other co-owners was one of Lucky Luciano's friends: Giuseppe Antonio Doto, also known as Joe Adonis. Adonis was an aloof guy and, to Arlyne, a complete mystery. She managed to catch a glimpse of him one night while he sat waiting for her father in front of the apartment. Although Arlyne was not yet a teenager, the sight of Adonis' hazy profile through the tinted glass of the Cadillac aroused some sexual interest in her. His marked, sensual features seemed both exotic and forbidding. Although the question had not been explicitly discussed, it was clear that any daughter of Irving Weiss would stay far away from the Italians, who were widely known for preying on mirror maze 51 Jewish girls and recounting the details of their conquests on street corners and in taverns all over the Lower East Side. On the one hand, Adonis was attractive because he was so strange,
Although pleasant at first, these formalities began to wear on Miss Blum's patience. Constrained by convention, she could not initiate contact without a suitable pretext. Fortunately, one did present itself. One of the funeral homes was going to hold a raffle and all the East Side undertakers were given a handful of ballots to sell. Ida Blum, who usually handled these matters, called her daughter and asked if she was interested in trying her luck with the Weiss brothers. At her mother's timely suggestion, Billie went to Houston Street on the pretext of selling them ten raffle tickets. Irving was willing to buy all ten, but Henry stopped him, telling him that five would be enough. That confirmed what Billie thought: that Irving was the most generous, and the best catch. In fact, Billie had left nothing to chance. Before approaching them and without anyone seeing her, she had lifted the red Mafia Girl 46 stamps from the ballots in order to guarantee that she was selling a winning one t
Those who declined the offer received threats of sabotage and often death. Lansky and Los Chicos ran their criminal enterprises almost unchallenged until 1933, when they found themselves in troubled waters in the political arena. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who had emerged victorious at the 1932 Democratic National Convention with the support of the Lansky-controlled political bosses, soon turned against his old allies and launched an all-out war against organized crime. That move made him so popular that local politicians across the country took his lead. New York Governor Herbert Lehman appointed a politically ambitious young man named Thomas Dewey as special prosecutor to bring the mobsters to justice. Dewey set about his task with fervor, lashing out at the bouncers across the spectrum of suspect sectors. However, the onslaught of his prosecutorial fury fell especially hard on Lepke and Gurrah, whom he considered "the two biggest extortionists in the country." Realizing t
They were all avid gamblers, and they all came to Frankie. Sometimes, preferably on Saturday afternoons, because no funerals were officiated and she was allowed to gamble on the front steps, Arlyne would visit her grandmother. On those occasions, she would go down a back staircase leading to the neighboring basement and visit Uncle Frankie and his friends. She used to find them stretched out on a couple of old couches, going over the race sheet and listening to the standings on a big old wooden radio. They didn't seem to mind that little girl hanging around. Sometimes Frankie or one of the others would sneak her a quarter and a pat on the cheek. In fact, as Arlyne recalls, those men were "the Uncles." For example, there was Uncle Milty Tillinger, the loan shark. Once, when one of Milty's relatives was on the run from justice, Ida hid him in the coffin room until the danger passed, earning the loyalty of the Tillinger family forever. There was also Izzy Smith, owner of Zion Cemetery do
As Arlyne observed, Grandma was always surrounded by men, most of them much younger than she was. Among those blowflies flying over Ida's kitchen on Friday night were Jimmy and Jake, the chauffeurs in charge of driving the hearse during the funeral. It was obvious that both young men held their benefactress in high esteem. Jake, a ladies' man, flirted with Ida nicely and then went on his way. The other, however, had been hit harder. Jimmy the Pagan, as he was known, was a shy soul who seemed unable to find a girlfriend. Ida had taken pity on him and offered to teach him to dance. Later, when she had finished her duties as cook, she would take his hand and lead him into the living room, where she would put a record on the phonograph. Then, to the delight of those present, she would show Jimmy the first steps in the erotic pleasures of tango. Their bodies were not a perfect match; Ida was much more muscular than her skinny dancing partner. But Jimmy was eager to learn and Arlyne found i
As far back as Arlyne's memory goes, every Friday night the Weiss family went to Grandma's house. It was a sacred obligation, one they could not skip under any circumstances. As a child, Arlyne looked forward to those outings with innocent enthusiasm, taking them for granted and not understanding them. By 1944, when she was eleven years old, an age when the growing knowledge of the mysteries behind ordinary events pricked her curiosity, those visits took on a new importance. At three o'clock sharp, as soon as they came home from school, Arlyne and her little sister, Barbara, would bathe and change, putting on the dress the maid had left on the bed. They then presented themselves to their mother, who, as was customary at that hour, was seated on a stool before the dressing table. Billie Weiss assessed her daughters with a critical eye and then placed the little girl before her. As she braided her long honey-colored hair, the little girl's head bobbed docilely up and down. But that idyl
In 1957, at the age of twenty-three, she married a furrier named Brickman. However, that union exploded because of her husband's constant flirtations, in addition to his penchant for grand larceny. With a young daughter and an indefatigable spirit, Arlyne resumed her destructive pursuit of glamour and influence only to end up raped and beaten to a pulp at the hands of mobsters she considered her friends. The rape marked in Arlyne's career the advent of a new cruelty, born simultaneously of a desire to ven- The Mob Girl 18 ganza and the need to protect herself. She spent the next thirteen years of her life in a stormy and often violent relationship with a Genovese mobster named Tommy Luca. During that period, she also became an "entrepreneur", engaging first in illegal gambling and then in drug trafficking, and displaying a constant obsession with money. It was that cynical view of the world that allowed her to evolve quite naturally into a career as a confidante. The main reason for t
Before returning to Argentina to begin her plan of revenge against Emiliano Romero and his brother David Del Valle, she wanted to go back to her childhood neighborhood, and remembered the houses of some friends, one of them Lupita, she called her when she saw her walking quietly between the most dangerous streets of Mexico, but with the gun in her waist, she only gave the impression of being part of there, and in fact she was. When Maria saw Lupita, she crossed the street to meet her, there they entered a large house, one of the best, three stories, white, surrounded by fences and more precarious homes, the lack of the place was noticeable. That afternoon they spent the whole day together, but in the evening Maria wanted to return to Guanajuato, since she had rented an apartment there, just before leaving, her friend found a folder with a particular manuscript that she said was from her mother when she was a little girl. Their mothers had been friends in ancient times, and apparently