“I still say we hit back and hit back hard,” Joey said.  “That’s the only thing fuckers like Bovenconti understands.”

“I agree with Joey,” said Ron Bevin.  “We need to show those bastards who’s still top dog!”

It was the day after he purchased the Aston-Martin for Nikki, and three days after explosions rocked the docks.  Teddy was in an odd place: happy to have Nikki in his life.  Drained and unhappy with the still unfolding events he had to handle.

He was standing in front of the group, leaned against the front of his desk, with folded arms.  His legs were outstretched and crossed at the ankle, and he did more listening than talking.  He’d met with outside groups.  He wanted to see where his people stood.

They were at Teddy’s office inside the Colgate building, a building a mile from the docks and owned by Teddy himself.  It was a building where mob business was conducted under the guise of an import/export business, called Teddy’s Import/Export, rather than the gunrunning they were actually involved with.  But it kept them separated from Sinatra Industries, Mick Sinatra’s legitimate business empire.

All of the crew chiefs in the syndicate had offices there, including Joey.  And during this meeting, Joey’s lieutenants, the Bevin twins, were his most vocal supporters.  They backed Joey up, no matter what.  But the other capos, the other crew chiefs and lieutenants, were taking their cues from the boss: from Teddy.

But Teddy still listened to his kid brother and the twins go on and on, until they took it too far.

“If you think about it, Boss,” Big-Eye Bevin said to Teddy, “Boss Bovenconti’s been making noise for years.”

“Years!” Joey echoed.

“He or somebody in his family always got something negative to say about the Sinatras.  They always take the opposite side whenever we have meetings. They always talk about getting even and shit.  It’s been going on like that for a long time.”

“But we never clapped back,” Joey said, as the chains around his neck began clanging when he clapped his hands.  “He’s not big enough.  He’s just making noise.  All kinds of excuses we’ve heard.  From you and Pop both,” Joey added.  “But now, because we didn’t take their asses out when we should have, look what’s happened?”

Teddy frowned.  He couldn’t believe his brother went there.  “Bitch, what?” he asked Joey.  “That shit happened because of what your crew did!  Because of what the twins and Khaki did in that nightclub.  That’s what started this shit!”

“What are we going to do is the question,” Ron Bevin said.  “What we did in the past is irrelevant.  That’s over.  What are we going to do now?”

“You’re going to shut the fuck up,” Teddy said angrily. “That’s what you’re going to do!”

The other capos grinned.  Bevin, they felt, had it coming.  Who was he to question Teddy’s authority, and talk to Teddy like that?

But Ron and Big-Eye looked at Joey.  They had his back, but he didn’t have theirs?

“What he’s saying is true, though,” Joey decided to say, although he knew, unlike the Bevins, he had to tread carefully.  Teddy could be pushed just so far.  “We need a plan of attack.”

“And attack who, Joey?” Teddy asked.  “We haven’t even confirmed who hit us.  Who we gonna attack?  Nobody’s claimed responsibility for it.  Nobody’s got a conversation going through the pipeline.  We don’t know shit yet!”

“Who else can it be except Bovenconti?” Joey asked.

“Who else is Pop’s enemy?” Teddy asked, annoyed by his brother’s lack of range.  “Who else is my enemy?  Hell, who else is your enemy, Joey?  I can write a fucking phone book with who else!”

“But the last thing that happened was about Bovenconti!” Joey made clear.

“Okay, genius, prove it,” Teddy said.  “Prove it!”

The capos looked at Joey.  But he said nothing.  Just as they suspected, he had no proof whatsoever.

“Thought so,” one of the capos even said.  “You and those Bevin twins need to start listening to Teddy more, and not those bitches your dumbasses be sleeping with!”

All of the capos laughed.  Except Joey and the twins.  “Kiss my dumb ass, motherfucker!” Joey shot back.

“The point is,” Teddy said, still serious as serious could be, “we don’t know what our enemies are thinking, or when they were planning to launch an attack.  Some random could have hit us at this very moment to take advantage of what happened with Boss Bovenconti’s son.  We don’t have enough facts!”

Joey had no come back for that. 

Teddy exhaled.  “I don’t play that half-ass shit.  And nobody working under me,” he added, which included every leader in that room, “will play it either.  I have a meeting with Bovenconti tomorrow night.  He’s agreed to a sit-down.”

“He agreed?” Joey asked.

“Yeah, motherfucker he agreed!” Teddy fired back.  “What do you think I’m going to do?  Order him to sit down with me?”

“Hell yeah!” Joey said.  “That’s what Pop would do!”

“Bullshit!” said Teddy.  “Pop would have fired your ass for leading the crew that started this, and then he would have handed over to Boss B everybody involved in that hospital killing.  That’s what Pop would have already done!”

Teddy was on fire, and he could barely contain his rage.  “Bovenconti didn’t do shit to us until we did shit to him,” he said, “and that’s only if he did shit to us.  That’s only if he was actually behind those explosions.  Because if it’s really Boss B like you’re so certain it is, then we brought this hell on ourselves.  And you have the nerve to talk about what Pop would do.  Pop would do the right thing, not order around a man who wasn’t at fault to begin with.  That’s what Pop would do!”

Joey shut down again.  The capos looked to Teddy.  “What do you want us to do, Boss?” asked one.

“Keep your eyes and ears open,” Teddy said.  “I don’t want anybody out there accusing anybody of shit.  Just shut the fuck up and listen.  You hear some chatter, you let me know.  All information comes through me and me only.  Listen and report what you hear.  That’s all we’re going to do right now, until after I meet with Bovenconti.  Until I’m certain nothing else is at play here.”

They all understood.  But the Bevin twins were looking at Joey.  The twins were wondering if he heard that last part, about all info going through Teddy only.  Joey was supposed to be the conduit.  Info was supposed to flow to Joey first, and then it was Joey’s job to move it up the chain.  But Teddy was already freezing him out.

It was even more evident when the group began to disperse.  Many of the capos made a point of going over to Teddy, shaking his hand and publicly showing their unwavering support for him.  But one capo, Mikey Reed, brushed against Joey and uttered “asshole” beneath his breath as he did.

But Joey, being Joey, pushed him away from him and then took his fist and knocked him against the side wall.

And the fight was on.

Teddy heard the skirmish before he saw it.  But when he looked over and saw what was happening, and who was involved, he angrily pushed through the crowd of men that surrounded him, and he hurried to his two underlings.

Joey had Mikey in a headlock, and was beating him in the face, when Teddy grabbed his kid brother and, with his brute strength alone, flung him away from his own team member.  Mikey tried to charge at Joey again when they were separated, the anger was that intense, but the Bevin twins held him back.

“What the fuck is wrong with you two?”  Teddy was yelling at Joey and Mikey both.  “We’re on the same fucking team, you idiots!  What’s your problem?”

“What are you asking me for?” Joey yelled back.  “I was minding my own business.  He came at me!”

“Stay away from each other!” Teddy ordered.  Then he motioned.  “Get out of here, Mikey,” he said.  “Beat it.”

Mikey was still hot with Joey, but he knew Teddy wasn’t going to tolerate disobedience.  He jerked away from the twins and left the room.

Teddy gave Joey a hard look.  He didn’t understand him.  Some months he was the best crew chief he had.  Other times he was the worse.  The absolute worse!  And he had to know he was already on a short leash with their father, but he was still yanking the chain.  It was only a matter of time, Teddy knew, before he had to cut him off.  If he wasn’t his kid brother, it would have already happened.  But Joey was his kid brother!

“Keep this shit up,” Teddy warned, staring at his brother.  “Keep it up.”

Then Teddy left too.  The rest of the capos, except for the Bevin twins, gave Joey hard looks, too, and then followed behind Teddy.

When everybody had gone, the twins looked at Joey.  “Now you believe us?” Ron Bevin asked.

Joey frowned.  He was wiping a small trickle of blood from the side of his mouth. “What are you talking?  What I’m supposed to believe?”

“Now do you understand that your brother is trying to ice you out of your own family’s business?”

Joey still had a puzzled look on his face.

“You heard what Teddy said,” Ron said.  “He said all info goes straight to him.  Since when?  All info is supposed to go through you before it gets to him.  But he’s icing you out, Joey.”

“No telling what he says to Mick the Tick behind your back,” Big-Eye added.  “He could be lying his head off about you!”

“And you saw how he gave Mikey a pass,” Ron said.  “You saw how he acted like you started that shit.  Like you’re the problem.”

“Okay, so what?” Joey responded.  “What am I supposed to do about it?  Pop picked Teddy!  Teddy can do no wrong in his eyes, you just don’t know.  Teddy’s a natural leader.  Teddy’s this.  Teddy’s that.  You don’t know the shit I have to hear day in and day out about Pop’s golden boy Teddy!  I don’t care what the problem is, Pop takes his side.  What am I supposed to do about that?”

“You’re supposed to finally admit the truth,” Ron said.  “Teddy’s your brother.  But your brother?  He’s not up for the job, Joey.  You know it, and I know it.  He dithers around and can’t make a decision.  It’s been three fucking days since those dock fires and what have we done?  We ain’t done shit, Joey!  We need somebody like you as the number two!  We need somebody who’ll fuck the proof and do what he needs to do to keep this family on top!”

“And what about this meeting he’s having with Boss Bovenconti?” Big-Eye asked.  “If Bovenconti claims he didn’t do it, what’s going to happen next?  Is Teddy just going to believe him?”

“You’ve got to make your move, Joey,” Ron said.  “No more bullshitting around!  Teddy’s got to go, or every fucker in this town is going to be gunning for us.”

“Yeah, well, tell that shit to Pop,” Joey said.  “See how far that gets you.”

“Your old man is too busy running his legit empire to see what’s really going on,” said Ron.  “You’ve got to show him, Joey.  You’ve got to make your move.  The future of the Sinatra Crime Family is depending on you.”

Joey knew it was a gross exaggeration.  Teddy and Mick Sinatra weren’t about to let their organization go up in flames.  And he knew the twins were kissing his ass, not because they were so devoted to him, but because they knew his elevation would elevate them.  But he also knew what he heard.  Teddy was icing him out of the chain of command.  He was sidelining him as an excuse to ultimately get rid of his ass.  The twins, Joey feared, were spot on.