Things on my mind & I don't know why

Thinking about death a lot lately. Then I remembered how many people I know died bad deaths. I know it's depressing but it's real life. Here are a few stories...
Back years ago in when me and Micheal Diogaurdi were coming out of the resturaunt on Cresent, I'll never forget two guys just walking towards us shooting at us. I remeber ducking under a parked car onthe sidewalk like it was yesterday. And how I had to contemplate on shooting my handgun I carried. I was on the ground, thinking how I was ruining my jacket , and at the same time thinking where my bulet was going to go. Wondering if I'd get sued or hurt a kid or damage a car. And also at the time I carried a 44 special that had huge bullets but only 5 shots. Couldn't get speedloaders for that gun, so I was also trying to reach in my jacket and get out the other 5 bullets I had. SO after I fired 1 back from under the car, the 3 inch barrel was so damn loud the guys broke for cover. These were some amateurs, and I remember being in the paper , security tape photo of me and Mike running for cover in broad daylight. And the police kind of acted like the whole thing was our fault for being there , and really didn't give a damn about us. I remeber paying a local street guy to take care of my gun and getting it back the next day. And Micheal was labeled in the paper as "Son of reputed organized crime figures visiting town", I was labeled as "Associate and family friend of Diguardi, etc. So even though these guys tried to kill us in public, endangering other people's lives as well, they only cared about who Mike and I were related to. We were just out to eat. Then six months later, when pretty boy Mike was alone in Minneopolis at a bar, he picked up a girl . Found on the side of the road, brains blown all over the car. They had gotten him. Now he was only 27 fucking years old and we had been kids together. But appearantly he had cut a "side" deal with a guy he met at his dad's business, and he had ripped the guy off. The paper never mentioned his dad , his history. Just a young guy last seen leaving with a pretty girl from a bar. Now I know how these things work. They killed Mike publicly to make an example of him, to let his family know what happened. And damn if he didn't really have to do any under the table stuff to make a living. His family practically gave him the club business and the clothing stores, and he'd never have to do anything illegal in his life if he didn't want to. But he wanted to be bigger I guess. Sad shit. I miss the guy even though he always used to get the women while I ended up driving the cars I could never afford. I remeber my mentor Enrico, who was a real consigliere , who passed from cancer. He told me how if you do have to do bad things in your life , try to at least have a moral code and only do what you have to do to make it work. Never flash or try to be bigger than you should. He was probably one of the most powerful men I ever knew , could probably have your head cut off for crossing him just by movement of a finger. But he died of cancer. Just like my friend Tom Cerone. Guy was like 5 ft 3 and always had a lot to say. He was called Tom "hit man" Cerone because he used to be a low level soldier back in the old days but he also played drums for years. Then he ended up with throat cancer.I remember right before he died he had the damn electronic box that made him sound like a robot. Then he was sick as hell and still gave a damn cancer benefit where he played his ass off on drums. He used to work the door at a competing showbar , and always sent me messages back to "break my balls" . My customers would say " Hey hit man just told me you ain't a real Italian , you're a Jew " etc. And whenever guys like Tom came in my clubs, they always still dropped 20's and 100's whenever they had it , even if they were not doing so well. They had the "respect" thing back then. I miss these guys. Another guy I miss is my old doorman Micheal L. who used to be a cop. Damn this guy was one of the coolest, take no shit , don't let shit get me down kind of guys I ever met. He was a tall guy , looked like a old biker in a way. Had the big mustache, gray hair since he was in his 30's. He was middle aged and retired now, and worked for me at my door. He would stand up to anyone who broke his principals. He wasn't the best looking guy, but he could get women anywhere he went becuase the guy had charm, and balls , and a lot of confidence. He was a first class guy. But the biggest thing about Mike L. I gotta tell is what he did as a cop. Now I know my share of dirty cops over the years. Anyone who worked adult business in the old days knows we used to have to grease these guys palms just to keep our clubs open. But Mike was a real fucking cop.He was clean. He believed in the principals of law and Justice and he tried to make a difference. He always got in trouble with the department, he was known in the department as a legendary rebel who challenged authority. So when he retired and came to work for us "bad people" he realized we actually had more ethics than some cops he knew. But what Mike did that showed what kind of guy he was is this story: He actually found like almost 1 million in drug money in a mini storage and fucking turned it in. Everyone in the community called him an idiot. He could have walked. I asked him why he never took the money , he had no witnesses and could have gotten away with it. He said simply "Tony the money wasn't mine. What was the point? I was fine before that money but I would have felt like shit the rest of my life if I took it. " Now this guy was the shit. Never mind he got degraded all over town for living by his ethics, but dammit when he died he left the legacy of a real fucking man. Now for a guy like me to admire a cop is some acheivement in itself. So Mike I miss you man. Another guy I miss is Joe Elder. Used to go by his club just to talk. He raised his kids up in the adult industry. And he never gave a damn what all the big strip clubs were doing. He just stuck to what worked for him for 30 + years . He never had a damn bad word to day about anyone, and he never let shit get to him. I loved going by and listening to the shit he went through in the 70's with the business. And how he survived it all. Joe had a heart attack last year. He was in his 50's. Well enough tribute for now, next I'm writing about girls I knew who passed, and then some stories of people who "lost it" in the industry.

posted by anthonygrieco @ 6:35 AM Comments: 0