A Criminal Enterprise in the Shadows

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     Hiding in the shadow of attempted legitimacy the Mob Boss ran an enterprise which included racketeering, prostitution, gambling, extortion, drugs and of course the oldie but goodie murder.

     He had people killed for all sorts of reasons. They were murdered in bars, restaurants, on street corners, neighborhood sidewalks and on a couple occasions slaughtered in a massacre over territory.  

     Many who handed out his shady dealings and cruel acts had grown up in a world of poverty where being poor meant finding ways to survive and thrive. The thugs and hit men committing dozens of murders and crimes at his request were underlings who courted his favor or wanted to be connected to his power, others loved what they did.

      As he expanded his power it included police and politicians. He was a contradiction in both attitudes and behavior. His own family and few friends were sacred to him.

 The rest of the world didn’t matter.

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         This is a collection of stories linked by four diverse people, Poppa, the Mob Boss, Zero the Bookie and a New York City detective. Most are these are murders planned in the Mob Boss’s restaurant, Manhattan Shadow. A few of the stories are about the Mob Boss’s haunted memories being relived in his dreams and nightmares.

      Poppa, the Manhattan Shadow’s head chef for almost a dozen years, kept a hidden record of these murders and murderous acts while remaining staying silent. 

Until the right time. 

     To refuse to work for him would have been considered an insult—not in Poppa’ best interests. There were also unspoken implications of the consequences of being disloyal.    

Murder is most often about money and power. There are times a murderer claims it was for love although that always seemed more like hate.

      The Mob Boss had dozens of underlings in his family of gangsters, but he considered only a few as his trusted lieutenants.  These men were assigned the big jobs, the “hits.” 

He could depend on their silence and loyalty.  

      It was in the Manhattan Shadow’s restaurants private dining room where murders were planned for all sorts of irrational reasons that seem very rational to the Mob Boss.  

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     Poppa listened, he heard what was being planned and then executed.  These are the mystery stories he would one day tell.

    The color-coded recipe cards were a big part of his memory of the stories.

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