Visiting my daughter who had recently moved to Chicago, we decided to go out for breakfast. “He dad,” my daughter Gogi said, “let’s eat there,” she pointed to a grubby looking restaurant on Belmont Avenue.
“Maybe we should find something a little more upscale,” I suggested.
“I’ve always wanted to eat there, because I hear it’s a mobster hangout.”
“All the more reason to find another restaurant.”
“Oh, come on dad, it’ll be fun. Besides they’re supposed to have the best biscuits and gravy in the city.” She looked at me with pleading eyes.
I’ve heard all about the mob in Chicago and I knew better than to frequent any establishment they did, but the mention of the best biscuits and gravy made my decision for me.
“All right, just to make you happy we’ll eat there, but just this once.” Now that I did my parental duty by telling her it wasn’t right to hang out in mob controlled establishments, I pulled into the Dew Drop Inn parking lot with my mouth watering at the thought of biscuits and gravy.
Once we stepped through the door, the aromas of Southern style food washed over us like an ocean wave full of surprises. The establishment appeared clean and well kept, and the hostess gave us our choice of seats. She was a charming young lady and not at all what I expected. I envisioned a pistol packing momma to be hostess at a place like this. We sat by the window in the center of a row of three booths.
“This seems like a normal place to me Gogi.”
“I don’t know dad, I’ve heard stories that some of the worst killers in Chicago eat at this very restaurant.”
“Probably just rumors,” I picked up my menu and scanned all the luscious looking foods, even though I already knew I’d be ordering a king sized order of Biscuits and gravy. While I scanned the menu the door to the restaurant opened and I heard the hostess say, “Good morning Mr. Gambinni,” she rushed to greet him with menus in her hand.
“Who the fuck is sitting in my seat,” he said pointing to where we sat.
I had turned to look when I heard her say mister to see who prompted a mister from her. I saw two men. The one who was speaking wore a black business suit and his hair looked greased and was combed straight back. I couldn’t see the color of his eyes because of the dark glasses he wore. The man with him wore jeans, a short sleeve shirt to show off his huge muscles, and he too wore dark glasses.
“This is actually a better booth Mr. Gambinni,” she said as she seated them in the booth right behind us. “The sunlight isn’t as bright in this one as it is in your usual booth.”
Gambinni grumbled something unintelligible and sat down.
Gogi looked at me as if to say, “See, I told you so,” I nodded in agreement and just wanted to get my food and get out of there. We talked about silly things, just to be talking. We both wondered if these were indeed some of the reputed killers who hung out here. To my dismay that questioned was answered when they started talking in voices loud enough to be heard by all in the restaurant. I guessed they were proud of what they did and wanted to be sure everyone here knew. I’ve heard of mobsters going to prison for discussing their crimes in a public place, but I thought today’s gangster was smarter than that.
“If you’re going to work for us, you need to know how to kill and kill fast. We don’t want to have to clean up your mess,” Gambinni’s voice blared at his companion.
“Yes sir, I’ll do a good job every time. I promise I won’t leave until everyone of them is dead,” the muscular man said.
“Good, good, I can see you’ve got the killer instinct, without it you may as well not even attempt to break into this business.”
Gogi and I stared at each other with our mouths open. Gravy dripped from mine as I was so astounded by this talk I couldn’t close it.
“You’re going on your first job today and you’ll be all alone. Now there’s going to be more of them, but don’t let that worry you. Just kill them like I trained you to do and you’ll be all right.”
“Yes sir, Mr. Gambinni.”
Holy shit, they were going to kill somebody today. I had to stop them somehow, but how? I stared at Gogi, but she looked terrified so I didn’t think she had any ideas either.
Gambinni’s voice penetrated my skull once again. “Yeah I remember my first time. The boss gave me a key he had made, and I silently let myself in so they wouldn’t know I was there.
Most all of them were in the kitchen and I started killing right away. One of them crawled over to where I stood. He squirmed on the floor in pain. I lifted my foot high in the air and stomped him over and over again. I walked through the kitchen kicking and stomping to be sure they were all dead. It was then I saw her running up the stairs. She ran fast for being pregnant. I tried to take off after her, but the floor was slippery from blood and guts and I fell on my ass. That gave her time to get upstairs and hide.
“Now I was pissed off. This meant I had to hunt her down. When I found her I’d make her pay a price for running from me. I started up the stairs carefully. I had to be sure she didn’t jump me, or if I walked past her, she could scoot back downstairs, and I might never find her.
“At the top of the stairs a door stood ajar leading to a bedroom. I knew she probably ran in there and I followed. First place I looked was under the bed. For some reason females like to hide there.”
Gogi was signaling me that we should leave, but my knees were shaking from fear while I listened to this cold blooded killer describe his killings.
“I kicked the bathroom door open thinking she may have run in there, I tore down the shower curtain thing she may have hidden behind it, but all for nothing. I returned to the hall and looked at the two other doors. I got angrier by the minute. This one was costing me time. I’d make her pay dearly when I did find her. I opened the door of the next bedroom and stood still, trying to hear any movement.
“Intuition told me she wasn’t in this room so I went to the third door which opened into a closet. Sure enough . . .”
“Sorry Mr. Gambinni,” muscles said as he tried to wipe up the coffee he had spilled because of getting so excited listening to the story of killing.
“Anyway, I yanked that door open and there she was, standing there looking at me. I stomped that bitch to death to teach her to never run from me again.”
I wondered how he thought she’d ever run from him again after he stomped her dead.
“So what I’m telling you kid is, have no mercy. Go in there and kill every one of them. Make me proud.”
“Yes sir, Mr. Gambinni.
“Okay kid, let’s go kill em,” they both stood up and walked to the register to pay their bill.
“Did you hear that dad? They’re going to go on a killing spree. I told you killers hung out in here.”
“Okay, you were right, but we can’t let them get away with it.”
“Dad, you know you can’t tell on these guys. If you do we’ll be next.”
“How about if I get their license number and make an anonymous call?”
“I guess that’d be Okay if you’re careful. Whatever you do, don’t let anyone see you writing down their license number.”
They left and I followed close behind. I left my daughter in the restaurant so as not to expose her to the danger I was exposing myself to for doing what I was about to do. They walked to the end of the parking lot and the vehicle they were headed for was concealed behind a truck parked beside it. That meant I had to walk directly behind them if I wanted to get the license number. I took out my cell phone. I figured if I took a picture of the license plate and the vehicle it would make it easier for the police to find them. I looked in the view finder. Something was wrong. I saw a car with mouse ears attached to it. I pulled my eyes from the view finder as the car almost backed into me. On the door was a sign, “Kill Em Dead” Joe’s Exterminating Service.