The Poems And Confessions Of A Mad Man Read online

  On May 23, 1988, just 2 days after I finished my first year of college, I moved to Wisconsin. I drove for 22 straight hours only stopping for gas and bathroom brakes. When I arrived, Jenny, Tom’s wife, was the only one home. I moved into their apartment and was wondering how come they weren’t moved into the rich house that he said he had. When Tom came home from work, he said that we weren’t going to be living in his parent’s huge house because he had been in a big fight with his father for some stupid reason. I said that was fine and was content to just have a place to live until the business got going.

  I made myself comfortable and on the following weekend Tom and I went up to the small business that was for sale at Mille Lacs Lake. When we arrived, Tom asked to see the owner and said that he had an appointment. When the owner came out, Tom introduced himself and the man recognized him from when he was a boy and Tom’s family had vacationed at the campground. The man asked how Tom’s father was and they made small talk for a few minutes about the fishing and the hunting. Tom finally said that he was up there to buy the whole place. The man said that he wanted $250,000. for the place, and Tom said that seemed like a fair price. Tom said that he had to go back home and sell some stock and that by the end of the month, the deal should be done.

  I’ve never seen someone do business as smoothly as this guy. I complimented him while we were driving home on how the deal went and he said it’s just business and to get use to seeing things like that. To make a long story short, Tom didn’t have shit for money. He was a bullshit artist. His big stock portfolio was worth less than $1,000. His father didn’t own anything and Tom had less money than I had. I only had $1,000. to my name and Tom suggested that he and I have a joint checking account, since we were going to be partners and all. I thought that he was crazy and I told him that I didn’t trust anyone in this world with my money.

  Tom would always point out scriptures in the Bible and try to use the Bible to get his way. I later found that he manipulated every Christian he could by bending the scriptures to fit into his agenda. Tom knew more about the Bible than anyone I had ever known at the time. Every time a get rich scheme came up, he would con everybody he knew into joining it by telling them, “God promises the wealth of the sinners is laid up for the just!” He used scriptures like, “Whatever you put your hand to, God will prosper!” and “We are to be the head and not the tail! Where is your faith child? That which is not of faith is sin and if you don’t believe this is of God then you are in sin!”

  He would promise all of these people, mostly his own family, that he was going to be rich and that they would be rich if they would only believe in his vision. What a Bozo. Shame on them for following him down his road to poverty because that’s where he would always lead them. If anyone ever made any money, it always went into his pocket. I didn’t know him as well as his family did, so it was easy to think he knew what he was talking about. None of them ever pulled me aside and told me that he was a big phony Christian, because they all thought I agreed with his vision. I was just there for the ride.

  When his whole bunch of bullshit finally was exposed, he had financially hurt everyone he knew. The thing that he finally did, that pissed me off was this. His wife’s father had worked his whole life and had saved $100,000. in the bank. Her family was considered poor because they didn’t have anything material, not even a car. Her dad wanted to give each one of his children and grandchildren $5,000. when he died to help them get along in life. Well, Tom conned the old man into giving the $100,000 to him so he could invest it for them. Tom said that at the time the old man dies, the kids would all have around $80,000. each and that would change their lives. Tom also used a bunch of Biblical scriptures to back up his claims, so the old man caved and he gave up the money.

  All of this was being done behind Jenny’s back. I knew nothing about it until Tom told Jenny they were going house shopping. I thought he’d finally made it big but was told later by Jenny’s dad, that Tom had swindled the money from him. I couldn’t believe it. When I asked Tom why he screwed his father in law out of the money, he replied, “Those people wouldn’t know what to do with the money if they had it. They would probably just blow it on something anyway.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

  It was a couple of months before Tom and Jenny had actually bought a house so I was just looking for something better, before I figured he’d try to screw me over. Jenny was Tom’s first and only lover up until that point, and he knew I had been around the block a few times with different women. He was always asking me if sex with other women was different or if they were all the same. He was always telling me that at his work, some women were flirting with him and that he felt like he was missing out in life. He told me that Jenny would never find out if he decided to have an affair. I told him that if he cheated, then the Bible says, “Be sure your sin will find you out.” When I said this, he flew off of the handle and told me to never preach to him. He said that he told me about the Lord and that I was never to quote scriptures to him again or he would kick me out of his apartment.

  Tom became a fat, out of shape, pot belly looking man. I worked out constantly and looked like a body builder. Jenny always complimented me on how I looked and said that if Tom looked like me, then she would want to have sex with him all of the time. I tried to take that as a compliment that wasn’t flirtatious, but no matter how I thought of it, I only concluded that she wanted me. She looked good and I had told her a number of times that if she had a twin sister, then I would hook up with her. She would ask me what I would do to her twin sister if I was with her. I would just tell her that I would blow her mind and never said more than that.

  I would always workout at night in the living room when everyone went to bed. Many nights I would hear their bedroom door open and see Jenny’s silhouette in the dark hall, watching me. I knew she wanted to take our relationship further than just friends but I knew that would be a wicked thing to do to a friend and frankly, she wasn’t good looking enough for me to take the chance of getting shot. I wasn’t going to get killed because my friend couldn’t keep his wife on a tight leash. If I wasn’t a Christian, I would have rode her like an old horse but my convictions kept me from doing what I really wanted.

  Tom and Jenny had a real weird relationship. Jenny actually told Tom how she felt and about her desires. Tom never told her that he wanted to screw half of the girls in the office or any of what he had told me, but he let her tell him what she wanted. One morning when I woke up, Tom had all of my belongings at the front door. He said I had to get out of his apartment immediately. When I asked him what was wrong, he said that things are getting out of hand here and that I had to leave immediately. I took my things and left. I went to Tom’s mother’s house and explained to her what had just taken place. She said that Jenny had told Tom that she was having fantasies about me and was having a hard time resisting me. Apparently she told Tom, in detail, what she wanted me to do to her and what she wanted to do to me. This sent Tom’s fat ass through the roof. I mean, how could his hot wife want someone that looked like a Greek god compared to him? He must have thought his wife wanted to have sex with the bloated Warthog that he had become. Knowing what I know now, I should have beefed her when I had the chance, and sent him some pictures of it.

  I never spoke to Tom or Jenny after that. Tom went on with his life and he continued using the Biblical scriptures to gain the trust of everyone he ran into, only to betray them like Judas and screw them out of everything they had. His own family has nothing to do with him, nor do they want anything to do with him and I’m told that one day he sold everything they had and moved out of the state. I’m sure his past had finally caught up with him, or he screwed the wrong person and was going to get his legs broken. I truly believe that he has become a Biblical reprobate. Someone who has once tasted of the heavenly things, but now can’t be saved no matter what they do. I hope I’m wrong.

  Mob Connection

  By: Andrew J. Green

 
When I was about 24 years old, I moved back to the Utica New York area. Utica is a perfect example of what organized crime leaves behind, after the mob uses it for everything it’s worth. It’s basically an industrial grave yard. If you were to drive down Route 5 today, you would see the skeletons of what were once thriving industries. When World War II ended, the textile industry moved out, and Utica was left with the loan sharks and the mob families that stretched their arms from Chicago and New York City.

  The cities population dropped from about 125,000 people to about 50,000 or less, in 40 years. It’s mostly inhabited by the retirees who’ve lived in Utica their whole lives. Their children grew up and moved out of town to look for better jobs in other places. When the retirees started to die off, their children would rent their parents now vacant houses, to anyone who would pay the rent. This brought the ex convicts from the local prison into the backyards of the good people. Eventually, this snowballed and the city became a place of unorganized crime.

  When I moved back to Utica in August of 1990, I didn’t have a job but had planned on opening up my own company in the service industry. I didn’t have much money but I had a skill that I was sure to attract a partner with money. I had a chimney, furnace and duct cleaning company that was very successful out West and with the business courses that I’d taken in college, I knew I was going to be successful. I put the word out to some people I knew, saying that I was looking for a partner in a business that had made $72,000 last year out West. No one had any money to help get me started. I told everyone that I was providing the know how, and they needed to get the cash to make it happen. I would train them to do the work. No one had ever even heard of the furnace duct cleaning business and I knew I would make a fortune if I could just get it going.

  Some of my beautiful female cousins had married people who were involved with organized crime. One of these relatives had wanted his son to start working, and the kid wouldn’t get a job unless he could work for a business he owned. I told this guy named Mick Ferro, that I would take his son Donny, under my wing and teach him the business as long as Mick kept pumping me money whenever I needed it. I let him know ahead of time that it wouldn’t be cheap. Mick agreed and I went on a spending spree. I told Mick that if his son quit the business, then he forfeited everything and I would get it all. He assured me that wouldn’t happen. We bought a new van and all of the advertisement I wanted. The starting costs after we were done buying equipment and everything we needed, were around $15,000. I even convinced him to give me money to put in the business bank account for other expenses that could come up.

  To make a long story short, his son didn’t want to do shit with the business. Donny wouldn’t get up for work, and I had to literally drag him out of bed to get him moving. Once, when we were at a black gentleman’s house, Donny broke the glass on the fireplace. The glass cost $80. to replace and Donny said, while the customer was in ear shot of us, “Fuck this stupid Nigger, he’ll never know it’s broken.” That was the last straw. I apologized to the customer and fixed the glass. I didn’t charge him for the service and I knew I would screw Donny out of his part of the partnership without him even knowing it.

  When I wasn’t working for my business, I was helping Mick restock the booze in his bar. He owned one of the only gay bars in Utica, and it was a real shit hole. The gay people flocked there and Mick made a fortune. Mick was also a bookie on the side and a loan shark. His only problem was that he didn’t have anyone to collect the debts that were owed to him if someone wouldn’t pay. The people who owed him money knew, Mick didn’t really have any serious muscle to collect the money, so many of them just told him to fuck off. That is until I came into the picture.

  Mick asked me to ride along with him to pick up some money that a guy owed him. He said this guy had owed him $200. for 3 months, and wasn’t paying him. Mick was hoping this guy would come up with it today. When I asked Mick how much money was owed to him on the street, he said around $5000. He said that if he collected the money while I was with him, he would throw a party for the family. He said if he could collect all of the money that was owed him by the people in Utica, then he could spread it around to me and Donny for the business. Mick knew I had a reputation for being a little bad ass and knew my cousin Richard and I could clean out a small bar by ourselves, if a fight broke out. I think he was fishing for me to offer my fighting ability to help him collect his money.

  We waited for almost an hour before the guy came up to us. When the guy walked up, I nodded my head to him but didn’t say a word. The guy asked Mick if I was with him and Mick said I was. I was standing on Mick’s left side as the man faced us. When Mick asked where the money was that was owed him, the guy replied, “Fuck you man, I’m not paying you shit.” As soon as he said that, I pivoted my right foot away from the man and took my left foot and Round Housed the man on the right side of his head. The man slammed to the pavement and I took out my pocket knife. Mick and the stunned man watched me open it slowly and I put the blade up to the mans face. I put my hand over his mouth, and slashed a 5 inch gash in the right side of his face. I said to him that if he told anyone about this, then I would cut up his family. I also told him to tell everyone who owes Mick money that they have until the end of the week to pay him off. I said that if Mick wasn’t paid off by the end of the week, then I was going to start hurting them and their children. I reached into his long leather jacket and pulled out his billfold. I took out the $400. he had in it. He also had 4 frozen steaks that he had just stolen from the supermarket. I took it all, and said it was the interest he had owed Mick for insulting him by not paying him. The man said, with his voice quivering, “Mick never charged interest before.” I said, “Well he does now.” I told him that Mick brought me in from out West to collect from the deadbeats like him and he had better tell everybody that I was coming to collect from them. I didn’t want to seem like a gangster, I was just being myself when I got mad.

  The whole thing went down like something you’d see on the T.V. in a gangster movie or something. Mick asked me if I wanted to be his muscle for collecting. I asked what it paid. He said the more I collected, the more money I would have for my business. I agreed to help him take care of things. By the end of that week, Mick was given $6,000. from everyone who had owed him money. They kicked in the interest all by themselves and hoped it was going to be enough. I felt like a real gangster. Even though this was the only time I was violent for Mick, he told everyone that I was a real killer and said I took care of “Things” all over the state for him. Little did I know how hard it would be to get out of that mess.

  When January of 1991 had come around, I had gained quite a reputation in the inner circle of Mick’s associates. I didn’t know Mick had connections in New York City and when he asked me to go there to help take care of some things, I declined and said I was only helping him until my business got going. I never liked the people Mick did business with. I knew they were all trouble but I was using him for money. I just wanted to help him long enough to get on my own and not rely on his money to support the business. My parents and immediate family never knew much about my involvement with these kinds of people, and I didn’t want anybody finding out.

  In February of 1991, I had to get ready to do my taxes for the business. My tax accountant named Benny, was considered the best accountant in the city of Utica. Mick sent me to him and said Benny would take care of everything. I had met Benny a number of times and he had a lot of respect for me. More fear than anything else. He knew I was Mick’s right hand man and that he had better never screw me, or he would have to deal with me. Benny had been Mick’s accountant for 20 years and knew just about everything there was to know about Mick’s money, both legal and illegal.

  I asked Benny if there was anything I needed to know about Mick, that could get me in trouble. I needed to know if he had ripped off the IRS in the past because everything Mick owned was in his son Donny’s name, and I didn’t want them coming after me since I was Donny’s
partner in the business. Benny said that I seemed like a nice enough guy and that I was involved with bad people. He said that Mick was using my business to launder money through. He also said to get out of the partnership as soon as possible. I took Benny’s advice and began to plan on dissolving the partnership.

  Whenever I needed to purchase something using the business bank account, Donny had to sign the check also, because I told him that it would keep us both honest and that it would assure no one was skimming any money from the account. Whenever I needed his signature for a check or anything, Donny would need to drive across town or I would have to drive to him to get his signature. This became such a pain in the neck, and Donny was so lazy that he didn’t want to do anything in the first place, much less drive to my house for his signature.

  Well, that month I made sure Donny had to sign a lot of different business forms, and checks and everything I could think of. It became so burdensome, that he didn’t even ask what he was signing. This was the exact position I wanted him in. One day I went to his house at 9 a.m. and told him we had to dissolve the partnership so that we could incorporate the business. I told him that I had to have the paper work in by 10 a.m. or we would be in a bunch of trouble. Donny asked if Mick knew about it and I said that he is the one who told us about it. Mick had suggested to us in the past that we incorporate the business and Donny had recalled the conversation. Besides, Donny didn’t know anything about the business or what went on in it. All he knew was that he was given a check every week for 50% of the work that I did. He never saw me unless it was for his signature. Donny signed the paperwork and that morning the business was dissolved in the eyes of the state of New York. I was finally free from those people, or so I thought.