Under the Radar

Chapter 2-1

Chapter 2

Seventeen years earlier

Carlo glared at his lawyer. “Do you think I’m crazy?”

The District Attorney, who was seated across from Carlo and his lawyer said, “It’s your choice, Mr. Farro. Either I prosecute you for drug trafficking, or you testify against your bosses. Not to put too fine a point on it, but if you do end up in the penitentiary, what do you think your life will be like?”

Carlo grimaced. At five-ten and slender, with deep brown hair and finely-hewn features that came from his mother’s side of the family, he knew he’d be a sitting duck for any con who wanted to make him his ‘b***h’. It had happened once before to him, when he spent two years behind bars for a minor drug dealing offense.

“How do I know you can keep me safe?” Carlo muttered, staring at the DA.

“You’ll be under twenty-four-hour protection from the U.S. Marshals before and during the trial. Afterwards, you’ll enter the Witness Security Program.”

Carlo looked down at the floor, noticing for some unknown reason that he’d gotten dirt on his shoes. Probably from the holding cell. Just being in the cell had shaken him. The idea of prison…He raised his head to look at his lawyer. “He’s on the up and up?”

His lawyer nodded. “Do this, and they can take down two of Grimaldi’s main men here in the city. That’s what he wants.”

“It’s the first step to getting to Grimaldi himself,” the DA added. He smiled slightly. “I could say you’d be doing a big service to the city but I doubt that matters as far as you’re concerned.”

Carlo shrugged. “Not a hell of a lot. So what happens now, if I accept your offer?”

“We talk, you tell me everything pertaining to what you were involved in and what you know about Tony Regotti and James DeMarco. Everything I need to prosecute them.”

“And none of it comes back on me? You’re not going to throw the book at me for my part in it?”

“Absolutely not. You’ll sign a Memorandum of Agreement. If you breach it, then all protections are null and void. Otherwise, once you’re accepted, you’ll be put into the WITSEC program and in exchange for your testimony we’ll waive all rights to prosecute you for anything relating to your testimony.”

Again, Carlo turned to his lawyer. “Truth?”

The lawyer chuckle softly. “Truth.”

Taking a deep breath, Carlo said, “Let’s do it.”