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and had Joey arrested for pimping and pandering. After this incident, Joey’s bad leg was a mess and his cane was broken in half.
    While we don’t know what Joey may have done to escalate this situation, this interaction points to an aspect of the justice system where fear and intimidation won’t ever give people on the streets rehabilitation or better opportunities. Joey’s own budding lucrative career of threats and intimidation was hard to trifle with. It had career perks that couldn’t be replaced by working in a pizza shop.
    Joey says he gave the police a phony name and called the only person he could think of to bail him out: Luigi. Luigi answered the phone and within an hour Joey was out. Meeting at the front door of the police station, Joey says Steve from the muffler shop was standing there with another roll of money for him.

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    Joey had a “friend,” JoJo, who lived out on Venice Beach and as she rang his room, Joey grabbed his bag, hugged the girls, tossed Emma the keys to his Harley, and told her to sell it. Joey hobbled into JoJo’s car and rolled away, past the Crash unit, who he says was watching his every move. Joey felt good when the hospital set his leg again, put a hot cast on, and gave him crutches. The doctor instructed him to rest, and that is what Joey had in mind as they pulled into the Central Food Market on Hill St. Joey bought bags and bags of food, spending hundreds of dollars. Feeling ever so secure with his cast, they arrived at JoJo’s home on the beach as the sun was setting.
    Joey still had a serious cocaine habit to pay for and kept thinking about the money he felt Ramirez owed him as he walked on the beach. Sonya and Emma visited on the weekends, walking the boardwalk with him, telling Joey stories about Main St. that were likely to make him seethe with more anger. On weekdays, JoJo and Joey were tanning on the roof when she mentioned calmly that she was five weeks pregnant. Without boxing, Joey had no income. Not one to let things go easily or be forgiven, Joey says he became increasingly determined to find Ramirez.
    Joey was sitting on the boardwalk when he saw Sonya get out of a taxi. With the weight of the world on her shoulders, Sonya slumped on the bench next to Joey and handed him an envelope with Emma’s handwriting on it. Joey saw a few hundred dollars as he opened it. Joey says Sonya burst into tears and said that Emma was found dead in Griffith Park with her throat slashed—victim number 6 of the Skid Row Slasher.
    Joey sat on the bench looking out into the ocean. Sonya put her head on his shoulder as JoJo walked up and held her. The next day, Joey and Sonya went to the morgue and used the Harley money to bury Emma.
    It was the summer of 1979. JoJo was well into her pregnancy, and Joey was playing a shell game with money to keep up. One day when he returned from his daily walk, Ramirez had called.
    Joey expressed to Luigi that Ramirez, in his purview, had burned him. Joey says Luigi told him, “Do what you have to do,” and kissed his cheek. Joey didn’t see Sonya and JoJo, again, and didn’t see his brother for another 30 years.
    Joey claims he took a taxi to see Ramirez. Not needing crutches anymore due to a rubber stopper on his cast foot, Joey says he rolled up the front of Ramirez’s office and saw him on the phone. Ramirez reportedly looked up and smiled, putting something into the top drawer.
    Joey says he stood there waiting for Ramirez to hang up. When he finally did, Joey says he demanded all of his money. He says Ramirez peeled off five hundred and laid it in front of Joey. Joey says he demanded five grand and that Ramirez informed Joey he was washed up and he’d taken Ramirez’s best girl; Emma.
    Joey says Ramirez opened the drawer and pulled out a .25 automatic pistol and raised it at him. Joey claims he grabbed Ramirez’s wrist, pointing the gun against Ramirez’s shoulder, pulling the