Better to Die a Hero Read Online Free PDF Page B

him is because of his medical condition. Now, I interviewed several people on the street today and no one I've talked to believes this man has any ties to the Mafia. Most everyone thinks he is either a successful businessman or a rich heir. They also agree that he seems to be a man in charge. That is, he behaves like he has the authority in the group and the other men seem to take direction from him. Back to you Michelle.”
    “Thank you Jeff. Well the question is, is this man the boss of bosses? To help us answer this question, we have with us in the studio Robert Smith, a professor of Sociology at Michigan State University and renowned organized crime expert. So, Robert what do you make of this?”
    “Well, Michelle, I think I can say quite confidently that this man is not a top boss or even a mid-level boss in the New York based Mafia. I say that for several reasons. First, I can tell you he's never appeared on any FBI organized crime chart I've ever seen and as you mentioned he has absolutely no police record. No one rises through the ranks of organized crime without leaving a trail of suspicion that gets, at least somewhat, documented by the FBI, and that is just plain fact. And secondly, I doubt that figures in organized crime would follow a person with such an obvious genetic defect as albinism. It would be seen as a sign of weakness and inferiority.”
    “I see, is this man a complete outsider, Robert?”
    “No, John's father was Anthony Savini, a mid-level boss working directly under Paul Castellano of the Gambino crime family. Savini was indicted along with over a hundred other men, on the evidence of the now famous Castellano tapes. However, Anthony Savini died of colon cancer before he made it to trial. So there is a possibility that he is connected and he has been seen with some of the members of the Gambino clan this past year, however I can guarantee you that he doesn’t have anywhere near the power the FBI is leading us to believe.”
    “Robert, it is a known fact that the Gambino crime family and the other four Italian clans are becoming increasingly tattered and disorganized. Could there be a connection between this and the appearance of John Savini?”
    “Well, Michelle, if it were the case that the Mafia is willing to give a great deal of power to someone with no experience and a genetic disorder, then the organization may be quite desperate.”
     
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    Steve spun away from the computer screen and glanced at the digital clock on the nightstand. Without missing a beat, he registered the illuminant 3:01 a.m., and then, at a speed foreign to himself, centered back on the colorful action being played out on the nineteen-inch monitor. Several times in the past nine hours, the voice in his head counseled don’t panic at what he thought he must be experiencing—an amphetamine induced high.
    “One on the left, two below,” Bryan said, while uncharacteristically manhandling the expensive joystick.
    The toughest sentries littered the final level of Intergalactic Defenders. The giant brain creature, Null, greatly weakened by the aerial attacks of Steve and Bryan's characters, quivered like gray jelly. Steve attacked the sentries keeping them occupied, while Bryan set his plasma rifle to full power and blasted away at the space alien, depleting his last energy cartridge. Null's transparent brain membrane erupted and billions of neurons spilled into the control chamber. The sound of disintegration and explosions erupted from the speakers and the animated chamber began to crumble.
    This is the end, Steve thought. Their characters hovered deep in the heart of an alien death ship set to self-destruct in a matter of minutes. No gamer in the world could backtrack through the maze of corridors that had led them to this chamber and exit the ship to safety, not the first night of game play.
    “Follow me,” Bryan ordered.
    The “Page Down” key displayed a fast panoramic