Originally posted by
What Exit?
The old thief began his story, “This one is about a friend of mine.”
New York, 1953, the city is near its apex. The New York Yankees have just beaten the Brooklyn Dodgers in the World Series; making it an amazing 5 titles in a row. Will it ever end? Sal hoped not. He was here at Toots Shor’s to meet a man that had a special job for him. He looks around, a good night, Yogi was there celebrating with friends, DiMaggio and wow, Marilyn and the Scooter and probably his wife.
Not too far away was someone that looked like a boxer talking quietly with one of Frank Costello’s men, Guy Rizzo. But this was not the man he was to meet. His pigeon was bigger then a Mafioso. Sal scanned the room and finally in the corner he spied his man, not a good sign. He was wearing a hat pulled low over his sharp nose and oddly chubby cheeks. The sunglasses were an unwise touch but then with the stars in the room, it was probably good enough this night. Sal walks over.
“Evening sir, I believe you know by sister?”
The fellow looks up, “Ah, you’re Gina’s brother, glad to see you, have a seat.”
Sal thought he sounded nervous and was talking a little too quick but fairly quiet at least. This was surprising for such a successful politician. Sal took the seat and quietly asked, “What’s the job and the pay?”
The man replied, “I need something recovered from the UN Building. The pay is ten grand. It will require getting in and out and cracking a safe and exchanging certain papers. Are you up to it?”
Sal thought it over, he knew the building well enough and had some friends and family that worked on it. He could even get complete floor plans without too much of a problem. “How time sensitive is this?”
The man with the skunk like face replied, “It must be done before Monday.”
Sal though it over again, “Four days is not very long, I’ll need some money to get certain information fast, cash makes for great grease. Let’s say another 50 Benjamins up front to make this go. So you’ll be out 15 grand total.”
“Good enough bring me the papers by Sunday night and I’ll have the other 10 Gees ready. Come with me to the newsstand, I have what you’ll stowed there.”
The finished their beers, the man tossed a twenty on the table and they headed out. The man took a sharp turn as if going to the bathroom and Sal saw that Walter Winchell and his party for the night were walking in. Once they passed, the man quickly rushed out of the bar.
At the new stand, a brief case was waiting. He popped it open, “this blue report is nearly a copy of what you’ll be rescuing from the American’s delegates office wall safe. It is a Diebolt combination lock model. Do you need anything else? I need to be going.”
Sal replied, “I think that does it, I’ll see you by Sunday. If I get done sooner I’ll contact you through Gina.” He laughed in the end. Gina was just a shadowy contact that knew them both. His real name was not important.
Sal spent the next two days gather all he would need. He got the plans, called those that helped build the building, just a year old now so not too much would be changed. He was put in contact with a friend of a friend that worked at the UN as an interpreter for the Italian delegation. Sal arranged for the phone to stop working in the American delegate’s office and responded to the call himself. It took a surprisingly short time to get into the office. He spent some time working on the phone and the line in the wall. After verifying the type of safe he declared everything was fine here and the trouble had to be further back.
He then headed for the pipe and wire shaft to execute the rest of his plan. He went inside the narrow chasm running down a dozen floors and closed the hatch. From here he made his way to the work platform one story up and laid down for a nap. He planned to sleep for about 4 hours; this would take him to 9pm when the massive UN building would at least be quiet. His timing was a little off; he awoke at 9:04 instead. He reversed his shirt from Ma Bell to now match the UN security shirts. No one had noticed his trousers already were in the style of the security team. He pulled a hat out of his large toolbar and listened carefully at the hatch. He gave it 3 minutes and headed into the hall. He made his way quickly to the office without incidence. Made short work of the simple office door lock and was inside.
From here it was flashlight and stethoscope time. Once he had his tools ready he ran through the combinations and was rewards with the telltale clicks. He had the safe open in no more then 12 minutes. He searched through the safe, found the appropriate report made the exchange and closed the safe returning it to the same number as he found it. Next he ensured everything was wiped and headed out of the office. Next step was the elevator shaft. He ensured no one was near, quickly popped open the elevator door and started down the access ladder to the basement. Once in the basement he exited the shaft and made for the basement loading dock. There was a perfect size garbage shoot he would be taking out.
The entire enterprise went off without hitch. A good days work and he had only spend 22 of the Benjamins and so already had $2800 profit from this job. He reversed his shirt again and lost the hat down an open manhole. Next was a subway ride where he dumped much of his bag into a nearly full garbage. A 4 block walk and he was home where he took a leisurely shower and plotted his next move. He thought to himself, “This could be a very good man to have a continuing working relationship with. A good man indeed.”
He made arrangements to meet his new friend at the Museum of Natural History by good ole’ Teddy at 10 the next morning. Sal opened with, “Sir, it went without a hitch and I hope you keep me in mind for future jobs. As Gina told you, I’m the best.”
The man looked over the report and replied, “No hitches? No issues? It went clean?”
Sal, “It was dead on and A-OK.”
“Excellent work and quick, here is the portfolio we discussed and perhaps we will have more chances to work again.”
They started to head in different directions and Sal parted with a polite, “Thank you for the job Mr. Nixon.”
