He laid the paper beside my plate. It was turned to page 12, where the Tagliani killing was reported
quietly, under a one-column headline:
THREE DIE IN HOUSE ROBBERY
I read the story, which was vague, inaccurate, and short. The police weren?t saying anything except
that they expected an arrest “shortly.”
“They?re expecting an arrest, I see,” I commented.
“Keep reading,” Cisco said. “It gets worse.”
Tagliani was identified as Frank Turner, a Cincinnati businessman with interests in racehorses.
Stinetto—Nat Sherman in the story—was listed as “a business associate of Mr. Turner?s.” Robbery
was the suspected motive. Not a mention of the Molotov cocktail the killer had dropped on his way
out. According to the story, the police believe that Turner and Sherman surprised the robbers and
were killed in so doing. There was a very fuzzy picture of Tagliani and his wife getting into a car,
obviously shot from somewhere in New Jersey and blown up until the grain was as big as the moon.
“Not a mention of Draganata.”
“That?s on page eighteen,” Cisco said without looking up from his breakfast.
The Draganata story, identifying him as John Dempsey, a retired businessman, was even more
ludicrous. It was three paragraphs long and said he died in his swimming pool. „The police did not
suspect foul play.
“Well,” 1 said, “the police got the Draganata kill right. He certainly did die in his swimming pool.
“Point is, that?s the kind of reporting you can expect here. Nobody?s gonna dig for anything; they?ll
print what they?re told to print.”
“Dutch told me this would happen and I as much as laughed in his face.”
“Yeah, well, he?s got the last laugh Just keep this in mind, pal, everybody supported the track. The
press supported it and the businessmen?s association and the chamber of commerce and the local
politicians. Even the board of education endorsed it. Don?t you get it? They don?t want anything t
make their town look sour. So they?ll play it down, make it look like exactly what they want it to look
like, and hope somebody will solve the case so they can cover it up. Let the killer cop a plea and keep
his mouth shut.”
“That?s bullshit,” I said.
“It?s the way the world turns,” he said. “That?s why I don?t want you spinning your wheels on the
homicide angle. Just find out how the Tagliani clan got their foot in the door and how far in it is now,
Okay? Forget local politics. Things here haven?t changed in two hundred years, and a little massacre
isn?t gonna make a bit of difference.”
