In a room across the corridor fromthe courtroom, Teddy could hardly believe he was there. Locked up for over a month. Unable to see his family. Unable to see Nikki! Being threatened with the death penalty if hedidn’t snitch and went down with Pop. Hecould hardly believe it.
The prosecution requested no bail andthe judge denied him bail, despite the fact they had granted his fatherbail! But they wanted him under theirthumb. They didn’t want him to changehis mind.
And there he was. Sitting in a guarded room that amounted toyet another cell, waiting to take that walk of shame across the hall and ratout his own father. But Mick himselfgave the word, and sent it by Sal Gabrini’s old lady no less. Save yourself, Pop said. What would be the point of both of themfacing the chair?
Teddy ran his hands through his hairand leaned back. It seemed as if all waswell one minute, they all had fun at the wedding, and then the next thing theyknew they were arresting Pop? And Teddyknew the drill. He immediately had toget and stay out of sight, off the grid, to protect the future of all of thefamilies in his father’s syndicate. Itwas what he always wanted, to be numberone, the head man in charge. But notlike this! And then the Feds tracked himdown anyway.
A knock was heard on the door, andthe guard opened it. “They’re ready,”the bailiff said and Teddy was grabbed by the guard and handed over to thebailiff.
And Teddy, in some cheap suit thejail provided for him, walked into that courtroom and on to that stand, facinghis family for the first time in a month. Seeing Nikki, who had tears in her eyes. And his father, who sat at that defense table looking like his normalmenacing, powerful self, as if he owned that too. Teddy’s heart dropped. It was going to be even harder than he thought.
“Mr. Sinatra,” Cunningham began,“please tell the jury what was your role is in your father’s organization.”
“I was his second-in-command,” Teddysaid, and the family, especially the Gabrinis, looked at each other. They were shocked. He was going to rat Mick out just like Micktold him to. They knew he was in a roughspot, but it still wasn’t done. Not intheir family!
But Nikki continued to hold outhope. Teddy wasn’t that kind of man, andshe knew it. He faced an awful choice:snitch on his father to save himself, or they both might go down. But she knew Teddy. He was too proud to go down that rabbit hole,and live with that decision. She wantedhim free, and Mick free. But it lookedas if somebody had to be sacrificed. Itwas an awful spot Teddy was in.
“As his second-in-command,”Cunningham continued, “you knew and had dealings with certain people. Am I correct, sir?”
“You’re correct,” Teddy said.
“Certain people like FrankieDiGenova?” Cunningham asked.
Teddy nodded. “That’s correct.”
“And you knew his wife, and twodaughters too. Didn’t you?”
Teddy nodded again. “Yes.”
“On the night they were murdered, Mr.Sinatra, weren’t you and your father at their home?”
Everybody stared at Teddy. If the government got Mick on those murdercharges, it was going to be all she wrote. It would be over. He might aswell gas up the gas chamber himself!
Say no, they were all inwardlybegging Teddy to say. Just say no!
“Yes,” Teddy said, and the courtroomgasped again. “On that night inquestion, my father and I were at their house.”
The family was outwardly angry atTeddy. Joey, Sal, and Reno even turnedaround in their seats. “Motherfucker,”Amelia Sinatra said beneath her breath, staring angrily at her nephew too. Even Hammer Reese, who was there to show hissupport for Amelia, was surprised. Andthe Drakos clan, including Oz Drakos and his billionaire brother Alex Drakos,who were there to support Gloria, were all shocked too. But like Nikki, Gloria still couldn’t believeit either. Her on-again off-againboyfriend Oz took her hand, and squeezed it.
But despite all the histrionicsaround him, Mick didn’t bat an eye. Hesat there stoically, staring at his son while the jury, and members of thepublic in the gallery, kept taking peeps at him. Teddy was smart and capable. That was why he made him his number two. That was why Mick believed, when he was longgone, Teddy was going to still be standing.
“Just so I’m clear,” the prosecutorsaid, “you did say yes, you and your father were at the house on the night ofthe murders. Is that what you said, Mr.Sinatra?”
“That’s what I said, yes,” Teddyresponded.
“What did you and your father doafter you arrived at the DiGenova home?”
“We sat down to dinner,” Teddy said.
“Dinner with whom, Mr. Sinatra?”
“The DiGenovas. Frankie, his wife Molly, and their twodaughters.”
Cunningham glanced at the jury. They were spellbound. He was loving it! “So you and your father had dinner, on thenight of the murders, with the DiGenovas. Did I hear you correctly, sir?”
Teddy nodded. “You heard me right,” he said.
“Isn’t it also true, Mr. Sinatra,”Cunningham said, “that while you and your father were at the home of FrankieDiGenova, and sat down at the dinner table with Frankie, his wife Molly, andtheir two daughters,” Cunningham said, “your father killed them all. Didn’t he, Mr. Sinatra?”
You could hear a pin drop in thatcourtroom as everybody from the family to the public to the judge and jurythemselves waited for the answer with baited breath.
And Teddy delivered. “No, sir!” he said emphatically.
The family exhaled. The public gasped so loudly that the judgehad to bring down the gavel and demanded order in the courtroom. And Mick, for the first time, looked at hisson.
Cunningham was the one floored thistime. He glanced at his second chairattorney, who glanced at their third chair attorney. That was not the deal they had agreed upon!
After the judge regained order,Cunningham continued. “Now, Mr.Sinatra. Are you telling me that yourfather did not kill the DiGenovas that night?”
“That’s exactly what I’m telling you,yes, sir,” said Teddy.
“Then who killed them?
