James Dalessandro

“restaurant, nicknamed "The Municipal Crib" for the number of city officials who dallied there. Margaritte and the owner of Marchand's, Pierre, had contacted Fremont Older after Rolf had raised the tariff for each ninety-day liquor license renewal to $10,000. They offered to testify before a grand jury. And so the war began. We settled in for The Dictator, featuring the emerging legend in American theater, John Barrymore. The door opened behind us and the light from the hallway caught my attention. A tree-stump of a man moved next to Adam Rolf, close enough that I could hear his labored breathing. "Annalisa, I'm not sure you've ever met Mr. John Kelly," Rolf said. The broken-nosed thug plunged into the seat next to Rolf, looking as though meat packers had stuffed him into his tuxedo. "Mr. Kelly here represents our interests along the waterfront. I'm about to announce his candidacy for a supervisor's seat next election." "Miss Passarella," he growled with whiskey breath. "Mr. Kelly. Excuse my ignorance, but are you the one they call Shanghai Kelly?" "We try not to use that nickname," Rolf laughed. I was gratefully distracted when Barrymore arrived on stage to a thunderous reception. From the corner of my eye, I noticed Rolf click open his pocket watch and offer a peek to Kelly, who smiled. The seemingly innocuous gesture disturbed me greatly. The room seemed to tilt and the chair wavered beneath me. The end could not come soon enough.”
― James Dalessandro, 1906