Neil Knight Private Dick

Hawaiian BBQ Chicken

Knight had initially asked him to meet for lunch on Friday the 6th at Juan Pollo at 1231 West Memory Lane in Santa Ana, a quick stroll from Sally's home at 2624 North Baker Lane. But Salvadore had an ongoing feud with the owner of the Hookah and More Smoke Shop located right behind the restaurant and didn't want to run into the proprietor, as he was known to frequent the fast food establishment for his midday meal.

"I mean, really Neil, the guy has hours posted in his window that says he opens at nine am, but the son of a bitch is never there until ten or later. When a guy needs sparkling vape juice, a pen, cigars, bong or even a new waterpipe, he just doesn't want to have to wait around for the burnout who owns the shop to appear. You know what I mean?"

Neil didn't, feeling weak as visions of fried chicken disappeared like smoke from a hookah.

"How about the Aloha Hawaiian Barbeque on North Bristol instead?" Salvadore suggested.

Neil brightened.

Now it was known by everyone familiar with the Aloha that you never ordered chicken there if you were in a hurry, as it was always a ten-minute wait. But you did order the Mahi Burger which was ready in about four minutes. The Mahi was breaded, had crunch, sat on a sesame seed bun, inside two thick tomato slices, romaine lettuce, cheese, and onions.

But if you weren't in a hurry, and today Neil wasn't, you ordered chicken.

"I'll have one order of the Chicken Katsu combo, with macaroni salad as a side, and one order of the Hawaiian BBQ Chicken with a side of potato salad."

"Oh and put together two orders of Loco Moco to go." He couldn't forget his dogs in the event there weren't leftovers.

Loco Moco was created at the Lincoln Grill restaurant in Hilo, Hawaii, in 1949 by Richard and Nancy Inouye. Steady patrons, local teens from the Lincoln Wreckers Sports Club, wanted something that wasn't a sandwich, didn't cost much, and was fast to prepare.

So, the youths suggested the owner put some rice in a bowl, a hamburger patty over the rice, and top it off with brown gravy. But the food tasted flat; something was missing. George Takahashi told her to throw on a fried egg. As Nancy's stomach turned, she complied.

The dish was a hit. Not only with the boys, but with the entire beachgoing community. Now it needed a name, and once again George stepped up to the surfboard.

"How about 'Loco Moco' in honor of me?" said George, leaning on his second year Spanish.

"My friends call me 'Crazy' so let's go latino with it, and moco rhymes with loco; what could be wrong with that? Rolls off your tongue."

The name stuck, and was added to the menu, taking top billing.

It wasn't until his third year that Inouye's found out that moco is Spanish for 'mucus', which meant their most popular dish roughly translated to 'crazy snot' which, when one considered the rice, beef, runny egg and gravy, wasn't far off the mark.

"What do you guys want to drink?" the youthful counter girl asked.

"Coke" answered Sally.

"Make mine a Diet" added Neil.

"That'll be $27.50 buddy" she said.

"Let me get it" offered Neil, pulling Maria Campana's Bank of the West debit card from his wallet, inserting the chip and punching in the pin. 'May as well start using this instead of cash' he thought.

"Let's get a booth" suggested Neil, swatting a fly away from his face. 'Flies in January. Gotta love California' he mused.

"So, Sally, you worked under Riganti while he and Sheriff WilsonWatson were working the snitch program, right?"

"I see you get right into it, Mr. Knight. No beating around the bush. OK, I'll play twenty questions. Yes, I became the Senior Assistant District Attorney in 2012, when Carlos Campana was elected to the City Council and Riganti won his third term as DA."

"The snitch program had been going on for a while" he added.

"Was that the reason you ran against Riganti?"

"Yes. I'd been trying to get them, Riganti and the Sheriff, to drop the program. It didn't seem to make any sense, and it didn't really yield much useful information. I mean not in a prosecutorial way."

"But it helped put away some criminals, didn't it?" asked Neil

"That's questionable. Most of the information we got through the program we already had gotten through conventional methods."

Sally continued "No. I finally figured it out too late. The program served other purposes. To move up the ladder prosecutors need to prosecute, and win, and they start by handling, and winning, misdemeanor cases. You groom future Assistant DAs by helping them win cases. Lots of cases. Easy cases made easier."

"Did anyone ever look into who the majority of the 'snitches' were that Tony and WilsonWatson used and offered reduced sentences?" asked Sally rhetorically.

"Think about it, Neil."

"Think about when the program started Neil. 2004. Who joined the DA's office in 2002?"

"Who was promoted onto the DA's staff during Riganti's first term" he added.

"Who moved up too quickly through the system" Sally prompted.

"Jesus Christmas Neil. C'mon."

"Number 42" called out the counter girl.

Distracted for a moment Neil checked his ticket. "That's us" he said.

And then he stopped, frozen, halfway out of his chair.

"Holy Shit" he whispered, looking at Malafronte.

"That's right buddy. Carlos Santino Campana. The former 'street kid' turned lawyer, then prosecutor, then council member, and now Mayor Pro Tem."

"And as an FYI most of the snitches were members of the Lopers gang."

"Now grab our food. I'm starving" Sally concluded.