Neil Knight Private Dick

Dick Pic

As Neil picked up the to go order of Loco Moco, his brain was still processing the information provided by Salvadore Malafronte.

If what he said was true, then the snitch program was simply a front to provide prosecutorial fodder to help establish street cred for Carlos Campana. But why? What was the reason to go to all the trouble? He didn't see where anyone got anything out of the efforts, except maybe Carlos.

And what about the fact that the Lopers gang members were, for the most part, the snitches? Fine, they got reduced sentences but how did that support the scale and scope of the program?

The fact is that on the surface it didn't. There were still too many unanswered questions. There were missing motives, and for the life of him he couldn't figure out what any of it had to do with the assault on Maria Campana.

Maybe he hadn't gone back far enough to go forward. Maybe December 15th was too recent.

Maybe he should go back to 2002 when Carlos was hired into the DAs office, before Tony Riganti became District Attorney. Maybe there was a tell there.

He was beginning to feel like H. G. Well's the Time Traveler or maybe even Marty McFly, hoping he didn't unearth any Morlocks or Biff Tannens along the way.

In 2017 the salaries of the Santa Ana City Council members were among the highest in the nation at a little over one-hundred-forty-five thousand dollars per year. Even so, for some members, this lucrative, full-time job wasn't their only source of income. Carlos Campana was one such member.

He sat on multiple advisory boards around the city, which netted him additional eighty-five thousand dollars annually, discounting perks such as meals, alcohol and entertainment, which, at his size, weight and interests represented substantial amounts.

Speaking engagements brought in somewhere in the neighborhood of twelve-thousand dollars per, and he was asked, on average, to present at eight events each year, for a cool grab of ninety-six thousand dollars. He would often speak at security related events reminiscing about his role in driving down street crime in Santa Ana from 2004 until his ascension to the City Council in 2012.

With his new role as Mayor Pro Tem those number were sure to increase.

Then there was the initiative which the council passed at their October meeting, to be added to the ballot for that November's general election, to increase the members' salaries by an additional fifty percent, as the council's pay had not changed since 2008.

Yes. Life was good for the Mayor Pro Tem.

Except for the nagging suspicion that his wife was cheating on him, somewhat validated by the call from that loon Kathy Lynn Bakker, who told him that his wife had transferred, right after the election, fifteen-thousand dollars from his campaign slush fund into a personal account under her name only, and had requested two debit cards linked to that account as well. Why two cards? Most likely one for her and one for her lover boy. Cheating bitch.

He couldn't bring it to anyone's attention as the slush fund was illegal, and was built from cash contributions by individuals and businesses seeking favors in Santana's ward. He had originally established the account in both his and his wife's names to assume some sense of propriety should someone call attention to the account. You never knew where 'do-gooders' might pop up and cause trouble.

Yet, in spite of his best efforts, he was losing control of his wife.

His trysts no longer bothered her, even when he stopped making any attempts at creating bullshit excuses for his late nights, or afternoons, away.

She was becoming cold and aloof, and had even neglected to show up at his side at a local charity event in early December of 2017, for which he had been paid handsomely. Unfortunately, her absence did not go unnoticed by the ever-present Orange County Register Entertainment and Features Reporter Michelle Mills. Her article 'Charity Everywhere but at Home?' in the following days paper had drawn the attention of Vinnie Fuentes.

"This don't look good" stated Vinnie.

"I have it under control" responded Carlos.

"Don't bullshit a bullshitter" said the gangster. "I'm putting a tail on her so we can find out the name of this guy, and put a little hurt on him before this shit gets out of hand."

"You've gotta look like you're in control if the plan is going to work Carlos. We can't forfeit years of establishing you as the 'man of the people' to have your wife fuck it up by screwin' someone on the side. Men are expected to wander. It makes them look strong. Wandering wives make husbands look weak Carlos."

"That we cannot have" Vinnie concluded.

He couldn't argue. The Loper Kingpin was right.

"OK" he agreed. "But when you find out his name let me take the first crack at him. He can't be too tough. I think she met him at a freakin' gallery event. Probably a starving artist."

"Maybe it's that painter from Australia" Vinnie offered. "The guy that goes by the name of 'Pricasso'. No kidding. Prick Casso. Get it? Look it up. Paints portraits with his boner. Freakin' guys 68 years old and still pops a hardon."

In 'over the phone background chatter' Carlos could hear some of Vinnie's boys laughing, making comments of their own.

Carlos failed to see the humor.

"C'mon Carlos. Puts a whole new spin on a dick pic."

With that the line went dead.