"They're checking some of the info our good pal Vinnie gave us. But, if I were guessing, I'd say he's still holding out on us."
"I told you. The whole damn thing is a mistake. I just can't get nobody to believe me." Vinnie paced up and down, grumbling like a bear on the first day of spring.
"Let's hear it again," said Winston with a sigh.
"I already told you about 50 times," Baratto protested.
"Dean hasn't heard it," Winston said.
Vinnie plopped down at the kitchen table. "It was all because of the chicks," he began. "Me and Billie and Willie had these three broads lined up but the twins had this job to do first. They were supposed to do it alone but I rode along with them so's we could get a head start on meeting up with the girls afterwards, you know? We had these two big-ass suitcases in the trunk of the Caddy and we was to go down this highway 'til someone phoned us and told us what to do. Right on cue we gets this call to pull into a closed down rest area. We have to drive around the barricades and all. When we get there, we open up the trunk and drop these two suitcases back by the building, just like they told us. It's dark out, as black as Winston here, and we drop 'em and scoot. That was it. We weren't there a minute, I swear. Then we get this call and tell 'em it's done and they say turn off at the next exit and get the hell out of there. So that's what we do-we go back to the broads." He looked at them as if to be congratulated. "Only a couple of days later we hear all hell's broken loose 'cause something ain't where it's supposed to be."
Winston explained to Dean. "When there's a major drug buy, nobody trusts anyone else-especially face to face. This way, as soon as one car makes its drop, the other car is signaled to drop the product at another location and it comes out even. There's no advance notice except the general area. It works perfectly."
"'Cept this time it didn't," Baratto cut in.
Winston continued. "No one can follow the car and beat the pick up to the spot- it happens too quickly. They know the time, distance and location of the car and say 'turn in' at the last minute. It's usually foolproof."
"So what happened?" asked Dean.
Winston paced up and down. "I assume the Colombians think the family tried to rip them off and the family figures it the other way around. Or, they both think our friend here and his buddies the Wassermann twins are all a few bucks richer! In any event, there's a lot of money missing and both sides are at war over it. It's practically halted distribution. It gives you a hint why the whole crowd wants to carve up Mr. Baratto a piece at a time."