The Punishing Game (19 page)

They followed Palermo’s Lexus to a warehouse whose front-entrance roll-up gate was down and windows boarded up. Getting out of his car, Boff surveyed the area. There were three larger warehouses past this one and a couple of factories across the street.

“Is this the only warehouse nearby that’s on the market?” he asked
Palermo.

“No. The three next to this one are in limited use, but their owners are looking to sell. We handle those properties, too.”

Boff pointed across the street. “What about those two factories with the parking lots? They look like they’re closed.”

“They’re probably for sale, too, but they didn’t list with us. Why do you ask?”

Boff was still studying the lay of the land. “How big are the other three warehouses?” he asked.

“I’d estimate about ten thousand square feet each. I have the exact figure at my office.”

“And selling for?”

“In the neighborhood of two point five million each.”

“So someone could buy this one and the other three for roughly nine million?”

“Sounds right,”
Palermo said. “Funny that you should bring that up. Nino asked me the same thing.”

“I thought he was only interested in this warehouse.”

“Not necessarily,” she said. “Nino told me that if he could raise more money, he’d love to buy all four as an investment. Apparently he had done his homework. He was convinced this area would eventually be gentrified and that real estate values would skyrocket.”

Boff turned to Cullen. “Look across the street, Danny. What do you see?”

“Why?”

“Just do it.”

“Okay. Two factories. Each with a dirt lot without any cars in it. Neither factory looks like it’s being used.”

“Look beyond the obvious, Danny. Use your imagination. Look first at the warehouses on this side of the street, then at the factories.”

Shrugging, Cullen looked back and forth several times. “And…?”

“Now pretend you’re in the land development business. What comes to mind when you see these properties?”

Cullen paused. He knew Boff was testing him. If he guessed wrong, Boff would rag on him. “Uh…if you bought the four warehouses, you could use this one for a gym and…and then tear down the other three warehouses and build…uh…condos?”

Boff smiled. “Very good,” he said. “What about across the street? This is tougher.”

Cullen didn’t have a clue. All he saw were factories. Shrugging his shoulders he ventured a guess. “More condos?”

“If you have condos on this side of the street,” Boff said in a patient voice, “say, several stories high,
that would be a lot of people. What would they need?”

“A place to shop for food?”

“Uh huh. Go on.”

“Stores? Restaurants?”

“And on top of those buildings you could put what?”

“Offices?”

“Excellent. There’s hope for you yet.”

Boff turned to
Palermo. “If you were listing those factories, what would you estimate the two would go for?”

“Based on the sale of similar spaces in the area,” she said, “I’d say roughly three point five or four million would get you both.”

Boff nodded. “So essentially you could own this whole area for about thirteen million.”

“That’s in the ballpark,”
Palermo replied.

“Did Nino ask about the factories across the street?”

She hesitated. “Yes, he did. And I told him two things. One, we didn’t handle them. Two—and this would kill your development project—this area is zoned strictly for heavy industry and commercial use.”

Boff turned as a BMW sedan pulled up to the curb. Out stepped Donnie Sisco
, carrying a pastry box and a Blimpie sack.

“Annie,” he said, “isn’t this the place Nino was interested in?”

“Yep.”

He handed the Blimpie bag to Cullen, who pulled off the top piece of bread to save on calories, then chomped on the thick roast beef sandwich.

Taking out his wallet, Boff said, “How much do I owe you, Donnie?”

The fat man waved it off. “My treat.”

“Thanks.”

Opening the pastry box, Sisco took out a chocolate éclair and said, “This little beauty is for the man who shares my love of the sweeter things in life.” He handed it to Boff, who went right at it.

“Well?” Sisco asked.

Boff gave him thumbs up, then took another bite.

Finally, Sisco pulled out a cherry tart with whipped cream for himself.

Speaking through a mouthful of chocolate and whipped cream, Boff said, “Annie, let me ask you a question. Is it outside the realm of possibility that this area could be rezoned for mixed use?”

She hesitated again before replying. “No it isn’t. But I can tell you with some certainty that the buyer would meet with considerable resistance from the local community board.”

“Why’s that?”

“There are people on Board Six who believe gentrification is killing the historic pattern of Red Hook. They want to see it remain what it’s been for over a century. Home for longshoremen and other blue collars.”

“But let’s say the board could be persuaded to rezone it for mixed use. What happens then?”

Palermo looked at her partner. “Donnie, you know more about this than me.”

“The community board,” Sisco began, licking the whipped cream from his upper lip, “is just the first step. The second step is for the board to send its recommendation to the Borough President for review.”

“In this case, Alphonso Biaggi.”

“Yes.
Biaggi would have to submit a written recommendation within thirty days to the City Planning Commission. The CPC then has to hold a public hearing and approve it outright or approve it with modifications. And of course, they could also reject the application.

“But if they approved it,” Boff said, “then the area would be rezoned?”

Sisco nodded. “Basically, yes. Mayor Bloomburg could veto the measure, though. I think he has five or six days after the vote to do so.”

Boff let out a low whistle. “Sounds complicated,” he said.

“Not really,” Sisco said. “The toughest hurdle is getting the community board to approve the change. Once the board does so, the Borough President, the CPC, and the Mayor usually sign off on the rezoning. Elected officials are pretty sensitive to the community boards. It’s hard to get votes if you piss them off.”

Boff polished off the last of his éclair. “Donnie, Annie, thanks for showing us the warehouse. Ready, Danny?”

His mouth still full of roast beef, Cullen just nodded.

Boff turned to go.

“Mr. Boff,” Palermo said. “Do you think that’s what Nino had in mind?”

“I really have no idea. Sometimes my imagination runs a little wild. Sorry if I wasted your time.”

Palermo glanced at Sisco, then said to Boff: “No problem.”

Entering the Botanic Garden’s front gate with passes Damiano had left for them, Boff and Cullen walked through the various gardens until they found the detective standing on the walkway overlooking the water lilies.

“You’re five minutes late, Boff,” she said without looking up.

“Your watch is fast.”

Cullen gazed down at the lily pond for a minute. “This place is beautiful,” he said.

“I feel the same way,” Damiano said. “What do you like most about it, Danny?”

“The serenity.”

Damiano smiled. “You know what? You and Boff are like the odd couple. One plays by the rules, the other doesn’t. One shows respect for people, the other only disdain. One appreciates green lily pads, the other only greenbacks.”

“That was eloquent,” Boff said. “Thanks.”

Frowning, Damiano addressed Cullen again. “How do you put up with him?”

“With great difficulty.”

Not one for Hallmark moments, Boff got down to business. “Damiano, I want you to find out from someone reliable in your Narcotics Bureau.” Boff gave a half-smile. “Well, that’s if ‘reliable’ and the Narcotics Bureau don’t add up to an oxymoron,” he said. “Find out if Solis has a more active connection to Yusef Force than he told me. My mother, for reasons I won’t go into, said Solis told her Yusef was his closest friend.”

Damiano looked surprised. “Your mother knows Enrique Solis?”

Boff sighed. “Yes. But don’t ask me how. Just trust me.”

She grinned. “Whatever. So what do I get in return for asking Narcotics for help?”

“The latest pieces of the puzzle.”

Boff summarized his meetings with Alphonso Biaggi and the realtors, then the visit to the warehouse. When he was finished, Damiano said, “That’s a lot of speculation on your part.”

“True. But the agent told me Nino asked about the warehouses and the two factories. He must’ve had something in mind. A deal like that could potentially have had a tremendous upside. Which would explain why Ricci changed his mind about lending Nino the money.”

“I dunno about this so-called upside,” Damiano said. “Gentrification in Red Hook has slowed to a crawl. What am I missing here?”

“I understand your doubts,” Boff said. “But I did some research on the area. The IKEA in Red Hook operates a water taxi from Pier 11 in Lower Manhattan to the store’s own dock every forty minutes, five bucks each way. IKEA discounts the five dollars if you shop at the store. Even if you don’t shop there, taking the water taxi to Manhattan from Red Hook is a much more attractive alternative than the subways and the slow-moving buses.”

“I agree the water taxi is very pleasant,” Damiano said, “but its hours of operation are much more limited than the subways and the buses. I think it stops running weekdays around seven or eight at night.”

“So after the water taxi closes down, you can always take the subway.”

“True. But bus service to subway stations near Red Hook is still a black hole for potential buyers.”

“Not necessarily,” Boff said. “I just read that the city has already started a major increase in service from the neighborhood to subway lines. The combination of the water taxi and more frequent bus service should make the area much more attractive to buyers. When the economy picks up, I’m betting that the value of those condos and businesses could skyrocket. Which is probably what Nino figured, too.”

Cullen butted in. “Why would Yusef, Solis, and Ricci want to get into land development? It’s not exactly their thing.”

“Valid point,” Boff said. “To an extent. But I’m sure Yusef is aware that it’s only a matter of time before the iPod and the Internet make music companies obsolete. Major artists are already bypassing record companies and selling their albums directly by online download. As for Solis, he’s smart enough to know the life expectancy of a drug dealer isn’t very long. Most either wind up in jail or get capped by somebody who wants their territory. A development deal like this could help Solis get out of his high-risk business and possibly set him up for life.”

“But what about Ricci?” Damiano asked. “Why would he need this kind of spec deal? As one of the biggest promoters in the country, Ricci must be doing pretty well.”

Boff nodded. “For now, yes. But I talked with a fight manager who I helped beat a felony rap. He told me the boxing business is in danger of becoming a niche sport. Cable networks are trimming their budgets and showing fewer fights, while mixed martial arts is stealing fans by the droves. Ricci may be a lot of things, but he’s not dumb. He’d realize he had to branch out in order to keep his luxury Manhattan condo and summer home in the Hamptons.”

Damiano sighed. “This is an awful lot to digest,” she said. “Let’s sit down.” They left the walkway and sat on the park bench under the cherry blossom trees. “Even if I buy your theory,” she said, “where does Alphonso fit in? I know you have a theory. Let’s hear it.”

Cullen interrupted. “How about this? Nino has this vision of a gym and condo business complex. So he tells Ricci about it and says his brother can make sure rezoning gets approved by the community board.”

“How does Alphonso get the community board to go along?” Boff asked
.

“He calls in some favors?”

Damiano shook her head. “He’d need a lot of favors to sway Board Six,” she said. “The board fought like hell to try and keep the new Nets arena out of Atlantic Yards. It would take nothing less than pretty big bribes to influential board members to get approval. And with Alphonso’s squeaky-clean reputation, I can’t see him trying to bribe anybody.”

“That makes sense,” Cullen said. “And I sure as hell don’t see Nino going along with bribery.”

“Wait a minute,” Boff said. “Why assume Nino would know about the bribes? If Alphonso was indeed going to bribe board members, he could have just told his brother he had enough votes on the board to get it through. I doubt he’d want Nino to know he was going to commit a felony.” He paused. “That being said, while Nino was something of a neighborhood saint, he wasn’t a Boy Scout. He’d been around the block. Including a tour at a correctional facility for assaulting a cop. Vivion said he didn’t think Biaggi committed any crimes while he was in the Little Mafia, but he could’ve. Either way, Nino did nothing to stop the other three from hurting kids. Standing by while someone knifes a kid is a lot worse than ignoring bribery.”

Damiano nodded. “What doesn’t compute for me,” she said after a minute, “is if that whole area was going for roughly thirteen million, Ricci wouldn’t have near that kind of money. Nor would Yusef. Unless he liquidated some of his business holdings. And I can’t see him doing that for a spec deal.”

“They would only need a twenty percent down payment,” Boff said.

“Yeah, but eventually they’d have to come up with the rest.”

“So the money comes from where, Danny?” Boff asked.

“Solis?

Damiano shook her head. “Even if Solis could launder enough drug money for the down payment, I seriously doubt he’d have the ability to deliver the thirteen mill price tag.”

“There might be one way he could,” Boff said.

“How?”

“Let me check something out. I’ll get back to you.”