Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine, Vol. 41, No. 4, October 1977

“Honey, Mr. Shayne and I have some important things to discuss. Why don’t you go back upstairs. I’ll have breakfast with you later.”

She leaned kissed Colletti on the cheek, turned and left the room without a glance at the detective.

“That’s a charming young lady,” Shayne said.

“Takes after her mother. My wife died three years ago. I’m very proud of Angelina. She’s only nineteen. Finishing school.”

“I can see that,” Shayne said. He had avoided all mention of Ann Waterman, wanting to keep her out of it. He was certain that if Colletti even suspected Ann had given information about the diamonds he would have her killed.

Mike Shayne said, “Dom, I’ve got so much on you, you don’t have a chance. So do yourself a favor, and save that lovely daughter of yours a lot of heartache. You come all the way with me — and I mean all the way — the diamond heist, the killings across the country, the Roselli murder — and I’ll guarantee you full immunity for your information and testimony.”

“Shayne,” Colletti sat back in his chair and lit a cigaret, seemingly completely at ease, “I offered you two hundred grand. Doesn’t that tell you anything? I’ve got more cash than Rockefeller, and I can get that much more from the National Syndicate Council. You take me to jail and I’ll be out before they can turn the key on me.

“After that, my attorneys will tear holes in your case until the judge laughs you out of court. You want to be a hero and return the stolen diamonds to the Monarch Insurance Company?

“Maybe I can help you. I’ve got contacts. I could get them back, and my offer still goes. Two-hundred grand to get off my back and call off your dogs.”

Shayne was thoughtful, going over in his mind which angle to use and still keep Ann Waterman out of the picture.

He said, “It isn’t that simple, Dom. There have been twenty-two killings across the country. All of them committed with a twenty-two caliber pistol, the kind we found in Allegretti’s car, two of them. We have done a lot of research in the last twenty-four hours. The teletype works fast. I’ll tell you what we’ve got.

“On January thirteen, nineteen seventy-six, Raymond Lundgren, a coin dealer, was murdered in Sierra Madre. Lundgren was to have been a prosecution witness against two members of the Patriarca organization in New Jersey. Are you interested, Dom?”

Colletti smiled. “Very much. I read it in all the papers.”

Mike Shayne went on. “On February eleven, nineteen seventy-six, Joseph Barboza was murdered in a San Francisco hideout. Barboza was an enforcer for certain New England organized crime figures. Am I getting warm, Dom?”

“Like a slab of ice. You figure me in those capers, Shayne? From here? Thousands of miles away?”

“Dom, Al Capone was in his Palm Island estate on February fourteen, nineteen twenty-nine, when the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre happened. Sure as hell, he okayed it, and then went to Florida for his alibi. I’ve got a couple more for you.

“On December fifteen, nineteen seventy-five, Alan Wellman, a Beverly Hills attorney, and his wife, Renate were shot to death in a bedroom of their Sherman Oaks home. Wellman had been a government witness in a federal case involving theft of a fifty-thousand-dollar U.S. Treasury note, and was scheduled to testify in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia on January twelve, nineteen seventy-six. We have information that you handled that deal, Dom. Am I getting hot?”

“Not so far as I’m concerned, Shayne. Not a shred of valid evidence.”

“Now, the Roselli killing. Those two twenty-two caliber pistols we found in Allegretti’s car may just be the ones used in the Giancanna and Roselli killings, as well as some of the others. We’ll run ballistics, and sure as hell we’ll come up with enough information to put them in your hands first, and then in Allegretti’s. Am I warm now?”

“Not so far as I’m concerned,” Colletti replied. “You’ve got nothing so far to link me with anything you’ve said.”

“Okay, Dom,” Shayne said, and pointed a finger at him, “The diamond heist and the murder of the salesman. I’ve got a witness who will swear that she delivered five or six packets of diamonds to you, and that you gave her envelopes of cash which she delivered to Allegretto. How does that hit you, Dom?”

“I’m impressed, by the extent of your research, but I still don’t see how any of it affects me.”

IX

The time had come to spring Miss Ann Waterman on him. Shayne said, “Dom, Allegretti’s part-time girl-friend, Ann Waterman, delivered some five or six packets of diamonds to you on at least a half-dozen occasions. You gave her sizable amounts of money to deliver to Allegretto. That sure as hell places you in as an accessory to the heist and the murder of the salesman.”

For a moment, Colletti’s face became a mask of rage and he lost his composure. “That dumb bastard Allegretto and his women! I told him a dozen times not to put his business on a table in front of a broad. That’s one of the women he tried to kill. And the other was Lieutenant Elfmont’s wife?”