WORDS BY DUNN

Dotty Longo’s personal life has always been an endless trek of challenges, resulting from frequent bizarre impromptu predicaments.  The chance entanglement in the estranged affairs of organized crime was much more convoluted than her past impetuous enterprises.  Dotty’s fierce battles with city hall for new traffic signs, forming protests against disability discrimination and spearheading fund-raising efforts were minor tasks compared with the peril circumstance that began on Monday, December 19th.

Robert Longo entered the kitchen at precisely 7:35am to eat breakfast and read the morning paper in self-imposed solitude.  Dotty received a goodbye kiss at 8:07am.  Neighbors were known to set their watches at the sound of Robert’s horn, as it tendered a final farewell at 8:10am.  The ritual has not altered in the past fifteen years.  Dotty has come to terms with her husband’s meticulously harmless manner.  However, her world of routine is abruptly severed each weekday at 8:10am.  This particular Monday began with the normal confusion of Dotty’s world.

Misplaced socks were found and schoolbooks were retrieved, as she quickly escorted little Bobby toward the front door to the waiting school bus.  With a sigh of relief, she sipped a partial cup of cold coffee while glancing at the morning newspaper.  The front page of The Daily Citizen boldly announced that only six shopping days remained until Christmas.  She pondered the uncertainty of the day’s schedule while tossing the breakfast plates precariously into the dishwasher.  Thoughts of Christmas shopping, or possibly visiting her best friend, Mary, crossed her mind while searching in vain for her fur-lined gloves.

She brushed the snow from her prized red sports car, wearing an old pair of tattered woolen gloves.  A final search for the missing gloves was conducted while waiting for the car to warm up.  Undaunted by the failed attempt, she returned to the car and drove to her undetermined destination, unaware of the sound of Bobby’s TV entertaining an empty room with morning cartoons.  Dotty’s uncertainty was not due to a lack of intellect.  She had an IQ well above average.

Another individual in the town of Harmony shared her gift of genius.  This individual’s alliance with organized crime led Dotty and her friend, Mary, to the pinnacle of an unsolicited daring adventure.

J. Austin (Jay) Badley was the crime syndicate’s foremost authority on money laundering.  Badley’s well-earned reputation as an accounting genius was exceeded only by his reputation of unquestioned loyalty to those he served.  He believed in honor among thieves, and his efforts were monetarily rewarded, beyond comprehension. 

An exceptionally large shipment of cocaine was scheduled to arrive on the East Coast.  The subsequent laundering of the multi-billion-dollar transaction was of great concern to the crime bosses.  There was only one man entrusted by the syndicate to undertake the enormous task.  J. Austin Badley was summoned to spearhead the money laundering operation.

A clandestine meeting was held to acquaint Badley with the pending operation.  Four top national crime bosses from Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and Dallas represented the syndicate.