A Friend of Mine
If a man is dumb, someone is going to get the best of him, so why not you? If you don’t you’re as dumb as he is.
-Arnold Rothstein
PART I
Interviewee: Donald “Donny” Russcoco
Interviewer: DEA Special Agent Orry Lee Pounders
Date of Interview: June 21st 2005
List of Acronyms: DR= Donald Russcoco, OP= Special Agent Orry Lee Pounders, AC= Special Agent Aaron Carbon, UI= Unintelligible
To protect the integrity of the interview and ensure an accurate reflection of what was recorded, all dialogue has been transcribed verbatim. At no time was the tape recording doctored in any form. Where necessary, words or phrases have been footnoted by this agency to give a clearer understanding of the text. As per this Agency’s policy, names and events or any references to said names and events that are a part of any past, future or ongoing investigations, have been redacted.
[click]
OP Okay, um, this is DEA Special Agent Orry Lee Pounders. Today's date is … Tuesday, June 21, 2005. The time is 10:51 A.M. This will be a taped conversation with the last name of Russcoco, R-U-S-S-C-O-C-O, first name of Donald, D-O-N-A-L-D, Date of birth 12-26-77.
Mr. Russcoco, can I call you Donald?
DR Um, sure. Most people just call me Donny.
OP Oh, okay, Donny it is.[pause] Donny I’m not the best note taker in the world so I turned on a tape recorder so I can record our conversation, you don’t mind do you?
DR I guess that’s okay. [pause} I-I-I, mean I was never no good at taking notes neither so’s I guess it’s okay.
OP Good, um, earlier I advised you of your rights, is that not correct?
DR My rights? Oh, um, yeah, when youse read that stuff off the little card. I remember youse reading it but I can’t remember exactly what it was youse said. I-I, mean I understood it when youse was saying it but I can’t say it back to you or nothing like that.
OP That’s okay, so long as you understood everything I said. [pause] I’m going to ask you some questions and all you need to do is tell the truth.
DR Yeah, sure, um. [laughter]I can do that. [pause] I learnt when I was a kid not to lie cause you tell one lie, then you gotta tell another lie to make up for the first. So’s that’s why I don’t ever lie.
OP Good, okay, Donny, you were recently employed by a Mr. Richard Presutti, and a Mr. Carmine “The Hat” Ferraro[1] is that correct? And you were tasked with driving a new car. A, um, 2005 Cadillac sedan from Miami to his dealership in Rosedale, Queens, NY?
DR Yeah. That’s right. I mean, I know Rick and he was paying me to drive the car up from Florida but that other fella, I don’t think I know him.
OP Oh, so, you’re saying that you never met Mr. Ferraro? Carmine “The Butcher” Ferraro?
DR To the best of my recollection, I must recall on my memory, I cannot remember. I mean, um, if he were a higher up guy he could of been in the same place as me but that don’t mean I would of talked to him or met him or nothing like that.
OP What do you mean by a higher up guy?
DR You know,[pause] with guys like these, the bosses, they don’t talk to no one except the guys just below them and those guys only talk to the guys below them until youse get to the guys on the bottom.
OP And you were one of the guys on the bottom?
DR Not even. [laughter] I just came in once in a while when they’s needed an extra hand with this job or that.
OP Okay. Um, maybe you could tell me what you know about Mr. Presutti and his associates?
DR Sure. What do ya wanna know?
OP Why don’t you start… start at the beginning. How did you meet?
DR Ok, well, I kinda know some people. The kinda people that, you know ‘em when you see ‘em. At least, I do. I know ‘em when I see ‘em. They’s came into the restaurant.
OP That’s the restaurant where you work. That’s Casa … Café, Café Toscana right?
DR Yeah, Cafe Toscana. That’s the restaurant where I work. I’m a server there. That’s what they call us now. We use to be waiters and waitresses but no more. I guess somebody didn’t like that they had different names for the guys and the girls or maybe they couldn’t tell us apart or something, I don’t know. [pause] But, the long and the short of it is that they call us all servers now. It’s the same thing with the busboys. Even though they’s all guys, you can’t call them busboys no more. Now you have to call them essays[2]. [laughter]I always thought that essay was a kind of homework you do in English class. I guess a word can have two different things. Kinda like the word bat can be what vampires turn into but it could also mean the kinda bat you use in baseball.
Anyways, these people I kinda know, they come into the restaurant one night. There was fifteen of them. I recognized a few of ‘em, the ones that ate here a lot, but they’s was mostly new faces.
OP When was this? Do you remember the date?
DR Well, um, let’s see. Um, I remember that that night Mr. Insardi was at the restaurant. He’s the owner. We usually just sees him on Fridays. He’ll be sitting at the table in the back, the one by the kitchen door. That table has a bench seat that, like, curves around a corner. If you sit close to the middle, it gives you a good view of the entire dining room including the front door. Like I says, he is usually only there on Fridays and I remember thinking it was unusual to see him on a Wednesday.
OP Okay, so it was a Wednesday night. What was the date?
DR Um, well, I was, um, there for the lunch shift that day. I usually work a double shift on Wednesdays. So’s I get to the restaurant at 11:15am. The restaurant opens at noon and the servers don’t need to be there ‘til 11:30 but I like to be early. The other servers usually get there late. Before noon, but not at 11:30 like they’s suppose to be. I know this bothers Mr. Insardi but I don’t ever see him saying nothing about it. I know it’s hard to find good help these days so’s maybe that’s why he lets it slide when some of the servers is late.
OP Okay, Wednesday, [pause]. The Month?
DR Well, um, let’s see I remember it was cold, so let’s see, I got there early that day on account of it being a Wednesday. [pause] I’m an early person. I tell people I’m an on-time person, but the truth is, I’m an early person. I get nervous if I’m going to be late, so’s I always allow for extra time to get to places. Even when I’m going to work I leave early, so’s I usually get there around 11:05-11:10. But I don’t go in until 11:15. I don’t hang out in front of the restaurant neither. The thing about Cafe Toscana is that it’s a classy place and classy places don’t have people hanging out in front. Even when we’s take breaks, it’s always in the back, behind the fence by the dumpster where the customers can’t see. When I get there early, I’ll hang out at the newsstand one block down and across the street from the restaurant. When I first started hanging out there, the guy who runs the stand wasn’t very friendly. After a while he asked me why I keep hanging out in front of his newsstand and not buying nothing. I explained that I was early for work. I told him the door to Cafe Toscana’s ain’t open until 11:15 so’s I have to wait until then and no one’s allowed to hang out in front of the place so that’s why I was there. He gave me a look like; well, you can’t be hanging out in front of my place neither but he didn’t say nothing. [laughter] I bet he didn’t say nothing because I’m on the sidewalk and you can’t tell people you can’t stand on the sidewalk. Besides, if I’m standing in front of his newsstand looking like I’m about to buy something, people will walk by, see that I’m interested in something he’s got to sell, and they might stop. Stop and buy something that they might not otherwise buy. The long and the short of it is that me being in front of his stand is good for...
OP Donny, Donny, what does this have to do with the date?
DR Yeah, um, I’m getting to that. Anyways, things went on like that for a while. Me standing there in front of his stand until 11:14 am and him glaring at me to try and make me move. Then there was that Monday night last January when it started to snow. On account of the snow, the restaurant closed early so’s I was leaving around 9:30pm. We usually close around 10:30-11 and I’m out of there by 11:30 so’s the newsstand is closed at that time. But since it was 9:30 the newsstand was still open. I had a bag of leftovers with me. It was the swordfish special. Everyone went home with the swordfish special that night.
The one thing that I can tell you about restaurants, even the classy ones like Cafe Toscana, is that the Monday night special is always whatever is left over from the weekend. The fish is still good, and safe to eat, it’s just not as fresh as it would be on the weekend.
OP Donny can…
DR Okay, okay, this is how I remember the date. When I passed the newsstand I decided to pick up a magazine. Um, something to read since I had a couple of extra hours that night. I talked to the newsstand guy as I paid him for the magazine, and he gave me my change. He had a much friendlier, um, like his tone of voice was nice like. Didn’t have no attitude or nothing like that. I guess it was because I was buying something. Before I walked away, I offered him my leftovers. I really wasn’t in the mood for swordfish, so I figured what the fuck.
OP Donny, the date, just skip ahead to the date.
DR Oh, sure, yeah, okay. Well, from that point on he was always friendly towards me, the news stand guy, and he would want to talk whenever I hung out in front of his newsstand. Maybe it was because I bought a magazine but more likely it was the swordfish. So now, every once in a while, I bring him some leftovers from the restaurant, usually the Monday special, but not always. You would think he would offer me a magazine or a candy bar or something, but he never does, and that’s ok. To be honest there’s really nothing at his newsstand that I want. I didn’t even read all of that magazine that I bought that one time.
Well, um, that’s not completely honest. There is one thing at the newsstand that I wanted to take a look at. And this is how I remember the date. It’s one of the girlie magazines that’s on the top shelf wrapped in plastic. It’s not that I’m into that sort of thing but this particular magazine has a picture of a girl on the cover with blond hair and dark eyebrows. She looks a lot like that girl on that show I use to watch. I don’t know what it is, but I just like blond haired girls with dark eyebrows. I don’t think it’s her, the girl on the show I use to watch, but I’d like to take a look at the magazine anyways, just to be sure.
OP Donny, the date, if you…
DR Oh, right, sure, sure, it was the last Wednesday in February. I know that on account of the fact that the new dirty magazines come out once a month during the last week of the month. The issue with the blonde girl with the dark eye brows was on the front cover of the March issue. And I noticed that one right away so that means it was the last week in February. So’s that means it was the last Wednesday in February was the date that those fellas came into the restaurant.
OP Ok, so that would be, let’s see,[pause] Wednesday, um, February 23rd.
DR Yeah, if you says so.
[1] As per this Agency’s policy, names and events or any references to said names and events that are a part of any past, future or ongoing investigations, have been redacted.
[2] Essay or S.A. is the abbreviation for server’s assistant