| Chapter 5: | The Racketeers |
the playground with a bat and crashed it on the head of the social worker. I saw this brutality from my window on the fourth floor of my apartment but mentioned it to no one. Years later I learned from my history books that my behavior was known as the conspiracy of silence practiced by Sicilians. The social worker returned to the playground several months later but he now spoke with a stutter.
Wabs was feared but he was small potatoes compared to Felix the Cat. Few knew Felix the Cat’s real name or where he lived. On cold days he wore a camel hair coat and broad brimmed hat. When he entered Benny’s store or Wabs’ poolroom, everyone stopped talking and stopped moving. Felix the Cat could maintain this silence for five minutes or longer. He would stare out the window and then speak on current political events or the latest world war battle. Everyone listened respectfully, including Benny and Wabs, never daring to interrupt or question him. Once a storeowner on my street angered Felix the Cat. He broke a Coke bottle and slashed the store owner’s face.
However, Felix the Cat could be friendly and generous. On Columbus Day 1944 Louie Jap, Johnny Jew Boy, Bobby Mick and I decided to go see Frank Sinatra at the Paramount Theater. The lines were so long that we never got in to hear The Voice. We met Felix the Cat. He took us to Schrafft’s and treated us to lunch and some candies.
“Stay in school and read your books,” he advised.
Felix the Cat was the best dresser in my neighborhood. One day he gave Carbo, Louie Jap and my brother Alfred a wad of hundred dollar bills to pick up three silk suits he had ordered on Delancy