“Good. You still confident they’ll take the hook?”
“Years of working with those bastards gives me confidence they’ll take the hook, the line, and the sinker.”
“How’s the guy that Bobby put you with?”
“Lander? Good. He’s done everything I told him to do. I’m about to have him make contact.”
“When?’
“Today.”
Bruno and Jesse finished the documents for the nineteenth property, and then inputted data into the spreadsheet. Bruno scanned the spreadsheet, searched for errors, and smiled when he found none. Another five properties and he’d be ready to pull the trigger. He called David Lander.
“It’s time we met,” Bruno said.
Bruno watched an obviously nervous Lander for ten minutes while the man chain-smoked three cigarettes and circled the flagpole in Staten Island’s Clove Lakes Park. When Bruno had satisfied himself that Lander had obeyed orders and come alone, he moved from behind bushes and approached the man, who immediately dropped his cigarette and crushed it underfoot. His eyes narrowed as he stared at Bruno.
Bruno handed Lander a stick drive.
“I’m sure you’ve already figured out that we’re going to issue a commercial mortgage-backed security. There are facts, figures, and photos on that drive that support the offering. There’s still some data to be added, but this will give you a jumpstart on preparing the final documents. I’ll have everything finalized in another two or three days. In the meantime, I want you to put out a teaser. Try to generate some interest.”
“Based on what I’ve already seen, this is a solid, triple-A CMBS transaction. I don’t understa—”
Bruno raised a hand, stopping Lander. “Not relevant.”
Lander swallowed hard. “Which investors do you want me to contact? I know every large real estate investor and investment banking firm out there. Foreign and domestic. I can call any—”
Bruno stopped him again. “You’ll only contact one firm. Let them think you’re shopping the deal. But, in reality, you’ll only contact Rosen, Rice & Stone.”
Lander groaned. “Those bastards only invest when they can steal something.”
Through a smile, Bruno said, “You call their investment desk and tell the guy there your firm is considering the sale of a two point four-billion-dollar loan package, with a sixty-nine percent loan to value ratio, backed by class triple-A office buildings.”
“That’s a big deal for a firm their size.”
“Yeah, you’re right. But they’ll jump on it when they realize the terms of the deal. And one other thing, Lander. I want you to tell them closing must be no later than November 30th. Tell them your company is over-committed to real estate in its portfolio and the insurance regulators aren’t happy. That you’re realigning your asset base. Let them think the package can be bought at a discount if closing occurs by the end of this month.”
Lander’s face reddened and he began to sweat. “I don’t want to…insult anyone here. But this is obviously not on the up and up. Otherwise, this deal could go through any investment house in the country. If this deal is a scam, I could land in prison.”
“Not if you don’t use your real name. Let’s say this sale is executed and then turns out badly. Then the buyer raises hell and blames your company for cheating them. They go to the SEC and the Investor Protection & Securities Bureau of New York and claim that…oh, how about Joseph Campbell from your company sold them a bill of goods. What’s legal counsel at your company going to say?”
“There’s no one named Joseph Campbell at our firm.”
“Exactly. And make sure you tell whoever you talk to at the Rosen firm that you’ll call them, not the other way around.” Bruno handed Lander a burner phone and told him to use it for the first call to the Rosen firm.
Lander’s face was now less ruddy. “What about due diligence? Won’t the buyer discover that something’s wrong?”
“Probably. But only if they dig really deeply. And we’re not going to give them enough time to do that. Besides, the terms of the deal are going to be so attractive, they’ll cut corners to close it.” Bruno smiled again. “Greed always conquers caution. Especially with the guys at the Rosen firm.”
Victoria Nguyen had just about concluded that tailing Robert Tennucci was a waste of time. She’d spent a fruitless day following him around three of the five New York City boroughs. Tennucci was always accompanied by a man who looked like WWE material. Tennucci and his companion went in and out of every possible sort of business. He never spent more than fifteen minutes in any one place.
After nine hours, she was about to give up, when Tennucci walked out of a restaurant with another man who looked familiar. She squinted at the second guy, but it was too dark to make out his features. Then the men shook hands. Tennucci went left, down the street to his car, while the other man walked toward a Lincoln parked under a streetlight. In the cone of light, Victoria recognized Louis Massarino.
“I’ll be damned,” she rasped, as Massarino got in the back seat of the Lincoln. She watched the car pull away from the curb.
Like most New Yorkers, Nguyen knew all about Massarino. Half the television stations in the area did a story about organized crime every couple years. They always showed Louis Massarino’s face and mentioned him as being “a person of interest to law enforcement.” Her research had given her a connection between Pedace and Massarino, and now she had a confirmed connection between Massarino and Tennucci. She thought, maybe Janet Jenkins called Tennucci’s telephone number to pass a message through Massarino to Bruno Pedace. Maybe I’ve been tailing the wrong man.
CHAPTER 14
Bruno finished adding another two properties to the spreadsheet and then crashed onto his bed. He’d agonized over what had happened to Janet. As much as he wanted to see her, the thought of her coming to New York only elevated his angst. Coming to the City was like entering the lion’s den. But, after hours of tension, he decided the best way to protect her was to have her close by and enlist Louis Massarino’s help.
He slipped a new burner phone from his shirt pocket and called Janet’s cell.
“How are you doing?” Bruno asked.
“I was scared before. Now I’m just pissed off.”
Bruno couldn’t help but chuckle. “You’ve had a heck of a year.”
“You could say that. But I’m ready to see the end of this business, and hanging around here in California, not knowing when or where the next bad guy looking for Bruno Pedace will pop up is not my preferred way to live.”
“I’m so sorry, Janet. I’ve really screwed things up for you.”
She blurted a laugh. “At least I’m not bored.” She laughed again and said, “You have a pen and paper?”
“Sure.”
“Here’s my flight out of LAX to LaGuardia.”
Bruno wrote down the flight number and time of arrival.
“You’ll pick me up?”
“There’ll be a guy named Silvio in baggage claim. He’ll meet you.”