Tales Of Tito: Essay Of An Inmate As a NYC Correction Officer I had a steady midnight tour in a jail on Rikers Island from 11pm to 7am.For a period of time I was assigned to the clinic and it was a busy post during the day but at night it was relatively slow.During my tour I had to pick up an inmate named Tito who would clean the clinic area. Tito was a young,handsome,Hispanic male that was always in a cheerful mood and always seemed to look on the bright side of things. Tito would talk incessantly all night long while he worked.As he mopped the clinic floors he would go on and on about his life and the crimes he committed.He would tell me of the places he'd been,the people he robbed, the many cars that he stole and even the people he killed.And he would tell me about his crimes as if he were talking about everyday common situations with a smile on his face from ear to ear. Tito told me how his life of crime started early in Spanish Harlem which was the neighborhood he grew up in.He told me that at an early age he had joined a gang that he referred too as his 'crew.'Everyday him and his crew would sit around and figure out ways to make a buck or score. They soon realized that to make a lot of easy money that they would have to start dealing drugs in their neighborhood.Through their connections they already had suppliers and were basically set to start an illegal drug operation.But there was one problem.The neighborhood already had a drug dealer. It was a local guy named Freddy who had been in business for quite some time now.Tito and his crew had a sit down and they decided that Freddy had been in business long enough and it was time for him to go.The gang continued to discuss it and Tito was assigned to do the 'hit.' Tito did his homework and started asking around about Freddy. Tito found out he was a tough drug dealer with a crew of enforcers of his own and was very dangerous.However,as Tito kept investigating, it kept getting back to him that Freddy might be gay.No one ever said this to Freddy's face because it was known that he had a bad temper.But still,Tito heard from a lot of reliable sources that Freddy was homosexual.So Tito had a plan. One night while Freddy was dealing drugs on a street corner Tito bought some drugs off of him.They sort of new each other but this time Tito was going to hang out with him and get to know him better.The both of them talked and hit it off well.Freddy even offered Tito a job stating that he could use a good man like him. After a while Tito took a big chance and started dropping hints to Freddy that he was sexually attracted to him.So the rumors about Freddy were true because he responded to Tito's advances.Tito suggested that they go into a dark alleyway for a few minutes to get to know each other and Freddy agreed.After they were in the alley for a while Tito put his arm around Freddy and could feel his gun on the side of his body.Then he leaned forward and kissed Freddy on the lips and as he did this he reached into his back pocket,took out a switchblade and then stuck it into Freddy's chest.Freddy keeled over and died in Tito's arms. Tito called his crew on his cell phone and notified them, through a code, that the hit had been completed.Minutes later his crew arrived at the alley with large garbage bags to dispose of the body.But there was a problem.Where would they dispose of it? One of Tito's gang members suggested they go to his uncle's meat shop where they could chop up the body. So the crew wrapped the body up in plastic,placed it in the trunk of their car and drove to the shop. Once they arrived they placed the dead body on a metal table,got a hold of some small hatchets and meat saws and started chopping Freddy up into small pieces.Once Freddy was chopped up they put his body into a meat grinder,bone and all, and grounded him into chop meat.Now they had pounds of meat that they still had to dispose of. Tito had an idea.He took all the meat and wrapped it in cellophane and then packed it into cardboard boxes with dry ice.Then about a day later he drove out to Queens where he knew a guy that bred and raised Pit Bulls for illegal dogfights.He knocked on his door and told him that he had grade A beef to sell to him for his dogs.The guy asked Tito where he got the meat and he told him he stole it off a meat truck.A deal was made and Tito sold the meat for a few hundred dollars. About a month later Tito ran into the dog breeder at a party in Brooklyn.The guy approached Tito and was furious at him,claiming that the meat was rotten and tasted terrible. Tito questioned him how he knew what the meat tasted like since it was for his dogs.The guy continued to shout furiously that he invited family and friends over for a barbecue and made hamburgers out of the meat.Everyone spit the meat out because it tasted disgusting and had pieces of bone in it.Tito didn't want any problems with the guy for fear that he might go to the cops.So he gave the guy his money back plus a little extra for his trouble. After Tito told me this story he started laughing hysterically because the thought of this guy making,'Freddy burgers,' for his family was the funniest thing in the world to him.And though it was the most morbid story I ever heard I couldn't help but laugh along with him.But I accused Tito of bullshitting me but he swore up and down that the story was true. That was just one of the many stories that I heard from him as he sanitized my post.He told me stories of how he was a pimp and had young girls working the streets for him.He told me of how him and his crewmembers used to drive up to Canada and down to Mexico and sneak drugs across the border.He explained to me how he used to swallow small rubber bags of heroin and then take laxatives to retrieve the drugs out of the toilet.And he continued to tell me of the people he murdered and didn't seem to have an ounce of remorse because he said that killing was all part of the game. Many times I was tempted to go to my Captain and say,"Hey Cap, you gotta wire me up because I've got an inmate clinic worker whose spilling his guts."But I never did.I guess it was because I was fascinated and entertained by Tito's stories and his way of life. One night Tito was telling me about how he had to go to a housing project in the Bronx to purchase a large quantity of drugs from one of his suppliers.He told me how he was in the supplier's apartment and he had to buy a suitcase full of cocaine.Tito had thousands of dollars in cash on him.He was about to make the buy when an argument ensued about the amount of money to be paid for the drugs.The argument got heated and the supplier took out a 9mm handgun and tried to shoot Tito but the gun jammed.So Tito reached down and took hold of a small revolver that was holstered to his calf and shot the guy in the chest.Then the suppliers girlfriend came at him with a kitchen knife and went to plunge it into his chest.But he blocked it and the knife got stuck in his forearm. Then he lifted his gun and shot her in the face. Tito quickly grabbed the suitcase and fled the apartment.But the shots were heard through out the project and soon the housing police were chasing him.Tito ran through the project trying to make his escape.He could remember hearing the police radios shouting, "Shots fired," over and over.He ducked into a doorway and found himself in a boiler room with nowhere to run.So he crawled underneath one of the boilers,with the suitcase still in his hand and the knife sticking in his arm,and hid for his life. Tito told me that he stayed underneath that hot boiler for two days hiding out from the police.He told me how he was sweating bullets and bleeding from his knife wound.As he laid there,roaches,ants and spiders were crawling all over his face and body.At night large rats would brush up against his face as he hid, keeping perfectly still,afraid of being captured by the police. Finally,when Tito thought it was safe enough he tried to get out from underneath the boiler but he had a problem,he was stuck.Tito began to panic and he was afraid that he was going to die.But he tried to remain calm and think of a way out.He figured if he couldn't get out the way he came then he would continue forward.So he crawled further underneath and reached the wall behind it.There was just enough space between the wall and the boiler for him to stand up,with the suitcase still in his hand, and make his escape.Tito said he broke three ribs crawling out from underneath that boiler but it was all worth it. The news of the shooting got back to his gang.But he told them that even though he was able to make his escape with the suitcase,he had already paid the supplier all of the cash.When his crew questioned him as to why he didn't take the money as well.Tito said that when he paid the guy he counted it and then gave it to his girlfriend and she put it in another room.Then after the money was put away that's when the argument began. Tito's crew bought the story and he kept all of the buy money.And that money combined with the profits Tito made from the street sales of the drugs was just enough to buy himself his dream car.A brand new Mustang convertible for which he paid cash.If his crew would've ever found out the truth then they would've executed him,but they never did. Again I accused Tito of bullshitting me once more.I told him that there was no way he could've survived underneath that boiler with a knife wound.But he swore on his life that the story was true. Tito often bragged about all the money he had and all his wild nights of hanging out with beautiful women and blowing thousands of dollars in Atlantic City and Las Vegas.He told me that the drug business was good but still he wasn't satisfied because all of the profits he made had to be shared with his crew. So Tito decided to branch out and go into business for himself, the automobile business.Not selling them or repairing them but stealing them.Tito soon learned how to become a master car thief. He told me about the methods he used in stealing cars and how he dealt with all the locks and devices car owners used in trying to prevent guys like him from stealing them.Tito didn't mind it though because the harder it was to steal a car the more challenging it was for him and he liked a good challemge.He told me of all the good places to steal cars like upstate New York and Long Island and parts of the Bronx. Tito had a special system of dealing with car alarms that I found particularly interesting.He would find a secluded house in the woods of upstate NY that had a mint car parked in the driveway. Then he would use a long,thin,metal tool called a slim jim and slide it down the inside of the car door and unlock it.When the alarm went off he relocked the door and ran into the woods and hid,still keeping an eye on the car.The owner of the car would then come out of their house and investigate and then turn off the alarm.Tito would do this several times and usually one of two things would happen.If luck were on his side then the owner would think their alarm was malfunctioning and voluntary disengage it.Or the alarm would go off and the owner would ignore it giving Tito just enough time to deactivate the alarm,hot wire the car and make his getaway.I had to admit it was a clever way of stealing cars. But soon Tito got annoyed with the automobile business because he wasn't making the kind of money he had hoped for.He would sell the cars he stole to chop shops,junkyards,auto-body repair shops and even to used car dealers who would do a complete make over on the cars. He was lucky if he could clear a thousand,even on a brand new car.The shady business's that Tito sold his cars too knew they had him by the balls because he was always in a hurry to sell a stolen car.He soon realized that the chop shops and the junkyards he dealt with were dismantling the cars and making thousands of dollars selling off the pieces one by one.So what does Tito do? He opens up his own chop shop. Tito rented a garage and would take his stolen cars there and dismantle them himself and sell the pieces one by one,making much more money if he sold the car as a whole.He soon learned that one car could supply him with cash for weeks at a time.If he ever needed money he would stop by his garage,pick up a car part,sell it,and then have instant cash.Having his own chop shop was like having money in the bank. Tito worked for me in the clinic for several months but then he made bail and became a free man.I got another inmate assigned to me.It was an older man who didn't speak much English.I had to admit that the post just wasn't the same without hearing about Tito's wild adventures of his life in crime. Several weeks after Tito got bailed out I was sitting at my kitchen table eating breakfast and thumbing through the NY Post.Suddenly a small news article caught my attention.The headline read,'CAR THIEF GUNNED DOWN IN THE BRONX.'The article went on to say how the owner of a Lexus snuck up behind a car thief that was stealing his vehicle and fired three shots into the thieves back killing him.The article continued to say that the thief was pronounced dead at the scene and went by the alias of 'Tito.' Tito never even knew what hit him. Tito was a thief,a crook,a drug dealer and a murderer.He was the lowest of the low.He had no education and the only jobs he held were the jobs he had in prison.If you looked up the word criminal in the dictionary you would see a picture of Tito next to the word.But sitting there at my kitchen table reading about his death I couldn't help but feel somewhat sad. Tito had a carefree,happy go lucky,I don't have a care in the world, I don't give a shit about anything attitude that fucking amazed me.He had a smile on his face every night from the moment I picked him up until the time I dropped him off at his cell at the end of his shift.I guess if you're happy with what you do for a living then the world is a better place. And Tito loved his life of crime,I mean,he actually enjoyed it.I truly believe that Tito died while doing something he loved and if you're going to get shot to death then I guess that's the way to do it.Tito always told me that he was going to spend the rest of his life in prison or end up dead in the street and he was okay with that.So not only was Tito a criminal but he was a fortuneteller as well. I don't know if Tito made it through the gates of Heaven but if he did then I know one thing for sure.Now this may sound kind of silly,but I truly hope that the angels of Heaven don't drive around in fancy cars because if they do, then they better watch out for Tito.
Copyright © 2005 David Daniels |