Sleep with the Fishes - A Novel

Informationen zum Autor Brian M. Wiprud Age: Wears red tennis shoes Physical Description: Diabolical & Occasionally Fiendish Profession: Mystery Author, Outdoor Writer & Photographer Accomplishments: *Independent Mystery Bookseller's Association Bestseller *Lefty Award for Most Humorous Novel *Barry Award Nominee for Best Paperback Original Favorite Books: The Squid and I, Chuck Flink Tubing Badgers for Fun and Profit, Bubbles McCoy Favorite Movies: " Bowanga! Bowanga!," "Eegah! " Hobbies: Knife Throwing, Sword Swallowing, Hanging by Fish Hooks Favorite Lines: "What a gorgeous day. What effulgent sunshine. It was a day of this sort the McGillicuddy brothers murdered their mother with an axe." WC Fields. Favorite Scotch: Bourbon Klappentext Wiseguy Sid "Sleep” Bifulco doesn't need no stinkin' witness protection program. The mobster-turned-snitch! who always put his victims gently to sleep before whacking them! did his prison time and now has a new rural hideaway and a new avocation: trout fishing in a scenic river valley. Except that a bunch of local yokels won't leave him alone. From a sexy trout dealer in crimson hiking boots to a cop married to a pregnant porn star! everybody in this little town has an angle! a grudge or a crush on somebody. And Sid needs to figure out these yahoos fast—because with a vicious Mafia killer on his trail! a warden on his doorstep! and a highly incriminating videotape making the rounds! it turns out that the simple life isn't so simple after all.... Chapter One "You jerks wanna know what you can do with your Witness Protection Program? Don't worry, I'll let you fill in that blank. Hey, I did a thing for you, I ratted out these guys. Look at me, I'm thirty-three years old–all I want is the short stint. And when I get out . . . Well, I been takin' care of myself this far. So it's this way: the Feds'll save a lot of green not havin' to babysit me my whole life. I want you to consider that when my sentence comes down–know what I'm talking about?" Oh, the Feds had warned Sid about the dangers, that outside of the WPP he might well get chopped up and otherwise disemboweled by his former comrades in the Palfutti family. But before Sid decided to turn state's evidence, before he testified, he'd worked out another kind of deal. The rival Camuchi family had made arrangements with his shark of a lawyer to insure that Sid would rat out his confederates at their trials, and in such a way as to scuttle the Palfutti family once and for all. In return, the Camuchis would see to it that any Palfuttis that were not arrested as a result of his testimony were in no position to whack Sid. As a token of their confidence, they'd made a tidy $500,000 honorarium to the Sid Bifulco Defense Fund. The Camuchis were, in effect, buying up the Palfutti turf and rackets for a song. And so with the deal from both the Feds and the Camuchis in his pocket, Sid took the stand. Days in the Trenton, New Jersey, courtroom were tense as a succession of Palfutti defendants gave Sid the evil eye. But Sid, a sinewy guy with salt-and-pepper hair, remained impassive. He seemed calm, confident, and matter-of-fact. Hours of scratchy recordings, expert testimony, and lawyers' charts filled the weeks. And of course there was the small matter of cross-examination. "Mr. Bifulco, could you tell the court how you came upon the nickname 'Sleep'?" The defense attorney looked like a tall gray heron with a frog caught in his throat. "Yeah, I could tell you." Sid laced his fingers into a teepee and focused his dark eyes beyond the rail of the witness box and onto the stenographer's red pumps. "Could you elaborate for the jury, Mr. Bifulco?" The tall gray bird eyed the jury knowingly. "Sure." Sid cleared his throat. "It's cause when I whacked a guy . ....

Product details

• Authors: Brian M Wiprud
• Publisher: Dell Publishing Inc.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 26.09.2006
• EAN: 9780440243137
• ISBN: 978-0-440-24313-7
• No. of pages: 272
• Dimensions: 106 mm x 173 mm x 16 mm