When darkness descended upon the city, money, and vice became like Christmas lights...
Everybody tried to make their trap shine.
The streets came alive with drug traffic, as drug addicts slid through the alleyways of apartment buildings, and backstreets.
From one corner to the next, people could be seen, moving through the shadows on a quest to satisfy a high.
Charmaine drove to Eastlake Meadows, searching for Swaylo.
She hit every location that she could think of, with no success.
He was not at his usual hangouts.
He was not at his grandmother's apartment.
He was not answering his beeper.
She was on the verge of crying, not knowing if she could find him before the cops had a chance to arrest him.
Almost an hour after she had left the ExxonMobil service station, and drove past her aunt Wanda's apartment, Charmaine saw one of Swaylo's friends exit an alleyway.
She stopped at the curb and honked her horn.
"Hey, Paul..." she called out from her car. "Have you seen Swaylo around?"
"I saw him earlier. He was headed over to the rec center, with Bald Bull and a bunch of other guys, but I haven't seen them since."
"Thanks, Paul," she called out and sped off in the direction of the recreation center.
That was the one place that she had not thought to look for him.
When she pulled to a stop at the curb, her heart dropped as she saw the white Saab parked at the corner of the block.
She jumped out of the car, and ran into the building, hoping that she was not too late to help Swaylo avoid being arrested.
Gathered about the rows of bleachers, at the rear of the rec center, Swaylo and fourteen of his friends were listening to Pie-Man attempt to sell them a pistol.
He had come upon them discussing plans on how they wanted to organize a crew.
Although they had no clue about the money that Swaylo was waiting to get, each of them was committed to the idea of taking control of their housing projects.
The meeting was to gauge how each of them felt about engaging other crews, to take command of the drug trade in their neighborhood.
When Pie-Man found them gathered about the bleachers, he approached with the pretext of purchasing drugs.
No one thought to question if he had an ulterior motive.
Several of them had served him drugs at some point in time, in their run on the block.
Where they sat, there were no lights.
Before they were a crescent-shaped chain-linked fence, with a baseball field spread out over red dirt and grass.
Beyond that stretch of open land was a broad patch of woodland that separated other houses, from the structure of the apartments.
The rec center was a favored hangout spot in their neighborhood, but not too many people would venture past the front of the building after dark.
The open expanse of the baseball field was like a deserted wasteland at night.
A person did not want to get caught in the darkness of that area, without knowing someone that could vouch for them being okay. It was not safe for an outsider.
A scream from beyond that area was akin to a raindrop on a rooftop... No one would notice it.
There was an opening in the gate, along the right side of home plate.
The guys were all gathered about the first couple of rows, close to the opening, near home plate.
The illumination of a half-moon was the only light that breached the blanket of darkness, behind the rec center.
Among those who were gathered about the bleachers, were some of Swaylo's closest companions.
Bald Bull; C-Murder; Mickey Valentine; Y.G.(Young Gun); Pistol; Marco; Capo; Black Boy; and six of his neighborhood's toughest thugs.
When he made his proposal, Swaylo had not known what to expect.
What he was proposing could get them killed, so he wanted each of them to understand how serious such an endeavor would be.
Once they made their play, things could get bloody, he stressed to them.
He had left his beeper in his car, to avoid any disruptions.
"Y'all need to know what we're going to be up against, once we grab the product." Swaylo continued, as Pie-Man negotiate the purchase of two hundred dollars worth of crack.
Before he made his play to sell Swaylo the pistol, Pie-Man bought the crack, listened for a moment, and awaited an opportunity to make his approach.
The wire that he wore, ran from his stomach to his chest.
The recorder was hidden in his crotch.
He prolonged his purchase under the guise of seeking the best deal for two hundred dollars.
His presence had them speaking in code, to avoid having their discussion understood.
"It may require us to get our hands dirty on this, fam..."
"I'm with whatever," Bald Bull assured him, his bulk like a silverback sitting next to Swaylo.
Everyone else voiced a similar response.
Swaylo had given them the gist of his blueprint, describing to his friends how they'd be going up against a stacked deck.
The arena of power, in their neighborhood, was controlled by two crews.
The BGs(Black Gangsters) controlled most of the real estate in their projects.
The Compton Crips maintained a block and a back street beyond the grid of apartment buildings.
The Miami Boys had once held most of Alston Drive, and Second Avenue in Kirkwood.
A month before his release from juvenile reform school the Feds had made a swept and arrested his team.
The real estate left behind was technically vacant, Swaylo had argued.
But, to attempt to implement his own crew, would subsequently create conflict over territory.
The BGs were already trying to ease into the area, by way of establishing relationships with females in the apartment buildings, where they wanted to set up shop.
Their organization held the most muscle in the area, with over four hundred soldiers between Black Bird and
Chi-Town; the top two generals of the BG crew.
Due to an alliance, that they shared with the Compton Crips, the BGs were able to get wholesale prices from California, which put their combined unit at close to seven hundred strong.
In the operations of their alliance, the BGs provided the extra muscle, took up contract hits on their opposition, and reaped the rewards of being able to get drugs in bulk, for discount prices.
The Compton Crips shared their interstate pipeline, and took a cut from the drug traffic, profited from their blocks.
Charmaine was cool with Miami Black's sister, who had confirmed that she could introduce Swaylo to her brother's Colombian drug connection.
After taking into account how Miami Black had made his come-up, Swaylo wanted to implement an identical blueprint.
Miami Black had made his mark with twenty of his closest friends, hustling from various females' apartment buildings.
When Black Bird had tried to muscle in on his operations, a conflict arose, and shots were fired outside of an Underground Bar and Grill downtown.
Black Bird was killed, along with two of his close companions, and the streets braced for war.
Two days after the altercation had been initiated, a dozen Colombian assassins hit the city, and a peace treaty was worked out before bodies began to drop in bundles.
Swaylo explained to his circle of companions that he was about to secure the purchase of twenty kilos of cocaine, and two hundred pounds of Colombian Gold marijuana.
He did not want to go to the Colombians from a position of weakness, so he made it clear that if any shooting had to be done, then they would have to do it.
Any opposition to their movement had to be dealt with, Swaylo emphasized.
"For my team, and my money, I'm prepared to step on the Ops the worst way," Swaylo stated, his gaze sweeping over his gathering of friends.
"You already know, homey... You call it, and we'll rock out on it." C-Murder replied, with a bob of his head.
Each of them could see his vision and pledged themselves to the establishment of their own drug organization.
"The Eastlake Killer Clan is about our campaign, to build us an empire," Swaylo added, with a smile.
Pie-Man interrupted Swaylo's spiel with a junkie approach, and proposition to sell him the .38 revolver.
"My main man, Swaylo... Boy, look at cha, now." Pie-Man sang, with a stupid dance, stuffing his drug purchase in his pocket.
When Swaylo focused on the man, he remained silent.
"I heard how they tried to pin you down on that bank robbery, nephew...I got something I know you would love to get your hands on," he said, pulling the pistol from his waist. "Give me fifty dollars, and it's yours, nephew."
"Man, let me check that shit out, fool," C-murder stated and reached to grab the gun from Pie-Man's hand.
"Hell Nah. I'm trying to get all of my money, and I know your lil broke ass might try to take som'..." he chuckled. "Hold up, Robin..." Pie-Man added, after having gotten a few chuckles, in response to his jig.
"Flag on the play! You know that when Batman is on the field, you're supposed to cool your superhero heels..." He sang as if entertaining a class of kindergarteners.
"I'm trying to do business with the man that can pay me a proper price for my merchandise," he added, with a proffer of the pistol to Swaylo.
Swaylo accepted the weapon in silence, to take a look at it.
He knew better than most, that they were going to need an arsenal, once he grabbed the purchase that he was planning to get, with the money from Weatherby.
He saw nothing wrong with buying the gun.
As he was about to count out a hundred for the man, Charmaine bent the corner of the building and cried out.
"Swaylo, Pie-Man is working with the cops, to set you up!" Pie-Man looked around like a rabbit, stuck in a cheetah pen.
He had two choices...
He could stay and attempt to talk his way out of the accusation, or he could get a head-start, and take off running.
He bent low and came up running.
Every muscle in his body responded to the threat of death, to give him an immediate burst of speed.
Pie-Man broke through the gate at home plate, and struck out across the field like a lizard, running across a puddle of water.
The entire group fell in step behind him.
A pistol was drawn and fired in his wake.
Pie-Man ran like aliens had come to abduct him.
The whiz of bullets buzzed past his head like honey bees.
Pie-Man ran for dear life with the heels of his feet, tapping his ass, every time he cut into a different direction, and accelerated forward.
When the bark of gunfire erupted, Donald Morgan and his partner responded.
Brad Riner was not a licensed officer, so he did not possess the legal authority, to execute an arrest.
Both detectives instructed him to sit in the car, as they left the vehicle running.
As Pie-Man was accelerating into the clump of woodland, with the bark of gunshots following in his wake, the two detectives came into view ten yards before Swaylo, as he was heading towards Charmaine.
Their focus was too preoccupied with the gunfire across the baseball field to notice Swaylo as a threat.
Bald Bull moved a step behind him, with a sawed-off 12 gauge shotgun held along his right leg.
The sudden appearance of the two detectives caught each of them off guard.
Beforethey could pause, to assess the threat, Swaylo and Bald Bull began shooting