A couple of days later, Cabrón stopped by with rotis again, this time without the little girl, and he told me that he could confirm that Biz and Lucci were handling business back at HQ.
“I’m going to bring Biz over this evening to run you through the plan,” he said.
“The whole thing is worked out?” I asked, not sure if I should believe him.
“Yeah!” he replied. “Everything. Routes, pick-up days, pay schedules. All of it!”
I looked at Pierre sideways. He knew I was mentally poking holes.
“Seriously!” he continued. “We even have this dope thing where she’s gonna signal that she’s here for the pick-up by buying a ginger beer at every stop.”
“That poor girl’s going to need to drag a Port-a-Potty along with her,” I smiled. “Alright, time out for now. Just bring Biz over by seven tonight. I’ll see how much you’ve really worked out this time.”
That evening, Pierre started off the briefing by informing me, “We’re ready, we’re serious and we have spreadsheets.”
“I walked Cabrón and Eula through the entire plan over at Eula’s, last night and it works,” Biz said in an engaged and confident tone.
Biz was so excited to walk me through what appeared to be a thorough and extensive documentation, he didn’t even notice I was heated.
Cabrón caught it, though- but not in time to slow Biz down.
I allowed Biz to walk me through the whole story- how they planned to acquire the EBT cards, their drop off schedule, route info and logistics, et cetera.
It was a solid operation, one that could be scaled up or down as needed. But that was not the point.
“You brought this little girl to me before you even had a plan and on top of that, you told her the plan before you told me the plan. AND you're running it out of her house,” I said, my voice raised. “What is HQ being used for at this point? And what happens if any of you get arrested? What is your contingency plan?”
Biz looked at his new boss, Pierre.
Cabrón looked up at the ceiling.
“We haven’t thought about that,” Pierre admitted.
“I am telling you again,” I said directly to Biz. “Stay out of that little girl’s apartment. Get her a big, brand-new backpack, spend each month filling it up with all of your work, then leave it in her closet right before she needs to hit the streets. Do not use that place as your hang-out. No leaving cards or computers or any other incriminating evidence there. That little girl is a contracted courier, not a crew member.”
Biz nodded his assent.
“And you tell her I said she needs her shit together,” I warned Pierre. “She needs to blend in with all of the other likkle tourist gyals over there. You hear me?”
“Well, as long as we still have HQ…” Biz trailed off half-heartedly.
I let them know I’d let them keep HQ for the time being, but it could no longer be a place to sell drugs from. It had to be a place where Biz would meet drug dealers to buy the EBT cards that they got from their clients. Biz could pay them out there, but that was it- money exchanged for cards and PIN numbers, only.
“And from now on, if there is any product changing hands,” I warned, “at that point, I will finally be getting involved with that place- and I’ll shut the whole fiasco down.”
Biz swore he and Lucci were still at HQ all day every day, holding shit down for the crew. Pierre said he’d stay on top of it. Lies dem tell mi.
“And if you branch into different areas, I’m going to need you to use different workers,” I told them. “I do not need that girl riding her fancy mountain bike up and down Pitkin Avenue. Find you some kids from around the way to handle that for you. Same routine, less obvious faces.”
Biz said he had some kids he knew from when he worked at Duane Reade who’d be down for it.
By mid-March, Pierre confirmed Eula was riding her trek up and down her route.
