Chapter 4: Criminal Intentions

NOTE: This chapter of the story might be too violent or graphic for kids 17 and below, please heed caution, thanks.

             It was around 11:30 AM, inside a donut shop in the city of Vallejo. Twenty-year old rookie cop Allan Francis paid the cashier then tried to balance two cups of coffee with his left hand and a bag of donuts with his right hand. Being new in the police force and still impressionable, he knew how the public stereotyped cops hanging around donut shops all day. He didn't like his partner's idea of parking their patrol car right directly in front of the donut shop, but he was a rookie cop and rookie cops don't wield any power or authority specially over a Police Sergeant who at 52 years old was a 27 year veteran of the police force. Walking towards the exit door and feeling embarrassed to be in a donut shop, he looked out of the shop's main window for people passing by, he wanted to time his exit when there were no people passing by, or atleast five feet away from the donut shop on both directions.
        
           After a minute or two, he felt a gentle tap on his lower back and as he turned around and looked down, he saw a seven year old boy behind him wanting to exit but couldn't because he was blocking the door. The kid had thick glasses and a smudge of chocolate around his mouth and was licking his fingers which looked as if he already ate a whole chocolate donut while waiting for the police officer to exit the door. Officer Francis looked at him with surprise then asked, " So, what can I do for you little boy?...", with a wry smile on his face. The boy scowled at him with impatience and said, " Well, are you gonna hide here all day or are you gonna go out there and catch some bad guys....Even I and my friends don't hide this long when we're playing cops and robbers?!....". Officer Francis was stunned specially after seeing other customers laughing at what the boy said. He clumsily moved aside as the kid took a quick peek inside his donut bag,  he counted his donuts loudly making sure that they gave him the right amount of donuts this time, then went straight out the door as he started running, yelling and calling out to his friends for their donut break.

              Walking towards their parked Vallejo city patrol car, the young cop bent over by the passenger's window as he handed a cup of coffee to the driver police sergeant Nick Holt who was slightly overweight and who never cared for healthy eating, atleast after his divorce. Years ago, he used to be a fitness buff who ran marathons and was a gym rat, but because of excessive hours of working as a criminal investigator, his marriage suffered. His wife filed for a divorce and took his two daughters with her out of state. Depression clouded him like a tropical storm, this totally change his way of living. He stopped working out and cancelled his gym memberhip, for years he only ate at McDonalds  eventhough he knew that their fries and burgers had outrageous amounts of cholesterol thet he knew was killing him slowly. He still kept eating at McDonalds even after his open heart surgery to repair his clogged arteries from the build up of cholesterol plaque. He wasn't surprised at the number of overweight kids in the country because of fast food chains.

               None of the fast food chains really cared about children's health as long as they got richer. It was only McDonalds who responded to this crisis by building a fitness center beside each McDonald's store with free gym entrance after you bought a supersized value meal. Inside the gym were paramedics on standby due to the numerous heart attacks, chest tightness and strokes that occur everyday while people were working out. Beside the gym was the Micky D's Cardiac Catheterization outpatient clinic which was also instituted by the McDonalds corporation to save lives. Here, patient's arteries were drilled and cleaned of the cholesterol plaque build-up from too much fast food consumption. For $500,000 (Universal Health Care pays), a patient can buy a family pack of four which includes unlimited blood pressure checks and EKG's, arterial stent placements ( to prevent heart attacks) for the  whole family, cardiac catheterization (to unclog arteries) for the whole family, nine year old and below are free and unlimited. Three triple bypass operations or two quadruple bypass operations to any of the family members with a lifetime warranty. Then to the right of the clinic is Ronald's Skilled Nursing Home for all stroke patients with permanent paralysis. To the left of the clinic is McMorgue which is run by McDonald's, this is for all those who do not survive their heart procedures. Across the street, you can take the remains of your loved ones to the, "Golden Arches Funeral Home", for viewing. Then if you decide to cremate the remains, they have the, "French Fried Cremation Services", or if you want your loved one buried, you'll have to hire their hirsch which has small golden arches on each side of the car. The hirsch has advertisement posters showing 40 pieces of Mcnuggets for only $4.00 or 80 pieces for free if you can eat all 80 pieces within five minutes inside the store, drink not included. The hirsch is driven at a slow speed, not as a respect for the dead but to make sure the public can read the posters posted on the hirsch carefully.
Your loved one is then taken to the, "Big Mac Cemetery",  for burial, and to be buried in a single lot, but for an extra 1/3 of the price, you can supersize your lot and can bury two people instead. They call this promo, " The McDouble".

              Sergeant Holt smiled while thinking at how complex McDonalds had become over the years, they used to be only a burger joint back in the 21st century. Now, he see's McDonald's and other fast food chains as a slaughter house where  kids were like  lambs being fattened then led to the slaughterhouse.

              Beside his sedentary lifestyle and non healthy eating habits, he also turned to alcohol and after months of drinking, his work suffered and he was demoted to being a patrol cop and was ordered to enter an alcohol and drug rehab center. Even after he got out and remained sober, he still lost the respect of his peers and superiors. Everybody saw him as a burned out cop who's just trying to finish his last three years of service so he could retire with thirty years on the force.

             Today, he was partnered with a rookie cop on his second month of probationary period. Allan Francis who always wanted to be a police officer ever since high school. Now his dream has come true, although his first two months were very challenging. Since he started, he'd had to wrestle down a suspected criminal that he was trying to arrest. He's been punched on the nose by a woman he pulled over for overspeeding, and just last week he nearly got shot after he saw a robbery suspect point a gun at him. He got so nervous that he dropped his own gun as he took it out of it's holster, good thing his police partner was with him and was able to shoot the suspect on the thigh whom they arrested afterwards. Allan knew that he was behind the ball and that he needed to show more competency if they were gonna award him a permanent position in the Vallejo police force.

              "Here's your coffee and donuts Sarge...", the rookie cop announced as he handed them over to Sergeant Holt. "Thanks son,....you sure you don't want any of this donuts?.... It ain't true what the public says about cops and donuts you know...no need to be embarrassed...", Sgt. Holt remarked with encouragement. Officer Francis got inside the police car then looked around saying, "Ok Sarge,...maybe you're right...", as he took a glazed donut for himself with a piece of napkin. He opened the glove compartment, took a quick bite of his donut then hid the donut inside the glove compartment until it was time to take another bite. He did not want to take a chance of anyone seeing him holding a donut while in uniform, specially, drug pushers, criminals and the general public.

                As they finished their coffee and donuts and were driving, patrolling the streets, they heard an announcement from their dispatch that there were multiple gunshots heard at the Black Lake ranch which was 15 miles north-east of Vallejo. Sergeant Holt picked up the radio transponder and told their dispatch that they were going to check it out. After ten minutes, they arrived at the ranch as they headed for the main entrance. The ranch was over ten acres in size and was walled in by a concrete wall  20 feet high, it was a fortress in itself. It was the home of the mafia boss, "Richard Sambrolini". As they parked the patrol car in front of the gate's entrance. The gate automatically opened as three men all wearing black suits with black shirts and black ties with dark sunglasses came out to meet them. They were huge in stature just like professional wrestlers. Sergeant Holt and officer Francis got out of their patrol car as they approached the three men. "Hey!, how's it goin handsome...", as the sergeant sarcasticaly greeted the huge man facing him who had long golden blonde hair that extended down to his waist. "What can we do for you officers?...", the long haired man with a european accent asked with a serious expression on his face. The sergeant tried to look inside the gate as far as his gaze could reach then responded, "Oh!, we're just visiting because of reports of gunshot heard inside your ranch....". The long haired goon looked at his associates briefly then gave a fake laugh while saying, " Oh! that!...that's nothing...one of our associates dropped his automatic rifle as it fired off several rounds...Ha!..Ha!...no one injured though...". Sgt. Holt glanced briefly at his partner as he started walking towards the gate, the long haired goon crossed his path and extended his arm to try to shove the sergeant back but the sergeant instinctively grabbed the large man's arm and twisted it behind his back, he then grabbed the man's long hair as he slammed the man's face on the hood of his patrol car. The other two goons reached inside their jackets for their hidden weapons while officer Francis nervously held unto his side arm, ready to pull it out for defense. Sgt Holt yelled at the two goons saying, "I wouldn't do that if I were you, my partner here is an ex-military special commando and is a sharp shooter...you'll both be dead before you know it....". Sgt. Holt bluffed while officer Francis almost pee'd his pants but tried to maintain his composure.

               Sergeant Holt  then let go of the long haired goon who's nose was bleeding and said, "Next time you lay a hand on me, I'll book you for assaulting a police officer you got that?!....".  The long haired goon nodded as he wiped off the blood running down his nose. The sergeant then glanced at his rookie partner making sure he was ok then asked, "So can we go inside and look around?....", the bleeding goon nervously asked, " Do you have a search warrant?...", voice shaking. The sergeant looked down at the dusty road smiling and said, "Not really handsome,....but if we get anymore reports of gunshots...we will be back with a warrant, I promise...", Sgt Holt took out a piece of napkin he got from the donut shop and offered it to the bleeding man who was wiping his blood with his sleeve as the sergeant said, "Here's a napkin...I think you missed a spot...", pointing to blood stains on the long haired man's cheek. The three men ignored him and backed away as they returned to the security of their compound. Sergeant stared at officer Francis with amusement while saying, "Ah!...just another day in the office....". They both got into their police car and drove off as they passed  a black stretch limousine going the other way.

            The gates to the Black Lake ranch opened as the limousine made it's way inside the ranch, the ranch had a large mansion and three buildings which were built more like military barracks for sleeping quarters. The black limousine stopped at the front of the main house as the passenger door opened. A 65 year old man wearing a black suit with a dark red tie came out of the car and was met by the ranch's operational manager Dice Claw.  "Good morning Dr. Courtest....", paying his respects to the older man. "Where is he?....", the old man asked with a disappointed look on his face. Dice Claw calmly responded, "He's down in the basement,...he killed two of our men by the horse stable and took another as his hostage down in the basement with him...". Another goon approached both men carrying several bullet proof vests as he handed one each. After they had their vests on, five more men appeared carrying tranquilizing guns. The older man faced them and announced, "Ok, he can only take one shot of this tranquilizer....if ever any of you hits him with a second shot, I will personally shoot you on the head...is that clear?....". Dice Claw and the five other men  nodded as they started making their way to the basement. Their basement had a steel entrance door and it was were they tortured all their victims. As they stood outside the door, they could hear a voice calling out in anger. It was Richard Sambrolini, the head of the mafia gang. As they listened outside the door, they could hear Richard crying in anger as he called out to his dead father. "Father!, how could you do this to me...I am your son!....Why!...father...why!...", as his screams reverberateted around the room. The old man slowly opened the door as he called out, "Richard,...it's me your uncle...Dr. Courtest...your having another psychotic episode....let me help you...I need you to drop your gun...", suddenly Richard pointed the gun at the steel door and opened fire as the men braced from the gunshots hitting the metal door. "Uncle!...uncle!...you were a part of it too!...how could you just watch as father did this to me!....how could you?!...". There were two more gunshots that resonated as it hit the steel door. "Richard, my loyalty was with your father, but now it's with you, let me help you...put down the gun...". Richard with tears in his eyes and a despairing tone in his voice yelled, "No uncle..you won't use me cause you never cared about me at all!...", Richard then pointed the gun to his right temple ready to kill himself as the doctor ordered his men to go in quickly to shoot Richard with their tranquilizing guns. As they quickly entered, Richard pointed his gun towards the first man in as he squeezed the trigger hitting the man on his chest's bullet proof vest as the man fell backwards, the second man in shot the tranquilizer gun hitting Richard on his shoulder while another man shot a second tranquilizing dart that hit Richard's left thigh. After a few seconds, Richard became dizzy and fainted on the floor. When Dr. Courtest came in and saw two darts on his nephew, he became furious and pointed his gun at the man who shot the second dart. He pointed his revolver to the man's forehead and squeezed the trigger, the bullet pierced into the man's skull and came out the back of his head as blood sprayed on the wall and unto Dr. Courtest's face. Wiping the blood off his face with the sleeve of his suit, he approached the sedated man and called out as one of his men brought him his medical bag. He took out some medications and injected  it to the unconscious man to reverse the sedative effects of the tranquilizing darts which could have killed Richard due to the high narcotic and sedative effects of the darts. He then surveyed the room as he saw blood everywhere, he saw the dismembered limbs of Richard's hostage as they were scattered across the room.

            Dr. Luigi Courtest was Richard Sambrolini's uncle, he was second in command in their Sambrolini crime family. After looking at the blood stained walls of the basement, he pretended to be disappointed and furious at what happened, but deep inside, he was exhilirating with joy and pride that another one of his plans have worked. Dr. Courtest was a non-practicing psychiatrist who would drug his nephew with PCP to mimic psychotic episodes. Being in the mob, Dr. Courtest knew that the only way to keep 200 goons in line and to  maintain their loyalty was to instill fear into their hearts. He needed a leader who was fierce and dreadful who can make hardened criminals cringe by what he can do to them and their families if they ever cross the line. From time to time Dr. Courtest would drug Richard with hallucinogens which are types of drugs that causes dramatic alterations in mood and perceptions. Individuals who often take this drugs often hear sounds, see images and feel sensations that appears to be real but do not exist. This drugs made Richard hallucinate and appear psychotic and paranoid which makes him go on a killing spree. Dr. Courtest played him like a puppet, he was the puppet master, the one who really controlled the mob who just uses his nephew as his fake mafia boss. Whenever Richard wished to give up to the police, his uncle would always persuade him telling him that he murdered too many and that he was bound to face the death sentence if he surrendered to the authorities.

             Dice Claw looked around as he pulled out a handkerchief after feeling nauseaus from what he saw. It looked like a slaughterhouse and the smell of blood always made him want to throw up. This was not the first time he witnessed this psychotic episode of Richard Sambrolini. It was several times last year when he witnessed Richard's psychotic episodes when he would kill and dismember some of his own men who worked for him. Dr. Courtest turned to face Dice as he gave orders to have the dead buried somewhere in the desert and do a thorough clean-up of the basement. Once again the wise psychiatrist was able to instill order and fear to all their men in the Sambrolini crime family.

             As Sgt. Holt was driving back to the city of Vallejo, officer Francis started inquiring about the history of the Sambrolini crime family. While looking around for speeding vehicles, Sgt. Holt started by saying, " I've known Richard Sambrolini for 15 years,...he used to coach my daughter's basketball team...He was a very nice guy back then...and was starting his medical school. How he turned to crime...nobody knows...".


 History of the Sambrolini Crime Family: Richard Sambrolini is the head of northern California's crime syndicate. He never got married but has children with multiple women...He commands an army of 200 men, mostly ex-convicts. His criminal organization deals with smuggling weapons, drugs and jewelry. He is known for extortion from small businesses, running prostitution rings, illegal gambling rings, raqueteering and assassinations. He's got dirty cops and district judges in his payroll that's why it has been  hard to convict him of his crimes. He is know by his alias as the Amputator....He's been branded this name because whenever he catches a traitor or a police officer who tries to convict him, he orders the whole family kidnapped, tortures them and dismembers them slowly starting with the youngest in the family.

            He was not always this ruthless, when he was 28 years old, he was a medical student who dreamt of becoming a surgeon someday. The only child of a 5th generation mafia clan from Chicago, his father expected him to take his place as the syndicate's godfather someday. Richard did not want anything to do with his father or his criminal organization. He was ashamed of being a Sambrolini and even assumed a different last name. Right after high school he left home and supported himself working odd jobs, saving enough money to pay for his college, pre-med courses then his medical school. He fell in love with his classmate from pre-med, her name was Betty, and after a year of dating they decided to live together. He never told Betty that he belonged to a mafia clan for the fact that this might scare her.

           Every year, for the last ten years, his father would call him and try to persuade him to accept the position as the godfather. Richard swore that he'd rather die than be in the mafia. This would anger his father that they would end up shouting at each other until one of them hangs up the phone. His father always told him that he'd never be able to ran away from his destiny, which was to take his place in the mafia clan.

           After six months of living together, Betty surprised Richard with the news that she was pregnant and that he was going to be a father. Richard was ecstatic and overjoyed,  they spun around dancing in the living room as they celebrated their future child. Richard's dream was coming true, he was going to be a doctor and a father too. Everything fell into place until six months later. He got a message from his uncle that his father was gravely ill and just had a few months to live. In the message his father was ordering him to take his place as the new godfather of the Sambrolini crime family. He quickly tore the letter and burned it.

             Two weeks later, he got a call from Betty who was hysterical on the phone. Then a male voice took over and told him that if he wanted to see her alive, he had to go to his father's house in an hour. Fear and worry quickly overcame him, he thought of calling the police but feared  that he might put Betty in greater danger. He then made his way to his father's house as fast as he could. His father's mansion was full of guards dressed in black suits, wearing dark glasses with an earphone in one ear. There must have been 20 guards from the gate to the house as he knew it was almost impossible to get Betty out without the approval of his father. All he knew was that he had to beg and hope that his father would grant mercy and spare Betty's life specially now that she was seven months pregnant. As he drove through the gate, all the guards were focused unto him. Stopping the car by the front of the house, he quickly got out of the car,  he shoved off an armed guard as he entered the house. He started cursing and yelling at the guards to tell him where they kept Betty. Two guards escorted him to the basement and upon entering, he saw Betty lying on the floor. She was  crying and disheveled with scrapes on her arms and legs and a bruise to her right eye which was partially closed due to swelling. He quickly ran and knelt as he hugged her tightly while Betty cried harder asking Richard what was going on. He tried to calm her down saying that he'll get her out of there soon. He then locked eyes with his father, anger and hatred oozing out of his soul as he asked, "How could you do this to me father!?...I am your son...".  His father stared at him then coughed a few times while trying to catch his breath. "If you are my son then take your place in our family's history!!..", his father screamed as his face trembled in rage which further weakened his present state. Tears started flowing out of Richard's eyes as he said, "Please father, look...", pointing to Betty's belly, "You're gonna be a grandfather, doesn't that make you happy?....", as tears further flowed down Richard's face.

           His father slowly got up from the chair he was sitting as his trembling arms pushed up his weakened body. "So you wanna be a doctor huh?!..".  The old man asked skeptically as Richard nodded while sobbing. The sick mafia boss then looked at his guards giving them a signal to seize Richard,  two large men pulled him away from Betty as they both cried out in fear. Two more guards pinned Betty down on the floor as each one stretched her arms out to her sides. As Richard's fear increased, his father slowly walked towards the table and took off a cloth which was covering a fireman's ax. He then raised it up slowly as he inspected it's blade's sharpness. "What are you going to do with that father?....", Richard asked with dread in his voice while Betty cried louder in shear fear. The guards tightened their grip on the two hostages expecting that something vicious was about to occur. His father then walked towards Betty as he raised the ax above his head with both hands as the couple screamed in fear and in a split second the blade cut through flesh sending blood spurting out through the air spraying the guard's face and suit with bright red blood. Richard struggled in anger and anguish trying to break free but unable to. Betty was in shock lying still while she gazed at the ceiling as blood hemorrhaged from her severed right upper arm. The old man stood still for a moment like a proud lumberjack who just cut down a hundred foot tree. He wiped off blood from his face with the sleeve of his shirt while trying to gauge the savagery of his work and with a wry smirk on his face raised the ax once more and chopped off Betty's left arm once again sending blood spurting in all directions.  The guards pulled the amputated arms away from their victim as the old man gave out a loud evil laugh that was proceeded with bouts of coughing spells. He looked at one of his men holding a  brown box giving another signal as the man inverted the open box scattering medical supplies and instruments around the floor. The mafia boss then looked at his son and said, "Ok, let's see if you're  a good doctor...let's see if you can save her life...Release him!...",  yelling at his guards as he coughed some more while cherishing the excitement just like a sports fan would.

            As Richard was released, he raced towards Betty but slipped from her blood, he quickly crawled towards her in a hurry as he started talking to himself, "Stop the bleeding!...I need gauze...pads!...", he yelled. "I need towels!!...", as he panicked trying to survey what he could find around him. He took off his shirt, tore it into two pieces and used it to plug the flow of blood. He rummaged around the floor and found some rubber tourniquet which he quickly applied around Betty's severed upper arms, gazing at Betty's face from time to time, he noticed the paleness of her face which mean't that he's loosing her fast. He grabbed some hemostats on the floor and started pinching arteries where blood was oozing out the most. Unable to see clearly from tears running down his face, he tried wiping his face with his blood soaked hands, but blood covered his eyes making his vision worse. Sweat, tears and blood now covered his face, body and clothes as he scramble to save Betty's life. Betty's breathing  became shallower,  slower and irregular as she came in and out of consciousness. Richard grabbed a tank of oxygen and connected an oxygen mask to it as he placed this around Betty's face to give her more oxygen to breath. "IV's...I need IV's...", scrambling all over the floor looking for IV needles, tubing and IV fluids for infusion. But after a few minutes, he realized that it was futile,  Richard started doing CPR to a lifeless body. That day he lost his fiancee and the baby she was carrying.

            His father walked back to his seat as he gave the next signal. One of the guards took the ax used in cutting off Betty's arms and handed it to Richard, at first, Richard was emotionally shocked as he looked dazed and not knowing what to do, when he finally came to his senses, his emotion turned into sheer anger, hatred and madness. He carried the ax as he slowly staggered towards his father unopposed. Everybody moved away including his uncle as they became mere spectators to what was about to happen next. As Richard came within two feet of his father who was seated staring at him emotionless, Richard lifted the ax with both hands above his head and with full force swung the ax as the blade sliced through his father's skull quickly killing the old man. After a few seconds, a large TV screen turned on as a video recording of his father started  playing on the screen. "By the time you see this video, you've already killed me...This is your calling my son....Don't you see how much I love you?.....I even gave my life for you...I told you that you can never run away from your destiny....Your only choice now is to take my place....if you run away, you will be hunted down for murdering me...And even when you get out of jail in 20 years, you're uncle will hunt you down and kill every woman that you will ever love. This is your calling my son and as your loving father....it's time to take your place in the Sambrolini crime family as the next godfather....". (End of Chapter).