JAKES MAFIA

This was the fifth year in a row now and business was better then ever. Jake started his black market business at camp five years ago. When he started it involved mostly chocolate bars and other candy products but over the five years the business has grown tremendously. Jake now stocks anything from the original candy bars to now being able to get cam corders, computers and even items as big as 52 inch televisions. Jake had a partner at camp. His name is Brian. He also had several partners outside of camp. He never knew their names and never wanted to. Two months at camp, Jake and Brian could make enough cash to get through the entire year until next years camp. That how ever didn’t stop them from working their business in the off season it’s just that this was their primary selling season. What Jake and Brian didn’t know was that things were going to go bad this year. There were going to very bad.
The boys were well in to their first out of nine selling weeks. Sales were great. Hell it even looked like it would be a record year. What you have to remember was that Jake was selling to some of these kids for five years now. The kids came to camp prepared to spend money. Hell even some parents gave their kids money to get them items. Of course they would never admit it but Jake knew what was happening. And honestly he didn’t care where the items were going as long as the cash was going in his pocket.
On the seventh day Jake noticed a dramatic down fall in sales. He decided to not sweat it and see what happened the next day. Well the next day was worse so he knew that he had to investigate to see what was going on. So now he and Brian were on a mission. It took no time at all to find the problem. Another camper had moved in on their territory. Jake was furious. The guy selling was a friend of Jakes. Well an ex friend now. When Jake went to approach him two of the other campers stepped in front of him. Gary the new kid on the block wouldn’t even acknowledge that Brian and Jake were there. He just kept on selling as if nothing was going on. At that moment Jake decided that walking away would be the best thing for now but he also knew that in no way was he done.
That night Jake lay in bed wondering how he was going to deal with the situation at hand. He figured if he could get to talk to Gary one on one that he could make things right. Jake was a little worried because all his product was bought on credit and the guys he bought it from weren’t very nice guys. They trusted Jake because he always made good but he knew they wouldn’t hesitate to deal with a situation that may go bad. Sleep was very limited that night. However when Jake woke up in the morning he felt like it would be a good day. Little did he know that today would be the day that the snowball started rolling down the hill.
Jake got up and had a shower before he made his way over to where Gary was working. He decided to get it over and done with instead of procrastinating. Once he got to Garys venue once again the same two guys stepped out in front of him. Jake was very nice about the situation. Inside he was boiling over but he knew that at this point anger wasn’t the solution. Jake asked that he be allowed to talk to Gary for a few minutes. One of the big dudes went over and said something before coming back and letting Jake through. Jake was excited. He was sure he was about to get this thing resolved.
It didn’t take long for Jake to realize that this conversation was going to get nothing resolved. Jake was nice about things at first. He reminded Gary that this had been his gig for five years. He reminded him that friends don’t screw other friends over. Jake even offered Gary a share of the business next year but this year he had obligations to fulfill and with the new business this was going to be very tough to do. There was no hesitation, no sympathy, absolutely no caring from Gary. He reminded Jake that it was a free world. He told Jake that he didn’t care about his problems and there was no way he was going to quit what was now filling his pockets with more cash then he had ever known.
Jake snapped. He tried to get at Gary but was very surprised at the quickness of the two guys that were there to guard Gary. The guys hauled Jake out of the area. The entire time Jake was making promises of retribution. He promised Gary that this wasn’t over and that by the end of the week there once again would be only one guy selling here. The two brutes warned Jake not to come back to the area unless he was coming to do business.
Jake now walked away. He was defeated for now but he knew he wasn’t going to take this laying down. He did however wonder what the business had come to that his competition was actually using body guards. For Jake it turned out to be a long day. His business had dropped about 80 percent. On top of all that he had to make a product payment. This week was fine because he had a great week but what would happen if he couldn’t get his sales the following week. He didn’t want to think what would happen. He was never in that position before but he knew that his suppliers weren’t nice guys.
The next week rolled around and Jakes business was even worse now. He had no where enough cash to pay his supplier. He decided to be honest and ask for an extension and see what happened. Jake was quite surprised. His meeting went well. The guys he owed money to reminded him that they were a team and that they would help him out in any way possible. Jake was impressed. Maybe things were looking up. He slept the best he did in a week. Come morning however everything would change. All of his endeavors would be hoisted to a new level.
The following morning Jake was awakened by first the sounds of screams and secondly a commotion building out side his cabin. He quickly got out of bed to see what was going on. What Jake saw next was enough to drive him over the edge. This was something that only happened in the movies. There on the side of his cabin were Garys two body guards. It was quite obvious they were dead. There eyes were missing, there hearts were lying at their feet and they were nailed to the wall. Jake knew immediately what happened. He didn’t want to believe it but there was no denying it. His suppliers had decided to help him but in a million years Jake never thought it would come to this. All around him people were crying, throwing up and screaming. Then all at once Jake noticed something funny going on. He saw everybody moving away from him. He didn’t want to think it but he could see how they would. Everybody thought that this was Jakes handy work. After all everybody did hear him threatening Gary.
Minutes later the cops arrived. Jake was sure things would get straightened out now. He was totally wrong because at the end of the day it was Jake that was hauled away in hand cuffs and charged with two counts of murder. It seemed like there was nothing he could say that would make the police think any different.
3 weeks later Jake had his trial. The evidence against him was so over whelming that even he would have convicted him self. Obviously the jury was thinking the same thing because they only needed an hour to come back with a guilty verdict. Jake was sentenced to 50 years for both murders with no chance of parole. After all was said and done Jake guessed that it was his suppliers that set him up so when the guards told him that Gary was there to visit him it was a little surprising.
The conversation went quite well. Jake tried to convince Gary that he was innocent. Gary wouldn’t have any of that but he also knew that their conversation was being monitored. Their talk lasted another 10 minutes before Gary told Jake that he had to leave. He told Jake that his business was thriving. Then Gary did something he knew he wasn’t suppose to do but he also knew that he didn’t need to ever come back to this place. Gary bent over and asked Jake if he liked his handy work he had left on the wall of the cabin. Gary was immediately escorted out. Jake just sat there with the wind knocked out of his sails. He would have never thought it if he didn’t hear it for himself.


Dale Mazurek