The Big Bad Wolf by James Patterson
Prologue
THE GODFATHERS
THERE WAS AN IMPROBABLE MURDER STORY told about the Wolf that had made its
way into police lore and then spread quickly from Washington to New York to London and
to Moscow. No one knew if it was actually the Wolf. But it was never officially disproved,
and it was consistent with other outrageous incidents in the Russian gangster’s life.
According to the story, the Wolf had gone to the high-security supermax prison in Florence,
Colorado, on a Sunshiny night in early summer. He had bought his way inside to meet with
the Italian mobster and don Augustino “Little Gus” Palumbo. Prior to this visit, the Wolf had
a reputation for being impulsive and sometimes lacking patience. Even so, he had been
planning this meeting with Little Gus Palumbo for nearly two years.
He and Palumbo met in the Security Housing Unit of the prison, where the New York gangster
had been incarcerated for seven years. The purpose of the meeting was to reach an
arrangement to unite the East Coast’s Palumbo family with the Red Mafia, thereby forming
one of the most powerful and ruthless crime syndicates in the world. Nothing like it had ever
been attempted. Palumbo was said to be skeptical, but he agreed to the meeting just to see if
the Russian could get inside Florence prison , and then manage to get out again.
From the moment they met, the Russian was respectful of the sixty-six-year-old don. He
bowed his head slightly as they shook hands and almost appeared shy, contrary to his
reputation.
“There’s to be no physical contact,” the captain of the guards said from the intercom into the
room. His name was Larry Ladove and he was the one who had been paid $75,000 to
arrange the meeting.
The Wolf ignored Captain Ladove. “Under the circumstances, you look well,” he said to Little
Gus. “Very well indeed.”
The Italian smiled thinly. He had a small body, but it was tight and hard. “I exercise three
times a day, every day. I almost never have liquor, and not by choice. I eat well, and not by
choice either.”
The Wolf smiled, then said, “It sounds like you don’t expect to be here for your full
sentence.”
Palumbo coughed out a laugh. “That’s a good bet. Three life sentences served concurrently?
The discipline is in my nature, though. The future? Who can know for sure about these
things?”
“Who can know? One time I escaped from a gulag on the Arctic Circle. I told a cop in
Moscow, I spent time in a gulag; you think you can scare me? What else do you do in here?
Besides exercise and eat Healthy Choice?”
“I try to take care of my business back in New York. Sometimes I play chess with a sick
madman down the hall. He used to be in the FBI.”
“Kyle Craig,” said the Wolf. “You think he’s crazy like they say?”
“Yeah, totally. So tell me, Pakhan, how can this alliance you suggest work? I am a man of
discipline and careful planning, in spite of these humbling circumstances. From what I’m told,
you’re reckless. Hands-on. You involve yourself with even the smallest operations. Extortion,
prostitution. Stolen cars? How can this work between us?”
The Wolf finally smiled, then shook his head. “I am hands-on, as you say. But I’m not
reckless, not at all. It’s all about the money, no? The bling-bling? Let me tell you a secret that
no one else knows. This will surprise you and maybe prove my point.”
The Wolf leaned forward. He whispered his secret, and the Italian’s eyes suddenly widened
with fear. With stunning quickness, the Wolf grabbed Little Gus’s head. He twisted it
powerfully, and the gangster’s neck broke with a loud, clear snap.
“Maybe I am a little reckless,” said the Wolf. Then he turned to the camera in the room. He
spoke to Captain Ladove of the guards. “Oh, I forgot, no touching.”
The next morning Augustino Palumbo was found dead in his cell. Nearly every bone in his body
had been broken. In the Moscow underworld, this symbolic kind of murder was known as
zamochit. It signaled complete and total dominance by the attacker. The Wolf was boldly stating
that he was now the godfather.
The Big Bad Wolf
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