The Racketeer

violence but they are not afraid of it. They are disciplined, tough, and resourceful. Several have gone to prison. Several have been killed. To them, that’s just part of the overhead.”
    I pause, take a breath. The room is silent.
    At least five of the dark suits are taking notes. One has a laptop and has already pulled up the file on Quinn Rucker, who had made several cuts and was on the FBI’s top-fifty list of suspects, primarily because of his time with me at Frostburg and his escape from it.
    “As I said, I met Quinn at Frostburg, and we became friends. Like a lot of inmates, he was convinced I could file a magic motion and get him out, but not in his case. He was not doing well in prison because Frostburg was his first gig. This happens to some of the new guys who have not seen other prisons. They don’t appreciate the camp atmosphere. Anyway, as his time dragged onhe got restless. He couldn’t imagine doing five more years. He has a wife, a couple of kids, cash from the family business, and a lot of insecurities. He was convinced some of his cousins were moving in, taking over his role, stealing his share. I listened to a lot of this but didn’t swallow all of it. These gang guys are generally full of crap and like to exaggerate their stories, especially when it comes to money and violence. But I liked Quinn. He was probably the best friend I’ve made yet in prison. We never celled together but we were close.”
    “Do you know why he walked away?” Victor Westlake asks.
    “I think so. Quinn was selling pot and doing well. He was also smoking a lot of it. As you know, the quickest way out of a federal camp is to get caught with drugs or alcohol. Strictly prohibited. Quinn got word through a snitch that the COs knew about his business and they were about to bust him. He’s extremely smart and savvy, and he never kept the drugs in his cell. Like most of the guys who sell on the black market, he hid his inventory in common areas. The heat was on, and he knew if he got caught he’d be sent away to a tougher place. So he walked. I’m sure he didn’t walk far. Probably had someone waiting close by.”
    “Do you know where he is now?”
    I nod, take my time, say, “He has a cousin, don’t know his name, but he owns a couple of strip clubs in Norfolk, Virginia, near the naval base. Find the cousin, and you’ll find Quinn.”
    “Under what name?”
    “I don’t know, but it’s not Quinn Rucker.”
    “How do you know this?”
    “Sorry, but that’s none of your business.”
    At this point, Westlake nods at an agent by the door, and he disappears. The search is on.
    “Let’s talk about Judge Fawcett,” Westlake says.
    “Okay,” I reply. I cannot count the number of times I have lived for this moment. I have rehearsed this in the darkness of my cell when I couldn’t sleep. I have written it in narrative form, thendestroyed it. I have said the words out loud while taking long, lonely walks around the edges of Frostburg. It’s hard to believe this is finally happening.
    “A big part of his gang’s business was running cocaine from Miami to the major cities along the East Coast, primarily the southern leg—Atlanta, Charleston, Raleigh, Charlotte, Richmond, and so on. Interstate 95 was the favored route because it is so heavily traveled, but the gang used every state highway and county road on the map. Most of it was mule running. They would pay a driver $5,000 to rent a car and haul a trunkload of coke to a distribution center in—pick a city. The mule would make the drop, then turn around and drive back to south Florida. According to Quinn, 90 percent of the coke snorted in Manhattan gets there in a car rented by a mule in Miami and driven north as if on legitimate business. Detection is virtually impossible. When mules are caught, it’s because someone snitched. Anyway, Quinn had a nephew who was working his way up the ladder of the family business. The kid was mule running, and he got caught speeding on Interstate 81 just outside of Roanoke. He was in a rented Avis van and said he was delivering antique furniture to a store in Georgetown. There was indeed furniture in the van, but the real cargo was cocaine with a street value of $5 million. The state trooper was suspicious and called for a backup. The nephew knew the rules and refused to allow a search of the van. The second trooper was a rookie, a real eager beaver, and he began poking around the cargo bay of the van. He had no