Kingpin

1
“Benjamin Franklin is cold”
Benjamin Franklin is on the hundred dollar bill
An amount I have never seen in real life
I name my pet mouse Benjamin Franklin
The spinning of his exercise wheel a squeaky lullaby singing me to sleep
I am awakened only by my father’s footsteps as he comes home from his second shift of the day
Each step a slow tired crash of lead on wooden floorboards
When I leave for school the next morning
He is passed out on the couch
Mom and dad fight about the usual
Money, rent, food
Mom screams, then dad screams
When he can take it no longer
Dad storms out
His footsteps make the house tremble
He seems a giant to me
The worst is when something gets switched off
This time, it is the heat
Benjamin Franklin is not moving
He is frozen stiff
2
“I make a friend of horror”
At school, there screams and taunts
They call me “fatty”
At some point after the tears have begun to soak into the collar of my shirt
I fight back
I turn my size from something of ridicule to a tool of intimidation
After beating my tormentors
I get a reputation
Smaller kids give me their lunch money as “protection fees”
I isolate myself for hours in the library
Learning from the mistakes of the past
I study war
Nietzsche, Sun Tzu, Napoleon, Macarthur, Musashi
Learn the language of manipulation
I develop vision, principles of leadership
“I divide vision into tactics and strategy.”
Fists pounding faces until blood spills
Maimed limbs, snapped vertebrae
Concrete tied to legs thrown in the river
These are tactics
“Luck is opportunity meeting preparedness”
Always practicing and training
Building influence
Leading by example
Embracing horror more than any of your enemies
This is strategy
I shave my head because a lice infestation in the neighborhood
“It adds to the impact of my presence so I leave it that way”
A union man gives me fifteen dollars to start a fire
A maintenance man gets in the way
He goes up too
I am twelve years old
3
“I am a magician. I know how to make things disappear. Evidence. My past. People.”
4
“A man without hope, is a man without fear”
Heroes are only as good as they are useful
A worthy opponent sharpens your skills
All heroes must fall
We love the fall
Build men up just high enough to knock them down
Everyone wears masks, has secrets
Sides of themselves they hide from others
Everyone has confidants, friends, and lovers
Every secret has a price
I once bought all of one man’s secrets
From a former lover turned junkie who needed a fix
Junkies are very useful
I ruined the same man’s best friend
Made him question his faith
I use agents whenever possible
I met a man named Lester who was good with projectiles
Never missed
There was another named Mary
Had multiple personalities
Many of them were very useful
The insane have many uses
To kill the friend
To kill the lover
Twice, I did not even need to ask
Take the hero’s hope from him
A man without fear is easily broken
5
“We created Kingpins”
It is your fault
It started with Prohibition
Post WWI an entire empire built from a single law
Bugsy Segal, “Lucky” Luciano, Myer Lansky
In the Depression, it was nickel and dime gambling
Economic hardship breeds desperation
Desperation leads to violence
There has always been crime
It’s just human nature
But you wanted me
Needed me
I built your cities
The infrastructure that keeps them going
You made me
Idolized me
Romanticized me
I am Fisk, Scarface, and Soprano
I am Capone, Gotti, Amin,
I am your pusher, dealer, and supplier
Your drugs, your weapons
I am your political ideology, your religion
I am the secret history of genocide lurking just under the surface
I am whatever you need your villain to be
I am your Kingpin