Hole
of Justice
by
Peter G. Jimenea
Make My Day!
For a street-smart “it is better to
be in company of a devil you know than the devil you don’t.” This reminds me of
the Small Town Lottery (STL) operating in Iloilo City for years now The permit granted to STL operators in this
number’s game is exclusive for the City of Iloilo only. It cannot operate
farther from the city and beyond, to the turf of municipal mayors they cannot
command.
But in underworld business, where
there is money, there is competition. It is not a surprise if a ”CAPO”or boss of the bosses of different
organizations will jump into the arena of illegal number`s game to join the fray for big profit. In
fact, a lot of lives were already lost in this kind of business.
The illegal operators are called
“BOOKIES” on the ground that they have no business permit and don’t pay taxes.
They just rely their projected profit and the future of their bettors from the
raffle draw results of STL operating
legally in the City.
Eventually, bookies become
competitors of STL operators. Not only that as bookies can operate
clandestinely in nearby municipalities where the STL cannot. Worse, they can
even penetrate the City bettors that rightfully belong to the legal operations
of the STL.
But in the underworld business there
is jealousy, double-cross, treachery, swindling and betrayal. Thus, other than
spending more for personal security and bribe, sometimes the bosses may resort
to violence and intimidation if only to have control the entire business.
Unfortunately, in illegal business
they players have no recourse to the Court Of Law for settlement of differences
,thus, death is the most Logical Solution to all judicial problems.
A Commentator of a radio station in
the City had been hitting a bookies-operator every night in his program by
branding him a drug lord. But even a publisher of leading local daily claim the
man is no longer on drugs but in number’s game now.
But what made him a marked target of
this radio commentator? It is widely believed
that STL “capos” want him out of business. But as the man refused to be
intimidated by threats, so the radio commentator was hired to do the dirty job.
Despite his heads so loose you can easily pass an airplane through it, he
continues singing about illegal drugs against the man every night of his life
for eight months until nobody wants to listen anymore.
Lately, however, in Jaro district, a
hang-out of a bookies-operator suspected under the umbrella of the STL “capos”
was raided by authorities. The result created a suspicion as the cause of an
untimely death of another bookies-operators inside his restaurant in Mandurriao
District.
It paves the way for the radio
commentator to again hit-hard the big-man by insinuating that he ordered the
killing without an idea that the two are friends and drinking buddies. The
irresponsible commentator also tags the big-man to the ambush-murder of a retired
police officer few months later. Worse, he deliberately dragged the names of
the innocent members of the big-man’s family into public humiliation with his malicious
and unfounded accusations.
The worst happened when a media
friend of the big-man who dropped him a visit was shot that night while about
to enter his house. Again, the big-man was tagged by the bad-mouthed radio
commentator as mastermind of the shooting. The incident drove the big-man to
explode.
He suspects his adversaries are out
to get him soon. So the game begins, their hatchetman that the capos are so
proud of becomes the hunted. It was a misfortune for the adversaries of the
big-man who belittle his underground influence with the underworld.
Although the man lacks the academic
proficiency, he has the managerial capability to tame even the wildest criminal
in his turf not by a despot rule but by deep-friendly-concern to the latter and
to his family. Now you see? Even in jail people with money have different
treatment than you and me.
When the hatchetman of the capos was
taken-care of by the “boys,” they individually sought an audience with the big-man
for a new compromise. They have realized that sometimes cooperation is better
than competition and likewise learned that anything in excess is bad.
As this story goes, underworld
business continues minus-trust among major players. Now, as to what future
awaits the abusive radio commentator, only God knows. I just hope to have made
his day in this column, he asks for it. Unlike Dirty Harry and me who ask
others to make our day
No comments:
Post a Comment