The complete engines were on wooden engine skids, and the skids were secured to the pallets wrapped with metal strapping. They were the heaviest of the parts and would be loaded last over the rear wheels of Luke’s truck.
As the two men watched the unloading, Luke wanted to get Sam closer to the back of his truck and at the right angle for the cameras. As the two men were talking, Luke started slowly walking towards the back of the trucks. Luke didn’t want Sam thinking about his moving closer, so he distracted him. Luke walked over to a pot hole a few feet away, and started kicking the dirt around the pot hole with his shoe. He asked about the surface of the lot, “Sam is this stuff oyster shells?” Luke continued kicking a larger pot hole a few feet closer to the truck.
Sam answered, “Yeah.”
As Luke walked to another pot hole and kicked around its edge, he said to Sam, “You guys gotta fix these pot holes. You need to resurface the yard. Someone’s going to break their neck or an axel.”
Sam replied, “Not our yard. We just use it as a favor from the owner.”
By the time they finished this pothole discussion, Luke had managed to position Sam right where he wanted him in front of the cameras.
“Where’s this load going?” Sam asked.
Luke replied, “It’s going to Mississippi. It takes a while to get there. We only travel on the highway part of the time. Our guys know where the highway cops have their stakeouts and where the weigh-in stations are. We get off the highway and go down surface roads to get around those places.”
When the loading was almost complete, Sam surprised Luke by asking, “Are you guys going to check for that hidden blue paint the feds are using?”
“What blue paint? I don’t know anything about it.”
“You ought to check with your guy Ed Langer about that paint.”
“Who is Ed Langer? Never heard of him.”
Nothing more was said. The parts were loaded, and Luke took out each stack of eleven pre-wrapped bills and handed them to Sam, one at a time, counting each stack as he handed it over.
The counting of the cash was perfectly in line with the cameras. Luke dug around in his bag and handed Sam a brown plastic bag to put the money in. Luke said “I’ve got to keep my gym bag in case I start working out again.” Each stack of bills handed to Sam was marked in code on the lower left corner with Blue Dye Seven.
Luke reported the entire incident with Sam and the reference to Langer and blue paint to Pisano. Pisano called Langer and asked if he knew anything about the blue dye. Langer confirmed he knew nothing about the blue dye.
Pisano believed Ed Langer and thought something else was going on. It was possible that the Coletta mob heard of the blue paint from a sting operation being conducted by the FBI. Pisano called his FBI counterpart and was told they didn’t think so but would do more checking.
Several days after this parts transaction, one of Langer’s bosses was ordered to follow Ed Langer. The day Ed was being followed, he was going to Hanna’s garage to deliver a part and help Wade get ready for the weekend race. Langer was also planning to go to the race and help Wade at the track.
Later that evening one of Ed’s bosses was ordered to follow him and showed up at his home. The two were having a heated discussion in the driveway. Ed’s parents could hear the noise but were not able to make out the words. Ed’s boss was asking Langer some very direct questions about certain parts and who purchased them. He was also asking who he knew in Coletta’s operation and about the names of certain large customers. He also asked Langer about people in the drag racing community who were his customers from the track and what and when they last bought from him.
Finally, his boss asked him what he knew about blue dye or blue paint being used by the Feds. Langer answered all the questions honestly and convincingly. He insisted that he didn’t know anything about any Blue Dye. His boss actually began to calm down and seemed satisfied with Langer’s answer. Ed’s boss said he was going to do some checking and he would get back to him. Ed said “fine” and his boss returned to his car and drove off.
Nothing else happened that evening but it scared the hell out of Langer. He was very agitated and called Pisano the next day. He and Pisano met alone at a remote location where Ed told him the story in detail.
Pisano heard him out, and at the end of the story, he felt the mob was too close to Langer and his cover was probably blown. Pisano didn’t want Langer to know anything about Blue Dye Seven, so he didn’t say anything about it. He told Langer he was concerned and wanted him to back off of doing anything with Hanna for the time.
Pisano’s street sense kicked into high gear. He didn’t know if they were setting up Langer to take a fall within the organization or if they were just throwing out bait to get a response and reaction to their general suspicions. Pisano didn’t know how they found out about the Blue Dye or why they were tying Langer to it. Pisano even thought they may be trying to set him up. He immediately put the word out with his street contacts and informants, looking for any information he could find.
Because of Langer’s low level within the operation, Pisano didn’t know why the organization had focused on him or why they had questions about the race track and Blue Dye. He just didn’t feel Langer was safe and wanted him to back off and go low profile. He thought this might be the time to pull Langer completely out of the operation and was seriously considering that alternative.
Another parts purchase was scheduled between Luke and Sam in two weeks. Pisano considered canceling that transaction depending on what his informants found.
19
Within a week of meeting Langer, after the Blue Dye transaction incident, Pisano was faced with another unsuspecting problem in Hanna’s operation at the salon. Wade Hanna had been appearing as scheduled, with intermittent visits to the beauty shop on Thursdays to see Jamie and Linda. On the week Hanna was not to show, Linda also didn’t show for her regular scheduled hair appointment with Jamie.
Jamie called the number she had for Linda, but there was no answer. Jamie called Wade and told him the story and asked him what she should do.
Wade said calmly, “I wouldn’t worry about it. She probably had a schedule conflict. See if she calls you next week.”
Jamie replied, “She’s never done this. She’s never missed an appointment since I’ve known her. She called me one other time when she was going to be fifteen minutes late. It’s just not like her. I’m very worried about her.”
“I understand,” Wade said. “You might try to reach her again. Let me know if anything changes.”
Wade didn’t hear back from Jamie that day.
The following day at about 5:00 in the afternoon, Linda came into the shop and was hardly recognizable. She was badly bruised and could hardly walk. Her sunglasses covered two black eyes. Her nose had been broken, her lip was split in two places, and her face was badly bruised and swollen. She looked horrible.
Jamie saw her first and said, “Oh my God what happened to you?” They hugged each other and cried together. The other girls in the shop came over and all started crying.
Linda, having partially gained her composure, said, “I’m so sorry I missed my appointment. I wanted to call but I couldn’t.”
One of the girls asked, “Poor thing. Were you in a car wreck?”
Linda shook her head no, and leaned on Jamie’s shoulder and started to cry again. Sobbing she said, “T.J. did this to me.” She continued between sobs, “It’s over between us — this time for real. I’m worried about Mindy.”