After a few minutes, Wade turned to Linda and said, “Linda, now that we know Mindy is safe, I have to ask you a question. Did you at any time mention Jamie’s name or my name to T.J.?”
Linda put her hand to her mouth thinking. She started crying again, and through her sobs said, “Yes, probably a couple of times. I didn’t think anything of it. You two were such a nice couple.” She started sobbing as she saw the implications. “I’m so sorry.” She stood up and stepped toward Wade. He rose to meet her and held her as she cried.
Wade was facing Pisano over Linda’s shoulder. He said, “It’s all right,” as he rubbed Linda’s back. For a moment, Wade and Pisano looked at each other intently. They didn’t say a word to each other because of Linda’s presence. They didn’t need to speak. Both realized that Coletta had connected the dots between Wade, the Race Track, Ed Langer, and the beauty salon.
Pisano glanced over to the window, thinking, “that explains almost everything.” The pieces of the Hanna and Langer operations were quickly coming undone, and it was clear that cover had been blown in both operations.
Linda and Mindy were united and spent the next several days at the safe house together. During that time, Linda was able to give Pisano a great deal of information about the Coletta ring including locations where they held secret meetings, the names of organized crime bosses Coletta frequently met with, the names of lieutenants — names Pisano didn’t know, some of the names of underbosses in other states, and details about where Pisano could find accounting records of the operation — in the house, buried in a vault beneath the basement floor.
Knowing there was eminent danger for both Langer and Hanna, Pisano called a meeting at Abe’s Records. Both Hanna and Langer showed up on time and were ushered to the back room by another manager neither knew.
Pisano began without any formalities. “I called this meeting because I think both of you are now too close to being uncovered as operatives. You have both done an excellent job. I have discussed your performance within the department and with the DA’s office. We have unanimously concluded that you both have served with distinction, and your service to pay for your crimes has been met. Your files have already been destroyed under my supervision. There will be no record of your having been arrested or having a police problem. Now, if you get a ticket going home today, that’s another story. But everything in your past connected with the police department has been eliminated under my direct supervision, and I am no longer your parole officer.” Pisano paused.
“Actually, I never thought of my role with you two as that of a parole officer. We were all members of an undercover operation team, and I would be honored to serve with you on any assignment in the future. As of now, you’re free to go and get back to living your lives the way you were living them before. Of course, if you were considering changing your lives for the better, this might be a good time to do that.”
“Now that I’ve given you my official speech, I’m not going to turn you loose without a personal warning: I believe both of you are in danger of possible serious retribution from several members within the Coletta mob. I think both of you need to reexamine everything you were doing in connection with the auto parts activities and consider not doing it anymore. That includes going to the track, working at the garage, and selling or buying parts. If I were you, I’d think about doing something different, perhaps out of town for a while. Things with Coletta are going to get real intense around here.”
Pisano continued, “I know you guys are good friends, but I have to tell you I don’t think it’s good to hang around with each other for a while. You can reconnect later and tell your grandchildren about all this. Capish?”
Hanna and Langer both nodded, acknowledging that they understood.
The last thing I want to say is this: “If you guys need anything at all, please call me. I may not have shown it but care about you both and don’t want to see anything bad happen to either of you. Now get the hell out of here, you’re free, go change your lives.”
Ed Langer immediately started cutting way back on parts sales for the gang and made himself scarce. At Ed’s request, his father contacted a friend who owned several gas stations out of town in New Roads, LA to see if he needed any help. The possibility looked promising, and if it worked out, Ed would move to New Roads and help his dad’s friend run several gas stations.
Wade had a different idea. It was late April, and Wade was finishing school for the year. Earlier that same year, Wade had joined the Navy Submarine Reserve. Wade had two reasons for this decision. First, the mob was still looking for him and secondly, the Viet Nam draft had started. In the Navy Reserve, Wade would be stationed in New Orleans and could finish high school while doing his weekend service. New Orleans Naval Reserve had a submarine reserve unit, with a complete but older WWII submarine for training, stationed at the Industrial Canal.
Wade had passed the Navy advanced tests and was eligible for submarine school. He had completed basic training over his winter break. Shortly after the meeting at Abe’s Records, Wade brought the '33, his spare engine, and parts to an auto show and sold everything at a fair price to someone from Texas who wanted to rebuild the '33 into a more advanced racing car in a different classification. Wade said goodbye to the '33 and to racing for good.
20
After selling his '33 race car and all his spare parts, Wade stopped going by the garage. He would drop by once in a while to chat with the guys but didn’t get involved in any projects. Wade wanted to find a way out of the city for a lot of different reasons.
Because of his commitment to the Navy, Wade was required to spend a weekend every month at the Naval Reserve Station. They did class work and drills on the old training submarine, but overall those weekends were pretty boring. It was now late April and Wade contacted the second in command of his reserve unit, Lieutenant Commander Dobson to see if there were any open spots in the Submarine Training School in New London, Connecticut.
Dobson looked through the submarine training schedule book and told Wade he was in luck. He said there was a required basic submarine training class starting in May, and there were several quartermaster training classes following his basic course that he could also take. Dobson told Wade that when he got through those classes he would be ready for active submarine sea duty.
Wade looked at the schedule and selected his quartermaster classes following his basic Submarine training class.
Dobson looked at Wade’s selection and said, “Wow, that’s an ambitious set of courses. It will take you virtually all summer to complete them.”
Wade said, “That’s fine.” He filled out the forms, Dobson approved them and Wade sent them off. In ten days, he received confirmation that he had been accepted in all the classes he had chosen, along with the dates he was to report. He was pleased. He told his parents, and called Pisano who said, “Your timing is perfect.”
Wade was able to take his high school finals early that year and headed for New London. He would be arriving a few days early so he could get acclimated. The Coletta gang was looking for him. With a price on his head he just wanted to get out of New Orleans and get a feel for his new surroundings.
He arrived at the New London base in a Navy bus that picked him up from the airport.
The training routine at Navy Submarine School was rigorous. Morning classes started at 7:00 am and went until noon. Students learned all the basics about a submarine’s various parts and how they worked, and he got some basic training in navigation and electronics. He learned what to do in case of emergencies and how to evacuate from the sub. He got diving instructions and learned how fast you can ascend without getting the bends. The instructors were old school Navy and generally very good. They knew submarines inside and out and were determined that students would be able to identify every knob, handle, gage, and valve before getting out of their classes.