His stomach was killing him. Slowly, Sid opened his eyes to see the world spinning around him. As things came into focus, he noticed two armed guards by the door. Through the window, Sid could see two more outside the room. Sid went to rub his face but found that he was restrained at the wrists and ankles, effectively preventing him from moving. One of the guards raised an eyebrow at Sid, who scowled back and shouted, "Fuck you!"
The last thing Sid remembered was some nobody's face above him and the glint of the knife in his hand. He couldn't believe it! Vince and Marley had betrayed him! They had tried to kill Sid!
"Fuck them! Fuck it all! Those cocksucking, motherfucking sons of bitches!" Sid screamed, rocking back and forth and straining against his restraints. "I'm going to kill those cunts! I'm going to kill them! How dare they, how dare they betray me, how dare they try to kill me!"
"We have a situation with the prisoner, we're going to need a sedative," one of the guards got on his radio.
"No fucking way! No fucking way will you sedate me! Get me the fuck out of here, I'll kill you!" Sid yelled at the guard.
"Make it a strong one," the guard added in.
A few moments later, a large male nurse came in flanked by the two guards from outside. All four of the guards held Sid down as the nurse brought out a hypodermic needle and injected it into Sid's thigh. Sid continued raging and struggling against his restraints and the men holding him still until the sedative took effect.
–
"...Currently at Hillwood Medical Centre receiving treatment for an injury of unknown nature. Earlier today, Chief of Police Terrence McLean issued a statement about Gifaldi."
The news station cut to a video clip of the aforementioned statement. McLean stood outside the police headquarters, face serious and voice calm amid the shouting of reporters.
"We apprehended Gifaldi at his apartment at approximately ten in the evening. When we found him, he was unconscious in his bedroom, bleeding from a severe injury. Although we found no evidence on the scene, we firmly believe that we already have a strong case against him. We look forward to a trial at the soonest possible date. Thank you," McLean said, then stepped down from the podium as questions exploded from reporters.
The news station cut back to the anchor, who cleared her throat and clasped her hands again.
"We have a report that Gifaldi is in stable condition and will be moved to jail without bail. We will continue covering this ongoing story at the noon hour."
Sid angrily grabbed the remote and changed the channel.
"...Could face multiple life sentences, in addition to the penalties the other charges carry. He may even be prosecuted in federal court. I hope he is. People think of this guy as just a mobster, but when you look at his alleged murder count, he's a serial killer. He needs to be in prison, no question. I'm willing to have my tax dollars spent to keep this guy off the streets—"
"The trial is slated to begin on the fourteenth and is expected to last weeks. Gifaldi is facing over thirty charges, most for murder, but other charges include drug trafficking and distribution, human trafficking, and racketeering. Assistant U.S Attorney Ethan Roosevelt, who will be prosecuting, says that he is, 'very confident' about the evidence against Gifaldi."
–
Sid stepped out of the car to a roar of voices. Police officers had set up barricades on either side, holding back the media who thrust cameras and microphones and shouted questions. Officers flanked Sid on all sides, as well as his lawyer. Sid wore his very best suit, but his arms were cuffed behind his back and his feet were shackled.
Flashes exploded everywhere as the officers pushed the media back. Sid paid them no attention. The officers led Sid inside and into the courtroom where the bailiff then walked Sid to the defendant's table. Across the way, Sid saw the Assistant US Attorney and his team look him once over. Turning back to face the bench, Sid kept his proudest face on, even though about the time he was lying bleeding on the bathroom floor, he realised that everything had crumbled around him. He was going to loose this case and spend the rest of his life in jail.
"All rise for The Honourable Judge Hawkins," the bailiff announced.
Everyone stood as the judge entered the room with her robes billowing. Judge Hawkins quickly took her place at the bench. She brushed her hair out of her face and briefly looked over some papers before speaking.
"I will now bring this court to order. We are here to bring Sidney Raymond Gifaldi to trial for thirty-one charges: the murder of Giuseppe Kursivetti, the murder of Wesley Montserrat, the murder of Tulio Hernandez, the murder of Amelia Reynolds, the murder of James Abbott, the murder of Anthony Ruysch, ... accessory to the murder of Georgino Piras..."
Sid took a deep breath. As each name was read off, he remembered clearly who the person was and how he had killed them. For a long while, his mind lingered on Gino. Briefly, Sid wondered what he would be doing right now if he had not killed Gino. Would they still be living the life they had been living? Or would someone else have done what Sid had done?
"...And six counts of human trafficking," Judge Hawkins said, finishing the list of charges. "Prosecution, you may begin your opening statement."
"Thank you, Your Honour," Roosevelt stood up and straightened his tie, clearing his throat before beginning. "Through the course of the prosecution's investigation..."
–
"Roosevelt, you may call your first witness to the stand," Judge Hawkins said.
"Thank you, Your Honour. I call Ms Lila Sawyer to the stand," Roosevelt said, his voice confident.
Lila stood up and was escorted to the stand by the bailiff, where she was sworn in. She cleaned herself up for the trial, looking less strung out than Sid had seen her in a long time. Roosevelt had stood up and was ready to begin his examination.
It made Sid's blood boil to see the stupid bitch sitting there, acting like she had done nothing wrong. He was going to end her if he could, he didn't even care that he was in a courtroom and in chains. Sid clasped his hands together, contemplating strangling her, but Roosevelt began his examination and stood directly in front of Lila, blocking Sid's way. He would have to go through Roosevelt too, and that was too much work. The bailiff would have him before he would even get to Lila. It was a waste of time, but oh, how he wanted to do it.
"For the jury, Ms Sawyer, please establish your relationship with the defendant," Roosevelt said, arms held behind his back.
Lila cleared her throat and looked desperate for a cigarette, but demurely said, "We dated for around five years."
"Would you say you were a large part of his life?"
Lila nodded, "Yes, later on, I would spend more time with him. I was with him a lot."
Roosevelt nodded, then straightened his tie again. Sid wanted to hit that smug snake, the man felt like this was an easy case! Sid narrowed his eyes. Maybe he had become sloppy, but not with murder. Never with murder. Lila was the only witness to several of the ones he had been charged with, while the others had no witnesses at all. He was going to do everything he could to stay out of jail.
Lila was question for a lengthy amount of time before Sid's lawyer was allowed to cross examine her. Presenting the evidence had taken two weeks, and the full examination of Lila took another week. So Sid was quite glad when his lawyer was able to discredit Lila as a witness. She was their kingpin, take her away, and the rest of the pieces would fall away and Sid would walk free.
"Ms Sawyer, please tell the jury how you met Mr Gifaldi," his lawyer asked.
Lila blinked, then grew visibly nervous, but spoke, "Well, we first knew each other in school, but we were never really friends. We lost contact after school ended."
"When did you re-establish contact with Mr Gifaldi?"
Lila licked her lips. Sid knew she was itching to get out of here; he knew she was itching to not be sober any more.
"I, uh, I was looking to buy some meth one night. That's when I met him. When I was out, looking to score."
"Was Mr Gifaldi selling methamphetamines?"
"No, but I saw him sell some other men drugs, so I thought I could ask him. And I did, and that is how we re-established contact," Lila said shamefacedly.
"Do you take methamphetamines, Ms Sawyer?" his lawyer asked. "Do you take any sort of substances, legal or illegal, with the intent to alter your state of mind?"
Lila was silent for a long while. The court reporter stopped typing with the absence of speech, allowing a strange sort of silence to fall over the courtroom. Sid knew the answer. It was yes, yes, a thousand times yes. Lila had tried anything and everything. And that's what his lawyer was banking on: the argument that Lila was not a reliable witness to the majority of murders due to her being under the influence the majority of the time she was with Sid.
"Yes," Lila finally answered. "I use methampthetamines regularly, in addition to cocaine, and prescription pain killers."
"How many times a week would you say you used the aforementioned substances?"
–
"What are you going to do, Nico? The evidence they have against me is too strong for your current fucking argument to do a Goddamn thing!" Sid was speaking with his lawyer.
"I am doing my best to defend you, but the evidence doesn't lie," his lawyer said.
Sid looked down at the handcuffs encircling his wrist. The chain connecting the two cuffs jangled with each inhale and exhale. He couldn't stand being locked away like this, returned to state custody every evening after the trial adjourned until the next day.
Even though that had made Lila as a witness unusable, due to proving that she could not possibly recollect the murders as she was not in her right mind because of drug use, the other evidence the prosecution presented against Sid was overwhelming. While he might not be sentenced for murder, he would be sentenced for trafficking, racketeering, money laundering, and countless other charges that would keep him locked up in federal prison for a long time, equal to serving a life sentence.
"Give the word to Luc," Sid said, referring to Lucky, his inside man at the police station. "I'm not going down and out without a fight," his voice was low and there was a dark gleam in his eyes.
"Very well, as long as he understands what to do," his lawyer muttered back.
"He will," Sid said.
He interlocked his fingers, bringing his hands up to his face so he could rest his head upon them while staring pensively at the wall behind Nico.
–
"This is Janice Barlow, for Channel 6 news, outside Moynihan Courthouse in New York City. Minutes from now, after six weeks of trial, Sidney Gifaldi, the Lord of Dogtown, will be found guilty or not guilty of thirty-one charges..."
Inside the courthouse, Sid stood, his hands and feet still bound as the jury filed back into the room. Arnold sat watching Sid. The man was still looking haughty and proud, like he could not care less what the verdict was. Arnold got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach looking at the man, and he wished dearly that he was not here, and that Sid was not here, and that Helga was not here, sitting next to him and holding his hand.
He wanted them to be playing baseball in the street, and he just wanted to hear Sid yell, "Car!" But that was not going to happen. That time had long passed. Arnold took a deep breath and knew that they all knew now that time waited for no one, and time would make a fool of everyone.
"How does the jury find the defendant?" Judge Hawkins asked.
A young man, who could not have been more than eighteen, stood. He cleared his throat, straightened his tie, then looked around at his fellow jurors. Some nodded, other smiled encouragingly. The young man looked back at the judge, not daring to make eye contact with Sid.
"We, the jury, find the defendant, for the three charges of drug trafficking: guilty; for the six charges of human trafficking: guilty; for the two charges of racketeering: guilty; … for the murder of Giuseppe Kursivetti: not guilty; for the murder of Wesley Montserrat: guilty..." the young man read on, listing off the charges and how the jury found Sid.
Sid's expression didn't change as the young man read off the charges. Arnold wondered how the man could be so calm about this, but then again, Arnold didn't know anything about Sid. He realised long ago that the kid he thought he knew no longer existed.
Next to him, another member of the police force, Riley, mouth the verdicts as they were read off. Riley had nearly been late to the trail, he had told Arnold that he didn't want to miss seeing "this sick fucker get locked up."
"Are you okay?" Arnold asked Riley, who was pale and sweating.
Riley flinched when Arnold touched his arm.
"Oh, yes, fine," Riley looked out into the crowd of people where Sid's parents were sitting, his mother crying, her sobs growing louder as each verdict was read off.
"You just look sick," Arnold started to say.
"...and for the charge of accessory to the murder of Georgino Piras: guilty."
Riley stood, ignoring the Judge's orders for him to be seated. Arnold reacted quickly, pushing Helga to the floor and throwing himself over her as Riley pulled out two guns, unleashing a spray of bullets on the courtroom. Gunfire rang out as people began to scream from shock and pain.
Arnold could barely think, but he knew that he had to act fast. He opened his eyes and saw a man drop to the floor his eyes opened wide in shock as he bled out from his missing lower jaw. Riley had long since left the spot where he first opened fire, so Arnold whispered to Helga, "Stay where you are."
He crawled along the floor, trying to ascertain where Riley was. The gunfire sounded like it was coming from the front of the courtroom now, so Arnold made his way to the aisle, carefully peeking his head out enough so he could see what was going on.
Sid and his lawyer were the only ones left standing. Riley was visibly shaking as he looked at the two men.
"Well done, Lucky," Sid said to Riley. "You really fuckin' are your namesake."
He nodded at Riley, then took a gun from Riley and handed it to his lawyer, who used it to break the chains on his ankles. Then they quickly fled the room. Arnold leapt to his feet, ready to follow them but a sob made him look over at Riley, who had the remaining gun to his temple.
"Tell them all I'm sorry," Riley gulped. Before Arnold could do anything, he had pulled the trigger and crumpled to the ground with the sound of the gun still echoing through the courtroom.
–
Sid leaned back in his chair, smirking as he watched the news. Smoke billowed around him, streaming of a lit cigarette. Nico stood behind him, arms crossed. Sid enjoyed being able to move his arms without them being restricted by handcuffs.
"...It is an absolute horrific scene here at Moynihan Courthouse in New York... An unidentified gunman opened fire in the trial of Sidney Gifaldi, the death count is unknown at this point but already dead are Judge Emilie Hawkins, who presided over the trial, five of the jurors, and the gunman himself... it's absolutely horrific... New York police have issued a state-wide manhunt for Sidney Gifaldi, who escaped during the violence..."
He turned to Nico and grinned, "I think they finally know that I am their Lord. I AM the Lord of Dogtown and this whole fucking country is full of dogs."
Afterword:
I feel proud of myself for actually finishing not one, not two, but three stories!
This last chapter took a while, mostly because I wanted to get the court scenes right. I have (unfortunately) been privy to legal proceedings, but it was only seeing a plea bargain and not a whole trial. So excuse me if anything is a little off, especially the way the courthouse is referred to. I've only been to NY once and internet research can only do so much.
I have actually never spent more time researching for a fanfiction than I have for this one. I watched a lot of documentaries on gangs and drug traffickers, as well as on the lives of drug kingpins like Nicky Barnes. Hopefully it shows.
Anyways, I'm pleased with how this story turned out. I could have spent a lot more time on characters like Lila, Gino, Helga, Marley, and Vince, but that'd be more of a novel than I would want this story to be.
And yes it did end with a blatant sequel hook, but I do not intend to write a sequel for this story.
Finally, a big, huge thank you and lots of internet kisses to those of you who review the story, especially onefinewire, whose reviews always make me go squee.
I hope you all enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.
P.S.: I'm looking to start on a new story, if you wouldn't mind me bouncing ideas off you, give me a PM!
