Fatal Habits

      From the outside the 15-room mansion looked like a Victorian edifice that should have graced the cover of House and Garden. It stood completely out of character with most of the surrounding homes, which also were upscale but much more modest. Inside the 10-foot fence that encircled the home, stood a remote-controlled gate and a kennel housing vicious guard dogs. A long, circular driveway led to the mansion’s majestic front entrance.

      The area leading up to the mansion told only a small part of the whole story.  Every evening at about 6 o’clock the home’s owner relaxed the security restrictions. Then a procession of expensive-looking sports cars and limousines drove up to the estate’s entrance. After about two hours, the heavily-armed occupants of the cars rushed out of the mansion and quickly drove away. During the short visits loud shouting often emanated from the home.

      About once a week gunshots blasted into the night sky.  Then, one Saturday, a police car and ambulance raced up the circular driveway and attendants carried a covered body out of the entrance.

      After the official investigation of the incident wound up, someone left the gate open and the home’s door swung on its hinges.  Curious neighborhood looky loos quickly rushed past the distracted private security detail to conduct self-guided tours in every section of the mysterious mansion.

      An overwhelming stench came from the home, and it seemed like every room overflowed with broken furniture and trash piled almost to the ceiling.

        One area, the library, remained spotlessly clean and decorated with furnishing right out of the Victorian era.  An ornate desk from that era piled high with accounting ledgers sat in the center of the room. Next to them a number of computer monitors displayed items definitely not dating from earlier times.

        Neighborhood gossip Carol Jamison rushed into the library and quickly set the rumor mill buzzing, 

      “I heard that the mansion’s owner Harry Delordo had a major problem with hoarding.  Our local UPS driver also told me he was a local drug lord who used his place as a supermarket for other pushers. 

        “It looks like last Saturday one of the transactions did not go the way  Harry expected it to go.  During negotiations over the purchase price of a few kilos of fentanyl-laced cocaine, the mansion owner decided to end the talking and start acting. I think that the body of one of the top pushers was the one we saw being taken away to the morgue.”

         Ms. Jamison’s neighborhood history lesson then came to a quick end as she turned her head to stare into the business end of a .357 magnum.

          “If you don’t want to become the second occupant of that morgue you better forget your lesson in historical fiction and get back to your safe little suburban spy’s nest as quickly as your skinny little legs will carry you,” Harry shouted.

      “My friend Gary will be your guest for the next few weeks to make sure you don’t get any more ideas of spreading your little history lesson to the authorities or other neighbors. Also, my other associates will be watching every move you make after Gary leaves your house.”

       Harry’s hired gun stayed with Carol for more than a month. Then he left as soon as he had come.

        The mansion remained strangely quiet, and soon cleanup crews began carting away the trash that had just about taken over the home.

         None of the curious neighbors saw any further sign of Delordo and the rumor mill could not come up with any concrete theories on his disappearance. Speculation mounted that some of the top drug lord’s competitors in the pharmaceutical business had decided to expand on their regional network at his expense.

        For several weeks the mansion stayed locked and still.

        Carol had a knock on her door about two weeks after Gary left the scene.  Tom Farraday, who introduced himself as the local FBI bureau chief, set the record straight:

        “Harry has been peddling his poison out of this location for about five years.  He had purchased all the security he needed by buying the silence of a number of members of your local police department.  We planted an undercover agent in the department after we got a tip from one of our informants. They told us several of your local detectives had greatly increased their purchases of luxury items and expensive vacations soon after we spotted a number of them making several trips to the mansion.

       “We also saw a sudden increase in traffic to Harry’s place by vehicles owned by known drug merchandisers.  

      “Word came down that Delordo had kept his operation going for a long time without  the other drug lords putting him out of business because he only crossed a number of small time operators. They didn’t have the firepower to shut him down and didn’t want to risk retaliation by their most powerful competitor.  

      “Looks like when his temper got the best of him and he took out someone who probably was one of their most profitable and influential captains, the capos running the local illegal drug trade decided his expansion had gotten out of hand and put the kibosh on his growth plans before putting a contract out for his murder.

       “If Harry escaped he probably fled to another country.  If not, he’s either buried in an unmarked grave someplace or parts of his body are scattered in several places.

     “Also, his obsession with hoarding came to the attention of local health officials. This gave them an excuse to raid the mansion. In addition to the accumulated trash they discovered computer files and log books filled with data we needed to give us the total story of Harry’s operation.

      “We also unearthed all the information we needed to shut down the dirty cops running your local department, and a new police chief will soon take over. We soon expect to obtain federal convictions on all the players in the scheme.”