Pendleton, Don - Executioner 015 - Panic In Philly Read online

  Bolan intended the first big Philly hit to be a day light strike. He had ranged against him fifty very mean dudes who had everything to gain and nothing to lose. There would be no room whatever for the slightest fumbling or miscalculation. There would be room only for death - either his or his enemies. The combat freeze was seeping into Bolan's chest ...

  Also by Don Pendleton

  THE EXECUTIONER: MIAMI MASSACRE

  THE EXECUTIONER: ASSAULT ON SOHO

  THE EXECUTIONER: NIGHTMARE IN NEW YORK

  THE EXECUTIONER: CHICAGO WIPEOUT

  THE EXECUTIONER: VEGAS VENDETTA

  THE EXECUTIONER: CARIBBEAN KILL

  THE EXECUTIONER: CALIFORNIA HIT

  THE EXECUTIONER: BOSTON BLITZ

  THE EXECUTIONER: WASHINGTON I.O.U.

  THE EXECUTIONER: SAN DIEGO SIEGE

  THE EXECUTIONER: SICILIAN SLAUGHTER

  THE EXECUTIONER: JERSEY GUNS

  THE EXECUTIONER: TEXAS STORM

  THE EXECUTIONER: DETROIT DEATHWATCH

  and published by CORGI BOOKS

  Don Pendleton

  EXECUTIONER 15:

  Panic In Philly

  CORGI BOOKS

  A DIVISION OF TRANSWORLD PUBLISHERS LTD

  EXECUTIONER 15: PANIC IN PHILLY

  A CORGI BOOK 0 552 11997 0 First publication in Great Britain

  PRINTING HISTORY

  Corgi edition published 1975 Corgi edition re-issued 1982

  Copyright @ 1973 by Pinnacle Books Inc.

  Conditions of sale:

  1: This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on

  the subsequent purchaser.

  2: This book is sold subject to the Standard Conditions of Sale of Net Books and may not be re-sold in the U.K. below the net price fixed by the publishers for the book.

  Corgi books are published by Transworld Publishers Ltd., Century House, 61-63 Uxbridge Road

  ,

  Ealing, London W5 5SA.

  Made and printed in Great Britain by

  Hunt Barnard Printing Ltd., Aylesbury, Bucks.

  Scanned By CrazyAl v1.0 2009

  For Jim Schmidt of Michigan, Frank Marrone of California, Alberta Simmons of New Jersey, Eugene and Rosemarie Harney of Indiana - and for the countless others who know that their names belong here - MB sends his thanks.

  d.p.

  OFFICIAL POLICE BUSINESS **RESTRICTED COMMUNIQUE** SCRAMBLE CIRCUIT AUTHY #SD105 FROM SAN DIEGO PD 120915L

  TO H BROGNOLA/USDOJ/WASHDC **IMMEDIATE ATTN**

  BT

  M BOLAN CONTACT REPORT AND MOVEMENT ADVISORY.

  SUBJECT BELIEVED TO HAVE COMMENCED OPERATIONS THIS CITY EARLY 9TH. ENGAGED LOCAL ARM OF OLD DIGEORGE FAMILY WITH STANDARD RESULT, SAME DEAD OR DISBANDED AND IN FLIGHT. FULL DETAILS FOLLOW VIA OFFICIAL MAIL. SUBJECT APPARENTLY DEPARTED SO/CAL AREA THIS DATE, BELIEVED HEADED EASTERN US.

  BT

  TATUM SDPD SENDS

  EOM

  UNIFORM CRIME NETWORK­US/DOJ-ADVISORY SPECIAL

  CON/US ALERT***ALL LEA EASTERN SEABOARD STATES***ALERT

  121252L

  BT

  SUBJECT MACK BOLAN AKA THE EXECUTIONER LAST SURFACED AT SAN DIEGO NOW BELIEVED HEADED US EASTERN SEABD.

  MODUS OPERANDI NOTED AT SAN DIEGO APPEARS SIGNIFICANTLY ALTERED FROM PREVIOUS CAMPAIGNS BUT PERHAPS ATTRIBUTABLE

  TO PERSONAL REASONS FOR SDIEGO VISIT. EASTERN LEA URGED INCREASED VIGILANCE, ESPECIALLY DC NY PHILA AREAS WHERE CONSIDERABLE UNDERWORLD UNREST COULD ACT AS MAGNET FOR RENEWED EXECUTIONER WAR OF SURPASSING FEROCITY.

  **SPECIAL NOTE**

  SINCE WASHINGTON HIT INFORMANTS REPORT HEIGHTENED AGITATION UPPER ECHELONS ORGCRIMEWORLD WITH FIRM RESOLVE TO END BOLAN MENACE ONCE AND FOR ALL. SHOULD SUBJECT SURFACE ANYWHERE IN NORTHEAST US IT IS FELT THAT SPECIALLY ACTIVATED ENFORCER GROUPS WILL BE AWAITING HIM. LEA THESE AREAS URGED EXTRAORDINARY VIGILANCE FOR QUICK REACTION FIRST SIGN OF EXECUTIONER PRESENCE AS NEW WAR COULD EXCEED ANYTHING PREVIOUSLY EXPERIENCED THIS SUBJECT.

  **SPECIAL ADVICE**

  PAST EXPERIENCE THIS SUBJECT INDICATES MOST EFFECTIVE LEA RESPONSE TO BOLAN OPERATIONS LIES IN ISOLATION OF LOCAL ORGCRIMEWORLD FIGURES. SUGGEST ROUNDUP AND ARREST FIRST SIGN OF BOLAN ACTIVITIES IN AREA.

  **SPECIAL REQUEST**

  PLEASE NOTIFY SENDER IMMEDIATELY ANY CONTACT OR SUSPECTED ACTIVITY THIS SUBJECT. USE RESTRICTED COMMUNIQUE, SCRAMBLE CIRCUIT AUTHORITY NO 105.

  BT

  BROGNOLA USDOJ SENDS

  SPECIAL REPEAT BACKGROUND ADVISORY FOLLOWS

  EOM

  REPEATING FOR INFO UNIFORM CRIME NETWORK-US/DOJ-ADVISORY SPECIAL

  SUBJECT

  MACK BOLAN, ALSO KNOWN AS "THE EXECUTIONER". OPERATES ALSO UNDER VARIOUS COVER NAMES, USUALLY OF ITALIAN OR SICILIAN ORIGIN. AMERICAN CAUCASIAN, AGE

  30/35 HEIGHT 75 INCHES WEIGHT ABOUT 200. COLOR OF HAIR VARIES,

  NORMALLY DARK. EYES BLUE, USUALLY DESCRIBED AS ICY, PENETRATING, OBVIOUSLY HIGHLY DEVELOPED NIGHT VISION. SOMETIMES AFFECTS COSTUME OF BLACK COMBAT GARB, COMMANDO STYLE, BUT ALSO KNOWN TO WEAR VARIOUS INNOCUOUS OUTFITS IN SUBTLE APPLICATIONS OF "ROLE CAMOUFLAGE".

  CHARACTERISTICS

  HAS AVOWED UNENDING WARFARE AGAINST ALL ELEMENTS OF ORGCRIMEWORLD AND FELLOW TRAVELERS EVERYWHERE. BY CONSERVATIVE ESTIMATES, HAS SLAIN MORE THAN 1,000 UNDERWORLD FIGURES. COMBAT VETERAN OF VIETNAM, HIGHLY SKILLED SPECIALIST IN "DESTRUCT MISSIONS" AGAINST ENEMY STRONGHOLDS. RECEIVED NICKNAME "THE EXECUTIONER" IN VIETNAM, THIS REGARD. CONSIDERED BY MILITARY COMMANDERS AS

  HIGHLY ADEPT AT PENETRATION/ INTELLIGENCE TECHNIQUES. MILITARY TACTICIAN AND STRATEGIST OF HIGHEST ORDER, GUERRILA WARFARE EXPERT, WEAPONS EXPERT,

  WEAPONS SUCH AS MORTAR, BAZOOKA, DEMOLITION DEVICES.

  PHENOMENAL MARKSMAN. HAS BEEN KNOWN TO ALSO USE HEAVY COMBAT

  CUSTOMARILY WEARS 9MM BERETTA BRIGADIER EQUIPPED WITH SILENCER

  ALSO 44 CALIBRE AUTOLOADING MAGNUM, IMPRESSIVE FIREPOWER BOTH WEAPONS.

  **CAUTION**

  SUBJECT IS EXTREMELY QUICK IN MILITARY STYLE STRIKE TECHNIQUES WITH EXPLOSIVE- REACTION COMBAT INSTINCTS. NON UNIFORMED OFFICERS ADVISED NOT REPEAT NOT ATTEMPT GUNPOINT ARREST BUT SHOOT ON SIGHT, TO KILL

  **SPECIAL INFO**

  SUBJECT IS IN CONTINUAL "STATE

  OF WAR" AND SHOULD BE CONSIDERED HIGHLY DANGEROUS. ALL LEA URGED EXERCISE EXTREME CAUTION. DO NOT ATTEMPT MAN-TO-MAN ARREST. SUBJECT APPEARS TO AVOID POLICE CONFRONTATION AND IS NOT KNOWN TO HAVE FIRED UPON LEA SUBJECT

  IS DESPERATELY DEFENSIVE, HOWEVER IN CONSTANT JEOPARDY VIA VARIOUS DETERMINED UNDERWORLD ELEMENTS. RUMORED "OPEN CONTRACT" IN AMOUNTS EXCEEDING 100-THOUSDOLS ATTRACTS CONSTANT ATTENTION EVER-INCREASING FREELANCE GUNMEN. SUBJECT IS THEREFORE UNDER CONTINUAL DURESS AND IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS TO APPROACH. VARIOUS REGIONAL LEA HAVE UNOFFICIALLY AUTHORIZED "EXTREME PRECAUTION APPREHENSION -SHOOT ON SIGHT, TO KILL!"

  **BACKGROUND INFO**

  HOMETOWN FRIENDS, TEACHERS, GI COMPANIONS, ETC DESCRIBE SUBJECT AS MILD-MANNERED, COURTEOUS, LIKABLE, WELL-ADJUSTED. WELSH- POLISH EXTRACTION, ELDEST OF THREE CHILDREN. MOTHER FATHER SISTER VICTIMS OF VIOLENT DEATH WHILE SUBJECT SERVING VIETNAM THEATRE. SUBJECT GRANTED EMERGENCY FURLOUGH BURY FAMILY AND ARRANGE CARE OF ORPHANED YOUNGER BROTHER. "HOMEFRONT WAR" BEGAN DURING THIS PERIOD, OBVIOUSLY IN REACTION TO FAMILY TRAGEDY. FOLLOWING VICTORY OVER HOMETOWN ORGCRIME ELEMENTS SUBJECT PURSUED SUCCESSIVE CAMPAIGNS IN LOSANGS, PALM SPGS, PHOENIX, MIAMI, FRANCE, ENGLAND, NYC, CHI, LASVEG, PUERTO RICO, S
ANFRAN, BOSTON, DC. UNOFFICIAL POLICE SYMPATHY SUSPECTED VARIOUS QUARTERS LEA, RECOMMEND INDOCTRINATION PROGRAMS EMPHASIZING PUBLIC MENACE ASPECTS OF SUBJECTS ILLEGAL CRUSADE. RUMORS ABSOLUTELY UNFOUNDED REPEAT UNFOUNDED AND UNTRUE THAT VARIOUS FEDERAL AGENCIES ARE SUPPORTING SUBJECTS PRIVATE WAR.

  **FORWARD LOOK**

  EXCEPT FOR UNUSUAL FEINT AT ENEMY IN SAN DIEGO, BOLAN HAS EXHIBITED EXTREMELY LOW PROFILE SINCE WASHDC CAMPAIGN, BELIEVED PLANNING MASSIVE STRIKE NEAST US REGION. UNUSUAL MOVEMENTS ALSO NOTED ORGCRIMEWORLD THIS REGION SUGGESTING MASSIVE COUNTERBLOW RECEPTION FOR

  EXPECTED BOLAN HIT. ALL LEA CAUTIONS AND VIG STRONGLY URGED.

  BT

  BROGNOLA-US/DOJ SENDS

  EOM

  Chapter 1/ The Announcement

  Panic came to Philadelphia on a cool Spring morning and its name was Death—purposeful, clad in black as a symbol of utter finality, moving swift­ly in its inevitability.

  It stepped silently into the rear office of Cappy's Liberty Garage and gave the five men in there a stricken moment to see what had come for them.

  Al the Mouth DiLucci was the first to unglue himself from that frozen confrontation. He yelled, "Jesus, it's—" and spun away from the stacks of money which were being counted at the battered wooden desk.

  The furious chatter of a light automatic pistol cut short the final declaration of Al the Mouth, the hot little missiles from its blazing muzzle forming a shattered-flesh wreath upon his neck and shoulders as he spun into eternity.

  The other four targets were lunging about in scattered patterns of flight, two of them making electrified stabs toward their own weapons.

  The chatter-gun tracked onto Iron Mike Cappo­lini and shredded the elbow of his gun arm just as his revolver was clearing leather. The .38 kept moving, flying from the grasp of suddenly nerveless fingers to shatter the painted glass wall of the office. Meanwhile the firetrack of death swept on, seeking and finding vital matter. Iron Mike's throat ex­ploded in twin crimson geysers; the big guy twisted to his knees and flopped face down into his own blood.

  Jack the Bartender Avanti managed to jerk off two panicky shots toward that furiously blazing muzzle of death as he sprinted for the rear door. Then Death overtook him and pummeled him into a twisting, sliding heap at the back wall.

  Collectors John Brunelli and Ham Magliocci, noted and feared throughout South Philly for their uninhibited pursuit of payday loan "vigorish", re­ceived their final collections as they scampered for cover behind the wooden desk stacked with the fruits of their toil. Brunelli's out flung arm raked the desk clean as he oozed across it; the collectors and the collected shared a common heap within the pool of blood that quickly marked the end of vigorish.

  Death had "come fearful quick" to Cappy's Lib­erty Garage—so quickly, in fact, that a mechanic and a customer standing just beyond that shattered glass wall were still frozen into shocked statues when the chattering knell ceased and quiet de­scended.

  Gawking at the carnage through the broken wall, both men reacted with swiftly raising hands as the tall figure in executioner black turned calm attention upon them.

  These two would later aver that the sight of Death Alive and Looking was even more unnerv­ing than the sudden presence of Death Eternal Still. It was clad in black tight-fitting combat garb —belts crisscrossing the chest, another encircling the waist, "guns and stuff hanging from them", the machine pistol suspended from a cord about the shoulders, eyes of bluest ice regarding them from an expressionless face of chiseled steel.

  The muzzle of the chatter-gun dropped. The tall man's hand moved in an almost imperceptible flick of motion. A small metallic object flew through the shattered wall and clattered to the cement floor at the men's feet.

  "That's for Don Stefano," a cool voice informed them. "Tell him. It's over. Tell him."

  And then the tall apparition in black was gone, fading quickly into the shadows at the rear wall.

  Perhaps ten seconds had elapsed since the first rattling burst of automatic weapons fire.

  The two spectators to the awesome event did not move until they heard the door open and close; then the customer took a staggering step backwards and exclaimed in an awed whisper, "Christ—did you see that guy!"

  The mechanic knelt to extend a shaking hand to­ward the metallic object on the floor. He picked it up, examined it, and released a hissing sigh.

  "Yeah. That's what it is," he declared with a quiet rush of breath,

  "What? What is it?"

  "A marksman's medal. The Brotherly Love Out­fit is in for it now."

  "You saying that was Mack Bolan, the guy they call the Executioner?" the other man said, awed. He bent forward for a closer look at the medal, "You saying this place is a Mafia front?"

  "It was," the mechanic replied quietly, peering toward Death in the next room. "But ....like the guy said ...it's over now."

  Not quite.

  Mack Bolan knew better.

  The Panic in Philly had only just begun.

  POLICE BUSINESS

  **RESTRICTED COMMUNIQUE** SCRAMBLE CIRCUIT AUTHY #PH105 FROM PHILA PD 141025L

  TO H BROGNOLA/USDOJ/WASHDC **URGENT**

  BT

  BOLAN STRUCK THIS CITY APPROX 0900 THIS DATE. MACHINE-GUNNED LOAN RACKETEER MICHAEL J CAPPOLINI AND FOUR UNDERLINGS. LOCAL INFORMANTS REPORT MASSIVE MOVEMENTS ORGCRIME TRIGGERMEN. REQUEST ALL FEDERAL ASSISTANCE POSSIBLE.

  BT

  DOUGHERTY PHILA SENDS

  EOM

  Chapter 2/ Gradigghia

  In a western Massachusetts city several hundred miles removed from the developments at Philadel­phia, the number two man in that city’s local Mafia arm paced restlessly about his modest head­quarters in a downtown office building.

  He was a handsome man in his early thirties, me­dium height and build, with darkly glinting eyes which could switch in a flash from affable warmth to frosty speculation.

  His name was Turrin; sometimes he was re­ferred to but never directly addressed as Leo the Pussy.

  Leo Turrin was a blood nephew of the late Ser­gio Frenchi, the boss of Western Massachusetts un­til his organization committed the blunder of the century—it was the Frenchi "family" which had fig­ured in the birth of Mack Bolan's home-front war against the mob.

  Uncle Sergio had died during that initial skir­mish and his family had fallen into almost total disarray. Leo the Pussy had proved a strong rally­ing point for the reconstitution of that vital Mafia arm and he had risen considerably in stature in the new organization.

  Like Bolan, Turrin was a Vietnam veteran. Prior to his army service, he had resisted the tanta­lizing pull of Uncle Sergio and his assurances of easy money and practically unlimited power.

  Though he had grown up in its shadow, Leo had forever despised the Mafia and all that it stood for. With Vietnam behind him, however—and a resul­tant new maturity --Turrin "came in" with the Frenchi family, but he brought the entire federal government in with him.

  That "penetration" had developed into the most successful undercover police operation ever at­tempted against the mob. With his favored posi­tion as blood relative to the aging Capo, Turrin's rise to importance in the Pittsfield arm was almost automatic. He had balanced upon the edge of that knife for more than five years, had become a Caporegime under Frenchi, and was beginning to at­tain national stature when Bolan the Bold came along.

  The blitz artist had hit Uncle Sergio's little king­dom with thunder and lightning, damn near dis­lodging Turrin himself in the process. Only the last-minute revelation of Turrin's true role had saved him from Bolan's vengeance. From the rub­ble, though, the undercover cop had built for him- self an even stronger position and considerable prestige in the national reaches of the syndicate.

  He had also salvaged from those ruins the begin­ning of a great, if terribly hazardous, friendship with Mack Bolan.

  Turrin personally considered himself as neither fish nor fowl. His active friendship with Bolan pre­sented no conflict of duties in his own mind. He was a
cop . . . but not really. He was a Mafioso . . . but not really. The only real thing he had found during five years of carefully manufactured deceit was the continuing relationship with the man whom both the law and the mob considered public enemy number one. To Turrin's mind, Mack Bolan was the greatest human being alive. He wasn't perfect, no—not even infallible—but still the by God greatest human being Turrin had ever encountered.

  A man like Bolan did not happen to the world every day, nor even in every age or epoch. The Bo­lans of the world came few and far between. You could count them on humanity's ten fingers, all the ones who had ever been.

  And Leo Turrin worried a lot about Mack Bo­lan.

  Perhaps no one, not Bolan himself, understood better than Leo Turrin the staggering array of forces pitted against, the guy's survival. Turrin was in a position to view both sides of the guy's person­al gauntlet, the cops as well as the mob . . . and yeah, he had good reason for worry. He'd done a lot of pacing the past few days, waiting, wondering when the claws of the pincers would close around the world's best answer to La Cosa Nostra.

  And so it was on that brooding Spring afternoon when the call finally came.

  Turrin's personal shadow, a goon called Hot Stuff Ribiello, scooped up the phone and muttered into it. "Yeah. I dunno, just a minute." He caught Turrin's expressionless eye and announced, "Long distance, collect. For you, boss. Guy named La- Mancha. You wanta accept?"

  The underboss of Pittsfield coolly replied, "I don't know no La Mancha."

  "He don't know no La Mancha," Ribiello re­layed to the operator. Tell the guy to get lost,"

  "Tell him to spend his own damn nickel," Turrin instructed boredly.

  "He should spend his own nickels," the goon du­tifully relayed He laughed and hung up. Some of these boys really got their nerve. I never made a collect call in my whole life even."