introduction, but DePrima was the one who claimed to be Kuklinski’s old buddy. When they first started leaning on DePrima, he had promised to introduce Dominick to Kuklinski and vouch for him, no problem. But in seventeen months Kuklinski hadn’t come into “the store” once, and whenever Dominick asked why, DePrima just shrugged and said Big Rich must be spooked or something. The state wanted to pack it in with Dominick and his informants and try something else. But Dominick had a feeling DePrima wasn’t giving this his best effort, and he was getting tired of the bullshit. He wanted that introduction, and he wanted it soon. DePrima had to start doing more.
Normally Dominick might have been more patient. He knew from experience that these things took time, that in deep cover it often took years to establish yourself. But this wasn’t a normal assignment. This one was different. It was a joint effort, state and federal, combining the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office, and the New Jersey State Police. A cooperative effort like this was almost unheard of in law enforcement, but Richard Kuklinski was a very unusual kind of criminal. He was deadly, crafty, and efficient, a mass murderer who set no pattern and left no traces. Everybody had had high hopes when Dominick started out on this undercover assignment, but now he was hearing rumblings from the state side. People were getting impatient and beginning to have doubts about Dominick’s ability to succeed.
Maybe if he hadn’t come into this operation with such a fanfare, they wouldn’t be so disappointed with his slow progress. Ed Denning and Alan Grieco, his old buddies from the Bergen County Homicide Unit, where Dominick had worked before he became a fed, had recommended him for the job. He could imagine the buildup they must have given him. Captain Denning, poker-faced, squinting behind the perpetual veil of cigar smoke, stating thefacts as if they were carved in stone, and there must be something wrong with
you
that you didn’t already know this:
Dominick Polifrone is the best, period
. And Alan Grieco, he looked so honest and sincere he could sell snow to an Eskimo.
Dominick could just hear the two of them: “Oh, Dominick’s the guy you need for this job.” “Dominick put John Gotti’s little brother Vinny away—the one nobody ever hears about because Dominick put him away for a long, long time.” “Dominick? He’s got balls like a frigging elephant. One time he went undercover on location in New York where Frank Sinatra was making a movie and he busted some guy on the crew who was dealing coke.” “Dominick’s got a scrapbook full of wiseguys he’s put away over the years that would make Dick Tracy jealous.”
It was all true, of course, but Dominick knew how Grieco and Denning operated. They must have made him out to be Superman. And Grieco was his best friend. Three times a week he and Dominick went jogging together. No one could ever live up to whatever those two had said about him.
Of course, when you consider who they were giving their sales pitch to, the hype job wasn’t so surprising. Pat Kane of the state police had been dogging Kuklinski since 1980 and all by himself for most of that time. Catching Kuklinski had practically become his mission in life. So when a pharmacist in Bergen County was reported missing and the last person this man was supposed to have been with was Richard Kuklinski, Pat Kane made a beeline for the Bergen County Homicide Unit and asked that they not pursue this suspected homicide but leave it to the state police instead.
It never sits well with the locals when other agencies try to horn in on their territory, but when Captain Denning and Lieutenant Grieco heard about all the killings that were linked to Kuklinski, they decided not to argue with Detective Kane over jurisdiction. Wishing out loud, Kane said what they really needed to flush Kuklinski out was
Normally Dominick might have been more patient. He knew from experience that these things took time, that in deep cover it often took years to establish yourself. But this wasn’t a normal assignment. This one was different. It was a joint effort, state and federal, combining the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office, and the New Jersey State Police. A cooperative effort like this was almost unheard of in law enforcement, but Richard Kuklinski was a very unusual kind of criminal. He was deadly, crafty, and efficient, a mass murderer who set no pattern and left no traces. Everybody had had high hopes when Dominick started out on this undercover assignment, but now he was hearing rumblings from the state side. People were getting impatient and beginning to have doubts about Dominick’s ability to succeed.
Maybe if he hadn’t come into this operation with such a fanfare, they wouldn’t be so disappointed with his slow progress. Ed Denning and Alan Grieco, his old buddies from the Bergen County Homicide Unit, where Dominick had worked before he became a fed, had recommended him for the job. He could imagine the buildup they must have given him. Captain Denning, poker-faced, squinting behind the perpetual veil of cigar smoke, stating thefacts as if they were carved in stone, and there must be something wrong with
you
that you didn’t already know this:
Dominick Polifrone is the best, period
. And Alan Grieco, he looked so honest and sincere he could sell snow to an Eskimo.
Dominick could just hear the two of them: “Oh, Dominick’s the guy you need for this job.” “Dominick put John Gotti’s little brother Vinny away—the one nobody ever hears about because Dominick put him away for a long, long time.” “Dominick? He’s got balls like a frigging elephant. One time he went undercover on location in New York where Frank Sinatra was making a movie and he busted some guy on the crew who was dealing coke.” “Dominick’s got a scrapbook full of wiseguys he’s put away over the years that would make Dick Tracy jealous.”
It was all true, of course, but Dominick knew how Grieco and Denning operated. They must have made him out to be Superman. And Grieco was his best friend. Three times a week he and Dominick went jogging together. No one could ever live up to whatever those two had said about him.
Of course, when you consider who they were giving their sales pitch to, the hype job wasn’t so surprising. Pat Kane of the state police had been dogging Kuklinski since 1980 and all by himself for most of that time. Catching Kuklinski had practically become his mission in life. So when a pharmacist in Bergen County was reported missing and the last person this man was supposed to have been with was Richard Kuklinski, Pat Kane made a beeline for the Bergen County Homicide Unit and asked that they not pursue this suspected homicide but leave it to the state police instead.
It never sits well with the locals when other agencies try to horn in on their territory, but when Captain Denning and Lieutenant Grieco heard about all the killings that were linked to Kuklinski, they decided not to argue with Detective Kane over jurisdiction. Wishing out loud, Kane said what they really needed to flush Kuklinski out was
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