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By the way, all material on this site is copyrighted James Ciano over the years |
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Gate House 3 or The Perfect Something
Jerry Cataldo was living in Naples Florida when his divorce became final. He ended up a lot poorer than he expected to be, he began looking for a house or condo. Everything was so high priced, and the prices were still going up even higher. When he was in Lehigh Acres, his customer told him about houses that were selling for fewer than $80,000.00 for two and three bedroom homes. It was no use looking in Naples for anything even remotely like that. He saw a condo two months ago for $129,000.00 that looked good but was very small. Two months later that same condo was $219,000.00. Now everything he looked at was either too expensive or a bad area, or just crap. He finally decided to look in Lehigh and began his search again, but this time in Lehigh. In Real Estate, searching for houses is a process. First you engage a Realtor, and then pick the features you want, like number of bedrooms and area where it is located and so on. The search in Naples didn't go too well, the Realtor didn't understand what he meant when he said “Less than $120,000.” Lehigh, the Realtor is taking him to houses exactly like he asked for. The bank told him to look in the $250,000 dollar range because his credit was good. But, he knew with the new job he was taking in Real Estate, he didn't know how much he would make so he should be a little conservative.
He found a 3 bedroom two bath right in town on a nice quiet street and then he found another similar one across town. He put offers on both, but the Realtor was pushing the first on because it was also their listing which means they didn't have to share the commission with anyone else. The seller came down slightly on the price and the sale went through now to begin the new job.
As a Realtor, you must first become known, even slightly, before people will come to you with their listings to sell their homes. So, as Jerry is becoming known and doing the “Meet and Greet” everywhere he can. He is also picking likely lots and writing to the owners to give them information about the current Real Estate Market in the area. This gives him a list to write to and gets his name out there in front of people.
All the work he did and the market collapsed, but by June of that year it became a very high priced market with no buyers interested. He made one sale that gave him false hope for the local market. A man from Plymouth Massachusetts, Andre Previn, called and wanted to buy some land. He specifically wanted a large tract of at least 10 acres and Jerry showed him Alvin's farm in East Fort Myers. Alvin's farm is 160 acres split across two parcels. One parcel of 100 acres is on the south side of Cattle Drive Road and the other, a 60 acre parcel, is on the north side of this same road. The buyer liked a 10 acre section at the West end of the North parcel. At first Alvin was pleased to sell it, especially at 35,000.00 an acre, but then got greedy and didn't want to pay a commission even though he is the broker and knows full well he must pay a commission to get it sold. Then as a last effort to throw the deal he told the buyer he had to pay the last 10,000.00 dollars in cash, which the buyer agreed to do. Then when the buyer showed up with a cashiers check for the 10,000.00 he changed his mind and wanted one hundred dollar bills for the 10,000.00. Not particularly happy about this change the buyer went along with it and cashed the cashier's check.
When I first spoke to the buyer Andre he said he wanted a lot of different parcels of land and after this sale I suggested I would look for other land for him. He said “Don't bother” I wasn't happy with the way the last deal was handled. I know for a fact he bought 3 more parcels of land, but we never saw or heard from him again. This sale gave me a personal commission of 12,000.00 dollars but it was the only commission I made in the 4 years I worked out of that Real Estate Agency. After that the market collapsed and nothing sold for at least 3 more years.
A year after that sale Jerry began looking for cash paying work. The Real Estate business only pays for sales.
Newspaper advertisements for jobs were scarce and at his age, 66 years, there were no takers. After over 100 resumes were sent out, he interviewed for a job in Cape Coral and got the job. His job was to work with Seminar Speakers and sell Real Estate classes to teach people who are not in the business, how to make money in Real Estate.
The job began by paying 600.00 a week, but also included commissions on the classes sold. The procedure the company used to dole out commissions was with a waiting period. The customers had 4 weeks to cancel their orders so employees could not receive their commissions until after 4 weeks and additionally the first two weeks of employment were training only and no commission would be paid so the commissions didn't start for at least 6 weeks after the employee started. By the 5th week in Jerry was disappointed because it didn't look as though they would ever get to his commissions. Eventually the time went by and Jerry got his first commission. After a month of commissions Jerry realized he was making over 1000.00 dollars clear a week and was very pleased with this.
One of his trips was to Salt Lake City in Utah. Jerry: We stayed at the Grand Mansion Hotel, which is one of the two five star hotels in Utah. Salt Lake City is a beautiful city, ringed with incredible mountains that light up every morning and night depending on where the light is coming from. The hotel I was in put me on the twentieth floor and the view was spectacular. I also have to say I fell in love with the people of Utah. The first day of the seminar, a young woman attached herself to me and never left my side. At one point I had to lead her back to her seat or the manager would have shot me. This young lady was in her twenties, about the same age as me, and was very attractive. When we broke for lunch finally, about one hour later than the speaker had told the students. Some of the crew, myself included, left the hotel to find a small local restaurant. I never noticed that the girl had left with a group in front of us. However, I did notice when we all ended up at the same restaurant.
The girl Margie was her name, sat at a table with two other females and two males. I was at the company table with Scott and Jeffrey my co-workers. As we were standing at the counter ordering our food, Margie’s table invited us to sit with them and offered to pay for our meal. Scott, who was the senior company employee there refused and told us we could not talk with them or the company would fire us. Actually when they talked to us and made their generous offer Scott was rather abrupt and negative with them. I felt bad so, on the way to our table I went up to Margie’s table and knelt down next to Margie and told her and the others at the table, that it was company policy that we stay together as employees so that we would not compromise the coming classes we would later teach. They accepted what I said and as I left the table I winked at Margie.
At the time I really did not know why I did it, but it seemed cute and she seemed to like it. When I got back to the company table Scott was very negative about my speaking to them, but dropped it so we could eat lunch.
That day’s seminar lasted until seven pm and I headed up to my room right away. I was contemplating a room service sandwich when there was a knock at my door. I figured it was one of the guys and I opened it. To my surprise, there was Margie, who barged right into the room, pushing past me and said we better close the door in case someone is checking rooms.
Margie didn’t have much to say but she sure knew exactly what to do. I’m a quick study and realized there wasn't much I could or would change about the next few hours. Margie knew what she wanted and I was going to provide it. At our first rest stop in between bouts we talked, and all of a sudden Margie wanted to know things. I filled her in on my recent past history. She said how convenient that is since we would only be together for several days at this seminar. Margie was very vague about her life and said she would do her confession the next night because it was time for her and me to “practice” again.
The next morning I woke at six AM having slept less than three hours, after a very vigorous night. I felt very old, but still smiled like an idiot. Margie looked wonderful there in bed and I left her snoring lightly as I made my way to the seminar, idiot grin intact.
Actually I discovered an interesting fact with Margie. Sex makes me smile A LOT.
The next two nights Margie reappraised our earlier activities and Salt Lake City became one of my better memories. Unfortunately the speaker was totally incompetent and we sold almost nothing.
This speaker broke Franklin Moore’s rule, which of course is not a company wide rule. Franklin’s number one rule is Never tell the students a lie!, she never kept her word, if she said we would break for lunch at noon, she made sure we were still in the room at one thirty PM. Her talk was all over the place and in the end made no sense. She kept saying the “Mentor” is the thing, and did not explain what the “Mentor” was until the last day. Watching this speaker work underlined the fact that Franklin Moore is the best speaker for good reason. When you work with people who know what they're doing it leaves an impression that compares everyone else to that person.
However, the last day, one very shocking woman and her husband sat at my selling table and insisted on buying a twenty one thousand dollar package. Margie and her husband were only too happy to listen to me do the selling and they bought without argument. After they paid she escorted her husband back to his table and returned to me to explain that he had taken care of their two kids earlier in the week and could only attend the last day. She on the other hand had a wonderful week and hoped that we could meet again sometime. She then kissed me on the lips right there and walked back to her husband’s table. But, not before telling me, that if I had stayed a few more days she would have converted me to Mormonism and a wonderful life together. At least in her religion it’s OK to have several spouses. I liked that idea, I think?
Her husband never looked directly at me. I have to admit I was absolutely floored. I figured he would, I don’t know what, at least punch me in the nose. They were both so cool I was amazed. This was a very different level of sophistication than anything I had ever seen before. It later occurred to me that Margie got to stay at the Grand Mansion Hotel for free the entire time of the seminar, but I have to admit it was truly my pleasure, and I’d do it again anytime. Thanks Margie.
When I got back to the Cape Coral office I was headed for my car when one of the woman travelers I hadn't met yet said hello. I had seen her around the campus many times, but we never talked or worked together. During our conversation she asked my why Jay Slatery didn't like me? I said I didn't know. Actually I didn't know he didn't like me, but I would find out. She said Jay told her I was an asshole and she should stay away from me. I was floored. I really didn't know Jay very well at all, and I certainly didn't understand why he disliked me. He didn't know me well enough to dislike me. But, for him to say this to a stranger was unconscionable. I went back to the equipment room and spoke to the manager on my trip David and told him what happened and he said he would do something about it. I said if he didn't I would. A week later I was on a trip to Greensboro North Carolina and the manger was Isaac Garzza. Isaac is not generally a manger and it surprised me that he was on this trip in that capacity. He had no idea what he was doing. He fumbled everything and tried to blame me. As he was setting up the overhead projector he kept turning it the wrong way and finally the speaker butted in and fixed it. Isaac said it was broken. Two days after we got back to Cape Coral I was called into the office and was told that Isaac wrote a report on me and said I couldn't do anything right. He listed several things which he did wrong and attributed them to me. I still thought I was talking to someone open minded until I said “every word of the report is a lie.” I was told they weren't lies they were his opinion. I was told they would stay in my employment folder for as long as I worked there. One week later I was called in again and this time I was laid off. I attempted to get back in several times in the following months, but every time I was told they were going to do something differently.
Mr. Isaac Garzza got me fired. I later found out he and David the manager were friends of Jays and now I understood. Unfortunately for me, that was my last opportunity to get out from under all the credit card bills.
After losing the Real Estate Seminar job I sent out tons of resumes and never got a nibble. Luckily for me the Census year came up and I was able to get a temporary job working with the Census people. At least this paid 13.50 an hour plus gas and turned out alright. While I was working for the Census I noticed I had to urinate much more than usual and decided to get checked out by a doctor. The Doctor found I had an enlarged Prostate and needed pills. During that first blood test they also came up with Diabetes type two, high blood pressure, high triglycerides and severely overweight. Now I'm on 8 different pills a day, which amounts to 497.00 a month. Without me paying the 400.00 dollar supplement to Medicare, medicare won't pay any of the medicines. After the Census job which lasted 20 weeks in all I was desperate and had to file bankruptcy because I couldn't pay the credit card bills any more. Again sending out resumes, I finally found a job as a security guard. The job is easy but the money is only 9.00 dollars an hour and they don't pay for mileage, tolls or any other costs. Even though the job was 45 miles away one way it still only paid 9.00 dollars an hour.
With things as bad as they are, Jerry is buying more and more Lottery Tickets, and visiting the Seminole Casino in Immokalee, but to no avail. He just keeps losing. The last few dollars are gone and he is now officially desperate.
He was incredibly bitter, if that bastard Isaac Garzza didn't lie about him, he would still be working at the seminar company and making good money. He would not have had to file bankruptcy or lose his house. Someone should shoot that bastard Garzza.
The security company had a policy that you could not work where you lived, that led to these long trips to work every day. It seems that since I lost that job with the seminar company my life has gone to hell. My health keeps getting worse. Everything I do turns to shit. I wish there was some way I could pay that bastard back for doing this to me.
As Jerry spirals down into depression nothing seems to work out for him. He just can't let Isaac's treachery go.
It’s becoming a problem that Jerry can’t handle, this animosity toward Isaac, and his need to punish him. Jerry doesn't really understand what's happening to him. It's just like a cancerous lump that keeps growing and growing and will eventually consume him. Now, it’s all Jerry can think about. No matter how hard he tries, everything else is unimportant.
As luck would have it, as Jerry is picking up his mail he sees that bastard Isaac Garzza getting out of his car. Jerry couldn't believe it. At this moment he wished he had his gun to shoot the bastard. Jerry spends the rest of the day talking to himself.
About a week after the incident at the post office Jerry is talking to Franklin Richards on the phone very late one night and Jerry tells Franklin about an idea he has to murder someone without getting caught. Franklin is skeptical, but thinks it might work, which encourages Jerry to keep thinking about it. Franklin is another security guard working a walking post where he is alone walking though a closed office district from midnight to 06:00AM every night. Franklin is also a local police officer part time and Jerry likes to ask him questions about police procedure, which Franklin is happy to share. Jerry and Franklin usually talk 2 or 3 nights a week and they talk for hours when their duties don't get in the way. One of the difficult parts of working a gate house is the guard on duty must never leave the gate house. Since he is the only one working the guest gate, he must be there or guests can't get in. Jerry likes to jokingly say, “these people are forcing me to work!”
Jerry's perfect murder idea requires that he rig a transmitter to the gate house telephone so he can connect to it from his cell phone and he tests it out. He makes a call from the gate house phone at 3:00 AM and walks outside talking into his cell phone and has a conversation with Franklin Richards 20 miles away. Even though Jerry keeps walking away from the gate house putting more and more distance between it and himself, it sounds the same. Now he knows that between 3:00AM and 5:00 AM there is never any traffic in and out of the gate house gates. Also, there are no cameras pointed inside the gate house so the only way anyone could tell he wasn't there is by coming at the time he is away. Otherwise there is no proof he was or wasn't there. He also left the guest gate in the up position and put up the bathroom sign so that anyone coming in would think he was in the bathroom and to just drive through the open gate.
He has already found out Isaac Garzza lives less than 15 miles away in Esterro so he begins scouting out the Garzza home surreptitiously, checking times and activity at the house. Garzza lives alone and Jerry has decided to murder him. He sets up the ambush of Garzza with Jerry on the telephone at the time talking to Franklin Richards from the gate house telephone.
He begins by putting on surgical gloves and cleaning his gun so there is not a mark or fiber or hair on it. He then cleans and loads the bullets and puts the gun in a zip lock bag. The plan is to do it on a week end where Garzza wont be expected anywhere until Monday. The next Friday, Jerry sets everything up, of course he doesn’t tell Franklin anything and he gets a, head set rig, for his cell phone and sets a push button remote mute to the phone and strikes out for Esterro. When he arrived he uses his lock picks to open the back door of the house and working incredibly quietly he gets the door open after working on it for ten minutes. Now creeping through the house, which by the way he has already broken into once before to get an idea of the layout of the house, and heading directly to the bedroom he pushes the door open slowly and very quietly. As the door swings open Jerry leans outside to get a pillow he picked up in the living to use as a silencer and then left it on the chair in the hall until he got the bedroom door open. At that exact moment 3 shots rang out from the bedroom striking the door frame and the hall wall out side the bedroom. Jerry turned holding the pillow in one hand as he pressed the gun into it and shot through it to the man standing across the room from the door, hitting him in the chest and neck and killing him instantly. Jerry stops for a second and can hear Franklin still telling his story in his ear.
Now, Jerry turned and ran from the house as quickly as he could. Once through the back door he headed through the brush at the rear of the property and across to the roadway leading out of the neighborhood. Walking in the shadows he made it to his car 300 hundred yards from the house. The entire time he and Franklin talked, but while Jerry was in the house he got Franklin to tell him a story about an incident that happened several weeks before and he had already told Jerry, that's how Jerry knew the story took 10 minutes to tell. Now that he is back in his car he's rushing to get back to the gate house. It took him 25 minutes to get back and he settled into his chair and kept on talking to Franklin. If Franklin is ever asked he will swear that Jerry was on the phone with him during 3:00 to 4:00 AM on that night.
Just act naturally. No special actions. He is not supposed to know where Garzza lives or even if he’s in the area. He disposed of the gun as he left Garzza's house into a nearby canal as he ran by it on his way back to his car and just drove away.
The police searched for months and could find nothing except the bullets in Garzza and Garzza’s bullets in the wall across the hall outside his bedroom. There is no connection from Garzza to Jerry and that’s exactly as Jerry wanted. No one is talking, but the police are stumped on this one. All roads lead no where.
Jerry is acting cocky. He thinks he’s gotten away with it, but forgot there is no statute of limitations on murder. Back at the Gate House, Jerry is acting funny, he’s walking back and forth all excited as if he accomplished something. Jerry will soon learn that killing Isaac will not bring him a job, or return his house or anything. He’s right back where he started from, only now he’s killed someone.
The police are stumped, there just doesn’t seem to be a motive. Garzza doesn’t really have many enemies. He doesn’t owe money, he’s not married, he’s still working for the same company that he worked for over the last 10 years. Everyone they spoke with at the company had only good things to say about Garzza, their main comment was about his supper loyalty. If a friend asked him to do something he would go all out to do it. When they dug further they found that Garzza didn't like working as a manager on the road, because he got rattled to easily and when he worked with someone he didn't like he would give them a hard time. Making everything they had to do difficult for them. When asked what happened to the people he didn't like they were told those people quit. Maybe this was where the problem was. If he got people to quit, did they really want to quit? The fact is this was slow going for the police. It was almost impossible to get people to talk about any negative side this Mr. Garzza had. For a while they dug into the people that quit the last year of Garzza's life at the company. In the end most of them moved away and there was no reason to suspect any of them. Another dead end.
The physical evidence in the murder was not very much, and nothing of the intruder was found at all. Garzza was found on the floor of his bedroom with 3 bullet holes in his chest. He was lying face down. He was wearing only his underwear, t-shirt and boxer shorts. He had a 38 Smith and Wesson revolver in his hand that had been fired 3 times. The other chambers were loaded with live rounds. The room was undisturbed except for the covers on the bed which were thrown back as if Garzza got out of bed in a hurry and the bedside table whose draw was open. The draw had gun oil on the wood at the bottom of the draw, consistent with a gun have lain there. The rest of the house looked lived in, but undisturbed, except for the bedroom door casing and the wall directly across from the open door, which had 3 bullet holes, two in the door jam and 1 in the wall. All the bullets recovered from the door jam and wall are from Garzza's gun.
The theory of the crime is: someone gained entry to the house, either by key or picking the lock then proceeded to the bedroom to confront Garzza. The intruder apparently made enough noise that it woke Garzza who jumped out of bed and retrieved the gun from the bedside table. He then stood slightly away from the bed facing the bedroom door waiting. The intruder then pushed open the door and some how avoided being shot by Garzza. At some point the intruder returned fire and killed Garzza with the 3 shots fired from an unknown gun. Garzza, having been hit 3 times fell forward dead. There didn't seem to be any odd fingerprints so the intruder must have worn some sort of gloves on his hands.
There have been no “tips” on this case and the evidence is scarce enough that even if they had a suspect they were not sure the would be able to charge them. The general consensus is this will be an unsolved murder.
Jerry is acting strange for him. He has become arrogant and aggressive which has not been part of his personality. Those who know him are wondering what brought out the unwelcome change. Jerry is less friendly and respectful to home owners and guests and the Post Captain had to warn him to “behave” or else. The few friends Jerry had are drifting away, because they can't stand his behavior lately. If he has another argument with guests or home owners he will be out of work, the Captain is warning him again.
With great effort Jerry is trying to be good. He needs the job. Killing Garzza was supposed to make everything better, but nothing changed. He's still working as a security guard making very poor pay and barely able to pay his bills. If the landlord raises his rent he's done.
It's been two months since Jerry shot Garzza and no one has even questioned him. Jerry is confident, but wary, lately he has been getting into trouble and has finally calmed down in desperation. Killing Garzza didn't do anything for him. Jerry expected too much.
Another bad side effect of killing Garzza is that Jerry jumps every time a police car shows up at the Gate House, and that's a problem because the police arrive for routine matters at least twice a week. Jerry has begun biting his nails and drinking again. Jerry used to drink a lot of beer but quit 15 years ago, however, now he started again. |
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