Bodyguard of Two Child Movie Stars

Bodyguard of two Child Movie Stars
(stories of the Lost Patrol)

© James J. Alonzo

“Hello,“ I said answering my phone.

“Hello, Mr. Alonzo?” The voice on the telephone asked.

“Yes, how may I help you?” I said.

“Mr. Alonzo, you don’t know me, my name is Robert Mangold from Warner Brothers productions.”

“Ok, how can I help you?”

“Well, you come highly recommended by Captain Holcomb, from the Erie County Sheriffs department.”

“I see.” I said, “Mr. Mangold, Captain Holcomb recommended me, so can you tell me for what?”

“Oh, yes,“ Mangold stuttered, “Well, well we need a body guard service. In addition, as I was saying, Captain Holcomb recommended you. Are you familiar with the child actors, Johnny Whittaker, of Family Affair, and Brandon Cruz, of Courtship of Eddie’s Father?” he said.

“I am familiar with the television shows, because my kids watch them. However Mr. Mangold, I don’t bodyguard children, call a babysitting service. Or better yet, call Captain Holcomb, and tell him to shove my phone number up his ass!” I hung up the phone.

I hate bodyguard work, especially VIP children, and their parents. It’s part of the business though, and the money was real good!

When I was a deputy I was on the detail at the Sheriffs’ office and my good friend Captain Holcomb, which only provide security for presidents, and high value VIP’s. So he would recommend me when it was some lesser VIP. The Phone immediately rang again, and I thought for a couple of seconds about not answering the phone, but money‘s money.

“Hello,” I said, answering the phone.

“Mr. Alonzo, this is Robert again, please listen to me.”

“Yeah, go a head.” I sighed.

“The boys are coming to Buffalo this weekend, on Saturday,” Mangold said, “and as in other cities, are making appearances at many of the local stores, that are outlets of their clothing line. Nevertheless, as in other cities the boys are sure to be mobbed by the teenyboppers! So we need your help, and we will pay you $5,000 for five hours work.”

“Alright, Mr. Mangold, when are you going to be arriving? “

“We will be arriving Saturday, at ten AM, in a private jet, and making a 10:30 AM appearance at the Hengerers Store at Downtown Buffalo, and then the West Seneca Mall, at twelve noon,” Mangold explained, “then we will go back to the airport, and fly on to Cleveland, Ohio. We need you to coordinate the security for these two appearance events. You and your staff will meet us at each appearance. Each time we arrive by Limo, you will then escort us to the stage and after the show then back to the limo. After the second appearance, we will fly out at 2 PM.

“How many people do you expect to show up?” I asked.

“Well in Little Rock, Arkansas, 3,000 showed up. The police provided the perimeter security, and we had body guards for the personal protection.”

“OK, I will coordinate the local Police, to do the same, and I will have a staff with me, for the kid’s personal protection.” I explained, “But understand this Mr. Mangold, we don’t serve drinks, carry baggage, baby-sit, or anything else, but protection. Got it?”

“Yes, I understand,” Mangold, said, “Here is my number, 213-555-1414, and the road crew will get in touch with you in the next day or so, for the coordination of stage security.”

“One more thing Mr. Mangold, bring the payment for our services with you.” I instructed, cash only, we don‘t take checks.”

“Of course I will bring the money with me, and thank you.” Mangold said, “Goodbye Mr. Alonzo.”

“Goodbye.” I said.

Well, it looked like I could make some money, but I’d have to get the right men for the job. These were children so I didn’t see a need to use armed men; I needed men that knew crowd control. The money offered by Hollywood Mangold, was enough for me to pay $100 an hour and still show a profit. So I called my best friend and partner Jack who is 6'3"height,two hundred-eighty pounds, blonde hair, my idea of Nordic Viking 

Jack was also my bodyguard, and watched my back at all times. Jack moves like a cat, and is solid muscle. He has the kind of strength that he doesn’t have to work out to have.

“Yo,” Jack said, when he answered.

“Hey brother man. We got a body guard case.” I announced, trying to make it sound exciting. Jack hated these cases, unless it meant guarding a beautiful woman, like the time we guarded Lonnie Anderson, Goldie Hawn and Burt Reynolds, when they filmed ‘Best Friends“, in Buffalo..

“Oh, yea.” He asked suspiciously, “Who are we body guarding.”

“Two kids from Hollywood, TV stars.” I said.

“No!” Jack said, then he hung up. Hmmm? Ok, I sighed, I’ll call him back later.

I next called Rocco Richolli and his two sons, Angelo, and Nicillo. I knew they’d be good at this, their presence alone was security. The three men all looked alike, right down to the one solid eyebrow above their eyes. They were short in height, five foot seven, but huge, solid muscle, no fat, and very broad shoulders.

They had that kind of strength that they thought that they could lift anything. Rocco can you pick up the refrigerator and move it over there? No problem, and he’d do it.

They had an uncharacteristic length to their arms, arms that were longer than the average man. It was that their wrists reached their mid thigh, and then there was their neck, well, in actually they had no neck.

Their heads just sat on their shoulders, they had an extreme amount of dark long body hair, front and back, and it crawled out of their sleeves, and the top of their tight shirts. It looked more like a pelt than body hair. The Richollis were furniture movers, but they also had a business of auto repossessions, and collecting for loan sharks.

“Hello,” Angelo said, answering the phone.

“Hey, is Rocco in?” I asked.

“Yeah, he’s in,” said Angelo. I waited for a full minute before I realized Angelo was still breathing into the phone and not getting Rocco to the phone.

“Well, can I talk to him?” I asked.

“Oh, you want to talk to my father?” Angelo asked.

“Uh, Yeah, I do, thank you.” I said courteously.

I knew not want to insult or cross any of these men.

In the past, I have visited some of their work that wound up in hospitals, and these men were very thorough, in dishing out pain. Mess with one, and you’ve messed with all three.

I packed a gun, but not an elephant gun, and if I needed to mess with these men, I would need a big gun..

“Is this Jimmy?” Rocco came on the phone and asked. He was one of the few people that called me Jimmy.

“Yeah Rocco, how you doing today?” I asked.

“Ok. You got some work for me?” he asked.

“Yeah, I do. I have some bodyguard work for you and your two boys; it pays $500 each for five hours. You interested?” I said.

“Yeah, that’s cool; I’m interested, “he said, “when is the work to be done?”

“This Saturday, from 9:30 AM to 2:30 PM,” I said, and I filled him in on the rest of the tentative plan and scheduling. Then I called Jack back, and after an hour, finally convinced him to sign on and help me. However, it cost me more than I planned, it ate in to my profit, because I knew I had to pay Jack $1,500, the same as it cost me for three Richolli men.

~*

The Day of the bodyguard detail arrived, the road crew that was hired by Mr. Mangold, had built two temporary stages that was four feet in height, and 16’ x 16’ platforms, and they were ready at each store site. Everything was planned after meeting with each police detail leaders, and coordinating their assignments. I was meeting with Jack, Rocco, and the Richolli boys, and discussing the plans for VIP security at each store’s site of the entertainment day.

“When the kids get up here, and they are ready to go on the stage, we with the local police officers will form a corridor, so they can run up the stairs on to the stage unhindered.” I explained, “The same when the kids come down off the stage. We will take them back into the warehouse where their limo is parked. Once the kids are in the limo, the garage door will open, and the kids go away. There will be no autograph sessions, so we don’t have to deal with that shit.”

“When do we get paid?” asked Rocco.

“Today, Mr. Mangold assured me. Don’t worry, you’ll get paid.” I said.

“Right, well don’t worry Jimmy, if we don’t, we will only break your knees.” Rocco said laughing, and then his boys laughed too. I looked at Jack for support, but he was laughing too!”

(Note to self, save my knee caps, make sure to get money from Mangold as soon as possible.)

When The kids showed up at the first site, we escorted them on the stage, and they gave a thirty minute show, Brandon Cruz, and Johnny Whittaker sang, dance, and joke, driving a crowd of at least 3,000 people mostly prepubescent kids screaming. Meanwhile I met in an empty office, with Mr. Mangold, to discuss money.

“Well Mr. Alonzo,” Mangold explained sheepishly, “we don’t normally carry that kind of cash, but I will send you payment if you will give me an address to do so.”

“Listen pal, you knew that payment was to be on delivery of services, so don’t give me that shit about sending me a payment later.

"Well you’ll just have to accept it this way.” He said smugly.

“I see, wait here, I’ll be right back. I said.

When I came back, a few minutes later, I had Rocco and one of his sons, Nicillo, with me,

“Mr. Mangold, I’d like you to meet two of my colleagues, and since I have to go back to the kids and the show, you can explain to these fellows why they have to wait for their money.” I said, and then I left a very scared looking Mr. Mangold to the Richolli family.

When I got out of the office, and approached the stage area, the kids were just finishing up. So I took position with Jack and Angelo Richolli, and we successfully got the kids through the crowd and into their Limo.

“Well let’s get to the other store,” I said to Jack and Angelo.

“Where’s my father,” Angelo asked, looking around.

“Angelo, he and your brother are with Mr. Mangold to clear up a problem and get our pay.” I explained, “I’m sure they’ll meet us at the West Seneca Store. So why don‘t you ride with us?”

“Ok, I can do that.” said Angelo.

When we got to the next store, we waited for the kids to arrive. Meanwhile Rocco, and his son Nicillo arrived.

“Where’s Mangold?” I asked concerned a little.

“Relax, he’s alive,“ said Rocco, “Mangold decided to have the money wired to us, at Western Union, so I got the money. But Mr. Mangold said he didn't feel very good, and was going back to Los Angeles.”

“Good give me the money and I‘ll divvy it out,” I said as I held my hand out.

“Sure, here is the money,” Rocco said, “but minus our pay, $1500, a finders fee of $1000,and Jack's pay, which he told me was $1500, is that correct Jack?"

“Yes, it is, and thank you Rocco.” Jack said, smiling at me, as he was handed his money, and I knew by the look on Jack's face he was enjoying my sudden discomfort.

“Uh, Rocco, that wasn’t our deal,” I said, “I mean, you agreed to the pay I was offering.”

“Yes, Jimmy, but we had to persuade Mr. Mangold to pay us,” Rocco explained, “and that was before we found out you were paying Jack the same pay as the three of us. Tsk, Tsk, Jimmy, that wasn’t very fair of you, I am surprised at you.”

And he handed me the remaining money. I looked over at Jack, he was rolling around laughing his ass off!

When the kids arrived for the second show, the same thing, the kids arrived and went on the stage and did their thing. While the crowds were screaming and pushing to get closer, we took up position as we did before, holding a corridor for the kids to exit. We stood on each side of the corridor, keeping the crowds away from our corridor, by extending our arms outward from our sides making contact with each others forearms. As I stood next to Jack on my left, and Angelo on my right, I heard through all the screaming, Angelo arguing with someone behind him.

“Lady, relax, and quit pushing!“ Angelo said over his left shoulder.

“I just want to get by, you fucking jerk! I want to go into the mall, so let me by!“ The Lady ordered Angelo, as she tried to get by, only to be blocked by Angelo Richollis’ large body.

She was a big woman, five feet nine inches, and a good 250 plus pounds, and she was pissed. 

“Lady, shut the fuck up, and wait,” Angelo said.

“Well, we’ll see about this!” And she kept pushing, poking, and trying to get by.

“Lady, I’m warning you, wait! Angelo said.

This was the last I heard on this conversation, because the kids were done, and we had to encircle them, and got them out of there.

After we got the kids off in their Limo, and they drove off, we sat in the back office, and had coffee, patted ourselves on the back, and a few laughs. That was till Mr. Wagner the Store’s general Manager came back, and in his high effeminate voice said,

“Mr. Alonzo, there is a woman out there, that has a big black eye!” he said, “And she says one of the security personnel punched her during the show.!

I looked at Angelo, to confirm my suspicions, he smiled back at me, and I said to Mr. Wagner, “That’s impossible, I’ll go out an talk to her.”

But as I got up from my chair, Mr. Wagner said, “Well I’ll go get her.” and he left the room. Meanwhile, Jack jumped up and opened the closet door,

“Angelo, get in here, “ Jack said. Which Angelo did. Jack shut the door on Angelo, looked at me, and said,

“You got a law suit if she identifies Angelo on this detail.”

“Yeah, I know.” I said. Just as I finished saying that, the woman, I found out her name was Stella Grabowski, and Mr. Wagner, ever so helpful, came back to the office we were in.

“Yes! There he is!,” Mrs. Grabowski with her closed black eye, pointed at me, “The man that punched me was standing next to this man.”

“Ma’am,” I said, “do you see, in this office, anyone here that was the man that punched you?”

“No, but he was standing next to you, I’m sure of it.” She said insistent.

“Well ma’am, this is the only security personnel that work for me. I’m sorry.” I said with sympathy in my voice.

“Oh dear, I can’t believe the man hit me in this nice store.” She said. That was Mr. Wagner’s que,

“Well dear, why don’t we go to my office, and maybe we can get you a gift certificate, and maybe that will help you get through this shameful ordeal.” They then left the office we were in.

“Ok,” I said, “Let’s get Angelo out of here, and we will meet at the Ground Round restaurant.”

The Richolli family made there way out through the same warehouse, and drove away.

“This is been a bad day for you?” Jack said, still laughing.

“Yeah, you got that right. I can’t believe he punched that broad, those Richolli thugs are crazy. I could get sued if the woman puts it together.”

When we got to the restaurant, the Richolli boys were celebrating their good fortune. I asked Angelo what happened with the woman.

“Shit, she kept pushing me, and I told her to stop, but then she started to poke me in the back with something hard and sharp. It turned out to be a Umbrella. So when the kids ran down the steps of the stage, and all eyes were on them, I turned around and I punched her.”

I never used the Richolli boys again for bodyguard work

~*************