The Holy City

Intro

  Since the massacres of Peanut and Spoonie, the Holy City had changed dramatically. Everyone in the IVL Nation understood that high ranked officials had sanctioned the killings. Spoonie was considered a snake in most people’s eyes, but the status he held within the organization made him a loved man amongst a majority of the Lords from 21st. The two bodies were never discovered for a funeral. The Nation had no problem finding closure for the fallen five star elite; everyone knew it was family business. Even with that said, some IVL affiliates who were extremely loyal to Spoonie tried to rebel against Chief Marcus. After a few outlandish shootouts involving Lil G, Peewee, and other close members from Marcus’s mob, the loose cannons were later found murdered outside the neighborhood. The abnormal war between the Lords of 21st and Marcus was quickly stemmed. The soldiers who made it out alive came to their senses and immediately became obedient; following suit under Marcus’s command.

  Marcus badly wanted to appoint one of his personal partners to replace the vacant slot that Spoonie once held, instead he had no other choice but to appoint Ricardo Smith aka Rico, the five star elite Supreme for the Insanes. Rico was from outside of the Holy City and had been putting in a lot of work throughout the years. He had been involved with the Nation for most of his childhood life.

  As a youngster, Smitty took a real liking to Rico’s loyalty to the Nation and the respect he demanded amongst his peers. When Rico was only a juvenile, he caught kidnapping and attempt murder charges during a mission for the mob. After serving a 10-year bid in some of the toughest penitentiaries Illinois had to offer, Smitty allowed him to control the neighborhood where he was raised.

  Rico had very interesting traits. He had the features of a black man but his short, natural wet, wavy hair and pecan complexion gave away his Puerto Rican descent. His 5’4” stature was far from intimidating. Although Rico was a fairly short guy, he had very big shoes to fill.

  There hadn’t been any major problems going on within the mob over the past couple of years. The only confusion was the constant miscommunication between Marcus and Smitty. Marcus was the man who called all the shots on the streets. When it came time to make major decisions for the Nation as a whole he would confer with the committee, which consisted of Big C and other originals. Smitty was still labeled as the Chief of Chiefs over the IVL’s while in the joint, but a lot of things were going on in the streets that he had little control over. Marcus kept a phone line open for Smitty to call and made sure he lived like a kingpin. They barely had phone conversations, messages usually came to Marcus indirectly. Smitty couldn’t deny the ambition Marcus conveyed to uplift the Nation financially, but were there some issues he disagreed with that had come about?

  Two years had passed since the shootings that nearly took the lives of Marcus and Peewee. They both recovered and continued to roam the streets as if nothing had happened. Marcus blessed Peewee with three star elite status and let him control all the blocks that surrounded the Holy City area. Lil G got the head of security position. In other words, when Marcus was ready to send out a hit squad, it was up to Lil G to take care of the situation accordingly. J.R. and Marlin continued to play their roles. Although they all started out as equal counterparts, they all understood why Marcus elected Peewee to be a made man. Once the streets became knowledgeable of Peewee surviving after nine gunshots it put a certain sense of fear in a lot of people’s hearts and they looked at him as somebody not to be fucked with. Peewee and Lil G together was definitely a force to be reckoned with.

  These days Marcus rarely had to get his hands dirty with any hands-on murders or drug deals. The only exception was when it came time to re-up on supplies. Kunta, the Nigerian connect, never wanted to meet with anyone other than Marcus. From the time Shawn introduced the two, their business relationship blossomed. Shortly after Marcus’s near death experience, the spot on Division that he and Shawn operated diminished and was taken over by the Four Corner Hustlas in that area. Before fleeing town, Shawn even paid the fifty thousand dollars that B-lo demanded and turned over the remainder of the supplies. Once Marcus healed from his gunshot wounds, he owed Kunta over two hundred thousand.

  Kunta understood the predicament Marcus was put in and allowed him enough time to pay the debt. After learning about Shawn’s disappearance, Kunta lost all respect for him and cut off all connections with him and his uncles. Marcus was now Kunta’s new golden boy. He made sure Marcus stayed supplied with bricks of cocaine and keys of the best heroin in Chicago. There was no question, Marcus was the supplier for everyone in his mob and a couple of other VL branches. It was virtually impossible for other affiliates to go elsewhere to get work due to the low prices, high potency and consistency that Marcus produced.

  While Marcus was healing, someone unexpectedly came into the picture to help him recover; that person was Peaches. Peaches was the ride or die type of chick that every street hustler needs. She was there by his bedside until he got well enough to do things on his own. She was there to do all the dirty work; from changing blood stained bandages all the way down to changing his urinal bag.

  When Marcus healed well enough to have sex, he ended up getting Peaches pregnant with a baby boy. Even though Peaches had three kids of her own, she never second-guessed having Marcus’s child. Due to his success level, Peaches knew he would take good care of his child and her other three.

  Marcus did keep it real with Peaches by setting her up with a car and three-bedroom bungalow home in Bellwood, a suburb 20 minutes west of the city. He even connected Peaches with a nice paying job through one of his legitimate friends who held a high position at a particular banking and loan corporation.

  Marcus’s reign as Chief helped him accumulate major cash, enough for himto have an extravagant home built from the ground up. Like most kingpins, the house was located far out from the city. Marcus took advice from Kunta and moved into a neighborhood not too far from his estate. After dropping a light three hundred thousand on an all brick, two level, five bedroom, three-car garage monument, Marcus included all the necessary add-ons to make it a dream home. Including an indoor/outdoor swimming pool, a blacktop basketball half-court, and a mini-gym with a built in steam room and Jacuzzi.

  It took a lot of convincing from Marcus to get Sylvia, his beloved mother, to move out of their long time rented apartment and move her and his younger brother, Chris, two hours outside of the inner city. Once Marcus assured her that everything was legal and under control, she eased up and made the extravagant house a comfortable home.

  Marcus purchased the two flat apartment building where they once lived and transformed it into a duplex. It became one of his stash houses and trick off spots. He felt secure in the area because everyone on the block was immune to his street status and had love for him since his childhood years. This was just one of several locations that Marcus had around the city. Marcus moved around unpredictably. He made it virtually impossible for anyone to pinpoint his whereabouts.

  On the outside looking in, it seemed as though Marcus had it all, but when it was all said and done, there was still a personal matter he kept bottled up inside of him for many years…his father’s murder! Marcus accepted Steve as a father figure but there was no replacing his real dad. He still had an urgent longing to find closure. Would the truth of his fathers’ unsolved murder ever be revealed or would it remain an open chapter in Marcus’s book of lifeforever?