Ryan Conor King, an Irish immigrant, is determined to move his family out of the tenements of Hell's Kitchen, a section of Manhattan infamous for poverty and gang-related crime, to a more peaceful, enriched surrounding. As 1930 arrives, Ryan finds himself working for Mob Boss Arthur Flegenheimer, aka Dutch Schultz, and associating with the likes of Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll, Joe "The Boss" Masseria, and Lucky Luciano. Along with his boyhood friends, Ryan does what he has to do to survive on the streets of New York City and in order to put food on his family's table. With the troubled economy precipitated by the Great Depression, Ryan and his young friends must accomplish all duties given to them by their "Bosses", including murder, bootlegging, and other illegal actions undertaken by Organized Crime, despite ongoing threats from his nemesis, a corrupt New York detective with ties to the underworld. Whether Irish, Italian, or Jewish, the common goal was survival-no matter the cost. And to survive on the streets of New York City during these violent times, Ryan King is called upon to battle rival gangs and organize one of the largest and ultimately most successful alcohol smuggling operations in New York. At the same time, he must protect his family while balancing his love interests with the loyal Irish/Italian lass Nina and the rich and sexy East Side girl, Melanie. In Kings of the West Side, author Cliff Bond has created a dynamic thriller and a compelling look at the criminal subculture in Prohibition-era New York. Intriguing in its originality and historical detail, his genuinely gripping debut novel is entertaining, fast-paced, and suspenseful throughout. Kings of the West Side By CLIFF BOND AuthorHouse Copyright © 2011 Cliff Bond All right reserved. ISBN: 978-1-4634-0740-7 Chapter One New York City 1930 On an early Saturday morning in Greenwich Village, three young men were carrying out orders from the leader of one of the city's major crime gangs. Ryan King and Sean McAllister finished loading pastries and a white cake from the back of an ambulance and onto a cart. "Let's move, Sean," Ryan said. "Geno, you stay put. We'll be right back." Sean pushed the cart and Ryan, on the alert, kept glancing along the street. When they approached a two-story, brown-bricked building, they stopped in front of a large metal door. Ryan tried a few skeleton keys until one worked. Once inside, Sean reached into the lower shelf of the pastry cart and pulled out a canvas bundle. He unwrapped the canvas and extracted two 12-gauge shotguns with sawed-off barrels. Both men loaded their weapons and checked their pump actions. Ryan took out a pick and unlocked a closet door. "Take the cart and hide under the stairwell, Sean. I'll be in here with the door opened just enough to see out." "The worst part about this work is the waitin'," Sean remarked. "Yeah, but the pay beats the shit out of our other jobs. When you hear me yell 'Duggan', it'll be about a half a second before I take him out. You blast Garrity." Sean nodded, then pushed the cart under the stairs, grabbing a hole-less, cream-filled doughnut as he tucked himself into a concealed position. In a few minutes, the front door opened and Neil Garrity entered, followed by his boss Liam Duggan, head of the Slaughterhouse Gang and a rising leader in New York's underworld. Ryan was about to jump out and open up on Duggan when a third man walked in. It was Pat Cassidy, a longtime rat of Duggan's. Ryan's light blue eyes lit up and he smiled. An extra payback bonus. Ryan burst through the door. "Duggan, you die!" he shouted as he blasted the gang leader in the gut. Sean came charging out and opened up on Garrity's upper torso and neck. Pat Cassidy tried desperately to reach inside his suit coat and pull his pistol out of his shoulder holster. Ryan and Sean looked at each other. Ryan nodded. Just as Cassidy tried frantically to draw aim at Ryan, they both fired simultaneously. He smashed against the wall and peeled down, a broad smear of blood wiping over the lily wallpaper. Ryan walked over to a seriously wounded Liam Duggan. Fear filled his eyes. "No! ... Ryan, don't ..." "Want me to show you mercy? Like you showed Finn Downey and Mickey Kelly, you bastard!" He broke open his double-barreled shotgun and quickly reloaded. "Please, don't ..." "The Dutchman sends his regards." Ryan aimed at Duggan's head and fired both barrels. Duggan's face was now a bloody pulp. Sean rolled out the pastry cart. He and Ryan wrapped the shotguns back into the canvas and placed them on the lower shelf. Sean looked down at the three bodies. "Be sure and call us when you want another delivery." "That'll be in hell," Ryan added. "Come on, let's get outta here." Ryan opened the door and Sean pushed the cart outside. No one was on the sidewalk this early on a Saturday morning. Just a few cars were passing by. They moved briskly but not too fast