Mob Blog: Tokyo Blue, June 30, 2014

Mob Blog: Tokyo Blue, June 30, 2014

Mob BLog: Toyko Blue, June 30, 2014

 

Mob Blog: Tokyo Blue, June 30, 2014

 

[dcs_p]In Louie’s words …[/dcs_p][dcs_p]

 

Seven o’clock on Wednesday. We’re in Lauderdale on a business matter, and Victor says, “Lou, let’s go get lobster at Tokyo Blue.”[/dcs_p][dcs_p]

Tokyo Blue is an Asian joint in the Ocean Manor Resort Hotel on Galt Ocean Drive. Hotel and restaurant are owned by a friend of Victor’s, a guy named Frank Talerico. Frank did a pretty swell job with Tokyo Blue’s décor. The bar is a solid slab of glass backlit by cobalt-blue lighting. It’s a pretty big bar, with some lounge-style seating. Frank’s barmaids aren’t bad to look at either.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]

Tokyo Blue is called an ‘Asian Fusion lounge.’ I’m not a sushi guy, but you can’t beat the all-you-can-eat lobster priced at 49.99 on Wednesday evenings. Not that Victor or I are concerned with prices. It’s not as though Victor’s on a budget, and he eats all he can whenever he can, but the lobster at Tokyo Blue is Maine lobster and Frank’s people do a good job with it.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]

Cocktails first, at the bar. We eye some of the girls heading into the dining room. This week, they’re all on vacation. Most are young, all are scantily dressed.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]

We stay seated at Tokyo Blue’s bar, order our lobster. It’s delicious. I do two plates, and Victor goes for four or five. But, hey, he’s a big guy.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]

Victor tells Frank the lobster is “outstanding.” He says to the barmaid, “Doll, bring us another round.”[/dcs_p][dcs_p]

No blended malt whisky tonight but a mild Sauvignon Blanc to complement the lobster, chase the sweetness from my throat. I eye the décor—ice blue with splashes of violet—a pair of studded and turquoise-finned headless mermaids, a large aquarium. I recall that Tokyo Blue got a lot of fanfare when they opened a few years ago, bringing in top name sushi chefs.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]

I sip my wine and think of think about the days ahead of me. I have to meet a man tomorrow and then I’m skipping town, taking my family to the Gulf for the 4th of July weekend. It’s a safe bet I won’t be eating any lobster, but hey, you never know.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]

 

If you enjoyed Tokyo Blue, you may consider reading one of Patricia Bellomo’s mob thrillers. Books include, Louie Morelli’s Mistress, Stella di Mare, and Louie Morelli’s Daughter. [/dcs_p][dcs_p]

 

Tokyo Blue was written in the voice of Patricia’s main character, savvy mobster, Louie Morelli. Tokyo Blue is real, Louie is Bellomo’s creation.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]Books available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and in all e-reader formats. Also available on AmazonUK and AmazonEU.

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Mob Blog: Languishing on Las Olas, February 7, 2014

Languishing on Las Olas

Fort Lauderdale

 

[dcs_p]Mob Blog: Languishing on Las Olas, February 7, 2014[/dcs_p]

 

[dcs_p]I’m on Las Olas Boulevard. I had a closing at Wells Fargo at nine this morning. It’s now past noon, and I’m still here. But I’m not at the bank. The closing went off beautifully, thank you, and I’m a bit richer for selling a piece of prime Fort Lauderdale real estate.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]

 

So why am I languishing on Las Olas?[/dcs_p][dcs_p]

 

It’s because I made the mistake of mentioning to my daughter that I was driving down for the closing. This was last night, at the dinner table. Right away Stella perked up, and said, “Daddy, let me go with you. I haven’t been to Las Olas in forever.”[/dcs_p][dcs_p]

 

Hmm. I had planned to call on a lady friend today. She’s a great gal, but not exactly the type I would introduce to my baby. So my plans got reshuffled, and now I’m sitting in the cool shade beneath the overhang of the historic Riverside Hotel nursing a glass of grapefruit juice while Stella winds her way in and out of the boutiques and galleries that dominate this stretch of downtown.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]

 

Las Olas is hip and happening, transformed from the sleepy backwater street that used to cater to locals and aging snowbirds. Midday on a Friday in February the tourists are plentiful. It’s a perfect day, a little warm for this time of year, but I don’t mind.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]

 

Stella struts towards me. She doesn’t look anything like the tourists she’s bumping elbows with. She’s a head turner, wearing a cream-colored designer dress with red, high-heeled sandals. I can’t help thinking that she looks like an Italian fashion model.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]

 

Stella’s carrying a few bags. Nothing serious—I’ve seen worse. She gives me a big smile and says, “Daddy, look what I bought you,” showing me a blue, floral print tie she picked up for me at Maus and Hoffman’s.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]

 

Traffic on Las Olas is becoming congested, with cars parked parallel on both sides of the street. I want to go to Pan’e Dolci for gelato, but Stella has other things on her mind. “Daddy, come and look at this painting I want to buy,” she says.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]

 

Patricia Bellomo is the author of the crime and mob thriller books Louie Morelli’s Mistress, Stella di Mare, and Louie Morelli’s Daughter. Languishing on Las Olas was written in the voice of her main character, Louie Morelli.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]

 

Books available in print and digital from Amazon.com. All e-reader formats.

 

 

Millionaire Mobster Blog: Beach Bum, May 25, 2012

twowomanonaboat

Millionaire Mobster Blog: Beach Bum, May 25, 2012

[dcs_p]Las Olas Boulevard this morning to have a meet with a guy who’s looking to borrow a little cash. Now, you’ve got to figure by the time they get to me, they’ve already been shot down at the bank. But in this case the guy’s invisible–he doesn’t have a bank account, never applied for a loan in his life. And he’s fifty years old. He also happens to live in a high-rise at the corner of A1A & Las Olas; prime real estate in Fort Lauderdale.[/dcs_p]Still, he’s small time, supplying cannabis and cocaine to spring breakers and working girls. He tells me he was a spring breaker himself, arriving thirty years ago. The beach has been good to him, but he’s used too much of his own product. Plus, it’s getting harder and harder to make a buck. He’ wants the money to invest in a beach service operation, renting chairs and cabanas and jet-skis. He’s got the money for the inventory, but he needs to bribe a civil servant for the license. It turns out he has some kind of a record. I kind of like the guy, so I tell him yes. And just like that, we’re in business.

Millionaire Mobster Blog: Fort Lauderdale Air Show, April 28, 2012

twowomanonaboat

Millionaire Mobster Blog: Fort Lauderdale Air Show, April 28, 2012

[dcs_p]Took the Stella di Mare south today for the Fort Lauderdale Air Show. I’ve got a full crew on board, plus the entire family. It rained hard last night and early this morning, and the skies have been threatening all day, but that didn’t stop me and hundreds of other boaters from turning out for the show. We dropped anchor off shore, watching the crowds gathering on the beach. Plenty of eye candy here. Victor and my son, Tony, keep trading off on the binoculars.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]I’m sitting on deck with my grandson perched on my knee. He’s fascinated by the F-16 fighter jets, tells me he wants to fly airplanes someday. I look up and catch Angie watching me with a little smile. “Louie,” she says, “I never understood how a man who is so tender with his family could do the things you do.”[/dcs_p][dcs_p]Since we don’t talk about those things, I’m surprised by her comment. For a minute my eyes lock on Angie’s, and then the jets swoop into formation, flying low over the beach with a deafening roar.[/dcs_p]Patricia Bellomo is the author of the crime thrillers Stella di Mare and Louie Morelli’s Daughter. She writes about mobsters and millionaires in South Florida and Detroit.

Cristal and Caviar, February 1, 2012

Cristal and Caviar

Mob Blog: Cristal and Caviar

Mob Blog: Cristal and Caviar, February 1, 2012

Franco calls me to let me know the Russians are back, hanging at my swank South Beach club two nights this past week. The Russians make me a little nervous–I don’t do business with them–but I don’t mind when they patronize my nightclub. They like to do private parties, renting out the upper level lounge. Usually they bring their own chicks, but this last time they asked Franco to “arrange” some dates, and he brought in about a dozen of Fort Lauderdale’s finest. Franco says they put on quite a show, but he was more impressed with the Russians consumption of premium champagne. They have a taste for Dom, but they also go for the Cristal. “Lou,” he says, “it was Cristal and caviar all night long.”[/dcs_p][dcs_p]Cristal and Caviar is written in the voice of Patricia Bellomo’s main character, mobster Louie Morelli. If you enjoyed this anecdote, please check out her books. Available at Amazon.com

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