Title: Scrapping with the Mob
Author: Doug Beaver
Publisher: PageTurner Press and Media
ISBN: 979-8886223286
Pages: 202
Genre: Mystery / Thriller & Suspense
Reviewed by: Jack Chambers
Author Bio
Having a degree in Journalism and working 16 years in the Scrap Metal and Demolition industry has given Doug Beaver the idea to put on paper some of the things he witnessed and thought might happen years ago before computers tracked everyone’s movements and bank accounts.
Cash was the important word in those days and most of it never got reported and when the banks started reporting withdrawals over $9999 each day sometimes multiple people had to go to the bank and withdraw cash. Even though this book is fiction there are some happenings that took place and are reported in the book with names and places being changed.
Doug grew up in Glendora, California and went to Cal State Los Angeles University and the University of Southern California.
Synopsis
Imagine you are one year out of college and you have been brought up in a conservative religious mid-western household and you end up working for a man that bends every rule and moral fiber that you have been taught to get his way in business.
Young Johnathan Michaels goes to work for Howard Weiss at Illinois Iron and Metal in West Phoenix Arizona. Since college all he has done is sell office machines and now he is about to learn about money laundering, Car crushing, oh yes even once and a while a car has a dead body in the trunk, and cheating customers to make business more profitable.
You see when Howard Weiss built his scrap yard he ran short of cash and banks didn’t think he was a good credit risk so he was turned down, and he went to a Las Vegas Mob run casino for a loan. When he missed a few payments the casino people did not break his legs and arms, but instead wanted to know if he would install a car crusher (compactor) and maybe once a month they would send a junk car with a dead body in the trunk in lieu of his re-paying the loan. Naturally Howard jumps at the idea and things get under way. The Vegas people explain that burying people in the desert has become too risky with all the major development.
Soon Johnathan is aware of all that is going on, including a late night heist of a customers copper scrap box so Howard could finally make money on the account, taking the payoff insurance money to Chicago after a planned truck accident, using the mobs people to solve a problem with a competitor, watching Howard get involved with a light heavy weight boxer, the pro’s and cons of demolition work, delivering cash to customers, and the afternoon when Johnathan spends time with a real mob hit man and the stories he learns about.
Then there is a meeting at Cal Neva Casino on the north shore of Lake Tahoe. Next, Howard decides to have a golf tournament for charity, but also pocket some of the donations. Now it’s time to go after the competition, cash can buy business, and Johnathon gets threatened from a customer who finds out they short weighed his load, and then one late afternoon gun shots assault on the yard office when Johnaton and Howard are there alone.
The Desert Housing Project is Howard’s undoing and Johnathan must think about his future, so he uses his 401K money to open a sports bar. Next it’s what happens to Howard and Mo Silverstein the Casino boss. In the end Johnathan ends up being a much happier and self satisfied person.