“Then I hope to see you there one day, Rabbi.”
“I hope, by then, to deserve it, Kristy.”
EVEN BEFORE RABBI DAVID KALES AND HIS WIFE, RUTH, COULD LEAVE THE airfield, Special Agent Kristy Levine was back on the Gulfstream. They watched as it took off, headed south.
“How was she?” Ruth asked.
“Dying,” David said.
“Soon?”
“I think so,” David said. He showed her the envelope. “She brought us a letter. Some papers. Photos.”
“Oh, god, okay.” Ruth started to cry.
“Do you want me to drive?”
“No, no,” Ruth said, “I want to make it home.”
Ruth pulled onto the road and for a long time they traveled in silence along Route 7, headed into town. David put his hand into his pocket and slid his father’s brass knuckles on. Clenched his fist, felt the brass dig into his callouses.
Ten years.
He’d be fifty.
His son would be eighteen.
He’d need some money.
He’d need some direction.
He’d need a father.
He’d be ready.
“Oh, look at that,” Ruth said.
A billboard had gone up on the road: “Coming Soon! Medical Center and Elective Surgery Clinic: A Joint Operation of Silausk Health Partners and Chuyalla Surgery Services. Serving the Entire Mendenhall Valley. Fall 2004.”
“A mitzvah,” David said. A real fucking mitzvah.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book is the culmination of a project that began in 2008, when Jarret Keene and Todd James Pierce asked me to write something for the Las Vegas Noir anthology, which became the short story “Mitzvah” shortly after I wrote the words, “That Rabbi David Cohen wasn’t Jewish had ceased over time to be a problem,” and realized, Oh, wait, there’s something there. Between then and now, that story has spawned three novels and a short story collection and changed the course of my life, so thank you, Jarret and Todd, for thinking of me for that book. I’m glad I said yes.
I am indebted to my editor and friend, Dan Smetanka, who has been with me every step of the way with these books, a journey that has lasted a decade, countless multi-hour phone calls, too many midnight texts, and a line-by-line education on how to turn a manuscript into a book. I would be lost without his counsel. Thank you for taking a chance . . . and for finding an ending for me. Let’s do four more.
I couldn’t ask for a better team than the crew at Counterpoint, including publisher Alyson Forbes; publicist extraordinaire Megan Fishmann, who is in the dream-making business; marketing genius Rachel Fershleiser, who gets me everywhere I want to be; design guru Nicole Caputo, who makes me look cool; Wah-Ming Chang, who literally makes the book happen; Laura Berry, for getting all this mess organized; and Barrett Briske, who catches all of my mistakes. My name goes on the cover, but it’s not alone. Thank you, each, for your hard work and dedication.
Profound thanks, as ever, to my agent Jennie Dunham, who has kept me steady since we were both kids. Thank you for going on this journey with me. And to my film and TV agent Judi Farkas, who has stepped me over every land mine imaginable, and here we are, unscathed. We’ll get there yet.
My undying gratitude to Angela Bromstad, David Semel, and Eric Overmyer for the years we worked together on this project. I cannot fathom a better creative team. I hope the stars align for us again. And much thanks to Michael Besman, Carl Beverly, and Sarah Timberman for their faith in this material as well. Your support, at various times since 2009, has sustained me.
I’ve been so lucky to have amazing friends, creative partners, colleagues, editors, and producers over the course of the last decade and I would not have reached this point without Rider Strong & Julia Pistell, Maggie Downs, Agam Patel, Tamara Hedges, Mark Haskell Smith, Joshua Malkin, Gina Frangello, Stacy Bierlein, Susan Straight, Alex Espinoza, Rob Roberge, Jill Alexander Essbaum, Stephen Graham Jones, William Rabkin, John Schimmel, David Ulin, Mickey Birnbaum, Elizabeth Crane, Ivy Pochoda, Sara Borjas, Anthony McCann, Emily Rapp Black, Matthew Zapruder, Maret Orliss, Barbara VanDenburgh, Blaise Zerega, Justin Alvarez, Jordan Katz, Steve Kelly, Lawrence Block, Brad Meltzer, Bree Rolfe, Juliet Grames, Barbara Demarco Barrett, Ross Angelella, Rabbi Malcolm Cohen, Stephanie Helms, and of course all of my students, past and present, in the Low-Residency MFA at UC Riverside.
I am not a mobster, nor a rabbi, nor an employee of a funeral home . . . so before you write to tell me I got something wrong . . . I know. I make stuff up to suit my purposes. Nevertheless, I couldn’t have written this without research help from Kathryn McGee; Natashia Deón; Lee Lofland and his amazing faculty at the Writers’ Police Academy; Kevin Denelsbeck; the amazing 2017 Reuters series, “The Body Trade” by Brian Grow, John Schiffman, Blake Morrison, Reade Levinson, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, and Elizabeth Culliford; Bruce Fessier’s landmark series “Gangsters in Paradise” which appeared in the Desert Sun. A Book of Jewish Thoughts by Joseph Hertz; Policing Las Vegas by Dennis N. Griffin; Sun, Sin & Suburbia by Geoff Schumacher; the Talmud and the Bible.
Profound love and thanks to my siblings, Lee Goldberg, Karen Dinino, and Linda Woods for a lifetime of creative and emotional support.
My wonderful wife, Wendy Duren, believed in these books from the moment I told her the idea and stood with me through every word. Her faith and love and notes all found their way into this book and the three before it. Her people are my people.
Finally, this book is in memory of Kristy Cade. You’ll live forever a hero here . . .
© Linda Woods
TOD GOLDBERG is the author of more than a dozen books, including Gangsterland, a finalist for the Hammett Prize; Gangster Nation; and The Low Desert: Gangster Stories, named a Southwest Book of the Year and a finalist for several literary prizes. He lives in Indio, California, where he directs the low-residency MFA in creative writing and writing for the performing arts at the University of California, Riverside. Find out more at todgoldberg.com.
Gangsters Don’t Die
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Copyright © 2023 by Tod Goldberg
All rights reserved under domestic and international copyright. Outside of fair use (such as quoting within a book review), no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher. For permissions, please contact the publisher.
First Counterpoint edition: 2023
