I got no beef with Cadillac Frank. He was in the wrong and, given time, he'll cop to it. "My vic" means "My vic." This is a fact that is not open to interpretation. 'Nuff said on that topic.'
Insofar as his nickname is concerned, there is (as always) no shortage of geniuses claiming to know why this or that scalper is called by such and such name on the street. "Duh, he drives a 'Caddy!" or "He's from Cadillac, Michigan." or, my personal favorite, brought to you by Wrong Allan: "He's the penultimate scalper, you know, the Cadillac of scalpers." Allan really outdid himself, there. I'm not really sure where to begin. An astounding amount of fuckups in one sentence, even for Allan. The best part is that, for emphasis, Allan writes the word Cadillac in the air, like he's writing it in cursive with a pen, just like the actual Cadillac logo. Pretty sure he missed an "L".
Cadillac Frank, who sliced me when I was in the middle of a sale, was born Francis Patrick Leahey. He drives a twenty year old Cutlas which he does not own, but is owned by his partner, Chris Mulrooney, a scalper to be nicknamed later. He grew up in Stoneham and I have no idea exactly where his parents are from, but I would lay odds on Dorchester or Roxbury. I base this call on my keen ear for Bostonian accents and the fact that Frank's mom needs a friggin' translator when she leaves the New England area.
Anyway, Frank's dad, Frank Sr., is deceased and the story goes that he, not Frank, drove a Cadillac. An early '70's limited edition El Dorado called the El Deora, favored by mob guys and pimps mostly. When Frank was 3-years-old, his old man missed his birthday party. It wasn't a huge deal to anyone but Frank Sr. who was always looking for an excuse to go on a bender, and go he went. He skipped work and went right to Kelly's. By noon he was legless and by four-thirty he and the driver he hit head on (a guy who actually went to work that day) were both taking their last ambulance ride.
A veteran cop on the scene knew Frank senior and was telling a bright-eyed rookie the sad tale of Frank's now widowed wife and orphaned 3-year-old son. The rookie was pretty shaken up by the scene and wanted to do something for the kid who would not remember his dad when he grew up. He looked at his feet and saw the Caddy's hood ornament on the pavement. It doesn't look like a regular Cadillac ornament and if you didn't know your shit, you'd have no clue that it came from a Cadillac. Anyway, the rookie cop pockets it and when he went to inform the family, he gave the ornament to Frank Junior, who has cherished it ever since. Since then, Frank has been obsessed about all things Cadillac - Cadillac posters on his wall, Cadillac screen-saver, the whole nine yards. He swears he's gonna put enough cash together one day to buy a mint condition 1973 Cadillac El Deora just like his old man had. But Cadillac Frank, like so many in our business, is a degenerate gambler and him ever owning a vehicle of his own, let alone a cherry vintage Caddy...c'mon. Please.
Great story, huh? Only one problem. Frank Senior never owned or even drove a Cadillac.
I know, I know. What I actually said was "...the story goes..." or words to that effect. The Cadillac in question was, in fact, driven by the guy Frank Senior hit. No one wore seat belts in those days and both drivers were ejected from their vehicles which were both barely recognizable as cars - forget about make and model! It was a real friggin' mess, blood, glass and metal. The rookie made an honest mistake and Frank's widow's whole world had just gone to shit so I don't think she knew her own name, let alone what the hell the officer was talking about when he gave Frank Junior a hood ornament from someone else's car. By the time she came to her senses, Mrs. Leahey saw how much little Frank loved the thing; she didn't have the heart to tell him what was what, not that it mattered much in the grand scheme of things. Anyway, I have it on good authority that Frank's old man drove a Buick Riviera, the kind with the bubble-back window. It was a piece of shit that never would have passed inspection if Frank didn't throw his mechanic ten bucks every year. It all worked out. "Riviera Frank" is a bit pretentious for the street; it'd make him sound like a homo.
