Blinded by Revenge

By Donald R Sawyer

Stuck in a small town in Kentucky after he was shot in the back, Ronnie Santana had to find a way to get back to New York City, his destiny was written on the wall. Ronnie was a gangbanger in the city, and the code of the streets demanded that he get his and his gang's revenge. Failure would cost him his life if he couldn't complete the task. It was a dirty cop that had shot him in the back, the coward deserved to die, needed to die.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Donald R Sawyer
• Release date: May 24, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301207350

Book preview

Foreword

The New York City streets are filled with teens and young adults hanging out with their friends in alleyways and on street corners with nothing to do. Each one is in danger of being victimized by street thugs and gangbangers. All the boroughs and neighborhoods in the city has its own local neighborhood gang, and each gang has its own agenda. Many years ago, kids joined gangs to have protection against street thugs. If someone messed with, robbed, or beat up a member of a neighborhood gang, the whole gang pursued their revenge on the offender. So kids joined the gangs by the masses for their own protection. If your gang was big enough, tough enough, and had a bad assed reputation, then one was safe to go into other neighborhoods all over the city. However, over many years, gang’s agendas have evolved. Now there is money and profits to be made. By robbing and stealing what the night surrenders.

Drugs being sold on street corners is at the top of the list in making profits for a gang. Protecting their neighborhoods which gangs call their turf, is not done to protect the dwellers, but done to keep other gangs from coming into their turf and committing a crime or selling their drugs. Turf wars between gangs to expand their own turf, is fought over to keep control over their neighborhoods. At one time long ago, these turf wars were fought with fists and switchblades. Now days, more and more, guns are replacing the older outdated means of fighting and many killings take place nightly. These killings are put on the news and in the newspapers, but they are so commonplace, that they are ignored by the citizens.

Miguel Santana was a typical New York kid, tall and muscular, of Puerto Rican descent, fast with his fists, and a good fighter. He made for a good gang leader in his neighborhood of south Brooklyn. He never backed down from a good fight and his fellow gangbangers looked up to him. However, he was all about protection, if you messed with one of his brothers, he would fight for you himself. Miguel had his right hand man that stood by his side when it came to fighting, his name was Billy Doyle. He also had an enforcer named Dutch Cenecki. When Miguel wanted to send a strong message to another gang, or when someone came onto their turf and committed a crime or beat up somebody in the neighborhood, Miguel sent Dutch to get revenge and kick the offender’s ass. Miguel was close to both Bill and Dutch; he considered them friends above just fellow gang members. They were pals that grew up together and joined the gang at the same time.

The name of Miguel’s gang was The Warlords. They used to be just a ragtag misfit neighborhood gang that had no reputation at all, no other gangs feared them. But when Miguel became the leader, he taught his guys how to fight and protect their turf. Soon they became one of the fiercest gangs in the city because of Miguel’s reputation as a fighter. One day some misfit oddball came into The Warlord’s turf and stole some candy bars and gum filled baseball cards from a local merchant. The guy was not affiliated with another gang nor could he read the graffiti that told him he was on Warlord turf. Just some idiot from another neighborhood that was plain dumb.

But Miguel couldn’t let anybody waltz into their turf, commit a crime, then waltz back out scot free. A reputation had to be maintained or his brothers would figure he was going soft or his gang was weak. He could not have that, so Miguel sent Dutch Cenecki to find the person and make him pay for the stuff he stole or take a butt whipping. But when Dutch found the guy, he put a bullet in the back of his head and dumped the body into the Hudson River. Dutch did it for his own reputation’s sake. He wanted to become the leader of the Warlords himself and become feared all over the city.

When Miguel found out about the killing, he went ballistic and put his switchblade to Dutch’s throat and vowed to kill him if he ever saw his face again in Brooklyn. Miguel banished the man from the gang and sent out word to all gangs that if any other gang harbored the son of a bitch, then the Warlords would consider it an act of war and be destroyed. Dutch either went into hiding or left the city all together, he was never heard from again.

However, Miguel was left distraught and saddened after the event, more and more violence and death was on the increase by gangs, guns were taking the place of fists and knives, and now Miguel was responsible for a death. He took it hard and the senseless demise repulsed him down to his very core. From that moment on, Miguel started making plans to get himself out of the Warlords and the gang world all together. Not because he was scared, but he had no use for the taste of blood anymore. He now wanted more out of life, a family of his own. Something being a gangbanger wouldn’t allow him.

When a gangbanger takes oath to a gang, he is sworn in for life, only death removed one from the brotherhood. Growing too old to fight and rob anymore put you into retirement, but still a member to be called upon when and if needed to fight a war. But Miguel wanted to be completely out of the gang and the gang world, he knew the code of the streets and there was only one way to be set a completely free man and remain alive, too accept the ritual punishment and possible death from a massive beating from his own gang. Miguel chose this option despite the danger. He was beaten unrecognizable and left for dead in a dark alley way.

Bill Doyle stayed by his friend’s side, forever devoted and he took the beating along with Miguel. By the grace of God they were found and taken to a hospital and saved by a stranger in the neighborhood. Most would step over a gangbanger lying on the pavement un-conscious and bleeding, simply walk on by or run away without a second thought. But this Samaritan stopped and gave aid.

Luckily for Miguel and Billy, they survived and made it out of the gang free and clear men, no longer a sworn brother. The word God and prayer had new meaning in Miguel’s heart and mind. Later Miguel would eventually marry and have a son named Patrick Santana, ten years after, another son would be born, his name was Ronnie Santana.

Miguel left the Warlords and never looked back, his first ambition was to form a body of people to talk to kids about the evils of gang life. He wished he could abolish the whole tradition but realized it could not be done. It was just a way of life for kids.

* * *

Blinded by Revenge

Chapter One

After Miguel left the Warlords, he decided to go to college at CCNY in New York to become something of himself. He had always done well academically in school. His senior year in college rolled around and he decided to make another life and career decision, he enrolled into the Albert Einstein College of Medicine right there where he lived in Brooklyn. While attending there, he met another medical student by the name of Sandra Hughes who was from out of state. Sandra was born and raised in a small town in Kentucky named Paint Rock. As soon as she was to graduate and become a doctor, her plans were to go back to her hometown and establish a free clinic for girls and women there in the coal-mining town where females were often overlooked when it came to medical care. However as soon as she met Miguel, love blossomed and everything in her world changed. They knew their relationship was something special, during their residency; they couldn’t hold off any longer and were married and honeymooned in Niagara Falls.

Sandra missed her mother and hometown, she was saddened at the very thought of abandoning her plans, but decided to stay in New York City to be with her beloved husband. Sandra was so different from common New Yorkers, she was quiet, very well mannered, had a soft voice but a heavy southern accent to the point of many times being misunderstood. People in New York either cringed when they heard her dialect, or loved it. At first Miguel had a hard time trying to understand just what Sandra was trying to say at times, and he hated it. But in time he come to love and adore her voice and hoped that she would never succumb to a New York accent.

Sandra had long blonde hair, was fair-skinned, a slim figure, and was quite pretty and petite. However her husband Miguel towered over his wife along with most others, he was six foot four, two hundred and thirty pounds, very handsome and very athletic. He had dark toned skin because his ancestors had migrated from Puerto Rico to New York many many years before. Spanish was mostly used by his family growing up in his household, so Miguel also had a heavy accent of his own. The two made for an unlikely pair, an odd couple to look at them to say the least. But love knows no boundaries and the couple loved and adored each other and got along quite nicely.

Miguel had sworn to always be open and honest with Sandra at all times, it was while on their second date he told her of his past affiliation with the Warlords. He held nothing back, he told her everything. It was hard for Sandra to believe at first that her warm fuzzy kind-hearted husband was at one time a mean and vicious gang member. However she came to understand why boys joined them. But Miguel swore to her that if they should have children of their own, they would never follow in their father’s footsteps when it came to gangbanging.

When Miguel left the Warlords behind, he found Jesus and God and a loving caring nature hidden inside of him that even surprised himself. He discovered that he truly cared for humanity. He always wanted to give back to the neighborhood from which he stole from and sold drugs to. Becoming a doctor and caring for the sick would do just that he felt. But it was Sandra’s dream of operating a free clinic back in her hometown that inspired him, and both husband and wife dedicated their lives to doing just that for the poor and destitute right where they lived. Both contracted with the city and ran and operated several clinics right there in their own neighborhood of Brooklyn.

Sandra graduated with top honors as a gynecologist, an obstetrician, and a pediatrician, she mostly catered to the young girls who found themselves pregnant and un-able to afford proper pre-natal care and delivery costs. Miguel was a general practitioner that mostly catered to the adolescent and elderly that couldn’t afford insurance and otherwise never sought medical care when they were wounded or sick. Illnesses that went un-attended too. Both Sandra and Miguel loved what they did; helping the poor filled their lives with tremendous joy. They wanted to do it forever and never give into the greed for money by seeking to have a private practice. Both were inspired to give over the urge to receive.

Sandra got pregnant and gave birth to their first born son named Patrick Santana, a beautiful baby according to its mother. They instantly became loving doting parents. Ten years later and to a much surprised Sandra, she gave birth to their second son named Ronnie Santana. Both loved and adored their sons, but it was Miguel that worried the most after their births. Boys living in the city mostly did one thing in common, join a gang, and Miguel was not about to let it happen. Miguel began to talk to the boys at a very young age to never get involved with gangbanging, he told them about the sacrifice that had to be made and how his life was given to the gang’s interests first, and then his likes, wants, and desires came second. There’s no room in your heart for love and compassion when you’re a gangbanger he told his sons. Love is what turned the world he explained to his boys. Miguel made both of his sons swear that they would come to him first for protection and safety when it was needed instead of a gang. He made them swear to never affiliate themselves with a gang or another gangbanger.

To leave New York City entirely was not an option for Sandra and Miguel to keep their sons safe and away from gang life. Besides that, no other doctor would most likely replace them in running the clinics because the income was meager. If they left, it would cause the clinics to close down and that would hurt the poor and destitute that depended on them for their very lives. At times they both felt like they were sort of trapped there in the city despite their love of their professions. Miguel promised Sandra that it would not be a problem; he told her to hand her worry over her sons completely to him and to trust in him to keep their sons safe. Sandra believed in her husband wholeheartedly and so she did. However Patrick and Ronnie were left out in the cold as loners in the neighborhood. They lived sheltered lives mostly confined in their apartment.

Patrick was accosted and waylaid numerous times growing up, he didn’t have any real friends to speak of, but he lived his life according to his father’s wishes. He stayed pretty much to himself that is until his baby brother was born and began to grow and then Ronnie became his life. Patrick loved Ronnie with every fiber of his being and soul; the two were as close as peanut butter and jelly. There wasn’t anything Patrick wouldn’t do for his baby brother, and Ronnie loved Patrick so much that he cried when his brother walked out the door to go to school each day and left him behind. They had each other and that was enough they felt. Miguel thought his talks with his sons were enough to keep them safe from any real harm; stay away from and avoid gang life was his eternal message to his boys. However he didn’t take in to account what it was doing to them, making them young recluses from society.

Patrick took after his mother Sandra in looks and features, he wasn’t very tall and he had blonde hair and blue eyes like his mother, an infectious friendly smile and demeanor. He was very fit even though he was small in features like his mom. He had always been a pretty lonely kid growing up, no true friends to call his own with the exception of his younger brother Ronnie who meant the world to him. Despite the age difference between the two boys, one could almost swear that they were best friends and pals instead of brothers, mostly because they only had each other. Ronnie thought his older brother was the funniest person on earth because he was always playing with him and tickling him and had him laughing non-stop. Patrick was always looking after Ronnie even when the boy was just a baby. He read his younger brother bedtime stories and tucked him in at night and kept the boogie man out from under his bed and away from the dark recesses of his closet. Ronnie loved Patrick with all of his heart and soul, Miguel and Sandra knew that they themselves were a distant second in the young boy’s heart when it came to love and adoration for his brother, but it warmed their hearts to see their sons so close, depending upon each other for companionship. To Ronnie there was no other person like Patrick in the world.

* * *

Chapter Two

After the Sons of Saints, a gang in east Brooklyn invaded the Warlords turf by claiming one of their particular street corners as their own to sell their drugs on, Joe Canter, the leader of the Warlords, enacted an all-out war against the rival gang to hang on to their most prized piece of turf. The street corner on 5th and Vine was the Warlords most profitable location, nearly half of their total drug sales were made on that corner and they weren’t about to lose it to the Sons of Saints or any other gang in Brooklyn. It was theirs and they would fight to the death to defend it.

Patrick Santana was the first born son of Sandra and Miguel Santana; they had forbidden their son to have anything to do with the Warlords and gangbanging all-together. However Patrick’s father had once been a Warlord himself and it was customary for a son to follow in his father’s footsteps and take oath to the local gang. It was a tradition all over the city and in other cities. Patrick always thought of the appeal within to join up.

With Patrick’s parent’s insistence that he not join the fraternity, his father’s words had a resounding effect on his conscious. He wanted to join the gang just to feel a part of something, just to make friends with those that would watch his back and keep him safe from the street thugs. If one messed with a gang member, you messed with the whole brotherhood and he liked that; they will defend their fraternity brothers like they will their turf. However Patrick loved his parents and always had the intentions of obeying their wishes despite the allure of the other alternative, and he did so even though it came with an ass whipping here and there while growing up.

Now Patrick along with all the rest of the neighborhood found himself stuck in the middle of the war between the two rival gangs, in reality the neighborhood wasn’t safe for anybody. If Patrick so much as came home with a scratch on his face, Miguel was ready to pounce and take action to protect his son and question him obsessively on who did it. So Patrick had to be careful when going out and about, to make sure he didn’t injure himself or set off his father in a fit of rage. The fights in the war broke out every night and Patrick could barely avoid them. He wasn’t tall or muscular, he took after his mother in size and stature, but he wasn’t afraid to be out. The battles raged on in dark alleyways, abandoned buildings, or any other place where the cops weren’t. Patrick did his best to avoid those places.

Night after night the emergency room at the local hospital in Brooklyn filled up with stab wounds to the chest and stomach, wounds that had to be sewn up and bandaged, broken legs and arms from crowbars and baseball bats. The fighting would not end until one gang succeeded the prized street corner, or the last man on either side went down on the concrete pavement and could not get up. But as the fighting continued with not much gain on either side, guns more and more came into the picture. Miguel Santana who worked at the hospital during the drawn out melee now saw dead bodies trickle in a few at a time. He thanked God his son was not a part of the senseless slaughter. Miguel didn’t have much to worry about Ronnie, he was young and stuck indoors and safe, but Patrick became too old to lock away in the apartment anymore, and Miguel had no other choice but to let his son go out and have a little bit of freedom every now and then.

No one tried to intervene and put a stop to the fighting. No groups of parents banding together, no assembly of civic leaders coming to the rescue, not even the police tried to stop the violence, it was too dangerous and had to be waited out until one side or the other won or was annihilated and defeated. The gangbangers were going to fight somehow someway and there wasn’t any way to keep them apart.

Dad I’m going out Patrick told his father one night.

You’re not going out tonight Patrick Miguel Santana told his son, the street war is escalating and it’s too dangerous to be out there after dark.

But Dad, I’m only going over to the Thompsons to see Brenda Patrick answered back, besides, the gangbangers are only interested in wiping each other out and no one else, I’ll be safe.

Your mother tells me that you’ve been going to the Thompsons every night for the past month, what are you two doing that is so important?

Homework Dad, this is my senior year and you want me to get into a good college, besides, I just like Brenda’s company, we get along good together, you know how it is.

I know son, you like her and it’s not fair to keep you cooped up in this apartment while all of this is dragging on, but the emergency room is like a war zone with these kids ripping each other apart. They’re dying son and I’m so glad you’re not a part of it, your mother and I would simply die if something happened……..well you know how I feel about gangbanging son, I’m glad you’re smarter than the rest of the kids in the neighborhood.

You be careful out there Patrick, go straight to the Thompsons and straight back. Well I’ve got to go to work and do what I can for these foolish mixed up kids; I’m stuck on this night shift at the hospital while this senseless war is going on, it’s going to be another night of blood and guts. Be nice to the Thompson girl, you never know, after college, she just might be the one – just like your mother was for me.

Goodnight Dad, I’ll see you when you get home in the morning, Patrick told his father.

Patrick went straight to his room to grab his coat and say goodnight to his little brother Ronnie before going out."

Hey pal, I’m going over to Brenda’s, you can play my PlayStation until Mom tells you it’s time to go to sleep. Don’t be a brat and stay up waiting for me.

Patrick you promised that we would play Madden Football together one day this week, you like girls more than me Ronnie replied a little hurt a little jealous.

Hey ole buddy ole pal, a girl will never come between us, I’ll always love you forever Ronnie and don’t forget that, you’re number one in my heart and always will be.

I love you too Patrick with all of my heart, but tomorrow night is our night like you promised. No stinking girls, just you and me big brother.

You bet meat head, now go to bed when Mom tells you, I mean it.

Instead of seeing his son Patrick in the morning, Miguel saw his son later that night; he came through the emergency room on his way to the morgue. Dr. Miguel Santana had to witness his son pass away in his own arms on the operating table from a gunshot wound through his back.

Patrick was a simple kid; he was just looking for companionship in Brenda Thompson because he had no other friends and he spent most of his time indoors because of his father’s rules on gangs. Miguel was devastated by his son’s demise, Sandra Santana came close to an all-out nervous breakdown, Patrick’s much younger brother Ronnie was affected in ways that left the boy quiet, distant, and lonely, mad at the world and everything in it. To Ronnie, Patrick was everything, his hero, his best friend and playmate, the star in his eyes, the one whom he looked up too. The psychiatrist diagnosed Ronnie with the symptoms of PTSD and warned the Santana’s how severe the problem could have an effect on their young boy.

The streets of New York City are un-forgiving, Miguel now told his only son, anyone at any time of the day or night is at risk of being attacked. Please do not become a victim like your brother Patrick, Miguel preached over and over again to his son who learned to shut the man and his voice out. However even though Ronnie was only seven years old, he was smart and knew enough to know that boys had to join a gang for the safety it provided, he blamed Patrick’s death on his own father for not allowing him to join the Warlords to keep him safe. He no longer looked at his father the same as he had before through innocent eyes, he felt something for the man, but it sure wasn’t love, not anymore and he felt it deep down inside him. All the love that he had, died along with his brother. Even at his young age, he swore not to ever love anything or anybody again.

To leave New York City entirely was still not an option for Sandra and Miguel Santana to keep their now only son safe, giving to the poor was very important, but they began to wonder if the price of Patrick’s life had been worth it. They each blamed themselves and tried to trudge along as best they could. Both Sandra and Miguel were devastated and left with an empty hole in their hearts; they loved their son Patrick more than they loved themselves. Both swore that the same was not going to happen to the only child they had left; they swore to keep Ronnie out of harm’s way. They knew they had to stay in the city; they just had to be more stanch and un-wavering in protecting their son. They nearly smothered the boy with nannies and baby sitters, and watched over him like a mother hawk over her chicks. Ronnie despised the invisible plastic bubble that they kept him inside of and locked away. It had an adverse effect, the more they stood over him like mountains over a hillside, the more he became filled with hatred and spite for anything and everything with power and control. No one would ever tell him what to do when he grew up, no one would hold authority over him, not even his parents – especially his father. No one would control Ronnie Santana.

When he became older, he would be someone to be reckoned with despite his upbringing. People would have to take orders from him instead he swore, no one would be safe from his wrath. And nothing would stop him from joining the Warlords even if it meant he had to kill somebody just to join the brotherhood. It would be all that he looked forward to until he was old enough.

* * *

Chapter Three

Miguel and Sandra did all they could to protect their only son that they now had left. However, there were some things that they could not possibly do. Ronnie was still young, he had to walk back and forth to school each day, it was impossible to hand deliver him to and from campus and be at their jobs. And nearly every day, bullies picked on the loner Ronnie, beat him up, stole his milk and lunch money, and humiliated him until he came within an inch of crying even though he refused to – all just for their own entertainment. Each altercation enraged him and he vowed revenge day after day until the boy thought he was going insane. One day one of the Warlords witnessed one of Ronnie’s beatings and came to his aid. He kicked the bullies square in the backside and