TAPE 14 NICOLA INTERVIEW Apr 17, 1991
(Includes: Occupation Era Miscellaneous, King of Korea, Ginza Machii, Nick’s Niece, PostWar GI Violence, etc, Shintaro Ishihara, Gold Scam, Book Reference, Gold Scam,
Book Reference)
SIDE A
(counter 000)
(OCCUPATION ERA MISCELLANEOUS)
A: My nephew in Fort Myers wants to sell his liquor store. Suntory, they don’t have many acquisitions in the States. They got baseball team….I say why don’t you go see my nephew, fact fact sheet made, what is value, sales..He says “It’s getting tough now. The Japanese found out what S&L means.’” So now they go to all these meetings. S&L. They just bought Clearwater Florida. They’re all bankrupt, right. Clearwater Florida, they picked up whole resort for $ 27 million. It’s got to be worth over $100 million.
And it is the oldest wooden structure in the United States. Hotel that’s strictly wooden. The biggest wooden structure in the United States. Something like that. …S&L are going…they gotta get rid of the properties…so the Japanese now are getting sharp. They go to these killby meetings. They look at all the newspaper things and foreclosures and things like that. Cuz they can pick up property at 20% of its value.
Q: I got a quote here from you, by a guy named General Wada? You asked him why he went into China and he says because “we needed the land.” And you said, “What about Hokkaido.” (which is practically empty). And he says, “We already own that.”
A: right.
Q: Who was he?
A: General Wada was, he must have been an extremely big wheel during 1944 & 45. So he’s got to be one of the …but those days, you hobnobbed with all of them. Army general. “
Q: That’s all you remember about him.
A: You get in all kinds of conversations. I don’t know that Bob Whiting’s gonna come around 40 years later and say let’s write a book. If I’d a know that you’d have to write a series of books. With all the shit that happened.
Q: How did you get to meet the King of Korea. How did that happen?
A: Oh, that guy. That’s Prince Rhee. He’s married to the Emperor’s sister. Hirohito’s sister. So he became the King of Korea. And he was a little smaller than Kentucky Fried Chicken. Same type. White hair. White suit. Little smaller than Colonel Sanders. He was a gay blad. He enjoyed drinking & playing…..In my days, I meet everybody….I used to investigate. That’s when I was an investigator. I don’t know. I don’t think I met him on a dance floor, although we used to go dancing in Ningyo-cho. That was a little dance hall there. Away from the Ginza. But then you see I did investigate the Imperial Family when I went over to see that Prince Higashikuni….He brought a Cadillac out of the Philippines. And his name came on the list that he had a Cadillac. And my job was to go ask the questions about the Cadillac. He was the guy who took over Japan after the 1945 August 15. Until they replaced him probably with Yoshida. Shigematsu. I forgot who took his place.
Q: He was briefly in charge of the country.
A: Yeah. I was a property investigator so I had to ask him where’d you get the Cadillac. He got it from the Philippines, of course. We know that. What’d you pay for it? And it answer was like $10,000. Then the next question which I didn’t want to ask is…What kind of $10,000. US dollars or printed Occupation money. Of course, it was printed pesos. He prints them. So what the hell.
Q: Did you ask him that question?
A: Of course, not. I know he’d fail that question. Then you got to confiscate the car, for what, for who. You wind up costing the American government more money than the car is worth. Except now you got to warehouse it. You got to search out the real owners. You got to return the car to them and they’ll probably say ship it to the Philippines. You know.
So.
Q: Why was that illegal to …
A: Well, he didn’t buy it. He confiscated the car.
Q: Printed pesos where no good?
A: Occupation money. Uncle Sam used to print it too, you know. All the countries print their own money. So down in the Philippines, they had Japanese pesos. Just like the Americans had MPC’s in Tokyo.
Q: What did he think of that investigation.
A: Well, they know. See they’re up there. They know that you can’t hurt them. You know because you can’t hurt them. Because, you can’t hurt them. A fucking prince. Are you crazy? You’re supposed to use, shall we say, discretion? But you can let him know that, you know, he’s a, you wanna call them, an SOB.
Q: What was he like?
A: Oh, he was just a suave character. Well dressed, you know. Strictly prince type. A couple of grades higher than a business man. But of course they all speak English and they’re polite and diplomatic. They also know you’re looking down their throat.
Q: You went to the Imperial Palace?
A: Yeah….
Q: What was the room like where you met him?
A: Well, they have outhouses. I guess you’d call ’em that. You don’t go into…You know you never get into the main structures. And, of course, it was guarded more than it is today.
(KING OF KOREA)
Q: Try to remember how you first met King of Korea.
A: …Probably his home…but it’s a daisy chain, because the other investigators may have met him. And then of course we all know what the other guys are doing.,And he wanted to go out and have fun. Like me. We enjoyed life too….He spoke English….He’s gone now. Gray-haired in 1946. He must have been 60 in 1946. The Akasaka Prince was hit private home. The man used to raise roses. The one house that is still standing on the (Akasaka Prince Hotel) private property was his home….Where the hotel swimming pool is now, that was his garden. Too bad we didn’t know about real estate in those days. That property must be worth a fortune.
Q: How you have met him, if you can’t remember. Would it be a social occasion? You wouldn’t investigate him.
A: I didn’t investigate him.We had 30-40 investigators. And everybody’s all over the countryside doing things. So the way I think I met him is he came with one of our boys to the dance hall in the Sumida River. Cuz those guys we were the only guys who had liquor, beer…He was cute. It’s not often you’re sitting at the same table with a king. I remember I got him sucked one day.
Q: By the lawyer.
A: She wouldn’t fuck. But she’d suck.
Q: What did the dance hall look like?
A: : Ningyo-cho. It’s on the Sumida River. Of course, it’s probably gone now. They gone mansions on the river. But it was a big dance hall.
Q: Inside?
A: Ballroom. Chandeliers. Those lights that go around. They had one called the Oasis on the Ginza, which probably now is Matsuzaka. The department store. Matsuya. That was in the basement….Ningyo-cho. Rikidozan, I think had a wrestling center over there. In the same area. When he first started wrestling.
(Bad cough.)
A: Jesus Christ. I’m gonna die.
Q: What’s this cough all about.
A: I got it over here and I can’t get rid of it. I got it for 3 months. It’s just one step away from pneumonia. And I eat all kinds of fucking cough drop medicine….(unintelligble)
(Takes cough drop. Discussion of cough drops)
Q: So you just struck up a conversation with the King.
A: We used to go around. And we had a lot of friends. And associates. And of course Americans are not snobs. It isn’t a question of “I know the king. I don’t wanna introduce you.” He was a Korean.
Q: Did he feel discriminated against? I know that’s a funny word to use in this situation.
A: In those days there was no discrimination against Koreans. As a matter of fact, Koreans had a better position than the Japanese. Koreans are sort of allies.
Q: I mean the Japanese discriminated against the Koreans. But the Koreans had more power, they were in a better position at that time.
A: At that time they were stronger than the Japanese. Because they had that tremendous hatred. And, of course, you gotta remember, the American GI wasn’t exactly in love with the Japanese. They may have enjoyed screwing their broads, but it didn’t go much further than that. Of course, today, social standards are a little different. You meet a girl, you like her. Ah, look at your own wife. She’s not a peasant. She’s got an education. She speaks English. She’s got a job. She’s got money. She’s got clothing. Back in 45, 46, 47, 48. They didn’t have none of that crap.
Prince Rhee was a dapper dan. Well, dressed. Polite. Well mannered. Cigar smoker. Of course, when he smoked a cigar, the cigar looked like it was ten times bigger than him. Cuz I imagine he was about 5’3″. Maybe 5’4″…..
Q: Slim guy?
A: Like Kentucky Fried Chicken. Little heavy, squat. That’s why if you put a white suit on Prince Rhee, he’d look like Kentucky Fried Chicken Colonel Sanders. Of course, in those days, Colonel Sanders wasn’t born yet.
Q: What did he think of his position in the Imperial Household. Did he ever complain about it?
A: In those days, there was no conversation in that direction. Today, you know about the Imperial thing, and all that shit, but in those days, we didn’t,…nobody paid attention. It wasn’t such an important place. And, of course, MacArthur downgraded the Emperor. Leave him alone. He’s nobody. And, of course, the Emperor laid low. No statements. You know you hide like a thief. Same things insane Hussein did. Sadaam Hussein, is that what they call him? He stayed low when January 15th came. Now he’s out of the sack again and he’s making people pay.
(GINZA MACHII)
Q: Did you ever have a heart-to-heart conversation with Ginza Machii? Anything you remember?
A: Well, it’s very hard to…of course, Machii was a very, very good friend of mine. And we would talk, but, you know, you don’t talk politics. You don’t talk about gangsterism. You know. You just talk about let’s go here and have some fun and have some drinks. Strictly 100% socially. You can’t discuss what he does because first of all he is not going to tell you what he does. You just know that he’s that kind of guy, and that’s all.
Q: He thought you were in the mafia right?
A: Well, of course. The bringing up I got automatically makes you think that.
But, of course, I know Mafia people but that doesn’t make you a Mafia. Just like you know ballplayers. But that doesn’t make you a ballplayer. But then they lived on 116th street where I lived.
Q: Well, from 56 on to mid 70’s. So you stopped seeing him in the mid-70’s.
A; Late 70’s.
Q: How often would you say you say him during that period?
A: During that time? The beginning. 3 or 4 times a week.
Q: To the mid 70’s. Late 70’s.
A: While Riki was alive.
Q: The late 70’s, That’s 25 years. …Where’d you see him? He come to the restaurant?
A: Yeah. Well, he was with Riki and we meet there and we meet here. He comes to the restaurant….And then, of course, those days, we all had big money. We all go to clubs. He was always in the club. Plus his bills were bigger than mine, because he’d always have ten gangsters with him. I was a free lancer. But Machii ordered food for everybody. I think I told you, when he finishes, “OK. Let’s go.” The other guys didn’t get the food yet. He always gets the first steak. By the time they bring the rest of the steaks, he’s finished. And you got to leave the table. The food never showed up.
But those days you go to the Latin Quarter, Copacabana, Hanabasha, Benibasha. The Akasaka route. After that was gone, you go to Club Riki and the Cosmopolitan club. And club 88. They were on this street here, see. Except Club Riki was over here where NET is. That street. What do you call that street? Where you come out on the street, you come to the China restaurant. Sanyo. You know, where the old GI hotel was. Then they got a Chinese restaurant. They got a street that goes this way. That street was Riki Apartment. And Riki’s club was there. And he had another property in the back, too. So we’d go there. That was Club Riki.
(MISCELLANEOUS,–NICK’S NIECE, ETC.))
Q: You ever meet Frank Lucchese?
A: No. I think his name was Tommy Lucchese. I can’t remember his first name. 3-Finger Brown. I tell you the last time I heard the family name used on tv. I was very surprised. I thought they were all out of existence. But it’s Luchese. I think it’s Tommy Lucchese. To us he’s known as “3-Finger Brown.”
Q: But you never met him, 3 Finger Brown.”
A: New York City. When I was a kid. But no relation with Japan….You talk about Ted Lewin, are you?
Q: No, I’m talking about you’re…New York.
A: No, that’s only New York. Before WWII.
Q: No, Ted Lewin is uh…
A: You found out about him now?
Q: Not yet. I don’t know anybody who…I’m trying to find out. I know that he ran the Latin Quarter at one time. He was the Capone of Asia. Gambling in…
A: You find Al Shattuck.
Q: Filling in the spots…He’s in Mexico, right.
A: Yeah.
Q: Who was the girl who was working for Xerox.
A: Oh, you mean my niece?
Q: Right. The one who’s got the big quarter of a million dollar a year salary.
A: Selfish bitch. But, what are you going to do with these people. And they know everything. Jesus. How do they bullshit the American bosses. I hate to say it that way. She knows…well, maybe she knows a little bit about Xerox, but that’s it. You know, the other day, they overstepped their bounds. She came around. She says. I been to a very, very good restaurant. I mean it is a good restaurant. The decoration is this. You know. You ought to hear the bullshit. Oh where? It’s down on the Ginza someplace. It’s called Bono Bono. Bueno Bueno or something like that. OK. So one Saturday night we went there. It’s in Sukiyabashi. You know where you make all the speeches. On the second floor. At the old Yurakucho Food Center. Well, I went in there. And she thinks she…she made reservations…you know, they don’t give a fuck whether you got reservations or not. This is just a shokudo. (diner). So I went in there, and, of course, I can’t see. And I sez “That looks like a display of Chinese food.” They sez “No. That’s Italian hors d’;oeurvers” On an exposed table. In a restaurant that’s got people going like this….(gestures, touching)…you know, health office. Impossible. So I said, OK, so its hors d’oerves. And it looked like that nikutofu , dambo what do you call it…meat sauce with tofu. And all that shit. And another table like this table here, they had cake on it. Oh, you know, so we sat down, I sez ok. There’s no decoration. You look out the window, you see Yurakucho. The food was absolutely fucking terrible.
But you know how this bitch works. She’s a selfish. She keeps all the money she gets. Quarter of a million dollars. She won’t spend a penny. So the bill is very close to 40,000 yen. I sez, oh, that’s good, you can split the bill. With a straight face, I’m being a bastard, you know. And she’s embarrassed, so she took out twenty. And my wife says, “No, we don’t need your money.”
I sez, “No, no. no, no. This is only fair. She’s a wife. And there’s a husband. And a husband and wife. And we’re both financially well off. So, let’s split the bill.” And Jesus, she was trying to figure out how not to do it. I made her split the bill.
Q: How is she related to you?
A: She’s my wife’s sister’s daughter. Her father is the sherriff of Monterey. So of course afterward, the husband, Billy Bock (unintelligble). He sez, “What did you think of that place the other day?” I said, “Oh, on a scale of one to ten, I’d say 2.” And the daughter, his wife, won’t talk to me now. And I said, “If the bill was half, on a scale of one to ten, I’d go to 4. But I said the food stinks and the money made it even worse.”
Q: She’s half-Japanese. Is she fluent in Japanese?
A: No. She’s a stupid bitch. On Sunday, she had an automobile accident with somebody, backed into her car. And they switched drivers and they ran away. So she got the number. She got the numbers but not the letters. So what the hell good is the number but not the letter. You know there is about 75 letters. And then there’s “ku”–who knows what prefecture. So she insisted that she had to go to the police department and make a report. I said oh, go to Shibuya, go to the police department there. I said when you get through all you gotta do is find how much time you lost. And they went there and she went there and they like called back and said, “they wouldn ‘t take my complaint. Even though I had the number they said it was not sufficient evidence.”
Q: How old is she?
A: She’s 30 years old.
Q: How’d she get that job. What’s her degree?
A; Well, she’s the, what do you call it when you graduate the top class in the school. Valdectorian or some shit like that. She was Miss Fresno. Good looking girl. I don’t like her but ….big this way, but …just the type that ‘s gonna be a fat piggy eventually. Very, very brazen, very macho, I guess you’d say it. She wears mini-skirts but she’s got legs bigger than two of mine put together. She rides a bicycle all day long, so you can imagine what kind of legs she’s got. But anyway, she’s not petite. But she got the job from Zerox.
Q: What college she go to?
A: She went to Fresno State. I guess you call it Fresno State. She’s not stupid. I’d say she’s more arrogant than smart.
Q: Did her husband find a job here?
A: Yeah, he’s got a job in a think tank. They sit there…planning. I said “that’s a place of retirement planning. They get all the shitheads.They leave them in the planning section.” He says, “Oh, they work.” I sez “Who goes home first.” He sez, “The boss.”
2 minutes later everybody’s gone. You know the Japanese system. You’re supposed to work till five. But if the boss if there till 7, you gotta sit there.
Q: But, she doesn’t speak Japanese though.
A: Not that good, no. She was over here the other night, with her schoolteacher, her teacher teaching her Japanese. And they talking about getsuyobi, kayobi, suiyobi (days of week). I’m listening to this shit. And I say, “Japanese is a very difficult language if you want to go that route. Because there are so many ways you say one thing and it means something else. You got ichi (1), hitotsu (1), etc.….you got so many different “ones.” I said “Why don’t you just go to a school and go through a real professional system of learning Japanese. Then you can learn. But this way, you’re not gonna learn.” Conversation? Shit.
Q: What was her speciality? What was her degree?
A: Marketing. She’s a marketing expert. Plus, I think she’s in charge of the Far East. And she don’t work for Fuji Zerox, she works for Xerox.
Q: Anything else that amazes you about her?
A: Like now…everyday theres…like I say if I was to write down everyday what happened, you wouldn ‘t have time to read it, much less write it. Now, she wants to have a party, Saturday. And she wants my Teramisu cake. That’s ok. And then she wants to go Yokota restaurant, I don’t know why Yokota, to get pizza dough. She’s gonna make pizzas. And, of course, I don’t say nothing. But my wife is giving her a bad time….You don’t know what you’re talking about…and I don’t know, I’m gonna do that. And then she wants Italian sauce. And I say, oh fine, all these things. I said, “What good is giving her anything if she don’t know how to use it.” First of all, we can give her all the dough she wants, she can never make a pizza. We can give her all the ingredients, tell her how to make a pizza, she can’t make it. And she won’t listen. I sez, “Patty, my oven is direct heat.Your oven at home is circular heat. There’s a very, very different concentration of heat. It don’t work. But, stubborn….Oh, ba, ba, ba, ba,…375. I don’t give a fuck what the temperature is. Because when I want to cook the bottom, we put it on the bottom where the heat is, when we want to cook the top, we move it to a different level. So now the top is being cooked. You know damn well you can melt cheese before you make a piece of bread. She can’t think, you know..So I say, “let her go. Let her do what she wants.” But there are a lot of people like that who think they can do anything….If she’s pushing American products, I saw good, help America export.
And, of course, pro-Japanese. Oohh….I think they screen them out in the States. She said there was a group of 200 and she become the last one. So I think when they get near the top they start looking at the personality. Do they get along with the Japanese. How do they think about the Japanese? Because you would think her mother is Japanese and she would be able to speak some Japanese. She can’t speak shit.
Q: What does she say that makes her pro-Japanese?
A: Oh, they’re great people. Oh, they’re such nice people….Of course, she’s talking about her employees. And, of course, they have to be nice to her. She’s the fucking boss. They can’t really say what they think. And if they spoke Japanese, she wouldn’t understand anyway.
But, of course, she’s not a slouch. She’s not exactly stupid. But when you think about it, she’s stupid, because she’s 30 years old. Her husband’s 30 years old. They don’t even think about having kids. Because of money, money, money, money, they thinking about how much money they make. And how much they can save. And what is Freedom Day in the United States? May 5th…..That means all the money you make from January first to May 4th goes to taxes. May 5th is freedom day. It used to be sometime in April. Now it’s in May.
(POSTWAR GI BEHAVIOR)
Q: Sorry to keep switching back and forth, but in those days, the late 40’s and 50’s. did the GI’s really beat up on the Japanese? Was there a lot of that bullying shit going on that you saw? Was there a lot of nastiness and meanness.
A: The American military man when he came to Japan, he was not nasty, because first of all his background was a poor boy from the farm. It was not somebody that you displaced where you have like today’s kids…How many of you kids got a car? Everybody raises their hand. How many of you kids fuck everyday? Everybody raise their hand….In those days they didn’t have that kind of shit.
So when the American military man came to Japan, he was a humble type. He was not anti-Japanese. Unless, of course, if the Japanese got out of line, the American will knock the shit out of him. You gotta remember, the Japanese weighs 120 pounds. What kind of shit can he give somebody? They didn’t have no Ginza Machii’s who was 6 foot tall. So I’d say the American was a very polite…he enjoyed being in Japan, because back home, he had nothing. Like in my house, we come from fucking home relief. Can’t pay the rent. You know. Eat spaghetti everyday if you’re lucky. So when you come to Japan, you got a salary, you got a place to sleep. You don’t go outside and become mean. I don’t think I ever had any trouble with the Japanese, all…of course, I did have trouble in Yokosuka. Other than that, I never had trouble with Japanese……no, they didn’t give me any shit. They knew their place. They knew they lost the war and they also knew that they couldn’t take an …you know like today, the Japanese is very arrogant. He thinks he knows karate and he knows judo. Ne. Shit. Every marine knows judo. You learn that in the Marine Corps. You don’t go after it like a Japanese would. Then most Americans, like me, weighed close to 200 pounds. Who’s gonna fuck around with you. 4 years in the Marine Corps, you learn to be nasty. And when you come from New York, it’s worse.
Q: But you know in Japanese movies and novels, the GI is always portrayed as raping Japanese girls and beating up on the guys,
A: Well, that ‘s to make a movie work. But you didn’t have to rape the girls. You know I haven’t found a woman yet who says “I don’t like sex.” If you approach her properly and you are polite, and you give them something, you know you can’t say “Fuck Free.” You give them a handkerchief. At least you gave them something. You show a clean intent. What you see on the screen and the Japanese, GI’s and this, that…that’s all fucking anti-American propaganda….Like that stupid “Rain Man” is that the movie?…”BLACK RAIN.” That’s the biggest joke you’ve ever seen. Michael J. Fox.
Do you know Michael J. Fox is 5’3″ or something like that.
Q: Ishihara Shintaro tells story about walking down Zushi street, 14 years-old, comes on two GI’s coming toward him, not enough room, all three refuse to get out of the way. GI’s eating ice cream cone. Wouldn’t move.
A: Ishihara wouldn’t move?
Q: Yeah. He thought why should I move, they’re ones hogging the streets.
A: And one of the GI’s put the ice cream right in his fucking face.
Q:Yeah.
A: You better believe it. Of course, now, that would happen. I used to live in Katsura, in Zushi, on the beach. I used to live there during 1946, 45.47. Of course, the Americans were nice people, but if you stood up in front of them and showed defiance, you’re gonna get hurt. I don ‘t care who the American is….I can only that is Shintaro said to them “One of these days I’m gonna write a book, The Japan That Can’t Say No, those 2 GI’s with the ice cream would have broke both his fucking hands and fingers and everything. He’ll never be able to write a book….But no GI is gonna hit a 13 year old kid. Shit….and Zushi is not that small where two people can’t walk on the same street.
Q: What was the problem you had in Yokosuka one time?
A: Well, I was walking with my wife and 6 or 7 Japanese…it was night time, and they used the word pansuke ,,,(whore). Of course, like I said, even my case, if you act against me, I’m gonna fight. So it didn’t take me but a few seconds to get rid of 7 Japanese. Shit. I went through them like a fucking hot knife through butter.
(phone call from Yae)
A: But you see in those days even in my case, one against seven, it’s not a problem.
Q: These are young guys.
A: Young punks. They think there’s safety in numbers, cuz Yokosuka is navy area. They all think that way. Picked on the wrong guy. My wife thinks I’m very mean that I did that. She says, “so what, they said that.” I said, ” bullshit.” But that’s the Japanese way too, to forgive and forget. They grab. They do all the damage they want. Then they want you to forgive and forget. Then they go out again and do it again. It’s worse than the rotating door in the American prisons.
(BS about the Kodansha contract)
A: When they are on top of you they say and do anything they want. Bastards.
Q: How did you meet Frank Nomura.
A: Oh you like that story. I like that story.
Q: You said you picked him up off the Ginza.
A: Yeah. Frank Nomura from the beginning was born in Kyushu. Japanese girl and a Korean man. They were students. Then when he was about 3 years old, the Korean man went back to Korea, so I imagine Frank was born…he’s about 60 now…means he was born in 1930. 29. 30. Anyway, the man went back to Korea, left the kid and the mother stranded, the mother got a little annoyed, I guess Frank was about 4 or 5 by that time. She brought him back to Korea and gave him to the husband. And that was the end of that. Then, of course, the Korean War came in 1950. He would be about 17 or 18. Probably like that. So he was one of the little boys…you know Americans always pick up kids. You know, you shine my shoes. Just an excuse to give them candy.Take care of them indirectly. So Frank was one of those kids. He’d already lived in Japan. Was a kid when he went there, when Korea was controlled by the Japanese, so he already had languages that he learned as a little kid. So there was his association with the military and he picked up English. So when the war ended, he wanted to come to Japan, they just got him a uniform, put him on a troop transport with them and Frank landed in Yokohama.
Q: They smuggled him into Japan?
A: But they brought him in. But that’s the American GI….so anyway, Frank came in and I met him in 1949 in the Ginza….When did the Korean War end?
Q: They smuggled him in in a troop carrier or a plane?
A: Troop carrier. He came down the gangplank. Looked like a military man. Little fucking Korean.
Q: Where. Yokohama?
A: Probably Yokohama, yeah. But that must have been 52, 53? And I was already out of the military. 52 or 53. I was just a black market operator. How do you say, scrounging for a buck? All the things that you could possibly think of. So I met Frank. I remember when I met Frank, there was a guy called Bill Keyes, probably the poor bastard is dead by now, but Bill Kayes was the first guy I seen take a hiropon shot. And the doctor at the 361st medical hospital was giving out shots for 50 yen in the back of the coffee shop. I never forget that.
361st is a medical hospital in Tokyo. Military.
So I guess Bill was making money by selling shots for 50 yen a piece. But, I’m not a needle man, so I ….but I remember that part.
Then, of course, I went in the restaurant business and I gave him a job. Then I remember the story I told you where the police came around and asked if he was a Japanese or a Korean, I said, “He’s Korean.”
The policeman said, “How do you know?”
I said, “He’s smarter than the Japanese.” They couldn’t take that shit.
Q: They came around to the restaurant?
A: Yeah.
Q: Why did they do that?
A: They did that all the time.
Q: Just a routine check.
A: Well, they were flexing their muscles. You know I opened in 1956, that was after the peace treaty….But of course Frank now is a Japanese citizen. It’s too late though because his kids had to go to school as Korean name.
Q: Yeah, he said they had a hard time at school. He mentioned that to me one time
A: You can call him Nomura. But his name is Yum. So I always call him Yum Yum.
Q: So you met Frank at this coffee shop, or he was working there, or what? In the Ginza.
A: Well, it was a place of congregation. You know, who’s selling dollars. Who’s selling this. Who’s selling that. In those days everybody had something to do. You had to make a living. And I had Sembikiya and I had a company called Lansco–an unofficial company, of course. We were selling dollars and canned goods and.,..I told you about the ballgum. That’s cute.
Q: Reminds me of “Goodfellas” You see that movie yet?
A: Well, those days. I’ll never forget this DelVecchio, he’s dead now, god bless his soul. But he sold that guy, what was his name, that ran the fucking Evergreen stores. I can’t remember his fucking name. They killed him in New Mexico or something like that. He was in a bathroom in his house. Somebody put a shotgun and just killed him. I forgot his name. But he was the boss of Evergreen. Delvecchio sold him 4,000 pounds of spaghetti. And he was in the toilet counting the money, sitting on the stool counting money. Imagine that. And that’s when they used to bring that shit. Another guy was named Emerson. He was involved in that crap too. He used to bring in sugar and lay it on the sidewalk and sell bagsful so one’s got the cash. Talk about buying a 50 pound bag of sugar.
Q: Yen or dollars?
A: MPC’s. It was free exchange. Everybody switched money back and forth.
Q: What did this coffee shop look like? What was the name of it?
A: I don’t know. It was on 6 chome, maybe.
Q: That was the type with no carpets on the flooor. Just table.
A: No, no. Just dirty, dismal place.And there was no glamor to it. In those days they didn’t have glamor. They’re lucky they were fucking alive. Metal tables. Wooden tables. Shokudo (diner) type. No, of course, you sit down, they got plush chairs. They didn’t have those days.
Q: People spit on the floor.
A: And those places were like ten tsubo each if they were lucky. Windows were dark. You couldn’t see outside anyway. They didn’t want nobody to look inside.
Everybody was dishonest in those days. Everybody had a little gimmick going. If you didn’t have a gimmick, how you gonna live? I mean I was running slot machines. Well, you had to live by your wits.You couldn’t get a job. There was no jobs. If you were in the military you had a job, but if you were not in the military, and I got riffed out of the GHQ. They don’t want fucking Italians. They don ‘t want Catholics. They don’t want ex-Marines. They don’t want enlisted men. They don’t want people who marry Japanese. I fell in all that category. I wasn’t a wasp. I wasn’t a mason. I wasn’t an officer. I wasn’t in the army.
Q: If you had it to do all over again, if you had your life to live all over again, would you change anything.
A: No, it was a great life. I enjoyed it. You didn’t worry, because it was a carefree life. You didn’t have to worry about paying taxes no more. You didn’t have to worry about big rent. You know you didn’t even need a fucking automobile. You moved around with freedom of movement. A few bucks in your pocket, you were a king. You made a lot of money, fine, you spent it. Nobody saved it. Nobody bought any land. You know that land I bought in 1947 for 300 yen a tsubo which was 80 cents. And my salary in the military was $8,000. What is 80 cents compared to $8,000 a year? I could have bought all the fucking land in the world. But, you know today the Japanese have acquired a lot of things, because they also have acquired a lot of knowledge. But in those days, nobody was offering knowledge.
Q: So in the past 30-40 years you wouldn’t do anything different?
A: Oh, I’d do a lot of things different. But I would stay here. I wouldn’t get married so many times. My biggest mistake was when I married Miss Hokkaido. But then, it was like I said, you know, I would have lost everything anyway a different way.
By the way, I just got hit with another court case.
Q: What’s this one?
A: This is that gold deal. Boy, that’s an interesting one too. That’s real interesting case. A friend of mine for 30 years. And he ain’t gonna succeed, the son of a bitch. I’m not negotiating with crime incorporated to give him a reverse that he never figures gonna happen.
(SHINTARO ISHIHARA)
Q: Wait a minute….would have stayed…you said…
A: If you look back. You shouldn’t have done this. You shouldn’t have done that, you know.
Q: But you got such strong feelings against the Japanese now.
A: Ohhh.
Q: But you spent 40 years here.
A: But you see those 45 years were not involved with what you call a Japanese.
You know, even though I met that shit Shintaro. He’s not a friend. He’s not a customer.
Q: Who’s he?
A: The guy that can’t say no. Ishihara. Because his office was in the Masonic building. He’s a Mason. I used to have an office there. He used to come up with his Cadillac and I just ignored him. Because I had the Cadillac Seville. So who cares he’s got a Rolls Royce.
Q: He had an office in the Masonic Building?
A: He’s a mason. I don’t know I mean he’d go there to meetings. You know.
Q: You met him. You knew him. You talked to him?
A: I mean you say hello to anybody that’s there. I didn’t know who he was. I just knew he was Shintaro, the brother of what’s the guy…Yujiro’s brother. And other than that who gives a shit. To us he was nobody. He’s probably still nobody. The only reason why he’s a Dietman is because of the name. Probably he’s living off his brother’s reputation.
Q: He won a big literary prize with his books and shit.
A: You know how to win a prize. You’re a writer. Just tie up with the right bookstore and they’ll propaganderit all over the fucking countryside. You write a book on merit. You don’t write books on merit.
(GOLD SCAM)
(SIDE B)
Q: OK Tell me the gold story.
A: This is a very interesting story. Now that I’m getting into it I’m beginning to see what happened. Now this is what happened. I’m sitting in my restaurant one day. October 15, ’90. Italian guy came in. Wanted to talk to me and I was sitting over here with my wife. And he says, “You want to buy merchandise.” I sez, “If it’s got something to do with the restaurant, I’m interested.” But then Italian, maybe he could sell me Italian products, I could always use. So he pulled out today, what I know is called a biscuit. A gold piece that weighs 50 grams. It’s like a little bit….
So I called up this Chinese jeweler…Now when I look back on it, boy, I must have gotten snockered in this deal. So it went on and on. He wanted 9 dollars. Pay 11. I asked the Chinese you want to pay 11 and a half dollars for one gram of gold. The price at that time was about 12.25. Maybe a little more. Course that’s easy to see in the newspaper. So anyway, it went back and forth. And the Chinese said he’d buy it on October 22nd….
Q: What was the negotiated price was ten dollars. I brought it down from eleven and a half to ten dollars. But my commission remained the same. 2 dollars. 8 went to the seller and 2 went to me. Anway so on October 22nd at 9 o’clock in the morning, two Italians showed up at my restaurant downstairs. But the restaurant didn’t open until 12 o’clock. So I called a friend of mine and asked him if we could use his place to make the transfer. And of course, he says yes. You know, you pick the right people, they always say yes. So we took the gold, which came in a safe, about a square foot, one foot square, one-by-one-by one by one, you know. And, of course, it was fucking solid steel. So the case must have weighed 40 pounds. And the gold inside it was another 20 kilos. So it takes 2 people to carry that shit. Anyway, so the guy showed up at about 9:30, we got a cab, loaded the stuff in a cab…the 2 brothers carried it…I can’t carry..And then we went to this guy’s apartment which is called the “Pinnocchio Apartments.” Some place in Azabu. So we went up there, of course, he lives on the top floor. And it was a 3 floor walkup.
Which in my case is very difficult to walk up 3 floors of stairs. Anyway, I got there. and the guys…there was only four of us now…there were two Italians, they looked like brothers…they’re about hyaku roku ju go cenchi (165 centimeters)…and they weighed about rokujugo kilo (65 kilos). .So they opened the safe and in it was 5 bags, 4 kilos each bag, or vice-versa, 4 bags of 5 kilos. 20 kilos. So they open up one bag and count out ten pieces. So they counted out ten, ten, ten, ten, ten, and finally they got down to 400 pieces. 50 grams each. And they’re all encased in plastic. So he says, “Take as many as you want as a sample.” Cuz I told them I’m not the buyer. Just somebody else is a buyer. I got to bring a sample. So I put my hand in the safe, and I ran the gold teals all over like that, like jellybeans, and I took five. I took five. Of course, I must have shown them. Cuz I’m not a thief. And put them in my pocket. The guy locked the safe. He left with the key. He sez, he gotta go to his office. It was all bullshit. But anyway, it doesn’t matter. But there were two people there. This guy Buzz Trudeau. And a guy who called himself Robert Rossi. The guy who called himself Franco left….4 altogether.Franco Rossi. Roberto Rossi. Nicola and Buzz Trudeau.
Q: Is that that Dennis Trudeau? The guy who comes in here all the time?
A: Yes. Buzz. He’s gone, you know.
Q: Oh, really, what happened?
A: Well, here you see, now we’re talking about questionable things that must have happened… Anyway. So Franco left with the key. I left with the 5 samples. And it remained two in the apartment. The apartment owner and the other Italian. I took a cab and I went to Okachimachi. I should have taken the fucking subway, I would have been faster. Then I went to Okachimachi. I went to this Chinese. His name is Asakura. We call him Crazy Wang. Because he’s crazy. But he’s a little shit, he weighs about 100 pounds soaking wet, is about 65 years old. And he’s not exactly a Chinese jeweler. He looks like a Jewish jeweler. You know, sneaky eyes.
Q: He looks like a Chinese Jew?
A: I mean, what do you call them, rat eyes? You know that type. Anyway, so, I brought him the 5 pieces.
Q: Wait a sec. What’d you say you called him? Crazy Wong?
A: Crazy Wang. He’s known as that.
Q: Why?
A: He’s crazy. We call him Crazy Wang.
Q: There must be a reason.
A: Well, he’s the type who would drink beer and pour whiskey in it. And you know all that kind of shit. You know, the wierdos. Anway, we called him Crazy Wang. And he tries to play bowling and he tries to beat you and he can’t beat you. If he had a stick he couldn’t beat you.
Q: Okachimachi, you said is a den of smugglers.
A: He’s got a store full of jewlery. Over 90% of it is smuggled jewelry. And a lot of the watches there cost 2 or 3 hundred thousand dollars. You know, not cheap shit. So anyway, I went and brought him the 5 pieces. And he went next door. And he came back right away. He said he coulda went downstairs and take a piss and then come back. So he said the gold is good. I sez ok. You need two hundred thousand dollars to buy it…..So he picks up the phone and he’s calling all his bank connections. And everyone has turned him down. They ain’t got 200,000 dollars in green. And you know you got to make an application. Make a reservation. It might take him two days to do it. So anyway, he must have called somebody, and somebody says “Just go to the Bank of Japan and buy it. It’s not illegal.” So ok, he says “Let’s go.” So we went to the Bank of Japan in Nihonbashi to buy dollars. So we went there and the guy used a phony name. Tom Uehara. And he bought 200,000 worth of American dollars. In dollar bills. And they were all in order. Can you believe that? They were fucking serialized. Anyway.
Q: Who’s Tom Uehara?
A: A phony name.
Q: The name that Crazy Wong used?
A: Yeah. Tom Uehara is a friend of ours from Hawaii. He’s an IRS man to make matters more funny. So anyway, he decides he gonna buy the dollars we using in Tom Uehara’s name. And I don’t know why he did that. He could have used his own name. Don’t mean shit. But anyway. So now he’s got 200,000 dollars. We get in the cab. And it was one of those cabs where they have a telephone. Did you ever ride in a cab with a telephone? So, of course, we get in the cab and say we’re coming. Everything is ok. We get there. And now the two Italians are there. Buzz Trudeau is there. And Crazy Wang and I walk in. And, of course, one Italian movie star. He says “What’s going on here?” He’s acting like he’s afraid he’s gonna get robbed or knifed or shot or killed, you know. A great movie fucking star….
So anyway, Wang has got this bag with money in it. And the guy wants to look in the bag because he thinks he’s got a gun or a knife or some shit like that, you know. And Wang is yelling at then top of his lungs “I’m a gentleman. I’m a businessman. I’m not a thief. I have money. I want to buy the gold.” See. And finally the guy got convinced that it was a legitimate deal. So he says like “let me see the money.” And Wang showed the money. Of course, it’s bundled in 100,000 dollar bundles. Or 10 10,000 dollar bundles. So anyway the guy says ok. And they sat down…So I sat down. Buzz sat down. And this Roberto Rossi sat down. 3 of us sat down. And Crazy Wong and Franco Rossi started negotiating. But the price has already been set. So now all you got to do is convince them that the gold is there.
So this guy Franco opened the safe. By the way, it has a butterfly lock. …Anyway so, of course, Buzz and I, we don’t care. We’re gonna make $40,000 commission. So we sat there and this guy Franco takes out ten coins. Remember, I put my hand in and redistribute all the coins, like jelly beans. So he takes out ten. He counts ten. And he gives ten to Wang. Crazy Wang looks at the ten. Looks at him. Stacks them on the table. And he’s got a pad and a pencil. And he writes, “ten.” Then the guy took out ten more. Gave ’em to Wang. Wang looked at them. And put them on the table. He writes ten more. And this went on until they reached 395 coins. I had the other five….400 coins involved.
OK. Now that’s 400 coins there. He checked each one. Mind you. I don’t know whether he’s got…or how he could tell…a phony from a real. But to me, they were all real. Cuz there’s no way I could pick out five good coins out of 400 without looking. Just go like that and take five. Impossible. Of course, the guy could have made a switch. Buzz and I said, “There was no way he could make a switch.” I was sitting too far away from him, to make a switch. Anyway, now, Wang-san gave him $160,000. U.S. In hundred-dollar bills. Franco. All 100-dollar bills. Anyway, so Roberto he’s got a little brown suitcase….He’s got a business suitcase. You know what they look like. Businessman. Attache case. He puts the $160,000 in the suitcase. In the case. And Franco says, “we got the money. The gold is yours.” They shook hands. And the deal is supposed to be over. Franco says “I can’t give you the key until you give me the money.” And the guy says “yeah, of course.” He says, “I can’t take the money here. Because you could have somebody outside. And catch me on the staircase. Split my head open and take the money.” He’s got a good argument. You know, this is Azabu ju-ban some place. Or Nishi Azabu. You know. You can do anything over there. That neighborhood is strictly housing. Anyway, so, I figure, he sez, “well, he’s got a good argument.”
So he says, “Bring the money. My brother brings the money to my office. To our office. And I get the money, I give you the key.” So Wang-san says, he can’t go there. He’s got another deal working. He’s selling a watch for 350,000 yen. I sez ok, so he sez “Nick why don’t you go?” Well, I’m not physically fit. In case of an argument, I can’t do nothing. All you gotta do is put one finger on me and knock me down. My legs are no good. I can’t stand up. But anyway, I sez ok, I went with them. I got in a cab. And he tells the cab, “Royal Park Hotel” Nihonbashi. And I’m trying to figure, I know that’s next to Hakozaki (airport terminal). So I says maybe they got an office there that’s next to the Hakozaki bus station. It’s feasible. OK. So anyway, we went there. Me and Roberto Rossi went there. We went in the coffee shop. And I wasn’t thinking of this, honestly. Because I put my hand in the box. And to me the gold was there. And they got the money. But I’m there. The gold is in the other place with Buzz, Buzz and got the gold and Wang-san has got the gold. They’re together. One Italian with me. And one is split. So anyway, so Franco-Rossi shows up. And he says, “Let me see the money.” See. I sez sure. “We’re sitting at the table. I sez, “Open the bag.” He sez, “I got to go to the other place and open the bag. ” I said, “I don’t give a fuck where you go.”
So he opens the bag someplace. And he comes back. And he says, “Ok, here’s the key.” Now I got the key. It’s about 4 o’clock in the afternoon. And I got outside. And of course I’m in no rush. So I take the subway. And I go to Okachimachi which is about one or two subways away from Nihonbashi. Hibya-sen, I think. Anyway, I got to Okachimachi and Wang-san is there. And underneath the desk is a big Boston bag with a safe in it.
Q: How’d that get there?
A: Wang san had brought it from Buzz’s apartment. He brought it. So he had possession of the gold from about I’d say maybe 2 o’clock. So now it’s about 5 o’clock. The bag is underneath and the safe is in the bag. And I give him the key. And he’s very happy. And I say, “Give me my $40,000 commission.” So he gives me $40,000. And he’s thinking. And he’s really thinking. He’s got a chance to make only a lousy $100,000 or $80,000 on the deal. Can you imagine that? He could have sold it for 12 bucks, he paid 10. He coulda made two dollars. 2 dollars times 20,000 is a lot of fucking money. But anyway. You gotta make 40,000 bucks. So 12. Anyway. So I sez “Give me my $40,000.” He gave me my $40,000. And then he sez, “Gee Nick-san. I don’t know what the price is.” And, oooh. The fucking Chinese Jew came out…..and he says, “Give me $5,000 back.” No mind you, I’m making 40, he wants 5,000 back. I got Buzz to pay off. And I looked at him and I thought, “What a cheap fucking son of a bitch.” Talking about $200,000. And he’s worried about $5,000. So I took 5 and I gave it to him back. I sez, here. Who gives a fuck. What’s 5 thousand, right? It’s not my business. I’m in the restaurant business. I’d do it free, who cares. You know.
So anyway, I left. Came back to the restaurant. I met Buzz. And I said Buzz, I’ll give you 2,000. If everything is ok, I’ll give you more later. And while we’re sitting here, a phone call comes and the guy says, “I can’t open the safe.” Wang calls and says he can’t open the safe. It’s 7 o’clock at night. 6 o’clock. 7 o’clock. I said, “Go fuck yourself. Call a locksmith. They can open it. You got a safe in your office. You call anybody that ‘s got anything to do with safes. They can open any safe.”
Anyway, so, we let that go. So the next day, I went don’t there, cuz he said he couldn’t open the safe. I said “Shit, I’ll call the locksmith.” I went down there by myself. And I go in there and he gives me the key and I can’t open the safe either. So I sez “Ok. Call a locksmith.” Anyway, sayonara. That’s Tuesday. 23rd. So that afternoon. Eventually I get to my restaurant. 4, 5, 6 o’clock. And now the phone call comes. He says 5 pieces were good and 395 were counterfeit. And I’m saying “How in the hell can that be?” I looked at all of them and I picked 5. You think I could pick 5 good ones out of 400? What are the odds of somebody doing that? It’s astronomically impossible..
And I said, “Jesus Christ, what kind of a deal is this?” I said, “OK,” so I called Buzz.
And the next day we go there. Wednesday. We go down there. I told Buzz, look I don’t wanna argue with the Chinese. He said it’s no good. So give him back the fucking money and tell him to go to hell. Fuck it. We don’t want to bother with this kind of shit. So we went down there. And he says “Oh, it’s all “inchiki-mono” (cheat thing) and all that shit. So I sez Buzz, ” Give me the two thousand”….He says, “I spent 1400 already.” So he had 600 bucks left out of 2,000. Mind you, overnight the guy spends 1400 bucks\. It’s not even his….Well, actually, the deal was finished.
But anyway. So I gave him 33 that I had. Cuz I had 35. I gave Buzz 2. So I gave him 33,000. So he got 33,600 bucks back. Now Buzz, reads and writes and speaks Japanese. And this is the hard part.
The guy says “Sign a receipt that says you gave me back 33.6.” And I thought, Gee, that’s kinda odd. Why should I sign a receipt. You know, what is this? When you give me money, I could sign a receipt. When I give you money, why do I give you a receipt? And, of course, that’s Crazy Wang. So I wrote it off as Crazy Wang. But he’s crazy like a fox, yo. Oh, this guy came up with a boomerang.
So I sez OK, here’s your money back. Now we go to the police station. He sez no. I sez, no, no, no, we gotta go to the police. If there’s phony material there, I’m out 40,000 bucks. We gonna go to the police. He didn’t wanna go. So finally Buzz and I, sez, you gotta go. If youn don’t go, we go by ourselves. Well, now, he’s a smuggler. He don’t want an investigation. Who would want an investigation, right?
So, ok, we go to the Okachimachi police station. It’s about 7 o’clock at night. And we’re talking to a man that could have been a detective. Probably a detective. And he’s asking questions. And Wang, he’s evading the questions. Not answering straight. And, you know, me and Buzz, we understand. Buzz knows more Japanese than I do. I know that there’s something wrong. You know I could sense it. The policeman sensed it. Of course, Okachimachi. Everybody’s a black market operator over there.. I guess he just senses, oh, these people are crazy, they do this all day long down in that fucking area.
So, anyway, he says, “Look. I gotta go play fucking golf tomorrow. So why don’t you people come back to the police station on Friday.”
I sez, “What the hell can I do? I can’t complain.”
So anyway, Friday comes. And this Wang calls Buzz up. And sez Buzz come and meet me/ So Buzz gets to meet him about 2 o’clock in the afternoon. 2:30. & they just had a general conversation and Wang-san is going to go bowling. He says to Buzz, let’s go to the bowling center. See. And of course I know he’s meeting him secretly or privately or whatever without me. So I called up my friend at the JCIA..Mogami. And I called up and would you believe it, nobody answered the fucking phone. JCIA which would shock me. How the fuck? That’s got to be a 24 hour service. Or may 48 hours, which ever way you want to count it. So I sez gee that’s funny. I can’t call nobody else. Can’t sit on the corner and broadcast these kind of things. So I let Friday go. Friday night Buzz showed up. And he sez you know I went to the bowling center and we met Wada, and I sez yeah I know Wada–Wada is Wang’s good friend, because they bowl together–and Wada is a scrounger. I didn’t want to call him that but anybody who’s got something free, Wada is your buddy. If you ain’t got nothing free to give him, Wada is not your buddy. And you can write that you know in the book. Ok, so he met Wada. Cuz they went to the Tamachi bowling center, where Wada works. They went in the Chinese restaurant and the first thing Wada said to him, in Japanese, “Did you get your money from Nicolas?” See. Now Buzz is in on the deal, but that guy don’t know that Buzz is in on the deal. See. And Buzz says “Gee Whiskers. Why would he make such a statement?” In Japanese, see. Then of course the subject changes. No answer. Everything was changed. Nobody’s gonna talk about anything. Wang isn’t gonna talk about it because Wang knows that Buzz can speak Japanese. Wada didn’t know nothing. So he came back and he said, “I don’t know what the hell he said, I can’t figure it out yet.” And we weren’t nasty to him..we were nothing, see.
So anyway, Saturday comes. Nothing. And Sunday, I call up this Mogami at his private home because he goes fishing on Sundays. And I figured Ok, I’ll call him up. And I said Mogami, I ran into a little thing that’s very hard to understand, but I think the two Italians, I don’t know if their swindlers, their not swindlers, I don’t know. So please introduce me to Interpol. And he says, give me an idea of what’s going on. And I sez there was a gold transfer, dollars transfer, and we went to the Okachi police station. & he sez did you lose any money and I said I didn’t lose any money. I shoulda said yes I lost 40,000 dollars. I lost my commission. But I sez no, I didn’t lose any money. He sez OK, I call you back. On Monday, he calls me back and he sez Interpol is not interested. #1, they don’t want to bother with swindlers. #2. I’m not the victim.#3 The Chinese who was supposed to be the victim already went to the Okachimachi police station. So there’s nothing they can do. The request has to come from the police station. So I sez, OK, let it go.
About 3 or 4 days later, Wang-san calls my wife up and says “I want 20 million yen from Mr. Nicolas, your husband. If you don’t give me the 20 million yen, I’m gonna sell the story to the magazines. And I’m gonna try to get him arrested. And I’m gonna try to ruin your restaurant business.” This is my friend for 30 years. So my wife is very polite. She says “If you gonna put my husband in jail, please, be my guest.” And she says, anyway, “Whatever you fucking people are doing, it’s not of my business. So don’t call me. And don’t bother me. I have nothing to do with this. I’m not interested.”
Okay, so she told him. The next day Wang shows up at my restaurant here with a well-dressed, heavily gold-bracelets and watches, and rings, a Chinese. He called him an interpreter. I looked at him. Buzz was with me. And I thought this guy’s an interpreter my ass.
Q: What did he look like again?
A: He was a well dressed Chinese, with heavy gold watch, heavy gold chain, heavy gold rings, you know, he’s walking around with a million dollars worth of gold on his fucking wrists and arms. And he called him an interpreter. And I said, shit, interpreters don’t make that kind of money. So he’s gotta be a fucking Chinese lawyer. Anyway, he says to me, “You have to give me 20 million yen.” I said, “Wang-san, you’re crazy. I ain’t gonna give you nothing.”
He said, “If you won’t do it, I’m gonna take action. I’m gonna make trouble.”
I said, “Do what you wanna do.”
That was October 26th, 27th. Like that. So of course, Buzz and I thought he was crazy. Which everybody calls him Crazy Wang anyway. So we forgot about it.
And I’ll be a son of a bitch, his friends come in here, two of his friends come in here all the time, they said, “Wang pulls this deal all the time.”
I says, “He pulls this deal all the time? What kind of deal?”
They says, “Oh, he’s go all crazy deals going. You know.” He says, “Nick-san, you got to be very careful of Wang. He’s tricky, you know.”
I said, “How the hell can I get hurt. The gold was there, you know.”
Sure enough, on April 8th, which was Monday, I went home and I found a court order summonsing me to court. What do you call it, a court summons? That I got to go to court on April 10th. This is Wednesday. I get thing thing Monday night. You know, the maid got it. And I said “Shit, what do I do now?” And I’m trying to read Japanese, but, I could read enough of it to know that it was the Wang-san story. Because I could read $200,000. And I sez, ok, so.That night I called up my lawyer. The company lawyer who don’t like me. He’s trying to sue me for…
Q: Tanaka?
A: No, this is Ide san. He wants 4 million yen from me. Him and Hasegawa. They want 4 million yen each. So here I am. You talk about being between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. Jesus Christ. I gotta call this guy up and he’s trying to get 4 million from me. And he’s trying to get 4 million for his buddy. And here I am stuck in a 20 million yen deal. If I use them, they can blackmail me. They can say, we don’t help you unless you do this. You know. So anyway, so, my wife talks to them, because they are afraid of my wife. She’s a Japanese see. They don’t give a shit about a gaijin. Anyway, he says, I’m gonna go play golf tomorrow. I’m not gonna be in my office tomorrow. This lawyer Ide. So I should insert some more…
When this thing happened in the end of October. I went to Ide’s office. And I sez Ide this is what happened. Did I commit a crime? He sez no. You’re a broker. You’re not involved in the thing. You just was a broker. So you didn’t commit any crime. That’s of course if I commit a crime,I gotta worry about it. So anyway, so. He sez Shimpai Nai. (No worry). OK. So Shimpai nai. That’s before he sent me a notice for, “Please pay 8 million yen.” That was October. The notice came in December. So anyway, so, I called them up, my wife spoke to them, she read a little bit of what’s on the …what was in the paperwork. That kind of Japanese is hard to read. So anyway, he says, bring a copy to my office the next day. So the next day I went down to his office and brought him a copy. And I brought a little note in English to please postpone the court, from April 10th, which would be the next day, to 30, 60 or 90 days which would give me time to get this thing properly done. Anyway, so he went to court and he calls up that night, and you know what he says? “The judge has already made his decision.”
Mind you, I haven’t even been in court yet.
Q: Ide went to court.
A: And the judge already told him, “I made my mind up. And I will give a decision on April 21st” , which is a few days from now. And, you know, I never heard of such a silly thing. I don’t get a chance to represent myself. And it seems to me that this guy wrote this complaint in February and it looked like I’m dodging it. Cuz I’m not home, I’m in Hawaii. How the fuck can I dodge it if I’m in Hawaii. You know. So anyway, so. I….I couldn’t get no interpreters. Cuz my man in the CIA, he’s got this Grobachek shit. They got 22,000 policeman in the streets and he’s one of them. Anyway, so, finally Ide-san calls up and he says, he went there and he spoke to the thing, the court, a little bit, but they don’t listen to you in court. And then he left, he came the next day and I had to give him power of attorney. You know Japanese. And they sez, “What about the 4 million you owe me?”
I said, “Comeon, all you’re entitled is 1% and you’re talking…” I sez, “You did a very bad thing. You made it look like you and Tanaka and Hasegawa were against me. And I lost 15 million yen. That was your money I lost.” So you know, aaaahhhh, he says. Anyway, let’s worry about that later. Maybe I’ll give you one.”
I sez, “You’re only entitled to one because I already gave you 4 million.You’re only entitled to 1%, it’s 5 million. Where do you get this fucking…” He sez, “Well, how about 2.” Now, I’m looking at him. His name is Idestein. And I’m looking at him and I’m thinking, how much money do I got in the bank. I ain’t got that fucking much money in the bank. I gotta be careful. Cuz you know I’m going down to zero here“
By the way, my business got awfully good lately. Anway.
He said ok. And I brought him power of attorney. We don’t discuss nothing, but I think he’s asked my wife for a million eight to defend me. That’s a lot of fucking money. A million eight. Used to be 600,000 yen. Now it’s a million eight. But I sez to my wife. I don’t wanna hear no numbers. Because it’s cheaper for me to go represent myself. All I got to do is hire an interpreter. I’d probably do a better job than the fucking lawyer. But anyway, so. So that’s to be decided.
So now, yesterday, or the day before, he calls up–to my wife, of course. He won’t talk to me. It’s been postponed to May 22nd. 1991. So I said ok.
So I don’t know if you want to write the next thing… So I’m sitting in my restaurant here and I told you Crime Incorporated comes here. I don’t think you should write this, it’s too dangerous. So he was here Friday night. I was here without my wife. She went to play golf. I guess it was Monday night, she went to play golf, so I was here by myself. And this guy comes in. Sumiyoshi….So I got the Indian (new flr. Mgr. From India) who speaks better Japanese than I do. And I sez “Get him on the side. I want to know if he can do something for me. I want him to be a hammer.” And I come out with a good twist, by the way. So the guy comes over and I sez “Do you have a collection organization.” Of course, they got a collection organization. You know what criminals are, right? They’ll shake down anybody, see. I said “I got a man that’s beating me out of 5 million two, which is $40,000. And I want you to collect it for me.” He sez, “You got any documents?” And I sez, “No I don’t got any documents, but we’ll make a document. I write it up.”
I told him this was about a gold deal, that there was a little bullshit in it. And I sez “I want you to take 5 million two that’s owed me. Add 100% to it for collection money. Add a high interest from October. And I want you to hit the guy with this fucking bill. And he sez, “OK. He can do it.” So he sez, “You got any documents? I say, “Not yet.” So that’s Friday, or Monday. We left it at that. Today is Wednesday.
Sure enough, Ide-san sends me…what happened at that place was, the Chinese asked for a recipt. And I signed it. You know what Japanese receipts look like.
And Buzz Trudeau signed it. And it was $38,600. OK. And then, underneath it, he wrote in Japanese that this is a down payment for 20 kilos of gold that he paid $200,000 for. And I owe him $160,000. How about that? And Buzz signed it. So I called up Buzz. He’s in New York. I sez, “What the hell really went on?” He sez, no, “We signed it before he filled it in.” I said, “Why didn’t you read it? You can read Japanese? Why did you let him give you a copy. You got the copy I sez. Why don ‘t you read it and say, wait a minute, this is not true. Take the original. We’re bigger than him. Even in my bad physical condition, I can break him in half. So he sez, well, “blah, blah,,blah,” I said “Ok.” So, the lawyer sent me the paper. A copy of it. Now I got a copy of the receipt.
So now I’m gonna get the Sumiyoshi boss and give him a copy and I’m gonna go after the Chinese. I told the guy, “I really wanna kill him, but I can’t do it.” I said, “He lives in Zushi. He goes home everynight by train. And he carries a little suitcase with him full of money and gold and you name it.” And I said, “He’s got a store in Okachimachi where I would like to see the window broken and the watches spooled all over the place. Cuz he’s gotta have maybe 2 oku yen worth of watches in the window. Maybe more. So that’s where it sits now. So I think I come up with a brilliant idea. Get crime incorporated to collect my money. So that’s where that sits.
Q: I don’t understand. Why is it 5 million.
A: $40,000 times 135 yen to the dollar. (note: 135 yen is present rate. Yen-dollar rate fluctuates wildly at the time)
Q: You just want your commission back.
A: I want him to pay me the commission.I don’t want the commission. I’ll give it to the gangsters.
Q: You want him to pay the commission that you returned once.
A: I want the return of my $40,000 commission. Because the gold was there. I had nothing to do with the switching of gold or I think the Chinese switched the gold himself. He’s gonna have to prove why it took him 2 days to open the safe. If you bought a safe full of gold for 20 million yen, you gonna take two days to open it? Why should you? You got your own big safe in the office. Why don’t you just move the gold from one safe to another. And in Okachimachi, you can buy anything you want. You can buy imitation gold all day long. It’s the center. So he probably pulled a fucking deal…(garbled)…
So now I called a guy named Sadamoto whose company called Tokyo Survey, you can write that. He’s a private detective and I says to him I want you to find two Italians who left Narita on October 22nd. They’re about 35 years old. You know the description I gave, about 65 kilos. Maybe 70 kilos each. Tokyo survey. He’s a frustrated person who didn’t pass the bar examination. You got a lot of them, you know. Anyway, he speaks perfect English. Perfect, perfect, English.
Q: So you think that they were on a deal with Wang. The Italians.
A: It could be that Wong sent him over to me. To con me out of 20 million yen for the gold. #1. But that didn’t work because I refused to buy. Although I did write a 22 million yen check. And my wife jumped all over my bookeeper for writing a check.
Q: Why’d you write the check?
A: I was gonna buy the gold. Hey. 8 dollars a kilo. Sell it for 12.
Q: Did you give the check to anybody?
A: I had the check in my possession. But my wife forced me to return it. So when she forced me to return it, I had to find a buyer. So then I called the Chinese. But my plan was to buy the gold and sell it. Now they claim…and I don’t know how true it is…They claim they had 50 kilos. And they couldn’t sell 50 kilos at one time. And if they went to different stores, they can only sell a few kilos if they’re lucky. And then the store’s woman give them yen. Then they had to change the yen to dollars and they claim they can’t do it. It is sometimes hard to do, right. So I bit their story. I said, “Yeah, it’s possible.”
So, it appears that Wong-san sent them to me. And the whole deal was between them. But the thing is, “How do they make money?” I haven ‘t lost any money yet. What guy…I don’t know…I can’t figure out the depth of it…It could be that there’s something between these people.
Q: They split the 20 million yen?
A: But they didn’t get it yet.
Q: When they get it, that’s the idea?
A: Who’s gonna trust who?
Q: Maybe he paid them in advance? That’s not very likely, but…they wouldn’t fly over here just for ten million yen. Let ’em come over.
A: Probably the gold was real. That’s another angle. If the gold was real.
Q: It was a legitimate deal
A: …and Wong took the gold and changed it. And no he’s going to come over to me and give me this giri (obligation) shit. And try to collect 20 million more from me. So now, his complaint in court. I should give you a copy of it; it’s in Japanese. But anyway, the complaint in court is that I am the seller. And he was the buyer. And the merchandise is counterfeit merchandise, therefore…I already returned $40,000 and he wants me to return the other $160,000. And you know in court if you read it, hey, this is a contract that was broken. And the man already admits his guilt. He already paid $40,000. Now he owes $160,000. So, of course, he paid $160,000. But there’s another twist now. My lawyer says, “he can’t force you. They can’t do nothing. You have no assets.” I sez, “No assets.” I got a company, but my company ain’t worth shit.
So here I’m sitting saying “Who’s kidding who?” Maybe one of these days they’ll come around and say you owe $160,000. You don ‘t pay we’ll put you in jail? I don’t know what the hell is going to happen. But my only defense is that he switched the gold. And his problem is that he’s been arrested for this kind of shit before. He’s a Chinese. Which I wonder who’s (garbled), me or him in court? And he is dealing in smuggled goods. And I got a reputation as a restaurant man. If you look too deep you’ll find out I’m a bad boy. But, you know. So. That’s the latest one.
Q: It’s amazing that he can go to court on a smuggled gold deal?
A: Well, he doesn’t say that. He says it was counterfeit. That I sold it to him and when he checked it it’s counterfeit. And he complained and I gave him back 20% of the thing, see. So, in the judge’s eyes, it looks like I am guilty, I received the money and now I got to pay him back. So it’s an open and shut case, so that’s why the judge was ready to make a decision on April 21st. So here I am, I can get away with the twenty, but the other guy’s got 8 million over my head. I tell you boy, it’s….
But then I can say the same thing to my laywer. My lawyer says “They can’t get you if you got no money.” And I told my lawyer the same thing, “You can’t get me for no money, either. What’s the difference between the Chinese claiming and you claiming?”
(BOOK REFERENCE)
So you see this is going to be a never-ending book. By the time you get it down there, something else will happen.
Q: This really reminds me of the movie “Goodfellas”, your life. One crazy thing after another.
A: Hey, if you can come up to the standard of “Goodfellas,” hey, that won an Academy Award, didn’t it.
Q: Aw, this is terrific. It’s like a soap opera.
(GOLD SCAM)
A: You know it’s a son of a bitch. I can’t walk good now. It’s the stress, it’s terrible. It’s easy for me to joke and kid about it, but let me tell you I lay in bed at night and say, “What the fuck is going on here? How did I get involved in such a deal.” The guy checked each piece. He claims it’s phony. And he won’t bring no material to the police station to prove it, which is gonna hurt him in court. But then he’s say, I don’t have to go to the police. He’s the seller. And I say, Why must I force you to go to the police.” I’m not the seller, so now…
.I wish this Sumiyoshi-man can collect the fucking money. Even give’em a bad time. So I told the Sumiyoshi-man, “I want you to knock him off for about 15 million yen. And I’m not interested in getting any money. 5 million two. Forgettaboutit. You keep it. Whatever you can.” I said, “But don’t sell me down the river. Squeeze him hard. Squeeze him hard as you can.” Cuz I have that attti….See, if I was in good shape, I could meet him in fucking Zushi. You know how dark Zushi is. You live in Kamakura. So when he gets off the train at night at 11 o’clock, I could be waiting for him. Bust his fucking head and take his suitcase.
Q: What area of Okachimachi is he is? By the station?
A: Underneath the station. They got jewelry stores. All kinds of fucking stores.
Q: That goes back to the old postwar days.
A: And you know you get a location, god only knows how much you need per tsubo. Hoshokin (Deposit). It must be very high. Cuz, I think Ichi Oku Yen, you’re not gonna buy a tsubo.
Q: He’s selling two or three hundred thousand dollar watches.
A: Oh, he’s got watches. Woman’s watches, the watch is in the center. You know it’s got like a flotation area, liquid. And he’s got rubies and stones in there that float. You go like that and the stones go around…..He’s got these solid gold watches. You look at them. You say what time is it? You can’t see then fucking handles. All gold. 100%. And he’s talking about a 5 oku yen watch. He sells to Misora Hibari (singing idol), Kitajima, (singer). That’s his clientele. And, of course, he gives them like 50% 75% discount. But he shows them the book. The watch in the book and it shows a fucking fantastic price. Two million dollars for a fucking watch. He says “I’ll sell it to you for $200,000.” So they go oh, oh…..etc…..so, that’s Crazy Wong.
He says “I’m not guilty of anything. I bought the watch. I got it on consignment. I didn’t bring it into Japan. I don’t know if it’s a new watch or an old watch.” I said, “Wong-san, they’re all smuggled.” He sez, “But, I’m not the smuggler.” He’s the receiver of smuggled goods.
(BOOK REFERENCE)
Q: How come you don’t want this Crime Inc. stuff written?
A: No, no you can write the stuff. I can’t write about Sumiyoshi. Yet. Later on. If it works. I got plenty of time. Then I say I had to call friends of mine, I can’t mention Sumiyoshi name, of course not. Of course, we’ll do something else. But, we tell what they did. How we got revenge. How we got back at it. Cuz you got to know the end of the story. But it’s just unfolding.
If you really want, we can get you a copy of the court papers that come out….Then you got the first complaint, then you read my lawyer’s rebuffal, then
You can read what happens after that. And then the testimony. And then you got a piece of what happens in Japan….
This is May 22 is the next hearing.
Q: May 22. That’s my wedding anniversay.
A: That right. Well, you won’t forget. What is it? 10 years? 12 years? 8 years?
Q: Well, we got married in 1983, but we lived together for 10 years before that.
A: 73. Well, that counts. That doesn’t count when it comes time to give her a 25 year present…..
(END TAPE)
Tokyo Junkie 