The Fear of 13 Page #3

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I ended up on a pair

of railroad tracks

where I walked on broken feet

for five miles.

Until I got to Frazer Pennsylvania

where I stole a car.

It was a 1965 green Mustang.

I found a quarter.

I went over to the coin box

and I called a family member.

I drove over to the house

and they gave me $100,

a handful of bandages and gauze

and then a Philadelphia

green Eagles ski cap.

Like that wasn't going to give

away my city location!

I drove to New York City

and I got a hotel room

in the Bowery in a flophouse

on the lower East Side.

Seven dollars a night.

I paid for a whole week in advance

and then I went to a little bodega

and I got a box of Epsom salt

and went up to my room.

Oh, my God.

Like, I literally had

institutional sock

all threaded into the torn

tissue of my feet.

And I just soaked in it

and I started pulling it out

and it was like...

I would just cry, man.

The first three days...

That's why I didn't even venture

out. I literally couldn't walk.

CAR HORNS:

After four days,

I went out one evening.

It was excruciating

to finally go out.

And Macy's had this long display

window of all the electronic

products and there were all these

televisions and on them

were all these different channels

and on some of them was the news

and there was the video footage

of me obviously being hunted.

And in that one moment I was

hit by the reality, I'm not free.

Not by a damn shot.

I am just like...

I'm temporarily out on a leash

and if they catch me

I'm going to catch a bullet.

Like, it was so terrifying

in that moment.

In 1985 you didn't need to even show

photo identification

to get on an aeroplane.

You didn't have to show

who you were or anything.

So I went to this

upscale restaurant.

And I just waited and waited.

I waited by the men's room.

Waiting, waiting.

As soon as I saw a guy go in the

bathroom without a jacket on,

I walked over to his table

and I stole his jacket

and he had his wallet in his jacket.

Then I went to the cloakroom

and grabbed a fur coat.

And I left.

So I simply just used

the credit card,

bought last-minute tickets

to Orlando

and when I got to Orlando

I told the taxi driver

to take me to the pawn shop area.

When I went into the shop

the guy behind the counter,

the owner, was obviously a criminal.

So I told him,

"I don't have any identification

but I want to sell you this coat. "

So I negotiated with him to give me

a gun and $100 for the coat,

which was worth $5,000.

A very nice fur coat.

And so after he gave me the gun,

he refused to give me bullets,

he asked me if I was willing

to rob this guy that he knew,

Anthony Manilla, who had a

collection of gold coins

that were worth $350 each.

He said there was at least 100

of these coins in this guy's house.

I met Anthony Manilla just

outside of his house.

I was driving by on a bicycle

I had bought at a flea market.

So when I rode by I pretended that

I recognised him from prison.

Anthony knew he didn't know me

but he pretended he also recognised

me in that fake way some people do.

He asked me what I was up to.

I told him I had these pills

for sale

but I couldn't find anybody

to buy them.

So he told me he could get me

$7 each for them if I waited.

Now, I knew and he knew that

each pill was worth $30 each.

The cops in the area know

he doesn't have a valid licence.

So he actually gave me the wheel.

We drive towards where I tell him

I have the drugs stashed.

I pulled the gun

and I said, "OK, freeze, I got you. "

And he was like, "OK, take it easy. "

I pulled over

and demanded that he give me

the nod of money he had been

bragging with.

He gave me that.

He had a Rolex watch and he had

diamond jewellery all over him.

I said, "Now I've got to tie you up

"because I've got to go back

into your house and get that money. "

He flat out refused.

I said, "What do you mean, no?"

This is like a 140 pound person.

I grabbed him

and I said, "Please hold still. "

I tied his hands up, put him in the

trunk, I slammed the trunk deck down

and I don't know that the trunk

deck clasp has gone through

the rope and is now just

stuck but not locked

because three red lights later

he jumps out

and when he jumps out he looks

like a mummy who has unravelled

and he runs up to the car behind and

knocks on the window

and says, "He tried to rob me!

He's trying to rob me!"

And then he ran off.

The two women in my rear-view

were looking at each other

and looking at me and I just gunned

it across the red light and went

flying across to Station Road and

went right up the middle of Orlando.

And I didn't go back to his house.

So I drove all night.

At 2:
30am in the morning I get to

Daytona Beach, Volusia County.

And it's Bike Week, March 10th.

I've been an escaped

prisoner for 25 days.

And I'm sitting there and I'm like,

I can't get a hotel room anywhere.

It's booked, everything is solid.

My eyes were all gravelly

and I was just so exhausted.

So I just put the seat back

and went to sleep.

The next thing I know,

three sharp raps right on the window

and there's a cop right there.

My heart is pounding.

He's making the motion like this

so I put the window down.

He said, "Did you hear anybody

screaming?" I said, "What?"

He said "Some woman screaming.

"There's been a call, a domestic

dispute. Is there a problem?"

And I was like, "No. "

I was talking to him and I was just

focusing on him trying to answer him

and that's when I heard

from the passenger side

the other officer yell,

"Hey Bert, there's a gun. "

And he immediately pulled

his weapon and I said,

"Hold on, hold on. What's up?"

I didn't know this,

but about that much of the pistol

was laying out under a blanket.

So I got out of the car,

I had my hands up.

I gave a false name.

They put handcuffs on me.

They locked me up.

I'm sitting in prison and waiting.

And I said, to hell with this.

TELEPHONE RINGS:

My father immediately picked up.

Hello?

I said, "Dad I need you to call

the FBI and tell them where I'm at.

"If they don't come and get me

I'm going to go before this

"judge in the morning and I'm going

to bail out and get out of here. "

He hung up the phone.

He called an agent by the name of

Bud Warner, Philadelphia FBI office.

Man, the doors came open.

They came flying in there.

DOOR SLAMS:

They added 35 more years

to my sentence for that robbery.

Put me on death row in Florida.

And left me there to swelter

all through that summer.

By the time they came

and got me in September

I was so eager to go back

to Pennsylvania,

even though I knew I was going

to get some serious beatings.

I had made an enemy

of every guard on shift.

I was going to go through

some extreme punishment.

Man, it was hard.

I stewed and I seethed.

I was so angry

I was beating my head on the wall.

So every couple of weeks they would

take me out and patch my head up.

And, erm...

This one officer

when he was escorting me back

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