Showing results by author "Gary Turcotte" in All Categories

My uncle made the tough decision to put my grandmother in a home. We didn't know Grammy well. We rarely visited. Her mind was failing and the only things she could recall were memories of 30 years ago. She didn't recognize my uncle or my parents. She mistook me for my father when he was my age. I was forced to visit her, posing as my young father. She told me stories of my father's misbehavior, and scolded me on every visit. My father had done foolish things that caused harm to people and property.

We are not designed to be perfect, work perfect, answer perfect, or act perfect. Even NASA, with a room full of rocket scientists, does not perform at 100 percent. But what if it all starts within ourselves? Finding the obvious hurdles can set our lives in motion toward our goals. "On the way" is better than "in the way". It truly starts with self awareness. Once we find our stride, it's easy to set the hurdles to a height that can be easy conquered. Life experiences are priceless and more can be learned from being on the way than being in the way. Life is all about attitude.

A large party was given to me and Tony for our release from prison. We were also celebrating our promotions to Capo. Our new business venture was to run drugs and counterfeit money in phony taxis. They were perfect replicas of cabs that traveled thru the city. We operated right under the cop's noses --- making the mob millions. Don Mancini was pleased until I had an accident. I actually had two --- one with the taxi and the other with my girlfriend, both were life changers. Don Carmine Mancini was a brilliant and he turned my negatives into positives.

Being a young Mafia boss was an enormous boost to a man's ego. Some men couldn't take the pressure and responsibilities. They were simply eliminated. Tony and I had our challenges. A man is born weak and has to be taught to be strong. He needs to ignore things that would make a normal man emotional. That was the Mafia thinking. The Mafia way. We were exposed to the dirtiest, unethical situations. Laws and conscience didn't steer our lives. The problem was that people got hurt. The people that counted. The very people that meant the most got trampled.