Page 68 - The Jazzsipper Novel

67

THE JAZZ SIPPER

force. Customers would purchase at the same locations on a regular basis to
ensure that they received a quality product. The typical street retail heroin
seller in New Orleans was 15 to 26-years-old. These low-level street dealers
could easily be replaced if arrested. Sellers were usually supplied with a
"pack" of heroin consisting of 11 doses of heroin packaged in aluminum foil
squares. Sellers must return the proceeds from 10 sales and can pocket the
money received from the other dose as a sales commission. Younger cats in
the neighborhoods, on bicycles or on foot, act as runners to supply sellers
from a nearby house or apartment. The main supply of heroin and the
collected money were usually kept in separate locations. Other cats were
employed as lookouts to warn sellers of police presence in the
neighborhoods. Lookouts work in shifts and were paid approximately $50 per
day. Street corner heroin sellers usually dealt only in heroin.

The only thing that stopped Vance and Babu from going all the way into the
game was that Vance had gotten shot. Prior to the shooting Vance and Babu
had come up with enough money to buy a kilo of heroin. Babu had robbed
some dope dealer from uptown, the guy started asking questions, in New
Orleans street gangsters lived or died by how well they could track down their
enemies, most guys in the life, knew that was Babu modus of operandi,
robbing low level dope dealers. So when the guy got a tip on who probably
robbed him, he took swift and precise actions, which maintained his street
creditability. That was why Vance got shot, he mistook Vance for Babu.

When Peaty saw Vance, he told him to walk with him. He told Vance he had
seen Babu just before he got killed. Vance asked what happened, Peaty said
he saw a car pull alongside of Babu and a whole bunch of shots were fired.
Vance told him to describe the car he had seen. It matched the style and color