Page 93 - The Jazzsipper Novel

92

THE JAZZ SIPPER

would play all kinds of practical jokes on each other. Vance had a core group
of guys he hung out with in his crew. His core friend in the crew was Dino, a
brother from Philadelphia. The first week after meeting each other, they were
making plans on how to capitalize on shipboard life. They started a slush
fund, which was a long shark operation. They would lend money to guys on
short-term bases from payday to payday. Guys would lose all their money
gambling or while in port for three days they would blow all their money on
alcohol or on prostitutes.

Vance and Dino charged a dollar for a dollar, which meant if you borrowed
$200.00 you owed them $400.00. No matter when the loan was granted it
was to be paid back on the next payday. The only criteria that had to be met
were the feasibility of payback; if the guy were a sheep he would always get
the loan. But, if the guy was a wolf they would very rarely get a loan. Dino
use to ask Vance, why make trouble for yourself? It made sense to Vance;
he realized that with a sheep you could threaten them and get your money
back, but with a wolf you may have to actually get physical with the guy to
get your money back. And that would jeopardize the business. Vance and
Dino had a few business ventures onboard ship besides the long shark
business. They had a personal laundry service where guys would pay them
$25.00 a week to get their laundry done separate from everyone else. Guys
did not want their clothes washed with the whole ships company laundry for
fear of the germs that certain guys carried and also to make sure that they
got all their stuff back on laundry day. But little did they know what Vance
and Dino were doing; they would hire guys they knew that worked in laundry
to wash all the stuff they sent to them at $10.00 per small laundry bag. It did
not matter how they were washed. Then they paid other guys $5.00 to pick