Anna Bertucci’s father, Theodore (aka Tee) Bertucci, was of Italian descent. He was a third generation American out of southern Italy – no one ever bothered to figure out which town, specifically.
Tee had struggled in high school and eventually called it quits somewhere in the tenth grade. After having a few brushes with the law, one of the arresting officers convinced Tee that he would probably make a good cop. The kid had a keen mind and a sarcastic wit. None of his arrests had stuck, which meant he was still eligible to be part of the law enforcement machine. So Tee figured, “why not.” He signed up with the Army in hopes of parlaying that into a career in the law enforcement arts. Tee paid his dues by jumping through all of the MP hoops, and passed his courses with flying colors. Both the training officers and the unruly Army brats he slapped in line respected Tee. It really seemed to be his niche in life.
Then one night, it all turned to shit. Tee got busted for having cocaine in his system. Seems that Tee had befriended a stripper who worked at the local flesh farm just outside of the base. He was infatuated with her stunning beauty and no-holds-barred sexuality. Tee was a wanna-be at best, and even having a girl like this breathe on him was a coupe. One night, after the strip-club closed, she actually invited Tee home. He remembered barely being able to make it up the sidewalk to her apartment because of the raging hard-on he still maintained after watching her dance for hours at the bar.
But on this particular night, among all others, the stripper gave Tee a challenge. She introduced him to the art of smoking blow. She promised, if he could get an erection afterward, then she would let him have his way with her in any way that he wished. This, of course, was every nightly fantasy that Tee had gardened about her in the six months that he had been coming to the club. So, even though he had never touched a line before that night, he accepted the challenge.
Maybe it was the act of smoking cocaine. Maybe it was because most of Tee’s blood supply was in his penis. But the effect hit him like a quaalude H-Bomb. He laid on the bed that night, looking at the object of his desires lying next to him. She taunted him with her naked body and a rather over-exaggerated dildo – neither of which gave him the ability to bring the return of his once raging hard-on.
Unfortunately, the night’s failings did not redeem themselves with unrequited carnal pleasure. Tee showed up at the base the next morning in an obviously compromised state. His officer in charge had him take a blood test. The result evicted him from further service in the Army. Fortunately, they didn’t press charges in court because Tee was such a model soldier before this unfortunate tangent. Therefore, Tee dodged a possible felony conviction.
As soon as he was able to clear himself from military servitude, Tee used his limited training in corrections to become a bail bondsman. He even went further than most, and did his own bounty hunting work.
That’s what got him killed.
Tee got married and had a baby girl named Anna who he loved dearly. He worked hard and built up a little bail-bonds business named Bond Brothers. Life was good. But then, one day, he accepted a new client named Hector Gonzalez.
Now, most of Tee’s clients were small-time stupidity that just needed a babysitter for a little while. Hector strove to be big-time, regardless of the cost. He was into everything from drug running to prostitution.
Herding whores was easy for Hector. God knows, there were enough available. Enough desperate women escaping Mexico to fill a moveable stable between that country and the US. And that’s what Hector did – he created a hoochie-momma caravan.
Hector would cross the border with a semi filled with young hispanic women who were on their way to a “modeling job.” He even had a fake wall of boxes halfway dividing the semi to encase his would-be models. Once they made it into New Mexico, it was just a matter of setting up a Craigslist dating service in the next four or five states they encountered.
Sure, some of the girls ran and likely became homeless prostitutes anyway. But those that stayed spent the next year or so turning tricks and working their way through the Southwest. And, good to his word, once they reached the Midwest in Ohio, Hector gave them each $5,000 and their freedom. Some were afraid to make it in the outside world, so they continued to use their bodies for what they knew how to do and let Hector set them up in their own apartment/business location. Hector was generous because he made millions from his trade in Hispanic flesh.
But, eventually, one of his whores turned on him and ran naked to the local police station. One thing led to another, and Hector was arrested. Since all of his money never hit a bank account, he qualified for a public defender. Once the PD got him bail, Hector financed his bail through what little assets Tee had in Bond Brothers and promptly disappeared.
Having $50K on the line, Tee went the extra mile and tracked Hector to Juarez. It seemed like the perfect pick-up. Anna’s dad somehow found out where Hector was going to be, and the element of surprise was in play. Unfortunately, Anna’s dad was alone, which is risky for even an experienced bounty hunter.
Hector had brought five of his “whore rustlers” to the club that night. They were celebrating their latest successful run into the US, and Hector wanted to show his appreciation. Being a wanted man was no deterrent for Hector. The club was packed that night, so only Hector and one of his associates was able to sit next to the stage. One stuffed dollar bills into the dancing girl’s near-invisible panties while the other four tossed down tequila shots a couple of tables behind them. Anna’s dad knew he could control two people – Hector and his lone associate by the stage. Unfortunately, Tee got to the club late so he had no idea that the four rowdies a couple of tables away were also with Hector. It wasn’t until he made his approach to try to cuff Hector that the other four descended. They made their presence known by poking a pistola or two into Tee’s ribcage.
The doorman remembers seeing a group of guys leaving the club together. He remembers the gringo who turned and looked toward him as they passed. But it was a busy night, and there were at least 30 horny muchachos in line, waiting to get past the gatekeeper. Each of them had a $20 bill on them to grease their entrance, and the doorman couldn’t be bothered with anything but collecting his share of the admission.
Anna’s father didn’t make it back home the following day or any day after that.
Hector Gonzalez, for his part, has remained disappeared – but not by his choosing. As Karma would have it, they say that, about six months after Tee’s disappearance, Chico Torres, the father of one of Hector’s model/prostitutes, caught up with him one night while Hector was in a compromised position as he “auditioned” a new model.
The legend that started circulating around Juarez, directly afterward, was that Hector’s decomposing body made the avocados in Chico’s garden grow especially large that year.