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found his connection with the O'Hara gang active and pleasant. At first the Irish boys were somewhat suspicious of a Wop in their midst but when it was whispered around that it was he who had shot the redoubtable Al Spingola, their hostility vanished like fog in sunshine and they welcomed him with open enthusiasm. Tony himself never mentioned the occurrence, neither denying it nor bragging about it. But day and night he was watching for a reprisal from some of Spingola's henchmen. He still had his armed bodyguard following behind every time he went outside and not even the members of his own gang knew that.

Tony's executive ability soon revealed itself and before long he was acting as O'Hara's lieutenant. He made it plain to Klondike from the first, however, that he would not take a hand in "second-story jobs," robberies, hold-ups or burglaries of any sort. And he explained his stand with his little phrase which later was to become so famous: