Hyena

About the Book

Daniel Patrick Taglucci was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1964. From the time he was five everyone called him ‘Tag’.  He was the Godson of Michaelli Profacci, a Don.  The Taglucci family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, when Profacci offered Gene, Tag’s father, the job of ‘pit boss’ at one of the Profacci controlled hotels. It really wasn’t an offer, it was an order.

Tag grew up in Las Vegas and became a lifetime friend of Michael Barone, another family Profacci ordered to move from Brooklyn. Tag and Michael shared sexual exploits and fantasies. They were inseparable  friends until college. Tag graduated and became an attorney, Michael quit after two years to work for ‘the family’.

The other major break, for Tag, came during his last year in law school. Profacci ordered Tag’s sixteen year old sister, Angela,  without her parents or her consent, to become his mistress. Tag was the only family member to challenge it. He lost. However, when he graduated law school he did not go to work for ‘the family’ as was expected, but instead joined the FBI creating a major crisis. He was no longer family.

Tag, on medical assignment from The Bureau, after being wound-ed during a drug raid, was to make benefit payments to federal agents whose spouses had died. He became aware that many of the spouses  were in their  thirties and had died of heart failure. He became more and more suspect. He  went with the information to his immediate superior, Harrison Ames. Ames told him,”Just pay the damned money”. In continuing to check, Tag became more and more intrigued.  Late thirties? Heart failure?

Lisa Moran, a beautiful twenty-two year old coed at UCLA, was the subject in a survey conducted by Davey Crockett. A targeted subject. Lisa, a straight ‘A’ mensa student is the daughter of an affluent neuro-surgeon. She was intrigued by Davey who dressed in gabardine slacks, blazers and drove a Llamborhini. He took her to dinner at the Bel Aire Hotel where he was known to the maitre d’. He owned a penthouse apartment overlooking Wilshire Blvd. He owned a 52  foot yacht, “Killer II.”  He had a Lear jet at his disposal that is hangered at Santa Monica airport. Their date, one night, was to fly to a midnight dinner in Las Vegas. Lisa asked Davey how he afforded all of the luxuries? He res-ponded, “By killing. And Lisa, you can have them all, too.”

Lisa was never told the name of her benefactor, a paranoid zealot, who has targeted the spouses of federal agents for death.

Tag consulted with his girl friend, a computer whiz, to check his findings. She researched the national data basis. The number of agent spouses in their thirties dying of heart failure was sixty-two times greater than the average. Tag went back to Ames. No matter what statistics Tag brought, believing there was a conspiracy of some nature, Ames adamantly refused to believe that anything was wrong. He continued to tell Tag that ‘if there was a conspiracy’, it was in Tag’s mind. “Just pay the damned benefits.” When Tag left Ame’s office, Ames called Gerald Mulhane, head of the department. He advised Mulhane that he believed “Hyena” had been reactivated.

Davey Crockett was killed in a traffic accident. Lisa was notified and  received a video tape. The man on the tape can only be identified by his southern drawl - a silhouette in a darkened room. She was told that she had replaced Davey and he, the zealot, will deal with her directly. The next day she received a package containing a pair of gloves. She was to wear them and they would remove her fingerprints.

Tag met Elyse Canyon, an FBI agent in Tucson, AZ., whose husband died of heart failure at 38. A toxicology report convinced her that her husband was murdered and she joined TagR

About the Author

Mr. Schwartz’ writing credits include three published books; The Silent Sin, 1970, The President’s Contract, 1972 and Tulsa Gold, 1982. He also wrote for TV, from 1960 to 1990, earning over 500 credits in half hour situation comedies, hour drama and two hour movies. He lives in Palm Springs, Ca.