So, first my pal Buster Agliano goes and sleeps with the fishes, and I don't mean the fishes he sold at his fish market in Ybor City. God rest his soul, he went and died on us a year ago. Cancer got him.

And now we hear word that Buster's bride, Mirtha, is closing the doors of the market, the place Buster's granddad Sebastian opened on Seventh Avenue in 1926. So, I say to myself, what's a good Buster Agliano story? One comes to mind.

I was walking down Seventh Avenue with the godfather, the capo di capo. You know him better as Richard "Big Dick" Greco. He was mayor at the time, 1998. Seems like he was always mayor.

We go into Agliano's. "Dickie, Dickie," Buster shouts. They hug. Seems like Greco was always hugging. But this was a big hug. You know the kind. A Dickie special. Lots of backslapping.

They forget about me. Their mistake. Dickie punches Buster in the gut and laughs: "Where's the bolita, in the back room?"

Buster: "Ain't no bolita here. The state crooks took care of that."

For those of you who weren't around before the Florida Lottery, bolita was the same thing, a numbers racket. A big scam. The only difference was that bolita was probably more honest than the lottery. After all, the real godfather, Santos Trafficante, got his cut, so you know no one who wasn't crazy or suicidal played fast and loose with the game. Everybody played bolita, and just about everybody had a piece of the action.

Buster doesn't take hizzoner's kidding without paying back some of his own. He tells Dickie: "You know I didn't keep the bolita in the back room."

Dickie: "You saying there wasn't bolita here?"

Buster: "I ain't saying that. It was right up here in front, and you should know that."

Dickie: "How should I know that?"

Buster: "'Cause you were in here every week buying a ticket."

About then, Dickie remembers me, the newspaper gumshoe, and he sees I'm writing this exchange down.

Dickie: "Hey, Buster, you know John."

Buster: "Sure, seen him in here."

Dickie, looking a little nervous: "He's a newspaper guy, and he might believe all this stuff he's hearing about you and me and bolita."

Buster: "He should. It's true."

-John F. Sugg

For more on Tampa and bolita, see:

http://www.hcso.tampa.fl.us/Photo%20Gallery/1920_Bolita.htm

http://cuban-exile.com/doc_126-150/doc0126.html

http://www.americanmafia.com/Cities/Tampa.html

Senior Editor John Sugg can be reached at john.sugg@creativeloafing.com.

This article appears in May 18-24, 2005.