Charlie G

Charlie's role in my scene was more of a peripheral one as a driver and helper than as a main player. He was an over-sized guy who came from the alphabet city part of Manhattan where he grew up on Grand Street and was something of a gentle giant. He was into downers and booze and had a tendency to blow up to weights in excess of 300 pounds. These were fat pounds as opposed to the more popular weed pounds.

But, as was the case with most of those on the list, Charlie had presence. By presence, I mean he didn't panic in extremely tense situations. For example:

We owned a huge official-looking black Sedan DeVille Caddy that was one of the vehicles we used for the Florida-New York run. This one time, Charlie and a (very special) gal drove down, picked up a trunk full (350-400 lbs) of Columbian pot from the connection and set off on the drive north. This drive, if you went straight through normally took about 22-26 hours. One common decision was what to do with the spare tire... since usually, every part of the trunk was jammed with merch. Often, the tire would be moved into the back seat and covered with a blanket... and that was the case on this trip. So about 18 hours into the ride, Charlie decides he has to call his girlfriend to let her know he's safe... They pull into a rest stop on the road in Pennsylvania at like 4 in the morning and when they pull out, they get pulled over by a trooper. Now the gal was driving at this point and was breaking just about every rule there was. She's even driving without shoes... and when the cop pulls them over and asks for her license, they realize that her pocket book must have fallen out of the car at a stop in Georgia. The cop is not happy and heads back to his cruiser to check the plates. Charlie, in a moment of balls and brilliance, gets out, walks over to the trooper and shows him ID that identifies Charlie as a cop from Hunter, an upstate New York ski town. He tells the cop that the girl is the daughter of a US Senator and that he was hired to get her and the Senator's staff car back to NYC... and to please give them a pass because it was sure to cost him his job. Well... our hero, Charlie, pulled it off and they got back on the road and delivered the goods. The cop never asked about the tire in the back seat, never checked the trunk... and never even wrote up a ticket. P.S. This was the last time that (very special) gal ever drove for anyone.

As a sidenote, drivers usually got paid a grand each for a trip. It wasn't bad pay for 24 hours of driving... assuming your 24 hours didn't turn into time in jail.

I heard recently that Charlie has some kind of very serious liver problem and isn't going to last much longer.