May 19, 2022 • 30 mins
Georgia moves to New York City to pursue modeling, meeting her first love Frankie and driving getaway for the Gambinos for the first time.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Teleforce Productions and I Heart Radio presents Wheelwoman Confessions of
a Getaway Driver. Yea, was it your plan when you
(00:25):
arrived to New York City to get involved with the
mob as you were in Rochester? I wasn't involved in Rochester.
They were my friends. But did you know I didn't?
I mean, I guess part of the reason I felt
so comfortable with Frankie and those guys was because of
my history with Sammy and the Rochester guys. But it
wasn't planned. How soon after he met Frankie did you
(00:47):
drive for him? That also wasn't planned. You gotta know
Frankie didn't want me to have any part of that life.
He actually really tried to keep me out of it. Honestly,
it was all just a series of coincidence. Us, my
girlfriends and I came to New York to model looking
for adventure. We didn't realize we'd find it so quickly.
(01:08):
How could we have known our first night would be
spent at an after hours bar run by the Mope
(01:43):
one day sense, I don't care which one can take.
I don't wonder fine horse comse flight dollars and answer
to your minds anything. Susie Linda and I got off
the train from Rochester without a plan or even a
(02:04):
place to stay. We asked a cab driver to take
us somewhere cheap and fun and wound up on some
dump and fort and Broadway. It was one small, cramped
room for the three of us. Little did we know
the hotel was a haven for hookers. We quickly pulled
out our favorite bar hopping garb and hit the streets
for our first night out in the big city. We
(02:27):
heard about a place called Fridays which was supposed to
be the inSpot, so of course we had to check
it out. We entered the smoky bar and made our
way towards the back in search of a vacant table.
(02:48):
Imitation Tiffany lamps hung from the high tined ceiling, red
and white checked table cloths set an inviting atmosphere. As
we pushed our way through the crowded bar area, you
noticed plenty of trendy, attractive men with lingering, hungry eyes.
Finally we found a table, and I noticed three slick
(03:08):
looking guys weighed down with heavy cold chains, eyeing us
from the bar. I recognized the type immediately. Italians. I
felt as if I hadn't left home. Made me feel
at ease, and if nothing else, I knew they'd be amusing.
As they approached, Linda sat up straighter, flashing a megawatt
smile and plenty of cleavage. Susie shifted in her chair,
(03:30):
crossing her impressive legs and flipping her blonde mane behind
her shoulders. Mind if we join you? Not at all.
I'm vic and it's just Shippy. That's Billy. What's your
girls drinking? Whatever you are? Ms? Yes, bring us alid
(03:51):
duels and water and put it on my tab. Coming
right up. So where are your girls from Rochester? We
just arrived today. You girls don't look like country bumpkins
to me. So this is your first night out in
the land of fruits and nuts? Yeah it is, Well,
(04:11):
you run to the right guys. You're in for a
wild ride. As I'd expected, these guys kept us laughing
from the moment they sat down. Susie and Linda both
fied for Chippy's attention. The cat is I on me,
but I wasn't interested. All three of them seemed to
live under the impression that they were irresistible to women,
(04:33):
but the reality was something different. This place is kind
of boring. What do you say we all go over
to and after hours clubbed? Hell? Yes, Linda, why don't
we go back to the hotel and go to bed.
It's been a long day. Yeah, maybe we should call
it a night. Come on, girls, tomorrow's Saturday. What do
you have to get up early? Four? You're in New York.
(04:55):
I gotta start living like New Yorkers, you know what
I mean? There was no swaying wind us, so Susie
and I bit our tongues and gave him. We piled
into a cab and headed downtown, going god knew where.
(05:27):
Eventually we got off on a quiet side street and
the guy started up a flight of narrow wooden steps,
taking them too at a time. We followed a dim
light emanated through a peephole in the second floor door.
(05:53):
A guy at the door looked us up and down
before he nodded, allowing us to enter inside. A sign
above the bar that read the sundowner caught my eye.
Some sort of black material covered the walls, giving the
room a terrible closed in feeling. Other than a few
suspicious looking guys in dark ranecoats, the place was deserted. Yeah,
(06:14):
this looks like a really fun place. This is an
after hour's club Georgia. It's not even four o'clock yet,
it won't jumping for another half hour. Oh great. As
my eyes scammed the clientele, one man stood out from
the rest. He nursed a scotch and water. At the
far end of the bar. Vic caught me staring. Yeah,
(06:36):
that's the owner, Frankie. When he heard his name, he
looked up, fixing his stare on me. He wore a
cobra smile, and his slick back black hair heightened the
intensity of his deep set, hooded Valentino eyes. His medium
sized frame was casually dressed in a dark, open college
shirt and a light colored sports coat. A sparkle from
(06:59):
his pinky ring caught my eye as he lifted his
glass in slow motion to his mouth. He never blinked.
Though I was intrigued, I was so tired that I
walked over to the bar, curled my arms, laid my
head down and tried to fall asleep. I'm still not
sure if he knew I could hear her, Frankie, how's
it going? Where did you find her? Friday's They arrived
(07:23):
on the train from upstate. She's beautiful, beautiful, young and naive,
the best kind. She's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen.
Look at that face, that porcelain face. Oh no, no, no,
you don't, Frankie. This one's mine. I found her, so
put it back in your pants. This one's different, Vic.
I'm not asking you permission. Come on, Frankie, let's play clean. Man.
(07:45):
I can't compete against your charm anyway. I'm not kidding Vic.
Back off. Really, she's the one, you know, Frankie, it
just stayed fair. I mean, why didn't God make me
look like tyrone, power and steady. You forgot nothing to
do with God. You just stay in the ring a
few fights too long. It's amazing you can even breathe
out of that thing you call a nose, not to
(08:06):
mention what those punches did your brain. You don't have
a chance with this one, my man. Fine, you win, Frankie,
you win? Yeah? Were you offended being treated like that?
(08:37):
I didn't think much about it at the time, because
it's not like I was into Vic or thought i'd
stick around long enough to talk to Frankie. Plus I
was half asleep. But yeah, over the years, that memory
haunted me. I had no idea at the time that
my fate truly was being decided mere feet away from me.
Was Frankie always like that, deciding things for you? No,
(09:00):
but our relationship was complicated. I had a lot of baggage.
Hell I was technically with Tom and don't get me wrong,
Frankie was great to me, but he had an inner
dark side that was hard to miss. Did you end
up speaking to him after he talked to Vic barely?
I finally got Linda to go back to the hotel,
but we made plans to all meet up the next night,
(09:22):
and the night after that and so on. It's not
like we had anything else to do. We didn't know
a soul and they were more than happy to entertain us.
Night after night. They took us out to dinner, to
the play Lounge, Vick's Bar, and Queen's Beanos Tavern. Meanwhile, Susie,
Linda and I had plans to find an agent off
the bat, but it wasn't as easy as we thought.
(09:44):
We lacked two inches to make the cut with Wilhelmina
and Ford, and we weren't the high fashion vogue types,
and it soon dawned on us that we had no
idea how expensive it was to live in New York.
So one ship he offered us a job tending bar
at the Sundowner. We accepted, and Frankie was delighted. Were
you already together? At this point We hadn't spent any
(10:06):
time alone together, but he had made it clear that
he was more than a little interested in me. I
fought it at first, I really did, but Frankie had
an addictive sort of charm that I found irresistible. What
was it like working at the Sundowner? For the most part,
it was a blast. Eventually we all managed to find agents,
(10:26):
so if one of us had an early audition, another
would fill in. But the best times were when we
all worked together. The three of us played off each
other and kept everyone laughing. We brought some life to
the joint and business was booming because of it. We
only worked three hours from three thirty till six thirty
in the morning, and always walked away with a large
handful of cash. But the real fund was after closing,
(10:49):
when our little group would head for breakfast, Frankie and Me,
Billy and Susy Q, Chippy and Linda, Bird and Flipp
and Vic. It became a ritual after that, if we
didn't have modeling obligations, we'd pile in the car and
the guys would take us to Palisades Park or drive
us to Queens where we rented horses and drove them
on the city streets, and at least once a week
(11:11):
we hit the Acquedupped race track. The first time we went,
Frankie laid down fifty dollars on a horse in my choice.
He hated the odds sixty one, but I like the name.
The horse ran wire to wire, paying me about three
thousand dollars. You couldn't keep me away from the track
(11:32):
after that, and Frankie he was convinced I was his
good luck charm. Did you hear them discuss business during
that time? They didn't talk business on our outings. Ever,
We were always laughing too much, and when we weren't laughing,
we were singing. But around the Sundowner I saw a
lot of shady deals going down. Me and the girls
never really hurt the details, or at least we tried
(11:54):
not to, and we learned fast when to stop joking
around and fade into the background. Who were some of
the patrons? You remember? Hard to say anonymity was key
at the Sundowner. We had cards with code names on
them to keep track of who owed what, but we
never knew most of their real names. Was Frankie always
there every night, probably paying too much attention to me
(12:19):
when it would have served him better to pay attention
to business. But he was protective of me. He'd be
in the face of any guy who got out of
line in an instant, and against my better judgment, I
was falling more and more in love with him each day.
How did things evolved into a romantic relationship? Slowly? It
(12:42):
took some time for me to feel ready, and then
I wanted to, but I panicked whenever Frankie tried to
get close to me. My body stiffened and I pretend
to busy myself with something. Once I even ran away
when we wound up alone together. You know, I still
had never been intimate with a man in the true
(13:04):
vulnerable sense of the word, and following my rape, sex
terrified me. Not to mention the fact that I was worried,
I was ruined, and I didn't want Frankie to see
me that way. Did Frankie pressure you? Quite the opposite.
Frankie brought me back to life. He was sensitive and patient,
(13:25):
and he gave me the space to examine the depth
of my fears. Slowly he began to gain my trust,
and then one night we wound up back at Frankie's
apartment with the crew. Chippy lit a sweet smelling cigarette,
and as I watched it being passed, I realized it
was marijuana. I was afraid at first, but Frankie was reassuring,
(13:45):
so I watched how it was done and took a
few hits. Suddenly everyone had gone, but I didn't care,
and I let Frankie lead me into the fire escape.
We sat out there for what seemed like hours and
gaze that the stars while he told me stories about
each one of them, whether due to Frankie or the drugs.
(14:06):
I felt a new world opening up before my eyes.
He made me look at everything so differently, and I
loved how he looked at things more deeply than most people.
Without planning to, I turned my face and kissed him.
Suddenly being touched didn't sicken me, it felt unusually natural.
(14:30):
I allowed things to progress, and I became aware of
how intimacy it's supposed to be. And after that night,
I knew what I felt for Tom wasn't love and
that I couldn't marry him, but I thought it was
better to wait till he was out of Vietnam before
I told him. You mentioned Frankie had a dark side?
(14:50):
Did you see it? Often? Frankie was a good man
in a bad world. Deep in his core, he was
a gentle, decent person, but he was from a certain
world and early on got caught in a darkness that
he couldn't escape. Of course, because I've been around it before,
I wasn't as naive to his lifestyle as he perceived
me to be. He worked hard to separate his time
(15:11):
with me from that side of his life, but I
just couldn't stand how he kept that part of himself hidden.
And then he would disappear from time to time, sometimes hours,
sometimes days, and whenever I prodded for information, he only
produced vague answers. That is, until he realized I wasn't
going to let up. What did he tell you? It
(15:32):
wasn't what he said, It's what he showed me. To
appease me, he started taking me with him to some
of his meetings during the day. He called them sit downs.
Each time he gave me no information, but would allow
me to wait at the bar while he huddled in
the smoky booth with men of mostly Italian descent. Did
any of them stand out in particular? There was one
(15:55):
meeting I'll never forget that looked like a federation of gangsters.
A few were dressed casually in sports shirts and slacks,
but most wore suits, art shirts and expensive jewelry, becoming invisible.
I pretended to chat with the bartender, but I watched
as a thin, gray haired man with beady eyes and
a big nose made an entrance with a newspaper ducked
(16:17):
under his arm. He didn't look like much, dressed casually
in a dark blue button down sweater, but they practically
bowed to him. If there was a chain of command,
he was at the top. When they talk about I
couldn't hear what they said, but at one point a
man made the gesture of sliding his forefinger across his throat.
(16:40):
Didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out,
and the gray haired man just nodded, and that was that.
They all got up and left. After When I asked
Frankie who it was, he only said nobody. Baby. It
drove me crazy. The thing is I wanted to know
everything about Frankie because I loved him, but also I
was intrigues by his world. How long did this go
(17:02):
on for you? Going to sit downs? They ended abruptly
a few weeks after that. One afternoon, we walked into
a bar and there stood two men waiting. Even I
could spot a cop in plain clothes. Frankie had somehow
managed to go above the division, above the bureau, all
the way to the police commissioner. The suits looked at
each other in astonishment when they saw me, and Frankie
(17:24):
immediately knew he'd made a stupid move. He hurried me
to a corner booth, out of you, but I was
still in a shot. What's with the broad, Frankie, She's
just a kid, She hasn't known anything. Don't worry about it.
You don't tell me what to worry about. You want protection,
You make another appointment, another time, another place alone. They
(17:54):
glared at Frankie disgustedly, and then walked out the door,
leaving him unprotected at least for the moment. Was it
one of these sit downs that you ended up driving
a getaway car. No, that was back at the bar
and Frankie told me he regretted I was there, though
I did a damn good job. It was a quiet
(18:16):
night at the Sundowner, which was unusual for a Saturday
since me and the girls started attending bar. I was alone,
which was never as much fun, but no one in
the joints seemed to be in a laughing mood. The
vibe was tense from the moment I arrived, and I
couldn't put my finger on it. But something was brewing.
Then some wise guy from Harlem burst through the door.
(18:43):
What is he doing here? Give me a drink? Oh?
I made him a vodka soda and then moved away,
(19:03):
giving him privacy. Suddenly the whole joint went quiet. The
(19:24):
guy had pulled out a gun and was pointing it
at a man seated at the bar. I froze, not
fully realizing what was happening. Before I could register what
was happening, the man fell and the wise guy just
stood there, still holding his gun. I couldn't scream. I
couldn't even get out of the way. Come on, maybe,
(20:05):
Frankie practically dragged me out the door. Once on the street,
Frankie pulled me around the corner. We ducked into a doorway,
and he trembled as he held me. Holy ship, who
was that, Frankie? What's going on? Oh ship, it's him.
He's coming his Wait, don't look, he still has the gun.
(20:28):
Just kiss me, whatever you do, don't look at him,
kiss me, baby. I closed my eyes and kissed Frankie
as if it were our last kiss, which it very
well could have been. But the man rushed past us,
not taking much notice. I think he's gone. You okay, Yeah,
I'm okay, come on, let's go back. Chippy was hunched
(21:02):
over the body when we walked in. The color had
gone from its face. Fuck. We should have seen this common, Frankie.
Oh my god, frank easy. Did I think he's still alive?
You okay to drive, Georgie Girl? Yeah, I think so.
(21:23):
I get the car pulled around front, Come on, and
we lift them in. What about the blood, Frankie, shouldn't
no time. Let's just get him the hell out. Make
it fast toward your girl. The cops will be here
any minute. They finally got the guy downstairs and piled
(22:06):
into the car. Girl step on at Georgie Girl, I
couldn't think about the life draining from the back seat.
(22:27):
All I could do was drive. You're doing good, baby,
Turn into this alley here, keep throwing, baby, let's just
get him to Belle View. You're doing real good. Hold,
(22:51):
you got this, You got this. Here you go. That's
about Georgie girl. Perfect baby, keep going almost there. As
I jumped over curves and sped down alleyways that looked
far too narrow, I realized that Georgia Black was behind
the wheel, not me. She came to the rescue once again.
(23:13):
She's Georgie girl. Would you learn to drive? I drove
like a bat out of hell, handling the car as
though it needed to be taught a lesson. Oh, come on.
The guys were tense, but Georgia Black was as calm
as could be. There it is. You made it wreck
(23:35):
a time pull up ahead. When we arrived at the
hospital's emergency entrance, Billy and Frankie dragged them in from
the car and left him lying lifeless on the sidewalk.
As I watched, I could feel Georgia Black leaving me.
(23:56):
Her job was done. Huffed the horn briefly, Baby, draw
attention to him, not us, step on it. You did good,
(24:18):
Georgia girl, You did real good. Do you think he's
going to live, Frankie, if you better hope? So one
in deep ship drive by the club? Shit, what look,
(24:38):
it's swarming with cops. What do you want me to do?
Drop me off at Beanos, Chris, frank We need this
like we need another hole in our head. Call me
(25:01):
when you hear something, Frankie, get ahold of Flip. Tell
him I'm being about Abbey at nine o'clock, Frankie, hughe
drive Baby, You're a natural behind that we I've never
(25:23):
seen anything like it. Really, it's all a blur. I
have no idea how I got there. You're good enough
to make a career of it. I mean it. That
(25:45):
bastard who Frankie, the wise guy from Halem? Who else?
Son of a bitch probably did this, and the cops
has shut me down. I wouldn't put it past them,
those bastards. You gotta get out of here, Georgia girl,
go upstairs, hacky clothes. I'm taking you to the airport. No, Frankie,
I don't want to leave you. I don't want you involved.
They're gonna question all witnesses. That's you. I want you
(26:07):
out of here. Well, I didn't see a thing. Don't
argue you're going anyway you look at it. I'll have
to take the heat. But there's no need to drag
you into this mess. I don't know what you're doing
with a guy like me anyway, Frankie, what are you
talking about? No kind of life for you, Georgia girl.
This is my world, honey, always wise, always will be.
(26:29):
It's the only world I know. I don't have the
right to bring you into it. You deserve a lot more. Frankie,
what are you saying? Go home, honey, and you should
stay there if you know it's good for you. How
can you say that I know you love me. It's
because I love you. No, No, you're just upset over
what happened. You don't mean that I know you don't
(26:52):
I do, kid. I was heartbroken, but I knew that
right then, worrying about me a burden he didn't need.
So I packed and let him drive me to the airport.
But I had every intention of returning as soon as
things blew over. Before my flight had even landed in Rochester,
(27:19):
Frankie was already in custody. The charge was attempted murder.
What's more, the police confiscated the cards we used to
keep track of the bar tabs. They had a mug
shot to go with every code name we had. They
brought in a stream of potential witnesses, but nobody was talking.
(27:40):
The cops on the beat were uptight, but not as
much as the commissioners men, who were afraid the investigation
would blow their cover. Every day Frankie was led from
his cell in question for hours. They knew he didn't
do it, but they were sure he knew who did.
Was at the end of your romantic relationship? Yes and no.
(28:03):
A few months later he got out and as soon
as he called I raced back to the city. But
things were different after that, how so, oh, everything was different.
Susie and Linda had left after the incident, even though
they weren't there that night. They knew they would be questioned,
but they didn't come back. Bar was closed. There were
no more fun outings. But more than anything, Frankie was distant.
(28:28):
He was more secretive and the dark side of him
and gained more ground. He kept pushing me away until
it's stuck. Did he ever mention you driving again? After that?
He didn't ask me to again. If that's what you mean,
but it seemed to be quite the topic in its
circle for a while, I received high fives whenever we
(28:48):
entered a bar. That night was basically the end of
my relationship, but only the beginning of my career behind
the Wheel. Wheel Woman is written by Lars Jacobson and
Sabrina Jaglin and directed by Sabrina Jagulin. Produced by Lars
Jacobson and Sabrina Jagulin, Executive produced by Georgia Duranti and
(29:12):
Noel Brown for I Heart Radio. Wheelwoman stars Lulia Symington
as Georgia, with additional performances by Tanner Beard, Zachary Webber,
Simon Jagulin, Chase Mullins, Nick Williams, Gabe Greenspan, Dylan McCullum,
Garrett Bear, Nora Garrett, Duncan Kladein, Victoria Foyt, Max Georgie,
(29:34):
Mariah Bess, and Max Jacoby. Edited by Chris Childs, with
sound design and theme music by Chris Child's. Adapted from
the book The Company She Keeps by Georgia Duranti. Wheelwoman
Confessions of a Getaway Driver is an I Heart Radio production.
For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart radio, app,
Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Two
Teleforce Productions and I Heart Radio presents Wheelwoman Confessions of
a Getaway Driver. Yea, was it your plan when you
(00:25):
arrived to New York City to get involved with the
mob as you were in Rochester? I wasn't involved in Rochester.
They were my friends. But did you know I didn't?
I mean, I guess part of the reason I felt
so comfortable with Frankie and those guys was because of
my history with Sammy and the Rochester guys. But it
wasn't planned. How soon after he met Frankie did you
(00:47):
drive for him? That also wasn't planned. You gotta know
Frankie didn't want me to have any part of that life.
He actually really tried to keep me out of it. Honestly,
it was all just a series of coincidence. Us, my
girlfriends and I came to New York to model looking
for adventure. We didn't realize we'd find it so quickly.
(01:08):
How could we have known our first night would be
spent at an after hours bar run by the Mope
(01:43):
one day sense, I don't care which one can take.
I don't wonder fine horse comse flight dollars and answer
to your minds anything. Susie Linda and I got off
the train from Rochester without a plan or even a
(02:04):
place to stay. We asked a cab driver to take
us somewhere cheap and fun and wound up on some
dump and fort and Broadway. It was one small, cramped
room for the three of us. Little did we know
the hotel was a haven for hookers. We quickly pulled
out our favorite bar hopping garb and hit the streets
for our first night out in the big city. We
(02:27):
heard about a place called Fridays which was supposed to
be the inSpot, so of course we had to check
it out. We entered the smoky bar and made our
way towards the back in search of a vacant table.
(02:48):
Imitation Tiffany lamps hung from the high tined ceiling, red
and white checked table cloths set an inviting atmosphere. As
we pushed our way through the crowded bar area, you
noticed plenty of trendy, attractive men with lingering, hungry eyes.
Finally we found a table, and I noticed three slick
(03:08):
looking guys weighed down with heavy cold chains, eyeing us
from the bar. I recognized the type immediately. Italians. I
felt as if I hadn't left home. Made me feel
at ease, and if nothing else, I knew they'd be amusing.
As they approached, Linda sat up straighter, flashing a megawatt
smile and plenty of cleavage. Susie shifted in her chair,
(03:30):
crossing her impressive legs and flipping her blonde mane behind
her shoulders. Mind if we join you? Not at all.
I'm vic and it's just Shippy. That's Billy. What's your
girls drinking? Whatever you are? Ms? Yes, bring us alid
(03:51):
duels and water and put it on my tab. Coming
right up. So where are your girls from Rochester? We
just arrived today. You girls don't look like country bumpkins
to me. So this is your first night out in
the land of fruits and nuts? Yeah it is, Well,
(04:11):
you run to the right guys. You're in for a
wild ride. As I'd expected, these guys kept us laughing
from the moment they sat down. Susie and Linda both
fied for Chippy's attention. The cat is I on me,
but I wasn't interested. All three of them seemed to
live under the impression that they were irresistible to women,
(04:33):
but the reality was something different. This place is kind
of boring. What do you say we all go over
to and after hours clubbed? Hell? Yes, Linda, why don't
we go back to the hotel and go to bed.
It's been a long day. Yeah, maybe we should call
it a night. Come on, girls, tomorrow's Saturday. What do
you have to get up early? Four? You're in New York.
(04:55):
I gotta start living like New Yorkers, you know what
I mean? There was no swaying wind us, so Susie
and I bit our tongues and gave him. We piled
into a cab and headed downtown, going god knew where.
(05:27):
Eventually we got off on a quiet side street and
the guy started up a flight of narrow wooden steps,
taking them too at a time. We followed a dim
light emanated through a peephole in the second floor door.
(05:53):
A guy at the door looked us up and down
before he nodded, allowing us to enter inside. A sign
above the bar that read the sundowner caught my eye.
Some sort of black material covered the walls, giving the
room a terrible closed in feeling. Other than a few
suspicious looking guys in dark ranecoats, the place was deserted. Yeah,
(06:14):
this looks like a really fun place. This is an
after hour's club Georgia. It's not even four o'clock yet,
it won't jumping for another half hour. Oh great. As
my eyes scammed the clientele, one man stood out from
the rest. He nursed a scotch and water. At the
far end of the bar. Vic caught me staring. Yeah,
(06:36):
that's the owner, Frankie. When he heard his name, he
looked up, fixing his stare on me. He wore a
cobra smile, and his slick back black hair heightened the
intensity of his deep set, hooded Valentino eyes. His medium
sized frame was casually dressed in a dark, open college
shirt and a light colored sports coat. A sparkle from
(06:59):
his pinky ring caught my eye as he lifted his
glass in slow motion to his mouth. He never blinked.
Though I was intrigued, I was so tired that I
walked over to the bar, curled my arms, laid my
head down and tried to fall asleep. I'm still not
sure if he knew I could hear her, Frankie, how's
it going? Where did you find her? Friday's They arrived
(07:23):
on the train from upstate. She's beautiful, beautiful, young and naive,
the best kind. She's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen.
Look at that face, that porcelain face. Oh no, no, no,
you don't, Frankie. This one's mine. I found her, so
put it back in your pants. This one's different, Vic.
I'm not asking you permission. Come on, Frankie, let's play clean. Man.
(07:45):
I can't compete against your charm anyway. I'm not kidding Vic.
Back off. Really, she's the one, you know, Frankie, it
just stayed fair. I mean, why didn't God make me
look like tyrone, power and steady. You forgot nothing to
do with God. You just stay in the ring a
few fights too long. It's amazing you can even breathe
out of that thing you call a nose, not to
(08:06):
mention what those punches did your brain. You don't have
a chance with this one, my man. Fine, you win, Frankie,
you win? Yeah? Were you offended being treated like that?
(08:37):
I didn't think much about it at the time, because
it's not like I was into Vic or thought i'd
stick around long enough to talk to Frankie. Plus I
was half asleep. But yeah, over the years, that memory
haunted me. I had no idea at the time that
my fate truly was being decided mere feet away from me.
Was Frankie always like that, deciding things for you? No,
(09:00):
but our relationship was complicated. I had a lot of baggage.
Hell I was technically with Tom and don't get me wrong,
Frankie was great to me, but he had an inner
dark side that was hard to miss. Did you end
up speaking to him after he talked to Vic barely?
I finally got Linda to go back to the hotel,
but we made plans to all meet up the next night,
(09:22):
and the night after that and so on. It's not
like we had anything else to do. We didn't know
a soul and they were more than happy to entertain us.
Night after night. They took us out to dinner, to
the play Lounge, Vick's Bar, and Queen's Beanos Tavern. Meanwhile, Susie,
Linda and I had plans to find an agent off
the bat, but it wasn't as easy as we thought.
(09:44):
We lacked two inches to make the cut with Wilhelmina
and Ford, and we weren't the high fashion vogue types,
and it soon dawned on us that we had no
idea how expensive it was to live in New York.
So one ship he offered us a job tending bar
at the Sundowner. We accepted, and Frankie was delighted. Were
you already together? At this point We hadn't spent any
(10:06):
time alone together, but he had made it clear that
he was more than a little interested in me. I
fought it at first, I really did, but Frankie had
an addictive sort of charm that I found irresistible. What
was it like working at the Sundowner? For the most part,
it was a blast. Eventually we all managed to find agents,
(10:26):
so if one of us had an early audition, another
would fill in. But the best times were when we
all worked together. The three of us played off each
other and kept everyone laughing. We brought some life to
the joint and business was booming because of it. We
only worked three hours from three thirty till six thirty
in the morning, and always walked away with a large
handful of cash. But the real fund was after closing,
(10:49):
when our little group would head for breakfast, Frankie and Me,
Billy and Susy Q, Chippy and Linda, Bird and Flipp
and Vic. It became a ritual after that, if we
didn't have modeling obligations, we'd pile in the car and
the guys would take us to Palisades Park or drive
us to Queens where we rented horses and drove them
on the city streets, and at least once a week
(11:11):
we hit the Acquedupped race track. The first time we went,
Frankie laid down fifty dollars on a horse in my choice.
He hated the odds sixty one, but I like the name.
The horse ran wire to wire, paying me about three
thousand dollars. You couldn't keep me away from the track
(11:32):
after that, and Frankie he was convinced I was his
good luck charm. Did you hear them discuss business during
that time? They didn't talk business on our outings. Ever,
We were always laughing too much, and when we weren't laughing,
we were singing. But around the Sundowner I saw a
lot of shady deals going down. Me and the girls
never really hurt the details, or at least we tried
(11:54):
not to, and we learned fast when to stop joking
around and fade into the background. Who were some of
the patrons? You remember? Hard to say anonymity was key
at the Sundowner. We had cards with code names on
them to keep track of who owed what, but we
never knew most of their real names. Was Frankie always
there every night, probably paying too much attention to me
(12:19):
when it would have served him better to pay attention
to business. But he was protective of me. He'd be
in the face of any guy who got out of
line in an instant, and against my better judgment, I
was falling more and more in love with him each day.
How did things evolved into a romantic relationship? Slowly? It
(12:42):
took some time for me to feel ready, and then
I wanted to, but I panicked whenever Frankie tried to
get close to me. My body stiffened and I pretend
to busy myself with something. Once I even ran away
when we wound up alone together. You know, I still
had never been intimate with a man in the true
(13:04):
vulnerable sense of the word, and following my rape, sex
terrified me. Not to mention the fact that I was worried,
I was ruined, and I didn't want Frankie to see
me that way. Did Frankie pressure you? Quite the opposite.
Frankie brought me back to life. He was sensitive and patient,
(13:25):
and he gave me the space to examine the depth
of my fears. Slowly he began to gain my trust,
and then one night we wound up back at Frankie's
apartment with the crew. Chippy lit a sweet smelling cigarette,
and as I watched it being passed, I realized it
was marijuana. I was afraid at first, but Frankie was reassuring,
(13:45):
so I watched how it was done and took a
few hits. Suddenly everyone had gone, but I didn't care,
and I let Frankie lead me into the fire escape.
We sat out there for what seemed like hours and
gaze that the stars while he told me stories about
each one of them, whether due to Frankie or the drugs.
(14:06):
I felt a new world opening up before my eyes.
He made me look at everything so differently, and I
loved how he looked at things more deeply than most people.
Without planning to, I turned my face and kissed him.
Suddenly being touched didn't sicken me, it felt unusually natural.
(14:30):
I allowed things to progress, and I became aware of
how intimacy it's supposed to be. And after that night,
I knew what I felt for Tom wasn't love and
that I couldn't marry him, but I thought it was
better to wait till he was out of Vietnam before
I told him. You mentioned Frankie had a dark side?
(14:50):
Did you see it? Often? Frankie was a good man
in a bad world. Deep in his core, he was
a gentle, decent person, but he was from a certain
world and early on got caught in a darkness that
he couldn't escape. Of course, because I've been around it before,
I wasn't as naive to his lifestyle as he perceived
me to be. He worked hard to separate his time
(15:11):
with me from that side of his life, but I
just couldn't stand how he kept that part of himself hidden.
And then he would disappear from time to time, sometimes hours,
sometimes days, and whenever I prodded for information, he only
produced vague answers. That is, until he realized I wasn't
going to let up. What did he tell you? It
(15:32):
wasn't what he said, It's what he showed me. To
appease me, he started taking me with him to some
of his meetings during the day. He called them sit downs.
Each time he gave me no information, but would allow
me to wait at the bar while he huddled in
the smoky booth with men of mostly Italian descent. Did
any of them stand out in particular? There was one
(15:55):
meeting I'll never forget that looked like a federation of gangsters.
A few were dressed casually in sports shirts and slacks,
but most wore suits, art shirts and expensive jewelry, becoming invisible.
I pretended to chat with the bartender, but I watched
as a thin, gray haired man with beady eyes and
a big nose made an entrance with a newspaper ducked
(16:17):
under his arm. He didn't look like much, dressed casually
in a dark blue button down sweater, but they practically
bowed to him. If there was a chain of command,
he was at the top. When they talk about I
couldn't hear what they said, but at one point a
man made the gesture of sliding his forefinger across his throat.
(16:40):
Didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out,
and the gray haired man just nodded, and that was that.
They all got up and left. After When I asked
Frankie who it was, he only said nobody. Baby. It
drove me crazy. The thing is I wanted to know
everything about Frankie because I loved him, but also I
was intrigues by his world. How long did this go
(17:02):
on for you? Going to sit downs? They ended abruptly
a few weeks after that. One afternoon, we walked into
a bar and there stood two men waiting. Even I
could spot a cop in plain clothes. Frankie had somehow
managed to go above the division, above the bureau, all
the way to the police commissioner. The suits looked at
each other in astonishment when they saw me, and Frankie
(17:24):
immediately knew he'd made a stupid move. He hurried me
to a corner booth, out of you, but I was
still in a shot. What's with the broad, Frankie, She's
just a kid, She hasn't known anything. Don't worry about it.
You don't tell me what to worry about. You want protection,
You make another appointment, another time, another place alone. They
(17:54):
glared at Frankie disgustedly, and then walked out the door,
leaving him unprotected at least for the moment. Was it
one of these sit downs that you ended up driving
a getaway car. No, that was back at the bar
and Frankie told me he regretted I was there, though
I did a damn good job. It was a quiet
(18:16):
night at the Sundowner, which was unusual for a Saturday
since me and the girls started attending bar. I was alone,
which was never as much fun, but no one in
the joints seemed to be in a laughing mood. The
vibe was tense from the moment I arrived, and I
couldn't put my finger on it. But something was brewing.
Then some wise guy from Harlem burst through the door.
(18:43):
What is he doing here? Give me a drink? Oh?
I made him a vodka soda and then moved away,
(19:03):
giving him privacy. Suddenly the whole joint went quiet. The
(19:24):
guy had pulled out a gun and was pointing it
at a man seated at the bar. I froze, not
fully realizing what was happening. Before I could register what
was happening, the man fell and the wise guy just
stood there, still holding his gun. I couldn't scream. I
couldn't even get out of the way. Come on, maybe,
(20:05):
Frankie practically dragged me out the door. Once on the street,
Frankie pulled me around the corner. We ducked into a doorway,
and he trembled as he held me. Holy ship, who
was that, Frankie? What's going on? Oh ship, it's him.
He's coming his Wait, don't look, he still has the gun.
(20:28):
Just kiss me, whatever you do, don't look at him,
kiss me, baby. I closed my eyes and kissed Frankie
as if it were our last kiss, which it very
well could have been. But the man rushed past us,
not taking much notice. I think he's gone. You okay, Yeah,
I'm okay, come on, let's go back. Chippy was hunched
(21:02):
over the body when we walked in. The color had
gone from its face. Fuck. We should have seen this common, Frankie.
Oh my god, frank easy. Did I think he's still alive?
You okay to drive, Georgie Girl? Yeah, I think so.
(21:23):
I get the car pulled around front, Come on, and
we lift them in. What about the blood, Frankie, shouldn't
no time. Let's just get him the hell out. Make
it fast toward your girl. The cops will be here
any minute. They finally got the guy downstairs and piled
(22:06):
into the car. Girl step on at Georgie Girl, I
couldn't think about the life draining from the back seat.
(22:27):
All I could do was drive. You're doing good, baby,
Turn into this alley here, keep throwing, baby, let's just
get him to Belle View. You're doing real good. Hold,
(22:51):
you got this, You got this. Here you go. That's
about Georgie girl. Perfect baby, keep going almost there. As
I jumped over curves and sped down alleyways that looked
far too narrow, I realized that Georgia Black was behind
the wheel, not me. She came to the rescue once again.
(23:13):
She's Georgie girl. Would you learn to drive? I drove
like a bat out of hell, handling the car as
though it needed to be taught a lesson. Oh, come on.
The guys were tense, but Georgia Black was as calm
as could be. There it is. You made it wreck
(23:35):
a time pull up ahead. When we arrived at the
hospital's emergency entrance, Billy and Frankie dragged them in from
the car and left him lying lifeless on the sidewalk.
As I watched, I could feel Georgia Black leaving me.
(23:56):
Her job was done. Huffed the horn briefly, Baby, draw
attention to him, not us, step on it. You did good,
(24:18):
Georgia girl, You did real good. Do you think he's
going to live, Frankie, if you better hope? So one
in deep ship drive by the club? Shit, what look,
(24:38):
it's swarming with cops. What do you want me to do?
Drop me off at Beanos, Chris, frank We need this
like we need another hole in our head. Call me
(25:01):
when you hear something, Frankie, get ahold of Flip. Tell
him I'm being about Abbey at nine o'clock, Frankie, hughe
drive Baby, You're a natural behind that we I've never
(25:23):
seen anything like it. Really, it's all a blur. I
have no idea how I got there. You're good enough
to make a career of it. I mean it. That
(25:45):
bastard who Frankie, the wise guy from Halem? Who else?
Son of a bitch probably did this, and the cops
has shut me down. I wouldn't put it past them,
those bastards. You gotta get out of here, Georgia girl,
go upstairs, hacky clothes. I'm taking you to the airport. No, Frankie,
I don't want to leave you. I don't want you involved.
They're gonna question all witnesses. That's you. I want you
(26:07):
out of here. Well, I didn't see a thing. Don't
argue you're going anyway you look at it. I'll have
to take the heat. But there's no need to drag
you into this mess. I don't know what you're doing
with a guy like me anyway, Frankie, what are you
talking about? No kind of life for you, Georgia girl.
This is my world, honey, always wise, always will be.
(26:29):
It's the only world I know. I don't have the
right to bring you into it. You deserve a lot more. Frankie,
what are you saying? Go home, honey, and you should
stay there if you know it's good for you. How
can you say that I know you love me. It's
because I love you. No, No, you're just upset over
what happened. You don't mean that I know you don't
(26:52):
I do, kid. I was heartbroken, but I knew that
right then, worrying about me a burden he didn't need.
So I packed and let him drive me to the airport.
But I had every intention of returning as soon as
things blew over. Before my flight had even landed in Rochester,
(27:19):
Frankie was already in custody. The charge was attempted murder.
What's more, the police confiscated the cards we used to
keep track of the bar tabs. They had a mug
shot to go with every code name we had. They
brought in a stream of potential witnesses, but nobody was talking.
(27:40):
The cops on the beat were uptight, but not as
much as the commissioners men, who were afraid the investigation
would blow their cover. Every day Frankie was led from
his cell in question for hours. They knew he didn't
do it, but they were sure he knew who did.
Was at the end of your romantic relationship? Yes and no.
(28:03):
A few months later he got out and as soon
as he called I raced back to the city. But
things were different after that, how so, oh, everything was different.
Susie and Linda had left after the incident, even though
they weren't there that night. They knew they would be questioned,
but they didn't come back. Bar was closed. There were
no more fun outings. But more than anything, Frankie was distant.
(28:28):
He was more secretive and the dark side of him
and gained more ground. He kept pushing me away until
it's stuck. Did he ever mention you driving again? After that?
He didn't ask me to again. If that's what you mean,
but it seemed to be quite the topic in its
circle for a while, I received high fives whenever we
(28:48):
entered a bar. That night was basically the end of
my relationship, but only the beginning of my career behind
the Wheel. Wheel Woman is written by Lars Jacobson and
Sabrina Jaglin and directed by Sabrina Jagulin. Produced by Lars
Jacobson and Sabrina Jagulin, Executive produced by Georgia Duranti and
(29:12):
Noel Brown for I Heart Radio. Wheelwoman stars Lulia Symington
as Georgia, with additional performances by Tanner Beard, Zachary Webber,
Simon Jagulin, Chase Mullins, Nick Williams, Gabe Greenspan, Dylan McCullum,
Garrett Bear, Nora Garrett, Duncan Kladein, Victoria Foyt, Max Georgie,
(29:34):
Mariah Bess, and Max Jacoby. Edited by Chris Childs, with
sound design and theme music by Chris Child's. Adapted from
the book The Company She Keeps by Georgia Duranti. Wheelwoman
Confessions of a Getaway Driver is an I Heart Radio production.
For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart radio, app,
Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Two
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