Jude
A Pilgrimage to the Saint of Last Resort
Chapter OneA Whisper On The Street:Baltimore
"And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire..."
-- The Epistle of Jude, first century
"I want to thank St. Jude for hearing my prayers. I had no place else to turn..."
-- R.S., 1997
Vincenzo Pullara, A Plump Stubby Man, wears the smoldering expression of one who harbors dark secrets. Vincenzo and his group are setting out to make a novena at the shrine of St. Jude, patron saint of impossible causes. By his own admission, Mr. Pullara is on good terms with "the guys who hang around the coffee shops" -- and he doesn't mean Starbucks. He and his friends are the stuff of Hollywood miniseries: their frighteningly childlike nicknames whisper along the mean corridors of New York's criminal courts. The FBI once described him as a lieutenant in the Gambino family.
One stormy day in May, he and forty of his friends and family are hurtling through the rain and fog in a Greyhound bus bound for Baltimore. They are pi ... read full excerpt from Jude ebook
