There’s truly nothing like hometown gossip. It’s one of many reasons to be excited to go home for the holidays. My favourite story to pull out of my back pocket in moments of conversational need, is a kind of James Bond villain story about my neighbor.
I must also preface that some of the details in this story are alleged (just in case he’s an avid Coquetas reader). In 2014, a $10-million lawsuit was filed against a real estate mogul (aka my neighbour).
A shady land deal that had lost investors $6.4 million dollars coupled with years of sneaky business practices started to crack the façade of this big real estate player.
Their house featured a massive entryway, complete with a multi-horse fountain, playground, and an extravagant double driveway flanking the front door. It was built by a man who had disguised himself as a woman to flee the Titanic sinking, and has continued to be associated with suspicious characters ever since. Armed security had been surveilling the property for years.
Nevertheless, on a brisk winter morning in 2016, my neighbor pulled out of the driveway in his black Rolls Royce, only to be shot six times by a gunman in a bright orange jacket. The man got away, and they later found a white SUV set ablaze a few blocks away from the shooting. My neighbor had been rushed to hospital in critical condition, after being shot in the chest. His life only saved by the Titanium Amex card that lived in his breast pocket. Which is something I still can’t believe is true! He even has the card framed in his office, as a reminder that money actually is the answer.
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News spread fast and gossip about what had happened and who had done it was all anyone could talk about. He survived, of course, making a miraculous full recovery. But, a clear reason for what happened was never released.
Now, back to the ongoing lawsuit he had been involved in. Unbeknownst to him, one of the defrauded investors had also been involved in some dubious activity himself (allegedly) owing the Hell’s Angels (yes, that outlaw motorcycle gang) millions of dollars! Dollars that had been invested into the deal that fell apart. Blaming all his troubles on my neighbor, in true Gangster movie fashion, the debt had been transferred.
Although no one was ever arrested for the crime (clearly professionals), eventually the debt was paid off and the security stayed for many years after that. Something does feel particularly cinematic about the grandeur and ridiculousness of something like this happening in my small hometown, although there’s many more where that came from.
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Bisous, H