The Stakeout

Previously on number one.

Dad, Hello, we are not available now. Please leave your name and phone number after the beat we will return your call.

My dad.

It's Gary.

I am.

I know it's been a long time, but I am calling you because I been thinking a lot about.

Memory full.

So I know this is like a weird question.

I was wondering if you get out.

So I have a number for my father, who I haven't spoken to in like twenty four years, and I'm not sure if it's his phone number.

What's the Pune number?

So it's six ' three one, what's what's his name?

Manny Veeter?

I mean that's the number that is showing one here.

It's a young boy looking for his father. It's hard to be funny in a situation like this.

You make fun of me all the time about it. No, I say, Gary, is that your dad over there?

Yeah?

Look nope, no, Look I wish I was your dad and wasn't here.

Right now.

I'm on tour with my friend, comedian Nate Barghetsi. We just finished up a show in Toronto, and I caught Nate up on everything that's been going on with my dad.

Since we last talked. I called my house.

Last known address he's had is my old house, but that information is from that he lived there three years ago, so nobody has seen him in the last three years.

Oh really yeah?

Wow?

So I called the house phone.

I'm leaving a message and then the machine just cuts off halfway through the message.

Was it his voice on the message?

No, it was an automated message. Yeah, I hold message?

Did you leave?

I mean I'm talking like it was just a short, like ten second message, and then I got cut off.

I'm like, hey, dad, this is Gary.

I just want to let you know, and then like just cut off. So I've been trying to find somebody who has the most recent number, but I've been striking out. I did send him also a Facebook message and that has turned up empty off.

So I don't know what to do. Did you go to the house?

I went to the house to just see, like if there's any sign of him living there, and it looks like a young family lives there, So I have no idea if he lives there, but the house, like I looked up the house, it's not in his name.

What if he moved though, man like, because I mean a lot of people moved out of New York and.

Maybe everyone I spoke to so far, no one has seen him in the last three years.

You think he's I mean he's still alive, right.

Yeah, this is where you told me that he's there.

Yeah, I go, yeah, I don't know.

I don't know to tell you if it's scary.

I thought about him possibly being dead, but I think he's he's alive.

He's just hard to get in touch with clean.

Maybe it's that family though, and they're like, we can't be here for this old man calling for his dad. Yeah, goes, they can let it. What if that family just screamed at the answer machine, just let it go?

Yeah, I hope you do try though.

Yeah.

I think I feel like if you track him down, I think he's going to be in your life more than you know, because it seems like someone like that, they're gonna, you know, like it. And then it's like now they can like walk in there. You're giving him some.

I'm opening the door front. Yeah.

Yeah.

And and he seems like a guy who wants to take advantage of the situation. Yeah, as soon as he sees that your name's on this.

He might be on the bus.

Yeah.

It seems crazy that no one knows where so he talked to does he have friends like they have lifelong friends or.

Yeah, there's one guy, this guy Howie, and he's an option. Have you talked to him as I sent him a message? So hopefully he gets back to me. And then the other big one is the local rabbi. I'm like, maybe he still like goes to temple.

Yeah, so so there's a good chance today it's kept up with everything except you.

Yeah, this is number one Dad, Hey Gary, Hi, Rabbi, how are you?

How are you? How's everything?

Everything's good. It's been a while, long time, long time. That's my old rabbi from Long Island, Rabbi Sacks. I sent out emails to anyone who might still be in touch with my father in the hopes of getting his number, and so far he's the only one who responded. We haven't spoken since nineteen ninety six when he helped me with my bar mitzvah. My father was pretty religious when I was growing up, so I'm hoping he and the rabbi might still be in touch.

I remember your dad asking me whether I would accept assignment, and I said.

Of course.

He brought you in you with this skinny, little runt, a lot of hair, and I saw you quite a bit. I do remember at that point of time, your parent were going through a lot.

Yeah, it was a tough situation.

Yeah, Rabbi, when was the last time you saw my father?

That I don't remember, but I remember your dad came into synagogue and he said, you're not going to believe this, but Gary is you know, he's climbing up the ladder. When America's got talent, you should watch him.

And he was.

He was smiling like a cheshire cat, you know, from every ear was. He was happy, he was proud, and I wasn't the only one he.

Told you know, Gary, I loved your first performance.

I thought you were terrific and you were very memorable with your family excited that you got through the next round.

I actually didn't tell them that I got through the next round.

Why is that?

Just in case?

You know, I keep on advancing.

I want to keep the money to myself.

So that would have been twenty fifteen.

Somewhere around there. I have a very funny recollection of him telling me, look, you see that they're following me. I said, who's following?

You?

See that car?

Watch when I leave, they're gonna leave, I said, who are they?

So he goes.

They're making sure that I don't go to work. I guess some type of sure it's work has come. I'm not sure what, but sure enough. There was a son advisor, so you couldn't see there was anybody in there. So your dad got in and he smiled at me. He's a gun in the car. I was looking from the window and he left right away, so he knew he had a tail.

Yeah, there's always some type of insurance thing going on with him, but.

That's my dad. That's exactly what he would do.

Yeah, Rabbi do have my father's phone number, so I can't.

Get the number. Enough people here have his number, I can.

Get the right one.

I so appreciate that.

Thank you so much for your help with this, and please let me know if you get that number.

Sure of course anytime.

Well, waiting for the Rabbi to get back to me with my dad's number, I actually heard from one of the other people I had reached out to. It was an old high school buddy of my father's, Howie Robertson, who he met a couple of times when I was a kid. He also happens to be a former warden at Riker's Island.

You give me.

Goosebumps, man, because it sounds just like it.

Really, really, he sounds just like him.

That's the truth.

Yeah, I was gonna say, it's interesting, you know that you say that I sound like my father because you know, we haven't talked in twenty four years, so I don't think he and I have spoken since my voice has changed, so to hear that, it's weird.

I mean, there's fletching in your voice. He sounds just like it.

Since my father and Howie were so close, I had to ask if he had any stories to share. He told me one about my dad having his payphone business in a halfway house.

It was a halfway house in Brooklyn. I knew three guys who worked there. And listen during the time when your father had a payphone business again, we're call him back now before cell phones. And I had a guy and his name is Kenneth McGriff, aka Supreme. He was one of the biggest drug king pins in the history of New York City. And Supreme and everybody petrified inside of the buildings. Guys like Supreme, they're running their housing they're running to jail.

Investigators say a lot of drugs moved through these two buildings in the past six months to a year.

They estimate that in excess of one thousand miles of crack were sold and bought here each day.

Supreme was the founder of the Supreme Team, an organized crime syndicate that operated out of the Baisley Projects in South Jamaica. Queens his gang focus on the widespread distribution of crack cocaine. At its peak in nineteen eighty seven, the Supreme Team was making two hundred thousand dollars a day.

No, your father would come in. We got his phones there and they walked around talking to people. And he's walking amongst these guys, sitting down with them, having long conversations, and you know, everybody love them. And the guys that I knew there that can't allow them to come in and put the phones there to say, Man, I don't know what your friend is doing in terms of manny, he said, but this guy has these guys eating out

He could get down with you wow.

But his main thing was, Hey, nobody messes with my phones. Nobody messes with my phones. If you got to make a phone call, do it in here. Don't go outside and use the phone that's down the block. Use these phones here, you know.

So, when's the last time you talked to my dad.

It's been a while, right before COVID hit. Yeah, so we're going back, what three years something like that?

Do you have his phone number?

Let's have a phone number? Yes, okay, that's six y two five?

All right, amazing, I appreciate it. Howie, all right, buddy, dank it bye.

I I am about to call the number that how he gave me and hopefully talk to my dad.

I'm sorry, be killing me.

If you're doing, have reached this recording error, len you check the number and try to work all again.

In one thousand feet, turn right onto Darlington Avenue.

I am on my way to Long Island once again. And the reason is because it's been two weeks since I started this thing, and the number how he gave me has been disconnected. I still haven't heard back from the Rabbi, and I still haven't heard back from my dad. After leaving a message on what may or may not be his answer machine. I guess you could add that to the twenty four years he and I haven't spoken. So, using my best judgment, I've decided I'm gonna do a stake out of my child at home.

Like sausage and Caprica.

How you doing good?

Coyotea A large cheese pizza.

All right, to go?

Please?

Thank you?

All right? We want to put this in the DoorDash bag.

It's designed to keep it warm.

Oh nice.

I've enlisted the help of my friend Chris Roach. He's going to pretend to be a DoorDash delivery guy to get confirmation if my dad lives in my childhood home. I'm still not sure, and I can't just go up and ring the doorbell myself.

I see it. Well, let's see the seat.

I put my seat warmer.

On the I feel like these people should get the best.

We were ready.

I had a live mic, a pen mic, and a keychain mic taped to the bottom of the door dash bag. I wanted to make sure if Chris had contact with my father. I didn't miss a second.

So this is the plan.

You are gonna knock on who I think is my dad's neighbor's door and deliver them a pizza. You're gonna say, I have a pizza for many Vitter and hopefully they say, oh, you know, he doesn't live here, he lives next door, and that will give us confirmation that my dad actually lives in that house. So you then go next door, knock on that door, and hopefully he answers and I see my dad for the first time forever Inviner.

Yeah, you old Manny Viner. I've been fucking waiting to meet you.

So why am I going to my neighbor's house first? If we go directly to where I think my father lives with a fake pizza delivery and he doesn't answer, that gives me nothing. And then I can have Chris walk across the street to the neighbors and say we have a pizza for Manny Vider, because they'll go, that's weird, we just saw you over at his house. Also, I'm having Chris say Manny Vider instead of Manny Veeter. My last name is constantly mispronounced, so this is a little

When you were a kid, and somebody asked, ship, what your dad did for a living?

What did you say?

Well, I mean he had a payphone company that was like his main gig of legit. That was no, it wasn't legit, but it was. He found a way to come into that too. But I'm pretty much everything he did, he always found a way to hustle.

Alright, am with the test.

Check one two, check one two, check one two three, pizza for many vider.

Okay, you're good for testing one too, testing one too.

All right, I am good to go.

It's a real deal, don't get n Yeah, we're going in delivering a pizza Manny vitter viter Mani viter pizza viter.

We're gonna do a loop.

We gotta go around again, gotcha, gotcha.

Yeah, this is getting a tense.

This is the real deal.

Excited, all right, here we go.

I'm messing around multiple many veater study coming at you. I was freaking out. Then Chris and I parked and set up to make the delivery at the neighbors.

That's where you're gonna do the delivery.

You got it?

And so yeah, just parked, great, oh great, here yeah right heah rad here this one this one, this one.

Okay, you got it, buddy, Chris Leaves.

I covered myself with a black sheet in the back of his s u V. And now I'm waiting, peering through his windows with binoculars. He is approaching the house. All right, Chris is approaching the house. The neighbors we need them to answer. Hopefully they give us something.

Come on, come on, Chris, oh dor.

Dash, that's across the strips.

That's a questions many men A video mean I understnd about.

Call him and sound him that you're uh, oh yeah, that'll be great.

Yeah, let me get my crow.

Okay, Oh, I think he's got something, and.

What are any thing? It was?

Okay, I guess I'll just leave it at his house.

Then, oh, then go like doing thiscase not what I said, manny viner cause he's next door.

Really can't check it out.

Oh wow, the video is great, that you're man?

Yep, let me great.

He called her down on his cellphone.

I think, goes on, think somebody's.

Playing a joke on me something like that.

When I heard him talking to me down through the door and goes yeah, I don't like it either. I don't like it either.

All right, so we know he lives there.

You're gonna do a loop and then you're gonna go right the next door, make a left.

You gotta in my dad's house.

Okay, I'm just spend around.

Right, he's making a regular delivery.

Like I always do. There might be somebody home. It looks like the TV's on all right, right here, right here, right, Yeah.

Chris parked directly on the side of my father's house and I could see the front door perfectly. He's at the porch right now. Holy shit, alright, you're just knocking. Oh man, come on answer. Oh he's knocking again.

M m hm m fuck. Alright, he's not there.

Yo, grits.

Oh man, I was trying to get his attention. Oh he left the pizza. I love it. Do do do do? Dude, dude, there's no doorbell.

I knocked on the door.

There's three chairs up front, almost like like a barricade.

The front door.

Holy you know, like a brand Now it's alost like another one was pulled out, and there's like stuff in front of the door, like I see it through the window, like he must be And it was like box and stuff.

There was just tons of boxes that you could see in there.

Yeah, but I didn't see any movement.

Do you see any movement?

No, I didn't see anything. Do you see any cameras or not?

Yeah?

No, ring, no camera.

Well there's a light.

I see that light were you're talking about. Is somebody peering out.

Of it over there? Yeah? Yeah, that was on the floor, so nobody's peering out of it. All right. Yeah, let's get out of here. Put the pizza on the step on, hoping that.

That they would think that it's legit, Like you're the legit door dash guy just doing the thing now. Chris and I weren't totally sure if my dad was home or not.

Wait, Scrager guided it to me.

I could see him out opening the door.

Yeah, like he's looking.

At us through the door.

Yeah.

I'm curious to see if it's stand out.

Chris and I drove back to our meeting spot. We're happy the steak out totally worked. I confirm my father one still lives in my childhood home. But there was one more thing I had to do.

I will let you know about that pizza. It feels good.

What a rush huh.

Yeah, I'm going to see if the pizza that Chris left on the porch chair if that is still there or if my dad took it.

So we'll see. All right, I am approaching the house.

Now, pizza is gone.

My dad took the pizza.

This is a bit of good news. It's been a few days since I did the steakout and I just got a voicemail from Rabbi Sacks.

Hey, Gary, Rabbi Sason, I hope you will so listen.

I was able to.

Track down your dad's cell phone number, so it's six three one eight two one.

I also told him that you might be reaching out.

All right, nice a lot, go bless.

So here we go.

I am gonna oh my dad.

Hello, Hey, how's it going, Gary? No, it's Lebron James.

Yeah, Hey Lebron James. My son is the sports illustrated kid.

Yeah.

Oh yeah saying that, Yeah.

That's what he does. Would you be interested in an interview?

Uh, it's it's funny. Did you see that article?

I did.

I thought it was great. I really did.

Thank you fat you know.

I thought it was really fantastic. In a way. I was surprised that you came out and said what you said, but you know that you bought it out I never told anybody about it, you know.

But listen, First of all, let me just tell you, I'm very very happy to.

Hear from you.

You have no idea, okay.

And I'm very proud of you. Everything you've done. They doesn't go by that. I don't think about you.

Okay.

So do I owe you money? Is that what you called?

No?

I was just just calling.

I mean, I have a family of my own, and I'm a father now too, so I know I was gone.

By Hold on a second, Gary, hold on, I'm on my call phone.

I thought there was a competent on my car behind me. Yeah. I hope that we'll be able to see each other, you know.

No, no, no, I went down to Florida and I'm catching a plane back and about a half hour.

Have you seen the house lately? Have you ever driven past the house?

No?

Not in you know, fifteen years maybe.

Or maybe four days ago when I delivered a pizza to you.

Okay, well maybe a little bit longer.

Well you know, you'll well, you're welcome, and of course your families welcome.

You still have the house, Yeah.

Yeah, I don't plan on getting rid of it. You got a lot of memories in that house. Good.

I don't like to say that we're bad, because you know, there's nothing bad that I want to remember. I just want to try to remember the good things.

Yeah, it is something that you know I thought about too, And yeah, I you know obviously I haven't talked in a while, and I don't know how much of my life I want you to be a part of.

But i'd be interested in you and I neither.

Okay, and that's great. I'll do it you at pace. I don't push myself, and you know how you want to do it. I'm not just open to it. I'll go by the rules. You make the rules, and I'll follow them, all.

Right, I mean, but yeah, we'll figure something out. If you're in town next week, maybe we do something next week.

Maybe yeah, yeah, I'll be in town next week.

I'm leaving it up to you because you see the ship and uh, I'll just raise the sails.

Got it?

Sounds good?

Okay, all right, Well I'll be in touch and.

Okay, good, good listen, don't wait too long, okay, all right, and you can tell me more about you and I love to see you, all right. Don't be angry at me if I try to kiss you when I see it.

Let's not do that.

I kiss you my whole life.

I always kissed you. All keep your lips all right.

We'll do okay, Hey, thank you for calling. I'm so happy to hear from you. I'll talk to you bye bye.

Bye on the next episode of Number One Dad.

I'm happy to sit here with you.

I'm happy that you reached out to him.

I really mean that.

Has said that.

Some good memories, a lot of them. I have no regrets. I have no regrets.

Well that's in any anything. Well, I know you would talk to you twenty years. I am not talking a minute Janie or Danny.

Well, you know I tried.

Things happen and that's it.

Number One Dad is a production of Radio Point, Big Money Players Network and iHeart Podcasts, created and hosted by Gary Veeter. Executive producers are Gary Veeter, Adam Lowett, Alex Bach, Daniel Powell, Houston Snyder, Kenneth Slotnik, and Bryan Star. Written by Gary Veeter and Adam Lowett, Produced by Bernie Kaminski. Co producer is Taylor Kowalski, Edited and mix by Ian Sorrentino at Little Bear Audio. Recording engineer is kat IOSA