I worked for this Greek Copmany for a While. All these Greek guys had American names. A lot of these guys served in the Greek Army, because they had compulsory military service. This one guy, Mike, he was on the army wrestling team. He was about 5’ 10” a 140 pounds, a wiry fuck with a horseshoe bald head. They would wrestle at lunchtime, these Greek guys. I tried wrestling with him and got my ass tore up. He’s about 55 years old, champion of the army wrestling team but fell short trying out for the national team. This guy is 30 years past his prime and I couldn’t do nothing with him. The Mexicans on the job knew nothing about wrestling, But every single one of them, to one degree or another, knew something about boxing. We never boxed on break, just wrestled. But the Mexicans knew nothing about wrestling, like fish out of water. They were dumfounded, couldn’t do anything. Interestingly, they had this redneck who drove truck, a real god guy from Dundalk who got his knee shot out in Afghanistan. He kind of favored Mescaline Franklin, had that grappling type build. He was the second best there, after the old Greek, Mike. He actually wrestled for a Dundalk high school. The Greeks loved wrestling. I was much bigger, much younger , but Mike had a level of technique I couldn’t fathom.

Mike would go around Highlandtown picking up hookers, come to work and talk about it. The guy that owned the building, Patarakis, would bring in big bags of cucumbers and tomatoes. We’d sit around eating vegetables for lunch, watching wrestling. He had his own garden and he’d give fresh produce to all is guys. The Mexicans loved it. They also talked about how in the Greek Army, that when they brought a Muslim in they weren’t allowed to do have any weapons related jobs, that they will work as cooks and such that there was a lot of hard feelings between the Greeks and the Turks.