Omerta--the Mafia's "sacred" vow of silence and secrecy. Hardened mobster Tommy Roma does fifty years behind bars for this very concept, after witnessing his boss, Mr. Spirochete, commit a double-homicide and taking the blame himself for the grisly murders. Now, fifty years later, Roma is unleashed upon 21st Century America.

A classic fish-out-of-water tale, "Hard Time" is about a man who has trouble assimilating into 21st Century America. Gritty, darkly comic, and suspenseful, "Hard Time" takes place in the same universe as Jack Bristow's Saturday Evening Post short story, "Joe's Coffee Shop, " published in 2016 and "Going To The Mattresses" published in Mystery Weekly Magazine.