Charles English recommended DeRose check with mob attorney Michael Brodkin to see if he had interest. Brodkin represented the business affairs of hoodlums Gus Alex and Leslie Kruse. DeRose met Brodkin at his office. Brodkin heard DeRose out, but he too thought it was a losing proposition because "local authorities simply could not be trusted." [89] Felix Alderisio dropped by during DeRose's visit. Brodkin chided Alderisio in front of DeRose over the Outfit's recent ill-conceived attempt to kill Louis Barbe. Barbe operated a lucrative insurance fraud scheme for the Outfit. He fell out with his mob associates, and they tried to eliminate him by placing a bomb in his car. Barbe survived the blast and had turned state's evidence against them. [90] "If we're to blame for it, there's cross wires someplace and somebody's going to get hurt." [91] Brodkin's blunt talk and self-identification with the mobsters he represented showed he was more like the Outfit's house consigliere than merely a hired lawyer. After striking out in Chicago, DeRose contacted Angelica by phone on February 4, 1964, and told him the Outfit was taking a pass. DeRose's golden ticket to move up in the underworld had slipped away.