Only a lucky man could wrestle with an armed robber and live to tell the story.

        Only a wise man would be robbed again, hours later — for the fifth time in less than a year — and not try to blame his troubles on the rest of the world.

        Falou Diouf happens to be lucky and wise.

        The West African native of Senegal owns Mini's Deli in the West End.

        Sometime around the halftime show on Super Bowl Sunday, the deli's door swung open.

        In walked a man with a gun.

        Falou's brother, Mamadou, sat on a chair toward the rear of the store. Falou was next to him, hidden by a rack of candy.

        The brothers were talking. Falou was stacking Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Mamadou was laughing.

        “Give me the money,” the gunman barked.

        He pointed a 9mm handgun at Mamadou. Bang!

        The bullet missed Mamadou by inches. A case of grape-flavored Lotsa Cola took a direct hit.

        “That's when I jumped on him,” Falou said.

        Bang!

        The bullet smashed into a cooler's glass door. Four Diet Pepsi bottles bit the dust.

        The second shot brought a third brother, Samba, from the back room. The trio wrestled with the gunman.

        Groceries hit the floor. Tin cans. Ketchup bottles. Toilet paper. All into a pool of grape cola.

        “He was very bad,” Mamadou said. “Very strong.”

        And still very armed.

        “I finally got the gun away from him,” Falou said. “And got this.”

        He winced as he stood by his counter and put hydrogen peroxide on his skinned fingers.

        The brothers introduced the robber to the deli's floor. Then, they tied him up with an orange extension cord.

        He begged them not to call the police.

        “You know me,” he told Falou. “I come here all the time. I spend money here.”

        Falou reminded him that good customers don't fire loaded weapons in his direction. Then, he called 911.

        Common sense and the cops say: In a robbery, let the money go. Life is priceless.

        Falou knows this. “But,” he protested, “I'm not going to let him kill me like this.”

        He put his hands behind his back and smiled.

        “I have to fight.”

        The brothers have owned Mini's for three years. They have lost $20,000 from eight robberies, five since last summer. The most recent burglary happened four hours after the brothers hogtied the gunman. Someone popped a back window and stole $1,200 in cigarettes.

        Falou does not feel he is being singled out because he's an immigrant. He shares an African heritage with most of his customers.

        “Those robbers,” he said, “just want the money.”

        He sees the robberies as an occupational hazard.

        “In this business, you risk your life every day,” he said. “This happened in Senegal, where I also ran a store.”

        Falou came to the United States with his brothers in 1995. He works hard. Seven days a week, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Three years — no days off.

        “If you want to work,” he said, “you can get anything you want in America.”

        Mini's has been robbed by people who don't believe in the American dream.

        One of those bums met three hard workers who are wise and very lucky.

        Columnist Cliff Radel can be reached at 768-8379; fax 768-8340; e-mail cradel@enquirer.com.

Support builds for reforms for retarded
Taft targets high-tech jobs
Taft's tech plan wins area praise
CAN's slogan urges action
Cops: Banks robbed to feed drug habits
Male patient shot to death in hospital
City Hall becomes like a courtroom
Early release refused for teen rioter
Gunman surrenders after standoff
Tristate A.M. Report
Whoops - you owe us, county gets told
HOWARD: Some Good News
RADEL: The family store
SAMPLES: Abstinence
Butler may delay request for sales-tax hike
Deerfield wants Y that Loveland rejected
Driver pleads not guilty in fatal crash
Kings' creativity flows in senior
Lessons learned from Lebanon ethics woes
Montgomery charter under review
Planning summit to tackle sprawl
Who hears abuse case undecided
Mother accused of killing babies
Gravel operation grows
Kentucky News Briefs
Mayor's pick for new police chief is old one
Nuns to work in Uganda
Store-flasher suspect faces another charge
Water main fate being addressed