Movies You’ll Never See/Empires of Crime/Part 13

*For Introduction with submission guidelines go to Oct 13

*Heywood Gould is the author of 9 screenplays including “Rolling Thunder,”Fort Apache, The Bronx,”Boys From Brazil”and “Cocktail.”

EMPIRES OF CRIME /Part 13

By Heywood Gould

ACT 7 Cont’

INT. BRIDAL SUITE. DAY.

Anne is standing forlornly by the window as the door bursts open. Esther Siegel, rushes in.

        ESTHER
Annie, whaddya mopin’ on
this beautiful day?

        ANNE
I was supposed to go for
a ride on the boardwalk
with my new husband.
What do the boys do when
they run off with each
other?

        ESTHER
I don’t care what Benny does
as long as he don’t stink of
cheap perfume when he comes
home. C’mon, there’s a Saks
in this town just like the
one on Fifth Avenue..

INT. CONFERENCE ROOM. DAY.

Meyer is selling hard.

        MEYER
We got enough power to
create a Syndicate that’ll
be bigger than any
corporation in the country.

        CAPONE
Who do you think you are,
Henry Ford? You’re a bandit.
You steal from the suckers,
you steal from the feds. A
guy gets in your way you
take him out…

        MEYER
That’s a good description of
Henry Ford, Al.

        CAPONE
Only Henry Ford don’t hit
guys with pipes.

        CHARLEY
He don’t have to. And neither
do we. It’s time we stopped
killin’ each other and
started lookin’ at this
business the way other
guys look at their’s. We
negotiate, we make deals.
We don’t look over our
shoulders when we go home
at night.

        MEYER
Instead of fightin’ let’s go
in partners.

        BERNSTEIN
How do we do that?

        MEYER
We set one price for liquor.
No one is allowed to sell
booze out of his territory,
no one is allowed to undercut
the other guy’s prices.

        CHARLEY
No hijackin’ or musclin’ in..

        MEYER
We organize bookmaking. You
got fifteen, twenty thousand
independent bookies takin’
action every day. We give
them a central spot financed
by the Combination where
they can lay off their bets.
We guarantee their action
and in return we take a
piece. We’re the house, we
win big.

        CHARLEY
Only time we lose is when
we fight among ourselves.

        MEYER
We got wide open towns where
you can own the Chief of
Police for a fifty dollar
bill. Newport, Kentucky,
Hot Springs, Arkansas,
Phoenix City, Alabama…

        CAPONE
Hick towns…

        MEYER
We’ll put’em on the map.
Build big,classy places
where we own the liquor,
the bands, the knives and
forks, even the toilet paper.

        CAPONE
What about side action? Drugs, Casa di toleranza…

        CHARLEY
(translating)
Whorehouses for our American
friends.

        MEYER
To me a whorehouse is a
waste of good real estate.
Drugs is a big risk for a
small market.

        CHARLEY
But we’ll let our members
make side deals on any
proposition…

        MEYER
As long we have some rules
we all abide by…

        LAZIA
Like what?

        MEYER
Like publicity for one.
Gettin’ your picture taken,
gettin’ your name in the
columns.

        CHARLEY
It makes our policemen friends
look bad. Makes it tough for
our politicians to get elected.

        MEYER
We can’t kill cops or reporters.

        BENNY
How about killin’ our own?

        MEYER
It’ll come up,let’s face
it. And when it does we
put it to a vote.

        DALITZ
Just like throwin’ a guy
off the Board of Directors,
huh Meyer?.

        MEYER
Yeah. If you wanna kill me
one day, Al you’re gonna
have to get the okay from
these nice fellas.

There is a moment of silence as Capone ponders his response. Then, he smiles and wraps his arm around Meyer.

        CAPONE
Why would I wanna hurt a hair
on your head? You’re gonna
make me rich.

        MEYER
Or die tryin’…

The others laugh and add their approving voices. “Where do I sign?” “Count me in,” etc. The room breaks into handshakes and mutual congratulations…

INT. RESTAURANT. DAY.

In a back room, Charley nurses a glass of wine and watches with quiet distaste as Masseria gorges himself.

        MASSERIA
I hear you made yourself
big boss in Atlantic City.
CHARLEY
I walked outta that meeting
with a piece of every liquor
operation in the country…For you
(offers a fat ENVELOPE)
This is just the beginning.

Masseria takes the envelope with a greedy look.

        MASSERIA
How much you give that
son of a whore Maranzano?

        CHARLEY
Not as much as I give you,
I swear on my mother…

        MASSERIA
You earn for me, Charley.
You got a nice American
personality. All the big
Broadway types like to buy
their booze from Good Time
Charley. But there are
jealous people making
plans against you. When you
need protection and your
Broadway pal Ziegfield
can’t help you. And the
great Maranzano won’t lift
a finger. Who will you
come crawling to?

        CHARLEY
(grabbing Masseria’s hand)
You, Don Giuseppe. I kiss
your hand. I swear eternal
loyalty.
(offers another envelope)
Please take my share as well.
Out of respect and gratitude…

INT. CAR. DAY

A DRIVING RAIN pounds the windshield. We get a dim view of a sign reading GENNARO’S RESTAURANT. Charley Workman sits behind the wheel, watching the street. He sees:

CHARLEY

stepping out of the restaurant… FOUR MEN rush out of a car and grab him. Charley slugs one of them and tries to run, but two BIG HOODS block his path. His arms are pinned. He is punched in the stomach. As he doubles over a blackjack is brought down hard on the back of his head. And he is dragged away, unconscious.

CHARLEY WORKMAN

jumps out, drawing his gun . But a MAN wielding a PIPE steps out of a storefront and blind sides him, knocking him down.

INT. BACK SEAT. DAY

Charley is thrown into the back, his head bouncing off the seat. A GLOVED HAND pulls his head back..

        VOICE
Big shot…

CURTAINS are drawn around the windows. The car speeds away.

END PART ONE & TWO

Next: PART THREE/Part 14/Act 1 (Monday, Dec. 5)

In a new department the Daily Event will reoffer some of these scripts. Read them and decide: would you like to have seen this movie?

Our first script is EMPIRES OF CRIME. Seven years in development it is a six part mini-series commissioned by a broadcast network and later reacquired by a cable station.

The story is about the founders of Organized Crime, Meyer Lansky, and “Lucky” Luciano, their fifty year partnership and the empire they created. Their friendships and families, lives and loves. It is also about their implacable enemy Thomas Dewey, a young Republican attorney who built a political career prosecuting the Mob that propelled him to the NY Governor’s Mansion and almost to the White House.

*For Introduction with submission guidelines go to Oct 13.  Use Contact Us, above, for submissions.