*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
By Heywood Gould
PART III
ACT ONE (Con’t)
SEPTEMBER 15, 1931
EXT. LOWER PARK AVENUE. DAY.
A VAN marked FOX’S DRY CLEANING pulls up to the curb. Meyer jumps out and wheels a rack of SUITS into the building.
INT. HOME REALTY. DAY.
A dozen or so BODYGUARDS are lounging around reading the papers. Suddenly, the door flies open. FOUR POLICEMEN barge in.
POLICEMAN
Alright, everybody up. Move
over against the wall.
THE OFFICE DOOR
opens and Maranzano steps out with an angry look.
MARANZANO
What kinda cheap shakedown is
this?
FIRST POLICEMAN
Bootleggin’ Squad…You got a
shipment of illegal alcohol on
the premises…
Maranzano follows them into his office.
MARANZANO (CONT’D)
What are you tryin’ to pull?
INT. MARANZANO’S OFFICE. DAY.
Maranzano enters and goes to the phone.
MARANZANO (CONT’D)
I’m gonna call my good friend
Inspector McDonagh at Headquarters.
We’ll see what sewer you guys are
workin’ in tomorrow…..
He gasps as a GAROTTE is looped around his neck. Red Levine steps behind him, pulling the cord tighter across his throat.
THE SECOND POLICEMAN
steps up, drawing a knife. It is Benny. He slashes Maranzano.
BENNY
That’s for Charley.
With the superhuman strength Maranzano breaks free, screaming:
MARANZANO
Secorro…Secorro…
IN THE OFFICE
The door flies open. Maranzano lurches out, bleeding, shouting:
MARANZANO
Secorro, Secorro…
Benny plunges a bloody knife into his chest. The Bodyguards stand frozen as he drags Maranzano screaming into the office. TWO SHOTS CRACK behind the closed door. A moment later Benny and Red Levine run out.
BENNY
Anybody step out that door
I’m gonna blast ‘em.
IN THE HALL
Meyer waits in the shadows with the rack. The killers run out and slip out of their police tunics and into sports jackets and overcoats, then run down the stairs.
THE ELEVATOR.
door opens and Charley strolls out. He sees the bodyguards crouching by the mortally wounded Maranzano.
CHARLEY
Marrone. What happened?
EXT. PHONE BOOTH. DAY.
A BLACK SEDAN idles by the curb. It is the same car used to kidnap Charley. A STREET SWEEPER spears trash and drops it into a cart. The PHONE RINGS. Mad Dog Coll jumps out of the back seat and steps into the booth. He barks a “Yeah,” and when he gets no response:
COLL
Hey Maranzano, that you?
CHARLEY (CROSSCUT)
on the phone, Meyer and Benny grinning behind him.
CHARLEY
No. It’s your mother’s uncle’s
grandma’s French poodle…
As Coll stares at the phone in bewilderment
THE STREET SWEEPER
pulls a TOMMY GUN out of his trash cart and begins blasting, tearing the booth to pieces.
INT. CHARLEY’S OFFICE. NIGHT.
Ducore’s is jammed with HOODS eager to pay homage. One by one they step into the office where Charley sits on a bridge chair, eating a corned beef sandwich, Genovese and Anastasia standing protectively behind him. They kiss his ring, slip him an envelope and back away, murmuring their obsequies. Charley sees Meyer standing by the door and beckons.
CHARLEY
Meyer, c’mere.
GENOVESE
He’s not one of us, Charley.
CHARLEY
Neither are you, Vito. You’re
from Naples.
MEYER
Do I have to kiss your ring,
too?
CHARLEY
Only my ass.
MEYER
Nice turnout.
CHARLEY
Each of these guys has twenty,
thirty guys in his crew. Four,
five thousand guns marchin’ to
our tune.
ANASTASIA
You oughta make a speech. Lay
down the law to these gavones.
CHARLEY
I ain’t Julius Caesar conquerin;
the world. I ain’t Don Giuseppe
stuffin’ my face and braggin’
about what a big man I am. I
don’t need no old country mumbo
jumbo. I’m an American business
man. I take care of my workers,
I wipe out the competition. I’m
gonna run this town for a long
time.
END ACT ONE
Next: Part 17/Act 2: Lucky In Love
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.
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