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Movies You Will Never See/Empires of Crime/Part 19

Published on December 28, 2011 in archives. 0 Comments Tags: BOYS FROM BRAZIL, bugsy seigel, FORT APACHE the bronx, free scripts, HEYWOOD GOULD, lucky luciano, MAFIA, meyer lansky, Movies, rolling thunder, screenplay writing, screenplays, thomas dewey.

*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 THREE

INT. HALLWAY.DAY.

A gloomy morning. Tom’s heels click hollowly as he opens a door marked SPECIAL PROSECUTOR. Inside, the offices are empty; even the furniture has been removed. William Dodge comes out of an office, putting on his coat.

DODGE
It’s all yours Dewey. Here
are the files on the ongoing
cases.

He hands Tom two slim folders. Tom examines them in disbelief.

TOM
Prostitution in the Bronx?

DODGE
Number one public health
problem.

TOM
I’d like to meet my staff.

DODGE
They’re all leaving with me.
You’ll have to hire your own.

TOM
I can’t afford experienced
people on the pittance you
gave me.

DODGE
Take out an ad: Recruits
wanted for a war on the
mob. Go on the radio.

TOM
Maybe I will.

INT. CHARLEY’S BATHROOM. DAY.

A Deco masterpiece. Gold and black fixtures, chrome trim. Nancy is soaking in a BUBBLE BATH . Charley is at the mirror, tying his tie. Charley Workman looks in from the doorway.

CHARLEY
Everybody’s here. Waitin’
for you, Three twelve…

NANCY
Why do they call you three
twelve?

CHARLEY
My code name. C’s the third
letter of the alphabet, L’s
the twelfth.

Nancy rises out of the tub, but Charley pushes her back, dunking her. Nancy comes up sputtering: ”Charley!”

CHARLEY
Do me a favor, honey, Stay
in here…
(turns on the water)
And keep the water running…

INT. CHARLEY’S PENTHOUSE. DAY

Sun streams through the picture window. Charley’s boys—, Anastasia, Genovese and Costello graze at the lavish buffet. Meyer, in his shirtsleeves, a cigarette dangling from his lips, is sitting at the table sorting envelopes.

CHARLEY
Hey Vito, save me some lox,
willya. Manageh, your eyes
are bigger than your stomach…

Meyer hands him an envelope.

MEYER
This is your share of the
week’s winnings in Jersey
and Saratoga. Now that Mr.
Maranzano is no longer with
us his piece goes back into
the pot.

CHARLEY
(hefting the envelope)
Somebody say somethin’ about
a depression?

Anastasia looks at Charley’s envelope with jealous eyes.

MEYER
Business is holding up. I
don’t know where the suckers
are findin’ the money…

COSTELLO
Phil Kastel just shipped a
hundred and fifteen thousand
more slot machines into New
Orleans. Owney Madden’s up and
running in Hot Springs, Eddie
Levinson in Newport, Kentucky,
and Cincinnatti

CHARLEY
I love gettin’ money from
towns I never heard of.

MEYER
Our partnerships made hundred
three K in cash wins, sixty-
seven in markers. This covers
Newport, Saratoga, Hallandale,
Miami, the smaller joints in
Rhode Island, Buffalo… We’re
in for seven percent in
Cleveland. Boston, three and a
half. But we’re takin’ four
because King Solomon won’t kick
in for capital improvements…

GENOVESE
How do we know we’re gettin’
a fair share?

MEYER
I got people in every casino
watchin’ out for our interests.

ANASTASIA
How do we collect the markers?

MEYER
We got a list. Some people
we’re nice to, some people
we lean on.

ANASTASIA
I lean on everybody who owes
me money.

MEYER
You wanna be nice to people
so they’ll come back and
lose more.

CHARLEY
(laughs)
Meyer’s got all the answers.
He’s like the Bank of America,
makin’ money for you while you
sleep.

ANASTASIA
How much you take home,
Meyer?

MEYER
Nothin’ outta your pocket.

ANASTASIA
You and Benny eatin’ off
the same plate?

MEYER
That’s how it works. Your
boys think you’re too nice
to Benny and me, Charley.

GENOVESE
How come we ain’t seen no
money from California?

MEYER
Benny’s still settin’ things
up.

ANASTASIA
I didn’t chip in fifty G’s
for him to go out to Beverly
Hills and bang movie stars.

CHARLEY
I’ll vouch for Benny. Any
losses I’ll make up outta
my own pocket.,,

ANASTASIA
That’s fair…

CHARLEY
In exchange for twenty five
per cent of your profits.

ANASTASIA
(backs off)
I guess we can keep things
the way they are.

CHARLEY
I guess so.
(pinches his cheek)
Look at this guy. When I met
him, he was a wallyo with
his hands stickin’ out of his
sleeves. Now he’s the king of
Brooklyn with a different suit
every night and a different
blonde to go with it. Nice
country America, huh Albert?

INT.RADIO STUDIO. NIGHT

Medailie and Smith are making a last minute try to dissuade Tom.

MEDAILIE
Radio’s an entertainment medium.
No one’s ever used it for
politics…

TOM
Look George, our only hope
is to go over the Mayor’s
head to the public. If the
people respond the city will
be forced to support us.

SMITH
And if they don’t respond?

TOM
Then, we’ll know where we
stand. We can back out of
this fight before we make
fools out of ourselves.

INT. BACK OFFICE. NIGHT.

Another small, cramped smoky counting room. A young ACCOUNTANT sits at a table in the corner pounding on an adding machine. Anastasia and Genovese stare in amazement at A HUGE PILE OF HUNDREDS on a desk in front of Meyer. He is counting the money, while he makes notations and talks on the phone.

MEYER
This is the fourth losing
night in a row. Either you
got the luckiest crapshooters
in the world or somebody’s
skimmin’.

GENOVESE
(whispers to Anastasia)
I never seen nobody count
money so fast…

MEYER
(on the phone)
I’ll send a man to check
the books. If you got a
thief, Mr. Anastasia will
deal with him, won’t you
Albert.

ANASTASIA
They don’t call me the Lord
High Executioner for nothin’.

MEYER
(hangs up)
To what do I owe the honor..?

GENOVESE
Let’s just say we came
out to hear the Dorsey
band…

MEYER
(rising)
Music lovers, huh?

INT. CASINO. NIGHT.

Large and lavish,.BETTORS in evening clothes, A SWING BAND in the background. Meyer walks quickly through the casino, Anastasia and Genovese struggling to keep pace.

LANSKY
This is the biggest operation
in Jersey, any cab driver in
three states can take you to
the door. In a coupla years,
there’ll be ten more joints
like this across the state.
All run by me for the
Commission. All you gotta
do is sit back and get your
envelope.

ANASTASIA
I’m not the kinda guy who
walks around with his mouth
shut and his hand out…

GENOVESE
We have a right to check
on our investment, Meyer.
We got ten per cent of
this operation…

MEYER
You got ten per cent of
Charley’s share. You’ve
made your money back a
hundred times over.

ANASTASIA
That don’t mean we don’t
have a right to a fair
share.

GENOVESE
People tell me you’re doin’
300G’s a week here.

MEYER
And you think I’m skimmin’
on you. Charley’s little
hebe friend, who he trusts
more than you. Think I’d be
stupid enough to cheat you?
You’re just lookin’ for an
excuse to nail me.

ANASTASIA
If I wanna nail you, Meyer,
I don’t need no excuse.

MEYER
What’s that Sicilian
expression: don’t shit
where you eat? Charley’s
got a rule against the
partners patronizing our
casinos, Don’t worry, I’ll
tell him you came to see
the Dorsey band… Hey
Solly, turn the lights
off in the office. Electric
bill’s up eleven eighteen
from last month…

And he steps out, past a line of BETTORS, eager to get in, leaving Anastasia and Genovese to glare at him with hatred.

INT.CHARLEY’S SUITE. NIGHT.

Another party is in full swing as Meyer enters. He tries to move unobtrusively through the room, but heads turn and people call out greetings. He finds Charley in a corner with some BROADWAY TYPES and draws him away

INT. BEDROOM. NIGHT.

The lights of the city twinkle through the window. In the darkness Meyer hands Charley an envelope.

MEYER
You oughta go easy on
the social life.

CHARLEY
No law against bein’ a
celebrity..

A DOOR OPENS. A SPLASH OF LIGHT catches the two men.

NANCY
Charley..?

Nancy enters and draws back.

NANCY
Sorry. I didn’t know
anybody was in here…

CHARLEY
It’s okay, baby, come in…
You know Nancy, Meyer…

MEYER
Haven’t had the pleasure…

CHARLEY
And pleasure it is…

He grabs her in a gruffly affectionate headlock.

NANCY
I was just gonna get some
more…

CHARLEY
Not right now. Not in
front of our Broadway
friends.
(squeezes her faces between
his fingers)
Look at this beauty, Meyer.
Una bella visaggia….

MEYER
She’s just a kid, Charley.

CHARLEY
She’s my baby, all mine.
Show Meyer, baby…

Nancy turns and pulls up her skirt. The letters C and L are branded on her buttocks.

CHARLEY
I put my brand on her.
Now let’s see who has
the balls to make a move
on Charley Luciano’s girl…

MEYER
Dewey’s on the radio,
Charley.

CHARLEY
Good place for a comedian.
(slips his finger into
Nancy’s mouth)
You gonna be nice to me
tonight?
(pushes her away)
Go get your nose candy.
I can’t say no to this
girl.
(sees Meyer’s anxious look)
Okay, okay, let’s hear
what the hick has to say.

Meyer turns on the radio. He hears Tom:

TOM
My crusade is not against
prostitutes or petty criminals.
It is against organized gangs
of low grade outlaws who lack
the courage or intelligence to
earn an honest living.

CHARLEY
Low grade! Like to see him
run a racket.

INT. RADIO STUDIO. NIGHT.

Tom is sitting at a table speaking earnestly into a MICROPHONE. Technicians and executives listen with rapt attention.

TOM
No family can sit down
to dinner without paying
a huge unofficial sales
tax to the gangsters who
control the trucks and
wholesalers that bring
our food to the table.
The businessmen and the
public pay and the
racketeer takes the profits.

INT. CHARLEY’S BEDROOM (CROSSCUT)

Charley nods in appreciation

CHARLEY
Good angle.

TOM
Our goal is to get the
bosses,the men in the
swank cars and camel hair
coats…Thieves who take
money from the poor and
promise a payoff that never
comes.

Charley takes it lightly.

CHARLEY
How does he know I have
a camel’s hair coat? He
been lookin’ in my closet?

TOM
With your help we can
be free from organized
racketeering in this city.
We need dedicated lawyers
who are willing to work
long hours with little
hope of compensation.

CHARLEY
That’ll be the day…

TOM
If you have evidence of
organized crime, if you
have been the victim of a
racket tell us. The rest
is our job and we’ll do our
best…Our offices are in
the Woolworth Building. We
promise to treat all reports
in full confidence…

He breaks off, awkwardly. The technicians immediately go about their business. An ANNOUNCER steps to a MICROPHONE.

ANNOUNCER
Thank you, Mr. Dewey. Now
we return to Vincent Lopez
and his orchestra, live
from the Taft Hotel…

INT. CHARLEY’S BEDROOM. NIGHT.

Charley turns off the radio. Meyer puffs nervously on a cigarette.

CHARLEY
Smart…Nothin’ about the
booze or the betting. Just
about how we’re takin’ food
off peoples’ tables. Lucky
we choked off his money.
He’ll never get lawyers to
work for nothin’.

The PHONE RINGS. Charley answers.

CHARLEY
Hello…Yeah I heard…You
could send a blimp up with
all that hot air. Okay I’ll
be there.
(hangs up)
The Dutchman wants a meeting.

INT. STUDIO. NIGHT.

Tom picks up his papers and joins Smith and Medailie.

TOM
What’d you think?

MEDAILIE
Was it wise, giving out
your address? Tomorrow
every reporter in the city
will be outside your door.
If nobody shows up we’ll be
laughed out of the city.

EXT. RAIL YARDS. NIGHT.

HOBOS cluster around a trash can fire. Behind the cars, Charley and Dutch Schulz meet in the glare of their cars’ headlights. Meyer watches, his cigarette glowing in the darkness.

SCHULZ
What did we do to this
guy to make him hate us
so much? He upset my mother
droppin’ my name like that.

CHARLEY
Tell her he was talkin’
about some other Dutch
Schulz.

SCHULZ
Can’t laugh this guy off,
Charley.

CHARLEY
The guy’s got no money,
nobody behind him. He’s
tryin’ to recruit lawyers.
Did you ever hear of a
lawyer workin’ for nothin’?
He’s callin’ for volunteers.
Nobody volunteers in this
city. And nobody rats neither.

SCHULZ
I don’t like a guy who
don’t know when he’s
licked. We keep knockin’
him down he keeps jumpin’
up. Maybe we should hit
him so hard he stays
down.

CHARLEY
Careful, Dutch, we ain’t
stick up guys no more.

SCHULZ
In our business we still
gotta show how tough we
are every day of our lives.
Dewey goes on the radio and
tells the world he’s gonna
get us we gotta do somethin’
about it or we’re finished.

INT. TAXI. DAY.

The next morning. Tom sits in the back seat with an armful of newspapers. The front pages are all about him—DEWEY LAUNCHES CRUSADE AGAINST CRIME, DEWEY DECLARES WAR ON THE MOB, etc.

TOM
See the paper today?

DRIVER
Somebody hit the Irish
sweepstakes?

TOM
Did you happen to catch
Tom Dewey on the radio
last night?

DRIVER
I only listen to the
Brooklyn Dodgers…
Look at all them people.
Another banker must have
jumped outta the window.

A LINE OF PEOPLE

is snaked around the block in front of Tom’s office. As Tom gets out of the taxi he is mobbed an enthusiastic CROWD. PEOPLE hold up the newspapers, shouting. Some want to volunteer, others to report a crime. The POLICE push them back.

POLICE SERGEANT
Follow us, Mr. Dewey, we’ll
get you into the building.

Promising: “I’ll speak to everybody,” Tom gets behind a wedge of policemen as they clear a path to the building. He passes Abe LANDAU, one of Schulz’s gunmen, who is leaning against a wall..

INT. CORRIDOR. DAY

Tom emerges from the elevator into a clamoring crowd.

TOM
Give us a chance to get
organized. Everyone will
be heard, I promise.

He enters the office where An ELDERLY CLERK is fighting off a mob of VOLUNTEERS. Tom climbs up on a desk and addresses the crowd.

TOM
Everybody please listen…
(the crowd quiets)
First of all I want to
thank you for your response.
I promise you that everyone’s
grievance will be heard.
Everyone will get justice.

Tom enters the office, pausing to wave to the cheering crowd.

INT. TOM’S OFFICE. DAY

Tom runs to a phone and dials with trembling fingers. Behind the smoked glass he can see the crowd milling. Unable to contain his enthusiasm he shouts into the phone:

TOM
Frances…We did it…
We did it!

END ACT THREE

Next: Act 4: Dutch Stalks Dewey

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.

Movies You Will Never See/Empires of Crime/ Part 18

Published on December 21, 2011 in archives. 0 Comments Tags: BOYS FROM BRAZIL, bugsy seigel, FORT APACHE the bronx, free scripts, HEYWOOD GOULD, lucky luciano, MAFIA, meyer lansky, Movies, rolling thunder, screenplay writing, screenplays, thomas dewey.

INT. CONFERENCE ROOM.

A COMMISSION meeting. Smoke filled, intense. The bosses from the major cities, the same men who attended the first meeting minus Al Capone. They are more prosperous and more serious. There is no joshing humor in their negotiations. Meyer is at a table, scribbling figures.

MEYER
The rule for new operations
is: whatever percentage of
the budget we invest we get
a half ownership. So if I
put up five per cent of your
cost I get a two and a half
per cent share. In this way
we guarantee the operator
has a fifty per cent stake.

The men nod in agreement. “Okay…”

DALITZ
What do we do about guys
who don’t wanna join the
Syndicate?

CHARLEY
They don’t wanna work for
us, they’re outta business.
Buy’ em out, ten cents on
the dollar. They turn it
down talk to Lepke.

Buchalter nods.

BUCHALTER
I send two guys for a flat
fee depending on the job.

LEVINSON
I’m in Newport, Kentucky.
Coupla New York wiseguys’ll
stick out like a sore thumb.

BUCHALTER
So we find a farmer with a
shotgun who wants to make
a coupla extra dollars…
We’ll get ‘em outta your hair
fast, don’t worry.

BERNSTEIN
Can you control everybody in
New York, Charley?

CHARLEY
Everybody. I broke the city
down into five groups, we
call ‘em families in New
York. Genovese, Anastasia,
Bonnano, Lucchese, Profaci…
They all answer to me.

BERNSTEIN
Ambitious guys. What if they
want their own shares?

CHARLEY
I’ll take care of all of
‘em outta my piece. You have
a problem with them, come to
me.

DALITZ
Meyer and Benny?

MEYER
We have a separate arrange-
ment with Charley and will
deal as members of the
Commission.

BERNSTEIN
Dutch Schulz?

CHARLEY
Dutch is associated with me
in certain ventures. He’s
not a member of the Commission
so you don’t have to worry
about him.

DALITZ
He’s nuts, Charley. He’s a
troublemaker.

CHARLEY
He’s also a smart guy with
a tight organization. He’s
big in Harlem, the Bronx
and upstate New York. And
he makes a lot of money
for a lotta people.

DALITZ
How about new territories,
Charley?
(with a look at Benny)
California..?

BENNY
California’s off the table.
I’m goin’ out there to build
an organization just like
you did in Cleveland, Moe. I
don’t need partners.

MEYER
Partnerships are good, Benny.
They spread the risk.

BENNY
What am I riskin’? I lose
money I’ll go out and
steal some more.

The other men get quiet and watchful as Charley confronts Benny.

CHARLEY
Nobody is bigger than the
Commission, Benny. That’s
how we started it and
that’s how it’s gonna be.

Benny looks at Meyer.

MEYER
You’re the Commission’s man
out west, Benny. That gives
you more power than just
bein’ a hood with a gun and
a big mouth.

BENNY
Which is what I am without
you and Charley, huh Meyer?

MEYER
It’s what we all are without
the Commission.

BENNY
(mollified)
Okay partners, but Greta
Garbo belongs to me.

Everyone laughs..”You got her, Benny…”

CHARLEY
One last thing before we eat.
We each throw fifty G’s into
a pot to get Roosevelt elected
President.

Everyone grumbles…”I don’t get mixed up in politics…”

CHARLEY
Look, I got a pledge from
his campaign. They’ll put
off repealing Prohibition
for a year if we put him
over. That’s a million
bucks more for us…

DALITZ
What’s he want from us?

CHARLEY
Roosevelt needs the big city
vote to win. We run every
big city in the country. Put
up your money, boys. It’s a
lock bet.

JANUARY 1933

INT.THEATER. NIGHT.

ON SCREEN A NEWSREEL shows FDR announcing the repeal of Prohibition. Joyous drinkers mob the bars.

IN THE THEATER (CROSSCUT)

Charley jumps out of the seat and grabs Nancy.

CHARLEY
Let’s get outta here…
(and turns to an USHER)
They don’t make movies like
they used to…

But he turns as FDR comes back on screen, promising to rid the cities of “corruption and crime,” and “drive out the gangsters who have exploited and terrorized the working people…”

INT.RADIO STATION. NIGHT.

WALTER WINCHELL with his trademark fedora, is delivering one of his customary tirades.

WINCHELL
With one stroke of his pen,
FDR has made honest citizens
of us all. Now here’s hoping
the bootleggers disappear along
with the poison they purveyed.

INT. CHARLEY’S SUITE. DAY.

Charley, Meyer, Costello and Dutch Schulz are clustered anxiously around the radio listening.

CHARLEY
Roosevelt double crossed us.

MEYER
(shrugging it off)
You bet a politician’s gonna
would keep his word you’re
givin’ long odds…

WINCHELL
(v.o., radio)
FDR is bringing in a new era
of honesty in politics and an
even break for the common man.
Mobsters beware. Your days are
numbered…

COSTELLO
That Winchell never turned
down a free drink or a
friendly broad in any club
I ever ran.

MEYER
As long they wanted booze
for their parties we were
heroes. Now that liquor is
legal we’re the scum of the
earth..

COSTELLO
They can make more of a
rep for themselves lockin’
us up.

SCHULZ
(boastful)
See how they tried to hang
a tax rap on me. Took it
upstate so I couldn’t have
a Bronx jury. I bought the
whole town. Jury was out
fifteen minutes… Not
Guilty!

MEYER
That was good for you,
Dutch. But things are
changing fast.

SCHULZ
You’re a worrier, Meyer.
Look at me. They told me
there was no room for me
in New York. I’m back and
nobody’s gonna put me out.

CHARLEY
Sure Dutch, but Meyer’s
sayin’ we gotta pull in
our ears a little.
Prohibition was a gift
from God. Took us off
the street and outta the
cheap stick up rackets.
We had fourteen years of
gravy.

SCHULZ
So what do we now, crawl
off and die?

CHARLEY
We got all the breweries
and distilleries. We’re
still makin’ the booze
only now it’s legal. We
sell it in all them
beautiful casinos we’re
gonna open.

MEYER
Carpet joints with dancing
and entertainment. High
class gambling casinos
with croupiers in tuxedos.
Give people a nice,
glamorous place to lose
their money. We own every
drop of liquor that’s
poured, the bands that
play, the knives and
forks,the toilet paper…

CHARLEY
Meyer gets poetic when
he talks about casinos,
don’t he?

MEYER
We put a coupla front men
in. We back outta the
limelight. We’re rich and
invisible.

CHARLEY
That’s good for you, Meyer.
You’re a family man. I’m
in this for the broads and
the bright lights.

MEYER
Can’t fight City Hall,
Charley.

CHARLEY
We are City Hall, Meyer.
Who really runs Chicago?
Frank Nitti. Who’s got
every politician in
Cleveland in his pocket?
Uncle Louis Rothkopf? Joe
Bernstein in Detroit, Nig
Rosen in Philadelphia…

MEYER
They got a Grand Jury
sittin’ right now. The
bluebloods who really
run this town. And
they’re after us.

CHARLEY
So what? We own the DA,
the District Leader and
the Mayor. They’ll get a
coupla hookers. They won’t
bother us.

INT. GRAND JURY. DAY

The same LEE SMITH who was the foreman in the Gordon case, is presiding over a BLUERIBBON GRAND JURY. A vein bulges dangerously in his forehead as he shouts across the table at DA BILL DODGE, a lean bitter man, chewing a cigar to shreds.

SMITH
I asked you, the District
Attorney to prepare
indictments against the
major criminals and you
have the effrontery to
return with a concocted
case against a few
prostitutes in the Bronx!

DODGE
Prostitution is a dire
threat to the physical
and moral well being of
our young men.

Smith turns in consternation to Medailie.

SMITH
In a city where gangsters
control the unions, the
Garment Center, the docks,
the nightclubs, the police,
the political leadership…

In the rear Hines jumps up, angrily.

HINES
I protest this libellous,
baseless assertion…

SMITH
You give me an honest
District Attorney and
I’ll prove everything
I just said. As Foreman
of this Grand Jury I
hereby dismiss you Mr.
Dodge.

HINES
You are blatantly exceeding
your authority.

SMITH
I will not rubber stamp
a cynical attempt to
delude the public. We
will have an impartial
prosecutor. And we will
expose you and the entire
city Administration as
the frauds you are.

INT. COUNTRY CLUB PARTY. NIGHT

A dinner dance. Gowns and dinner jackets. But all are gathered around a piano as Tom and Frances sing a romantic duet.

TOM/FRANCES
Let me see the love light/
From your eyes so blue…/
Let me call you sweetheart/
I’m in love with you…

The guests applaud delightedly and crowd around the Deweys.

GOLFER
Gee Tom, you sing better
than you putt.

George Medailie tugs at Tom’s sleeve.

MEDAILIE
Tom, can I have a word.

Frances looks on anxiously as Medailie leads Tom away.

INT. STUDY. NIGHT.

Lee Smith is pouring drinks as the two men enter.

MEDAILIE
Lee Smith, Tom Dewey.

SMITH
I had the great pleasure
of watching Mr. Dewey
convict Waxey Gordon.

MEDAILIE
Tom loves to perform…

TOM
No greater stage than a
courtroom.

SMITH
And no greater role than
a prosecutor.

MEDAILIE
Puts you in the public
eye. Very useful for a
man with political
aspirations.

TOM
If he gets convictions.
Let’s get down to brass
tacks, gentlemen. I know
you’re trying to find a
Special Prosecutor.

MEDAILIE
There are no secrets in
this town. We’re after
Dutch Schulz. We’ve asked
ten lawyers. Nobody’s
interested.

TOM
Can’t blame ‘em. There’s
not much chance of winning
when the defendant owns the
cops, the judges and the
Mayor.

MEDAILIE
Tom, the President, the
smartest politician in the
country, has vowed to chase
the gangsters out of the
cities. He senses the change
in public sentiment. I’m
telling you Tom the man who goes
up against these mobsters will
become a national hero.

TOM
How much money would I
have to hire staff?

MEDAILIE
Little, if any.

TOM
How much support would I have
from the DA?

MEDAILIE
None. He’ll fight you tooth
and nail.

TOM
I’ll never be home. My kids
won’t know me. My wife
won’t speak to me. If I
don’t convict Schulz I’ll be
ruined.
(with rueful self knowledge)
But if I don’t take this
job I’ll regret it for the rest
of my life.

INT. JUDGE’S CHAMBERS. DAY

Medailie and Smith stand behind Tom as he faces the PRESS. FLASHBULBS POP, REPORTERS shout questions.

REPORTER
What’s the first thing you’re
gonna do as Special
Prosecutor?

TOM
Look into Dutch Schulz’s rackets
and how they are protected by
police and politicians.

REPORTER
The boys are sayin’ you’ve
been set up to lose. They
think you’re a Boy Scout.

Tom faces him, suddenly deliberate and icy calm.

TOM
In a few months they won’t
be calling me that.

INT.CHARLEY’S OFFICE. DAY.

A FRONT PAGE PHOTO of Dewey being sworn in by Judge McCook. TILT UP to Charley staring at the photo as Meyer reads from the editorial. Polakoff and Jimmy Hines confer uneasily in a corner.

MEYER
Young Mr. Dewey will have
the thanks of a grateful
city if he succeeds. What’s
his story, Mo?

POLAKOFF
He’s a bluenose. But a
good lawyer.

HINES
He’s an arrogant little
twerp.

MEYER
Maybe we can slip him a
contribution. I got some
Republicans upstate…

POLAKOFF
Can’t buy Dewey, Meyer.

HINES
I hate guys who don’t
have a price.

CHARLEY
Starve him, Jimmy. Stick
him in a dinky office.
Tell Dodge to cut his
funding so he can’t hire.
Spread the word: nobody
gives him the right time.
If we can’t buy the bum
we’ll bury him.

END ACT TWO

Next:Act 3: Trouble In Paradise

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.

Movies You Will Never See/Empires of Crime/Part 17

Published on December 19, 2011 in archives. 0 Comments Tags: BOYS FROM BRAZIL, bugsy seigel, FORT APACHE the bronx, free scripts, HEYWOOD GOULD, lucky luciano, MAFIA, meyer lansky, Movies, rolling thunder, screenplay writing, screenplays, thomas dewey.

EMPIRES OF CRIME

By Heywood Gould

PART III

ACT TWO

INT. CITY COURTHOUSE CORRIDOR. DAY

Tom Dewey and George Medailie are walking quickly down the crowded hallway, bumping into COPS, PROSTITUTES, BOOKIES and SHYSTERS.

MEDAILIE
This is dynamite, Tom. The
Seabury Commission has heard
a thousand witnesses. They’ve
established a clear connection
between the police and the
gangsters.

They are met by a gaggle of REPORTERS and NEWSREEL CAMERA MEN waiting outside a courtroom. FLASHBULBS POP as REPORTERS shout questions: “You Republicans are gonna make hay outta this, aintcha George?” Medailie shrugs them off with a “No comment,” and they walk through a door marked,

SEABURY COMMISSION.

INT. COURTOOM. DAY

JUDGE SAMUEL SEABURY, a dignified white haired jurist is listening with mounting indignation to a CONSUMPTIVE YOUNG WOMAN.

YOUNG WOMAN
I told the cop I was workin’
nights as a cleanin’ lady,
but he said no respectable
woman was out at 4 am and
threw me in the paddy wagon
with the other girls.

SEABURY
Then what happened?

YOUNG WOMAN
He tole us a twenty five
dollar gift to the
Magistrate’s Christmas Fund
would buy us out. Otherwise
we’d be charged with
prostitution. I didn’t have
no money so he said if I
didn’t wanna go to jail I
could go up to Cokey
Brown’s house and work it
off.

MEDAILIE
(excited)
Fifty one women have come
forward and said they were
pulled off the streets by
corrupt cops and forced to
pay a bribe or enter a
gangster controlled house
of prostitution. We need a
good prosecutor to put all
these cases together.

TOM
(dubious)
Seems like a lot of work
just to put a couple of
crooked cops away.

MEDAILIE
This is Page One, Tom. It
could go all the way up to
the Mayor’s office.

TOM
Only if we found a link
between the cops, the
politicians and the
mobsters who run these
brothels. Then we could
go after them in the name
of public virtue… We
could use it as a campaign
issue.

MEDAILIE
Democrats exploit and abuse
young women. Republicans
protect their virtue…

TOM
But it has to be airtight,
George. To convict a gangster
in New York you have to turn
the whole city against him.

INT. CHARLEY’S SUITE. NIGHT.

A Broadway party in Charley’s Waldorf digs. A glamorous crowd clusters around the piano singing Gershwin tunes. DAVEY BETTILO enters with a bevy of tawdry BEAUTIES.

BETTILO
Mix and mingle, girls. Don’t
talk money, it’s all about
love.

NANCY PRESSER, a tiny blonde, hangs back. The short skirt and tarty make up can’t disguise her timid innocence. Bettilo shoves her.

BETILLO
You too, wallflower. Make
with the personality.

INT.CHARLEY’S BEDROOM. NIGHT.

Charley is showing Benny his new wardrobe, while Meyer scans the books, worriedly. Charley models an OVERCOAT.

CHARLEY
Whaddya think?

BENNY
How many camels they have
to kill to make that coat?

MEYER
It’s too big on you. Anyway,
you shouldn’t be flauntin’
your money when everybody’s
broke.

CHARLEY
Depression’s the best thing
that ever happened. Everybody’s
in hock to us…

MEYER
And they resent guys with
money.

BENNY
The bankers, the bosses, not
us. They love us…

MEYER
Don’t kid yourself. They hate
anybody with a warm coat and
a coupla bucks to buy a nice
dinner.

CHARLEY
Y’see where Capone’s runnin’
soup kitchens in Chicago? We
could do somethin’ like that.
Maybe lower the price of beer…

MEYER
That won’t do no good.
Seabury’s lookin’ to shut
us down. All this shootin’
was bad for business.

CHARLEY
Had to be done.

MEYER
I know but it riled people
up. Cops are runnin’ wild.
Judges are too greedy.
Everybody’s killin’ the
goose that lays the golden
eggs.

CHARLEY
So what do you wanna do
about it?

MEYER
Cash outta New York.

CHARLEY
Leave the city? You nuts?

MEYER
We got casinos all over
Florida. In Newport,
Kentucky, in Hot Springs,
Arkansas. In these towns
a fifty dollar bill buys
you the whole police
department and they throw
in the Mayor. Costello just
put eight hundred thousand
slot machines in Louisiana
and all it cost was a
colored hooker for Huey Long.
I got a guy in Cuba who says
he can open up the whole
country for us.

BENNY
We ain’t even touched the
West Coast.

CHARLEY
I’d rather have a pushcart
on Tenth Avenue than a
mansion in Hollywood.

BENNY
Not me. LA’s for sale like
New York used to be.

CHARLEY
Still is. You worried about
this Seabury? We can fix
him.

MEYER
The guy’s grandfather was
best friends with George
Washington, Charley.

CHARLEY
So what? We got just as
much right to be here as
he does.

He opens the door onto the music, the glamor. The GUESTS wave and urge them to “join the party.” Charley turns to Meyer.

CHARLEY
You wanna leave all this for
some hick town in Arkansas?
Have a drink. Fall in love.

MEYER
I gotta go home. My little
one’s sick again.

CHARLEY
Go home, kiss your wife,
have a bicarbonate, you’ll
feel better in the morning…

As Meyer steps out, Davey Bettilo brings over DAVE MILLER, a pudgy pimp in a cashmere coat, very nervous about meeting the great Charley Luciano.

BETTILO
This here’s Dave Miller from
Philly…

MILLER
It’s an honor…

CHARLEY
Yeah okay. Keep your girls
clean. Don’t beat ‘em up and
don’t feed ‘em too much hop
and don’t ever talk about me
to nobody ‘cause I’ll find out
if you do…

He spots Nancy Presser, hiding in the corner.

CHARLEY
This shrinkin’ violet with
you?
(takes her by the arm)
In the spotlight, honey
you’re too pretty to hide.
(curtly to Miller)
The delivery boy don’t stay
for the party, pal…

Miller backs away, murmuring apologies.

CHARLEY
What’s your name, honey?

NANCY
Nancy Presser. I’m new to
this, Mr. Luciano…

CHARLEY
Don’t worry Nancy, in your
business you don’t need
experience.

INT. LANSKY LIVING ROOM. NIGHT

A NEWSPAPER drops on the coffee table On the front page, PHOTOS OF MEYER, BENNY and CHARLEY. A HEADLINE reads:THE GANGSTERS WHO RULE NEW YORK.

ANNE
(o.s., hysterical)
This new combination consists
of six notorious racketeers…

TILT UP to Anne in her bathrobe, wild eyed and disheveled. Meyer is trying desperately to placate her.

ANNE
Charles “Lucky” Luciano,
Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel,
Meyer Lansky. What’s the
matter, Meyer, don’t you
rate a nickname?

MEYER
From the first day we met
you knew what I did, Annie.

ANNE
Gambling, you said. Nightclubs
with card games. And one day
it would all be legal.

MEYER
It will be …

ANNE
And the drugs. And the
killings? And all the
dirty things they do to
make a dollar.

OFF SCREEN, a BABY cries out.

ANNE
You want to see how God
is punishing us, Meyer?

LANSKY
(follows her)
Buddy will be fine., Annie.

INT. BEDROOM. NIGHT.

Dark. A few pale streaks of MOONLIGHT fall on the crib where the baby, BUDDY, lies thick METAL BRACES on both legs. Meyer and Anne look down at him with concern. Anne rocks the crib, whimpering:

ANNE
He was spoiled, you said.
Let him cry himself to
sleep…

MEYER
Annie, we’ll do everything
for him. There’s a pediatrician
in Boston, who specializes in
spinal problems…

ANNE
He’s a cripple, Meyer and
he’ll be one all his life.
I only hope I die before I
see him in a wheelchair…

MEYER
No one’s gonna die.

ANNE
This is how much God hates
you, Meyer. He punished
your son for your sins.
This innocent little boy
who’ll live in pain for the
rest of his life is God’s
judgement on you…

Meyer looks down at his son, stricken with remorse.

INT. CHARLEY’S BEDROOM. NIGHT.

A short time later. Charley lies in bed in his yellow silk dressing gown, smoking a cigarette.

CHARLEY
What happened, kid, you fall
in?

Nancy comes out of the bathroom in her slip.

NANCY
I was fixin’ my face…

CHARLEY
Powderin’ your nose, you mean.
(flips her a “ravioli”)
Knock yourself out…

NANCY
(opening the package with
trembling fingers)
Thanks.

Charles rises and holds her hand steady.

CHARLEY
Another farm girl goin’ to
hell in the big city. Where
you from?

NANCY
Auburn. Way upstate.

CHARLEY
Yeah, there’s a jail there.
What’s your story, your old
man throw you out ‘cause you
got knocked up?

NANCY
I never knew my old man. My
mother had a boyfriend, who
kept pawin’ me. When I was
thirteen I took off.

CHARLEY
So you been around more than
you look. That’s no reason
to start feelin’ sorry for
yourself.

NANCY
Listen, I’ve had it pretty
tough.

CHARLEY
Everybody in the rackets has
a story. You think I was born
in the Waldorf? My home town
in Sicily makes Auburn look
like Park Avenue. Sulfur mines.
A cloud of poison smoke that
kept out the sun. Kids who
didn’t get TB froze to death.
I came over on a freighter.
Five hundred people packed in
steerage. No windows, no water
to wash. I could take a bath
in perfume every day I’ll
never get that stink outta
my nose. People don’t
understand what we got in
this country. In Sicily you’re
born poor, you die broke.

NANCY
I was born here and I’m
broke.

CHARLEY
Cheer up, today’s your lucky
day
(hands her a roll of bills)
Don’t kick this back to
nobody.

NANCY
Davey told me not to talk
money.

CHARLEY
I don’t pay for sex. This
is for the conversation.
Anybody asks you, you’re
CL’s girl. Don’t let ‘em
stick you in them two
dollar joints, I’ll get
you into Bella Lewitzky’s
house With your kewpie doll
looks you’ll have those
Broadway guys eatin’ outta
your hand.

NANCY
What’s the catch? Why you
bein’ so nice?

CHARLEY
I like you. Other broads are
always puttin’ on an act. You
looked like you’ were gonna
bust out cryin’…

NANCY
I was scared ‘cause they told
me you were the big boss…

CHARLEY
I am. But I’m a lonely guy
in my own way. I need one
person I can be nice to
without worryin’ I’m gonna
get stabbed in the back.
(laughs at her glum expression)
Don’t worry, kid, any girl
who goes around with me
won’t be sorry…

INT. HOTEL SUITE.DAY

A big BUFFET, white-coated WAITERS poised to serve. A bevy of “showgirls”. Some doing their nails, others gossiping, others smoking and pacing. CHARLEY WORKMAN stands guard outside a door. A girl picks up a plate, but he cautions her:

WORKMAN
Don’t touch the buffet.

Next: Part 18/Act 2 (Con’t): The Syndicate

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.

Movie You Will Never See/Part 2/Part 14

Published on December 7, 2011 in archives. 0 Comments Tags: BOYS FROM BRAZIL, bugsy seigel, FORT APACHE the bronx, free scripts, HEYWOOD GOULD, lucky luciano, MAFIA, meyer lansky, Movies, Movies, rolling thunder, screenplay writing, screenplays, thomas dewey.

SPOILER ALERT!!! We jumped out of sequence and didn’t give Charlie a chance to get revenge. Please ignore Monday’s (Dec. 5) Part 14. Here is the continuation from End of Part 1 & 2/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 Three/Part 14

By Heywood Gould

PART II

ACT ONE

INT. WAREHOUSE.

Dark…Abandoned…Under a SPUTTERING WORK LIGHT, Charley hangs by his wrists from a METAL PIPE, Bulky SILHOUETTES mill in the darkness. Bruised and bleeding, Charley shouts,defiantly.

CHARLEY
Come on out and show yourselves
Desgraciada, codardo.

A man stands in the shadows, cigar butt glowing, smoke curling like a wreath over his head. Charley screams at him:

CHARLEY
You! Figlio de putana.

The man raises his hand. A SWITCH BLADE clicks open. He moves quickly and slashes a red ribbon across Charley’s face.

EXT. CAFE. NIGHT

HOODS sit on bridge chairs, smoking, playing cards. Suddenly, a SEDAN speeds down the narrow street and screeches to a halt. Benny and Charley Workman get out, hands in coat pockets.

WORKMAN
Where’s Charley Luciano?

The hoods shake their heads and swear; “I don’t know.” Benny pulls a gun and grabs a man by his lapel,

BENNY
Nobody knows nothin’, huh?

He slams him with the butt of his gun, while the others watch in fear. Charley Workman grabs another man by the throat, slamming him against a wall and Benny jams his gun up his nostrils..

BENNY
Anything happens to Charley,
everything’s gonna happen to
you.

INT. L&S GARAGE. NIGHT

In the office a frantic POLICE LIEUTENANT is on the phone.

LIEUTENANT
Call headquarters and put out
a general alarm. Send out all
cars…

Next to him, Meyer is on the phone with Jimmy Hines.

MEYER
Jimmy, you gotta drop everything.
Get every cop in the city on this.

HINES

in his office (CROSSCUT)

HINES
Who coulda done this, Meyer?
This is our town.

COSTELLO

is giving his hoods detailed instructions.

COSTELLO
Stay close to Masseria. I
wanna know every move he
makes.

HOOD
But what if he catches on,
Frank?

COSTELLO
Make sure he don’t. This is
your chance to show whose side
you’re on..
(turns to the other Hood)
You…Find Maranzano and stay
in his pocket…

MEYER
This is bad for all of us,
Frank. If they can snatch
Charley that’s tellin’ the
world they can do it to us,
too.

COSTELLO
What if some cops grabbed him
for a payoff?

LIEUTENANT
I swear, Frank, ain’t a cop
on the job who would harm a
hair on Charley’s head.

The Burly Blacksmith from Part One opens the door meekly.

BLACKSMITH
Phone call, Mr. Lansky. Guy says
he wants to talk about Mr.
Luciano.

Meyer walks quickly into the garage followed by Costello and the Lieutenant. DRIVERS are unloading cases of LIQUOR from covered trucks. They stop and watch as he picks up the phone.

MEYER
This is Lansky.

INT. WAREHOUSE. NIGHT.(CROSSCUT)

A MAN in the shadows. Behind him, under the light, Charley is hanging unconscious. The Man’s hoarse half Bronx half brogue accent is reminiscent of Mad Dog Coll, Maranzano’s hatchet man.

MAN
Mr. Big Shot Lansky. We got
your Mr. Big Shot Luciano.

MEYER
Who is this?

MAN
Your mother’s uncle’s grandma’s
pet canary. A hundred G’s gets
him back in one piece. You hear
me?

MEYER
I gotta make sure he’s okay.

MAN
Just do what I tellya. I can
dump him dead or alive. Don’t
mean nothin’ to me.

MEYER
(looks at Costello)
We got no choice, Frank.

EXT. HORSE’S NECK SALOON. DAY

A cab is idling in front of the bar. The DRIVER, collar up, hat over his eyes, stares straight ahead as a SEDAN pulls alongside. Benny leans out of and stares long and hard at the driver until his hands start to tremble on the wheel. Then flips a satchel into the back seat.

BENNY
Okay, I got a good look.

And the sedan speeds away.

INT. WAREHOUSE. DAY.

Dawn. A pile of rags stirs in the gray light. It’s Charley, bleeding heavily from a gash over his eye.

EXT. HIGHLAND BOULEVARD. DAY.

The Staten Island warehouse district. Charley is staggering down the street as a RADIO CAR cruises up. TWO COPS rush out.

COP
Hey, pal, what happened to
you?

CHARLEY
Jealous husband…

And passes out.

EXT. STATEN ISLAND PRECINCT. DAY.

A convoy of SEDANS speeds up to this sleepy precinct. Out jump Meyer, Benny, Workman, Anastasia, Genovese and MOSES POLAKOFF, an elegant, arrogant attorney.. They rush past the astonished COPS.

INT. PRECINCT. DAY.

Where Polakoff approaches the DESK SERGEANT.

POLAKOFF
I am Moses Polakoff, Mr. Luciano’s
attorney. I have here a release
signed by Chief Inspector Dolan
authorizing us to remove Mr.Luciano
to a private medical facility…

INT. OFFICE. NIGHT

Charley lies on a bench, under a pile of blankets. He waves weakly the boys enter.

CHARLEY
Hey, the Cavalry finally showed
up.

MEYER
(helping him up)
You okay? We’re gonna get you
a doctor.

CHARLEY
Just get me a drink and a
cigarette.
(sees Benny)
Look at this bum comin’ to
my rescue.
(gives him a hug)
I won’t forget this. Anytime
you need anything…

BENNY
Can you lend me thirty G’s?

CHARLEY
I don’t love ya that much.

MEYER
(laughing)
You’re okay…

EXT. BOCCE CAFE. NIGHT.

Under the lights, OLD ITALIANS play bocci ball. Charley, Meyer and Benny sit at a quiet table in the corner. Charley has his drink and cigarette. A BANDAGE covers half his face.

CHARLEY
It was Maranzano. I couldn’t
see him, but I smelled his
cheap cigar

MEYER
A lotta guys smoke cigars,
Charley.

CHARLEY
It was him. See he gets that
crazy mick to grab me so it’ll
look like a snatch. Like the
great Charley Luciano can’t
protect himself so I lose
respect on the street.

MEYER
Then we gotta get the respect
back. Take him out. Make you
the boss.

CHARLEY
Not now. We gotta move slow.

BENNY
Slow like a bullet.

MEYER
You’re our horse in this race,
Charley. You gotta come in first
or we all lose.

CHARLEY
Look, you guys are new to this.
We been playin’ this game in
Sicily a thousand years. You
see the way he cut me? That’s
what they do to troublemakers
in the old country. Give ‘em a
scar so they know who the boss
is.

MEYER
So what do we do about it?

CHARLEY
You don’t do nothin’. I go back
every week. Give him his envelope,
kiss his hand like nothin’ happened…
Take care of Fat Joe…

BENNY
Why do a job for this bum?

CHARLEY
It ain’t for him. See how this
guy plays bocce?

A BOCCE PLAYER

bowls a ball down the pitch. It knocks one ball into another.

CHARLEY
He knocks one ball into another,
knocks’em both out of his way and
rolls right in to first place.
Well, that’s what we’re gonna do.
Just like them balls them crums
won’t know what hit ‘em.

INT. FEDERAL COURT. DAY

NEWSREEL CAMERAS TURN, SPECTATORS lean forward eagerly as jury foreman LEE SMITH, a portly distinguished man rises to deliver the verdict. At the PROSECUTION TABLE, Tom Dewey, dressed in black with a pencil thin black mustache, seems calm enough, but he has a white knuckled grip on the arms of his chair. At the DEFENSE TABLE, Waxey Gordon stares balefully at the foreman. Smith glares back as he announces:

SMITH
We find the defendant, Herman
Wexler guilty on all counts.

The courtroom explodes. Lawyers congratulate Tom. Medailie shakes his hand, grinning broadly. REPORTERS rush in for a statement. Judge McCook gavels for silence.

MCCOOK
I want to congratulate you, Mr.
Dewey. Never in this court has
such fine work been done by IRS
agents and government attorneys.
You have struck a crippling blow
against organized crime in this
city.

OCTOBER 1929

INT. THEATER. NIGHT

On screen a NEWSREEL. The MARKET CRASHES…BREAD LINES…PRESIDENT HERBERT HOOVER makes a speech,promising to get the country out of this “temporary setback.” RAGGED MEN, huddle around a trash fire.

CHARLEY is watching with Gay Orlova.

NEWSCASTER
They call them the forgotten men.
They fought for their country in
the Great War, but now they don’t
even have the price of a meal…

CHARLEY
But they got enough to buy a
drink…

ON SCREEN

WAXEY GORDON is escorted handcuffed out of the COURTHOUSE.

NEWSCASTER
In New York beer baron Waxey
Gordon was brought to justice
by crusading prosecutor Thomas
E. Dewey…

Charley snorts as Tom appears on screen, waving to the CAMERA and whispers confidentially to Gay

CHARLEY
Meyer fixed that case with
the IRS to get Dewey out of
our hair.

GAY
(impressed)
Wow, Charley…

CHARLEY
That crum’ll never know who
handed him his big victory…

INT. MARANZANO’S OFFICE. DAY.

Charley watches as Maranzano counts money out of one envelope.

CHARLEY
That’s the shylock loans from
the Garment Center. These guys
always need money to keep the
factories goin’ and we’re the
only ones with cash in these
hard times.
(hands him another envelope)
This is the downtown collections
from all the speakeasies.

MARANZANO
No records, no books?

CHARLEY
Meyer keeps the books. I do
business outta my hat.

MARANZANO
I would feel better with Lucchese
or Bonnano in your hat with you.

CHARLEY
Meyer won’t cheat us. I trust
him with my life.

MARANZANO
As long as you understand that
he is an outsider. You know we
are like priests in our thing.
We take a vow of omerta. Of
silence…

CHARLEY
I’m as silent as a tomb.

MARANZANO
You’ve told Masseria nothing about
me..?

CHARLEY
You know I haven’t. Your spies
woulda told you by now.

MARANZANO
You are a clever man, Salvatore.
In this country of imbecili it
is always a pleasure to speak
to you. But clever words are
hollow without brave deeds.

CHARLEY
Your example has given me the
courage Don Salvatore. You can
look forward to good news very
soon.

MARANZANO
(extends his hands)
I’m overjoyed and full of
gratitude.

CHARLEY
(as they hug)
I’m the one who should be
grateful. I’ve learned a
lot from you, Don Salvatore.
I want you to be assured
of my eternal loyalty.

MARANZANO
I trust you completely, Salvatore.
You’re like a son to me.
(walks him to the door))
They say he who conquers New York
can rule the world. Like Caesar
ruled Rome. Will you join my
campaign?

In the doorway, in full view of MARANZANO’S MEN they embrace.

CHARLEY
It will be my honor to march
beside you Don Salvatore.

He walks away, his servile smile twisting into a look of scorn.

END

Next: Part 15/Act 1 Con’t: Taking Over

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.

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

Published on November 30, 2011 in archives. 0 Comments Tags: BOYS FROM BRAZIL, bugsy seigel, FORT APACHE the bronx, free scripts, HEYWOOD GOULD, lucky luciano, MAFIA, meyer lansky, Movies, rolling thunder, screenplay writing, screenplays, thomas dewey.

*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.

MOVIES YOU’LL NEVER SEE/Empires Of Crime/Part 11

Published on November 23, 2011 in archives. 0 Comments Tags: BOYS FROM BRAZIL, bugsy seigel, FORT APACHE the bronx, free screenplays, free scripts, HEYWOOD GOULD, lucky luciano, MAFIA, meyer lansky, Movies, rolling thunder, screenplay writing, screenplays, script, thomas dewey.

*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 11

By Heywood Gould

ACT 6

EXT. STREET.NIGHT.

Charley hits the street and walks down the block to a SHINY BLACK PIERCE ARROW. Charley Workman jumps out and opens the rear door. Charley slides in and finds: INT.PIERCE ARROW.NIGHT. Masseria is in the back seat, his cigar glowing in the dark.

MASSERIA
What does he want?

CHARLEY
Rothstein’s business.

MASSERIA
What did he say about me?

CHARLEY
That you’re a thief.

MASSERIA
You were smart to tell me
you were going to meet him.

CHARLEY
I told you because I knew
you would find out.

MASSERIA
And you will tell me
everything.

CHARLEY
I’ll be your spy, Don
Giuseppe.

MASSERIA
And you will get rid of
Rothstein.

CHARLEY
We don’t have to kill AR.
All we have to do is scare
him a little.

EXT. EL FAY’S. NIGHT

Rothstein emerges with a TIPSY SHOWGIRL, who can’t stop giggling. He slips a few bills into the Doorman’s pocket.

ROTHSTEIN
Get me a cab, Barney. I’m
gonna take this little
buttercup home.

At that moment a SEDAN speeds by.. IN THE SEDAN (CROSSCUT) Charley Workman leans out and rakes the club with a TOMMY GUN. Windows shatter and everyone ducks for over. Rothstein’s Tipsy Showgirl goes into hysterics. He crawls over and tries to calm her…

INT. LO CHEN’S. NIGHT.

An opulent brothel. Silk curtains and lacquered tables. WOMEN in kimonos lounge at the entrance A chubby MADAM leads Meyer down a narrow hallway. He knocks at a door..

MEYER
Charley…

INT. ROOM. NIGHT.

Small. Just enough room for a bed and a table. Luciano is sitting on the bed playing Gin Rummy with a half naked CHINESE GIRL. He slams down his cards.

LUCIANO
Gin! She’s a great lay but
a lousy card player…

MEYER
AR’s been callin’ around town.
Wants to see us.

CHARLEY
(suddenly all business)
I threw a coupla shots at him
tonight…Benny’s in the next
pew…

Meyer steps out into the hallway and walks a few steps to the next door. He enters to find:

BENNY being massaged by a CHINESE WOMAN. On the bed a BLONDE lies in a stupor, an OPIUM PIPE dangling between her fingers.

BENNY
I must be seein’ things.
(with a stoned out chuckle)
You wouldn’t have a piece of
apple strudel on you…

Meyer sniffs in disgust.

MEYER
Jeeze Benny, you got a pregnant
wife at home. Besides, anybody
could come and blow your brains
out.

BENNY
Now, who’d wanna do that to
a nice guy like me?

MEYER
AR wants to see us right away.

BENNY
You and Charley go. Anything
you decide is okay with me…

He passes the Chinese girl an OPIUM PIPE.

BENNY
Light me up, honey…

INT. ROTHSTEIN’S STUDY. NIGHT.

Charley and Meyer sit in the shadows watching Rothstein unlock a cabinet and remove a file.

ROTHSTEIN
Once a month I go down to DC.
There’s a guy there, Harry
Daugherty. He was Harding’s
Attorney General and he’s
still the bag man for the
Republicans. Meet him in the
Mayflower Hotel. Fifty G’s in
hundreds. As long as the
Republicans are in office
they’ll never repeal
Prohibition. Once in awhile
he’ll come to New York. Show
him a good time.

CHARLEY
What kinda girls does he like,
fat, skinny, white, black or
yellow?

ROTHSTEIN
He likes boys…

CHARLEY
Fat, skinny…White, black..?

MEYER
Are you sure you wanna get
outta the business, AR?

ROTHSTEIN
Oh yeah. Tonight was the
capper for me. I’m a nice
Jewish boy from Park Avenue.
I like to make a phone call,
send an envelope and
everything’s jake.I don’t
wanna wake up one morning
with a bullet in my gut.
The Italians, Masseria,
Maranzano. You know these
guys?

CHARLEY
I’ve heard of ‘em.

ROTHSTEIN
They’re tryin’ to muscle in.
I thought I could pull strings,
but tonight they started
shootin’.

CHARLEY
They were just tryin’ to scare you.

ROTHSTEIN
It worked.I don’t wanna
live in a world where the
gun closes the deal. Pay
me twenty five cents on
the dollar and the liquor
business is yours.

EXT. ROTHSTEIN’S TOWNHOUSE. NIGHT

As Charley and Meyer walk away.

MEYER
So who we gotta pay off?

CHARLEY
Both of them.

MEYER
Masseria and Maranzano. That
was your brilliant scheme?

CHARLEY
I’m a threat to these guys.
I gotta keep makin’ money
for them or they’ll kill me.
Trust me, Meyer, we’ll have
it all one day.

INT. CHARLEY’S LIMO. DAY.

A sparkling, Spring morning. Workman drives down a country road, while Charley sits in the back reading the “funnies.” They turn onto a long gravel driveway, past a sign reading JOHN J. RASKOB

WORKMAN
What do these guys want with
us?

CHARLEY
Raskob owns the Empire State
Building. Maybe he’s got a
union beef. Remember the
address. We’ll come back
later and hit the house.

INT. DINING ROOM. DAY

Jimmy Hines walks Charley over to a lavish buffet.

HINES
They asked me to bring the
most powerful people in town…
You were the first guy I
thought of.

Mayor Jimmy Walker offers a smile and a glad hand.

MAYOR WALKER
Hey Charley…

CHARLEY
Gonna give us a song, Mr.
Mayor.

He is astonished when CARDINAL DAUGHERTY, Archbishop of New York, steps out of a private room.

HINES
Have you met Cardinal Daugherty?

CHARLEY
(kisses Daugherty’s hand)
Your Eminence. My mother’s never
gonna believe that I had breakfast
with the Archbishop of New York.

DAUGHERTY
Bring her to mass at St.
Patrick’s. We’ll sit her
in the front row.

HINES
This is Mr. Raskob, our host.

RASKOB
Welcome, Mr. Luciano.

HINES
And here’s the guest of honor,
the next President of the
United States, Al Smith…

Smith, an exuberant Irishman with a thick New York accent. pumps Charley’s hand.

SMITH
Thanks for gettin’ up so early.

CHARLEY
I ain’t been to sleep yet.
Why am I in such illustrious
company?

HINES
It’s time we put a Catholic
in the White House, Charley.
We need your help.

CHARLEY
Smart money’s bettin’ on
Franklin Roosevelt to get
the nomination.

RASKOB
Roosevelt is a menace to
all we stand for. He may
come from a prominent family,
but he’s got the Communists
behind him.

SMITH
I’m a Catholic and a big city
politician. I gotta convince
the party I can win.

CHARLEY
You gotta get out the vote.
You gotta pay off a lotta
people and you gotta rough
up the Roosevelt side

HINES
Nobody does that stuff better
than you, Charley.

CHARLEY
Why should I help you,Governor?
You been runnin’ around for
four years sayin’ you’re gonna
repeal Prohibition.

HINES
Al’s a New York boy, Charley.
One hand washes the other.
You help him win, he’ll keep
the cops off you. Smith is
silent, but he nods his
confirmation.

CHARLEY
Al Smith for President.

INT. DUCORE’S BACK ROOM. NIGHT.

Cigarettes glow in the shadows. Workman stands guard at the door as Charley, Meyer, Benny and Costello huddle over NEWSPAPER where a BANNER HEADLINE proclaims; DEWEY DECLARES WAR ON THE MOB.

COSTELLO
They couldn’t find nobody
for the job so they plugged
him in. I called around.
This guy won’t do business.

CHARLEY
(examines DEWEY’S PHOTO)
Dewey. I met this kid.
He’s definitely got a
grudge.

MEYER
I don’t like these dark
horses lookin’ to make a
reputation.

BENNY
He’s just another shyster with
no juice. Why are we worryin’?

MEYER
‘Cause we worry about everybody.
Let’s keep him busy, give him
Waxey Gordon. We been lookin’
to dump him anyway.

CHARLEY
How you gonna do it?

MEYER
I own two IRS guys in Philly.
We’ll give them information
on Waxey and they’ll pass
it to Dewey. He’ll never
know where it came from.

BENNY
That’s a dirty trick even
for us.

CHARLEY
Anything else before we join
the ladies?

COSTELLO
Rothstein’s tryin’ to make a
big bet on the election.
He’ll lay five hundred G’s
for Hoover over Al Smith,
but he can’t get nobody to
take his action.

MEYER
Smith doesn’t have a chance.
Have you heard him on the
radio?

BENNY
The guy sounds like he should
be rollin’ beer barrels on
Hudson Street.

CHARLEY
Smith has a lotta Catholic
money behind him. I think
he’s gonna take it. Book it,
Frank. Do it through our
guys in Midtown so AR don’t
know it’s us takin’ his
action.

MEYER
AR only bets sure things,
Charley.

CHARLEY
So do I.

EXT. WALDORF ASTORIA (STOCK)

New York’s “swankiest” hotel.

INT. CHARLEY’S PENTHOUSE SUITE. NIGHT.

Election eve. The SKYLINE twinkles outside the picture window. Marinelli, Hines. Anastasia and Genovese are in a crowd of giggling PARTY GIRLS. The Broadway crowd is at the piano where Mayor Walker is singing. As the girls gather around him he raises his glass to a blown up CAMPAIGN PHOTO of AL SMITH. WALKER Here’s to the next President of the United States, the Happy Warrior, Al Smith. Everyone cheers. “To President Smith…”

INT.CHARLEY’S BEDROOM. NIGHT

Meyer is on the phone. Charley sits by the radio with a stony look as:

ANNOUNCER
Although returns from the
traditionally Republican
West and Far West have not
come in yet it is clear
that Al Smith has failed
to capture the big city
vote…

MEYER
That was Costello. AR’s been
callin’ our bookie for his
money.

CHARLEY
Tell the guy to say final
returns ain’t in yet. I
ain’t payin’ off on a race
when the horses are still
in the far turn.

MEYER
The cowboys ain’t gonna vote
for this guy, Charley. Better
get that five hundred G’s up.
You’re a loser.

CHARLEY
Not yet I ain’t.

INT. HOTEL ROOM. NIGHT

A high stakes poker game. All the PLAYERS have huge PILES OF CHIPS in front of them except for Rothstein who is hastily scribbling an I.O.U.

ROTHSTEIN
Okay deal. Here’s my marker.

DEALER
Two hundred thousand bucks
is a lot of money, AR.

ROTHSTEIN
I can cover it. I’m collecting
on a big bet tonight.

A BOUNCER hangs up the house phone.

BOUNCER
That was the desk. There’s
a guy downstairs to see ya…

ROTHSTEIN
(getting up)
Deal me in, I’ll be right
back with the cash…

INT. PARK CENTRAL HOTEL BACK ENTRANCE. NIGHT.

A man in a dark overcoat waits in the shadows. Rothstein comes down the stairs. His face lights up.

ROTHSTEIN
Hey, what are you doing here?

The man draws a gun and shoots Rothstein twice in the stomach. With an astonished look, Rothstein crumples to the floor.

INT. PARK CENTRAL BACK ENTRANCE. NIGHT.

A short time later. A dying Rothstein is being taken away on a stretcher. A DETECTIVE leans over him.

DETECTIVE
Tell us who did it, Arnold.
We’ll get even for you.
Rothstein shakes his head with a feeble smile.

ROTHSTEIN
You work your side of the
street, I’ll work mine.

INT. ROTHSTEIN’S BILLIARD ROOM.

NIGHT SHADOWS flit through the darkness. A FLASHLIGHT illuminates a safe as someone grasps the handle and pulls it open. CHARLEY is revealed in the light, removing black notebooks, papers. He turns to Charley Workman, who is holding the flashlight.

CHARLEY
It’s all here. Who ships the
booze. Who fixes the races.
Who pays off the politicians.
Who’s the bag man for the
cops. We got the dirt on
everybody… We’re gonna be
the big fixers now.

END ACT SIX

Next: Part 12/Act Seven: In dutch (Monday, 11/28/11)

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.

MOVIES YOU’LL NEVER SEE/Empires of Crime/Part 10

Published on November 21, 2011 in archives. 0 Comments Tags: BOYS FROM BRAZIL, bugsy seigel, FORT APACHE, FORT APACHE the bronx, free screenplays, HEYWOOD GOULD, lucky luciano, MAFIA, meyer lansky, Movies, rolling thunder, screenplay writing, screenplays, script, thomas dewey.

*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 10 By Heywood Gould

ACT 5 (Con’t)

EXT. BROADWAY. NIGHT (STOCK)

The Great White Way. Theaters, bustling crowds. A MARQUEE reads: GEORGE WHITE’S SCANDALS

INT. THEATER. NIGHT.

In the crowded Standing Room, Tom is watching ecstatically.

ON STAGE

Frances playing a very demure ingenue, is singing:

FRANCES
He married the girl/
With the strawberry curl/
And the band played on…

In the chorus, Gay Orlova twirls her parasol and winks at Charley, who is sitting in the front row with Charley Workman, applauding vigorously and whistling between his teeth.

INT. BACKSTAGE. NIGHT.

After the show. Tom, clutching a SMALL BOUQUET is buffeted by a wave of SHOWGIRLS, STAGEHANDS, FANS. He asks:

TOM
Where can I find Miss
Frances Hutt?

Suddenly he is shoved face first into the wall by Charley Workman, carrying a huge FLORAL PIECE. He is followed by TWO HOODS with armfuls of ROSES and bringing up the rear of this regal procession is Charley Luciano…

WORKMAN
Make way for the King…

His bouquet crushed, Tom watches as Charley walks by, trading jokes with the onlookers. “Hey Charley, enjoy the show?”

CHARLEY
I oughta, it’s the tenth
time I seen it.

CHARLEY
You twirl a parasol better
than any broad I ever seen…

GAY
Did you like it, Charley.
Was I better than last
night?

CHARLEY
I’ll tellya tomorrow morning.

Everybody laughs except Tom who is disgusted by this ribaldry. Then, Charley hands a dozen roses to Frances.

CHARLEY
Here y’are, kid. Sweets
to the sweet as Mr.
Barracini says.

FRANCES
You’re a sweetie yourself,
Charley. Oh look, there’s
my boyfriend. Tom, say
hello to Charley Luciano…

CHARLEY
(offers his hand)
Hey Tom, got quite a
gal there. Don’t take
her outta circulation
before I can make her
a star.

Tom grabs Frances by the arm.

TOM
Let’s go.

CHARLEY
Just offerin’ my good wishes,
pal. Every pretty girl needs
a little help.

TOM
Not from you. Don’t even
let her name come out of
your dirty mouth.

Charley bridles, but controls himself.

CHARLEY
Maybe you think I’m a
disreputable character.
But every human being
deserves respect.

TOM
You’ll get what you deserve.
I’ll see to that.
(pulls Frances)
Let’s go, Frances.

She says a quick “good bye” as Tom pulls her out of the room. Workman starts after him, but Charley restrains him.

WORKMAN
You gonna let that bum
talk that way to you?

CHARLEY
Ah, he’s just jealous…

EXT. STAGE DOOR ALLEY.NIGHT

Tom tries to hustle Frances away.

FRANCES
Stop being such a prig,
Tom. People like Charley
make this town run. He
may not be refined, but
he’s a gentleman in his
own way.

TOM
He’s a pimp, a murderer,
a dope peddler, a cheap
extortionist gouging the
last pennies off the poor
people of this city. And
I’m gonna prove it to you,
Frances…

INT. JUDGE’S CHAMBERS. DAY

JUDGE McCOOK, stern, elderly, administers the oath of office. Tom repeats with a grimly determined look.

TOM
I swear to uphold and
enforce the laws of the
State of New York without
fear or favor.

END ACT FIVE

ACT SIX

FEBRUARY 1927

INT. THEATER. NIGHT

NEWSREELS… Cops step over the bodies of slain gangsters. ST. VALENTINE’S DAY MASSACRE…AL CAPONE walks out of a courtroom waving to the reporters…Anne is watching in horror, while Meyer munches popcorn.

ANNE
That Capone is a monster.

MEYER
He just don’t want nobody
peddlin’ booze in his
territory.

INT. FAT AL’S. NIGHT.
Meyer and Anne are greeted by a HOOD.

HOOD
Evening, Mr. Lansky.

ANNE
How come they call you,
Mr. Lansky?

LANSKY
‘Cause if they called me
Mr. Steinberg, I wouldn’t
know who they were talkin’
to.

GAMBLER
Hey Meyer, I got a live
one here. Says you can’t
do the chip trick.

A sleek HIGH ROLLER waves a fistful of bills.

HIGH ROLLER
A G note says you can’t
do it.

MEYER
For a G note I can do
anything.

Anne is shoved aside by the excited crowd. The STICK MAN throws chips in a bucket. Meyer turns his back to the table. The Stick man dumps them on the table.

MEYER
Thirty one…

The Stick man counts the chips and looks up in amazement.

STICK MAN
Thirty one..

The crowd cheers…”The guy’s a magician…” “He can tell by the sound…” “Better not try to cheat in this joint…”
CHARLEY
pushes his way through the crowd.

CHARLEY
Hey did I miss the floor
show?

A desperate BEDRAGGLED GIRL accosts him.

BEDRAGGLED GIRL
Charley, Little Davey won’t
let me outta the room to see
my mother. He keeps bringin’
guys in.
(pulls up her dress))
He burned me with cigarettes…

LITTLE DAVEY BETILLO, grown into a vicious ferret of a man, runs up and pushes her away.

BETTILO
Don’t fall for that sob
story, Charley. She was
holdin’ out…

Anne is mortified. She turns and runs out.

CHARLEY
Whatsa matter with her,
she sick?

Meyer catches up to her in the lobby.

MEYER
Annie, wait.

ANNE
You said it was just a
night club.

MEYER
It is. See anybody who
isn’t having the time
of their life?

ANNE
That girl is a prostitute.
That place is vicious and
depraved.

LANSKY
Gimme time. Next year I’ll
have it all cleaned up and
legal. I’ll be a respectable
businessman…

ANNE
My father would never set
foot in a place like this.

LANSKY
Tell your father I own a
garage. I’m up to my elbows
in grease all day long. Tell
him I love his daughter and
I’m gonna make her rich and
happy if she gives me a
chance…

ANNE
I’m not the kinda girl
that gets a cheap thrill
out of goin’ to places
like this, Meyer.

LANSKY
I don’t like that kinda
girl, Annie. I like you.

Annie relents and allows him to kiss her.

ANNE
I like you, too, God
help me.

INT. BANQUET HALL.NIGHT

A HUNDRED ITALIAN RACKETEERS have gathered to pay homage to SALVATORE MARANZANO, a tall, imposing, mustachioed man dressed in an old world black suit. Frank Costello stands at Maranzano’s right hand, applauding his every utterance. In the crowd Genovese explains to Charley.

GENOVESE
It’s Salvatore Maranzano. The
bosses in Palermo sent him to
get into the booze business.
He’s got big Sicilian money
behind him.

MARANZANO
(a heavy accent)
We come into America like
Julius Caesar came into
Gallia. Vini vidi vinci.
I come, I see, I conquer….

The men applaud enthusiastically. Charley looks at Costello “Is this guy nuts?” Costello shrugs as Maranzano continues in stentorian tones.

MARANZANO
In America the races mix,
but the race that maintains
its purity will conquer the
others. It is for this that
we will admit no foreigners,
to our inner circles. We
will maintain our codes of
morality in this immoral
country. We will not seduce
the wife or daughter of a
brother, will not steal from
a brother, nor cheat him,
nor fight among ourselves.
We will organize in groups
of ten as did our Roman
ancestors. Every group will
have a captain, from the
decime or ten, through the
hundreds and the thousands.
At the top will be the man
of unquestioned authority,
the Boss of All Bosses…
Me…

Enthusiastic applause and shouts of acclamation. The Racketeers line up to pay tribute, kissing Maranzano’s hand, slipping him envelopes. Genovese is the first in line with the biggest smile and the fattest envelope.

INT. COFFEE HOUSE. NIGHT.

Dark and narrow, SMOKE hanging in the air, murmuring voices. In a corner Charley and Maranzano confer in terse whispers.

MARANZANO
I can tell a lot about
a man from where he
comes from, Salvatore.

CHARLEY
I’m from Freggia, Don
Salvatore, where black
clouds of stinkin’ smoke
cover the sun. My old man
burnt his lungs out in the
sulphur mines. Between the
Mafiosi and the aristocrats
he couldn’t get a break so
he came to America

MARANZANO
Join with me and you
will return to your town
as a conqueror. Our men
of honor have great wealth
and are welcome in the
best homes in Sicily.

CHARLEY
I got nothin’ to prove
in the old country. I’m
happy here.

MARANZANO
You are respected and well
liked among the younger
men. I want you to sit at
my right hand.

CHARLEY
You want me to bring my
boys into line, that’s
what you want. But I got
a lotta Irish and Jewish
with me. We do things
American style.

MARANZANO
So we will be the
invisible hand that
makes the puppets move.

CHARLEY
American boys won’t jump
for you like the paisans
do.

MARANZANO
Then they will fall like
the barbarians fell before
the Roman legions. I can
bring five hundred men here
tomorrow to kill anyone who
sets up as my enemy. Do you
doubt me?

CHARLEY
No. But as you know I’m
with Don Giuseppe Masseria…

MARANZANO
Masseria has not been
responsible to his
friends in Sicily.

CHARLEY
You mean he hasn’t been
kickin’ back enough and
that’s why you’re here.
Okay, I can blow with
the wind. But don’t go
to sleep on Joe. He’s
smart and he’s established.

MARANZANO
So we go slow. No need
to let him know about
our…friendship…We
build our power. This
Jew Rothstein has a
flourishing whiskey
business, but no
soldiers to protect him.
He should be easy to
eliminate.

CHARLEY
AR’s power is based on
favors and connections.
He makes money for a
lotta people…

MARANZANO
He walks alone, no men
around him. A man like
that is either so powerful
no one can touch him. Or
so stupid he deserves to
die…

CHARLEY
AR’s been square with me.

MARANZANO
I respect your loyalty to
your bosses. But Rothstein
has no guns. Masseria has
stolen from his brothers
in Sicily. He, too, is
doomed. What is in your
future, Salvatore?

Charley kisses Maranzano’s hand.

CHARLEY
My future is with you,
Don Salvatore…

Next: Part 11/ACT Six: (Wednesday, 11/23)

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 (Calendar at right.) Use Contact Us, above, for submissions.

MOVIES YOU WILL NEVER SEE/Empires of Crime/Part 9

Published on November 17, 2011 in archives. 0 Comments Tags: BOYS FROM BRAZIL, bugsy seigel, FORT APACHE the bronx, free scripts, HEYWOOD GOULD, lucky luciano, MAFIA, meyer lansky, Movies, Movies, rolling thunder, screenplay writing, screenplays, thomas dewey.

EMPIRES OF CRIME /Part 9 By Heywood Gould

ACT FIVE

INT. DISTILLERY. NIGHT.

A maze of gleaming VATS and PIPES. Meyer walks through, with FRANK COSTELLO.

MEYER
See, we cut out the
middleman. Make the
booze ourselves.

COSTELLO
But what’s it gonna taste
like?

MEYER
Who cares? After two
drinks they can’t tell
the difference.

They walk through a door into a distillery into a WHOLESALE BAKERY. BAKERS in whites, pull breads out of huge OVENS.

MEYER
We had to open this
bakery to hide the
smell of the alcohol.
So now we’re in the
bread business. We
just need one thing.

COSTELLO
Money…

MEYER
Sugar. Can’t make alcohol
without it. The government’s
watchin’ all large sugar
transactions. We need a
supplier who’s not afraid
of the feds…But I think
I found one.

COSTELLO
Who?

MEYER
Me.

EXT. EL FAY’S. NIGHT.

A Broadway speakeasy. A LIVERIED DOORMAN welcomes FLAPPERS and their COLLEGE BEAUS, WALL STREETERS in top hats, LADIES in gowns and JEWELS. LARRY FAY, the proprietor, in his signature outfit, black suit, black shirt, purple tie, glad hands everybody.

FAY
C’mon in, the party’s just
startin’.
(snatching a FLASK out of a
college kid’s hand)
You won’t need that,
professor. We got plenty
in there.

A CONVOY of TAXIS rolls to the curb. The Doorman rushes to open the door and gasps as BABE RUTH gets out accompanied by a BEVY of BROADWAY BEAUTIES.

DOORMAN
Larry, it’s Babe Ruth..

FAY
The Bambino himself. You got
three cabs goin’ tonight,
huh Babe.

RUTH
Yeah, one for the girls.
One for the booze. And
one for Benny.

Benny Siegel, in a white top coat and fedora gets out of a third cab with more SHOWGIRLS.

DOORMAN
(awed)
Hey, it’s Bugsy Siegel.

FAY
Better not call him Bugsy
to his face…Mr. Siegel,
welcome to my humble abode.

BENNY
Yeah, you don’t mind that
we brought our own liquor,
Larry. We don’t want the
Babe gettin’ poisoned on
your rotgut.

RUTH
Hope you’re closin’ at noon,
Mr. Fay. I got a game at
one o’clock and I’ll need
at least an hour to sober
up…

INT. EL FAY’S. NIGHT.

A lavish, glittering nightclub. A CHORUS LINE is doing a wild CHARLESTON. Everything is festive and luxurious, but the CUSTOMERS are all drinking out of COFFEE CUPS.

AT A CORNER TABLE

Charley, dapper in a tux with his customary yellow and black handkerchief is seated with GAY ORLOVA,a blonde bombshell of a showgirl. Behind him stands his bodyguard, CHARLEY “THE BUG” WORKMAN. Next to him is Jimmy Hines, the former block captain, now a Tammany big shot.

ON THE BANDSTAND

The spotlight shines on JIMMY WALKER, a baby faced Irish tenor, singing his hit song:

WALKER
Will you love me in December/
As you did in May/Do you
swear to remember/The vows
you made today…

AT CHARLEY’S TABLE

Hines leans over with a smile.

HINES
That’s Jimmy Walker our
next Mayor.

CHARLEY
That warbler?

HINES
Yeah. Charley Murphy heard
him sing and made him a State
Assemblyman. People like him.
When he gets in we’ll
be runnin’ the city.

CHARLEY
I don’t wanna run it,
Jimmy. I just want a
piece of it.

TEXAS GUINAN

blonde and brassy in a low cut gown sparkling with sequins, comes on stage, blowing a POLICE WHISTLE and banging on a wooden CLAPPER. She throws a SPOTLIGHT on the crowd.

TEXAS
How’s your coffee, suckers?
The audience cheers its
approval.

TEXAS
Better keep spendin’ or
I’ll shut the lights and
send the girls home.

The crowd laughs. One very drunk MIDDLE AGED MAN jumps up and stuffs bills down the chorus girls’ cleavage.

TEXAS
That’s the spirit. And
now look what the wind
blew in… The Babe
himself. See you brought
your trainers with you,
huh Babe?

The spotlight follows Ruth, arm in arm with two girls. He waves to the cheering crowd.

TEXAS
Fellas, watch your wives,
Ben Siegel is in town…

Now the spot pans to Siegel, surrounded by girls. Behind him two HOODS push a WHEELBARROW full of bottles. They go around the room, putting a bottle on every table.

TEXAS
Drinks on you, Ben?

BENNY
Everywhere I go, Texas.

The band starts, the girls come out. Benny passes, Charley’s table with no sign of recognition.

TEXAS
Hey Ben, like you to
meet an old pal of mine,
Broadway Charley…

Charley rises in the spotlight and the two exchange handshakes and “pleasure to meet ya’s…”

TEXAS
Say hello to Charley’s
enamorata, Ben. Miss Gay
Orlova. She’s wowin’ em in
the Scandals and when that
closes, Charley’ll back her
in any show she wants to do,
won’t ya Charley?

Charley kisses Gay on the cheek.

CHARLEY
Anything the little lady wants.

The band starts and the dancers crowd the floor, but a worried Larry Fay pushes through the crush to Charley’s table. Then, in a groveling, pleading manner:

FAY
Charley, Benny’s killin’ my
business, bringin’ his own
liquor into the joint.

CHARLEY
So buy from him.

FAY
I can’t. I gotta deal with
Big Bill Dwyer in Brooklyn
or he’ll burn me down. He
comes every night to check
on me…

BIG BILL DWYER (CROSSCUT)

Thick and florid and bulging out of his tuxedo, is sitting at a table with some of his henchman.

CHARLEY
Brooklyn? Ain’t they still
got Indians there?

FAY
C’mon Charley, nobody does
nothin’ in this town without
your personal okay…

CHARLEY
Hey Larry, you’re blockin my
view.

Fay has been dismissed. He backs away without another word.

HINES
I know what you’re thinkin’,
Charley. Big Bill runs the
Brooklyn docks, Charley.
He’s got an army around him
at all times.

CHARLEY
I just wanna give him the
name of my tailor. He
needs his tux taken in.

INT. KITCHEN. NIGHT.

Yetta Lansky has a linen napkin over her face and is blessing the Sabbath candles. Meyer and his girlfriend ANNE CITRON, a homely but spirited brunette hold hands under the table as Yetta finishes the blessing and Max pours the wine.

YETTA
You should be honored, Anne.
You’re the first girl Maier
ever brought home…

MEYER
She’s the first girl I
ever took out, Mama…

ANNE
(poking him)
Oh yeah, tell me another
one.

They stop as Max says the blessing over the wine.

YETTA
He’s a good boy, my
Maier. Comes home every
Friday night

They stop again as Max says the blessings over the bread.

YETTA
(ladling the soup)
I got a nice boiled chicken…

MEYER
My mom boils everything.
I brought a turkey home
once and she tried to
boil it.

YETTA
Who knows from turkeys?
In the old country we
had geese and ducks and
capons.We would have ten,
for Shabbas dinner. My
husband had a store.
Beautiful fabrics…

MAX
Fabric from all over the
world, even from India
and China.

YETTA
Meyer’s doing very well
with his garage business
for a boy who didn’t even
go to high school.

MEYER
My mom’s still mad about
that.

MAX
What does your father do,
Anne? If may I ask.

ANNE
He imports sugar and
molasses from Cuba.
Meyer’s gonna work for
him as a salesman

YETTA
Molasses? Vus es dus?

MEYER
It’s made outta sugar, Ma.
They use it for candy and
pancake syrups…

MAX
(with a sly look at Meyer)
They use sugar for making
alcohol.

MEYER
No kiddin, they do Pop?

EXT. RIVER CAFE. NIGHT.

A dive under the Brooklyn Bridge. A bunch of HOODS are standing guard as a MAIL TRUCK drives up. Three MAILMEN get out, backs to the CAMERA, and walk to the door.

INT.CAFE. NIGHT.

In a smoke filled room, Big Bill Dwyer is playing cards with his “boys.” The Mailmen enter.

DWYER
You guys sellin’ tickets
to the Postman’s ball?

The Mailmen draw guns. CAMERA comes around on their leader, Benny Siegel

MAILMAN
We’re here to pick up a
package.

EXT. TIMES SQUARE (STOCK) DAY.

Dawn and the city takes a breath for a few hours. The streets belong to the MILK WAGONS and LATE NIGHT STRAGGLERS.

EXT. DUCORE’S. DAY

An all night drug store on Forty seventh and Broadway. Meyer jumps out of a cab and enters, walking past a BORED CLERK.

MEYER
Mix me a bicarbonate,
willya Mo, I just had
my mother’s matzoh balls.

INT. CHARLEY’S OFFICE.

A spare, windowless room. A few bridge chairs and a rickety card table. Charley is wolfing down a corned beef sandwich. Charley “the Bug” stands at his perennial post behind him. In a corner, reading the newspaper is a short, wiry, impeccably dressed hood named FRANK COSTELLO. Meyer enters.

MEYER
Don’t you ever stop eating?

CHARLEY
Gotta keep my strength up.

There is a knock. Benny enters.

BENNY
Special delivery.

The mailmen drag a sack into the middle of the room. They slit it open, revealing:

BIG BILL DWYER

hogtied and gagged. Benny yanks the gag off his mouth.

DWYER
(sputtering)
Sonsabitches! You can’t do
this to me.

CHARLEY
Tell the truth, Bill.
If we asked you nice
would you have come?

MEYER
Mr. Costello tells us you
got a nice operation in
Brooklyn.

COSTELLO
He’s got these speed boats,
cigarette boats they call
‘em right, Bill? They can
bring the booze over from
Jersey faster than the Coast
Guard can catch ‘em. He’s
got a fleet of taxis that
do nothin’ but make
deliveries.

MEYER
They should pick up passengers,
too when they’re idle.

CHARLEY
See, Bill, already Meyer came
up with an idea to double your
money. You ain’t gonna lose
nothin’ when you throw in with
us.

DWYER
Whaddya mean when? I got
my own business. I got
friends.

CHARLEY
Ain’t we your friends, Bill?
Benny was gonna dump you in
the river, but me and Meyer
saved you.

BENNY
It’s like I always tellya,
Charley. You’re too nice.

MEYER
Stick him back in the
sack. Let him call his
big shot friends…

DWYER
(frightened)
Wait a second…You guys
got a proposition?

CHARLEY
We wanna make you rich,
is that so bad? Frank’ll
knows all the cops and
the politicians so
nobody’ll bother you.
I’ll give you my personal
OK, which means you can
do business anywhere in
the city.

DWYER
What do you get for
this OK?

CHARLEY
Fifty per cent, we’re
partners, right? If you’re
not makin’ more money in
six months I’ll cover the
difference outta my own
pocket.

DWYER
(resigned)
You guys wanna run every
racket in town?

CHARLEY
Don’t wanna run’em, just
want a piece of ‘em.

INT. COURT ROOM. DAY.

A civil trial,an empty courtroom, a yawning judge, but Tom works himself into an eloquent frenzy in his summation. Pointing to his client, a plain elderly lady:

TOM
If poor widow challenged
a powerful financial
institution in any other
country she would lose.

IN THE REAR OF THE COURTROOM

Tom’s boss, GEORGE MEDAILIE, slight, bald, middle aged, watches proudly.

TOM

But in America, no bank
however large can be allowed
to mismanage an account
however small. I implore you
gentlemen, give this woman the
justice she deserves.

INT. COURT OFFICE.DAY

Medailie is waiting as Tom enters.

TOM

Mr. Medailie, I’m honored.
The senior partner coming
to a minor civil suit.

MEDAILIE
Always like to watch a
good lawyer in action.
We’ve got a new client
Tom—the Government.
I’ve been appointed US
Attorney for New York
City. My job is to
prosecute the gangster
bosses.

TOM
You’ll need a thousand
lawyers to do the job
right.

MEDAILIE
One is all I can afford.
So I want the best I can
get. Job pays twelve
hundred a year. What do
you say?

TOM
It’s less than I make
now and I’m getting
married. Frankly, George,
my fiancee says these men
are harmless…

MEDAILIE
Oh I know. People hate
Prohibition. Bootleggers
are really quaint characters
they say. Do you want to
see what these quaint
characters do?

INT.MORGUE. DAY.

Dewey and Medailie watch as MORGUE ATTENDANTS pull pallets out of wall. Dewey winces at four GRUESOME HOMICIDES.

MEDAILIE

These men were killed to
stop them from testifying.
Tortured and mutilated as
warning to others.

TOM
(appalled)
Who did this?

MEDAILIE
Irving Wexler, also known as
Waxey Gordon. Very refined,
a family man, collector of
first editions. A cheap
thief and a dope peddler..
Here’s another harmless
playboy.
(another MUG SHOT)
Arthur Flegenheimer also known
as Dutch Schulz. Beer, booze
and bookmaking in the Bronx
and Harlem. Brags publicly
about the men he’s killed.

Another MUG SHOT. They’re coming thick and fast.

MEDAILIE
Frank Costello. He’s in
charge of bribing police
and politicians. Salvatore
Lucania, now known as
Charley Luciano.

DEWEY
I’ve seen him.

MEDAILIE
Passes himself off as a
sportsman, a Broadway
character, but he’s a
convicted drug dealer and
runs most of the bootlegging
operations in Manhattan.
Meyer Lansky, his partner.
Ben Siegel,a pathological
killer known as Bugsy. They
rent trucks to the bootleggers
and have a subsidiary that
contracts murders for other
mobsters. We have to show
people like your fiancee that
they are not Robin Hoods, but
depraved killers who are
destroying the moral fabric of
society.

Next: Part 10/ACT FIVE/Part 2: A Vendetta Is Born (Monday, 11/21)

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.

*For Introduction with submission guidelines go to Oct 13 (Calendar at right.) Use Contact Us, above, for submissions.

MOVIES YOU WILL NEVER SEE/Empires of Crime/Part 6

Published on November 7, 2011 in archives. 0 Comments Tags: BOYS FROM BRAZIL, bugsy seigel, FORT APACHE the bronx, HEYWOOD GOULD, jewish gangsters Cocktail, lucky luciano, MAFIA, meyer lansky, Mobsters, Movies, NY governor, one good cop, rolling thunder, screenplay publishing, screenplay submission, screenplay writing, screenplays, script writing, thomas dewey, trial by jury, writing.

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

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

EMPIRES OF CRIME/Part 6

By

Heywood Gould

ACT THREE

NEW YORK, 1918

INT. MOVIE THEATER. NIGHT.

ON SCREEN—a NEWSREEL shows AMERICAN TROOPS disembarking from a ship, greeted by CHEERING CROWDS…The AUDIENCE SINGS “OVER THERE” The subtitle reads:”WAR OVER…`100,000 AMERICAN TROOPS COME HOME VICTORIOUS. PAN TO the AUDIENCE where Meyer and Benny watch with their young GIRLFRIENDS… The AUDIENCE is singing the popular WWI tune:

AUDIENCE
And we won’t give up/’Til
it’s over/Over there…

BENNY
(singing)
Eighteen bucks a month
them doughboys were
gettin’. Over there…

MEYER
(sings back)
Eighteen bucks a month.
A hundred thousand guys.
We coulda run some crap

INT. FAT AL’S NIGHT.

A raucous Lower East Side dive, smoke filled, festive, crude. A JAZZ BAND swings. Meyer, Benny and their girls push through the writhing COUPLES on the dance floor to their table.

BENNY’S GIRL
I never been to a place like
this….

BENNY
Yeah and you learned how
to smooch from a rabbi…

MEYER
(to his girl)
Get a drink, doll, I’m gonna
look over the action…

He walks over to a noisy CRAP TABLE.

CHARLEY
Stick’ em up, pal…

Meyer turns and sees Charley older and harder, but with the same mischievous glint in his eye. He is dressed in the loud colors of a street pimp. There are two cold eyed THUGS standing behind him.

Meyer hugs him, gleefully.

MEYER
Hey Salvatore.

CHARLEY
(returning the hug)
Not Salvatore no more. It’s
Charley, Charley Luciano,
Maier.

MEYER
It’s Meyer Lansky now. I
got sick of people callin’
me the Mayor.

CHARLEY
Yeah and I learned my lesson
in the can. All these guys
callin’ me Sally like I was a
girl.

MEYER
I bet you made ‘em sorry.
The two laugh and pound
each other on the back.

CHARLEY
I missed you guys.

MEYER
Yeah me too. We don’t know
where to go for the good
spaghetti…

CHARLEY
You still with that bughouse
shlammer?

Benny runs over, laughing and grabs Charley in a bear hug.

BENNY
What’d you call me?

CHARLEY
(fingers Benny’s loud suit)
How many guys you rob to
get those rags?

BENNY
A broad bought it for me.

MEYER
So, you makin’ money?

CHARLEY
(flashing a HUGE ROLL)
What do you call this?

Benny pulls out a big WAD of BILLS.

BENNY
Mine’s bigger.

CHARLEY
How about you, Meyer?

Meyer takes out a couple of crumpled bills.

MEYER
I hide my money in my
sister’s drawers…

BENNY
And if you know his sister
that’s the safest place in
the world…

CHARLEY
You guys wanna go for corned
beef?

BENNY
We’ll dump our girls. You
dump yours.

The two thugs move up with menacing glares, but Charley restrains them.

CHARLEY
This here’s Albert Anastasia
and Vito Genovese.

MEYER
Hiya boys…Just jokin’.
Seeya at Bernstein’s,
Charley..

As they walk away…

ANASTASIA
Whaddya wanna hang out with
those Hebes?

CHARLEY
I was runnin’ with Meyer
before I knew you was
alive. Them guys are my
best friends.

INT. DELICATESSEN. NIGHT

Charley is wolfing down a corned beef sandwich while Benny tells a war story.

BENNY
So the guy says you gonna
fight me you little shrimp
and Meyer knocks him ass
over tin cup…

CHARLEY
You gotta have a little
Sicilian in you, Meyer. The
way you drop a guy just for
lookin’ funny at you.

MEYER
And you gotta have a little
Jew, the way you love that
corned beef. Hey, see that
guy sittin’ with Lepke.

ARNOLD ROTHSTEIN

Mid forties, elegant in a top hat and evening clothes is gobbling deli with Buchalter and Shapiro. He waves over at Meyer.

MEYER
That’s Arnold Rothstein.
They call him The Brain…
The guy owns every politician
in town.

CHARLEY
So what’s he doin’ with those
headbusters?

MEYER
He owns them, too. Sets up all
the labor deals. High class
gamblin’ joints. Does it with
class. No shlammin’, no shootin’.
If you woulda known him you
wouldn’t have spent a minute in
jail.

BENNY
How’d you get caught anyway,
a smart guy like you?

CHARLEY
Cops grabbed me with a hatbox
of full of nose candy.

MEYER
You still sellin’ hop to
hooers?

CHARLEY
It’s a good business. Little
package big money. I’d be
walkin’ around today if that
pimp Motchie hadn’t ratted
me out.

BENNY
Can’t let these rats think
they can get away with
squealin’.

CHARLEY
Motchie’s in with the cops.
I touch him they’ll be all
over me.

MEYER
So we’ll get him for you.

CHARLEY
You’d do that for me?

MEYER
Yeah. And then you get
somebody for us. Deal?

CHARLEY
(hugging him, laughing)
I shoulda known you weren’t
doin’ no friendly favors…
Deal…

INT. NEW YORK REPUBLICAN CLUB. NIGHT.

A paneled club room. A group of portly businessmen, more interested in their cigars than their guest speaker, Fiorello La Guardia. All except for Tom who listens with interest.

LA GUARDIA
For too long the Republican
Party has been content to
control the upstate vote and
leave New York City to the
crooks in Tammany Hall.

AN OLD REPUBLICAN
We have no influence with the
foreign element, Mr. La
Guardia.

LA GUARDIA
You’re not trying. These people
come from cultures of bribery
and intimidation. They have to
be educated in the American
way of life..

ANOTHER REPUBLICAN
The police are corrupt. The whole
area is a sinkhole of graft and
depravity.

TOM
The gangsters get away
with murder in broad daylight.
They are accepted in the
community.

LA GUARDIA
They’re not accepted, sir.
They’re feared and hated.

TOM
So if a young Republican
challenged them in their
territory…

LA GUARDIA
The first politician who stands
up to the racketeers will be a
hero to thousands of new voters.

Tom nods; he’s getting an idea.

EXT. ESSEX STREET. NIGHT

Motchie parades down the street with his “girls,” speaking loudly, brushing people aside. He meets Meyer and Benny coming the other way.

BENNY
Well look who’s here.

MEYER
You meet the best people
on Essex Street, dontcha know.

MOTCHIE
Hey boys. Haven’t seen you
around lately, Benny.

BENNY
Not crazy about the
merchandise, Motchie.
If I wanna screw an old
broad I can go to my cousin
Ruthie.

MOTCHIE
Hey, I’ll get you anything
you want. Come down to my
joint on Bayard Street.
Getcha a pipe, too.

BENNY
That’s more like it…

EXT.CHINATOWN.NIGHT

Motchie leads the boys down a dark, narrow street. CHINESE bustle by, heads down.

MOTCHIE
I been hearin’ a lot about
you boys. Workin’ with
Lepke.

MEYER
Industrial management. We
been hearin’ a lot about you,
too…

MOTCHIE
Yeah, I’m spreadin’ out. Got
a joint uptown at the Abbey
Hotel.

Meyer looks around; the street is empty. He grabs Motchie and walks him toward a basement entrance.

MOTCHIE
Hey, this ain’t the place.

From behind, Benny jams an ICE PICK into Motchie’s spine. He screams and goes rigid. Meyer drags him down the steps. Benny jumps down after and plunges the ice pick into the back of his neck. He goes limp. The boys jump out and walk away, Benny tossing the pick as they turn the corner.

INT. SINGING CLASS. NIGHT.

Tom Dewey, now in his early twenties, is standing at a piano, straining to hit the high notes in Pagliacci. In the class: FRANCES HUTT, a petite, pretty soprano winces at every clinker. The MAESTRO, a temperamental Italian, rises from the piano.

MAESTRO
Mr. Dewey, may I ask: are
you studying another
profession?

TOM
I’m at Columbia Law School.

MAESTRO
Well don’t ever sing in
front of a jury. You’ll
lose the case…

INT. DRUGSTORE. NIGHT.

Frances and Tom sit in a booth sipping sodas.

FRANCES
You have to work up to the
high notes.

She demonstrates, singing a flawless scale. The CUSTOMERS applaud and Tom shakes his head with an admiring smile.

TOM
I’ll never sing like that.
I’ll never hold an audience
spellbound.

FRANCES
There’s no better stage
than a courtroom.

TOM
Or a political debate. I’m
getting active in the
Republican Club…

FRANCES
Won’t get much applause
there. Democrats run this
town.

TOM
Not for long. I heard a
man named La Guardia speak
the other night. He says
the party needs young men
to carry its message to
the people.

FRANCES
Tom Dewey the pride of
Oswosso, Michigan, rides
into the big city on his
white horse guns blazing,
and throws all the bad
guys out.

TOM
Makes a good story,
doesn’t it?

FRANCES
Let’s just say you’ll sing
the lead in Rigoletto
before you clean up New
York.

INT. ITALIAN BAKERY. NIGHT.

Benny and Meyer sit at a marble table eating cheesecake. Across the room Charley is standing, hat in hand, in front of Joe Masseria, who has gotten fatter since we first saw him. The boys watch in amazement as Charley kisses his ring.

BENNY
You see that?

Charley returns with a smile.

CHARLEY
Okay you’re in. I told
Masseria you were workin’
with me.

MEYER
What does that get us?

CHARLEY
Protection. We can run any
racket we want in this
neighborhood as long as we
throw him somethin’.

BENNY
What makes him so big?

CHARLEY
He’s kinda the head of the
club that runs everything.

MEYER
How do we join this club?

CHARLEY
You don’t, it’s for Italians
only. This guy snaps his finger
and a thousand greaseballs kiss
his hand and call him Don
Giuseppe like he’s still in the
old country. He’s a fat pig,
don’t know from nothin’.
But the crumbs off his table is
like the biggest loaf of bread
you ever seen.

BENNY
I could stroll over there
right now and cut open that
tub of guts.

MEYER
Then you’d have a thousand
Italians with a vendetta
against you. We oughta go see
Rothstein. He does business
the American way.

EXT. ROTHSTEIN’S TOWNHOUSE. NIGHT

Meyer and Charley stand at the door, looking around in awe.

MEYER
Not bad, huh? They don’t
call him The Brain for
nothin’.

The door opens. A BUTLER greets them.

BUTLER
Good evening, gentlemen. Mr.
Rothstein is waiting.

They follow him through a glittering vestibule.

CHARLEY
How does a little putz like
you get to the great Arnold
Rothstein?

MEYER
I met him at the Weinberg
Bar Mitzvah. See, we got
a club, too.

CHARLEY
How do I join?

MEYER
First, you get a painful
operation.

ROTHSTEIN, in a silk smoking jacket, greets them with a smile.

ROTHSTEIN
Meyer, Charley, thanks for
coming.

CHARLEY
It’s an honor, Mr. Rothstein.

Rothstein puts his arms around both boys and walks them into the dining room.

ROTHSTEIN
Everybody calls me AR…

INT.ROTHSTEIN’S DINING ROOM. NIGHT.

An opulent table under a crystal chandelier. The butler serves and pours. Meyer and Charley, are intimidated by the surroundings, confused by the array of cutlery.

ROTHSTEIN
A cop is a crook with no
guts. He’ll always be
happy with a small piece
of your action. That’s
your fish knife, Charley.

CHARLEY
Oh yeah, my fish knife…

ROTHSTEIN
Now the politicians, they’re
just a bunch of hypocrites.
Whorehouse on Saturday,
church on Sunday.

MEYER
What does that make us AR?

ROTHSTEIN
Businessmen, backbone of
America. We give people
what they want. How you
makin’ the rent, Charley?

CHARLEY
I help the boys downtown.
Sell a little hop…

ROTHSTEIN
Good business to invest in
on the sly. Let somebody
else do the dirty work.
How about you, Meyer?

MEYER
I like to run a crap games.

CHARLEY
He’s a whiz with numbers,AR.

ROTHSTEIN
That’s what I’m lookin’ for.
Ford makes a car, everybody
buys it,. Post makes a cereal
everybody eats it. I have a
product–gambling, which I can
turn into the biggest industry
in America. But I need talented
guys to run it. You boys are
real executive material. We
just have to smooth out some
of the rough edges.

INT.WANAMAKER’S. DAY.

A conservative haberdasher. Meyer is being fitted for a suit under Rothstein’s watchful eye.

MEYER
I coulda gone to
Hennigsberg’s on Rivington
Street for half price.

ROTHSTEIN
Forget those greenhorns, you
gotta use an American tailor.
Somebody sees you in a John
Wanamaker suit they know you
got class…

CHARLEY
steps out of a fitting room,
a man transformed in a pin
striped suit.

CHARLEY
What do you think?

ROTHSTEIN
You look like the Chairman
of the Board.

MEYER
Ironing board maybe.

Charley admires himself in the mirror.

CHARLEY
Clothes make the man they
say.
(pokes Meyer)
From now on, call me Chairman
of the Board.</>

END ACT THREE

Next: Part 7/Act Four: Billions & Booze (Wednesday, 11/09/11)

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.

MOVIES YOU WILL NEVER SEE/Empires of Crime/Part 5

Published on November 3, 2011 in archives. 0 Comments Tags: BOYS FROM BRAZIL, bugsy seigel, FORT APACHE the bronx, HEYWOOD GOULD, jewish gangsters Cocktail, lucky luciano, MAFIA, meyer lansky, Mobsters, Movies, NY governor, one good cop, rolling thunder, screenplay publishing, screenplay submission, screenplay writing, screenplays, script writing, thomas dewey, trial by jury, writing.

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

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

EMPIRES OF CRIME/Part 5

By

Heywood Gould

ACT TWO

EXT. BOWERY. NIGHT.

A few weeks later. The Bowery is the Broadway of downtown New York, featuring VAUDEVILLE THEATERS, SALOONS, crowds of ROWDIES out for a night on the town. Maier and Benny stand outside a saloon gaping at the painted WHORES and their flashy PIMPS. Maier has a cigarette dangling out of the corner of his mouth. Benny ogles the women.

BENNY
Salvatore gettin’ us
broads?

MAIER
Nah. Business before
pleasure.

They peek into saloon thick with smoke and honky tonk music

SALVATORE

is talking to a FIDGETY MAN at the bar. A YOUNG WHORE pushes through the swinging doors, dragging a giggly, staggering DRUNK.

YOUNG WHORE
C’mon honey, let’s get some
air.

TWO YOUNG MEN jump out and drag the drunk into an alley. They blackjack him to the ground, then “roll” him, taking his pocket watch and billfold. IN THE BAR a buxom singer is drawing cheers with her song.

BUXOM SINGER
The wealthy Four Hundred in
mansions reside/ With fronts
of brown stone and stoops high
and wide/While the poor working
people in poverty deep/ In
cellars and shanties are huddled
like sheep

INT. OSWOSSO LUTHERAN. NIGHT

A church social. YOUNG TOM DEWEY is singing as MARY SIMMONS, a young girl accompanies him on the piano. COUPLES take their last dance and wander out hand in hand as the song ends.

YOUNG TOM
Good night Irene, Irene/
Good night Irene/ Good
night Irene, Good night
Irene/ I’ll see you in
my dreams.

EXT.SALOON. NIGHT.

Salvatore returns with a bottle of gin and a small package.

SALVATORE
Keep chickie for the cops…

He draws a VIAL OF COLORLESS LIQUID out of his pocket. Reaches into his pants pocket for several small GLASS JARS.

SALVATORE
Used to buy opium in a drug
store like cough syrup. Then
the law said it wasn’t legal
no more. But people still
want it so I give it to ‘em.

MAIER
How you make money?

Salvatore pours a small amount of opium into the jars, then fills them up with gin.

SALVATORE
I buy the dope off that
junkie in the saloon. Five
bucks a bottle. Cut it with
gin and sell it for three
bucks a jar to the girls on
Essex Street.

MAIER
You could get guys on the
street to sell it for you
so you don’t gotta worry
about cops.

BENNY
The broads like this stuff?

SALVATORE
They love it. You should
see ‘em jump when I come
around.

INT. ROSIE SOLOMON’S. DAY

A brothel in the back room of a saloon. Through a beaded curtain, we can see MEN drinking and hear a PIANO playing. Under red lights, YOUNG GIRLS in camisoles, giggle and gossip with CLIENTS, WORKING MEN of all ages. Salvatore, Maier and Benny enter and are immediately surrounded by GIRLS flirting, entreating “Sal, you bring me a present?”..”Got any of that nose candy, Sal..?” Salvatore brushes them off with a laugh “I don’t see you givin’ nothin’ away.” MOTCHIE, the pimp steps out with a desperate grin. He is young and full of bluster, but wary of Salvatore.

MOTCHIE
I supply the girls around
here.

SALVATORE
They like my product better.
(menacing)
That okay with you, Motchie?

Motchie is about to defy him, but Benny moves in with a crazy look and he backs off with an ingratiating smile.

MOTCHIE
Sure as long as they’re
happy.

SALVATORE
These are my friends, Benny
and Maier. Take good care of
‘em.

Benny goes for a CURVY BRUNETTE.

BENNY
I’ll take that zaftig one…

He thrusts a few crumpled bills at Motchie, but Salvatore slaps his hand away.

SALVATORE
Put your money away. Only
crums pay for it, right
Motchie? It’s my friend
Maier’s birthday. Get
somethin’ nice for him.

MOTCHIE
Sure Sal…Hey Pearl, where
ya hidin’?

PEARL

a consumptive redhead in a black shift steps out of a room.

PEARL
Where ya think?

SALVATORE
(gives Maier a shove)
What are you waitin’ for?
Go, have a good time…

Maier walks timidly down the hall, turning to protest:

MAIER
But it ain’t my birthday.

INT. PEARL’S ROOM. DAY.

An old iron bedstead, rumpled sheets. Maier watches shyly as Pearl lights an oil lamp. A reddish glow spreads through the room.

PEARL
So how old are you?

MEYER
I told ya. It ain’t my
birthday.

All business, Pearl pulls her shift over her head.

PEARL
You gotta get a little
closer, or it don’t work
so good…

Meyer sits next to her. She tousles his hair.

PEARL (CONT’D)
This your first time?

MEYER
Yeah…

PEARL
Don’t be scared honey,
it’s easy…
(pushes him down onto the bed)
Mama’ll do all the work…

INT. SALVATORE’S ROOM.NIGHT.

A basement room. A bed and a rickety table. JARS and BOTTLES. Salvatore and the boys enter in the darkness.

SALVATORE
This here’s my office.

BENNY
You live here too?

SALVATORE
(lights a candle)
Yeah. My old man threw me
out. I slip money to my
brother to give to my mother…

BENNY
I had to leave Brooklyn.
Toomany guys lookin’ for
me. But I’ll go back there
one dayflippin’ gold pieces,
broads hangin’ offa me…

SALVATORE
You still livin’ at home,
Maier?

MAIER
Yeah.

SALVATORE
Your mother know what
you’re doin’?

MAIER
She gets mad. But I’m
goin’ to school for
mechanic work.

BENNY
You ain’t gonna get a
job are you?

MAIER
Why not? A lotta guys do
it.

SALVATORE
That’s ‘cause they can’t
scheme like you. You think
those crums would work for
a dollar a day if they could
make thirty bucks hustlin’
crap games?

BENNY
Everybody wants to be like
us…

MAIER
Like us, huh. Freezin’ in
a basement with rats runnin’
around…

SALVATORE
At least we’re on our own
and no crum is makin’ money
off our backs…My old man’s
gonna die poor.

MAIER
Mine, too.

SALVATORE
See what I mean? At least
we got a chance to get rich.

EXT. COUNTRY ROAD. NIGHT.

A peaceful world. Quiet, starry, leaves rustling, crickets chirping. Tom and Mary walk up to a farmhouse..

YOUNG TOM
I’m goin’ out for football.
(makes a muscle)
That farm work’s makin’ me
real strong for the tryout

MARY
(feels his bicep)
You’ll make the team for
sure.

YOUNG TOM
I’m joinin’ Debating Club.
I’m gonna need public speaking
when I go into politics…

MARY
You gonna make those long
boring speeches at the
July Fourth picnic?

YOUNG TOM
Maybe I’ll just sing a
song…

MARY
(laughs)
Tom Dewey, the singing
Senator.

YOUNG TOM
(a mock song)
And if elected I will
uphold our cherished
Republican values.

MARY
You’re a sketch, Tom. I
almost think you could
do it.
(offers her hand )
Well, thanks for walkin’
me home.

Tom moves in and “steals” a kiss. Mary laughs and pushes him away.

MARY
Why Tom Dewey. I thought
you were such a good boy…

YOUNG TOM
(puts his arms around her)
Only when I have to be.

This time the kiss is mutual

EXT. LOWER EAST SIDE STREET. NIGHT.

Only a year has passed. The boys are seventeen, but look older, more sure of themselves. Salvatore and Benny and are keeping“lookout” as Meyer jumps in the front seat of a Model T.

SALVATORE
How you gonna start it, you
don’t got the key?

MAIER
(fiddling with the wires)
Just watch the guy don’t
come out.

Sparks fly under the wheel as he makes a connection. He jumps out and turns the crank. The Model T sputters into action.

BENNY
How’d you do that?

MAIER
Get in.

But as they move away, the OWNER runs out, followed by THREE MEN. “Hey, where ya goin’” Maier tries to speed away, but the car bucks and stalls. Benny jumps out wielding a wrench and rushes them, swinging wildly knocking three men down. Salvatore pulls a knife and holds the other man at bay. Maier runs around and cranks the car until it starts again. Salvatore jumps in.

MAIER
Benny!

Benny runs back and jumps into the car and it clatters away, leaving the three men lying in the street.

EXT. LIVERY STABLE. DAY’

Early morning. The place is half stable, half garage, horses on one side, MODEL T’s and STUTZ BEARCATS on the other. Benny, clothing torn, nose bloody, watches as Maier and Salvatore negotiate with a BURLY BLACKSMITH.

BLACKSMITH
Where’d you get the car?

MAIER
My father gave it to me
for my Bar Mitzvah, what
do you care? Fifty bucks
is a fair price.

BLACKSMITH
I’ll give you twenty.

SALVATORE
C’mon you’ll get two
hundred…

BLACKSMITH
You stole this heap. I
could call a cop friend
and get it for nothin’.

Benny looks around with a casual smile; he has developed a new technique for intimidating people.

BENNY
Better call a fireman friend,
too.

BLACKSMITH
What for?

BENNY
To put out the fire when
I burn this joint down
with you in it.

The Blacksmith is about to answer. Benny just shrugs.

BENNY
Nice place you got here.

BLACKSMITH
Okay. Fifty bucks.

MAIER
(smells his fear)
Make it a hundred for
hollerin’ copper.

Salvatore laughs and puts his arm around the Blacksmith’s shoulders.

SALVATORE
Make it a hundred fifty
and throw in your horse…
Partner.

EAST SIDE 1917

EXT. RAPPAPORT’S RESTAURANT.DAY
A few years later. Meyer and Benny have grown up and found their personal styles. Meyer is understated in a gray topcoat, hat pulled low. Benny is brash in a cashmere coat with a fur collar. He stops to tilt it at a rakish angle.

MEYER
C’mon, I’m hungry…

INT. DAIRY RESTAURANT. DAY.

Noisy, crowded with ORTHODOX JEWS,GARMENT WORKERS,etc. MOTCHIE the pimp is at a table with his GIRLS. The girls wave and call “Hiya Benny…” At a round table in the back, gorging themselves on bagels and lox, are LEPKE BUCHALTER, squat and fierce and his partner GURRAH SHAPIRO, gross, thick lipped, with an uncaring stare.

SHAPIRO
The toughest boys on the
East Side.

BENNY
Toughest boys in the world.

LEPKE
Wanna make some easy
money?

MEYER
Nah, I wanna sew buttons
twelve hours a day.

LEPKE
There’s a strike at the
Weinberg Bakery. Mr.
Weinberg is a good friend…

MEYER
Yeah and you’re a silent
partner.

SHAPIRO
We want you to break up
the strike, send the boys
back to work…Fifty bucks.

MEYER
Hundred’s the goin’ rate,
Lepke.

LEPKE
A hundred? It’s ten minutes
work.

Benny takes a bite out of Lepke’s bagel.

MEYER
For us. Anybody else you’ll
need a mob and it’ll cost a
G note.

BENNY
We’re savin’ you money,
Lepke.

A blustery winter day. STRIKERS shiver on a picket line, Exhorting PASSERSBY to “Pass’em by…”

A TAXI

pulls up. Meyer and Benny get out..

BENNY
Keep the meter runnin’, we’ll
be back…

RABINOWITZ
Meyer’s childhood friend, is
shouting instructions.

MEYER
Rabinowitz. You the boss
here?

RABINOWITZ
You one of Lepke’s shlammers,
Maier?

MEYER
If I have to be. You gotta
go back to work, kid.

RABINOWITZ
Weinberg’s profit has doubled,
but he won’t pay us a living
wage, Maier. Whaddya think of
that?

LANSKY
I think it’s smart business
if he can get away with it
and we’re here to see that
he does…

BENNY
Back to work baker, your
bagels are gettin’ cold…

RABINOWITZ
You guys don’t scare me…

Benny punches the Rabinowitz flush in the face. Grabs him as he falls forward and gut punches him. The other STRIKERS run to their leader’s defense. A TOUGH STRIKER advances on Maier.

TOUGH STRIKER
Think you can fight
thirty-five guys?

Benny leaps at the Tough Striker, knocking him to the ground, beating him with the wooden handle of his placard.

BENNY
Now it’s thirty-four…
Who wants to try for
thirty-three?

MEYER
Hold it Benny…
(and faces the Strikers)
You know the Golden Rule?
The guy with the gold rules.
Weinberg’s gonna win in the
end so go back to work, you
got mouths to feed.

BENNY

leans over the bleeding semi-conscious Rabinowitz and shoves a few bills in his pocket.

BENNY
Here, take your girlfriend
out dancin’ on Ben Siegel…

INT. HAT STORE. DAY

Salvatore is loading JARS OF MORPHINE and “raviolis” of COCAINE in a hat box, then concealing them under DERBY HATS.

OWNER
(o.s.)
Ready for the deliveries,
Salvatore?

SALVATORE
Ready, Mr. Gordon.

EXT. ESSEX STREET. DAY

Salvatore struts happily, three hatboxes in each hand.

MOTCHIE

is standing on the corner with two cops. He steps into the shadows as the cops block Charley’s way.

RED FACED COP
What’s in the boxes,
Tony?

SALVATORE
Hats from the Gordon Hat
Company.

The red faced cop opens a box and comes up with a “ravioli.”

RED FACED COP
Hats, huh?
Salvatore tries to run, but the red faced cop flicks his nightstick between his feet and he goes down. The fat cop kneels on his back, pushing his face into the ground.

FAT COP
Who told you could sell hop
around here?

SALVATORE
Who I gotta ask?

FAT COP
Who you think, you dumb
wop?

SALVATORE
That pimp Motchie’s sellin’
it,too.

RED FACED COP
(snapping on the cuffs)
Motchie’s with us. You’re
not.

SALVATORE
Take my load. I got eight
bucks in my sock. Take it
for lettin’ me go.

FAT COP
We’ll takin’ it for not
bustin’ your head. You’re
gonna go cool off up the
river. When you come back
maybe you’ll know how
things work.

They jerk Salvatore to his feet and start to march him away. He turns with a cold, vengeful look toward Motchie.

SALVATORE
Yeah. I’ll know how things
work.

END ACT TWO

Next: Part 6/Act Three: Getting Some Class (Monday, 11/07/11)

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.

MOVIES YOU WILL NEVER SEE/Empires of Crime/Part 4

Published on October 31, 2011 in archives. 0 Comments Tags: BOYS FROM BRAZIL, bugsy seigel, FORT APACHE the bronx, HEYWOOD GOULD, jewish gangsters Cocktail, lucky luciano, MAFIA, meyer lansky, Mobsters, Movies, NY governor, one good cop, rolling thunder, screenplay publishing, screenplay submission, screenplay writing, screenplays, script writing, thomas dewey, trial by jury, writing.

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

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

EMPIRES OF CRIME/Part 4

By

Heywood Gould

Act 1 (cont)

INT. MAIER’S KITCHEN. DAY

YETTA, Maier’s mother, pinched and bitter, is looking anxiously out of the window. His father MAX, sallow and bent with a tubercular cough is poring over the Yiddish newspaper, while his younger brother JAKE struggles with his homework.

YETTA
He’s comin’.

MAX
So’s the messiah…

INT. TENEMENT STAIRWAY. DAY.

Maier opens the door and runs anxiously up the stairs. People pass him on the way down. SHOPGIRLS, RELIGIOUS STUDENTS, WORKING MEN. RABINOWITZ, the young activist, loaded with books, stops him.

RABINOWITZ
Hey, Meyer, come to the
meeting. We’re gonna get
the union into Weinberg’s
bakery. Get the workers a
fair shake.

MAIER
Watch out Weinberg don’t
bust your head.

He reaches under the landing to where he has hidden his schoolbooks. Then with a nervous breath he opens the door.

INT. MAIER’S KITCHEN. DAY

Maier enters with his books.

MAIER
Hey…

MAX
Hey is for horses. Where
were you all night?

MAIER
I was studyin’ with Cousin
Asher. We fell asleep in the
kitchen…

Yetta leaps at him. Pinches his cheek..

YETTA
Liar! I went over there.
They hadn’t seen you…

MAIER
Ow ow! Okay…I was at
the fruit market. A man
needed help unloading.
He gave me two bucks.

Yetta twists his ear, forcing him to his knees.

YETTA
Look at me. A good boy
with an honest job can
look his mama in the
eye…

MAIER
Okay, okay. I was in
a crap game.

YETTA
(scandalized)
Oy, Max what are we
gonna do with him?

MAX
The dice are crooked.
You think the gangsters
play so you can win?

MAIER
I know, Pop, but I
beat them at their
own game. Here…

He takes a handful of bills out of his pocket and offers them to his mother. She gapes at the money in amazement.

MAIER
Here Ma, buy yourself
winter coat.

YETTA
It’s schmutzikeh gelt,
dirty money.

MAIER
It’s the same money your
boss don’t give you, Mama.
Now you don’t gotta sew
buttons twelve hours a
day, You can stay home
and rest, Papa. Take care
of your cough.
(pushes the money on his father)
Don’t worry Papa, this
is America. The Cossacks
ain’t gonna bust down the
door…

EXT. HUDSON RIVER. NIGHT

On a crumbling pier. A crap game in the eerie glow of FIREPOTS. Maier hangs back and watches as The Young Gambler repeats the same ritual. The flirty girl blows on the dice to the ribald cheers of the other players. Then, he rolls:

YOUNG GAMBLER
Seven! Who says those dice
are cold?

MAIER
Hey, I’m down, too. Pay
off.

A handful of crumpled bills is thrown Maier’s way. He tries to slip unnoticed through the crowd. But is suddenly knocked to the ground. Stunned, he sees:

THE YOUNG GAMBLER

standing over him with a pair of BRASS KNUCKLES. TWO BRUISERS move in behind him.

YOUNG GAMBLER
I’ll teach ya to run a
racket on me, punk.

Maier ducks, spins and takes off. The Young Gambler and his two henchmen give chase.

EXT. CHRISTOPHER STREET. NIGHT.

Maier runs down the narrow street and into an alley. Runs into a stone wall…A dead end… Turns to see the Young Gambler, breathing fiercely.

YOUNG GAMBLER
Gotcha now, you little…..

Something FLASHES in the darkness. Benny steps into the light, wielding a lead pipe. There is a THUD and the Young Gambler drops to his knees.

SALVATORE

comes out of the shadows, a KNIFE GLITTERING. One henchman screams, holding a bloody gash in his face. The other tries to flee, but Salvatore runs him down and sticks him in the ribs.

MAIER

grabs a garbage can lid sand whacks the Young Gambler in the head. The Young Gambler stumbles. Benny blocks his path. Raising the pipe high,he smashes the Young Gambler, driving him down, flat on his face.

SALVATORE
Is he dead?

BENNY
How should I know? I ain’t
a doctor…

Maier tears a GOLD WATCH and CHAIN off the Young Man’s belt. Goes through his pockets and finds a GOLD MONEY CLIP bulging with bills. Salvatore goes for the money, but Meyer holds on.

SALVATORE
Give it here.

MAIER
This is my proposition…

SALVATORE
Okay, but it’s fifty fifty.
You take care of Benny outta
your end.

As they walk away, Maier is counting the money.

MAIER
Thirty eight bucks…

SALVATORE
Let’s go eat…

BENNY
Let’s get a broad.

Behind them one of the henchmen staggers out of the alley, moaning and collapses in the street.

MAIER
Let’s go someplace and
divvy it up…

EXT. TENEMENT.DAY

Salvatore walks jauntily down the street carrying a large loaf of bread and a bag of groceries. He ducks quickly into a storefront when he sees his father, FRANCESCO LUCANIA, a short wiry working man, come out of the building. PEOPLE greet him: “Buon giorno Signor Lucania…” He tips his cap and walks on. Salvatore jumps out and enters the building.

INT. TENEMENT STAIRWAY. DAY.
Salvatore bounds up the stairs and knocks softly. His mother ROSALIA, pale and careworn opens the door. She lights up at the sight of him.

ROSALIA
Salvatore…

SALVATORE
(with a big hug )
Mama…Don’t worry, Papa
didn’t see me.

He steps into a KITCHEN of desperate poverty. A rickety table, a coal stove, an ice box, scraps of food. His little brother BARTOLOMEO jumps up in glee.

BARTOLOMEO
Salvatore!

His sister GINA runs out:

GINA
Salvatore!

ROSALIA
You look so thin, Salvatore…

SALVATORE
I’m doin’ great, Ma. Got a job
deliverin’ hats on Twenty third.

ROSALIA
Every night I pray your father
will let you come back…

SALVATORE
Forget it. Not even God could
get that hard headed Sicilian
to change his mind. Look at this
beautiful prosciutto.

He takes a large BAKED HAM out of the bag. Melon, tomatoes.

ROSALIA
My God, what am I gonna tell
your father?

SALVATORE
Tell him the Tammany boys gave
it to you for votin’…

BARTOLOMEO
Hey Sal, I’m gonna come live
with you…

SALVATORE
(takes a swipe at him)
You stay in school, stupid.
You wanna be a bum like me?

The door flies open. Francesco enters, clenched, furious.

ROSALIA
(appeasing)
Francesco, he just came for
a visit. Look what be brought.

FRANCESCO
Tony, the peddler says you
stuck him up.

SALVATORE
Why do I wanna take pennies
off that crum? He’s a liar…

FRANCESCO
You are the liar. You dishonor
this family…

Francesco raises his hand, but Salvatore grabs his wrist.

ROSALIA
Salvatore!

Salvatore lets go and steps away.

SALVATORE
This ain’t the old country,
Papa. I don’t have to stand
here and take a beatin’ from
you.
(tries to make up)
C’mon, I know how much you love
a nice prosciutto ham…

FRANCESCO
I won’t take charity from a
thief.

Francesco grabs the ham and the bread and throws them out of the window. The whole family sags with disappointment.

SALVATORE
The rats are gonna eat good
tonight, but your kids’ll go
hungry. That what you want?

FRANCESCO
Get out! You’re not my son no more.
Get outta my house.

Salvatore hugs his mother and Gina.

SALVATORE
(tousles Bartolomeo’s hair)
Stay in school…

EXT. TENEMENT. DAY
A cold wind is blowing as Salvatore comes out of the house. He shivers and turns for one last look.. Then walks away, pulling up the collar of his skimpy jacket.

END ACT ONE

Next: Act Two/Partners (Wednesday, 11/2/11)

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.

MOVIES YOU WILL NEVER SEE/Empires of Crime/Part 3

Published on October 26, 2011 in archives. 0 Comments Tags: BOYS FROM BRAZIL, bugsy seigel, FORT APACHE the bronx, HEYWOOD GOULD, jewish gangsters Cocktail, lucky luciano, MAFIA, meyer lansky, Mobsters, Movies, NY governor, one good cop, rolling thunder, screenplay publishing, screenplay submission, screenplay writing, screenplays, script writing, thomas dewey, trial by jury, writing.

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

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

EMPIRES OF CRIME/Part 3

By

Heywood Gould

Act 1 (cont)

EXT. DELANCEY STREET. DAY.

ELECTION DAY. A gray drizzle cannot dampen the festivities. BANNERS reading MURPHY FOR ASSEMBLY flutter from lampposts. A BAND PLAYS. CHESTNUT VENDORS hawk their wares. POLITICOS in DERBIES with GOLD WATCH CHAINS slap backs and kiss babies.

INT. LANDING. DAY

Two men climb the stairs, chatting amiably. One is TIM SULLIVAN, the Tammany Man, the other FIORELLO LA GUARDIA, short,round, bursting with energy. La Guardia carries a bouquet, Sullivan a fresh killed turkey. They knock at a door.

LA GUARDIA
The Republicans are gonna
catch up on you guys today.
Only underdogs vote in the
rain.

SULLIVAN
Ah now, we’ll get the vote out.

An ITALIAN LADY opens the door. La Guardia bows.

LA GUARDIA
Fiorello La Guardia, Signora,
from the Republican Party,
the party of Lincoln, Teddy
Roosevelt, the party of the
poor…

Sullivan laughs and interjects.

SULLIVAN
Don’t believe him, mama. The
Republicans are rich. Rockefeller,
J.P. Morgan…
(thrusting the turkey at her)
Take this beautiful bird as a
gift from Big Tim Sullivan.

LA GUARDIA
That turkey won’t get you a
fair wage…

SULLIVAN
But it’ll feed your kids.
(referring to a list)
I see you’ve got your husband
Vittorio and three boys here.
That’s five votes.

ITALIAN LADY
My boys is too young to vote.

SULLIVAN
Everybody votes in my ward,
mama, we don’t discriminate.
(with a scornful look at La Guardia)
We ain’t sellin’ fancy ideas.
We’re in business to help
good Democrats.

EXT. BOWERY. DAY.

A cold rain falls over the district where the streetwalkers prowl. Salvatore stands in a doorway pouring liquid opium into small jars, while little Davey keeps watch. A YOUNG PROSTITUTE, wet and shivering, stumbles in.

PROSTITUTE
Hey Salvatore, I was lookin’
for you on Pell Street.

SALVATORE
Can’t help ya now, toots,
I got work to do.

Maier jumps, shivering into the storefront followed by BENNY SIEGEL, a scrawny kid with a crazy look in his eye, who looks avidly at the Prostitute.

MAIER
Okay we’re here.

SALVATORE
I told ya to bring some
tough guys, not this
skinny marink…

BENNY
(squares off)
I can take care of myself.
Wanna see?

A WAGON rolls up and Hines shouts:

HINES
Hey you guys, no brawlin’ on
Election Day. Who can read
here?

MAIER
Whaddya think we’re stupid?

HINES
See this list? These people
are all dead, but they like
Charley Murphy so much we’re
gonna bring ‘em back to life
to vote for him.

MONTAGE…The BOYS get out the vote.

A BOWERY GIN MILL…DRUNKS mumble in their beers. Salvatore and his boys burst through the swinging doors, shouting:

SALVATORE
Election day…Everybody
votes.

And drag the drunks off their stools, promising:

SALVATORE
After you vote all the
drinks are on Mr. Charley
Murphy…

OUTSIDE A KOSHER RESTAURANT…Maier and Benny recruit voters in a crowd of ORTHODOX JEWS.

MAIER
Two bits every time you
vote.

OLD MAN
Two bits. Vus es two bits?

MAIER
A quarter.

The crowd is impressed. “A quarter…”

A BROTHEL…Maier and Benny hang back shyly as Salvatore emerges with a PROSTITUTE, pale and depleted from drugs.

PROSTITUTE
I’m sick Salvatore.

SALVATORE
Vote for Charley Murphy,
I’ll give you the cure…

Suddenly, several gaudily dressed PIMPS burst out. “Where ya think you’re goin’?”

SALVATORE (cont’d)
Ah, we’ll bring ‘em right
back.

PIMP
(shoves Salvatore)
Take a walk.

Benny jumps in and kicks him in the groin. The other pimps jump him, but Benny fights them off furiously.

MAIER
Okay, Benny they had
enough.

BENNY
Not ’til I say so.

Benny knocks a pimp to his knees and kicks him in the face Pulls another pimp down by his hair and slams his head into the ground. Salvatore steps back and watches in amazement.

SALVATORE
(to Meyer)
This kid’s nuts…

MAIER
They call him Bugsy on the
block. Everybody’s scared
of him.

SALVATORE
But not you?

MAIER
Benny’s my best friend. He
wouldn’t hurt me.

EXT. POLLING PLACE. DAY.

A long line of VOTERS, some illiterate, some underage, herded together by Salvatore and his boys. PRECINCT CAPTAINS with DERBIES and GOLD WATCH CHAINS, speaking Yiddish, English and Italian with thick New York accents, escort VOTERS into the booths and mark their ballots for them. “ Charley Murphy’s the people’s choice..”

MAIER

escorts an old Jewish man up to a corrupt ELECTION OFFICIAL.

ELECTION OFFICIAL
What’s his name?

MAIER
Vus es die nommen?

OLD MAN
(reads haltingly from a slip)
Liam O’Kelly..?

ELECTION OFFICIAL
(checks off the name)
A fine Irish name.

Salvatore brings up a PROSTITUTE.

ELECTION OFFICIAL
Name…

PROSTITUTE
Rabbi Nathan Goldberg.

ELECTION OFFICIAL
Right this way, Your Holiness…

EXT. POLLING PLACE. DAY.

As the voters emerge, Salvatore and his boys march them to the back of the line. Salvatore grabs a BOWERY LUSH.

SALVATORE
Where ya goin, pal, you’re
votin’ again. Everybody’s
votin’ today..

EXT. ELIZABETH STREET. NIGHT.

The boy gather eagerly around Salvatore as he counts off the money from a big roll.

SALVATORE
Twelve bucks for Benny.
Twelve for Maier. Twenty
four for me. I get
double ‘cause it’s my
proposition.

MAIER
Okay. I got a proposition
for you.

ESSEX STREET. NIGHT.

Maier, Salvatore and Benny stand in the shadows watching a CRAP GAME. A YOUNG GAMBLER with a FLASHY YOUNG LADY in a low cut dress, is rolling the dice.

MAIER
Gimme eight dollars I’ll
give you sixteen back.

SALVATORE
(hands him the money)
You better…

THE YOUNG GAMBLER turns to his lady friend.

YOUNG GAMBLER
Here doll, blow on these
for luck.

The Young Lady bends, giving the players a good look and blows flirtatiously on the dice.

MAIER.

darts into the crowd, throwing the money down. The Young Gambler rolls a SEVEN.

STICK MAN
Lucky seven…

He throws some bills back at the Young Man. Maier jumps in.

MAIER (CONT’D)
Hey Mister, what about me?

The Stick man looks up at the BANKER, another Italian.

BANKER
Kid got lucky. Pay him off.

MAIER
It’s s’posed to be three
to two.

BANKER
Kid’s a bookkeeper.

SALVATORE AND BENNY

are waiting in the shadows.

SALVATORE
How did you know this guy was
gonna roll a natural?

MAIER
(demonstrates)
It’s a trick. He palms the
loaded dice. While everybody’s
watchin’ the pretty girl he
switches ‘em.

Salvatore gives him an affectionate smack.

SALVATORE
You got some eyes on you
to spot this racket. We’re
gonna make big money, me
and you.

Next: Part 4/Dirty Money (Monday, 10/31/11)

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 (Calendar at right.) Use Contact Us, above, for submissions.

MOVIES YOU WILL NEVER SEE/Empires of Crime/Part 2

Published on October 24, 2011 in archives and Events. 0 Comments Tags: BOYS FROM BRAZIL, bugsy seigel, FORT APACHE the bronx, HEYWOOD GOULD, jewish gangsters Cocktail, lucky luciano, MAFIA, meyer lansky, Mobsters, Movies, NY governor, one good cop, rolling thunder, screenplay publishing, screenplay submission, screenplay writing, screenplays, script writing, thomas dewey, trial by jury, writing.

*For Introduction with submission guidelines go to Oct 13 (Calendar at right.) Use Contact Us, above, for submissions.

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

EMPIRES OF CRIME/Part 2

By

Heywood Gould

Act 1

DISSOLVE TO

LITTLE ITALY, NY, 1913

EXT. MOTT STREET. (STOCK) DAY

A million immigrants jammed into ten square blocks. Noisy, narrow, teeming with desperate humanity. PUSHCARTS, HORSE DRAWN WAGONS. WORKERS,bent and weary, PEDDLERS screeching their wares. Sharp eyed women haggle in the Sicilian dialect keeping a wary eye on their CHILDREN running underfoot. MUSTACHIOED MEN in black suits swagger arm in arm with their GAUDY WOMEN.

YOUNG CHARLEY LUCIANO

still known by his given name, SALVATORE, sixteen, wiry, ashamed of his shabby clothes, has his nose pressed hungrily against the window of an ITALIAN BAKERY.

THROUGH THE BAKERY WINDOW

he sees JOE MASSERIA, a member of the BLACK HAND gang of extortionists. In his early ‘20’s, but already starting to bulge out of his black suit, Masseria is at a table with his HENCHMEN gorging himself on a huge slab of ITALIAN CHEESECAKE. As Salvatore watches the PROPRIETOR arrives with more pastry. He sets down the tray with a desperately ingratiating smile and slips Masseria a wad of BILLS

SALVATORE

licks his lips. He’s hungry, he’s always hungry. As he walks on he is followed by a three RAGTAG BOYS, led by DAVY BETTILO, a runty kid, mad at the world.

BETTILO
Salvatore, wait up…

SALVATORE
(pushes him away)
Stupido, don’t follow me.
Go cross the street and
come when I tellya.

Bettilo retreats, shamefaced. And Salvatore passes:

BIG TIM SULLIVAN

stocky, florid in a bowler hat, smiling broadly under a sign reading, FREE SHOES FROM BIG TIM SULLIVAN, TAMMANY HALL. PEOPLE fight and jostle as a young block captain, JIMMY HINES passes out shoes from enormous boxes.

SULLIVAN
We’re goin’ to give out
seven thousand pairs of
shoes and socks today to
our loyal voters…

RABINOWITZ, a young idealist, jumps out and harangues the crowd.

RABINOWITZ
Don’t sell your souls to
these Tammany crooks! Vote
for justice.

JIMMY HINES
Justice won’t keep your
feet warm in the winter.
Who gives you what you need?

The CROWD responds in gleeful unison:

CROWD
Big Tim Sullivan. He’s a
damned fine Irishman. Vote
for Sullivan.

Salvatore laughs and walks on. Lighting a cigarette he passes:

A PEDDLER

hawking fruit from a pushcart with the cry:

PEDDLER
Applapear…Applapear…
Get ‘em over here. Two
cents a piece…Applapear…

Salvatore checks the street for COPS, then approaches, cigarette dangling out of his mouth.

SALVATORE
The t’ieves is thick as flies
around here, huh Tony. Gimme
a quarter a day, I’ll keep’em
away.

PEDDLER
(swipes at him)
Get outta here, I call a cop…

SALVATORE
Cops don’t care about
greaseballs like you…

He gives a signal. Davy Bettilo leads the three boys across the street. They swipe handfuls of apples. Shouting, the Peddler gives chase. They dodge him laughing. Little Davey doubles back and pushes over his cart. Apples and pears roll off onto the street, setting off a stampede as PASSERSBY run to pick them up. The Peddler gets the message.

PEDDLER
Okay a quarter…

SALVATORE

He runs out and rounds up the boys. Smacks them, grabs them by the ears…Chases them.

SALVATORE
Hey you bums, put them
apples back, every single
one of ‘em. This man’s a
friend of mine. Don’t ever
bother him again, you
understand?

The Peddler looks at Salvatore with new found respect. He digs into his pocket for a few coins. Salvatore flips a coin back at him.

SALVATORE
Pick me a few nice apples
for my mother,Tony…

JIMMY HINES

has been watching in amusement. He grabs Salvatore.

JIMMY HINES
Hey kid, you the boss of
the block?

SALVATORE
Just lookin’ out for my
friends.

JIMMY HINES
I could use you and your
boys next week to get out
the vote. Give you
fifty cents a head.

SALVATORE
A buck for every vote we
bring in…

JIMMY HINES
Okay…But get me some tough
Yiddish kids to speak the
lingo to the greenhorns…

SALVATORE
(walking on)
There ain’t no tough Yiddish
kids…

EXT. DELANCEY STREET. DAY.

The Jewish quarter. Shop signs in Yiddish. PEDDLERS hawking their wares in Yiddish. ORTHODOX JEWS in long coats and beards.. FLASHY PIMPS jostle wild eyed RADICALS.

SALVATORE

swaggers fearlessly into this alien territory. He stops to buy a pickle from a peddler.

INT. HEBREW SCHOOL. DAY

STUDENTS with YARMULKES muttering over their books, while the TEACHER, a spiteful, humpbacked old man, smacks the inattentive on the backs of their heads. He stops at little MAIER SUCHOJWOLANSKA, who is staring out of the window. Prods him hard with the pointer.

TEACHER
So, Maier, This is where
the portion is? In the
street?

MAIER
(defiant)
I know the lesson.

TEACHER
So, how much gold did the
Israelites pledge for the
Tabernacle?

MAIER
Twenty-nine talents and
730 shekels.

TEACHER
How much silver?

MAIER
One hundred talents and
seventeen hundred and
seventy five shekels.

TEACHER
How many wandered in the
desert?

MAIER
Six hundred and three thousand,
five hundred and fifty.

TEACHER
So. And why do we study it?

MAIER
God’s secret is in these
numbers. When every man
knows every number in the
Bible, the Messiah will
come and our enemies will
be defeated.

EXT. HEBREW SCHOOL. DAY.

A crumbling white stoned SYNAGOGUE. As Maier and the boys come out, one of them points across the street at

SALVATORE

who is watching from a doorway.

FRIGHTENED BOY
That’s the kid, Maier. His gang
robbed us on Delancey yesterday.
Oy, look they’re comin’.

The boys turn to flee, but Maier grabs two of them.

MAIER
Don’t run, stick together.

The others try to escape, but Salvatore’s boys sweep down on them from across the street and shove them into a storefront, slapping them, smacking their heads against the shop window…“Hey kid, a nickel to walk on Delancey Street…” One boy tries to run. “Hey, where you goin’, Ikie?” He is grabbed by the sidelocks and thrown to the ground.

MAIER

tightens his grip on his two friends. They walk the other way, but are pursued by Bettilo and two BIG BOYS.

BETTILO
Hey, you gotta pay a nickel
to walk on the street.

MAIER
Who says?

BETTILO
I say.

Bettilo tries to grab Maier by the hair, but Maier sidesteps and pokes him in the eye, then clubs him to the ground. The Big Boys run at them, but Maier kicks one in the groin. Then pulls the other boy’s jacket up over his head and clubs him, bloodying his nose, Bettilo comes at him, swinging blindly. But Salvatore steps in pushing Bettilo away.

SALVATORE
Give up Davey, don’tcha
know when you’re licked?
(and turns to Maier)
I never seen no Jewish kid
fight like that

MAIER
(fists clenched)
You wanna see one now?

SALVATORE
(backs off,laughing)
G’wan get outta here, tough
guy, you win.

Maier runs after his friends and grabs them by the necks.

MAIER
Where you guys goin’? Gimme
two cents for savin’ the both
of yiz.

FRIGHTENED BOY
But you’re robbin’ us, too.

MAIER
Hey, it’s a good deal. Them
Italianas woulda taken all
your money and givin’ yiz a
beatin’ too.

SALVATORE

watches the boys pay up and calls:

SALVATORE
Hey kid, c’mere I wanna ask
you somethin’.

Maier approaches warily. Salvatore lunges and pokes Maier in the neck with his lit cigarette. Maier recoils in pain.

SALVATORE
See, I know more tricks than
you. Ya got friends tough
like you?

MAIER
(rubbing his neck)
I got friends.

SALVATORE
Bring ‘em around. We’ll make
some money…

MAIER
Doin’ what?

SALVATORE
What I tell ya. I’ll give
you a quarter for every kid
who can handle hisself. Okay?

MAIER
Fifty cents

SALVATORE
Yeah, yeah, okay. How much you
get off those little sissies?

MAIER
Four cents.

SALVATORE
(holds out his hand)
Gimme two…
(as Maier protests)
Hey, you wouldna made nothin’
if I didn’t stick ‘em up.

Grudgingly, Maier hands the money over. Salvatore offers his hand.

SALVATORE
Shake,partner.

Maier is uncertain at first, but is taken in by Salvatore’s charm. With a shy smile he shakes his hand.

MAIER
Okay…Partner.

EXT. DEWEY HOUSE. OSWOSSO MICHIGAN. DAY

A white Victorian house on a tree lined street in a picturesque small town outside of Detroit. From within we hear the pure tones of a young tenor, singing:

YOUNG TOM
Mine eyes have seen the glory/
Of the coming of the Lord/He
is tramping out the vintage/
Where the grapes of wrath
are stored…

INT. DEWEY PARLOR. DAY

YOUNG TOM DEWEY, thirteen, but still in knickers is belting out the song, while his mother, KATHERINE proudly accompanies him on the spinet.

YOUNG TOM
He has loosed the fateful
lightning/Of his terrible
swift sword/His truth is
marching on…

The guests listen appreciatively. The men, portly, cigars peeking out of their vests. The women standing, plain, unadorned in long sleeved long skirted dresses. They all join in the final chorus:

EVERYBODY
Glory, glory Hallelujah/
His truth is marching on…

INT. HALLWAY. DAY

Tom carries a tray of pastries and a big silver coffee pot across the hall and opens the door to THE STUDY, a book lined, smoke filled room where his dad GEORGE and his UNCLE JOHN and several other men are smoking cigars.

GEORGE
Ah refreshments. Set ‘em
down here son…

UNCLE JOHN
(an overbearing man)
You can climb outta those
knickers now, nephew, you’re
a big boy now. Your Dad
tells me you’re bent on
studying music.

TOM
(knows he disapproves)
I’d like to give it a
try,sir.

UNCLE JOHN
Singin’ is for church socials,
Tom.

GEORGE
(an old argument)
Let’s not bring this up again,
John…I’ve told Tom he can
do what he wants…

UNCLE JOHN
You’re too easygoing with the
boy, George.

GEORGE
Don’t tell me how to raise my
son…

UNCLE JOHN
I think I have a right to
express my point of view.
Has your father ever told
you what kind of stock you
spring from. Tom?

YOUNG TOM
Yes sir, of course.

GEORGE
I don’t burden the boy with
our family history.

UNCLE JOHN
It’s not a burden, it’s an
honor. The first Dewey was
a Huguenot Protestant escaping
persecution by French papists…
Our cousin Cousin Admiral
George Dewey defeated the
Spanish Navy in 1898. And
Cousin John was a great
teacher, who invented the
Dewey Decimal system. Every
time a boy takes a book out
of a library to improve his
mind he can thank our cousin
John…And your father…

GEORGE
John. please…

UNCLE JOHN
If you won’t blow your own
horn I’ll blow it for you.
Your father isn’t just
running a small town newspaper,
Tom. His editorials are read
all over the country. He is
defending Republican ideals
against the corrupt, machine
politicians in the big cities…
You see Tom, America has been
invaded by a horde of ignorant,
retarded criminals.

GEORGE
They’re immigrants just like
our ancestors…

UNCLE JOHN
They’re thieves, pimps, deviants.
A tide of filth breaking on the
big cities and threatening to
engulf the true Americans.
People like us aren’t free to
follow our whims, Tom. Every
Dewey has to be on the front
line defending our way of life.

GEORGE
Don’t lecture the boy, John.
He knows his responsibilities.

UNCLE JOHN
(with a pointed look)
Do you, Tom?

YOUNG TOM
(looks him in the eye)
I know what’s expected of me,
sir. And I’ll try to live up
to it.

Next: Part 3/Election Day (Thursday, 10/27/11

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.

MOVIES YOU WILL NEVER SEE/Empires of Crime/Part 1

Published on October 19, 2011 in archives. 0 Comments Tags: BOYS FROM BRAZIL, bugsy seigel, FORT APACHE the bronx, HEYWOOD GOULD, jewish gangsters Cocktail, lucky luciano, MAFIA, meyer lansky, Mobsters, Movies, NY governor, one good cop, rolling thunder, screenplay publishing, screenplay submission, screenplay writing, screenplays, script writing, thomas dewey, trial by jury, writing.

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 by Heywood Gould. Seven years in development it is a six part mini-series commissioned by a broadcast network and later reacquired by a cable station.

For Introduction with submission guidelines go to Oct 13 on Calendar at right. Use Contact Us, above, for submissions.

*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

Act 1

NAPLES 1962

EXT. DA GIACOMINO’S RESTAURANT. DAY

The “classiest joint” in Naples. Vases of fresh flowers, white coated WAITERS, bustling, festive. But today there’s a traffic jam. AMERICAN SAILORS, TOURISTS and REPORTERS clog the aisles leading to a large round table in the back. Who is the focus of all this celebrity attention? It’s mob boss LUCKY LUCIANO,early sixties, elegant, gray at the temples, dressed in his usual impeccable style in a Brooks Brothers gray summer suit, his signature yellow and black handkerchief in the breast pocket. Next to him is a VOLUPTUOUS GIRL. Whispering in his ear is MARTIN GRAYSON, a fawning Hollywood producer. Lucky is plowing through a plate of spaghetti, but stops good-naturedly to sign autographs and answer questions.

SAILOR
Can you make it out to
Jimmy, Mr. Luciano?

LUCIANO
Sure kid. Can’t do enough
for our boys in uniform.

TOURIST
(aiming a camera)
Say cheese Mr. Luciano…

LUCIANO
Provolone. Hey, don’t point
that thing,it might go off.

Everybody laughs as the FLASH BULB pops.

REPORTER
Senator Kefauver says that
the Mob is raking in five
billion dollars a year from
illegal gambling and you’re
in for ten per cent…

LUCIANO
Five billion? Lemme tellya
somethin’: every time a
politician wants to get
elected he says he’s gonna
throw mob boss Lucky Luciano
in jail. I put more crums in
office than the Democratic Party…

SAILOR
When you gonna come home,
Mr. Luciano?

LUCIANO
Funny you should ask. My
associate Mr. Grayson here
has a big producer flyin’
in from Hollywood to buy my
life story. Think we can
get five billion, Marty?

GRAYSON
The sky’s the limit, Lucky.

REPORTER
Who do you want to play you,
Lucky?

LUCIANO
I’m thinkin’ of starrin’ in
it myself…

Laughter and agreement from the crowd. “You could do it, Lucky..” “You look great…”

LUCIANO
But if Cary Grant’s busy maybe
Sinatra. That kid owes me a lot.

A WAITER pushes through the crowd, bearing a huge ITALIAN CHEESECAKE.

LUCIANO
Hey, look at that. I got two
weaknesses in life, cheesecake
and…Cheesecake…

LUCIANO

He puts his arms around the Voluptuous Girl and everybody laughs. Then looks up at the waiter.

LUCIANO
You new here?

WAITER
My first day Signor Lucky.

LUCIANO

Luciano stuffs a few bills in his shirt pocket.

LUCIANO
Well now we’re old friends…

As the crowd laughs he eyeballs the cake

LUCIANO
Last time I saw a cake this
big a guy jumped out blastin’…

INT. CONFERENCE ROOM. DAY

In the darkened room a NEWSREEL on a portable screen. We see Luciano in front of a bank of microphones.

NEWSCASTER
Mob boss Lucky Luciano is
comingout of exile to tell
his story…And the world
can’t wait…

LUCIANO
I’m gonna leave no stone
unturned, boys. I’m gonna
rattle some cages from
Mulberry Street right on up
to the White House…

The screen goes dark. The lights come on. We are in the law offices of DEWEY, BALLANTINE, et al… THOMAS E. DEWEY, early sixties, austere black suit, pencil mustache, is sitting at the head of a conference table. With him is LIEUTENANT COMMANDER “RED’ HAFFENDEN formerly of NAVAL INTELLIGENCE and FBI agent GEORGE BLACK.

DEWEY
He can’t come back. The
terms of his parole barred
him from ever setting foot
in the US again.

HAFFENDEN
He’s applying for a
temporary visa to visit
his sick brother, Governor
Dewey.

BLACK
It’s blackmail. His lawyer
threatens to reveal Luciano’s
war time activities if he
isn’t issued the visa.

HAFFENDEN
He’s trying to sell the
movie rights to his life
story. Just wants to get
into action again.

DEWEY
You always liked him,
Haffenden.

HAFFENDEN
Everybody likes Lucky…

DEWEY
(a rueful smile)
Don’t I know it. I prosecuted
the man. Proved that he was
a pimp and a murderer. And he
got better press than I did.
Still does.

BLACK
We should have taken him
out when we had the chance.

HAFFENDEN
(bristling)
We should have given him
a medal.

BLACK
The man’s a security threat.
He can reveal classified
information about the FBI.

DEWEY
About all of us. We
don’t want it known that
Luciano worked for Naval
Intelligence during the
war, do we Commander
Haffenden? I certainly don’t
want it to come out that I
made a secret agreement or
his services.

HAFFENDEN
Charley’s a patriot in his
own cockeyed way. He won’t
talk.

BLACK
We have to be sure.

DEWEY
Ask Lansky.

HAFFENDEN
Meyer? They haven’t spoken in
years.

DEWEY
Doesn’t matter. Lansky was
his partner. They were so
close they could read each
other’s minds…Ask Lansky.

EXT. COLLINS AVE (MIAMI BEACH). DAY

A modest bungalow by the beach. FBI AGENTS WHITMAN and SNYDER are on stakeout, parked across the street in the shade of the palms.

MEYER LANSKY
emerges, with his constant companion, BRUZZER, an ancient Shih Tzu dog. He is a short, wiry man in his sixties,in a plain white shirt and slacks, a cigarette dangling out of the corner of his mouth .He smiles, sardonically as they approach.

LANSKY
My own personal FBI. Want
some iced tea? A little
seltzer, maybe?

SNYDER
Thanks Meyer, but I don’t
think J. Edgar would
approve…

WHITMAN
Lucky’s writin’ a book,
Meyer.

LANSKY
Lucky? Lucky who?

WHITMAN
C’mon Meyer…

LANSKY
You mean Charley Luciano?
Knew him in the old days.
Writin’ a book, huh? I
didn’t know he could
spell.

SNYDER
They say Lucky knows
everything.

LANSKY
Oh yeah? So maybe he knows
a good horse at Hialeah…

SNYDER
He’s gonna tell everybody
where you got your money
hidden, Meyer.

LANSKY
That’s no secret. It’s
in the pishka.

WHITMAN
What’s that?

LANSKY
Little glass jar where you
drop pennies to give to
the poor people in the
Holy Land…
(looks toward the house)
I better go back and tell
my wife I’m not bein’
arrested. Seeya boys…

WHITMAN
You could do yourself a
lot of good telling your
side of the story, Meyer.

LANSKY
I’m an old man sittin’
in the sun. That’s my
story…

INT. LANSKY’S BUNGALOW. DAY

Plain and comfortable. Family photos, book lined shelves, bric a brac or tchotkes as they are known in Yiddish. TEDDY LANSKY, early sixties, a former chorine, still trim and glamorous, is waiting anxiously.

TEDDY
Oy Meyer, is Charley gonna
make trouble?

LANSKY
(fishing in a drawer)
He just wants to be Page
One again. But he won’t
talk outta school.

He finds a faded photo and sits back in his lounger.

INSERT PHOTO (CROSSCUT)

Three YOUNG MEN, nattily dressed in the style of the ‘20’s. Lansky looks at it, nostalgically.

LANSKY
Look at me and crazy
Benny… And Charley. Boy,
we sure started somethin’,
didn’t we?

Next: Part 2/LITTLE ITALY, NEW YORK, 1913

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 on Calendar at right. Use Contact Us, above, for submissions.

MOVIES YOU WILL NEVER SEE

Published on October 13, 2011 in archives. 0 Comments Tags: , BOYS FROM BRAZIL, bugsy seigel, emperors of crime, FORT APACHE, HEYWOOD GOULD, jewish gangsters Cocktail, lucky luciano, MAFIA, meyer lansky, Mobsters, Movies, NY governor, one good cop, rolling thunder, screenplay publishing, screenplay submission, screenplay writing, screenplays, script writing, THE BRONX, thomas dewey, trial by jury, writing.

Sick of the movies you’re seeing? Would you like a look at the ones you’ll never see?

For every movie that is released there are hundreds of scripts that were commissioned, “developed”, written, restructured—and rewritten; reconceived, redeveloped—and rewritten; restored to their original state and—rewritten; Acquired in “turnaround” by another production entity which redeveloped, reconceived, rewrote, rejected, rescued, restored and finally—shelved them.

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. Who hunted Luciano for years, using wiretaps and bugs, informers and tainted witnesses to send him to prison. And then released him into exile, enduring vicious accusations by his political enemies and dooming his chances of the Presidency, while never revealing the reason for his sudden turnabout.

Readers are free to submit their own shelved scripts for publication.

With two conditions:

1. The scripts must have been commissioned or acquired by a producing entity.

2. The writer must have full rights to the script.

The Daily Event legal department (non-existent) does not want a young Business Affairs attorney to pause the Coeds in Bondage video he is watching for the seventy-third time to write us a threatening letter.

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Tag Archive for 'screenplays'

Page 2 of 3

Next: Part 12/Act Seven: In dutch (Monday, 11/28/11)

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.

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

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

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

EMPIRES OF CRIME/Part 6

By

Heywood Gould

Next: Part 7/Act Four: Billions & Booze (Wednesday, 11/09/11)

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.

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

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

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

EMPIRES OF CRIME/Part 5

By

Heywood Gould

Next: Part 6/Act Three: Getting Some Class (Monday, 11/07/11)

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.

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

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

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

EMPIRES OF CRIME/Part 4

By

Heywood Gould

Act 1 (cont)

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

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

EMPIRES OF CRIME/Part 3

By

Heywood Gould

Act 1 (cont)

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.

*For Introduction with submission guidelines go to Oct 13 (Calendar at right.) Use Contact Us, above, for submissions.

*For Introduction with submission guidelines go to Oct 13 (Calendar at right.) Use Contact Us, above, for submissions.

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

EMPIRES OF CRIME/Part 2

By

Heywood Gould

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.

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

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 by Heywood Gould. Seven years in development it is a six part mini-series commissioned by a broadcast network and later reacquired by a cable station.

For Introduction with submission guidelines go to Oct 13 on Calendar at right. Use Contact Us, above, for submissions.

*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

Act 1

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.

For Introduction with submission guidelines go to Oct 13 on Calendar at right. Use Contact Us, above, for submissions.

Sick of the movies you’re seeing? Would you like a look at the ones you’ll never see?

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.

Readers are free to submit their own shelved scripts for publication.

With two conditions:

1. The scripts must have been commissioned or acquired by a producing entity.

2. The writer must have full rights to the script.

The Daily Event legal department (non-existent) does not want a young Business Affairs attorney to pause the Coeds in Bondage video he is watching for the seventy-third time to write us a threatening letter.

Decisions of the judges will be final. Until, of course, they are reconceived, reconsidered, reexamined and—repeated.

Drafted, A MEMOIR OF THE 60'S By Heywood GouldTolmitch Press

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Drafted, A MEMOIR OF THE 60'S
By Heywood Gould
Tolmitch Press