"Good morning, Mr. Phelps." "The man you are looking at is Constantine Victor, the syndicate's boss contractor, known to his associates as Mr. V." "Recently, a grand jury indicted Victor for murder and he has been out on bail awaiting trial." "Then yesterday, the prosecution's star witness was killed, and it appears the case will have to be dropped." "Only one other man, Johnny Costa, Victor's close friend for over ten years, knows enough to convict Mr. V." "Costa himself seems invulnerable as he currently runs the syndicate's gambling operation in an area where gambling is legal." "Your mission, Jim, should you decide to accept it, is to get Costa to talk, and make sure that Mr. V is convicted." "As always, should you or any of your IM Force be caught or killed, the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions." "Please dispose of this tape in the usual manner." "Good luck, Jim." "There are no windows, one door." "It's made of reinforced steel." "It's impenetrable." "What's the activating pressure on the floor, Jim?" "A piece of paper will set off the alarm, Willy." "So I'll make sure that my feet never touch the floor." "All right now, we've made special arrangements to have any calls that Costa makes to the New York telephone booth transferred to us." "How long is our control, Jim?" "Twenty-four hours." "Because of their fear of bugging devices, they communicate telephone booth to telephone booth only." "And as an added precaution, every 24 hours, they change booths." "Now, how about the voices, Rollin?" "This is Markos." "Mr. V will be on in a minute." "This is Markos." "Mr. V will be on in a minute." "Hello, Johnny, this is Mr. V." "From what I've been hearing..." "Business is doing great." "I've been thinking about opening up another casino." "Good." "That's perfect, Rollin." "Jim, what is Costa really like?" "Well, he's a man who is totally in control, totally secure, and to all appearances, totally detached." "That's all, coming out." " Coming out." " Come on, seven." "Come on." "Seven." "Four's the point." "Four." "Give me four." " Do it again, honey." " Any crap." "Give me the hard way four." "Come on, four." "Hello, four." "Four." "Blind four." "It's all right, man." " Five-dollar chips." " Shooter coming out." "All right, coming up." "Here we go now." "Now, seven." "Hello, seven." " Seven, coming up." " Thank you." "Seven again." " Both shooter, no play." "Coming up." " Another seven." "Seven." "Hello, seven." "Well, pay the line, seven to win." " Ten-dollar chips, please." " Coming up." "Here we go." " Nine." " Coming up." "Throw the hard way." "Come on, let's see it again." "Here we go." "All right, hello, seven." "Come on." " Who needs an eight?" " Place the eight." "Anybody for the hard one?" "Who wants the eight of hearts?" "Okay, everybody ready?" "Here we go." "Hello, eight." "Big winner rolls again." "One more time, let's see a seven." "Here we go, seven." " Hello, seven." " Another seven, pay the line." "Hey, how about that?" "Anybody for a crack at 11?" "All right, let's do that again." "Here we go." "Come on, seven." "Seven, a winner." "Seven." "Coming out again." "Yeah?" "Which table?" "Right." " Trouble, Johnny." " Where?" "The big guy hitting numbers on one." "Coming up, make that seven." "Here we go now." "And here we go again, and..." "Seven." "Seven." "Pay the line." " I knew I could do it." " The yellow chip, please." "Good evening, Mister..." "Mason, Vince Mason." "Mr. Costa wants a few words with you." "Okay." "Don't worry about your chips." "I'll take care of them for you." "Sure." "Kindly come this way." "Don't forget to lose, Cinnamon." "Excellent fakes." "Where did you get them?" "It's a trade secret." "I wouldn't do that if I were you, Mr. Costa." "Why not?" "Came a long way to sell you a very valuable piece of information." "If I go to the hospital, you'll never hear it." "Are you saying the dice are calling cards?" "Figured you'd listen seriously to a man who'd risk a beating just to talk to you." "Go ahead, talk." "Well, what I'm selling is strictly private." "You've got exactly 60 seconds." "All right, Mr. Costa, I'm not a gambler, I'm a hit man for the organisation." "Last week, I was offered a contract." "So?" "So the contract is on you." "I don't believe you." "It doesn't really make any difference whether you believe me or not." "You're marked for extinction." "Why didn't you take the job?" "I don't like big hits." "They make waves, I don't like them." "Just what is it you're selling?" "I'm selling the face of the man who's gonna hit you." "I know who they hired." "Who's they?" "They, I don't know, middlemen." "I know who's gonna kill you." "Your time's up." "I don't believe you." "Nobody would dare put out a contract on me." "That's where you're wrong, Mr. Costa." "I don't buy cheap hustlers." "No dice." "Sooner or later, you're gonna believe me." "And if either one of these guys lays a hand on me, the price of what I'm selling goes up double, maybe even triple." "That'll make it an expensive beating." "Let him go." "If you change your mind and wanna do business," "I'm at the Gulfstream Motel." "Make sure he gets out of here." "Here we go now." "Come on, dice." "Good evening." "Long distance." "I wanna place a call to New York." " Hello." " This is Johnny Costa." "I wanna talk to Mr. V." "What's your number?" "Hang up and wait." "Hello, Costa?" "Where's Mr. V?" "He's busy." "You got a problem?" "Maybe." "Do you know if there have been any contracts put out in the last week?" " Why?" " Do you?" "No, no one's out to get hit." "Why do you ask?" "Some guy just told me there was a contract out on me." "He's crazy." "What's his name?" "He didn't tell me." "Where is he, still around the casino?" "No." "Why?" "I know Mr. V would wanna take care of anybody that worried you." "By the way, Mr. V is sending a guy, Anderson, there." "He's a bookkeeper." "You open the books to him." "Don't hold anything back." "Mr. V's orders." " Now, wait a minute..." " Gotta go." "Nineteen." "Pay 20." "Who do I see to get credit?" "Can I help you?" "If you can okay some credit for me, you can." "Well, Mr. Costa okays all markers." "Where would I find Mr. Costa?" "Why don't you have a drink in the bar?" "He'll find you." "Whenever I win, I just double my $25 bet." "And then every time I lose a bet, I double my bets three times in a row." "It'll never work." "Oh, it does." "I've won thousands with this system." "No chance, the percentages are against you." "They'll just grind you down." "You're just saying that because you're afraid" "I might win a fortune from you." "Oh, we love system players." "In fact, if I had known you had a system," "I would have sent a car for you." "All right, I'll have to show you." "You just okay some gambling credit for me, and you'll see just how well it works." "How much?" "Five hundred dollars." "All right, I'd say you're worth 500." "I'd say I'm worth more than that." "Just take this to the cashier's cage and he'll give you 500 in chips for it." "How do I thank you?" "We'll figure something out." "Perfect." "All right." "Hello, Mr. V." "Don't talk, just listen, Arnie." "Anderson says you're clean, and that's good enough for me." "But you're to take no more orders from Costa, understand?" "All right, now, he'll say "yes," or "I understand, Mr. V."" "He's dipped into the till for the last time." "Now he's gotta pay for it." "Until the whole matter's settled, you'll take orders from Anderson." "Afterwards, you're in charge of the operation." "Now." "This is Arnie, Mr. V." "I know who it is." "Just shut up and listen." "Anderson says you're clean, and that's good enough for me, Arnie." "But you're to take no more orders from Costa, understand?" "Whatever Arnie says in the way of assent," "Barney'll go into your dipping-into-the-till speech." "Right." "Now, let's try it all the way from the top again." " Who's this?" " You know who it is, Arnie." "It's Mr. V. Keep quiet and listen." "Anderson says you're clean, and that's good enough for me." "Who's there?" "Guy named Anderson wants to see you." " Send him in." " You're in." "Anderson." " Herbert Anderson, Mr. Costa." " The bookkeeper." "Yes..." "Mr. Victor would like an audit of the books." "He would also like me to organise a new bookkeeping system." "What's wrong with the one we got now?" "Oh, there's nothing wrong with it, it's just that..." "What?" "The new system will bring everything into more prescribed business practices." "Everything will be, shall I say, more controlled." "By who?" "By New York." "Why?" "There was no need to operate that way before." "I'm only relaying Mr. Victor's instructions." "There is nothing personal in all this." "We merely intend to use this new system in all of our enterprises." "We're starting here at the casino to see if it works." "And now, if we can get down to business, I'd like to see yesterday's count." "Shall we start with that?" "What was last night's count?" "One hundred seventy-three thousand, 684." "My count is 198,684, which is $25,000 more than you declared." "That's impossible." "You must have added wrong." "No." "I've checked my figures twice, they're quite correct." "It's you who made the mistake." "I've been making this count for the past seven years and there's never..." "First time they've been cross-checked." " There was never any need to." " That's somebody else's mistake." " I don't like what you're saying." " I don't like what I've seen." "You're pushing for a hospital bed or the morgue." "Funny." "I'd think it was the other way around." "However, before tempers flare," "I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for the discrepancy." "And I'm sure you will find it." "Quickly." "Hi, Mr. Costa." "I got your message." "You can drop that smile off your face." "I still haven't bought that contract story yet." "So why'd you send for me?" "These middlemen." "Did you get any of their names?" "No, they talked about a Mr. A." "Said he'd deliver the money after I made the hit." "Can you spot the hit man if he shows?" "I can spot him." "You'd better be able to, if you're on the level." "Otherwise, I'm not the only one that will get killed." "I've got to check on a few things." "I'll be back in a few minutes." "Oh, well, that's good, because I can use the time." "I've got a new system that's going to break you." "If you'll just okay a cheque, you can go back to work." "How much?" "Two hundred and fifty." "Do you mind if I thank you later?" "Fine." "I was counting on it." "I'd like to cash this, please." "Yes, ma'am." "There's no problem, Mr. Costa has already okayed it." "I understand that, ma'am, but on cheques of this size," "I like to get Mr. Costa's personal okay." "Twenty-five thousand dollars." "Fifty-dollar chips, please." "Here you are." "Nineteen, pay 20." "Seventeen, pay 18." "He's here." "Where?" "Thousand-dollar chips, please." "I'll mark these a thousand." "Window." "What was that all about?" "Nothing, just cheap swindling." "Forget it." "I dealt her seconds till she hit $30,000." "I see." "This is a private office." "Yes, I didn't think you'd mind if we waited here for you." "What we have to say is quite private." "Like what?" "Shut the door." "Shut the door." "Why aren't you in the cage?" "Because I pulled him out." "Because he cashed a cheque for $25,000 for your girlfriend." "Twenty-five thousand dollars?" "What are you talking about?" "But you okayed it, Mr. Costa." "I even double-checked it with you on the floor." "Don't you remember?" "I never okayed any cheque worth $25,000." "Is that your signature?" "How could it be?" "I didn't write it." "It's gotta be a forgery." "What about this one?" "A little note to your house mechanic telling him to feed your girlfriend winning cards up to $30,000." "Thirty thousand?" "You dealt her $30,000 worth of winning cards?" "But it had your okay on it, Mr. Costa." "I never wrote this either." "Somebody is setting me up." "It's a big mistake." "Yes." "You seem to be making a lot of mistakes, Mr. Costa." "Unfortunately, you don't know how to rectify them." "I'm being framed." "I'm gonna get to the bottom of this." "Yes, so am I." "Perhaps Mr. Victor will know the answer." "Where are you going?" "To make a telephone call." " There's a phone right here." " Yes, I know." "It's a private call." "I want him stopped for good." "All right, mister." "Come with us." " I'm waiting for a call." " You're not." "If you had any brains, you'd wait for it too." "Come on." "You're as stupid as Costa." "If you keep this up, you'll be as dead as Costa." "Hello?" "Oh, yes, Mr. V." "Yes, it's just as you suspected." "No, it's just Costa." "No one else is involved." "Well, as a matter of fact, he's right here now." "Just a moment." "Arnie, Mr. V would like to talk to you." "Yes, Mr. V." "Don't talk, just listen, Arnie." "Anderson says you're clean, and that's good enough for me." "You're to take no more orders from Costa, understand?" "Yes, Mr. V." "He's dipped into the till for the last time." "Now he's gotta pay for it." "Until the whole matter settles, you'll take orders from Anderson." "Afterwards, you're in charge of the operation." "Yes, Mr. V." "Now, listen, after the casino closes tonight," "I want all security pulled out, understand?" "I want you and Wilson to be out of here too." "Make sure you've got alibis for all your movements, understand?" "How do you know Costa will come back here?" "He might just run." "Not with 200,000 in the safe." "He'll be back." "All right, I'll tell you." "I was just trying to beat the casino, that's all." "I'll give you all your money back." "No sale." "I've been set up." "I want to know who, I want to know why." "Now talk." "Victor sent me." "Victor?" "Victor sent me to frame you, so that when he..." "You were hit, he could justify it to the organisation." "Victor?" "No, you're lying." "Are you all right?" " Hello?" " Hello, this is Johnny Costa." "Get Victor to the phone fast." "Costa, sounds like he's in a sweat about something." "Johnny, you know better than to call me direct." "Now call me through channels." "You've put a contract out on me." " Don't cut me off." " Contract?" "Johnny, you call me through channels, we'll talk then." "And give your boys time to set me up again?" "No thanks." "Johnny, I haven't got a hit out on you." "Believe me, I don't know what's happening, if you call back..." "How could you do it?" "How could you run so scared?" "Sure the heat's on you, but we're like brothers." "I wouldn't have squealed on you." "You could have trusted me." "I do trust you, Johnny." "If you call back and tell me what's happened..." "No." "You come to the trial." "I'll tell you what happened." "Now, wait a minute, Johnny." "Something's wrong, believe that." "I don't know what it is, but I'm not out to hit you." "There's no contract out on you." "Believe that." "It's all right, Mr. Victor, we've got him." " He's not gonna give you any trouble." " Hey, who is this?" "All right, Costa, let's go." "Mr. Costa." "There's been a misunderstanding, Mr. Costa." "There's room for negotiation." "Mr. Victor would like to make a deal." "Tell Mr. Victor I'll see him in court."