" How heavy did he pay?" " The groin." "Halfway between a pension and a wreath." "A spic kid tried to pull a heist on the liquor store." "Patrolman tried to stop him." "Kid's inside now." "He's got a big gun." "And a small future." "Mr. Torrey, can you give us a statement, please?" "Okay, get back, people." "Stand back." "Out of the way." "Don't crowd." "Now, who the hell told Torrey to go in there?" "Don't know." "You still got two ways to build it, kid." "Come on down." "Stop." "The third teenage suspect shot dead by New York City police in four weeks brought another flood of complaints to the Mayor's office today." "The incident was in Spanish Harlem, where a police lieutenant chased an 18-year-old Puerto Rican boy into an empty building." "The boy was suspected of shooting and wounding a police officer after a raid on a nearby liquor store." "At the time the policeman entered the building, it was already surrounded by police." "Among the questions being asked:" "Was there not an easier way of getting the boy out than in a coffin?" "All right, all right." "Come on, now." "Out of the way." "Let us through." "I tried, Lou, but all you got is enemies." " That kid was only 17." " The gun made him older." "What the hell do they want a cop to do out there?" "They don't wanna change the law." "A kid can buy a gun easier than bubble gum." "It'll all come clean at the hearing." "Nah, I'm finished, Guido." "They put it down like I don't care." "A gun-happy cop." "I did try to talk him out of it, Helen, but I guess he wanted to be a comic book hero." "Maybe he was just frightened, Lou." "Yeah, he was scared, but he was dangerous, too." "Kid like that, locked into the city streets, can't find his way over the respectable white wall." "He's full of rage." "He numbs the pain with junk." "This way, he made the newspapers." "What are you gonna do?" "Les Daniels offered me a fixture on the coast." "Lieutenant." "Why not?" "Will you see Julie?" "She's your daughter, Lou." " How is she?" " Fine." " Want her address?" " No." "You remind me of home, Lou." "Remember the mill, the smelter, the mines, and the dead ground they cut out for miles around, where everything stunted and withered and died?" "It seemed November all year long." "I look at you and I see that town." "Hi, Lou." "Welcome to Los Angeles." "Stay sweet." "Hands against the wall." " A real Jesse Owens." " These blue-gum niggers can run." "Shut up." "Your Southern manners are showing." "What are you harping for, a civil rights medal?" "No snow." "He's made his drop." "Clean as a nail file." "Some smart nigger." "We had you gift-wrapped from the time you picked up the stuff, Candyman." "Now, we want the john." "Which room?" "You're a connection, and you're black, and this ain't a tolerant society." "You've got enough rocks to break." "First floor." "Second door from the fire escape." "Let that honky go in first." "Maybe I'll get lucky." "Who the hell are you?" "Don't just stand there." "Get the hell out." "You could die easy." "It bothers me." "Stand." "You got a face, and I can't make it." "New York, six years ago, Armitage." "Get dressed." "Hmm." "Your boy Armitage is wanted on a murder one in New York." "You deliver him." "This is New York Kennedy Airport." "Passengers from Los Angeles should follow the red arrows to the baggage collection area." "Taxis and buses to the city centre are available outside..." "Hey, nobody cares, Armitage." "Nobody remembers old headlines." " I still got something you're gonna need." " You had your gaudy moments." "You think I peddle fish?" " There's gonna be a hit." " Who?" "Do we deal?" "I don't buy fiction." " I can turn the light on Wexton." " Who the hell's Wexton?" "No games, no names." "All right, I can wait." "My value goes up." "But you better put me in a glass box, Torrey." "You better take good care of me." "This here man says he's valuable." "Take good care of him." "Yeah, he looks it." "You know what O. Henry called this place?" "He called it, "Baghdad on the subway."" "He musta lived in Pittsburgh!" "You see that killing at the airport?" "That's what I mean." "You get the worst here." "What's a nice guy like you want with the Fourth Precinct house?" "They give a good massage and a quick piece of ass." " Evening." " Hello, Mr. Torrey." "How are you?" "Good, good." "My God, Torrey." "Good to see you." "Been a long time." "Yeah." " Is Lorenz back there?" " Don't I know you?" " Could be, could be." " Who wants him?" "You wop bastard." "How the hell are you?" "It's been over two years." "I guess we're the survivors, huh?" "Some of us getting desk fat." "What's with this airport killing?" "You remember Bootlace Armitage?" "Yeah." "He get the blast?" "Yeah." "We picked him up about a week ago in Los Angeles," " and I placed the face." " You always could, Lou." "The name Wexton mean anything to you, Guido?" "Uh-huh." "Armitage used it." "Tried to give me the impression he was back in the big games." " I put it down to nostalgia." " A lot of people die of nostalgia, Lou." " He was an executive gun, though." " Was..." "Ten years ago." "Yeah." "Is that all you got?" "Only that name Wexton." "Armitage did say there was a hit scheduled." "Well, let's read about it in the newspapers." "Let's go out and get a couple of beers, Lou." "Boy, you New York cops, you don't sweat, do ya?" "Two years on the coast and you forget, this is the hub of our great society." "Hey, Guido, how about running the name Wexton around downtown?" "Might ring a bell with somebody." "Sure." "I'll get the book on Armitage from files." "Steinholtz..." "Get onto homicide about that killing at the airport." "Give it to Briers." "I've got six reports to do." "You've got six reports and a phone call to homicide." "With authority comes responsibility, Steinholtz." "I'm so happy, so proud." "Honoured, even." "Say, er, two from the tap, please." "Come on, Susie, hurry up." "We gotta get out of here." "Don't you know who that guy is?" "No, I don't." "Who is he?" "Well, you ought to know." "He's with the police, all right." " Don't stall." " Okay." " We got trouble enough last month." " All right." "You got a nervous clientele." "Yeah." "We could bankrupt this guy." "So, you like Los Angeles?" "It's better than a sharp stick in the eye." "Well, you never did run in the popularity stakes, did you?" "Uh-uh!" "Oh, stay a while, JD." "You remember JD, don't ya, Lou?" "Come on." "Let's go back and wash our hands." "Come on." "Mexican grass." "A good, mild high, but not a real competitor any more." "Old heads dig it." "Lebanese Gold, overrated." "Middle-class market, you know, suburban swingers." "Moroccan." "Real rough gauge." "Uptown, the Village." "And last," "Nepal Coarse." "For God-trippers." "JD's the best grass man on the East Coast." "Half this town climbs on him." "Well, you gotta have pride." "I remember you." "You bought me two years on Rikers Island." "I remember ya." "You're gonna bag this stuff?" "With your sheet, you can get five to ten." "That's a lot of years." "Captain, I know what I got in my hand." "Question is, what do you got in yours?" "D'you hear about that airport killing?" "Only what they say on TV." "I don't want to miss the gossip." "Any of it." "Anything I hear about the killing at the airport." "Only." "The foundation for good business is insurance." "The foundation for good insurance is premiums paid on time." "No, don't!" "Now Armitage is dead, how about the Wexton man who got himself arrested?" "Lipper?" "I've given the contract to the Wexton people." "The police have taken him to the hospital for tests." "Los Angeles General Hospital." "Emergency call for Dr. Gordon Gow." "Los Angeles General Hospital." "Emergency call for Dr. Gordon Gow." "What's the matter, Lipper?" "No matter what the machine says, I'm not being cut." "Where'd you get that idea from?" "They're doing it to guys at Dannemora Prison in New York, and at San Quentin." "I read about it." "They cut away half your brain." "Not here, Gus." "They put needles in your skull." "They say you can taste the burning in your mouth." "Is that right?" "You can taste it." "Damn!" "We never did anything that bad in Vietnam." "I could tell you things that would blow your mind." "But we never got that ugly." "You wanna talk about Vietnam?" "Some other time." "Ain't no sound like it, baby." "Wanna help me change the plates?" "It's Dickie Mills." "When he was good, no trombone player could touch him." "Hey, you wanna broken arm?" "Mr. Lawrence says he wants us ready by 10 o'clock." "I sure hope Armitage's stand-in knows what he's doing." "You said that a hundred times." "Yeah, that's good for you to say." "See, you make your money easy." "You know, I sure would have loved to work with that old guy." "I've heard he was the best." "He musta wasted more than a dozen cats." "Armitage wasn't so smart." "He was a heroin addict." " Got busted." " Yeah." "They're here." "Is the cruel one with them?" " Everything all right, Jumper?" " Yes, sir." "Pontiac Bonneville, full tank, changed plates." " The original?" " In my bag." "That's good." "Here's your money." "And a ticket to New Orleans." "Your flight leaves at 11:30." " My own car's still at the airport." " We'll take care of that." " You fly." " Yes, sir." "We'll be in touch." "Alfred, like you to meet Graham." "Graham's been in Vietnam, where he's had plenty of experience." "He knows it all, then." "Well, I hardly do anything, do I?" "You do it all." "Alfred." "Come on." "Let's show Graham his gun." " He ready?" " Yes." " Okay?" " Be my guest." " Pow!" " Wow." "Come on, Lipper." "Don't make it a career." "Lipper?" "The bread you get isn't worth the pain." "The gun, give." "You and me are gonna walk out of here real normal like." "A prisoner and a cop." "No hand signs, no nods, and no acts of bravery." "Sure." ""Sure." I know what you're thinking." "You're thinking, "Would he kill a cop for a piss-ass assault charge?"" "Seems like a pretty high step around 60 days, Lipper." "You just might be right." "But I'll put a bullet in you, and you can be damn sure of that." "You must be crazy, Lipper." "Yeah, I've got a birthday party to go to." "The parking lot." "Here he is." "Run, Gus." "Run." "Hello?" "What hit him?" "A complete state of death." "Well, let's have your tale of woe." "Dead man's name is Gus Lipper." "He had a gunshot..." "Are you his interpreter or his mother?" "Well, er, Lieutenant, he pulled a gun on me inside the building." "He went berserk and smashed up a bar." "We gave him an electroencephalogram to see if there was any neurological basis for his violence." "There wasn't." "What was the matter with him?" "He was one of the wounded." "An American victim." "No noticeable scars." "Okay, Doctor." "Make it easy for me." "Aggression and violence are part of a learning process." "They're habit-forming." "Now, Lipper was a type of addict." "We tend to count the victims amongst the innocent, but that's not always so, Lieutenant." "After we've shed our pity for the basket cases, and the burnt children, we've nothing left for the psychopaths we've created." "Vietnam doesn't make heroes." "It makes a generation of Lippers." "Did he ever mention the name Wexton?" "No, but there might be something in his Army file." " Is this your car?" " Yeah, well, I leased it." "Come with all those keys?" "No, I work at a garage in New Orleans." "I'm just catching a flight home." "What's in those bags?" "A couple of shirts, shaver, my stuff." "Why, do you want to open it and check it out?" "The other one." "That's just some tools." "Open it." "Look, I'm gonna miss my flight here." "I've got a... driver's licence... and the papers." "What more do you need?" "Why the shake?" "Bag." "Halt!" "I mean, Torrey, there are other possibilities." "Just that." "Militant blacks again, sir?" "The FBI thinks it might have relevance." "The FBI can piss in their collective ear." "They run around the Rosie chasing after fashionable targets like communists, the SDS, Panthers." "I'm beginning to find you a little hard to swallow, Torrey." "Hey, Captain, let's look at this thing." "We pick up a professional killer with well-known Mafia connections." "A family soldier from New York." "Now, what the hell's he doing in this town?" "Then he tells me there's a hit coming." "I get him to New York, they're waiting for him." "They even knew which flight he was coming in on." "Today, another killing." "Similar." "Classic." "You can't tell me that that's coincidence." "Play it your way." "But if you can't deliver, or if you go over the line one inch," "I'll be talking to Jumper." "I think he's right, John." "He doesn't have a damn thing, Les." "He's straight, he's got experience, and he's the best damn detective we've ever had." "He's vicious, and your opinion is a minority view." "Upstairs, Jumper." "Where we going?" "Upstairs." "Call you if I need you, Sergeant." " Lionel Henry Jumper?" " No." "I just do impersonations." "We'll try one more time." " Lionel Henry..." " Yes." " You got your name on a murder sheet." " Murder?" "You're putting me on." "I wouldn't do a thing like that." " Like what?" " Like what you said." " Like murder." " You're gonna wear it." "If you got any talk to do, do it now." "What am I gonna talk about?" "I got grabbed 'cause I had some plates on me I bought off a guy." "Plates from a car involved in a murder, and you don't ask." "Name couldn't be Wexton, could it?" "I told you I didn't ask his name." "You just went all white." "You're out of your mind." "Not theft, not an accessory, murder one." "No." "Uh-uh, you can't." "I was at the airport when..." ""When"?" "You can't hit me." "I'll have you up on charges." "Who hit you?" "I wouldn't do a thing like that." "You said, "when," Jumper." "You're crazy or something." "Sergeant." "Prisoner wishes to file a complaint against me." "Says I hit him." "Three times, you son of a bitch." " His face look marked?" " Not to me." "Take him downstairs." "Come on." "Hey, Sergeant," " you see his sheet?" " I've got it outside." "What's it say?" ""Murder of Gustave Lipper."" "Torrey, can I talk to you for a minute?" "Erm..." "If I... make a statement... and drop the charges..." "You got nothing to trade, thief." "You're in too deep." "But if you want to help, tell me about the car." "I took a car." "That's, er, my..." "That's what I do." "Er, they said it was for a heist." "What did they do?" "Kill a night watchman or something?" "You tell me." "They said it was for a heist." "Where'd you pick it up?" "The airport." "Who ordered it?" "I don't know his name." "Wexton?" "No." "No, I keep..." "I don't know any Wextons." "I copped a Pontiac." "I delivered it." "Where did you take it?" "Where did you take it?" "Where did you take it?" "Er, "Lawson." "Alan Lawson." That's what he signed." "Paid for two days in advance." " You never saw him before?" " Never." "No, most just drive in and drive out the next day." "In his early twenties, you say?" "In the neighborhood of." "Erm... sharp dresser." "Had a trombone and one of those portable record players." "Played a lot of jazz music on it." "Yeah, very loud." "I had to ask him to turn it down." "We're staying in the room next door." "I come down from Seattle every year about this time." "Er, oh..." "My niece." "Anything else about him?" "Yeah." "He was good-looking." "Did he have any visitors?" "Three I saw." "That one you got in the car and a couple others." "I want you to have a good look at him." "You sure?" "Yeah, I'm sure." "Yeah, that's him." "Isn't that right, sweetheart?" "Er, yeah, that's him." "He was here a couple of times, and he was here this morning when the other two came." "Would you say they all knew each other?" "They sure seemed to." "You've got your nerve." "How dare you say I was drunk?" "Can't a lady..." "I must have left it in the motel." "Lou, you get anything?" "Well, we got a name:" "Al Lawson." "I'm gonna call the American Federation of Musicians." "I see Jumper has blood on his face." "It better heal, quick." "It couldn't've been." "I just went into the store." "Give me a break." "I'm just doing my job." "I'm sorry." "It wasn't me." "Angelo Bianco." "Died, April 10th, 1931." "Louis Vescari." "Died, April 10th, 1931." "Giovanni Pollari." "Died, April 10th, 1931." "Enrico Scianno." "Died, April 10th, 1931." "Carlo Marioni." "Died, April 10th, 1931." "Mr. Lawrence, have you ever seen a runner in the starting blocks, all nerves, tension, waiting for the gun?" "I'm that runner." "I've waited 42 years." "Waited 42 years for April the 10th." "You see that monument over there?" "That's Joe "The Boss" Masseria." "He was killed eating spaghetti vongole in Scarpato's restaurant, 1931." "With him died what we call the Castellammarese War." "Don Salvatore Maranzano became the capo di tutti capi." "In our Sicilian way, our things, nothing had changed, but, you see, some of the young men who did very good because of the war between the families, they thought our old ways was not good for making money," "and they had ambition." "They were Luciano, Genovese, Profaci." "They wanted to take this thing of ours away from us and make an alliance with the Jews and the Irish and have a national syndicate, an executive council to give out the orders to the franchises, to each family." "Now, the older ones, the Mustache Petes, and Don Salvatore Maranzano opposed them." "Luciano had them killed." "Four graves over there." "Maranzano there." "More than 40 killed, one night in April." "And that night we remember as the Sicilian Vespers." "After that, we got rich." "But they were my blood." "And a man don't forget by counting his money." "Your birthday party will be ready, Don Vescari." "We have 40 men." "They're all well-trained in combat, transportation, communications." "All of them anonymous." "Not one of them has a criminal record." "The top seven, they're for the party itself." "Thirteen others, they'll act like reinforcements for your capo regime, here in New York." "There'll be 10 for the Moreci family in Chicago, six in Miami and four in New Orleans, in case there's any backlash from some of your friends." "Mm-hmm, I hope the others are more reliable than Lipper." "You think he gave anything to the doctors or police?" "No." "We sealed him off." "Armitage was a bad goof." "Yeah." "Well, we corrected it." "This is Bartolemo Vechetti." "He is the capo di tutti capi." "I want him the most." "From his chair, I can pull everything together." "These are the principal associates of Bootlace Armitage when he was in the big time." "There's a file on Armitage himself." "And two Wextons." "And that's all we have, sir." "Telex, New York." ""No Wextons on file of any interest."" "You get any background stuff on Lipper?" "Got a sister living in San Francisco." "That's all." "Thin pickings." " Sleep well?" " Yeah." "Running lucky?" "No Wextons on file in New York." "We got a couple here." "Fred Wexton, a spade." "Did grievous bodily harm to his white landlord." "From the looks of this, he deserved it." "The second is a young girl." "Geraldine Wexton." "Stole her boyfriend's chequebook, probably for services rendered." "Suspended sentence." "We could have something going on the driver of the murder car." "Give it to Mathews." "You bought the Wexton bit, now the Chief wants you to check them out, personally." "Here are the addresses of the two Wextons, sir, and the Musician's Local gave us a list of trombone players and their addresses." "Four fit the description of the suspect, but there's no Al Lawson." "No, but there's an Alfred Langley." " Mathews." " What?" "Check out everybody on the list." "Start with Alfred Langley." "Why Langley?" "Al Lawson;" "Alfred Langley." "Our thief has no imagination." "Take that young cop, Hart." "He might be able to identify him." "All right." "Look at this." "Why does every crook live on the top floor?" "Just my luck." "So, as I was saying, the kids were kidding' me about my clothes, you know, these lapels, this tie and this hat." "But I said, "You just wait." "It'll come back."" "You save your clothes long enough, when you have sharp clothes to begin with, and they always come back." "They're all laughing standing there, and I said, "Never mind my clothes, Linda," ""You want me to take you to a public restaurant," ""you're gonna have to wear a brassiere, that's all there is to it."" "This must be the one here." "Alfred Langley?" "Could be." "You two come on real strong." "Who are you?" "I'm Batman." "This here's Robin." "Who's the shy one?" "My roommate." "Ah!" "Check him." "Come on." "Come on, get up." "Turn around." "Come on." " All right, get dressed." " What for?" "I don't want you to catch a cold." "You, too, Hilda." "Why him?" "I don't want to separate you two." "Come on." " Toss me my jacket." " Give it here." "Halt!" "Hey, what's happening?" "Get outta the way!" "What the hell?" "Get out!" "Geraldine Wexton?" "You the man?" "She's not here today." "Where?" "Look, Saint Teresa, let's not have a heavy scene, huh?" "If I get the feeling of being rejected, you may have a visit from the Food and Health man every day." "And a fire inspector who's a real son of a bitch." "Or would you like to have your customers touched up by the vice squad?" "And if I remember?" "No hassle." "She's at the Ashram." "Hello, Les." "The Wexton girl is up Carmel way, at an ashram." "What?" "Ashram, retreat." "A temple." "You got a lousy vocabulary, boy." "After I see the girl, I thought I'd drive up to San Francisco." "Lipper has a married sister there." "Clear me with the locals, will you, Les?" "I don't want to step on anybody's injured pride." " I'll be back by tomorrow noon." " Okay." "If you turn your stomach into a grave for this cow, and millions of other animals like them, and you cut their throats and let their blood fall upon the floors of the slaughterhouses, and then you slice their bodies into small pieces" "of roast beef and hamburger and hot dog, one day nature's going to get back at you with the heart attack which kill you with cerebral haemorrhage." "That is the animal fat clogging in your brain and in your heart, and kills more people than all the wars, all the natural disasters, all the diseases and everything else put together." "Peace." "Miss Geraldine Elizabeth Wexton." "Peace." "The commodity's out of stock." "You sound official." "No tracks." "No dilated pupil." "I'm clean." "Some little pig should've stayed home." "I got a different set of questions." "Let me guess." "You want to get into the God thing." "Sufi?" "Vedanta?" " The past." " That old trip." "I suppose once you get busted, your whole life is one big open file." "We do catalogue the human weaknesses." "That's our playground." "Hey, er, you got time?" "I never bailed a cop." "Another time, another place, another cop." "Do you know a Gus Lipper?" "Charlie Armitage?" "It could've been nice." "Gus Lipper." "A big spade, Vietnam vet." "The tantrics believe that a woman's body is a sacred altar and pleasure was a path to God." "You wanna talk about bodies?" "Let's talk about Gus Lipper's." "He connected with five heavy bullets." "Now, I've driven 180 miles to ask you a few questions." "If you don't stop playing games with me, Little Miss Muffet, you'll find yourself back in Los Angeles, viewing the remains of Lipper, and booked up to your empty head with obstruction." "My consiglieri do not like the use of these stranieri, these war veterans." "We need an army without faces." "Al, we're only three families out of 26 across the country." "We need our friends in Los Angeles and Miami." "What Gus means is, if they find out about these outsiders, we could come apart." "What was Luciano's weapon in '31?" "The stranieri, outsiders." "Stone killers." "Jew guns hired from Lepke," "Siegel, Lansky, faces we never even knew." "We, in Chicago, have one question, Don Alberto, are you sure you can get all the head men in one room at the right moment?" "What am I, a peasant with two olive trees and a pig?" "Of course I'm sure." " Chi vi diamo." " Chi vi diamo." "Are you sure, Al?" "A family war is not easy to handle." "Tell you what, you start the blaze," "I'll call the fire department." "Okay?" "Oh, Les." "Les, you know Harrison of the Federal Bureau." "He's brought over some data on that black suspect of Torrey's, Fred Wexton." "That boy's a militant, a Black Panther." "It's all here." "They think, and I'm of the same mind, that he's the Wexton we want in the Lipper killing." "Bring him in." "Can I wait for Torrey?" "No." "All right, all right." "Outta the way." "All right." "Outta the way." "Get out." "Come on." "Lemme through." "Goddammit, get outta the way." "Please." "Hey, wait a..." " Come on." "Let's get out of here." " Let's go." "Okay, calm down, you people." "Quiet down." "Relax." "Come on, now." "Come on." "Pipe down." "Relax." "Take it easy." "Shut up!" "You guys keep it quiet." "Come on, keep it down there." "Come on, quiet, now." "Why, cracker?" "Why?" "Hey." "Hey, hey, Lou." "Cool it." "Cool it." "Now listen to me." "Listen to me." "Your black, Wexton, is mixed in with the militants." "The Bureau says Panthers." "The Chief says to bring him in." "They think he might be the Wexton." " "Thinks"?" " Now, remember who's in command here." "How the hell could I forget that monument of genius?" "He sends this cracker to pick up a suspect, and he takes an army with him." "What for?" "To ask a few questions?" "Yesterday, he blew number one suspect." "Today, he goddamn nearly blew the entire town." "Where you going?" "To try to pick up Langley." "The crime lab checked the place out." "That's him." "You got a poor fielding record." "Two easy catches and you dropped them both." "I mean, you couldn't catch your breath." "Call in, have yourself replaced." " You're coming with me." " Yes, sir." "Recognise the guy in the centre?" "Buys middle-period jazz." "Ellington, Basie, stuff like that." "Maybe I've seen him, but I don't make the face." "Yeah, I know him." "Buys a lot of stuff in here." "Name is, er, Al Langley." "Plays trombone." " He been around lately?" " Oh, last week or so." "If he wasn't at home, where would he put up?" "Hey, listen, man, he just buys records from me." "He don't confess, you know what I mean?" "Does he always come in alone?" "Well, sometimes he's with a chick." "He's a switch-hitter." "Piece of two worlds." "Where do you think I can find her?" "Damn, I wish I knew." "Hey, you know Paul Long?" "Spade guitar cat?" "Yeah, I know him." "Well, try him." "He and Langley do gigs together." "You might as well get used to it." "You're part of the white power structure." "The enemy." "Pull up here." "Yeah, I'll catch you later, man." "Hello, Wayne." "Where can I find Paul Long?" "Whaddya want him for?" "I want to ask him about a white trombone player." "Get Paul." "He's over at Greenie's." "We need something for our plate, Torrey." "Freddie Wexton, he was taken in today." "Well, might be over my head." "Try." "Whadda you want?" "Al Langley." "If he was running, where would he hide?" "I don't know, but I could find out." "What's the jack on him?" "A killing." "We'll call." "Okay." "Believe me, Jack, I've tried, Locati's tried." "I don't know." "We're going to need more weight behind it." "You know we don't like to mix in family trouble, Al." "Ah, with these headlines, it's gonna spill all over." "What makes you think Luchino's people or the Battaglias will listen to the council?" "Look, Vechetti is still the capo di tutti capi of all these whole families." "I'm telling you, they'll listen." "And if they don't, the council will take away their franchise and cut a hole in their pockets." "Even animals like the Battaglias got to do business." "I'll, er, talk to Vechetti." "When did you have in mind?" "April 10th." "Antonio Rossi was shot today outside his Long Island home, making him victim number nine in New York's Mafia war." "Also shot was Rossi's chauffeur, Stefano Cinieri." "Two men are being sought for questioning in connection with the slaying." "Meantime, police have made a massive arrest of over 200 suspects and others with known Mafia connections." "Here, Captain of Detectives, Guido Lorenz is seen bringing suspects into the First Precinct house." "As the arrests and the killings go on, New Yorkers ask, "Will it ever end," ""or is New York becoming a city..."" " Now, what the hell is this?" " What it is." "I want a release for Fred Wexton." "Now, you're throwing too much sand, mister..." "Les, I want him out." "He had two shotguns in his room." "Your brother-in-law has three." "There are 15 million more between Seattle and Miami." "Okay." "Okay, he goes." "Do you see any light, Lou?" "Well, I might have Alfred Langley." "Now, that would make me very happy." " Hello?" " Torrey there?" "Wayne." "Hello, Wayne, this is Torrey." " I got something you can use, man." " Be right there." "Got a lead on Langley." "Mathews." "He'll come." "You know the Sunflower?" "Paul's got a gig over there, a recording." "Said your boy was in about an hour ago." "Got himself a big bike." "Says he's gonna head out over the ridge to the Mojave tonight." "Says he's gonna touch base there." "You sure keep lousy company, man." "Hey, I filled your plate for ya." "That's cool." "Say, Torrey," "I still don't wanna marry your sister." "That breaks me up." "You ought to see the slob she did marry." "You catch the side exit, I'll go in this way." "I don't think that middle section works." "I told you, when you're coming off the change, I want..." "Hmm..." "And I think that..." "Hey, you." "Get out of there." "Les, Les, Les." "Please, don't shout." "My head is hurting." "I don't know where he went." "He took off after Langley." " Well, you better find him." " You didn't answer my question, Les." "If I take a cab back, do I pay for it or does the department pay for it?" "Jesus!" "Langley dead?" "On arrival." "It was an accident, Les." "You better make it read that way." "Well, what would you call it?" "Witnesses say you used the car on him." "How are we on the effects of Gustave Lipper?" "I'm doing them now." " Now?" " Everything waits in line." "Well, what have you come up with so far?" "Bus ticket." "His shoes and clothing have particles of desert sand." "Okay." "What have you got?" "Lipper had no cards or documents, but he was well dressed and had $210 on him." "His hands were hard, but he had no calluses." "So I guess he wasn't doing any manual labour." "The lab found traces of gun oil under his fingernails, and a paraffin test showed that he'd fired a weapon recently." "When the lab went over his clothes, they came up with two things:" "Sand, scraped from his shoes, desert sand," "and a bus ticket bought in the town of Manix." "Manix is on Route 12." "Desert road." "So Lipper was once in a town called Manix." "Last night, Langley told Paul Long he was going to touch base somewhere in the desert." "So, we check out the town." "I already had the state police do that." "Nobody in the area ever heard of a Wexton or a Lipper." "Lou, we've been up this road before." "It's the desert, Les." "But not around Manix." "They might use the town to buy supplies," "catch a bus, something like that." "It's too tightly planned." "It's just too careful." "They'd wanna place far enough away not to be traced, but close enough to drive to." "How close?" "How far?" "50, 80 miles." "That's Mojave Desert you're talking about, mister." "50, 80 miles is damn near anywhere." "Is it all ready?" "Yes, sir." "Now, you see the cage floor, that's an exact duplicate of the elevator floor." "The men are blindfolded so they can get used to working in the dark." "However, there'll be some light on the actual day." "Now, we timed the elevator exactly." "It only descends to the garage level when summoned." "From the moment when it comes to rest, the men in the sump there, they have 14 seconds to hook up the body slings and equipment bags, then the lift arrives." "Those bolt fittings underneath the cage, they're the real thing?" "Fixed that three months ago and checked yesterday." "You see, all elevators have regular inspection and maintenance." "We placed our men earlier this year." "Les." "There is one possibility." "It's thin." "Trying to sell me or talk me out of it?" "Well, we blow it, we catch it from the fan." " Already, I'm getting that sick feeling." " Jumper." "If you've made a mistake, Daniels, you'll go under with Torrey." "Thank you, sir." "Mr. Champion, sir, the men are packing." "New York party will be ready to leave at noon tomorrow." "You coming, sir?" "No, I'll stay and keep it neat here." " The others got their orders?" " Yes, sir." "Chicago group are leaving late afternoon, and Miami and New Orleans, they'll be going in the evening." "Tell me, what are you in this for, Lawrence?" "It's my trade, sir." " Pure soldier, right through." " Yes, sir." "Thirty-year man." "I was 15 years old when they hit Pearl Harbor." "I've been at it ever since." "Korea, 'Nam..." "I just put myself on the open market like the rest of them." "What's all this?" "Just check the contents and sign it." "You're being released." "Check the contents." "Oh, no, no." "You got a face a virgin could trust." "What the hell's this bastard doing out of his cage?" "Bail, Lieutenant." " Who the hell would put up bail for him?" " DA and public lawyer." "Seems he was mistreated and held without proper procedure." "Choke on it, Mr. Torrey." "Jumper left, Lou." "You sure you don't need a tail?" "No, let him run free." "What if he runs in the wrong direction?" "Les, you placed your bets." "Worrying doesn't win horse races." "There goes my pension." "Hey, thank you." "Thanks." " Be careful with that equipment now." " Let's go." "Let's move it." "Come on." "Come on." "Yeah, the New York group leaves at 12." " Is everything all right?" " Well, sure, everything's all right." "The rest of us will be out of here by 7 o'clock tonight." " See you then." " Yeah." " You sure no one followed you?" " No-one." "All right." "Come on out." "I'll tell the garage man to rent you a vehicle, but, Jumper," "Yeah?" "if you see one car that you think is a tail, just one, you head out and you go straight to Las Vegas, you hear?" "Mm-hmm." " All right." "Put the garage man on." " Right." "Hey." "Come here a sec." "He wants you." "Charlie, give him that VW." "Hey, where's that guy off to?" "I don't know." "Mr. Lawrence told me to rent him a car, that's all." "Who's Mr. Lawrence?" "Oh, he's got a place here in the mountains." "Comes in here for all his gas and whatever repairs he might need." "He's a good customer." " Where is this place?" " Well, I ain't never been there." "I mean, it's, er..." "It's in the mountains somewhere." "All right, both of you, listen to me real close, now." "I don't want him found." "Take the car to Baker, leave it out on the highway, but I don't want him found." "Now, go on." "He borrowed a car and headed west." "Son of a bitch, we blew it." "Try south." "Hey, come here." "Come here." "The bastard set me up." "They're at the old Wexton Indian house, second turn out the main highway." "A guy named Lawrence and a bunch of Army veterans." "They killed Lipper." "Something about a birthday party." "Good luck, soldier." "A good soldier doesn't need luck, but it's a nice thought." "There you are." "Come stai?" " Bene grazie." " Benissimo." "Mi conoscete già." "Don Angelo, Don Pisciotti." "Tu conosce." "Don Giacento." "Piacere, piacere." "Now, the day after tomorrow, the 10th, all the council will meet in one room." "You guys, cover that entrance." "Hurry up." "Let's go." "Let's go." "Up against the car." "Spread your feet." "Back up." "You in the house, you're boxed in." "Come on." "Come out now." "We don't want any blood." "Let's go." "Everybody line it up." "Come on." "Little order here." "Let's go." "Operator." "Yeah, get me long distance." "You two cover me here." "I'm going up those stairs." "You cover him." "I'm going in here." "Hello, long-distance operator?" "I want New York City, area code 212." "581-4173." " Where the hell were you?" " I was out in back..." "That's twice now, you son of a bitch." "One of them was on the phone." "Find out where he was calling." "Jesus." "What the hell's going on?" "Check it out over there, will ya?" "Tony "The Arbitrator" Champion." "A big man, Les." "Fits in with Armitage." "Mathews find out where he was calling?" "He was trying to call New York." "There were no lines." "Unlisted number." "Maybe your friend Lorenz can run it down." "Anything from that bag of heroes outside?" "It'll take time, Lou." "Well, we ain't got time." "Look at this." "There are airline tickets to Chicago, Miami, New Orleans." "And there are about 20 stubs here from an earlier flight to New York." "Okay, you three, two in the back, one in the front." "We'll break it." "We'll break it, Lou." "We'll break it." "Les, you train an army to make war." "Yeah, but I'm 50 years old, and I got varicose veins and bad digestion, and I'm tired." "All right." "All right." "But I wanna go to New York." "That's the seventh." "And now you, with your cotton-candy theories." "I'm not just guessing, Guido." "Twenty men arrived in New York yesterday." "All veterans." "All trained killers." "They all had a connection with Tony Champion, who was connected to Al Vescari, who was connected to Locati, and Locati was connected to Armitage." "And they're all going to a birthday party." "Believe it, Guido." "Some mornings, I wake up and I wonder why." "I've got a watch on Locati and Vescari, and I've wired Washington." "I don't have much." "Everybody's up so tight, you need a tractor to pull a needle out of this town's ass." "Look, forget the poetry, huh?" "Well," "Armitage went because he had something big in his bag." "Very big is the whisper." "And a snowdrop I know, a real hard coke sniffer, he got way up last night and let it go that there's some big changes comin'." "This cat had the same friend that Armitage had." "That's the end of the commercial, Mr. Torrey." "Stay happy." "What's happening?" "Both Vescari and Locati's men are still in there." "They must be making the peace or somethin'." "Luchinos met first, and now Battaglias." "I have six men spread out." "Nobody's gonna get away, Captain." "Nobody." "Other unit requesting location..." "Okay." " Telephone, Al." " Uh." "Grazie." "We cancel, Al?" "No." "We do not cancel." "They busted us." "Champion's dead." "I have waited 42 years." "Al, we're finished." "Maybe." "You phone Moreci in Chicago." "Tell him that his group is on its way." "Tell the others in Miami and New Orleans." "They must be reassured also." "Al, we can stop it." "How?" "How are we gonna stop it?" "You gonna tell Mossman we were planning to kill him and his council, only something went wrong?" "You expect him to kiss you for your honesty?" "He's gonna find out in a couple of days, anyway." "Come on." "It's too late to turn back." " You got anything, Lou?" " No." "And, er, what's all this?" "Family trees." "This is April 9th, right?" "Right, and tomorrow's April 10th, and I can't keep 15 men on surveillance and make excuses for you much longer, Lou." "Go down to the files, bring everything for the year 1931, including the newspapers." "Oh, a lot of that stuff will be on microfilm." "So, go and get the microfilm!" "Oh..." "What's up, Lou?" "I don't know, but there's something about the date April 10th." "I'm just trying to shake it loose." "Well, I'll be a son of a bitch." "Guido." " Yeah?" " April 10th, today." "But it's crazy." ""It's crazy"?" "What's crazy, Lou?" "Forty-two years ago today, the birthday party." "Yeah, all right, look, take me through this real slow, Lou." "The syndicate, Guido, they took control." "Luciano wiped out all the old family heads." "They call it the Night of the Sicilian Vespers." "And the Sicilians are gonna take it back all in one day, huh?" "You gotta be out of your mind, Lou." "Nobody waits 42 years." "Guido, that's why the army." "And the desert." "They tried to keep it hidden." "If I buy, how?" "Well, they've got to get everybody in the same place at the same time." "A council meeting or something like that." "Who's in town?" " Jack Mossman, Vechetti." " Put a cover on them." "Oh, now, that can come back on us very hard, Lou." "Guido, take the gamble." " Mossman, how are you?" " Fine." "Good to see ya." "Vechetti just picked up Mossman, and we know Humphreys and Mo Lesner flew in last night." "It looks like it's on, Lou." "Take care, son." "Good luck." "Here." "Car 82-X, they've turned into the 1200 building, corner of 8th Avenue and 60th Street." " Vechetti and Mossman." " Okay, elevator coming." "Why don't you just go out and park it?" " How are you?" " How are ya?" " How are you?" " Good to see ya." "You, too." "Thank God we live in the country." "Come on." "Hey, you the guy with the broken axle?" "You the one with the broken axle?" "No, you want to talk to the garage man." "He's over there." "Now, who do we wait for?" "The Sicilians, Vescari, Locati and Gus Moreci." "Let's go." "Out." "Everybody out, quick." " Ah!" " Steinholtz!" " Don't shoot." " Don't shoot." "The gun, give me the gun." " Give it to me." "Turn around." " Yes, sir." "Yes, sir." "All right, up." "Nothing changes, only the names." "You've gotta be kiddin'." "We're chest-deep in water, screaming against the rushing tide." "Bless me, Father, for I have sinned." "I haven't been to confession for 10 days." "I lose my temper." "You know, last three weeks, in New York City alone, there were 159 homicides." "I don't mean to be harsh, but I struck my son in anger last Tuesday." "3,000 criminal assaults, 6,000 robberies." "Ruth, my wife, bless her." "I swore at her." "You multiply that by Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles..." "For these, and all the other sins which I cannot remember, forgive me." "You remember that cartoon of an old Roman circus?" "Where all the lions are roaring, and the page boy yells down the corridor:" ""You've got five minutes, Christians.""