"Wendell Casino is a straight casino." "Always has been." "Always will be." "When we opened our first casino on the Mississippi Belle steamer in 1855, the gaming industry was crooked." "Rooms overrun with shysters, conmen, vermin of the night." "It became our mission to straighten things out." "My great-great-grandfather, Pastor RG Wendell, and his brother, Claibourne County Sheriff," "Donnie DF Wendell, fitted that there first casino with thine own hand." "They filled it with scrupulous dealers, straight cards, straight tables." "And by God, they watched over it like hawks." "Let me tell you, they did not stand for cheating." "The first thief they caught was Charlie Stroller." " Everything OK there, soldier?" " Yeah." "25 across the orphans." "That's a mighty wager for an infantry man." " I've been saving." " Not quite enough it would seem." "That's $21, not $25." "A dirty stack." "I put 25 down." "You all saw me." "You put down late." "They were watching the table." "We saw you." "Sir, I'm straight." "I ain't no cheat." "The devil tempts us all from time to time." "Play the game again." "This cheat won't spoil the game no more." "Hey, get off me!" "Where are you taking me?" "I ain't no cheat, I tell you!" "A century and a half on, to celebrate this, the opening of our first British casino, we have created an exhibition telling the remarkable story of that first casino and the forging of the Wendell mantra," ""If it ain't straight, it ain't right."" "Here visitors can see for themselves the tricks of the grifter's trade." "And how we Wendell boys busted them." "Tricks like card changing... top hatting and dirty stacking." "These tricks not only rob us, they rob ordinary folks, too." "That's why my ancestors went after them then, and why I go after them now." "I loathe these scum." "These snakes, they think they're characters." "They think they add colour to our drab lives." "They do not." "Grifting is a sickness, friends, and I am the hard cure." "I don't just catch cheats, I break 'em." "I end their goddamn careers!" " He's fishing for us to play." " I know." "First I want him to take that damn photograph down." "OK, then let's give him a chance to do it the easy way." "Oh, he won't." "He's as gutless as his ancestors." "What can I do for you, gentlemen?" "Well, I could tell you that we're from the North Atlantic Federal Bank looking to shelter some cash from a none-too-pleasant country." "Great rate of return." "Or we could tell you about a company who's going to double its shares next week." "But there's no point trying, is there?" "Because you already know who we are." "Albert Stroller, Vegas enigma." "Mickey Bricks." "We call you the Higgs Boson." "You're there but we never see you." "Well, now you do." "Smart way of flushing us out." "I know your heart." "Even though you see your brethren dead on a hook, you think you'll be the one to survive where all have failed before." " We're not here to rope you." " You sure?" "We're here for that." "Of course." "Your great-grandpappy." "No match for the Wendell boys." "I ain't no cheat, I tell you!" "My family was a straight family, Mr Wendell." "Charlie Stroller liked to gamble once in a while but he was not a cheat." "Well, people like to think the best of the dead, don't they?" "I guess they do, yes." "And how do you know, Mr Stroller, that he ain't a cheat?" "My grandmother told me." "Oh." "Well, what does that tell us?" "That tells us that your grandmother was a damn filthy liar, too." "Look, all you have to do is take down the photo and we'll be gone." "Look at that - still crooked after all these years." "I see you're looking to expand your collection." "Oh." "This is a handsome piece." "Work of art." "I saw it yesterday at the warehouse." "Don't you think it'll be real pretty right here?" "So, what, is it, uh..." "Is it special?" "You know damn well it is." "That there is the original Wendell wheel." "That is the wheel that his great-grandpappy met his shame on." "It is the very symbol of the Wendell way." "Once you've bought it, why don't we play it?" " What did you say?" " You and me." "Just like our forebears back in the old-timey days." "Now, that is a tantalising notion." "Yeah." "Wendell versus Stroller." "The rematch." "That would be special, wouldn't it?" " Stakes?" " Gentleman's honour." "Well, you don't have any honour to give up." "How much to break you?" "How much would I have to win to make you take that photograph down?" "You'd have to break the bank, Mr Stroller, to make me take it down." " OK." " That'd be impossible." "I'm going to do everything I can, everything, to make you take it down." "Then how about I take you and your crew?" "If you lose, Mr Stroller, you end up on my wall, all of you." "And you know what that means." "The auction is Saturday morning." "The wheel will be here Saturday night for the opening." "Do we have us a game?" "We look forward to playing you." "And vice versa." "OK, I'm scared." "He is one dark soul." " He's offering you out." " Do feel free to chip in, Eddie." "Where I come from, if someone offers you out, you face them down or you batter them." " Or run away to London, in your case." " Yeah, but the principal's the same." "So, I get that Wendell hates grifters, but I'm getting the feeling" " there's something else going on here." " There is." "Revenge." "The soldier story, Charlie Stroller." "I get it." " I don't." " Me either." "So who's Charlie Stroller, then?" "What's he..." "Is he a relative?" "Hey, Ash, what's the story?" "Come on, tell us." " Oh, come on, Mickey, I love your stories." " Shall we finish this back at the penthouse?" "He's been a bit clingy lately, hasn't he?" "I feel he's losing his professional distance." "Go, then, I don't care." "Don't need you here anyway." " I'm expanding me client base." " It looks like it, Ed." "Yeah, they'll come." "I'm putting these up in classy places." "Art galleries." "Libraries." "Proper places where decent paying people go." "Oh." "There's something I should let you know before I fill you in on the full story." " What's that?" " Wendell already knows who we are." "I'm not in this for money." "It's about my family's honour." "That's why I'm giving you all the chance to opt out with no judgement made." "Opt out?" "Please, people, listen to me." "Marcus breaks people, he wipes them out." "By sticking photos of them on the wall?" "That's just the start." "Marcus doesn't call the police." "He circulates the photos to casinos, banking institutions, gentlemen's clubs, all of our natural homes around the world." "Yeah, you don't come back after being busted by Wendell." "He likes to make out that he's honourable, that he just ruins grifters." " Nice try." " What?" "It was an accident!" "Sir, I am calling about Mary who I believe works at your school." "Did you know that she was a cheat and a thief?" "Let's be clear." "If Albert loses on that table, there's no going back." "It'll be over for us as grifters and as a team." "And that's why I want you to have a choice." "Go on a vacation." "Take a week on a beach." "Go to a spa." "Go hill walking." "On me." "Hill walking?" "Oh, I live to hill walk, me." " Well, no one seems interested." " I told you they wouldn't." "What do you take us for?" "Well, on this occasion, I take you for very foolhardy people." "I don't care how good this Marcus is," "Albert is the best casino conman in the world." "He'll beat him hands down, easily, bit of top hatting here, bit of past posting there." "No." "Marcus is our equal." "No." "This man has never, ever been beaten on his own tables." "He knows every trick in the book." "The best of the best have all fallen before him." "No, any sleight of hand, any switch, any..." "Any move that Albert makes to try and win on that table, Marcus will see." "And if he sees it, we end up you-know-where." "So how do we beat him?" "He knows us." "He knows we're going to try something." "He knows on what." "He knows where." "He knows when." "Yeah, but apart from those trifling niggles, we're laughing." "The thing is, these apparent difficulties tell us an awful lot about Marcus." " Yeah, they tell us he's a control freak." " Exactly." "The staging of his big speech, the bombast of his exhibition." "The photos." "And trying to rope us all into his little game." " That shows us another trait." " Vanity." " Arrogance." " And where does that come from?" " What's at the root of it all?" " Inferiority." "Now, this is stuff we can work with." "Now, he's five generations from the glory days of the Mississippi Belle." "He's a company man." "A suit." "He's lived his entire life in the shadow of his ancestors and he's bitter." "They were the founders, the heroes with the great stories." "And now he wants a legend to tell the grandchildren." "Son, have I ever told you the tale of the time" "I brought down the London Five?" "Well, we've taken the bait." "So he has his beginning." "Grandpa came to London where he flushed out two very crooked men." "They thought they could outsmart me, but the Wendells are made of smarter stuff." "We'll let him have the middle." "It was a wonderful thing that I achieved and it all happened on a splendid thing called a roulette wheel." "But the ending isn't going to be quite what he hoped for." "The Mississippi Belle went down in 1860 following a boiler fire." "They were common on the wooden steamers." "A salvage team located the wreck a couple of years ago and have been pulling things up ever since." "This little beauty was the last thing recovered." "Sorry." "No photography." " Can you turn that off?" " Sorry?" " Please, no photographs." "Please." " Oh, sorry, just one more." "Got it, thank you." "Excuse me, has there been much interest?" "A huge amount." "This was the first wheel manufactured by the Wendell brothers." "They constructed the straightest, most balanced wheels in America." "In an era of crooked men and crooked games, this set the benchmark in fair play." "And she still sails beautifully, huh?" "Isn't that a wonderful thing?" "Ash?" "Yeah, we're all good here." "Cheers, Mick." "We're on." "Emma's sending the photos now." " Now, don't wind Clive up." " He's not still cheesed off about that, is he?" "He's sensitive." " He's a grudge-bearer is what he is." " Just be nice." "We need this but bent." "Sequoia sempervirens." "Coastal redwood." "That's hard to pick up." "Even harder to get some that's been under mud and water for 150 years." "How much and how long?" " Three weeks." "Five grand." " No, no, no, we need it earlier than that." "The auction's Saturday morning." "Well, if I work night and day, maybe Sunday." "I said Saturday morning." " That's impossible." " How impossible?" " Ten grand impossible." " Done." "All right, but I want the money upfront." "And no forged money." "You have no idea how many times people try that on." " Here he goes." " They think it's ironic, don't they, Sean?" "Give a forger forged money!" " It's not ironic." "It's bloody annoying." " It was £20." "I just thought it would be amusing to see if you could spot it or not." " Of course I bloody spot it!" " Come on, girls, play nice." "See you Saturday morning." "OK, Clive's on." "All we have to do now is make sure Marcus buys the rigged table instead of the real one." "Once he has that, Albert can play him and take him apart." " No sleight of hand, no risk required." " Beautifully simple." "And are we going to swap the table here or en route to the auction house?" "Well, our table won't be ready until Saturday morning." "So there's no time to do a swap." "Then how's Marcus going to end up with a bent wheel?" "Well, if we have a fake wheel, it's only right that we should have a fake auction." "Hm?" "Big store?" " Big store." " Mm-hm." " Hi, Eddie." " All right, Eddie." "Hey, Mickey." "Mick?" "You couldn't sort this lot out for me, could you?" "They're taking the piss out of me in ways that I don't quite understand." "Tammy, you have got to come down here!" "Gorky found it on a flyer." "It is the coolest dive we've ever been to." "Well, you wanted to go upmarket." "Yeah, there's upmarket and then there's tossers." " Careful what you wish for." " Yeah, thanks for that." "Hey, pal?" "Are you having a drink or what?" "Absinthe, champagne cocktails all round." "I don't sell absinthe." "It makes you go blind." "He doesn't sell absinthe, Tammy!" "I know!" "O-M-G!" "Right." "Big store, so how's it all looking?" "It's a bit of a stretch for Saturday but I think we'll be all right." "What can I do?" "You need to get into his car." "But go indirectly." "Let him play for it." "It's the middle of his story so let him enjoy it." "I'll source the venue, round up the extras and get the fitters in." "Sean, you need to get everything in there." " Clive will help you." " Clive?" " Hmm." " Not Clive." "You know he hates me." "You're a professional." "Rise above it." "How about you two?" "That leaves Albert and I to get the stake money together." "No, no, I'm putting down the whole stake myself." "It's fifty grand." "Well, I've got a little retirement fund." "Oh no, Albert, we're not going to let you do that." "Now, this is Wendell money against Stroller money and that's the way it's got to be." "Case closed." "I've also got a rigged wheel so I can't lose." "All right." "See you later." "Bye." "Got to go." "Cheers, Ed." "The photographers from Country Life are due next week." "This could be a great opportunity for your family, Charles." "Little sparse, isn't it?" "Had the bailiffs around?" "Don't look so worried, dear." "You give me the keys, I'll have my fairies work some miracles." "Or we could photograph this and do an article about how the Smythe-Frances family has fallen from grace in recent years, can't even afford furniture." "Harry, it's Ash." "Whenever you're ready, mate." "Oi!" "Move over there." "Over that way." "Original pirate's plank?" "There's nothing I can use here." "This stuff's got to be bang on." "I told you all the good stuff's out in the yard." "And I told you, I'm not going out there." "It's filthy and there's rats out there." "Well, either you want the authentic stuff or you don't." "You enjoy making me suffer." "This is a..." "It's a vendetta." "Why can't you just let it go?" "Hello, Emma." "You know me but I've never met you." "I know of you." "I know of you all." "That's my job." "Well, a lot of people know of me." "How's your father?" "Still absent?" "I have files." "Police files, private detective files, cons you've pulled, cons you're suspected of pulling." "I know your likes, your dislikes, I know your individual styles." "I have to protect myself from you, you see." " You want to see my files?" " No, thanks." "I know who I am." "A little girl who's out of her depth." "Your two silences have showed me already that you're floundering." " What?" " You heard me." "You might be ever so slightly underestimating us." "Let's see." "Show me what you got." "Well, it doesn't work if you know I'm coming." "I thought you had more class than that." "Petulant bravado." "You'll be adding that to my list of flaws." "What else have you got so far?" " Vanity?" " Vanity." " Arrogance?" " Arrogance." " Inferiority complex?" " Inferiority." " Have I scared you?" " No." "I hear the tremor in your voice." "You're frightened." "Can I give you a ride home, little girl?" "Edward." "Drinks." "Chop, chop." "I suppose we should keep our heads down, maintain a low profile till Saturday." "Mm-hm, that would be the sensible thing to do." "Nah, that is nasty." "You got some sneaky thing going on there, man." "A bet's a bet." "I'm sorry." "Hey, hey, hey, what's going on?" "Oh, look at this." "Fantastic!" "Authentic dodgy geezers." "You got..." "This guy's practising some tricky," " sneaky shit and you should kick him out!" " It's not a trick." "It's a skill I've developed over many, many years of study." " Yeah, bullshit!" " Yeah, yeah." "What's the trick?" "He reckons he can tell how much is in your wallet just by holding it." "These hands..." "These hands are like atomic scales." "That's impossible." "What about cards and receipts and whatnot?" "I subtract them." "What utter guff!" "Yeah, guff." "That's what I thought, guff!" "Now look at me, I'm 100 notes down." "All right, yeah, you can have it." "Yeah, one, two, three." "Yeah, eat it, eat it." "Yeah, yeah, choke, yeah, choke." "I was supposed to be going out tonight and all." "I'll have another large whisky, barkeeper." "Easy money, huh?" "What happens if you get it wrong?" "Well, I double what you actually have." "Uh?" "Cheers!" "I need disinfecting." " That isn't it, is it?" " What?" "The directions?" "Cos I've been thinking about this." "Marcus has got a catalogue." " The catalogue does have an address." " Yeah." "So when he drives to the address on the catalogue, he's going to drive to the real auction house." "Yeah, but I'm going to put up a sign, ain't I?" "You know, Clive's got loads of other lockups." " Less stinky ones." " He what?" "Yeah." "He's got warehouses in Leyton, all over." " Didn't he tell you?" " No." "Just drive." "Hey." "You know that old drunk's got thousands." "There must be a lot of mugs out there like me, then." "Let me ask you a question, did you use the cash point outside before you came in?" " Yeah." " Well, that's how he does it." "He knows who's used it." "Most people get 100, 200 out." " It's an easy guess." " Oh, man, I'm such a dipshit." "You know what?" "I used that cash point, too." " Well, don't get stung like me, then." " Only I've beefed my wallet up a little." "Ah!" "Sneaky!" "I wish I was more like you." "Art school education." "Makes you think in ways the average bear just couldn't comprehend." " You get me, blood?" " Oh!" "Yeah, yeah." "So, how much you got in there, then?" "£2,380." "Right, right." "I tell you what, though, I've got a ton left, all right." "So why don't I bung mine in there with yours?" "And then I can get my money back." "Who's ready to roll?" "Weigh that, Mr Atomic." " Ah!" " Look at his face!" "Stumped!" "Yeah, what's up, man, too heavy for you?" "I think it's a little out of my range but I'll give it a go." " Oh, he's never going to get it." " No, no, no, no." "We took this guy out and we ate him up." "Fail." "Time's up!" "Yeah, mate, the clock's hit zero." "£2,480." " This is a con." "He's cheating." " Oh, fantastic!" " Now I'm down another hundred!" "Brilliant!" " How did you do it?" " Did you just wink at him?" " No." "You winked at him." "What you winking at?" " Hold up." "Hold up." "You in this together?" " Of course we're bloody not!" "You see a mug like me come along, you play me not once but twice!" " Don't be so ridiculous." " I'm calling my boys." "I can assure you that is not true!" "Tell him!" "Veruane?" "Veruane?" "Veruane, turn the music down, man." "Yeah, it's me, it's me." "I'm at Eddie's bar, right?" "I got some chiefs here taking the mick, big time." "You get down here pronto." "Yeah, man." "On the way, right, pick up Tyrone and Darius." "Yeah, yeah, yeah, get down here quick, snap." "Double or nothing?" "Yo!" "Yo!" "Hey!" "Where you going?" "Where you going, man?" "Stay for the party!" "Very good, Eddie." "You have reached your destination." "Well, thanks for the lift." "I know." " You know what?" " I keep saying it, Emma, but you people never hear." "I know your heart." "You're like a fawn crying out into the wind." "I feel sorry for you." "I don't need you to feel sorry for me, thanks." "Think about backing out." "Once you've crossed me, I will cut you down." "You are all destined to live on my wall, like baby sparrows dead on the sidewalk." " Are you OK?" " He says he knows." " Did he give specifics?" " No." " Do you believe him?" " I don't know." "When he gets you in his sights, it's like..." "Yeah." "OK." "I'll have a chat with Albert." " You carry on to Eddie's." " OK." " You all right?" " Yeah." " Right, what's the system?" " Route Navigator XS." " Voice?" " Plummy." "Horsey plummy or Lumley plummy?" " Lumley plummy." " Lovely jubbly." "Ah, smart!" "I nearly believed you." "What?" "As if we'd just stick up a sign and hope for the best?" "So I'm just recording the directions between the casino and the fake auction house, yeah?" "Well, no, no." "You need to record all of the commands in case he goes off track." "Shouldn't take you more than about eight hours." "Why couldn't it be a man's voice?" "Eddie will keep you company, won't you, Ed?" " I have got a life, you know." " No, you haven't." "Get the lady a coffee." "At the end of the road, turn right." "At the junction..." "Turn..." "Then take the next left..." "Junction..." "At the junction, turn..." " Hey." " Oh." "Thank you." "New shoes?" "No, not quite." "Hmm." "Emma says he knows." " He can't know, can he?" " Well, if anybody knows, yeah." "You seem hesitant." "You know, I've got a little voice in the back of my head that says you wouldn't touch this" " if it wasn't for me." " Are you trying to back out?" "This is a great thing we've built up over the years." "I'm not sure I want to see it end because of some old score." "It won't." "The likes of Marcus think we're lone wolves, that we're out for ourselves." "We're not." "We have a code." "We look after our own." "Do you think that the sins of the father are visited on the son?" "I think the humiliation of the father should be corrected by the son." "Oh, that's you because of your most recent bruise." "It isn't your father we're avenging." "I know, but when I think about Charlie, how can I not think about that?" "Albert, you never told us what happened to Charlie after his run-in with the Wendells." "Well, according to my grandmother, the shame of being a cheat tainted him." "He was discharged by the army and that was the last time she saw him." "And you're seriously having second thoughts?" "Mm-hm." "You have reached your destination." "Top of the morning to you, Ems!" "How's it going?" " Go away." " Here, get that down your neck." " Listen, uh, we've got a problem." " What?" "Apparently Marcus is fluent in several languages, so you'll have to do it again in French," " Italian and Mandarin." " Piss off!" "You don't have much of a sense of humour early doors, do you?" "Where's Edward?" "Aw." "Be a shame to wake him, wouldn't it?" "That is truly amazing, Clive." "Wait till you see it in action." "Put your finger on a number." "Very impressive." "How's it work?" "Pressure pads and a vast array of electronics." "Well, roll on tonight." "Remember, this is a city auction house." "So, middle-class mannerisms, please, nothing too haughty." "Now, Marcus will come in late." " So, Simon..." " Yeah?" "And, Roy, you'll be our pacesetters, all right?" "Slow and steady." "And then when they both stall at around 20,000," "Carol, that's when you come over the top." "Marcus will then make his move." "So you stay with him, play along." "But then, finally, let him have it, all right?" "Is that clear?" "Right." "Let's get ready." " It is beautiful, Clive." " Ooh." "You're an artist." "It looks even better when your numbers land." "Thank you, Clive." "Are you still up for being our auctioneer?" "You know I've always wanted to be an auctioneer." "Well, now's your chance." "Except this is a fake auction." "You've got a real chip on your shoulder about this, haven't you?" "Everything all right at home, mate?" "I mean, you know, how's Mrs Ban?" "Well, we have been seeing a relationship counsellor." "Oh, well, we, um..." "We won't pry." "I appreciate that." "Clive!" "I heard through the grapevine that even your missus is faking it." "How's that for a sense of irony, eh?" "Beautiful!" "You're missing a 20th-century shipwheel." "And there's no 18th-century mermaid figurehead." "And those, they're iron rudder yokes." "They should be bronze!" "Oh." "They're on the van!" "What's the matter with him?" " What?" " Could you just be nice to him?" "You've done a great job, Ash." "Yeah, cheers." "Well, it cost a bit but it'll be worth it." "All we have to do now is get Marcus here." "Put it back." "You heard me, put it back." "Collect your cheque at the end of the day." "Now get out of my sight." "These snakes will never get me." "Today's the big day." "Are you excited?" "I sure am." "It's the last day you'll have that smug smile on your face." " Oh, well, maybe." " What the hell do you think you're doing?" "Well, I thought maybe I could hitch a ride to the auction." "I can think of nothing worse." "Your time is tonight." "If I were you, I'd be making the most of my last few hours before I mark you and your sly gang to the world." "Now, get the hell out of my car." "You're stinking it up." "OK, see you later." "At the end of the road, turn right." "Yeah." "It's all in place." "OK, good, very good." "Right." "Well, I think we are ready." "I just got to go to the loo." "Is he going to be all right?" "Stay right." "Then take the next junction." "Turn left." " I'll have a word." " Listen, I'll talk to him." "You lot get in position." "Listen, I know we've never seen eye to eye, but I just want to tell you, even though you're a tetchy, moody, paranoid sod," "I think you're a top bloke." "You're just saying that." "Look at me." "You of all people can spot a fake a mile off." "Is this face lying?" "All right, thanks, Sean." "Things have been a bit rough lately." "I'm sorry I sent you into the shit heap in the yard." "It made me a man." "I'm truly grateful for that, Clive." " You OK?" " Yeah, I think so." "Good man." "You go down there and you knock 'em dead, all right?" "Go get 'em, tiger." "Continue straight ahead for 100 metres." "At the junction, turn right." "In 20 metres, you will reach your destination." "You have reached your destination." "Wendell, Marcus." "Thank you." "There you are." "You're coming home today, baby." "If you could take your seats, please, ladies and gentlemen." "Good morning, everyone." "Today's sale is of maritime artefacts." "We'll begin with lot number one, a steel bell from HMS Solaris." "Who'll start me off with £200?" "200, anyone?" "Thank you. 200, 250, 300, 350..." "Four... 48,000." "Lot number 17." "£550." "271." "Thank you." "So, now we come to the final lot today, which is a 19th-century roulette wheel recovered from the wreck of the Mississippi Belle." "Walnut and American redwood, sold with original gaming chips and original steel cored ball." "Who will start the bidding off at £5,000?" "5,000 anywhere?" "5,000, thank you, sir." "£5,000. 10?" "£10,000?" "10, 15, £15,000." "Do I hear 20?" "Why isn't he bidding?" "He's a game player." "He comes in late." "25?" "£25,000." "Do I hear 30 anywhere?" "30?" "I will accept £27,000." "I'll take 27. 27?" "Thank you, madame," "£27,000." "Do I hear 30 anywhere?" "£27,000." "£27,000." "I will sell." "I will sell at £27,000." "Your last chance to acquire a unique piece of gambling history." "The original Wendell wheel going now for £27,000." "£30,000, thank you, sir." "Paddle three-one-one." "Thank you." "Thank you, ladies and gentlemen." "That concludes today's sale." "This does not leave my sight." "May I borrow your pen?" "Thank you." "I'm going in with her." "Wendell Casino." "Deliver my car back for me." "Let's go." "All right, cheers, everyone." "You were a star." "You feel good?" "I feel brilliant." "Top of the world." "What a buzz!" "Why don't you go home and show Mrs Ban your gavel?" "Oh!" "That is a good idea." "Come on!" "So, what do we reckon for a casino opening?" " Black tie?" " Absolutely." "Got to look our best for Mr Wendell." "Nice and easy, boys." "Good evening." "Welcome to the Wendell Casino, London." " Good evening." " You brought your stake?" "Let's play." "Well, here we are." " Nervous?" " I am." "Yes." "I got you a whisky because I heard that's what Charlie had on that night." " It's a nice touch." "Thank you." " Now, don't drink too many of those." "We wouldn't want you seeing double, would we, now?" "Which shall we play on?" "The original Wendell wheel?" "Or this here fake?" "I bought the real one with a proxy bidder." "That cheque I gave you was a dud, by the way." "A bit like this table here." "Don't look so shocked." "I did tell Emma I knew." "That's impossible." "We covered everything." "Like I said, Mickey Bricks, I know the conman's heart." " How?" " You've been watching me." "I've been watching you." "My people have been listening in on the whole thing." "At my launch, the warehouse viewing..." "Well, if we have a fake wheel, it's only right that we should have a fake auction." "Big store?" " Big store." " Mm-hm." "Those guys you conned in that bar?" "Didn't you think that was rather easy?" " Who's ready to roll?" " Yes!" "Now just play along." "Couldn't you smell a Marcus Wendell plant?" "O-M-G!" "What can I do?" "You need to get into his car." "Can I give you a ride home, little girl?" "Turn right." "I still hear the tremor, little girl." "Now, let's get rid of this fake." "I also heard you were using a forger." "So I located a Mr Ban." "And I bought his loyalties." "Ain't that right, Clive?" "Sorry, guys." "He gave me ten grand and he said he'd set me up as a legit furniture maker." "You speak of a sense of brotherhood - that's a crock of bull." "Right now these four are wishing they'd never hooked up with you, Albert." "Look at their faces." "It's over." "They're all dead." "All because of you." " This isn't their battle." " Oh, but it is." "I'm gonna make them weep and holler." "That's what the Wendell boys have always done." "This time I'm gonna match you fellas." "Yes, sir." "Here we are." "The final chapter." "Now let's play on the original wheel." "You're gone." "That's it." "Marcus Wendell came and he blew the best of the best out of the goddamn water." "Bam, bam, bam!" "You are mine." "You live up there now." "I'm sorry." "I'm so sorry." "You don't have to do this." "Just take the money." "It's cruel." "Don't say I didn't give you your chance, little girl." "It had to end sometime." "At least it was at the hands of the best." "You still have one chip." "What, this?" "This £100?" "And I want it." " The bet was every penny." " Now, that's true." "So that means if you don't have this, technically, you don't win." "Are you really trying this?" "Have some class, Mr Stroller." "Go down like a man, not like a gutless jackal." "I'd really like to keep it as a souvenir." "Every penny." "I want to see the light die in all of your eyes." "You really know how to destroy a person, don't you?" "Play the goddamned chip." "Buy it off me." "Oh, well, I think it's worth a little more than that to you, isn't it?" "Well, look at that!" "Ooh, a foothold." "You won't last." "It's just prolonging your humiliation." "I think you're probably right about that so I'll keep it simple." "Since it's a French wheel, I'll cover les orphelins." "That's four to one." "Look at that." "You're still going to lose." "Same numbers, let them ride." " My lucky number." " Again." "Well, keeping the bets French, this time le tiers du cylindre, s'il vous plaît." "We've broken even, Albert." "What's going on here?" "What are you playing at?" "Why don't you answer that?" "You're the expert who never has been conned." "You got a scanner, you got a laser." "No, no, no, no, we were thoroughly searched." "Just our money and our wits here." "How are you doing this?" "Again!" "The zero cluster." "You!" "You're working it with them." "You're staging your throw." "You traitorous little son of a bitch!" "Give me that." "Now get the hell outta here!" "Uh, can we play?" "I'm on a run here." "No!" "No, no." "What are you doing here?" "What's going on?" "How much is that, Ash?" "That is 200,000 English pounds." " Puts us in profit." " What are you doing here?" "What is this?" "I don't want to overstay our welcome." "I just want to place one last bet." "Call a number." "Any number." "Five." "Five red." "£200,000 at 35 to one." "That's just over seven million." "I'd say that was enough to break the bank, wouldn't you, Mr Wendell?" "Are you taking the bet?" "It's impossible." "I don't know what you're doing... but you can't possibly land it on one number." "You're the house." "It's your call whether to take it." "No bet." "You win." "Thank you for a lovely evening." "Enjoy the rest of the night." "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen." "These people are con artists!" "Don't applaud them." "What a thing to say." "Tell me, do you accuse all your big winners of cheating?" "Is that what you do at Wendell casinos, Marcus?" "No, no." "Of course not." "Then perhaps you'd like to prove your accusation?" "I can't." "What are you all gawping at?" "Who let these people in here?" "We're not open yet!" "Get them out of here!" "Ladies and gentlemen, move this way, please." "OK." "You beat me." "How?" "You don't want to know." "Just chalk it up to experience." "Tell me." "Your wheel there, the family heirloom, the symbol of everything that you hold dear is, in fact, totally bent." "Not content with taking gamblers down, your ancestors decided they wanted to cream more off." "So they installed a rigged roulette wheel." "They installed alternating magnets covering six sections of the wheel." "Zeroes, the two neighbours of zeroes, the two orphan sections and the tiers du cylindre." "At will, they could steer the steel-cored ball away from any section that was heavily bet on." "Donnie chose what section to steer the ball away with his sheriff's badge." "My great-grandfather was a bright man." "He worked out what was going on." " Everything OK there, soldier?" " Yeah." "32 red." "Watch him." "I think he's on to us." "25 across the orphans." "When the Wendell brothers realised he was on to them, they set him up." "That's a mighty wager for an infantry man." " I've been saving." " Not quite enough it would seem." "That's $21, not 25." "Hey, get off me!" "Where are you taking me?" "I ain't no cheat!" "That night the Mississippi Belle caught fire and sank, and the wheel was lost." "That is a goddamned lie!" "My grandmother never lied." "All of this, Marcus, your fortune, your self-righteousness, was built on stolen money." "Yeah, I mean these two over here... the founders of your empire, should really be over here... with the other rogues." "I will sue you for slandering the Wendell name!" "Put your ear to the table and listen." "Isn't that a sweet sound?" "I heard it a few days ago when we tested it and it was still working." "This little beauty was the last thing recovered." "Sorry." "No photography." " Can you turn that off?" " Sorry?" " Please, no photographs." "Please." " Just one more." "Got it, thank you." "In an era of crooked men and crooked games, this set the benchmark in fair play." "And she still sails beautifully." "Isn't that a wonderful thing?" "You put this here." "You switched it." "This is not the Wendell wheel." "If you knew, if you knew all this, why go through the whole fake auction charade?" "Why didn't you just play me on it?" "Because this is a game, Marcus." "We're not stupid." "We knew you'd have people on us." "We had to do something or you'd get suspicious." "We've taken the bait." "So he has his beginning." "We'll let him have the middle." "But the ending isn't going to be quite what he hoped for." "No." "You see the one thing Marcus doesn't know and will never believe is that this, the famous Wendell wheel, is totally bent." "So that's the soldier story?" "My grandmother told me the whole thing." "That's my granddaddy's, Charlie Stroller." "Your great-great granddaddy." "Why does he have this?" ""Claibourne Mississippi."" "So this has suddenly just become the easiest con we've ever pulled." "Yeah, we can sit back, put our feet up until Saturday." "On the contrary." "We have to play our part in Marcus's little, uh, fantasy." "He believes he is going to catch us trying to cheat him." "Therefore we have to convince him that he is going to take us." "Big store?" " Big store." " Mm-hm." "How's it all looking?" "Well, it's a bit of a stretch for Saturday but I think we'll be all right." " What can I do?" " You have to get into his car." "We played along with all of your spies." "We constructed the whole fake wheel scenario to give you your story." "You were being sold your own line and of course you fell for it, hook, line and sinker." "See you Saturday morning." "The wheel, the auction, they were just for your ego." "We gave you what you hoped for." "Well, everything except the end." "Once a faker, always a faker." "Oh, yeah, me and Mrs Ban had a great afternoon." "I did say you might be underestimating us." "We paid you respect by assuming we couldn't get anything past you." "Unfortunately, that respect wasn't reciprocated." "And it seems that Albert's grandmother wasn't a liar." "So perhaps you should say sorry." "Never." "I'd like you to take that photograph down." "Now!" "Please." "Thank you." "I never had a picture of my great-grandfather." "Oh, don't look so sad, Marcus, you've got your story and it's a brilliant one." "The mark who roped himself, played the inside himself and stung himself." "Let's cash the chips." "150 years that setup's been waiting to be played out." "Yeah, now that is what I call a long con!" "So how's the new clientele thing going there, Eddie?" "Oh, no, I sacked that idea." "Eddie's Bar regular has got to be a very particular kind of person otherwise the whole ambience just goes to pot." "A round of absinthe chasers, Edward!" "Yeah." "Very good, yeah." "You OK, Albert?" "Yeah, yeah." "And thanks for sticking by me, Michael." " You did your family proud." " Well..." "To Charlie Stroller, a stand-up guy in a world full of crooks." "May God rest his soul." "To Charlie!" "So, hold up." "If that wheel was weighted to only hit sections, how come your last bet was a five straight?" "I was hoping for a spot of luck." "What?" "The ball was still spinning." "You could have lost everything." "The righteous always crack first." "Yeah." "Well done!" " Albert Stroller!" " Albert."