THE RUNNER/SCREENPLAY, BRIAN R. LUNDIN [best classic books to read .txt] 📗

wide girth was about as pugnacious-looking an Italian cop you could find on the police force. He weighted over 250 pounds and sloppy. Before the meeting started he piled two large lobsters, a dozen shrimps and pasta with three meatballs on his plate. Vito looked at the police captain with disgust, but said nothing. The Captain flopped down in a chair, spilling some of the pasta sauce on his already soiled uniform.
VITO
Let’s get started. The first thing I want to get out the way to save time so we can move on is, I don’t know what the fuck happened in Gary. When I got there, the Gary Fire Department was putting out the last of the fire and the warehouse had burned to the ground. I told the fire chief I owned the joint and I slipped him a twenty and he let me go inside with him. Once inside we found the bodies of our guys, one’s head were laying ten feet from his body, another guy guts was all over the floor and the last guy looked like something had scared him to death. What happened I don’t know, but I think that fire chief has an idea, because he looked scared to death. I’m planning on taking another trip up there soon and have a sit-down with him; he knows something, that’s it that’s all I know, ok.

Vito’s intensely dark brown eyes continued to make contact with the members of his crew.


CAPTAIN
(popping another shrimp into his already full mouth and looking around suspiciously)
Maybe you got a stoolie in your organization.

VITO
I doubt that, nobody knew of the kidnapping, except me and the guys there, even Jimmy didn’t know.

Jimmy nodded his head in agreement.


VITO
(biting the joint on his right forefinger, the Italian symbol for revenge)
I’ll get to the bottom of this shit, and avenge our guys. Now, how do we get our ends from them nigger policy motherfucka, that the main agenda tonight, I am opened to any ideas.

CAPTAIN
(let’s out a loud fart)
Maybe we should leave them Nigras alone.

VITO
(laughing)
Maybe you should go wipe your ass.

The captain continued, showing no hint of embarrassment.

CAPTAIN
You know how Big Al felt about fuckin’ with those Nigras.

VITO
Yeah, I know, but Big Al ain’t around. What if your guys raided some of Jerome’s big policy stations and busted a few black heads?

CAPTAIN
Naw, that wouldn’t work, that nigger commander want the police to concentrate their efforts on street crimes, he ain’t that concerned about gambling, he said it ain’t hurting nobody. He would have my ass if I raided anything without his permission.

JIMMY
I think we’ve got to scare them niggers in line we have got to re-establish respect from our own people.

Everyone in the room knew that Jimmy was saying that Vito had to re-establish his respect and honor for the botched kidnapping of Jerome McLemore and the killings of his men.

CAPTAIN
How do you propose we scare them Nigras?

JIMMY
We could blow some more of their stations and kill a couple of their people.

VITO
Anybody got anything to add to that proposal?

Vito looked around the room, no one disagreed.

JIMMY
We’ve got to hire some outside muscle, maybe that group of Irish assholes; they’ll hit anybody for the right cash. I don’t like dealin’ with them Mick mutherfuckers, but sometimes it is necessary to make alliances with mutherfuckers you don’t like.

VITO
Ok, let’s do it, you take care of the details Jimmy, Cap, your job will be to take off some of the police heat, once we start hitting those Nigras, anything else?

All the men looked at each other and nodded their heads as they started to get up and put on their coats.

CAPTAIN
What you going to do with all this chow?

VITO
Take it home to Ruth and the kids.

CAPTAIN
(hurries to the phone to call for room service to pack the food)

Thanks, Vito.

Vito shook his head as he and the other men left the suite.

VITO
Get hold of CLIFF CALFINO, he ain’t scared of that Nigger commander.

Sergeant Cliff Calfino was married and had two young daughters. He was a tall, well built handsome man who stood over six feet two inches and weighed 195 pounds, but his most striking features were his deep brown eyes that were capable of producing a stare that could chill the most harden police officer to the core. One of his own men who had failed on an assignment and had came under the sergeants wrath had remarked that Calfino had dead, lifeless eyes like those of a predator getting ready to have you for dinner. He maintained his athletic built by working out with weights and running three miles every day. His hair was coal black and he went to his hair stylist every two weeks, where he also had a manicure. Where most of the other detectives usually wore the standard dark blue, gray, or black suit that were purchased at Sears or JC Penny’s, Calfino’s suits all were custom made by the House of Duro, an exclusive and expensive tailor shop across from city hall on Clark Street in downtown Chicago, Mayor Daly was one its customers. Calfino father, ANGELO CALFINO had worked for years as a loan shark collector for Vito and considered an expert at breaking bones, which he did quite frequently to people who failed to pay off their loans.

Ten years ago, Vito sent Angelo to collect a thousand dollar juice loan from a Jewish grocery store owner. When he arrived at the mom and pop neighborhood grocery store, the owner an old, little man who had survived the holocaust did not have the money. When Angelo started beating the man with a lead weighted zap or blackjack, the man’s wife shot Angelo five times. Although Angelo was not a “Made man,” he had been a loyal employee and his Caporégime; Vito took the young Calfino under his wings. Vito sent Cliff to Northwestern University where he was an outstanding linebacker until he blew out his knees. After graduating from Northwestern, and with Vito’s help he joined the Chicago Police Department, not as much as a desire to help people but to make money and engage in homosexual sex. Patrolman Calfino was assigned to the 15th Police District on the far north side of the city. The district was primarily white, middle-class and had one of the lowest crime rates in the city. Patrolman Calfino quickly became bored with the mundane radio assignments; “Assist a citizen locked out of his/her vehicle, “Unlawful burning of leaves,” etc, etc. After completing his probationary period, he requested and received a transfer to the Fillmore District, which had one of the highest crime rates in the city. The Fillmore District was located on the west side of the city and most of the residents were poor and black. The Fillmore District like most of the districts that served the black community was totally corrupt. Honest police officers were looked upon with suspicion and usually worked as a “10-99”, or one-man unit. The Desk Sergeant and his crew charged prisoners to speed up the bonding process. The Watch Commander, Field Lieutenant and selected street sergeants were part of the Commander’s Club and received a monthly “nut” or payoff. The officers assigned to the district hustled everything from traffic violators to “Wine Joints,” establishments, usually an apartment that sold liquor before noon on Sunday’s. Calfino quickly learned how and from to take money. The corrupt police officers he worked with schooled him in the art of being corrupt. The older more experienced corrupt police officers instructed him to never to take money from a female traffic violator, because most women, who committed traffic violations, believed they could avoid getting a citation by using their feminine wiles and if you took money from them that insulted their femininity, never take money from a prostitute after she had given you a free blow job, never take all a person’s money, leave them with a little, Calfino was a good student and learned well, before long he was stealing over $50.00 a night to supplement his police salary of $6300 a year. The police officers assigned to the district instead of serving and protecting the community exploited the community. They resented the mostly poor and black residents that complained about police corruption and brutality. If an officer smacked around a black mugger the preachers organized protest marches, the news media was the most dangerous. Police officers were fired, lost their pension or went to jail if they became front page headlines or if they were caught taken a hot buck from a drunken motorist.

Patrolman Calfino was achieving his first objective for joining the police department, making money. However, unlike many of his co-workers who when working the Ist Watch or the midnight shift would get one of the cleaner street prostitutes that worked west Madison Street and have sex with them in the squad car, Calfino never participated, the men around the district started to look at Calfino as being a little weird. What they did not know was that Calfino was a homosexual and when off duty, he would cruise the district and Rush Street in his private vehicle that resembled an undercover police car looking for male prostitutes. Calfino would intimidate the prostitutes with arrest if they refused his sexual advances. Calfino preferred performing anal sex on the male prostitutes and he preferred black or Hispanic young men. Before long, rumors started circulating around the district of a police officer that resembled Calfino who picked up male prostitutes for sex, sometimes against their will. Everyone in the district believed it was Calfino, but no one would violate the blue code of silence so the District Commander quietly transferred Calfino to the Hyde Park Police Station.

The 21st Police District or Hyde Park Police station is located at 29th South Prairie Avenue and included the prestigious University of Chicago. It is a quiet district compared to the Fillmore District and most of its residents are university students and staff. Patrolman Calfino worked in the district for three years until promoted to sergeant and assigned to Vice Control Division Gambling Unit, with Vito’s help. Most of the officers assigned to the Vice Control Division, Gambling Unit or VCD-GU were detectives or veteran police officers; they worked in civilian dress or plainclothes, drove unmarked vehicles and conducted citywide gambling investigations and were responsible for conducting investigation of organized gambling activities in the city, bookies, high stake dice or card games and sports betting. The police officers assigned to the elite Gambling Unit considered policy gambling a minor operation operated by blacks and not worthy of their efforts. Sergeant Calfino lieutenant knew that he was “Connected,” with the mob and consequently did not have much to say about how he supervised his ten-man team or how they performed their investigations, as long as he did not bring any heat on the department. Most of the brass in the police department was Irish; Italians, unless connected and blacks were at the lowest rung of the police hierarchy.


INT. SU CASA ITALIAN RESTAURANTE-EVENING

The restaurante was located at 26th South Wentworth Avenue. The restaurante had a homey atmosphere, the walls were covered with pictures of Italy, and the wooded tables were covered with decorative table cloths and the waiter were all young, handsome dark-skinned men with a ready smile. At an opposite end of the sit-down dining area was a glass counter were three