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

older people having lunch and they were mainly in the front. As Jerome’s party approached the table, Vinnie stood up and stared at the beautiful woman, who looked back at him with unwavering. There were a few older people having lunch and they were mainly in the front. As Jerome’s party approached the table, Vinnie stood up and stared at the beautiful woman, who looked back at him with unwavering eyes. Vinnie was clad in a navy blue single-breasted suit, white shirt and burgundy tie. His polished black leather loafers appeared new and the only jewelry he wore was a solid gold Rolex, which was strapped on his right wrist. Jerome with amusement noticed how Vinnie was looking at Madame Bourneis.


JEROME
Mr. Acosta, let me introduce you to Madame Bourneis and her friend, Marque.

Vinnie extended his hand to Madame Bourneis and was surprised at her strength and the cold, clamminess of her touch as they shook, Madame Bourneis and Marque sat at a table directly behind Jerome. Ted and Jerome had never met Vinnie, but the word on the street was that he was a man of respect. Shortly, a young white waiter wearing black pants, white shirt with a black bowtie came over to the tables and made the usual impassioned plea for several of the house specials. Madame Bourneis ordered tea and toast, Jerome ordered coffee while Vinnie continued to eat his meal of half a grapefruit with natural honey, no sugar, a poached egg, toasted wheat bread, no butter and black coffee with a dash of anisette. Vinnie could not take his eyes off Madame Bourneis, who was looking directly at him. Jerome watch the interchange finally he broke the spell.

JEROME
It is a pleasure to finally get a chance to meet you, Mr.Acosta.

VINNIE
The pleasure is mine, Mr. McLemore what can I do for you?

JEROME
We both know that a war is not good for business and it brings too much heat from the press, local cops and the feds, I don’t want that, but I will not be intimidated and I will not stand by as my businesses are bombed and my people and innocent people are slaughtered in the streets. I know Vito Paligreno kidnapped and beat me up, and I do believe he was planning to kill me once he got the ransom. I also believe it was Vito who ordered the firebombing of my station on 43rd Street. I am very much aware of your code of honor and “Omerta,” your code of silence and I can respect that. The only thing I want to know is whether you or any of your people are supporting Vito and are you’ll planning on making a move on my policy operation, and finally, are we going to have a war?

VINNIE
No on all counts, we don’t want a war either, my business and your business has never been in conflict; we have always had a good working relationship and believe me I want it to continue.

JEROME
So Vito is acting on his own?

VINNIE
Vito is a “Babbo,” an idiot and is a throwback to the old days of our organization, he still follows the code of the knife and the gun, of intimidation and violence, but apparently he has forgotten or ignored the old world traditions of honor and respect, where there were codes of behavior and dress. Times have changed and so has the public, they tolerated the killings and shootings in the old Al Capone days, but they will not tolerate that now. The firebombing of your operation and the killing of the child has brought a lot of heat, which neither of us need, it’s bad for business, but Vito cannot seem to understand that. Vito is a dinosaur that is really out of touch with today’s world but he is also clever and bold. To men like us business is business but to Vito it’s personal and he is determined to take over your business, so be careful. You like my associates are concerned about making money, not senseless and useless wars. A war should only be a last resort, when everything else has failed. But Vito has a lurid and primal fascination with violence; he gets off on the power that violence brings and its visceral thrill.

TED
You can’t do anything about it?

VINNIE
(sighing)
Our organization is different from the east coast. There, their organization is divided into five families and each family controls a section of the city. Additionally, the Capo di Tutti Capi or Boss of all Bosses from all over the country is on the Commission, including Pauli Gaza. A long time ago, these families were constantly competing with each other for control of the criminal activities in the city. There were gang wars and killings, which was bad for business. Lucky Luciano, a brilliant man organized and formed a Commission, a Board of Commissioners. The board consisted of the largest five families and each family controls a section of the city. Additionally, Capos from all over the country are on the Commission, including Pauli Gaza. A long time ago, these families were constantly competing with each other for control of the criminal activities in the city. There were gang wars and killings, which was bad for business. Lucky Luciano, a brilliant man organized and formed a Commission, a Board of Commissioners. The Capo di Tutti Capi, the head of each of the five families’ sat on the Board and had an equal vote. Any violation of the Commission’s orders was dealt with quickly and severely. In Chicago we are different, we have only one Capo di Tutti Capi and that is Pauli Gaza. The city is divided into three territories, which is divided by a major highway. We have the Westside, Southside and North side territories and each territory is overseen by a Street Boss or Caporégime, but all the Capos are controlled by one monolithic force that controls all the criminal activities in the city, that monolithic force is Pauli Gaza and the news media have giving us name “The Outfit.” Vito Paligreno is a Capo and a Mad Man a Wise Guy, and a protected member of the La Cosa Nostra, which means, “Our Thing.” Members of La Cosa Nostra swear to follow the dictates of the organization and deviations could result in death. The government used the term La Cosa Nostra to distinguish American-Italian organized crime from its Sicilian Mafia cousins in Italy and considered it homebred. As a Capo, Vito oversee a crew of seventy-five men, known as soldiers and associates. Soldiers and associate are required to make money and give a percentage to his Capo. The Capo and his crew can commit burglaries, robberies, hijacking, and other crimes that do not interfere with the family main businesses; gambling, prostitution, loan sharking, extortion, unions and trucking and they are required to donate twenty-five percent of the proceeds from their crimes to the Gaza Crime Family. The Capo, soldiers and associates come under Gaza authority. Vito i can do pretty much what he want as long as he give the family a taste from his operations and does not interfere with the family’s interests, unfortunately for you, Vito is the Southside Capo. We do not want Vito fucking with your operations, now whether he obeys or not who knows. We are not involved in drugs or have in interest in policy, that’s Vito thing. The boss allows Vito to mess with drugs only because it makes a lot of money, but really, dealing heroin is a major sin in our organization. Drug dealers can get heavy prison time and that makes informants of those trading in it. We do not want a war with you or your people, that is bad for business and Vito is bringing on a lot of heat. If he does not stop, we will deal with him. In our organizations there are certain privileges that comes with certain positions” Vinnie said without going in to detail. “Big Al was of the new breed of Mafioso, he believed in a man’s trustworthiness, if he could be trusted, he was good enough to do business with; money was money, black money spent just as well as white money. Vito knew that since your aborted kidnapping you would be too closely guarded to get at again, so I guess he figured to try another way.

TED
Like killing innocent people with a bomb.

Vinnie shrugged, but did not answer.

TED
There is a simple solution to this problem, give us Vito.

VINNIE
Remember that Vito is a “Made Man,” a position of honor and respect in our organization. A made man can only be killed with the approval of the Commission. Let us hope that your troubles with Vito will stop. Vito is concerned about the loyalty and respect of his own crew. He has lost the respect of his crew with the death of his men in Gary. The boss long ago took over most of the policy operations in your neighborhoods, but as I am sure you are aware, we have stepped back from the day-to-day operations of the policy racket. You and the other major players have honored our agreement to compensate us with 20 percent of all the policy revenue for our protection and influence with the politicians, police and judges. You have honored that agreement and so will we. Vito has lost three of his men for nothing. Vito also know he screwed up, not only did the go against “Big Al’s and Pauli’s long standing orders about messing with your people, he also got three of his soldiers killed, and can’t explain how they died. I met with Vito and warned him about the consequences of his action, hopefully he will get the message, but you do what you have to do. Now I want to ask you something, what happened in that warehouse?

Jerome though for a moment and looked at Madame Bourneis and Marque who were watching Vinnie.

JEROME
I will tell you the truth, I don’t know, I had been rough up pretty bad by Vito’s boys, both of my eyes were swollen and I couldn’t hardly see out of them, when the lights went out, all I saw were blurs and heard men screaming, terrifying screams, that’s it.

VINNIE
I met with Commander Hollis and he showed me a copy of the autopsy report, it was very strange and scary. Have you read it?

JEROME
No, I haven’t.

VINNIE
I suggest you contact Commander Hollis and read it. I don’t believe in making threats sir, I was taught long ago that negotiation is the best way to settle disputes, not threats or anger, try to reason with people but Vito is an unreasonable man. When Jerome got up from the table, so did Madame Bourneis and Marque. Vinnie was impressed with Jerome he was a man with balls a man of force and action and would be a formidable opponent if Vito continued to make moves on him. Vinnie looked at Madame Bourneis whose hard, dark eyes bore into his as if she was searching his soul. Vinnie a man who had personally killed men and had ordered the killings of other men suddenly felt a terrible fear as Jerome and his party walked out the door, Vinnie thought he saw a black panther walking behind them.

As Jerome was having his meeting with Vinnie, Vito was meeting with his underboss, Jimmy.


JIMMY
Our people are still talking about Marco’s death, We’ve got to do sometin’, or tell them sometin’

Vito knew that one of Jimmy’s idiosyncrasies when concerned about anything was to repeat himself and it drove Vito