Pinball machines
“C’mon Luca, let me take care of this empty suit for you,” said Bobby Marazzi, “just say the word, and he’ll never be a problem again.” He moved closer to the pinball scoreboard as Gianluca Padrone played, hopping to catch his boss’s eye. But it was no good, the man was absorbed with the chrome ball rebounding through the Popeye-themed machine. If he squinted at it just right, the bumpers and ramps looked kind of like a theme park, and the ball standing in for some sugar-crazed kid, running from...

Fremont St
The ice cream dribbled over Bobby’s hand, melting under the blazing sun faster than he could eat it. Not for the last time, he wondered why anyone would choose to build a city in a desert. He actually missed the humidity of Kansas City, with its rivers and trees… real trees, not these palms that did bupkis for shade. What he wouldn’t give for a shade tree to relax under for a bit.
He had been visiting, restaurants, drugstores, dry cleaners, hat shops, TV repair shops, any place that might have...

Outside Padrone's house
Bobby pulled up outside Luca Padrone’s house and turned off the headlights to keep from waking the neighbours. He felt good about Bruno: the kid came to Vegas looking for excitement, and he’d found it. He smiled at the memory as he killed the motor. Glancing at the house, he noticed for the first time that another car was in the drive. A black Buick. He only knew one person that drove a car like that, “Frankie Dice. Shit!” He wondered, again, just how Luca was going to respond when he told him h...

The Study
Gianluca Padrone poured another drink for Frankie. Although two years his junior, Frank Corozzo was his capo. Luca still had times when he envied his boss. He’d been with the family just as long as Frankie, they’d both served Quiet Tony and Luca was one of the few people to know the true story behind Frank’s nickname ‘Frankie Dice’. Hell, he’d even helped spread the story about Frankie rolling a dice to determine the fate of anyone who’d crossed the family. He remembered Frankie making it up — r...

The Entrance
Bobby took a deep breath, then smiled warmly as Jenny opened the door. “Hello Mrs Padrone, sorry for bothering you so late, but Luca wanted me to come round tonight.”
“Come in Bobby. Come in. Luca said you’d visit.”
Was there something in her voice? He watched her face as he walked in, noting her eyes flick to the lounge then look out to the street when she closed the door. He hadn’t see anyone else he when walked up the drive, so he hoped no-one was there. “Carla says to say hello Mrs Padrone; ...

The Meeting
Luca and Frankie were sitting in lounge chairs each side of the fire. Bobby closed the door and, as custom dictated, silently waited for Luca to speak first. Bobby had made an effort to learn everything he could about the rules and traditions of the family, he hoped it helped him now. Luca smiled and said, “Evening Bobby, you’re late.”
Shit.
Luca continued, “I’d like you to meet your capo, Frankie Dice. Frankie, this is my associate Bobby that I was telling you about.”
“Good to meet you Bobby, ...

The Report
Luca laughed, “Relax Bobby. Did the job go well? Did you deal with our young problem?”
Fuck!
Bobby turned to face Luca directly. “Yes, but there was a change in plan.”
“Change? I don’t like changes Bobby, what was this ‘change’?” Luca placed his drink on the side table and stood up.
“I let him go. He…” Bobby stumbled as Luca slapped him across the cheek with his right hand.
“I said deal with him, so I expect you to fucking DEAL with him! What the fuck is wrong with you?” He slapped Bobby agai...

Seperate Ways
“Why’d you let him go Frankie? He disobeyed orders. He disobeyed me.”
“You were right Luca, he’s a smart kid. He showed some quick thinking tonight, both with Salvatore and here. What’s more, he just created new income for the family. Tony Junior is gonna like that and he’s gonna know it came through me and I’ll know it came through you. Walk with me to my car.”
They said nothing as they left the lounge. They could see the light out of the bathroom door down the hallway and heard Jenny murmuring...

The Car
Bobby got into his car. Jenny had cleaned him up without question, simply gestured to the bathroom and followed a few minutes later with some wet towels and ice. Then she gave him her recipe for beef stroganoff to give to Carla and showed him the door. It was all he could do to remember to say thanks and that he’d get Carla to send the curry recipe.
As he sat in the car, he could feel where Luca struck him. He had a bruise just below his ribs, an egg on the back of his head and his face still b...

The truck
Night squatted over Las Vegas with all the trepidation of a fat tourist with piles - the Vegas lights ensured night never sat comfortably here. From where Bobby Marazzi sat in his appropriated beat-up hearse on an overhang a few miles out, the city looked as though a particularly tasteless god of gaud had vomited up a patty of neon in the desert. That was okay with Bobby Marazzi; that was fine by him. There Carla waited with her warm thighs and cold eyes, and there his future stretched before hi...

the accident
By the time he was back in the city and only half a mile from the Strip, Bobby Marazzi was back in good spirits; jubilant, even. Every blinking, dazzling hotel and casino reflected in the hood of his hearse reaffirmed who he was - a man on the make, invincible in his adopted city. His future was writ as large as everything else here: Lucky Strike. Bingo. Casino. The signs went on and on. He was thinking about how happy Padrone would be, and therefore how happy Carla would be. He anticipated thei...

Revival
Just before he swam back up to the stinging air of consciousness, Bobby’s addled brain concocted a comforting explanation of his current predicament for him. This is what it told him: that he was waking from a drunken stupor following a huge celebration at the Jewel. The party was still in full swing, which was why there were red flashing lights everywhere, and why there was so much chatter. He groped to remember the details of his night, and pieced them together as follows: he had returned to t...

The Jewel
Las Vegas was already lit for the night like a demented forest from a madman’s dream, each casino or hotel fighting for the attention of the people walking under neon signs, bathed in the coloured light from a million bulbs and wrapped in the scents and noises of the balmy evening. High against the indigo sky, the Golden Nugget sign attracted pointed fingers and stares from tourists arrived from Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Montana. Gold lights suggested riches and luxury for everyone, a dream as in...

Corozzo's house
All along the drive over to the Capo’s house – translated mansion - I found myself thinking about the situation at hand, my part in it, how I got there and what my options were. The thoughts continued to dance about in my head in some crazy mambo as though induced by an unknown hallucinogen. But, I wasn’t a dope-head. I was a man whose conscience had chosen to become acquainted with his soul at a very late date in his existence. I pulled around into the drive and appreciated on many levels t...

Outside the courthouse
Bobby Marazzi bounded down the grey stone steps with an unmistakable sense of relief and happiness. “As vacations go,” he said, “that was spectacularly bad.”
The sun was shining and the air was clear, but neither of those things were rare enough to be cause for celebration in Nevada, so the utilitarian and just plain Federal feel of the courthouse lent it’s sombre atmosphere to everyone’s mood.
“Not your sort of thing?” asked Padrone.
“Not my sort of thing at all,” said Marazzi. “The food was te...

Inside the courthouse
Ray Thompson, the lawyer, emerged from the courthouse just a few minutes later. His face registered the slightest of grimaces and his stride paused for just the briefest of moments when he saw Padrone waiting for him on the steps. Thompson recovered quickly, but Padrone smiled to himself at the lawyer’s reaction. Thompson might have been working for the Family for years, but Padrone still thought it common sense to have these business types hungry for the money and fearful of the price of a fall...

At Padrone's car
The car door opened from the inside with a certain practised elegance. Bobby watched it glide to a casual opening and smiled as a pair of slender legs slid themselves neatly off the red leather seat. He watched a pair of green heels touch the pavement with such care as if they might break if they touched something as rough as a sidewalk. So gentle, Bobby thought. It seemed unnecessary to him. He’d seen the damage you could do to someone with a 4” heel. Still…
“Hey, Carla,” he said, and smiled w...

On the pavement
When Padrone strolled round the corner, he saw Bobby and Carla in full embrace leaning up against the side of the car. He gave Carla a quick glance up and down and called ahead. “You two make a good looking couple.”
Bobby and Carla stopped kissing as Carla screwed her face up in horror.
“Oh, that’s nice that is!” laughed Bobby. “I see how it is.”
She slapped him on the arm. “Shut up. Look at you. You could have spent the night getting kicked by tramps sleeping rough on Fremont St and you’d have ...

At Little Napoli
Bobby and Carla decided to walk to lunch. It took them almost three quarters of an hour, but it was a nice enough day out, and they decided that a cab back to Bobby’s place to let him get changed would be tight for time as well. So, Bobby straightened his shirt and tie as bet could, and carried the jacket over his arm. By the time they arrived at Little Napoli, they were a few minutes late, and their feet were grateful for an opportunity to sit down.
The waiter recognised Bobby and showed them ...

At the table
It’s a common misconception that the human body has only five senses. Sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. In reality, the body has far more than that, and some of which are just as important in the right circumstances. Temperature, and balance, to name two. Pain, that’s a pretty important one.
The body reacts to these senses at different speeds, too. The first senses that Bobby noticed were touch, closely followed by balance when he became acutely aware of something shoving him squarely in th...

The Fed
Gallagher stood up and walked from behind his desk. He took a gulp of coffee, it was cold. In pure frustration he threw the half-finished mug across the room, watching as it shattered into what seemed like a hundred pieces, coffee slowly running down the wall, and leaching into the dusty floorboards. A year he had been working on this, a whole goddamn year, slowly gathering small segments of information, building a case, bit by bit. He had undercover men in every hotel and casino on the stri...

The hospital
Gallagher stands outside the hospital finishing his smoke, looking at the bleak building. Hospitals were never his favourite place, too many bad memories, lost friends, and the smell, the smell of death, it got to him every time. He dropped the butt of his cigarette and stepped on it, scrunching it into the ground with the toe of his black highly polished shoe. Adjusting his tie and straightening his suit jacket he walked up the hospital steps and into a sterile world of white walls, steel tr...

The Jewel
Carla Morelli sat quietly at her desk, watching. Watching for any approaching customers, watching the man in the new suit at the end of the second row of slot machines, watching to see if she'd be needed. That was her job after all - being needed. It wasn't glamorous, although she wished her job was.
Today, as her shift was nearly over, she wore a tan suit, her hair put in a bun, and her shirt's top button coyly undone. It helped with some of the customers. Her straight brown hair was tied up e...

Cigarette break
Carla left the hotel, her mind continually spinning. She left through the main gate in a rush, pausing only to excuse herself past customers. Once outside she took a deep breath, her lungs filling with the cool night air. She took off her suit jacket and draped it over one arm and turned around to face the hotel.
She knew she worked for a crime family. She knew her boyfriend was amongst them. She knew who she was, what she was, and what place she had in the world. And this hotel symbolized a lot...

The hospital
Perhaps the hospital nurse gave her trouble this time because Carla looked like she was in a bad mood. Perhaps it was because visiting hours were truly over. Either way, Carla got her way and ended up in her usual spot, sitting beside Bobby, waiting, patiently for him to wake up.
His white hospital gown, with the white bedsheets, and the white walls, paired with his pale face made her even more anxious. His breathing was shallow. His pallor was unimaginably white, as if all the blood had recede...

Vegas, Baby
“Hurt?” says Bobby M. “What the fuck do you mean, ‘hurt’? You get fucking shot in the fucking back, some fucking fuck trying to fucking whack you in the fucking back, you ask me, you wanna know, does it hurt?”
Easy on the language, buddy thought Sonny Beach, behind the bar. I should say something, he thought. I should throw him out of here. A brute, that much was obvious. The rat-pack swagger, the JFK sunglasses, the gomina hair, the suggestion of some kind of muscle underneath the suit. Hood, ...

Payphone
Bobby calls Thompson from the payphone by the men’s room, wondering if he’s only ever going to speak with Thompson in places that smell of piss.
“I’m fine,” he says, when Thompson comes to the phone. “Nothing, really,” he says, “just thanks again for your... what’s that? Jeez, nothing. A whack? I don’t think that was a whack. If it was a whack, I’m still standing. A .22 popgun from out of sight? Tell me about it. Thing is, I wanted to say thanks in person, maybe buy you a drink... no, your call...

Cocktail lounge
Thompson doesn’t know it’s a boning knife, Salvatore’s grandfather’s knife, brought with him from Maniago, passed to his son and then to his son’s son, Bruno, honed and whetted to a fine slender precision that will slide through to the bone before you notice it’s touched your skin.
Thompson doesn’t know that the knife is touching him between the fifth and sixth ribs.
Thompson knows that something that will slide his life away from him is resting right on the spot where that life resides, so he g...

Briefcase
“Fucking briefcase with a hard-on” says Bobby.
“Half a hard-on,” says Bruno.
Bobby thinks: this sidekick idea could work out.

Runway
Five hundred feet above the Boulder City Field runway, Bobby banks right, heading north. To their left, the lights of Las Vegas are beginning to come on.
“My father taught me,” says Bobby. “The government taught him. I was, what, eleven, twelve, when he came out of the war. He saw it coming. ‘Get your pilot’s ticket,’ he said, ‘and you’ll never be short of work. It’s the coming thing, son. We learned how to use airplanes to burn and smash folks, boil their blood in their veins, grill their citie...

Dam
“Off to your right, you’ll see the Boulder Dam,” shouted Bobby, “or Hoover Dam. Whichever you prefer. Which do you prefer, Mr Thompson? I can’t hear you. It is, of course, intolerably noisy in here since your door so unfortunately became unlatched. Impossible to close it against the wind... okay. Do something for me, will you, then we can just enjoy the Strip Tour.”
Thompson groaned. His hands were shaking violently and he had wet his pants.
“What I’d like you to do, Mr Thompson, is pass a mess...

Impala

“We gotta be made-men Sallie,” Bobby Marazzi hung his arm out the window of the gold Impala and banged on the door. “No two ways about it. That’s the only way to get the respect we deserve”
Bobby’s back twinged from the motion and he straightened up on the seat and started picking at a lose thread on the gold vinyl upholstery.
Salvatore nodded, eyes on the road.
“I mean, whats the point? That bullet in the back coulda taken me out. If we were made-men it wouldn't have happened, not like that an...

Johnny Coins
Johnny Repetto’s house was nestled at the back of newer culdesac at the edge of town, with the glistening desert beyond. The white, single story house hid behind a row of dwarf lady palms and there was a dark, waist-high wrought-iron fence around the whole property.
Sal pulled the Impala into the drive and got out. Bobby waited for Sal to come around the car and open the door. It wasn’t Sal’s job to open doors for Bobby, but he seemed happy to take up the task after Bobby’s injury. Bobby eased h...

Outside the Jewel
Marazzi skulked in the shadows of the Jewel Hotel avoiding being seen by any soldiers of the Grimaldo mafia. It was crucial that they only became aware of his presence once the scene had been set. He was well aware that he was playing with fire but that was nothing new for Bobby Marazzi. His mother spent most of his childhood warning her son about playing with fire. If only she knew.
Marazzi was waiting for the hand over of the goons at the entrance of the hotel. It was easy for Marazzi to spot ...

Entering
It was the time to walk through the fire. Marazzi imagined flames on either side of the sidewalk as he made his way crouching to the Jewel Hotel and into Grimaldo territory. His breaths became quick and shallow as he crept closer to his target but it was the only way. Thoughts were racing through his head. Thoughts of cigs and booze, and the opportunities he dreamed of chasing after this was over. He had dreams of a new life after becoming a shark and repaying those had shot him, and those who h...

Lobby
One. Two. Three. Four. Exhale. He winced as sparks of pain went over him resulting from the short dash to the Hotel entrance. He wasn't completely healed yet and paid the price for any sudden, quick movements. Marazzi grunted as looked around the hotel lobby trying to keep out of sight. First objective was avoid anyone from the Grimaldo family. He needed to stay out of trouble until he found his target. Marazzi’s hand drifted down to the hidden holster where his gun was located. He merged in wit...

Dining
Marazzi needed to find Carla’s best friend Lisa. He hoped that he wouldn't have to venture into the hotel laundry room as that was asking for trouble. Bobby Marazzi and laundry did not mix well much to his mother’s chagrin. Lisa was not a big fan of him because she mistrusted his mafia connections. Well at least she was smart, Marazzi conceded. Unfortunately smart women didn't get very far in Vegas unless they were prepared to be a Moll, and Lisa was no Moll. He made his way down the corridor un...

A dollar
From the dining room Marazzi moved quickly down the main corridor to the Casino that most of the guests used. He quickly flashed the card at one of the bouncer goons and entered through the double doors of the Casino entrance. Marazzi scanned the room looking for his target. He smiled briefly, before remembering what he came here to do. He checked that he had everything he needed in his trouser pockets before he approached her.
Carla Morelli was cleaning glasses at the Casino bar. She was wearin...

Coffee shop
Bobby sat, tapping at his teeth with the nail of his ring finger. The coffee was cold in front of him, but he downed it anyway. Hand to his mouth, he looked to his left, out of the coffee shop window. No-one was approaching. He lit a cigarette with impatience and lifted his coffee cup in the air to gesture to the owner for another. The Irishman scowled as he poured.
“You’re a bit early today aren’t ya?” he said, with barely hidden derision.
“Why, are you not pleased to see me Paddy?” Bobby mocke...

The route
The two men worked the establishments on Marazzi’s route as usual. Bobby found it difficult to act normal. He usually collected from them in the late afternoon but today they were close to opening time which was around eight hours of earning time less than normal. And they were not happy about it. He’d got his story straight in his head, and Sal’s headcrushing skills made everything plausible, but he was sweating it on the little things. When you’re guilty of something you worry about the detail...

Little Napoli
The two men walked into the Little Napoli restaurant and sat down at their usual table. The restaurant was empty but for them, the daylight showing up the tiredness of the decor. Bobby wondered if he had ever been in to see Tony in the daytime before. He certainly didn’t remember the place looking like this, but he reminded himself that he was over-observant today. There was no water on the table yet and the cutlery was still in its basket on the bar waiting to be set. Tony Cucina, the chef and ...

Oposite the restaurant
Tommy Ricambi leaned back and lit another Chesterfield. There was a beat cop down at the corner he wasn’t sure of. Didn’t know him. But then this wasn’t his regular run. Better to make safe and wait. It was still early.
Directly across the street was the Little Napoli restaurant. A couple of idle patrons sitting out front, and since he had arrived, patrons coming out but hardly one going in. Way he figured there was about nobody in there by now. If that beat cop would stop chewing the fat with t...

Entry
As expected, there were few customers—the place was not much more than a stopover for coffee at this hour. Seating was to the right, but Ricambi headed straight for the kitchen. The hostess on duty caught him in transit.
“Can I do something for you?”
He gave her the once over. “Maybe later. I got business.”
He moved to pass, but she intercepted him again.
“No, here, let me get you a table.” She snatched up a menu.
He just shoved on past her. What was she going to do, stop him?

The kitchen
“So, what is this business? It may not look busy to you, but this is prep time for the dinner crowd.”
“I’m here for a mutual friend.”
Cucina’s face broke into a crooked, unamused smile. “What, are you kidding me?”
Ricambi gave him his dry look. What ever happened to business as usual, he wondered.
“This would be a timely time to make a contribution.”
“I just paid. So, what the hell?”
“Time’s a bitch, eh?”
“No, I mean I just paid you guys.”
“Wait.” Ricambi made a show of checking his vest pocket....

The police
At 4:20pm, two uniformed officers burst through the front doors of Little Napoli where an altercation was taking place between two men, the owner of the restaurant, Tony Cucina, and another man, name unknown.
“I don’t care. You just get the hell out of my place!” The older man punctuated his words with a hard knock to the younger man’s chest. “Ask Marazzi.”
Their argument had proceeded all the way from the back office and grown steadily in volume — Ricambi trying to control the situation and Cuc...

Upstairs dining
Little Napoli’s upstairs dining room was reserved for special parties. Tonight that special party was Luca Padrone.
Cucina, in dress clothes and hair slicked back, sat across from him. Padrone gently swirled the wine in his glass.
“Ricambi tells me you tire of our friendship.”
Cucina sputtered but bit back whatever words were there.
“And that saddens me. There are no better friends than good friends. Friends like family.”
Cucina grabbed his glass and took a gulp of wine.
“You know, you’ve got a ...

Empty wine
Some time later, the two men sat facing each other over a long silence and two empty wine bottles. Cucina took an envelope from his vest pocket and placed it on the table. Padrone gestured for Ricambi to take it up. He rapped on the table. Ricambi leapt from his post and ran over. “Mi dispiace.” Seeing the envelope, he pocketed it and retreated.

Waiting
Ricambi was dreaming of a table at the Copa. A regular table. His table. A martini in one hand, a girl bent on the other. Frank giving him the nod before starting the show.
The waiter arrived with food and more wine for Padrone. Nothing for Ricambi, he knew. Still, things were righter than they had been. Cucina paid and was back in his kitchen, and it looked like Pardone was just going to brood over a late meal alone. He checked his watch — wondering idly when the Late Show started.

lost appetite
Luca Padrone looked down at the timballi before him — a peace offering from Cucina. He looked over at Ricambi who was as usual out of it. The kid was worthless, he knew. This could have been avoided. He should not have had to come here. He should never have been on the spot like that with Cucina.
He took up his fork. Maybe Cucina was sharper than he was giving him credit for. A deal made in hell, he thought. The payment was made so that could be smoothed over, but Cucina still had the right of i...

The Local
Bobby Marazzi closed the glass panelled door behind him and looked around the big office. Filing cabinets along two walls, two desks covered in papers and shelves also covered in papers. Window blinds closed. He switched on the light. It could be a long night looking for what they wanted.
“You look over there,” he said to Bruno Salvatore, who was bleeding slightly from the glass that sliced into his arm as the had reached through the broken window pane. “I will take this side. We want anything t...

The Truck
It was exactly 7:00am when the gates opened at the depot. Bobby and Bruno out of site each side of the entrance. The Big Red Mack B-61 pulled though the gates and turned left onto Flamingo Road. Bobby looked at the truck admiring the gleaming silver grill with the Mack emblem leaping forward. Booby loved big trucks and in another life would have had his own driving interstate, free as a bird He jumped onto the footplate and smiled at the driver motioning him to slow down and stop.
“What you do...

El Cortez Hotel and Casino
Marazzi pulled up the car outside the El Cortez Hotel and Casino, and stepped out into the soft spring air. On a day like this, you could walk from the Strip to downtown Fremont Street, which would be unimaginable in the ferocious heat of summer. At least, you could walk if it weren’t so far, or if you didn’t mind being seen on foot. Marazzi had often trudged those several miles before, back in the old days, when he was trying to make a name for himself and get in with the Grimaldo family, but n...

The street
Agent Gallagher climbed out of his car and tugged on his suit cuffs to straighten the sleeves. It was a subconscious gesture, born of his unsure rookie agent days and ingrained through many years in the FBI. As his first partner used to say when he was guiding the rookie on the finer points of agenting:
If you can’t think like an agent, at least look like an agent.
Of course, as was always the case in the old days, his partner was on the take and received his suits for free from the local mafia...

The kitchen
Danny Cole was sitting at the kitchen table when Gallagher found him.
“Alright, Mr Cole, why don’t you tell me what happened.”
“Like I said to the others, I found the window like that when I arrived home.” Cole looked suspiciously at Gallagher. “Why is the FBI responding to a break in, anyway?”
“We will get to that. What time did you arrive home?”
“Let’s see, what’s the time now? I came home, saw the window. So I called the cops right away. It took them maybe half an hour to get here, another f...

The station
But there was something Gallagher could do about it. By the time the officers bundled Cole into a car and arrived back at the police station, Gallagher had already been on the phone with his boss, who had in turn called the Las Vegas police chief and the officer’s direct captain. As soon as Richards and Nicowski arrived back at the station, they were berated for half an hour and then sent to find appropriate large-size clothing for Danny Cole to change into.
Gallagher left it an hour for emotion...

Padrone's house
A crash and a muddle of voices shouting jolted Luca Padrone awake. He thrashed in the bed, fighting to get free of the covers, to get to his feet. Men yelled, heavy footsteps pounded down the hallway, he heard Jenny scream! He had to get to the gun in the drawer across the room-
The door slammed against the wall. A bulky silhouette burst into the room. “Police! Freeze! I’ve got him!”
“What the hell?” Padrone finally managed to drag the blanket free of his legs. He started to stand up.
“I said ...

The station
“I’ve never heard of Tragett’s.”
“No? How about Holliston Jewelry?”
“I’ve never heard of Holliston Jewelry.” Padrone’s voice was flat and calm. He was smiling inwardly. He could stonewall like this forever. It had only been an hour or so, and the cops were already looking frustrated.
“Lerner and Brothers?”
“I’ve never heard of Lerner and Brothers.”
“How about the Cartier in Boulder City? Or are you going to claim you’ve never heard of Cartier?”
“No, not at all. I’ve been there, in fact.” Padron...

Empty pockets
“Leather wallet with thirty four dollars, sixty three cents change, keys, and a plastic comb.” The desk sergeant dumped the contents of the envelope onto the counter between them.
Padrone scooped the lot up and dropped it into his side pocket and started to turn away. Then he swung back and sneered at the cop. “I guess I should count the money, shouldn’t I?”
But the man, a running-to-beef guy with thinning hair and a florid face just gazed at him blandly. “See you again sometime.”
Padrone snort...

Inside the Casino
Luca Padrone looked like he had seen a ghost as he caught a reflection of himself outside the entrance to the Jewel Casino. Stopping mid-stride, he turned to face himself squarely in the dusty window. He spat into his hands and padded down the sides of his hair, squared off his tie, and then licked his index fingers and smudged them against his angry eyebrows. He moved closer to the window and took stock of himself with silent contempt. Despite his efforts, a protruding eyebrow hair mocked him g...

Little Napoli
Luca Padrone had arrived early and was now seated peacefully at his corner table in Little Napoli. He was reading the sports section of the Las Vegas Sun. The front page announced the coming execution of some Nazi war criminal, and showed the picture of a recent nuclear test explosion in nearby Northern Nevada; but who in Vegas cared about these things? The story that had kept America mesmerized for nearly a month and still captivated Luca was the hundred points Wilt Chamberlain had scored for P...

Building site
Tommy was not a very bright man. He was not funny either; truth be told, he was outright boring. Yet, he had one quality that made him rare: he loved the wait! Waiting was his speciality. There were little distractions in his life, but waiting and observing, transformed him. He became an ambushed predator, hidden, ready to strike and pounce on his prey in an instant. Time passed easily for Tommy, his long legs comfortable in the spacious car, his ample clothes hiding his muscular body. He had ju...

Stewart Ave
Charlie flicked his cigarette out onto the highway and made the right onto Stewart Avenue. He looked totally relaxed, hair Brylcreemed into place, fingers tapping out Duke of Earl on the steering wheel. Greg, whose pits were damp with fear-sweat, wished he had half of the younger man’s confidence.
“Are you sure we’re doing the right thing, Charlie?”
“We talked about this, Greg. Marazzi talks a good game, but he’s going nowhere. Not in this town. He got Pete killed already. You want to be next?” ...

Ambush
Marazzi was out in the driveway, polishing his big silver Lincoln, letting the neighbors see him. He said it was part of their cover—give them something to look at, so they wouldn’t see anything they shouldn’t. Charlie thought he just liked showing off the car. He wheeled his own convertible into an open spot in front of the house and waved.
“Hey, guys.” Marazzi gave the spotless fender a final swipe and tucked the chamois cloth into his pocket. “Come on in. Can I get you a beer?”
“No, thanks,” ...

Escape
Bobby Marazzi stumbled down the steps of his formerly safe house with his hands pressed against his bleeding side. He veered toward the red Corvette, but the neighbors were starting to come outside, looking for the source of the gunshots now that everything was quiet. No point drawing attention to himself. Charlie couldn’t drive so far that Bobby couldn’t catch him.
Inside the Lincoln, he stripped off his t-shirt and used it to bind the chamois cloth in his pocket against the wound. Grimacing a...

The Jewel
Marazzi had a habit of whistling mindless little repetitions, slaughtered versions of tunes he had picked up from radio stations never paid attention to, all combined together into a talentless melange of notes. It burst like little spits of rain in the lulls, waned to a dribble of mostly breath and terminated by brutal cursing, fist slamming into the palm. Pavement passerby's worried over their shoulders and quickened their pace. He proceeded, muttering and whistling, stomping and straightening...

Roulette
The sound of ice within his glass gradually became the most prominent noise within his awareness, until Marazzi set his drink down gently and carefully aligned within a red disc of paper beside his dwindling rows of chips. He jumped, I really am losing it, at the sound of Carla’s voice behind him.
“What are you doing?”, she hissed.
Marazzi glanced down at the stack of chips by his elbow, in answer, Carla retorted by firing off a hostile dart of the eyes at the unfiltered butt of his cigarette.
“...

The doorway
She was right. He knew it. It was like he was being tested by the universe. Some big, sick fuck, that universe. Somehow, God – no, the Man in the Moon – whoever the fuck was up there, playing those cosmic strings like a harp – was testing his mettle to see if he was worthy. He hated to admit it, even to himself, but if it wasn’t for Carla he would’ve left it all behind already, talked her into finding a quiet beach town somewhere down south where they could have a normal life, grown old together...

The carpark
The Jewel wasn’t a big casino, but it was a busy night and her parking lot was nearly full. Slipping between the rows of parked vehicles, Bobby scanned the cargo beds of the pickup trucks parked amongst the cars until he found what he was after – a nearly full jerry can, someone’s hedge against running dry on a desolate stretch of wind-swept Nevada highway. It would do perfectly. What better way to bring out the Jewel’s cavalry than with an unexpected parking lot bonfire? He chuckled to himself,...

Back in
Walking back through the Jewel’s doors, Bobby knew he would need Carla’s help. It was a bad idea to get her involved; jeopardizing the family’s trust in you was a surefire way to an early grave. That crazy Sicilian Luca Padrone had decided Bobby was a rat and turned on him, and it had gotten him shot and almost bled out in the street as a result. Carla had worked long and hard to gain Frankie’s trust as one of the Jewel’s key employees, but trust from a capo could be pissed away in an instant an...

Frankie's office
Frankie’s office smelt musty and like old man, even though he wasn’t one. As Bobby slipped inside and closed the door behind him, the smell hit him in the face like a boxing glove filled with stale cigars that had gotten wet and not been dried out properly. There was no window, of course. Facing the door, Frankie’s big wooden desk and leather chair dominated the room. Even though there was no need to be stealthy anymore, Bobby crept around Frankie’s desk and sat down, the leather chair creaking ...

From the casino
Carla walked her usual route through the casino. The mechanical whirrs and the occasional ringing of bells from the slot machines on her left, the drone of the dealers on her right, and the murmur and occasional shouts of the crowd everywhere didn’t have their usual soothing effect; instead, they jangled her nerves and amplified her inner turmoil, driving her racing mind to a faster and faster pace. She’d made nice with Bobby so that she could ride along with him to the top. When he pushed Padro...

In the car
It was late at night when Marazzi’s car approached his girlfriend’s apartment. He had been careful enough to turn off the lights a few miles back on the road. He stopped the engine as he parked casually on the opposite side of the street. He looked around before getting out and decided to have a smoke. The events in the last few days called for a dose of caution.
He pulled out from his pocket the golden lighter that had once won to Luca Padrone in a Vegas style poker game, and lighted a cigarett...

On the path
He looked around once more. Everything seemed to be fine. A female was walking on the sidewalk towards the building’s front door. It was dark around her, but the purse she was carrying looked familiar, as well as those high heel shoes she insisted in wearing from time to time in spite of being, in Carla’s own words, “uncomfortable for anything other than a wooden floor.”
“That’s my girl,” he thought, “I’ll give her a surprise.”
He left the car and crossed the street behind her, carefully avoidin...

To the house
“But isn’t she with you then? Oh my god!” Lisa said in tremor.
“No, we haven’t seen lately. That’s why I’m here. But what’s all that divine evocation about?”
“Bobby, Carla has not showed up for work in a few days. That’s why I decided to come over and check if she needed anything.”
“What? Are you serious? Have you not even spoken to her?”
“No, Bobby, no. People are talking. You know the family is looking for you, don’t you? But since no one seemed to know your errands either, I was hoping she we...

The stairs
They took the stairs upwards on an increasing step spree. A few feet before the apartment entrance Marazzi slowed down a bit. He plunged his ear to the wooden door.
“We should better call the police…” Lisa whispered.
“Yeah, sure, that was precisely what I was thinking,” Marazzi said, ironically.
No sound came from the inside. He knocked, but got no response either. Marazzi inserted his key silently into the lock and twisted it gently as well. His other hand turned the knob and pushed the door wi...

Hall
Marazzi walked through the hallway quietly. He entered the kitchen. The lights were off in there and he tried to reach for the switch on the wall, but it did not work.
He pulled his golden lighter again from his pocket and made it lit his way while walking in. The pieces of the window glass already spread throughout the floor cricked at his feet.
“Somebody broke in through the kitchen window,” Marazzi said.
“Oh my god! I think we should really call the police now,” Lisa replied.
“Oh, woman, you’...

The note
No signature was needed. Even though it looked like Padrone’s handwriting, this was not about the golden lighter. “Frankie Dice” Corozzo was undoubtedly the mind behind that note.
He remembered that day, while still working for the family under Padrone, when he unwillingly mentioned a thing or two that he knew, and perhaps he shouldn’t have known. Eyebrows went up inquisitively in Corozzo’s face towards Padrone, shoulders went up cluelessly in Padrone’s torso as a response, and Marazzi realised ...

The approach
Marazzi rolled the car past Padrone’s house. Up the drive, he had a clear view of the dining room and lounge at the front of the house. No light or movement there.
He pulled up forty yards down the street. Marazzi turned off the engine and lit a cigarette. After bellowing out the first draw, he rolled it repeatedly between thumb and forefingers. He listened to the dull ticking noises of the metal car cooling down. The bulbous streetlights paved him in a soft orange glow. Marazzi looked over at t...

Inside
The coarse upholstery of the couch was uncomfortable on Carla’s legs. The rope around her wrists and ankles was getting old too. She sighed. The dude at the bottom of the pecking order stood at the desk, randomly examining stuff from the desk. He chewed gum as if it was a mildly painful experience.
Carla shifted her gaze to the other two guys in the room. They were sitting in identical armchairs of the same brilliant blue, scratchy fabric. The one in charge, Frankie Corozzo, looked back at her. ...

Entry
Marazzi opened the back door and stalked into the utility room. He hadn’t expected it to be locked. Nobody’s dumb enough to enter here uninvited. He peered through the open inner door into the kitchen area. The breakfast bar had a dated diner look, with high chairs and a Formica-topped table. The kitchen behind it, in light blue panelling, stood out against the black and white checkered linoleum. It could do with a more modern ensemble.
From where he was he could see into the hall and lounge, bu...