Casino Page #12

CREDIT CLERK:

(To NICKY from behind

the cage)

Hey, they forgot to sign their papers.

NICKY:

What?

CREDIT CLERK:

They forgot to sign their papers.

NICKY:

Yeah, they don't need those anymore.

He looks over to ACE and SHERBERT. NICKY smiles.

ACE (V.O.)

Out of respect, guys from other crews

got away with a warning.

ACE taking a drag off his cigarette, nods an 'okay'.

ACE (V.O.)

Everybody else:
watch out.

INT. TANGIERS CASINO/BLACKJACK TABLES - DAY

A blackjack WINNER, who looks like a school teacher, with

over $100,000 in chips before him has gathered a crowd.

ACE (V.O.)

Like these yokels here who never

heard of Nicky or the bosses back

home, 'cause they're the morons who

give you the most trouble. Even after

we'd catch 'em, they'd try sneakin'

back with beards and wigs and fake

noses.

ACE and SHERBERT walk up to watch the WINNER who is playing

all six hands at the blackjack table.

ACE (V.O.)

You can spot these a**holes by

watching the way they bet. Like this

guy. He's bettin' lavender chips at

five hundred each with only one little

problem. He's always guessed right.

If he wasn't so f***in' greedy, he'd

have been tougher to spot. But in

the end, they're all greedy.

ACE walks around the WINNER's table, past the crowd, to the

pit. Behind him are more blackjack tables, dealers and

players. ACE bends down and ties his shoelace.

ACE (V.O.)

I saw that the dealer was weak, but

he wasn't in on it.

The DEALER's hands lift the corner of his hole card a half

an inch to determine the casino's hand against the WINNER.

The slightly exposed hole card is a six of clubs.

ACE (V.O.)

He just wasn't protecting his hand.

He was lifting his hole card way to

high.

ON ACE'S FACE THEN TO HIS POV OF THE CARD, PAST A PIT BOSS,

PANNING TO THE SIGNALER AT THE BLACKJACK TABLE TO THE RIGHT.

THE SIGNALER IS SLUMPED DOWN IN HIS SEAT, TOSSING DOWN SOME

CARDS AND SNEAKING LOOKS AT THE DEALER'S HAND AT THE WINNER'S

TABLE.

ACE (V.O.)

Now, here's this guy...

OVERHEAD PAN FROM THE SIGNALER SLUMPED IN HIS SEAT.

ACE (V.O.)

...reading the dealer's hole card...

PAN CONTINUES PAST ACE TO REVEAL THE WINNER'S TABLE.

ACE (V.O.)

...and signaling his buddy [the

WINNER] at this table.

OVERHEAD DOLLY IN ON SIGNALER WHO APPEARS TO BE NERVOUSLY

TAPPING HIS THIGH.

We see through his trousers, that he is tapping a copper

transmitter with a battery pack attached.

Back at the WINNER's table we see inside his pant leg where

a device strapped to his leg is receiving the impulse signal -

buzz - buzz - buzz - from the SIGNALER.

ACE (V.O.)

And that's just what these hustlers

look for. They cruise from casino to

casino, lookin' for weak dealers the

way lions look for weak antelope.

ACE starts to get up.

ACE (O.S.)

(From following scene)

Operator?

INT. TANGIERS BLACKJACK TABLES/TELEPHONE - DAY

ACE is on the house phone right near the SIGNALER's table.

ACE:

This is Mr R. Get me Armstrong and

Friday over at pit two right away.

He hangs up, and fixes his tie in the mirrored panel above

the phone.

OVERHEAD VIEW OF THE SIGNALER'S TABLE. VARIOUS SECURITY GUARDS

SLOWLY BEGIN TO GATHER AROUND IT.

ACE, waiting, lights a cigarette. ARMSTRONG joins ACE. They

look towards the SIGNALER's table.

ACE:

(To ARMSTRONG)

BJ nineteen, second base, the beard

[Blackjack table number 19, second

position, man with the beard]

ACE:

(Picks up the phone

again.)

Operator... I need Mr Happy, loud.

On ACE's signal, WAITRESSES, one carrying a cake with a

sparkling candle, start singing 'Happy Birthday', attracting

the crowd's attention.

WAITRESSES:

(In unison)

Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday

to you. Happy Birthday, dear Jeff.

Happy Birthday to you.

Gamblers cheer and applaud.

ACE nods and ARMSTRONG lets a long metal object drop out

from under his jacket sleeve and moves in close behind the

SIGNALER, as though looking at the game.

He presses the object - a cattle prod - under the SIGNALER's

arm near his heart. The SIGNALER instantly goes into

convulsions, falling to the floor gasping and groaning.

Several SECURITY GUARDS grab the SIGNALER as he falls.

ARMSTRONG walks away.

SECURITY GUARD #1

Man down!

The WINNER sees what happened to his partner.

SECURITY GUARD #1

Notify medical! We got a cardiac

arrest here!

SECURITY GUARD #2

He's fine, folks. Just give us some

room, please!

ACE watches the scene. The guards lift the stunned SIGNALER

to his feet and help him away from the table. Play is

immediately resumed.

ACE (V.O.)

Watch it now.

The WINNER hurriedly places his chips into racks.

SECURITY GUARD #1 (O.S.)

Stand back!

ACE (V.O.)

They never know what hit them. And

if and when...

SECURITY GUARDS drag the SIGNALER out.

ACE (V.O.)

...they do find out they just got

zapped by a cattle prod...

SHERBERT follows the WINNER as he rushes away.

ACE (V.O.)

...they wish they really did have a

heart attack.

ACE exits behind the GUARDS and the SIGNALER.

INT. BASEMENT MAINTENANCE ROOM - NIGHT

A grim, windowless utility room with tools on racks along

the walls, some plain wooden chairs, and a workbench table.

ACE (V.O.)

Turns out this guy and his f***in'

pals, they were knockin' this place

dead for years.

SECURITY GUARD #1

He's got a wire on him.

The SIGNALER is roughly shoved into the room. A SECURITY

GUARD tears his trousers down revealing the signaling device

strapped to his leg.

SIGNALER:

Hey, hey, what are you doin', man?

SECURITY GUARD #2

(Exposing the device)

There it is! On the table!

SECURITY GUARD #1

Cheater's justice!

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