Casino Page #16

ACE nods

BANKER:

(Quietly.)

Sam, let me ask you a question. You

must really trust your wife.

ACE:

(Quietly)

Yeah, sure I do. Why?

BANKER:

No, tha-that's good. It's just

unusual. To tell you the truth, so

many of my clients don't.

ACE:

Well...

ACE looks over to GINGER, smiles and winks. She looks back

at him.

INT. TANGIERS LOUNGE - NIGHT

JERRY VALE sings to a seated audience. ACE sits alone at a

table.

ACE (V.O.)

With Ginger and the money in place,

I felt covered, and to play it safe

I switched job titles again and made

myself, um, Food and Beverage

Director. This way nobody would bother

me about a license. I mean, Vegas

was like a dream for me. Trouble

was...

NICKY is seated at another table with MARINO, peeling off

money and giving it to MIKE, a crooked dealer.

ACE (V.O.)

...Nicky was dreamin' his own kind

of Vegas.

NICKY (V.O.)

To begin, I put money out on the

streets, chargin' three points a

week. You know - juice to the f***in'

dealers.

MARINO:

(To MIKE)

Don't make us come lookin' for you.

MIKE:

Oh, you won't have to look for me. I

appreciate it. Thanks, Nicky.

NICKY:

All right, Mike.

MIKE gets up from the table.

NICKY (V.O.)

They were degenerate gamblers, coke

freaks. In no time, I had half the

dealers in the Tangiers in my pocket.

Then...

INT. TANGIERS POKER TABLE - NIGHT

NICKY is at a table with his gang of card sharks: SLIM, ROCKY,

MOOSH and COWBOY, all secretly signaling each other,

sandbagging a mark. MIKE, the crooked dealer from the previous

scene, deals NICKY a winning hand.

NICKY (V.O.)

...the next thing I did, I started

bustin' out high-stakes poker players.

ACE (V.O.)

It was so obvious. I mean, all of

Nicky's half-assed mechanics, they

were real signal happy.

MOOSH:

(Scratching his arm)

I'm gonna open for five hundred.

ROCKY:

Moosh, you open?

(Taps his fingers on

some chips before

picking them up.)

ACE (V.O.)

Signaling back and forth.

CARD SHARK:

I bet thirty-five hundred.

NICKY wiggles a toothpick back and forth in his mouth.

DOCTOR DAN:

I've been losing for three days

straight, non-stop.

Another shark pulls on his ear.

ROCKY:

Oh, why're you crying, with three

loaves of bread under your arm?

ACE watches their signals with concern.

ACE (V.O.)

Nicky thought nobody was watching

him. But he was wrong.

We see two undercover gaming agents, looking like tourists,

sneaking looks at NICKY's table.

ACE (V.O.)

And I didn't want any of those agents

near my place.

NICKY:

Four aces, Doc.

His hands spread five cards on the table, showing four aces.

NICKY:

What do you got?

DOCTOR DAN:

(Getting up in disgust)

Jesus Christ. I can't believe it.

COWBOY, the card shark with the cowboy hat, rakes in a large

pot toward his side of the table.

DOCTOR DAN:

If I didn't have bad luck, I wouldn't

have any luck. I'm out of here, you

understand?

ACE (V.O.)

I mean, I wished to God Nicky and

his whole crew would just get lost.

He walks towards NICKY's table.

ACE (V.O.)

What am I gonna do? Go back home and

start a war?

ACE leans down to talk to NICKY.

ACE (V.O.)

I mean, Nicky's a made guy and I'm

not. I can't do that.

ACE:

(Whispering in NICKY's

ear)

Be careful. Gaming agents are all

over the place.

NICKY:

So, I'm lucky. I'm not allowed to

get lucky in this place?

ACE:

You been lucky all week. They're

lookin' to nail ya.

ACE walks away. NICKY looks over at the gaming agents.

NICKY (V.O.)

Ace was so f***in' worried about his

casino, he forgot what we were doin'

out here in the first place.

INT. TANGIERS CASINO - NIGHT

Security people are pulling apart a husband and wife who are

fighting. Camera picks up ACE as he passes by them.

NICKY (V.O.)

A million times I wanted to yell in

his f***in' ear:
'This is Las Vegas!

We're supposed to be out here robbin',

you dumb f***in' Heeb.'

INT. TANGIERS CASINO POKER TABLE - NIGHT

Closeup of the COWBOY's white-socked feet with no shoes on a

poker table.

ACE:

(To SHERBERT, referring

to COWBOY)

I don't give a sh*t who he's connected

to. Tell him to take his f***in'

feet off the table. What's he think

this is, a goddamn sawdust joint?

SHERBERT approaches COWBOY.

SHERBERT:

Sir, would you mind taking your feet

off the table and putting your shoes

on, please?

COWBOY:

(Sighs)

Yeah, I would mind. I'm havin' a bad

night.

COWBOY remains the same with his feet on the table.

SHERBERT:

(Returning to ACE)

F***in' a**hole won't budge.

ACE:

Call security.

ACE approaches COWBOY.

ACE:

How are you?

COWBOY:

Good. How are you?

ACE:

Good. You want to do me a favor? You

want to take your feet off the table

and put your shoes back on?

COWBOY:

F*** you.

ACE walks to nearby SECURITY GUARDS.

ACE:

(To GUARDS)

I want you to exit this guy off the

premises, and I want you to exit him

off his feet and use his head to

open the f***in' door.

Three SECURITY GUARDS approach COWBOY.

SECURITY GUARD #1

Sir, you're gonna have to leave. You

mind accompanying us outside?

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