The Great McGinty Page #2

- Take your finger out of my face.

The lug kills me.

He thinks he's me.

Yes?

- 'That slug is here. '

- Send him in.

Access? What do you mean?

Got a new suit.

It looks more like the suit got you.

- Listen, you...

- You listen for a change.

The reason you're alive

and walking around in that... horse blanket

isn't because I like you.

It's because I can use some guts

in my business.

Not guts behind a gun. Anybody's got that.

But with the bare mitts.

Like I got.

There's been too much rough play

in this city and it's unhealthy.

It introduces a very bad element,

like Louie, see?

Take away his rod and what you got left?

A violet.

What I'm in is a business.

And business got to be run business-like.

When a customer is late

and a guy like Louie handles him,

he discontinues to be a customer.

- You think you're tough?

- Tough enough.

I could slap you down with one hand.

You and who else?

All right. I haven't got time now.

You'll find out.

In the meanwhile, if you want to do

some collecting, you got a job.

I'll give you a few names that are behind,

and if you can collect, you get 20%.

I pay hospital bills, too.

Protection, huh?

And good protection. If it wasn't for me,

everybody would pick on them.

They'd be at the mercy.

Now, you start...

Yeah. You start with Madame La Jolla.

She runs a kind of a fortune-telling parlor.

And you tell that old... battle-axe

it's 250 or Madame La Jolla

doesn't jolla any more. You get me?

I slave and give the best years of my life

to put away a few miserable bucks,

and then you bloodsuckers

suck it away from me.

You ought to be ashamed of yourself

to goad a poor, honest, old woman.

- You got the entirely wrong slant on this.

- No, I haven't.

- Yes, you have. Now wait a minute, Miss...

- Just call me Juliette.

Juliette. You gotta pay protection.

Do you want to be at the mercy of every slug

that wears a uniform?

You want the fire commissioner

telling you that your joint is a trap?

Or the health inspectors

telling you that your air is vicious?

Or the plumbing inspector

saying that your pipes stink?

Juliette, you need somebody

to cooperate all those guys

and protect you from human greed.

You gotta pay somebody.

Buying from us is just like getting club rates.

Well...

I'm just a poor old woman,

but you explain everything so nice.

- How much was it? Two and a half yards?

- That's right.

Thank you.

You're a nice-looking boy

to be doing this kind of work.

Do you want to go upstairs

and have your fortune told?

No, thanks, Juliette.

This is strictly business with me.

Well, you know where it is.

You can't put a black king on a black queen,

Benny.

Who says I can't?

- It's a guy alone.

- Well, let him in.

- You Benny Felgman?

- What about it?

- Can't put a black king on a black queen.

- Who are you?

- The Boss sent me over.

- Has he got a grudge against you?

- No, he just gives me the easy work.

- Oh, yeah? Now, look.

Benny, don't slug him. He's green.

- I'm gonna let you off easy.

- Tell him we don't want any trouble.

I don't need any protection from him.

And if he don't like it, he knows where I live.

- What's the sense in taking that attitude?

- Get that hand out there.

We're trying to run everything

smooth and brotherly.

Why don't you just fork over the 500 fish

and save yourself a shellacking?

- What?

- Benny, don't slug him.

What are you gonna do

if they send some rough guy?

- Wait a minute, Benny, what are you doing?

- Agh!

- Don't, Mr...

- Out of the way, fleabag.

What did he ever do to you, pal?

- You can't expect...

- Are you Saunders?

- Just a minute.

- Listen, you little slob.

I showed one guy today he needed

protection, I got enough left to show you.

You'd think you guys are doing us a favour.

Hey. You.

What?

Jump in. I'll take you for a ride.

Come on.

That's quite a suit.

You collected, huh?

250, 400 and 500.

1150 bucks. Count it.

I guess you think you're kind of hot stuff,

huh?

Keep the change.

Keep what change? I got 20% coming.

I said keep the whole wad.

I never expected to collect it.

Then what's the idea of sending me out?

I'm glad you didn't disappoint me.

For a minute I was afraid

you were gonna say thank you.

You're a card, you are.

Yesterday you was a hobo on the breadline,

today you got a thousand berries

and a new suit.

I wonder where you'll be tomorrow.

This is a land of great opportunity.

Take me, for instance.

Where I come from is very poor, see?

All the richness has gone...

What makes this bus so quiet?

You don't hear nothing in here.

It's armour. All the richness has gone

a long time ago,

- so everybody lives...

- Armoured for what?

Some people shouldn't interrupt me!

So everybody lives

by chiselling everybody else.

It comes to me very natural.

If I live 500 years ago,

I guess I be a baron, maybe.

A robber baron.

I live on a rock, chisel the city down below,

and everybody call me Baron.

Now I live in a penthouse

and everybody call me Boss.

Everybody except you.

- I got it. Bulletproof, huh?

- That's right.

And if you think I'm not the boss,

you try and cross me up sometime.

You got me all a-tremble.

I bet you're scared to death of yourself.

All right. You asked for it.

Then she says, "You and who else?"

And I says, "Oh, yeah?"

And she says, "Yeah's right. "

So I says, "You and me both. "

She says, "That goes double for me. "

I says, "Oh, yeah?" Then the operator says,

"Deposit 25 cents for three minutes. "

So I hang up on her. You let them

get an angle on you, you're a goner.

- You said it.

- Are you telling me?

He was always a little muscle-bound.

I could beat him to the punch.

Boy, we had some brannigans.

I thought you said

you were the governor of a state.

Yes. You was just a cheap crook.

You gotta crawl before you creep, don't you?

I collected chicken feed for a while, see.

Then the guy makes me an alderman

and I move in on the second floor.

Bus franchises, garbage disposal, nice stuff.

- 100,000 dollars!

- That's what they tell me.

Well, that's a confounded outrage.

Even in the days of Bart Herman,

we didn't pay that price for franchises.

Even in the days of Bathhouse Jake.

Those boys were pikers

compared to this mob.

Ah, you don't mean that, Mr Maxwell.

You gotta remember

that everything's gone up.

Living expenses is higher.

There's an income tax now.

You're dealing with a better class of man.

I will not pay graft. Millions for defence,

but not one cent for tribute.

- You can call it advertising.

- No, sir.

Yes?

I'm sorry, Miss Dangerfield, Alderman

McGinty is in conference just now.

I certainly will.

Thank you.

Go on.

"Backing this agitation, said the mayor,

are so-called pious men

"who have accepted money from racketeers

and gamblers in sanctimonious secrecy.

"The petition was filed by Doctor Jarvis,

"chairman of

the Civic Purity League Incorporated. " Ah.

They're always talking about graft,

but they forget if it wasn't for graft,

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