The Sting Page #8

Snyder is stopped cold. He calls after her.

SNYDER:

Keep your nose clean, lady. He

can't spend all his time here.

CUT TO:

THE STORAGE ROOM AGAIN

Billie comes over to Gondorff and whispers in his ear, while

the others talk. His eyes flick momentarily to Hooker.

SINGLETON:

I think we ought to play him on the

Rag. It's the tightest game we

got, and it's not all over the

papers yet.

NILES:

No good, J.J. You're not gonna con

stocks to a banker. Lonnegan's too

smart for that.

TWIST:

What are you going to do, con the

payoff to a gambler?

SNYDER:

Twist is right. It won't work.

Gondorff has nodded to Billie and now rejoins the

conversation. She serves the others beer.

GONDORFF:

We'll use the wire. Never known a

gambler who wouldn't like to beat

the ponies.

NILES:

The wire is ten years outa date.

GONDORFF:

That's why he won't know it.

SINGLETON:

I'm not sure I know it.

GONDORFF:

We'll give him the hook on the

train, and play him here. You

think I can get in that poker game,

Eddie?

NILES:

All you gotta do is show up with

some money and look like a fool.

GONDORFF:

I also gotta win.

He looks at Hooker. There is a challenge in their book.

Gondorff smiles broadly, then casually, to them all.

GONDORFF:

By the way, any of you guys been

passing off any green goods lately?

We go around the table. No reply.

GONDORFF:

Billie, if that Dick comes in

again, stall him till I can get a

look at him. And let me pay ya for

these beers.

BILLIE:

What are you talking about? It's

on the house.

GONDORFF:

(pulling out a $5 bill)

Naw, I want ya to have this.

He hitches up Billie's skirt, and puts the bill in her garter.

GONDORFF:

Don't look at it till ya go to bed

though or it'll turn to paper.

Billie smiles and leaves the room.

INT. HALLWAY

She walks halfway down the hall and stops. She can't wait.

Lifting up her skirt, she finds that the five has indeed

turned to paper. As she breaks into laughter and continues

on down the hall, we:

FADE OUT.

FADE IN:

THE HOOK:

FADE OUT.

FADE IN:

EXT. A SUNKEN ALLEY - DAY

Actually little more than a service area between two

apartment buildings. Niles, Kid Twist, and a middle-aged

black man, named Benny Garfield, enter the alley with an old

man and follow him down a stairwell to a subterranean

basement. A faded sign above the door says Stenner's

Billiards. We follow them inside to a:

INT. A LARGE BARREN ROOM - DAY

An office comes off it at one end. Judging from the

fluorescent lights overhead and the scattered cue racks

which still hang tenuously on the walls, the place, indeed,

used to be a pool hall. Niles and Garfield go all the way

to the back, while Twist stays near the front with the old

man.

NILES:

Looks all right. It's big enough

and off the street.

GARFIELD:

I don't know. This is kinda short

notice. I'm not sure we can get it

all done by Saturday.

NILES:

Got to. Gondorff's ridin' the mark

in from New York on the Century.

Garfield thinks it over a little. He's taking another look

at the place. We go to Twist and the old man by the door.

TWIST:

We'll take it.

(pointing through the door)

You manage the building at the end

of the alley?

OLD MAN:

(with pride)

For fifteen years.

TWIST:

I'll need a room over there that

faces this way. How much a week?

OLD MAN:

Only rents by the month. Two

hundred and fifty for the two of

them.

TWIST:

(pulling out his wallet)

This is the last time I expect to

see you down here.

OLD MAN:

(watching the bills

being counted into

his hand)

Never heard of the place.

We go back to Niles and Garfield.

GARFIELD:

Been a while since I stocked a wire

store. Not many mobs playing that

anymore.

NILES:

All we need is the bookie setup for

now. We'll worry about the

telegraph office later.

GARFIELD:

All right, I'll rent ya everything

I got in the warehouse for two

grand. That'll give ya phones,

cages, blackboards and ticker gear.

You supply the guys to move 'em.

If you want a counter and bar,

that's another grand. I don't know

where the hell I'm gonna get 'em

though.

NILES:

C'mon, you can do better than that.

We ain't no heel grifters.

GARFIELD:

You want the stuff tomorrow or

don't ya? It's gonna take hours

just to clean it up.

(pause)

Besides, Gondorff's still a hot

item. Where am I gonna be if he

gets hit?

NILES:

Just give us what ya can, Benny.

We'll send a truck down.

Twist has rejoined them by now.

TWIST:

(to Garfield)

You wanna work flat rate or

percentage?

GARFIELD:

Who's the mark?

TWIST:

Doyle Lonnegan.

GARFIELD:

Flat rate.

CUT TO:

INT. A NEW YORK TRAIN STATION - DAY

We pick up Doyle Lonnegan, accompanied by two bodyguards and

Floyd, making his way through the station. He stops at a

cigar counter to buy some cigarettes, and we reveal Gondorff

and Hooker sitting on their suitcases on the other side of

the room.

GONDORFF:

(eyes fixed on Lonnegan)

Guy in the blue pinstripe and grey

fedora.

Hooker looks and finally spots him in the crowd. We go back

to Lonnegan, as he moves off from the cigar counter, toward

his train. Hooker watches him with the intensity of one

gazing on a religious object.

HOOKER:

He's not as tough as he'd like to

think.

GONDORFF:

(picking up his suitcase)

Neither are we.

CUT TO:

EXT. TRAIN

Lonnegan and his retainers getting on the train. Two cars

down the line, we see Hooker and Gondorff boarding also. On

his way in, Gordorff takes the conductor aside.

GONDORFF:

I hear there's a friendly poker

game on this train tonight. You

know anything about that?

CONDUCTOR:

A little.

GONDORFF:

You think you could get me in that

game?

CONDUCTOR:

I don't know. There's usually a

waiting list.

Gondorff flashes a $50 bill.

CONDUCTOR:

(loosening up a bit)

That'll get you first alternate, sir.

Gondorff pulls out another fifty.

CONDUCTOR:

(taking the money)

I'll see what I can do.

CUT TO:

INT. A BASEMENT BAR - EARLY EVENING

Kid Twist enters and threads his way through the maze of

tables to a door at the back of the building. A large bull

of a man is stationed there, obviously to discourage those

who don't have credentials to enter. Twist is not such a man.

TWIST:

(going right on through)

How ya doin', Lacey.

LACEY:

(innocently pleased

for one so menacing)

Good to see ya again, Twist.

INT. ANOTHER ROOM - EARLY EVENING

Inside is another room, this one much better lit than the

outer one. There are only three tables in here, around

which are seated the elite of the Con World. Twist is

enthusiastically greeted by Duke Boudreau, a large, rotund

man whose stylish dress and authoritative manner mark him as

a powerful figure in this group.

BOUDREAU:

Twist! When did you get back in

town?

TWIST:

Coupla days ago. I'm workin' a big

one with Gondorff on the North Side.

The two men sit down together, apart from the others.

TWIST:

Listen Duke, we're setting up a

wire store. I need a twenty man

boost right away.

BOUDREAU:

I got twenty or so in here tonight.

Take your pick.

TWIST:

These guys have gotta be the quill,

Duky. We can't afford to rank the

joint.

BOUDREAU:

(to one of his assistants)

Get me the sheet, Jake. Let's see

who's in town.

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