All language subtitles for The.Tailor.of.Sin.City.S01E01.The.Star.from.the.Sticks.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-Kitsune_track4_[eng]

♪

A.J.:
I'm not a bad guy.

However, things happen
for a reason.

There's a lot of things
in my life

that I had enjoyed.

♪

I'm a custom tailor,
I'm a custom designer,

and I dressed
very important people.

I never considered
myself a drug dealer.

♪

My business was very good.

Supported me in a lifestyle
that I never dreamed of.

A.J. told me that he had
designed for Elvis...

Carroll: Wayne Newton,
Joey Bishop.

Manna: Tom Jones....Sally Struthers.

Manna:
And at the same time,

he was measuring the inseams

of some of the most dangerous
people on the planet.

David:
Pablo Escobar, the Mafia.

He's untouchable, man.
There's nobody can get to him.

He's got the good, the bad,
and the ugly.

Carroll:
He was very debonair.

6' of... just gorgeous.

But he had this dark side
that just took over.

Sciutto:
A.J. was a risk taker.

Manna:
All of these people

did not know
what he was doing.

David: A lot of these mobsters
had been

dug up out in the desert.

They all had one thing
in common--

they had A.J.'s logo
in the inside of their jacket.

A.J. was a hustler
and a smooth-talking playboy.

He was also a con man.

I don't think A.J.
told me everything.

He was
a master manipulator.

♪

♪

♪

♪

Manna:
A.J. had all these stories.

I mean, basically,
since I interviewed him

near the end of his life,

it almost became the
proverbial deathbed confession.

And not everything made sense,
but some of it did.

And there were certain stories
that were just wild and crazy.

Hi, A.J.

How are you?

There's some stories that I find
extremely hard to believe,

that may be exaggerations,
may be self aggrandizement,

may be out and out lies.

And whenever I thought
it was skidding off the tracks

in talking to A.J.,

there'd be a glimmer of a fact
in the research

that made absolute sense.

Right.

Man: Actually, it could
be even right here.

- Right there is nice.
- Right there?

- That looks better.
- Man #2: Yeah.

Manna: In his final years,
he sat for

a number of
on-camera interviews,

but he was careful what he said,
and he was careful

of not releasing them
to anybody in the public.

Alright.
Let's keep a shot like that.

Alright. We're ready.

So, where do you want
me to start?

He took as many precautions
as he could.

A.J. was very aware...

he could end up, you know,
in prison or dead.

I want you to look at this
- camera when we're talking.
- Okay. Gotcha.

But this was his opportunity
to tell his story.

Say your name, okay?
Are you ready?

- Go ahead.
- Hi. My name is
Argus J. Pratt.

I'm here today to share
with you a story about

a kid from the sticks
of northwestern Arkansas.

I was born November 3, 1940
in Yardelle, Arkansas.

The way we made our living,
we either grew it,

milked it, raised it,
slaughtered it,

or we didn't eat.

David: I'm the only brother
of A.J. Pratt, the only sibling.

I loved him dearly.
I really looked up to him.

A.J.:
My mother never worked.

My father was a farmer
at the time.

During those days,
there was very few things to do.

There was
no modern conveniences.

We did not have electricity,
running water.

Since we had no toys
or anything of that nature,

I would take the parts
to my mother's old

Singer treadle sewing machine,

and the attachments
would become my toys.

And the next thing I knew,
I was trying to thread a bobbin.

It's a little different for
a young guy out of the sticks.

♪

I started to be
able to see pictures in my mind.

The fantasy of my mind was to be
able to make myself a suit.

Here's
an eight-year-old kid.

I was stretching my foot out
leaning way back,

attempting to get
the treadle to turn

and using the wheel
so that I could do the stitches.

When you look
at the picture of it,

you can tell perhaps it was made
by an eight-year-old boy.

To me, it was the greatest suit
that I've ever worn in my life.

♪

But, of course, I was expected
at a very young age

to be working in the fields,

milking the cow,
gathering the eggs,

doing things of that nature.

So when caught behind
the old Singer sewing machine,

my mother and father
would both tell me,

"Argus...

boys don't belong
behind the sewing machine.

That's something
that the girls do."

♪

David:
Boys didn't sew back then.

People would've thought
you were a sissy.

About every other day, I
was coming home with black eyes

and bleeding
all over my body

in my freshly made
flour sack shirt.

There was very little future
for any young person

in northwestern Arkansas
back in those years.

So I discussed
with my parents

I perhaps could get a job
in a larger city.

♪

So, 15 years of age...

I was able to
hitchhike Wichita, Kansas.

♪

I arrived there in 1956.

David: I was very young
when he left home.

I was eight.

He wanted to make it
really good in life,

and he wanted my parents
to be proud of him.

He looked up to them.
Really, really respected them.

Manna: He hustled tailoring jobs
for the next 10 years,

and he accumulated
enough money

to finally open shop in Wichita
in 1968.

It was called
A.J. Pratt's Hong Kong Fashions.

♪ Yeah, do I look good
in this? ♪

♪ Oh, oh, do I look good
in this? ♪

♪ Oh, oh

♪

A.J. had a way
of walking into a room

with no matter what
kind of characters there are,

and people just all of a sudden,
they loved him.

He was very charismatic.

He'd make you think that you
were the neatest looking person,

had the nicest looking
clothes on.

People loved A.J.

He was the best salesman
I ever met.

Literally, from the moment
I met A.J., I was taken.

He walked in, dressed
in one of his own fashions

that was ridiculously
over the top.

And what
really killed me was

he noticed everything
I was wearing.

So he charmed me by being like,
"Oh, I love your jewelry."

♪ Yeah, do I look good
in this? ♪

A.J. could get you
to talk about anything,

and he had such
an overwhelming charm.

And part of me
from the first time I met him

couldn't figure out
if he was a great con man

or if he was for real.

♪

For the first year,
the word was starting to

get around the small city
of Wichita, Kansas,

and a man by the name
Jerry Muth

discovered that
I was the guy

that everybody had
been talking about.

Jerry was getting ready to run
for the State Attorney General

of the State of Kansas,

so he asked me to design
a new wardrobe for him.

We became very close,
very good friends.

One day, I was contacted
by Jerry Muth

to do a special favor.

Well, apparently, he says,
"Hey, I've got a friend.

Let's say he's
'in the meat business.'

He wants to see you,
and he'll fly you."

The first time A.J. was
ever on an airplane

was on a private jet
to Kansas City.

[Jet engines roaring]

A.J.: Keep in mind,
I had absolutely no idea

who I'm getting ready to see.

I stepped off the plane,

and the automobile pulled
right up to the Learjet.

♪

I could tell that this was
an unusual group of people.

I'm smart enough to know
that these guys are tough.

We arrived
at the destination...

...so I took my fabrics
swatches, my attaché case,

and we go into the office.

♪

And it turns out
it's Nick Civella,

the head of
the Kansas City mob.

♪

Carroll: When I first met A.J.,
he had shared with me

he was a retired
fashion designer.

I didn't know his past
until he moved in with me.

I met A.J. online.

I had been a widow
for 22 years,

and then I met this guy, and we
got married December 13 of 2008.

He shared with me he had been
married four times.

And then I found out later
it was seven times--

Linda, Roseann, Candace,
Cami, Susan...

um...

Oh, Marla.

I'm wife number seven.

However, shortly
after he moved in with me,

something happened.

♪

I was working
at a skincare studio,

and two men
came into the store--

I was by myself--
and they robbed the store.

One of them grabbed me by my
neck and threw me to the floor.

He told me that if I got up,
he was gonna kill me.

And then I don't remember
a lot after that

other than an ambulance
and the police.

♪

I did not see A.J.
until the hospital.

He asked if I got
a good description of them,

and I said, yes,
and I gave it to the police.

I said, "But I doubt
that they do anything

because there's
so many robberies."

And he said, "I don't need
them to do anything.

I'm going to handle this."

And I was telling him,
you know, "Well,

you can't just go out
and fight the whole city."

And he said, "No,
I have connections."

I said, "What, the mob?"
jokingly.

And he said, "CC,
I have connections."

And then I sit back
and realized,

"Oh, my God,
he has connections to the mob."

I mean, to the real mob.

Manna: I think... where
we left off the last time...

Right. Well,
tell me that story then.

♪

Green: Nick Civella was
the boss of Kansas City,

and he and his brother are
trying to just look like nice,

hard-working immigrant
businessmen...

while at the same time,
Civella has proved to be

a sharp operator
who gets things done.

He was a guy
who did the violent deeds

and then gets to the point where
he's ordering the violent deeds.

So if you meet him, you
better play your cards right.

♪

This meeting was
to later become one

of the more significant meetings
in my career

He goes, "I have many people
I'd like to introduce you to

that enjoy nice custom handmade
clothing such as you do."

Sciutto: Apparently,
when Nick saw A.J.'s fashions,

he really wanted to,
you know, get A.J. to dress him

and all of
his mobster buddies.

♪

David: It makes you wonder
what it would have been like

for this country boy with all
these gangsters and mobsters,

and then all of a sudden
turn them into putty,

and the next thing you know
they love him.

That became some
of the better clients

that I've ever had
in my life.

I never asked any questions.

These people respected my work.
I respected them.

They treated me with all
of the respect in the world.

All of a sudden,
things as far as my career

continue to improve.

Nick Civella accepted A.J.,
liked A.J.

And so A.J. is trusted
within the Kansas City mob,

and, therefore, those in
sort of the Venn diagram

where it fits in
with the rest of the mob.

The Midwest is sort of
its own area--

Kansas City, Chicago,
Milwaukee, Cleveland.

They are interconnected,

and it means A.J. is pretty
well guaranteed some business.

A.J.: He asked if I was ever
in the Chicago area.

I said, "I can be in just
about any area

where my services
are needed."

David: Civella set A.J. up
making all of them suits

because they all
wanted to look nice.

They wanted to look
like they were...

something special
other than mobsters.

These people see people
like them on the screen,

and they look great,

but, yet, when they look
in a mirror at themselves,

they're slouched over
and they don't look that--

they don't look like
a movie star they'd like to.

♪

I think A.J. had a natural gift
for making clothes.

He completely understood

that he could make a squat,
short, overweight mob guy

look like Sinatra.

And the fact that he
could do that fascinated him.

The mob guys thought
they looked like Sinatra,

even though they didn't.

♪

The telephone calls
are coming in now

from Chicago, Milwaukee,
and all around.

I get a telephone call
from Cleveland.

A.J. was doing
a number of suits,

and so there was a schedule
as to whose was due when

and when he'd have it finished
and send it out to whoever.

Cleveland,
like a lot of other cities,

has its different families

who are sometimes working
together and sometimes at odds.

And they are very conscious
of pecking order.

Now, Scalish works his way up on
one side, and he's now the boss.

But A.J. delivers
to Danny Greene,

who's a lower level guy
in the Cleveland mob,

before he gets to
John Scalish.

That's an insult to Scalish.

♪

A.J.: I caught the flight,
arrived in Cleveland

on a Friday late afternoon

and was rather excited and very
pleased with what I had done.

I was expecting a compliment,
if anything.

And I walked into this man's
house, I displayed his wardrobe,

and then he takes two shirts

and he just looks at me
right in my eyes,

and he just threw them right
at me, hit me right in my face.

And A.J. said, "I thought
you would never see me again."

And the guy threw him out.

After being threatened
by Scalish,

A.J. continued to work
with them

because he absolutely knew

what his mob connections
could do for him

in business and in life,
success...

and he was going to play
that as far as he could.

And it worked out well
for all of them.

At least, for a while.

♪

♪

My business was booming
with these people being the mob,

or whatever they--
person make reference to.

To me, some
of the nicest polite people,

and I just was having
a difficult time seeing

how anybody could see
these people in a bad light.

So A.J.'s being flown all over
the country by these mobsters,

designing for all of them,
and, you know,

he's becoming
very, very popular,

and they want to set him
up in a shop in Vegas.

Nick Civella suggested
A.J. go to Las Vegas

because they had
more family out there.

♪

Vegas was controlled
by the mob,

and that's why it ran
like a Swiss clock.

Different hotels were owned
by different mob families

from different parts.

Green: St. Louis was in Dunes,
the Aladdin had the Detroit mob.

The Tropicana is tied
to Kansas City

under the Civellas.

Russo: They didn't go
up and down the Strip.

Their skimming account
was feeding their states.

♪

Remember,
if the mob's a business,

Las Vegas is one
of their big moneymakers.

♪

They were skimming a lot
of money out of Las Vegas,

and that's helping to finance a
lot of the other things they do.

♪

That's where I came in
with everybody, taking the skim

and bringing it to the Vatican
and clearing it through them,

and then they disperse it
wherever they wanted.

People don't realize
I got to Vegas in 1959.

Everybody knew me as "the kid."

In the mob world, it was "the
kid," "Costello's kid."

It was just a treat
to be around these people,

and that's all Costello wanted
me to do, watch them.

♪

Green: He knows, yeah,
the mob is helping.

The question in that case
is going to be,

just how much is A.J. going to
be controlled by them?

A.J.: I was a little bit nervous
and apprehensive, actually,

about entering into Las Vegas

because it was going to be
a complete different lifestyle.

But it was a very exciting,
rare opportunity.

So I made the arrangements.

I made the deal,
and I'm leaving Wichita, Kansas,

on the 4th of July, 1969.

Was very excited. I had
not been to Las Vegas before.

I'm standing and staring,
imagination is drifting off,

and I'm thinking it's
just an incredible place.

It was the beginning
of a new life.

♪

So, it didn't take long
to get it started.

♪

Some friends of mine,
the Civellas said,

"This guy is coming to town."
Da-da-da-da-da-da.

And I said,
"Well, let me to meet him."

And I met him.

I didn't realize how big he was.
[Chuckles]

When he walked into a room,

he got the attention
immediately.

First of all,
his size, the way he dressed.

I thought he was a colorful guy.

I mean, a fun guy, too.

♪

I knew a lot of people
he wanted to know,

and so I made the introductions.

A.J.:
He was kind enough to take
me around to introduce me

to all of the bosses, the pit
bosses, the table bosses.

I don't think I've ever met
so many bosses in my life.

In a lot of cases,

the mobsters he's dealing with
were known for their temper

when they are supposed
to be very cool,

collected customers
who are just doing business.

Russo: Lefty Rosenthal was
a figurehead out of Chicago.

He was a numbers guy,

and he started the sports books
in all the casinos then.

I couldn't believe
that De Niro played him.

And nobody wanted to be
around Lefty Rosenthal.

Anybody smart
stayed away from Lefty.

Lefty was a fire keg.

Yeah.
But not the flashy stuff.

He used to wear them
stupid fedoras, you know?

A.J., he had a great look.

And he knew how to dress you,

make you look the best
you could look,

which I was a clothes horse
already.

So we were friends.
We used to go out all the time.

For guys like us,

you know, we'd get up
2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon,

we'd be having lunch
somewhere at 5:00 or 6:00,

then take a massage,
and then go out.

♪

We were always having fun,
was hanging out women.

And just an amazing time
of life.

I think A.J. had an idea

he was getting involved with
some pretty rough characters,

but he was up for the challenge,

and he was making good money,
and he was really moving up.

♪

A.J.: One day, I was walking
into Circus Circus,

and as I was walking
by the gift shop,

I saw one of the pit bosses
from Caesars Palace.

He says, "Hey, A J.,

I want to introduce you
to somebody."

He says, "Tony, this is A.J.,

and, A.J.,
I'd like for you to meet Tony.

Tony's knew. He just purchased
the gift shop."

Green: Tony Spilotro came from
the streets of Chicago,

and the belief is
that, when he was in Chicago,

he was killing people.

And he allegedly put
a guy's head in a vise.

That gets you a reputation.

♪

Russo: I never liked him.

Tony Spilotro was
a street mobster.

They sent him to Vegas
to take control of things.

His nickname was "the ant,"

and anybody
that's watching this--

that saw the movie "Casino,"

Joe Pesci played him
in the movie...

- $10,000.
- $50,000. $50,000.

$50,000.
Go get it.

...and portrayed him to a "T."

He was a pain in the ass

and he thought he had no rules
to abide by

and not a nice person.

♪

Chicago wants an enforcer
in Las Vegas,

someone to make sure
the skim is going well.

So, originally,
he ends up at the Circus Circus

with the gift shop concession.

That is a good place
from which to watch the casino.

You also don't have to
be licensed by the state.

A.J.: This guy was
a very, very short guy,

probably, I think,
around 5'3".

I could tell he was
kind of a rough guy,

but he's so little.

I could tell he was
definitely from the Chicago area

from the way he talked,

but seemed pleasant enough
to me.

♪

And he said, "A.J.,

I want to talk to you
about doing some business."

♪

He says, "I know who you are.

I think you do some work
for a friend of mine,

Lefty Rosenthal.

I'd like to take
a look at some of your stuff."

And because of his size,
I could easily see

how I could really exercise
the type of cutting that I do.

Green: Spilotro was built
a certain way.

There are some who said
he had a Napoleon complex,

and perhaps he did.

He was small.

Actually, Ned Day,
a great reporter

who covered the mob
in Las Vegas,

referred to Spilotro

as a fireplug
masquerading as a man.

So if A.J. could make
Spilotro look better

when he was going to
be dressed up,

he was going to be a friend
for life.

♪

A.J.: I decided to give him
the long, lean silhouette look.

I'm a custom tailor.
I'm a custom designer.

I can take a guy that's
maybe like 5'3",

and I can cut a garment
with a shape cutting

and a high arm hole cut,

narrow the sleeves,
work around this person,

and make him appear to be of
a more long, lean silhouette.

And he does a really good job.

Sciutto: And apparently,
A.J. and Tony Spilotro,

who is one
of the most dangerous hit men

at the time, become buddies.

I think A.J. liked to put
himself in dangerous situations.

He enjoyed the dichotomy
of being a designer

and hanging out with bad guys.

It was not something
he shied away from.

♪

Green: If you look at the mob
in the late 1960s, early 1970s,

they're involved in gambling,

they're involved
in loan sharking,

you name it, and there's
the entertainment side of it

because the mob is
very involved in entertainment.

You go back to, say,
the Rat Pack at the Sands.

You know, it's interesting

because I had
this conversation with Sinatra,

with Sammy Davis Jr.,
with Dean Martin.

They were all
connected to somebody.

Dean Martin fought
under "Kid Crochet" as a boxer,

and then at night,
he was a car dealer.

And the mob liked him.

Even Sammy Davis,
they took them under his wing,

but they had to work
so many weeks a year

for them for nothing.

It doesn't mean that
an entertainer's a mobster,

but it does mean
that there is this connection.

A.J.'s in Las Vegas,

where all these
entertainers are,

all these mobsters are,

and A.J. can be friendly with
everybody and help everybody.

Now I'm being contacted

about the headliners
from Tom Jones, Juliet Prowse,

Wayne Newton, Bobby Goldsboro,
you name it.

A.J. liked the fact
that I was so close to Sinatra

and the Rat Pack,

and then, you know,
he got to know them, too.

Sammy fell in love with him.

A.J.: I would measure them, and
I would go to see their show,

examine their acts on stage,

and then I would design what I
felt would complement their act.

To go to A.J.'s shop,
you never knew who was there.

So if you had nothing to do,
you'd stop by and hang out.

It was a party,

you know, people coming
and going all the time.

He had every celebrity
in the world.

After two or three years,
he was made.

♪

On top of it,
I really had a desire

to become involved
in the stage extravaganzas.

And so, Joe Agosto informed me
he would introduce me

to the producer of the show
the Folies Bergère.

♪

Alan Clancy:
The Mafia bought the shows.

They had the money
to put into the shows.

Nobody else
had that kind of money.

I have to say they were
quite smart.

They would scan the whole world
for the best choreographers,

the best costume designers,

the best beautiful women
in the world.

They scanned the whole world
to find me.

I was the only person
who could do 10 summersaults

across the stage
from a standing position.

And there was always a booth

that was always put there
for the Mafia.

So just before the curtain
would go up, they would come in

in their tuxedos
and their big cigar.

They always smoked cigars,
for some reason.

And then they'd come backstage
and tell us how great we were,

give us money,
whatever we wanted.

Then they'd say, "Well,
put my girlfriend in the show,"

and we'd have to get
rid of somebody

and put her in the show.

And usually the girl
didn't have any talent,

but usually they were beautiful.

But that's how they
kind of operated the place.

♪

I knew A.J. as a tailor.

I remember him being backstage
and helping measuring

the costumes for us
and for the women.

A.J.: The show girls were
dressed in the plumes

and the G-strings

and wonderful rhinestones
and studs and diamond.

It was like I had just died
and gone to heaven.

Here I am, a kid
from northwestern Arkansas.

It was amazing.

[Applause]

♪

These mafia guys that A.J.
was making clothing for,

they, a lot of times,
wanted favors.

Oh, he told me stories, yes.

[Clears throat]

A.J. told me that one time
Nick Civella called A.J.

and told him that there was
a couple of friends

that were come to Las Vegas,

and he wanted him
to take them out

and to show them a good time.

He told me
Ann-Margret was playing a show.

♪

And A.J. and a girlfriend,
and then, you know,

these two guys went out
to the show.

♪

The girl at one point,
went to the bathroom

and A.J. went to the bathroom,
as well.

And when they came back,
they just continued,

you know, to enjoy the show
and have drinks,

but something was wrong.

♪

David: All of a sudden,
A.J. started feeling woozy.

♪

Manna: And the girl was starting
to freak out a little bit.

♪

David: So A.J. excused himself
and went to the restroom.

♪

While he was back there,

he called his good friend
Bob Laurion,

the general manager
of the Tropicana

and told him he thought
he'd been drugged.

♪

Bob made arrangements
and took them

to where they could
sleep it off.

♪

Manna: When A.J. woke up
the next morning,

he seemed to be physically okay.

His date seemed to be fine.

And he was just gonna
let it slide.

Was gonna let it slide
because he didn't know

how close these guys were
to Civella himself.

And if he stepped over the line
and accused them of something

and it's someone very close
to Civella,

that could have been
real trouble.

♪

But when he returned home,
the police were at his door.

♪

They were wanting to know
where he'd been

and what he'd been doing.

A.J.: He says to me,
"We got activity reported here.

There's some things
that's going on in this place

we're in right now and that
there's some complaint."

I said, "Well, may I ask you
what form of complaint?"

He said, "Well, attempted rape."

A.J.: I mean,
I don't know anybody

who's had five cops
in their house like that.

♪

Manna:
The police show up at A.J.'s,

saying, "Hey, you were a part
of an attempted rape."

This is serious stuff.

A.J.: I told him to his face,

"Stuff like that
does not happen in my house.

They just don't happen.
You have a mistake."

He said, "No, no."
He says, "There's no mistake."

He said, "You have company.

You have a couple of guys
from Kansas."

♪

Once he said that,
I thought to myself,

"Oh, my God."

I said, "You mind if I look
in that dish over there?"

He said, "Sure."
I went and checked for my keys.

My house key is missing.

Then it all clicked in
his brain what had happened.

Those two guys had invited
some show girls there,

drugged them,

and attempted to rape them.

♪

So A.J. calls up "Tuffy" DeLuna.

Green: Tuffy DeLuna had come up
through the ranks in Kansas City

and is one of the top people
under the Civellas

And in that role,

he is in charge also of
keeping an eye on Las Vegas.

End of phone call.

♪

A.J.: Several months later,

my brother sent me an article
out of The Wichita Eagle.

There was a accident,
supposedly a car accident.

Could have just been
bad luck, but maybe not.

♪

Green: I think in any family,
there are rules.

This is true with the mob
and organized crime,

and there are blood oaths
that some people take.

In some cases,
you have to be a made man.

There are others
where you are accepted

because you have earned
your spurs,

you've proved your loyalty
or your usefulness.

♪

A.J.: So, I had a lot of respect
in that area

because of my fashion business,

especially with the Civellas
and all of the mob bosses.

♪

I couldn't walk anywhere
in Las Vegas

and I couldn't pay for a meal.

I couldn't pay for a drink.

♪

As we said earlier,
they controlled Vegas.

And that's why it ran smooth,

and there was no problems
with anybody,

and nobody got out of line,
especially mob guys down there.

You got out of line,
you'd be called in right away.

You don't do that there.
It was, like, off limits.

♪

It's amazing how the older guys,
like the Civellas,

they liked the idea
to have a guy

who they thought, I was gonna
say, kept his nose clean.

And A.J., you know capitalized
on them, they loved it,

they got what they wanted,
he got what he wanted.

But I said, "There's something
going on with this guy."

Well, he, uh-- Well,
he carried himself differently.

I didn't know what he was doing.

♪

I'm glad I didn't know it.

♪

Mike: The first time
that I met A.J.,

I told my wife,
I said,

"I met the most unusual person
I've ever met in my life."

And he came in my office--
I had a used-car lot--

and I was taken aback

because he had
so much perfume on

that I almost started
sneezing.

♪

You really couldn't tell

who this guy was
or what he was.

He talked about being
a clothes designer,

and that was pretty much
as far as he went

until we got to know
each other a lot better.

♪

Willa: And we went out to dinner
one night,

and A.J. said he had
this great place for dinner.

And we got there,
and of course,

they all knew A.J.
and he introduced us.

They treated us
like royalty.

And of course, we were in
the bar first having a drink,

and I'll let you tell
the rest of that story.

Well, we weren't-- we weren't
there probably 15 minutes,

and these three guys came
to the booth

where we were at and just
really motioned to him.

[Indistinct conversations]

They didn't hardly say
anything,

but he got up and went
back further in the bar

to another booth,
and some guy at the bar...

♪

...a snub-nosed revolver
fell out of his pocket.

He was sitting at the bar.

♪

So he just casually
picked it up,

put it back
in his pocket.

We're all looking at each other
like, "What was that?"

And then just a few minutes
after that,

A.J. came back
to the table,

he was very subdued,
and said, "Let's go eat."

♪

The look on his face
was not good,

and those guys
were serious.

Now, outside
of that restaurant

was a jewelry store

that was attached
to the restaurant.

The story I got
was that it was the site

of the largest cocaine bust
in the state

a couple of years
before that,

and he was involved
in it.

♪

I...

I-I-I was, later on,
just shocked

to find out what
his background really was.

♪

David: The mob thought A.J.
was just a tailor.

They had no idea
that he had other connections

in other things.

A.J.:
My personal life by now,

as far as how I was doing was
about working around the clock.

And I had new clientele
all the time.

And I'm starting to get calls
from all over the world,

literally, to do the
personal wardrobe design work.

♪

One day, someone walked
into A.J.'s store in Vegas.

♪

A.J.: There was
a very distinguished

Colombian gentleman
that I made an appointment,

designed him a wardrobe,
and he was very pleased.

In fact, he was ecstatic,
and he invited me,

he says, "Well, you need
to take a break,"

and he says, "Sure love to have
you be my guest in Colombia."

♪

He was going to give me
a little tour

of a couple
of the beach cities,

and then he said
he wanted to take me

to meet a very special person
to employ my services.

♪

So I checked my schedule.

It sounded very intriguing,
very interesting.

And so I made arrangements to
take a week to go to Colombia.

♪

Now I was excited

to be taking my needle
and thread international.

♪

He told me he was taking me
to a ranch.

♪

There were some
really tricky roads.

I remember looking down,
and there's no bottom.

♪

And the driver was drinking
a bottle of tequila.

And he was doing cocaine.

♪

Well, when we did arrive at
where we were going,

it was an unusual way
that it was set up.

It was a very large place.

I did see a lot of people
wandering around busy,

and we get out.

There was two guys there
at the door.

And I thought, "Wow."

♪

I'd asked Roberto,

I said, "How important is he,
the president of Colombia?"

He said, "Oh, much more."

♪

I was standing in front of,
to be my new client,

Pablo Escobar.

♪

♪

♪

♪