Original subtitles

Our story tonight finds crime in one of the most unexpected places, the trash can.

Refuse, garbage, junk, worthless waste.

But in order to get rid of it,

average Americans pay four to five hundred million dollars every year. Why?

Because of the greedy fingers of the underworld, the corruptors,

who see not a garbage dump, but a gold mine.

They stake their first claim to this fortune in Yonkers, New York.

Through a syndicated column in 115 leading newspapers throughout the country,

I tried to educate the public to the shocking events of modern crime.

In the spring of 1961, I began my investigation into the New York carting scandal.

My first lead?

A phone call from one Giovanni Gallardo, an independent cartman in Yonkers.

What's the matter, Gallardo?

Today's such a good day?

Makes you.

I want the whole truck busted up in little pieces, you follow?

Right, Nick.

Ready to go, Lieutenant?

What do you want?

Get out of here!

Mr. Gallardo? What?

My name's Paul Marino. From the papers? The guy from the papers?

I was supposed to meet him here at 5.30. Yeah, well, he ain't here.

Come in, Mr. Marino.

Look, I said he's not here, huh? I said it. Now get out of here.

I'll tell him when he comes back.

My father's already missing two days. Look, will

you shut up? You'll have to wait, Mr. Marino.

Come on in.

Please, have a seat.

Well, thank you.

I've got some coffee in the kitchen.

No, thanks.

You're his family?

I'm his daughter, Tina.

We live with him, Pete and Maeve.

Look, I've told you a hundred times, haven't I? A hundred times I've told you!

He used to live in Newark.

He's got some old friends there. Sometimes he stays over. So what, huh?

You think I can get through to her? You work with him? Look, I don't know you.

Would you have some fruit?

You and your father-in-law, you run your own business?

Look, you...

I know you. I've read your stuff.

You keep sticking your nose in where it don't belong. Now, go on. Get out of here!

Go on! Get out of here! Please!

Look, you wouldn't tell the police. That's right, maybe.

I don't know.

But God in heaven, if you don't tell him... There's nothing to tell him, huh?

What's there to tell him?

Help us. Please.

Please.

He said they were pushing him. That much he told me.

He broke away from the Cardmans Association.

Nick Long's outfit.

He was the only one with guts enough to do it.

Why, Mrs. Mazera? Why did he pull out?

Long bled them. He bleeds them all. He keeps the prices up.

Did you work for him, too?

I've got my own company.

Everybody works for him, just because they got

their own sign on the side of the truck.

She don't know what she's talking about. It's an association.

You got a root, and it's all yours, all yours. No one else moves in.

You got protection. From law?

Yeah, well, go on, tell him you got no protection. Go on, tell him.

That's not protection, that's rape. Look, I told your father, didn't I tell him?

I said keep your nose clean.

Tina.

I better come back some other time.

Oh, baby.

I'll, uh... I'll be at the parkside if you want me.

But a cop says so well, let him ask. Hey, clean up these dirty towels over here.

The place looks like a laundry room.

Stupid, Nick. Stupid, stupid. What's stupid?

Just plain stupid. Why don't you say something else besides stupid?

What else is there to say, Nick? Stupid is the only word for it.

Well, what are they going to find out? I mean, even if they pick up the guns,

where are they going to trace them? To the army?

You got a TV set, Nick. What do you watch? Cowboys and Indians, cops and robbers,

McClellan's two cities away.

Why don't you sit in your room at night and watch his committee work?

He feeds on gentlemen like you that go around liquidating people in garbage dumps.

Your type appeals to him fine. Nobody knows.

Nobody knows nothing. There's nothing to know.

They don't have to know, Nick. They just guess.

Well, what did you want me to do, huh?

You know what the guy was after. You know what he was up to.

He was going around steaming up everybody. What was I supposed to do,

stand there and watch him?

First thing you know, right away they're going to start a whole new association.

Well, nobody pulls that on me. Remember that.

All muscle and stupid. What do you think this is, the 30s?

What are you talking about the 30s? What's that got to do with anything? Listen,

let me tell you something.

You know, maybe I didn't go to school much, but there's one thing that I know.

I worked myself up in this organization of nobodies.

Not Gallardo, or you, or any other monkey's

gonna take it away from me, remember that?

Very stupid, Nick.

Hey, I want you to shut up with that stupid.

Nick, you got any problems, any decisions to be made, you come to me.

Yeah, I'll come to you. I'm gonna come to you when I think I gotta come to you.

There are ways of dealing with people like Gallardo.

Whatever ideas a man thinks he's got, two minutes with me, he forgets his own name.

Or maybe you'd like to discuss that point with Mr. Guido.

Well, I'm not so sure Mr. Guido won't agree with me.

What makes you think he's going to agree with you?

All right, let's go down to his office. We'll discuss it. You'd like his office,

Nick. It's a very nice office.

I can arrange it.

Hey, wait a minute.

Guido had the best stops, right?

King's Supermarkets, he had Acne Products, he had that other place,

that big joint up on Prospect Street. Now I got that now, right?

All that belongs to my company. Wait a minute, wait a minute.

You know what that means to Guido? You know what that means to the association?

That's another $12,000. Why don't you call him up and tell him that?

Go ahead, go ahead, call him up and tell him that.

I'll bet you $100 you won't call him up and tell him that.

Nick is sweating.

Why don't you go wash yourself?

What is it this time?

You ever hear of Nick Long? Nick Long?

Anastasia's been friends? He's moved up in the world.

National Cartman's Association now.

Hold it.

There are limits to what I'll do for you, Paul. Oh, this will be good,

healthy work for you, Jack. You look soft.

I've rented a beautiful dump truck for you.

You pick it up in the morning.

Go right to Long.

Go easy when you meet him. He's cagey.

You'll have to beg your way in. Nick Long.

The local chapter is right under his thumb.

What have you got on him?

I won't get your hopes up because I got one foot back on that plane. Well,

he moved in three years ago. Always put in, I don't know.

The day he took over, prices started moving up. They're still flying.

That makes for expensive garbage. You don't know how expensive.

And it's all kicking back to the syndicate.

Frankie Guido's crowd. He's the one we're really after. But we can't touch him yet.

He's got himself too tight in operation.

But if once, just once, we can break through, even on Long's level.

Well, just how'd you figure on getting me into Long's little society?

I've built up quite a background for you.

You're Bill Phillips from Allentown, Pennsylvania. Is there such a guy?

Here.

His credentials.

That'll tell you his whole story.

Right down to the birthmark on his neck.

You gotta be careful on this one, Jack. And remember, whatever you get,

the simplest thing, let me know.

By phone.

What about Long?

Anything on him I can use?

He's sensitive about his background. He was born in a slum, never quite through it.

You might be able to use that.

And what do you do?

Nothing.

Not till you get in.

That's what I like about you. You make everything sound so easy.

Just jump into my truck and drive right into the jaws of Long's steel trap.

Something for you?

Yeah, where can I find Nick Long?

Mr. Long?

Yeah.

Back there, that office.

Thank you.

I'd like to be able to do something for you there, kid,

but we don't have no file on you.

I know you don't have a file. I'm out of state. I'm Pennsylvania. Yeah, yeah,

but we don't take anybody with no file.

Look, Mr. Long, I've been all my life in Allentown.

I got no place to go there, so I figure I'll sell my home, come here.

All I got to my name now is in that truck out there.

Look, I work hard.

I'm easy to get along with.

Uh, where do you live, Mr. Phillips?

Post office box 327. Very nice address. Where do you sleep, in the box?

Uh, Adams Hotel, South Yonkers.

How'd you happen to pick here?

It's as close to the big town as I could get.

I could hardly get a route right in Manhattan.

Only when I talk to some of the guys,

I hear that there's this association you gotta join or you don't get a route.

Mr. Phillips, a lot of hard work has gone into the building of this association.

A lot of people, Mr. Long, myself, Those boys out there,

we've given heart and soul to make this thing what it is. To most of us,

it's a prideful thing. Look, I hustled the trucks for five years.

I never missed a day.

Look, I got recommendations. Here, read them.

Listen, do you know what it costs to join this organization? Do you have any idea?

You know, you got an initiation fee of $1,000. You know, of course,

your $500 a year dues plus 5% of your gross income.

You got your assessments for your welfare, for your retirement. Well,

where are you going to come up with that kind of money?

Yeah, that's pretty steep.

That's one way to keep out the transients, Mr. Phillips.

I couldn't pay that much till I started my route. Sorry, Phillips.

We have to abide by the rules and regulations of our association.

Maybe you'll have better luck someplace else.

Could you give me a break?

I'm just trying to make a buck. I'm sorry, son.

You two, you got it made. So what does it mean to you, huh?

All right, son, you better just...

Always some guy up there with a mouth full of words keeping a little man down.

Okay, okay, who needs your job?

Good thing I'm around to screen fellows like that. Yeah, don't kid yourself.

Don't kid yourself. I could take a kid like that,

and I'd make a good trucker out of him, and at least he keeps his mouth shut.

He don't give me any trouble. And I'd make a dollar on him besides.

Now you're taking in jerks off the street. Why don't you use your head, Nick?

What do you mean off the street? What off the street? In two minutes,

I know everything I know about this guy.

How stupid can you get?

That's enough with the stupid.

I had enough with the stupid!

Wait a minute, Nick.

Nick, come back here.

Nick!

Hey, kid!

Wait a minute!

Say, Mr. Phillips, right? Yeah.

I gave second thought to some of the things you said inside,

and you sounded to me like you're, well, you know what I mean, a sincere guy.

Good worker, good trucker.

You're probably the type of guy that's going to appreciate

what the association is doing for its members.

I'd like to help you out.

What do you mean?

I'm going to get you into the association.

In other words, what I'm saying is this.

You're a stranger here, right? I'm going to vouch for you. In other words,

I'm going to sponsor you for the membership, and that takes care of that part,

and as far as the money's concerned, I'm going to work out a loan.

The grand?

That's right.

What do I do for collateral?

Well, we use the truck here. We use that for the collateral,

and I'll be taking payments out of your income each week.

You'll take it?

I thought this was an association deal. They're going to lend me the money.

No, no, no. I'm loaning you the money, not the association.

Let me explain how that works, you see. I got a finance company that's on the side.

In other words, that's a service for the members of the association.

In other words, emergency. A guy gets in a jam, he needs ready cash.

He comes to me, I help him out.

Well, is this going to cost me? I mean, is there any interest involved here?

I'm going to take my 20%.

I got it.

But you'll still come out ahead.

I don't know what to say.

I mean, the way I was looking back there in the office, I thought that I was...

Yeah, well, that's the way I work.

You see, I make up my mind and move fast.

All right.

Come in tomorrow, you sign the papers, you

go to work, I'll give you the roof, right?

Right. Yeah, yeah, right.

Look, I'm in a hurry.

Phillips, William Phillips, Allentown, Pennsylvania.

I want a complete summary of his background in the business.

As soon as you can cut it. Thank you.

Wait a minute, wait a minute.

On this one, you phone me personally.

You understand? Nobody else. Me, personally.

Nick Long's our target, all right. But there was another guy there, Kramer.

I think his name's Kramer.

Layers into the top rest, something like that.

Now, he's the one who dug in on me.

But Long's vulnerable. I have a hunch you touched

the right panic button he takes off like a rocket.

Well, can you stun him? Well, I don't know. Kramer's on top of them night and day,

just making sure no one tries.

Okay, then don't push it. Work in with the men. Make friends with them.

And whatever you do, lay off the Gallardo thing. Don't even mention his name.

And stay loose.

I'm going to take a crack at it along myself.

Maybe I can push that panic button. If I do,

you're going to have your hands full of garbage.

God knows there's enough of it around.

The trash, Gallardo never collected.

Before long, however, the corruptors would transform this refuse into money.

Money coming out of the market's profits, and in turn,

from every purse in the neighborhood.

The second pickup he's missed.

You pay good money for service, you get this.

I'm going to find me a decent cartman if it costs me 300 a month.

Holden Carting Company.

Yeah, listen, my name is Sloat. I'm manager of the Giant King supermarket.

There was this fellow, uh... Gallardo.

Gallardo? He's missed two pickups.

You ought to see this stuff. It's piled all the way up to the roof.

I was going through the Yellow Pages, and I saw your ad.

Hello.

Hello, are you there?

Oh, yeah, I'm sorry, Mr. Sloat, but I got more than I can handle right now.

What's with you people? You're the third one I've phoned.

Why don't you try long-carding?

Yeah, you'll find the number in the book.

Thanks.

Come on, Carding.

Oh, Mr. Schmoed.

Yeah, what can I do for you?

Well, I'd be very happy to add you to our route.

Yeah, that'd be $500 a month.

I was paying $250 to my last service.

Well, what you pay on the old service, that's something that I can't help. I mean,

it has nothing to do with me. What were you paying, $250? Well,

no wonder you weren't getting any service.

Nobody can afford to operate that way. You know what it costs today.

You got your wages, you got your taxes, you

got all kinds of expenses there, you know.

I mean, I'm lucky I don't just jump off a bridge.

I know the price of labor.

What are you trying to pull on me?

Listen, Mr. Schloat, if you can get it cheaper, what do you say, Godspeed, right?

I mean, listen, as a matter of fact,

there's a couple of companies up north of you there. If I can give you their names,

I'll help you out. I won't pay it. It's a 100% jump.

Look, don't think I don't know what's going on. Yeah, well,

I can understand that situation. But if you change your mind,

there'll always be somebody here to help you out.

Well, that's the fifth one on Gallardo's, Rube, when he signs up.

Five out of 106 in a whole week on by.

You're a real nine-second man, aren't you, Nick?

Well, what is that supposed to mean?

Too slow, Nick.

See, Mr. Guido wants to see the green a little faster. You're too slow.

Too slow, huh? Well, you got such a head for brains, let me see you do it faster.

OK, Mike.

All right.

Mike?

Mike?

Yeah?

Now, Mike, I want you to make a phone call for me to the police. Police? Yeah,

that's right, the police.

There's a pile of garbage mountain high out in back of the Giant King supermarket.

You'd think those people were starting their

own private dump right out in the street.

This is a menace to public safety and health.

And as a public-spirited citizen,

I think you ought to show a little righteous indignation about that.

You know what I mean, Mike? Give him a call.

All right.

There's somebody poking around down there.

Somebody you're looking for?

Mr. Long?

That's right.

I'm Paul Marino. Yeah, I know. I heard of you.

From Giovanni Gallardo, no doubt.

I'm a busy man. Yeah, I've heard.

Is there something that you want here?

I understand Gallardo is still missing. Well, what has that got to do with me?

He was a member of your association. That's right. He quit. He got too good for us.

And now he's missing. Kramer, Mr. Marino. Martin Kramer.

I'm national representative for the association.

How are you? Very good, sir. Thank you.

I'd heard you were interested in our organization.

A little item in your column about a week ago, wasn't it?

He's interested in Gallardo.

He's not interested in us.

Sure. Any help we can be, Mr. Marino. Any help at all.

Why don't we go into my office? Much more comfortable there. Nick,

you got a lot of things to do.

I'll talk to Mr. Moreno.

What have I got to do? I ain't got nothing to do.

You said you were national, Mr. Kramer. Yes, yes, that's right.

Well, don't you think Mr. Long's more intimate knowledge of local matters might...

That's right, that's right.

And anything that I can do to help, I want to be able to help you with that.

After you, gentlemen.

Gallardo, Gallardo. I'll have that for you in a minute, Mr. Marino.

Gianni Gallardo. Let me see. Gee, here we are.

Everything you want to know is right in this file, Mr. Moreno. Complete dossier.

He was a rather distinctive looking man. You'll probably want a picture.

Uh, Nick, will you see if we haven't got a picture of Gallardo,

something maybe at the picnic last year?

Who was the last one to see him? Would you know, Mr. Long?

Uh, we never could determine that, Mr. Moreno.

I suppose maybe somebody on his route.

Mr. Long?

Must have been somebody on his route.

He finished his route about when? Usually around 4.30.

It's a fairly routine procedure, Mr. Moreno. The same with all the men.

They finish their route, unload their trash.

Where? We have our own dumps.

You own all the dumps, don't you?

From there, Mr. Gallardo probably would have gone right home.

So somewhere between the time he finished his route,

he finished it, didn't he? Yeah, he finished.

Sometime between there and home, he disappeared.

A man in a 10-ton truck, half the size of a house, he just disappeared.

I don't think I quite understand what you're driving at, Mr. Moreno. Oh, come on.

The man I'll give you, but the truck.

The police have his license plates, a full description.

Pilato's name on the side of each door, and nothing.

Not a sign of it anywhere.

Not even in the junkyards.

Any four ways from the city you look.

Just how would you figure a thing like that?

I don't know, but just how would you figure it, Mr. Moreno? Well,

if there's anything more than a guess.

But supposing... Now, this is pure speculation, of course.

But supposing for some reason, some weird reason, A

couple of guys with warped, sick minds... Marino!

Hey, Marino!

Marino!

I see you got your hands dirty out in the garage.

You better be careful about that.

Mr. Long is suggesting, sir, that perhaps you'd care to freshen up a bit.

Wash your hands.

Thanks.

They are a little dirty.

There's a nice soap, Mr. Long. Smells nice.

I guess in your business, you need a good, strong soap.

Better get that bum out of here.

You, uh, were making a point, Mr. Marino? Yes.

Supposing these two people, they had Gallardo's business all locked up.

We're bleeding him dry. An old man like that, been in the game all his life.

Well, you know how old men are.

Maybe he just decided to do something about it.

It's not really all that far-fetched.

Decent, honorable businessman.

Well, yourself, for instance.

You'd have to take care of a situation like that.

Dump him in the bay, maybe.

That'd be kind of stupid, wouldn't it? Oh, I don't know.

Not if you covered your tracks.

All that'd be is that truck.

The equipment you got these days.

You could break up a truck in an hour.

You better mind your own business.

This doesn't concern you. Why don't you let the cops worry about this?

What are you butting in for? Relax, Nick.

Get out of here. Remember, Reisel tried the same thing. Shut up, Nick.

He'll get around to it. Now lay off or you're going to

get hurt. Forget the phone. Answer the phone, Nick.

We got a business going here, Nick.

Yeah, what is it?

Yeah, Mr. Sloan, I'd be very happy to do business with you.

That'll be $600 a month. That's right, 600.

Yeah, well, that was a half an hour ago, and I'll tell you something.

Another half hour is going to be 700, and I'll tell you something else.

There's nothing that you or anybody else can do about it.

Nice talking to you.

You got a mouth, Nick.

Oh, you have got a mouth.

So the Giant King supermarket, the Acme Produce Company,

and every other business on the Missing Gulotta's route met Nick Long's price.

But with a narrow margin of profit on which these companies operated,

they couldn't pay it and stay in business.

So the additional cost was passed on to the consumer.

A penny here, two cents there, a nickel on some other item.

Didn't seem like much until the bill was added up.

The grand total was an indirect tax levied on the consumer by the corruptors,

men like Nick Long, who intended to squeeze every

last penny out of every honest man's pocketbook.

Mr. Kramer. Have a good dinner?

I can't eat. I don't know what it is.

All right.

All right, boys, let's come to order here. Come on,

let's settle down, get quiet. We're going to start.

The reason we call this meeting is because the, uh,

money situation, the, uh, the, uh... Financial.

The financial situation of the association, um...

The financial situation here in the organization is not what it should be.

But now that we all got together here, it's important that we start.

According to the financial report,

what's happened is we're running this association the

way some of our customers here Run their homes.

In other words, we're spending more money than we got.

The four lawsuits that we had in the first quarter last year,

all the expenses that's come and due now, and the insurance premium's gone up,

generally, the whole expense level has rised.

Now, the committee, the financial report,

feels that the only way that we can keep this going is to increase the assessments.

Now, take it easy, fellas. Wait a minute.

Let me say this. I don't like the assessments any more than you do,

and I got to pay them just like anybody else.

Uh, now the committee has recommended that the increase

for industrial and business staff is $5 a month.

$5 a month and a dollar a month for residential.

If you don't like the assessment, if you don't like it, you vote it down.

Mr. Long. Yeah.

Phillips.

Right.

You state your name, what's on your mind before you start?

Bill Phillips.

I guess I'm the newest member of the association.

See, I'm a little mixed up.

I want to do the right thing, but I don't know if I can afford it or not.

Now, I'm just getting started here, and I got a lot more expenses than I can stand.

And now, this new assessment.

Well, sure, your costs are up.

But so is your income up. And let me, wait a minute.

I want to ask every guy here something.

Is there anybody in this room that's unhappy with the

amount of money that they've been making recently?

Nobody else is complaining here, Phillips.

See, let me explain. When your costs go up, then your price goes up.

You pass that along to the consumer, to the customer.

Yeah, but they might hire another company.

What other company?

Well, you've got to understand, this is a protective area.

You're in a protective area.

All your area is protected.

There's not a single business that's not a dues-paying member of this association.

Well, suppose a company quits our organization.

Well, then he goes out of business.

Oh.

How do you manage that?

Well, we don't manage nothing.

I mean, when a man quits the association, we're not responsible for what happens.

I think we are responsible. Wait a minute, Mazzara. You're

out of order. This is not your turn.

Wait your turn.

My father-in-law.

You know him.

You all know him.

He's been missing for a week, and nobody, not one of you, says anything about it.

All right, all right, come on, come on, let's have some order here. Keep it quiet,

boys, this is a meeting. He was a chartered member of this organization.

He paid his dues every year. He paid his assessment, all of them.

Where is he, huh?

What happened to him?

You know what happened to him. All of you know what happened to him.

All right, come on, come on here. Let's have some order in here. Bizarre,

you're out of order. Sit down here.

Mr. President, may I have the floor, please? Yeah.

All right, go ahead. This chair recognizes, chair

recognizes Mr. Kramer, national representative.

You boys all know me.

My job as traveling secretary has made me familiar with

the problems of all the chapters throughout the country.

And I must say that I feel qualified to heartily agree with Mr. Mazara.

We are responsible for all our members.

Past and present, even the ones who think they've outgrown us.

The Gallardo family has endured intense personal tragedy.

As human beings, this association is obligated to do what it can.

And as legitimate businessmen, it behooves us.

To clear away the ugly shadow of mystery and doubt,

which still hovers over the Gallardo case.

Well, the police are doing everything they can

in our respect. They're working on that.

Of course. Of course, Mr. Long.

But it's our obligation and our duty to help where we can.

We've not done enough.

I move that we appoint a special committee to investigate the Gallardo case.

Would you care to second the motion, Mr. Mazzara?

I second it. All in favor? Aye. Opposed?

Motion carried. One more thing, Mr. President.

To operate at peak efficiency,

this investigating committee will need professional advice, the best available.

I recommend that the costs of this advice be paid for from the association funds.

Well, that's what I'm just talking about according to the financial report.

The funds here are pretty low.

Funds are low.

All right.

In that case, I move that the assessment being considered

at this time by the membership be altered slightly.

Pay $1 extra for each residential stop.

One dollar extra for each industrial stop.

You'd measure the Gallardo case in terms of dollars and cents, Mr. Holden?

Yeah, and we still have to bring it down!

Will an extra dollar in your pocket take the place

of the empty chair in the Gallardo household?

No!

I urge you members, all of you,

to vote in favor of your conscience and not your pocketbook.

All in favor of the assessment! Aye. Sure.

Post!

You and your lousy...

You want an investigation, huh?

All right.

I'll get you a real investigation.

Call a recess.

Determine a recess and meeting.

No, not this time, Laurie. I'm not finished yet.

Tina, me, listen. That guy Marino, where does he live?

Oh, never mind why. What's his number?

Okay, okay, his hotel. Where is it?

I was just calling my wife, Nick.

Your wife, huh?

Yeah, she, uh... Look, Nick, what I said in there...

You guys got to understand, my wife, she's been

very nervous ever since her father, you know?

She's been very unhappy around the house.

I was just calling her to let her know what you guys are trying to do.

Well, you do that, Pete.

You go home and tell your wife what we're going to do for you.

Yeah.

Go ahead, Pete.

Go on, go on. I'm going to tell you right what we're going through for you.

How long will it take you to get a hold of Lou?

Just a phone call, Nick.

Phone.

Tell him I got a contract for him.

Pennies, nickels, and dimes became dollars, fives and tens,

a steady stream of money flowing from the consumer who paid the bills,

to the collectors who picked up the trash, to the cartman who employed him,

to the hands of Nick Long,

and the men who helped him hold the industry in an iron grip.

What are you guys doing here?

Said to make it an accident.

Yeah.

Look, Mike, you must be kidding, huh?

Look, I told you, it was my wife.

This is our accident.

It's his wife.

Was it an accident, Mazarin?

Mazarin? A word.

That's all I want to hear.

Just a word.

And nod your head if you can understand me.

Did anyone do this to you?

What does it end with, Peter?

What does it end with?

Killing?

Rippling people?

And everyone?

Oh, you're just standing by, just standing by, letting it happen, taking it?

Tell them, Pete. Tell them who did it to you! Tell them!

Mike Pichonsky.

When I tell you to do a job, you do it. Who asked you to get fancy?

You won't last long, Nick. You can't.

Get out of here. Get out of here!

You got a one-track mind, Nick.

What do you want from me? I was going to see the guy from the newspaper.

All right, he was going to see him.

So what?

What was he going to tell him?

I was going to see him. Ain't that enough?

It's not enough, Nick.

Stupid, Nick.

Get out of here.

Get out. Get out of here.

You want to go see Guido, go see Guido. I don't care.

I get the results.

I get the action.

Show him the payments. He'll straighten you out.

He's laughing your bum. I'm going to tear out your heart.

Get out of here!

Thanasi Frankie Guido.

In the minds of many, he is a legitimate businessman,

owner of two office buildings, one hotel, director of a large city bank,

president of Guido Realty Company.

But unlike the hoodlums of the 20s and 30s,

The underworld leaders of today do not court publicity.

Frankie Guido, a businessman whose business is crime,

has no desire to be a celebrity.

It's bad for business.

And this is big business.

Hello, Martin.

Guido?

Been some time. Expected you sooner. What? No, thank you.

I usually don't bother.

Mark of an ambitious man. You ever notice?

Also, the way to an ulcer.

Eat lunch, Mark. Put some meat on your bones. No, thank you, sir.

I won't keep you. You can just put it there.

Sit down.

Hm.

Long's doing rather well.

Isn't he?

Well, yes, yes, Mr. Guido.

He is doing well, isn't he, Martin?

If you say so, sir.

Industrious.

Keeps a tight rein on his people.

Never misses a payment. And he's young, Martin. Young, there's the key.

Always the importance of new blood.

You'll permit me, sir.

That's all you'll get from Long is blood. Huh?

He's like a child with too many toys.

He's high as muscle, but he hasn't the judgment to use it correctly.

Judgment's important. Very.

Man, for a job as big as Long's, shouldn't show

bad judgment. I agree, Mr. Guido. Bill?

He takes results.

That takes justice.

Yes, sir, but for how long?

Something happens, something goes wrong, he comes out

slugging instead of thinking. That leads to mistakes.

Wrong makes mistake?

Galato?

Noisy old man.

Wrong is like me.

He doesn't like too much noise.

Killing him made the noise.

Anything else?

Pete Mazzara? Yeah.

Well, first the old man, then his son-in-law.

What was his reason? The meeting a couple of nights ago.

Pete pushed Nick about Gallardo and then threatened an investigation.

That's a pretty good reason.

A stupid reason. On Long's part, Mr. Guido.

You see, I told him.

I told him a dozen times. There are ways of reaching people like Gallardo Mazzara.

You don't have to resort to violence, but he just doesn't listen.

You make it sound very simple.

No more than you think of yourself, Mr. Guido.

I don't know what I think, Martin.

Seems to me just a choice of two ways.

Next way stirs the police.

They've stirred for years. Let them stir. The press and the press.

Paul Marino.

Of course, Mr. Guido, if...

If we welcome that sort of attention, if there's

been a change in policy, why, I'll just shut up.

You're a bright boy, Martin. A real bright boy.

But you don't eat lunch.

Only looking after your interests, sir.

You have a way about that, I noticed.

The look in your eyes when I came into the room.

Hungry, but you don't eat.

I think you misunderstood.

That ham.

You'd like that ham, wouldn't you, Martin? A baked

Virginia ham. A whole ham, just for lunch.

Put your hand on it.

Martin, put your hand on it.

On the hand.

Right on the hand.

You feel the wealth of it?

Boozing out through that layer of fat.

Closer, Martin.

Put your hand closer.

I like having you look after my interests, Martin.

I like having you want them.

That ham, this office, everything I own.

Greed in a man I understand. It works for me. Fine.

Stay greedy, Martin.

Just don't ever let me see the grease on your hand.

What about Long?

I don't know.

You make a nice combine.

His muscle, your hip.

He's only a piece of my territory, Mr. Guido. One of these days,

he's going to bust out of his cage. When I'm not there to cover for him,

he's going to put us all in trouble.

Wash him up.

What's funny?

You wouldn't understand, sir. You just made a joke.

When I tell you to kill somebody, it's no joke.

How'd you get the bruise on your face, Mike?

The Easter Bunny bit me.

It's a pretty fair bruise on the look of the thing.

So I slipped and I fell. Into what, Nick Long's knuckles?

Well, you're guessing.

Oh, no. No, not really, considering...

Long gave you a contract on Pete, you blew it.

How many times I gotta tell it to you? The guy

gives me nothing. I work for him, that's all.

Doing what?

I told it to you.

Again.

Odd jobs. I do odd jobs.

Like what?

Around the garage.

Mazera fingered you to Jonsky.

Now, if you want to go down the drain all by yourself,

you're playing it just right. Well, he fingered nothing. What,

are you trying to feed me a job like that at night? Oh, no.

No, not night.

Late afternoon. Well, you put a grab and a crush

on a guy all over with sweat and fear,

he ain't going to know you apart from his own brother.

All right, Mike.

Let's have it again.

How'd you get the bruise?

Well, I...

I mean, I, um, you know how long is he, uh... Actually, I, uh,

I give him a bump tip on the horse, and he, uh, blows his top,

and he busts me in the mouth, that's all.

For a lousy tip? No, I mean it honest.

Oh, come on, Mike, get with it. You think all you have to do is sit there and lie?

Do you think that makes you immune?

Is that what Long told you?

If it can cause a tight spot, just sit there and lie and play stupid.

Can he get out of this?

He won't, Mike. He can't.

Don't you want to read the newspapers, watch television?

I've been there.

I've followed the McClellan Committee all over this country.

I've watched them grill cheap little hoods like you to pieces. The pressure's on,

Mike, right down the line. Right down to the longs and you.

Yeah, well, you don't shake me.

I don't.

Lieutenant.

Mr. Blood's here as a witness.

What are you talking about? Flood, his name is Phillips. Is it, Mike?

What do you mean, witness?

We have everything we need.

Enough to drown you, Mike.

We know what you did with Azera.

How much more do you think it'll take to tie you in with Gallardo?

You got nothing on that.

Not on me.

You go right on thinking it. You hold that good thought.

Hold it all the way to the chair. You got nothing. Nothing?

Where were you on the night Delano disappeared? Oh, we know you're lying.

But who'll back up your lie, Long?

You're going to have to have that lie backed up by others.

Who'll do it for you, Mike?

I don't know. You're in this alone, all alone.

And that's just where Long's gonna see that you stay.

Long put out contracts on Gallardo and Pete and gave them to you.

What chance I got if I tell?

You missed the point, Mike.

It's what chance have you got if you don't.

Okay, okay.

You're under arrest, Long!

Come on out!

Make it easy!

Long!

Wait here.

It's all there, Nick.

Jonski's full statement.

Lieutenant, how are you?

I'm going to be right with you. I'll hold you up just one minute.

You're entitled to read it.

Joey, don't forget about them boxes. I want all that junk cleaned up by the morning.

Hey, what do you think of the coat?

I mean the color.

You like the color I got there? Is it really all that simple, Nick?

What about going in? Come on, will you?

You know Mike as well as I do. A little heat and he's gonna fall.

Between now and tomorrow, the guy changed his story four times.

It might be a little tougher this time, Nick. Why are we kidding ourselves? Well,

you can't touch me. That's all.

You don't touch me.

Frank Guido's orders were carried out.

Nick Long died from his injuries before reaching the hospital.

And with his death, one more battle against the corruptors was won.

The Suburban Cartons Association returned to its

original status as an honest trade organization.

But the war, the bigger war, continues in other communities, in other industries.

For the Nick Longs of crime are expendable.

To the men at the top like Frankie Guido,

to the men on the way to the top like Martin Kramer,

a defeat in one city only means a greater effort

to seek new power and new fortunes in another.

Unfortunately, no industry, no community,

no way of life is immune to the corruptors.

THE END