King Con (1997)

by Stephen Cannell

  "My uncle John Bates is there," he said. "He's got my mobile home with all my tricks of the trade aboard."

  Beano reached into the back seat and pulled the canvas bag onto his lap. He opened it and pulled out a large glass pickle jar full of cash.

  "Here's some of the front money," he said. "Bet you thought I was gonna try and use your maxed-out Visa card."

  "You'll never get your hands on it."

  "Already did: 596 4376 72 976," he said from memory, then grinned. "The moral of that story is: Never give your purse to a friendly dog."

  She looked at him with disgust.

  "Don't worry, your balance couldn't buy Roger here a nice dinner." He tapped the pickle jar. "This is everything I have left in the world. Comes to fifty-two thousand dollars and change. When I took the jolt in Raiford, the Feds used their asset seizure law to clean me out, but they missed this. This is seed money, but it's not enough. We need to triple it."

  "We need one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to run this con?" Victoria was shocked at the size of that figure.

  "It's going to be a Big Store. We're gonna set up a trap. I'm gonna run a moose pasture con on Tommy. That means we gotta buy a thousand gallons of paint and set up a phony international conglomerate with secretaries, asset trading, computers, and original art. It's gotta look so legit that Tommy and his accountant won't question it for a minute. That's gonna take some serious seed money."

  "Where are we gonna get another hundred thousand?" she asked, letting her confusion about the moose pasture go for a minute.

  "I thought it would be nice if Tommy and Joey funded this thing. They're pricks. They killed Carol. Pisses me off. So I think they should put up the money."

  "How are we gonna do that?"

  "Okay, Vicky, that's where you come in."

  "I really prefer 'Victoria.'"

  "Of course you do. 'Victoria' suits you. 'Vicky' doesn't have enough cobwebs on it."

  She shot him a cold look.

  "Okay, smart guy, so how do I come in?" She put on her turn signal and got into the fast lane.

  "Tommy and Joe Rina are Atlantic City based. These two goombas make lotsa money on drugs, loan sharking, prostitution, whatever. Their problem is they can't spend it because they can't show the Feds where it came from. That means they gotta have some kinda money laundry nearby to wash their illegitimate funds. I want to get the front money by hitting their laundry, 'cause they can't squeal to the law afterward for fear they'll give up the operation. It'll be some kinda business that runs on cash. A casino is a perfect laundry, but the gambling commissions in Nevada, Jersey, and Louisiana won't license these two clowns because of their alleged criminal backgrounds. That means it'll probably be a chain of video arcades or parking garages ... someplace where they can rig up bigger profits than they really have, then pay taxes on the phantom cash and get the money out so they can use it. Otherwise, Uncle Sam will build a tax case against 'em. ... That's a case where the government proves they spend more than they make."

  "I know how upside-down tax prosecutions work, Beano. I'm not from Cowlick, Kansas."

  Beano closed his eyes at that, then went on. "Okay, so then you know what I'm looking for. Anything like that in the file?"

  "Yeah," she said, and looked over at him, determined to make him ask. She didn't like his loose, breezy manner; he was way too cocky for her taste, and if she was going to have to spend any time with him, she would need to bring him down a few notches.

  "So let's go. Let's hear it ... or do I gotta get on my knees here?"

  "I thought con men were supposed to be charming," she sneered. "You're just rude."

  "You do want me to beg."

  "I want you to stop coming on like you own the show. I'm not going to just blindly follow you around. If I ask you a question, I expect a straight answer. I'm not some table-dancer you picked up in a bar; I'm a prosecutor with a pretty good analytical mind."

  "Ex-prosecutor. And here's a dp, it's never very effective to do your own commercials. Always get a singer to do them for you ... works much better," he said.

  She continued on, "If I like what I hear, then I'll cut loose some information."

  "Turn around," he said dully.

  "Huh?"

  "This isn't gonna work. This is nuts. I musta been smoking something. Just take me back to Trenton. I'll find out what I need somewhere else."

  "You can't just dump me."

  "Turn the car around. This was the worst idea I've had since I tried to cheat Joe Rina at cards."

  "You cut me loose, I'll turn you in to the cops. Tell 'em you're getting set to scam the Rinas."

  "I thought you cared about Carol. I'm doing this for her."

  "I do care about Carol. I just don't trust you." She kept driving and he sat there, sulking like a child. Roger-the-Dodger was looking back and forth at them like a spectator at a tennis match.

  It had been close, but Victoria felt she had won that point.

  She let him cool down before finally giving him what he'd asked for. "Tommy and Joseph Rina are the silent owners of a chain of retail jewelry stores called Rings 'n' Things." That brought Beano's head around. "Rings 'n' Things is owned by a parent company called Precious Metals, Inc., also owned by the Rinas. Precious Metals is a company that buys silver, gold, and platinum and sells them to jewelry manufacturers. When I found that out, I figured it might be a laundry because Precious Metals sends gold and silver shipments all over the world, and Rings 'n' Things has a store in Geneva, Switzerland, which, as you probably know, is the end of the line for cash in a well-conceived laundry. Rings 'n' Things also has stores in hot-ticket towns like Vegas, Reno, and Atlantic City. All big gambling centers."

  "Finally, you give me something other than attitude."

  "How are we gonna hit his jewelry stores ... buy ski masks and come in waving guns?"

  "You think I'm a cowboy, but I'm not. When I hit, if they know it in less than twelve hours, then I've screwed up."

  "So whatta you gonna do?" she asked.

  "I'll figure something out, Vicky. I just heard about it. Give me a minute or two, will you?" He slumped down into the seat. They rode in silence as Beano was lost in thought. She made the turnoff onto the Atlantic City Expressway and it started to drizzle. The wipers metronomed, slapping the mist off the windshield.

  "Okay," he said fifteen minutes later, "got it." Then he put his head back on the seat and closed his eyes.

  "So what are we going to do?" she insisted.

  "Gonna sell Joe and Tommy a pearl," Beano said without opening his eyes, and that was all he would tell her.

  The Shady Rest Trailer Park on the outskirts of Atlantic City was about as run-down as the Health Department would allow. There was a pile of garbage rotting by the road out front. Black and green flies performed aerial combat over the reeking mess. The office was under a bare deciduous elm tree. Victoria pulled her Nissan in and Beano found his '95 blue and white Winnebago parked under a dying cherry tree, next to a power and water hookup. There was a canvas tarp lashed over the top of the rig to hold down roofing equipment stored up there. Beano didn't do roofing scams anymore, but there was something about the tradition that was ingrained deep inside him. To him, the Winnebago was home, and that's what had drawn him to the vehicle when he'd seen it marked down for sale last summer. He had loaned it to Paper Collar John to live in because John and his wife, Cora Bates, had come on hard times after John's bust for running a block hustle in the Hamptons last year. In an unfortunate act of piling on, Cora got sick right after John's fifteen-month conviction. She had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It was growing like river moss inside of her. John didn't talk much about it, but there was a deep pain that never left his gray eyes. The cops had John's number and were watching him pretty close. Beano had loaned his aunt and uncle the motor home so they could move around and steer clear of police scrutiny. Two weeks ago, Cora had been hospitalized and had gone into a coma. When Beano had called, John jumpe
d at the chance to get back into action. ... He needed money to pay Cora's hospital bills. Beano figured if the con went off the way he planned, there'd be plenty to spread around after it was over.

  Once they were parked next to the Winnebago, Beano reached over and honked the horn. The door to the motor home opened and Victoria watched as a tall, handsome, gray-haired man, about sixty-five, came down the steps. He had the sincere, confident look of a corporate executive, only he was dressed in blue jeans and a T-shirt. Beano got out of the car and gave John a hug. Once Victoria was out, Beano introduced her.

  "John, this is Victoria Hart. She's gonna be a lugger on this hustle." Victoria didn't know what the hell a lugger was, and it sure didn't sound too flattering, but she smiled and nodded anyway.

  John shook her hand and looked at her carefully. "You're the Prosecutor in Trenton, aren't you? The one who was gonna put Carol on the stand?" His voice was deep and rich, but there was bitter accusation in it.

  "I'm sorry," she said softly. "It went wrong. That's why I'm here."

  John looked at her. His hooded eyes gave her nothing. Then he turned to Beano.

  "Got a little problem with the motor home hook-up," John said. "The mooch in the front office needs a cool-out. He wants a hundred dollars in advance. He was gonna throw me out when I didn't have it. I told him you'd give it to him, but watch him, he's no laydown."

  "I'll go take care of it. Then we're gonna go over to a jewelry store called Rings 'n' Things. Look it up in the phone book over there," Beano said, pointing to a phone booth by some picnic tables. Then he grabbed a hundred dollars out of the pickle jar and went to the office to pay for their hook-up.

  The first disagreement came that night at dinner. Beano, John, and Victoria had found the jewelry store, which was under the roof in Bally's Casino. They drove to the hotel, which was a towering monument to bad taste and electricity. The porte cochere glimmered with twinkling lights. The casino was on the Boardwalk and faced the dark blue swells of the Atlantic. The jewelry store was inside, just off the casino. Big interior glass windows looked out on the gaming tables and contained rings and bracelets that were on display there. Victoria thought the jewelry was incredibly ugly ... chunky, overdone pieces with too many chipped diamonds. They glittered classlessly and competed for attention with the spinning, ringing slots across from the store. In one window there were men's pinkie rings that looked big enough to anchor a boat. Beano suggested they eat in the casino dining room, and they found a table near the back. The room was dark. Beano explained that casinos all over the world were designed with no clocks and no windows, so the players at the tables wouldn't see any change in time or sunlight. Time stood still in a casino. The management didn't want the losers looking at their watches. They sat in Bally's Bicycle Room, named after the Bicycle cards all casinos used. The best bets on the menu were steak and beer.

  "Okay, Victoria," Beano said after the food arrived, "I need to know more about these guys."

  "Like what?"

  "Any offshore stuff. Do the Rinas have interests in any banks, any savings and loans? Eventually, we gotta get to their big money."

  She looked at them for a long moment and then started sawing on her overcooked steak." I thought we were gonna sell Joe and Tommy a pearl, whatever that means."

  "We're gonna sell them a pearl for the front money, but that's not the scam. That only finances the scam. The opening act of this scam has gotta get deep into their pockets. We gotta take these goombas for a million dollars or more, and we gotta set it up so they start accusing each other. We gotta get them going. We need a team of operators working. I need to pull in some more people."

  "Tell me about this pearl thing first," she persisted, trying to cover her shock at the million-dollar size of the scam.

  "She's not being too cooperative," Paper Collar John said in his soft baritone voice.

  "She's a lawyer," Beano said. "Whatta you expect?"

  "I forgot that," John deadpanned.

  "You guys gonna tell me what we're going to do, or are you gonna just sit here wasting time, taking target practice on the legal profession?"

  "Okay," Beano said. "The deal is, you and I are gonna be lovers. How do you like it so far?" She showed no reaction. "I'm Bubba Budweiser from Locadocious, Texas. You're Rhonda Roundheels from right here in town. You're gonna dress up in hooker spandex and paste yourself on me like wet clothing. And you're gonna laugh and giggle at everything I say, and I'm gonna be pinching your ass and telling you you're the sweetest little piece of fluff this side of Red Gulch. Then, while you simper and fawn, I'm gonna buy you a twenty-millimeter black pearl."

  "Really?" she said deadpan.

  "Yep."

  "Not on the best day you ever had."

  "I thought you wanted to be in on this."

  "I do, I just don't have a real strong stomach."

  "Listen," Beano said, leaning in and lowering his voice, "if you think I'm interested in copping a free feel, forget it. That's not what I'm looking for." She was really pissing him off. "What I need is your help to pull this off. I can go hire a hooker, but then we got an accomplice who's probably not too smart and will turn us in for money. You said you wanted to be in this. ... You might as well learn to be a player."

  "I'm not gonna dress up like a whore."

  "There ain't much you will do, is there?" Beano said, slipping back into his native South Carolina accent, which he had all but lost, except when he was truly pissed off. "You wanna have a piece of everything. But you won't tell me nothing 'cept what you think is important. Don't matter you never stole nothing in your life, you're gonna be the expert, gonna approve everything. You wanna tell me and John how to run this game? You wanna dole out information? What the fuck good does that do?" He was almost yelling.

  "Calm down, Beano," John said.

  Beano leaned back and rubbed his eyes. "You're right. She gets to me, John. Maybe it's just 'cause I feel so shitty about Carol ... or maybe it's 'cause she and I are just oil and water, I don't know. All I know is, I wanna do this, and all I get outta Miss Hart here is stupid questions and reasons why what I'm trying ain't right. We won't have any coordination this way. We're gonna crash and burn."

  Victoria watched as he bolted out of his chair and went to the bathroom at the far end of the room.

  They hadn't planned it in advance, but they'd done so many scams together since Beano was six, John knew Beano was going to throw a fit and leave the table the minute Victoria got stubborn. He left John to be the "singer" and do Beano's commercial for him, the way it was supposed to be done.

  "Good goin'. I never saw anyone get to him like that before," John said, laying down a primer coat of guilt.

  "Hey, Mr. Bates, if you two think I'm going to be a silent partner here, then you're in for a startling disappointment."

  "He's good, Miss Hart. Beano could sell Ebenezer Scrooge Christmas trees. There's no grifter on this planet with more natural talent and I seen most of them." His voice turned rich and velvety. "Maybe you should know he grew up with Carol Sesnick. Ever since they were nine or ten years old, they were like brother and sister. He loved her. He ain't gonna show you how much 'cause he's a sharper, and a sharper don't let his feelings show. But his heart's all wrapped up in this thing. I personally think that's real dangerous when you're running a sting. You need to be detached. Him gettin' angry like he just done is a bad sign. If we fail with a mark like Tommy Rina, we're gonna be hanging out with a buncha engine blocks at the bottom of some lake."

  Victoria didn't answer, but when Beano finally came back from the men's room, she could see he had water in his hair. She wondered if he had put his head in the sink to cool down. Once he was seated they sat in silence for a while, picking at the overcooked food.

  "Okay, look," she finally volunteered. "You mentioned that the Rinas don't have a casino because they couldn't get approved by any gaming commissions in the U.S."

  "That's right," Beano mumbled.

  "But it'
s wrong. They do have a casino." Both Beano and John looked up. "They're not on any of the ownership records, but according to my information, the Rinas are majority silent partners in a huge new casino in the Bahamas called the Sabre Bay Club. I couldn't ever prove it 'cause they're not on any of the paperwork, but I suspect they may also have a piece of the SARTOF Merchant Bank of Nassau. SARTOF is an acronym. Stands for Societe Anonyme de Refinancement Toutes Operations Financieres."

  "Ooh-la-la," Beano said and looked over at Paper Collar John. "That bank could be the dead-drop."

  "If it is ... that's gonna make it a whole lot easier," John said, and Beano nodded.

  "Then we should be able to scam that Bahamian casino for a couple'a million," Beano said, upping the amount. "We need to get ahold of 'Fit-Throwing' Duffy. He's the best tat player in the family."

  "What are you talking about? What's a tat?" Victoria said. It was starting again; they were talking in a language she didn't understand.

  "A tat is a dice con," Beano explained, then looked back at John. "And I'm gonna need a female mack to steer Tommy."

  "The Queen of Hearts."

  "No," Beano snapped.

  "Just don't fool around with her this time. You want a mack, she's the best. She's also the best looking. You won't have to troll her past Tommy more than once."

  "Damn it, stop talking over my head," Victoria said. "I told you about the casino. What's a mack? Who's the Queen of Hearts? I want to know what the hell we're talking about."

  John turned to face her. "A mack is a sharper who runs lover cons. Cons of the heart."

  "Are we talking about some sleazeball who marries poor dumb pensioners, then takes their money and disappears?" she said.

  "Yeah," Beano acknowledged. "That's about it. We're also talking about my cousin-in-law, Dakota Bates. She's a widow now, used to be married to my cousin Calvin Bates. He died in prison. They call her the Queen of Hearts, but she's not going to be part of this hustle."

  "Just don't hand your heart to her this time," John advised. "You give a mack your heart, Beano, and she gets confused. She don't know what to do with it, 'cept squeeze it for cash and throw it on the ground. She always loved Carol, she'd wanta do this, and she's the best. Since when did we start usin' seconds on a sting this dangerous?"