The Partanna baby. My baby.
Angelo, my oldest, dearest friend...
your son, he lost his mother...
but he's got another father. I'm his father now, with you.
I will be as one with you...
protecting his future. Yeah.
We are honored, Don Corrado.
Raise the first finger of your right hand.
This drop of blood...
symbolizes your birth into our family.
We are one until death.
We protect you...
so must you protect Prizzi honor.
- Do you swear it? - Yes.
Now that you have sealed a truly Christian marriage...
give these wedding rings to each other, saying after me:
"In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit...
"take and wear this ring...
"as a sign of my love...
"and fidelity."
"In the name of the Father...
"and of the Son...
"and of the Holy Spirit...
"take and wear this ring...
"as a sign of my love...
"and fidelity.
"In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen."
Fella, watch it.
See that girl up there? The blonde?
In lavender, the gloves?
Look, pal, I'd like to help you.
But I got to take shots of the notables, the bishops, commissioners.
Do you want something? What can I do for you?
I want some shots of that woman up there in the lavender--
You got it. My pleasure.
Yeah? Okay, here.
Take care of yourselves.
- Don't tell me that was Charley Partanna? - Himself.
Holy shit!
Give me a ride over to the reception.
It's worth a half a dozen veal steaks on the Prizzi meat company.
You got it, Charley. Jump in.
Okay, quiet down.
Ladies and gentlemen...
my brother, Eduardo and I...
want to introduce you to a man who needs no introduction...
our father, your dear friend...
a legend to his people...
Don Corrado Prizzi.
My father welcomes all of you to this great family occasion.
He said that you should have a good time.
He offers his toast of love to the happiness of the bride and groom...
and he wishes them many children.
Excuse me. Would you care to dance?
Yes.
Some spread, huh?
Haven't I seen you before?
I'm sure I'd remember.
I mean, maybe you went to Marymount with the bride or something.
Could never miss you.
And you are?
Charley Partanna. Pleased to meet you.
Miss! Telephone, lady.
- Telephone? - I'll be right back.
Hello, Aunt Amalia.
Maerose, figlia mia!
Papa actually invited me to my own sister's wedding.
Imagine that.
He must be getting soft in his old age.
Cara, let me look at you.
- So, Aunt Amalia, what do you think? - Such a one, you are.
Always making a show of yourself.
Come on, Aunt Amalia, I got a reputation to live up to.
I'm the family scandal.
Everybody would be disappointed if I stopped.
Have you paid your respects to your father yet?
Do I have to?
Sure, you have to. Come on, let's go together.
Hello, Papa.
She came to pay her respects. Speak to her.
Then how come she ain't dressed right?
If she's so respectful...
how come she shows up at a family wedding...
dressed like a puttana diavolo?
Don't worry, Aunt Amalia, he'll get his one day.
You ought to be ashamed of yourself.
Kid.
Where's the lady you took to the telephone?
How should I know, mister?
- Who told you to go get her? - Some old guy, I don't know.
Okay, here.
- Watch out for them cannolis, there. - Thanks, mister.
Hello, Charley.
- Hi, Maerose. - Hi.
- How are you, Mae? - Fine, Charley. You?
I'm fine, too.
- How's the decorating business? - It's just great, Charley.
We're always busy. Everything is art deco now.
Art who?
Charley, art deco. You know, after art nouveau.
It's a style. It's not a person.
You know, it's like all that Erte stuff.
Goddamn!
What's the matter, Mae?
I should have known to stay away.
What happened?
I went to say hello to my father. He called me a whore.
I'm sorry.
Listen, Mae, what you got to do is forget about your father.
Forget about the environment.
They're never gonna take you back anyway, so screw them.
They don't deserve you.
Especially that fucking Dominic.
Mae, you're still beautiful.
Why don't you find yourself someone who has nothing to do with the families?
Settle down...
have a couple of kids, a life.
Practice your meatballs.
Sure, Charley. Thanks a hell of a lot.
You're a big help.
- Are you the guy that took the pictures? - Yeah.
- So when do I get to see them? - They're in the lab, Mr. Partanna.
I'll get them to you as soon as they're out, about noon tomorrow.
- Okay, meanwhile, give me her name. - Her name?
Yeah, the name. Her name, for Christ's sake.
Jesus, Mr. Partanna, I didn't get no name. I thought you knew her.
For Christ's sake...
- Hello? - Mae?
She ain't here.
- Do you want to leave a message? - Who is this?
This is the girl.
Ask her, and this is very important...
ask her if she knows a woman at the wedding...
who wore a lavender dress.
- You got it? - Yeah, I got it.
Make sure she calls me, you hear?
Now, tell me your name, and I'm gonna send you $10.
$10?
This is Miss Peaches.
Okay, Peaches.
Now, you tell Miss Prizzi she has to call me...
- no matter how late, tonight. - Okay.
Okay, Peaches. Thank you. Bye.
Gallagher, Homicide.
What's up?
Somebody tagged Sal Netturbino this afternoon.
Yeah? Who done it?
Where were you between 2:00 and 5:00 today?
I was at the wedding, Corrado Prizzi's granddaughter's wedding.
What did I tell you? They're all gonna turn out to be at the wedding.
Come on, we're taking you in.
You couldn't be cleaner, right?
- Who made the hit, Pop? - We did.
We did? How come we did? I don't know nothing about it.
That's the best way, ain't it?
Who hit him?
Out-of-town talent. It was a specialist job.
How come?
Dominic told me to set it up so we couldn't have nothing to do with it.
We was all at the wedding.
You have any luck?
What kind of message was that?
Who can remember a girl in a lavender dress?
I was wearing a pink and black dress.
So you don't know who she is?
The woman in the lavender dress?
Go soak your head.
Yeah?
Mr. Partanna, please. It's Irene Walker calling.
- What? - Is this Charley Partanna?
Yeah.
I hope you don't mind my calling so late.
I just wanted to apologize for running out the way I did this afternoon.
This is you? Irene Walker?
I recognize the voice, but I didn't get your name before.
I just wanted to explain. I hope you don't think I'm rude.
Rude? No.
You could never be rude.
Say, listen...
why don't we get together later, like for a late dinner?
- When? You mean tonight? - I could pick you up, like, in half an hour.
But I'm in California.
- California? - That's where I live. I had to come home.
How about lunch tomorrow?
All right.
How about the bar at the Bel Age Hotel?
That would be tremendous. What time?
- About 2:00? - Great.
I was scared I was never gonna see you again.
- What was that you said? - I ordered us a drink.
Something I think you'll like.
Say it again.
What is it? Something Puerto Rican or something?
Yes, I guess it could be.
Pineapple juice with rum.
I had it in Cuba.
What were you doing in Cuba?
I was on my honeymoon.
I didn't know you was married.
My husband left me four years ago.
I don't know where he is. I don't want to know.
He left you?
Crazy, huh?
I could find him for you.
Let him stay lost.
You might want to get married again someday.
Maybe.
But until that happens, I guess I don't want to know about him.
What about you? Are you married?
Once, I was almost married.
Maerose was her name.
We grew up together.
One night, we had a big fight...
because I was dancing too much with this other girl.
I suppose I did it on purpose, because I wanted to make her jealous.
So she flew off to Mexico with a guy...
shacked up in a hotel.
Her father sent some goons down there to clobber the guy.
Brings her back to the States, then he don't let her in back into his house.
That was four years ago.
And that's it?
You know, she can't even go to Brooklyn anymore...
unless it's a special occasion. Weddings, funerals, stuff like that.
We're still friends.
She's a decorator. She did my apartment. Real nice job she did, too.
That's some family you've got.
Anyway, I like your coat.
Do you?
A coat like this would stand out in New York, you know?
My father always says it's better to stand out...
because of how serious you are, instead of, you know...
the clothes, the cars, diamond rings.
For men, that is.
What am I doing all the talking for here?
How come I met you at the Prizzi wedding, and you ain't no wop?
The bishop who married them wasn't Italian.
No, he's a Polack.
So am I.
Walker is a Polack name?
It was Walkiewicz. I shortened it.
My maiden name was Maida Walkiewicz.
Either way...
you're sure one beautiful woman to me.
I guess I felt that Walker sounded more like a tax consultant should.
You're a tax consultant?
What do you do when you consult?
I save people money. Show them the angles.
There are a lot of angles.
Like this L.A. corporation had a guy kidnapped in the Middle East.
So I told them that the ransom money was tax-deductible as a theft loss.
- Things like that. - That's terrific.
Shall we?
- Go? - Yeah, sure.
- We'll take my car? - Okay.
- What kind of a car is this? - An Excalibur.
The Japanese make them in England for the Arab market.
- It's a great California car. - It's a great anyplace car.
Jesus, it must cost though, huh?
It wasn't free, but think what it will cost in two years.
- Like to eat outside? - Yeah.
I got to say it, I can't sleep.
I'm a grown man, middle-aged maybe, even.
But nothing...
nobody in my life has ever affected me...
anything like the way that you make me feel.
I love you.
That's it. That's everything.
I love you.
I think I'm in love with you, too, Charley.
Not "in love." "In love" is temporary.
Then you move on to the next "in love."
Everybody's always falling in and out of love.
I know this.
I remember everything, I read about it in the magazines.
When you're just "in love," it's just...
Wait a minute...
a hormonal secretion which changes the sense of smell...
so as to affect somebody in a certain way.
That's what "in love" is.
Who needs it?
Love?
I mean, I love you, I think.
That sounds like I'm hedging...
but I don't know how to say it, because I've never said it before.
All my life, I've had to protect myself...
and you can't protect yourself from anything when you love somebody.
I love you, Charley.
What's that they're playing?
That's Noche de Ronda.
I'm never gonna forget it.
I'm never gonna forget this dress.
I'm never gonna forget anything about today.
Wherever we go, whatever it is...
whenever they play this song...
this is gonna be our song.
Everything being...
equal...
would you marry me?
- Everything being equal... - Yeah.
...I'll marry you, Charley.
Yeah.
Here, have a cigar. Pass them around.
- Sure. Yeah, my favorites. - Thanks.
They're really fabulous.
So delicious, very good.
Charley, come in. You know Cyril Bluestone?
- Hello, Charley. - How are you?
Here, you want a cigar, Charley?
Sit down.
Now, Cyril, you tell him...
what happened at the big casino, those dirty bastards.
I've been president of the three Prizzi casinos in Vegas for 20 years.
And I have never seen a scam like this before.
I've got 14 phony IOUs here.
They come to $722,085.
When the collectors go to pick up the money...
the player that signed the IOU is dead...
from some bad cold or something, before he signed the paper...
or he was someplace else and he wasn't in Vegas to sign it.
Every piece of paper is countersigned. That's house rules...
by Louis Palo, the acting manager, and a man in the cage, Marxie Heller.
They had to have been working together.
I don't get it.
Louis takes paper to the cage, all he gets back is chips.
- That's house rules, too. - Yeah.
Now the pit boss tells me there's a woman in it.
He says that he twice saw Louis...
bring two big racks of $1,000 plates to this woman...
and she went to the cashier's window.
He didn't think anything of it at the time.
So where's Louis and Heller?
Louis caught a bullet in the head, and Heller's holed up in L.A.
He's got a wife out there.
They found Louis across the front seat of his car...
in the parking lot at Presto Ciglione's bar, way out in the Strip.
I knew Louis when he was a helper on an ice truck 30 years ago.
We taught him his trade.
He wasn't smart enough to figure a scam like this.
So I guess the first thing to do is find Marxie Heller.
I remember him now. He always wore a silver toupee on a job.
He had dark brown bags under his eyes...
like he was carrying coffee grounds in them or something.
That's him. He was good with figures. Steady.
But he got TB.
Louis Palo was a thief, but he was ours.
Heller must have iced him, so you ice Heller.
Okay.
What do you want, my friend?
The Prizzis sent me.
Where's your wife, Mr. Heller?
She's at the supermarket.
And just who are you?
Charley Partanna.
Where's the money, Marxie?
"Straight Arrow" Charley.
The all-American hood.
I don't know what you're talking about.
Get up on your feet. Come on. Up.
Put your hands up, just spread, that's right.
I think you broke my wrist.
You won't need it. Come on.
I'm home, dear.
Marxie's not here, Mrs. Heller.
What are you doing here?
Why didn't you call first?
You always call first.
You're Marxie Heller's wife?
You're married to Marxie Heller?
- Where's the money? - Money?
No bullshit.
Your husband killed Louis Palo for the money. Where is it?
I don't know what you're talking about. You've really knocked me for a loop here.
- Where's Marxie? - Dead. In the trunk of his car.
Stop this cheap bullshit!
Where's the money that your husband and Louis Palo...
scammed from the Prizzis in Las Vegas?
Maybe I do know something about it.
He had a bag with him.
I'll show you.
It could be in here. It's the only place I know it could be.
You're short.
I'm short?
I got $360,000 here. Half.
Half?
Don't keep telling me what I just said. Where's the rest of the money?
You got to believe me.
I didn't even know the money was there. How could I know it was short?
When Marxie came home three nights ago...
after being away from me for five years, he threw that bag in the closet.
That's all I know.
Ever ask him why he came back after five years?
Charley, please try and understand.
I was glad when Marxie showed up...
'cause it gave me a chance to ask him for the divorce.
You want to know what I remember?
I remember you coming in that door, and saying, "I'm home, dear."
Is that the way they ask for a divorce these days?
Charley, I could see how sick he was.
I didn't need to ask him.
He only had a few weeks left.
Poor Marxie.
In all the years that I knew Marxie Heller...
he never yelled at me, or hit me, or stole my money.
He was my friend.
If it wasn't for him, I'd probably still be earning my living on my back...
with half of the take going to your pals in Chicago.
It was his idea that I study bookkeeping...
and he got me a job on the main wire, too.
Then he talked them into making me a courier...
and told me to study the tax laws while I was flying back and forth to Switzerland.
Marxie was always there for me like nobody else in my life.
And I loved him. Not like I love you, but I loved him.
Now that's the God's honest truth, Charley...
and if you don't believe me, why don't you kill me and get it over with?
I can't.
I can't change the way I feel about you.
I look at you...
and I see what I want to see.
That's what love is.
If you were anybody else, I'd blow you away.
But I can't.
I have to believe this.
How did it go out there?
Half right.
I got back $360,000.
How come only half?
I talked to Heller, he won't say nothing to me.
So I pay him off, ba-bing.
Then the wife comes home.
We talk, no problem.
She brings me the money which she thinks is there...
because Heller brought a satchel home with him when he came.
I count. It's only half.
You worked her over?
She was scared. She knew I tapped her husband.
I think she's telling the truth.
What happened to Louis' split?
I don't know, Dominic.
Well, somebody's got our $360,000.
Find it.
Okay.
When I close my eyes and eat your cooking, Charley...
- I think your mama's still with us. - Thanks, Pop.
You think Dominic believes that I copped that other $360,000?
What the hell, Charley. The money had to go somewhere.
Dominic hates your guts, anyway.
Yeah, that's getting real bad. He never lets up.
He don't eat right. Look, he never eats like this.
He's got permanent heartburn from that place he eats at, Tucci's, I think they call it.
They make that Neapolitan garbage.
It's not like this.
Well, the man can't hate me because he don't eat right, Pop.
Believe me.
I know how Dominic's mind works.
His whole life turned out miserable.
He has to blame someone.
Every time he sees you, he's reminded of the shame...
Maerose put on you, on him, and the whole family.
You forgot. Not Dominic.
He probably worked it all around, so the whole mess is all your fault.
If he could have you hit, he'd have you hit.
Great dinner, Charley.
What's the occasion?
I wanna show you the woman.
The one that I went to California to see about.
Ain't she beautiful?
Well, I like a kind of darker, more round woman myself.
I see you got a picture of me with her.
- Pop, what are you doing? - Jesus, Charley...
she was the outside talent...
we brought the day of the wedding to make the Netturbino hit.
She was the specialty hitter.
Let me give you a hand with the dishes.
No, that's...
I'll just stack.
The girl'll take care of that in the morning. Thanks.
All right.
Well, then, I'll just head on home.
Getting late by my clock.
- Great dinner, Charley. - Thanks.
- Good night, Pop. - Good night, Son.
Thanks a lot.
Maerose? Charley.
Charley, what is this? It's 12:45 in the morning.
It's the second time you're calling me in almost four years.
Mae, listen.
- I broke that vase. - The vase? What vase?
That special vase that matches the border on the rug.
The one you knocked yourself out trying to find.
Charley, what are you, out of your mind?
- Are you alone? - Of course I'm alone, Mumpola.
I gotta see you.
What's with you?
I gotta talk.
You wanna talk out here, or you wanna come in and sit down?
Sure.
This is a beautiful setup you got here, Mae.
The colors are right. That's what counts.
Everybody sees shapes differently, but colors are forever.
Yeah.
Why did you call, Charley?
- We wasted a lot of time, Mae. - Four years. You call that a lot of time?
How come you didn't wait till I was 50?
You could have been a fat wop broad by the time you were 50.
You want to do it, Charley?
Is that what you want?
Take it easy. What the hell, Mae?
Nobody took it slower than me, Charley.
Four years.
Answer the question. You want to do it?
Yeah.
Let's do it.
- With all the lights on? - Yeah.
Right here on the Oriental...
with all the lights on.
Mamma mia.
Thanks.
What's your problem, Charley?
It certainly isn't the goddamn vase.
How can I tell you, of all people?
But I got nobody else I can talk to.
It's about a woman.
Go ahead, tell me anyway.
How can I feel worse than I used to feel before last night?
We grew up together. We're the same people.
What the hell, Charley? The calendar takes care of everything.
Met her in a church.
It just happened.
I knew she was the woman for me.
She organized a scam in Vegas.
I go looking for the bad guy, and it turns out to be my woman.
Can you imagine this?
Not only that...
Pop tells me she's the piece man for the Netturbino contract.
Just the same, I love her, Mae.
I love her.
Well.
How can I live with this? I've got to do something about it.
I've got to straighten it out.
Then do.
Do what? Do I ice her? Do I marry her? Which one of these?
Marry her, Charley.
Just because she's a thief and a hitter...
doesn't mean she's not a good woman in all the other departments.
If she were some kind of fashion model, it wouldn't last more than 30 days.
But you and she are in the same line of business.
You are lucky you found each other, you know that, Charley?
- Yeah, I guess. - She's an American.
She had a chance to make a buck, so she grabbed it.
Marry her, Charley.
Then at least I'll be able to get something out of it.
I'll be able to go back in the family.
Yeah.
- Thanks. - Shall we have them play Noche de Ronda?
- Yeah. - Would you ask them?
- I've been all shook up. - Why?
I know everything.
I know you made the hit on Netturbino, after the wedding reception, when we met.
I know you've been scamming us with Louis and your husband.
I did the work on Netturbino.
I had nothing to do with what Marxie and his partner did.
Louis Palo was so suspicious that he checked the car for bombs...
every time he started it.
But he would have let some beautiful broad walk over, get in, and sit on his face.
No matter how you got it in your head, Charley, you're wrong.
I had nothing to do with it.
Did you mean it that first night, when you asked if I'd marry you?
All right.
The Prizzis are gonna have to believe me, because I believe you.
When can we get married?
Let's have another one of those pineapple drinks.
- The honeymoon has already started. - Kiss me, Charley.
In public?
Pop? Charley.
I'm in L.A., and that ain't all.
I'm gonna get married.
- The same woman, the contractor? - Yeah.
She's Polish, but the family will get used to that gradually.
Every time she walks in a room, the other women in the family will have to shut up.
But I know how you feel about it. I won't try to stop nature. Good luck, Son.
Thanks, Pop.
Say listen, the Don wants you here for a big meeting tomorrow night.
Jesus, Pop, what about my honeymoon?
You'll have it in Brooklyn.
Shit.
What do you say we go for some confetti...
and maybe a couple of pictures?
Whatever you say, honey.
God, Charley. If Marxie could only see me now.
- What's so funny? - Me marrying a Sicilian.
You know, I can just hear him.
He always use to say, "The Jews in this business are bad enough, darling...
"but the Sicilians, they'd rather eat their children...
"than part with money, and they are very fond of their children."
If Marxie Heller is so fucking smart, how come he's so fucking dead?
Next.
The gentleman at the end of the table is Mr. Alvin Gomsky.
He's treasurer of the 18th largest bank in the United States...
of which we own 25 percent.
Now, I asked Mr. Gomsky to come here today...
so you can hear from his own mouth what has been happening.
The bank president, Mr. Robert Finlay, is stealing from the bank...
principally through crooked foreign exchange deals.
If he's allowed to continue, the bank will go under in less than a year.
Thank you, Mr. Gomsky.
See Mr. Gomsky to his car.
Robert Finlay's real name...
is Rosario Filargi.
Now, anybody who'd change his name from Filargi to Finlay...
is also stupid enough...
to think that we wouldn't protect our 25 percent.
Tell them our plan, Eduardo.
We are gonna kidnap Filargi.
He's covered with $2.5 million in kidnap insurance...
so that's the tag on him when we make the snatch.
We know the insurance company will pay, because as Charley stated...
that ransom money is tax-deductible.
We are also going to leave a trail...
so the Feds will think Filargi organized the whole thing...
cheating the bank, milking the insurance company.
When the merda hits the fan...
we can buy another good-size chunk of the bank for about 10 cents on the dollar.
We get controlling interest.
Eventually...
we stand to make $60-70 million.
Thank you, Eduardo, my son.
Some men suffer most when you take their lives.
Life is what is sweetest to them.
To Filargi, money is sweetest.
We'll leave him with his life and without money or any way to get it.
Marron, Don Corrado, that's beautiful.
I almost feel sorry for the guy.
- Beautiful is right. - I like most beautiful things, Charley.
This one is very simple.
We rely on you.
How do you want me to handle it?
Pick your own people. We don't want to know.
Dominic, my son, stay with me a moment.
Maerose has written to me, Dominic.
The man she wronged has married another woman.
Now, Maerose has suffered, Dominic, as you have suffered...
during the years of her disgrace.
Now honor is protected.
I beg you, on my knees...
show compassion.
Here, read her letter.
Look how the child loves you.
She wants to take care of you.
Send her to me, Papa.
She's my daughter again.
What we've got to do is take care of the bodyguard...
and get Filargi down to our van in the basement, right?
There's only three apartments on the floor.
- This one is Filargi's, we get the other two. - How you gonna do that?
One of them is empty. This one, we rent it.
The other one, we send matinee theater tickets...
and a heavy-duty lunch invitation to the dame that lives there.
A limo picks her up and brings her back.
She thinks it's a prize that she's getting for helping to plant tulips...
at the public library last year.
She'll go, all right? Now...
every day, Filargi's bodyguard comes out first...
he goes to the elevator, pushes the button, when it gets there, he puts it on hold.
Then he goes back to the apartment and knocks on the door.
That's when Filargi comes out.
Now, you know, you guys, you need a woman on this stand.
- A woman? - Yeah.
Look, Charley, a woman comes out of the south apartment, holding a baby...
after Filargi's bodyguard gets him out of his apartment.
She smiles at them.
She goes "goo-goo ga-ga" to the baby, then she tosses it...
at the bodyguard, who naturally tries to catch it.
While he's doing that, she gets her piece out and covers him.
Then you come out of the other apartment. You take Filargi to the garage.
Then she takes the bodyguard to Filargi's apartment, does the job on him there.
That's good.
For Christ's sake!
Where we gonna get a baby?
Where we gonna find a broad would do something like this?
Where? Here. Me.
- We'll get a fake baby. - Good thinking, Irene.
You guys work it out. I got a terrific dinner almost ready.
Just be a couple of minutes.
What's the matter with you?
I didn't get married so my wife could go on working.
Charley, she's right, and you know it.
Throwing a baby, why, that's strictly a masterpiece.
If the Prizzis ever found out I used my own wife on this job...
I couldn't hold my head up.
I'd be the laughing stock of every family in Brooklyn and New York.
Who's gonna know, Charley?
And anyway, what's a little honor compared to $60-70 million?
Gentlemen, dinner is served.
Coming, Papa.
Jesus, Mae...
you look awful.
My beautiful daughter has turned into an old woman.
Charley Partanna did this to you.
He had a chance to become part of the Prizzi family.
He had no use for you.
He had a use for me, Papa.
He came to my place in New York...
the night before he left to marry the woman in California.
And he forced himself on me...
and he did it to me.
- He did it to you? - Yeah, Papa.
He screwed me three times, maybe four. I can't remember.
You wash out your filthy mouth, you hear?
How can you say such things to your own father?
He done that to you? Are you sure?
Am I sure?
Papa, you should see the size of him, you should.
Shut up! How can you say such things to your father?
- Where's your honor? - Are you kidding, Papa?
I have no honor anymore.
Here, Papa.
Come on.
- Good afternoon. - Good afternoon.
Do you mind?
Catch.
I must have the wrong floor.
Oh, my God.
No blood stains.
Okay, come on, let's move them.
I had to hit her. She was looking straight at me.
You done right. Really.
I can't get over it.
I mean, what kind of creep wouldn't catch a baby?
If it was real, it would have been crippled for life.
He wasn't paid to bodyguard no baby.
When the Don gets what he wants, I'll ask him for some time...
we go to the old country, have a real honeymoon...
maybe even a real baby.
God, Charley, I love you.
What's going on? What are you doing?
- See you at dinner. - Okay, dear.
Recapping our top stories at this hour, there are new developments in that...
- Phone, Charley. - Shut up. I want to hear this.
Police have now identified both victims.
- One of them was a police captain's wife. - Shit.
The man found with her was the bodyguard...
of bank president, Robert Finlay.
Finlay's apartment is right next door to the one...
where the two bodies were found. Bank officers reported him missing...
when he didn't show up at a meeting Monday morning.
Police now speculate he has been kidnapped.
They also believe that Victoria Caihane, who'd gone to visit in the building...
stumbled accidentally into the scene of the crime.
How about this? First, she's got to push the wrong button.
And then, the broad turns out to be a cop's wife.
The phone's still waiting.
...matinee theater tickets for a Broadway show.
A limousine picked them up, and returned them after the show.
We will have more late-breaking news after this pause.
- Yeah? - Hi, honey.
- Were you watching the TV just now? - Yeah.
A police captain's wife. Just my luck.
Yeah, all hell's gonna break out over this, Irene.
The cops don't like it much when you hit one of their wives.
But it was an accident.
Mr. Ciglione?
Miss Prizzi, would you like to come to my office, please?
Miss Prizzi, would you care to have a drink?
I'll have a Babycham.
Babycham?
You heard what the lady said, a Babycham.
Please, sit down, Miss Prizzi. I think I got something for you.
Sit down over there.
Is that the broad? Tell the lady.
I was using this camper as a trick room in the parking lot.
As I lifted up my head from the job, I seen this woman in hot pants...
run into the lights of the car where Louis Palo caught it in the head.
She was in the car a couple of minutes, then she gets out...
and she goes to the trunk and she takes out a satchel.
- Then she fades. - Same woman?
Yeah, it's the same one.
Why don't you go on one of those cruises, honey?
You've reached the answering machine of 555-4375.
No one can take your call right now. Please leave a message after the beep.
Meet me on the Promenade, Brooklyn.
7:00 p.m. tomorrow. Full price.
I'll be at the south end, on a bench, reading Popular Mechanics.
You the contractor?
How much?
It depends. Some hits are tricky.
- Who is it? - A Brooklyn fellow, Charley Partanna.
Amalia told me that you want to thank me for bringing you home?
Who else?
You are blood of my blood.
You're flesh of my flesh. Yeah.
And as long as I'm able...
I'm gonna think about your well-being.
- Thank you, Grandfather. - Yeah.
You have drawn me back from purgatory.
I wish you had been a son.
You are a true Prizzi.
You like to have a cookie?
It is I who must offer you a gift, Grandfather.
- A gesture of my gratitude. - I have always enjoyed gifts.
Who is this handsome lady?
That is Charley Partanna's wife.
Grandfather, my gift to you is not only the pictures...
but also what they mean.
Louis Palo was killed in a parking lot in Las Vegas.
- I know. - I took these pictures there.
There was a woman who'd been turning tricks in a camper in the parking lot.
She told me she saw this woman get into a car with Palo.
After a minute, she got out, went to the trunk.
She took out a satchel.
- This woman? - Yes, Grandfather.
She killed Palo...
and she stole $720,000 from us.
She gave back half to save herself.
What do you want me to do?
She dishonored us.
You are like me.
We forgive nothing.
Now what would that do to Charley Partanna?
She must pay, like anybody else.
To do what you ask, that would cause Charley...
great pain.
What is that compared to the honor of the Prizzis?
Charley is like my son.
I pledged to be his second father on the day that he was born.
- Grandfather! - Shut up!
Have another cookie, my dear.
What we're here for is to tell you what we're telling all the families in this town.
All contracts are off until we get whoever killed Captain Calhane's wife.
- How do you mean, Davey? - He means nothing is happening.
We're coming down hard on you.
A police captain's wife has been murdered.
You got narcotics, right? Plus loan sharking.
Plus horse books, football, basketball, boxing...
as well as what you take out of restaurants and the trucking business.
There's a couple of million in television sets that fall off trucks every week, right?
We're gonna put them all out of business, as of now.
It'll cost us hundreds of thousands, but that's the way it's gonna be.
Davey, I've been doing business with the Police Commissioner's squad...
for 40 years now.
We always went under one rule: you take our money, you leave us alone.
The more pressure you put on us, the more money you'll cost yourselves.
There ain't a cop that's had to get along on straight police pay for a long time.
Yeah.
Look, Angelo, our people don't like this any better than you do...
but this one's a point of honor with us.
You understand that, Angelo?
You're a fine looking woman.
Charley Partanna is a lucky man.
Thank you for coming.
What a surprise you gave us with this sudden wedding.
We just sort of swept each other away.
I understand. I was young once.
But this marriage of yours...
has troubled me.
Why, Don Corrado?
The people at Presto Ciglione's place in Vegas have looked at pictures of you...
and they told us that you killed Louis Palo.
Under ordinary circumstances...
you would have to be punished...
because those who steal must pay.
But you're the wife of my godson...
and I've searched to find some way to show you clemency.
What can I do?
You got the other half of the $720,000?
Yes.
- Was Charley in this with you? - No.
He believed me when I told him the half was Marxie's split.
He didn't know I had anything to do with it, or that I did the number on Louis.
Good.
You can have five days...
to get the $360,000 together.
Then you will give it back...
together with a 50-percent penalty for what you have done to us.
Will five days be enough time for you?
Five days? Yeah, I can get it together in five days.
Irene? Charley.
How come you're in L.A.?
I had business to attend to. Didn't you see my note?
Can you get out here this weekend?
I don't think so.
Tell me.
Tell you what?
Tell me, "I love you."
- I love you. - I love you, too.
And it's real.
It may not be scientific, but it's real.
Scientific?
I read it in a magazine.
According to a doctor, everyone's always trying to get...
what they thought they needed from their mothers, but they didn't get it.
Charley, I don't even remember my mother.
That's the amazing part.
There's something in you that knows anyways.
The magazine said so.
That's what love is.
When you find someone who will give you...
what you think you wanted when you were a baby.
But you didn't get it. A doctor wrote this.
Charley, forget doctors.
Better yet, let's play doctor.
On the phone?
Doctor Partanna, I have this itch.
They're not kidding around this time.
It's gonna get worse.
They're gonna keep leaning on us...
until we give them whoever it was that hit that cop's wife.
All I know is one thing here.
The cops tell us that the guy who got snatched...
the day they did the number on the cop's wife...
also did big business...
with the Prizzi family.
I want to make this a short meet.
I want to put it to a vote right now...
that Dominic Prizzi...
tells us what the hell he's gonna do about it.
Am I right?
Raise your hands.
Hold the hands.
Who do you think you're talking to?
I am Dominic Prizzi.
While most of you was walking around with holes in the ass of your pants...
we were sticking up gas stations.
We was the biggest family in the country.
And now, most of you have figured out how to push broads.
We're still the biggest.
We lose more, when the cops get in an uproar, than any of you.
Now, we don't like it...
but you ain't gonna tell us how to run our business.
We ain't taking any shit from any outsiders...
about the family business.
And I mean, especially...
a scummy little pimp, like you...
Signor Bocca.
Thank you.
Padrino, I never saw anything like this here.
The broad pushes the wrong button in the elevator.
The door opens just in the minute...
when the second man drops the bodyguard.
The woman is standing there. She makes all three of us.
She had to go.
I am sure you didn't act without thinking.
That's why I called you here today.
You're a thinker.
Dominic is a sick man...
and the return of his daughter brought him no ease.
He's got ulcers coming on.
I'm gonna move Dominic out to Vegas...
and make you boss.
I'm speechless, Padrino.
This is an honor...
beyond my dreams.
What could I do to show my gratitude?
For the time being, this must be our secret.
You must not even tell your father.
I don't understand, Padrino.
We will announce everything once the Filargi thing is settled.
Then Dominic will move out...
and you will move in.
God, I missed you.
So I gather.
What's been happening?
Plenty.
I just had a meeting with the Don.
Private audience.
He wants me to take over.
He says Dominic's sick. They're gonna send him to Vegas.
- I'm to be the boss. - Charley, that's fantastic.
I don't know.
It smells fishy to me.
Number one:
It should've been Dominic who told me, instead of the Don.
Maybe the Don hasn't broken the news to Dominic yet.
Whether he has or whether he hasn't, he would've told Pop.
He don't decide what Mass to go to unless he talks to Pop.
A big deal like this, they go over every angle 15 times.
- And he didn't? - No, worse than that.
The Don says for me not to tell Pop.
- Want to know what I think, Irene? - What?
I think they're setting me up.
I think you're right, Charley. I think they're after our scalps.
How do you know that?
I got a couple of things to tell you.
I went out to L.A. on orders from the Don.
He told me, return the money I took from Louis...
plus 50-percent interest.
So you did zotz Louis Palo.
You swore to me that you didn't. You lied to me!
I lied to you because you wanted me to. I only told you what you wanted to be true.
And I told the Don it was all my doing, but Jesus, Charley, I'm so sorry.
What's the other thing you've got to tell me?
Dominic's put out a contract on you.
- What are you, fucking nuts? - Charley, I'm the contractor.
Dominic hires my own wife to clip me?
Charley, he didn't know I was your wife. He just wanted the best.
Charley, honey...
let's go to Hong Kong tonight.
- What are you talking about? - I mean, let's beat it while we still can.
- Beat it? - Yes, scram, split. Let's make a run for it.
I know this guy in Hong Kong can give us new prints, even new faces, in a few days.
We can get out of this crazy world. We can start fresh.
We can be together all the time.
- Hong Kong? - Hong Kong. Brazil. South Africa.
It doesn't matter. What matters is us, together.
Listen...
I've been doing three, four hits a year, for the last few years, most of them, full pay.
That many?
It's not many if you consider the size of the population.
The thing is, I got almost $1 million...
in a safe-deposit box on the coast.
You must have at least that much put away. We can take all the money and run.
We can go where we want, do what we want. We can be together all the time.
Please, Charley, let's just go before they get us.
They're not gonna get us.
Piss on the Prizzis.
These people can't win all the time.
There has to be a way to beat them bastards.
Let's call Pop.
And the Don told you to keep making you Boss a secret from me?
Yeah.
And he told you he's letting you off for giving him back the money?
- Plus 50 percent. - Right.
And Dominic gave you a $50,000 down payment to hit Charley?
Absolutely. Brand new bills.
He's hot. I never seen him this hot.
It's just business, Charley. Just business.
What are we gonna do?
You have to take away the only thing the Don wants.
Filargi, golden Filargi. You have to snatch Filargi again.
This time from the Prizzis.
How many people you got there holding Filargi down?
Two. My people. They do whatever I tell them.
Good. Filargi's worth $70 million...
maybe more to the Prizzis, including the bank.
What are you next to $70 million? Nothing.
He'll take whatever deal you offer.
- Yeah. No choice, right? - Right, no choice.
They know we can let Filargi go and testify against them.
Or even worse...
you can turn and go into the government's Witness Protection Program...
and testify against the Don and Dominic.
To a jury, the cold facts would be, you shot the police captain's wife...
on orders from the Don and Dominic, after they hired you to do it for $150,000.
You're very dangerous to the Prizzis, Irene.
Yeah.
It could turn out to be a good thing Irene zipped the police captain's wife.
It could solve all our problems.
We are here tonight to honor my son.
He's gonna leave us...
to live in a $935,000 house...
next to his own golf course in Las Vegas, Nevada.
And I say to him, for you...
from my heart...
God speed you.
God bless you, Dominic.
And I want to present you...
with these tokens of the esteem of your entire family.
It's a going-away present...
a complete set of sterling silver golf clubs.
Now, that bag is made out of a hide of an elephant.
Its the only one in the United States.
And 1,000 of your favorite Mexican cigars.
Now we're gonna have a song, in celebration of this grand occasion.
The great tenor, Tomasino Baratta.
Get moving.
Holy shit, Boss. Somebody done the job on Zingo.
The Boccas.
This killing of the police captain's wife...
is costing us all too much.
I got something to read to you.
It's a letter.
A letter? Who from?
Charley.
You all set?
"Dear Eduardo...
"you're probably hot right now because we took Filargi.
"But when you hear the reason why...
"you and the Don are gonna understand there was no other way we could go.
"Dominic put out a contract on me."
- He's a fucking liar. - You want to hear the letter?
Listen, don't talk. There's about $130 million here, maybe more.
We've got to renegotiate it before we get it back. Just shut up and listen.
Go on, sit down.
"Dominic will say it's a lot a bullshit.
"But it so happens he hired my own wife, and he gave her a down payment of $50,000.
"My wife is sitting here next to me, and she's laughing like hell.
"I personally think the Don found Dominic on a doorstep...
"because Dominic is 50 times too dumb to be a Prizzi.
"The first thing I got to have before you get Filargi back...
"is that you deliver Dominic to me...
"where I tell you, and when I tell you."
This time, no contract. I'll kill him myself.
Listen to the letter, Dominic, will you? Come on.
"For the main money, this is what I want:
"$2,314,000 for expenses...
"then $50,000 for my helper...
"of course, the $150,000 promised to my wife, as second man in the Filargi stand."
Charley's wife was the second man?
Right. She was the only way we could take out the bodyguard.
"Then I want all of the insurance coverage on Filargi's kidnap policy...
"which is $2.5 million."
My God, he's a real businessman.
That's my boy.
We've got to make him a counteroffer, and eventually we settle.
The way I see it...
we get about $60-70 million, and only about 5.9 percent sales cost...
if we give Charley everything he wants, which we won't.
And I am part of the fucking sales cost.
Dominic, you take some blood-pressure medicine, will you?
Charley is just making a point. Everything is negotiable.
We go over to Papa's...
we hash this thing out.
Come on, Dominic. Up, let's go.
- Somebody is dead? - Yes.
Who? Who's dead?
Dominic.
The Boccas again?
Poor Dominic.
He got old.
Something happened.
Maybe it was his daughter, who knows?
But he agreed to retire...
and I give the job to Charley.
I told him to keep it a secret a little while...
until Dominic's banquet. It's all right.
Now, Charley's all mixed up, and we've got to get him back.
Only Charley can hold everything together here.
How you doing, Pop?
- I'm fine. Everything all right? - Yeah.
Everything's quiet out here.
Mezza mezza, huh?
Sorry to drag you out here, Pop, but I didn't want anyone taking a potshot at me.
When I told the Don about Dominic putting out a contract on you...
- it knocked him out. He couldn't believe it. - Yeah?
He told me with tears in his eyes, he's got to straighten all this out with you.
Then he wasn't setting me up?
He said, and I know him for 50 years, so I know he was looking into his heart...
he said, "We need Charley."
He said that?
The Don and me don't have much time left. The family has to keep going.
You're the only one that can run it.
Then everything's okay? We don't have to hang on to Filargi.
The Don gave his guarantee.
Tomorrow morning at 10:00...
you bring Filargi to 42nd Street library and let him out.
I'll tip off the cops and the FBI. They'll be in his hotel room.
Okay, Pop. Want the paper?
I read it from cover to cover.
- Jupiter's Accord, sixth at Belmont. - Okay.
By the way, the insurance company paid off.
Take care of yourself, Charley.
How we gonna take Filargi in?
Pop's sending someone up on the Palisades to meet us.
We'll transfer him to the van there, and I'll drive him into the city.
You stick with the plumber, he'll drop you off at the apartment.
Tell me about the money, Charley.
My end is $2.5 million, plus I'm boss of the Prizzis...
with heavy points in everything the family does.
This time next week, we'll have all the money.
You mean you're gonna turn over our whole ball of wax...
to some Sicilians who are gonna pay you what they owe you next week?
Honey, I'm the boss. They need me. I've got to believe Pop.
They're not gonna screw us over now.
Maybe Pop's in there looking after your interests...
but that doesn't necessarily mean he's looking after mine.
There's a real pressure to turn over the second man.
- You're my wife. - I'm your Polack wife.
Irene, will you shape up? Jesus!
Okay, I'll shape up.
As soon as I get my $900,000.
What $900,000?
The $720,000 from the Vegas scam...
plus the $180,000 that Don made me pay as penalty. That's $900,000.
I just want what's mine.
That's Prizzi money, honey, not yours. You stole it.
The Prizzis got theirs back from the insurance company. I just want it back.
That ain't gonna make no sense to the Prizzis, honey.
Remember the words of the late great Marxie Heller:
"We'd rather eat our children than part with money."
You remember those words, honey.
I am, Charley.
Mr. Filargi...
you were born a poor kid in Naples, right?
Yeah, that's right.
You remember the Camorra?
The Camorra was small, we're very big.
There's nowhere we can't go.
They could lock you in a steel room, in a submarine on the bottom of the ocean floor.
We'd still get to you.
Cops are gonna talk to you.
You tell them anything about who took you, or where you thought we took you...
we're gonna kill you, capisce?
I understand.
Good.
You're free, Mr. Filargi. Good luck.
Yeah.
I've forgotten the Prizzis already.
I got a request to make, or Irene has.
What kind of request, Charley?
She wants her money back.
What money?
The $540,000 she gave you for the Don...
plus the $360,000 I took the night I zipped Marxie Heller. That money.
She's willing to forget about the $2.5 million from Filargi's insurance...
and the rest of what Dominic owed her for the contract on me.
But she wants her $900,000 back.
With all due respect, Charley, the wife must be cracked.
Try to see it from her point of view.
I mean, you agreed to all that stuff in the letter we sent, when we had Filargi.
You made a commitment, Pop.
Anyways, it was Irene's moves...
that got Filargi out in the first place.
We're gonna get the bank, so $900,000 doesn't seem like so much money.
Irene figures she's got it coming.
Yeah, I'm glad that she's so foolish and grasping.
Makes it a little easier, what we got to do.
The family decided...
that we've got to give the second man to the cops.
Give Irene to the cops?
The family decided that we got one week...
to give up the second man, or we'll be at war.
War would cost us everything we got.
Now, that could mean the end of the family.
But, Padrino--
Charley, you shouldn't have married a woman that wasn't in the environment...
that wasn't smart.
Might have been all right if she was straight, but she wasn't.
She got to go...
and you got to do the job on her, Charley.
You're the only one who could get close enough to do it.
Zotz Irene?
Clip Irene?
If they take her alive, they're gonna make her talk, and then, if she talks...
she's gonna drag us all to jail, maybe even to the chair.
Filargi will go free. We will never get the bank.
There is no choice here.
How is doing a number on Irene gonna satisfy the cops...
about the broad that pushed the wrong button?
Filargi will identify your wife's body. There will be no one to question.
Everybody will get what they want, and we can all go back to doing business.
But, Padrino...
she's my wife.
I can't kill her.
You swore an oath of blood...
my blood and yours...
that you would always put the family before anything else in your life.
So we are calling on you now to keep that sacred oath.
Irene is my family, Padrino, she's my wife.
Charley, she is a woman you have known for only a few weeks.
She is your wife, we are your life.
You failed in your oath...
when you covered up for her part in the Vegas scam.
A great sin...
against your honor.
For this, you must atone.
I need her.
Look at you.
You've been alone since Mama died.
You, Padrino, you've been alone all my life.
Is that what you want for me, to grow old, like you...
with nothing but bodyguards and money to keep me company?
Charley, my beloved man...
you will be even more alone...
if you turn your back on us. We are your blood.
I feel like I'm drowning or something. I mean...
I covered up the Vegas scam to protect her.
That's what I thought we did for our women. How could that be a sin against honor?
She is a hitter and a thief!
You must give her to us.
What is your answer?
The family is the only place I can be. I know that.
It's business, Charley. It's only business.
Everything's okay. The Don's gonna give you your money back...
the whole $900,000. I got it right here.
The Don's giving money back? Since when?
Yeah, you could've knocked me over. That ain't all.
He's gonna pay you every dime, the Filargi stand...
and what Dominic said.
How about that?
Oh Charely!
Well.
I'm glad everything's settled.
I just wanted you to know...
everything is 100-percent okay.
Marxie...
I should have listened.
After you take the stone out of my shoe...
you call your father and tell him where he can get her...
and then the wind will stop blowing.
Charley, here's $900,000.
Next, what's the first flight out of LAX in the morning to Hong Kong?
Flight 009, leaving at 10:45 a.m.
We can get you to Hong Kong tonight out of LAX.
No, thanks, I have to go to the bank in the morning.
Reserve 009 then. One seat, one way, first class. The name is Hilary Jackson.
Mrs. Hilary Jackson.
This is the final boarding call...
for Pan Am Flight 811 to Los Angeles at Gate 22.
All passengers should be on board at this time.
Irene?
Look who's here!
Charley, what a wonderful surprise!
Baby, I got three whole days, anything you want, you name it.
Baby, we are gonna have a ball.
Yeah, that's just the half of it, sugar. Get over there.
Jesus, what a beautiful song.
Why don't you go and warm up the bed? I'll be right there.
Mae?
Charley.
Charley, you know what?
My sister, Theresa, just got back today from her honeymoon.
Where did they go? Outer space?
What do you say...
we go to dinner tonight?
Dinner?
What do you mean?
What do I mean?
I mean, let's go someplace and get something to eat.
You and me and Irene?
No.
Just you and me.
What about Irene?
She had to go away, she won't be back.
- How about it? - How about it?
Holy cow, Charley, just tell me where you want to meet.