The Anderson Tapes by Lawrence Sanders

think I’m giving you a fast shuffle, but I’ve got another meet tonight. Then I’ve got to drive home to Teaneck. So you’ll understand if I make this as short as we can. Okay?
    ANDERSON: Sure.
    ANGELO: I’ll tell you what the Doc told me. See if I got it straight. If not, you correct me. Then I’ll start asking questions. You got a campaign. It’s a house on the East Side of Manhattan. You want to take the whole place. He advanced you three G’s. That’s out of his own pocket. You been looking it over. Now we’re at the point where we decide do we go ahead or do we call the whole thing off. Am I right so far?
    ANDERSON: That’s right, Mr. Angelo. Mr. D’Medico, I have a complete list of my expenses with me, and you have three hundred and fifty-nine dollars and sixteen cents coming back on your advance that wasn’t spent.
    D’MEDICO: I told you, Pat! Didn’t I tell you?
    ANGELO: Yes. Let’s get on with it. So what have we got, Duke?
    ANDERSON: I have a report here. It’s a handwritten original. No copies. For you and Mr. D’Medico. I think it looks good.
    ANGELO: How much?
    ANDERSON: Minimum of a hundred thousand. Closer to quarter of a mil, I’d guess.
    ANGELO: You’d guess? What the hell are you talking about? What?
    Retail value? Wholesale value? Resale value? What we can get from fences? What is it? Spell it out.
    ANDERSON: It’s jewelry, furs, uncut stones, a valuable coin collection, rugs, maybe drugs from two doctors, cash, negotiable securities. These people are loaded.
    [Lapse of five seconds.]
    ANGELO: So you’re talking about original retail value?
    ANDERSON: Yes.
    ANGELO: So take a third of what you estimate. Maybe thirty G’s if we can unload it. Or possibly eighty G’s tops. Is that right?
    ANDERSON: Yes.
    ANGELO: Let’s figure the bottom—thirty G’s. How many men?
    ANDERSON: Five.
    ANGELO: Five? And one of ours. Six. So you want six men to put out for five G’s each?
    ANDERSON: No. I want my men to be paid a flat fee. Whatever I can settle for. But no share. I figure I can get the five for a total of eight thou tops. I don’t know what you’ll pay your man. Maybe he’s on salary. But figure ten G’s tops for employees. That leaves twenty G’s for a split. Absolute minimum. I’m no gambler, but I still think it’ll run closer to eighty G’s. The total, that is.
    ANGELO: Forget what you think. We’re working on the minimum. So we have twenty G’s left for the split. How do you figure that?
    ANDERSON: Seventy-thirty.
    ANGELO: Seventy to you, of course?
    ANDERSON: Yes.
    ANGELO: You’re a hardnose, aren’t you?
    D’MEDICO: Pat, take it easy.
    ANDERSON: Yes, I’m a hardnose.
    ANGELO: Tennessee?
    ANDERSON: Kentucky.
    ANGELO: I thought so. Duke, put yourself in my place. You want me to okay this thing. You guarantee us about six or seven thousand if we agree to your terms. All right, all right—it may run as high as twenty G’s if the take is as big as you guess it might be. I can’t figure with guesses. I got to know. So I’m figuring on six G’s. Anything over is gravy. All this for six thousand dollars? We can take that legit in one day from our biggest horse parlor. So what’s the percentage?
    ANDERSON: So what’s the risk? One muscle? He’s expendable, isn’t he?
    [Lapse of eight seconds.]
    ANGELO: You’re no dumdum, are you?
    ANDERSON: No, I’m not. And I got to keep repeating that seven G’s is the absolute minimum. It’ll run more, much more—I swear it.
    ANGELO: Put your cock on the line?
    ANDERSON: Goddamned right.
    D’MEDICO: Jesus, Pat… .
    ANGELO: He’s a hardnose—like I said. I like you, Duke.
    ANDERSON: Thanks.
    ANGELO: For nothing. Have you started thinking about operations?
    ANDERSON: A little. Just a beginning. It should be on a holiday weekend. Half the people will be gone to the beach or on vacation or at their summer places. July Fourth would have been good, but it’s too late for that now. If you say okay, we should aim for the Labor