The Tangiers

*based on the award winning movie "casino" directed by Martin Scorsese.*

When you love somebody, you've gotta trust them. There's no other way. You've got to give them the key to everything that's yours... Otherwise, what's the point? And for a while, that's what I thought I had.... I get into my car, turn the ignition, and my car detonates...

****

[ten years earlier]

Before I've ever ran a casino, Charlie Tillman (me) was just a normal bookie working for new york's Irish mob. And I'll tell you, I was the best fucking handicapper in the country. I'm serious, whenever I placed a bet, I changed the odds on every bookmaker on the east coast. Then the boss decided to give me an absolute treasure to run, The Tangiers in las Vegas.

Vegas was like a morality car wash for guys like me. I mean back home I was just an everyday gambler. Constantly getting hassled by cops, but out here, I'm Mr. Tillman! At night though, it's a completely different town. You can't even see the desert that surrounds Vegas. And out in the desert, there's holes. And a lot of the towns problems are buried in those holes. But I never did that.

My main concern was cash. Tons of it. And that's just what the Tangiers was, a cash cow. Now the only thing I'm doing out here is making money for the boss's skim of the casino. That's what goes on in the count room. Money goes from the tables, to our boxes, through the cage, and into the count room. That place was off limits to everyone. Even I couldn't get inside!

And I run the damn thing! But what are you going to do? My job was to keep it filled with peoples money. Period. And that's what I did. I decided to hire an old friend from back home as my casino manager, Henry thompson, an older fellow, in his early 30s, he had about a 7-9 year difference on me. I am 23. Before I took over, the Tangiers had a terrible problem with cheaters.

So I decided to take a walk by the poker tables in pit #2. now, these cheaters just never learn when to stop. Other casinos catch them and just throw them out. Done. But not in my hotel! No way. We needed to make an example of these pricks that the party was over. I noticed that the deler was weak but he wasn't in on it. He was holding his hole card way too high. Now, this bearded fellow at the table behind him is looking at the card and signaling his buddy at the other table. I walk over to the phone:

"operator, get me Armstrong and 5 guards over to pit 2 immediately." I hang up and one of my pit bosses, Billy Armstrong, and 5 security guards are now here. I pick up the phone again:

"operator, I need the happy birthday song, loud" i hang up again. Before long, I watch as the waitresses bring out a cake and sing happy birthday for one of my dealers Jack Russell. I had Armstrong walk over to the man from behind, icwatxh as he pulls a cattle prod out of his sleeve, put it in his left hand, stick it in the mans armpit and zap the ever-loving shit out of this poor bastard.

3 of my guards pick him up and I gestured to Henry to take care of a man in a blue suit with a brown pinstriped tie and white shirt, one of the cheaters, and bring him to the "back room". I quickly follow the guards to the back room. They open the door:

Guard 1: "your in trouble now, shitface!" he said as the other two held him up as he pulled down his pants to reveal a mini morse code device.
The two other guards drag the man to a table and bend him over it. They spread his arms apart and held him in place.

Guard 2: "cheaters justice!" he screamed as guard 1 pulled out a buzz saw and slowly inched it closer to his left hand. I walk in wearing my yellow suit with yellow shirt and matching tie and shoes, and give him the signal to stop.

"I'm just curious." I started. "I noticed you were shuffling your chips with your right hand. Can you do it with both hands?"
"no."
"you can't do it with both hands?" I replied.
"no sir."
"can you do it with your left hand?" I asked again.
"well... I... I never tried." he stammered.

"alright" I gestured to the guard to begin... He pulled out a claw hammer and smashed his right hand 4 times. Leaving it bloody and broken. He screamed in agony and the guards released their grips. Henry returned with the other cheater. "look what they did to my hand, man!!!" the man screamed in pain. I approached the second man.

"alright, I'm gunna give you a choice." I said. "you can have the money you stole, and the hammer across your head, or you can get out of here. You can't have both. Which one?" I asked
"I just wanna get out of here. I made a bad mistake."

"your damn right you made a bad mistake. Now if we catch either one of you in here, we will track the both of you down. You see that fucking saw there? We will use it! We don't fuck around in this place! Now get out of here!" I said.
"throw the other guy in an alley and tell the cops he got hit by a car." I said to the first guard.
"yes sir." they grabbed him, took him off his feet and used his head to open the alleyway door. I made my way back to the casino floor and walked around, studying everyone. Henry was by my side. I noticed a young kid, around 20, at the roulette table. This boy was stunning.

Gorgeous eyes, acne free face, tall, lean, gorgeous. But I was obligated to ask him for ID. I approached him,

"how are you?" I asked him.
"fine, thanks. How about yourself?" he asked.
"I'm great. Thanks for asking. By the way, do you happen to Have ID on you? You look younger than 21 and I'd hate to ask you to leave" and that was the truth.
"sure." he reached into his pocket and pulled out his ID and handed it to me.

I noticed that he turned 21 in 2 days, so I gave him a free pass.

"hey, could you come over here with me for a moment?"
"sure."
"look your not 21, but because your birthday is in two days, I'm gonna give you a pass this one time." I said.
"well, thank you Mr.....?"

"Tillman. Charlie Tillman. If you need anything, let me know." I said shaking his hand.

"well thanks Mr Tillman" he replied. I smiled a little bit, released my grip and continued to pace the casino cages, floor, slot rooms, restaurants, you name it, I watch it. But that boy... Was filling my head.... I couldn't let this distract me, after all, when I took over, I doubled the profit. Now the reason why I'm out here is because of the boss's system to rob the casino blind. So they sent me.

Besides, every boss in town knew I'd be perfect for this job. I continued to walk around the casino two or three times. Henry went home and his assistant, Gerry took control of the casino because I was going home.

"mr Tillman!"

I turn around looking for the voice.
"mr. Tillman!" it was the kid.
"hey." he said as he caught up to me.
"hey! Did you have a good time?" I asked.

"yeah, great. Hey... Uh... You wanna get some coffee later over at treasure island later?" he asked shyly.
"sure."

His faced lit up like a bright light. "by the way." I said leaning in towards him. "how old do you think I am?"

"I don't know... 30?" he asked again shyly.
"23"
"your only 23?!?" he asked loudly.
"yep. Let's go get that coffee... Um..."

"Riley." he answered.
"cool. Let's go!" we left the building. I couldn't believe i was going on a date with this kid. I hope it doesn't effect the Tangiers....