Characters

Carlo Rivera is a small-time gangster with big ideas. He wears flashy clothes and drives a cherry-red Pontiac Firebird, visualizing his dream of making it big and escaping Brooklyn for “the beaches of the world.” Carlo’s dreams of money and power are fuelled by abundant craftiness and self-assurance. He doesn’t know the meaning of the word “fear.” He is charming and charismatic, and can usually convince people (even his enemies) to go along with his schemes. But if Carlo doesn’t get his way, he is capable of the most brutal and shocking violence.

Don Paolo Gustaffaro is the head of the Manhattan Mob. From his favorite table in a Little Italy trattoria, the Don oversees a crime network that amasses billions every year from drug trafficking, prostitution, gambling, loan sharking and protection rackets. And yet the elderly Don seems to be above the fray, a nice old man who spends his days holding court with friends, or reading his favorite newspapers (including the Vatican’s Osservatore Romano). But anyone who thinks this placid exterior means the old guy is going soft is in for a big (and fatal) surprise! Carlo needs to bring Don Paolo onside to pull off his SuperScam.

Massimo Girotti is Carlo’s behind-the-scenes right-hand man, a mysterious and paranoid character who runs an electronics shop as a legitimate front for his nefarious undertakings. Massimo is a fixer, a master organizer, whose loyalty to Carlo is beyond question. Massimo idolizes Carlo. Although quiet and soft-spoken, Massimo is not to be messed with. When he finds out that his wife is having an affair with a Russian criminal, he tracks him down and disfigures him. Massimo is the nephew of Don Paolo Gustaffaro, and he mediates negotiations between the two men, as he works to convince his uncle that Carlo is a stand-up guy and that the SuperFix plan -- which he expects don Paolo to bankroll – can’t miss.

Bobby “Beau” Williams is the most outstanding linebacker in the Des Moines Blue Bombers’ history and a star player in the National Football League. He is captain of the defensive unit and as such calls defensive formation of each play in collaboration with the defensive coach Pat Paynter. Between Williams and Paynter, they control the Blue Bombers’ defense. Williams is the lynchpin of Carlo’s SuperFix plan. Beau is a great player, on and off the field. He never had problems attracting women, and at 37, is still a handsome devil, rangy and muscular. Everyone who knows him calls him “Beau” ‘cause he’s such a bohunk.

Pat Paynter is a desperate man. The 47- year-old defensive coach of the Des Moines Blue Bombers senses that time is running out. Pat’s window of opportunity is shrinking, closing like an iris in an old silent picture. He needs to win a Super Bowl game, to ensure that he gets the head coach job with the Blue Bombers. Pat must battle his innate goodness and honesty when approached by Carlo, who tempts him with dreams of glory and financial security. But Pat is also human and he wavers, because he is saddled with a sick wife and mounting medical bills, and Carlo offers him a way out.

Corrupt private investigator Jeb Troxler’s friends call him “ the human lamprey,” because when he sticks to you, there’s no letting go. Carlo helped Jeb out of a jam and now he’s calling in his markers. From his crummy office on Union Square in downtown Manhattan, the hard-working, resourceful Jeb orchestrates the surveillance effort that will dig up dirt on the key players in Carlo’s SuperFix operation.

Bambi is an aging but still vital female escort who now works for Jeb Troxler, seducing men in hotel rooms, knowing that Jeb is close, taking pictures and recording pillow talk. Bambi has a voracious sexual appetite and a total lack of moral scruples, and puts a lot of body English into her latest assignment – convincing unhappily married star linebacker Bobby “Beau” Williams to enter into an illicit and adulterous relationship.

FBI Agent Frank Grimes is a bland-looking man with an unremarkable face you’d forget the moment it was out of view, and so he is perfect for surveillance work. He is so ordinary in appearance – with his bland features and sandy hair – that he could blend in with any crowd and merge with the surroundings. But behind that anonymous exterior lies an ambitious and ruthless man who will stop at nothing to advance his career prospects in the FBI. Grimes stumbles across the conspiracy ( the exact nature of which hi is unaware) while eavesdropping on Don Paolo Gustaffaro’s favorite restaurant, a known Mafia hangout in Little Italy. The rogue agent decides to investigate solo without informing his superiors. He is bound for glory, and hell with working through proper channels.

Sports commentator Danny Wells is a colorful announcer who favors tan plaids and wears a bad hairpiece that resembles a piece of lettuce on his head. As is often the case with middle-aged sports announcers, he is rather short and portly. However. Wells’ knowledge of football is uncanny. His ability to dredge up statistics on every NFL game since the league was formed in 1920 is legendary. No one can beat Danny Wells for play-by-play or color commentary.