Mob Hits - The Opening Scene of My Joey (Crazy Joe) Gallo Screenplay

The following is the opening scene of my 231-page screenplay, JOEY & JEFFIE, a love story with a mob backdrop, based on the stormy relationship of New York mobster Joey (Crazy Joe) Gallo and his Creole, showgirl wife, Jeffie Lee. It has been adapted from the biography, JOEY, by Donald Goddard.

Donald Goddard was a Londoner who lived in New York for 10 years, 8 of them as an editor in the Sunday Department of the New York Times. Before he died several years ago of pancreatic cancer and left me the screen rights to his biography of Joey Gallo, I asked him who he would like to cast in the lead roles. He said, "Tom Cruise, if you could get him to play against type" as Joey, and "Jennifer Lopez" as Jeffie Lee.

Those choices blew me away because I could see the genius in his choices. That was almost ten years ago. If I couldn't get Tom Cruise and Jennifer Lopez for the lead roles, my personal choices would be Colin Farrell and Michelle Rodriguez.

Below is the opening scene, which Donald Goddard helped me to rewrite, as he did the whole script. He coached me through two rewrites. He was adamant about how he wanted the story protrayed. Someday I'll share more of the story of how I came about writing the script, which took me four years on weekends and holidays, as I slaved away in the salt mines of the "real world." I originally adapted a portion of the book for the stage at the Swiss Avenue Theater center in Dallas in 1996, under the title, JOEY, as part of three, 20-minute shorts under the theme, 3 VIOLENT PLAYS.

The format of the opening scene below did not quite transfer right from Microsoft Word, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. (It is under copyright with the Library of Congress and the WGAw.)

FADE IN:

EXT. NEW YORK CITY – LOWER MANHATTAN – NIGHT

APRIL 7, 1972 – FOUR A.M.

A black Cadillac drives along a street downtown.

INSIDE THE CADILLAC

PETE THE GREEK is at the wheel. Next to him is his date, EDIE RUSSO, and on the passenger side is BOBBY DARROW.

In the back seat are SINA GALLO and her ten-year old daughter, LISA ESSARY, half-asleep against Sina’s shoulder, and JOEY (CRAZY JOE) GALLO and his sister, CARMELLA.

PETE THE GREEK
Some party, hey Joey?

Joey is morose and monosyllabic.

JOEY
Yeah.

BOBBY DARROW
Ten years since you been in the Copa and it’s like you never went away. Helluva place to celebrate your birthday.

SINA
Yes, I had a really good time, Joey. So did Lisa, didn’t you, honey?

Lisa nods sleepily at her mother.

EDIE RUSSO
Yeah, me too. They really rolled out the red carpet for us, didn’t they? Guess you don’t get to be forty-three every day. Right, Joey?

JOEY
Yeah.

CARMELLA
Joey, we need to take Lisa home.

JOEY
No, I’m hungry. She’ll be okay.

PETE THE GREEK
You know what time it is? It’s four a.m. There’s not going to be much open.

JOEY
Drive on down to Mulberry Street.

Pete looks nervous.

PETE THE GREEK
You kidding? Maybe that’s not such a good idea, Joey. Not with Colombo’s crew on the prod.

JOEY
Do like I tell you. I’m hungry. Drive on down to Mulberry Street.


EXT. MULBERRY STREET – UMBERTO’S CLAM HOUSE – NIGHT

Pete stops the Cadillac in front of the main entrance and turns off the engine.

Standing on the corner in front of Umberto’s are four men.

One of them is MATTY (THE HORSE) IANNIELLO. Matty the Horse recognizes Pete, walks up to the car and shakes Pete’s hand through the window.

MATTY THE HORSE
Hey, how are you, Pete? Been a long time.

PETE THE GREEK
Yeah, howya bin? Listen, I got Joey with me.

Matty steps back in shock, losing his tongue. Joey notices Matty’s reaction and is amused.

The other three men walk away and disappear around the corner as Joey and the others get out of the car.

INT. UMBERTO’S CLAM HOUSE – NIGHT

It is almost five a.m., but there are a few customers inside Umberto’s.

FOUR MEN IN WORK CLOTHES sit at one table, an ASIAN COUPLE at another, and a GIRL is seated at the counter.

The place is decorated with nets, floats and phony lifesavers. Joey chooses a table at the far end of the room, adjoining the side door onto Mulberry Street. Pete sits down on Joey’s left, and Carmella on his right.

Opposite them, with their backs to the wall, are Sina in the middle, Edie on her left, and Lisa on Sina’s other side by a coat stand. Joey thus has Pete between himself and the side door, and Carmella between himself and the main door.

JOEY
Jesus, what’s with these lights? It’s like Yankee fucking Stadium in here.

Matty the Horse comes in from the street and walks down the length of the counter and perches on a stool at the end and sits with his back to them.

A WAITER comes to take their order. Joey twists around in his chair, and jerks his thumb at Matty.

JOEY
Let him order for us. He knows what’s good. Right, Matty?

MATTY THE HORSE
(shrugging his shoulders)
Fix ‘em some boiled shrimp and scungilli salad.


INT. UMBERTO’S CLAM HOUSE – BASEMENT – JOEY

walks down the unusually extensive basement in search of the restroom. It is dimly lit and kind of scary. Joey walks down an angled stairwell to a dogleg corridor next to a huge dark cellar door. He passes a staff locker room, and a vaultlike door to a walk-in refrigerator. He finally sees the men’s & women’s rest rooms tucked away to the left. He hears WHISPERING but can’t tell where it is coming from. He goes into the men’s room and closes the door.

BACK AT JOEY’S TABLE

Carmella looks at the clock nervously.

CARMELLA
I wonder what happened to him?

SINA
(worried)
That’s what I’m wondering. What do you suppose he’s doing down there?

CARMELLA
Pete, why don’t you take a look? See if he’s okay.

PETE THE GREEK
Ah, come on ladies, leave him alone. Can’t a guy even go to the men’s room now, for Chrissake.

CARMELLA
But why would he take so long? I don’t like it, Pete. I think you should go down there.

PETE THE GREEK
Cam, I’m telling you, he’s okay. Leave him alone. I know what I’m doing.

At that moment Joey reappears, but it is a different Joey. No longer smiling, he appears taut and wary as an alley cat. It takes a moment or two before he seems to recognize them.

JOEY
Jesus, it’s spooky down there. Like a tomb. You could hide a whole lot of bodies down there. I heard noises down there that don’t make sense.

Pete stirs in his chair.

PETE
What kind of noises?

JOEY
I don’t know, Pops. Like rustling. And whispering.

There is an awkward silence. Carmella gives Joey a boisterous kiss on the cheek.

CARMELLA
Well, happy birthday, brother.

Suddenly, an ASSASSIN enters through the side door with gun in hand.

ASSASSIN
Motherfucker. You’re dead.

He begins firing at Joey.

Two ASSASSINS enter and fire at Joey also.

Joey is hit in the chest, but instantly rises and flinging out his arms, pushes Pete and Carmella out of the way. He then pushes the large table over onto Sina, Lisa and Edie in a tumbling avalanche of dishes, glassware, hot sauce, and condiments that carry them out of the line of fire.

Joey takes a few more bullets in the torso as he staggers forward. The ladies stay crouched on the floor, screaming.

Matty the Horse ducks into the kitchen.

The COOK and waiter dive behind the counter.

The other Patrons dive wildly for cover. The shooting stops and Joey staggers toward the front door.

Pete fumbles with his pistol which is caught in the lining of his coat. He accidentally shoots himself in the backside, but doesn’t even notice.

EXT. UMBERTO’S CLAM HOUSE – NIGHT

The Three Assassins run out of the side entrance of Umberto’s and head toward their car.

Pete the Greek appears at the door with gun drawn and begins firing at the fleeing assassins. They jump in their car unharmed, and speed off.

Joey stumbles out the front door, refusing to die. He lurches across the sidewalk and leans against Pete’s car for a moment, as if to gather his strength. Pushing himself off again, he stumbles around Pete’s car out into the middle of the intersection, folds gently at the knees, and rolls over onto his back.

BACK INSIDE UMBERTO’S – PETE THE GREEK

looks frantically for Joey, and finds Matty the Horse hiding in the kitchen.

He throws up the counter flap and storms in after him, stepping on the Cook’s hand in the process. Pete grabs Matty by the lapels and drags him out into the restaurant, slamming him against the counter.

PETE THE GREEK
I’ll blow your head off, you motherfucking son of a bitch. What do you know about this? I’ll kill you, goddamnit.

MATTY THE HORSE
(scared)
Nothing, Pete, honest. Jesus, in my own place? You gotta believe me.

Suddenly distracted by Carmella’s SCREAMING outside, Pete lets go of Matty and rushes outside.

OUTSIDE – INTERSECTION OF MULBERRY AND HESTER STREET

Joey lies dead in the very center of the intersection. He appears to be sleeping peacefully.

A phone RINGS.

INT. LOS ANGELES – NIGHT – JEFFIE’S APARTMENT

The same phone RINGS again.

JEFFIE GALLO is startled awake by the phone RINGING.

She is in bed where she has been sleeping, dreaming what we have just seen.
She is a Creole Marilyn Monroe, with wide eyes, the color of light jade, and a corn-crake voice from too much yelling and smoking.

She has Monroe’s luxurious figure, but near black hair, as glossy as molasses, and skin so dark that Sammy Davis, Jr. once accused her of passing.

She picks up the receiver by the bedside and places it to her ear.

JEFFIE
Hello?

GEORGE LLOYD (O.S.)
Jeffie, I’m sorry. Joey’s been killed.

Jeffie is speechless.

JEFFIE (V.O.)
George Lloyd called me from New York early one morning and woke me up to tell me my Joey had been killed. And as I lay there, hearing that, my life ended too.

TITLE SEQUENCE