Wise Guys! When you don’t wanna see ‘em they’re everywhere. When you do, they’ve all split.

Why do I want to see some today? I need some help with something, nothing too heavy, mainly fetching and carrying, no-one needs to get hurt…… well no-one who’s not expecting it anyway.

See this guy I know, works at the harbour, and he’s given me the inside track on a ship that’s due in within the next couple of days, comin’ in from Cape Town. What’s so special about this ship? Ice, that’s what’s special! He says there’s some crates that are being shipped in by De Beers.

No, not “Da Bears”, why the hell would bears be shippin’ anything? De Beers…. The diamond guys! They’ve got some diamonds arriving. See the thing is, this pal of mine says they’ve shipped  in through New York for years. Whenever their stuff arrives the security at the harbour goes through the roof. I mean there’s guys there for a few days that you never see any other time, making sure everything that needs to be locked is locked. Making sure that everyone working is meant to be there, watching everyone. Then a couple of days after the hullabaloo starts a ship arrives from Cape Town and along with all the bananas or whatever the fuck they bring in from the jungle there’s a handful of crates that all these guys pay a lot of attention to. Men with shotguns everywhere, none of the regular dock guys allowed anywhere near them, they get loaded into a security truck and they leave with cops everywhere, sirens, motorcycle outriders, the works.

At least that’s what used to happen.

About three or four months ago it changed. They stopped using the armoured car. God only knows why, maybe they thought it was a bit too obvious and they were asking to be knocked off? Last few times they’ve used a bunch of regular Ford Panel Trucks, Post Office trucks! So you get the same bunch of guys but they hold the stuff in the trucks in one of the sheds at the harbour until around 3am, when the trucks drive out all discreet and take off in different directions. And you know the great thing? So far they’ve used the same trucks! Must be modified somehow I guess, maybe some armour or something?

But that’s not the best part. It turns out one of the drivers has a habit of backing the losing team, and it’s a real bad and regular habit. So bad he owes a friend of mine a lot of dough, the sort of dough you don’t earn working for the US Postal Service.

So all we gotta do it tell him we’ll take care of the debt if he’s our inside guy and it’s as easy as ABC.

But, I can’t find the guys I need for the job. And I know I’ll need to get something like this sanctioned from the man up top, but I can’t go to him with some half-baked scheme, I need a crew on this. Yeah he’ll probably want to put some people on it, and I’d want those guys on it too. And then I’m gonna need some help moving the stuff on, I mean who the hell do you sell diamonds to? No-one I know. And all of those guys are gonna want their cut. But, if I have a plan and the makings of a crew I can ask to keep more of what’s made than if I just go with some information and let others make all the arrangements. And there should be plenty to go round.

So I’m gonna have to look around, see what faces I know. The guys I need aren’t where I need them, it’s 9am for Christ’s sake, the best part of the day is gone. I’m gonna need to go bang on some doors…