Eagle & Crown, Inc.
Philadelphia
6:55pm

Rawley had just finished cleaning up a small mess of blood on his carpet from the run-in he'd had a few hours earlier. His jewelry-sale-gone-wrong was about to become the least of his worries. The front door was closed and locked, so when he heard two knocks at his front door he was rather surprised.

"Yeah, one second, I'm-" the second Rawley opens the door, he regrets it. The nagging bullet wound in his shoulder would have to wait as he's abruptly tackled to the floor of his office by an officer. "Oh what the fuck is this?" He said from the ground.

"Maddox Rawley, you are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent- so go ahead and shut the fuck up."

Rawley is rolled onto his belly with his arms painstakingly drawn behind his back. Stood up, he's walked out the front door of his office with the door left swinging open.

Rawley stepped through the doorway quickly into the executive office of the casino, hearing the deafening casino ruckus silenced as the thick oak door closes behind him. Smiling, he extends his hand for a shake.

"Hello, gentlemen. I am thrilled that we've been able to put this together. It's truly the last missing piece in what I need for my operation." Rawley nodded to the two men and sat down in the empty leather chair opposite the impressive desk of the casino chairman. Opening his briefcase, he places several ornate jewels in front of the two men.

"These are priceless items, yanked by my associates across the pond. They're too distinct for any fence in Europe to take them, but here in America they make a killing." Rawley slides the items forward for both Tommy and Meyer to get a closer look. "This is the source of my income."

"I ship some regular old shit to them that's been price-fixed and rationed for them to sell on the black market, and they send me these. I've got a fence back in Philly and one in New York, and between the two of them I can always find a seller."

"As you can imagine, selling black market goods and stolen jewelry doesn't look good on a tax form. And that, gentlemen, is where you'll come in." Rawley reached into his briefcase to pull out a series of memos typed up by an attorney. "In exchange for a small stake in your operation, all the money I earn from selling these items will flow directly to the Hollywood Casino. You'll be able to exchange the cash for chips, the chips will be, tragically, lost in games of change, and on a regular basis I'm paid capital income for my stake in the casino."

Laying it all out on the desk, he sat back and gave the two distinguished men an opportunity to look over the arrangement themselves.

   Meyer reads the documents a couple times and hands them to Tommy. "Looks like a win win deal here" Tommy nods in agreement with a smile. The three men seal the deal with handshakes and Rawley sets off to sell his case of stones.

24 hours later

The guard brings in Mr Rawley who is all smiles holding his briefcase "I love smooth deals let me tell ya. I damn near got top dollar for them." Tommy and Meyer whistled seeing the stacks of bills in the case full. "You did do well,  you got some nice connections" Tommy grinned.           

    Meyer counted out the stacks and once satisfied he went to a back room and came back with a tray full of Vitale Casino playing chips of different colors and denominations. "Good luck" Meyer smiled coyly.

Rawley went from table to table  gathering on lookers  watching in anticipation as he makes medium to large bets. The continous loud groans from them signified Rawley's "terrible luck". 2 hours later he placed his final 1000 dollars in chips on blackjack. he recieves 2 queens. Rawley watched the dealer flip his cards 4,5,3,6...the people all inhaled thinking Rawley was finally going to win a hand. The dealer slowly flips a...3. "21! house wins sorry my friend" He takes his chips.

Meyer slowly approaches Rawley who's look is of complete disbelief. "I've never seen such bad luck and you sunk what your life savings or something?" Rawley slowly nodded appearing shocked for a few patrons patting him on back and buying him a drink. Meyer hands Rawkey a ticket "Here's a voucher for a free steak dinner and after you are done go to the guard to escort you to see Mr Vitale in his office." Meyer left after giving Rawley a pat on the back.

1 hour later

Rawley is brought in. Tommy grins "There's bad luck Rawley! how was your dinner?" Rawley grins "perfect but what I'm looking forward to is... *rubs fingers together*..dessert!" Meyer grins "a man after my own heart." Another knock occurs and a Latin gentleman Meyer bought off who works for FBN wearing a trench coat and slacks walks in. Tommy stands up shaking his hand "ahhh Fredrico my man just in time. The beaureau been asking questions?" Fredrico just grinned "yeah but I fed them a bunch of bull and sent a few on a wild goosechase. so..it is payday it seems." Tommy goes to the back "yes gentleman it is that day for sure!" He returns with several cases handing one to Rawley then Fredrico and lastly Meyer Lansky. 

   "Gentleman we simply must do this again sometime"

The four men erupt into laughter before departing 

After extending his lighter, Rawley returns it to the breast pocket of his suit jacket with a visible unease. Rawley had taken great care to avoid the eyes of the law- greasing every palm from Broad Street to the Delaware. He thought he was clean. Spotless. Should have known it'd be some fucking rat that does him in. Thankfully, their attorneys had negotiated a room for the three of them to discuss business.

"It's not good. Depending on who this rat is, this shit might actually stick. Assuming we can't get a name before they take the stand, we may need to get into it with a few of these jurors." Rawley said, his eyebrows furrowed in frustration.

"They're all locals. I realize Las Vegas is a big city, but it can't be so big that twelve people could go unknown this long. Our best bet is gonna be letting loose some muscle to comb the streets for one of these unlucky schmucks. One is enough for a hung jury. A hung jury is a win."

Rawley stood up and looked out the long, narrow window in the door, then turned back to his accomplices-turned-codefendants.

"What do you guys think? Any hits on the rat bastard that got us pinched?"

The profiteering trio had successfully found the rat that threatened to sink their operation. Fredrico had been paid to keep quiet about the large sums of money moving across state lines that would almost certainly have attracted attention. Though they were frustrated to see a man on their payroll turn state's witness, it was unsurprising to see it was a two-timing federal agent. With the rat's opportunity to testify rapidly approaching, time was of the essence. If Fredrico were able to take the stand, any time spent on the jurors may be a lost cause.

Rawley's efforts to identify and hunt down jurors was going well, but that was always a Plan B scenario. If there were no witness, then there would be no crime. His dossiers on potential jurors to manipulate would hopefully be unnecessary- if we can get to this rat before he squeaks.

"Fredrico, huh? Even sounds like a rat," Rawley said, visibly frustrated. "So who's gonna take care of him? No version of this where he's still walking by the time he's called to testify. Do we want to scare this rat fuck recanting his testimony, or should we make it so he's delivering his statement from a pine fucking box?"

Rawley turned to Meyer. "This is your guy. How are you gonna handle it?"

The trio entered the courtroom as defendants, but exit once again as free citizens and partners. For a brief moment, the threat of lockup had made Rawley question whether he really wanted this life. But the satisfaction of a plan coming together made that question easy to ignore. With his next shipment arriving later in the week, Rawley was ecstatic to get back to business, and so were his accomplices.

"Nice fucking job, gentlemen." Rawley said as the three walk down the steps of the courthouse to where their cars were waiting. "I've got a shipment coming in this week and a meeting with a fence in New York to get em sold quick. Half a mil coming our ways and no more filthy rats to get in our way. I'd say this calls for a celebration!"

Tommy and Meyer agreed enthusiastically. It was exhausting being in and out of jail, in and out of court, and tracking down every lead to get this all sewn up. They could finally start expanding their operation once more.

"Shall we meet at the Tailor's Speakeasy for a drink?" Rawley smiled. "I'm sure Chuck would love to hear this story. And at least we know there won't be any filthy rats lurking in the shadows."

The three businessmen climbed into their cars as a furious prosecutor watched them from the top of the courthouse steps- three more criminals getting away with it. Maybe he'd learn his lesson that there's more profit in working with the mob than against it. Or maybe he'll end up like his friend from the agency.

Regardless, drinks will be flowing tonight as they celebrate their freedom, their profits, and their future, bright as ever.

Madison's phone rang with just the” Hello Doll” She knew exactly who it was.  I need a favor.  I need your cleaners.   She grabbed a pen and piece of paper and wrote the address down.  I will take care of it and she hung up the phone.

She dialed Whispers.  Whispers I have a job for you.  She gave him the address.  There’s a package in the rug for you to take care of.  Call me when everything is done. 

Madison had the best cleaners in the business.  They are in and out, they take care of any witnesses, and leave the scene spotless.

A little over an hour Madison receives a call from Whispers.  Hey Madi it’s done, no problems and the package is taken care of.   Thank you Whispers you can stop by and get the funds to pay your guys.

Madison dialed a number and when they answered she just said “It’s all good”.