text: Logline: When a man's mob-connected grandfather dies, he becomes the number one target for the mafia, the police, and other opportunists. \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ Vinny Medici arrived at work today at the slaughterhouse at 7 a.m. just like he usually does. He worked at the slaughterhouse for five years with his Grandpa Mike, who offered him a job after having legal trouble, dealing drugs on the street. Vinny goes to the backroom, gets his apron and finds that there's a tear in the fabric. He shrugs it off and continues working on the first few steaks on the meat line. A couple of hours into the shift, Grandpa Mike hasn't arrived yet, that’s unlike him. If anything, he's usually in before Vinny. No matter, he's going about his work, cutting the steaks and preparing them for sale. There's a ring at the door; it's his grandpa's friend Bill Diego, and Vinny gets off the line and lets him in. "Hey Vinny, I've got some bad news this morning, your Grandpa Mike is dead," Bill says. "Oh my God, what happened?" Vinny asks. "It was a freak accident, his car went over the guardrail and flipped over, then it caught on fire, burnt to a crisp. I'm sorry to be so blunt," Bill says. "That's awful, is there's anything I can do," Vinny asks. "Tell you the truth, some of the boys down at the club could use access to the safe in the back office," Vinny knows that his Grandpa Mike is involved with the mob. He also knows that a lot of his Grandpa's friends are also involved, Bill Diego included. "I'm sorry, my grandfather never gave me access to the safe, it was probably too much responsibility," Vinny says. "That's alight kid, don't give it another thought. It'll take me about a day to get a safecracker down here, I'll be back tomorrow," Bill says as he heads out. Vinny goes back to the office, spins the dial on the safe, shrugs, and then returns to the meat line to cut more steaks. The rumor on the street is the slaughterhouse was some type of a bank for the mob; whenever they needed cash on hand, they would stop by the slaughterhouse and pick some up. Along with all sorts of weapons, guns, whatever else they needed, it was kind of a mob one-stop-shop. With his Grandpa Mike dead, the mob knew that there was a lot of exposure there. Vinny just assumed that they had someone watching the place. A couple of hours later, two detectives showed up, Vinny comes off the line again. "Hey Vinny, we're sorry for your loss, down at the police station we were shocked to hear about the accident. Couple of us thought it was a little suspicious, do you mind if we take a look around?" the detective asked. "Sure, that's fine; you can look around," Vinny said. Vinny did what his Grandpa Mike did before; there were at least three or four times over the five years at the slaughterhouse, that the police came to visit, every time, Grandpa Mike would let the police walk around. All of the guns, ammunition, and other mob-related things were locked away in a secret room that you couldn't even see from the outside unless you knew where to look. All of the cash on hand was it in the safe. "Well, everything looks normal here. Hey Vinny, do you have access to that safe in the office?" One of the detectives asked. "Nope, sorry, my grandfather never gave me access to that, too much responsibility, I guess," Vinny said. With that, the detectives left. Vinny follows them out onto the street. He looked up and down and saw that three or four potential people were spying on the slaughterhouse. Grandpa Mike was a big cog in the wheel; there were a lot of careers at stake that day. They weren't quite sure if they could trust the 28-year old Vinny just yet. Vinny goes back to work, cutting up the meat when he gets a call on his phone from his friend Elias. Vinny had known Elias since high school and was one of the main reasons he got involved in drug dealing in the first place. Elias also has mob affiliations, as he's in charge of street distribution of drugs. They still kept close but not as close as they were when he was slinging dope. "Yo, Vinny, I'm sorry to hear about your old man, condolences," Elias says. "Thanks, man, I appreciate it," Vinny says. "Hey, I have stuff that I want to talk to you about," Elias says. "Oh yeah, what do you want to talk about?" Vinny asks. "Not over the phone, I'll come by the slaughterhouse later today, alright?" Elias confirms. "Yeah sure, come on by," Vinny says. About an hour and a half later, Vinny gets another visit from the mob, this time in the form of a hitman, Bobby Sarasota. This visit was the first time since he got the news that he was actually concerned for his life. "Hey Vinny, the boss has sent me over here to see if I could help," Bobby says. "Help? You want to help cut the meat?" Vinny asks. "I think more in line with there were a couple of detectives here earlier today. I just want to know, what did they say? What did they do? And do they know anything?" Bobby asks. "They don't know anything, I barely know anything, they just walked around, like I've seen my grandpa do for years now. They did ask to get into the safe, I told him them couldn't let him in, and then they left, just like that," Vinny says. "They were looking at the safe?" Bobby says. "Yeah, they asked if I could get into the safe for them," Vinny says. Bobby nods his head, "You tell me the truth right now, can you get into that safe?" Bobby asks. "No, I swear I can't get into the safe," Vinny says. "You're telling me you worked with your grandfather for five years; he never shared the combination to the safe?" Bobby asks. "No," said Vinny. The safe had become a big deal; you could feel the mafia bosses trembling from here, proof against some of the most influential people in the city. Vinny could only imagine the chaos that was happening outside the slaughterhouse today. The police, looking at this as an opportunity to collect major evidence against some of the people they've been pursuing for years; the mafia, realizing that the slaughterhouse contains all sorts of records and weapons that could incriminate them; and low-level mobsters, trying to make a name for themselves, hoping that if they can solve this problem, they might just get a promotion. Vinny didn't know who to trust, so he didn't trust anyone. It's close to the end of his shift, into the slaughterhouse walks Elias. "Yo, Vinny, once again, I'm sorry about Mike," Elias says. "Thanks, Elias, what did you want to talk about?" Vinny asked. "Yeah, word on the street is that this place is ground zero for all sorts of information about mob-related crimes, we can be heroes here," Elias says. "What do you mean? Vinny asks. "I mean, if we could get into that safe, we can get all the evidence to safety, we'll become untouchable," Elias says. "Sorry bro, I don't have access to the safe, my grandfather never trusted me with stuff like that," Vinny says. They walk into the back office where the safe is. It's humongous, it would take six guys, and a forklift to even get it out of just the office. "Yo, I got a source that says something's going down at the Mount Vernon Street warehouse tonight, they're going to raid the slaughterhouse, we have to do something," Elias says. "Did you say the Mount Vernon warehouse?" Vinny asked. "Yeah, that's what the source said, Mount Vernon warehouse, I know, it's a dangerous part of town, but this is our chance bro," Elias says. "Let's go to the meatpacking station, I think I might have something to pry this safe open," Vinny says. They get to the meatpacking station, Elias begins to look around, "So, what can pry that safe open?" Elias asked. "I'm sorry bro, I didn't know it was going to be you," Vinny says as he puts on his protective gear and pushes Elias into the miter saw, killing Elias immediately. Vinny then goes through the process of chopping up Elias's body, packing him in 27 different meat containers, and then disposing of his body in 27 separate dumpsters and trash cans around the city. Vinny eventually returns to the slaughterhouse, goes to the backroom, puts the combination in the safe, and opens it up. He takes a giant gym bag, loads all the money, then doubles back and takes the weapons and guns and loads them into the trunk of his car. Done for the day as he hangs up his apron, he goes back to the tear in the fabric he found this morning and pulls out a sheet of paper. "Dear Vinny. This is your Grandpa Mike; I faked my death last night because there's a mole in the mob. There's going to be a lot of people coming around today asking about the safe in the back office, whatever you do, let no one into that safe, friend or foe. You might get visited by some detectives today, let them walk around the slaughterhouse like I normally do. Now, this last part is very important; if anyone comes around today talking about the Mount Vernon warehouse, they're the mole. That was the story I planted everywhere we knew the mole was going to be, no matter who it is, take care of them. Once finished, take the money and the weapons out of the slaughterhouse. Keep your head up, love you, Grandpa Mike.