"THE STING"byDavid S. WardSecond draft FADE IN:A white on black TITLE appears in the lower left hand cornerof the screen:AUGUST, 1936FADE OUTFADE IN:EXT. A SLUM AREA OF JOLIET - DAYIt's a bleak, windy morning, the kind that clears the streetsof all but the winos (who carry their own heaters), and thepoint-men for juvenile gangs. We pick up a solitary figure,Joe Mottola, coming down the street and entering what appearsto be an abandoned tenement. He pauses a second to dust hiswhite-winged alligator shoes on the back of his pants leg.Sharply dressed and surrounded by the aura of one who ismaking money for the first time and broadcasting it on allbands, he seems an incongruity in this part of town.We follow him up a flight of rickety stairs to a second floorflat. He knocks on the door, is admitted by a cautiousdoorman.INT. NUMBERS SPOT - DAYSuddenly we are plunged into a room of chattering, clamoringpeople. This is a spot for the numbers racket, a place immunefrom legal interference, where any sucker can bet on a numberbetween 1 and 1000 in the hope of getting the 600 to 1 payoffthat goes to those few who guess right. The bettors arequeued up in several lines before a long table, where theyplace their bets and are given receipts in return.Others wait at a cashier's window to pick up previous earningsor to ask for credit.Mottola moves through the crowd to a back room where bettingslips are being sorted and money counted under the watchfuland somewhat impatient gaze of a Supervisor, an older mannamed Mr. Granger. The Yankee-White Sox game is heard onthe radio in the background.Mottola, noticing that his entrance has aroused littleinterest, saunters over to the Phone Girl and gives her a
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