Bolan got the feeling the little guy was talking just to drown out his heartbeat.
"Between 'em they also play fifteen musical instruments. They got here early, to catch the competition along the Strip. Old show biz tradition, nobody loves a performer like another performer. Trouble is, most of the clubs show at the same time, so we don't get a chance to catch each other unless we come early or stay late. They're nice kids, Bolan. We've billed together at Miami Beach, Tahoe, San Juan — hell, everywhere. We're friends, though, that's all. They saw me get it, just outside here a few hours ago, and I guess they're all that saved me from a worse beating than I got. They started yelling, the goons took off, the girls pulled me in here and called a doctor. Gave me a key, told me to stay as long as I like, and then went supper-clubbing." He grinned. "That's show biz. What else you wanta know?"
"Why're they muscling you? And don't tell me they just don't dig your act."
"The act I do, I'm lucky I don't get mugged twice a night."
"You know what I mean."
Anders sighed and took a long pull at his drink. "Yeah. The mob. The mythical Mafia. I'll tell you something, Bo — Frankie. If Autry sent you, then you should know also why I'm getting muscled."
"We weren't able to discuss the fine points. He just said that you're in trouble, something you don't want the cops in on just now."
"Look… I've been fifteen years getting where I'm at, and it's been uphill all the way. If those guys think I'm going to hold still for a death kiss now they're outta their minds. I fought guys like that all my life, grew up on the streets with 'em, and I thought I'd gotten away from all that. But I found out better. There's no getting away from those guys, Bolan, they're like ants at a picnic."
"What guys? The mob?"
"Yeah, the myths. They've grabbed control of my managers. I've been with ASA since '62 and they've always been a great outfit. But now..."
"ASA?" Bolan queried.
"That's American Show Association. They manage and book talent all over the world, and they've always been one of the best. I find out now that one of the partners sold out to the mob. He's working for them now — fronting for them, I guess — drawing a salary. Listen, I'm not..."
"Why worry, Anders? Why should you care who books you, so long as you keep getting the top spots?"
"Look, Bolan, you know better than that. You wanta feed me straight lines though — okay, let's play. You know how it goes. Let the mob get one finger on you, just one, pretty soon they got it clear up your ass and they're turning you wrong-side-out like a dirty sock."
"Give me a for instance," Bolan said.
"For instance. Okay, try this one. I've been opening the winter season at the Fountains in Miami Beach every year for the past five. Me'n the management have this thing going, we're like old buddies. Any time I'm passing through I sleep there, and I always get the visiting royalty treatment. It's been that way for five years. Get the picture?"
"I've got it," Bolan assured him. "Go on."
"So this winter an old tradition went to hell. Tommy Anders did not open the season at the Fountains. ASA told me the hotel figured it was time for a change. Okay, it hurt a little, but I bought the story. I go on to San Juan and spend a couple of months playing the islands. Last month I'm coming back through Miami. I stop at the Fountains as usual. No visiting royalty treatment this time, no buddy-buddy at all. I finally corner my old buddy Jake in his office and I ask him what's going on. Then I get the story. You ready?"
Bolan nodded. "I'm ready."
"The guy is scared out of his skull. He tells me I can go to hell if I like, but he's not going with me. He says he's not giving the mob one little fingerhold on his place and furthermore he'll do no more booking through ASA. That's hurting him, sure, some of the most popular acts in the business are under ASA management, so I'm stunned, see. I finally pull the story out of Jake. They hit him with this routine, see. He can get Tommy Anders to open his season, sure, but there's certain new conditions now. ASA don't like some of the people the Fountains is doing business with. They don't like his suppliers, especially his booze distributors, and they don't even Eke the laundry he uses. They give Jake this long list of hotel supply outfits and tell him he's got to use them exclusively if he wants ASA talent in his showbills.
"Well, to make it short, Jake threw them out. And me, of course, with them. Hell God, Bolan, I was stunned. I just didn't know what to tell him. I start checking back then, realizing now that I've been putting in an unusual season — my bookings, I mean. I hadn't thought of it before, but these were all new joints I'd been playing. New to me, I mean. So I start asking around, I'm still stunned and can't believe it, see. I even dropped into the fuzz palace in Miami. They got a what they call a Dade County Public Safety Department, it's what they call the Sheriff there. They got this Organized Crime Bureau, and I talked to this guy they call a specialist in organized crime. Hell God, what a story this guy gives me, Bolan, ordinary people wouldn't believe it.
"Anyway, I very quick got the picture that was closing in on me. And yeah, they've got their finger clear up into my large intestine, by now, I can see that. I been playing nothing but mob joints all season, me and most of the ASA headliners. I don't mean the mob owns these joints, not outright, but they're controlling all the action in them.
"Those guys are building a whole new empire around the show business world, and bet your ass — if they're into ASA then they're into other agencies too. And they're building an empire of booze, women, food, vending machines, illegal gambling, services, labor, the whole bit. This agent in Miami tells me all these businesses on the ASA vendor's list are mob controlled.
ASA is using the talent, see, jerks like me, to get that foot in the door for them. And that's not all. I mean, I got a selfish gripe, too."
"They're selling you down the river," Bolan commented.
"Right, that's exactly right. There's money in commissions, sure, but that's peanuts now for ASA. They'll barter me into oblivion if it serves their purposes. But that's not the scariest part, Bolan. I mean, I'm not all that noble, but there's more involved here than what happens to Tommy Anders. You ready for the biggee?"
Bolan smiled grimly and said, "Go."
"ASA has artists in just about every segment of show business. I mean like Broadway, television, movies — when you think of show business, you can't help thinking about ASA, they're that big. Can you imagine what that means? This mythological and invisible second 'Government of America' is taking over the show world."
Bolan said nothing. He lit a cigarette and scowled at the smoke rising toward the ceiling of the bungalow.
After a moment of silence, the comic said, "You can't buy that, eh?"
"Sure, I buy it," Bolan replied.
"I know it may not seem very important, but… I mean, show biz is just a thin layer of frosting on American life, I realize that, but hell God, Bolan… my guts shake every time I think of turning the whole thing over to..."
"I never liked cake without frosting," Bolan said, abruptly rising to his feet. "So where do you stand right now with ASA?"
"That's where Autry comes in," Landers replied. "I filed a formal complaint with the guild. They sent Autry up to talk to me, and to poke around in the local situation. Said to keep it quiet about this mob stuff until they've had a chance to look into it."