Stanley Locke Quotes in Smokin' Aces (2006)

Stanley Locke: Pasquale Acosta. Blood-money mercenary. His countrymen have dubbed him the more dubious "El Estrago" - "The Plague". American educated. Fluent in over a dozen languages. Freelanced for the CIA. Noted for his legendary torture techniques. When he was caught by the SAS in Northern Ireland, in prison he chewed off his fingertips to the bones, so he couldn't be printed or ID'd by Interpol.

Richard Messner: [while staring at the comatose Buddy Israel and Primo Sparazza] Make it make sense.

Stanley Locke: They are father and son. Israel's mother was nineteen at the time. She and Sparazza had a brief affair of which Israel was the byproduct. That same year, she brought a paternity suit against him.

Richard Messner: Our surveillance of Padiche, Serna...

Stanley Locke: All bogus and bad information that set off a series of unfortunate events. Dr. Ingstrom, the Swede, is not a hired killer. He's actually the head of cardiology at Stockholm University. He's one of the best heart surgeons in the world. The actual contract went to Lazlo Soot, the man who escaped the penthouse yesterday... in disguise. He was hired by Sparazza to neutralize Israel's entourage. Dr. Ingstrom was here to perform the surgery, and as father and son, they are blood compatible.

Richard Messner: You're talking about a transplant, aren't you? You're talking about a fucking heart transplant. You're gonna kill Israel to save Sparazza

Stanley Locke: [hands Messner a folder] No.

[reffering to Sparazza's plastic surgery]

Stanley Locke: It wasn't elective. It was undertaken to save his life. It wasn't cosmetic. It was reconstructive. Look at the date of the first procedure. Same year that Sparazza supposedly murdered Freeman Heller.

Freeman Heller: [flashback] I'd like to show you exactly what I meant when I said, "Change my face." Using the latest techniques in cosmetic surgery, I will have my ears pinned back. Removing a slight piece of bone in my chin I will alter my jaw line. A procedure known as rhinoplasty will reduce the size of my nose. If you add facial hair to the equation, gentlemen, you have a face that looks nothing like mine and more importantly, nothing like a federal agent's.

Richard Messner: [present day] Oh, Christ.

Freeman Heller: [flashback] I will maintain a slight limp. My accent will be a regional Calabrese. My birthplace, Cosenza, Italy.

Richard Messner: [present day] That's him.

Freeman Heller: [flashback] And my name...

Richard Messner: [present day] That's Heller.

Freeman Heller: [flashback] ... will be Primo Sparazza. Now, gentlemen, I understand that this is a dramatic approach.

Stanley Locke: [present day] He went deep cover in 1940. He could have ripped the Mafia apart.

Freeman Heller: [flashback] But I firmly believe...

Stanley Locke: [present day] Dismantled most of the organized crime in this country.

Freeman Heller: [flashback] ... this is the only way to truly infiltrate organized crime.

Stanley Locke: His superiors were convinced that he had gone rogue, swapped allegiances, so they gave the order to terminate his cover. All this time, we were told that it was Sparazza that killed Heller, when it was us, the FBI. And we didn't kill him. He survived. But the injuries he sustained required constant surgery, forever alterine his features. So he assumed the identity of his alter ego. The figment of Primo Sparazza became flesh and blood, and Freeman Heller was no more. Now, the brass wanted Heller's op removed from official records, so they buried it completely and they wrote Heller off. All the agents from that era, they're dead and gone, so history defaulted to fable. Until now. Heller's op predated the second World War. About 60 years of amassed intel. Do you have any idea how valuable that is?

Richard Messner: Yeah. So you made another deal, didn't you?

Stanley Locke: Israel's deal with the government was tossed out. We are now trying to rehabilitate him, so we can attempt a transplant.

Richard Messner: You realize that you're doing this to save Sparazza?

Stanley Locke: No, son. I'm doing all this to save Heller.

Stanley Locke: Sparazza introduced Israel into the life. Gave him his first big break onstage, brought him up through the ranks. And Israel played the situation very shrewdly, slowly amassing the loyalties of Sparazza's top men, with the idea of toppling the throne.

Donald Carruthers: You know, I've seen some stupid moves, but...

Stanley Locke: Well, you spend your life pulling rabbits out of hats and sawing people in half, anything seems possible. Israel wanted to touch something real, something dangerous. But what he wound up doing was splitting up the family into dual factions. Sparazza on one side, Israel on the other. The infighting that followed drew the attention of every investigatory body operating under the canopy of the federal government. Presently, we have...

FBI Aid: Sixteen state and federally-funded agencies running concurrent criminal probes on select members of La Cosa Nostra.

Stanley Locke: With Israel being the target of virtually every one. His testimony has the potential of blowing the lid off of what's left of La Cosa Nostra in this country. That alone warrants total immunity from prosecution and a vanishing act with the Witness Protection Program.

[Carruthers is in an elevator with Pasquale Acosta, who is pretending to be Bill, a dead security manager]

Pasquale Acosta "S.A. Gerald Diego": [pretending his radio is dead] I don't believe this. Battery's completely dead.

[Carruthers tries his mobile phone]

Pasquale Acosta "S.A. Gerald Diego": Oh... forget it. Won't get a signal in here. You'll have to wait.

Donald Carruthers: [points to the emergency phone] Well, what about that line? Can't you contact your people with that?

Pasquale Acosta "S.A. Gerald Diego": No, these phones are hard-wired directly to maintenance. But, once we reach the penthouse, I can call down, I'll have the elevators taken offline, sir.

[Mildly agitated, Carruthers looks down and notices something about 'Bill']

Stanley Locke: [Carruthers' remembers Locke's briefing]

[voiceover]

Stanley Locke: "Pasquale Acosta. Blood-money mercenary. "El Estrago" - "The Plague".

[Carruthers' notices Acosta's damaged fingertips]

Stanley Locke: [voiceover] "When he was caught by the SAS in Belfast, and in prison, he chewed off his fingertips to the bone."

Donald Carruthers: [Carruthers becomes very suspicious] Why don't you have maintenance do it?

Pasquale Acosta "S.A. Gerald Diego": Do what, sir?

Donald Carruthers: Shut the elevator down.

Pasquale Acosta "S.A. Gerald Diego": An emergency shutdown of our entire elevated lift system, sir? No, that has to be handled by my staff, sir.

Donald Carruthers: [becoming even more cautious] How long have you been working here?

Donald Carruthers: [slowly reaches for his gun] Bill?

Staff: [Acosta notices movement in the reflection of the elevator]

[Over the radio]

Staff: Oh my God! I need an ambulance for Bill! I'm in the security room.

[Carruthers pulls his gun out, while Acosta turns around and impales him with his wrist blade. A shootout ensues between Carruthers and Acosta]