Character Analysis
(Avoiding Spoilers)
Living… paycheck to paycheck in Manhattan in the neighborhood of Greenwich Village. Charlie has grand ambitions for himself – and very expensive tastes – but he doesn’t have the bank account to match. He barely scrapes by.
Profession… former maître d’ at Sal’s Restaurant in Greenwich Village. Charlie was fired when his cousin Paulie, a waiter, was caught skimming checks. Now Charlie is broke and looking for work so that he can own a restaurant of his own some day.
Interests… listening to Frank Sinatra, collecting rings, and maintaining his hair. Charlie also likes to wear his tailored suits even though he has no job to wear them to.
Relationship Status… divorced. Charlie has to pay alimony to his ex-wife, Cookie, while supporting his pregnant girlfriend Diane. The women in his life are taking a toll on him financially. As he says, “I got two shylocks I gotta carry on my back, I got a marshal who wants to put a lean on my salary – when and if I get a salary – I got an ex-wife and I got a kid I gotta feed every week.”
Challenge… getting some cash. Luckily, he and Paulie have identified a get-rich quick scheme that involves a racehorse sired with sperm stolen from the winner of the Belmont. He plans to get the money to buy the racehorse by cracking a safe, but there is one small complication. The safe belongs to the Mafia godfather of Greenwich Village.
Personality… tough, ambitious, and stylish. Charlie is a hard-edged New York Italian with good taste. Despite his humble origins, he always insists on wearing the finest suits, the best ties and the softest pocket squares. You’ll never catch him without his hair combed back. He’s a dreamer who has an image of the life he is supposed to be living.
Get to Know him in...
-
Charlie and his troublesome cousin Paulie decide to steal $150000 in order to back a "sure thing" race horse that Paulie has inside information on. The aftermath of the robbery gets them into serious trouble with the local Mafia boss and the corrupt New York City police department.
-
Charlie and Paulie consider themselves "family" even though they are only fifth cousins. Neither of them is 100 percent legitimate but they are not heavy thieves either. They beat the system as best they can with the various inside hustles of New York City's bar and restaurant scene. Charlie, managing a Village restaurant at age thirty-five, needs one shot to realize his dream of owning his own place in rural New England. Meanwhile, he's just a jump ahead of two shylocks and into the worst streak of losing horses he has ever gone through. Paulie is only a five-foot-three-inch waiter but he thinks big. Very image conscious, he even tips toll booth attendants. And he went into hock to become part owner of a "turrow bed" racehorse. Now he has an idea for one foolproof burglary that will solve all his problems for good, and he enlists Charlie in his scheme. The third member of the team is Barney. A semi-retired locksmith and safecracker from the Bronx, Barney has a retarded son and is willing to take one last gamble to provide for his future. A clean break-in, a three-way split, and each of their dreams will come true. Maybe. Before it's over, they find themselves relentlessly hunted by both the Mafia "wise guys" and the police. And each of them grasps for survival in a different way. Acutely realistic yet wondrously funny, The Pope of Greenwich Village captures the speech, the scams, the flavor, the dread, and the humor of ordinary people scrambling to make it big in a neighborhood that prides itself on creating and enforcing its own laws.
