Lesson 10

[Robert Smith]

ROBERT R. SMITH’s TRUST RELATIONSHIPS

WHAT I LEARNED IS…?

How do build the emotional tension in the story’s and characters’ subtext based on trust/distrust.

Genre: Crime Thriller.

Title: THE GOLEM OF GANGLAND.

Pitch: A rabbi’s spirit time-travels back to 1939 in order to save the life and soul of his gangster uncle, not only from other gangsters of Murder Incorporated but from a monster-anthropoid (a golem) that he harbors and a prayer-curse for the death of others.

THE CHARACTERS:

HERO – MAX LEVITSKY: A gangster with Murder Incorporated; Louis “Lepke”

Buchalter (Boss).

VILLAIN – ABE “KID TWIST” RELES: Ruthless hitmen ordered by Lepke to kill Max and

steal the golem.

VILLAIN – LOUIS “LEPKE” BUCHALTER: Boss of Murder Incorporated who wants the

Golem for himself to consolidate his power over New York City and all New

York’s organized crime.

THE GOLEM: An artificial anthropoid made of clay, mistaken for an old statue of antiquity

but a dangerous monster activated by secret spells from ancient Jewish magical

texts. Max acquires the Golem as a clay statue stolen from the ruins of a synagogue by Arab terrorists who sell it to Max who is involved in the black market of illegal antiquities trafficking for Lepke, but Max wants to keep the Golem for his own uses,

ALLY OF THE HERO – RABBI SOLOMON LEVITSKY: The guardian angel and nephew of

the Hero MAX LEVITSKY sent on a time-travel mission back to 1939 to save the life and soul of his gangster uncle, MAX LEVITSKY, who has no idea that the Rabbi is his future nephew.

ALLY OF THE HERO – LOU TASCA is a redeemed gangster soul and angel partner of Rabbi

Solomon in his mission to save the life and soul of the Hero.

VILLAIN – NAHOUM GABBAI: A corrupt rabbi who activates the Golem for Max and who

gives him a scroll with the text, translation and transliteration of the Aramaic

“Pulsa di-Nurah” (Lashes of Flame) curse-prayer used to cause the death of

another. This prayer was used by some fanatics against Yitzhak Rabin who was

assassinated shortly afterward. In my story, Max recites it against Max’s would-

be killer ABE RELES, which the Golem overhears and takes as a command to

murder Reles, which he does.

HERO – THOMAS E. DEWEY is New York DA and organized crime buster who arrests Reles

who then dies in police custody. , After Reles is killed in police custody, Max surrenders and agrees, as did Reles, to flip and testify against Lepke and Murder Incorporated.

HERO/ RED HERRING My story has no red herring character.

TRUST/DISTRUST.

MAX and LEPKE: Trust to distrust.

Max and Louis “Lepke” Buchalter, his boss in Murder Incorporated. Max trusts Lepke but then distrusts him after Lepke orders Abe Reles to kill him.

MAX and ABE RELES. Trust to distrust.

Max initially trusts Abe Reles as a fellow member of Murder Incorporated. However, as

with Lepke, when Reles is pursuing him to kill him, Max turns to distrust.

MAX / THE GOLEM

Max initially trusted the Golem because he is his master but Max sees the Golem grow in size and strength when he murders Reles and realizes his obedient servant could become Max’s master and kill him.

MAX / RABBI SOLOMON and LOU TASCA. Originally he distrusts their claim to be

supernatural beings sent to help him but then realizes they really will help save his life

and soul and he trusts them – remembering that one thing the corrupt rabbi, Nahoum

Gabbai did tell Max was that God would send him angels (messengers) to bear him up.

MAX / NAHOUM GABBAI – At first, Max is not sure whether he should trust or distrust this

corrupt rabbi until he activates the Golem through magic spells. Max should not have trusted him because he gave to him the Golem that would prove destructive and a curse-prayer for the death of others that ultimately would cause spiritual harm to Max. The only good Nahoum Gabbai did was prophesy to Max that God would bless him with angels (messengers) who show up in the persons of Rabbi Solomon Levitsky and Lou Tasca.

MAX / THOMAS E. DEWEY. Max does not trust this crime-buster as any gangster would but

following the murder of Reles and Rabbi Solomon’s counsel, Max grows in his trust of

Dewey and surrenders to him with the promise that, like Reles, he will flip and

testify against Lepke and Murder Incorporated.

NEW THRILLER MAP OF “THE GOLEM OF GANGLAND.”

Additions from the trust/distrust developments are included in bold.

GENRE: CRIME THRILLER

TITLE: THE GOLEM IN GANGLAND

NOTE: Here are the plot twists in the body of the story map

OPENING: In Heaven, the souls of Rabbi Solomon Levitsky and his soul-companion (a redeemed gangster) Lou Tasca are called on a time-travel mission back to 1939 to save the life and soul of Rabbi Solomon’s gangster uncle, Max who is in trouble.

INCITING INCIDENT: In British Mandated Palestine, after running guns to the Haganah, Uncle Max meets Arab terrorists who sell antiquities to finance their terrorism. From them, Max buys a large antique clay statue for his gangster boss Lepke Buchalter to sell on the antiquities black market. But the clay statue turns out to be a genuine Golem, a Frankenstein-like mass of clay with the capability of horrible destruction when activated by ancient magic spells. Although at first, Max doesn’t trust the corrupt Rabbi Nahoum Gabbai, the cleric’s ingratiating manner leads Max to invite him to his place where Gabbai activates the Golem into a slumbering-state, using mystical Hebrew letters. In such a state, Max will bring the Golem by ship to New York in order to give him to Lepke. Gabbai says that Max will be the Golem’s master “so you need not fear the Golem or any other gangster because I am also giving you a scroll with the sacred name of God to insert into the Golem’s mouth in order to awaken the Golem to full strength and obedience.” Gabbai further presents to Max the text, translation, and transliteration of the “Pulsa di-Nurah” (Lashes of Flame) curse prayer for the death of another.

With profound thanks Max remarks to Gabbai, “A prayer is not as fast as a gun but they die just as dead, huh?” Gabbai replies, “Yes, and it leaves no fingerprints.”

Max resolves to keep the Golem for his own servant purposes. Even gives him a name “Friday” as in “his man Friday.”

Max returns to NYC with the animated but sleeping Golem in a crate. To convince Lepke that his Golem is the real thing, Max brings him to the Nazi Party Rally at Madison Square Garden to which gang boss Meyer Lansky has summoned Jewish gangsters to attack (but not kill) Nazis as they leave the Garden. The Golem prevails in the melee that follows on 8^th Avenue. Lepke, now impressed, wants to possess the Golem and to be his master to use him to consolidate his deadly grip on the city of New York, but Max will not part with his prize and for the first time finds himself the target of his once-trusted boss.

TURNING POINT: Max drives away from Lepke’s hideout in a truck that holds the crated Golem. Lepke deploys his most ruthless hitman Abe “Kid Twist” Reles, a once supposed trusted friend of Max, to chase him down and kill, and seize the Golem for Lepke. A harrowing chase by Reles follows Max through the street canyons of Manhattan ending in a crash that Max, Reles, and the Golem survive but some pedestrians are killed in the crash and by stray bullets fired by Reles which is destined to draw heat from the police.

MIDPOINT: Rabbi Solomon and Lou Tasca, at last catch up to Max. Rabbi Solomon conceals the fact that he is Max’s nephew visiting from decades in the future. They settle down for lunch in what they believe is a safe haven, Rose’s Midnight Candy Store. In a drive-by tommy gun shooting, Reles shatters the candy store, but Max survives. Rabbi Solomon and Lou also survive as they are super angels impervious to death.

TWIST: Reles’s deadly car chase and attack at Rose’s Midnight Candy Store compels Crime-buster Thomas E. Dewey to hunt down both Lepke and Reles.

TWIST: (It just got more dangerous with higher stakes.) In retaliation, Reles plans to assassinate Dewey – instantly, his plot is forbidden by the Syndicate’s commission who now take out a contract on Reles with the intent to kill him before he can assassinate Dewey.

TWIST: To escape murder from a mob hitman, Reles surrenders to the police and Dewey, vowing to turn canary and sing,” meaning, snitch on Lepke and Murder Incorporated and the wider Syndicate.

TWIST: (The worst thing happens to Reles.) The mysterious death of Abe Reles. Reles is held in police protective custody until trial. While preparing to testify against Lepke and the Syndicate, Reles is mysteriously thrown from his 6^th floor hotel safe-room to his death in what looks like a mob hit done through corrupt police who were bribed by the Syndicate to kill Reles..

TWIST: (A new problem occurs.) What really happened: Max, who wants revenge agaimst Reles. recites the Pulsa di-Nurah (Lashes of Flames) death-prayer against Reles which the Golem overhears and takes as Max’s (his master) order to kill Reles.

The Golem scales the wall of the hotel, climbs into Reles’ 6^th floor room and tosses Reles to his death without any noise that would alert the police. The Golem climbs back down the hotel wall and escapes.

The reaction of the police to Reles’ death: “The canary could sing but he couldn’t fly.”

TWIST: Max learns that a contract has also been taken out against him by the commission for his insubordination to Lepke.

TWIST: Encouraged by Rabbi Solomon, Max also surrenders to the police and overcomes his initial gangster’s distrust of Dewey with his own promise to Dewey to do as did Reles, namely, flip and also testify against Lepke and the Syndicate with the hope of a shorter sentence and witness protection to follow.

TWIST/CLIMAX: Rabbi Solomon deactivates the Golem by removing the scroll with the sacred name from the Golem’s mouth and erasing a key sacred letter written on the Golem’s forehead. The Golem crumbles into a pile of clay, after which, Rabbi Solomon destroys the evil “Pulsa di-Nurah” curse-prayer and explains:

RESOLUTION: Rabbi Solomon explains to Max that by his ritual deactivation of the Golem he has spared Max from any of the growing danger to him by the increasingly destructive Golem and leaves a very thankful Max safely in police custody, ready to flip and testify against Lepke and the Syndicate and return to a devout Jewish life. Rabbi Solomon and Lou Tasca return to Heaven now that their Mission has been accomplished with Max totally unaware that Rabbi Solomon is his future nephew.