This Thing of Ours

Using the Internet and global satellites, a group of gangsters pull off the biggest bank heist in the Mafia's history. Nicholas "Nicky" Santini is a young member of a New Jersey Mafia family hoping to earn his stripes. He uses his familiarity with modern technology to devise a ploy that will constantly skim small amounts from money transfers that are being made electronically between banks. The missing amounts will be so small that they will likely be ignored. But added together, they will potentially accumulate into billions of dollars. Nicky has engaged the services of Austin Palermo, a programming genius from the University of Pennsylvania, to design the software that will stealthily siphon off the tiny amounts from millions of transactions each day. Nicky also needs $50M in seed money from Uncle Danny, a capo (captain) in the Mob, to purchase a chip that will permit access to the banking transactions. Once Uncle Danny supplies the start-up funds, Nicky and his team go to work. The chip is acquired from the supplier who is subsequently killed. A rival Mob branch tries to horn in on their scheme and has to be put down. The FBI does its best to shut down the project, but Austin has a jamming device that prevents them from hearing plan details and gathering audible evidence of their crime. Finally, the chip is placed into the skimming device and money starts being diverted into their accounts. Uncle Danny is very pleased with Nicky's accomplishment. He indicates that it is now time to get rid of loose ends, meaning that Austin and his team assistant have to go. Will Nicky be true to Uncle Danny or his friends? —Garon Smith