Set in 1962, Youngstown, Ohio, USA – a Midwestern, working-class city between Cleveland and
Pittsburgh, then known as "Bomb City, USA" (really!) – BOOM!Town is a dark, off-beat,
character-driven, dramedy; a parody of mob movies, à la Analyze This (1999) – à la Analyze This
(1999); akin to The Soprano’s meet the Coen Bros.; a Fargo (1997) with The Godfather (1972)-style
mob-speak.
NUNZIO, a “retired” Mafia cleaner, lives with his daughter MARGIE, and her 12-year-old son,
BUTCH. Margie sees her Dad as a lazy, reprobate, pain in the ass, who is turning Butch into an
equally unindustrious protégé. In truth, Nunzio loves and cares deeply for his grandson, and
their scenes are the heart of the story.
One day, as Butch cleans rain gutters, a car- bomb rocks the neighborhood, followed by a loud
roof thud. Butch discovers a man’s bloody foot, blown off at the ankle, it’s shoe and argyle sock
still attached, and brings it to Nunzio. On the foot’s arch is scribbled a confusing code of some
sort. Nunzio takes the foot and Butch, to a secret basement room. Here we learn Nunzio still
misses his peculiar former job –mopping up after mob hits – and enjoys keeping souvenirs of
his past work as a hobby. No one knows, but in this hidden cellar space, Nunzio has preserved
in jars of honey (“Best preservative in the world,” says Nunzio) a variety of errant noses,
tongues, and fingers that, over the years, he’s snipped off of dead gangsters. Nunzio explains,
"Why not? They isn’t using 'em no more. Where's the harm?" Nunzio next “preserves” the
found foot for safe-keeping and takes off to his usual mobbed-up/duckpin bowling hangout to
get some answers. Before he leaves, Nunzio instructs Butch to “burn everything,” but Butch,
afraid and anxiety-ridden, keeps the shoe, hiding it in his bedroom unbeknownst to Nunzio.
As it turns out, DUBBY and CHINO, two hapless hitmen for JOHNNY SCALISE, Cleveland mob
boss, were sent to retrieve a pile of cash that SALVATORE stole from Scalise. Salvatore dies in
an ill-timed car bombing before Dubby and Chino learn where Sal hid the money. All they know
is that Salvatore’s foot goes missing in the explosion. Fearing what Scalise might do to them,
Dubby and Chino begin a crazy chase to find Salvatore’s missing extremity saying, “find the
foot, find the cash”…before Scalise learns the truth!
At the bowling alley, Nunzio whispers the “foot on my roof” story to BATCHO – a capo for
Scalise – and discovers that Salvatore flipped teams to the Pittsburgh mob, stole the dough, and
for that disloyalty, “Sal went boom!” Nunzio asks how much the foot would be worth to Scalise,
hoping to cash in. Unbeknownst to both, the FBI is listening and recording the conversation. In
addition, Special FBI Agent in Charge, JIMMY FABIAN is using Margie as a civilian “asset” to get
close to Nunzio (“who still hears mob things.”) Jimmy desperately needs inside info on the
growing turf war between Cleveland and Pittsburgh, and both families believe the errant
money belongs to them. A blood-bath could be in the offing!
Meanwhile, mob attorney EBER BERCHOF meets with and informs Pittsburgh boss JULIE
LAROCCA that Salvatore (“the flipper”) is dead, Sal’s foot is missing, and so’s the money. “But,”
says Berchof, “if we can find the foot before the cops and Scalise, we might be able to find your
money.” LaRocca flies into a rage, kills Berchof, and calls in a darkly funny, and totally psycho
hitman, LUPO BERNARDI. LaRocca, in a tit-for-tat, instructs Lupo to whack one of Scalise’s gang
to even the score, and bring him the money Sal stole from Scalise – cash that LaRocca says now
belongs to him.
While this happens, Jimmy and Margie are unexpectedly falling in love, and Jimmy’s feeling
pretty guilty about manipulating her. He tries to tell Margie the truth, but knows in so doing, he
could put the entire sting operation in jeopardy, and open Margie, Nunzio, and Butch to
retribution by either mob family. Jimmy instructs his FBI team to put a tap on Margie’s phone.
Lupo, LaRocca’s hitman, arrives at the mobbed-up bowling alley, and kills Batcho with a
doctored duckpin full of C-4 explosive. With half his assignment complete, Lupo takes off to find
LaRocca’s errant money.
During the same time, Nunzio plays catch with Butch, regaling him with how “Grampa once
‘almost’ tried out” to pitch for the Cleveland Indians, but bootlegging got in his way. Nunzio
demonstrates his astonishing targeting ability by having Butch stand stick-straight, as Nunzio
tosses a high, arching flyball directly into Butch’s mitt – a skill that will come in handy later in
the story.
While having a lovely meal at an Italian restaurant with Jimmy, Margie awkwardly discovers
that Jimmy is actually an undercover FBI agent. Hurt, feeling used and lied to, Margie goes
ballistic and demands Jimmy take her home and get out of her life.
On a tip from Batcho (before his death), Dubby visits Nunzio to snatch back the foot, as Nunzio
tends his bee hives. Instead, the hyperallergic Dubby is stung to death by hundreds of bees
when he wildly shoots his gun into the hives. A very drunk Chino – who has a penchant for Flash
Gordon comics – watches Dubby’s death and convinces himself that it was a “space robot” that
killed Dubby, because he mistakes Nunzio, dressed in a beekeeper’s suit, for the robot in the
comic book he carries everywhere. Chino calls Scalise with the wacky story which sends an
outraged Scalise and CARLOS, his henchman, to Youngstown to take charge of the situation.
The next morning, as Nunzio and Butch finally have a long-overdue and heartfelt talk, Lupo, the
Pittsburgh hitman, shows up at Nunzio’s front door, kidnaps Butch and demands the missing
dough for Butch’s return. Nunzio doesn’t know about the stolen money, but, in an effort to buy
some time, Nunzio says he’ll bring the cash to Lupo later. Nunzio rushes back to Butch’s
bedroom, finds Salvatore’s shoe (which you’ll recall Butch didn’t burn), and discovers a tear
between the sewn upper welt and shoe’s sole. Nunzio rips open the shoe, finds a small key on
which is etched the same numbers found on Salvatore’s foot.
Nunzio and Margie have a raging fight over what to do next. Nunzio shows Margie the found
key, and Margie notes it fits a safety deposit box at the bank at which she works. At the time,
Margie didn’t realize, but it was Salvatore who made the deposit! Margie shows up at the bank
vault, grabs the stolen money, is almost caught, but gets away, and brings the cash to Nunzio.
The phone rings; it’s Lupo who tells Nunzio where to deliver the loot. But, since the phone is
tapped, the FBI also knows the drop point. Nunzio takes off without Margie to “clean the mess
he’s made,” and is followed by Scalise, Chino, and henchman, Carlos. Margie, carrying the foot
and a baseball bat, calls a cab and rushes to the scene, too.
All good guys and bad guys converge at a farmhouse about the same time and a furious gun
battle and porch explosion ensues, killing Scalise, Chino, and Carlos, and injuring Jimmy. Lupo,
shot in the arm, escapes, and climbs to the top of a barn with the money. At the same time
Nunzio grabs the bat and tosses it, with his amazing pitching accuracy, at the head of Lupo,
knocking Lupo off the barn and onto a pointy weather vane below, skewering and killing him.
Not much later, Nunzio and Margie sit in prison togs before a heartbroken, injured Jimmy as he
reads a long list of federal charges. Jimmy tells Nunzio and Margie, Butch is being held in juvie,
and they may never see him again. But Jimmy realizes that, without their help, the FBI “couldn’t
have taken down two of the biggest mob bosses in the Northeast.” So, the government –
thanks to Jimmy – decides to drop charges and put the family into witness protection at St.
Augustine, Florida.
The final scenes show Nunzio, Butch, and Margie among the palms, sand, and blue water of the
semi-tropics, with FBI agents following not far behind.
In an unexpected twist, Nunzio and Butch stand before the famous “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not”
Odditorium at St. Augustine, as a group of tourists ogle a strange new exhibit. Large, honeyfilled jars in a glass enclosed showcase, display Nunzio's horrific basement collection of slicedoff mob body parts. A sign: "AMERICAN GANGSTER HORRORS, 1930-1962. Collector Unknown."
Nunzio shows Butch a $20K check from Ripley’s made out to “Joseph Flynn,” and says: “Now,
instead'a Grampa, yez can jus' call me ‘Joey the Snitch!’" Nunzio, arm around Butch, share a
laugh, walk off together, as two FBI Agents follow.
(NOTE on TONE: BOOM!Town is best staged as a realistic, menacing character drama. By
underplaying its dialogue’s eccentricities lurks a dark, street-smart comedy without falling into
farce)
