Columbo: Now You See Him
1976 (TV)
Columbo, Lt: You know, I could've bet money he wouldn't get out of those handcuffs. Michael Lally: Never bet with Santini. He's the cream of the cream.
George Thomas: Oh, uh, Mr Jerome was lookin' for you a while back, sir. Santini: Huh? George Thomas: Seemed important. Santini: Uh-huh. Everything's important to him. George Thomas: Could you do me a favor, sir? Santini: Sure, name it. George Thomas: Could you make him disappear? (Santini laughs) Don't tell him I said it. Santini: Oh, trust me, you're safe.
Jesse Jerome: Tell me, Santini, last month before you left for New York, you didn't by chance break into this office and search through my effects? Santini: What a silly question. Of course I did. And I stole your Manet, your Picasso, and got a lovely price for your Reubens. You know I didn't . Jesse Jerome: I thought not. It was dreadful of me even to, uh, suggest it. Santini: Thank you.
Jesse Jerome: Um, speaking of New York, uh, I take it that, (taking a wad of cash out of an envelope) this too is, uh, some sort of joke? Santini: Five thousand dollars is hardly a joke. Jesse Jerome: Come, come, dear friend, I've assimilated the rudiments of arithmetic. Your recent tour netted 100,000 dollars, fifty percent of which is ... Santini: Five percent of which is five thousand dollars.
Jesse Jerome: No, no, dear man, we've been over this before. Santini: Jerome, I'm bored with you bleeding me. I'm afraid we're going to have to make a change in our little arrangement. Jesse Jerome: There are no changes ... Sergeant Mueller! You see how the very mention of that name renders you completely helpless. You keep forgetting that I know who you are, and where you came from. Santini: I was 21. I was merely a boy. Jesse Jerome: No one in the SS was "merely a boy," Mueller. No one in the camps was just a boy. Unless he was being taken into the oven. Don't misunderstand me. If you push me, I will tell. The newspapers, the immigration service, the Israelis -- yes, the Israelis! Oh, how they'd love to get their hands on you! Santini: I think not. I'm far too valuable to you. Jesse Jerome: You call that value? Santini: Mmm-hmmm. Jesse Jerome: I'd do much better turning you in right now, while I still have the chance, before you break in here again, trying to find the old man's letter, and don't deny that it was you!
Santini: Jerome, you really are an animal. Jesse Jerome: You're lucky! I'm a businessman. When that old man recognized you last year, didn't I give you the money to keep him quiet? That was good business. And when he died and I realized that I was the only one who knew, well, that was very good business, too. That's why we're such a good team, you and I. You know, you do rather well, considering the circumstances. Certainly better than spending the rest of your life in an Israeli prison. I urge you to look at it realistically. Have the other 45,000 for me tonight before the performance, or believe me, it will be your last performance ... anywhere. (as Santini gets up to leave, Jerome gives a Nazi salute) Heil Hitler! Have the money for me before the show.