October 1932, Chicago.  With Capone in the slammer, other bosses are biting off chunks of Capone's empire.  One boss is Frankie Gruder, head of a group that is the forerunner of Murder, Inc.; Gruder wants control of all the Canadian imports and exports.  Gruder and his boys go to a warehouse, Gruder shoots a longshoreman.  Ness and his men show up and start blasting.  There's a shoot-out.  Gruder manages to escape. Another gangster is using a different approach: Julius Vernon, the bookkeeper, is trying to beat the stock market; he keeps long hours, working well after midnight.  Around 1 a.m., Vernon gets a surprise visit from Gruder; since Vernon owes him one for a hit Gruder did 4 years ago, Vernon gives him 10-grand for on-the-lam money.  Then Vernon goes to Janos ""Willie"" Willinski; he's a fixer, a contact man.  His office hours are 12 midnight till 3 a.m.; his ""office"" is a table in an all-night diner.  Willinski fixes an arsonist up with a 5-grand torch job, for $500.  Vernon