The Ivory Coast

It is Las Vegas in 1955, and plans are underway to construct the first all-black casino on the city's ghettoised West Side. When a gifted white trumpeter named Deacon rolls into town, the city's powerful casino owner Mo the Man Weiner mistakenly asks Deacon to perform a hit on the messenger from Los Angeles. The suitcase that the messenger holds will embroil Deacon in a web of conflicting interests, rivalries and double-crosses. Worthless Worthington Jones is the ex-boxer who plans to open the black casino, with the silent help of Mo Weiner. Haney is the vicious and feared head of police, who will stop at nothing to find the missing luggage. And Anita is the beautiful truck-stop waitress with a secret, with whom Deacon falls desperately in love. As the Ivory Coast casino approaches its grand opening on the final Sunday of May, a sprawling drama will unfold, culminating on opening night.