Mr. Rossi. No; at least he didn’t mention that to me in regards to this, or, he may have been thinking something about that—that may have been the reference to the girls or something of that nature, because it wasn’t going to be just a burlesque type of club. It was going to be a lot on the higher scale and he wanted to know if I would be interested in it. I told him that, again at the present time I wasn’t interested but not to exclude me, if things changed or time permitted, that I would consider looking into it further, and if it was worthwhile I would, or if I could afford to, I would participate in it.
Mr. Griffin. Did he want you to invest some money in it?
Mr. Rossi. Not necessarily; Jack was always pretty nice to me. He had made me offers a number of times to locate my brokerage office up in his club area—he had some spare office space there—and he says, “You are welcome to the space anytime you want it, desk, or equipment.” Then at the time I had been looking around for one or two other coffee or snackbar locations, and he informed me that he had equipment up there in his club—kitchen equipment and so forth—and he would be more than glad to give it to me. He was very generous; he said, “If you want it, just take what you need.” He said, “Anything I’ve got you can have.” I have never really done anything special for, or given Jack anything of any nature—it’s just that possibly I understood him a little bit better than the average person. We have something in common, as I say, from our childhood days.
Mr. Griffin. What exactly did he want you to do with this club?
Mr. Rossi. Oh, nothing; he knows I’m pretty good as a manager or as an operator—my background has been with food and entertainment. He knew I understood that end of the business. I’m not a drinker or anything like it, and I am pretty steady and dependable.
Mr. Griffin. Where did this conversation take place?
Mr. Rossi. This took place in the arcade or the lobby of the Mercantile Security Building in front of where, and also in, what used to be my snackbar or coffeeshop.
Mr. Griffin. Had Jack arranged to meet you there?
Mr. Rossi. No, no. It was one of those chance meetings where he saw me and then just stopped and started talking about the twistboard. I had no idea of even being there at the coffeeshop, let alone that I would see Jack there. My time was limited, because I was making preparations to leave town that night, and I was talking about this the day before—that night.
Mr. Griffin. What time of the day was it when you saw him?