The Monte Carlo Hustle

By Belston Campfield

Eight L.A. crooks are recruited by a stranger named Esposito to stop a black-market art sale and steal the art and twenty-five million dollars. The job is this weekend in Monaco during the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix car race.

The painting is The Card Players, by Paul C?zanne. It was painted in the 1890s and is worth $250 million. Esposito wants the painting. The crew members will split the twenty-five million dollars eight ways.

None of the crew members know each other. None trust each other. And each comes with his own motivations and personal baggage. The men--aged twenties to forties--adopt pseudonyms like Chief, Jefe, B, and McQueen.

The 48-year-old Chief (Black) leads the crew. Like the others, Chief is skeptical of both Esposito and the job. After serving time in prison for grand theft, Chief has turned his life around. He has a job managing a body shop in Carson. He has remarried. His life is normal. But he wants the cash. A $3.1 million payout for two days of work is too tempting for him to resist. The promise of a quick and lucrative payday convinces the others to accept the job as well.

The crew flies to the French Riviera and arrives in Monaco a day before the art sale, which is expected to occur in a five-star Monte Carlo hotel Sunday during the race. A tax haven for the wealthy, Monaco is the second smallest country in the world with a population of fewer than forty thousand. Grand Prix weekend attracts 200,000 tourists and turns the quiet principality into a party zone consisting of exclusive yacht parties, expensive popup nightclubs, and luxurious cocktail lounges bustling with plutocrats, race fans, and high-end prostitutes.

The men track down the C?zanne's prospective seller and buyer. The seller is Trey Scarborough, the twenty-nine-year-old son of a Texas oil billionaire. The buyer is a mystery man named Felipe Garcia. The crew members split into teams and follow Scarborough and Garcia. They befriend them. They party with them. Anything to grab the art and cash ASAP and return home.

However, the job is less than advertised. And a weekend in paradise becomes anything but.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B09HZHSKCT
• ISBN13: 9798489207836
• Release Date: October 2021
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.3" x 8.0"