Harry Arno, the main character of Pronto, is a vain sixty-six-year-old South Miami Beach local celebrity (there's a "Harry Arno" sandwich at a local eatery) who grosses $6,000-$7,000 a week running a sports book from three locations. He is supposed to split fifty-fifty with the local mob boss, but for over twenty years has been skimming a thousand a week off the top before paying his tribute. With over a million dollars stashed in a Swiss bank account and two passports in different names, Harry thinks about, but postpones, retirement. Meanwhile, he lives at a seedy hotel and has a girlfriend, fortyish Joyce Patton, formerly a topless dancer (distinguished by the fact that she wore her glasses while performing) and more recently an occasional model for clothing catalogs.

Set up by the FBI as fall guy in an anti-rackets push and therefore pursued by the mob, Harry kills...