Prizzi's Money

Condon's fourth satirical romp with the New York crime family introduced in Prizzi's Honor begins with the kidnapping of wealthy presidential advisor Henry George Asbury. The apparent crime is a scam worked out by Asbury and the Prizzis: he will keep the $75-million ransom payment; they will get control of his companies. Asbury's wife, who is in on part of the scheme but unaware that her husband is in the Prizzis' pocket, uses the kidnapping as a front for her own plot to bleed the Asbury empire of more than $1 billion. This does not sit at all well with Don Corrado Prizzi, but clever Julia Asbury eventually works out a deal with him, becoming a very rich widow in the process. Love rears its intrusive head when she gets involved with Prizzi enforcer Charley Partanna, who reads romantic novels, cooks dinner for his widowed father and can fall in love--or kill--at the drop of a hat. Since Don Corrado has chosen Julia as the ideal wife for one of his sons, matters become hilariously complicated. As is his wont, Condon uses these goings-on as a base from which to take pointed shots at the rich and powerful, especially Reagan Republicans, and several broad swipes at American life in the '90s. It's all great fun, even if the heavy-handed lampoonery goes over the top now and again. (Feb.)