His father had warned Howie, "You can't ride two horses with one ass." But here he was living a double life--one racketeering with his crew and the other sitting in cafes reading Penguin classics. He has to hide his intellectual interests from his gangster friends, but they still suspect something is not right about him. The real problem is that someone has bad-mouthing Howie to Vinnie Five-Five, his captain.