 Who is Big Louis?
A gun is an interesting weapon; it can be hired, of course, and naturally doesn't care who hires it. Something much the same can be said of the gunman, too.... By MACK REYNOLDS Joe Prantera called softly, "Al." The evening was dark, it was unlikely that the other even saw the circle of steel that was the mouth of the shotgun barrel, now resting on the car's window ledge. Joe Prantera said softly, "Big Louis sent me, Al." And at that moment, the universe caved inward upon Joseph Marie Prantera. There was a falling through all space and through all time. And he came out of it as quickly and completely as he'd gone in. He was in, he thought, a hospital and his first reaction was to think, This here California. Big Louis, he ain't going to like this. A door slid open in the wall in a way that Joe had never seen a door operate before. The other spoke precisely and slowly, the way a highly educated man speaks a language which he reads and writes fluently but has little occasion to practice vocally. If I am not mistaken, you are Joseph Salviati-Prantera." Joe had been born in Naples and his mother had died in childbirth. His father hadn't brought him to the States until the age of five and by that time he had a stepmother. Lawrence Reston-Farrell said, "You are not being constrained. It opened on his approach, the door sliding back into the wall in much the same manner as the room's door had opened for Reston-Farrell. Maybe he was in some kind of pressure cooker and this was one of the fruitcakes. He looked out, however, not on the lawns and walks of a sanitarium but upon a wide boulevard of what was obviously a populous city. Reston-Farrell said compassionately, "Try this, it's excellent cognac." Joe Prantera stared at him, said finally, flatly, "What's it all about?" The fear of police, of Al Rossi's vengeance, of the measures that might be taken by Big Louis on his failure, were now far away. Reston-Farrell had approached the door by which he had entered and it reopened for him. Two were seated there now, papers, books and soiled coffee cups before them. Reston-Farrell, the one Joe had already met, was tall and drawn of face and with a chainsmoker's nervousness.
 Big Louis is Joe Prantera's boss.
 Big Louis is Lawrence Reston-Farrell's boss.  Big Louis is Al Rossi's boss.  Big Louis is Warren Brett- James' boss.  Big Louis is Joe Prantera's boss.