Mike Cleary

The Flamboyant Fossil Mike Cleary

Phineas Dermot Flanagan was an ex-actor turned investment-savvy money-launderer for the Connor gang, a Dublin crime syndicate. While managing the mob's finances, he fed his own off-shore account with a portion of the profits. Deciding it was time to retire, he flew to San Francisco where a master forger created documents that would give him a new identity. To Phineas' surprise, a boyhood chum, Magnus Flaherty, was directing Merchant of Venice in Berkeley. He sought him out and soon found himself in the welcoming arms of members of the Banter Foundation, an organization that was the polar opposite of the Dublin group of violent-prone thugs and mobsters. His new friends proved to be invaluable as they were willing to help him when he learned the Dublin syndicate was on its way to make him pay in the worst possible way for his fiddling with their finances. One of the Banterers, a Hollywood screen writer concocted an outrageous plan to keep Phineas alive and safe. It would take a former Oakland Raider, a famous movie director, a Las Vegas illusionist, an expert on voodoo and the cast of a Shakespeare theater company to help pull it off.