One day, a gambler Rothstein knew called him long distance. He said he was broke and desperately needed five hundred dollars to get back to New York and back in the game. “I can’t hear you,” Arnold said into the phone. The gambler kept repeating his request. “I can’t hear you,” Arnold repeated. The caller fiddled with his phone until the operator interrupted: “But Mr. Rothstein, I can hear him distinctly,” she said. “All right,” Arnold replied, “then you give it to him,” and hung up.
