From that discourse I knew this was to be a long, arduous process. I decided to play good cop, bad cop-- an old routine, indeed, but with Rodney Strong Jr. and Sr. playing the cops, at least I had a fighting chance.

Dom had the money. I just knew it. But I also knew he was the kind of guy who had to feel he had beaten at least one guy down. Rodney Jr. would be the sacrifice. Later, when the time came, Papa Strong would appear on the scene as the tough, "no-nonsense" man of steel.

First, I faxed a "friendly" demand. I re-introduced "Rodney Jr." and attached a letter from the Michelin regional credit manager that "all payment discussions may be made through Mr. Strong." Second, I attached complete invoicing substantiating the $680,000 balance. Third, I wrote that I had checked with Michelin and they had not received Scarfone's check, and I was concerned FOR HIM. Finally I wrote that I would call back to verify dates and check numbers and attempt to create "a payment framework" to address the outstanding balance.

The idea was to foresee and close off all of Dom's rational objections to paying this debt.

I called five times a day for three days and sent as many faxes. Finally, I got through to Dom.

Again, on speakerphone, Dom said, "Yo look, Rodney-- I told you I am going to clear this up next week no problem [ruffling papers]. We got a little behind in our paperwork."

I responded, "Dom, I am very concerned about your checks. Please give me the dates and check numbers so I may investigate."

Dom countered that he was investigating $20,000 worth of Michelin's invoices that he claimed weren't checking out against his inventory.

I jumped in. "Dom, you agree that the majority of this invoicing is undisputed. Even if we forget about the $20,000 we still have over $650,000 in undisputed debt. May I have a payment for $100,000 by my courier today? Then we can advance our files 30 days and clear up the paperwork at our leisure."

The Dom replied, "Yo, Rodney, maybe Thursday I might be ready but I gotta go now."

I tried one last gambit, "But Dom, we still haven't cleared up the issue of the missing checks." Click.

That Thursday I scheduled three DHL courier pickups at 10 a.m., 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. I also called and faxed requests for Dom to call me. As expected, the Dom took none of my calls. Further and as predicted, DHL's couriers were unable to pick up a payment. The next day, Dom called Rodney but this time, I took the call as Rodney Sr.