Watch what you wish for. For it may come true"

The Bowery; New York City, post-depression, early '40s. Valentini Gazzo is the son of immigrant Italian workers. It's his mother's birthday. The immense heat has already begun to fill the air, steam rises off the littered streets and the evening shower had brought no relief.

Tired and angered by the hunger they suffer and the injustice he receives firsthand on a daily basis, Valentini decides to go saunter down to the market and "nick" dinner for the family. He goes down to the market and begins to pocket fresh vegetables. A couple of cops, on foot patrol, begin to make their way toward the market. Valentini tries to stuff a loaf of bread into his oversized coat. He looks out of place, wearing a winter coat in the sweltering heat. The market owner takes notice of Valentini's odd behavior and catches him in the act of stealing the bread. The man begins to yell for the cops. Valentini takes off running as the cops blow their whistles and shout for Valentini to stop. Valentini runs. The cops are in hot pursuit.

Valentini drops the loaf as he attempts to make his getaway. He's obviously worn and is losing ground from the cops as they close in. He makes an error in judgment and turns down a dead end alley. The cops enter, wielding clubs. "You Ginny-wop bastard. One of the cops pulls a potato from Valentini's pocket. I'm gonna make you choke on this thing." The cops begin to beat Valentini about the legs, head and back. Valentini falls to his knees and the cop shoves the potato into Valentini's mouth. After severely injuring Valentini, and appearing to be unconscious, one of the cops pisses on Valentini. Totally humiliated, the cops walk off laughing. Valentini rises and lunges toward the cops. He manages to grab one of the billy clubs and splits one of the cop's head open. He dies instantly. Valentini takes off like a dog that had been hit by a car.

Valentini races home and as soon as he arrives, he learns that the cop and the market owner have fingered him. He must say good-bye to his crying mother never to return again. Valentini disappears down the fire escape, running off into the distance. His mothers sobbing is the last thing he hears as he runs down the alley. Valentini is now a man wanted for killing a cop.

Fade to:

A cargo train car moves along in the countryside somewhere in middle America. A fully bearded Valentini sits in the middle of a rail car with other freeloading riff-raff. A verbal war ensues between Valentini and a couple of the hobos. One of them pulls a knife and Valentini struggles with the men. To avoid being sliced open, Valentini jumps from the fast moving train, tumbling amongst the boulders and the fallen trees. He smacks his head on a log and is knocked unconscious. The train continues in the distance.

The sound of gay music fills the air. A swirling carousel melody co-mingles with the muffled sound of kids yelling, and laughter. The music, is that, which one would associate with a carnival. The trees that tower overhead swirl in circles, in cadence with the sound of music. Finally, Valentini comes to. Curious he stands and makes his way toward the direction of the music.

Valentini is still swooning. He picks himself up and continues on and then falls again. His leg is injured terribly. He limps off toward the event. Dizzily he looks up and sees colorful lights swirling about. The music grows louder. He stands and walks toward the light and sound, once again.

Valentini comes through a clearing, as the lights and sound grow stronger. He realizes that it is a carnival. He begins to groggily walk through the crowd of people and Carney's pitching their cons. There's darts games, and people being dunked. There are freak side shows, carousels, and a Ferris Wheel.

After a few minutes he sees a couple of cops. Valentini bolts into one of the Carney's trailers and waits for the cops to pass.

A woman is showering and calls out for a towel. Valentini freezes as he watches the cops drawing closer to the trailer from the window. The lady who has stepped from the shower with wet hair makes the statement that she just washed her hair and that she needed a towel. She is startled by his presence; she is about to let out a scream. Valentini grabs her and covers her mouth. He continues watching the cops as they stop to chat right outside the trailer. "Please, I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to stay here until the coast is clear. I'll move on then." "What have you done?" "I'm wanted back home. I killed a cop, but it was an accident." "Oh, is that all? I run this show here. Just about everybody here is running from something or someone for some reason or other. Some from their past, some from the law and others from themselves. You got cut pretty bad. What happened?" Valentini laughs, "You think my face looks bad? You should see the other guys fist." She begins to help Valentini clean up his wounds. "You need to get cleaned up. Look, we're pulling outta here tonight. I could use a couple of extra hands. What do you say?" "I say it's a deal." They shake hands.

Valentini stays on at the carnival, which is nothing more than a dilapidating, traveling show of freaks, cheap rides and con games. There is the "Hell Rider that rides a motorcycle through a ball of flames at breakneck speed. A full side-show of all walks of human deformities and disfigurements. Wolf boys that are acrobats, a painter with no arms, a man with no legs or torso. There is a bearded lady, and a very large obeses woman, and a tiny rail thin man. These become Valentini's new friends and confidants.

Valentini learns all the tricks of the trade. He never manages to lose his terrible limp, and with it, he fits in well with the other outcasts.

It isn't long before he wants to start his own con, "I've been reading a lot about these spiritualists. I'd like to start tellin' fortunes. I think I'd do pretty well." The owner agrees and Valentini seems to master the tricks of the trade. "There was the great Houdini. There was the great Gatsby. I want to be greater than the greatest of all. I will not only be known as the great one, I will be known as the great, great one. I will be called, the Great... Great Valentini."

One evening while performing his show, screams are heard from outside of his tent. Valentini rushes with the crowd to see what has happened. One of the bolts from the Ferris Wheel has broken and trapped a couple of kids on top. While the crowd stands around wondering what to do, the great Valentini climbs the ride and carries the children to safety. (Into the arms of the wolf boy's brothers.) Valentini climbs back up to fix the ride and it begins to collapse, crashing into a power supply line and electrocutes Valentini. He is further disfigured by the electrical charge. His fingertips and toes are blown off. But, Valentini becomes a hero and while he is hospitalized he learns that his picture was placed in the newspaper as the hero that saved the kids from certain doom. He's not pleased. Two New York city detectives see the photo and begin their hunt for Gazzo.

Valentini's gains a sixth sense from his accident. He sees future events. Valentii gains in notoriety as he begins to read accurate futures of audience members, but he himself cannot sleep from the debilitating infamy. He needs morphine and other drugs to help him sleep and keep away the pain. (Which he is introduced to from other sideshow freaks.) But in his sleepless and drug induced state he sees visions, future events. Murders. Murders that take place in towns wherever the carnival travels.

At first he does not believe it himself. But, newspapers don't lie. Slowly he begins to go mad from the visions and lack of sleep and seeing the results of his dreams in the morning paper. He reveals his secrets to the carnival owner, who does believe him. "Stranger things have been known to occur."

He cannot take it anymore; going mad from the visions he actually goes to one of the murder sights (after having the dream) and becomes an eye-witness to the crime. He is now a believer in his newly gained power.

Valentini realizes he has a moral obligation and cannot stand by and watch these events unfold and take no action. He becomes a serial killer believing (and in fact) he is preventing gruesome events from ever occurring. But, he leaves in his wake a string of unsolved murders and these murders are connected to the traveling carnival.

Eventually the detectives catch up with Valentini. He is caught in the act of preventing a crime by the two detectives, (Caught in the act of murdering one of his visions.) He confesses his crimes to the detectives and tells of his visions and dreams. They don't buy it.

Gazzo is tried as a cop and serial killer; his grotesque appearance lands him the electric chair by a non-sympathetic unbelieving jury. Valentini's sleepless nights in jail continue, he sees more and more terrible things and cannot do anything about them. He now wishes only for a speedy execution. "To sleep forever, effortlessly."

Valentini begins to write letters to one of the detectives. He relays details of events before they occur. The detective does not believe Valentini, but he begins to be curious.

Before he is taken to the electric chair, Valentini has one last terrible dream. He summons the detective. Valentini reveals his final dream to the detective. "A terrible murder will take place and it will be the doing of your partner. "He will commit an unthinkable crime. He will murder a young mother and her infant daughter.

By now Valentini is almost entirely mad from his physical pain, depravation of sleep, visions and transformation into a freak. The detective is aghast and does not believe Valentini and leaves him to his fate, and to burn in hell.

Valentini pleads with the detective to listen to him, to believe him, to stop his partner before he does this terrible thing. Valentini also has one more thing to tell the detective... "Wait! I have seen your future as well. I alone can save you. You must hear me out! YOU MUST!" Valentini has seen the detective's future, it is something terrible and something the detective must know. However, the detective will hear no more. He turns to go and leaves the frantic and pleading Valentini to his madness.

That night Valentini is executed as a great electrical storm rages outside. Valentini's execution is extremely brutal. Jolt after jolt only leaves Valentini unconscious, but not dead. After several gruesome attempts the hood is taken from Valentini's smoldering face and his demeanor is calm. He appears to be sleeping as a child who is having a nice dream.

The detectives and prosecutors are at a bar drinking and celebrating the death of "The Great... Great Valentini!" They share in toasts and talk about how absurd Valentini's story was. The detective that met with Valentini tells of Valentini's last story. He tells the other detective that Valentini said he'd kill a woman and a child, that very same night. Insulted, he raises his glass to toast the death of Valentini. "May he rot and burn in hell." They all raise their glasses high, as the detective belts down his shot.

The detective partner is particularly stinging in his words and drunker than the rest. When it's time to leave. The detective is told he is too drunk to drive himself home. "He won't here it, and drives off in his patrol car. He drives down a darken road as the stormy night continues. The rain rages and the wind howls.

A tire is blown out on a sedan. A young mother pulls the car to a rest on the shoulder of the road. "Oh, now what shall I do?" She looks ahead, where a phone booth is well lit.The mother picks up her child and wraps it in a blanket. She pulls out an umbrella and opens the door. She opens the umbrellas and steps from the car. She looks at the blown tire. She walks toward the lights and the phone booth.

The detective drives recklessly, barreling down the highway.

The woman notices headlights coming up from behind her, as she walks down the rain soaked road, child held closely to her breats. She steps out and waves for the car to notice her.

The detective's wipers push water from the windshield. His view is distorted from the rain and the alcohol. He careens into the woman and her child. The care screeches to a halt.

The detective races from his vehicle and sees what he has done. He has just killed his own wife and child. The detective, screams in horror and frantically takes out his revolver and shoots himself in his face. He commits suicide, falling next to his dead wife and child.

The next morning the other detective picks up the newspaper from his lawn. He reads the headline. "Freak Accident. Detective Kills Wife, Child, Self."

The detective now knows that the Great... Great Valentini was telling the truth.

He only wished that he had listened to Valentini tell him of his future."

Valentini wished to read the future and he received this gift, in abundance.

So, be careful what you wish for. For it may come true. In Valentini's case, his carnival sideshow con became his living nightmare reality.