Silver Bears

Doc Fletcher travels to Lugano to secure a bank for his boss, American mobster Joe Fiore. The goal is to launder ill-gotten gains through a plausible financial institution. The bank consists of shabby offices above a pizza restaurant and has only a few hundred dollars in assets.

The Prince suggests investing in a silver mine recently discovered in Iran by his cousins, Agha Firdausi and Shireen Firdausi. The mine is touted to contain $1 billion worth of untapped silver. The plan is pitched as a financing vehicle to bolster the bank's legitimacy.

After visiting the Firdausis in Iran, Doc secures $5 million from Agha as security for a $20 million loan. He uses the money to upgrade Lugano's bank premises and stage a major show that attracts powerful investors.

In London, metals magnate Charles Cook becomes concerned by a drop in silver prices fueled by Firdausi stock and decides the way to stop the slide is to seize the Lugano bank. He contacts Foreman, president of the First National Bank of California, who sends accountant Donald Luckman to Lugano to meet Doc and his associates.

Luckman's questions raise suspicion, and Doc uses his access to Donald's wife Debbie to learn more. Debbie reveals Cook's interest in the Firdausi silver and in the Lugano bank.

Luckman returns with an offer of up to $60 million for the bank. Fiore jumps at the opportunity, but Doc refuses to sell and persuades Fiore to give him time to bid his own offer.

Doc travels to Dubai to obtain $60 million to buy the bank, but the Firdausis reveal there is no silver; the mine has been smuggled from India and used as a cover for the operation.

Foreman purchases the Lugano bank and then confronts Cook, demanding an exorbitant amount for the supposed silver mine. Cook informs him that the mine does not exist and there will be no refund for the $60 million.

Doc offers Foreman an extra $10 million from Cook in exchange for exclusive purchasing rights to Firdausi silver. Foreman agrees and transfers the bank to Doc.

For the insurance claim to be valid there must be a criminal prosecution, and a scapegoat is needed. The group agrees Luckman should take the fall since he falsified the report.

Back in Lugano, the Prince marries Shireen Firdausi. Agha does not attend; Shireen admits that he was an actor she hired, since she doubted whether a bank would loan $20 million to a woman.

Doc comes across Debbie, who has been attending Donald Luckman's fraud trial to stay close to him. She has promised to get a place near the jail, and Doc states that his house is conveniently near the prison.