The proprietor of a sleazy, cosmo Vittelli , low-rent Hollywood cabaret, has a real affection for those women who strip into his peepshows and the staff who maintain up his establishment that is dingy. He has a gambling problem that has gotten him in trouble . When Cosmo loses bigtime at an casino he isn't able to cover. Mort offers the chance to pay back his debt by rapping off a pesky, Mafia-protected bookie to Cosmo.