In the criminal justice system, the people are represented
by two separate, yet equally important groups:
the police, who investigate crime,
and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders.
These are their stories.
( garbled radio transmission )
Course 1502, Wednesdays, 7:00.
College degree isn't good enough for you.
Something wrong with me improving myself?
Improve my stomach.
Roast beef on rye.
Coffee...
BOTH: Very light, no sugar, no mayo, no mustard.
Very good.
( men arguing )
You get off my back!
Get!
( siren blaring, tires squealing )
Hold it!
Don't move!
Don't even breathe.
Drop down!
Now!
( gunshot )
He drew on me.
Call it in, Freddo.
Now, Freddo.
The kid's dead.
Captioning sponsored by NBC/Universal
( siren wailing )
The kid I was after, I never got a decent look at.
He was young-- 13,14.
What about the one that got away from Freddo?
Him I saw.
Had a blotch.
A birthmark on his face
running from here down to here.
Somebody heard that shot.
In this neighborhood?
You couldn't get a witness to a sunrise.
Well, bang on some windows.
I.D. on the dead kid?
Nothing. Great.
Freddo, go home.
Get some sleep.
Yeah... sleep.
Snitch told them drug sales was going down on the block.
No muss, no fuss.
Punk drew on him, self-defense.
That's it, wrapping up?
As far as Internal Affairs is concerned, yeah, it's closed.
We still got to do our investigation.
We're all one family here, Sergeant.
You an only child?
I got people in my family
I wouldn't believe
if they told me the sky was blue.
You think I like investigating cops?
It's like I've got something stuck in my throat.
It's not what it looked like to that lieutenant--
what's his name?-- Gowdy from Internal Affairs.
What, open-and-shut?
You buy that?
What are you selling, Max?
No witnesses, a dead kid. So?
If a civilian shot a kid, no witnesses, all I'm saying is,
they wouldn't wrap it up in ten minutes.
Four dollars an hour I pay him.
Good money for delivery.
Disappears.
This shooting in the neighborhood.
You hear about it?
We're canvassing all the merchants, looking for
a young man, 22-23, black, with a birthmark on his cheek.
I got five orders waiting to deliver.
How long do you have to wait
before you report somebody missing, huh?
A birthmark?
Like this?
He comes in every afternoon.
He buys two chocolate moon pies. Two.
Hangs out in the schoolyard.
( hip-hop music playing )
How you doing?
( rapping ): You ain't cool.
Get out of my school.
I'm no fool.
You see a guy with a birthmark on his face?
The name of the game is finding fame.
Silky's the name
and he's to blame. Silky?
I wouldn't tell them nothing.
Silky who?
Ford. Lives over on Vyse Avenue, 108.
Silky... Silky Ford.
Live around here?
Don't I wish he didn't.
Hmm. One of your favorites, huh?
Some boys make trouble 'cause they got trouble.
Silky? He's looking for trouble.
What'd he do, walk off a white man?
Is it this building here?
You all only come up here when a white man gets hurt.
Why aren't you here all the time?
Silky Ford?
Fourth floor.
He just come in.
Nah, man, nobody here but me.
Let's take a look.
Oh, no, you're blind without a warrant!
Well, let me see that.
GREEVEY: Black male, 5'7", birthmark on his right cheek.
Birth mark, right cheek.
Oh, yeah, that sound like Silky.
You seen him lately?
No. He's been in Philadelphia, visiting his sister.
She's in the hospital. Mumps.
Whoa, be gentle!
You want to tear my suits?
Where you going, man?
That's just the kitchen.
Ain't nobody in there.
Waxing the floor, Silky?
Yeah, yeah, we're cleaning up.
Whoa, man!
Who did you clean up last night?
I was home all night long.
Doing the floor? Yeah.
They got dirty real fast.
We had a party.
Who was here?
Me and Richard. It was a private party.
Let's takes a ride, Silky, huh?
I got, I got things to do, man. I got a busy day...
Your first appointment is with us, okay?
What you looking at? Let go, man.
GREEVEY: Take Davis out the back before Freddo comes in.
Davis?
What, you think he's going to lie for Freddo?
No, they're both choirboys.
Ready? Yeah. I even found another black guy
with a birthmark. Go ahead.
Number three.
Number three,
step forward, please.
Yeah, more than the others.
I'm playing elimination here.
I saw him ten seconds in the dark.
You want me to say I'm sure?
I'm not.
Hey, Davis.
Take it easy, all right?
I'm not asking you to lie.
Could be...
could be number three.
Geez, I'm not sure enough for an I.D.
It was dark.
What was that about, keeping those two apart?
Ten years ago, I'm working Central Park
in the fall. The whole place smells like a sewer.
The captain says I'm imagining it.
Lieutenant says I'm imagining it.
Turns out it's some tree with flowers that rot.
Lasts about a week.
Hey, what... am I missing something here?
This thing smells, too.
Internal Affairs says I'm imagining it.
Cragen says I'm imagining it.
And you're not imagining it.
On Silky? Two maybes?
Both cops aren't sure?
Max, these guys are cops.
They're cops.
90% of all police officers forget about killing.
They go 30 years, never fire a gun.
Freddo? I heard this morning--
second time.
Makes you wonder, that's all.
Yeah, it also makes you wonder how many cops died thinking
"that's not a gun in his hand."
Well, we can't hold Silky.
I sent the prints out.
No I.D.
No record?
Came up blank.
You see that evidence bag?
What evidence bag?
I sent it over.
Wheel of fortune.
The kid had 3,000 bucks on him in his sock.
Here's one set of prints.
The dead kid?
Yeah.
Only one set of prints, like somebody wiped the gun.
Hey, Max, you're drawing conclusions.
Let's just say I heard a dog bark.
Serial number?
It's clean.
Not a file job, acid.
Dog's barking louder.
Ballistics.
Beautiful piece, that Magnum.
Tender loving care to clean it off.
Has it been worked on?
By someone very good.
R-ten twist.
Clear as a bell.
Let's go back a few months.
See if we can find a match.
LOGAN: The Magnum's clean.
Sources?
Hoover and Washington heights.
Bernie on 116th Street.
Silky would stay close to home.
Bernie.
Bang.
Magnums?
They're like opinions.
Everybody's got one.
It's been cleaned up.
Yours?
Nice work, whoever did it.
New kind of lock?
Double cylinder, spring release.
Yeah, illegal in this city.
To install, not sell.
Unpickable.
Yeah, for six months.
Single cylinder?
Wait a minute.
This one hot?
No?
Bust me for a misdemeanor.
I'll be out in an hour.
We keep busting you and them hours add up.
He dead?
Never laid eyes on him.
Lose a lot of business when the door's locked.
The Magnum's his.
A month ago, six weeks.
You positive?
What do you want, the name of his dog?
Yeah, that's him.
( pounding on door )
Great.
Hey... what?!
The kid, the one the cop shot--
he had your gun in his hand.
Sing a song for me, Silky. This is murder.
If you're involved, it won't be probation.
The other night when you were waxing the floor,
this kid with you?
I seen him around here, man, but I don't know his name.
How did he get your gun?
I sold it to him.
You don't know his name and you sold him your gun?
I didn't need to know his name.
A sister I know brought him over.
What's her name?
Doris. She's real fresh.
Turn around and put your hands on top of your head.
For what? Turn around
and put your hands on top of your head!
Felony, Silky. Oh, man!
You just confessed to selling a weapon.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say...
What is this, a class D?
It's a walk, mabn. I'm out in a day.
You have the right to an attorney...
Hey, youu know what this is going to cost me?
My lawyer gets $300 an hour, man.
Think about where you were the other night, Silky.
I'd like to know.
You know the kid Freddo shot?
Maybe he did have the gun.
Right. Silky sold him a Magnum, he gave him an I.O.U.
and then stuck 3,000 in his shoe.
Max, he could have bought the gun a week ago.
Run this by me again?
Freddo and Davis saw a guy with a birthmark
but it wasn't Silky.
Silky sold the dead kid a gun, but he wasn't there that night.
I don't know any Silky,
and I don't know nothing about dope.
Who said anything about dope?
Well, I got nothing to tell you.
Well, how about we take you down to the precinct?
Come on, you can't take me. You got no charge.
Doris, a guy is dead.
Yeah, well, like you care. Wrong.
You care so much, you probably belong to the N.A.A.C.P.
You introduced this kid to Silky?
He had Silky's gun in his hand when he died.
Silky says you were there
when he sold the kid the piece.
No way.
No wah. That's a lie.
Who is he, Doris?
It's Tommy Richardson.
Where does he live?
103rd, Lexington and Park.
You seen your brother Tommy?
He ain't here.
Well, where is he?
I don't know
but you'd better come back, when my mom gets home.
Where is your mom, Abel?
Working.
Where does she work?
In an office building.
She's a cleaning lady.
She doesn't get back till late.
Abel, you'd better come with us.
Hey, boy, take a chair right here, all right?
Did you call Reverend Thayer?
Yeah, we called him.
So when was the last time you saw your brother?
Abel?
It's all right. It's all right.
Detective Logan, Sergeant Greevey.
Bringing a boy down here?
What's the reason?
What did he do?
Well, eems his brother pulled a gun on a policeman
night before last.
No... no, no, no, you got the wrong boy.
I don't think so.
Tommy Richardson wouldn't have a gun.
Tommy Richardson was a...
an honor student at Pinceton University.
( crowd chantiing angrily )
MAN: Why would a Princeton honors student shoot a policeman?
WOMAN: Did you know that Tommy Richardson
lectured at his old high school against drugs?
Can you make some kind of a statement?
( camera shutters clicking )
Whatever happened that night,
we just got shoved out a plane
at 30,000 feet, no parachute.
( angry shouting )
Nice, straightforward little case, huh?
So the wrap-it-up- no-problem boys said.
Why did Freddo and Davis
go soft on Silky at the lineup?
They made a mistake.
Yeah. They thought nobody would know they were lying.
If you're wrong and you go after cops...
If I'm wrong,
I'll go to the grand jury and say I killed the kid.
Yeah, I can use the time off.
You heard about the kid?
Princeton?
Yeah, just goes to show you.
Homeboys-- no matter how fancy you dress them up,
they can still gun down a cop just like any street scum.
The dude you and Davis passed on in the lineup, Freddo,
it's hard to believe that his gun was there and he wasn't.
Now, if he happens to say he was there,
that contradicts you.
What is this?!
I got 23 years in the force!
Now, who you going to trust
me or some eggplant?!
Gee, Mike, he sure sounds
trustworthy to me.
How about you?
Hey! Hey!
Easy, Freddo.
Next time you want to ask me something,
talk to my P.O.B.A. Rep.
The man has two decades,
and where the police officer's
benevolent association stands,
that merits a certain respect.
Benevolent means I don't investigate?
Max. You know, you arrive at his home unannounced
and you treat him like some punk murderer.
Freddo's no punk.
Oh, but he is a murderer.
That's what we're investigating.
Look, it is Sergeant Greevey's job to investigate,
but Max, if you are all over this officer,
it's gonna have to stop.
We'll talk.
Rock and a hard place.
My butt, Max-- mine, not yours.
This is not a bad cop.
Neither are you, neither am I, but some things we don't do.
If we don't fix this fast,
the brotherhood is going to crucify us.
If we do, the black community is going to crucify us.
Then let's do it right.
Careful.
Yeah, we all got to be careful.
More careful than Freddo was.
Enough people have already gotten hurt.
Which is why we're investigating.
Detectives.
You sit behind a desk.
You guys have no idea what it's like
on the streets these days.
Come on. What's that supposed to mean?
Close ranks, Logan.
Hey, I have, okay?
With my partner.
Your partner? Get off me!
( shouting angrily )
Tell him to join the A.C.L.U., huh?
This... this punk...
okay, he went to some fancy school.
I don't care if he was head of the class.
Those three skells were doing a drug deal.
Yeah, well, we're all on the same side, right, Davis?
You could have fooled me.
This week-- not easy, is it?
( chuckling )
Well, we're out there all alone, Max.
Let me tell you something.
Everybody else is wrong
and I think you like that.
I don't like being told to roll over.
Davis swears the kid was doing a drug deal.
He swears it.
Okay. Fine.
Assume everybody's telling the truth.
A Magnum on the street-- what's it go for?
500.
Right. Half a pound of crack?
2500.
Richardson kid had 3,000 bucks in his socks
supposed to buy a gun and drugs.
Drug dealers don't take credit.
All right, the deal never went down.
Which means the kid never had the gun.
Freddo shot him, put the Magnum in his hand
and he gave Silky a walk.
That's why nobody's talking.
We still got to turn up the third guy.
GREEVEY: If Silky's not your friend...
I don't have any friends.
They die too quick.
How about enemies?
Enemies, too.
Up here, nobody gets to 40.
Three people that night, Doris.
You knew Tommy, you know Silky.
And I know whatever I tell you, it only means you lock them up.
Hey, hey, now, we're trying to find out
why Tommy Richardson is dead.
The way we heart it, he was your friend.
Seems to me you owe him his propers.
Who was the third guy?
He's just a scared little boy.
Abel. Tommy's little brother.
GREEVEY: Tommy and Silky were doing a drug deal.
LOGAN: You think Tommy would shoot a cop?
Tommy never had a gun.
If your brother was here now, what would he tell you to do?
Tommy was going to buy the gun.
For 500.
And the dope?
Crack, a half a pound.
For 2500.
20 extra.
We were going to go to the movies,
but the cops came. We ran.
Silky still had the gun.
Okay.
Okay what?
Sometimes when I don't want to see something,
then I put blinders on.
What's that, a confession?
An apology.
Richardson had the money.
Silky had the gun.
What happened to the dope?
There was no dope.
Never had it.
Oh, yeah, Richardson met you to buy groceries, huh?
My lawyer-- he'll have me out of here in an hour.
You could still go up on that gun charge, Silky.
I never been convicted of no felony.
Even if you prove I sold him the gun,
I still walk.
Jailhouse lawyer here.
A witness puts you at the scene that night.
Abel.
All right.
I was there.
That what you want to hear?
Tommy had the gun.
He drew on the cop, the cop shot him.
That's what happened.
Playing this all wrong, Silky.
I'm still breathing, ain't I?
What did this guy do?
Shoot the pope?
What are you talking about?
Pretty popular.
Had another cop in this morning.
Who?
Parisi.
Freddo Parisi.
GREEVEY: Well, the kid say, "I'm breathing" means Freddo threatened us.
I admit, it doesn't sound good.
Silky's lying, Freddo's lying.
Davis is covering for him.
Freddo's arrested-- maybe somebody breaks.
D.A. says the same thing,
but it's a cop, so it's got to be an Internal Affairs collar.
I.A.D. cuts a guy some slack and his own precinct burns him.
What a world.
You're under arrest
for the murder of Thomas Richardson.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say can and will be...
Save it, wise guy.
I know it by heart.
You're dreaming, Counselor.
And the Richardson boy-- no record and no gun.
Yes, says his 13-year-old brother.
With no reason to lie.
The kid's a lousy witness. He wasn't even there.
When I get finished with him,
a jury won't take his word on what he ate for breakfast.
And Patrolman Parisi?
LAWYER: A veteran cop.
His word, Davis's word, Silky's word--
all against the kid
who wants to protect his brother's reputation.
And who's a jury gonna believe?
By the time we go to trial, Patrolman,
Silky will be telling the truth.
It turns out Abel's not clean,
they scuff him up on the stand, Freddo walks.
Abel has no record.
Neither did his brother. I don't want a last-minute sandbag.
Make sure, Paul.
Abel's been in no trouble.
Are you going to see your brother--
Tommy Richardson--
gets justice?
I'm an officer of the court.
I'll investigate every aspect of the case.
Color has...
Nothing to do with it.
Well, maybe I'm mistaking who you are.
You grow up on Park Avenue, south of 96th Street?
That isn't relevant to this.
No?
No father?
That's right.
Took off?
Even you, Mr. Robinette?
All black fathers leave their children?
Tommy Richardson's father was a subway motorman.
Usually worked two shifts.
Somebody shot him for 20 bucks he'd won at O.T.B.
Now, Tommy Richardson was a hero
in this community.
He came from a good family.
He went to a good college.
He brought home money for the church,
for the children's enrichment program,
for the boy's choir.
Well, how much money?
From where?
Family named Harriman.
Tommy's college roommate.
They gave $48,000 in secret.
How much?
$48,000.
My God.
Your family didn't give the money?
No.
Where did he get it?
Till the end of the semester, I really liked Tommy.
He was smart, funny.
Exam period, I'd come back at night and...
People he was hanging out with.
Street people?
Yeah...
Wall Street.
J. Press suits, Fisher skis, Beamers...
Trust fund babies.
Tommy-- it was like he was in China.
Didn't know the language.
He couldn't make friends.
These guys wanted to score some coke
and Tommy's black--
like he ought to know.
Friendship wasn't the point.
Customers.
You know any of them?
Wesley Parker.
Have a seat.
I want to talk to you about Tommy Richardson.
What about him?
He sold you drugs.
No, hey, man, I don't know who you've been talking to.
There's no way.
I take a walk around here, you think I'll find some dope?
Whatever you want to know.
Why did you hang with Tommy?
I don't want to get myself arrested here.
Let's say Tommy never got me any drugs.
But your friends?
Tommy was tough.
He knew how the world worked.
Know what I mean?
He was going to be real major.
Yeah, Wesley.
A major homicide.
CROWD: We want justice!
We want justice!
To them, he's a hero.
We're going to destroy that dream.
The truth will set you free, it won't always make you happy.
But he wasn't all bad.
A trial, Ben?
His name's dirt.
In Harlem, kid goes away
to a good school,
brings back money to the community...
A candidate for sainthood?
The good part of him, yeah.
Maybe he needed the bad part to make the good part work.
Maybe being the tough black kid in college, the street kid,
helped him to come home and give away money.
Robin Hood? You think that'd play with the jury?
They find out he's a drug dealer,
they'll never believe he didn't have a gun.
Then make a deal.
Freddo does a couple years, Tommy's name stays clean.
Can't do it, Paul.
You can't let killers walk.
( phone rings )
Stone.
Yes, send them in.
The Richardsons.
Mrs. Richardson, thanks for coming down.
Is this Abel?
Yes, it is.
How you doing? Come in.
Sit right down. Thank you.
Mrs. Richardson, when this case goes to trial,
there may be unpleasant things said about your son.
I read in the papers
that the policeman could go free.
Mrs. Richardson...
My husband was killed.
Tommy was ten years old.
That boy... he started coming home from school late.
Two, three hours.
I thought he was hanging out
on the streets.
After-school job
made him late.
Delivering groceries to help me out.
Tommy spent his whole life
just taking care of other people.
He had some problems.
My boy got out of Harlem.
That's what white people wanted him to do
and it's what I wanted him to do.
Mr. Stone, could I talk to you outside for a second?
You're going to kill my mom.
This drug deal on the street, Abel, this wasn't a one-shot thing, was it?
You can't do this to my mom.
It's not us doing it.
Reverend Thayer, your mother-- everybody wants justice.
But I have to know what really happened.
Tommy was moving a ton of dope.
At Princeton?
Every two weeks.
He buy it here?
Um, he had this mule...
moved it down on the train.
This mule have a name?
A girl.
A girl named Doris.
I don't know nothiing, okay? He's dead and I'm still here.
That's all I know.
When you were on the stroll...
Yeah, well, that's old news.
Not old enough for the statute of limitations.
You jumped bail.
Yeah, well, I forgot to show up at court.
You want a reminder?
Okay, you want it straight up, Oreo?
Tommy asked me to score some coke.
Gave me money. Train ticket said
to bring it to down to someplace in Jersey.
Smart move, Doris. He paid me so much,
I stopped turning tricks.
'Cause of him, I got out of the life.
Oh, great. Hooking to drug dealing?
Yeah, which would you rather sell--
drugs or your body?
CROWD: We want justice! We want justice!
New york's finest! New york's finest!
Yeah, real stupid, Stone.
Grand jury's decision, not mine.
We're not gonna have to smear that kid.
He already smeared himself.
Tommy Richardson's dead.
He's not on trial for drugs or anything else.
Freddo had every reason to believe that the kid was going to shoot him.
When Freddo shoots, what would you have done?
I wouldn't put a gun in a dead kid's hand.
I hope you're prepared to go to trial and prove that
and soon.
I'll see you there. Yeah.
I don't care, I want you to try for a deal with Freddo.
Am I mistaken or did you just take a stand
about a community having to have its laws?
That is a public position.
I'm telling you right now that you do not have enough to convict Parisi.
Then don't shut me down.
The partner won't roll.
You've got nothing to offer Silky.
And if Freddo's not interested?
Make it sweet.
Down for four, out in two. Convince him.
Adam, really... 99% of the time, I let you run with it.
I've got to do what's best for the office.
Gentlemen, come in.
FREDDO: My lawyer, Mr. Hillery, says I could use the company.
HILLERY: I'm sure we remember each other.
My, uh... my ex-wife cleaned up.
Would you like a drink?
No, thanks.
No wife, no friends, no nobody.
From what I've seen, you have
plenty of friends.
Protecting their own, pal.
Most of them, they don't even know me.
A lot of people downtown would really prefer it
if you didn't go to trial.
If you plead to manslaughter,
you can be out in one year--
two at the most.
You guys ,with your jobs and your suits
and your press conferences...
Freddo...
You want to take from me
the one thing I got left.
My trial is going to prove
that Ivy League moulanyan was a punk!
I want my day in court.
Before you ran from the police,
did your brother or Silky Ford have a gun?
Silky had a gun stuck into his jeans.
Did you see the gun?
I could see the handle.
It was a Magnum, like Dirty Harry.
You know, "make my day."
On the street that night, you had a fight.
What was that about?
Uh, Silky short-weighted Tommy.
I said something.
He pushed me.
Tommy pushed him...
I'm going to ask you one more time.
Did you ever at any time
see your brother carry or fire a gun?
No, never.
No further questions.
Let's start from the beginning, Abel.
Isn't it true that your brother was planning to buy a gun
from Silky Ford that night?
Yeah, but he...
He was planning on buying a .357 Magnum?
Yeah, but he...
Just answer yes or no, please.
Your brother was a student at Princeton University,
is that right? Objection, Your Honor.
This has all been covered.
I'm trying to establish something important here, Your Honor.
We'll let Mr. Hillery travel this road again.
Overruled.
HILLERY: He was a student at Princeton?
ABEL: Yes.
HILLERY: Were you proud of him?
Everybody was.
Everybody was. And you told people all the time
how proud you were of him?
Of course I did.
Please tell the jury, if you were so proud of him
whether you would honestly admit
that he was capable of shooting a policeman.
Objection, hypothetical.
Sustained.
No more of that, Mr. Hillery.
Abel, were you in the alley the night your brother was shot?
You know I wasn't.
So you don't know what went on there, do you?
Had to happen, Ben.
You watch the jury?
They didn't believe a word he said.
Freddo's going to walk.
We could get Davis to roll if Silky does.
But Silky won't roll unless he's set up
for a felony.
Set him up.
Is that ethical?
It's legal.
In the criminal justice system, that makes it ethical.
Silky was committing a felony that night.
Half a pound of crack.
He's a drug dealer.
What do you think happened in that alley?
Best bet? Freddo got trigger-happy.
Shot the kid.
Told Silky to take the crack and run.
Call Greevey and Logan.
Set Silky up for sale weight.
Hello, Silky.
You're looking fine, baby.
I thought with Tommy gone
you'd be out of business, though.
Yeah, well, I got other customers.
The wire works.
Thank God for small miracles.
You got my rocks?
You know it.
A pound of the best.
Five grand, baby.
Countdown...
three...
two...
Here, babe.
Later.
One.
Go!
Go, go, go.
Freeze, police!
I ain't moving!
Don't move.
( siren approaching )
So are you going to protect me for the next 30 years?
STONE: You're a predicate felon, Silky.
You can get put away for 15 years to life.
Okay, sports fans.
Let's go to the videotape.
Did you see Freddo Parisi shoot Tommy Richardson?
Freddo says, "Don't move."
Tommy turns to say something and...
the cop shoots him.
Tommy didn't have no gun.
Freddo takes my gun.
He wipes it on his shirt.
Twice.
He puts it in Tommy's hand.
Freddo tells me to take the dope and leave.
Says it's my lucky day.
Did he say anything else?
Oh, yeah.
He says if I tell anybody, he'll kill me.
At my cell at the tombs,
he tells me again.
Keep your mouth shut or you're dead.
Even if I burn him, his partner will get me.
Well?
You have five kids, a terrific wife, nice house.
Massapequa, isn't it?
Yeah.
You've earned five or six citations.
You have a great record.
Don't let misguided loyalty ruin your life.
You stay with Freddo, he'll take you down.
He's my partner.
Something you don't know.
When they brought the Richardson boy to the morgue,
he had $3,000 on him.
The transaction never took place.
He never bought Silky's gun.
You weren't even there.
After the incident was called in to Internal Affairs,
what did Patrolman Parisi tell you?
He said if there was ever a lineup,
he didn't want me to identify the guy with the birthmark.
STONE: Did he tell you why?
DAVIS: He said I didn't have to worry.
If they picked him up, he would say he wasn't there.
Did Patrolman Parisi tell you why he was so certain
you didn't have to worry?
He said... he let him take the crack.
The stuff he was going to sell.
Were you at all concerned
that Patrolman Parisi might be wrong?
That the suspect in question might admit
to being there that night?
No.
Freddo...
Patrolman Parisi said it was a sure thing.
The guy didn't dare open his mouth.
STONE: No more questions.
No questions of this witness.
JUDGE: You may step down.
Prosecution calls Dorian "Silky" Ford.
( door opening )
JUDGE: Mr. Stone, is this going to take some time?
Yes, Your Honor.
JUDGE: In view of how late in the day it is,
let's continue tomorrow.
Any objections?
Court is adjourned.
Well, I can't say
I'm not glad at the way it turned out.
I don't understand cops.
There is such a thing as an honorable mistake.
Okay, he shot the kid.
Did he have to plant a gun on him?
If he'd just admitted it
and said, "I was scared. I panicked. I was wrong."
No jury in the world would convict him of murder.
If nothing else,
Freddo will never have a gun in his hand again.
And that's better for everybody.
( phone ringing )
Schiff.
Thanks for calling.
Well, we don't have to worry about a verdict.
Freddo just ate his gun.
THAYER: Now is the time to remember the real Tommy Richardson
and what he meant to this community.
He was a symbol
of what every child born into poverty could achieve.
He gave back to his people,
his time, his energy,
his love.
And he tried to help even more.
He tried to help others by giving money,
but to get that money, he sold drugs.
And he was shot to death in the gutter because of it.
What Tommy Richardson wanted to do for his people was right,
but he did it the wrong way.
And the policeman who shot him--
that was wrong, too.
But it would not have happened without drugs.
Wandering the halls?
I wanted to say thank you.
I know this was a tough one.
It's the last one.
No more cops.
It's too hard.
Know why I wouldn't let go?
Because there but for the grace of God, go I
or any cop.
You get caught.
You get prosecuted.
Didn't know you were a philosopher, Max.
Just an ex-altar boy with a gun.