I'm your brother's fiancee. This is our son, Nicky.
Rafael's already served nine years for this robbery.
Plus two years for the one before this and the 18 months in juvie for possession.
He's changed now. If you can speak about what it was like
for the two of you growing up, how tough things were.
Don't come in here and ask me to make excuses for my brother.
Bobby was a bastard, and I spent ten years
between his fists and your pretty face.
Danny, don't say I wasn't there for you.
I'm here to testify on behalf of Rafael
Alvarez... my brother.
You think you're stronger than me, huh?
You think you're stronger than me?!
I am Gigantor! I am Gigantor!
I am king of Couch Mountain!
Stop, Dad!
All right, all right, all right. Come on.
Come on, stop, you guys. Please? We're just goofing.
Well, you should just be doing your homework, Papito. Okay?
And can you change your shoes? It smells like Pennzoil in here.
Mom?
Now, now, come on. You heard her. Mom.
How you feeling, huh?
Uh... mm.
Mm. Hmm?
Why don't you take a break.
Let me cook tonight.
Oh, yeah? Yeah.
All right, well, you know where the chicken is.
I thought you're the king.
I thought you had homework.
Yeah.
Now?
It's got to be now? But you said..
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, all right. I'll take care of it.
What was that? Customer.
Guy promised him his car would be ready tomorrow.
Now the work's not done. I got to go to the shop.
What time are you going to be back?
Late.
Rafie... I'm sorry. Don't wait up.
All right.
Bye.
...for interstate commerce.
Morning.
Is it...? It, it's morning.
Man, you look wired.
Wired's better than tired, right.
You want a sip?
I've tried your coffee. I got my own.
What's this?
Some case that escaped my attention?
No, I just needed a little bit of quiet time.
My neighbor's got a two-month-old.
She's cute, but she's loud as hell.
What's your excuse?
Okay.
"Constitutional conflicts.
"Grossman's Questions & Answers
of the New York Bar Exam."
I'm taking the test at Javits at the end of the month.
I thought you took the bar exam when you got out of law school.
I did, and I failed it.
So I've been brushing up on this over the past year
and hopefully this time I'll pass.
ADA Danny Taylor, huh?
Or "Taylor & Associates." Huh?
All right.
What are you doing? Pencils up.
No, no, no. Yeah, come on. Let's see what you got.
Jack, look at this. I got to get to 319 before.
Come on. Come on. Let's see what you got.
Go. Constitutional law.
Taylor.
Hey. Mm-hmm.
When?
Okay.
I'll be right over.
Okay, bye.
What's going on?
That was my brother's girlfriend.
She said that he hasn't come home in a couple days.
He's on parole, right?
Yeah.
How's he doing? Good.
He works at a body shop.
He hangs out with his kid. He's got another kid on the way.
I'm gonna go check this out, okay
Sure.
All right.
Hi.
Where's Nicky? He's asleep. Where have you been?
I called you twice yesterday. Didn't you get my messages?
I was out. I was gonna call you this morning.
This is not like him. Something's wrong.
You might wake Nicky up.
Did he say where he was going? My brother's shop.
Nelson?
Yes. But I called and he doesn't know anything about it.
Has he been going out? Going to bars, nightclubs,
hanging out with his friends?
No. In the year that he's been out,
he's either at home with me and Nicky or he's at work.
He's clean.
He's completely clean, and he promised me
he wasn't going to mess it up again.
He wants to stay up all night and hang with you.
Rafie, you all right?
Honey, what's wrong? Nothing.
Honey, come on.
No, for real. I'm good.
It's just...
It's just what?
I spent 18 years either locked up or high
or both.
I'm just...
I'm not used to feeling things.
It's going to take me time. That's all.
Yeah, but you know what?
We got time.
Yeah. Yeah.
How long was this? Three months or so.
Three months. It's not like that, Danny.
You know he's got plans. He took out a loan to set up his own shop.
I saw the money. It was almost $10,000.
Where'd he get the loan?
The Small Business Administration.
Do you know who he was talking to over there?
No, but I pulled out one of his cards
from Rafie's shirt. Let me get it.
You saw my sister? Yeah.
And you saw how she's a mess over this.
Yeah.
I don't know what's going on with your brother,
but I hope he's okay.
Sylvia mentioned that a customer
called the house the other night.
What's that about? It's no one I know.
He needed extra cash so I let him work at night.
But what he was doing was off the books.
You do know that my brother had a drug problem?
I know he kicked it. You think he's using again?
It didn't look like it to me.
He seemed to be getting his act together pretty good
with the new shop and all.
What can you tell me about this loan?
He came in here with a big fat wad of hundreds.
I told him to get it outta here, otherwise I was gonna mug him.
Do you know where this place is that he wants to open up?
It's a few blocks down. A place called Peterson Body Works.
What about the crew you run with? Any troublemakers?
Anybody look shady to you? I don't know.
You don't know? You look like you know.
There's this guy he's hanging with.
He's a Dominican kid by the name of Luis Vega.
Vega. What's his story?
He used to work here,
but I fired him for stealing rims.
I told him to get lost, but he kept coming by to see Rafie.
It'll be ready Thursday, noon.
Okay.
Yo, Rafie!
What do you think you're doing?
What do you mean?
Don't play dumb with me. That guy is bad news.
He's just stopping by. It's no big deal.
Stay away from him. If your PO hears that you're hanging with guys like him,
they're going to send you back to the box.
I know. I know. Yeah, I know you know. Just don't blow it.
You got a good thing going. Yeah. It's all good.
Well, then keep your head up.
Get in there and make cars beautiful.
That's what we pay you for.
I didn't make anything of it at the time,
but Rafie not showing up for the last couple days.
Yeah. Did you see Luis again after that?
No. But the guys use that pay phone
to make their personal phone calls.
And Rafie was on it a lot the day before he took off.
You got Luis' number?
It's in the office.
Hey, what's up?
Hey.
Any news on your brother?
Nothing yet.
I got a number on that call
to your brother's apartment.
It came up as a cloned phone.
You sure?
It was the only incoming call that night.
All right, thanks.
Hey, listen, if you need a hand with this,
I'm available.
Yeah, me, too.
Well, I got a mountain of pay phone records.
I got an SBA loan officer on his way in for an interview
and meet the lowlife my brother's been hanging with.
He's got two felony convictions
for grand theft auto.
I'll take the mountain.
I'll take the lowlife.
Hey, I'm going to grab a coffee. You want one?
No, I'm fine.
Okay.
Hey, Sam.
Hey.
How's Danny?
I'd say he's a little rattled.
How are you? Fine.
See you in there.
Yeah.
When I was a kid, we used to pass notes under the desk at school.
Well, I guess we're all grown up now.
Yes. A fact that I regret daily.
To what do I owe the pleasure?
I wanted to see how the medication's working.
Well, the good news is that I'm sleeping;
bad news is, I'm still tired.
Do you want to talk about it?
Professionally?
That's what I do.
Well, I'm gonna have to pass.
But, uh, don't take it personally.
Well, everything's personal, Jack. You should know that.
If you reconsider, you know where I am.
I sure do.
Bye. Bye.
Mr. Asher.
Hi. I'm Danny Taylor. Thank you very much for coming in.
This is Special Agent Martin Fitzgerald.
As I said on the phone, I'm gonna need information
on the loan that you gave Rafael Alvarez.
Yes. I remember Mr. Alvarez. I brought his file.
Can I see that?
He came to me two months ago.
He was looking to take out a loan
to purchase a car repair business.
Peterson Body Works.
Yes. Now, it says here
that he requested $10,000-- is that correct? Yeah,
that's the figure he estimated for his down payment
and initial operating costs. He did his homework.
That's not why he was denied the loan.
Well, wait, h
What
I had it approved all the way up the ladder
till management got hold of his background check.
I fought for him, but there was nothing I could do.
Hey! Hey, Mr. Asher!
Hold on.
: How you doing?
Oh.
Sorry. It's part of the job.
You know. That's okay.
Uh, I tried calling, but the phone was busy.
Oh, it's a pay phone. These guys are always tying it up.
That's the first thing I'm gonna change
when I get my shop. I'm going class all the way.
The loan's been denied, Rafie.
What? What happened?
Th-That's a viable business I'm buying.
You saw the P&L.
It's not about numbers. It's about your record.
Specifically, the felony convictions.
You-you said that didn't matter.
It's evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
Some hard-ass manager killed it.
I fought like hell, but I lost.
Can I talk to this manager?
I don't think it'll help.
I know how much you wanted this. I'm sorry.
This is a copy of your... application
and rejection notice.
I'm supposed to give it to you.
Thanks.
And that was the last time you saw him?
Yes.
A couple of days after that,
he showed up at work with-with close to $10,000 in cash.
Do you have any idea where he would've gotten that kind of money?
Not from us.
Excuse me.
Taylor.
Yeah.
Y-Yes, I would.
125 Broxton.
Thank you. I owe you.
Okay. Thanks.
Will you excuse us? Sure.
NYPD just found Vega's car in a parking garage.
There. It's right there.
It's cold.
This car's been here for a while.
There's got to be at least two grand invested in the wheels alone.
I bet this guy's coming back for his car.
Comprende the monkey part.
It means, "You can dress a monkey up in silk,
but he's still a monkey."
My brother used to take me on these fishing trips
down to the Florida Keys when I was kid.
He had a '72-- I mean, a cherry '72 Lincoln Continental
with the little opera windows
in the back. Oh, that's cool.
Yeah. It was cool. The way back was hell.
You see, once we were done with all the fun stuff,
my brother would take me to this dock,
and we would pick up these special packages.
My brother always had a talent for hiding special packages.
This car could've been used to kidnap your brother.
Exigent circumstances work for me.
No, I've never heard anything about any drugs.
Are you sure? Yes, I'm sure.
You never noticed anything?
Like what? You're the nurse. You know what.
No. I don't know what.
And I've never even heard Rafie mention this Luis guy.
And why can't you find him?
That's what I'm trying to do.
Sylvia, Rafie's loan was denied.
What? I saw the money, Danny.
Is there anybody else he could've borrowed it from?
No. We don't know people with money like that.
Why would he lie to me? Because he lies.
Because that's what he does.
I-I'm sorry, but...
You know what? I got to go.
Lock up before you leave.
Taylor.
Hey, man, bad news.
They found Rafie's prints on the drugs.
I think our best bet is to piece the car back together and sit on it,
and when Luis comes back to get it, then he can tell us where Rafie is.
I'll take care of it. All right, thanks.
Stop.
Keep it down.
Is that your milk?! Yes, Papi.
So you like knocking over your milk?
I knocked it over.
Is that right?
Look, you got milk all over your art.
I thought I told you not to draw at the table 'cause this is what happens, see?!
I'm sorry, Papi. Sorry?!
How many times do I have to tell you!
You've got to learn to listen!
Papi, stop! Go to your room!
Papi... I said go to your room!
Look at the little baby crying. I said I was sorry.
Don't talk to me like that!
: I said I was sorry.
Do not talk to me like that!
Danny.
Uh, come on in. I've got some information for you.
The, uh, DEA has nothing on Luis Vega or your brother.
But there's been about 20 phone calls made from the body shop
to Vega in the last week. It's pretty obvious
what they've been talking about.
I need you to come in here and sit down.
Look...
I want you to understand something, okay?
If we pursue this,
we're gonna go all the way with it.
And if it's warranted, It's warranted.
we're gonna make an arrest.
My brother's prints are all over the drugs-- it's warranted.
You know, my inclination is to pull you off this case.
Why? It's obvious why.
I can handle it, okay?
We done?
Yes, that's it.
I'm here if you need me, okay? Thank you, Jack.
Mr. Peterson.
Yeah, that's me.
Special Agent Spade. FBI. Uh, what can I do for you?
I wanted to ask you a few questions about Rafael Alvarez.
Is there a problem?
Now, I understand he was trying to buy your business.
What, is that against the law?
No, not at all.
I just wanted confirmation from you
that he was legitimately interested.
Oh, he was interested, all right.
He, uh, had all sorts of plans.
So, you got to picture some, uh, some Porsches down here,
some Benzes...
What's up, fellas?
You know, some-some Mercedes down here.
Get your Wall Street buddies to come down
and give me some of their money.
Definitely. This could be very cool.
Hey, Rafie.
Hey, Mr. Peterson! How you doing?
This is Mr. Peterson.
This is my friend Carey I was telling you about.
I'm just showing him around a little bit.
I brought the deposit we talked about.
Uh, you didn't get my message?
I-I left it at the shop.
Nah, nah, what message?
Uh... when you didn't show up with the deposit last week,
uh, I had to find another buyer.
No, no-no-no-no-no. I-I got the money now.
I already signed the papers. No! We had a deal!
What do you mean, you signed the papers? We had a deal!
You didn't come through, Rafie. No! What?!
I couldn't afford to screw around.
I'm sorry.
You're sorry?
That's it
I don't know what else to say, Raf.
I...
Sorry.
I felt terrible about it.
Kid had all sorts of ideas.
Turns out the guys I sold to plan to knock it down
for a condo project. Put 30 years of my life in here.
Yeah, I would've liked to seen it
still up and running, you know?
You said he showed up with the money?
Yeah, that's what he said.
Do you've any idea where he got it?
I'd check with his buddy, the suit.
They left here in a brand-new Lexus.
Guy looked loaded to me.
Thank you.
Sure.
Hey. Hey.
Any word on this, uh, Carey friend of your brother's?
Nope, Sylvia's never heard of him.
Well, for what it's worth, um, the owner said your brother
was really serious about opening that shop.
MARTIN: Here we go.
Meet Carey Chase.
Three calls were placed to this guy
from the pay phone at the garage last week.
Two drug busts, possession
with intent to sell...
Another angel.
He works for a brokerage firm down on Wall Street,
and the security guard saw a man
matching Rafie's description talking with
this guy around 11:30 last night.
Yeah, I got to go. Thank you.
Okay. Come on in, guys. Okay.
Uh, can I get you guys a drink?
No, we're good.
What can you tell us about Rafael Alvarez?
This about Rafie?
It is for now.
How is it that you're
associated with an ex-con who works in a body shop?
Uh, we met in rehab.
That's the great social equalizer.
Addiction doesn't care how much money you make.
Why did Rafie come to see you last night?
I was out having drinks after work and he paged me.
He wanted to talk, so we came up here.
What did he want to talk about?
Uh, I'm not sure I want to get involved in this.
Why, what's the problem? You using again?
I'm clean.
Then tell us what we want to know.
Start talking.
He was in trouble.
He was so tweaked, I thought his head was gonna explode.
Come on, sit down. Try to relax.
You're not listening to me!
They're gonna kill me.
You can't talk to them?
No.
I screwed up, all right?
I screwed up.
I borrowed this money from these guys,
I couldn't pay it all back, so I had
to do them a favor.
I had to pack some crystal into a car.
But then the guy I'm working with ripped me off.
He took the crystal?
He took the car, he took the crystal.
Who's the guy? You don't know him.
Now you can't find him?
I tried.
It went bad, man.
It went really bad.
Where's Luis?
Please, I told you, we don't want...
I don't want to hear that! Where is he?!
He came here around 10:00 and left again, he said he was...
That's a lie!
Now what do you say, huh? Now what do you say?!
You want to keep lying to me?!
Don't hurt him.
Let him go!
Let him go, please!
Make him stop crying!
CHASE: I tried to get more out of him, but he was wiggin'.
Do you...
do you have any idea how long he's been using again?
He started after he got turned down on that garage deal.
I mean, he got real depressed
and he had all that cash to burn.
It was inevitable, I guess.
You know, he ended up smoking through
most of the money he borrowed and between that and the vig...
he just got, he just got in the hole.
Where'd he get that money?
I don't know.
You have any idea where he goes to get his drugs?
No.
But he was definitely a man in need of a fix.
I've only seen him twice since he was released:
Christmas... and then Nicky's birthday.
And I guess...
well, I don't guess, I know, that I've been avoiding him.
Look, Rafie made his choices.
All day long today I have been thinking
about this tavern that I used to go to.
It opened at 6:00.
I used to be really close with the bartender,
so I, so I called my sponsor, and he wasn't around,
and that's... that's why I called you.
Well, I'm glad you did.
You know how I told you I failed the bar exam?
Mm-hmm.
The truth is I never took it.
I never made it that far.
I was supposed to drive out to Nassau Community College.
Well, I crammed
all night, and before I knew it, I was way late.
Come on.
Come on. Get out. Let's go.
And when the cops found the booze, they...
they made me take a breathalyzer.
One minute I was trying to become a lawyer,
and... the next minute I needed one.
I don't know what to say.
My lawyer was good.
She knocked it down to a misdemeanor.
So you got lucky.
Yeah. I did get lucky.
You know, Viv...
there's a part of me that just wants to cut Rafie off
and-and walk away from him,
because the closer that I get to him,
the more I realize that I am just one wrong step away
from being where I used to be.
What are you going to do?
Hey, Luis.
FBI!
Freeze!
Keep your hands where I can see 'em.
Turn around and face the car.
Put your hands on the hood.
Put your hands on the car.
Eight kilos of farm- fresh crystal meth.
What was that, to fund your retirement?
Sounds nice, right? Wasn't mine, bro.
Then whose was it?
You got the badge, you tell me.
It was your car.
Lots of people use my car, bro.
Where's Rafie?
I don't know.
I don't know anything, all right?
About any of this.
Okay.
Then I guess we'll just have to let you go.
But just remember one thing.
Once we put the word out on the street
that you're the one that stole the drugs...
You're dead. Where's Rafie?
Where the hell is Rafie?
I
I don't know, I swear.
Then who loaned him the money?
I don't know, man. He didn't say.
Okay, he
He said he needed a favor.
Needed to use my car.
Bro, he told me he knew how to play it, man.
Yo, y-you almost done, man?
Come on. It's been, like, two hours.
You want to do this right, or you want to get caught?
Lou, just relax, all right? It's just taking a long time.
You got to get rid of it.
Yeah.
Not here.
All right.
Where'd your boy get all this stuff anyway, man?
It's none of my business where it came from or where it's going.
I'm just saying, it's got to be worth...
Shut up! Okay.
I don't wanna talk about it. Just want to get this done.
Forget it ever happened.
Oh, I hear you, bro.
So you screwed Rafie over?
That's a lot of money, bro.
I just thought, you know, I could find another buyer.
You screwed over my brother.
Danny...
Your brother, man?
Hey!
Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho!
Ho, Danny! Get off, man! Get off!
Danny, it's enough!
I'm suing you! Everything you have is mine!
Hey! Sit down and...!
Sit your ass down and shut up!
Right now!
Now, are we cool?
Yeah.
Taylor.
Yeah.
SYLVIA: You got to stop him.
Danny, please... Shh! Shh!
Make him stop it, please! I cannot understand you.
Rafie called, and... and he was talking
a million miles an hour,
and he sounded really bad.
Where is he? I don't know.
I don't know where he is, but...
he said he was going to kill himself.
I tried to get him to stop,
but he hung up-- you have to stop him.
Listen to me, please. You've to stop him.
Stay put.
I-I'm going to take care of this, okay?
Okay. Okay, bye.
What's going on? It's Sylvia.
She-she says that Rafie's going to try to kill himself.
Call came in from a cell phone
registered to a Carey Chase.
See if you can get a ping off the number.
Man, where does this guy live?
Billing address is New Rochelle.
New Rochelle.
Well, local PD can get there a lot faster than we can.
Ping's going to take a few minutes.
We should go to Chase's office.
Keep me posted, all right?
Malone.
Hi, Jack. It's Viv. Any word on Rafie?
Geez. Nothing gets by you, even in your bathrobe.
Look, Danny came by this afternoon,
you know, and he seemed a little...
on edge.
Did he say something that made you think he couldn't handle it?
Mm, just, one day at a time kind of thing.
Um...
look, I'll keep an eye on him, okay?
Yeah. I'll talk to you later.
Sure.
He's dead.
Fitzgerald.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. Okay, thanks.
Rafie wasn't here when he called Sylvia.
The call was routed through a tower in Queens.
You think he's going home?
No.
I'll wait here.
What the hell you doing here?
All right, get out of here. Leave me alone.
Why?
So you can keep injecting your veins with that junk?
When are you going to stop?
When your heart does?
Hmm?
Is this the same stuff that Chase took?
It doesn't matter.
Well, d-d-do Sylvia and Nicky matter?
Hmm?
You see this place?
This place should be mine, Danny.
Man, I know, I know.
The Beemers, the Porsches...
No, man, no, you don't know.
I had the right plan.
Well, plan didn't work out,
but that's not a good enough reason
to inject yourself with poison, Rafie.
Danny, you think I don't know it's something wrong with me?!
You don't think I wanted to stay straight?
Why didn't you come to me? I would've helped you.
No. Hmm?
You don't want nothing to do with me.
I get why, so just get out of here, leave me alone.
Let me deal with this.
Don't make me lie to him, Rafie.
Who?
Nicky.
Nicky?
Ten years from now, when he asks me,
"How did Papi really die?"
You remember my old Continental?
Yeah, with the... the opera windows in the back.
I taught you how to drive in that car.
God, Danny...
I don't know what to do.
( speaking indecipherably )
What are we going to do now?
All right, all right...
: Danny...
what are we going to do now?
I'm Gargantuan, king of Couch Mountain!
: I give up! I give up!
Hey.
Where is he?
NYPD's processing him,
and he should be done in about an hour.
When can I see him?
Maybe after that.
Okay. So we're going to have to get a lawyer, and, um...
my sister can watch Nicky.
And...
Oh, Danny... I know.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
We're going to get through this together, okay?
I guess I'm not the only one without a life.
Something on your mind?
Do you want to get a drink?
Really? Really. Why not?
That's not exactly what I had in mind.
If you want to talk, I'm all ears.
Like I told you before, I don't need a therapist.
Hmm. Just friends then.
Okay.
Nobody around here tells me anything.
What do you mean?
I mean around here, there's all this stuff going on,
and nobody tells me anything.
Hmm. People usually have a tough time
confiding in their boss.
Maybe. I-I don't think that's it.
Do you confide in them?
I can't. I'm their boss.
You sure that's the reason?
I think I'm going to need something stronger than this.
Well, pharmacy's closed, Jack.
Okay.
Thanks.
You don't have to leave if you don't want.
I'll just finish my drink.