(MAN SHOUTING IN SPANISH)
(POLICE SIRENS WAILING)
(SCREAMING)
BUMPY: Happy Thanksgiving!
(CROWD CHEERING)
Come here!
Yeah! MAN: Right here!
MAN: Toss me a bird, Bumpy!
WOMAN 1: Bumpy!
Yeah! WOMAN 2: Bumpy! We love you!
There you go, darling.
WOMAN 3: Over here! Over here!
Frank! Come on!
Come here.
BUMPY: This is the problem. This is what's wrong with America.
It's gotten so big, you just can't find your way.
The grocery store on the corner is now a supermarket.
The candy store is a McDonald's.
And this place, a super-fucking discount store.
Where's the pride of ownership, huh?
Where's the personal service?
You see what I mean? Shit.
(BUMPY CHUCKLING)
I mean, what right do they have, of cutting out the suppliers,
pushing out all the middlemen,
buying direct from the manufacturer?
(CHUCKLES)
Sony this, Toshiba that.
All them Chinks putting Americans out of work.
That's the way it is now.
You all right?
You can't find the heart of anything
to stick the knife.
Hey!
Anybody here?
Can I help you?
Call an ambulance.
Forget it, Frank.
There's no one in charge.
(WHEEZING)
Call an ambulance!
REPORTER: Some say Bumpy Johnson was a great man,
according to the eulogies, a giving man, a man of the people.
No one chose to use in their remembrances
the word most often associated with Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson, "Gangster,"
whose passing has brought a who's who of mourners on this chilly afternoon.
Lucchese mob boss Dominic Cattano, Harlem crime figure Nicky Barnes.
MAN: Nicky! Nicky!
REPORTER: From the political arena,
the Governor has come down, the Mayor of New York,
and Chief of Police and Commissioner, sports and entertainment luminaries.
REPORTER 2: Bumpy Johnson, age 62 when he passed,
was a folk hero among Harlem locals for over four decades.
Regarded by some as the Robin Hood of Harlem,
by others as a ruthless criminal...
TANGO: I don't understand, you know.
I would've thought that Bumpy would put out a better spread, you know?
You want something? No, thanks.
I want chicken wings at my funeral.
MAN: All right, Nicky Barnes. NICKY: Who is that?
He didn't know what hit him, you know what I'm saying?
I just kept popping him in the face 'cause that's what I do.
(WOMAN LAUGHING)
Mmm.
I don't have a lighter. You have a light?
Oh.
(GRUNTS)
FRANK: Okay?
TANGO: That's very good.
Hey, Frank.
Go get me a light while you're at it.
Appreciate it.
Don Cattano.
Hey, how you doing, Rossi?
Good.
BARTENDER: Would you like a drink, sir?
Give him a scotch on the rocks.
Come on. Come on.
I know you're hurting, Frank.
So am I.
I'm all right.
You gonna be all right? Yeah.
I'm sure Bumpy didn't say anything to you, but he made me promise
that if anything ever happened to him,
that I should make sure that you want for nothing.
I appreciate that.
You know, half the people in this room owed Bumpy money when he died.
They think I'm gonna forget to collect, but I'm gonna get that money.
Well, that's the spirit. Go get 'em.
PROFESSOR: Mr. Roberts, taking the prosecution's side,
give us US v. Mead, subject, issues, what the determination was
and what it means to us today.
Class, you'll be critiquing Mr. Roberts, so pay attention.
RICHIE: I hate hearing my name called, you know?
It means I gotta get up in front of the class, I gotta turn around,
and I know every one of those people there, they know more than I do.
The number one fear of people, it ain't dying, it's public speaking.
I get physically ill, I wanna throw up.
And that's what you wanna do for a living.
No, I don't wanna be like that, man, I wanna beat it.
JAY: So, should I do this?
No, he'll take it from me, he knows me. I've known him since high school.
From high school? Good morning. Yeah.
He doesn't take it, just throw it in. It's good service.
Throw it in? All right. Yeah.
JAY: What's up, Susie? Hey, Jay.
How you doing, baby? All right.
All right. Ready?
(DOG BARKING)
(ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)
(YELLING)
Hey! That's his head!
(GRUNTING)
RICHIE: You're supposed to be my friend, asshole!
CAMPIZI: I swear to God, Richie, I didn't know it was you.
I would never slam a door on your hand, knowingly.
You bit my fucking hand.
What are you doing serving subpoenas, anyway?
JAY: We're on loan to County. County?
How's that working out for you? RICHIE: Hey, fuck you.
Hey, I'm sorry. Consider me served. Can we leave it there?
Assault on a police officer? I don't think so.
Hey, for old times' sake. What can we do? What do you want? What can I give you?
What do you get for assault with a deadly weapon, Jay?
Five years minimum. RICHIE: Five years.
Guys, come on. No, guys. What do you want? Who do you want?
Who do you got?
You want Big Al's bookie? You want his accountant? I'll give him to you.
CAMPIZI: Stop, stop, stop.
There he is.
That's him. That's the bookie.
RICHIE: All right, Carlo, get lost.
Right here? Yeah, right here. Get out of the car.
CAMPIZI: This is... I'd rather not. JAY: Come on. Let's go.
Take it ease.
JAY: Want to stay with him or the car?
Let's see who comes for the car.
Think he made us?
You called in the warrants, right? So, where are they?
I just called, man.
I called and walked back here and 10 seconds has gone by.
I saw him with the slips, Jay.
You saw policy slips? You saw grocery bags. You don't know what's in 'em.
Yes, I do and so do you. Don't give me that bull.
What's the rush, Richie? Half an hour, the warrant will be here.
I got night school, all right? Guess you're gonna miss it.
(SIGHS)
RICHIE: Fuck this. Come on. You sure?
Yeah, I'm sure. Let's go.
Fuck.
Jay. Yeah?
Fuck.
MAN ON RADIO: WBZ, honey bunch, the show they all love!
It's the groovy sound of the Jefferson Kaye Saturday Night Show.
Dig, honey, it's coming up time for news.
Jumping on the ceiling, wallpaper peeling on WBZ.
Stick around, the Jace-man's got 10. Back in 10.
(POP MUSIC PLAYING)
(SWITCHES RADIO OFF)
It's not just a couple of bucks, all right?
It's the same thing in principle.
Oh, are we talking principles?
Richie, a cop who turns in this kind of money, says one thing.
He turns in cops who take money. We'll be fucking pariahs.
Yeah, well, then we're fucked both ways.
Not if we keep it. Only if we don't, then you're right, we're fucked.
But not if we keep it.
God damn it, man! Did we ask for this?
Did we put a gun to someone's head and say, "Give us your money"?
Cops kill cops they can't trust.
We can't turn it in, man.
Can you believe that?
How much is it?
$987,000.
Well, what happened to the rest of it?
TOBACK: What the hell are you doing counting it out here in front of everybody?
Are you nuts?
Get it back in the bags, seal them up and down into the property room.
DETECTIVE: You fucking Boy Scout.
What? What?
Detective Trupo, sign here.
TRUPO: You guys ready to make a lot of fucking money?
MAN 1: Always. MAN 2: Hell, yeah.
TRUPO: Fucking A.
(TRUPO EXCLAIMS)
(MEN LAUGHING)
TRUPO: Oh, look at this.
There you go.
TRUPO: All right, look at this. MAN 2: Fucking beautiful.
There's three more boats.
TRUPO: Hey, don't lose any of that shit.
MAN 1: I know. TRUPO: All right, be careful.
(KNOCKING ON WINDOW)
Hey! Just enough for the reagent test.
A little less.
ROSSI: This is the French Connection dope.
Kilos of the same dope Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso took from us.
The cops seize it, arrest everyone,
then they start taking it out of the evidence room,
whacking it down to nothing and selling it back to us.
They basically control the market with it.
Mr. Rossi, I have a surprise for you.
ROSSI: They've been doing it for years now. They live off it, our dope.
What do you think?
What the fuck is happening to the world, Frank?
Those fucking crooks.
Yeah. Sad about Bumpy.
Things are never gonna be the same in Harlem.
You walk down the street, nobody bothers you 'cause Bumpy was making sure of it.
Half a key.
How is your day now?
It's chaos. Every gorilla for hisself.
(GRUNTING)
Motherfucker!
Who can live like that? There has to be order.
That would never happen with Italians.
More important than any one man's life, is order.
Frank.
Hey. Come on in, Claude. Sit down.
FRANK: How y'all doing, huh? Good.
So, you see Nate over there? Yeah?
MAN: Yeah, all the time.
Nate is everywhere. He's good. Yeah.
He's still over there? Yeah. He's got himself a club now.
Okay. Whereabouts, Saigon? MAN: Bangkok.
Bangkok? I don't think he's ever coming home.
Come on.
On the house, for our boys in uniform.
Thank you, sugar. That's very kind.
REDTOP: Thank Frank.
Thanks, Frank.
Just relax.
You have to boot this shit a couple of times.
The cops keep cutting it, selling the shit.
I don't want to say anything, 'cause the price is right,
but that shit in Nam is way,
way heavy.
Did you ain't seen the jar, Frank?
I think you walked right past it.
The money jar, Frank. What do I gotta do, put a fucking sign on it?
Hmm?
(TANGO CHUCKLES)
Look at this nigger right here. You know, Frank,
Bumpy don't own 116th no more.
Bumpy don't own no real estate in Harlem right now.
I'm the landlord and the lease is 20%.
Look, don't sell dope then, Frank. Get a real job.
You need a fucking job, Frank? Hmm? Is that what you need?
Well, you can come work for me.
Okay? You can drive me around, huh? You can open my doors.
Huh? "Yes, sir", "No, sir", "Right away, sir", "Anything you want, Massa Johnson".
Twenty percent.
Twenty percent is my profit, Tango.
If I give you that, then what do I got left? Nothing, man.
Twenty percent puts me out of business,
and every somebody you know out of business.
There's legitimate ways of doing things, Tango, and then there's this way.
Not even Bumpy took 20%.
Bumpy's fucking dead.
My man.
Twenty percent?
Twenty percent.
Doc, let's go.
Out. Good job. Sit.
A leader, like a shepherd,
he sends his fastest nimble sheep, out front.
And the others will follow.
While the shepherd, he walks quietly behind it.
Here, boy! Here we go. Right here. Bring it here. Yeah.
Now he's got the stick, and the cane, he'll use it!
If he has to.
But most times he doesn't have to.
He moves the whole herd quietly.
What right do they have cutting out the supplier?
The middleman. Buying direct.
Putting Americans out of work.
That's the way it is now, Frank.
That's the way it is.
MAN 1 ON TV: The drug problem in Vietnam is more than marijuana.
At this point, it is estimated that one third of American troops are experimenting
with opium and heroin.
MAN 2 ON TV: The authorities say they have confiscated
large quantities of marijuana, heroin and pills.
Every person and every vehicle going through the gates
is subject to a thorough shakedown.
MAN 3 ON TV: Soldiers have access to the drugs at many rest and relaxation spots
in Bangkok, Saigon and other areas throughout Vietnam and Thailand.
Officials say the easy availability, relatively cheap cost
and high purity of heroin throughout Saigon and the Far East,
is leading to an epidemic of heroin addiction among US soldiers.
Operator. FRANK: Yeah, international.
What city? Bangkok.
You know the country code? Yeah, 376.
For the first three minutes, it'll be... I got it, I got it. I got it.
(MAN SPEAKING THAI)
Hello?
Soul Brothers. Hey, can I help you?
Nate.
Do I know you? Yeah, it's me.
Who? Me, Frank. Your cousin, negro.
Go on, get yourself a new suit.
Look, I'm sorry.
Oh, please, Richie.
It couldn't be avoided. I'll take him next weekend, all right?
We're moving.
What? Where?
The St. Regis. What do you care?
To my sister's.
Your sister's? In Vegas? Yeah.
You are not moving to Las Vegas. Not with Michael, anyway.
(LAUGHS)
What am I supposed to do with him, leave him with you? There's a picture.
(BOTTLE SMASHING)
Hey, guys! Be cool.
Laurie, Las Vegas is not the kind of place that you raise a kid.
Like this is a good environment? And around your friends?
When am I supposed to see my boy?
This weekend. Last weekend.
(BOTTLES SHATTERING)
God damn it.
Hey! I asked you nice to shut up, right?
Now I'm gonna have to kill you.
I swear I will pull out my gun and put a bullet in your fucking heads!
Now stop what you're doing and pick up the glass!
Calm down, man. Okay, be cool.
Fucking crazy, man.
You don't have a gun.
You sure?
You are crazy, Richie.
You don't have room for us.
I'll see you in court.
Come on, Michael.
Say bye to your dad.
Get over here. Hey, kiddo.
I'll see you next week, all right? We'll do something.
LAURIE: Let's get you an ice cream.
You have 10 minutes remaining. Ten minutes.
(PLAYING BLUES MUSIC)
MAN: Shake it, baby. Shake it, shake it, shake it.
Oh, come on, girl. Don't tell me $5 don't get me a little something.
GIRL: Can you dig that it costs money to be here?
MAN: Oh, come on, girl.
(AUDIENCE CHEERING)
(SPEAKING THAI)
How much you want, Frank?
Tell him I want 100 keys.
NATE: Frank, ain't nobody I know can get you that much personally, all right?
You're gonna have to piece it together from several sources,
and it's not gonna be 100% pure.
(BABBLING) I don't want that.
I know what you don't want, Frank,
but look, what you're gonna need is to get to the Chiu-Chou syndicate, all right?
Cholon, Saigon. If they're gonna deal with you at all.
I understand that, but by then it's gonna be too late.
It'll be already chopped up. I wanna go get it where they go get it from.
I wanna go to the source.
So, you're gonna go get it yourself? Why not?
Huh? I came this far.
You're gonna go into the motherfucking jungle?
I'm in the jungle. Look around.
They're eating these roaches and whatever that is.
Nigga, I'm talking about snakes, all right?
I'm talking about tigers, I'm talking about Vietcong,
I'm talking about mosquitoes that'll fucking kill your ass.
You wanna go into the jungle?
We're going.
(SCOFFS)
Fuck it. Let's go. We're going.
Why not? Let's go.
Hey, Frank.
This whole spot's locked down by the Kuomintang,
General Chiang Kai-shek's defeated army.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
How would you get it into the States?
You ain't got to worry about that.
Who do you work for in there?
You ain't got to worry about that, either.
Who are you, really?
Frank Lucas, says it right there in my passport.
I mean, who you represent?
Me.
You think you're going to take 100 kilos of heroin into the US,
and you don't work for anyone? Someone is going to allow that?
That's right.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
After this first purchase, if you are not killed by Marseille importers,
or their people in the States, then what?
Then there will be more, much more, I guarantee it.
And if it's all the same to you,
I don't wanna have to drag my ass up here no more.
Of course not.
(CHUCKLES)
My man.
Soul brother, huh? Soul brother.
(BOTH LAUGHING)
Fifty grand. It's gonna cover them and the pilot and the boys on the other end.
Give them a hundred.
Fifty is gonna cover it, Frank.
Give them a hundred, give them the whole thing. Here.
And look,
that's all I got. So, if that dope don't arrive for any reason...
Hey, listen, cousin or no cousin, I'm a busy man, all right?
I ain't got no time to be going to nobody's funeral.
I'll let you know when it's in the air.
My man.
(PHONE RINGING)
Fuck.
(GROANS)
JAY: Richie ? Yeah.
This fucking guy made me.
I don't know how he did, but he did.
He went for his gun.
I had to do it, man.
There's 100 people out there that heard the shots.
You gotta help me. You gotta do something.
WOMAN: Baby.
Where are you, Jay?
(POUNDING ON DOOR)
That's the problem.
Dispatch, I got a 10-13. I got a 10-13.
Copy that. What's your 20?
Tower two.
Apartment 1G.
Kent and West in the projects.
Identify yourself, please.
Detective Richie Roberts.
That's a negative. I got no units in that area.
Bullshit.
Please put the call out again. I'm gonna need assistance.
Detective Roberts, I got no units in that area.
Fuck you. That's a negative.
(PEOPLE CLAMORING)
I didn't mention no cops. Know what I'm saying?
You know what I'm saying?
MAN 1: I'll get the motherfucker! Kick his ass!
MAN 2: Yo, cracker, you gonna pay for this shit!
MAN 3: Where the fuck you going? Where the fuck you going?
What you gonna do, motherfucker?
Hey, hey, be cool. Be cool, all right?
I'll find out what's going on in here.
JAY: Richie.
(POUNDING ON DOOR)
MAN: Open the door!
Open the motherfucking door!
PARAMEDIC: Where's your backup?
MAN: You motherfucking cracker!
You got no backup? Why is that?
MAN: You gotta come out sometime, motherfucker!
Bandage his neck.
Richie, he's dead.
I know he's fucking dead, right.
Bandage his neck, clean up his head,
prop him up on the gurney so he's sitting and open his fucking eyes.
MAN: Open this fucking door!
All right? Let's go.
PARAMEDIC: Fuck.
All right, clean him up.
PARAMEDIC 2: Okay. Where's the solution?
RICHIE: Hey. Huh?
MAN: God damn it, open this fucking door!
(BANGING ON DOOR)
Give me your gun. What?
Give me your gun.
MAN: Get your punk ass out here, man!
You have your badge? Yeah.
MAN: I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch!
You guys ready? Uh-huh.
Okay. Just keep moving forward.
You all right? Yeah.
It's okay! It's okay!
We're taking him to the hospital.
Everybody, step back! Step back!
He's all right.
He's okay. We're taking care of him.
Step back. Step back.
Everything's fine. Just stand back.
He's all right.
He's alive.
WOMAN: What happened inside?
RICHIE: We're taking him to the hospital.
(SIREN WAILING)
JAY: Thanks, man.
Fuck.
That asshole pulled a piece on me, man. Can you fucking believe it?
He pulls a piece on a cop?
I had to do it, man. Kill or be killed.
Fucking crazy world, right?
What the fuck were you doing in the projects?
Investigating stuff, man, you know,
just like you taught me. Checking on guys,
following things up, putting the pieces together.
That guy was a dealer. A fucking dealer. Scum of the earth.
That guy didn't pull a gun on a cop, Jay.
That guy pulled a gun on a junkie, a junkie who was trying to rob him.
What the fuck you say?
What the fuck, man? What are you doing, man?
What the fuck is that? That's my fucking money, man!
I earned this shit. That's mine!
I earned it doing good cop work! What the fuck is this?
What the fuck is that? I earned it doing good cop work!
You murdered a guy! I earned it getting shot at!
You murdered a guy!
You murdered him, you robbed his money, then you called me to get you out of it.
That makes me an accessory after the fact, motherfucker.
I'll tell you the facts, man. Just write the report the way I say it happened,
and then that's the way it is, and that's how it will be.
I can't do that.
I'm a leper because I listened to you and turned in a million bucks.
No one will work with me after that.
I can get off this shit, Richie. That's easy.
Just write the report between us, as partners.
I can't do that.
Hey!
Stop! Stop!
(PANTING) Fuck it.
(HORN BLARING)
Open the trunk.
PEOPLE ON TV: (CHANTING) Peace now! Peace now! Peace now!
LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?
Get out, get out, get out of Vietnam!
MAN ON TV: ...as loud as we can that the Vietnam War should stop,
and that the best way to stop it is for the United States
to simply pack up and get out of Vietnam right now.
(CROWD CHEERING)
FRANK: How we looking?
(LAUGHS)
Typically, what I see is 25% to 45% pure.
I mean, there's no adulterants, no alkaloids, no dilutants.
It's 100%.
May I?
Take it with you.
Thank you, Frank.
(LAUGHING)
(BABY CRYING)
(PLAYS PIANO)
I'll take it. No contingencies, no loans, no nothing.
Cash.
Fabulous.
I'm not talking about your proclivities, Richie. Those I only know too well.
I'm talking about being a cop.
RICHIE: You're talking about taking money?
I don't do that. It's not my thing.
What about your friends from the neighborhood?
Do you still hang out with them? Yeah.
Play baseball on the weekends.
Wise guys? That's gonna look good.
Guys I went to high school with. So what?
What about Joseph Sodano?
What about him?
Richie, I'm just trying to understand things your wife has said.
If they're not true, tell me.
Yeah, he's one of them.
Is he also your son's godfather? Yeah.
He's definitely fucking her.
Do you really care about this? Or do you just not want her to win ever?
You know, there's an interview room on the second floor.
That's what I thought. The door only locks from the inside.
All rise.
(SHEILA MOANING)
Oh, God, Richie. Richie, fuck me like a cop, not a lawyer!
(PHONE RINGING)
SHEILA: Don't answer it!
Yeah?
(SIGHING)
Richie Roberts. Hey, Norm?
Hey. Richie Roberts.
Hi. Detective Norman Reily.
Hey, Norm. How are you? Good.
So, is that him? Yeah.
Picked a nice night to come out, huh? It's like Grand Central around here.
It's been like this.
I'm lucky if I get home by midnight. It's like nothing we've seen before.
Something I gotta sign?
REILY: Yeah. It's right here.
I'm taking this with me. I'll register it with Essex County, all right?
REILY: All right.
America's public enemy number one in the United States is drug abuse.
In order to fight and defeat this enemy,
it is necessary to wage a new, all-out offensive.
REPORTER: Federal authorities have announced their intention
to establish special narcotics bureaus
in Washington, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago...
A detective without the support of his fellow detectives
really can't do much.
You know why I don't have it.
Doesn't matter. You did what you had to do.
Greatest city in the world! And it's turning into an open sewer.
Everybody's stealing, dealing.
Look at you. You can't work because you did your job.
Good news is, you're not the only honest cop in town.
The special narcotics bureau in Washington is not a dog and pony show.
They are sincere. I know this because they want us to orchestrate it.
And I want you to head up things here on our end.
If it's federal, who do I answer to, the post office?
No, you answer to me,
me and the US Attorney, nobody else.
You never step foot in a police station again.
You work out of your own place, you pick your own guys,
guys that you know would not take a nickel off the sidewalk.
Well, we got the lovely transit.
600-year-old mahogany doors.
Now, look at that. Can't you just feel it?
I think it's lovely.
Watch your step.
(EXCLAIMS)
Look at these beautiful floors.
At least, I don't know, 200 years old. And it's hard to get the cracks...
Now this was one of my favorite rooms but we had some problems with the plumbing.
I even fixed it. I know it works. It's not gonna leak.
Here it is.
You know, I used to be a really good piano player when I was a kid,
but then, I don't know why I forgot.
Life goes on. Well...
How long are you gonna be?
Oh, and do me a favor, please. Mind the doors.
Those are beautiful, ornate glass doors, you know.
Here we go, Jimmy. Come on.
Oh, yeah. Give it back.
(PHONE RINGING)
Huey's.
FRANK: Huey. What up, boy?
Yeah, who this?
Who you think it is, boy?
Frank. Frank who?
Frank your brother, negro. Frank?
(FRANK LAUGHING)
That's right.
Hey, Melvin! Melvin, where's Ma?
What? Frank's on the phone!
MELVIN: Hey, Ma! How are you doing, Frankie?
Frank's on the phone!
Say what? Mama, Frank's on the phone!
Frank? Oh, my Lord!
Yeah, when? Well, you just say it, man, yeah.
Listen, I'm gonna call y'all back
at 6:00. I want you to get everybody together, all right?
Get Mama, get everybody.
All right? Okay.
(DOG BARKING)
(EXCLAIMS)
MRS. LUCAS: Hey, Frank!
What's happening, Frank?
Hey, Frankie. How you doing, Uncle Frank?
TERRENCE: Get out the car. Get the kids, get the kids.
Look at this, baby.
(LAUGHING) Oh, my Lord! I'm so glad to see you, boy.
Oh, I'm telling you, this is some piece of land you got here!
(LAUGHING)
FRANK: I wonder what the poor people are doing here?
MRS. LUCAS: And whose house is that, Frankie?
That is your house, Mama.
Mine? That's yours.
And who else?
(ALL LAUGHING)
BOY: Now, there, that's my room right there, man. Right over there.
(TAPPING ON GLASS)
Anybody want some more collard greens?
(ALL CHATTERING)
I wanna tell you how happy I am to see all my children at the table
and the grandchildren at the same time.
My heart's so happy.
Enjoy yourselves. Right on, Grandma.
I hope you got a job, boy, the way you're eating over here.
That boy right there, he got a arm on him. I mean, a major league arm.
Oh, yeah?
Ain't that right?
Right on, Pop.
Well, we'll see after dinner. We'll see him throw it around a little bit.
No, no, you can't catch him, man.
I'm talking about... I'm talking about...
This guy throw harder than Gibson.
We're talking 95 miles an hour.
Can you catch him? He gonna...
He gonna catch the ground.
We might've played catch, I think, when I was about five years old.
Since then, he ain't been able to keep up.
This is your room. it's perfect.
Oh. Why, it's...
Will you look at this?
Oh!
It's beautiful. It's beautiful. It's just...
I...
(LAUGHING)
How did you...
I had it made.
From memory.
You were five when they took it away on me.
That's right. How could you remember it?
How could I forget, Mama?
(STAMMERING) I'll just tell you it is perfect.
It's all perfect.
I can't tell you how much I love you.
I love you, too, Mama.
It's okay.
(FUNK MUSIC PLAYING)
SPEARMAN: Both these guys, good with wires, they got solid informants,
and they're honest and they're fearless.
They're insane, Richie, like you.
Where are they?
That's Jones with the skinny white broad.
Best I ever seen on the street.
He knows dope, but he's together, all right?
He's a stand-up guy all round.
And that's Abruzzo with the two fat black ones.
He loves a big ass, man.
He's a bulldog. He don't fuck around, all right. He's got a bit of a temper,
yeah, but you can trust this guy with your grandmother.
Listen, Richie. We work together. You want me, you gotta take them, too.
When do we start?
The man I worked for,
he had one of the biggest companies in New York City.
He ran it for more than 50 years.
Fifteen years, eight months and nine days,
I was with him every day. I worked for him,
I protected him, I looked after him, I learned from him.
Bumpy was rich, but he wasn't white man rich, you see?
He wasn't wealthy.
He didn't own his own company. He thought he did, but he didn't,
he just managed it.
The white man owned it, so they owned him.
Nobody owns me, though. Hey.
How you doing, babe? Good.
That's 'cause I own my own company, and my company sells a product
that's better than the competition,
at a price that's lower than the competition.
Well, what are we selling here, Frank?
(SOUL MUSIC PLAYING)
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
How you doing, Red?
These are my brothers, just got here from North Carolina.
Everybody, this is Redtop.
Hello. How you doing?
FRANK: And the ladies. LADIES: Hey.
What wrong? Y'all niggas ain't never seen hoochie before?
TURNER: Why are they all naked?
FRANK: So they can't steal nothing.
Right.
The most important thing in business is honesty, integrity, hard work,
family,
never forgetting where we came from.
Thank you, Charlene.
See, you are what you are in this world, that's either one of two things.
Either you're somebody,
or you're nobody. Be right back.
I need these fresh. 'Cause if I have to come back here and get you,
you know what it is. FRANK: Tango.
Don't y'all play that. VENDOR 1: Yes, sir, I hear you.
You won't have to come back. There won't be no problem.
VENDOR 2: What about you, Frank? You need anything?
Where's my money? Redtop gave you the package.
You're supposed to be handing me my money.
Here's a jar right here. Twenty percent.
You got the jar? That's right.
Get the fuck out of here... What you gonna do?
(GUN COCKING)
What the fuck you gonna do, Frank? Huh? What you doing?
You gonna shoot me in front of everybody? Huh? Come on.
(ALL EXCLAIMING)
Shit.
There you go. Twenty percent.
So, what was I saying?
(PIANO PLAYING)
Jones.
Jonesy.
That was nice, man.
Just doing my melodious thing, baby. Got you.
This is the newly formed Essex County Narcotics Squad.
Our mandate is to make major arrests. No street guys.
We're looking for the suppliers and the distributors.
Heroin, cocaine, amphetamines. No grass under 1,000 pounds.
No powder under 40 kilograms.
Any less than that, then somebody else can waste their time.
We gonna be handling the big shipments, the big money and the big temptation.
JONES: I heard a story about you.
That you found a million dollars in unmarked cash
and gave that shit back. Is that true?
Yeah, I did. Anybody got a problem with that?
(ALL LAUGHING)
So do I, you know? I think about it every day.
I should be down in South Florida with a 68-foot cruiser doing fishing charters.
MAN: You and me, both.
But you know, I didn't, so here I am,
and we'll be looking to land other kind of sharks.
All right? ABRUZZO: Bingo.
JONES: See that, Richie? Yeah.
And this stuff is your everyday stuff.
But this Blue Magic, twice the potency.
I mean, it's the purest thing I ever seen in the streets. it's strong enough to smoke.
And that's for those white suburban kids who are scared of needles.
ABRUZZO: I paid 10 bucks for that.
And it's everywhere. I mean, it's on every corner out there.
So, how is that possible?
Who can afford to sell shit twice as good for half as much?
(FUNK MUSIC PLAYING)
Hey, man. Frankie, baby, good to see you!
Everything's good?
Yeah, man, just got back from Europe,
over there for two months, south of France, man.
PHOTOGRAPHER 1: Look right, look right. Wonderful, wonderful.
PHOTOGRAPHER 2:Nicky!
PHOTOGRAPHER 3: Give us a smile, Nicky.
PHOTOGRAPHER 4: Show us the cover.
You know what I'm saying, man?
PHOTOGRAPHER 5: Hey, Nicky, over here.
There you go.
Nicky!
(WHOOPING)
Who is that? Look at you, my man.
All right.
LEAD SINGER: Ladies and gentlemen,
the Brown Bomber! The champ!
Mr. Joe Louis!
(BAND RESUMES PLAYING)
Who's that with Joe?
Miss Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rico? Is she a beauty queen? Mmm-hmm.
For real. The beauty queen.
Welcome. My main man. My main man.
Can you all excuse us for a minute, please?
MAN: Yeah, sure, Frank.
Yes, sir.
Thank you.
What's going on, man?
What you smiling about? I don't know.
What is this? Huh? What's what?
Come here.
What is that you got on?
What's what, man?
Yeah, that! What you got on.
This is a very, very, very nice suit.
That's a very, very, very nice suit, huh?
That's a clown suit. That's a costume... Come on, man.
...with a big sign on it that says "Arrest Me."
You understand? You're too loud. You're making too much noise. Look at me.
The loudest one in the room is the weakest one in the room. I told you that.
All right? What, are you trying to be like Nicky Barnes, now?
What's your problem with Nicky, man? I like Nicky.
I ain't got no problem with Nicky. Oh, you like Nicky?
Yeah! You want to be like Nicky?
You want to be superfly? You wanna work for him?
Share a jail cell with him? Maybe cook for him?
He wants to talk to you.
Oh, so now you talking to him about me? What? You...
About what? What is it about? It ain't like that.
Then what is it like? We were talking,
your name came up. About what?
I don't know, man. I told him I'd tell you.
You know... Boy, you...
You know, if you wasn't my brother, I'd kill you. You know that, don't you?
I'd blow your motherfucking brains out.
Come on, man. Don't be like that.
I'm taking you shopping this week.
I went shopping. I can tell.
(SINGING) See deep into you
And know what you're thinking now
And if I'm what you're needing
I need some kind of sign
Let me know, 'cause I can't read your mind
Are you in or am I in this on my own?
I need some clue from you
It's a tax thing.
It's a mistake my lawyers are straightening out,
but for the time being... How much do you owe, Joe?
It's nothing. It's like...
Fifty grand.
You got it.
Thank you, man. Hey, I'm gonna pay you back as soon as I...
Joe, this ain't no loan. It's a gift. All right?
All you did for Bumpy, we owe you.
Keep your chin up. All right? Okay?
All you have which is down there. Down. Chin down.
All right. Doc, will see you, okay?
You play it so cool
Hey!
You still owe me that dance, right?
FRANK: Doc, come on.
Frank, check this.
How you doing? Hi.
Frank Lucas. Eva Kendo.
Nice to meet you, Eva.
Nice to meet you, Frank.
You're Frank and this is your place?
That's right. I'm Frank and this is my place.
Why is it called Small's? Why don't you call it Frank's?
When you own something, you can call it what you want.
Small's.
Or Frank's. Frankie Small's.
Small's Frankie.
That's right.
You want to let my hand go?
Okay.
You leaving?
No, I was going to my table.
Okay. Need somebody to go with you?
Yes? EVA: Mmm-hmm.
SPEARMAN: All the cheesies.
Right here, here we go. What have we got here?
ABRUZZO: Wash your hands? I got one print of that, don't smudge it.
MAN: Yeah.
There you go.
JONES: Hey, Spearman, what about him? Who is that?
Joey Sodano. Don Cattano's nephew.
SPEARMAN: Yeah, yeah. Put him up there by the big man.
JONES: He looks like your uncle, Abruzzo.
Yeah, but he's not as handsome.
JONES: He looks more like your sister. MAN: Where's Ice Pick's mug?
ABRUZZO: Yeah, that's funny.
Maybe you guys should take that show on the road.
So we need Ice Pick Paul.
ABRUZZO: Ice Pick Paul? JONES: Sure. Yeah.
SPEARMAN: There you go. Get him up.
ABRUZZO: Ice Pick Paul, he goes way up there, up top.
No, Ice Pick Paul, he's a fucking soldier. This guy's a lieutenant.
How's that even fucking possible?
JONES: That's Benny the Bishop.
That guy is a soldier. This guy's a lieutenant. No way that guy's on top.
JONES: You thinking of Benny the Bishop.
Vinnie Two Socks is fucking Cattano's deadbeat son-in-law.
SPEARMAN: Jonesy's right.
Hey, which one of you guys has ever actually seen Ice Pick Paul selling drugs?
Actually seen it go down?
Yeah, seen it go down. Been in his place. Seen him handle drugs.
That rat, Ricky, has told us...
He's fucking dead. About four weeks ago.
He's dead.
SPEARMAN: (LAUGHING) All right, well, we can take him off the fucking board.
I don't think we got any solid evidence on anybody on that board.
What you saying, Richie? This is weeks and weeks of work, man.
I'm saying, take it down. We got to start again from the street.
(PHONE RINGING)
Hi, who's this?
Hello? Gabe? Yeah, it's Scott. Yeah.
Scotty! What's going down, brother?
Those snow tires you gave me last night. They come in yet?
Oh, the snow tires? Yeah. I want some more of them.
Give me one-and-a-half more. One-and-a-half,
that's a pretty big order. Yeah, I want the big whitewalls,
they better get at least 100,000 miles.
All right, I'll tell you what. You come in here tomorrow morning
I'm gonna set you up real nice with a whitewall special, all right?
Thanks, bro. No problem.
That's considerably more than one year's salary, Richie.
If it disappears, I will not be able to get it for you again.
That's yours.
Signing my life away again, for a lousy twenty grand.
It has to be Blue Magic, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's gonna be Blue.
You can pick it up here tomorrow.
RICHIE: $20,000.
MECHANIC: Just leave it there.
How'd you do? Good.
RICHIE: Here he comes.
That's him? Yep.
(CAR ENGINE STARTING)
That was quick.
Richie, if he goes in the city, what do we fucking do?
Stay with the fucking money, that's what we do.
We stay with the money, all right?
We can't go in the fucking city.
Yes, we can. That's 20 grand in there, all right,
that I'm responsible for. I ain't losing it.
SPEARMAN: It's out of ourjurisdiction!
RICHIE: Follow the money! SPEARMAN: All right, all right, all right!
RICHIE: He's pulling over.
SPEARMAN: All right, here we go.
RICHIE: Let me out here.
(HORN HONKING)
RICHIE: Don't disappear, all right?
I'll circle the block.
DRIVER: Move!
Hey! Who's the fuck? You gotta fucking move!
(TIRES SCREECHING)
Police Officer. I'm commandeering your vehicle. Get out of the car.
Who the fuck cares about you? This is New York City, man.
Get someone else's car! Get out of the car.
Come on, man. Can't we live in peace...
(TIRES SCREECHING)
(HORNS BLARING)
(BRAKES SCREECHING)
Frankie, Frankie! Sit down.
MAN 1: What?
Happy birthday, gentlemen. How you doing, huh?
He's about to do something, huh? He's going bowling?
Look at that. Strike.
Hey, what's between your legs? What's in the bag?
MECHANIC: Nothing. Get up, you fucker. Get the fuck up!
MAN 2: Knock it off.
MAN 3: Shut the fuck up! What did I tell you?
MAN 4: Keep your fucking head down.
MAN 3: Shut up! Whose bag is this?
WOMAN: What're you doing? MAN 3: Sit down and shut up!
MAN 4: Don't you move!
Hey, guys? Guys! Officers!
Hey, I'm Richie Roberts, from Newark.
That's my money.
What the fuck? What money, huh? What money?
The bills are sequenced, right?
They're registered with the Essex County Prosecutor's Office. Just check them out.
They all start with CF3500. Have a look.
Fucking registers.
I thought I had a fucking Chris-Craft sitting in my driveway.
Honest mistake. I'll just get the money.
This time. All right.
There it is. All right. Thank you.
When was the last time I was in Jersey? Let me think.
Never.
What're you doing, coming over here unannounced?
You don't think you could get hurt doing that?
You got your fucking money, Richie.
And never, ever come into this city again unannounced.
You come in to see a fucking Broadway show,
you call ahead first, see if it's okay with me.
No problem. All right.
MAN: Let's go, hit some balls. RICHIE: Great suits, pal.
Is that your car?
That's a fucking great car.
Have a nice fucking trip back to Jersey.
RICHIE; All right.
Come on, I got a tee time. Let's go.
(ENGINE REVVING)
What were you doin' there?
Well, that's where this dope is coming from. Blue Magic, it's coming out of New York.
What do you expect me to do, ignore it?
The cab driver has filed aggravated assault and grand theft charges
which he may reconsider
depending on how much the State of New Jersey offers to settle.
I showed him my ID. I told him I was a cop.
(CHUCKLING) You stole his cab and you knock him out.
I was chasing the twenty grand, all right?
Next time, knock him out before you show him your badge.
Look, I don't want to hear about you going into New York again.
Well, then this investigation's over. You're not listening to me.
I said, "I don't want to hear about you going into New York again."
You do whatever you have to do. You go wherever you have to go
to figure out who's bringing this shit into the country.
Just don't tell me about it.
FRANK: There's your girl, right there.
Hey, how'd you do? Hi.
I didn't keep you waiting long, did I? No. Fine.
Good. A woman as beautiful as you shouldn't have to wait.
For anything.
Thank you, ma'am. You as pretty as ever.
Hey, Doc. Tommy!
Heard your boy scored two touchdowns last week.
Sure. Sure do make father proud. All right.
This is your father?
That's Martin Luther King.
It is not. It is. It is Martin Luther King.
You know, "I have a dream"?
Of course.
No, that's...
He was just as important as Martin Luther King to me.
What did he do?
Did a lot of things. He was a friend and served New York. New York sewed him.
He was my boss.
My teacher.
What did he teach you?
He taught me a lot of things.
He taught me how to take my time.
Taught me that if I was going to do something, to do it with care, with love.
Anything else?
He taught me to be a gentleman.
That's what you are?
That's what I try to be. Come here.
Come here. Sit right here.
Look at me.
I own about five apartments in Manhattan.
Homes all over the East Coast,
I could have taken you to any one of them, but I didn't.
I brought you here.
MRS. LUCAS: Frank, I was looking for you, boy.
Because I wanted you to meet my mother.
How you doing, Ma?
Is this her?
Eva, this is my mother. EVA: Hi, Eva.
Oh!
Nice to meet you.
She's beautiful! FRANK: Yeah?
Look at her, Frank. She's an angel come down from heaven.
EVA: Thank you.
Mr. Roberts? I'm here for our appointment.
Morning. Morning.
Sorry. Our appointment?
Child Social Services.
(POP MUSIC PLAYING)
She did mention your name, though.
The stewardess?
No, not the stewardess.
The lady from Child Services. She mentioned your name.
Right after she asked me if I associated with any criminals.
BOY 1: All right, go! Go, go!
BOY 2: Yeah! You wanna see this? Go, go.
RICHIE: Hey, boys.
JOEY: Joey. Hey, Joey!
Get in the pool. Go on.
Come on. Come on.
So, how'd she get my name?
Laurie. Hmm.
She's been saying a lot lately.
A lot.
You know, when you asked me to be your son's godfather,
I took it very seriously.
I know. I know and I appreciate that.
And I said yes, I would take on this responsibility.
Take care of your son, if God forbid, something happened to you.
Joe, the kind of things she's saying to Child Social Services
made me look really bad, all right. You know,
out at all kinds of hours at night time, lowlife informants around, women.
Old friends like me.
Old friends like you, yeah.
Uncle Joey, watch me, okay?
(GIRL WHOOPING)
(WATER SPLASHING)
Okay, I understand.
They ask me, I'll tell them what you want me to tell them. I'll lie for you.
No, don't lie. You don't have to lie.
Just, omit certain details.
Sure. All right.
You know, there's something else I was gonna ask you.
Something else. You don't have to answer if you don't want.
Blue Magic. Anything?
Just a lot of sorrow, misery from guys getting put out of work, that's all.
What, your guys?
Just guys.
You thinking about where it's coming from?
Guys down south. That's all I heard.
Cubans? I don't know.
Not Mexico.
I don't know.
You're telling me, it's coming in from South America?
I don't know.
All I can tell you is whoever it is, they're upsetting the natural order of things.
And that's all there is.
(PHONE RINGING)
What's up?
FRANK ON PHONE: My man, how we looking?
Frank, I want you to meet Mike Sobota.
How are you doing, Mr. Sobota? How are you?
What can I get you?
How about a left-hander? From what Charlie tells me, your nephew.
Oh, this is the... Yankees, yeah. Hey, Steve!
Yankees.
Steve! Come here. Excuse me one second.
This boy's good, okay? I want you to put him on the Yankees.
'Cause you good enough, ain't you?
I'm a Lucas. Good enough on a bad day, Jack.
He's good enough on a bad day, so don't make it a bad day,
make it a good day, you understand?
NYPD, excuse me, Police Department. Back up, baby.
Whoa! DETECTIVE: Hey! Hey! Hey!
Taking your ass in, Jimmy. Uh-uh.
Taking your ass in. Where are the handcuffs?
I got a license for that, motherfucker.
You got a license for this? Excuse me, all right?
(SNIFFING)
Shit. All right! Yeah!
Now, you know what? I gotta arrest you for that shit.
That shit's too good to be on the street.
Wait a minute, I got this for you. You ain't got to arrest nobody.
Are you bribing me now?
I'll tell you what, I'm arresting everybody!
Now, all you're under arrest! You first!
That's my family. That's my...
Excuse me, excuse me.
Back it up, baby.
What was that?
Come on, guys. What's the matter with you, man?
I said, what the hell was that? What was what?
I said what the hell are you doing, man? Be cool, man!
What's your fucking problem?
What the hell's wrong with you?
DETECTIVE: Goddamn!
He's all right. I just shot him in the leg, is all.
DETECTIVE: Damn, Jimmy!
Get up.
(GRUNTING)
All right, everybody, get out! Get out!
HUEY: Come on, Frank, it was an accident.
FRANK: It wasn't no goddamn accident. He feels terrible.
He don't feel shit, 'cause he's coked up all the motherfucking time!
He's your driver. Get rid of him.
Come on, man, that's your cousin!
That ain't shit to me! He don't mean nothing to me.
What's he gonna do, go back home? I don't give a damn what he does!
Send his ass home! Hey! Hey! Hey!
Hey! Don't rub on that! You blot that! You understand? That's alpaca!
That's $25,000 alpaca! You blot that shit!
You don't rub it! Put the club soda on there.
Simple Simon-ass motherfuckers.
Listen, from now on, don't nobody talk to me directly! You understand?
You got business with me, you talk to Huey! Huey, you talk to me! You got it?
All right. Damn it, never on the phone! You got it?
I got it. All right!
And take them goddamn sunglasses off.
Take the goddamn sunglasses off!
Damn it, man.
Simple Simon-ass motherfuckers.
The whole place was imported.
Brick by brick.
Gloucestershire.
Who? Great Britain.
Yours.
Here you go.
Pull!
Come, Eva.
I'm sure you're dying to see the rest of the house.
Of course. Excuse me.
Thank you for a wonderful lunch. it was delicious.
What do you think of monopolies?
You mean like the game?
No, I just think monopolies were made illegal in the country, Frank,
'cause nobody wants to compete, you know.
Nobody wants to compete, not with a monopoly.
I mean, you let the dairy farmers do that,
half of them would be out of business tomorrow.
Just trying to make a living.
That's your right, I mean, it's everyone's right. It's America.
We just can't do it at the unreasonable expense of others.
'Cause then it becomes un-American.
That's why the price we pay for that gallon of milk
could never represent the true cost of production
'cause it's got to be controlled. It's gotta be set. It's gotta be fair.
Gotta be controlled by who? I set a price that I think is fair.
I don't think it's fair. You don't?
I don't think it's fair. I think it's fair.
I mean, I know your customers are happy, Frank,
bunch of fucking junkies that they are.
But we fellow dairy farmers out here, Frank, are you thinking of us?
You thinking of them?
The dairy farmers? Yeah.
I'm thinking of them, Dominic, about as much as they've ever thought about me.
I'm just thinking out loud now.
If you took some of your inventory, Frank, and you sold it wholesale...
Sit.
We could work. We could do some distribution.
I don't know. I'm pretty good, Dominic.
You know, I got 110th, 155th, river to river. I'm all right.
That's kind of a mom and pop store next to what I'm talking about.
I mean, let's go at least bigger than Kmart.
I'm talking about LA, Chicago, Detroit, Las Vegas. Let's go nationwide, huh?
I'm gonna guarantee you your peace of mind here. You don't want that?
You're going to need it.
I don't know how you view me, you know.
I'm kind of a Renaissance man, Frank.
You know, the people I deal with on a daily basis,
you know, they're not enlightened, Frank.
You talk to them about civil rights, they don't know, you know.
They're not open to change.
Not from the way things are done and who's doing it.
I talk to them, there's just no misunderstandings.
And that's what I mean by your peace of mind.
You're paying, what, $75,000, $80,000 a kilo?
I'm a Renaissance man, too.
I'll consider $50,000.
Why would you trust these people? And the way they look at you...
They look at me like it's Christmas and I'm Santa Claus.
They look at us like we're the help.
They work for me now.
ALI ON TV: I predict that when I meet Joe Frazier,
this will be like a good amateur fighting a real professional.
This will be like a kid out of the Olympics...
MAN 1: That's gonna be Ali in like three.
FRAZIER ON TV: You're not fighting Oscar Bonavena,
you're not fighting Sonny Liston.
You're fighting Joe Frazier.
ALI: Everybody knows that. That's not the point.
ABRUZZO: He's all talk, man.
SPEARMAN: Look at Frazier! JONES: Ali gonna crush him, baby.
ALI: I'll stop him.
FRAZIER: Stop me? You?
COSELL: How soon? What round?
FRAZIER: Don't let him obligate you. ALI: One to 10!
MAN ON TV: Tonight, March 8, 1971. Here we are at Madison Square Garden
for the Fight of the Century.
And by anybody's definition, this is a happening.
There are handshakes and, of course, there are utterly beautiful women.
But behind the smiles and behind the handshakes,
you can feel the atmosphere is so heavy with tension, it's almost unbearable.
Everybody who is anybody is here.
Like Sinatra. Like Graziano, David Frost and Diahann Carroll.
And Woody Allen and Diane Keaton. The celebrities are pouring in.
ALI: The way you all build it up, Life magazine cover, Time magazine,
everybody gives their opinion. Dempsey says I'll lose. Joe Louis...
And when Joe Louis said I'm gonna lose, that's how I knew I'd won this one.
Joe Louis always picks the wrong man!
Always picks the wrong man.
FRAZIER: Joe Louis is here tonight. Watch your ass.
MAN: The official weight of Joe Frazier is 205.5 pounds.
Oh.
ALI: Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
You're not watching the fight, Bob?
I'm not into boxing.
RICHIE: This ain't boxing, kid.
It's politics.
I got something for you, too.
FRANK: Yeah
The coat? For me?
Mmm-hmm.
Do you like it?
The coat? Yeah, yeah, it's nice.
What do you think? Yeah.
You sure? Yeah.
(PEOPLE CHATTERING)
PHOTOGRAPHER 1: Over here, Sammy.
PHOTOGRAPHER 2: Hey, Sammy! Give a look.
PHOTOGRAPHER 1: Joe Louis! Over here!
How's it going, Frank?
How are you, Joe?
ANNOUNCER: Now, ladies and gentlemen, we have quite a list of introductions.
We are now going to introduce people from all endeavors of life.
And not just show people.
Because everyone is here tonight!
Main event!
Fifteen rounds.
For the undisputed Heavyweight Championship of the World!
MAN: There we go, Ali!
From Louisville, Kentucky, he's wearing red trunks.
Champ! This is Frank Lucas.
He weighs 215 pounds.
Here is Muhammad Ali!
His opponent, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
he's wearing green trunks.
Who's that laughing with Cattano?
How'd he get so fucking close to the ring?
The Heavyweight Champion of the World,
Joe Frazier!
Hey, Frank. You gonna keep that hat on all night?
I'm gonna miss the fight.
You paid for it.
(PHOTOGRAPHERS CLAMORING)
Joe, over here!
SPEARMAN: This guy, he's a supplier at most. Or just a pimp.
Otherwise we'd know his name.
His tickets were phenomenal. Better seats than Dominic Cattano. Right?
Joe Louis shook his hand.
Who the fuck is this guy?
What's this?
That's the plate off the limo.
Check with the company who rented it.
(WEDDING MARCH PLAYING)
(PEOPLE CLAPPING)
WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER: Right there, Mr. Lucas. Right there. Good.
PHOTOGRAPHER 1: Can I get a shot here, Frank? Right here.
PHOTOGRAPHER 2: Looking good, Frank.
WOMAN: Beautiful.
MAN: Right on, Frank!
WOMAN:Congratulations!
She's the most beautiful bride I've ever seen.
That's my sunshine right there, Mr. Williams. I wish Bumpy had met her.
WOMAN: Throw it to me!
(ALL CLAMORING)
Get a picture.
Come here, baby.
What's happening? FRANK: Sit tight.
Congratulations, Frank.
Detective.
So, you sure you done the right thing? I mean, she's a beautiful girl and all...
Hey, hey, listen, listen.
Before you say anything about me or about my wife,
understand this is the most important day of my life, Detective.
Oh, I understand. I understand.
You know, a man who walks around in a $50,000 chinchilla coat
and never even bought me a cup of coffee.
There's something wrong there. Pay your bills, Frank?
I don't know what you're talking about.
Do you pay your bills, I asked you?
If you're not getting your share,
maybe you need to talk to the Chief of Police.
What's my share? 'Cause you don't even fucking know me.
Maybe I'm special.
You are special.
TRUPO: You see that right there?
Special Investigations Unit.
Special.
Get it?
Ten grand. First of each month. Deliver it right here.
Are you done? Oh, yeah, I'm done.
TRUPO: Don't forget your card. Have a nice fucking honeymoon.
FRANK: Let's go.
RICHIE: His name is Frank Lucas.
Originally from Greensboro, North Carolina.
A couple of arrests years ago. Gambling and unlicensed firearm.
For 15 years, he was Bumpy Johnson's driver, bodyguard and collector.
He was with him when he died.
He's got five brothers. He's the oldest. And a lot of cousins.
They all living up here now,
spread throughout the five boroughs and Jersey.
The brothers are Dexter,
in Brooklyn. He's a dry cleaner. What can I do for you?
I'm picking up. MAN: Yeah.
RICHIE: Melvin in Queens has got a custom furniture and fire doors business.
That's it right here? Right there.
RICHIE: Terrence in Newark, he has a hardware store.
Turner in the Bronx has got a tire shop.
And Huey Lucas in Bergen County has a body shop.
ls your manager here? That's my price.
Oh, man, I'm gonna take it somewhere else, all right?
These businesses are the distribution and collection points
for Frank's dope and Frank's money.
Everything about Frank's life seems unpretentious, orderly and legitimate.
He starts early, gets up at 5:00 a.m.
Has breakfast in a diner in Harlem every morning, usually by himself.
Then he starts work.
Takes a meeting with the accountant or with his lawyer.
At nights, he usually stays at home. And if he does go out,
it's to one of two clubs or a handful of restaurants with his new wife.
Some ball players. That's fucking Wilt Chamberlain.
RICHIE: Friends, musicians. Never, never with organized crime guys.
Sundays, he takes his mother to church.
Then he drives out and he changes
the flowers on Bumpy's grave. Every Sunday, no matter what.
TOBACK: Not the typical day in the life of a dope man, Richie.
RICHIE: No.
Bumpy Johnson's life wasn't typical either, and he ran Harlem for years.
TOBACK: So you're saying that Frank Lucas replaced Bumpy Johnson?
RICHIE: Yeah. TOBACK: His driver?
RICHIE: Yeah. TOBACK: Sounds a little farfetched.
RICHIE: But is it? Is it? Because everything he does...
JONES: He's handing out turkeys, man.
RICHIE: ...he does the same as Bumpy would have done, right?
And who was Bumpy most likely to teach?
The guy he sees every day.
It's like a Sicilian family.
He's structured his organization to protect him in the same way.
And if he was with Bumpy for so long,
that means he would have spent a lot of time with Italians.
Definitely long enough to learn that much.
But here's the thing. I don't think it's Frank Lucas that we're after.
Who we want is whoever Frank Lucas is working for.
It's whoever's actually bringing the heroin in.
Okay. So what do you have on him that will stick in court? Because this isn't it.
Without powder, without informants, no one's going to jail.
RICHIE: That's understood, sir.
And I don't think we're gonna get informants, not from inside the family,
you know, unless we get very, very lucky.
Straight up lab tests suggesting purity's consistent with Asian dope.
The Italians, we know, usually work with other Europeans
or with the Turks.
We got small blue packets turning up in neighborhoods all over the Tri-State area.
From Chinatown, to Harlem, Washington Heights
Richmond Avenue and Staten Island.
They got North Orange, Princeton, Bayonne, Newark,
Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, and all the way through Connecticut.
The same dope.
(PEOPLE CHATTERING)
All right.
(ALL EXCLAIMING)
That's it, down there.
MAN ON TV: And it's Three Counts as they round the turn for home now.
(DOORBELL RINGING)
(GOBBLING)
(GLASS TINKLING)
Okay, let's all join hands.
Lord, we thank You for this food we're about to receive,
the nourishments of our bodies.
Feed our souls with heavenly grace, in Jesus' name and for His sake.
Amen. ALL: Amen.
(CRYING)
MAN: Shh. Shh.
Hey, it's okay. It's okay. Come on, now.
It's okay.
You better get yourself ready, old man. Come on, big man. Throw the ball.
Get yourself ready, old man. All right!
Come on, now. Your pop said you had an arm on you. Come on!
I'm gonna set your ass in the grass, Uncle Melvin.
MELVIN: Hey! Watch your mouth, boy. Throw the ball!
STEVIE: Damn, Uncle Melvin, I'm a pitcher, not an outfielder!
Steve. Steve, come here.
Come, sit down.
Uncle Frank. What's happening?
How you doing?
Cool.
You want a drink?
You know better than that.
Just checking.
Why didn't you show up for that meeting, Steve?
I set it up with the Yankees and Billy Martin.
Why didn't you show up?
Don't lie to me.
I don't want to play ball no more.
I decided. What you talking about?
You decided? Decided what?
(STAMMERING) That ain't what I want. What you talking about?
You've been playing since you was a little boy.
You were ready to go into the pros. What you...
Frank! We got a problem, man.
What do you want?
I want what you got, Uncle Frank.
I want to be you.
He's been diluting it so much. We're down 2%, 3% pure.
And you tested it? You're sure?
Yeah.
Fuck you looking at?
(POP MUSIC PLAYING)
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
(FRANK WHISTLES)
My man.
Welcome, Frank. How you doing, Nick?
It's all great. Welcome.
I need to talk to you. Great. Come on.
Hey, you all, everybody get out! Let's go. Come on! Hurry up!
Sit, my brother.
I take it you talked to Charlie.
Guess you wanna hear more about my Black coalition.
Let me explain to you... No, no, no.
I'm all right. That's not what I came here for, Nick.
Yeah, everybody's good, Nick.
You know, everybody's happy. Charlie, Baz, the Italians,
you know, Johnny Law. Everybody's happy except you.
I'm happy, Frank. You happy? Really?
Well, maybe I'm the one with the problem. Yeah, go on. Get one.
All right.
I gotta problem 'cause
I don't understand why you gotta take something that's perfectly good
and mess it up.
See, brand names. Brand names mean something. Understand?
(PEOPLE LAUGHING)
Shut the fuck up!
Go ahead, Frank. I'm sorry about that bullshit.
Blue Magic.
That's a brand name. Like Pepsi, that's a brand name.
I stand behind it. I guarantee it.
They know that, even if they don't know me anymore than
they know the chairman of General Mills.
What the fuck are you talking about, Frank?
What I'm talking about is when you chop my dope down
to one, two, three, four, five percent and then you call it Blue Magic,
that is trademark infringement. You understand what I'm saying?
With all due respect, Frank, if I buy something, I own it.
No, that ain't true. That ain't true.
If I buy a car, and I wanna paint it, I can paint the motherfucker.
Yeah, but you don't have to.
This is what I'm saying to you, Nick, you don't have to. Good enough the way it is.
You can make enough money off it the way it is, just by calling it Blue Magic.
Anything more than that is greed, son.
What you want, Frank? You want me to change the name on it?
I would have to insist that you change the name.
Fine by me, Frank. I'll call it Red Magic, even though that don't sound as good.
I don't give a fuck what you call it. Put a chokehold on the motherfucker
and call it Blue Dog Shit, you know what I mean?
I don't care, just don't let me catch you doing this again.
Catch me? Infringement? Insist?
I don't like these words as much as,
"Please, thank you, I'm sorry to bother you, Nicky."
These are better words you use to come to my motherfucking club
without an invitation! You hear me?
My man.
Oh, shit. Fuck, is that the cops there, man?
It's all right.
The hell they're gonna do, give us a ticket?
Stuff's in the car, Frank.
What?
Some of it's in the trunk.
How you doing, Frank? I'm good. How you doing, Detective?
How was your Thanksgiving?
Not so good, as a matter of fact. Why don't you get out of the car?
Come on, give me the fucking keys.
Where's the Shelby at? The Shelby's gone, Frank.
The Shelby's gone? Stay right there.
Yes, sir. Right here.
TRUPO: You got anything worth looking at in here?
RICHIE:Hey, that's that Trupo guy.
SPEARMANI Is that him? RICHIE: Yeah.
Fucking prick.
(EXCLAIMING)
Come over here a minute, Frank. Yeah.
What are we gonna do about this?
We don't do shit about it. We close it up, throw it back in the trunk,
everybody go home, have some pumpkin pie, warm apple cider.
I got a better idea.
Or would you rather me throw you and your brother in the fucking river?
Would you rather your house blows up next time?
I loved that car. I know.
RICHIE: What's he doing? Shakedown!
Somebody's getting some money for the Benevolent Fund.
SPEARMAN: Look at that shit.
Sorry, Frank.
It's all right. Go and get in the car.
(CAR ENGINE STARTING)
RICHIE: All right, you call me back.
INS, IRS, FBI. I can't get a damn thing out of any of them.
Because they all think you're on the take. And you think they are.
You know, I don't think they want this to stop.
I think it employs too many people.
Judges, lawyers, cops, politicians, prison guards, probation officers.
They stop bringing dope into this country,
about 100,000 people are going to be out of a job.
Spearman.
FBI. Here to see Detective Roberts.
So who took it out? Somebody I know? My wife?
Come on, if somebody's taking a contract out on my life, I'd like to know.
I can't say without compromising our source. You understand?
No. Not when it's my life, I don't understand.
If you want we can assign someone to you. FBI protection.
You know what? My life is dangerous enough as it is.
Well, we'll let you get back to your business.
Okay. Larry, Bob. Thanks for visiting The Garden State.
Take care.
Hey, what do you know about Frank Lucas?
We know that you keep calling about him.
We believe that peace is at hand.
We believe that an agreement is within sight.
(PHONE RINGING)
As I said earlier...
Yeah.
Hey, Joey. Hi.
All right. Yeah, tomorrow. Why?
RICHIE: What the fuck is a microwave?
JOEY: It's a scientific force, like atomic energy.
Yeah? JOEY: Yeah.
It rearranges the molecules.
RICHIE: Of what? JOEY: Of what? Of popcorn.
(BUZZER BEEPING)
Of your head. Stick it in. Go on.
I can get you one of those.
Brand new, just like this. I'll have it delivered.
No, thank you.
Hey. Where is that?
Aspen. We just got back. Had a great time. You know who we met?
Who?
Burt Reynolds.
Yeah? Yeah? Yeah. I'm not kidding.
A lot people from Hollywood go up there now. They're buying up everything.
This is your place? Mmm.
You know what that's worth? Ski in, ski out. Five bedrooms.
Sauna. Everything. We were guests.
It's your place.
Isn't there something we can do,
about leaving the big guy alone?
You know who I mean.
I don't report what you just said, I can get in a lot of trouble.
I do report it, then the trouble is yours.
I'm hoping you won't do that.
Richie, come on. I'm not taping it.
How do you know? Because we're friends.
And I'm telling you, this is a real offer.
From who? Your uncle?
Why would you do this? Why would you risk our friendship?
Because
I care what happens to you.
You shouldn't have done this.
I had to, I had no choice. Neither do you. Richie!
You don't have a choice. Just leave Frank Lucas alone.
Frank Lucas?
Yeah.
You tell Marie I had to leave. I'm sorry.
Tell her why.
Talk! Talk! Don't shoot! Don't shoot! Don't shoot!
Are you Richie Roberts? Yes, so what?
You've been served. I'm sorry.
WOMAN; All right.
(WHISPERING) Laurie.
Look, I'm sorry I never gave you the kind of life you wanted, all right.
I'm sorry it was never enough.
Don't punish me for being honest.
Don't take my boy away.
(SCOFFS)
What are you saying? That because you were honest
and you didn't take money like every other cop, I left you?
No, you don't take money for one reason.
To buy being dishonest about everything else.
And that's worse than taking money nobody gives a shit about.
Drug money, gambling money nobody's gonna miss.
You know, I'd rather you took it and been honest with me.
Or don't take it. I don't care. But then don't go cheat on me.
Don't cheat on your kid by never being around.
Don't go out and get laid by your snitches and your secretaries and strippers!
I can tell byjust looking, she's one of them.
You...
You think you're going to heaven because you're honest, but you're not.
You're going to the same hell as the crooked cops you can't stand.
(DOOR OPENING)
BAILIFF: All rise.
JUDGE: Please be seated.
Miss Dickerson, before the court renders its opinion,
is there anything else you'd like to be heard on?
Yes, Your Honor.
Your Honor, a lot has been said here today about how unsavory
Mr. Roberts' environment is for a child. How dangerous it is.
We tell him to protect us. We give him that responsibility,
but then say, "Oh, we don't trust you to raise a child.
"We don't think you're fit for that."
I'm not.
You're right.
Being around me is no place for a kid.
You take him to Vegas. I'll come see him when I can.
Your Honor, I want to apologize for wasting the court's time.
FRANK: Doc
I see them.
DETECTIVE: There he is.
The fuck is this guy doing?
DOC: Hey! Champagne.
DOC: Merry Christmas, Detectives. For us?
DOC: Yeah. Enjoy that.
You fellas have a good time. Mmm-hmm.
It's Cristal.
MAN ON TV: South Vietnamese troops called in air strikes
on Communist positions inside the city.
Paying off Johnny Law, that's one thing.
There ain't no problem with that.
I've been paying off the police since I was 10 years old.
Put more of their kids through college than the National Merit Award.
Give me one of them round one... Yeah.
This is different, though. These...
Special Investigative Unit. That's their problem. They think they're special.
Fucking crooks. No code of ethics.
What do you think?
Looks great. It's beautiful.
Good.
The police, that ain't the only somebody I'm worried about.
I seeing cars where I ain't never seen them before, people I don't know.
Yeah, me, too.
EVA: Ho, ho, ho.
Merry Christmas, Charlie. Thank you.
I love you. I love you, too.
Here, take this.
A quick toast, and then I'll be off.
MAN ON TV: What happened here was an accident of war. Somebody made a mistake.
Bumpy ain't hardly ever go out no more.
After a certain point he stayed in the house.
Watch TV.
Play chess. Read the newspaper.
I thought he was just trying to lead the quiet life, but no, he couldn't go nowhere.
Not without something happening. Frankie...
We can still go out. With who? Where?
Well, with... But I know he's under surveillance.
Ain't gonna be no Christmas time with my family being here no more.
Why don't you just pay who you have to pay?
I do pay them. I pay thousands and millions to dope dealers, crooks, cops.
I pay everybody. I pay more than they should get.
I can't satisfy nobody!
It's like dope! Everybody's strung out! The more you give 'em, the more they want.
They expect more.
Give more and they want more.
Do you want to go out?
All right, baby. Put something of what you got.
Should I? Yeah.
That's Christmas spirit.
That's what I'm talking about. Feliz Navidad.
Something nice? Mmm-hmm.
We're going to have a great time.
That's right, chica.
Mr. Lucas. Enjoy your evening.
It's all clear.
WOMAN; (EXCITEDLY) Nicky!
NICKY: Who is that? DOC: There's your boy, Nicky. See him?
NICKY: Know what I'm saying?
Yeah, I see him. Let's keep going.
Around back?
FRANK: Hell, no. I ain't sneaking into my own club.
Incredible. Huh?
(SPEAKING SPANISH)
Come on.
Hold on. Hold on.
(CAR HONKING)
What?
I want to wait in the car.
Frank, I got it. I got it. I'll wait for it. I got it.
Get that yellow sauce. Yellow sauce.
And the chicken. The Kung Pao chicken.
Can you turn the heater on?
Shit. I'm gonna go get the keys.
Doc, give me the keys. DOC: Here you go.
(CAR ENGINE REVVING)
Doc!
Get out of the car.
DOC: You okay? Yeah.
DOC: Shit.
Come on.
Come on, baby. You all right?
Let's go.
Was it Nicky?
We'll go right now and fucking kill him whether it was him or not,
you say the word, Frankie.
We got to do something, Frank.
We can't just sit here.
We're leaving.
All right, everybody get out. TURNER: You all right, man?
Go on home. it's Christmas time. Go and be with your families.
I'm all right.
Go on. Go ahead. Be with your kids.
Go ahead.
Where are we gonna go, huh?
We're gonna go to Spain, somewhere? China?
Huh? Come on, sit down. Tell me where you want to go.
Frank, we can go anywhere we want.
No, we can't. We can live anywhere, Frank.
Where? And do what? Run? Hide?
Frank Lucas don't run from nobody, baby.
We ain't going nowhere. We're gonna stay right here.
This is my home.
This is where my business is, my wife, my mother, my family.
My country. I ain't going nowhere.
I ain't running from nobody!
This is America.
And you ain't going nowhere, either!
Huh?
A ceasefire, internationally supervised,
will begin at 7:00 p. m. this Saturday, January 27th, Washington time.
will begin at 7:00 p.m. this Saturday, January 27th, Washington time.
SPEARMAN: I'll call you back.
Hey! What are you doing?
Richie.
Wow.
So, what I hear it was the Corsican mob took a shot at Frank.
You know, French Connection, Fernando Rey,
the exporters that Frank has put out of business.
Look, I can take care of him in New York.
I just don't want to have to worry that every time
he drives across the bridge to Jersey,
someone's gonna take another shot at him.
Richie, you and I gotta start working together.
We need to step up our efforts.
Next time, their aim could be better.
We need to keep this cash cow alive.
What the fuck are you doing here?
Whoa!
Were you actually gonna arrest Frank Lucas?
What's the matter with you?
What, you don't know? No.
Everybody in New Jersey's crazy.
You know what we do here? Cops arrest bad guys.
Before you get on that bridge again,
you should call me first, just make sure it's safe.
"I'm more enlightened than some of my friends.
"I can guarantee you peace of mind."
That's what you told me, Dominic.
(BANGING ON TABLE)
"I can guarantee you peace of mind!"
I don't feel so peaceful!
Huh?
They tried to kill my wife!
Who was that? Huh?
Maybe it was one of your peoples.
I don't know yet. No. You don't know?
You don't know.
I'll tell you what I know. Maybe I should just put 500 guns
out there on the street and just start shooting up some people,
just to make a point.
Frank, it was a junkie. It was a rival. Some dumb-ass kid
trying to make a name for himself. Somebody you forgot to pay off.
Someone you slighted without even realizing it.
Could be someone you put out of business from being so successful. Look at you.
Success, it's got enemies, Frank. Lots of enemies.
So your success took a shot at you. What are you gonna do now?
How you gonna kill it? You're gonna become unsuccessful?
Frank, we can be successful and have enemies, right?
Or we can be unsuccessful, too, you know, we can have friends.
That's the choice we make.
MAN ON TV: The final evacuation of military and diplomatic personnel
continued throughout the night,
as North Vietnamese troops marched on Saigon.
The imminent fall of the city has brought chaos and a growing sense of desperation.
(PEOPLE CHEERING)
Operator. Yeah, Bangkok, 367, international.
One moment, please.
(PHONE RINGING)
(SPEAKING THAI)
FRANK: Yeah, Nate.
Hey, Frank. What's up, baby?
What's going on over there?
It's all over.
Yeah, I'm watching the news. What the hell's going on?
The game's over, Frank.
Huh? It's done.
Everybody going home, baby. Give peace a chance.
Well, look, I'm not... Listen to me.
I want two...
(WHISPERING) I want 2,000 keys in the air.
It's impossible, Frank. All our resources are going home. It's over.
I'll tell you what. I'm on my way over there.
Right now? Oh, come... Yeah.
JIMMY: (SHOUTING) You stole my shit?
Spearman, wake the fuck up, man. What?
(WOMAN CRYING)
Where's my shit, Darlynn?
Don't hurt me, Jimmy!
(SCREAMS)
SPEARMAN: Jesus! What the... Police! JONES: Police!
SPEARMAN: Drop the gun, Jimmy! JONES: Drop the gun!
JONES: Let me see your hands! SPEARMAN: Jimmy, drop the fucking gun!
JONES: I'm not playing with you, Jimmy! I'll blast your fucking head off!
Don't shoot! Don't shoot!
I got your gun and I got your prints.
You know what you got? You got attempted murder.
Fifteen fucking years!
Attempted murder is the same as Murder One, that's a grand jury.
Now, a grand jury could come back favorably.
It could be reduced to manslaughter.
All right? Maybe even self-defense.
It all just depends on how we wanna deal with you.
See where this is fucking going, Jimmy?
Let's say you beat it.
What you think your cousin Frank is gonna think?
Right, he is gonna know, at some point in time,
we sat you down, and we talked to you like this.
And then you go to court and you beat attempted murder?
What's he gonna think? Is he stupid? ls your cousin Frank stupid?
ABRUZZO:Answer him!
No. He's going to assume that you talked.
But right now, Frank doesn't know.
You want Frank to read about this in the papers?
Or do you just want to walk out of here?
No bail, no trial, no jail, just walk out of here today.
Your choice.
(PEOPLE CHATTERING)
Opium plants are hard enough to outlive any war.
They'll still be here long after the troops have gone.
What are you going to do for transportation when the last US plane goes home?
I'll figure something out.
You will see me again, that's for sure.
It is not in my best interest to say this, Frank,
but quitting while you're ahead
is not the same as quitting.
(SINGING)
(RINGING)
Yeah. Hey.
Go get him.
Whatever you want to do, baby. One second.
It's Frank. Yeah.
Newark.
Short term,
parking lot three.
Short term, lot three.
That's the Mustang we talking about, right? Okay, right. What's the plate number?
K-A... K-A...
FRANK: ... 760. HUEY: ... 76.
Zero. All right.
There's no short term lot three at Newark.
They got letters. A-B-C-D. I know.
Maybe he means a time. 3:00?
JONES: This isn't no Jersey license plate, nor New York, for that matter.
K-A-7-6-0? Yep.
Kilo Alpha?
A plane tail number?
Kilo Alpha 760.
You check commercial planes. You guys check private planes.
Everything, from a little fucking Cessna to the biggest fucking whatever jet.
All right?
I'll check military planes. Where you going, Jimmy?
You're not going anywhere. Sit... Sit down.
Captain? Yeah?
Richie Roberts. Essex County. I know you're expecting us.
Here's our warrant. We're looking on the plane.
Wait! Wait!
Scotty, stop all these soldiers! Check their bags. Every one of them.
(SIRENS WAILING)
(DOOR OPENS)
No-knock warrant.
All right. Start upstairs. Where are they going?
Step in, sweetie.
Ma'am, please sit down.
MRS. LUCAS:What is this?
Whoa, whoa, whoa! All this stops! Hey. Hey. Hey.
Nothing leaves this area, all right? Just slow down with this.
All right. Stop these trucks. MAN: Hold on, hold on.
RICHIE: Everything off the walls! Just pull it all down.
SPEARMAN: Damn thing's a monster, Rich.
What is this?
Nothing leaves this area till we've checked it.
All right, Captain. Nothing.
We got to take the plane down, we got to look in the trucks.
Every man here gets searched.
Read the warrant, sir.
Your husband's illustrious career is over.
The Feds are gonna come in, gonna take everything.
And then they're gonna take it all. But not before I get my gratuity.
So where's the money?
What are you talking about? What money?
What am I talking about? What money?
The getaway money that Frank and every other gangster keeps in his house.
If you leave now, there's a chance Frank might not kill you.
Shut up! Sit down!
Sit down!
MAN ON TV: Defense today announced the planned evacuation
of all remaining US combat forces from Vietnam,
news that comes too late for some,
as here, on a solemn tarmac at Dover Air Force Base.
This C-130, loaded down with its sorrowful cargo,
a cargo of America's bravest and best, en route to their final resting places.
You guys. Take this coffin down.
Open it. I'm not doing that.
(SHUSHING)
Great fucking dog, huh?
You stop this, right now.
My warrant gives me permission to examine this plane,
the plane and its cargo.
Well, you don't have my permission.
I don't need it, Captain.
Easy! Easy, boy. Come on. Hey! Easy!
Frank, move out of the way.
(DOG WHIMPERS)
Damn.
That's enough!
Stay with these coffins. Do not let them out of your sight.
Got it. Okay.
TRUPO: Hey. Help me outwith this.
That was a military transport plane.
If there was heroin on board,
then someone in the military would have to be involved.
Which means that even as it fights a war that's claimed 50,000 American lives,
the military is smuggling narcotics.
That is how this event today will be interpreted.
That someone employed by this office
believes that the United States Army is in the drug trafficking business
and is trying to prove it by desecrating the remains of young men
who have given their lives in the defense of democracy!
There is dope on that plane. Shut the fuck up!
Is it any wonder, then, because of your actions,
the entire federal narcotics program is now in jeopardy
of being dismantled as completely and enthusiastically
as that fucking transport plane?
That is what you've accomplished, Mr. Roberts, single-handedly.
I had good information.
That the target of my investigation was bringing dope in on that plane.
And that target is? Frank Lucas.
Who? His name's Frank Lucas.
Who is Frank Lucas? Who does he work for? Which family?
He's not Italian. He's black.
(LAUGHS)
Is that supposed to be some kind of a joke?
You're this close to the end of your career in law enforcement
and you're making fucking jokes?
My investigation indicates
that Frank Lucas is above the Mafia in the dope business.
My investigations also indicate
that Frank Lucas buys direct from a source in Southeast Asia.
He cuts out the middlemen and uses US military planes
and personnel to transport pure number 4 heroin into the United States
and he's been doing so on a regular basis since 1969.
I have cases against every member of Frank's organization.
Frank's organization?
No fucking nigger has ever accomplished what the American Mafia hasn't in 100 years!
And you would know that how? Why?
'Cause your head is stuck up your fucking ass?
Hey, Lou, do me a favor. Will you get this fucking kike out of here?
Kike? Kike?
Richie, no.
Hey, Richie!
Make it stick.
Spearman's with the coffins. They're about a quarter mile away.
FRANK: Doctor.
What?
Fucking Trupo came by the house, man. It's bad.
Frankie, I need to speak with you a minute. Please?
I got to go, Ma. No, sit down just a minute.
Would you please come back a little later?
Thank you.
Ma, I got to go. All right? Just a few words.
Listen to me. I got...
Please, sit down. Just a few words.
I've been thinking about some things.
You know, if you'd been a preacher, your brothers would have been preachers.
Right.
If you'd been a soldier, they'd be soldiers. You know that.
They came here because of you. You called and they came running.
Right.
That's because they look up to you.
They always expect you to know what's best.
But even they know
you don't shoot cops.
Even I know that.
Eva knows it. All right, Ma.
The only one who doesn't seem to know is you!
All right, Ma. I got to go. I promise you, I ain't gonna shoot nobody.
I never asked you where all this came from because I didn't want to hear you lie.
I didn't want you to worry about it. Now, come on, I got to go.
Don't lie to me!
Don't do that.
Do you want to make things so bad
for your family that they'll leave you? Because they will.
I understand.
She will leave you.
All right, Mama.
I will leave you!
JONES: Got coffins on the move, Richie.
RICHIE: We want the transport coffins, not the ceremonial ones.
Who are these guys?
RICHIE: What does it say?
JONES: Bayonne Custodial Services?
SPEARMAN: Bayonne Cleaning Services?
ABRUZZO: Bayonne? What the fuck is that?
SPEARMAN: Give me the camera, Al.
RICHIE: Bingo.
JONES: Holy shit. That's the baseball kid.
Oh, yeah. That's Stevie Lucas.
So what you want to do, Richie? Follow the trucks?
No. No. I wanna stay here with the Lucas kid.
We'll follow that van.
You guys better eat up. We're gonna have a long night.
(MEN CHATTERING)
HUEY: Come on, more precious than gold, man. This is more precious than gold.
We got a couple more. Let's go. Stack that up.
Take it. Take it.
MAN: Give me a second, man, give me a second.
Hey. Yo. We got four caskets left, man. Let's make some fucking money in here.
SPEARMAN: What are they loading in there?
ABRUZZO: What the fuck are they loading in there?
SPEARMAN: That's the dope.
That's got to be the dope! It's got to be.
RICHIE: Let's go.
Let's move.
Lou, it's Richie.
We got everybody in place. Everybody.
TOBACK: Are you sure this is it?
I'm positive, man. Okay?
All right, they're cutting and bagging
in the South Tower of the Stephen Crane Projects right now.
TOBACK: Are you sure this is it? You're positive?
RICHIE: I'm positive, Lou. I'm positive. Okay?
Everything is ready to go. All the guys are ready to go.
Just push the button, give me the warrant, okay?
Okay. You got it.
(ELEVATOR BELL DINGS)
MAN: You all right?
(PEOPLE CHATTERING)
(WOMEN LAUGHING)
(CHURCH BELL TOLLING)
(CONGREGATION SINGING)
Got the warrant. All right.
Let's go!
Move!
(ELEVATOR BELL DINGS)
Hi, ma'am. What's your name? What's going on here?
Get down! Get down, motherfucker!
Go. Okay. Let's go, Al!
Move it, come on.
Come on, move it. Move it!
(PEOPLE CHATTERING)
(PANTING)
(WHISPERS) All set.
(WHISPERS) Roger.
Get ready.
MAN: There you go! BOY: All right.
(BOY LAUGHING)
MAN: Come on.
At target.
Spearman, stand by.
I got civilians on the target floor.
BOY: What? Oh...
MAN: Come on, there you go.
WOMAN: Hey, Tim.
MAN: Girl, why don't you get some clothes on?
(CHATTERING)
MAN: Let's go.
You think you bad, huh?
Hold on. Where you going? Where you going?
Come on!
(BOY LAUGHING)
BOY: I'll get it!
(GRUNTS)
Where's Tim?
Quiet, kid!
I got some sandwiches for you boys, man.
But where's Tim?
Shit. Man, Tim always playing around.
Hey, man!
You got some Blue Magic, baby?
Fucking junkie!
Yo, handle that!
JONES: I'm sick! Come on! I got money, man!
Come on, man, you know me, baby!
Come on! Come on, I need that Blue Magic, man.
It's me, Boogaloo, baby.
Hey, man, you know I got your god damn money. Come on, man.
And one, two, three! GUARD: Fucking junkie.
(GRUNTS)
ABRUZZO: Police! Police!
Drop it! SPEARMAN: Get out, get out!
Drop the gun! Don't do it!
Drop the gun, drop it! Don't do it.
(SCREAMING)
Scotty!
(PEOPLE SCREAMING)
Police! Everybody down!
You motherfucker!
SPEARMAN: Police! Nobody move! Look out!
RICHIE: Don't fucking move!
(WOMEN SCREAMING)
ABRUZZO: I want to see your hands! All the hands!
Police!
Down! Down! Get down!
Stay the fuck down!
(MAN CHATTERING ON TV)
(WOMAN SCREAMS)
(BARKING)
(SCREAMS)
Hey, man, what's going on?
What the hell...
(GRUNTS)
Stay down! Down, motherfucker! Stay down!
Hands! Hands!
(COUGHING)
Out at home, baby.
(SIRENS WAILING)
(CONGREGATION SINGING AMAZING GRACE)
Thank you very much. You're welcome.
FRANK: Y'all wait right here. Wait right here.
Mrs. Lucas, please step back inside. Yes, Officer.
Please, Mother Lucas, step inside, please.
Respectfully, ma'am, please step inside. Thank you. Step inside.
(SIREN WAILS)
Hands up against the wall. Stay back.
Oh, man.
Don't you owe me money? I'll get you some more. Here you go.
Yo, yo! Pigs! Look out!
POLICEMAN: NYPD! Everybody stand still!
Turner! Go!
Down on the ground, motherfucker!
(EXHALES)
...dead servicemen returning from defending our country in Vietnam...
Over there. Okay.
(ALL CLAPPING)
(GAVEL BANGING)
JUDGE: Ladies and gentlemen, at this stage of the proceedings
the counsels are ready for their opening statements.
For the prosecution, Mr. Roberts will proceed
with his opening statement first.
Mr. Roberts, are you ready to proceed?
Yes, Your Honor.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,
the State will show and you will hear
that Frank Lucas is the most dangerous man
walking the streets of our city.
All right, y'all, get on out. Let me talk to Mr. Richie alone.
Come on, come on, come on. I pay y'all by the hour, not by the minute.
Thank you.
You ain't wearing a wire, are you?
No.
All right. I was talking to my lawyers.
They said something to me, I can't believe it.
Did you really find a million dollars in the trunk of a car
and then turn it in? Did you do that? Yeah.
You did that for real, huh?
My man. Good for you. Shit.
You know Johnny Law got it though, right?
Maybe. Ain't no maybe about it, Mr. Richie.
You know he got it. You turned that money in,
he took it and you ain't get nothing for it. Did you?
Why did you do that?
It was the right thing to do. That's true.
That's a good answer. It was the right thing to do.
The question I have, the question I've been asking myself is,
would you do it again?
I mean, that's a lot of money, that's a long time ago.
Many car payments ago, many child support payments ago.
So I said to myself, the onlyest way to find out is to find out.
RICHIE: Bribery, extortion, murder, racketeering...
FRANK: Now, you give me an address,
I'll make sure the car's there, I'll make sure that money's in that trunk.
No, thanks.
You sure?
Come on, now, Richie. What do you think, that impresses me?
You think that you're better than them? You ain't no better than them other cops.
In fact, you're the same as them. You are them.
Let me ask you this.
Do you really think that putting me behind bars
is going to change anything on them streets?
Them dope fiends is gonna shoot it,
they're gonna steal for it, they're gonna die for it.
Putting me in or out ain't gonna change one thing.
Then that's the way it is.
That's just the way it is. So what we got, Richie?
We got me and you sitting here.
We got that little snitch-ass driver for my brother.
You got a little bit of powder.
You're going to need more than that, Richie.
RICHIE: I got possession, supply, conspiracy,
bribing a law officer. I got people who'll attest to seeing you kill in cold blood.
I got your offshore bank accounts, your real estate, your businesses,
all bought with money from heroin.
And I got hundreds of parents of dead kids.
Addicts who OD'ed on your product. And that's my story for the jury.
And that's how I make it all stick. "This man murdered thousands of people.
"And he did it from a penthouse, driving a Lincoln."
Aside from that, you got nothing to worry about.
That's pretty good. But that's why we go to court, isn't it, Richie?
'Cause I got witnesses, too.
I got celebrities. I got sports figures. I got Harlem, Richie.
I took care of Harlem, so Harlem's gonna take care of me. You can believe that.
I got more than that, Frank. What you got?
I've got a line of people wanting to testify against you,
it stretches out the door and around the block.
You damaged a lot of lives, Frank. I got the Mazzano crime family.
Remember those boys? You put them out of business.
I ain't got nothing to do with no Mazzanos.
Mazzanos ain't got nothing to do with me.
They got everything to do with you. What, they...
You know why? Why?
Because apart from the fact that they hate you personally,
they hate what you represent.
I don't represent nothing but Frank Lucas. You sure?
A black businessman like you?
You represent progress.
The kind of progress that's going to see them lose a lot of money.
With you out of the way, everything can return to normal.
My man.
You know what normal is to me, Richie?
I ain't seen normal since I was six years old.
Normal is seeing the police right up to my house
dragging my little 12-year-old cousin out, tying him to a pole,
shoving a shotgun in his mouth so hard they bust his teeth.
Then they bust two shotgun shells in his head and knock his fucking head off.
That's what normal is to me.
I didn't give a fuck about no police then.
I don't give a fuck about no police now. Shit.
You know what, you can do whatever you want to do.
So, it don't mean nothing to me for you to show up tomorrow morning
with your head blown off. Do you understand what I'm saying?
Yeah, Frank. Get in line. That one stretches around the block, too.
All right.
What do you want to do?
You know what you got to do.
What do you want me to do? Snitch, huh?
I know you don't want me to give up no cops.
What do you want? You want gangsters?
Pick one. Jew gangsters? Mick gangsters? Guineas?
They've been bleeding Harlem dry since they got off the boat, Richie.
I don't give a fuck about no crime figures. You can have them.
I'll take them, too.
You'll take them, too?
No, you didn't. You're talking about police. You want police?
You want your own kind?
They're not my kind.
They're in business with you, Frank. They ain't my kind.
They ain't my kind like the Italians are not yours. All right?
Huh.
What can you promise me, Richie?
I can promise you, you lie about one name,
you'll never get out of prison.
You lie about one dollar, in one offshore account,
you'll never get out of prison.
Now you can live life rich in jail for the rest of your born days,
or be poor outside for some of them.
That's what I can promise you.
I want them cops, Richie. That's what I want, I want them cops
that took that money out of my pockets.
Him, too.
All right. Okay.
Hey, Spearman? Spearman.
So these guys are all connected up to Gwynn, all right.
See this guy here, he's in uniform...
NEWSCASTER 1: Four police officers were arrested today
on charges of taking bribes from drug traffickers.
MAN: Well done, Jimmy.
NEWSCASTER 2: The investigation into police corruption
has swept through New York's drug enforcement ranks
broadened today with the arrest of 19 more officers.
NEWSCASTER 3: In what is being called this city's largest police corruption scandal,
32 more officers were indicted today in federal court on bribery charges.
NEWSCASTER 4: These police officers will face stiff prison terms,
say federal prosecutors, if found guilty.
NEWSCASTER 5: A report by federal investigators into New York's
ever widening police corruption scandal
claims that more than half of the city's officers
assigned to drug enforcement have engaged in some form of corruption.
NEWSCASTER 6: Allegations of widespread corruption within
the elite narcotics squad SIU
have led to the arrest of more New York City detectives.
NEWSCASTER 7: Convicted of extortion,
members of New York City's Special Investigations Narcotics Unit
will face sentencing today in federal court.
FRANK: MacNamara. Vendazzo.
Trupo.
You are special.
(GROANS)
It's good work, Frank.
You know...
You don't want a drink or something? Celebrate?
You got any holy water?
Check your property. Sign, please.
(DOOR BUZZING)
Smell better out here?
Frank. There you are.
Caffe latte. Yeah. Latte?
Oh, shit. Yeah. You all right?
That's a fancy way of saying coffee with milk.
Yeah. $2.50.
So you been talking to your brothers?
No, no, I ain't talked to them in years. It's probably best for them.
What the hell am I going to do out here, Richie? I don't know how I'm gonna live.
Hey, I told ya, I ain't gonna let you starve, all right?
Obviously, you ain't starving.
(LAUGHING)
Bagels and blinches. They will catch up with you, you know?
Who's this?
Expensive sneakers. About $100 a pair.
Frederick Douglass Boulevard.
This used to be Eighth Avenue, why do they call it Frederick Douglass Boulevard now?
This was me Richie, right here. This was all me.
In my day there were so many niggers out here buying dope
you could've made a Tarzan movie.
You know, one phone call, I'll be right back in business, you know that.
You don't do that, Frank. These days I keep all my promises.
Why'd you come and get me, huh?
You're a superstar, Frank.
A superstar?
Your evidence alone gave me 150 convictions.
Thought the least we could do is give you a ride home.
Yeah, you sure did that. You gave me a ride home. Free ride.
Coming to gangsters.
What?
Ain't nothin', man. Ain't nothin', man.
That's life right there. That's life right there.
Even a fool gets to be young once.