Frank always used to say,
"Tell your story walkin', pal."
He was more philosophical than your average gumshoe,
but he liked to do his talkin' on the move,
so here's how it all went down.
I got somethin' wrong with my head.
That's the first thing to know.
If!
It's like having glass in the brain.
I can't stop pickin' things apart...
twistin' 'em around, reassembling 'em.
Words and sounds, especially.
It's like an itch that has to be scratched.
Quit pullin' at it. You're gonna make a fuckin' mess out of things.
I got threads in my heads.
I got threads in my heads!
I got threads in my heads, man!
And I twitch a lot.
It's hard to miss.
It makes me look like a goddamn spastic,
but if I try to hold it back, it just makes it worse.
Ah.
Shit, just help me out, will ya?
Like I said, a fuckin' mess!
Jesus, Freakshow, ruin another sweater.
No, cut it closer. Cut it closer.
Fuckin' mess is right.
The nun said my soul wasn't at peace with God and I should do penance.
Frank said anyone teaching God's love
while they hit you with a stick
should be ignored on every subject.
Frank Minna.
If you had to pick just one guy to be on your side,
he's the one you'd want.
It's Minna's game. We're all just in the lineup.
- Boys. - Boss.
Frank. Frankly Frankady Franko!
All right, listen.
Here's the shot. I'll be up on the third floor.
Lionel will go to the payphone in about 20 minutes.
When they come, probably three or four of them,
when they come, you call me here.
I'll buzz 'em in. Coney waits at the door.
I buzz him in, he stays inside.
Lionel's listening, sharp on the line.
If you hear me say, "We have a problem," hustle over.
Coney lets you in. The two of you come upstairs,
back me up quick.
What's going down here, Frank?
I gotta keep this under my hat, boys.
Fat cats in hats!
Them's the ones, pal.
Let's catch a big score and get fat ourselves.
- Boss, we're not carrying. - What?
A piece. I don't have a piece.
"A piece"? Say "gun," Gilbert.
- Okay, I don't have a gun. - That's what I count on.
That's how I sleep at night, you with no gun.
I got a gun. You just show up.
I wouldn't want you chuckleheads
coming up a staircase
with a hairpin and a harmonica.
Hairy chin, harmony harp! Quit windin' me up.
With an unlit cigar and a chicken wing.
- Right, Brooklyn? - Chicky wing ding.
I wing that chick in the ding.
Come on, seriously.
Don't throw me off.
Just give us the rest of it, all right?
All right, all right.
Now, if I say, "Let me use the can,"
it means we're comin' out.
Get Gil, get in the car, get ready to follow.
I might need to give someone the slip. Got it?
Yeah. Problem up the stairs.
"Use the can," start the car. Got it.
Get, gotten, got, gotcha!
Lionel's got it, just follow his lead.
Oh, come on, you gotta be kiddin' me.
Coney, what did I say when I came into the office last Tuesday?
- What? - Lionel?
You hung up your coat, you put your hat on the third hook,
you said, "I just saw a girl on the ferry,
and the smile she gave me
is gonna get me through the winter."
Then you threw your notebook to Danny, and said,
"How's a guy supposed to keep
a marriage together with 22 on the menu?"
Like I said, Lionel's on point.
Sit on it, Bailey!
Fuckin' Bailey.
If!
Bailey's what my head calls me.
It calls me out whenever I try to resist it.
There's things that calm it down.
Gum, weed.
Sometimes, something a little stronger if I'm in bad shape.
But if I try to put a lid on it, it gets worse.
If I get nervous, it gets worse.
If I get excited, it gets worse.
If!
It's the argument I can't win.
Hey!
Another Minna classic.
Freezin' our asses off. Don't even know the score.
- What, you have big plans this weekend, Coney? - Yeah, maybe.
- Hot date? - Maybe. Maybe I do.
Coney Island!
Coney Island hot dogs!
Coney Island hot dogs right here!
All right, Freakshow, just a little quieter, please.
That's it. We're on. Be ready.
- Hey. - Hey, boss.
Bossy, bossy bitch!
You keeping it together, Brooklyn?
No, no, no. I got my gum.
I'll keep it under control when it counts.
Like we said, stay tuned in, pal.
I might need that head of yours later.
Yeah, I got you covered, boss.
I know you do.
Hey, I think your friends are here.
All right, how many?
There's two walkin' up the block, two out the car.
- You see 'em? - Yeah, I see 'em.
Jesus Christ, look at the size of that guy.
They got... They got serious muscle with them.
Is everything cool, boss?
Cool as can be. Just a little chat.
"Here lies Frank Minna. Cool as can be."
They'll carve that on his fuckin' tombstone.
I don't know if it was growin' up in Greenpoint
or fightin' the Japanese,
but he was cool under pressure in a way you can't teach.
I was just happy to have a job on his team.
And if there's one thing my pain-in-the-ass brain does know how to do,
it's listen and remember things.
Gentlemen, thanks for coming. Drink?
We're not gonna be here that long.
Now explain this crap.
Which part didn't you understand?
How about the part where you got the idea
to go poking around after some colored broad, for starters?
She works for the committee.
She's a fuckin' secretary.
We told you to dig in on Horowitz,
find something we can shut them down with.
There's nothing there, Lou.
You wanna know what's goin' on in that report,
that "colored broad" is doing most of the legwork on Hamilton for 'em.
So I put some time into that, too.
You looked in some funny places.
What can I tell ya? I'm a snoop. It's what I do.
It's called being thorough.
It's called wasting our time.
This is fucking Chinese, Frank!
If you need a roadmap to wipe your ass,
I can't help you, Lou.
Walk us through it, Mr. Minna,
just to be sure we're very clear.
It's right there in ink.
Anybody else like to offer a different interpretation?
None of this can be proved.
That signature is the real deal.
If you knew the man,
you'd know why that seems highly implausible.
I checked it against the others.
That is his John Hancock.
And the paper trail backs it up.
Think Horowitz knows all of this?
No.
Or you'd already be eating shit.
It'd have been in the paper the next day.
The girl, she married? Got family?
It's all in my file.
Her mother's dead. No brother or sisters.
- What about her father? - Father's a busted-up vet.
He runs a jazz club up here. He drinks too much.
Mr. Minna, I'll assume
you're aware of what occurs a week from Thursday?
I am.
So then, you understand
our firm determination to keep such information
out of the hands of our detractors?
Sure, it's the nature of the game.
But these are all photos.
May I hope you're in possession of the originals?
- I am. - Excellent.
Well, we'll need to get those from you.
I figured as much.
I thought we could talk about terms.
What the fuck are you talkin' about?
Have you lost your mind?
Let's not kid each other, fellas.
You got the biggest gravy train of the century pulling out.
I'm just asking for a seat here in the rear.
That's quite impossible.
I'd double this at any paper in town.
I'm gonna pretend you didn't say
what you just said, and we're gonna get...
It's just an observation.
I'm here in good faith.
- Just assessing value... - You can forget it!
Jeez, Lou.
What is your beef with a guy gettin' paid for good work?
As far as I can see, you get paid
for doin' nothing.
- Watch your mouth. - Jesus, take it easy.
- Shit. - Open up your coat.
- What? - Are you carryin'?
- You bring a gun to a meeting? - I had it
- since the war, Lou... - What the fuck?
Listen, motherfucker, I'm gonna have my friend
shove that right up your ass.
Enough. Lou, a word.
Oh, come on, fellas, don't get in a twist.
It's just business.
Mr. Minna, we do appreciate
the service you've rendered.
And these gentlemen
will take you to get the originals
and if all is in order,
we'll arrange an appropriate resolution for you.
Of course. Like I say, good faith.
Just let me use the can first.
Come on, come on! Come on, come on!
Shithead hitter!
- Hit him in the shitter! - What happened?
They hit him. They hit him. I think that they hit him.
Well, Jesus, Freakshow, what are we doing here?
No, no, no. Wait, wait, wait.
He said, "Use the can." He wants us to follow him.
Can the man! Can the loose man!
And this fucking guy.
- I don't like it. - Me, neither. Let's go.
Shit!
No, no. No.
Shit. We gotta go, we gotta go!
Come on, come on, come on!
Go, go, go! Fire it up!
Fire it up, come on!
This fucking guy!
Eat me, Mr. Dickey Weed!
Come on.
Left, left, left. Lick me, Loose Lucy!
There, there, there. That's them. That's them.
Don't blow past them, don't blow past them.
Slow down, slow down.
Watch out! Watch out!
Shit!
You fuckin' blind?
- The fuck? - How'd we lose them?
There, there! There!
Where's he goin'?
The ramp, he's goin' to Queens. Queenie Coney.
Queenie Coney. Queenie Coney.
In the right lane. Get to the right.
Where the fuck are they?
Son of a bitch, that's them!
Come on, we're gonna lose them.
Come on!
- Quacker, quoter, quarter! - What?
Quacker, quoter, quarter!
- What? - Quarter! You need a quarter!
Get a fuckin' quarter out, Coney!
Why didn't you say something?
Go, go, go! Go, go!
There, there, there. Go left, go left.
They gotta be somewhere.
I'd say they're somewhere, Gil, yes. Where?
Stop, go back! Go back!
Jesus!
Shit! Drop it! We gotta get out of here!
Come on, let's go! Let's go!
God damn it.
Frank!
Pull it up!
You wanna help me out here, please?
- Yeah. - Oh, shit!
- Can you stand? - Yeah.
Coney, you lug wrench, get my hat!
Forget the hat, Frank.
Get my hat, you fucking mook.
Get my gun, too.
Where the hell are you going?
I don't know around here.
- Give me something. - Well, head for the hospital.
Jesus! Hospitable herpetologist!
Mercy Hospital.
Up McGuinness, you cabbageheads!
- Ah, sorry. - Pay attention!
- If, if! - Easy, pal.
Sorry. Sorry.
Put my watch and my wallet in my hat
and leave it in the car.
Don't want anybody stealin' it.
The fuck happened, Frank?
I took 'em on a wild goose chase and I tried to slip 'em.
Ah, we should have jumped in sooner.
I thought you were signaling me off.
No, not your fault. I almost made it.
I forgot they had my gun.
Got through Guadalcanal without a scratch,
and I get shot with my own gun in Queens.
- You gonna be okay? - Yeah, yeah.
They clipped me in the side, but nothin' important.
- Who? Who were they? - Well, don't worry about it.
Talk to me, Brooklyn.
- I need one of your jokes. - What?
I need a joke. Just tell me a joke.
Guy walks into a bar.
Guy walks into a bar with an octopus
and he says, "I'll bet 50 this octopus
can play any instrument in the joint."
Funny. Already in the black.
I'm gonna fucking... Fuck! Shit!
Don't blow the punchline, Lionel.
Watch out! Watch out!
Jesus, what are we doing here?
Almost there.
What do you think you're doing? Get this car out of...
We're an ambulance today, pal. Get someone!
What do we got?
Gunshot in the back. Went out through the stomach.
Hey, hey. Okay, they're gonna fix you up.
Squeeze my hand. Squeeze my hand.
Clamp.
Stay with me, okay? Stay with me.
Oh, shit, Brooklyn, she's in trouble now.
Who? Who was that in that room, boss?
Played out of my league.
I should have kept her under my...
Easy, easy. They're gonna give you something now, right?
Hand me two units.
Morphine in.
- Hey, Brooklyn... - Yeah, I'm here, Frank.
You're no freak.
Yeah, okay.
Stay with me, okay? Stay with me.
You were working for those guys. Who were they?
For... Formosa...
Formosa? What is that?
Formosa...
- I don't have a pulse. - Move!
- You can't be here. - Get out!
Get out. Get out! Get out!
A guy walks into a bar...
- A guy walks into a bar... - We did the best we could.
- A guy walks into a bar... - He lost too much...
Too much blood.
He didn't make it.
- I am so sorry. - So sorry, Bailey!
So sorry, Bailey!
Frankly Frankady Franko!
Then he said he would take 'em
to get this thing and that was our signal.
So, he's takin' them to get somethin' that they want,
and they off him. That doesn't track.
No, I don't know.
It all happened so fast. And we were just catchin' up.
We barely saw 'em.
How the fuck did you drop so far off them?
I told you, we lost them at the bridge. They had a badge.
They got waved through. There was nothin' we could do.
Freakshow's right. It was a mess.
So, who were they?
He wouldn't say. Even after, in the car.
That's great, Frank!
If, if, if!
We gotta tell Julia.
I told her already.
When?
She called looking for him.
How'd she take it? Timbuk-take it!
How the fuck you think she took it, Freakshow?
Hey! Don't say that again!
I'm not in the fuckin' mood.
Yeah, all right, take it easy.
I'm just sayin'...
We all know how she can be.
Somebody's gotta take her his things.
I'll do it.
Hey.
Take his, huh?
You can't go out lookin' like that.
It's freezin'.
- Thank you. - You sure you wanna do this?
Maybe she'll wanna know what happened at the end, you know?
He say anything about her?
No.
Help him out one last time.
Lie a little.
- Oh. Lionel. - Hey, Julia, I...
Yeah, don't bother. The hospital already called.
No, I got some of Frank's things that I brought.
Oh.
I thought you were gonna break the news to me again.
Jeez, Julia, I'm...
- I'm really sorry. - Nice twist, huh?
Didn't see that one coming, I gotta say.
Twisty, twitchy, twinky! Shit.
Look, I just want to be alone, okay?
Sure, sure. Yeah.
You can give me that watch, I guess.
I don't want the rest of that stuff.
I'm gonna keep his gun, if that's okay.
- You want the hat? - For what?
You should have that.
Was somebody with him when he...
Yeah, I was.
Uh...
He was talkin' about you, you know?
Yeah, don't bullshit me, okay? I'm pissed at him.
- No, don't be. - Okay, well, I am.
Pissing bitch!
I'm sorry.
Julia...
did Frank say anything about who he was meeting today,
or what he was into?
No, he didn't. No.
- You got no idea who did this? - No.
If I figure it out, I'm gonna make 'em regret it, though.
I promise you that.
Don't promise me.
It makes no difference to me one way or the other.
If!
Here you go, sir.
Let 'em in, Charlie.
All right, gentlemen. Come on in.
Watch your step. It might be a little bit slippery.
I humbly accept the responsibility of the office of mayor,
and I accept the challenge of serving the people of New York City
faithfully and well.
Limited only by our own vision,
our own audacity,
we will build the legacy of our time.
A legacy for future generations to look upon
and say, "Here was boldness.
Here is the greatest of what man can create."
God bless you. Thank you.
Thank you, my fellow New Yorkers! Thank you!
Do you solemnly swear to serve the people of New York
and uphold the integrity of the office
of Deputy Mayor of Community Relations?
I do.
Ah. Mo. Splendid.
Do you solemnly swear to serve the people of New York
and uphold the integrity of the office
of Commissioner of the City's Parks?
I do.
Do you solemnly swear to serve the people of New York
and uphold the integrity of the office
of Commissioner of Building and Construction?
I do.
Good to have you aboard, Mo. Keep up the good work.
Well, I'll be damned, he did it.
I told you.
He's no pushover, this one.
Ladies and gentlemen,
your New York City commissioner.
10 bucks it won't last past noon.
Mr. Mayor! Mr. Mayor!
This way.
And after all that,
he voted for the wrong guy in three different precincts.
What is this shit?
What about City Planning?
See here now, Mo. What is all this?
Don't you play games with me, you fuckin' mutt.
Either I get City Planning or I quit the other two.
Right now!
The reporters are still here.
Easy now, it's nothing to get hot about.
It's probably just an oversight.
They forgot to give me the blank.
Just give us a day to get settled in,
and I'll see to it.
Now sign it.
Now give me.
Right.
Bunch of fuckin' amateurs.
Close the damn door and keep it closed!
City sports authority
reports new life in negotiations
with Walter O'Malley to keep the Dodgers in Brooklyn.
Read all about it in the Telegram.
The Dodgers can stay if the city will give 'em a yard.
Read all about it in the Telegram.
The Dodgers can stay if the city will give 'em a yard.
All these wide-necked apes,
trackin' mud through my apartment,
asking all kinds of questions
and I told them, "Christ, he's dead.
What, are you gonna arrest him?"
Fuck you been? Called you all morning.
What the hell happened here?
Danny had an early run out to Belmont,
came in, it was like this.
Cops were at Frank's place, too,
- going through everything. - If!
They were going through my underwear drawer
and they were grinnin' at me
while they were going through my underwear drawer.
We're gonna find out who did this,
get to the bottom of it. Right, boys?
I don't even want to know.
Always with this cryptic shit,
telling me he's into something big this time
and that he's gonna change our situation,
and then he goes and gets whacked,
and leaves me $4,000 in a savings and loan,
and a drafty shithole at Lookout Point,
and this thriving operation!
The fuck am I supposed to do with this?
Look, the way I see it,
you guys work for me now.
I know you all go way back with him, longer than me,
but that's just the way it is for now.
I know the car service was mainly for the books,
but we didn't talk much about how he ran the snoop work.
And I ain't interested.
So, I'm puttin' Tony in charge.
He's gonna run the business of it,
and then he'll keep me in the loop. Right?
Sure, doll. It's the right thing.
Sure.
You want me to walk you home?
No, thanks.
I'm gonna go stay with my sister for a little bit.
I have to go figure out my future.
But give me a call. Okay?
You know, for an update?
- Hey, Julia. - Hey, Lionel.
Can't you ever cut that out?
Touch it, Bailey! I'm sorry.
For once?
If!
- I'm... - Jesus.
What?
Fuckin' assholes even took the tank off the john.
All right, forget that, do it later.
Right now, just the four of us...
Does anybody know what Frank was into on this?
He just said to meet him for a sit.
He didn't even make it like it was a big thing.
- He was nervous, though. - Nervous how?
He wasn't nervous.
Were you on that line, dumb shit?
I'm telling you, I heard it, he was nervous.
Nervous Nellie!
It was in his voice.
He was trying to make a play on those guys.
There's somethin' goin' down a week from Thursday that's big.
And they were not happy about what he found.
Obviously. They whacked him for it.
Crack whacker! No,
I don't think they meant to. I think it was a mistake.
When they shot him, I think they fucked up,
now they're stuck looking for what he found.
Big fuckin' riddle. Jesus H.
All right, I'm gonna say this.
I loved the guy.
And when we were in that fuckin' hellhole,
he saw somethin' in us,
threw us a line, taught us how to operate,
but he never cut us in all the way.
And he played his own games.
And I'm not stickin' my nose around his dead cards,
risk ending up on a slab for it.
I say we got a lot of bills to pay,
and we ought to just get at it.
You owe him more than that, T.
Yeah, well, you figure out what the fuck
it was all about, you let us know.
All right? Meantime, I gotta finish up on the rabbi's wife.
She's banging a butcher who ain't kosher
and I think he's really gonna give her the boot this time,
and that's gonna be the last of that ride.
I want Gil sitting on that Gunderson fraud thing.
- I'm on Gunderson. - Yeah, well, I want Gil on it!
- Why? - Because
when we make that bust,
the insurance company's gonna want us to go down there,
show the pictures to his lawyer,
and I wanna make a good impression.
Okay? Frank ain't here to cover for you anymore.
- Fraud fag! - Like I said,
Gil's on it. Danny will back me on nights,
and, Lionel, you pick up the car slack for him,
just until something new comes in.
It's cold. We're gonna have a lot of calls,
and we need that business. Fuck!
Now, come on, let's clean up.
Tony, and Coney, and Danny, and me...
before we were Minna's men,
we were just dead-end kids at the Catholic orphanage.
Invest-ahead!
I was worse in there. A total freakshow.
No one knew what to do with it.
L&L.
Yeah, we have cars available. Where would you like to go?
The nuns thought they were gonna beat it out of me.
One of 'em in particular.
Till Tony grabbed the paddle from her
and said if she hit me again,
he was gonna give it to her twice as hard.
Coney and Danny were standing behind him when he said it
and she knew they weren't bluffin'.
After that, I was in their crew.
If!
- L&L. - Who am I speaking to?
Ass-rog!
This is Lionel Essrog. I'm associate...
Hello?
Formosa.
Frank was just from the neighborhood.
He was smart.
Everybody knew he was goin' places.
Everybody liked him.
For my ass, Bailey!
He was friends with one of the priests,
and he heard I had a thing for remembering.
Numbers and words and things,
and he had uses for that.
He was the one that taught me how to use my head,
get it under control, make it work for me.
He took all of us under his wing, eventually.
Gave us a place in this shitty world.
- Lionel? - If!
Oh, Jesus Christ!
You scared the hell out of me.
I thought I was lookin' at a ghost.
- What are you doin'? - Spinnin'.
- You back already? - Nah, I'm on a round trip.
I gotta go back soon.
You okay?
I should have never let him get in that car.
I think I blew it, Danny.
I had a sergeant once in the Bulge. Told me,
"Sometimes you do everything you're supposed to,
and it all still goes to shit." Hmm?
It ain't on you, bud.
Thanks, D.
Any calls?
Yeah. Oh, shit!
I gotta go.
I got a 2:30.
Hey...
did you ever hear Frank mention anything about "Formosa"?
Like the Jap island?
Nah. He was wounded and out before then.
Hmm.
There is that joint, Formosa, in, uh, Midtown.
I took Linda there to see Chet Baker once.
Frank didn't have to cover for me.
He just never put me into situations
that were gonna punch my buttons.
Talkin' to people, gettin' information out of 'em,
that's the bread and butter of the trade,
but never my strong suit.
Especially if a girl shows up in the mix
and, in this line of work, they usually do.
Music's at 7:00.
Yeah, could I get an early one? Whiskey, neat?
- Irish? - Sure.
Say, are you in here regular?
Most of my life.
You ever seen this guy come in?
Name's Frank Minna.
Seen him around?
Everybody looks like everybody to me,
but I don't think so.
She's good with faces.
Seen that guy?
- Friend of yours? - Yeah.
- Nice face. - If!
Nice yourself.
You got a light?
A tease.
Sorry.
Jesus. Forget I asked.
- Ass-talk, Bailey! - Classy!
You got somethin' against blondes?
It's gotta sound right or I can't stop doing it.
Must be inconvenient.
Buddy, you don't know the half of it.
That uptown shit's the real deal, huh?
You get up there much?
- Sorry? - King Rooster.
- I don't know it. - Jazz joint in Harlem.
Lucky's is a good time, too,
but all the guys playing hard are at the Rooster.
Thanks a lot.
We ain't open yet.
Yeah, could I get an early one? I'm freezin'.
I'll take a whiskey, neat. Keep it.
Hey, you the manager?
I look like the manager?
Who's playin' tonight?
Hey, Billy, who's on tonight?
Mr. Bigshot.
I hope they don't think they drinkin' free.
Well, you know they do.
You know who's gonna say somethin' about that.
You caught this cat?
I seen cool.
This brother rewritin' cool.
- I'll catch him next time. - Don't wait long.
These French girls keep lovin' him up,
he's gonna move over there for good.
French kissin' cats!
Thanks, pal.
On my average day,
the weed will handle my twitching and shouting,
let me get to sleep.
But it makes my thinking fuzzy.
In my dreams, I'm calm and clear like I was when I was a kid.
Even after my head started messin' with me,
my mother could settle it down.
She'd sing soft songs,
stroke the back of my neck,
and it would leave me for a while.
We'd lie on the bed,
talk about all the places we were gonna go.
That "colored broad" is doing most of the legwork on Hamilton for 'em.
Christ, Coney, did you get the shot or not?
What? Doing what?
Gettin' the... Gettin' the paper ain't worth shit.
The fuck's got to do with his back?
"Bendin' over," my ass.
Look, I need him liftin' the lawnmower
out of the car or playin' tennis,
or spinnin' around the room with some broad
up on his tent pole and his arms out wide.
I don't give a shit as long as it involves his back.
Yeah.
I know he's fakin' it, Gil.
That's why he's won three claims.
Look, just wait him out or set him up.
I know it's cold. That's why they call it winter!
Fuck.
I'm givin' him till the end of the week.
Hell, the guy could lift a cow into a truck...
Coney's still gonna miss the shot.
He still can't remember to wind the film.
He thinks it's a Tommy gun.
I keep tellin' him, "Click, advance. Click, advance."
Can it! I'm givin' him the rest of the week.
Give me a fuckin' break, Gil. What?
Oh. Yeah, no, excuse me. L&L.
- We gettin' any rides? - No.
Nobody ever needs a ride on Tuesday, you ever notice that?
Never. What is that about?
Tits on a Tuesday!
Okay, thank you.
Job?
For me.
Well, don't go gettin' all mysterious now, T.
You ain't no Minna.
Yet.
I'm going to pick up a prescription for my mother, clam brain.
You want all the details?
All right.
I'm goin' out for coffee. You want?
Yeah, cream and sugar.
Oh!
Okay.
Meet the new boss.
Mmm-hmm.
Hey, D, if it's slow, you up for something?
Like what?
Will you go sit on that place for me? It's up in Harlem.
I don't know it.
I think Frank was there that day,
or maybe the day before,
but it was in his pants, it was almost full.
- Fullsie pants! - Yeah, well,
maybe he just stopped in
- for a book of matches. - I don't think so.
He was talkin' about the colored girl
who found somethin' they were unhappy about,
and he said her father's a busted-up vet
who runs a joint in Harlem,
and this place is three blocks
from where they had that meeting.
Mmm-hmm. So, you went there?
Yeah, and guess who the manager is?
He's a colored guy with a bum arm.
Oh, okay, what do you want me to do about it?
Just get in there, you know,
see if you can get her name off of them or something.
Use your liquor board bit. Lick Broader!
I get her name.
- That's it? - No, sit there a while.
See if she comes in. Get her picture or somethin'.
See if a colored girl walks into a jazz joint?
Let me make a prediction.
Hey, asshole, I'm workin' it from another angle, too.
We'll put 'em together. We'll figure out who she is.
All right. Can I ask why we're doin' this?
'Cause he'd have done it for us.
You're right.
Ah, it's fuckin' cold for a sit.
No, take the Bel Air. That heater'll roast you like a brisket.
Bet on the bris!
What are you, a rabbi now?
You don't want me handling your bris, believe me.
Can I help you?
- Yeah. If! - Bless you.
Thank you. I'm here to see Mildred.
Mildred? There's nobody by that name here.
I'm pretty sure it was Mildred.
- Myrna. - My mynah bird's Myrna.
No. No, it was a colored girl that I was speaking to.
Uh... Josephine?
Or Laura?
- Mary. - No,
I'm pretty sure it was Mildred.
I was talking to her on the phone about my application.
What's your name?
Betty. What sort of application?
For my vendor's license.
Is this not the licensing office?
It's the Committee on Racial Discrimination in Housing.
Well, then, you can't very well
help me sell hot dogs, can you?
I'm so sorry.
Wait. Mr. Horowitz isn't here today, is he?
- You mean Miss Horowitz? - Either one.
- She's in the back. - Can you point her out to me?
There she is.
Hmm.
You've been more helpful than you know.
We told you to dig in on Horowitz.
Horse a whip!
Shit, what happened?
Jesus, Danny.
Come on. All right.
Come.
Shit. You need ice?
No, no. I'll take a shot. You got one of those?
Yeah.
- Yeah, thanks. - Who was it, D?
Hmm.
There was a couple of 'em.
One was a giant.
- A what? - A fuckin' giant.
I'm tellin' ya, the biggest guy I ever saw.
Worked me over pretty good.
Murdered the camera.
- Fuck. Did they say anything? - Yeah.
Uh... "Stay out of Minna's garbage.
Tell your crew the same."
They had a big nasty knife to my throat for that part.
Those sons of bitches!
But they didn't get this.
- Assholes. - The fuck is it?
Giant-ass dog! Ah, D, you're the tits.
What are you two into?
- You get 'em all? - These are yours,
- these are mine. - Yeah.
Uh-huh, uh-huh.
- That's the same guy I saw. - Yeah, yeah.
- The bum arm. - Forget all that, though.
She doesn't show up till sort of the end of the roll.
Yeah.
- Look, they come out together. - Yeah.
No, wait, but I saw her. That's, uh...
- Laura, they called her Laura. - Laura Rose?
Maybe that's Billy Rose, if he's her father.
She lives on the same corner as the club.
They must have made me early,
as soon as I got out to check it out,
bam, they were on me.
Yeah. That's her.
That's the colored girl that Frank was following.
All right, I'm with you, okay? It's just,
- it's still a little thin. - Skeletal.
Thin? What?
We already ID'd her. We've been at it one day.
Well, you know, whatever it is, it's...
It's gotta be big, they're goin' this far, right?
So, it's gotta be worth something, then.
I'll tell you what, Freakshow, Gil and I,
we'll stay on the money work, just to keep us afloat,
you and Danny keep sniffin' this.
Let's see what we get.
- Fuck 'em! - Yeah.
- Right? - Yeah.
- If! - I hope these mugs poke around
'cause I got something for them if they do.
What do you say, D?
Fellas, I...
I loved him, you know.
I mean, I'll, uh...
I, uh... I'll handle the car stuff.
I'll work some domestic shit,
but I got Linda.
No, hey, hey, that's the right thing.
Get on home,
- throw a steak on that eye. - Yeah.
I'll give you a lift.
- So long. - Yeah, yeah.
What do you mean, it might be worth something?
I don't know, I thought maybe we'll get something out of it.
I ain't looking to make a deal with these fucks.
Forget that, then. Look, I'm just...
Don't you think I wanna find out who whacked Frank?
Yeah.
Just don't hold out on me, okay?
We're workin' on this thing together.
We find who did this, and we square accounts.
If you say so, yeah.
Wanna get a beer?
- Nah. - Come on.
Come on. Let's get a beer.
Come on, let's get a beer.
Okay, leave me alone, leave me alone.
All right.
Don't stay up too late, kemosabe.
Give up the seat, asshole!
Give her the seat!
Hey, Gabby, they're closed.
Oh, you gotta be kidding me!
- Yes... - At 3:30? Ugh.
Hey, pal, I'm new to this beat.
What's the story here?
Stories of injustice and despair,
nodding assurances,
and back to business as usual. The American way.
Though this one could make things interesting.
Hey, who's the, uh, guy on the far right?
It's Brooklyn borough president.
What are you, a television reporter?
No, just new.
We'll commence this public comment.
State your name, address, and affiliation, please.
I'm William Lieberman,
Mayor's Commission on Slum Clearance.
We'll arrange an appropriate resolution for you.
Resident of East...
- Lieberman. - ...65th Street, Manhattan.
Cindy Fleming, homemaker, Yonkers.
Formerly East Tremont.
My family was forced to move when they seized
our building for the Bronx Expressway and I want
- people to know that... - Mrs. Horowitz.
Miss.
Miss Horowitz, you may not hijack these proceedings
- to air out old complaints... - Gabby Horowitz,
Committee for Racial Discrimination in Housing,
552 Clinton Avenue, Brooklyn.
I thought that this was a community hearing?
On housing, not highways.
You're making the same promises to Fort Greene
you made in East Tremont,
where your so-called "relocation services"
vanished into thin air
and left families like the Flemings utterly adrift.
People have a right to know what they're in for.
We are totally committed to the welfare of families
displaced by necessary
community improvement programs
and the past has been instructive, miss,
but our new contractors
will ensure all find adequate homes...
This isn't Long Island, you know.
It's not just a blank canvas
you can paint on anywhere you like.
There are people here, established communities.
Bill, if I may...
I hope you all know my name. I'm the mayor,
newly residing in Gracie Mansion.
Uh, Miss Horowitz,
thank you for your work and your passion.
Surely we can all agree that
even in a city as great as ours we have slums,
and that slums are not to be romanticized or preserved.
You tear them down
and improve quality of life for everyone...
A neighborhood is not a slum,
because poor people and minorities
live there, Mr. Mayor.
East Tremont wasn't a slum,
Third Avenue wasn't a slum,
and Fort Greene isn't a slum, either.
These are working-class communities.
Your developers are making them slums, Mr. Randolph!
That is unsubstantiated and unmitigated bunk!
We have got it on paper.
We got 20 people here tonight
and scores behind them
who can testify to a scandalous fraud underway.
Which way do you want it first?
Hey, hey, hey!
We are embarking
on the most ambitious slum clearance program
in American history, Mrs. Horowitz,
and you are gumming it up with your molasses!
A Niagara of molasses!
Make him say his name!
Name and place of residence like everyone else!
Now, see here, we all know perfectly well who this is.
Mo Randolph is one of our greatest public servants.
He's a living legend.
Name and residence, like everybody else!
Shiver shitty self!
He's led the Parks Department for over 30 years.
He's Commissioner of Construction.
He's got too many jobs to name.
And he lives right across the street from me on 88th.
Make him say it!
So, let's stick to the issues concerning the citizens of...
Name, address!
See here now, if we can't keep this civil...
Say it!
...we'll have to ask you to leave!
Say it!
Hey!
Two fuckin' pigs in a blanket! Ow!
Hey! Say it, Hammy House Head!
Say it! Say it! Say it!
I got a condition. Easy!
"Hammy Ham House Head"?
That's good. I gotta remember that one.
- If! - Yeah, well,
that's the rub in life, all right, if. If only.
Hey...
You know things about that guy, Bill Lieberman?
Is he in charge of this whole housing deal?
Charge? No, he's not in charge.
More in charge than that guy calling himself the mayor,
but they all work for Moses.
Hey, hey, stop, stop, wait a second.
- Let me go. You nuts? - You just said Formosa.
- What is that? - What's Formosa?
You said, "Working Formosa." What does that mean?
No, Jesus, I said, "They're all working for Moses."
Moses Randolph.
Mo Randolph? The guy who walked in late?
He who will not speak his name like one of the rabble.
What do you care?
Hey, hey, um...
I'm Jake Gleason. I'm with the Post.
Can I buy you a cup of coffee?
I'm hungry. You can buy me dinner.
Okay, that means the one guy
answers to the other guy, but they all
- gotta answer to the mayor. - The mayor?
That clown is so green,
he doesn't even know what he doesn't know yet.
He'll be out the door before he even realizes
that every person he turns to for advice
- is on Randolph's payroll. - I thought he was
- the parks commissioner. - He is.
But they called him the construction commissioner
- in there. - He's that, too, now,
but they didn't even have that position
until the Feds decided to get in the housing game.
There was no defined power,
so he defined it, they approved it
and now how much control
over that money has the city got? Zero.
He's got it all. You know
- what "eminent domain" is? - I think, yeah...
Yeah, if he says it's a slum, it goes.
He used to have to fight
to put his highways and parks where he wanted,
and now, he goes anywhere, tears anything down.
He can condemn a whole section of the city,
evict everyone who lives there,
and put up what he wants.
And he'll go at it with an axe.
Smacks with an axe!
But he'd be the most hated guy in the city.
I mean, he'd piss everybody off.
They love him.
That's what makes me so...
He flies above it. They revere him.
- Why? - Because he built the parks.
As long as you're the guy that brings people parks,
you walk with the angels, you can't lose.
The day that Rockaway Beach opened,
Moses Randolph became a folk hero in this town.
People don't realize how much he hates them.
"The hero of the public who hates people."
That's your headline.
And you know who he hates especially?
Negroes.
He's going to seize every neighborhood
in this city that's not white
and turn it over to his handpicked private developers.
So, you're saying he's getting rich,
he's taking kickbacks on all this?
No, he doesn't want money. He wants control.
And he brokers money to get it and guard it.
Some guys aren't satisfied unless they have filet mignon.
Moses Randolph would be satisfied
with a pastrami sandwich and power.
Hey, uh, excuse me.
Could I get a slice of cheesecake?
Could you make it warm?
I'd like it warm.
Half the city is getting a ride on one of his horses.
For God's sakes, he controls
every fuckin' construction job in the city.
But you said they just created the position.
No. Construction, slums, parks.
He's got 14 appointments.
It's all just ink on a glass door.
None of it matters. It's all BA.
BA?
Borough Authority.
You call yourself a reporter? On what?
- The arts beat? - Beet farts!
- You read Emerson? - No, should I?
- Yeah, you fucking should. - All right.
Emerson said that "an institution
is the lengthened shadow of one man."
This town is run by the Borough Authority
and the Borough Authority is Moses Randolph.
If!
Fucking Lieberman.
If!
That quack in the diner
with pork chop and peas in his beard
was one of the most talented engineers of his generation.
Ivy League. Big awards.
Walkin' right next to his brother
toward being someone important.
Then, sometime after the Crash, just...
nothing.
Like he got erased.
Maybe it was bad luck, maybe booze.
There was all kinds of casualties in those days.
Ladies and gentlemen,
please welcome
the president of the Gotham Builders Association,
Joe Pompano!
Gotta show this to Bill Lieberman.
He's gonna want to see this before Randolph speaks, believe me.
Thank you. Thank you,
ladies and gentlemen. Please settle down
and lend your serious attention.
Don't worry. We'll celebrate.
We're gonna eat like only we know how to eat.
Tonight's celebration is made very special
by our guest of honor,
a brother to our trade...
- Hey, Gleason, right? - Hey.
...who would rightly be hailed this country's
- master builder... - Nice threads.
...or "the Great Dirt Mover"
as he likes to be called.
Don't let them see you pull out a notebook.
Tonight, it's "Press: Forget about it."
We'd have to look to the Caesars
and pharaohs to find men with a scale of vision
to compare with his.
- A great man. - If!
A man of history,
serving the people of this city for over 25 years,
Moses Randolph!
Jeez, you'd think Patton showed up.
He pays one and a half times union rate on all of his jobs.
They'd pave over their mothers for him.
Thank you, Joe.
Tonight, over 300 years
since the founding of this great city,
we recommit ourselves to the ancient truth
that it is not knowledge,
but action and enterprise
which are the engine and objective in life.
Clever men come and go,
but for every dozen of them with their big ideas,
there is not more than one that can execute them.
I look around this room,
I don't see a lot of bright boys
or goodie-goodie progressives with their paralyzing ideals.
I see the men of my tribe.
The men who get things done.
The doers that make this country great!
To be honored by you
is all the affirmation or payment I shall ever seek.
I celebrate you
and I thank you.
Hear, hear!
I'll catch you on the next one.
All right.
You finished it?
Best work I've done.
A total modernization of the state's electrical grid.
And it's a scale that only you can get done.
Clean yourself up, for Christ sakes.
How? With what?
Hey, not a fuckin' word out of you about any of that.
You bring that up to me ever again,
I'm gonna close you out for good.
Moses, I'm so far out,
I'm doing piecework for kids fresh out of school.
You whip up a crowd against me like that ever again,
I'm gonna take your big idea,
I'll throw it on the fuckin' scrap heap.
- Is that what you want? - No, no.
Okay, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
None of that matters.
Just read it.
I'll read it.
What makes a person go against their own brother?
All my life, I'd never had a family,
so I never could understand people
who did and let it get ugly.
My crazy brain was tellin' me I should keep pullin' on that thread,
but whatever Frank found,
he found it following the girl.
So, I just kept chasin' his footsteps.
Hello?
If!
Keep it together, Freakshow.
Jesus.
- You lookin' for somethin'? - Help, Bailey!
Ah, shit.
What, you think you can just walk into people's homes?
No, I was lookin' for someone.
I didn't think anybody lived here.
Oh, someone lives here.
- My momma lives here. - Sure.
- At least, she's tryin' to. - If!
Who you with?
- Huh? - I hope you're with Belmont.
Yeah, yeah, Belmont. Who else?
What is going on?
We got ourselves an intruder.
- How hard did you hit him? - I barely tapped him.
Fool slipped and hit his own head.
If!
"If" what?
I'll tell you what, "if"...
you better explain who you are
if you want to walk out of here.
Have I seen you before?
Yeah, my name is Jake Gleason.
It's a misunderstanding, all right?
I'm a reporter.
I was at the Hamilton Housing hearing the other night.
I called the committee this morning.
I came out here looking for you.
He the one that said he's with those racketeering sons of bitches.
They stole her fridge.
They stole her copper pipes. Man, what you expect?
First, they put up a notice says the house will be condemned.
It's not true, but that scares out
about half and they sell for cheap.
Then they come in and take the nice old family homes,
chop 'em into four and rent 'em up.
Folks who don't leave, they harass,
turn the heat off,
come in to do repairs and steal copper pipe instead.
The city sold property worth $15 million for 500,000
to take the risk of having to build the federal projects.
They haven't even submitted plans,
just milked it till it really is a slum.
Slammer for the slum lords, Bailey!
- Ah... - Oh, what?
You're one of those who thinks we're just agitating?
Making it up like some Negro propaganda conspiracy?
No, no, look, look, look. I got a condition, okay?
It makes me say funny things, but I'm not trying to be funny.
I'm really not. I'm listenin'.
Where's everybody go?
Mostly just disappear. Fade away.
200,000 in two years,
just from this part of Brooklyn.
- Mostly Negro. Latino. - Yeah,
but Horowitz said they did it up in East Tremont, too.
- Same thing? - Yeah, they did it
to a few Jews, too, but not systematic like this.
How many parks, do you think, have been built
in this city since he's been commissioner?
255.
How many of those in Harlem, you think?
One.
You build a new beach for the people,
but the ones with no cars,
the poor ones, the black and brown ones,
how are they gonna get to the parks and beaches?
Public bus.
Guess how high they just built the overpasses on the new parkway?
One foot too low for a bus to clear.
Come on.
Look, forget whether it's discrimination.
The federal government and the city are being scammed.
There's supposed to be relocation services,
company's got a $2 million contract
to handle it, but nobody even answers the phone.
Call the city, they say these folks
are on the list for the new public housing,
- but then it never gets built. - You know more
than any secretary I ever met in my life.
Secretary? Who told you that?
I got a law degree, you know?
I'll pass the bar first time I sit, too.
Okay, then. Sorry.
How are you gonna write about it all if you don't even take a note?
What, "$2 million for relocation services,
bridges a foot too low for the buses,
one out of 255 parks,
15 million in property for 500K,
200,000 people in Fort Greene alone." That?
I never forget anything, believe me.
Not a single word.
I'm really sorry. I can't help it, I got a...
It's okay.
Just write about it, please.
What happens to poor people in this city
wasn't news yesterday and it won't be tomorrow,
but you'd think somebody'd care what happens to Brooklyn.
It's only the biggest city on Earth.
Where you live?
- Harlem. - Hmm.
This is me.
You want me to give you a ride?
Come on, the trains will be mobbed.
I'll give you a ride.
Come on.
Bebop, Bailey, in the Metropolitan Bopera House!
Oh, God.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
Don't be sorry. It's kinda funny.
Yeah? Well, hang around a little while, and see what you think.
If!
What is all that, anyway?
I don't know. I never got a name for it.
It's like a piece in my head broke off and got a life of its own
and then just decided to keep joyridin' me for kicks.
Kicks and tics!
- Licks and tics! - Sorry.
It's okay.
It's like living with an anarchist, you know,
but the funny thing is, it also has to have everything in its right place.
Like, things have to be ordered and lined up just right.
Everything has to sound just right or else it really,
it'll really put me into knots until I fix it.
Like, I'm talkin' to you right now, right?
But that part of my head,
it's worryin' that the bills in my wallet
aren't lined up all in the right sequence,
and it's sayin',
"Stop talkin' to this girl, and deal with this."
It's not fair.
Hey, we all got our daily battles, right?
Yeah, fair enough.
Kiss her face all night, Bailey!
Oh, God.
I'm...
- I really am sorry. - It's okay.
- I don't mean nothin' by it. - Don't be sorry.
It's okay.
This is me.
What, up from that? That must keep you up nights.
My father owns the place.
I grew up falling asleep in the back of clubs.
It's pretty hoppin' for a Monday night.
Hottest band in the world, all week.
Listen...
I gotta check on one or two things,
but are you really interested in what I was telling you?
Yeah, I came lookin' for you, didn't I?
If you wanna come in, I could give you a lot more.
I don't tend to do so good in places like this.
Come on, you can't exactly disturb the peace
in a small club with a hot band.
All right.
It's your party.
Keep an eye on it for me, all right?
Hey, Vance.
Hey, you, out.
- Hey, George. - Hey, girl.
Welcome.
I'll be right back.
If!
Excuse me? Sir?
I'm sorry. Um... I'm a player, too.
And, you know what, man?
I really, really admire your tremolo.
And I'm just curious,
how did you develop that tremolo?
Suckin' off little white boys like you.
Get the fuck out of here.
So what? Whitey White suck stick!
"So what" is right.
Listen to me. Listen!
How y'all doin' this evenin'?
Feels good to be home with friends and family.
I been travelin' the world,
learnin' new languages...
and with new language comes new ideas.
So, we gonna try a few of them on y'all tonight.
Strap in.
If! Oh.
You sure you don't wanna sit in the back?
Vance?
Trumpet player's a jazzmatazz!
Can we just sit in the back? Let's sit in the back.
No one cares.
Ah!
It's better 'cause I can control what's on it.
Okay, you need to get out more.
Oh!
- You wanna get up there? - No, I don't. I don't.
It's causin' me problems.
Don't put your hands on me.
There she is, my favorite baby girl,
looking pretty as a rose.
This next one's for you, Laura.
I don't think I can do this. It's not...
It's okay. It's okay.
If! It's not a good idea.
Where is she?
I'm just gonna deal with something.
What's goin' on?
All right, y'all, don't get too cozy.
That was your last break.
Oh!
If!
Oh! Hey!
Hey, take it easy, take it easy!
Jesus, what'd I do?
I said, let's go!
Tell it to the fuckin' judge!
Take it easy.
- Shut up! - Hey, I got this.
You think I don't know who you work for, cracker?
Black cracker, crack-whacker!
Hey... I made it through Iwo Jima, motherfucker!
You think your boss scares me?
Now you tell him that if I see
any of you snoops around her again,
I will kill you off one at a time,
and I will mail what he's lookin' for to the Post for free!
Do you hear me? I will mail it to the Post!
Let's go.
If!
Meow, the tomcat!
Scarlet, the scared cat!
Trumpet, my man!
Hep cat needs help!
Help for the hep cat!
You were pretty hep in there tonight yourself, cat.
Help!
The hep cat needs help!
If!
What, your head need fixin', too?
- Yeah. - Oh, whoa, whoa.
Wait, now, this ain't just no marijuana.
It's all right.
You remember what I said.
Oh, God.
Shit.
Sorry.
Sorry, I don't even know what happened.
You had a good time, that's what happened.
Had a little party.
Different mix of people than the usual.
She called it a étrange mélange.
Thought you could use some rest,
so we just let you be.
Oh!
Yeah.
That guy left his footprint on my ribs,
I remember that part.
Thanks for bailin' me out of there.
Sarge is a good man,
but you gotta watch how you are around a man's family,
you know what I'm sayin'?
Who's Sarge?
- Billy. - Why you call him "Sarge"?
You don't know how he got his arm all fucked up?
- Mmm-mmm. - Colored Marine Unit,
carryin' ammo,
and one day, he picked up a gun
tryin' to stop a Jap suicide attack, got hit.
Came back from that war bitter as hell.
Damn shame, too, 'cause he could play.
Trombone.
- Hmm. - He used to jam with us
down at Minton's back in the '40s.
You ever met his wife?
Sarge ain't never married.
What about Laura's mother?
I don't know nothin' about that.
It was just Laura and him.
She was a tiny little thing,
always in the kitchen, readin' while we was playin'.
You play?
- Music? No. - Now, I'm not so keen
on people bein' vocal while we playin'...
but you was on the line.
I could hear it.
On the line, Lionel. Lionel's on the line.
Sorry, I...
I got somethin' wrong with my head...
and the music really, really set it off. I'm sorry.
Don't be sorry.
You got a head just like mine,
always boilin' over.
Turnin' things around.
But that's music.
Controls you more than you control it,
once it gets in you.
Some people call it a gift,
but it's a brain affliction just the same.
Yeah, well, I just twitch and shout.
At least you got a horn to push it through,
make it sound pretty.
Yeah, but there's a lot of other hours in the day, though.
You know what I'm sayin'?
Too many.
Look, thanks for helpin' me out.
You ever need anything, you give me a call.
Excuse me.
Miss Horowitz...
- Jake Gleason with the Post... - You're not Jake Gleason.
- I know Jake Gleason. - Jake Gleason
took me to the Hamilton hearing the other night.
- I heard you speak. - Oh.
I'm a new writer with the Times.
I got a very illuminating tour from your aide, Laura Rose.
She showed me everything that's goin' on in Fort Greene.
I'm very interested in this story.
Really? I thought that the Times was more interested
in being the press office for the BA.
I'm not saying I can make it A1 tomorrow,
but if I don't get some help on the legwork,
how can I try, right?
Well, someone's gonna win a Pulitzer off that story.
Maybe it'll be you.
If! Sorry.
She's already gone ahead to the protest.
You wanna come with me?
I want you to hear this next speaker
and listen to what she has to say.
She has taught me more about
fightin' the good fight than anyone else.
Look, I brought The New York Times.
She wears granny glasses, but don't be fooled!
She is a pit bull for the people!
And let me just say this, let me just say this...
I want you to hear this.
- Let's not mince words. - No!
'Cause we are livin' in a time
that calls for naming things as they are.
Yes!
This is not a program for slum removal.
No!
This is a program for Negro removal!
Yeah!
And we're not gonna accept that!
No!
Ladies and gentlemen, Gabby Horowitz!
What is a city?
Is it a place where people slave
for the lords of steel and concrete?
No!
A corral for the druids of finance to fleece mankind in?
No!
A city is its people!
Yeah!
- It is its community! - Yeah!
Who's gonna stand up for the city?
We are!
Who's going to remind the politicians
and the power brokers and the profiteers,
that the city belongs to the people who live in it?
Mo must go! Mo must go!
I've never seen such horseshit in my life.
Mo must go! Mo must go!
We may have an issue with our friend from Brooklyn.
He's asserting himself.
How so?
Well, he's not here for this mishigas.
He's not that brave,
but he still might not go along with the vote.
Says his constituency is up in arms.
We made him the borough president.
We put him on the Board of Estimate.
We're his constituency.
Don't tell me he's not gonna go along.
Hey...
I'm gonna hand him this the day before the vote.
He'll go along.
He's a louse.
Mo must go! Mo must go!
Let's go have lunch.
Jake?
Hey, Jake!
Ah, it's the disappearing lady.
I'm so sorry. I owe you an...
Oh, you don't owe me nothin'. I'm used to it.
No, no, I tried to find you. I...
- I want to explain... - Laura!
You gotta go. It's all right.
Yeah, listen, I...
I'll be at the club tonight.
Come find me.
- I'll, uh, I'll see if I can. - Laura, come on!
Come.
Hey, hey, hold up.
The reporter that never reports.
Do I gotta write it for you? Jesus.
You're not too ambitious, are you?
I'm still puttin' the details together.
- Tell me somethin'. - Here's your next headline...
"New expressway
will be the world's biggest parking lot."
- What? Why? - Because cars are a cancer
and roads make them metastasize,
not shrink. We need trains.
- But he's killin' the trains. - Why?
Always with the "why." Because he doesn't control
the revenues from the trains.
He controls the tolls for the bridges and roads.
Borough Authority.
You know what an "Authority" is?
- No. - Neither did anyone else.
He invented it. A fourth branch of government.
A shadow branch.
All controlled by him,
meaning he controls everything,
but nobody voted for him, and they can't vote him out.
Wait, wait, wait. What could stop him?
Almost nothing.
And he's more dangerous now than ever.
Why now?
'Cause the Board of Estimate
votes on his highway and slum clearance plans this week,
so he's bullyin' everyone into submission!
He's the most powerful man in the history of the city!
He's an autocratic Caesar, but nobody realizes it.
They are just all walking around,
calm as Hindu cows,
thinking they live in a democracy,
so what could happen?
Are you gonna write about this or what?
If you know so much about him,
why haven't you taken him down?
Because it can't be me.
No, 'cause you're his brother.
No, because I still have dreams.
That's why.
Dreams that I am this close to realizing.
It's my contribution to society.
My legacy!
I'm...
I'm not gonna risk it.
All right.
Okay, here...
look at Belmont Developers and Inwood Residential.
What's all that?
Oh, God, I'm givin' the goods.
A map to the scoop of the decade!
Do your damn job!
Do the job!
I got enough problems.
Records Office.
Sorry, I'll need to see your identification
and have you sign into the log.
I'm just gonna read it right here, pal.
I'm not checkin' it out.
See, parties wishing to review
incorporation materials of city contractors need to
register with the construction commissioner's office.
That can't be legal.
Not really a law, more of a rule, Mister...
Gleason.
- Good evening. - Hey...
so I can get my housing relocation forms here, yeah?
Yeah, just there.
And you can mail those in?
Uh, in-person relocation applications only.
- Over there. - Oh.
So, they left you runnin' this whole operation by yourself, did they?
Mmm, they did, indeed.
Big tits!
Bless you.
You have a good evening. Thanks for your help.
Wait, your form!
People's trash remains private property
until it's been collected.
Didn't anybody ever tell you that?
Wait a minute.
We've seen each other before, ain't we?
Ain't we seen him?
Yeah, we seen him.
You keep stickin' your nose in people's trash,
and we're gonna see you again.
Giant, faggot munchkin meat!
Oh. Okay.
See...
I was told to go easy, and I did...
and now, you gotta go and make me do this!
They're not even pretending,
they're just collecting the checks
and throwing these people's lives in the trash.
These guys make Tammany
look like Double-A ball, I'm tellin' you.
People make deals with politicians
for contracts all the time. All right?
Kickin' it up the chain. It's the nature of the thing.
They're not makin' deals with people,
they're makin' deals with themselves!
They own the companies,
they're given contracts through it and kickbacks.
It's grand larceny.
Land a farce on me!
- Calm down. - Don't fart on my land, man!
You got any weed? Give him a smoke.
Minna said it was the biggest gravy train
of the century, and he said...
And this all goes down in two days.
So, it's big stuff, but how's Frank mixed up in it?
Every officer of the Borough Authority
is gonna make millions on this deal,
- but none of it ties to him. - To Frank?
- To Randolph. - The parks commissioner?
Yeah, Moses Randolph.
He's behind everything.
He's the one who controls it all.
Okay, listen, the girl had the line on the scam, right?
She was the one diggin' into all these companies
for the committee and Horowitz.
I think she found something
that ties Randolph straight to the money.
Frank was followin' her, and he figured it out,
and he took it in to Lieberman and his goons,
and he showed them,
he had his signature on somethin'.
I think Frank had somethin' that nails Randolph.
Come on! Come on!
Where did... Where did we lose 'em?
- On the bridge. - On the Borough Bridge.
Those guys were Borough Authority!
The Borough Authority killed Frank!
Fuckin' Lionel.
I think you're really on the sniff, I do.
All right, but one thing, what's the angle
on this other guy with the club?
Her father? The fuck was Frank talkin' to him about?
I don't know. That part, I haven't figured out.
It doesn't make any sense, but he knows somethin'.
He knows somethin'.
All right, go home.
I'm gonna make some calls around town.
Wait, who? What? Who you gonna call?
Would you just trust me, and let me run with it?
Frank was the only person I knew
who thought the way we won the war
was gonna cause us problems.
He said, after the Crash, we were diggin'
ourselves out by taking care of each other.
Now that we'd seen what we could do
with our brute strength,
there was no goin' back.
He said, from here on out,
the game's gonna be about power from top to bottom.
Yeah?
I know who you are.
Who's this?
You're one of Minna's boys.
Who's Minna?
Don't bullshit me.
You gave your number to the man with the horn.
Sorry about roughin' you up.
I thought you was one of 'em BA goons.
Yeah, okay. So, what?
Where's the envelope?
I don't know. What's in it?
Hold on.
Look, we can't talk about it like this.
It's too complicated.
Meet me up at the club.
Park up the block and come in the back.
I'll let you in there.
- What, now? - Yeah, now.
Okay.
Billy?
Hey.
Billy.
Shit.
Son of a...
All right, so, uh, he told you to come,
then he bumped himself so you could find him
before the staff came, probably.
No, I told you, I didn't just find him,
I heard it happen, okay?
He didn't shoot himself... Shoot my shit, Bailey!
Sorry. Look, someone else did this.
They tried to make it look like he did it to himself,
but I heard 'em leave.
Okay, we got powder burns on the shirt,
point-blank, neighbors saying he got money problems.
Seems pretty straightforward, my friend.
The gun was in his right hand.
So?
His right arm is like a dead fish.
He has a war wound, ace, okay?
He couldn't lift a Zippo, let alone a .38.
So, explain to me, how'd he shoot himself
in the heart with his left hand
and then hand it off to his right
before he punched out?
Look, guy went out on
his own joint's center stage with the lights and all...
Gotta give him credit, give him respect.
They usually send Division dicks up to Harlem at 3:00 a.m. for a suicide?
We go wherever we're needed.
Can I go now?
Yeah.
Oh, no!
- No, no, no. - No, no!
I can't remember the last time I saw him smile,
but why would he do that?
- To himself? - He... He didn't.
He didn't. Someone killed him.
What?
They tried to make it look like he did it,
but someone killed him.
No, no, nobody hated him like that. No one.
I promise you, I'm tellin' you the truth.
Who would do something like that?
The same people that did it to a friend of mine.
I'm sorry. I'm really sorry.
You got someone that you can call?
You all alone?
You got no idea.
It's okay.
Can you stay with me a while?
You want me to?
If!
Oh, God, I'm sorry.
- It's okay. - Shit.
I'm...
I'm sorry. I...
- I don't know what happened. - It's okay.
- You fell asleep. - It's okay.
Thank you for staying.
Yeah, sure.
I know how you're feelin'. I really do.
Pretty soon, you're gonna hear his voice in your head.
He's gonna tell you to pull yourself together
and get movin'.
And when you do,
you're gonna feel him smilin' at you again, I promise.
I really am sorry.
Why are you being so nice to me?
Because I think you're a good person.
You're tryin' to make a difference.
You actually care about what happens to other people.
I just...
Not many people can say that.
It's a good way to be.
You're sweet.
I don't think that's how most people
usually describe me when they meet me,
but I'm glad that you think so.
Anybody ever tell you you talk in your sleep?
Um, I never slept with anyone.
You never slept with anyone?
I mean, I've been with a few girls, but just not...
not the kind who wanna stay and sleep with me.
Who's Frank?
What?
You said that name when you were asleep.
You seemed upset.
Was he your friend who...
Yeah, I...
I worked with him, I...
I worked for him, but I met him when I was 12.
I was at that Catholic home for boys on DeKalb.
They threw me in there when I was six,
after my mother died.
Frank...
Frank kind of took me under his wing.
You know, he never called me my name.
He called me Brooklyn.
Say, "Look at you, Motherless Brooklyn,
you got no one lookin' out for ya."
We all need someone lookin' out for us.
Is that your mother?
She's beautiful.
She died a long time ago.
I don't remember her.
I guess we both got nobody now.
Listen, I gotta ask you,
is there something you're not tellin' me?
What?
Is there something you're holdin' out, you and Horowitz?
On all this housing deal?
Look, the...
Those goons at the BA,
they're scared of something, okay?
There's something big out there
that has to do with all this fraud
that you've been diggin' around in.
I think it ties it right up to Moses Randolph.
Do you know what it is?
No, no, I mean,
somebody's getting rich, but no.
You gotta take this seriously.
If you're holdin' on to some card
and you're waitin' to play it
to try to block that vote,
you're playin' a dangerous game.
They already killed Frank, they killed your father,
they did this to me last night,
these people aren't gonna stop.
What's Billy got to do with it?
He knows something about it.
No. No, wait, that's not possible.
He and my friend Frank were working together on it.
He doesn't even...
He didn't even know what I'm working on.
I have an uncle who knows Gabby.
He got me that job.
You're not a reporter, are you?
No, and my name's not Jake. It's Lionel.
Look, Frank is an investigator, okay?
That's who I worked for.
They hired him to keep tabs on your committee.
He was following you.
I... I wasn't trying to expose anything.
I just was poking into it
to try to figure out who killed him,
and now there's so many goddamn pieces,
it's like I got glass in my brain
and I don't even know what I'm after anymore.
I'm sorry for lyin' to you,
but you gotta believe what I'm sayin'.
You're webbed up in this somehow,
and you're in danger.
Can you stay around here today?
Gabby's expecting me.
We're preparing our testimony.
It's important, but...
I need to make arrangements.
- A funeral. - Look,
none of that matters, okay? If I'm right,
they're gonna keep a tight lid on it and they won't even let
the coroner's office release his body. Just...
Please.
Get one of the guys from the club
to take you down to work.
Stay around people that you know for the next few days.
I'll come and find you.
Okay?
Ah, okay, okay.
All right, all right, all right.
Take it easy.
Jeez, they sent the pros today.
I must have... I must have hit a nerve.
Oh, jeez, thanks.
Hold this for me, will you, sweetheart?
You know who I am?
I've been asking around about that.
Everyone seems to have a different answer, though.
Spoken like a true snoop.
Well, what's your take on it?
Easy.
I'm a builder.
Yeah, I can see that.
When I was a boy,
you know how many bridges there were
on and off Manhattan Island?
Two.
A shitty little train trestle here and the Brooklyn Bridge,
and when you crossed that,
you were stepping over manure much of the way.
People mostly scuttled into New York
off of docks, like rats.
I built that, and that...
and that...
and that.
And now, people vault over rivers
on the spans and parkways of...
- Olympus. - Olympic rat-man!
Sorry.
Hmm.
They're some pretty bridges, I'll give you that.
Thank you.
I want you to give me something else
if you can find it.
Have you found it?
What's in it?
Slander, falsehood,
forgery, most likely.
Well, then, the law's on your side.
You got nothin' to worry about.
Very little I've achieved in my life
has relied on legality.
I'm not about to lean on that slender branch now,
when things matter most.
So, you're above the law? That it?
No.
I'm just ahead of it.
What's the difference?
Well, the law's a rule book
we make for the times we find ourselves in.
You rebuild the city, in my experience,
the law will follow you and adapt to what you do.
Yeah, a lot of people like the city the way it is.
Who you rebuildin' it for?
The people to come.
Fifty, 100 years from now,
what will matter of what we've done now?
What will help people to make science fiction real?
The laws of today?
Or roads and bridges and tunnels
for commerce to move swiftly over?
Beaches and parks to let people
escape the rat race and inspire the mind?
Palaces of culture where hellish slums used to be?
It all sounds pretty grand, I guess,
unless you happen to be one of the people
whose house is in the way right now.
Central Park,
the greatest urban park in the world.
When they started work on that,
there wasn't even a city above 57th Street.
They kicked out farmers and tenant squatters,
sheep-herders out of muddy fields and filth.
They moved a few trees.
And people protested about the loss of the countryside.
And if one man hadn't seen ahead to what we'd need,
this city would be unlivable, would it not?
Yes, it would.
Most people don't even know Fred Olmsted's name,
yet they should thank him every day.
I do.
The important thing in this life is to get things done.
Those who can, build. Those who can't, criticize.
And I will not obstruct the great work of this world,
while some chipmunks are screeching
about having to relocate their nuts.
Screech a nut, munk-chip.
Chip a munk's love nuts, man.
Uh...
I can't control it, I'm sorry.
It's all right.
Talent and brains are rewarded in this building, Lionel.
If you're with us, I'll see to it personally
that your gifts are appreciated.
But that's the offer today.
You let me know where you stand by tonight.
It's funny. We read it wrong.
How's that?
We didn't make you for the ace in Minna's deck.
Ace-hole!
- You good? - No.
Loosey, goosey, thread-head fuck!
Jesus, Lionel. Calm down.
It's a missing piece, Danny.
It's a missing piece and I can't see it.
It's makin' my fuckin' brain hurt.
Where's the rest?
- Where's the rest of these? - They're in the desk,
but those are the only ones with her in 'em.
No, get 'em, get 'em, get 'em.
These are all from before she arrived.
There was ones of Billy.
- Yeah, look... - Shutterbug shit!
God. Jesus, Lionel.
That's her father, comin' out of the door.
We saw all these.
That's some bum hustlin' for money.
He yelled at him for a second, but she's not in these.
That son of a bitch!
Where's the car keys?
Coney and Tony got 'em both...
Wait, where...
What'd I miss?
Where are we going?
I need you to look at something.
Who's that with your father?
- Where did you get... - Answer the question!
Do you know who that is?
Paul.
Paul Morris.
Paul, your uncle Paul, who got you this job.
Don't shine me. I already know who he is.
- My father... - Yeah, your father
and your uncle Paul, and my friend Frank,
put all this together somehow.
- No... - Yes, God damn it!
Just tell me what the hell is goin' on.
- No! - Are you involved in this
- or not? - No, that's not my father
with my uncle Paul.
It's my uncle Billy with my father, Paul.
Pull it farther!
What did you say?
Remember that picture of my mother?
Now look at Billy. Now look at me.
You see?
The rest of the world might look past me without seeing,
but I don't.
- Wait, they told you this? - They never said so,
but it doesn't take much to put it together.
Why else would he take such an interest in me?
Take care of me when Billy was in the war?
Pay for law school when he's got nothin'?
Whoever he is, he's using you now.
He's using you to get back at his own brother.
I don't think he's got family.
Yeah, look, his name's not Morris, okay? It's Randolph.
Moses Randolph is his brother.
And he's using you to blackmail him.
- That's not... - It is. It is, I'm sorry.
Just wait here, all right?
Wait here until I get back.
That's not possible!
You know what that tells me?
That tells me you and Billy set this up
with Minna to blackmail your brother.
Where'd you get this?
It's you who figured out the scam they're running.
It's you who found whatever it is they're so scared of,
but you made it look like it came from Laura
- and the committee... - No.
...so you could hide behind her and Frank.
- That's not true. - People are getting killed.
- You got it wrong. - You got your own daughter's
- life at risk... - You don't...
You don't know what you're fucking talking about!
I could have sunk him so many times.
- He sunk me! - Sing a song of sunk men!
Hide behind her?
I gave up everything for her.
Everything I could have accomplished
my whole goddamn life.
That's what happened between you and him?
You were with her mother,
and he hates colored people so much...
I will not discuss such things with you!
I knew you weren't a reporter.
Load of shit.
You're Minna's guy.
Fuckin' right. He was my friend.
I'm sorry, but it's not me.
Frank put it all together.
He and Billy thought they could get something out of it.
Foolish greed. I tried to stop them.
Told them that it would put her at risk, all of them.
Now look, Frank gets killed,
Billy panics and calls me for help,
that's your picture.
You're into something that you don't understand.
If you just stand up to him,
on principle, like I did...
he will ruin you for spite,
but if you threaten his work,
he will destroy you.
Destroy.
Find Minna's file.
Frank. Frankly Frankady Franko.
What's it all about, Frank?
You remember what I said.
I gotta keep this under my hat, boys.
Get my hat, you fucking...
...kept her under my hat...
If!
Frank Frankly Frankady Franko.
Frank Frankly Frankady...
Hey, take me to Penn Station.
- Hey, look out! - No, no, no!
If!
You found it?
Yeah.
There's only one way I can make sense of that, though.
He didn't sign that birth certificate, you did.
Yes.
I signed it.
Billy brought her to our family home.
Our servants tried to send them away,
but Billy started yelling.
We were having dinner with our mother, for God's sake.
I followed Mo to the door.
He scorned them.
Refused to acknowledge.
But I saw the truth on her face
and his, the way he looked at her.
- You confronted him about it? - I begged him!
I invoked every principle and value
that we had been raised to champion.
I was in anguish.
You can't understand.
Our whole young life, he was my hero.
We wrote a creed.
We were going to fix the world together.
But to serve people, you have to love people.
Mo tried,
but he was so brilliant,
that he resented lesser minds
and became hard.
Obsessed with winning, addicted to power,
totally contemptuous of ideals.
This phony "man of the people."
When someone isn't seen for what they truly are,
that's a very dangerous thing.
Nobody else knows who she is?
- Not even Horowitz. - Why not tell her?
'Cause she would have used it.
She would've used it to good effect, but...
that would have destroyed Laura totally.
Satisfaction won't unburden a tortured heart.
So...
I can hold it.
So can you.
Please.
Yeah.
It's all in a locker in Penn Station.
If anything happens to me, you send that
- to Jacob Gleason at the Post. - The Post?
He'll know what to do with it.
The Post is a rag.
Yeah, but the Times is in your brother's pocket, too.
I gotta get her out of town before that vote.
Oh!
What are you doin' here, Tony?
Watchin' your back.
Come on.
What do you say we go get a drink?
If! Sorry.
How's the eye?
Gonna hurt for a while.
How long you been following me?
I wasn't.
They put me on his building, and I seen you come up.
"They"?
Yeah, let's not bullshit each other, Lionel, okay?
You been talkin' to 'em, too.
Yeah, not workin' for 'em.
I was gonna tell ya.
- Yeah? - Yeah.
Okay.
Was that you outside the club that night?
I thought I saw someone in the alley
when the owner of that place
was roughin' me up, makin' threats.
Did you tell 'em about that?
They just pay me to keep tabs.
So, that's what I did. I keep tabs.
- What we do, we keep tabs. - If! If!
T, he was bluffing.
He didn't even have it, and they killed him for it.
But why try to figure it out, right?
- You're just movin' up. - All right.
Sell it and tell it, letter man!
- Take it easy. - Tell it and sell it!
Take it easy. Have a drink.
Bring me a whiskey up. What are you drinkin'?
- I'll have a tea. - A tea?
Very hot water with the teabag on the side.
And milk and sugar on the side. Very hot, okay?
Hot tits on my milky tea face!
- Don't pay him no mind, doll. - Sugar tits on my milk face!
Something wrong with his head.
Mmm-hmm.
There's nothin' wrong with my head.
Well, you could have fooled me.
How long you been fucking Julia?
After all the things he did for you...
you couldn't go find someone else to bang?
Everybody gotta find their own way in this world, Lionel.
What, you think I was just gonna
stay in Frank's shadow all my life?
Okay for you, not for me.
Careful.
Come on, can we just have a real drink here?
I don't wanna have a drink.
Well, what's the big fuckin' deal, Lionel? He's gone.
Okay? There's nothin' we can do about it.
We help 'em get what they want,
and we get on a new ride.
An easier ride, maybe?
What, after all we've been through,
after all we had to do to fuckin' survive
just growin' up?
Come on. We're due an easy gig.
You, especially.
Come on, I know you got a real talent.
I'll make sure there's a place for you.
Be real partners.
Let's talk about it after tomorrow, all right?
I got somethin' I gotta take care of.
Don't go up to Harlem tonight, Freakshow.
Stay out of it.
- What? - Just don't do it.
See, I'm not so far out of the loop as you think.
We're closin' it up tonight.
- No, no. Okay, listen to me. - Just don't get involved.
I found what they're lookin' for, all right? I got it!
- It's the last loose end. - No, no, no,
you gotta call 'em, you gotta call 'em right now
- and tell 'em to call it off. - It's already out of my hands.
Tony, I've got it.
Come on, let's just have a drink.
Fuck!
You son of a bitch!
I tried to help you.
- Come on! - Committee on Housing.
Can I speak to Laura Rose, please?
I'm sorry, she's gone for the day.
- What? - She went home.
- She wasn't feeling well. - Where'd she go?
- When? - I'm sorry, who is this?
- When? - About 15 minutes ago.
Take me to Harlem! Step on it! I got money!
149th and St. Nicholas!
If! Oh, shit.
No, no, come on, run it, run it! I got money!
If! If! If!
Train's going out of service.
It will not proceed beyond this station.
Now, you... Go across 141st.
Yeah, up St. Nic's, up St. Nic's.
Stop, stop, stop! Stop right here!
Laura!
Shit.
Son of a bitch.
Laura.
What are you doing...
Come on.
No, no, not down there. They're down there.
Go up, go up.
They're goin' up!
No! No!
Go, go, go!
Come here. You all right?
- We gotta go. - Okay.
If!
She doesn't know! She doesn't know.
Makes no difference one way or the other.
But I found what he's looking for. Just tell him.
Tell him I got it.
No, no, no. That offer expired.
And they told me you were smart.
Motherfucker.
Smoked my best horn.
No, I want to see him alone.
Yes, right now.
Let me tell you something. You try anything funny,
and tomorrow's gonna be the worst day
that you've had in a long time,
you understand?
Do you know where that is?
I heard of it.
Think you can get her out there tonight?
I always did enjoy a night drive.
Go with them, okay?
You'll be safe.
I'll come in the morning.
What don't I know?
It wasn't the story she wanted to hear.
No good was gonna come from tellin' it,
so I wanted to say, "It doesn't matter.
It's got nothin' to do with you."
But there's no upside in lyin' to a woman
who's smarter than you,
so, I told her the truth.
Frank told me once,
if you're up against someone bigger than you,
someone you can't beat toe to toe,
make 'em think you respect their size
and then cut a deal that lets you walk out in one piece.
Then figure out a way to stick it to 'em later
without leaving your prints on the knife.
Even walkin' in there,
I wasn't exactly sure how to play it.
I was just hoping, in all that steam,
he wouldn't see me sweat.
If!
Who's the fucking boss now, Bailey?
Who's the boss?
So, what is it with you?
I told you I can't control it.
Didn't your goons fuckin' fill you in already?
I don't care about your fuckin' affliction.
What's your angle with this?
What do you want for that file?
I wanna hear your side of what's in it.
Why?
Let's just say an unfinished puzzle makes my head hurt.
All right? More than most people.
I smooth it out for your pain-in-the-ass brain,
we're puttin' this to bed tonight?
Yeah, it's your best shot.
I was young.
I was the "get things done" man
for the greatest governor in the history of this state.
We had a party.
It was the good times, before the Crash.
The Tammany parties were like nothing before or since.
We had a whole fuckin' hotel.
I saw her there, working.
She was...
I'd never felt lust like that before.
Twenty-five years later, I think about her,
it still makes my blood move.
I followed her into a service hallway.
She knew I had.
She looked back.
She went into a supply room. I went in.
I took her against the spare towels.
You raped her.
I moved on her that first time,
but I treated her well, bought her things.
Saw to it that the Party used that hotel
lots for a few years.
She could have disappeared any time,
stopped working there, but she didn't.
She was shy, but she knew how things worked,
and she was always grateful.
Rape?
Do you have the first inkling how power works?
Power is feeling, knowing,
that you can do whatever you want,
and not one fuckin' person can stop you.
And if someone else has a dumb idea that you don't like,
well, that's the end of that idea,
or the end of that person, if you want.
And if I wanna build highways
while the rest of the country is broke,
I'll punch through any damn neighborhood I want.
If some Negro slum
is where I'm going to put my federal project,
or the off ramp of my bridge,
well, the goodie-goods can shriek and moan all day long.
And if some chump wants to blackjack me,
threatening to move our baseball team,
well, buddy, the Dodgers can take it
on the arches to the fucking coast.
I'll find another team that will play ball with me
in my stadium.
And if I want to fuck some colored girl
in a hotel room now and then,
because I'm feeling like a wrecking ball,
then, pal, I'm gonna do it.
And if you think I'm gonna let some
chip who never should have been born,
or your small-time boss, or my brother with his ideals
and his forgeries in my name
slow down the work I'm getting done in this city,
then you've got a lot to learn about how power works.
Because those people are invisible.
They don't exist.
See if you feel that way tomorrow after your big vote.
She know?
Huh.
Interesting.
So, it's you and Paul?
Well, I know what he wants.
If he had any balls, he would have used it
before to box me in and take it from me,
which I would have respected, actually,
but he thinks the way that you do things matter,
which is why he'll never be anybody.
You an idealist, too?
You wanna trade that file to save the block you grew up on?
Make me move my lines for some committee of childless women,
howling about their Negro adoptees?
Or are you just another blackmailing gumshoe
who wants to transact with me?
Come on, name it!
Name it, claim it, shame it!
That gumshoe was my friend,
and the girl's the only reason you're still breathin'.
Do whatever you want to this city,
go build your pyramids on the Nile,
just leave her alone.
Anything happens to her, I mail it.
That's it.
That's all of it.
Let me make something clear.
If you or my brother messes with what I intend to do,
I'll make her life worse than I've already made his.
You tell him I said that.
Well, I guess we got a deal, then.
So, I'll give you one for free.
Your man, Lieberman,
is gonna cause you some problems.
How so?
He owns a piece of half the companies
doin' contracts with slum clearance.
I'm guessin' he hasn't told you about that.
So, when you handle him,
tell him I told you, and that's for Frank.
Son of a bitch.
You come off weird, but you're smart.
You should have taken my offer.
Could have made them all get on their knees and apologize.
But if she's anything like her mother,
I understand the pull.
Right.
One more thing.
Tell my brother I read his masterwork.
It's as brilliant as everyone says.
Nobody could have done it better,
and it's good for everyone, including me.
There's not a reason in the world to deny it.
Tell him I'll give him my thoughts in the morning.
If!
Son of a bitch!
Growin' up, I always thought Frank was a hero.
But he was no crusader in the end.
He was just a gumshoe tryin' to make a buck
like everyone else.
But he didn't have to go to that war.
He was old enough to have skipped it,
and he went, anyway, 'cause he actually thought
this country was worth fighting for.
I never had anything I cared about enough
to look past my own problems, but Laura did.
There was a story she wanted told
and I figured it was time
to get off my ass and pick a side.
Hey, Gleason, for you.
Hey, pal, I'm new to this beat.
What's the story here?
Stories of injustice and despair,
and back to business as usual.
The American way.
Are you crazy? It's freezin' out.
What is this place?
It was Frank's.
And looks like it's mine now.
Still lookin' out for you, after all.
Funny how things turn out.
Yeah.
"Brooklyn's big...
Brooklyn's big, but there's things even bigger."
What's that?
I think it's something Frank said to me, but I...
I can't remember when.
Maybe this is what he meant.
If!