American Gangster
Writers: Steven Zaillian
AMERICAN GANGSTER
Written by
Steven Zaillian
FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT
July 27, 2006
1 EXT. JAZZ CLUB - DAY 1
A tall, handsome man in a dark suit emerges from a Lincoln
Towncar and enters a small, basement R&B/Jazz club.
2 INT. JAZZ CLUB - DAY 2
He approaches a booth, says something in the din to the men
there, then calmly shoots them and exits.
AMERICAN GANGSTER
3 EXT. HARLEM STREET - DAY (NOVEMBER) 3
Bumpy Johnson, an elderly but still sturdy black man,
elegantly dressed - cashmere overcoat, gloves, Homburg -
stands in falling snow atop a flatbed truck - as he does
every Thanksgiving - tossing down turkeys to the poor -
like a benign king.
Legend: Harlem
A younger man, the gunman from the club - Frank Lucas -
Bumpy's driver/bodyguard/collector/protege - watches from
below.
4 INT/EXT. STREET / DISCOUNT EMPORIUM - DAY (NOVEMBER) 4
Whispering gunfire from a television set veiled by
foreground snow: Soldiers in the jungles of Vietnam in
1970. A rich, cultured, authoritative voice offers:
BUMPY O/S
This is the problem. This is what's
wrong with America.
The war footage multiplies by twenty: a stack of TVs with
price tags dangling from the knobs behind a display window.
BUMPY O/S
It's gotten so big you can't find your
way.
People on the sidewalk, out of respect or fear, part to let
Frank and Bumpy and Bumpy's German shepherd pass.
BUMPY
The corner grocery's a supermarket.
Candy store's a MacDonald's. And this
place.
(MORE)
(CONT)
2.
4 CONTINUED: 4
BUMPY (CONT'D)
Where's the pride of ownership here?
Where's the personal service? Does
anybody work here?
Inside, the emporium is vast, with aisles that seem to
stretch off into infinity. The TVs give way to a display
window full of Japanese stereo componentry.
BUMPY
What right do they have cutting out the
suppliers, pushing all the middlemen out,
buying direct from the manufacturer -
Sony this, Toshiba that, all them Chinks -
putting Americans out of work?
He's not really asking Frank, so Frank doesn't answer.
BUMPY
What am I supposed to do with a place
like this, Frank? Who am I supposed to
ask for, the assistant manager?
(pause)
This is the problem. This is the way it
is now: You can't find the heart of
anything to stick the knife.
Bumpy stops before a display of cameras and stares in.
They're all pointed at him as a pain grips his chest and he
sinks to his knees. Frank kneels down.
FRANK
What is it?
Bumpy seems unable to speak, looks to Frank confused.
FRANK
Somebody call an ambulance!
But the store suddenly seems empty. Frank yells into the
emporium but can't be heard above the Muzak and the cash
registers ringing up sales Bumpy will never see a piece of.
Looking up at Frank, Bumpy manages weakly -
BUMPY
Forget it, Frank. No one's in charge.
5 EXT. BUMPY'S APARTMENT - DAY 5
Limousines from the funeral disgorge mourners: family,
friends, celebrities, politicians. Cops on horseback move
through the enormous crowd that has gathered to watch. FBI
agents in cars snap pictures with long lenses of Italian
mobsters like Albert Tosca.
(CONT)
3.
5 CONTINUED: 5
REPORTER
- whose passing has brought together a
who's who of mourners on this chilly
afternoon. The Governor has come down.
The mayor of New York - its Chief of
Police and Commissioner - sports and
entertainment luminaries -
A white Bentley pulls up, disgorging Jackie Fox - the
original Superfly - and his entourage. With his trademark
tinted Gucci glasses on, he happily poses for anyone with a
camera - including the Feds - before going inside.
6 INT. BUMPY'S APARTMENT - LATER 6
The report continues on a TV no one's really watching here:
a March of Time-like history of Bumpy Johnson, famed Harlem
gangster, Robin Hood and killer.
REPORTER ON TV
He was a Great Man, according to the
eulogies. A giving man. A man of the
people. No one chose to include in their
remembrances the word most often
associated with Ellsworth Bumpy Johnson:
Gangster.
Sitting off by himself in Bumpy's elegant garden apartment,
heretofore his private sanctuary, Frank surveys the mourners
circling the place like vultures:
Tango Black, a huge brute, scavenging the catered food and
tended bar ... Jackie Fox, surrounded by his ever-present
coterie of sycophants ... Albert Tosca, an elegant Italian
capo, and an underling, Rossi, at the bar.
TOSCA
White wine, please.
A white man who looks like a banker - and is - sits down
next to Frank.
BANKER
How you doing, Frank?
FRANK
All right.
BANKER
What a loss.
(Frank nods)
How are you otherwise? Things okay
financially?
(CONT)
4.
6 CONTINUED: 6
Frank doesn't say. It feels unseemly to him to be talking
about money here. He watches Tango carelessly set a watery
glass of ice on an antique inlaid chess table.
BANKER
Bumpy set something up for you?
Frank excuses himself without an answer, crosses to where
Tango left the glass, and sets it on a coaster.
TANGO
Hey, Frank, get me an ashtray while
you're at it.
Bumpy's German shepherd watches as Frank reaches into his
jacket, revealing a gun nestled in its shoulder holster. He
takes out a handkerchief, wipes the condensation dry, opens
a drawer and removes an ashtray. He holds it out to Tango -
who isn't sure it's not a dare and decides to wander off.
CHARLIE
I know you're hurting, Frank. So am I.
Frank sits back down with Charlie Williams, an older dope
man.
CHARLIE
You going to be all right?
FRANK
Yeah.
CHARLIE
I'm sure Bumpy never told you, but he
made me promise, anything ever happened
to him, I'd make sure you didn't go
without.
FRANK
I'll be fine, Charlie. Half the people
here owed Bumpy money when he died. A
lot of money. If they think I'm going
to forget to collect, they're wrong.
CHARLIE
That's the spirit. Go get them.
On the TV, over archive film and photographs of crime
figures from the 1940's and `50's, the opinion is offered
that Bumpy's death "marks the end of an era ..."
5.
A7 INT. CLASSROOM - NIGHT A7
A figure, his back to us, walks slowly toward a blackboard
like a man to the gallows.
RICHIE V.O.
I live in fear of hearing my name
called.
PROFESSOR
Mr. Roberts, Give us U.S. vs. Meade -
RICHIE V.O.
Of walking up there, turning around,
knowing every one of them knows more
than I do -
PROFESSOR
Subject, issues, what the determination
was and what it means to us today.
Richie Roberts turns and faces his classmates, all of them a
decade or more younger than him.
7 EXT. MOTEL - NEW JERSEY - DAY 7
Harlem's jagged teeth skyline juts across the river at the
other end of the George Washington Bridge. On this side - a
sledgehammer gripped in Richie's fist, on the move, suddenly
fills the frame.
RICHIE
You know the Number 1 fear of most
people isn't dying; it's public speaking.
They get physically ill. They throw up.
RIVERA
And that's what you want to do for a
living.
RICHIE
I don't like being like that. I want to
beat it.
Armed with the sledgehammer, Richie and his partner - Javy
Rivera - come past a seedy motel office where a TV shows
another report about Bumpy Johnson.
Legend: New Jersey
A motel clerk looks up, glimpses the sledgehammer -
(CONT)
6.
7 CONTINUED: 7
CLERK
Hey -
Rivera flashes a New Jersey detective's shield without
breaking stride. Takes a subpoena out of another pocket.
RIVERA
Who's going to do this?
RICHIE
He knows me, he'll take it from me.
I've known him since high school.
RIVERA
Just throw it in, he doesn't take it.
That's good service.
They reach a particular motel room door. Rivera knocks.
The door opens the length of a chain, revealing a wise guy
in an undershirt, who, when he sees the subpoena, start to
close the door -
RIVERA
Throw it -
As Richie flings the subpoena in, the door slams on his
hand. He wails in agony, tries to shoulder it open, hears
the dead bolt lock on the other side, feels Campizi's teeth
bite into his fingers, watches his blood run down the frame.
RIVERA
Down -
Richie hangs down from his hand as the sledgehammer swings
past his head shattering the door -
8 INT/EXT. MOTEL ROOM - CONTINUOUS 8
The door rips from its hinges and the detectives crash in.
The wise guy - Campizi - hurries for the bathroom, slams the
door. This one's hollow and the detectives more easily
break through it -
Campizi tries to climb out the bathroom window. Richie
grabs him, throws him into the shower stall, taking the
plastic curtain down with them, smearing it with blood as
Richie beats at him before Rivera can pull him off.
9 INT. AMBULANCE - MOVING - DAY 9
A male paramedic attends to Campizi's bloodied face while a
female paramedic cleans Richie's bloodied hand.
(CONT)
7.
9 CONTINUED: 9
CAMPIZI
I swear to God, Richie, I didn't know it
was you. I would never slam a door on
your hand. Knowingly.
RICHIE
You bit my fuckin hand -
Richie lunges at him, hits him again with his injured hand -
which hurts Richie more than it does Campizi. The
paramedics manage to pull him away.
CAMPIZI
What can we do, Richie? You don't want
to do this. For old times sake, what can
we do? Who do you want? Who can I give
you? You want Big Sal's bookie? You want
his accountant? I'll give him to you.
Richie regards him a moment. A policy ring's accountant
wouldn't be bad. He glances back to his paramedic dabbing
at his bloody hand, and notices she's not bad-looking. She
smiles back.
10 INT. NY POLICE HQ - ENTRANCE/STAIRS - DAY 10
Four men in long black leather coats stride toward like
they own the city. It's impossible to tell if they're cops
or gangsters.
Legend: New York City
11 INT. NEW YORK POLICE ANNEX - PROPERTY ROOM - DAY 11
One of the same undercover cops - Detective Trupo -
scribbles a signature and badge number different from the
one on his gold shield lying next to the voucher requesting
evidence needed in court.
He pushes the voucher under a sign - "All Handguns and
Narcotics Before 10am Next Window" - to a clerk who takes it
past floor-to-ceiling shelves covered with files, plastic
bags bulging with handguns, knives and gambling receipts.
Bulkier items - like shotguns and baseball bats - lie
unwrapped with dangling tags.
The clerk reaches a chain-link cage where the most valuable
items are locked up - narcotics, pornography, cash - checks
the voucher against tags, takes down an old green suitcase.
8.
12 EXT. WAREHOUSE - DAY 12
Trupo's car - a Shelby Mustang - roars up. He climbs out,
crosses to a warehouse with the suitcase as the other three
SIU Princes of the City follow from another car, cradling
grocery bags.
13 INT. WAREHOUSE - DAY 13
Trupo snaps the suitcase open revealing five half-kilo bags
of uncut heroin in clear plastic bags. The other cops pull
from the grocery bags: a Pyrex mixing bowl, flour sifter,
boxes of milk-sugar, latex kitchen gloves, a medical scale,
and yellow baggies.
Hands peel back the distinctive black and green "evidence"
tape on the clear plastic bags. Dump the heroin into twenty
yellow baggies. A half-kilo of lactose is poured into each
of the now-empty property room bags.
TRUPO
Now just enough for the reagent test.
He removes one tablespoon of heroin from each of the
baggies, and the now-almost-heroin-free powder is mixed
through the flour sifter, poured back into the clear bags,
the tape resealed, the bags returned to the suitcase.
14 INT. NY COURTROOM - DAY 14
The suitcase and "heroin," and some weapons and money, have
been arranged on an evidence table with the care of a Macy's
display window. Trupo - the officer in charge of the case -
watches the jury files in -
15 EXT. UNDER EXPRESSWAY - DAY 15
A Lincoln Continental pulls up. Trupo climbs out of his
Shelby with a sports bag, crosses to the Lincoln, climbs in
back where an Italian wise guy - Rossi - sits. Trupo unzips
the bag revealing the recut heroin - in the yellow plastic.
ROSSI V/O
This is the French Connection dope.
The same dope Popeye Doyle and Sonny
Grasso took from us.
16 OMIT 16 OMIT
9.
17 INT. ITALIAN BAR - NY - DAY 17
Frank comes into an empty bar, chairs up on tables. A
middle-aged man mopping up glances up at him as he crosses
to a back room.
ROSSI V/O
They seize it, arrest everybody,
whack it up and sell it back to us.
Our dope. They been living off it for
years, these New York cops.
18 INT. ITALIAN BAR - BACK ROOM - NY - DAY 18
Several ounces of the dope sits in foreground on a table.
ROSSI
They basically control the market with
it. What the fuck has happened to the
world, Frank?
FRANK
Fuckin crooks.
Rossi, who looks more like a middle-aged accountant than the
Italian dope supplier he is, makes two espressos.
ROSSI
Sad about Bumpy.
Behind Frank, a TV airs a report by Walter Cronkite on the
heroin problem among GIs in Vietnam.
ROSSI
Things are never going to be the same in
Harlem. The girls, the clubs, the music -
walk down the street, nobody bothers you
because Bumpy's making sure of it.
(hands Frank one of the
espressos)
How bad is it there now?
18pt FLASHCUTS TO HARLEM 18pt
Guys barge into a room, steal money from a crap game at
gunpoint - Cops push guys against a bar, empty their pockets
- A dealer shoots another dealer in an alley -
18pt BACK TO THE HOTEL ROOM 18pt
FRANK
It's chaos. Every gorilla for himself.
(CONT)
10.
18pt CONTINUED: 18pt
ROSSI
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.
19 EXT. HARLEM - DAY 19
A street sign on a corner: 116th and 8th Avenue.
20 INT. DINER - HARLEM - DAY 20
As is his custom, Frank eats breakfast alone. A middle-
aged waitress appears when he's done, picks up his plate
and refills his coffee.
FRANK
Thank you, Charlene. Last one.
CHARLENE
It's all right with me, Frank, you can
stay all day if you want, but I wouldn't.
It's nice outside.
FRANK
Then maybe I'll have to go for a walk.
Just cause you said so.
She smiles and leaves. Frank pours some sugar in his
coffee. Someone taps on the window and he looks up, sees
two servicemen - one in uniform - one he recognizes.
21 INT. REDTOP'S APARTMENT BUILDING - DAY 21
Frank leads the servicemen up the stairs of a building.
22 INT. REDTOP'S APARTMENT - DAY 22
Corner apartment above the street. A girl sits smoking at
a work table covered with drug-cutting apparatus. Another -
Frank's cutter and sometimes-girlfriend, Red Top - sets a
couple of packets of heroin in front of the servicemen.
RED TOP
On the house for our men in uniform.
SERVICEMAN 1
Why, thank you, sugar, that's very kind.
RED TOP
Thank Frank.
(CONT)
11.
22 CONTINUED: 22
Frank nods, you're welcome before the man can thank him.
The servicemen start cooking up the dope.
FRANK
How's Nate? You seen him?
SERVICEMAN 1
All the time. Nate is everywhere.
He's good. Got himself a club now.
FRANK
Where, Saigon?
SERVICEMAN 1
Bangkok.
SERVICEMAN 2
I don't think he's ever coming home.
Regarding the dope as the servicemen shoot it up -
FRANK
You're gonna have to boot it a couple
times. Cops keep cutting it, selling it,
cutting it -
SERVICEMAN 1
I don't want to say anything cause the
price is right - but the shit in Nam is
way, way, way, way, way -
He begins to nod out before he can finish the sentence.
23 OMIT 23 OMIT
24 EXT. SOCIAL CLUB - NEWARK - LATE AFTERNOON 24
Across the river, Richie, Rivera and Campizi sit in the car
parked across from a closed social club. A man carrying a
grocery bag comes out and Campizi ducks lower in the seat.
CAMPIZI
That's him.
Newsboy Moriarty's mob accountant puts the grocery bag in
the trunk of a car, climbs in behind the wheel.
25 EXT. NEWARK - SCRAP METAL YARD - LATE AFTERNOON 25
From the parked car they observe the accountant putting
another bag in his trunk.
12.
26 EXT. STREET - NEWARK - LATE AFTERNOON 26
He comes out of another place with another bag. To Campizi -
RICHIE
All right. Get lost. Get out.
Campizi slinks out of the car. Richie and Rivera follow
after Newsboy Moriarty's accountant's car.
27 EXT. PARKING LOT - LATE AFTERNOON 27
They tail the car into a lot, park and watch the accountant
leave his car and get into another car that's parked there.
RIVERA
We gonna stay with him or the car?
Whatever they do, they'll have to decide quick.
RICHIE
Let's see who comes for the car.
28 EXT. PARKING LOT - NEWARK - NIGHT 28
All the other cars are gone. Rivera climbs into Richie's
with coffee and a Coke in a bag, hands him the can.
RIVERA
Think he made us?
Richie doesn't know. Glances at his watch. Cranes in his
seat to look behind them.
RICHIE
You called for the warrant? Where are
they?
RIVERA
I just called. I called and walked back
here and ten seconds has gone by.
Richie watches an attendant lock up, listens to the street
lamps buzz, grows impatient. Indicating the other car:
RICHIE
We saw him with the slips, Javy.
RIVERA
You saw policy slips? You saw grocery
bags. You don't know what's in them.
(CONT)
13.
28 CONTINUED: 28
RICHIE
Yes, I do, and so do you, don't give me
that bullshit -
RIVERA
What's the rush? Half an hour the
warrant'll be here -
RICHIE
I got night school.
RIVERA
Guess you're going to miss it.
(Rivera sips at his coffee;
then:)
You know, what you were saying before
- about throwing up in front of people -
money will take that feeling away.
RICHIE
Not when it's less.
RIVERA
Less than what.
RICHIE
Than what I make now.
RIVERA
No lawyer on earth makes less than a cop.
RICHIE
They do in the Prosecutor's Office.
Three thousand less.
RIVERA
You're fuckin kidding me.
Richie isn't kidding. Rivera stares at him like he's crazy.
Richie checks his watch. He's waited long enough.
RICHIE
Fuck this -
RIVERA
Richie -
Richie gets out, opens the trunk, grabs a Slimjim and
bolt cutters, cuts through a gate chain and strides to the
accountant's car, Rivera following. Richie trips the
passenger door lock and pulls at the trunk release, and, as
he comes around back to search it -
(CONT)
14.
28 CONTINUED: 28
RICHIE
Check inside.
Rivera may as well; the damage to the case, if there is one
anymore, is done. He crawls inside the car to look under
the seats and in the glove compartment. Gravely -
RICHIE
Javy ...
Richie's staring into the trunk like there's a body inside.
Rivera comes over, takes a look, sees it's money: stacks of
it rubber-banded together, spilling from grocery bags - more
than either of them has ever seen. As the trunk closes -
29 EXT. PARKING LOT / RICHIE'S CAR - LATER - NIGHT 29
Richie and Rivera sit in their car in silence, staring out
at the car with the money in it. Eventually -
RICHIE
This isn't a couple of bucks.
RIVERA
It's the same thing. In principle.
RICHIE
We're talking about principle?
RIVERA
Richie, a cop who turns in this kind of
money says one thing: He'll turn in cops
who take money. We'll be pariahs.
RICHIE
We're fucked either way.
RIVERA
Not if we keep it. Only if we don't.
Then we're fucked, you're right. But not
if we keep it.
RICHIE
(more to himself)
Yes, we are.
RIVERA
Goddamn it, 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.
They regard each other again in silence ...
15.
30 INT. NEWARK POLICE STATION - LATER - NIGHT 30
As a police captain counts the stacks of money, Lou Toback,
Richie's superior from the prosecutors office, walks in, his
night out interrupted by this emergency. He crossed to where
Richie and Rivera sit alone in a corner. Quietly:
TOBACK
How much.
RICHIE
Nine hundred and eighty thousand.
TOBACK
What happened to the rest?
It's a joke but isn't funny, not even to Toback. He regards
his men who turned it in, then the other cops in the place -
who are watching them and the money being counted. Toback
walks over to the captain, and, quietly:
TOBACK
What're you doing counting this in front
of everybody? Are you out of your fuckin
mind? Take it into a room. Now.
Richie's glance to Rivera says, You're right, we're fucked.
31 INT/EXT. NEWARK POLICE STATION - PRE-DAWN 31
As Richie leaves alone, he's aware of all the eyes on him -
knowing the other cops' looks don't signify awe or respect,
but contempt and fear, like Rivera predicted. Neither will
ever be trusted again. He climbs into his car, drives off.
32 INT. DINER - HARLEM - DAY 32
Tango and his bodyguard come in and approach Frank's table
where he reads the morning paper as he eats breakfast.
TANGO
Didn't you see the jar, Frank?
I think you walked right past it.
Frank ignores him, forks at his eggs, eats. Tango sits.
TANGO
The money jar. On the corner. What I
got to do, put a sign on it?
Frank indicates that he would answer if his mouth wasn't
full. He swallows finally, but then only reaches for his
coffee cup to take a sip, further irritating Tango.
(CONT)
16.
32 CONTINUED: 32
TANGO
Bumpy don't own 116th Street no more,
Frank. Bumpy don't own no real estate in
Harlem no more. I'm the landlord now and
the lease is twenty-percent.
Frank dabs at his mouth with a napkin and gives Tango a look
that says that won't be happening.
TANGO
Then don't sell dope, Frank. Get a
fuckin job. You need a job? You can be
my driver, drive me around, open my door,
yes, sir, no sir, where to, sir, right
away, Massa Johnson, sir.
Right now Tango is dead. No doubt about it. On the
surface, though, Frank remains cool.
FRANK
Twenty percent?
TANGO
Of every dollar. Every VIG, every
truckload, every girl, every ounce. In
the jar.
FRANK
Twenty percent's my profit. If I'm
giving it to you then what am I doing?
Twenty percent puts me, and everyone you
know, out of business, which puts you out
of business.
(reaches for his breakfast
check)
There are ways to make money
legitimately, and then there's this way.
Not even Bumpy took twenty percent.
TANGO
Bumpy's fuckin dead.
Frank regards Tango a moment, gets up, takes out his money
clip, covers the check on the table with a five, peels off a
$1 bill from the clip, tosses it down in front of Tango.
FRANK
There. That's twenty-percent.
As he turns and leaves, Tango watches after him ...
17.
33 INT. RICHIE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT 33
Stitched-up, black and blue hands dump a can of soup in a
pot, put it on the stove.
34 INT. FRANK'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - INTERCUT 34
A pencil clutched by long fingers scribbles figures. But
no matter how many times Frank does the arithmetic, there's
not much left, he calculates, after he pays the Italian
suppliers and, if he were to, Tango.
35 INT. RICHIE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - CONTINUED 35
Richie has moved to a small desk cluttered with law
textbooks. He cracks one open to study for the New Jersey
Bar exam as he eats the soup out of the pot he heated it in.
Above him on the wall is a framed photograph of Joe Louis
standing over a sprawled-on-the-mat Billy Conn.
36 EXT. CONEY ISLAND - BEACH - DAY - INTERCUT 36
A bleak day. Seagulls fighting over scraps on the sand as
others hover overhead, flapping and cawing. Alone near the
water, Frank tosses a stick for the German shepherd he
inherited.
37 INT. RICHIE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - INTERCUT 37
Richie opens a small wooden box in his bleak apartment,
revealing an ounce of marijuana, rolling papers and clips.
As he rolls a joint -
BUMPY V/O
A leader is like a shepherd -
38 EXT. CONEY ISLAND - BEACH - DAY - CONTINUED 38
The sounds of the gulls and surf and roller coaster begin to
fade as Frank throws the stick again.
BUMPY V/O
Sends the fast nimble sheep out front,
and the others follow as the shepherd
walks quietly behind -
The dog retrieves the stick, but this time - somehow - it's
to Bumpy's hand he returns it. Frank listens attentively.
BUMPY
He's got the stick - the cane - and
he'll use if he has to.
(MORE)
(CONT)
18.
38 CONTINUED: 38
BUMPY (CONT'D)
But most of the time he doesn't have to.
He moves the whole herd - quietly.
Bumpy smiles and tosses the stick.
39 INT. RICHIE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - INTERCUT 39
The smoke from the joint rises to the ceiling as Richie
studies.
40 EXT. CONEY ISLAND - BEACH - DAY - CONTINUED 40
The dog trots back to Bumpy and Frank with the stick.
41 EXT. BOARDWALK - CONEY ISLAND - LATER 41
Hot dog stand. Bumpy hands a hot dog to Frank, holds out
another to the shepherd. To camera:
BUMPY
What right do they have cutting out the
suppliers, the middlemen, buying direct,
putting Americans out of work ... This
is the way it is now, Frank.
Frank nods. The vender hands him a napkin. The shepherd
is still with him, but Bumpy is gone, and the gulls and the
people on the roller coaster squeal as Frank comes out of
his meditative trance with an idea.
42 CLOSE-UP: (DOCTOR'S OFFICE) 42
A needle pierces the crook of Frank's arm. Slight grimace.
A cotton ball is pushed onto the puncture. Malaria shot.
43 CLOSE-UP: (PHOTOGRAPHY SHOP) 43
A strobe lights up Frank's face: a passport photo.
44 CLOSE-UP: (POST OFFICE) 44
The photo and a duplicate are stapled to a passport
application.
45 INT. CHEMICAL BANK - SAFETY-DEPOSIT ROOM - DAY 45
Keys turn the locks of a safety-deposit box. The lid lifts
revealing decks of cash. Frank takes it all out, slips one
slender packet into Bumpy's banker's jacket pocket.
FRANK
Get yourself a new suit.
19.
46 INT. CHEMICAL BANK - VICE PRESIDENT'S OFFICE - DAY 46
Under portraits of bank Vice Presidents before him, the man
types out a Chemical Bank check for Frank for $400,000.
47 - 48 OMIT 47 - 48 OMIT
49 EXT. PARK - NEWARK - DAY - SAME TIME 49
The sound of the plane growls and fades overhead as Richie's
ex-wife keeps an eye on their son playing on a grassy area.
RICHIE
I'm sorry.
LAURIE
I don't know, Richie.
RICHIE
It couldn't be avoided. Next weekend
I'll be able to take him.
She regards him with a weary look, but he's looking over at
one of the other - better-looking - moms in the park.
LAURIE
I'm moving.
He looks back, not sure he heard right.
RICHIE
What? Where?
LAURIE
To the St. Regis, what do you care.
(pause)
My sister's.
RICHIE
Your sister's. In Vegas?
He glances away to a sound: shattering glass. Some teen-
agers breaking bottles on the ground.
RICHIE
You can't move to Vegas. Not with
Michael anyway.
LAURIE
What am I supposed to do with him? Leave
him with you? There's a picture.
(CONT)
20.
49 CONTINUED: 49
RICHIE
(to the vandals)
Hey, you want to shut up over there?
The teenagers ignore him. He tries to ignore them, but it's
hard with the constant noise.
RICHIE
No court will allow it for one thing.
I won't allow it.
LAURIE
You?
RICHIE
When am I supposed to see my son?
LAURIE
Last weekend!
Their son glances over at them. Richie looks over at the
teenagers again breaking bottles, then back to Laurie.
RICHIE
Laurie, you can't raise a kid in Las
Vegas.
LAURIE
Oh, like this is a good environment.
Around your friends. There are less
creeps in Vegas.
RICHIE
What's he going to grow up to be in a
mobbed up place like that? What are you
thinking?
LAURIE
I'm thinking - Richie - of him!
RICHIE
Goddamn it -
The noise of the glass is driving him crazy. He strides
over to the teenagers, who look at him like, What are you
gonna do, old man, it's four against one.
RICHIE
I told you nice to shut the fuck up.
Now I'm gonna kill you.
He pulls out his gun and aims it at one of them, then the
others. All instinctively try to cover their heads.
(CONT)
21.
49 CONTINUED: 49
RICHIE
Pick up the fuckin glass!
As they dive to their knees to do what they're told, Laurie
walks away with her son, who looks back over his shoulder at
his father with his gun out.
50 EXT. BANGKOK - NIGHT 50
Frank sits in the back of a motor samlor. Bicycles dart
around it like flies.
51 - 52 OMIT 51 - 52 OMIT
53 INT. SOUL BROTHERS BAR - NIGHT 53
The clientele is almost exclusively black servicemen on R&R
and Asian women. A trio of ex-GI's plays authentic Southern
blues on a small stage. Ham hocks and collard greens come
out of the kitchen. Smoke chokes the place.
Frank, one of the few men not in uniform, and not drunk or
stoned, sits alone at a table with a Coca-Cola and surveys
the activity: Dope being rolled. Dope being smoked. Dope
being shot. GI's and prostitutes climbing a staircase.
His eyes follow an Army Master Sergeant, moving among the
tables as if checking on the GI's well being. But at some,
his hand takes money, leaves in its place packets of powder.
The Sergeant feels eyes on him and glances up, catching
Frank watching him from across the room. He squints through
the smoke at the figure at the table in the shadows, and, in
a kind of shock, more to himself -
NATE
Frank - ?
Frank half-lifts his glass to wave, and Nate beams.
54 INT. SOUL BROTHERS BAR - NIGHT 54
Frank has guests at his table now: his cousin Nate the
Sergeant, and two young Asian wise guys. They talk about
him in Thai (subtitled):
THAI
He say how much he wants?
NATE
He said "a lot." What that means, I
don't know. Four or five keys?
(CONT)
22.
54 CONTINUED: 54
The Thais regard Frank a moment, size him up.
THAI
He's your cousin.
NATE
My cousin-in-law. My ex-wife's cousin.
THAI
Ask him how much he wants.
NATE
How much you gonna want, Frank?
FRANK
A hundred kilos.
Nate blinks like there's something in his eye ...
55 EXT. BANGKOK - STREET VENDER - DAY 55
Steam and neon. Frank and Nate at a crowded stand.
NATE
No one I know can get that much. It'd
have to be pieced together from several
suppliers and none of it's gonna be 100-
percent pure.
FRANK
That's not what I want.
NATE
I know that. But that means dealing
with the Chiu-Chou syndicates in Cholon
or Saigon - if they'll deal with you -
FRANK
No, even then it's too late. It's been
chopped. I want to get it where they get
it. From the source.
Nate stares at him ... then laughs. Frank doesn't.
NATE
You're gonna go get it.
FRANK
Why not.
NATE
You're gonna go into the fuckin jungle -
(CONT)
23.
55 CONTINUED: 55
FRANK
I've lived in jungles all my (life) -
NATE
No. This is the jungle. Tigers.
Vietcong. The fuckin snakes alone will
kill you.
AA56 INT. NEW JERSEY BOARD OF BAR EXAMINERS - DAY AA56
A room of student-type desks and no character. Richie,
and fifty others, have been here for hours taking the exam
less than half of them will pass.
A56 EXT. JUNGLE - DAY A56
A motley bunch of Thai thugs and black American soldiers
with automatic weapons ride mules through the dense jungle
with Nate and Frank, who - armed with a pistol, a rifle and
ammo bandolier like Pancho Villa - is enjoying himself.
From his POV, the jungle canopy suddenly opens up on a poppy
field the size of Manhattan. Frank stares down at it.
B56 EXT. JUNGLE RISE / OPIUM FARM - DAY B56
On the ground now with their small private army, Nate speaks
with one of the Thais, then translates for Frank.
NATE
He says this whole area's controlled
by the Kuomintang - Chiang Kai-Shek's
defeated army.
Some of whom they can see down below on the opium farm -
Chinese soldiers with outdated weapons. Frank tips his head
to Nate at some other figures below -
FRANK
They ain't Chinese.
A handful of better-armed American sentries at the perimeter
of the farm. CIA. Frank, Nate and the others hang back as
one of the Thais steps ahead to speak to the guerillas.
C56 EXT. OPIUM FARM - LATER C56
The processing center for the entire region. The Thai
translator is with Frank to negotiate with a vanquished
Chinese general. Other Americans and Thais guard them
while the Chinese with their CIA advisors guard them.
24.
D56 INT. BAMBOO DWELLING - LATER - DAY D56
The Chinese general examines Frank's papers - passport,
visa, bank receipts - and lots of cash - then studies Frank.
GENERAL
How would you get it into the States?
FRANK
What do you care?
GENERAL
Who do you work for in there?
FRANK
What do you care?
GENERAL
Who are you really?
FRANK
It says right there. Frank Lucas.
GENERAL
I mean, who you represent?
FRANK
Me.
The man doesn't believe it, but lets it go.
GENERAL
You think you're going to take a hundred
kilos of heroin into the US and you don't
work for anyone? Someone is going to
allow that?
Frank shrugs. The general regards one of his men. In
Chinese, subtitled:
GENERAL
I don't believe a word of this.
The general regards the cash and paperwork again for a
moment. And, to Frank:
GENERAL
After this first purchase, if you're not
killed by Marseilles importers - or their
people in the States - then what?
(CONT)
25.
D56 CONTINUED: D56
FRANK
Then there'd be more. On a regular basis.
Though I'd rather not have to drag my ass
all the way up here every time.
The man regards Frank for a long moment. Glances back to
the cash and paperwork again. Finally -
GENERAL
Of course not.
E56 EXT. JUNGLE ARMY LZ - VIETNAM - DAY E56
Torrential monsoon rains. Dripping camouflage. Nate and
Frank climb down from the Huey. Frank no longer wears the
bandolier. Now a press card dangles from his neck.
F56 INT/EXT. TENT / JUNGLE ARMY LZ - LATER - DAY F56
Stripes on the uniform of a black colonel with Nate under a
canopy. Outside, in the distance, in the rain, Frank hangs
out with some other black servicemen.
COLONEL
Where's it now?
NATE
Bangkok. I can bring it here or anywhere
in between.
COLONEL
A hundred kilos.
(Nate nods)
I never seen that much dope in one place.
NATE
It's bigger than an Amana refrigerator-
freezer.
G56 INT/EXT. JUNGLE ARMY LZ - LATER - DAY G56
Nate and Frank watch the colonel emerge from the tent and
cross through the rain on duck-boards to another tent to
speak with a white officer, a 2-star general.
NATE
Fifty grand. In advance. That'll
cover them, the pilots and the guys on
the other end.
FRANK
Give them a hundred.
(CONT)
26.
G56 CONTINUED: G56
NATE
Fifty, to cover them all.
FRANK
A hundred. And it's all I got left. So
if that dope doesn't arrive, for whatever
reason -
(embraces Nate and whispers)
Cousin or no cousin - don't let me down.
He holds out a business envelope fat with money. Nate
hesitates, knowing Frank has just said he'll kill him if
things don't go right, then takes it.
NATE
I'll let you know when it's in the air.
56 INT. RICHIE'S APARTMENT - NEWARK - DAWN 56
The nurse/paramedic who stitched up his hand is in Richie's
bed making so much noise he's worried someone will call the
cops. The phone rings. And won't stop. Neither will the
nurse as Richie answers it -
RIVERA V/O
Richie? Richie, I'm in trouble. This
fuckin guy "made" me - I don't know how
but he did. He went for his gun. I had
to do it, I swear to God. Now they're
going to kill me.
Richie can hear in Sander's voice how serious it is and
manages to disentangle himself from the woman.
RICHIE
Who.
RIVERA V/O
There's a hundred people out there heard
the shots. You gotta help me. You gotta
do something.
RICHIE
Is he dead?
RIVERA V/O
He's dead. I'm dead. They're gonna kill
me.
RICHIE
Where are you? Javy, where are you?
(CONT)
27.
56 CONTINUED: 56
RIVERA V/O
That's the problem.
A57 INT. RICHIE'S CAR - MOVING - EARLY MORNING A57
Richie on his police radio, which cuts in and out -
DISPATCHER
There are no cars in that area,
Detective Roberts.
RICHIE
Bullshit. I got a man in trouble and I
need back-up.
DISPATCHER
I missed that - you're breaking up -
RICHIE
I said, put the fucking call out again -
DISPATCHER
I just did. No one responded. I'll try
again, but -
RICHIE
Fuck you, too.
He slams the mic down.
57 EXT. STEPHEN CRANE PROJECTS - MORNING 57
As Richie's car turns a corner, the Stephen Crane Projects -
the most foreboding place on earth - rises up: three dark
30-floor towers planted on war-torn grounds where a long-ago
torched and abandoned patrol car sits like a monument.
He parks and moves through an agitated all-black crowd, past
an ambulance outside one of the towers, through oppressive
heat. It's riot weather.
58 INT. STEPHEN CRANE PROJECTS - MORNING 58
Drugs on a coffee table. Body on the floor. Rivera,
despondent, on the couch. The male paramedics, scared.
Richie on the phone -
RICHIE
Sergeant, I'm not asking, I'm fuckin
telling you: Get some patrolmen over
here now.
(CONT)
28.
58 CONTINUED: 58
Dial tone: the police sergeant has hung up on him. Richie
throws the phone. The paramedics stare at him.
PARAMEDIC
You got no back-up? Why is that?
The only other person who would know the answer to that is
Rivera, who just shakes his head in despair.
RICHIE
Bandage his head.
PARAMEDIC
Detective ... he's dead.
RICHIE
I know he's fucking dead. Bandage his
head, clean him up, put him on a gurney
and prop it up so he's sitting. And open
his eyes.
59 EXT. STEPHEN CRANE PROJECTS - MORNING 59
Richie comes out ahead of the gurney, moving quickly like
it's a matter of life and death (which it is), motioning at
the crowd to allow a path to the ambulance.
RICHIE
Step back, injured man coming out. Let
them do their job and he'll be all right.
Ma'am. Excuse me. Step back. Sir.
Please.
The people step back when they see the victim on the gurney:
tubes in his nostrils, IV in his arm, eyes open. Before they
can look any closer, he's put in the ambulance. As it pulls
out, siren wailing, Richie leads Rivera safely away -
A60 EXT. ALLEY NEAR STEPHEN CRANE PROJECTS - MORNING A60
They cross through an alley near the Projects and Rivera
finally breathes a sigh of relief.
RIVERA
Thank you -
The words aren't out of his mouth before Richie shoves him
up against a car.
RICHIE
You robbed him, didn't you.
(CONT)
29.
A60 CONTINUED: A60
RIVERA
What? What are you talking about?
Richie rips Rivera's jacket pockets. Money spills out.
RICHIE
This. Where'd this come from?
RIVERA
What. That's my money. I've never
taken dirty money in my life.
RICHIE
You lying piece of shit -
RIVERA
Maybe the occasional gratuity. Like
anybody else. You're going to tell me
that's wrong?
RICHIE
Yeah.
RIVERA
No, it isn't. It's part of the salary
for getting shot at. For that, certain
courtesies are shown. In gratitude -
Richie, disgusted with him, lets go of him. Rivera is
embarrassed, almost crying, pleading -
RIVERA
A discount on a TV, a Doughboy in the
backyard, a new dress for your girlfriend
maybe once a year. I'm talking about not
living in fucking poverty. You want to
call that wrong, call it wrong.
RICHIE
It's wrong.
RIVERA
Then goddamn it, pay me fifty grand a
year, you son of a bitch. Pay me what I
deserve for getting shot at. No? Fine.
Next time four guys come into your place
with sawed-off shotguns, you take care of
it.
RICHIE
You robbed him, and then you shot him,
and I helped you get out of there. How
many more you shot?
(CONT)
30.
A60 CONTINUED: A60
Rivera suddenly tries to get tough -
RIVERA
You know what, Richie? Fuck you, you
make that kind of accusation against your
own kind. And you know why.
He takes out his car keys, turns to leave. Comes past
Richie who grabs his arm and pushes the sleeve up exposing a
line of puncture scabs and scars.
RICHIE
You're a disgrace.
RIVERA
I'm a leper. Because I listened to you
and turned in a million fucking dollars.
You know who'll work with me after that?
Same as you. No one.
Richie squeezes Rivera's hand around the car key.
RICHIE
Don't look down there. Look here.
(at Richie's eyes)
You ever fuckin threaten me again, I'll
kill you.
Richie squeezes Sander's hand so hard the car key cuts
through the skin, drawing blood.
60 - 69 OMIT 60 - 69 OMIT
70 EXT. ARMY BASE, NEW JERSEY - DUSK 70
Silence. Marshland. A beat-up Chevy parked alongside a
perimeter fence. Frank waits by the car as a military Jeep
with its lights out comes across a firing range. It slows,
stops. In it, the silhouettes of three servicemen, black,
armed with M-16's. Silence again, before:
ARMY CAPTAIN
Open the trunk.
Frank does it, then stands aside as the other servicemen
drag four large taped-up duffel bags from the Jeep to his
car, lift them into his trunk and slam it shut.
71 INT. FRANK'S APARTMENT - LATER - NIGHT 71
The duffel bags, still closed, on a table. Frank regards
them, nursing a drink, putting off the moment of discovery
that he has perhaps spent his life's savings on nothing.
(CONT)
31.
71 CONTINUED: 71
The German shepherd watches as Frank removes the tape from
one of the bags. He pulls it open - has almost no reaction -
except to breathe again - then opens the next, and the next.
And we see: Several brick-like packages of No. 4 heroin
wrapped in paper marked with Chinese writing, stamped with
a label: two lions on their hind legs, paws on a globe,
and, in English: DOUBLE UOGLOBE BRAND 100%.
A72 INT. FRANK'S APARTMENT - LATER - DAWN A72
The duffel bags are elsewhere. The only evidence of any
drugs is the small amount Frank has given a chemist - who
looks like a Harvard student - to test. It responds
instantly. The young man looks at Frank.
CHEMIST
Typically what I see is 25 to 45
percent pure. I've never seen anything
like this. No alkaloids, no adulterants,
no dilutents. It's a hundred percent.
May I?
The chemist opens a leather travel syringe kit to shoot up,
but Frank gives him some to take home instead.
FRANK
Take it with you. I don't want to have
to call the coroner.
The chemist gathers his things to leave, offering a last
piece of advice -
CHEMIST
Store it in a cool, dark place.
72 EXT. GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA - DUSK 72
A clapboard house set down on a piece of land that was
probably once worked by sharecroppers. An elderly woman
framed in a lit kitchen window, doing dishes.
Dark yew trees and scavenged, discarded cars and car parts
like patches of rusty snow. Crickets and bullfrogs. From a
mound of dirt, a young man hurls a baseball to another with
a catcher's mitt exactly sixty feet away. The kid's got a
major league arm.
Legend: Greensboro, North Carolina
A glow spills out from a detached shed where a short man in
his early 30's works on a stock car.
(CONT)
32.
72 CONTINUED: 72
A greasy phone on the workbench rings and another
disreputable-looking man, thumbing through a magazine,
answers.
JIMMY
Yeah ... for you.
TEDDY
Who is it?
Jimmy doesn't know, sets it down. Teddy comes over wiping
his hands on a rag, takes the phone.
TEDDY
Yeah.
FRANK V/O
Teddy.
TEDDY
Who's this?
FRANK V/O
Frank.
TEDDY
Frank who?
FRANK V/0
Frank your brother.
73 INT. COURTROOM - DAY 73
Divorced couples in custody battles wait with their
attorneys in a packed courthouse. An lawyer carrying papers
clipped with a $10 bill, comes past Richie, who's sitting
with his lawyer, a woman he's probably slept with.
SHEILA
I'm not talking about your proclivities,
Richie. Those I only know too well. I'm
talking about being a cop.
RICHIE
About taking money? I don't care about
money. I don't do that.
SHEILA
Because it'll come out. You're going to
have to sit down with shrinks and social
workers, her lawyers, the judge, lots of
questions.
(CONT)
33.
73 CONTINUED: 73
RICHIE
What's going on there?
The judge's assistant rearranging the pre-trial cases in
order of the amount of gratuity clipped to each - $5, $10,
$20 bills.
SHEILA
Scheduling.
RICHIE
No, the money.
SHEILA
Scheduling. What about your friends
from the neighborhood? You still hang
out with them?
RICHIE
I play softball on Sundays with some
guys.
SHEILA
Wise guys. That's going to look good.
RICHIE
I grew up with them, big deal.
SHEILA
What about Anthony Zaca?
RICHIE
What about him?
SHEILA
Richie, I'm just trying to understand
things your wife has said. If they're
not true, tell me.
RICHIE
Yeah, Tony's one of them.
SHEILA
Is he also your son's godfather?
Richie nods. Sheila glances over to where Richie's ex-wife
sits with her own lawyer across the room.
SHEILA
Do you really care about this? Or do
you just not want her to win - ever. How
often do you see your son as it is?
(CONT)
34.
73 CONTINUED: 73
RICHIE
Not enough. But she wants to make it
never.
SHEILA
Yeah, all right. Give me a twenty.
(Richie doesn't reach for
his wallet)
Well, I'm not going to sit here all day.
She takes a twenty from her purse and carries it up to the
judge's assistant clipped to their paperwork.
BAILIFF
All rise -
74 EXT. HOUSE - TEANECK, NEW JERSEY - DAY 74
Frank and the dog in the back yard of a suburban house.
His neighbors - those he can see - are white. He hears a
sound - cars arriving - and crosses toward the house where
a sold "For Sale" sign leans against a half-built kennel.
Out front, a caravan of cars and pickup trucks - North
Carolina plates - loaded with boxes and suitcases - has just
arrived. Exhausted from the drive but excited to be here,
the travelers climb out: Frank's five brothers, their wives
and kids, and their mother.
Teddy thinks it's the right place. The others aren't as
sure. The house is too nice. There's a new Lincoln Towncar
parked outside the garage. They'll probably be shot for
trespassing.
The front door opens and Frank comes out, trailed by his
dog. He first gathers his mother in an embrace, then each
of his startled brothers.
75 INT. FRANK'S TEANECK HOUSE - LATER - DAY 75
The house is alive with the noise of family and scent of
home-cooked food as the extended Lucas clan - there's more
than twenty of them - sits around a big dining room table
passing the platters around. Frank, at the head of the
table, clearly loves having them all here.
TURNER
He got an arm on him. Major League arm,
ain't that right.
Everyone agrees as Turner's son - Frank's nephew - the 18-
year-old boy seen pitching in the North Carolina back yard -
tries to shrug.
(CONT)
35.
75 CONTINUED: 75
FRANK
You show me after supper.
TURNER
You can't catch him. He'll take your
head off. We're talking 95-mile-an-hour.
You know how fast that is? You see the
ball leave his hand, and that's the last
you see it before it knocks you down.
FRANK
(smiling; happy)
Is that right.
76 INT. FRANK'S TEANECK HOUSE - LATER - DAY 76
The wonderful noise continues downstairs as Frank leads his
mother on a tour of the upstairs. The place is a showroom
of traditional Americana.
FRANK
This is your room.
Mrs. Lucas is in awe of the splendor of the bedroom and its
furnishings. It's unlike anything she's used ever seen -
not Graceland exactly - but not far off. Her eyes settle on
an old vanity dotted with French perfume bottles.
MRS. LUCAS
How did you ...
FRANK
I had it made. From memory.
MRS. LUCAS
You were five when they took it away.
How could you remember it?
FRANK
I remember.
She's stunned. Touches the reproduction of the vanity her
son last saw more than thirty years ago.
MRS. LUCAS
It's perfect.
(looks at the room)
It's all perfect.
(she looks at him)
I'm so proud of you.
36.
77 EXT. HUDSON RIVER - DAY 77
The Statue of Liberty against the New York skyline.
FRANK V/O
The man I worked for ran one of the
biggest companies in New York City for
almost fifty years.
78 EXT. HARLEM - DAY 78
As Frank leads his brothers down the sidewalk, the Towncar
that was parked at the Teaneck house, driven by Frank's body-
guard, Doc, follows alongside at the same pace they walk.
FRANK
I was with him every day for fifteen of
them, looking after him, taking care of
things, protecting him, learning from
him.
The brothers can't help but notice the storekeepers who wave
to Frank, the women who smile, the men who step out of his
path like there's a red carpet under his polished shoes.
FRANK
Bumpy was rich, but never white man rich.
Why? Because he didn't own the company.
He thought he did. He didn't. He only
managed it. Someone else owned it. So
they owned him.
79 INT/EXT. REDTOP'S APARTMENT BUILDING - HARLEM - DAY 79
Frank leads his brothers up the stairs and down the hall.
FRANK
Nobody owns me. Because I own my
company.
INTERCUT: Feminine hands stamp small packets of blue
cellophane with the words `Blue Magic' -
FRANK
And my company sells a product that's
better than the competition's at a price
that's lower.
Frank stops outside an apartment door.
TEDDY
What are we selling, Frank?
(CONT)
37.
79 CONTINUED: 79
Frank pushes the door open, revealing -
80 INT. REDTOP'S APARTMENT - CONTINUOUS - DAY 80
Five naked women at work tables, their faces veiled by
surgical masks, cutting heroin with lactose and quinine in a
precise mixture of controlled purity. The Lucas brothers
stare as the supervisor of the activity - clothed, with red
hair - comes over.
REDTOP
Hi, Frank.
FRANK
Honey, these are my brothers.
81 EXT. HARLEM - LATER - DAY 81
Tango strolls down the street like he's the Godfather of
Harlem, girl on his arm, bodyguard at his side.
82 INT. DINER - SAME TIME 82
As his brothers eat lunch, Frank - who can see Tango outside
- uncaps a glass sugar container.
FRANK
What matters in business is honesty,
integrity, hard work, loyalty, and never
forgetting where you came from.
For reasons his brothers can't imagine, Frank empties all
sugar from the container onto his plate.
FRANK
You are what you are and that's one of
two things. You're nothing ... or you're
something. Understand what I'm saying?
The brothers nod tentatively, stare at the now-empty glass
container. Frank wipes his mouth with a napkin, gets up.
FRANK
I'll be right back.
83 EXT/INT. DINER - MOMENTS LATER 83
He comes out of the diner, crosses the street toward Tango,
who's buying fruit. Greets him cheerfully -
FRANK
Hey, Tango, what's up. I was just
thinking about you.
(MORE)
(CONT)
38.
83 CONTINUED: 83
FRANK (CONT'D)
I was looking at the jar and you know
what? I didn't see nothing in it.
TANGO
The fuck you want, Frank -
Before the last word is out of Tango's mouth, Frank's got a
gun pressed against his forehead. Silence. Everyone backs
away - the bodyguard, too. Tango's girl pulls her arm from
his and takes off. Eventually -
TANGO
What're you going to do, boy? Shoot me
in broad daylight? In front of everyone?
It's as if life on the street has stopped. No one moves;
everyone is looking at Frank; maybe that's what he wants.
As Tango laughs at the thought -
FRANK
Yeah, that's right.
Frank pulls the trigger and the big man falls back like
someone hit with a board. Frank stands over him and empties
the gun in his chest, the shots echoing down the street.
Then it's quiet again. Everyone's still looking him, but
Frank doesn't run. Instead, he calmly reaches into Tango's
suit pocket, takes out a money clip thick with cash, drops
it in the "jar" and sets it next to the body.
FRANK
For the cops. Should be enough.
Frank returns to the diner and sits back down, ignoring the
astonished stares from his brothers and everyone else in the
place. Tries to remember where he was in his lecture as he
tucks the napkin back in his shirt collar.
FRANK
That basically's the whole picture right
there.
84 INT. MORGUE - NIGHT 84
A cadaver drawer slides open revealing - not Tango - but
Rivera, staring up lifeless, his arms, stomach, legs and
toes dotted with the scabs of a longtime addict.
DETECTIVE
Did you know his girlfriend? Good-
looking girl. One of his informants.
(CONT)
39.
84 CONTINUED: 84
RICHIE
Beth.
The medical examiner slides open another cadaver drawer
containing her body. Richie stares at it.
DETECTIVE
Should've seen their place. Like animals
lived there.
RICHIE
I have seen it.
DETECTIVE
(to the examiner)
Chose a good night, huh? Grand Central
Station in here.
MEDICAL EXAMINER
It's been like this. I'm lucky I get
home before midnight; lots of careless-
ness.
Richie regards Rivera's personal effects resting on his
chest in a plastic bag: few bucks, the Corvette key, a half-
empty packet of heroin in blue cellophane. Richie takes the
blue cellophane from the bag and, as the drawer closes
entombing Sanders, holds it in his hand ...
REPORTER V/O
Heroin addiction is no longer exclusive
to big city neighborhoods; it's epidemic -
85 TIME CUT. A TELEVISION: 85
The reports shows lawmakers on Capitol Hill juxtaposed
against images of inner-cities, junkies, homicide victims
and, perhaps most telling, white suburbia.
REPORTER ON TV
Since 1965, law enforcement has watched
its steady increase and with it a rise in
violent crime. Now unaccountably, it has
exploded, reaching into cities as a whole
- our suburbs and towns - our schools.
INT. POLICE GYM - DAY
The TV is in a small police gym where Richie lifts weights,
very much aware of his pariah status as out-of-shape cops
come in, only to leave again when they see him.
(CONT)
40.
CONTINUED:
REPORTER ON TV
Someone is finally saying: enough.
Federal authorities have announced their
intention to establish special narcotics
bureaus in Washington, New York, Los
Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Newark and
other major cities -
Toback comes in, watches Richie, alone, working out.
RICHIE V/O
It's a dog and pony show.
TOBACK V/O
It's not being advertised as one.
86 INT. POLICE GYM - LATER - DAY 86
Richie's changing into his street clothes.
RICHIE
But it's federal. I'd have to answer
to who? FBI?
TOBACK
Me and the U.S. Attorney. No one else.
No FBI. Hoover knows better than to mix
his men with dope. Too much temptation
for the feeble-minded.
Though he's not in much of a position to refuse the
assignment, Richie still isn't convinced it's a good idea.
Toback levels with him -
TOBACK
Richie, a detective who doesn't have
the cooperation of his fellow detectives
can't be effective.
RICHIE
You know why I don't have it.
TOBACK
Doesn't matter.
RICHIE
No, they're all on the take and I'm not
and it doesn't matter to anyone. Instead
of giving you a medal for turning in
money, they bury you.
(CONT)
41.
86 CONTINUED: 86
TOBACK
It's fucked up. You're right. Maybe
this's an opportunity away from all that.
They regard each other. Eventually -
RICHIE
I'll do it, but only like this: I
don't set foot in a police station again.
I work out of a place of my own. And I
pick my own guys. Guys I know wouldn't
take a nickel off the sidewalk.
TOBACK
Done.
87 EXT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - DAY 87
An old building that was once an Episcopal church.
88 INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - DAY 88
The place has been long abandoned. The city maintenance
worker who let Richie in watches him move through the debris-
strewn church.
89 INT. PENTHOUSE - NEW YORK - DAY 89
A real estate broker watches Frank consider the high-
ceilinged spaciousness of a grand, unfurnished 50's modern
Upper East Side penthouse -
90 INT. BASEMENT - NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - DAY 90
Richie regards the colored light thrown down by the stained
glass windows -
91 INT. PENTHOUSE - NEW YORK - DAY 91
Frank regards light streaming in from the garden terrace -
92 INT. MAIN FLOOR - NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - DAY 92
Richie picks up a faded photograph of a priest in a broken
frame. To the maintenance man:
RICHIE
This is the only floor we'll be using.
93 INT. PENTHOUSE - NEW YORK - DAY 93
Frank distractedly opens and closes a 12' high curtain in
one of the rooms -
(CONT)
42.
93 CONTINUED: 93
FRANK
No loan, no contingencies. Cash sale.
94 EXT. SMALL'S PARADISE - NIGHT 94
Wet streets and neon. Well-dressed crowd behind a velvet
rope outside the club. The Apollo in the background: James
Brown on the marquee.
95 INT. SMALL'S PARADISE - NIGHT 95
A still-powerful older man in a nice suit rises from his
chair to wild applause. From the stage -
SINGER
Mr. Joe Louis, ladies and gentlemen.
Joe bows graciously, gives a little wave to the crowd, and
sits back down as the band starts up again.
At another table, Frank sits with Charlie Williams and
Rossi, slightly older dope men. Like Frank, they favor
expensive tailored suits. Their dates, too, are nicely
dressed - not too much make-up or jewelry. Frank's glance
moves from Joe Louis and his wife to a beautiful young woman
at the table.
FRANK
Who's the beauty queen?
CHARLIE
She is a beauty queen. No kidding.
Miss Puerto Rico.
Her glance crosses Frank's briefly but is yanked to the
entrance of the club when Frank's brothers come in with
their wives and girlfriends. Teddy's in a parrot green
suit, gold chains, hat, acting like he owns the place.
96 INT. BACK ROOM - SMALL'S PARADISE - LATER 96
Frank hustles Teddy into an empty back room.
FRANK
What is this?
He turns Teddy so he's facing a mirror.
TEDDY
What. These are clothes. This is a very
nice (suit) -
(CONT)
43.
96 CONTINUED: 96
FRANK
I'm wearing clothes. These are clothes.
Those -
(Teddy's in the mirror)
- are a costume. With a sign on it that
says Arrest me. You look like fuckin
Jackie Fox.
TEDDY
What's wrong with Jackie. I like Jackie.
FRANK
You like Jackie? You want to be
Superfly? Go work for him, end up in a
cell with him.
Teddy pulls himself from Frank's grasp. Smooths his shirt,
adjusts his hat. Frank tries to explain to him:
FRANK
The guy making all the noise in the room
is the weak one. That's not who you want
to be.
TEDDY
He wants to talk to you by the way. I
told him I'd tell you.
Frank stares at his brother's reflection in the mirror.
FRANK
You and Jackie were talking about me?
TEDDY
Not about you. We were talking. He said
he wanted to talk to you about something.
Frank clearly wants nothing to do with Jackie Fox.
FRANK
I'm taking you shopping tomorrow.
TEDDY
I went shopping today.
FRANK
You go shopping every day. Like a girl.
97 EXT. SMALL'S PARADISE - LATER - NIGHT 97
A creme Bentley pulls up and out pour Jackie Fox and his
entourage.
(CONT)
44.
97 CONTINUED: 97
He's got an armful of New York Times Magazines -with him on
the cover, flaunting Gangster Chic. He starts handing them
out to the crowd on his way into the club.
98 INT. SMALL'S PARADISE - CONTINUOUS - NIGHT 98
Joe Louis has come over to speak to Frank at his table.
JOE LOUIS
It's a tax thing. It's a mistake my
lawyers will straighten out, but for the
time being it's a headache -
FRANK
How much you owe?
JOE LOUIS
It's nothing, like - fifty grand.
Frank isn't sure if it's an honor or a curse to have a
celebrity like Joe Louis asking to borrow money, but nods.
FRANK
Sure. Don't worry about it.
JOE LOUIS
Thank you. I'll pay you back soon as -
FRANK
Joe. It's a gift. Not a loan. You
don't owe me nothing.
Jackie glides into the club with his magazines and
entourage. Frank watches him make the rounds, lingering at
Miss Puerto Rico's table and holding her hand longer than he
should with his girlfriend on his arm. Frank glances to
Teddy wearily, then to Doc, alone at the next table like a
sentry. Frank doesn't have to say he's ready to leave. Doc
knows the look. Gets up.
99 INT. SMALL'S PARADISE - LATER - NIGHT 99
Frank comes into the coat check area where Doc waits with
his overcoat. As Frank slips into it, Miss Puerto Rico -
returning from the ladies room - comes through.
ANA
Hi. I'm Ana.
FRANK
I'm Frank.
(CONT)
45.
99 CONTINUED: 99
ANA
You're Frank and this is your place.
(he doesn't say whether
it is or not)
Why's it called Small's? Why don't you
call it Frank's?
FRANK
Because I don't have to.
He smiles, and it's hard to tell which is more enchanted
with the other.
100 INT. NIGHTCLUB - NEWARK - SAME TIME - NIGHT 100
A club across the river. Not nearly as nice as Small's -
much louder - but like Small's, almost all black. Richie
shares a booth with a black undercover detective.
RICHIE
I'm reluctant to bring anyone in I
don't personally know.
SPEARMAN
You know me, and I vouch for them.
Richie nods, Yeah, he knows that, but remains unconvinced.
SPEARMAN
Richie, we work together. You want me,
you got to take them, too.
RICHIE
Where are they?
Spearman looks out across the crowded dance floor.
SPEARMAN
That's Jones. With the skinny white
woman.
Richie's glance finds a young black man dancing wildly with
his skinny white date.
SPEARMAN
That's Abruzzo, with the fat black one.
Richie sees a young Italian with tatoos - the only other
white man in the place - dancing with a heavy black woman.
Both Jones and Abruzzo look more like criminals than cops.
(CONT)
46.
100 CONTINUED: 100
SPEARMAN
Both are good with wires. Have good
informants. They're honest. And they're
fearless. They'll do anything. They're
insane, Richie, like you.
101 INT. FRANK'S CAR - MOVING - NEW YORK - DAY 101
Frank sits in back alone. Peers ahead through the
windshield. His face relaxes as he sees -
102 EXT. RIVERSIDE - DAY 102
Ana waiting on a corner, dressed nice, handbag. The Towncar
pulls to the curb.
FRANK
I got it.
Frank gets out before Doc can, and escorts Ana to the car.
FRANK
I hope you weren't waiting long. A
woman as beautiful as you shouldn't have
to wait for anything.
He opens the door for her like a perfect gentleman, slides
in after her.
103 EXT. MAMA LUCAS'S TEANECK, N.J. HOUSE - DAY 103
Outside the house, Doc sits in the car reading a newspaper.
104 INT. MAMA LUCAS'S TEANECK, N.J. HOUSE - DAY 104
Ana considers some family photographs on a mantle.
ANA
This is your father?
Frank shakes his head no. It's a picture of Bumpy.
FRANK
You really don't know who that is?
(she doesn't)
It's Martin Luther King.
ANA
It is not.
FRANK
You're right. He was as important as Dr.
King, though.
(CONT)
47.
104 CONTINUED: 104
ANA
What'd he do?
FRANK
A lot of things. He had a lot of
friends. He served New York and it
served him.
ANA
What was he to you?
Frank has to think. Bumpy was more than his employer.
FRANK
Teacher.
ANA
What'd he teach you?
FRANK
How to take my time ... how if you're
going to do something, do it with care
... do it with love.
And it's working here. It's seductive.
ANA
Anything else?
FLASHCUTS -
Sudden bursts of violence - guys beat up - others shot - one
being poured with gasoline as Bumpy looks on calmly -
BACK TO FRANK'S LIVING ROOM
The same calm, benign face in the photograph. Frank nods.
FRANK
How be a gentleman.
ANA
That's what you are?
Ana smiles like she knows better. Any second now, like
every other guy she's ever met, she's sure he'll try to take
her upstairs.
FRANK
I got five different apartments in the
city I could've taken you to. I brought
you here instead -
(CONT)
48.
CONTINUED:
Ana glances to the stairs which Frank's mother is coming
down.
FRANK
To meet my mother.
MRS. LUCAS
Is this her? Oh, she's beautiful,
Frank. Look at her. She's an angel
come down from heaven.
Mrs. Lucas embraces Ana like family.
105 OMIT 105 OMIT
106 INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - DAY 106
A single, half-empty packet of heroin, the same one from the
morgue, in distinctive blue cellophane, tacked to a bulletin
board. Richie, perched on a desk in front of it.
RICHIE
Our mandate is to make major arrests.
No street guys - we want the suppliers -
the distributors.
Spearman, Jones and Abruzzo sit in the back, looking like
delinquent students. Of everyone in the open ground-floor
that's been only slightly renovated - and there are about
fifteen of them - they're the most disreputable-looking.
RICHIE
Heroin, cocaine, amphetamines. No
grass under a thousand pounds. Less than
that, someone else can waste their time.
Jones nudges Abruzzo to pay attention. Abruzzo elbows him
back. Richie just waits like a teacher for their attention.
RICHIE
We'll be handling big shipments, big
money, big temptation.
(Jones raises his hand)
Yeah.
JONES
There's a story about you. About
turning in some money. A lot of money.
Is it true?
Jones isn't the only one here curious to know. Simply:
(CONT)
49.
106 CONTINUED: 106
RICHIE
It's not true.
107 INT/EXT. CAR / STREET - NEWARK - DAY 107
Abruzzo, looking like a junkie, dirty jeans, wool cap,
approaches a dealer on the corner. The perspective shifts
to Richie, Spearman and Jones in a car, watching as Abruzzo
chats briefly with the dealer before the exchange takes
place: $10 for a blue-cellophane packet.
108 INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - LATER - DAY 108
Richie and the others watch Jones tests the heroin.
JONES
Stuff's ten percent pure. Strong
enough to smoke for all those suburban
white kids afraid of needles.
The other detectives are exchange a glance. None has ever
heard of anything on the street that pure.
RICHIE
You paid ten bucks for it?
JONES
And it's all that's out there.
RICHIE
Now, how is that possible? Who can
afford to sell shit twice as good for
half as much?
Richie glances to a Table of Organization: Surveillance
photos haphazardly thumb-tacked to a bulletin board - known
dope men in the hierarchies of their individual crime
families - almost all of them Italian.
WOMB TO TOMB SEQUENCE:
An R & B song begins and continues over -
109 CLOSE-UPS: 109
A poppy bulb being pierced, the white liquid oozing,
changing into filthy liquids in wooden bowls, and finally
a gray paste ...
110 INT. BANK VICE PRESIDENT'S OFFICE - CHEMICAL BANK - DAY 110
Frank sits with the bank Vice President who wires a transfer
to:
50.
111 INT. BANGKOK BANK - DAY 111
Where Nate sits with the same Thai bank president as before
who converts the transfer to cash.
112 INT. SOUL BROTHERS BAR - BANGKOK - DAY 112
Nate slides cash across a table to a couple of Chinese
gangsters.
113 EXT. JUNGLE ARMY BASE - VIETNAM - DAY 113
A tent: Nate hands more cash - the military brass's cut -
to the 2-star general from before.
An airstrip: Slicing propellers. Wounded soldiers on
stretchers, helped onto a transport plane. Nearby, four
large crates - Japanese TVs - under cargo netting. The
pilot stuffs more cash in a pouch and salutes Nate.
114 TV IMAGE: 114
General Westmoreland returns a salute (archive).
115 EXT. ARMY BASE - NORTH CAROLINA - DUSK 115
The same plane on the tarmac here, taxiing. A pile of
discarded TV boxes outside a supply warehouse.
At the perimeter of the base, black servicemen transfer
heavy taped-up duffel bags from an Army Jeep to a station
wagon, hoisting those that won't fit inside onto a roof
rack. Two Lucas brothers tie them down with twine.
116 INT/EXT. CAR / HIGHWAY - NEAR WASHINGTON DC - DUSK 116
The station wagon heading north on a rain-slicked highway,
the canvas tarpaulin on top flapping. In the distance, the
spire of the Washington monument glows.
117 EXT. DISCOUNT DRUGSTORE - HARLEM - DAY 117
A black woman pushes a shopping cart containing a baby,
Pampers, and cases of milk sugar across a parking lot.
118 INT. RED TOP'S APARTMENT - HARLEM - DAY 118
Empty milk sugar boxes. Redtop and her five table workers
- clothed now, the surgical masks dangling from their necks -
wiping down table surfaces, scales and apparatus. Tens of
thousands of blue-cellophane packets of heroin neatly cover
two of the folding tables.
51.
119 EXT. HARLEM STREET - DAY 119
August. Hot. Kids wrench open a fire hydrant and with an
empty soda can direct the water into a f