American Gangster Page #10

Hands!

Out of home, baby.

- Thank you.

- You're welcome.

You all wait right here.

Lucas,

please step back inside.

Please, step inside.

Respectfully, please,

step inside. Thank you.

Stay back!

Yo, the pigs.

NYPD, everybody stay still.

Turner! Go!

"Dead servicemen..."

"Dead servicemen

trying to defend our country..."

Ladies and gentlemen, at this stage

of the proceedings, the counsels

are ready for their opening statements.

For the prosecution,

Mr. Roberts will proceed

with his opening statement first.

Mr. Roberts!

Are you ready to proceed?

Yes, your Honor.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury.

The State will show,

and you will hear

that Frank Lucas

is the most dangerous man

walking the streets of our city.

You all get on out.

Let me

talk to Mr. Richie alone.

C'mon, I pay you by the hour,

not by the minute.

Thank you.

You ain't wearin a wire?

I was talking to my lawyers,

they said something I can't believe.

Did you really

find a million $ in the trunk of a car

- and then turn it in?

- Yeah.

You did that for real, huh?

My man!

Good for you.

Sh*t...

You know johnny law

got the dough, right?

- Maybe.

- Ain't no "maybe", Mr. Richie.

You know he got it.

You turned that money in,

he took it, and you ain't

gettin nothin for it, did you?

Why did you do that?

- It was the right thing to do.

- It's true.

Good answer, it was the right thing.

The question I have

that I've been asking myself

is would you do it again?

That's a lot of money

and a long time ago.

Many car payments ago.

Many child support payments ago.

So I said to myself the only way

to find out is to find out.

Bribery,

extortion, murder,

racketeering...

If you would give me an address,

I'll make sure the car's there,

and the money's in that trunk.

No, thanks.

You sure?

C'mon now,

what you think, that impresses me?

You think you're better than them,

you're no better than them other cops,

You're the same as them.

You are them.

Let me ask you this.

Do you really think

that putting me behind bars

will change anything on the streets?

Them dope fiends are going to shoot it,

steal from it, and die for it.

Putting me in or out

won't change anything.

- That's the way it is.

- Right, so what we got, Richie?

We got me and you sitting here.

You got that snitch ass

driving for my brother,

you got a little bit of powder.

You gonna need more than that.

I got possession, supply,

conspiracy...

bribing a law officer.

I got people attesting

to seeing you kill in cold blood.

I got your offshore bank accounts,

your real estate, your businesses.

All bought with money from heroin.

I got hundreds of parents

of dead kids

addicts who o'ded on your product,

and that's my story for the jury,

that's how I make it all stick.

This man murdered thousands of people.

And he did it from a penthouse,

driving a Lincoln.

besides that,

you got nothing to worry about.

That's pretty good,

but that's why we go to court, right?

Cause I got witnesses too.

I got celebrities,

I got sport figures,

I got Harlem, Richie.

I took care of Harlem, so it's gonna

take care of me, you can believe that.

- I got more than that.

- What you got?

I got a line of people

wanting to testify against you

that stretches out the door

and around the block.

- Bullshit.

- You damaged a lot of lives, Frank.

I got the Mazzano crime family.

You put them out of business.

I got nothin to do with 'em.

They got nothin to do with me.

They got everything to do with you.

Know why?

Why?

Because

apart from the fact they hate you,

- they hate what you represent.

- I don't represent nothing

- but Frank Lucas.

- You sure?

A black businessman like you.

You represent progress.

The kind that's gonna see them

lose a lot of money.

With you out of the way,

everything can return to normal.

My man.

You know what normal is to me?

I ain't see normal

since I was 6 years old.

Normal is seeing the police

ride up to my house,

dragging my 12 year old cousin out

and tying him to a pole.

Shoving a shotgun in his mouth

so hard they bust his teeth.

Then they bust two shotgun shells

in his head, knocking it off.

That's what normal is to me.

Didn't give a f*** about no...

police then. Don't give a f***

about no police now.

Sh*t.

You can do whatever you wanna do.

So it don't mean nothing to me

for you to show up tomorrow

with your head blown off,

you understand?

Hey, Frank.

Get in line,

That one

stretches around the block, too.

All right.

What you wanna do?

You know what you gotta do.

What you want me to do ?

Snitch?

I know you don't want no cops.

What you want? Gangsters?

Pick one.

Jew gangsters, mick gangsters,

guinees?

They been bleeding Harlem dry

since they got off the boat.

I don't give a f***

about no crime figures.

You can have them.

I'll take them too.

You'll take them too?

No you didn't.

You talkin about police?

You want police?

- You want your own kind?

- They're not my kind.

They're in business with you,

they ain't my kind.

They ain't my kind

like the Italians are not yours.

What can you promise me, Richie?

I can promise you,

you lie about one name...

You'll never get out of prison.

You lie about one dollar,

one offshore account.

You'll never get out of prison.

You can live life rich in jail

the rest of your boring days,

or be poor outside for some of them.

That's what I can promise you.

I want them cops, Richie.

That's what I want,

I want them cops

that took money out of my pockets.

Him too.

All right.

Hey, Spearman.

These guys are all connected

on the grid.

This guy here, he's in uniform.

Police officers were arrested

today on charges of taking bribes

- from drug traffickers.

- Well done, Jimmy!

The investigation into police corruption

has swept through New York

drug enforcement ranks,

broadened today with the arrest...

You're under arrest.

You have the right to remain silent.

In what's being called the city's

largest police corruption scandal,

32 more officers were indicted today

in federal court on bribery charges.

These police officers

will face stiff prison terms

say federal prosecutors,

if found guilty.

A report by federal investigators

into New York's

ever widening

police corruption scandal

claims that more than half

of the city's officers

assigned to drug enforcement

have engaged

in some form of corruption.

...narcotics squad,

S.I.U.,

has led to the arrest

of 4 New York detectives today.

Convicted of extortion,

members of New York City's

Special Investigations Narcotics Unit

will face sentencing today,

in federal court.

McNamara, Vendazzo,

Trupo.

You are special.

It's good work, Frank.

You know...

You don't want a drink or somethin'?

To celebrate.

You got any holy water?

Check your property.

Sign right here.

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