City Hall Page #5

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...that was a city.

It was a palace!

It was a palace, and

it can be a palace again!

A palace in which there is

no king or queen...

...or dukes or earls or princes,

but subjects all. Subjects...

...beholden to each other to make...

...a better place to live.

Is that too much to ask?

Are we asking too much from you?

Is it beyond our reach?

Because if it is...

...then we are nothing but sheep...

...being herded

to the final slaughterhouse.

I will not go down that way!

I choose to fight back!

I choose to rise, not fall!

I choose to live, not die!

And I know...

...I know that what's within me...

...is also within you!

That's why...

...I ask you now...

...to join me.

Join me.

Rise up with me.

Rise up on the wings...

...of this slain angel.

We'll rebuild on the soul...

...of this little warrior.

We will pick up his standard...

...and raise it high.

Carry it forward...

...until this city...

...your city...

...our city...

...his city...

...is a palace again!

Is a palace again!

I am with you, little James.

I am you.

Thank you very much.

Terrible thing to bury a child.

Your trip to Washington.

The stuff for the

Convention Committee.

History of New York City

for Senator Marquand.

Reservation at the Willard Hotel.

Lincoln stayed there, by the way.

Enough about me.

Enough about me.

What are you gonna do tonight

after I'm gone?

I don't know.

I hadn't thought about it.

You're gonna

get yourself a good meal.

You're gonna pass on that

double cheeseburger from Roy Rogers.

You're going to go to Dominic's

and get takeout, on me.

Get a decent meal.

But before you go to Dominic's,

go to Macy's...

...and get a chair...

...with legs and arms.

That apartment of yours...

...looks like it belongs

in a homeless file.

Then it's off to Crate & Barrel

for a knife...

...a fork, a spoon...

...and a glass while you're at it.

Then I'll need a dishwasher.

Just throw them out

after you finish eating.

It's on me.

Get a life.

I've got yours.

It's quite enough.

You read this?

Today's Times editorial?

"Judge or Be Judged"?

"Notwithstanding Judge Stern's

distinguished record...

...one must ask,

'Would he be on the bench...

...if he were not a former

law partner of the mayor's? '"

I didn't appoint him.

He was nominated like everybody else.

Everybody knows the party

arranges nomination of judges.

Whose side are you on?

I'm on yours...

...and I always will be.

But I smell a hanging party.

We should put

distance between ourselves...

...and Walter Stern.

- Distance is sh*t.

Distance!

Distance is something you do

to your enemies.

It's the thing of the '90s to make

friends extinct. Distance...

...is the absence of menschkeit.

Translate that for me.

You don't know what

menschkeit means?

I don't.

Menschkeit.

You know, something between men.

It's about honor, character...

Untranslatable.

That's why it's Yiddish.

I didn't know you'd

taken up the language.

Abe laid it on me.

Abe's a good man.

You're a good man, Pappy.

Underneath that Louisiana...

...cane syrup...

...plain red dirt.

Not that different from the

pavements of Astoria, where I'm from.

You and me...

...are sticking by

Judge Walter Stern.

Man, thou art dust...

...and to dust...

...thou shalt return.

If there's anything I can do...

...please feel free to call.

- Thank you.

- It's the least we can do.

Good morning.

Where's the mayor?

He had to go to Washington

on convention business.

This rates an inspector's

funeral, and that includes the mayor.

The mayor's absence in no way

diminishes his concern...

...for Mrs. Santos

and her children.

Where'd they get all that stuff from

in the newspapers?

At school, they tell my girl

her daddy was a drug dealer.

We'll get our press people

right on it.

What about Internal Affairs?

What are those clowns doing?

Where you going?

- City.

- I thought we were in the city.

Not if you're from Queens.

Let's start over.

Where you going?

Manhattan.

Hop in.

Go f*** yourself.

Not to be disrespectful...

...but the Transportation Department...

...wasn't prepared

for 1000 people.

You're just going to

wait for an hour...

...then ride a bus,

then slepp on a subway...

Schlep.

"Schlep. "

Not "sleep. " "Schlep. "

Get the gumbo out of your Yiddish.

How do you feel about the L.I.E.?

I hate the L.I.E.

Take the Grand Central.

Catch it at Astoria Boulevard.

Go ahead, I'll show you.

Santos was a good cop.

You're doing a vile thing.

It's wrong...

...to blame a dead cop

and steal a widow's rights.

You keep saying that.

Nobody's doing anything.

You've got all the answers.

Don't even have the questions yet.

Well, I got a question for you.

You hungry?

Swing by that diner up there.

The North Star.

Best Philly steak sandwiches

in New York City.

Or do you call them

Philadelphia steak sandwiches?

Who we gonna meet here?

What are you talking about?

You surface in front of my car

at the cemetery.

You show just enough leg

so I'd stop.

And the Grand Central

is the long way around.

Who we gonna meet?

Albert Holly.

He was Eddie Santos' partner two years

ago when Tino Zapatti got probation.

Thank you.

Eddie got ahold of something,

he wouldn't let go.

Eddie Santos was a pit bull.

Pit bulls are ugly,

but they're not stupid.

What was he doing

without backup?

It wasn't the first time

he'd taken Tino down.

He'd never had

a problem with him before.

Somehow, Tino must have

got the drop on him.

It happens.

Why didn't he tell anyone

he was going up there?

Because it was his collar.

He made that case against Tino,

then the judge went south.

There is no way Tino Zapatti could have

walked two years ago unless...

...unless interested parties...

...had the judge in their pocket.

Walter Stern is a jurist

of national reputation.

I don't care if he's

Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Somebody got to him.

And based on that one interview...

...you were able to come to the

conclusion stated in your testimony?

That and the V.A. Records, yes.

Do you mind passing this

on to the judge?

- Based on only one interview?

The defendant has a

lengthy, documented case...

Please answer the question.

- Would you restate the question?

- All right.

Based on that one interview,

you were able...?

Where are you going with this?

Your Honor, the witness interprets

the defendant V.A. Record one way...

...our psychologist

interprets it another.

Another and another

until the end of time.

So much for expert witnesses.

Let's take a break.

I see you've already met

Peter Ragan, my law clerk.

He's written

some of my best opinions.

He appeared before me first time

I presided over moot court at Yale.

You could say Peter and I

are joined at the hip.

Thanks, Peter.

Please have a seat.

Thank you for seeing me,

Judge Stern.

And how can I help you?

Tino Zapatti.

What about him?

How did he get off with probation?

I can only sentence in accordance

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