Prince of the City Page #11

in SIU...

...and all but four want my ass.

Give me a drink.

Did you ever hear of a junkie

named Sancho?

A lot of them. Their names change.

Mike Blomberg's lawyer has a deposition

from a Frank Sancho...

...who says you kept him supplied

on a regular basis.

Also another junkie named Jose,

and his girlfriend, Jeannie.

Look, Mr. Santimassino, it's no secret

that we use informants that are junkies.

- Did you sell Sancho heroin?

- No.

- Did you give him heroin?

- Forget Sancho. He's penny ante.

The King is the one that interests me.

It's a very detailed story.

No one's penny ante

if you catch him lying.

- It takes just one...

- Hey. You stop talking about me...

...like I'm not here. I'm here.

- Let's pick the King up.

- I'm gonna put him on a lie detector.

- Will he consent?

Why don't you just ask me

to take the test?

Yes, I'd like to know the answer to that.

Why haven't you?

Would you?

F*** you all.

I'm going home.

Jeez. Yo, Mo, give me a hand here.

Killing myself. Jeez.

Papa.

Danny. You can't come in, Danny.

Nick's family, they don't want you.

Danny, it breaks my heart. I know

you been trying to be a good guy.

Come on.

Yeah, but Nick

wasn't under my protection.

Now, honey, this may be

a totally unnecessary move...

...but we're making it anyway.

I'll have it all ready for you.

That's my gift to you.

Danny.

Well, what do you think?

Okay, baby. It's okay. Okay.

- It's all right.

- Oh, Danny. Oh, my God, Danny.

It's everything I ever wanted.

Just not this way.

I know, baby. I know. It's okay.

- Is my tie red?

- No.

- Are the walls white?

- No.

Did you regularly give money

to Detective Ciello?

Yes.

- Are you a German citizen?

- No.

The traffic was murder.

Your friend has requested that if

he passes the test, the government...

...should return him to steady

employment and give him $5000.

And we said we'd be glad

to meet those terms.

Dan, I don't think you know

Mario Vincente.

He's going to try the case

against Caprice.

- Does a cat bark?

- No.

- Did you give Dan Ciello 3 automobiles?

- Yes.

- Did the Cadillac...?

- Ciello, if this test is positive...

...I'll prosecute you myself.

Thank you very much.

We appreciate your cooperation.

The man was very relaxed, very easy.

Every time he answered yes,

the needle went off the edge of page.

My God, what a relief.

I haven't slept for five days.

- Okay, it's a one, two, three is positive...

- Mr. Santimassino...

- What?

- lf you don't mind, I'd like to go home.

Of course.

- Question four, five, six is a positive.

- Here?

Yeah, right here. Six. And this is seven.

And eight.

You did it again.

You got out of it, didn't you?

Detective Ciello?

U.S. Attorney's office.

I wanted to talk to you. I was

gonna invite myself home with you.

It's Friday. I only get to see

my family on the weekends.

Well, I've got to be down in Washington.

We could share the ride.

Suit yourself.

- This is Tug Barnes and Chippy.

- Mario Vincente.

Boy, you don't travel light, eh?

I like the King.

He's just trying to earn.

It's the poor f***ing junkies

that beat your ass. Sancho, Jose...

...little Jeannie.

They break your heart, junkies.

All you try and do

is get them through the night.

Ten years later,

some legal eagle takes it...

...and starts pulling your fingernails

out one by one.

If that polygraph machine

had one wrong line on it...

...Santimassino

would have crucified me.

- But it didn't. It vindicated you.

- But it could have gone the other way.

You know why those tests

are inadmissible in court as well as me.

Some guy is a little schitzy,

believes what he's saying...

...and if he believes it,

it won't show up on the machine.

Or somebody like me.

Ask me a question

and I feel like I'm lying...

...even though I'm telling the truth.

It's been so long since I didn't

have to think about my answer.

Man.

I was on the streets undercover for...

...10 years?

I don't know

what the truth is anymore.

There's only one thing

I knew for sure today.

Santimassino, Polito...

...all those guys...

...they are not my friends.

No, sir.

They are not my friends.

So...

...what was it you wanted

to talk to me about, Mr. Vincente?

Nothing in particular.

It's just that we're gonna be spending

a lot of time together...

...and I just wanted a chance

to get to know you better.

My name is Mario.

You wanna be my friend, Mario?

I have a clear mandate to the city.

Clean it up.

Gentlemen, I am gonna

tear this town apart.

And I'm gonna start

with the French Connection rip-off.

And the reason I'm gonna start

with the French Connection...

...is because it's a goddamn outrage.

And I have already promised

it's going to be solved.

So what you are gonna do, gentlemen,

is you're gonna make my word good.

The target is cops.

The weapon is indictments.

And I don't give

one infinitesimal f***...

...if they're indictments that will stick

or not.

Because to a cop, any indictment

means a departmental trial...

...which is a euphemism for fini!

End of gun, badge, pension and pals!

So I want cops' names.

And if I don't get them...

...I'm gonna drop cops

and start on DAs.

I want names.

We'll start alphabetically.

We'll start with A.

Give me an A.

Mr. Kanter, I have an A.

Possibly perjury,

but a very weak case.

We got an A.

Give it to me.

Alvarez, Raf Alvarez.

I and Detective Lewis Dooley

and Joe Carpo...

...held back 5 kilos out

of that particular seizure.

We sold it.

We also sold prisoners their freedom.

Overall, we must've ripped off a couple

hundred thousand bucks from dealers.

Maybe more.

You asked me before about perjury.

About 20 times in court.

I don't know why you people

don't understand the system?

You wanna conviction, but you got

these stupid search and seizure laws...

...and wiretaps.

Case one never got made

without an illegal wiretap.

And you're never get a conviction

if a cop don't commit perjury.

What is it that you want?

You want the big dealer

out of business?

The only way I know to push him

out of business is to steal his cash.

Otherwise, somewhere down the line,

he's gonna buy out.

He'll buy himself a bondsman,

a DA, a judge.

The scumbag dealer is back on

the streets before the arresting officer.

The only way I know how to stop him

is to steal his cash.

As far as selling them their freedom...

...I never once sold

a dealer his freedom...

...unless I didn't have enough evidence

to make the bust legal.

I'll give you all the details you want.

But what I'll never give you is what

happened to the 120 pounds of heroin.

I didn't do it.

Why don't you talk to your friend,

Ciello?

Didn't you ever think of that?

Why is it that Ciello

is getting away with all this sh*t...

...and you tell me I'm a dead man?

Because you're a bunch

of f***ing hypocrites.

Can you give us any evidence

against Ciello?

I never worked with him...

...but I worked with Gus Levy.

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