Q & A

---

[Salsa music playing in distance]

Where's Julio's old lady, man?

[Repeats himself in Spanish]

Jesus! A set-up!

BRENNAN:
Call the police.

Call an ambulance! Comprende?

- What do you see?

- Nothing.

Bullshit! What do you see?

Nada, Lieutenant!

The gun, honey dripper.

You see it in his hands?

S, Lieutenant.

What do you see?

- I see a gun, seor!

- Where?

His right hand! His right hand got a gun.

[Crashes against the door]

BRENNAN:
Okay. Calm down.

Calm down!

Wait!

BRENNAN:
Wait right here!

[Phone rings]

REILLY:
Yeah?

QUINN:
Reilly?

QUINN:
Is this Assistant District Attorney

Aloysius Francis Reilly?

Yeah.

This is Kevin Quinn,

Chief of Homicide Bureau...

...Office of the District Attorney,

County of New York.

QUINN:
You've heard of me?

Jesus. Yes, this is me.

QUINN:
Who?

REILLY:
Al Reilly, sir.

Aloysius Francis Reilly.

All right. That's better.

QUINN:
Are you catching tonight?

REILLY:
Yes, sir, I am.

A squad car is on the way to pick you up.

I've already alerted the duty stenographer.

Make note of the time.

It's 3:
05 a.m. You have time to shower.

Be here by 4:
00 a.m.

What precinct, sir?

Tony Vasquez has been shot,

it belongs to us, Homicide Bureau.

I know this is your first case for us.

Don't make me feel like an idiot

for requesting you here.

Homicide Bureau, my office, sixth floor.

[Tense instrumental music]

[Tense pop song]

[Pop song escalates]

QUINN:
Come in, please.

Shut the door behind you.

Sit down, please.

Aloysius Francis Reilly?

Yes, sir. My friends call me Al.

Background, Francis. Tell me about it.

REILLY:
Well...

REILLY:
Queens. Grew up in Elmhurst.

Catholic school.

REILLY:
Enough minor league ball

to find out I couldn't hit a curve.

Law degree?

REILLY:
Brooklyn.

Why not St. John's?

My father thought the Jesuits

were too left wing.

QUINN:
Your father's death was a tragedy.

Not only for your family...

...but for the police force as well.

REILLY:
Yes, sir. He was killed

in the line of duty in the 23.

I see you served in Harlem, also.

QUINN:
It's bad there.

Yes, sir. It is.

Those people have a tough time.

If you want to serve as the house liberal...

...I can transfer you back

to Mr. Bloomenfeld's office.

I don't care if a man

is black, white, green, polka-dot...

...or was thrown in the garbage at birth...

...or he started wearing

women's clothes at 14.

If he breaks the law

and it crosses this desk, he pays for it.

QUINN:
You understand?

REILLY:
Yes, sir.

QUINN:
And you agree?

REILLY:
Yes, sir.

Yeah.

Your father was everything

the Police Department used to be.

He was part of a tradition

that had been built by our people.

A tradition that justified

the use of those words, "The Finest."

That's why I brought you in here.

I want to hold on to those values

and the people who reflect them.

QUINN:
I hope you'll be one.

REILLY:
I'll certainly be trying.

Your first case

as an Assistant District Attorney...

...began with my phone call at 3:05 a.m.

QUINN:
A classic case

of justifiable homicide.

A piece of vermin, one Tony Vasquez,

attempted to ambush Lieutenant Brennan.

QUINN:
Mike Brennan is the personification

of the finest.

The toughest, most dedicated police officer

it's been my pleasure to know.

He gets rough sometimes.

If he takes shortcuts,

they never hurt us in court.

I know, because this office

has tried all his cases...

...never lost one.

Never been reversed on appeal.

You'll meet him shortly.

Your job is to collect the facts, present them

to a grand jury and close this out.

You will advise Brennan of his rights

and get a statement from him.

The TV unit is occupied,

so you'll be using the court stenographer.

His name is Lubin...

...and even now he's struggling

to find his way here from Far Rockaway.

Do you have any questions about how

to conduct your investigation for this office?

- I don't think so, sir.

- Good. Well, it's cut-and-dried.

Thank you, sir.

One word of caution.

Do not speak too rapidly.

Make sure everything said

and everything that happened...

...has been recorded

by the court stenographer.

From now on, for all intents and purposes,

the Q&A defines what really happened.

If it's not in the Q&A...

...it didn't happen.

Wait outside with the other witnesses

until Lubin arrives. Questions?

I'm not to discuss anything

with anyone until Lubin arrives.

- Correct?

- That's correct.

Welcome.

I don't know what this guy's on.

But he just sits there

with a sh*t-eating grin on his face!

So, f*** it.

I figure I've got to straighten him out

a little bit.

So I say, "You've got a right to remain silent

as long as you can stand the pain."

There's nothing. Not a f***ing dent.

Not a f***ing dent!

I decide to fingerprint him in the back room.

He pulls away from me.

He's a big motherf***er. He's 260 or 270.

He starts yelling, "You f***ing harp, this!

You f***ing harp, that!"

I say, "Mr. Calabrese, don't upset me now."

I go to put his hand on the printer.

He pulls his hand away...

...he says, "You can't print me! I'm made!"

He throws the f***ing ink pad!

And I'm standing there...

...and I'm looking

at my new light-blue jacket.

I've got ink all over my f***ing white shirt.

He just ruined my f***ing jacket.

I'm seeing red. I'm pissed, right?

I'm going to get that motherf***er!

I grab him by the ass and the neck...

...and very quietly I say,

"All right, you guinea, you bought it."

I threw the f***er out the window!

Threw him right out the window.

He goes right through the wire mesh,

out the window.

Now remember, this guy's stoned

so he thinks he's gonna die.

He thinks he's on the second floor,

and he goes...

Shits his pants.

He sh*t his pants.

He wasn't hurt too badly.

It was the ground floor.

He had some cuts, that's about it.

Now, we gotta go get the guy and he smells.

We bring him in the back.

I'm going to take him in.

I take him back to print him...

...and I make him put his hands

down in his pants...

...and he gets some of that sh*t

on his fingers.

I say, "Mr. Calabrese,

we ain't got no more ink pads.

"You've got to use your own sh*t."

No more out of Mr. F***ing Calabrese.

[Officers laughing]

BRENNAN:
I'm Mike Brennan.

You're the Homicide ADA?

- Yeah. Hi. Al Reilly.

- AI Reilly, it's a pleasure.

I guess I'm the guest of honor, so to speak.

I'll do the introductions.

This is Captain Flynn.

This is Lieutenant Keely,

from the PC's office.

Officers Corbin and Ramon,

first on the scene.

Detective Valentin here.

He's working the case

with Detective Chapman from Homicide.

Call me Chappie.

We're your arms and legs, Reilly.

- You want a Pepsi, Chappie?

- Yeah.

So, you're a lawyer now?

You don't do no running around no more.

That's right, you was a cop once, right?

In the 23?

- That's right, Lieutenant.

- It's a pleasure.

It's about time they brought them

from the force into here, right?

It's a pleasure. I knew your old man.

It's cops like that that made us the finest.

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