My Walter was as tough as a bar of iron,
and he didn't get that from his father.
Now, you wanna fight, Officer?
Or do you get the hell out of my house?
Seven, eight, and one, two, three, four.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
To the side, two, three, four.
Two, three, four. Shoulders. One, two, three, four. Reverse.
- What are you doing here? - I have to talk to you.
Three, four, keep goin'. Tina, can you take over for me for a minute, please?
They're trying out for a commercial. We got work to do.
Diane, I have to talk to you.
Come on, Diane.
- (Tina) Five, six, seven, eight... - What are you doing here, Paulie?
- Thinkin' of joining? - Maybe. Very possible. Looks nice.
Seven, eight, and smile.
Paulie, give me a break.
Four, five, six, seven, eight. And hold.
OK, gang, shake it out a bit, and we'll start from the beginning.
How could you have put me in this, Charlie? Huh?
- I'm not... You're not in this. - A policeman died, Charlie.
Know what I'm saying? A man died.
Why don't you tell the whole fuckin' world?
There's a way out of this.
There's 50 grand we got.
Yeah, back in the closet. That could be our way out.
It could be our restaurant.
Are you crazy?
What do we do? Sit in our restaurant waiting for the police to show up,
or for some psychotic criminal to come and find you and chop you up?
- Oh, man. - You listened to that fool, Charlie.
He's an idiot. He lives in a fantasy, Charlie.
Look, Paulie has nothin' to do with this.
- Diane, I made my own decision. - Paulie uses you, Charlie.
Don't you see what you get for your loyalty to family? He uses you.
Why are you always one inch away from becoming a good person, huh?
Maybe, I don't know... maybe you're too soft.
I'm just too soft? What are you? Some tough guy?
The men up in Maine make you and Paulie look like spoilt little brats.
I was raised to believe that criminals,
criminals were too weak - too weak to make it honestly.
Diane, maybe that shit works in Maine. Here, on the streets, it don't work.
OK? It don't work.
Such a pathetic excuse, you know?
You just miss, you just miss by a...
Another fucking inch, and you could really be someone special.
But you're all caught up in your tribal loyalty. Your neighbourhood, Paulie...
Diane, maybe I don't wanna change. All right?
Did you ever think of that?
Huh? If I don't wanna change, what the fuck are you doin' with me?
What the fuck have you been doin' with me all this time?
I always knew this would happen.
What the...?
Hit me again. See if I change. Come on. Hit me again. Come on.
- Huh? Huh? - Let go of me.
Charlie!
(Eddie) Nicky Dum Dum found out who robbed my money.
Well, that's great.
How come it wasn't you that found out?
Hey! My guys been knocking their brains out. So Nicky got there first. Good for him.
Maybe you got there first and you forget to tell me.
- What the hell are you talkin' about? - Somebody ratted.
It was that kid from Carmine Street.
Paulie somebody.
The kid you call your nephew.
Hey, Paulie don't rob safes. He's a fuckin' waiter.
He's a scumbag, that's what he is. Him and whoever was with him.
(guard blows his whistle)
Aw, another hard-on lookin' to shit on anyone who ain't drivin' a Coupe de Ville.
- Guy's doin' his job. - Yeah?
- What did you drag me up here for? - Come on in.
What's up?
Paulie. They're gonna nail him, Charlie.
I can smell it. He left the file behind.
- So what? - Fingerprints!
Fucking shit. Goddamn him.
And he's gonna feed them me.
- He won't give you up. There's blood. - Blood. We're third cousins. He's...
With Italians that's like twin brothers with the Irish.
And when he feeds me to them, they're gonna press me to give them you, Charlie.
And they'll press me hard. And if I clam up, you skate away, clean as a whistle.
Yeah? For what? How much?
Charlie, it's not what you think.
My end of this, I want it for my kid.
I leave that money with my wife, they'll take it off her in 12 minutes.
I need somebody to see she gets that money if I take a fall.
Whoa, Barney. Whoa. There's got to be some other way.
No, no. I've been making lists up in my head for hours. I got no one else.
- Why not split with the money now? - I can't.
I can't leave those two until I'm backed dead into a corner.
And I can't run with a 25-year-old needs the side of his crib pulled up every night.
Barney, you can't lay this on me.
- Charlie, I'm makin' you a deal. - Open the door.
- You got a sense of honour. - Open the door.
- I can smell it in ya. - Open the fucking door, Barney.
It's salt water. Briglia wants to toughen up her legs.
He's from the south.
She looks like a fuckin' joke rather than a racehorse.
Joke? I got five grand on this horse. It better be no joke.
I know, I know. It's just that I never seen a horse with its legs in no garbage can.
What do you know about training a horse?
Waiting tables is what you know. Making cheese is what I know.
- Let's stay with what we know here. - You know about making cheese?
Not for nothin', but my mother sent me over some mozzarella from your place.
It was no big bargain. Tough, and it ain't the first time I noticed it, either.
- Your mozzarella is tough sometimes. - Are you nuts?
We never sold a piece of tough mozzarella in our life.
Tough like fuckin' shoe leather, that mozzarella.
- Hey, Paulino. - Hi, Uncle Pete. I was gonna call you.
Let's go talk private.
Where do you come off to steal from Eddie Grant?
You ain't even a full-time thief. You're a waiter, for Chrissake.
- Can you bail me out? - I'm treadin' water myself.
Oh, man.
You pay attention, cos your life depends on this.
If you won't say who was with ya, your head gets hung on your mother's door.
- He wouldn't really do that, Pete. - He'd sit down to a steak right after.
Come on.
- And what if I rat? - He's still gonna do a number on ya.
Man.
He'd be makin' me a cripple.
He wants to crush me. And for what?
For what? I didn't rape his daughter. I didn't spit in his fat face.
I took money from him. I took fuckin' money.
It don't call for this, Pete.
(sobs)
I gotta take a leak.
Come on.
Oh, man.
Hey.
What would you do, you was in my shoes, Pete?
Me?
First espresso I carried to the bastard would have a cupful of lye in it.
What do I do? I can't put lye in Eddie Grant's coffee.
But I can't rat either. I ain't built that way.
Paulie, in my life, I never told nobody to rat.
But it ain't the old days. Wise guys rat people out now.
I can't, Pete.
What happens to anyone what was with me?
- Who knows? - Oh, man.
What about the money?
- What did you bag? - 50 large. That's what my end came to.
Gimme... gimme 43 to bring Eddie.
Just say you blew the rest. The maniac'll...
The maniac will hardly even count it.
What do they want?
This ain't no joke, Paulie.
I had a partner, Pete.
I was with another guy.
Some old Irish hard-on from the Bronx. I don't owe him nothin'.
Barney. Fixes clocks. Castle Hill and Westchester Avenue in the Bronx.
An old guy.
An old-time thief.
Oh, man.
Paulie, nothin' ever hurts like you think it will.
You go numb. Then you wrap your belt around your wrist
and you get yourself to the nearest emergency room.
Oh, Uncle Pete.
Oh, Uncle Pete...
Oh, Uncle Pete. Uncle Pete.
Uncle Pete.
Uncle Pete!
Can you believe it? Bed Bug had that kid's thumb taken off.
Jesus Christ.
He's like some Arab sheik walkin' around with that crazy bulldog.
Yeah, but that's why Little Italy got their own law and order.
Wanna know somethin'? It's the only neighbourhood in the city
where little kids and old ladies can still walk the streets at night.
Why the hell did Bed Bug give us this one anyway?
It's a favour, I think. "You can have the Irish", he told me.
"Keep it in the family."
Fuckin' humps. They're all alike. They think they're real cute.
- There. It's over there. - We got him here.
(Diane) Charlie, this is not easy for me.
Our baby needs a good start in life, Charlie.
So I don't feel guilty about taking the shoebox full of money for the baby.
I've left you $5,000.
With $45,000 our baby will have a good chance in life.
It should be a comfort you to know that.
I've been thinking about what my life would be like, living with you.
The truth is, Charlie, I can't go through life living with someone I could never trust.
(footsteps)
(knocking)
- Paulie, what happened? - Charlie, they took my thumb, man.
- Who did? Who did? - It hurts so much.
- Paulie, what happened? - The Bed Bug took my thumb, man.
Oh, no. No. Jesus Christ. I'm gonna fuckin' kill him!
No, Charlucc'. That guy's a fuckin' psycho, man. He'll chop you up.
Oh, man, it hurts so much.
Did they give you anything for this? What did they give you?
They gave me... They gave me this stuff.
They gave me this stuff at the hospital.
But I took all of it. I've been taking it all day...
- You took all of this? - It ain't done a fuckin' thing.
I took it all, man.
- Charlie, I didn't do nothin', man. - What can I do for you?
It was my life, man.
I didn't wanna give the poor bastard up, but it was my life, Charlie.
Barney ain't family. I don't owe him that much.
You gave Barney up? What about me, Paulie? I'm family.
Did they press you for me?
Yeah. Yeah, they... they pressed me.
They pressed me hard.
They took my thumb, Charlie!
Paulie.
What the hell happened here, man?
Look at that chair, man. What the hell happened here?
She walked out. She took the money and she left.
That twat robbed ya? My God, what did you do, Charlie?
- I didn't do anything. I didn't hit her. - You can't do that, man.
You don't abuse 'em once in a while, they shit all over ya.
I don't mean you walk around morning to night whackin' 'em upside the head,
but you gotta terrorise 'em once in a while to keep 'em in line, you know?
I mean, like, you know, sometimes when they embarrass ya in front of your friends,
you whack 'em with the backhand. Not out in the room, like some fuckin' animal,
but nice, in the bedroom, you know.
Ba-boom. Ow!
What am I? Some kind of asshole?
Ba-boom. Another one. Oh.
Shit. What is this? Some kinda fuckin' joke?
You get your coat on fast and you don't say good night to nobody.
You understand me? Huh?
Huh?
That's to keep 'em humble. When you don't let 'em say good night to nobody,
they walk out lookin' at the fuckin' floor.
Charlie!
They took my thumb!
Paulie. Paulie.
Bed Bug, I'm gonna fuckin' kill you, goddamn it!
Paulie, Paulie, Paulie.
The motherfuckin'...
Paulie. Oh, Paulie.
I know... Paulie...
It's better if you don't know.
Here.
Here's $1,000. I'll send you $200 every week.
Nora, don't fall apart on me now, huh?
- Huh? - How did you let this happen to you?
Oh, how did I let my whole life happen to me?
Why does it never work out right for us?
Why, Barney? Why does it never work out right?
Nora, maybe I wasn't the smartest kid on the block, huh?
I did the best I could, huh? For the three of us.
Huh?
I gotta go.
(snores)
- Whoa, whoa, whoa. - Aw, Jesus Christ.
- All right. Here. - I was havin' a bad dream.
How do you feel? Huh?
How's your hand?
I don't know yet.
You eat some of this. You'll feel better.
- Absolutely. - OK?
Here you go.
Yuck.
- What's the matter? - It's canned, man.
- It's good for you. - Yeah.
White bread?
No wonder these Wasps got no colour, huh, Charlie?
Hey, maybe she... she outgrew me, you know? I mean...
- These Wasps, they outgrow people. - Yeah, right.
Our mothers was right, Charluccio. You really gotta stick with your own kind.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
Charlie,
you know what really busts my balls?
I gotta go to work for that maniac.
I gotta be a goddamn coffee boy in the club.
- How are you doin'? - I'm good.
- All right? - Absolutely.
Three sugars, Eddie?
Close the door.
Sit down.
No, sit over here.
Do you ever listen to tapes, Paulie?
Them tapes that everybody sees all over?
I've been thinkin' how you and that Irishman did that piece of work up there.
It was you and him, no?
Barney. That's his name.
Barney.
This Irishman who you gave two-thirds of the split to?
- Are you comfortable, Paulie? - Yeah, yeah, I'm comfortable.
Tell me exactly how you handled it.
Who carried the stuff upstairs?
Who watched the window?
I wanna know each detail of who did what.
Well, uh, me and the Irishman, you know, the two of us, we had...
Two?
Not three?
Two.
Take it easy. Don't rush.
We're gonna go through this a couple of times.
(phone)
Hello?
Diane?
Diane, is that you?
Luna, luna, luna, lu
I'll be waiting here for you
I live by moonlight
So give me moonlight
Who knows? I soon might
Give you my heart
Luna, luna, luna, lu...
Hey, Paulie, buddy. Hey, where are you goin'?
Take a hike, asshole.
You know, what was so important we had to stop off at the apartment for that?
I got a phone call from Chicago, from Barney. That was his end of it.
50 thousand? You just mailed $50,000 to some Irish retard?
Hey, don't be so fuckin' selfish, all right, Paulie?
I thought about this all week. Had to do the right thing.
Charlie, some thief is gonna hand the kid a rattle and he's gonna give him 50 large.
Shit. He sure as hell ain't gonna go out and party with it, Charlie.
- You're a selfish fuck, you know that? - "The right thing."
- That's for you. Grab a beer after work. - Thank you.
- What did you do? - What did I do? I tipped the guy.
- Big shot. - Charlie, I only gave him a buck, man.
What's so terrible? The poor victim stands in a closet breathing car fumes all day.
The job's a sentence. You gotta throw 'em a beanie sometimes to make their day.
Charlie, we made his day.
His week.
Big fuckin' shot you are, Paulie.
Why the hell do you wanna go to the grandstand? The clubhouse is nicer.
Hey, asshole, watch out, will ya?
The grandstand's where the regular guys are. The clubhouse is full of phoneys.
- I though we was goin' to the grandstand. - No, man.
The clubhouse is the only place to really see a race from.
You stay in the grandstand and you're with every garbage can walkin' the street.
You'll wind up with crabs over there, you know?
Hey, Charlie. That's on me, man. The midnight flight for Miami.
We're gonna make money here today, then we're gonna party on the beach.
We're gonna live like a couple of sports instead of busted suitcases.
Starry Hope. Ba-boom.
See "TR"? That means trainer.
- No kidding? - Yeah.
See where it says "F"? "F". That means filly.
They call girl horses fillies. And if you see a "G", that means gelding.
That's when they whack the horse's dick off. It's a memory.
- The balls, the balls. - The balls. The dick, man.
No, they whack the balls. They whack the balls off. They don't whack the dick off.
Yeah, OK.
Look at that pile of garbage she's up against.
There'll be a flock of seagulls following 'em around the track, man.
- What's goin' on with you today? - What?
You're acting really, uh, nervous.
I'm excited, man. We're gonna win money here today, Charlie. I feel it in my bones.
- How do you wanna bet her? - What do you mean, man?
What do you want to do? Go across the board?
Jesus Christ! Don't jinx her with place and show bets.
For once in your life, don't hedge, OK?
You got a chance to win here today, Charlie. Play to win.
Sometimes if you play safe, it don't hurt.
Charlie, think like a winner, OK?
That's what it takes to bounce back, and I should know, no?
Johnny black, rocks, man. What you havin', man?
- The usual. - J&B over here.
Starry Hope. Post position four. That's OK.
Let's see. OK, look here.
They tell you the jockey's colours so you can tell one horse from another.
OK, let's see. Orange, pink yuk...
- Pink what? - Yuk.
- What the fuck is a yuk? - Thing that goes around her neck.
Hey, stupid, that's a yoke.
- Yeah. - A pink yoke.
Yeah. Pink blocks on sleeves, orange cap with pink pompom and visser.
- Can you believe that get-up? - What's a visser?
- A visser. In front of the cap. - You always do this.
That's a visor. That's a yoke. You say "visser" and "yuk".
You get everything fucked up. You better bet on the right horse.
I'm worried about how the jock's gonna look.
The Cheese Man has him lookin' like some fag partyin' at Fire Island.
Forget the colours. Is this horse gonna win? Are we gonna make some money?
Is she gonna win? He asks me "Is she gonna win?"
You laughed when I told you about the champion gene, but she got it, man.
- The champion gene? - The groom who jerked her father off...
was not just winding his watch, OK?
Salut', Charlucc'.
- You're a very strange man, you know? - You'll be kissin' me at the finish line.
- You're a very strange man, Gibonni. - Salut', Sambrini.
Easy, baby.
In you go. In there. That's it.
Whoa. Attaboy.
- Come on, already. - (TV) They're all in line.
They'll all in line.
- Moving out to get the lead, Persian Rug. - Come on, Starry Hope.
Starry Hope moves up on the inside.
There goes Starry Hope now to get the lead.
Starry Hope. Starry Hope.
All right! Go, Starry Hope! Go, Starry Hope. Starry Hope.
Starry Hope. Starry Hope.
Watch, Paulie. Watch.
Come on, baby. Paulie, watch!
- Please. - Starry Hope, Starry Hope...
It's Starry Hope on the outside...
Go, Starry. Starry Hope.
- Tell me she won, Charlie. - This result is not official.
Tell me she won, Charlie. Tell me she won, man. Tell me she won, Charlie.
It's a photo.
(recites the Lord's Prayer rapidly)
Starry fucking Hope. Please, God.
Please, please, please. Please, God.
What do you wanna do? You wanna go somewhere? Go have a drink? Huh?
- I wanna go to Miami. - You wanna go to Miami?
Yeah. It's warm there, Charlie.
- Sit down. I gotta take a leak. - You gotta take a leak?
- Sit here. - OK. Hurry.
- All right. Just stay there. - OK, but hurry up.
Damn. Shit.
By a nose, man.
By a fucking nose.
Hey, you know, she ran her heart out though, no? What are you gonna do?
Be nice to get a photo of that finish. Blow it up, poster size.
Yeah. I don't need no pictures.
Hey, Paulie, money comes and it goes. Things are gonna work out.
You just gotta take 'em how they come, you know? You gotta be a...
good sport about it.
- Got a dollar? - You need 50 cents.
Here.
Thank you.
You didn't tip him. Poor son of a bitch stands in a booth all day long.
- Fuck him. What am I? Santa Claus? - Fuck him? Let me tell you somethin'.
Don't worry about it. When you connect, you're gonna connect to big bucks.
Me, I only connected with a lousy 20 grand.
Charlie.
I knew you kept some of Barney's money. I knew you weren't no dummy.
No, baby, I, uh, bet Starry Hope across the board.
That's why she lost! You jinxed her, Charlie!
You jinxed her, man.
Hey, Charlie, that's a hydrant. We can't park here.
Hey, give me a break. Want me to drive round the block?
- It's a $25 ticket, Charlie. - Hey, Paulie, it's worth every cent.
Hey, man, this is crazy. We ought to be on our way to Miami right this second.
- It's warm there, Charlie. - Let's have one drink, huh?
- OK, one drink. - Yeah.
- One. - Yeah.
Absolutely.
I'll have a Rémy, soda back.
- I'll have the same, Tony. - Things could be worse, huh?
Things could be worse. I mean, uh, I got the restaurant, after all.
To the restaurant.
- To the restaurant. - Salut', Charlucc'.
- OK, that's our one drink. Let's go. - Whoa, Paulie, what is the hurry?
Can we stay here, have a drink and relax a little bit? Huh? Huh?
Yeah.
By the way, I didn't ask. Uh...
- How's your pop doing? - Oh, good. Good, yeah.
- Good? Oh, hey. - He's doin' good.
- He'll be all right. - There's somethin' I gotta tell you.
Uh...
I'm really sorry about this whole mess, you know?
Hey, Paulie. Hey. Don't worry about it, all right?
OK? Things are gonna work out. I mean, aside from Diane leavin' and...
you know, what happened to your hand, it's gonna be all right.
- Hey, ci andiamo, huh? - For ever. Absolutely.
OK, that's it, Charlie. Let's go, man.
Put your money away. I got it.
Anthony.
- Keep it. - Can we please take a walk for a minute?
- What for? - There's somethin' I gotta tell you, man.
So tell me here.
Barney.
Uh...
Somethin' funny must have gone down up there in the Bronx, you know?
Those... those cops who grabbed Barney, you know?
Uh, they must have made a deal or somethin', Charlie.
Where you goin'? Where the fuck are you goin'? What are you talking about?
The Bed Bug knows about you, Charlie.
What?
You fuckin' little... You fuckin' rat!
Charlie... Fuckin' Superman would have broke, man.
Superman wouldn't have held out. Charlie, I was just so fuckin' scared.
Fuckin' bum. You're a fucking bum, Paulie.
Charlie, Charlie, we won money today, man.
We can go to Miami. We can go to Miami. Please, Charlie.
- You wanna know somethin'? - We can go to Miami.
You wanna know somethin', you piece of shit? Diane was right. You're no good.
You ain't no fucking good. You screwed me, Paulie.
Charlie, we could go to Miami.
(Eddie) Make your usual pick-up in your usual place. That's all that counts, no?
(Bunky) That was Bed Bug Eddie Grant.
It's September 21 st.
11.25pm.
Heading for my monthly pick-up on West Street.
From there, to Queens Village to deliver the money to Inspector Ed Burns,
whose voice will be on this tape later on.
Hope to be erasing this in Phoenix in about a year.
- This is a private club, pal. - Well, I'd like to see Eddie Grant.
He's in the back room.
You're Charlie Moran?
You're one of the scumbags that robbed my money.
You were brought up around here, no?
Carmine Street.
Same thing. And you know you owe the neighbourhood some respect.
People steal from Eddie Grant, it makes for a total breakdown.
No one knows right or wrong.
Before you know it, you got mulenyams movin' in.
- What the hell brings you in here? - A tape I took off a dead cop,
that'll hang you by your balls.
You walked in here to threaten me?
You're fuckin' right I walked in here to threaten you.
The last time somebody talked to me close to that was from the Village too.
I parcel-posted the scumbag home.
He didn't have the tape that could put you away for 20.
OK, let me give you some advice.
You're behavin' like a mammalucco. Capeesh?
You walk in here. You don't show the club no respect. You're actin' like a scumbag.
You're half Irish, so I make considerations.
I give you this for the tape.
I promised myself I'd wipe my ass with this hand.
And nobody, nobody but the Pope could walk out of here with his hand.
Mister, I am the Pope. This might be your church, but right now,
I'm the Pope of Greenwich Village, because I got a tape. All right?
I like you. You have balls. I don't get too mad at that.
Coffee, Eddie?
Three sugars, Eddie?
I already put your sugar in, Charlie.
Lye! I filled his fuckin' espresso with lye!
- You got one shot. Run! - What did you do? I had him.
What do you mean, what did I do? I went all the way for you. Come on.
OK, walk slow and be cool.
- Great. - Charlie, we got a shot here.
We got tickets for Miami.
Charlie, things could be a hell of a lot worse.
I mean, we got $20,000 in our pocket.
Things are lookin' up.
- You got a serious thinking disorder. - What are you talkin' about?
- What am I...? Yeah, things are lookin' up. - Absolutely.
I had him. I had him, Paulie.
Charlie, what I done back there, I done 100 per cent for you, man.
- For me, right. You tell me about it. - And another thing - you need me, man.
Without me along, you'd be nickel-and-diming it in ten minutes, man.
I'm the one with the moves. Absolutely.
The summer wind
Came blowin' in
From across the sea
It lingered there
To touch your hair
And walk with me
All summer long
We sang a song
And then we strolled that golden sand
Two sweethearts
And the summer wind
Like painted kites
Those days and nights
They went flyin' by
The world was new
Beneath a blue umbrella sky
Then softer than a piper man
One day it called to you
I lost you
I lost you to the summer wind
The autumn wind
And the winter winds
They have come and gone
And still the days
Those lonely days
They go on and on
And guess who sighs
His lullabies
Through nights that never end?
My fickle friend
The summer wind
Warm summer wind
Hm, the summer wind