Oh, the kingmaker.
The man behind the throne.
I'm beginning to suspect you don't like politicians.
You're no politician. They run for office. You're a walker.
Take a right at this gas station...
...because we are almost there.
Thank you.
Vinnie sure likes strange places.
It looks like Monday night in Key Largo.
He's impersonating Mafia.
Vinnie Zapatti's a joke to his uncle...
...but a dangerous joke.
As far as I'm concerned, they're all dangerous jokes.
Do me a favor and don't write them off just yet.
I said they were dangerous.
Wonder what Vinnie's doing in a place like this?
Wonder what we're doing in a place like this.
- This is it. - Where's our boy?
- I don't know. - Think Vinnie had a change of heart?
If he's a Zapatti, he has no heart.
- Let's go. - Don't turn around.
Marybeth, right?
Who's this?
The deputy mayor.
Deputy mayor? What do I need you for then?
Don't get smart. I'm the only chance you got.
All right. Let's go.
This a Searider?
What, you know boats?
I worked on a Shrimper like this.
This ain't no Searider. It's a piece of shit.
They call it a Surfrider.
I wanted a Searider, but my uncle wouldn't pop for it.
Your uncle like boats?
Who? Paulie?
Paulie wouldn't know a cleaver from a fucking cleat.
It was my dream, you know.
Free of the goombahs.
Run a charter in the islands.
Eddie was gonna help me.
You and Eddie? That's a strange marriage.
He was only gonna find clients.
I'll tell you something.
If I'd met him earlier, I'd never be in this mess.
If only Tino hadn't whacked Eddie.
Know why he was there that morning?
Santos wasn't there to take Tino down.
He was there to get information on the judge.
How do you know?
I was there that morning.
What information on the judge?
That you get with $ 10,000 and a plane ticket.
Come up with it by tomorrow.
This meeting is adjourned.
Let us bring you in.
We'll put you in the Witness Protection Program.
No, thanks. I got my own Witness Protection Program.
Morning. The sharks are already circling.
Another Zapatti washed up.
They fished him out of the 79th Street Basin.
Victim's hands were bound in a 3- inch chain, ship's chandlery type.
Forensics reveal blows...
...from a blunt instrument.
Where have you been?
- Had a busy night. - I'm sure you did.
Read this morning's operations printout?
What about it?
I was with Vinnie Zapatti last night.
He's dead because of Tino Zapatti's probation report.
Now there's four deaths.
They're connected.
- That's all I know... - That's all I wanna know!
- Just trying to circle the wagons. - Circle the wagons?
Who do you think you are?
Some gumshoe in a dime novel...
...loose-cannoning around the city?
Consorting with known mobsters!
Kevin, for God's sakes!
You're the mayor's right-hand!
What are you fucking around for?
You see this desk?
It belonged to Fiorello La Guardia, "the little flower. "
He was about 5 foot tall.
Used to read the funny papers to children over the radio...
...and was about the best mayor the city ever had.
Know what La Guardia said?
"Why is it every time you can do some good...
...the nice people come in and mess you up?"
Be nice. Don't mess me up.
- Did I wake you up? - You kidding?
I've been trying to figure out how to raise $ 10,000.
The hook is in, and I'm close.
Vinnie is Eddie's passport...
... to an honorable death. - Vinnie's dead.
- Murdered. - What?
Vinnie Zapatti's dead.
He washed up near the 79th Street Basin.
- Oh, God. - Heads up.
Call when you get to your office.
Taxi!
Bronx. Take East River Drive.
Now, look.
I don't have a lot of time.
I cleared it with the captain. Take all the time you need.
You're pulling rank on me?
Still looking for a new shoe size?
I know all the jokes. "Cement C."
What I need now are the straight lines.
The police commissioner works for the mayor.
- What is your point? - Trust me or fuck you.
Stand up.
I just need to see...
...how many people...
...that I'm talking to.
It's just me.
All right.
Eddie called me from Manhattan South.
The night before?
He wanted me to come up there with him.
You didn't go.
- You did the right thing. - No, I didn't!
He had no business there without a ghost.
That should have been me plus backups.
But Eddie was such a hothead...
I mean...
...the kind that never cools off.
What do you want to tell me?
There was another probation report.
This one...
...it set Tino up for the max, 10 to 20.
What happened to it?
I don't know.
Who wrote it?
That's all I got.
The probation officer...
Name?
James Wakeley. You won't find him on Leonard Street.
Where is he?
Upstate, working parole.
I told you not to come up here.
You made a long trip for nothing.
Do you want to tell me the truth now or under oath?
You looking to grow brass balls, miss?
I'm doing well without them.
Do you want a subpoena, or may we continue?
What brought you here from Leonard Street?
New York State parole officer. Better pay and pension.
- Nicer surroundings. - Think so?
- What happened to Tino Zapatti? - He's dead, isn't he?
I'm talking about two years ago.
He got probation.
What sentence did you recommend?
Ten to 20.
I saw the rap sheet.
Tino was pushing drugs to kids.
Not doing it himself, but having kids deal for him.
Weapon from a previous homicide?
Disappeared in the second report.
Who ordered it?
That I don't know.
Why didn't you ask?
Sudden urge to move to the country. I forgot about it.
Now if you'll excuse me...
...you'd better get out of here.
My lumbago tells me that snow is coming.
You better hurry.
Buffalo gets socked in pretty fast.
Thank you for your time.
Watch your step. It's slippery.
Thank you.
- How long? - About an hour.
You don't want to suffocate in a tunnel.
They got to dig one out ahead.
Meanwhile, enjoy the snow.
We can't eat snow.
- Try that diner over there. - Any good?
Lemon pudding's not bad.
Be back in half an hour.
Like a sauna in here.
- My toes are like icicles. - Warming up?
Slowly.
What'll it be?
A burger, fries and a Coke.
How is the lemon pudding?
- Homemade. - I'll give it a shot.
- To go. - You got it.
Say, why is this called The Floyd Diner instead of Floyd's Diner?
Because you're in Floyd, New York.
Who'd have thunk it?
Floyd, New York. Like Clyde, New Jersey.
Could you imagine spending your life in a place like this?
I can.
I grew up in one.
Ferriday, Louisiana.
There's something special about small-town life.
So what are you doing in New York?
Every Louisiana boy catches politics like a disease.
I didn't know that.
That's a fact, and I was no exception.
After law school, I headed where?
Floyd, New York.
Washington. Leapfrogged...
...from staffer to congressional assistant...
...until the mayor of New York City came down to testify.
And he gave a speech that day...
...that will stay with me for the rest of my life.
I went up to him and told him I admired him and what he stood for...
...and while I was thanking him...
...he asked me if I liked stone crabs.
Halfway through dinner, I had a job.
At the end of dinner, I felt like I had a new home.
And here we go.
I hear the curve in your voice.
I've been with Pappas for 3 years...
...and I finally found a place, where you can make a difference.
Well, you did.
You made a difference to Elaine Santos.
You cleared Eddie's name, got their pension.
Yeah, but not so fast.
We gotta keep Wakeley on ice till I find that report.
We don't need the report. We just take Wakeley's deposition.
No, that's all you need.
I gotta get that report, see where it leads.
What if, while you're playing detective...
...Wakeley decides it'd be healthier to disappear?
Then we're left with nothing.
How's Elaine supposed to feed her kids?
That's a risk we gotta take.
I don't need you to get Wakeley's deposition.
If you talk to him on your own...
...you'll feel the full weight of the mayor's office upon you.
It's not a pleasant feeling.
You're a mean prick, you know that?
Where I come from, that's a compliment.
Hold on a minute.
To what?
Your ambition? John Pappas' coattails?
Burger, fries, Coke and a lemon pudding.
I'll take these.
The mayor's boy gets the lemon pudding.
Mr. Schwartz?
Kevin Calhoun.
I've just been talking to a friend of yours.
- I've got the probation report. - Where are you?
Right around the corner. At Franklin and Hudson.
Schwartz?
- George. - Abe called me.
He's in the back.
That's the only way in. The back door's gated.
All right.
I got a couple marriages.
Abe.
It's your play.
Throw the card for me. You've been practicing all your life.
Freddie, give us a minute.
He's dead!
Schwartz is dead. I heard it on the phone. I was...
Get ahold of yourself. It's okay.
You were right.
You knew it from the minute we saw him that day.
It wasn't kosher. There was a second report.
That was only a feeling.
Now it's a fact. 5 people are dead.
Stern looks so judicial. How could he be so corrupt?
The sweater unravels.
I'll give you one this time.
"The only thing new in this world is the history you don't know. "
New Testament?
Harry Truman.
Judge Stern's a good man.
He's good? 5 people are dead!
- What's your point? - You throw the book at the guy.
Embrace Detective Santos.
Max death settlement for her. Medal of Honor for the deceased.
I'll make sure Leslie makes the morning editions with it.
So you got this all figured out?
- That's my job, isn't it? - That's cold.
That's cold.
I mean you don't just...
It's more complicated than that.
Forgive me. I know the two of you are old friends.
Be careful how you judge people.
Most of all, friends.
You don't sum up a man's life in one moment.
There are no cold answers, are there?
There's no simple yes or no.
A man's life is not the bricks. It's the mortar.
It's the stuff that lays between. The stuff...
The stuff you can't see.
I've known Walter my whole life. God! He's a decent man.
- He's a good man. - But this is tough stuff.
This is body-bag stuff. Tell me if there's some other way.
There isn't.
Die's been cast.
It was cast a long time ago.
Go easy.
Give him a blindfold and have mercy.
Walter Stern was a tough man, but he was fair.
We give back the same. No?
And you be careful.
Keep George with you. Let him drive.
I gotta go in here.
I knew James Wakeley would surface...
...just as I knew when that bullet hit that boy...
...it would keep traveling.
And find its way...?
To me.
If only it had found me first.
If only I could have stepped in front of him.
Regrets are pathetic, aren't they?
I was tired of being the white-shoe litigator.
Defending the arbitrageurs...
...and the '80s go-go boys.
All it took was $50,000 to change my life.
Fifty thousand, and the judgeship was mine.
Absurd, isn't it?
The mayor has the highest regard for you, judge.
And I for him.
Your resignation in about six months would be appropriate.
Six months, did you say?
How about six hours?
This is the scene at the D.A. 's office...
... where city officials have been brought in for questioning...
... in the story surrounding the resignation of Judge Walter Stern.
After the checks and balances rap, we'll go into:
"Revelations are not unprecedented.
Consider Judge Wachtler, a man of impeccable credentials...
...who fell subject to... " - Take it out.
- The whole thing? - Leave the Wachtler stuff in there.
- Just say it plain. - You know the rest.
Sharks are getting hungry.
Give them a one-minute sign.
Look.
Lean and hungry, even the fat ones.
Any news?
Got anything?
Thirty seconds, ladies and gentlemen. Thirty.
Convention's coming to town.
You gonna be all right?
Thanks for asking. I'll be fine.
Damage control, remember. Damage control.
- You look good. - Of course. I'm the mayor.
Lyndon Johnson said:
"Everybody will give you ideas on how to get out of trouble...
...cheaply and fast.
And they all come down to this:
Deny your responsibility. "
John F. Kennedy said:
"An error doesn't have to become a mistake...
...until you refuse to correct it. "
There were explosive developments...
... with the incident at Broadway and Marcy.
The revelation of a missing probation report...
... may result in the handing up of indictments...
... by the grand jury of Supreme Court Judge Stern...
... and Brooklyn Democratic leader, Frank Anselmo.
His connections...
... to Mafia chieftain, Paul Zapatti, are certain to be examined.
Sources say the career of the political boss is over...
... and a long prison term is in the offing.
Chester?
Chester, what are you doing?
Did Mommy let you out? Did she?
And how was your day today?
Give me a kiss.
You okay, Frank?
Fine, sweetheart. I'm fine.
It's been on the TV all morning.
Yeah, I know. I heard.
I fixed you some osso buco.
I had a feeling you might come home for lunch today.
It smells good.
I'll just go get the clothes.
That machine's thunking again.
Paulie!
How are you, Frank?
- I'm good, considering. - Yeah, of course.
Of course.
Coffee?
Nettie's down with the laundry.
Stay for lunch? Osso buco.
Osso buco.
Nettie fixes it piemontese.
Peppers and everything.
No, that's all right. I had my lunch.
- Can I get coffee? - No, thanks.
So.
What do you think?
Well, same old thing.
This time it's this Calhoun guy.
I never liked him.
- He's a cracker. - Of the worst kind.
He's out of here tomorrow.
No, I don't think so.
What are you talking about?
He's a reed.
You push him and he bends.
Not this one.
This one's a terrier.
I had a dog like him once.
I went to have him put down.
He jumped out of my arms at the vet's and took off for the park.
Sometimes I still think I see him out there...
...watching me...
...gnawing on an old bone.
Excuse me.
Hello, Nettie. Can I help you with the basket?
No, no. I didn't know Frank was expecting you.
Due espressi?.
Maybe later.
99 out of 100 times, we can beat something like this.
I don't like the odds.
We go back a long way.
I know, I know.
I tried to close the door, Frank.
Couldn't get it shut.
- What do you want me to do? - Take the pressure off yourself.
Here's the thing. They'll tell you:
"Yeah, yeah, sure.
You have the key to the cell. Go ahead. "
But you won't be able to open it without singing.
You're a singer.
Give me a chance, and I'll show you how quiet I can be.
It's out of my hands, Frank.
Do the right thing, will you?
- Make it easy for yourself. - Frank, honey. Lunch!
And your family.
Senator, I guarantee this is nothing but a blemish on a great metropolis.
The party will never see that blemish in June.
All it'll see is the Garden, the Plaza, the Waldorf...
...electricity, excitement, fun.
Catch the noon news in D.C. He's only magnificent.
Four extra classes graduate the academy this year.
Unions? Did I hear you say unions?
Every municipal contract...
Harriet. You watching this?
World Bank interest you more?
Want to read about the convention in the Chicago Tribune?
Well, okay. Okay then.
Wait till you see his performance on the 6:00 news.
When the train leaves the station...
...the Times, good and gray lady that she is, will want to be onboard.
What happened to you?
I called you. You were down in the basement.
I'm gonna get a washer at Orchard Supply...
...stop the machine from thunking.
I'll eat when I get home.
Okay.
Be careful.
Of course.
Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
Though your dreams be tossed
And blown
Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone
I know the water's rising.
It's up to the floorboards. But I guarantee you...
...we're bailing it out faster than we're taking it in.
Let me call you back.
I'll call you when we can talk at length.
Anselmo just killed himself.
And this is the original probation report.
The one we were looking for.
They found it in Anselmo's car.
The police commissioner gave it to me.
He didn't want it ending up as tomorrow's headline.
"Tino Zapatti.
Recommended prison sentence: 10 to 20 years. "
- Check this one out? - This one's kosher.
The story ends where it began.
White-shoe lawyer, Brooklyn clubhouse boss.
Walter Stern and Frank Anselmo.
Don't see them in the same room.
Something's still wrong, you know?
I know.
Before we nail up the house for the season...
...one more door to close.
Afternoon, Mr. Calhoun.
- Sorry, the judge left for the day. - Of course you're sorry.
Is that your signature?
We record the receipt of all documents.
What about phone calls? You keep a log of them?
Take a minute for me, please.
Look up the dates of Frank Anselmo's calls to this office.
You're in the wrong pew, Mr. Calhoun.
Frank Anselmo never called this office.
What about the mayor?
He's in his dressing room, Mr. Calhoun.
Where you been? I was looking for you.
Trying to get to Senator Marquand.
Well, he got through to me.
They're moving the convention to Miami.
Miami? Why?
They like Miami.
Glamour. Whoopi Goldberg, Madonna just bought houses in South Beach.
Maybe we can nominate them.
I thought it was all cut.
Cut, not cut. Politics. Nothing's cut.
Where you going?
I'm gonna pay my respects to Nettie Anselmo.
Do you think that's wise?
- What's wise got to do with it? - The perception...
Fuck perception!
Talking menschkeit.
Stuff between men.
The "there" that's there.
The thousand telephone calls. The bouquets and the brickbats.
The space between a handshake.
You know.
Stuff that goes with you to your grave.
There's space between a handshake for right and wrong?
Why are you pressing me?
I'm looking for an answer.
You want an answer?
Okay, Pappy.
Think of it as colors.
There's black and there's white.
And in between is mostly gray. That's us.
Gray's tough because it's not as simple as black and white.
And for the media, certainly not as interesting.
But it's who we are.
What are you gonna do now?
You mean "we. "
We'll fight the sons of bitches.
We're gonna come out swinging.
We're gonna tell them, "Hey!
We're only human. Everybody makes mistakes.
Frank Anselmo is dead.
He was a friend...
...but the last of the clubhouse bosses is gone. "
We're gonna clean up the Augean stables.
We'll go to Miami...
...have them on their knees, begging me to make the keynote speech.
And then?
A short sojourn to Albany...
...followed by a long one at the White House.
If I didn't know better, I'd be bursting with admiration.
I thought I'd come in and find you on your knees.
Instead, you're turning adversity into triumph.
That's just a reflex. An old habit of mine.
But it's still good to hear you say it.
The way you say it too.
"Adversity into triumph. "
It's good to know you still believe in me.
Did I say that?
I don't know. I thought you did.
Don't fathers listen to their sons?
How is your father these days?
I haven't heard you mention him for a while. Where is he?
In a nursing home in Crowley, Louisiana.
Plays dominoes with orderlies.
Fulminates over his Cream of Wheat.
Don't be too hard on him.
We can't dictate our finishes.
I don't like the sound of that.
Of course you don't.
Because underneath all that need to believe...
...under all the concrete you poured into my pedestal...
...something is crying to get out.
What?
You know I called Judge Walter Stern.
Anselmo called me.
I knew the Mafioso had called him, but in this business, you don't trade names.
And I called Walter.
That's all there was to it.
I was doing Anselmo a favor.
Run caution lights all my life.
This time you ran a red, and someone cut across the intersection.
A cop and a 6-year-old child.
That's with me forever.
That's not good enough.
Not good enough?
You think I don't know that?
I hope so, John.
Scares me when you call me John.
Why's that?
Because I...
...I thought a minute ago we were off to the White House.
I thought I could feel you come aboard.
The old menschkeit.
Horseshit.
Menschkeit is horseshit.
It's 120 years of graft and sweetheart contracts...
...featherbeds and inside information...
...and everywhere people in power gather to carve up the turf.
That's your menschkeit.
It's horseshit. You know where you can put it.
Maybe spread it over the fields.
If we cross our fingers, maybe a flower will grow.
It has.
Out of all this crap...
...you emerged.
- You're the only voter I care... - I'm getting that "con" feeling.
- Like you're copping a plea. - No, come on. No plea.
I'm just a pol who kept rolling along until he ran into a stone wall.
You were that wall.
And I realized...
...just like me when I was a kid.
Young, ambitious, go-getter, but fair.
Trading up, but always for the right causes. You're doing good.
Not putting money in your pocket. Just trying to maintain your position.
Your power.
What good are you to the people without it?
But down deep...
...you know there's a line you can't cross.
And after a thousand trades...
...and one deal too many...
...the line gets rubbed out.
I had the fire in the belly just like you, Kevin.
And the odd thing is, I still have it.
Never left me.
I had the dream...
...and I had the weight.
Like one of those guys before me said:
"If a sparrow dies in Central Park, I feel responsible. "
Well said. I feel that way.
I was gonna take that feeling with me...
...all the way to Washington.
The things you could have done.
Fucking things I could've done.
You're gonna take yourself out, John.
You're gonna take yourself out.
Take a long vacation in Greece.
Pick up the law again.
Go the way of William O'Dwyer.
He fucked up and played ambassador to Mexico.
I'm not that ambitious.
Then suck it up, and find some other way.
Listen to you.
I thought I'd see a boy's tears.
The tears are there.
Just can't see them right now.
You got the stuff, Pappy.
I love to see it in a guy.
Kevin Calhoun for City Council.
Voters of the 6th District...
... come meet your next city councilman, Kevin Calhoun.
Kevin Calhoun. How are you?
Kevin Calhoun.
How about some literature?
Kevin Calhoun. How are you, sir?
Good afternoon.
I'm running for 6th District. We got some important issues.
We need to clean this place up. I'd love your vote.
I'm running for City Council.
Hello. Kevin Calhoun.
- Running for City Council. - I'll vote for you.
Good afternoon, ma'am. Will you be voting?
- You're running in the 6th District? - I am.
Well, 6th District is my district.
I'm very interested in who'll represent me.
I'm interested that you're interested. As Huey Long once said, and I quote:
"If you got a friend, you got a vote. "
- Did he say that? - He sure did.
He told me to move to the 6th District. He said the people are special.
- So do I have your vote? - You can count on it.
That's one.
No. More than one, actually.
I hear Elaine Santos is ready to stand up for you.
Sounds like a groundswell.
I wish I could tell you I won...
... but I got thrashed by a Dominican from 104th Street.
I got branded an outsider, and I was never in it.
But I'll be back in 2 years, and I'll win.
You know why?
I'm willing to be lucky.
And if you're willing to be lucky...
... New York will give you a chance.
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