[Tubbs On Speaker] Yeah, I could go for galletas, chicharones, malta.
No, no. Get me guayaba con galletas.
Man, that's a little over the top, Rico.
[Laughs] You wanna just stop and eat? Why not?
'Cause if you bring crackers in here, you're not gonna be able to get those crackers out of the carpet.
[Laughs] There are more important things to worry about.
Let other people worry about, uh, gettin' crackers out of the carpet.
Oye, Paco. Stop by the first bodega you see.
You don't get the point, huh? I get it.
No, no, no, no, no. It's the details. The tiny details.
You take care of those, big things take care of themselves.
Hey, Paco, hand me the buster.
Buster?
[Loud Whirring]
[Man On Speaker] Now, tell me. Tell me if you can't eat off of that rug. Go ahead.
[Laughing]
What can I say? What can I say? The man is a dummy, you know?
Be a miracle if he can remember the cigarettes, the guayaba con galletas and the nose spray.
Now, how can I trust him to keep dope off of the floor? Huh?
It's a tough life, huh, pal?
- Man, I'm humiliated. - What you talkin' about, man? He's always got cash.
Look, I can take this with pride.
The door. Close the door.
Hurry. Party time, Mr. Limousine.
Your money.
You got an exemption? Your cash!
All right.
- I'll take that. - There's nothing in the case.
Something for you in there. The armrest compartment.
Here? Yeah.
Here's the lights, man. Okay, I'll take the case now.
- Be satisfied with the 20 grand. - I'll kill you!
Okay. Take the case.
[Man On Earpiece] Come on, your guns. Hurry up.
I'm not packin', man. I'm not packin'.
Okay, get out of here. Open the door!
[Tires Screeching] What are you, crazy?
Stupid! [Spits]
¡Oye, Pacol ¡Pacol
You're dead! You hear me? Dead!
Get in the car!
I'm gonna kill 'em. I'm gonna kill 'em forever.
[Engine Starts]
?? [Whistling]
The key to this guy is in that briefcase.
He turned green when they took it. He called it his business.
He acted like they took the whole building or something.
What else do we have on him?
He's got an obsession for details.
He likes to do his own vacuuming.
All right, so we got a major crack manufacturer...
gives up 20K in cash happily...
and considers dying for a briefcase.
What's in it?
Maybe business details, manufacturing plans.
More like a distribution chain or a list of wholesalers.
So he'll be lookin' for it as hard as we will.
Get to it first. Keep me posted.
All right, gang, what have we got?
We got a couple of guys who make up to look exactly alike.
They hit a limo, only the guy is a major crack dealer.
Brown shorts for your average mugger. These guys do it like trick-or-treat.
So what does that tell ya?
It's crazy. Yeah, I'd say.
Wait a minute.
There can only be so many places in this town that have professional makeup.
[Bells Dinging]
Look at this place.
[Screaming] [Laughing]
Come on! That's not funny! Do you want me to shoot it?
[Laughing Continues] Oh, that's not funny.
[Laughs] Look, don't worry about Ricky Lee. I fed him earlier.
Oh, yeah? My name's Ochborg. What can I do for you?
Uh, um, Officer Calabrese.
Oh, you're the lady that called earlier about my list.
No, I'm the lady that called.
You're the lady that called about my customer list.
You know, I'm the only place in all of Miami that sells the kind of makeup you described on the phone.
Yeah. So?
So, uh, I have a list. Would you like to see it? Yeah.
Great. There it is.
Oh, great. [Laughing]
Oh, fool. [Laughing]
You. Oh, boy.
Wait a minute. This is, uh, all of Florida.
You think you could narrow it down a bit— like, uh, Coconut Grove?
Oh, oh, sure. Um, come here. Uh—
No, no, no, no. I'm not gonna do any more jokes.
It's on Palmetto Drive. Biscayne Epicure and Dinner Theater.
We gonna eat or see a movie?
It's a dinner theater. They do plays.
Oh. We're gonna eat and see a play.
Mm-hmm. You're gonna go see a play.
That's why Ruiz and his friends are with us, you know?
Didn't you know? They're the new theater critics for the Miami Sun.
[Laughs] Congratulations, Ruiz. I didn't know he could write.
No? [Laughs]
The men who took my case were wearing theatrical makeup.
If I don't get that case back, you're out of a job, buddy.
Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who was a German filmmaker,
got so jacked up that his heart gagged.
Before that he said, "Film is the language of the illiterate."
Right idea. Wrong medium.
You see, film belongs to the dilettante children of millionaires.
Theater is the language of the illiterate.
This is the first chance you get at social expression that won't land yourself in the joint.
That, homeboys, is a feeling you ain't had before.
Okay, let's go. Let's get that board set up. [Whistles]
[Chattering]
Hey, Crockett.
So what about it, Mikey? What is it? You got a death wish or something?
Hey, not me, man. I'm rehabilitated.
Welcome to the ex-con theater of life,
a place to come through, you know, when you get cut loose.
Work out the stress, understand yourself.
Mm-hmm. Well, maybe you want to make me understand why a smart guy like you...
would want to do something crazy like ripping off Don Gallego.
Life's a puzzle. [Laughs]
I thought it was a stage. [Laughing]
I'm gonna need that attaché case.
You ought to come down off the ceiling, man.
No games, Mike. You got a warrant, Crockett?
I know this guy. I busted him three times in the last five years.
I've got the warrant.
?? [Whistling]
[Chattering]
That guy with the white socks and slippers on fits the description, but I wouldn't swear to it.
You want a warrant, Mikey?
Come on, man. Make it easy on us.
We just want the case and what's inside it.
If there's any money in it, I don't give a damn. You can have it.
I just need the information in the case.
Your friend's hallucinating.
Mikeyl I know you took it. I know you did.
And if Don Gallego finds you out, he's gonna kill you.
Why don't you wake up, Crockett? I don't know any Gallego.
I ain't seen no case. I ain't been in no limo.
And I could care less about your problems. I got my own.
What limo? Did I say limo?
You're under arrest, buddy.
Mikey.
Sometimes you are such a chump.
Wait! You can't do that!
[Tubbs] Back off, chumpl You can't do it.
Back off! Wait. Wait. You can't do that.
Come on. Leave him alone, man! They're gonna keep him in!
Leave him alone! All right, Mikey, get up there. You know the drill.
Yeah, squawk or walk! That's the game. He's my brother! Leave him alone!
Mmm, leather. Mikey, cool it, man.
Leave him alone. Come on. Hey, that's a good way to lose some teeth!
Hey! Get outta there!
Get over here.
Come on, man. Hey, they're gonna— They're gonna keep him this time.
You just couldn't leave it alone.
There was an easy way to do this, chump. He don't do things the easy way.
Neither does he. So I misread you.
We're gonna search this, boys. Make it easy.
Here on the streets you give me the speech about freedom.
About the future, promise and gain.
It goes to the ear, ringin' of fear.
What falls on my body is pain.
To maintain my frail form, to weather the storm,
I respond to your babble in manifest rabble.
Ajunkie, a thief, a mugger I've been.
Committed every known sin.
I murdered. I raped. I maimed.
I told you what to do with my shamel
You say this gives you the right to my life!
But what I've got to give up is existing in strife!
You throw me away, forget that I've beenl
But you nurture my seed, and I will come back...
again, again, againl
Again! Again! Again! Again! Come on, Mikey.
Again! Again! Again! [Indistinct]
If he hid the briefcase here, we're not gonna find it.
I hear that.
Damn. We're gonna need a unit to shake this place down.
Hmm.
Forget that I've been!
But I'll come back! You nurture my seed!
But I'll come back! Come on.
Again! Again! Again! Again!
Again! Again! Again!
The man's got snakes in his head.
And Gallego on his tail.
So what is it, Mikey?
Hmm. You get tired of the good life?
You don't know my life, man.
You've won every major theater award.
Three years ago, you were earning $20,000 a month.
Yeah, well, I make that much in one night now.
Is it gonna make a difference— like with this guy gone, there's no more crack?
This guy kills kids.
Everybody dies.
[Sighs]
I'm putting Switek undercover at the theater.
I want you and Crockett back on Gallego.
Yeah, replace that gel, and then that light just a hair over.
Just switch it over a hair. Right. Right. Okay, now bring it—
Excuse me.
Yo, what do you want? Hold tight a second.
I got out of Kansas State on an early release.
My dad died, and I'm here to work off some stress.
Oh, look, man. We can barely keep it together for ourselves.
Well, if that's the problem, uh, I got a couple of bucks I can kick in for food.
Welcome to Mi Vida Loca, partner.
Thank you very much. [Hammer Cocks]
Hey, these must be the lights I'm paying for.
Gentlemen.
I...
have been robbed...
by two men...
wearing makeup.
These men took a case...
necessary...
to my business.
So I hope...
that you understand when I say...
that if I don't get this case back within 24 hours,
I will kill the men who took it.
What's your name?
Con— Conejo.
Are you one of these men? Shh. [Muttering]
Don't lie, okay?
You don't have to lie.
You know why?
'Cause I'm gonna give you three hours.
And if I don't get that case back by tonight,
I'm gonna kill you.
Tonight.
Well, this oughta give Mikey plenty to write about. [Sighs]
If Mikey doesn't get killed first.
[Phone Rings]
Yeah, it's Tubbs.
Yeah? Who?
Damn!
What is it? Mikey just posted bail.
Oh, man. Thanks.
[Handset Settles In Cradle] Who was it? One of Gallego's men?
No, his agent.
You're so fine to me, Marty. Oh, wake up, Mikey. The party's over.
Party's never over. It's over.
You have an autobiography due in six weeks. You written a word yet?
It'll come to me. It's an autobiography, Mikey!
It's already come to you, and gone, just like the advance.
Now, you have to give him one thing or the other.
Hey, man, I'm sorry to see you like this.
Don't you patronize me.
The world opened up to you, and you spit in its face.
It's no longer cool, Mikey. It's pathetic.
I'm not writin'a bookl
'Cause I don't live in the past, manl
You worried about the advance? I spent it one night!
Gave the Lower East Side a shot of life! [Engine Starts]
They want their money, they can sell my organs in a couple of months!
And the street lamps...
can't light the potholes in the sidewalk...
or the traffic jams at night.
The hollerin'...
and the horrors,
silent,
except inside my head.
So I go deaf in destitution...
and make the floor my bed.
I can lie on the two-lane blacktop,
embrace the wheels of chance.
[Thunder Rumbling] One more blast of dying,
and my soul will live forever,
'cause my body lives inside my mind.
[Thunder Rumbling] When you're dead,
you're dead, Mikey.
What's it gonna be? Is that what you want?
I don't know, man!
My soul is sloggin' through oatmeal!
[Grunting]
You had it all, Mikey.
You had it all.
You know, I really wanna do business with you.
'Cause your supply has a reputation of being good.
But I can't wait forever.
I got a hundred-key order to fill.
What's your name again? Cooper.
Well, Cooper, there's only a slight problem.
I don't jeopardize myself,
and I don't jeopardize my people.
And until I get that case back,
there's no business to be done.
Well, in that case,
I think that Don Gallego is retired.
Well? He shut down.
It's that important to him? So it seems.
No deal. He's not sellin'...
until he gets his briefcase back.
If he gets it back, then he's willing to deal. 100 keys of crack next week.
He's also onto Mikey.
I don't think we can wait for Switek to come up with something.
I say we gotta press real hard on Mikey.
Do it. Keep Switek's cover.
Guys, bring up number seven.
Okay, lock up number seven. Bring up number four.
Hey, what are you doin'? That's not number four.
?? [Singing]
?? [Stops]
What is this? Huh?
Who in the hell are you, and what are you doing?
I'm with them. What are you, a new homeboy?
Yeah.
What are you doing?
Elvis. That ain't Elvis, man.
That's a nickel-and-dime impersonation of an Elvis impersonator.
You wanna see Elvis, huh? You wanna see Elvis?
I'll show you Elvis. Watch.
You got somethin' for this, Dr. Kick?
Huh? Yeah.
Yeah!
I am the king.
[Sobbing]
[Continues]
Mama. Mama.
Mama, Mama, I hate this place.
They love me till I got nothin'.
Mommy.
I can't do this no more.
[Sobbing]
Mikey, Mikey! Mikey, Mikey.
Pleasel Mikeyl Call a doctorl Somebody.
Please call a doctor!
[Crockett] "I love this deadly thing.
"Big white wall of locomotion tightening my veins.
"Independence Day in my arm.
"Wild mousin' up my shoulder and into my chest.
SweetJesus, make me stop."
You did that good.
Man, how can you be so sensitive and such an idiot about Don Gallego?
Pito, get him his own copy.
Look at this. That's so neat, it looks like an altar compared to the rest of this joint.
It is an altar.
He copies everything.
Do you worship your copy machine, Mikey?
I convey what I see.
Get off it, will ya. You can't see your hand in front of your face, man.
Don Gallego was here, and he's comin' back. He's gonna do you.
I'll eat Gallego. I'll chew him up.
I'll eat you. I do not exist in fear.
No! You know where you exist? Self-indulgence.
And stupidity.
Other people are gonna die, Mikey.
Let me talk to him in private. I did time with the brother.
I just need to talk to him in private. Just a minute.
Excuse me.
You know how much that case is worth? We got the big jackpot, man. Now, where is it?
It's a dream, man. It's a dream.
A dream, man? I ain't lived with you in the joint for nothin', man.
Hey, man, don't get nuts.
Give it to me. I'll deal with Gallego.
You don't know how to handle business, Conejo.
What are you talkin' about? I'll take care of it.
Mikey. Mikey, just lay down, man. I'll take care of business.
I'm all right. I don't want you doin' nothin'. Let me handle it.
You ain't gonna make it to the street.
I'll go to the moon then. Watch me.
[Laughing]
This guy really gets to you, doesn't he?
First time I busted him,
six months later he sent me a thank-you note.
[Chuckles]
And tickets to a play he had written...
about goin' cold turkey in the joint.
Called TheJolt.
I'm tellin' you, Rico, his stuff is—
[Sighs] So real, so honest.
Tells you so much.
You find a— You find a light in a guy like that, and you wanna cut through the crap—
Sonny. Sonny, man.
- Once a junkie— - Yeah.
Always— Ajunkie.
Gallego will kill Mikey.
Look.
That's where I found it. You know Mikey. He copies everything.
He's in trouble now.
Whoa, whoa. Wait, wait, wait, wait.
You work for Gallego.
If I was workin' for him, you'd be dead right now.
I'm a cop. You're a cop?
I'm here to help. Help who?
[Phone Rings]
It's like talk radio around here, huh?
Yeah. Crockett. You found what?
Yeah, hurry up. We're waitin'.
Switek thinks he's found copies of what's in the case.
He figures Mikey's on his way to sell it.
Hey, Paco, wait up. Wait up.
Stop the car.
Don Gallego. I can help you, man.
You can help me? Yeah, yeah, man.
How can you help me? Um, I can take you to your case.
If you pay a premium.
Now, you know what happens if you're lyin'.
Hey, man, look. I'm not lyin', man. Come on. Let's go.
Okay. But you gotta ride in the trunk, okay?
What you talkin' about, ridin' in the trunk?
You stink. You smell. I got velour in there.
You think I want stink on my velour?
I'm not ridin' in nobody's trunk, you know.
You're not?
[Lock Clicks]
Your friend doesn't mind.
You blew it, Conejo. I had this man's money.
You was born stupid.
You die stupid.
Come here, okay? I wanna talk to you for a second, okay? Come on.
Listen, Gallego. What?
You know, maybe we could, like, talk, you know? Mm-hmm. Yeah.
About what? Work out somethin'.
What? You know, like, uh—
What if I turn over the rest of the papers?
You wanna tell me somethin'? Why don't you do somethin' with your hair?
Hey, come on, man. What are you doin'?
Looks a mess. What are you doin', man?
You should do somethin' with your hair.
[Grunts]
This guy's got contacts as far north as Bangor, Maine.
Look at this. Higher Light Funeral Home.
Higher Light Funeral Home and Higher Light Funeral Home.
How many funerals is this guy payin' for?
How many of'em cost $75,000?
Where's Mikey?
Well, I'm pretty sure him and his pal took the case to Gallego.
Why the funeral home?
It's a cover for a crack lab.
The embalming room acts as a lab.
And they got cold vaults there to store the property in.
Yeah, and a crematorium to reduce it to ash...
if it even looked like it was gonna become evidence.
And nobody just wanders in there by accident.
Get on Gallego now. I'll get the warrants for the mortuary.
[Woman Screaming] Oh, my Godl
Oh!
Ohl Heyl
Oh, Godl Lookl
There's a body!
Oh, man.
?? [Man Singing]
Get some help.
I'll kill you, man. I'll kill you.
Oh, Mikey.
?? [Continues]
[Police Radio, Indistinct]
[Phone Rings]
Crockett.
Yeah, we're on our way.
He's at the funeral home. Let's go.
?? [Continues]
Switek, where are we?
[Switek On Walkie-talkie] Waiting for backup.
- Trudy? - We're in position.
A shoe.
Did the man say "shoe"?
Yeah, it's a shoe. It's from the trunk of Gallego's limo.
Wanna bet on who it fits?
Look at that.
Guys, check out the rooftop.
[Gina] Where there's smoke, there's bound to be something burning in there.
All right. We can't wait. Let's go.
- What about backup? - The hell with backup. Let's go.
Freeze!
[Siren Wailing]
Drop your weapons!
Freezel Miami Vicel Drop your gunsl
[Switek] Freezel
Sonnyl
[Shouting In Spanish] Let's go!
[Shouting In Spanish]
Let's gol
Move! Move! Move!
Rico? Ricol
[Tubbs] Go, manl
Switek, take him down! Let's go!
Boy, I tell you. I'm gettin' sick and tired of this clean-up detail. You know what I mean?
[Shouts In Spanish] Open it up!
Hit it! [Gas Ignites]
Freeze! Don't shoot.
Shut it down! Shut it down! Put it down! Now!
Against the wall. Up against the wall.
Someone's missing. Take 'em down.
Turn around! Hands up against the wall.
Need a lift?
Don't even twitch, sucker, or I'll shoot your ears off.
Put your hands on your head. Put 'em up there!
He's dying, isn't he?
I'm sorry. There's nothing else we can do.
?? [Continues]
You know, Mikey started a hundred good things,
and he screwed up every damn one of them.
But it doesn't have to be that way with the theater.
Whether it lives or dies is up to y'all.
He's asking for a couple of undercover... pigs.
?? [Continues]
So, you didn't tell me you killed Gallego.
No. But we got him locked up.
Stupid. Kill him.
Save your energy.
For what?
Tomorrow we play touch football?
I don't wanna die this way.
I came into this world bloody and broke.
[Panting] I swore I'd die with money in my pocket.
Till I'm gone...
let me hold some for five minutes.
?? [Fades]
He's not gonna make it through the night.
Yeah.
Look, uh, can you see to it that we get the money back?
"Ajunkie, a thief, a mugger I've been.
I've committed every known sin."
I don't know how the guy could get out of bed,
much less break into the pharmacy and steal 50 grams of Dolophine.
How far can he get? Nearly dead, no money.
You take a check?