I'd heard that the city is given breaks to
coloreds who want to invest Harlem.
So?
You're building something up, and I want in.
I want to be your partner.
What I'm planning has nothing to do with you,
and it doesn't involve the five families.
It's for phase two, housing.
Of course, the new casino comes first.
We've gotta generate money if we wanna expand.
The truth is, without the narcotics,
you're running a deficit.
I'm out of the duji business.
Am I being delusional? If I sell duji,
I can make enough money to rebuild Harlem.
Or maybe my husband is becoming the man
Malcolm inspired him to be.
Sometimes I'm feeling like he's around me.
You killed him. You killed my husband!
We find the defendant,
Omar Jones, guilty of murder.
How you doing? How's everybody?
Got sprung?
Yeah, how'd that happen?
Good behavior.
I ain't selling my dope to this punk.
So, your family controls the heroin. I need product.
My father will sell you heroin.
But he wants you to deal through me.
I want a piece for myself.
What I'm doing here's for me and my people,
black-owned, no partners.
If you don't like it, get the fuck out.
Get the fuck outta here! There's the door!
Hey, baby, you looking for a date?
Yeah? Aw, okay, next time.
Hey, what you need, Jack?
Got rolex watches for a dime, £10, genuine rolex.
Nah, I'm good.
Find the lady.
Winner, winner!
Double or nothing?
- Okay. - All right. Find the lady.
Sometimes she hides, sometimes she duck,
finding this bitch take more than dumb luck.
Yes!
Winner winner, doubled your money!
- Man. - You wanna go again?
Nah, I got a ride to catch.
Come on, man! Just one more? Hey, hey.
Hey, friend. Welcome to New York City.
Anything like you pictured?
I'm headed to Harlem. You know how to get there?
Yeah, subway.
From here, it's the ace line.
But the thing is, what's your name?
Why? Are we supposed to be friends?
As I was saying, thing is, you headed to Harlem,
be best to show up with a wad.
Flash a cash roll,
frails be falling at your feet.
Well, maybe I already got a wad.
Thing about money is, you can never have too much.
You play?
Got the drift of it.
The game here is called find the lady.
Dollar gets you two, two gets you four.
Find the lady, not the Jacks,
'cause she's all green, and they all black.
All you gots to do is track the bitch.
Cards stop moving, you tell me where she's at.
All right, big spender.
Find the lady.
Down today, ain't no sorrow.
Keep the faith, you'll be up tomorrow.
Double or nothing?
What's the take?
About $180 for the day.
How much from that tight-headed country boy?
About $60.
You wanna collar a hot before we fix?
Maybe hit that rib joint on Amsterdam?
Yeah, sure. You go pull the whip around.
How long did it take you to learn
to move them cards like that?
Hey, take it easy, young fella.
How long?
I don't know, s... since I was a boy.
Hey, look, you... you want your scratch back?
I got it right here.
Now you've gotta learn to do it one-handed.
You know, seeing as we're friends now,
still wanna know my name?
My name's frank Lucas.
You telling me that this motherfucker just backed
his truck up and dumped all his shit on the sidewalk?
This is some nasty shit.
What are you doing, man?
You ain't picking up no garbage.
It's fucking cannolis. It's chin's joint.
Well, I guess chin's salty.
We gave him the toss the other night.
Dumping his fucking garbage on our doorstep.
Look at this fucking mountain of shit.
Yeah, well, I, for one, am glad bumpy expelled his ass.
Bring the car around.
Yeah.
Bumpy Johnson's here. Wants a word with you.
All right, send him in.
Hey.
Want to tell me why I got your trash piled up
in front of my place?
You know you have no right to do that.
You know, that's the problem with you people.
You always wanna talk about what you don't have.
You never wanna stop and be grateful for what you do.
- Hello. - Hi.
You mind giving us a minute?
Nah, she's my secretary, or she's my boss,
I don't know, we haven't figured it out yet,
but, anyway, she stays.
Why are you dumping garbage on my blocks?
What the fuck is it that you want from me?
I told you, I want in on your new venture.
The gambling, the whores, the whole thing.
You owe me.
I gave you the duji. Since Colombo's been away,
you the only game in town north of 86th street.
I didn't ask you to leave the junk game.
That was you. You chose that.
Now I wanna help you build this new operation.
I see you have a vision.
Appreciate you, but I gotta control this
without any partners.
Understand?
Well, then the trash is gonna be the least of your problems.
Something about a black man being independent
- that bothers you? - No, there's something
about a black man being stupid that bothers me.
I came here to give you fair warning
that if you keep this shit up...
We will go to war.
Well, we all know how that's gonna turn out.
Hope you got that down.
Is this really worth bloodshed?
I'm gonna make him suffer.
He did you a big favor by getting out of junk.
I think you should let it go.
You've given me a lot of good advice over the last year.
But I know how to deal with bumpy Johnson.
God, what happened to you?
There was a little dust-up in the yard.
Who was it?
Some lifers claiming to be black muslims.
Don't worry. I fought back.
I'm gonna see if the lawyers can get you put
into protective custody.
This is rikers. There's no special housing.
Omar, this ain't a joke,
I'm betting there are multiple plans to kill you in here.
I was supposed to protect Malcolm.
Maybe me dying is justice.
Maybe I can talk to my father. He has friends in here.
Elise, face it. I'm a dead man.
Hey, Stella.
- Hey, Delia. - Coffee?
Yeah, that'd be great.
How are you liking being back in Harlem?
I love it.
Thank you for offering me protection to come back.
Didn't realize how much I missed it.
I'm really glad you're back. How's Jerome?
- How old is he now? - Almost 18.
Crazy how fast they grow up.
He's always playing music now.
He's going to be as good as Teddy was.
And speaking of family, are you okay?
Yeah. Yeah. I've been working for my father.
Hasn't been easy.
- How so? - He's fucking crazy.
He's putting the screws to bumpy Johnson,
but he's taking it too far.
I've tried talking some sense into him,
but I'm afraid with his temper,
he's gonna end up on the wrong end of bumpy's gun.
He's headed to a bad place, and I'm trying to stop it.
How on earth can you do that?
By betraying my father.
Park Avenue is my favorite part of town.
You have such a lovely home.
Thank you, may me.
And I am thrilled to be considered
for the New York fine arts board.
I have so many ideas I'd love to share with you.
My fellow board members are dead set against having you.
- Yes? - They seem to think it would be
dissatisfactory to have the wife of a gangster in their midst.
And what do you think?
I think it's fascinating.
You know, my husband has paid his dues to society.
He's a legitimate businessman now.
There's no such thing, darling.
My late husband didn't get rich by following the rules.
Well, that's, good.
Luckily, I have sway on this board.
I think bringing
the real Harlem to the museum is exactly what we need.
Yes?
No matter how much Richard Wright or Ralph Ellison
one reads, the real ghetto is so much more... vivid.
I've always been partial to James Baldwin.
I love James Baldwin.
He's always so charming on television.
Like a little chocolate frog.
Would you like to meet him?
Why? Do you know him?
Well, of course we do.
Mr. Johnson and I know everybody.
Man, I ain't paying a hundred bucks for this shit.
Seen cleaner hog houses in beulaville.
And I give a shit?
100 bucks security, two months in advance.
Don't like it, you can sleep in the gutter.
You're short.
Don't worry. I'll get the rest to you.
Real soon. That all right with you?
Well, it best be soon.
And keep it locked.
Hey, Don. Hey, Louis.
- Hey, stell. - Hey, Stella, what's up?
- How are you? - Good.
- Good, you? - It's nice to see you again.
- Great to see you. - Good to see you, too.
- Joe around? - Yeah, he's in.
Boss, you got a visitor.
All right, thanks, Don.
To what do I owe this pleasure?
Got news for you.
Yeah?
I think my father's planning a war with bumpy Johnson.
This is great news.
It's not good news, Joe.
Not if you wanna keep getting junk on the regular.
What are you saying?
I'm saying I know my father. He's out for blood.
Maybe yours, too. It's hard to say.
Okay. I give a fuck.
Listen, he's got most of his operations in the village,
tons of real estate in Miami.
To be honest, it's dangerous in Harlem.
He should let me run it. I'm the best he's got.
Of that I have no doubt.
So I need your help.
My help?
For which I'll be most grateful.
You need my help doing what, exactly?
Getting my father out of Harlem.
It's been a long time since you and I just
had a meal together, alone.
Too long.
Thanks, Delia.
My pleasure, bumpy.
And I wanna thank you for getting me this job.
I'm glad to have you back in town.
You do so much for so many people.
I wonder if you'd do something for me.
I hope this isn't about Omar.
Omar's life is in danger. He's innocent.
You know he's innocent.
The justice system is fucked.
What do you want me to do about it?
You know people in jail. Can't you try to protect him?
Why should I?
Because the real people
who pulled the strings on Malcolm's murder
are trying to cover their tracks.
What, you know something?
Not yet, but this wasn't just about mosque 25 in Newark.
It was a conspiracy. Please, daddy.
Surprise!
It's all right, it's all right. Let's go, let's go. Come on.
Come on, come on.
You ain't gon' miss this at all.
Stay safe.
Let me see.
Jeez.
What the hell happened?
This is the second guy that gets rolled up outside the geechee.
Somebody sapped his ass real good.
Took half a yard from his wallet.
Who? Who did it? The Italians?
He said he didn't take a look.
You think this is chin's next move?
Obviously.
Chance, word gets out,
we might as well say goodbye to all that white money.
Motherfuckers ain't coming all the way uptown
just to get mugged.
Okay. Let's put some guards out on the street,
so if it happens again, we'll catch them guineas
and make 'em wish they was never born.
Yeah.
Sir, my apologies.
Hey, come on, get up.
It's gonna be all right, man, all right?
You sure have come a long way.
You got your dad's ear now.
Yeah. And up until now, he trusted me.
But I think we have a problem.
He's out for blood.
He's not gonna listen to reason right now.
I don't want to see him destroy what's been
a really good deal for our family.
There's a way we could stop it.
I don't think your dad would appreciate
you going against his wishes.
But if there were ever a time for calmer heads
to intervene, it's now.
I'm his daughter. I know what's best for him.
And war with you and the families,
it doesn't need to come to that.
You got my attention.
60 kilos of junk are gonna be distributed from us
to the other families.
You know I don't deal in duji no more.
I know. That's why you're the only one
who can pull this off.
I need your help.
Be real still, motherfucker.
Funny, I was about to say the same thing.
Been at him almost about an hour.
He says he never heard of chin gigante.
Only reason he was robbing outside the club
'cause the people coming out looked like they had money.
So, what do you say?
That boy is fresh off the bus, country as a bowl of grits.
I'd say he's telling the truth.
Right.
Bring him in.
Let's go.
Chair's right there.
At last, the man his self.
You know me?
Everybody back home know bumpy Johnson.
South cackalacky boy made good.
That's where you're in from? South Carolina?
Nah, north. Inner banks near goldsboro.
You say you've got so much respect for me,
yet here you are rolling people in front of my place.
Like I told these gentlemen, I didn't know it was your place.
Big sign out from say geechee club didn't tip you off?
No, I guess not.
You read much, do you, country?
Never much saw the use.
You gonna kill me?
Why? You think I oughta?
- No! - Easy.
Think you oughta pull my coat, teach me do like you.
I'm gonna teach you? And what are you gonna do for me?
Whatever you need done.
That's why I got these two fellas here.
Anything you can do that they can't?
Got a hog that need slaughtering?
I'll scald it, scrape it, butcher it into cuts.
Real nice.
Sorry to disappoint you, country,
but I'm fresh out of hogs.
You sure chin gigante didn't put you up
to robbing some of my customers?
For the hundredth time,
I swear to god I don't know shit about no chin gigante.
What about Joe Colombo?
Who the fuck is Joe Colombo?
Get him the fuck outta here.
Day drinking?
It's noon, Elise.
In some civilized societies,
a drink right now is considered de rigueur.
I don't care what you call it, it seems depressing.
So, don't have one.
I need your advice.
I tried to convince daddy to protect Omar in jail.
Do you think he will?
I'm definitely not the one who needs a drink.
- I'm serious. - So am I.
You know, ever since Malcolm died,
I have had a hard time
predicting what your father will do.
To be honest, he hasn't been the same.
Well, I haven't been the same either.
After Malcolm died, I didn't think I could go on.
To be honest, the only thing that got me through it
was thinking I could have a life with Omar.
If I lose him, I know if... if you lose yourself?
No. No, Elise, I don't believe that for a second.
I know you too well. You're stronger than that.
You know what they say?
You're born alone, you die alone.
Are you okay?
I have been kissing the ass of a white woman
who referred to James Baldwin as a little chocolate frog,
and now I have to meet her for lunch.
No, I am not okay.
I just love it here. This is so darling.
This is my favorite place in Harlem.
I love how authentic it is.
Hello, may me.
Delia! How are you?
Alice bradshaw,
like you to meet one of my oldest friends, Delia green.
Well, I'm very pleased to meet you, miss bradshaw.
- What can I get you? - Well, what's authentic?
Authentic?
Well, just about everything.
The smothered pork chops are to die for.
I'll have that.
Smothered pork chops?
Wow, that's a bit heavy, but I'll keep an open mind.
- Something to drink? - I'll have a gin Martini.
We don't serve liquor. Sweet tea?
Why not?
Two.
Have you contacted James Baldwin yet?
No, not yet, but I wanted to talk to you
about some of the artists in Harlem
I feel the board should pay attention to.
An excellent idea.
Aside from the better known ones
like Aaron Douglas or Archibald motley,
there are so many up and coming
brilliant painters and sculptors.
The exhibit could be called "the new Harlem."
"The new Harlem."
Wow, I love it.
And do you think you could get James Baldwin
to write an exhibition text?
All things are possible, Alice.
My father said whoever attacked you didn't come from him.
Not sure I believe him.
I do.
Why?
They tried again this morning in the mess hall.
I got lucky. Fire alarms went off.
- Guards dispersed us. - Who are they?
Lifers who wanna gain notoriety by killing the man
who killed a celebrity.
Not followers of Malcolm?
No, the real followers of Malcolm believed, like he did,
black on black violence is wrong.
Maybe they can put you in solitary confinement.
I'm done with all that, Elise. If it comes, it comes.
I don't like hearing you talk like this, Omar.
Allah has willed me here. Maybe I need to accept my fate.
What are you talking about?
Like Malcolm did when he knew everyone was against him,
he put his life in Allah's hands.
I need to do the same.
Malcolm was right.
Chin's now slinging dope in our fucking territory.
That pastry truck... that's where they hide the duji.
I say we ride down there, cut them guineas' heads off
and send 'em back to chin in a cake box.
Amen to that.
But bumpy don't want that.
He says he's got a plan to show chin what's what.
Shit, I gotta say that business sure look good, chance.
What? Are you having flashbacks from Korea?
Why are you hittin' me?
'Cause you speaking all your thoughts.
I'm just saying, chance,
they making all that money instead of us!
We ain't in a
did you know I got frank Lucas address,
and he's holed up on Lennox Avenue?
- What do we want with him? - Bumpy wants him for a job.
Why?
'Cause maybe that motherfucker's expendable.
Who the fuck is it?
It's bumpy Johnson.
Boy, open this door.
If we wanted to hurt you, we wouldn't be knocking.
You're still moving a little tender.
Country?
Chance... he's got some heavy hands.
Yeah.
Fella real tough when I'm outnumbered two to one.
Wanna go round two?
Bump, will you excuse me?
Come on over, motherfucker.
Yeah, that's right.
Come over here.
I'll peel your cat back. Peel it back to the white meat.
Easy, no need for all that.
Chance, could you go outside?
- Go on. - Mnh-mnh.
Ain't leaving you alone. Man's got a knife in his hands.
Okay.
Don't do nothing to make me come back in here and kill you.
You understand, it's nothing personal knocking you around.
I got a business to protect.
Yeah.
Anyway, I had worse.
How long have you been in New York, country?
A week, thereabouts.
What'd you do back home other than,
working the slaughterhouse?
Little of this, little of that.
You do some robbing down there, too?
Some. Well, it's hard to find folks with stuff
worth taking back home.
You always use that pig sticker?
Mostly, maybe a pipe.
Shoot, sometimes just my hands.
You ever use a gun?
Once or twice.
That's why I'm here.
Thought of something you can do for me.
Look like you find yourself a hog after all.
A big fat one, name of chin gigante.
You want me to kill him?
No. Rob him blind.
Pull in that alley.
You know who this truck belongs to?
Yeah, me. Now pull around that fucking alley.
Hurry up.
Come on out.
How many men in there?
Crazy motherfucker stealing from Vincent gigante.
How many?
Boy, I gotta ask you something twice again,
you ain't gon' be around to answer.
Two.
How many guns in there?
One apiece?
I catch you lying to me,
I'm-a blow your brains out here on the back
of this here truck.
One of them has a backup piece on his ankle.
- Yeah. - You know, by doing this,
you're signing your own death warrant.
My advice... turn around, get the fuck out of here,
and maybe there's a chance
you won't have your eyes cut out of their fucking sockets.
Real poetic. Open the back of this here truck. Come on.
A little bit.
In the truck, I got a kerosene can and a butane lighter.
You're gonna throw them three guns down here.
Otherwise, we gon' have our self
a good, old-fashioned cookout.
Pino, you out there? What the fuck is going on?
Do what he says.
There you go.
Open it up.
Shit.
Get on back there. Get up!
You're out of your fucking mind.
Chance is gonna kill you for this.
Hey, you, go on and bring them bags out here, both of 'em.
Yeah, drop 'em right here. Hurry up.
Now get your ass back. Back up, all the way back.
What the fuck is this?
It's a fucking cannoli.
Cannoli?
Damn, this shit dumb-ass good.
Get his ass up!
Come here!
Malcolm's killers will pay.
You do that, you gon' have to answer to bumpy Johnson.
Turn him loose!
Bumpy Johnson?
Come on. Let's go.
Tell Mr. J it was a pleasure.
He fucking did it.
Still don't trust his ass.
Said he needed a small guy for this job.
Guess that's why he didn't get you boys to do it.
Get outta here!
We got a fucking problem.
Some nigger stole our dope, all of it, 60 fucking keys.
- What? Who? - I don't know.
- He was wearing a mask. - Pino! You let one guy
Rob my truck with you and two men in it?
Come on. What are you, fucking idiots?
- He came out of the blue. - He came out of the blue?
Is that what I pay you for?
So, some guy can come out of the blue and Rob my fucking junk?
- Dad, calm down. - No, don't tell me to calm down!
Ask me, it was bumpy Johnson behind it.
- Gotta be one of his men. - How do you know?
Bumpy Johnson's not the only black guy in Harlem.
Look, boss, we gotta hit back hard. Now.
All right, get the men together.
You don't even know for sure it was him.
What? You think it's a coincidence?
That truck was carrying shit to all the families.
That didn't show up.
So, the families are all gonna blame you.
What, are you an expert all of a sudden?
Been watching you my whole life,
seen you make a couple of mistakes.
What's on your mind?
Call a sit-down, invite bumpy.
If he was involved, we'll get a sanction on him.
You'll have all the families there with you, on your side.
Chip off the old block.
Yeah, all right, let's do it.
How the fuck is this... my drugs,
that you promised me, Stella, you promised me, were stolen!
Same with the other families!
I know. It's part of the plan.
What the fuck are you talking about?
You told me you'd help me get my father out of town.
This is the only way to do it.
You have the drugs.
No.
Then who does?
Bumpy Johnson.
Are you out of your fucking mind?!
- Joe, listen. - Now there will be war, Stella!
Not if you do what bumpy says.
I know you hate him, but just put that aside.
He's doing both of us a favor.
At that meeting tonight, I need you to stand up for him.
UN-fucking-believable! It's fucking boring.
I don't fucking believe this shit!
We all know why we're here. 60 kilos of our junk was stolen.
This is the same junk that was supposed
to be delivered to us by chin.
Yeah, and I know who stole it.
Bumpy Johnson.
Really? I thought he was out of the dope game.
He's desperate for money.
He's trying to expand his business,
so he stole our junk to finance it.
In that case, let's wipe the motherfucker out.
Yeah, I don't know. I'm not so sure
that killing bumpy's the best course of action.
Well, what do you fucking propose?
I propose that we hear from the man himself.
It's true. I have your junk... all 60 keys.
But you're gonna have to give me something that I want.
Fuck you. What are you, crazy?
You're a dead man. He just admitted that he stole from us.
I didn't steal it. I found a country boy who did.
New kid in town.
Walked right over you and outfoxed chin.
Now that I have it, you fine gentlemen can make a choice
one that benefits all of you.
And what is that?
Simple... either I keep the narcotics, and we go to war,
or I give it back, and chin takes his ass out of Harlem.
You... you ain't getting out of here alive.
Fuck you. I got a hundred soldiers outside
to make sure he does.
Now I got no love for bumpy fucking Johnson.
All of yo use know that.
But there's wisdom to what he's saying.
If we kill him, we never get the dope back.
Right? That's a steep price to pay right there.
Ask me, I'd rather have the fucking money.
Now, chin... chin's been in control of the narcotics
for over a year because of Johnson,
and he's charging us double.
Look, our problem isn't with Johnson.
Our problem is with chin.
Come on. This is all bullshit, all this, bullshit.
You know that.
You ungrateful motherfuckers.
You listen to what he says, I'll come at you
with everything I got, you know that.
He... he... he's dead already.
You wanna get added to that list?
As you can see, this is a man who wants to fight.
Now, if I'm correct,
this commission exists to settle these types of disputes.
So, what's it gonna be, fellas?
Your dope back?
Or war?
What... what the fuck?
What, you... you're gonna fucking consider that?
This commission is a fucking joke.
Are you fucking kidding me?
I'm not gonna fucking vote on this bullshit!
- You know what we need to do. - Vincent.
- What?! - This ain't how it works.
It is how it fucking works! It is the way it fucking works!
How about this?
How about I vote?!
I kill this motherfucker right where he sits!
Jesus Christ, look at this fucking guy.
How about we take a vote that chin takes a vacation
from Harlem for a while?
Hey, bumpy, do we get our junk back?
You know me, Tommy. I don't deal in junk no more.
My word is good.
All right.
Fuck yo use all.
Fuck you, too.
Tommy, you're a traitor. You'll always be a traitor.
You cut my god damned fingers off. Fuck you, chin!
Why don't you fucking go have a Mai Tai
in fucking Miami?!
And drown yourself, you prick!
I'm pouring you a drink.
You're gonna need it.
I know it was you that engineered the whole thing
to get me out of Harlem.
You're smart.
I've been telling you that your whole life.
Maybe a little too smart.
- Dad, I know... - shut the fuck up.
Have a drink.
I could use those smarts.
I need you to report back to me every move that pino takes.
He's gonna be their new face in the family uptown.
You're the brains.
But, you and I, we know that.
You wanted to be a boss, well, you got it.
You're gonna have to kill, not out of passion,
cold-blooded.
Your best friend, your worst enemy.
That's how it works.
People have to fear you.
You can never, ever, ever show weakness,
'cause someone close to you will slit your throat.
Is that really what you want?
Yeah, yes.
Despite what you did, I still love you.
I love you, too.
I'm sorry about one thing, though.
That is you're just like me.
Okay. Do you want another drink?
- Yeah. - Yeah?
I got a little surprise for you.
Holy shit!
Weren't you supposed to get that back to bumpy?
Gave him back some. The rest was milk, sugar.
Are you fucking crazy?
Bumpy Johnson gotta learn. Nobody plays frank Lucas.
Nobody.