watch now! detail...
(gunshot fired) (people screaming) guard: tier four. first bed.come on, move it. fear will kill you. i'm not afraid. good. right after chapel. it's goin' down in the yard. (all singing amazing grace) (noise from outsideof people fighting)
(prison guard blowing whistle) guard: not in here,motherfucker! (screaming) (screams) (all shouting) (groaning) (gunshots fired) guards: get on the ground!facedown! don't move! you, get down!facedown!
put that head down!put that head down! give me your arm! don't move, buddy!don't move! come on, move it.move it! -just stay down!-out of the way! keep the change. hi. i'm looking forthe courtroom wheremr. edward j. dodd is defending a mr. nevins. that's the edward j. dodd.
part 73, room 1113.the room 1113. jessum: ...negotiated bothto purchase and to sell thisdangerous drug. shh... in a moment, you will hearfrom counsel for the defense. as the people rest this case,i leave you withthis word of warning. edward dodd isan inventive lawyer. i'm sure he'd likeyou to believe that the pound of pure cocainefound in hisclient's apartment was intended for personal,recreational use.
but just bear in mind, only you can insurethat the defendant, who is,let's be honest, a vermin, a vulture,that he will pay a penalty. thank you. thank you, miss jessum.mr. sweeny,may i have a word with you? roger baron. hi.sorry i'm late. it's such an honorand a thrill to meet you. really? hi.
so, what are you accused of? all sorts of things.how about you? no, i'm a lawyer.i just... i got into town today.i'm working with mr. dodd. mr. dodd, would you careto make your closing argument? you're in good handswith this guy. i would, your honor. cocaine... is evil.
selling cocaine is evil. dislike this wicked merchant,if you will. loathe him, if you must. i do! but despise the tacticsthe police employed tosnare brian nevins. because wemustn't lose sight of what this trialis really about, our most basicpersonal freedoms. for when wecondone the bugging ofour citizens' bedrooms,
when we allow the policeto enter our homeswithout warrants or with specious warrants,at best. when we invadeour citizens' privacyin a frenzied quest for a wicked white powder,aren't we, in fact capitulating to the evil? aren't we surrenderingto the drug? aren't we saying that cocaineis more powerful than the constitution ofthe united states of america? wow! what a speech.it was beautiful.
amazing horse shit. amazing client. eddie dodd. everybody should own one. sorry about the mix-up backthere. i neveractually saw your photo. i read every civilliberties brief... it was nice meeting you.i got to get backto the office. ...you ever filed in the '60s. roger baron.overland undergrad,michigan law.
none of this rings a bell?you hired me to clerk for you. remember my letter?"top 5%, harvard law review,salary is no object." oh, that's right. yeah. yeah. (panting) -let me help you withsome of that.-thanks. here, i got it. you comin'? yeah. i was a sixth-year law studentwhen i read
your "chase manhattan bombing"case summation... in a '71 leftistlaw anthology. i know this sounds dorky,but it kind ofchanged my life. (honking horn and yelling) so, this isgreenwich village, huh? yes, roger, you've arrived. anyway, i got a holdof a trial transcript. your cross-examinationof the cops was likean indictment of the system. you were my agewhen you defended that case.
i was never your age.billy, this is reggie. he's our new social conscienceon sheridan square. what about my court date? eddie, what ifwe plead insanity? both of us?okay, princess, you're next. billy, what is this thing? it's a sculpture. billy: um, now, what kind ofpills were you busted with? mr. dodd needs to know.
mmm-hmm. is that an upperor a downer? oh. (phone ringing) gabe! i'll take care of it.just park it on the bench. park your ass on the benchand wait there! gabe, you gota minute? (chuckles) i had a minute beforethe hearing, but i couldn'tget you on the phone. i had reason to believethe judge had heard ofa concept called "entrapment." gruner was busted withthree pounds of methedrine.
judge refused to excludethe evidence. no deal. i'm deeply disturbed aboutdetective cedar's conduct. i may demand an investigation.can you imagine the headlines? i imagine the headlines,i drool. "undercover cop bustseast village speed factory." eddie, you're out of step.detective cedar's a hero. he's a scumbag. detective cedarwent undercover, huh?so did judas. detective cedar used his wilesto insinuate himself
into the bosom ofclyde gruner's life,his home, his loved ones. can't i take a simple piss... detective cedar broke breadwith clyde gruner. he was a guestat clyde gruner's wedding. and, yes, gabe,detective cedar useddrugs with my client. not once, but many times. you're gonna dragout that crap? only if i have to. be a mensch.
brian nevins stopped by.it's on your desk. good. we pleaded out clyde grunerto five years' probation. oh, score another pointfor truth and justice. the last struggle forconstitutional rights isbeing waged over drugs. and we... are in the ring, roger,doing battle with big brother. where are you goin'? edward dodd, please.
roger: hi. i'm roger baron,mr. dodd's assistant.may i help you? mrs. kim needs a lawyer. hmm. her son killed a manin self-defense in prison. eddie. (speaking korean) (translating) he didn't belongthere in the first place. eight years in jailfor the murderhe didn't commit.
eddie! i'm her neighbor's daughter. please, come in. hi, i'm eddie dodd.what's up? her son didn't shoot anybody.he's the wrong guy. you meet him. you see he wouldn't go aroundstabbing guys just for fun. this guy really shot a guyand stabbed a guy? he didn't shoot anyone.eight years in jail forthe murder he didn't commit.
he's a good boy. and he comes from a fine homein seoul, korea. -mrs. kim: shu kai kim.-shu kai kim? that's his name, shu kai kim. (grunts) hmm, i bet he isa wonderful boy. (translating in korean) i mean, (chuckling nervously)i...i can't take this case. eddie: um...
i have a specialty, uh... lawyers specialize. (indistinct) these days, i mostly do,like, drug, uh, narc... anyway, i couldn'teven go see your son without having a lookat the files from his case. so it's really out ofthe question...those are the files. great. okay. how did you hear about me,anyway?
she went toall the courthouses. they all speak of you,and they all saythe same thing. oh, wow.what do they say? ah... you do cases cheap. hmm. (chuckles) okay. my associate and iwill review this material... as soon as possible,and we will get back to you. in the meantime,i wanna thank you ladiesvery much for stopping by.
thank you for helping my son. talk about a hard sell. "thank you forhelping my son." attila the hunhad a mother, okay? hit? that was close, huh?almost defended somebodywho wasn't a dealer. who knows?he might evenhave been innocent. we have a full caseload.don't start. you're right. i forgot.we're pledged to protect
every mid-level drug dealerin the tristate area. (sarcastically)it's an awesomeresponsibility. (choking) i don't veneratedrug dealers, roger.to the contrary. of course. what we're attemptingto do here is checkthe government's attempt toabridge our civil liberties... i know that. ...through informants,eavesdropping, unreasonablesearches and seizures... right. you're right.
damn right i'm right.okay? it's just that i left behindfamily and friends and a couple good job offersin chicago. and in three dizzying weeks,i've helped toacquit a coke dealer, a speed dealer... i specialize, roger. -...an angel dust dealer...-i'm not a kid anymore. ...a speed manufacturer! so get a job on wall street.i'm sure your richdaddy can arrange it.
look, don't tell me whereto work. i came hereto work for edward dodd. but i just can't believe thatedward dodd hasnothing better to do than invoke exaltedlegal issues toget off guilty little pricks. you wanna bea criminal defense attorney? then know this going in. everybody's guilty. everybody. you wouldn't have said thatten years ago. ten years is a long time.
i'm tired, man.i'll see you in the morning. (sighs) a long time. eddie: (car horn honking)roger! we're late. let's get going. where? ossining correctionalfacility. sing sing. everybody's innocent there,man. just ask 'em. what was kim in for?
prosecution said he did itto get into a rival gang,the pell street dragons. kim admitted the gun was his.he got 25 to life. (metal jingling) eddie: thank you, officer. (door closes) mr. kim, my name's eddie dodd.i'm a lawyer. this is roger baron,my associate.he's also a lawyer. my mother find you? that's right.
figures. you wanna tell me exactlywhat went down here? racist pig came at me. exactly, what happened then? i killed the motherfucker. let's talk aboutwhat got you herein the first place. let's talk aboutchinatown. the night jimmy chin wasshot to death, you were where? at the trial, you saidyou were at yourapartment that night, alone.
remember? it was eight years ago.long time. a real long time. roger: god,i feel like i've been mugged. that guy was so cold. eddie: he's a killer. roger: what do we claim?he stabbedthe nazi in self-defense? with knives tapedto his hands?forget it, roger. we're taking the other case.
what other case? -chinatown, eight years ago.-great. a gang leader gets wastedin front of the tourists. the cops pressurethe rival gang,the pell street dragons. they give up shu kai kim,the schmuck kid who's beentrying to get in their gang. -yeah, you really thinkthat's what happened?-no. but it'll make one hellof an opening statement. easy as that, huh? no. it's not easy.
we got to find some evidencethat's been buriedto open this sucker up again. christ, eddie,if the guy's really guilty... only god and shu knowif he's guilty, and neitherone of them is talking. besides, the guiltier he is,the more he needs us. he's a victim.he deserves to see the sunagain, breathe the air. he's been in prisontoo goddamn long. okay, come on.come on, man. so this was shuback in '79. jesus. it's the murder weapon.
alleged murder weapon. they found four of shu'sfingerprints on it. when did you startmoonlighting for the da?put it down. god. i don't know about this. neither do i. wait, listen. thanks. "november 5, 1979. "cecil skell walked inthe 5th precinct. "said he witnessedchin's shooting.saw suspect's picture in post.
"said shu kai kimis wrong man." cecil skell? i didn't see his name onany of the affidavitsor the police reports. he wasn't onany witness lists.how could they miss this guy? also says he knowswho killed kennedy. keep lookin'.something will turn up. boys, it's cleanup time. ah, jesus, uh... ten minutes, tom, okay?
um, that dd-5. the one aboutthe maniac who... cecil skell. find it. (80's music playing) hi, kitty. -roger baron, kitty greer.private investigator.-hi. roger's my new associate.top of his classat michigan law. eddie's "chase manhattanbombing" summationkind of change your life? you told her about that?
yeah, anyway.so, what have you got? my skip-trace turned uptwo cecil skells. one's in butte, montana.the other's at riverheadveterans psychiatric. i take odds on cecil two. what'd he do?snitch off a dealer? murder witness. you're doing a murder case? it hasn't been that long.(scoffs) cecil skell's one of threeeyewitnesses who came forward.
you got to start lookingfor the other two right away. i'm not working on this case. -yes, you are.-no. you boys have fun.i have businessback on planet earth. let me guess. somecorporate vp is banginghis secretary over lunch. and you got to focus yourcamera and plug inyour tape recorder. beats getting paid in 20s byslime dogs selling angeldust to high school kids. where do you put yourmicrophone to get the mostincriminating moans and sighs? you know, a law degree'sa terrible thing to waste.
do your parents knowyou're here? you can't pick on him. you've just blown your chanceto participate in this case.i'm sorry. (sarcastically) ah, no.i'm kicking myselfright out of here. goodbye. we got her. uh, (clears throat)the (stuttering)head nurse said that you guys needed to talk to me. cecil?
(correcting pronunciation)cecil. cecil, um... i'm eddie dodd. i'm a lawyer.this is roger baron,also a lawyer. why don't you sit down? mr. skell, a young mannamed jimmy chin was shot and killedeight years ago in chinatown. do you remember talkingto the police? that guy that they arrested,he was the wrong guy. eddie: cecil,we wanna reopen this case.
but we can't do itwithout your testimony. i wanna use what you haveto say so badly. but i must add that i thinkyou're fucking fullof shit, all right? oh, i think what eddiemeans to say is... no, no, no.they got the wrong guy. i saw it.the killer wasn't chinese. oh, come on.not chinese. the chinese havean energy field that vibratesat a particular frequency.
oh, right. right. cecil, what isall this aboutthe kennedy assassination? oh, okay, okay, okay... you guys... ...you're from the company.i should've known. -cecil-what, cia? no, man, the telephone. roger: what? i suppose you don't know thatthe phone companykilled kennedy
because he was trying tobreak it up, and they'llnever let that happen. -they control everything.-oh. what you sayin the mouthpiece is never exactlywhat comes out the other end. and i, i, i...(continues to stutter) the phone companywas broken up. oh, and you believe that? the phone company broke up in1981. i can get a backissue of business week. excuse me, fellas.what, are you kidding?
are you what heroesare made of? i did two tours in 'nam. are you willing to testifythat the man you sawshoot jimmy chin was not the manthe police arrested? yeah, they got the wrong guy. when the da gets windof this, he's gonnasend somebody out here claiming to be a journalistor maybe a phonecompany representative. he's gonna ask youa lot of questions. you just be truthful.
okay? to all of us. i always tell the truth. that's why i'm here. very good, mr. skell.and you toldthe desk sergeant you were certainthat shu kai kimwasn't the killer. is that right? it's important to givea vocal response. (stuttering) yes, sir. you left yourtelephone number.
yeah, yes. did the police attemptto phone you or tofollow up in any way? no, no, sir. thank you, mr. skell. mr. rabin,you may cross-examine. how long have you beena patient at... objection. the factthe witness is a patient atany hospital is immaterial. sustained. all right.how long have youresided at the riverhead...
this is the same questionin sheep's clothing. mr. rabin, you're out of line.next question. mr. skell. you're under oath totell the truth, mr. skell and nothing but the truth. who killed presidentjohn f. kennedy? objection. this witness isnot an expert inpolitical assassinations. the question relates to... he wasn't onthe warren commission!
do you think he wason the grassy knollwith a pair of binoculars? i'd like to answerthe question. we're talking aboutcompetency... mr. rabin has no rightto ask this question!don't answer it! -don't...-(judge gaveling) lee... harvey... oswald. (laughs nervously)never mind, your honor.
objection withdrawn,your honor. shu, the judge hasordered a retrial inthe chinatown murder case. if we can prove reasonabledoubt on your imprisonmenteight years ago, we feel sure that the dawill drop the chargein the prison knifing. do i have to bein the courtroom? eddie: there's probablynot gonna be a trial. the state's notgonna wanna retryan eight-year-old murder case. neither are we. at the pretrial conference,an offer will be made.
odds are we'll cutsome kind of deal.maybe, just maybe, we'll get you out of heremuch sooner. you've done enough time. mr. dodd would like tohelp you in sucha case, but... -kitty.-hi, billy. uh... what are you doing here? i'm not entirely sure. oh, excuse me. um... the cops tell their experts,"don't sweat it.
"we got three peoplewho saw this guyfire the gun." meanwhile, they're tellingtheir eyewitnesses, "don't doubt your id.our experts can tiethe suspect to the gun." it's a game, roger. -thanks a lot.-what do you got? one of the prosecution'sthree eyewitnessespassed away. -another one moved to canada.-eddie: same thing. they still have laura gayley,the computer programmer. -she was the closest one.like, 21 feet from the killer.-(phone ringing)
oh, do you have to do that? do you? have to? no. start lookin' into shu's gang. -the pell street dragons?-(phone ringing) yeah. billy!yo, babe! billy! see what rank did the hitsback in '79. your extensivelaw enforcement contactsshould be of some help.
i was never politicallycorrect enoughfor comrade dodd. yeah, law officesof edward j. dodd. -(kitty and roger talking)-who? sure. shh.yeah, put him through. yes, yes, i can. okay. thank you. that was robert reynard. robert reynard? the manhattan da? excuse me.may i help you, sir?
uh, robert reynard, please. would you like tocheck the coat, sir? uh, no, it's fine. right this way. what do we make? lawyers. do you thinkthat's the root of it? it all boils downto goods versus services. excuse me, mr. reynard. edward j. dodd.
robert reynard.thank you, george. of course,you know dean rabin,one of my assistant das. dean generally handlesthe nuisance cases,like the, uh... what's the man's name? sh...um... eddie: shu kai kim. his name is shu kai kim. you won't remember this,but in '72... i was one of severalprosecutors assigned
to the police black panthershoot-out. you walked into court byyourself and kickedour collective butt. -what have you been upto since then?-this and that. my staff tells meit's mostly been drug pushers. i said, "that can't bethe same edward dodd." it's in narcotics thatthe government trampleson the fourth amendment. well, let's not dragthe constitution into this. you used the testimonyof a paranoid schizophrenic to overturn a murderconviction
that's withstood challengefor over eight years. and until we get the deathpenalty reinstated we depend on our abilityto make long sentences stick. and the hell with my client'scivil rights? your client is guilty. i know a little somethingabout street gangs, ed. back in the '70s,i spent yearsputting away kingpins in a colombiancrime syndicate.
if we can't protect this cityfrom incorrigiblestreet assassins... my office isn't worth a damn. what's on your wish list, ed? pleading kim out to "man one"in both homicides? what are you looking for here? sentences to run concurrent? fifteen to life, both counts. fifteen is insulting. friday's the drop-dead dateon the offer.
don't bullshit me,okay, mr. reynard? you got witness problems,you got proof problems. you're my only problem.what's it gonna taketo make you go away? eight-and-a-third, bothcounts to run concurrent,credit for time served. and your man walksout next month. what are you doing?you joking here? joking? i never joke about wavinga client's sixth amendmentright to trial. you're starting topiss me off.
i'm sorry if i'veruined your day. my client's had a tougheight years behind bars. why don't you sleep on that?then make me an offer. ed... after friday, no deal. man: the japanese shellachas month after month... excuse me. (elevator bell dings) len davis, daily news.looks like you'vewriggled up reynard's ass.
sorry, no comment. i'm not sayingit was a conspiracy exactly. law enforcement istoo disorganized for that. i suspect slothis the culprit. lassitude. roger: "edward j. dodd,retained to defend mr. kim "has disclosed that a witnesswill corroboratemr. kim's alibi." -i embellished.-"dodd also reports that "his team ofprivate investigators...- i embroidered. "...are actually close tonaming the man they believe
"actually killed jimmy chin." i lied. you should've used the oneabout shu being the bastardson of mother teresa. i actually like that.i'll pay. i'm tired. i'm gonna go homeand go to bed. thanks for the drinks, kids.good night. good night, danny.thank you. hey, bro. can you spare a quarter, man?
i'm real hungry, man. gook lover! race traitor! enemy of the aryan people! commie faggot! motherfucker! jew! only half. aryan army say,"chink go to trial, you die." dodd, you take on a clientwho wasted a nazi in prison, you got to expect the nazisare gonna come back at ya.
oh, eddie deserved this? i guess rape victimswanna be laid at gunpoint? well, it's a fact of life. these folks just don'tspray swastikas on synagogues. they take care of their own. those teardrop tattoos,they're like notches on a gun. one for every enemy they kill. uh, ah, listen, i'm... i think i'm gonna looksome more tomorrow.
i'm seeing double here. ow! god! sorry. his name's chuckie loeder.something's very weird. you saw his mug shot? those tears,they weren't real. i can't believewe're going to seea bunch of nazis at night. there's no oneelse to talk to.the tattoos are phony. so?
so no upstanding memberof the aryan armywould paint them on. they take those tear-dropsvery seriously. they're badges of honor,of courage. only their most vicious,sadistic, cruel, killerelite get to wear them. i feel much better now. eddie: (dismissively) ah... clyde gruner soldthese guys a poundof crystal meth at cost. i mean, we're clyde's buddies. hi. is your daddy home?
hi. (clears throat) we're friends of clyde gruner. (gun cocking)we know who you are.you're the race traitor who's defending the gookthat murdered duane. you got a lot ofballs coming here. what the hell you want? i'm real sorry about duane. i got jumped bya man earlier tonight.he said he was aryan army. his name's chuckie loeder.
"chuck" rhymes with "suck." right. chuckie loeder's no longera brother in the resurrectionof our nation. we expelled that faggot junkiea year ago. do you know wherehe might be found? hanging with his tongue outand a sign aroundhis neck that says, "i betrayed my race" along with the rest ofsociety's scum onthe great day of the rope." um...
prior tothe great day of the rope,where can he be found? mixing with mongrel races. anything along the linesof an address or a job? art supplies, right? now, get the fuck out of here. i wanna hear it real clear. chuckie loeder is notaryan army and you guys aren'tbehind this, is that right? if we were,you wouldn't be standing here. roger: eddie.
we can go in now. who did that to you? a soldier inthe aryan army with black tear-dropspainted on his face. painted? that wasn'tan aryan soldier. why would a guy do that?paint blackteardrops on his face? i guess he wanted you to thinkhe was somebody he wasn't. why? maybe becausesomeone's afraid.
afraid of what? i don't know.the truth, maybe. the truth about what? about chinatown.what went down. what went down?what happened in chinatown? you tell me. no, you tell me. tell me. how could i tell youwhat i don't know? you can't,so tell me what you do know.come on, say it.
i don't know shit, man. quit lying! i know that you're innocent... ...even if you've forgotten. the da's talking a deal. a little negotiating,i can get youout of here in five years. -five years?-maybe. with a little luck.we take the deal, that's it. i don't find the guywho did this to me.
i don't go after the fuckwho put him up to it. the fuck who did the crimeand let you do the time. we take this deal,we walk away, never find outwhat happened in chinatown. never get a shot atnailing some guiltybastard's balls to the wall. no. "no" what?i got to hear you say it. fuck the da's deal. jimmy chincrossed north on pell. at the last instant, he musthave sensed something.
because he turnedand he was shot dead,right here. laura gayley stoodwhere you'restanding right now. there was no telephone booth,bus stop or stopsign in the way. christ, she had a perfect viewof the killer's face. but she couldn't have,could she? because shethinks she saw shu. we know now shedidn't see shu. i'm stalking you.i'm right behind you. there's a rage in the air.you can feel the rage,like an electrical charge.
you turn. time contracts,space explodes. perceptions can't be trusted.as i pull outa loaded gun and... the guys in the fieldwill try to bullshit you that comparison microscopyis an exact science. powder residue, grease stains,skin fragments. it's all subjectto interpretation.you know what i'm saying? -not exactly.-i'm saying... we need to finesse a little...we'll finesse. i told you, we don't needto finesse this one.
that's shu's gun. shu didn'tcommit the crime.no finessing. jesus! jump back. you wanna hang out?i'll have somethingpreliminary in about an hour. ah, no. my associate will wait.i got some good newsof my own to deliver. excuse me. edward j. doddto see mr. reynard. could you waitjust a moment, please? uh, yes, i'm sorry,but it's a matter of policy that mr. reynard not attendany political fund-raisers.
yes. well, thank you. thank you very much.(phone clicks) um, excuse me,is he expecting you? uh, this'll onlytake a minute. well, i'm sorry. he's runningabout an hour behind schedule. just tell him mr.dodd and mr. kimplan to proceed with trial. ed. did my girlhear your message correctly? i guess so, or you wouldn'tbe standing there. am i right?
why did i think i could dealreasonably with a man whodefends coke pushers for free? coke pushers pay cash. that subsidizes the potpossession cases.they're free. but now you've strayed fromyour area of expertise, dope,into street assassins. a subject of whichyou are dangerously ignorant. yeah, but i'm a quick study. i'll see your assistant da,rabin, in court. no, mr. dodd. you'll see me in court.
i'm prosecuting this case. why am i surprised?colombians, koreans.what's the difference? you've built your career onputting non-whitesbehind bars, haven't you? i'll prosecute anyonewho fucks up. and if that makesme look racist, it's a trade-offthat i'll live with, ed. that's big of you, bob. see you in court. -ed.-(laughs)
you should've taken the deal. (sighs) you're probably right. roger: thanks. uh... that wasthe ballistics guy, howard. oh. his testsshowed that shu's gun fired the bulletthat killed jimmy chin. well, howard'sa fuckin' burn-out case. i wouldn't put himon the stand anyway.get more names from billy.
there's a, um, sociologyprofessor atcolumbia university. all right, he's an experton street gangs.his name is... i talked to him. apparently, doing a hit wasthe way to get intothe pell street dragons. shit. there goes your theoryabout them fingering shuinstead of the trigger man. i like that theory. and sincei'm not putting professortwerp on the stand and since i don'thave another theory,i'm gonna stick with it. i wouldn't need a goddamntheory if you could find thatson of a bitch loeder.
i have phoned every art supplywholesale and retailer ina 100-mile radius. no one has heardof chuckie loeder. here's a news flash.maybe he's not calling himselfchuckie loeder these days. maybe he's got an alias.biff loeder. can you guys just stop beingthe prophets of doom? every time i ask a questioni get an answer,but it's the wrong answer. you're on the bus oryou're off the bus.i can do this shit myself. that's not fair. we're all committed tothe case. we all believeit's a good fight
(bangs the refrigeratordoor shut) (whispering) a good fight? you think i'm going into courtto make a fucking statement? you think shu gives a shitif we go down,but go down nobly? this is a man looking at40 years of hard time! he could've had a dealand been out in five,but he bet it all on me! don't give me that liberal,yuppie bullshitabout a good fight. this isn't fucking yale. a good fight is one you win!
so you wannabail out now, eddie?the door's over there. kitty and i have work to do.we're gonna bein court tomorrow. in the matter ofthe peopleversus shu kai kim, the honorable justicemarcus quealy presiding. all rise. where's eddie? he'll be here. you will hear the classic taleof the immigrants in new york. it's the tale of a youngsicilian in little italy
who slits a merchant's throatas an entree to the mafia. or the russian jewwho reaches brooklyn and bludgeonsa witness on behalf ofmurder, incorporated. shu kai kim is a partof that ugly tradition. a stranger... ...looking for his placein a new world would turnthe american dream into an american nightmare. why did mr. kim fire a bullet throughthe brain of jimmy chin,a boy he never even knew?
to get into a gang. eight years ago,gang war raged in chinatown. no one felt safe. tourism was down. local businessmen pleadedwith the mayor. the mayor pressuredthe police commissioner. and the police commissionertold his men, "this time, "arrest somebody." but whom?
well... the outsider, of course. the stranger. the immigrant. so what thathe's not in a gang? so what that he'snot even chinese? i mean, who can tellone asian face from the next? so what that he didn't evencommit the crime? "this time, arrest somebody.
"anybody." and so, detective montell,having brought in mr. kimfor booking you arranged for a line-upwith six other asian males. we brought in six other asian males of the same approximate age. and had the eyewitnesses view them from every angle. and the resultsof that lineup? all the eyewitnessespicked kim. but isn't it true the sixother asian males were ofthe classic mongoloid type. whereas shu kai kim hasthe distinctive facialbone structure of a korean?
objection. the witnessis not an expert inracial classification. (inaudible) this banner headline appearedin the daily news october 25, 1979,one week beforejimmy chin's murder. "mayor rips police commish.fed up withchinatown violence." you were aware ofthe pressure, weren't you,detective montell? i'm sorry, mr. dodd,but i read the post. (people laughing) eddie: detective sklaroff...
exactly what informationled you to arrest my client just two and a half hoursafter the shooting took place? we had a descriptionof the suspect. a description. asian, male,18 to 30, black hair,brown eyes. that kind of thing? argumentative. overruled. we had intelligence. you had...
intelligence. we had information bearingon mr. kim's desire to gain admission intothe pell street dragons by assassinating a memberof a rival gang. didn't that informationcome fromthe dragons themselves? didn't they,the pell street dragons,a chinese gang, all but hand you shu kai kim,a korean, a foreigner... -objection, your honor.this isn't cross-examination.-detective sklaroff... it's mr. dodd's openingstatement again and againit's pure fabrication.
-didn't they?-sustained. please continue,detective sklaroff. we proceeded to the suspect's address and discovered him there. while my partner restrained and arrested mr. kim, i made a thorough search of the premises. and recovered a .38-caliber handgun. (chuckles) isn't it unusualfor a man who committed a murder to bringthe weapon home? robert: calls for speculation.
are you implyingi planted a gun? we'll letthe jury decide that. -kim's prints wereall over it.-your honor! he admitted it was his gun! the witness' answeris non-responsive. i ask you to strikeit from the record. you opened thisline of questioning. the testimony willremain in the record. no more questions.
you may step down,detective sklaroff. i am dying out there. -it's okay, eddie.-(chuckles) the people call retireddetective vincent dennehy. a fucking wheelchair? detective dennehy, you werethe first officer to arriveat the murder scene? yes, sir,i was the first one there. and what did you do then? i secured the scene, rerouted traffic
and searched the area for physical evidence. there was a lot of confusion down there that night. after that, i questioned all the eyewitnesses who remained at the murder site. at 10:30 p.m., i proceeded with the decedent's body, to the office of the county coroner. i left the crime scene about 10:30. thank you. no further questions. detective, you reachedthe morgue and deliveredjimmy chin's body when? (coughing)
-11:30.-11:30? -you expect us to believethat from ten...-(coughing) from 10:10 to 11:30that you had the time... you okay? i get this pain. you...uh... uh, no more questions.that's all right. mr. dodd has yet tosuccessfully challenge anytestimony given so far. i didn't put him in it.reynard did.
he had a spinal injury.all he needs is a cane.it was in kitty's report. i don't have the time to readevery single linein every report. i'm too busy getting my asspulverized in the courtroom. meanwhile, my crackerjackinvestigator cannot findthe art supply store where chuckie loeder works. i'd love to chat, but i'mmeeting a cop for drinks. he's bringing the dragons'1979 mug book. i need an expert witnesson the dragons. eddie, stick this up your ass.
-ouch.-tall order. roger: "art's supplies" "everything for the plumber." hi, is, is art around? is he expecting you? uh, yes, he is. oh, i'm maraquilla esparza,art's wife. maraquilla.that's a lovely name. oh, he's probablyback in the factory?
you're notsupposed to go in there. yeah, i know, but we calledand said we wanted to talkabout that pvc tubing... he just said to come back. we'll just be a minute. art esparza.what can i do for you? eddie dodd.this is roger baron. you can't come back here. we're lawyers,and we're renovating. there's metal grinding,open flames.
roger, is this toilet me? something high-tech.the lowboy. do you have a demoof one of those? we're not a showroom. isn't it healthier to sitlower on a toilet so you canget your knees up? makes a smooth move. where's your friend? (motor whirring) loeder!
i just wanna talk to you! move, man, move! (grunting) loeder! loeder! eddie: damn it! loeder: get him off of me! (groaning and grunting) -you all right?-damn it. it's all right, fellas.i got it. it's cool.i'm sorry.
didn't i tell younot to come back here?come with me. talk to me. (panting) nice meetin' ya. i'm a lawyer. that gives youthe right to run wildin my place of business? every man here has donehard prison time. these people need to knowi can protect them. what gives youa perfect understandingof these people? five years in attica. in the joint i meta lot of cons i trusted.
but i never meta lawyer i trusted. art's supplies isfounded on trust.it's for ex-cons, not lawyers. chuckie loeder isa material witnessin a murder trial. i need to gethim on the stand. if you'd beenstraight with me,i could have helped you, but now you probablyscared him off for good. you're leaving now,aren't you, huh? fine. i lost chuckie and gota lecture from the jailhousesaint of long island city.
where the hell were you? 1050 amsterdam avenue. -what?-chuckie's address. i sneaked a peekat the rolodex. sneaked a peek at the rolodex,counselor? nice. kitty, chuckie loeder'smost recent address just happens to bea hole in the ground. when they demolisha residential hotel, the city has torelocate the tenants.
the housing authoritywill have records of... you taught me that?so why am iwasting my breath? get on it. (softly) loeder. loeder. i guess you found himafter all, didn't you? huh? he had no family. i have to id him. i'm his family.
so, you won't be ableto use him now, will you? hmm? eddie, let's go. huh, it's goddamn tragic,ain't it? get out of here, dodd! hey, hey, hey... chuckie loeder was murdered.it's simple. chuckie loeder od'd.he was a junkie. the coroner found120 track marks on him. isn't it possible loederbeat you up on his own
to get back in goodwith the aryans? wrong! the last of the ballisticsexperts says shu's gunkilled jimmy chin. that's why i hate experts. we have to go to reynardand cut a deal. i'm gonna fall on my kneesand whimper before that stoogeof the ruling class? -right.-this isn't about you,it's about shu. if we can plead him out... we plead out guilty people!shu is innocent.
only shu and god know that. i know that! how?because reynard sayshe's guilty, and reynard's full of shit!look. that's notthe face of a killer. you're carrying that aroundlike it's a pictureof your girlfriend. your heart'll breakif this case folds. it's not gonna happen. ballistics saysit's shu's gun.all the facts... "all the facts."i'm gonna putthe facts on trial. look...
without loeder,we don't havea single witness. then go find me one.there's chinatown. that's weird.i always picturedthe morgue being way uptown. come on, roger, will ya?jesus... robert: and that is the fatal bullet that was fired that night in chinatown. yes, sir. according to your analysis, can this bullet be linkedto mr. kim's weapon? ah, given that everygun barrel leaves a distinctmark on the bullet it fires
we must conclude that thisbullet was fired bymr. kim's.38-caliber handgun. thank you, sir. -no more questions.-(inaudible) forensic ballistics... ...is not reallyan exact science, is it? oh, no, it most certainly is,mr. dodd. like tarot cards or astrologyor something? tarot cards and astrologyare not sciences. ballistics is a science.
but it hasa 10 to 15% margin of error. absolutely not. no more than seven percent. seven percent. out of every hundred cases,based on your testimony, seven innocentmen go to prison. is that the idea? objection. eddie: withdrawn.
miss gayley,please tell us exactly what you rememberseeing that evening. i don't thinki'll ever forget it. i was walkingeast on pell street. i had come from dinner with friends and i noticed a man walk past me. he was walking very fast, and his hand was shoved inside his jacket. something told me to turn. the man whom you sawmurder jimmy chin...
is he in this courtroom? that's him sitting over there. let the recordshow that miss gayleyindicated shu kai kim. your witness, mr. dodd. you know, miss gayley,i, uh... i looked at these photoand diagrams. i visited the murder scene,heard your testimony. i look at the distance betweenus now and keep comingto the same conclusion. i hate to say this. i don't...
i don't understandhow you could'veseen the killer's gun. does mr. dodd have a question? yes. did you see the gun? yes. i can describe it. -describe...really?-yes, it was silver, with a stubby barrel.snub-nosed,i believe they call it. um, it was not an automatic.it had one of those... ...cylinders. after eight years,how can you remember that?
i could see the hammer.it was cocked. how could youpossibly remember this? because i nevertook my eyes off it. ah, she never took hereyes off the gun. not the entire time. no further questions. look, i would like to... no further questions.thank you. you may step down,miss gayley.
your honor, we wishto call a witness whose name is noton the witness list. objection.this is trial by ambush. we just discovered him. he occupies the cell adjacentto the defendantat sing sing prison. this case has nothing to dowith events atsing sing prison. your honor,i assure you the witness has informationspecific to this case. mr. dodd, you will begranted time
to prepare yourcross-examination. in the absence ofsubstantial prejudiceto your client... i will permitthe witness to testify. with objection, your honor. -so noted.-thank you. as their final witness,the people wish tocall richard ortega. (whispering)who is richard ortega? mr. ortega,what is la fraternidad? a cubano prison gang,basically.
and its purpose? fighting the aryan armyand the black avengers,basically. fighting. for what? to live. we protect our own. i understand. in the course of protectingyour own, is it oftennecessary to commit murder? objection. the witnessis being asked toincriminate himself. the witness has been grantedimmunity from prosecutionfor criminal acts
he may discloseon the stand today. you must answer the question,mr. ortega. mr. ortega. are members of la fraternidadever called uponto commit murder? yeah, sometimes. all right. now... isn't shu kai kim,who is asian... ...a member of la fraternidad?
objection. irrelevant. overruled.answer the question. yeah, shu's a member. why was shu kai kimrecruited by la fraternidad? i can't answer that. your honor... it's a secret matter withinthe organization.i ain't no snitch. mr. ortega, you must answerunder threat of contempt. why was mr. kim, an asian,recruited bya cubano prison gang?
fuck you. mr. ortega. i can sentenceyou to more yearsthan you've already served. i repeat, why was mr. kimrecruited by la fraternidad? -chinatown.-chinatown? how do you knowwhat mr. kim did in chinatown? did shu kai kim tell membersof la fraternidadthat he murdered jimmy chin? -man, they got meall fucked up here!-mr. ortega. did mr. kim confess to youthat he killed jimmy chin?
he mentioned it! or did he, in fact,boast about it? to any inmatewho would listen? withdrawn. the people rest. mr. dodd, how much timewill you requireto prepare your cross? roger: ah, your honor,we move that the witness'testimony be stricken. he's obviouslybeen manipulatedby the prosecution. mr. baron, you are notthe attorney of record here. mr. dodd,do you wish to cross-examine?
ask for 72 hours, eddie. -court is hereby adjourneduntil 10:00 a.m. tomorrow.-(judge gaveling) (cameras clicking) listen to me. eddie. (sighs) eddie, where are you going? look, i heard ortegasay that shu confessed. i didn't see any evidence. we're gonna ask the judge fora continuance of 48 hoursand we'll find an inmate who will testify that shusaid he didn't do it!
the guiltier he is,the more he needs us. you said that. get lost. there was quite a bityou didn't tell me. when i joined,i took a oath of secrecy. i told youwhat you needed to know. i didn't need toknow you bragged aboutkilling chin? what was that knifing? aryans cutting inon your crack trade?
hey, that was self-defense. jimmy chin.was that self-defense too? huh? hey! shu... i'm sorry, it's just... for a while, i thought therewas this, like... you'll laugh, but i thoughtwe were two sorry assholeswho needed each other. who could help each other. how could i help you?
by trusting me. i got my face kicked inbecause i trusted you. no expert would say it wasn'tyour gun that killed chin,but it didn't matter. i went up againstthe da himself,but i didn't care. because i trusted you,because i believed in you. because i thoughtthere was a bond between us. you're out thereand i'm in here. my bond, my trust, is with the guys in herethat cover my back.
when you leave this place,you go out to dinner,see a movie, get laid. i'm going back to my celland wait to die. so you tell me. where is our bond? for a while we had this dreamwe were innocent. that was our bond. then we woke up. i want to hear everything. what do you mean,everything?
the truth.tell me about chinatown, shu. tell me the truth. shu! shu! just tell me the truth! shu! shu! -kitty: yeah?-hey. are you sleeping? you know,i haven't gotten stoned oncesince this trial started. come on in.
we'll talk in the morning.in the meantime,you can get some sleep. i don't need sleep. do you believein luck, kitty? -luck?-yeah. no. why? 'cause after ten yearsof defendingnothing but scumbags, this kid, this roger,came along out of nowhere. suddenly i find myselffighting to freean innocent man. an innocent man, kitty.
you don't findtoo many of thosein my line of work. for a minute,i thought, hey... ...the kid brought me luck. and it felt good. oh, it felt good. yeah, well, my minute is up. come on, eddie.a guilty client'snot the end of the world. exactly. it's a new beginning. i'm going backto defending scumbags.
not just dopepeddlers anymore. porno merchants.child-molesters. repeat drunk drivers.i'll get 'em all off. hit men. "send eddie doddyour contract killers." none of 'em everdoes time again. eddie, just go home. get some sleep. (arguing) mrs. esparza.
what do you want? roger baron.i work with eddie dodd. why were you at shu's trialthis afternoon? what trial? i followed youfrom the courthouse. listen, i knew jimmy chin. you were concernedshu would go free? now, did you havechuckie loeder try to scareeddie off the case? -why don't you ask chuckie?-he od'd.
he's dead. art didn't tell you? -look, mister...-roger. you mustn't tell artyou saw me at the trial. you had a right to be there,especially if youand jimmy chin were friends. friends? oh, my god.you don't know anything. roger, go home.take a job on wall street. it wasn'ta chinatown gang hit.
yeah, right. eddie, art esparza's wifeand jimmy chin were lovers. she just about told me. great. you phonedart esparza's wife?what, are you nuts? no, i followed herfrom the courthouse. esparza's wifewas at shu's trial? yeah and she was scaredi'd tell art. art esparza. what do we knowabout that self-righteousson of a bitch?
dodd, you get 15 minutes. check this out.the man's a prince. "queens businessmanhonored for his efforts toemploy "ex-convicts." eddie: security clearancefor esparza to go into jails forparole board hearings. wonderful work this man does. skipping two years back... his real work.he's being watched by narco.
"suspected of using hiswarehouse as drug drop..." "surveillance terminated." going back four years. "arthur esparzacharged with assault.dismissed." "accessory to extortion.dismissed." "dismissed." you get the feelingthis prick is protected? i'm out of here.you owe me one. "dismissed forlack of evidence."
jesus christ. what? i've seen this picture before. no wonderthe eyewitnesses picked shu.they could've been brothers. esparza killed jimmy chin. man... the killer wasn't chinese.cecil skell was right! everybody else was wrong.the one fuckinglunatic was right. come on.
does this meanthe phonecompany killed kennedy? shu's gun isan absolute match.how could it be? -not here, roger, huh.-(ambulance siren blaring) eddie: jesus! at least we'd already beat the morgue. god damn. we'll makea citizen's arrest of esparza. but we'll need some backup.who's the meanestmotherfucker you ever got off? just give me a name.any client who owns a magnum. the broken-down detectivein the wheelchair.
-dennehy.-dennehy. he said he left chinatownwith jimmychin's body at 10:30. -and didn't reachthe morgue for an hour later.-...hour later. that's why ithought it was way uptown. fill in for mein court today. -i need you in court.-(exasperatedly) oh. connie: (shouting)who the hell is it? come on, open up. sorry to bother youat this hour.
i'm edward j. dodd.are you mrs. dennehy? i'm ms. dennehy,vin's sister. i have to talkto your brother. no! you got to becrazy at this hour! can you stepback from the door,please? oh! -where are you going?-stay. (softly) dennehy. do i know you?
i'm eddie dodd.i cross-examined you. but not very well. what did you dowith jimmy chin's body? please, i need to sleep. i brought it to the coroner. an hour afteryou picked it up. yeah, an hour later. from chinatown, which is rightdown the streetfrom the morgue? you're fishing.you don't know shit.
i know about art esparza. it wasn't vin's idea. connie. go to bed.this is official business. you were pressured.tell the man. go back to bed. come on, talk to me. we thought it wouldwork if it wasa through-and-through. what'sa through-and-through?
i got this chronic pain. what isa through-and-through? you know,eight years i been waitin'for some genius to notice it took me an hourto drive seven blocks. i drove chin's body to the manhattan bridge. under the bridge, montell and sklaroff were already there with shu kai kim's gun. we only had three hours. after that, with the body cooling and clotting,
it wouldn't look right to the pathologist. chin had been hit once in the forehead by esparza's.32. the bullet exited clean. that's a through-and-through. so, all sklaroff had to worry about was aiming kim's.38 at the same angle. (train going past) we pulled the bulletout of the mattress... and that was it. an airtight case.
why? all this to protectart esparza? why? that nasty little bastard! he steps in shit,we got to lick hisboots clean. he was your snitch. the colombian connection. colombian? three yearsof ball-bustingdetective work. we put a lot ofbad guys in jail. and one good guy.
demerol?what is your problem, man?you wanna die? huh? -i am dead.-no. -we're both dead.-nobody dies untili hear the truth. who put the frame on shu? stay awake, dennehy. come on, oh, talk to me, man.i didn't say snort.i said talk. i need you to live. where are we going? atta boy, we're goingto the hospital.
oh, shit. hey, hey! why did you have to come here,you hippie-dippie fuck? vinnie's really sick.he needs a hospital. that makes two of you.(grunts) move it! stand up! god damn it, art! get back in the car!
just give me... get back in the fucking car! montell: i'm warning you, man! sklaroff: what did youtell the lawyer? lou? i'm right here, vin. so's dave. but we need to knowwhat you told the lawyer. i came clean.
vinnie told him everything. what everything?you shot a corpse.i don't give a shit. let's snuff this low-life. the fact you poppedjimmy chin in publicproves it wasn't premeditated. the jury will sympathize. dude was bangingyour wife, right? shut your...get off me! cool it! you're dead.
yeah, that makes sense. kill me inthe middle of a trial. wouldn't be clean,though, like chuckie. what, did you treat himto a match headof pure smack, huh? yeah, yeah, that's right.i'm a generous guy. who'd you waste now, art? god damn you. do it, lou, sowe can go home. still letting your snitchrun you?
montell: lou, we have to. waste him.the man will take care of it. he's right. come on. do it, you pussy! all right,i'll blow the scumbag away. i should've done thateight years ago. you see that? you wanna be like that? -huh?-no.
you gonna keepyour mouth shut? we can't trust him. are you gonna keep quiet? i can't. shoot him, for christ's sake! i can't do it, lou. that's the motherfuckerthat shot jimmy chin! it's justice! i got a client inprison eight years.where's the justice in that?
my guy's got to walk. no, no, no. i can't keepmy mouth shut. i can't. it's over. your lies... my lies, all the bullshit. it's enough. (gun cocks) you sorry bastard. yeah, i'm sorry. i got to go now.
i got to be in court. freeze! (glass shatters) freeze! where is mr. dodd? your honor, if i may. i don't know where mr. dodd isbut if he does notappear in due time... i am ready to proceedon mr. kim's behalf. i don't find this amusing,mr. baron. neither do i, your honor.
oh, good morning, mr. dodd. you think you might be up topresenting yourcase this morning? you lookedpretty good up there. i suppose i could findsome inmate at sing sing who would say that shuboasted about killingjimmy chin to survive in prisonthough he didn't really do it. but would we be any closerto understanding what really happenedin chinatown eight years ago? you have no witnesses?
if it please the court,the defense calls... mr. robert reynard. i would ask opposing counselto make an offer of proof that this is anything morethan a desperate tactic. will you bothapproach the bench, please? as a prominent assistant daat the time, he had knowledgeof external pressures that led to myclient's arrest. more nonsense about pressurefrom the mayor's office. a man's freedom isat stake here. years more ofhis life maybe obliterated.
i urge you to give methe benefit of the doubt.please. as the defense hasno other witnesses, -i'm inclined to permit this,mr. reynard.-(sighs) it's a last-ditch ploy,your honor. the defense hopesmy presence on the stand will create the opportunityfor a mistrial. the defense is mistaken. thank you, your honor. let's discuss your involvementin the originalshu kai kim case.
my involvement was marginal,at best. i wasn't assignedthe original kim case. right. weren't you busyinvestigating a colombiancrime syndicate at that time? yes, mr. dodd. didn't that case, with itsattendant publicity, lead youinto the office you now hold? if i were sitting where inormally sit, i'd say,"calls for speculation." but you aren't sittingwhere you normally sit. so, did you have a hands-onrole, or did you justsupervise from on high? i was personally involvedwith all phases and principalsof the investigation. your honor,i see no connection...
and who... were the three detectiveswho assisted you inthe colombian case, please? lou sklaroff, vin dennehyand dave montell. the same three detectivesin the shu kai kim case. that's right, mr. dodd.in those daysthey often worked as a team. who was arturo esparza? i don't know that name. you just said you wereinvolved with all principalsof the investigation. but i can't be expected toremember the name of everyinformant 8 years later.
i didn't say he wasan informant, did i? but since you mentioned it,he was your key informant, your primary informant. without him, you had noinvestigation inthe colombian case, did you? showboating can cost lives. you're trespassinginto witness protection. witness protection. that's when the state grantsfavorable treatment inexchange for information. like yesterdaywith mr. ortega.
a necessary compromiseto serve a greater good. it's a trade-off. trade-off? how far does it go,mr. reynard? protecting a key informantby covering upa murder he's committed? or does it go even further? i think you'rea dangerous man,mr. dodd. i hope so, mr. reynard. on the night of november 2,1979, the night jimmy chinwas murdered,
didn't your keyinformant art esparza phone you in a panic and say, "i just shota man in chinatown.people saw me do it." -no.-yes! and what did you say? objection! badgering! didn't you say, "don't worry,we'll make it look likea chinatown gang hit"? that isa slanderous accusation. your team combedthrough mug books.
found a patsy. framed him! the objection was sustained. we can't let esparza's crimespoil everything. that wouldn't servethe greater good! your honor, counsel isrecklessly exposingprivileged information from a classified case. that case hasbeen over for years.art esparza is dead. can't my client go free now? judge: mr. dodd...
this is an improper forumfor these allegations. you had to protect your case. you made a lot of arrests.you maybe evensaved some lives. you make that sound trivial. trivial? no, not trivial. your honor, my apologies.i withdraw these questionsfor the record. but i must know one thing. how could you do it?
it was a trade-off, mr. dodd. i'd do it again. your honor, the defense rests. (chuckling) oh. looks like you've becomea symbol for your community. think i could geta ride with you guys? go ahead, shu. be important.
hey. thanks. go on, get out of here.your mother's waiting for you. (all cheering) so... so what about you, huh? still thinkingabout that job on wall street? what, now that thingsare going well? hope this doesn't meanyou're gonna ask for a raise.
raise?i haven't even been paid yet. you haven't?good. i was worried. all the publicity from thisought to get us a decentbunch of clients. decent? roger. the most grievousinjustices in history have been perpetratedin the name of decency. sorry i asked. this case shows we mustsupport the indecent,the indefensible, the wretched,the disreputable.
