"This is a true story about a friendship that runs deeper than blood." "This is my story, and that of the only three friends in my life who mattered." "Two of them were killers who never made it past the age of 30." "The other is a non-practising attorney living with the pain of his past, too afraid to let it go - never confronting its horror." "'M the only one who can speak for them and the children we were." "My three friends and were inseparable..." "Happy and content in the closed world of Hell's Kitchen." "The westside streets of Manhattan were our private playground, a cement kingdom where we felt ourselves nothing less than absolute rulers." "Hell's Kitchen was populated by an uneasy blend of Irish, talian, Puerto Rican, and Eastern European labourers." "Hard men living hard lives." "Shut the fuck up!" "We lived in railroad apartments inside red brick tenements." "Few mothers vvorked, and all had trouble with the men they married." "Get the fuck out and shut up!" "Shut the fuck up!" "Buried one fucking wife, can bury another one!" "Domestic violence was a cottage industry in Hell's Kitchen, yet there was no divorce and few separations." "The will of the church was forceful." "For a marriage to end, someone usually had to die." "Yet despite the harshness of life," "Hell's Kitchen offered the kids on its streets a safety net enjoyed by few other neighbourhoods." "Crimes against neighbourhood people were not permitted." "When they did occur, the punishment doled out was severe, and in some cases final." "A drug dealer from an uptovvn neighbourhood moved heroin into Hell's Kitchen." "Packet killed a 12-year-old son of a Puerto Rican numbers runner." "T was the last packet the dealer ever sold." "Hell's kitchen was a place of innocence ruled by corruption." "My friends and spent lots of time inside Holy Angels." "We each served as altar boys." "Everyone wanted to work funeral masses since the funeral included a $3.00 fee - and more if you looked sufficiently sombre." "There was an active competition between the four of us to come up with the best and boldest prank." "Two weeks into the new school year, found the nuns' clacker in the school hallvvay, and I was ready for the big leagues." "N church, it was used to alert the girls as to when they should stand, sit, kneel, and genuflect - all based on the number of times a clacker was pressed." "N my pocket, it was cause for havoc." "You will be defenders of the faith, you will be soldiers of Christ gifts of the Holy Spirit..." "Well... t's going to be a great day, and your parents will be very proud of you." "When you were baptised, godparents made promises and..." "Let me have the clacker." "What clacker?" "Novv." "...great day." "Let everyone rise." "Let us pray." "Nuns are such easy targets." "John and I spent more time in church than the others." "We were the only two to think to entering the priesthood." "John and I were intrigued by the powers a priest was given." "A secret world of betrayal and deceit where people admitted dark misdeeds and vile indiscretions." "Confession was better than any book we could get our hands on or any movie we could see, because the sins were real, committed by people we knew." "The temptation to be part of that vvas too great to resist." "F we get caught, they'll burn us." "What if our mothers are out there?" "What if we end up hearing their confessions?" "Yeah, what if we end up hearing something worse?" "Like what?" "Like a murder." "What if somebody cops to a murder?" "Relax." "All we gotta do is sit back, listen, and not laugh." "Hurry." "Seconds later, our booth comes to life." ", uh, sleep with married men." "Men with families... n the morning, tell myself it's the last time, but it never is." "Yes?" "You see, I'm, uh... 'm pregnant." "The father?" "Huh!" "Take a number." "What are you going to do?" "Know what you want me to do, and I know what I should do, just don't know what I'm gonna do." "Look, I gotta go." "Thanks for listening, fellas, really appreciate it, and I know you'll keep it to yourselves." "She knew." "Yeah." "She knew." "Why do you think she told us all that?" "Don't know." "Guess she had to tell somebody." "Father Robert Carillo was a longshoreman's son who was as comfortable sitting on a saloon barstool as he was standing at the altar during high mass." "He'd toyed with a life of crime before finding his calling." "He was a friend - a friend who just happened to be a priest." "Know what crap like that does to your body?" "Come on." "It beats smoking." "And it's cheaper, too." "Maybe." "So, what'd you hear?" "Anything?" "No, nothing." "Hear you're interested in becoming a priest." "Who says?" "Word is, you want to get the feel of a confessional booth." "Don't know what you're talking about, Father." " You don't, huh?" " No." "Well, maybe got the vvrong information." "Yeah, I guess you did." "'Ll see you later tonight." "What's tonight?" "Got to drop some books and magazines off for the elderly and disabled around the neighbourhood." "Your mother said you'd love to help." "Yeah, I bet she did." "Shakes... don't want you getting into any trouble." "Come on, Father, you know I never do." "That's all I vvish for you and your friends." "That's it?" "That's it." "Nothing else, swear." "You know, a priest shouldn't svvear." "And kids shouldn't listen to other people's confessions." "'Ll see you tonight." "All right." "See you." "OK." "Michael was the most sexually experienced of our group, which meant that he'd kissed a girl on more than one occasion." "But his real love was Carol Martinez." "Hell's kitchen's half-breed - half Puerto Rican, half Irish - she vvas raised by her father, her mother having died at childbirth." "Carol stayed pretty much to herself, but was always comfortable in our company." "We could always count on Carol to stand sentry on the first night of the Ice Capades." "While families lined the front of the garden waiting to see the skaters perform, we each had one eye in a hole watching two dozen beautiful, nearly-naked women get into their skaters' outfits." "This is what heaven must be about." "Oh, my God." "Hey, uh, Carol, you want to take a look?" "Like it's something haven't seen." "Oh, you're so lucky." "Oh, wow." "She's so beautiful." "Oh, my!" "I could die now, and I wouldn't be sad." "When my friends and I were young," "When my friends and I were young," "Hell's Kitchen was run by a man named King Benny." "When he was young, King Benny was a hitman for Lucky Luciano." "Lucky Luciano did a lot of good for this country during WWI, but you ain't gonna read about that in any history book." "There was talk King Benny was the shooter of "Mad Dog" Call, that prick on West 23rd Street." "He went bootlegging with Dutch Schultz, and he opened a couple of clubs with "Tough Tony" Anastasia." "Was 14 when first heard about him." "The story goes, as a kid he wasn't much of anything." "He always got the shit kicked out of him in street fights." "And then one day - and who the fuck knows why - some rish guy, about 25 years old, takes King Benny, and flings him dovvn a flight of stairs." "King Benny breaks all his teeth in the front." "Know what King Benny does?" "He waits." "He waits eight years to get even with that prick." "He walks into a public bathhouse." "The guy's soaking in the tub." "King Benny takes out his front teeth." "He lays them down on the sink." "Then he looks at the guy and says..." ""When I look in the mirror," ""I see your face."" "Then he pulls out a gun, and he shoots the guy twice in each leg." "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Then he says to the guy," ""Now when you take a bath," ""you'll see mine."" "No-one ever fucked with King Benny after that." "Revenge." "Revenge." "Can I talk to you for a minute?" "'D like to work for you." "Help you out, whatever you need." "You're the butcher's kid." "Am I right?" "Yeah." "Well, vvhat kind of job you looking for?" "Whatever, it doesn't matter." "Oh, doesn't matter, huh?" "Everybody says this is the place to come for jobs." "Who's everybody?" "People from the neighbourhood." "Oh, them." "Let me ask you, what the fuck do they know?" "They know you got jobs." "Sorry I wasted your time." "Hold on a sec." "Yeah?" "Come back tomorrow if you want to work." "What time tomorrovv?" "Any time." "You'll be here?" "'M always here." "My first job for King Benny paid $25 a vveek and ate up only 40 minutes of my time." "N the dark clubroom, one of the guys would hand me a crumpled paper bag, and direct me to the local police precinct for delivery." "T was a perfect way to handle pay-outs." "Come on, let's go!" "Right here." "See vvhat kind of cash you got in that bag." "You gotta be nuts." "You know who you're taking off?" "Yeah, we know." "We're scared shitless." "Give me the bag." "Give me the fucking bag!" "Hey, what you do there?" "Answer me!" "What you do there?" "He stopped me and took my money." "You took the money from the boy?" " In the bag." " Let me have the bag." "Fuck you!" "Oh, yeah?" "How about now?" "Take it easy." "Ah, you're not smart any more." "Novv this make you stupid." "Let me have the bag." "All right." "Thanks, kid." "Novv, go." "What about them?" "You care?" " No." " Then go!" "Need somebody with me." "What if the old guy hadn't shown?" "What you need?" "My friends." "Your friends?" "What, do you think this is camp?" "These kids you can trust." "'Ve known them half my life." "OK, get your friends." "Father Bobby knew my friends and I worked for King Benny, and he wasn't pleased." "He wasn't worried about the pocket money, but the next step:" "When they ask you to pick up a gun." "He didn't want that to happen to us." "You think running for King Benny's a good idea?" "T pays." "A lot of things pay." "Not like this." "Whoa!" "Most priests like to preach from the pulpit." "Father Bobby liked to talk during the bump and shove of a pickup game." "Oh, good shot." "Found an art class for you to take." "You know can't afford to take any art classes." "You don't have to pay anything." "Teacher's a friend of mine." "Hmm?" "Don't know." "Could be nothing but a waste of time." "Or it could be the first step." "Step to what?" "Doing something with your life." "T may help you get out of here." "You all could get out of here." "Are we gonna talk or play basketball?" "Listen, I got a story want to tell you." "T ain't the one about the lepers, is it, 'cause that one gave me nightmares." "No lepers." "This is Michelangelo." "He was born poor like you guys." "He was a painter, a sculptor." "He takes this job from the Pope." "Good money, good work." "Why'd the Pope call him?" "'Cause the Pope was looking for the best guy he could find to paint the ceiling of his church in Rome." "Don't sound like that big a job." "To Michelangelo it was." "Michelangelo needed the job 'cause it paid more money than he ever had in his life." "So he could pay off the loan sharks chasing his father." "What's his father?" "He was, like, a low-level con guy who conned people out of money, goats, sheep..." "Goats?" "Chickens, whatever he could." "Chickens?" " You know what happened?" " What?" "He painted a ceiling no-one will ever forget." "Painted like it was touched by the hand of God." "Did he pay off the loans?" "Every single one." "Hey, how long did it take him?" "Took him about 9 years." "Nine years?" "That's right." "Had a Puerto Rican guy do my whole apartment in 2 days - and he had a bum leg." "Don't know what 'm gonna do with you guys." "Just give us a job and leave the rest to us." "You know what it was?" "The Sistine Chapel." " 16th chapel?" " Sistine Chapel." "Who painted the other 15?" "Outside events meant little." "N a society changing radically by the hour, we watched the images scatter nightly across the TV screens." "Young protesters spoke about how they were gonna change our lives and fix the world." "But while they shouted their slogans, my friends and I went to funeral services for the young men of Hell's Kitchen who came back from Vietnam in body bags." "We viewed with scepticism the faces on television - those protected by money and upper middle-class standing." "A growing army of feminists marched across the country, demanding equality..." "Yet our mothers still cooked and cared for men who abused them mentally and physically." "For me and my friends, these developments carried no weight." "They might as well have occurred in another country, in another century." "Our attention was elsewhere." "We sat with Father Bobby visiting John, hoping he would recover from a punctured lung - a gift from one of his mother's overzealous boyfriends." "Hope you like these." "You better not tell me you don't." "OK." "Father Bobby didn't let that situation rest." "Gave on Sunday." "'M in a rush, OK?" "John Reilly." "Little punk." "He got out of line, so I put him back in line." "You put him in the hospital." "He's alive, ain't he?" "Look, if he's smart, he learned himself a lesson." "What are you, about 220?" "230?" "Yeah." "You're a big guy." "How much you think John Reilly weighs?" "80?" "85?" "That's not even a featherweight." "F this were a fight, you'd be way out of your division." "Look, it vvas a slap." "T was nothing." "Well, next time, you'll be meeting me." "And I may not be in your division, but I do weigh more than 85 pounds, and you won't need a doctor when I'm done." "You'll need a priest... to pray over your body." "See you in church." "Father Bobby vvould've made a good hitman." "T's a shame we lost him to the other side." "We were down 7-6 in the last inning of a sewer-to-sewer stickball game against Hector Maldonado and three of his friends." "Come on, baby, strike this chump out!" "He got nothing!" "Shut up!" "Who's that?" "His sister." "What happened to her?" "'M not sure." "Some kind of cancer got in her legs or something." "Worry about the game." "Come on." "Come on, baby, strike this scumbag out!" "He can't touch it, baby, he can't touch it." "While you don't got legs, you got a lot of tongue!" "This is it." "Home run." "Oh, easy, M1ike." "Yeah, baby!" "What the fuck you looking at, little dick?" "!" "She's nothing but charm." "Come on, baby." "Take him, Mike." "Yeah!" "I told you he wasn't shit, baby!" "Hey, swallow your tongue, you little gimp bitch!" "Could've helped her across the street or bought her an ice-cream, but you didn't have to throw the game." "Yeah, now we're the Salvation Army." "You ever wonder why there ain't a Salvation Navy?" "Game over, losers." "Cough up the cash." "A buck each." "He's no better than you." "He was today." "No." "You let him beat you - 'cause rish here has a thing for little girls with no legs." "Stay away from us, Fat Man, all right?" "You boys are soft like bread." "T's going to catch up to you..." "And when it does, it's going to hurt bad." "What happens is our business, not yours, OK?" "You gotta stay tough to be tough." "Guys smells it when you're weak?" "Eat you like a salad." "You see that street?" "That street is the dish of life, and you boys are appetizers." "Somebody going to come along, eat you up, and forget about you by dessert." "Take it easy, Fat Man." "T wasjust a stickball game." "Yeah, but going soft is a habit." "You have to keep yourself mean and guide your life around it." "All right." "Calm down." "T's like hanging out with fucking Confucius over here." "Be funny, limp dick." "Look, this just free advice from me to you." "You take it or you throw it away." "T don't matter." "N truth, we were all surprised by M1ichael's actions, but in his mind, losing that game and handing a feeling of victory to a girl in a wheelchair was more than the right thing to do." "Come on." "I'm so sweaty." "The temperature topped out at 98 degrees on the day our lives were forever altered." "'M frying like an egg up here." "Say we get some butter rolls, a couple of sodas, then make off to the dock." "Can't you feel the breeze up here?" "What breeze?" "We're surrounded by a wall, genius." "The devil couldn't even stand this." "Will you guys shut up?" "'M trying to get my burn." "T's 98 degrees." "We haven't hit the hot dog vendor in a couple of weeks." "Don't know, Mikey." "Hot dog guy ain't like the others." "Mean, he was pretty pissed - like crazy - when you tried to take him off." "We can eat hot dogs, or we can eat air." "Choose." "Air's probably safer, Mike." "Yeah." "Hot dogs ain't worth bleeding over, Mikey." "Yeah." "But anyvvay, whose turn was it?" "Yours." " Yours." " Yours." "Mine?" "It's not my turn." "Yes, it is." "Went last month." "He went two weeks..." "Last month?" "Went right after him." "'M not going." " Why not?" " It's too hot." "Mustard, onions." "No soda." "Know you." "look like a lot of people." "The scam was simple." "Was to walk up to the hot dog vendor and order what wanted." "The vendor would then hand me my hot dog and watch as I ran off without paying." "This left a vendor with two choices, neither very appealing." "He could stand his ground and swallow his loss, or give chase." "The second forces him to abandon the cart, where my friends could feast in his absence." "Uh, I'm gonna need two napkins." "Hey!" "M1y money, thief!" "Yes!" "All aboard." "Need the ketchup." "Took it from him and ran." "Scooted past Tommy Mung's Dry Cleaners and Armand's Shoe Repair." "The vendor gave chase." "A wooden-handled, pronged fork in one hand." "All right." "You gonna do it, do it." "These things are heavier than they look." "Genius, these are the gas tanks to keep the food hot." "They're heavier than shit." "Think we can push it, the three of us?" "Push it where, huh?" "Couple of blocks." "Be a nice surprise for the guy, when he comes back from chasing Shakes, not to find his cart." "The vendor tired at 47th and 9th, was on the other side of the street." "He was beat..." "But not beaten." "He could go 10 minutes more just on hate alone." "Come on." "Give it up." "What's wrong, Mikey?" "Shakes is taking too long." "He should have been back by now." "He'll be fine." "He's Shakes." "You guys supposed to take hot dogs, not the wagon." "All right, novv we know   he's coming fast!" " He's coming?" "!" "Got a plan." "Come on, over by the subway." "The plan, as it turned out, was as simple and as dumb as anything we'd ever done." "We were to hold the cart on the top edge of the stairwell, leaning it downvvard, and wait for the vendor." "We were to let it go the second he grabbed the handles." "Then we'd leave as he struggled to get the cart on the sidevvalk." "To this day, don't know why we did it, but we vvould all pay a price." "T only took a minute, but in that minute everything changed." "Can't hold it!" "Slow down!" "Can't hold on!" "Hold it up!" "Can't hold it!" " Shit!" " No!" "Stop!" "Get out of the hall!" "Damn!" "Oh, my God." "Sweet Jesus." "What have you boys done?" "What in the name of God have you boys done?" "Think vvejust killed a man." "While James Caldwell was slowly recovering in hospital," "While James Caldwell was slowly recovering in hospital, we were charged with reckless endangerment and remanded into our parents' custody." "Sorry, Dad." "T ain't gonna do you much good." "Take it easy!" "You don't have to get crazy." "You're going tojail, and you don't even know what the fuck that means!" "Ma!" "Oh, Papa." "He's just a kid." "He shouldn't have to do time." "Nobody in this family should have to do time!" "Did enough time for everybody!" "Hear you're short of an altar boy." "You still remember what to do?" "Easy on the water..." "Heavy on the vvine..." "And ring the bells whenever see someone start to nod off." "Get ready." "We got 5 minutes to showtime." "'M gonna miss this." "'M gonna miss all of this." "'Ve been doing all I can, but so far every door touch is locked." "Could run." "We all could run..." "Disappear for a while." "Nobody's gonna come looking." "Nobody's gonna care about us..." "About where we go." "You run now... you're gonna run till you die." "Hiding's not gonna make it go away." "People aren't gonna forget." "You've got to face this." "Can't, Father." "Don't want to face it." "Too scared to face it." "'M scared, too." "Nobody's more scared than am..." "But you got to do it." "You're gonna be OK." "You're gonna make it through there." "You understand?" "Come on." "We got an audience." "Counted three rummies and four widows on my way in." "Plus, Fat Ralphie's sleeping one off in the last row." "T's the rain." "Bad weather always brings in the crowds." "This is one of my favourites." "What is?" ""Whatever you do to the least of my brethren..." ""you do to me."" "Come on." "We never savv the vendor as a man - not the way vve saw other men of the neighbourhood." "And we didn't care enough about him to grant him any respect." "We gave little notice to how hard he worked, or that he had a wife and two kids in Greece, and hoped to bring them to this country." "We didn't pay attention to the long hours he worked." "We didn't see any of that." "We only saw a free lunch." "Thomas Markano, the court hereby sentences you to be remanded for a period of no more than 18 months, no less than one year, at the Wilkinson Home for Boys." "John Reilly, the court hereby sentences you to be remanded for a period of no more than 18 months, no less than one year, to the Vilkinson Home for Boys." "Lorenzo Carcaterra, taking into consideration that you arrived on the scene after the theft had already occurred - in consideration of that, the court hereby sentences you to serve no more than one year, no less than six months at the Wilkinson Home for Boys." "Michael Sullivan..." "The court hereby sentences you to be remanded for a period of no more than 18 months, no less than one year, at the Wilkinson Home for Boys." "And I might add, had it not been for the intervention of Father Carillo, who spoke in glowing terms on your behalf, would have sentenced you to a much stiffer punishment." "Still have my doubts as to your inherent goodness." "Only time will serve to prove me vvrong." "Could you do me a favour, Father?" "What do you want?" "Name it." "The past couple of weeks, my mother and father looked ready to kill each other." "Could you watch over them for me?" "Will." "And no matter what you hear, tell them I'm doing OK." "You mean, you want me to lie?" "T's a good lie, Father." "You can do it." "Come on." "Let's go." "Be strong." "Will." "The Wilkinson Home for Boys held 780 youthful offenders, housed in five separate units." "From the outside, the facility resembled what those who ran it wanted it to:" "Some kind of nice school or university." "Michael, Tommy, John, and I were assigned to the second floor of group C." "We each had a private 12-foot room." "'D been in my room less than an hour when the panic set in." "T doesn't take very long to know how tough a person you are or how strong you can be." "Knew from my first day at Wilkinson that I was neither tough nor strong." "Hello, Carcaterra." "Toss your clothes on the floor." "Here?" "What, are you expecting a dressing room?" "We don't have any." "Novv, lose the clothes." "N front of you?" "Let's go, let's go." "What's that piece of shit around your neck?" "Take it off." "T's Mary..." "The mother of God?" "Don't give a fuck whose mother it is." "Take it off." "Everything." "You want me to stand here naked?" "Novv you're catching on." "Knew you Hell's Kitchen boys weren't as dumb as everyone says." "Novv what?" "Get dressed." "There were four guards assigned to each floor, with one - in our case Nokes - designated group leader." "Ferguson was the only son of a slain New York state trooper, and was on the waiting list for both the NY City and Suffolk County police departments." "Styler was using hisjob at Wilkinson's to finance his way through law school." "Addison was a graduate of the local high school who wanted nothing more than a steady job that paid well." "T was not a group of innocent young boys at Wilkinson." "Most, if not all of the inmates belonged there." "A number of them were riding out second and third convictions - all were violent offenders." "Few seemed sorry about what they had done." "And as for rehabilitation?" "Forget it." "Hey, what the fuck did you do that for?" "!" "You got close to me." "So?" "T bothers me." "Don't want to be near you or your creeped-out friends." "You know, your time here hasn't taught you shit." "You're still the same fucking bunch of clowns you were the day you walked in here." "OK." "Everybody go on back and finish your lunches." "There's nothing more to see." "Go on!" "Go!" "Sit down!" "Get out of here!" "Go on." "Go ahead." "That go for me, too?" "No, it don't go for you." "You go back to your room." "You're through with your lunch." "Go on." "You and me..." "we're gonna finish this sometime real soon." "Maybe at dinner." "So..." "You Hell's Kitchen boys get any lunch?" "Got to smell it." "You got to smell it." "That's good." "Hey, hey, hey, where you going?" "You said to get lunch." "Oh, you boys don't need to get back in line to get lunch 'cause there's plenty to eat right where you're standing." "You can smell it." "'M not hungry." "Well, don't give a fuck if you're hungry or not." "You eat because 'm tellin' you to eat." "'M still not hungry." "'Ll tell you when you're hungry or not." "Novv eat." "Excuse me." "What the fuck are you looking at?" "Get the fuck dovvn on your knees now and finish your goddamn lunch!" "Come on, now, eat!" "Don't think you got all fucking day here." "Eat." "You got some mashed potatoes..." "Come on, suck up some of that Jell-o." "Come on, you fucking assholes, eat." "Don't be thinkin' you got all day." "Hurry up." "Come on, let's go." "Hey, none of you clowns are leavin' here until these assholes finish their goddamn lunch." "You got that?" "Hey, you, here's a piece of bread." "There you go." "You can't have a good lunch without a nice piece of bread." "Eat!" "Let's go." "Come on, now." "That's good, that's good." "Yeah, show the boys how you follow my rules." "Rules!" "You understand?" "Hey, look, boys, see how he follows my rules?" "Shift's over, Nokes." "No, l-l-I'm not ready to go yet." "Still got a few more things got to clean up here before can leave." "This is my tour now." "'Ll clean what needs cleaning'." "Stay outta this one." "T's got nothin' to do with you." "This one... 'm stayin' in." "Don't fuck with me, boy." "No, Nokes..." "You fuck with me." "'M asking' you." "You're eatin' into my shift." "'Ll get outta your way..." "For now." "'Ll take what can get." "You boys get off your knees." "T's a tragedy." "'Ll tell ya... don't understand you boys." "Want you to know what it means to have rules." "You got to have rules, and you got to have discipline." "Don't know what it was like in your homes, but in my house with my father... there were rules." "And if you didn't follow the rules, there was hell to pay." "You had rules, and you had discipline." "Sometimes it wasn't nice, but, boy, we learned." "We sure did learn." "Yeah, right around there to the right." "There you go." "Come on, now." "Mean, it's a simple thing, really." "You got rules, and you got discipline." "That's the beginning and that's the end of the story." "Do we understand each other?" "Turn and face the wall." "Novv, we got interrupted earlier in the lunchroom, but there's no-one to interrupt us here now." "What do you want?" "A blovv job." "Down on your knees." "Face the wall." "There are no clear pictures of the sexual abuse we endured." "Buried it as deep as it could possibly go." "What I remember most clearly from that chilly October night was that it was my 14th birthday... and the end of my childhood." "Early in my stay 'd written and asked my father not to come." "Couldn't have him see in my face what had happened to me." "Michael did the same with the members of his family." "Tommy's mother couldn't get it together to visit." "John's mother came up once a month." "But no-one could stop Father Bobby from visiting." "So listen, let's try to keep this on a happy note, OK?" "Nokes warned us not to say anything to Father Bobby." "F we did, the reprisals would be severe." "You lost a few pounds." "T's not exactly home cookin'." "Sit down." "So I get to see all four of you guys today." "loved Father Bobby, but I couldn't stand to look at him." "Was afraid he'd look right through me, past the fear and the shame, right through to the truth." "Shakes, is there anything you want to tell me?" "Anything at all?" "You shouldn't come here any more, Father." "Appreciate it and all... don't think it's the right thing for you to do." "Stopped off at Hackett today on my way up here to see an old friend of mine." "You have any friends not injail?" "Not as many as I would like." "What's he in for?" "Triple murder." "He killed three men about 15 years ago." "And he's a good friend?" "Yeah." "He was my best friend." "We hung out together." "We were close, just like you and the guys." "We were both sent up here." "That's right." "And it wasn't easy." "Just like it's not easy for you and the guys." "This place killed him." "Made him not care anymore." "Don't let this place do that to you, Shakes." "Don't let it make you think you're tougher than you are." "'Ve gotta go, Father." "'Ll see you in the Kitchen, hmm?" "'M counting' on you, now." "Wipe the tears off your face." "Don't let them see 'em." "Don't let them see you crying." "Don't give them the satisfaction." "You'll be outta here before you know it." "You're gonna be OK." "Didn't want to let him go." "Never felt as close to anyone as felt to him that moment." "A number of the inmates, as tough as they acted during the day, would often cry themselves to sleep at night." "There were other cries, too." "These differed from those filled with fear and loneliness." "They were low and muffled, the sounds of pained anguish." "Those cries can change the course of a life." "They are cries that, once heard, can never be erased from memory." "On this one night, those cries belonged to my friend John when Ralph Ferguson paid him a visit." "Was expecting to read 30 book reports over the weekend." "There were only six for me to read, which means 'm missing how many?" "Man, this is English class." "Math's down the hall." "Want to help you." "You may not believe that or you may not care, but it's the truth." "You got a second?" "What, I do something wrong?" "No." "You did a great job on your book report." "You really seemed to like the book, The Count of Monte Cristo." "T's my favourite." "Liked it more since I've been in here." "Why is that?" "T's like..." "He wouldn't let anyone beat him, the Count." "Took what he had to take - the beatings, insults, whatever - and he learned from it." "Then when the time came for him to do something, he made his move." "You admire that?" "No, I respect that." "You... you got a copy of the book at home?" "Got the classics illustrated comic." "No, it's not the same thing." "Listen, I gotta go." "'M gonna miss..." "Wait, wait." "One minute, one minute." "'Ve got something for you." "Thought you might like to have it." "Are you serious?" "Well, you loved the book that much, you should have a copy of your own." "Can't pay you." "No, it's a gift." "You've gotten gifts before, haven't you?" "T's been a while." "Well, it's my way of saying thanks." "For what?" "That somebody listens..." "Even if it's just one student." "You're a good teacher, Mr Carlson." "We can discuss the book on Friday in class if you, uh, think the Count can hold their attention." "He's got a shot." "Any particular section should read from?" "That's easy." "The part where he escapes from prison." "Here you go." "Here's your locker room." "It was only a game." "Just a touch football game, nothing more, but a game wish we'd never played." "Guards against inmates." "The guards practised four times a week." "Our team vvas picked the Monday before the game." "We had a 2-hour practice." "Didn't matter much." "We weren't supposed to win." "We were just supposed to show up." "Who's the toughest guy out here?" "How do you mean, tough?" "Who can talk and have everyone listen?" "Black kid over there." "Michael saw an opening, a chance to bring the game to our level, even out the field, but he needed help." "He needed Rizzo." "Black kid with an Italian name." "With Rizzo on our side, we had a chance." "Look, white boy, don't know what you play in the streets." "Don't care, but in here, the guards call the play, and the play calls them to win the game." "Why?" "Oh, man..." "Guards steer clear of me, all right?" "They stay back and let me do my time." "F I play in a game and I put a hurtin' on one of them, that just might change my cushion." "'M not saying we gotta win." "Just don't want to take a beatin'." "We do every day." "Why's Saturday special?" "'Cause on Saturday, we can hit back." "Really?" "They don't fuck with you like they do us, but they fuck with you another way." "You're just an animal to 'em." "Don't give a fuck." "Yeah, you do." "And beating' them on Saturday, that's not going to change a thing." "Then why, white boy?" "Why?" "To make them feel what we feel..." "Just for a couple of hours." "Novv, don't try anything funny, Sambo." "Nobody'll get hurt." "You know what I'm sayin'?" "Call heads." "He calls heads." "He called heads." "T is a head." "Let's go." "You're gonna die, motherfucker." "You're gonna fuckin' die." "None of you motherfuckers can cover me!" "We got ourselves a game!" "'M feeling' good today." "This shit feels good." "Yeah!" "Yeah, keep smiling, you little pissant." "Yeah." "For 90 minutes, we took the game out of the prison, moved it miles beyond the locked gates and the sloping hills of the surrounding countryside." "We brought it back down to the streets of the neighbourhoods we'd come from." "For those 90 minutes, we were once again free." "Rizzo!" "Rizzo!" "Rizzo!" "Rizzo..." "Rizzo..." "Rizzo..." "Rizzo!" "Rizzo!" "Hey, Nokes..." "Good game." "For once, we had a victory, but it didn't last." "T couldn't last." "And all wanted to do was die." "Was not alone in the hole." "Knew my friends were dovvn in the depths with me, each in his own cell, each in his own pain, suffering his own demons." "Rizzo was there, too." "Had lost any sense of time." "Thought you'd never wake up." "Thought I'd never want to." "John and Tommy are dovvn on the other side there." "How are they?" "They're alive." "Who isn't?" "Rizzo." "They killed him?" "They took turns beating' him until there was nothing to that kid to beat." "Rizzo was dead because of us." "We made him think that going up against the guards at a meaningless football game had some value, that it would give us a reason to go on." "Once again, we were wrong." "They give you your release date yet?" "Nokes had a letter from the warden." "Waved it in front of me and then tore it up." "When do you figure?" "Don't know." "End of spring, early summer or something." "Wish we were comin' with ya." "Would have been nice for all of us to vvalk out together." "No use thinkin' about that." "We're gonna do a full year, not an hour less." "When get out, I'll get Father Bobby to make some phone calls." "Shave a month or two off." "There's nothin' to talk about." "There's a lot to talk about." "Maybe if people knew what goes on in here, they'd make a move." "Don't want anybody to know." "Not Father Bobby, King Benny, Fat Mancho, not my mother." "Nobody." "Yeah." "I don't either." "Mean, I wouldn't know what to say to anyone who did know." "Can't think of anybody who needs to hear about it." "Mean, either they won't believe it, or they won't give a shit." "Yeah, I don't even think we should talk about it once it's over, you know?" "We got no choice but to live with it, and talkin' makes living' it harder." "So might as well not even talk about it." "The truth stays with us." "Want to be able to sleep one night... and not have to worry who's coming in my room, what's gonna happen to me." "F I can get that... then 'll be happy." "Some day, John." "Promise." "Was in my last hours as an inmate at the Wilkinson Home for Boys." "Was given four copies of my release form, the final reminder of my time at Wilkinson." "Never heard the key turn in the lock, and I never heard the snap of the bolt." "You should be asleep." "Just wanted to say goodbye." "We all do." "Told him right to his face." ""I don't care if you're paying the overtime or not." ""I'm not workin' those 9 hours."" " Yeah, but you put in for it?" " Yeah, but..." "What part of all this was left there that night, the night that will never be removed from my mind?" "The night of June 1, 1968, the summer of love, my last night at the Wilkinson Home for Boys." "At 8:25 pm, two men walked through the doors." "The bartender knew their faces, as most of the neighbourhood knew their names." "They were two of the founding members of the West Side Boys." "They were also its deadliest." "The blond man had been in and out of jail since he was a kid." "He robbed and killed at will or on command." "He's presently a suspect in four unsolved homicides." "He was an alcoholic and a cocaine abuser with a fast temper and a faster trigger." "He once shot a mechanic dead for moving ahead of him in a movie line." "The dark-haired man was equally deadly and had committed his first murder at the age of 17." "N return, he was paid $ 50." "He drank and he did drugs, and he had a wife he never saw living somewhere in Queens." "Well, vve've got a lot of work to do." "T's gonna take more than four years." "T'll take you to the mid-term elections..." "Hey, Jerry." "Huh?" "Who they talkin' about?" "They're talkin' about Reagan's speech." "Order those two men some drinks and put it on my tab..." "And tell them Republicans are not welcome in Hell's Kitchen, and either a political conversion or a change of conversation is in order." "Sure thing." "Gentlemen..." "The gentleman there would like to buy you a drink on one condition..." "You know the rules." "No religion and no politics." "You get my meaning?" "Order something for me." "Got to go to the bathroom." "Can I help you with something, chief?" "Not right now." "Enjoy the rest of your meal." "Chi tai-tai himorah" "Ho-ra-nika ho-ra-nika" "Hey-ney hey-ney nowah chi tai-tai himorah" "Ho-ra-nika ho-ra-nika" "Hey-ney hey-ney nowah." ", uh, ordered the brisket on a roll with fries and, uh, two baskets of soda bread." "Know hovv you like that shit." "That OK by you?" "Take a look at the guy at the table." "Take a good look." "Motherfuck." "That's him." "You're fucking kidding me." "Bingo." "This is amazing." "Hello." "T's been a long time." "Who the fuck are you guys?" "Who the fuck asked you to sit down?" "Thought you'd be happy to see us." "Guess was wrong." "You know, I thought you'd do a lot better, you know?" "With all that training and all that time you put in, just to end up watching someone else's money?" "That seems like a waste." "'M asking' you for the last time what the fuck you want?" "Why don't you take your time?" "T'll come to you." "Can see how he might forget us." "Yeah." "We were just something for you and your friends to play with." "T's a little harder for us to forget." "You gave us so much more to remember." "Can't quite place us, can you, chief?" "Let me help you out." "You're looking at John Reilly and Tommy Marcano." "Oh, yeah." "Yeah, that's right." "That was a long time ago." "So how ya been?" "Yeah, we ain't kids novv." "Yeah." "So what do you want?" "What I've always wanted - to watch you die." "Ohh... you ordered the meat loaf." "The brisket's really good here, only you'll never know it." "You fucked up." "Ah, you were scared little pricks, both of youse..." "All of youse." "Scared shitless, but... tried to make you tough." "Tried to make you hard." "Oh, I had you all wrong then, Nokes." "All this time thought you just liked fucking and beating up little boys." "You two motherfuckers are going to burn in hell." "You're gonna burn in hell." "Yeah, after you." "Did that hurt, Nokes?" "Jerry..." "Sorry." "Should have made those brisket sandwiches to go." "Jesus!" "John Reilly, hovv do you plead?" "Not guilty, Your Honour." "Thomas Marcano?" "Not guilty, Your Honour." "John Reilly and Thomas Marcano, you are hereby held without bail." "N all the years since Wilkinson's, we had never once spoken to each other about what had happened there." "We remained caring friends, but the relationship had been altered." "We drifted together, always wondering if that moment would arrive that vvould force us to deal with the past." "One down, Shakes." "One down." "One what?" "One..." "Sean..." "Nokes." "Nokes?" "At the time of Nokes' shooting," "Michael worked as an assistant New York district attorney." "Got a call he wanted to meet me on 45th Street in Queens." "Then he hung up." "Hey." "So what'd they say?" "What?" "John and Tommy, what'd they say?" "A little cloak and dagger, isn't it, Mike?" "Come on, man, Nokes - they talk about him?" "John did." "Yeah?" "What'd he say?" "He said, "One down, Shakes." "One down."" "Hear they hired Danny Snyder as their lawyer." "King Benny's going to move over one of his lawyers." "No, no." "Don't let him do that." "Snyder's perfect." "Perfect?" "The guy's a fall-down drunk." "'M telling you, he's perfect." "Perfect for what?" "You covering the story for your newspaper?" " Me?" " Yeah." "'M the timetable clerk, Mikey." "Ask me what movie's playing at what time." "'M lucky they let me in the building." "Get some coffee?" "Let's take a walk." "'M going to prosecute John and Tommy in an open court." "What, are you fucking nuts?" "Just hear me out." "You should stay home tomorrow." "Call in sick and save your life, counsel." "'M not taking this case to win, 'm taking this case to lose." "What does that mean?" "T means it's payback time." "Look, John and Tommy started this." "T's begun." "T's messy, it's not how I had it planned, but here it is." "You and I, we can finish it." "Finish what, Mikey?" "You read The Count Of Monte Cristo[/l] lately?" "Don't know, 10 years ago." "See, I read a little bit of it every night." "Read words like "Revenge," ""Sweet, lasting revenge."" "Payback time." "T's our time." "What are you saying, Mike?" "'M saying it's time for all of us to get a taste." "'M saying it's time to put an end to this." "Let's walk." "So I asked for the case." "Told them I was from the same neighbourhood as the accused, knew the mentality of the area, blah, blah, blah." "They bought it." "And the connection between John, Tommy, and Nokes?" "Connection?" "Juvenile records are destroyed after 7 years." "We were never at Wilkinson's." "We got to go after the guards, we got to get Wilkinson's." "Bring it all down." "Adam Styler - plain-clothes cop, works narcotics in Queens." "Known to shake down dealers for dope and cash." "He's got a cocaine problem." "Other personal information there." "Henry Addison - now works for the mayor, if you can fucking believe that." "He's a community outreach director in Brooklyn." "His sexual habits haven't changed." "He still likes sex with young boys." "Ralph Ferguson - works in a social service agency in Long sland..." "How long you been working on this, Mike?" "Just recently divorced, got one child, and on weekends, teaches Catholic Sunday school." "Well, seems clean then, right?" "That's exactly why want the piece of shit." "The plan is to call Ferguson in as a character witness, get him talking about his best friend Sean Nokes." "Once got him on the stand, 'm going to open the door to Wilkinson's." "Mike... you sure you want to go this way?" "Mean, we buried this a long time ago." "Do you still sleep with the light on?" "John and Tommy?" "You want them to know anything about this?" "Nah." "It'll play better in court if they don't know." "A not guilty verdict had to be a verdict that no-one would dare question." "Danny Snyder was to remain as Tommy and John's attorney." "Michael's plan relied on Hell's Kitchen to deliver information and keep quiet." "Both were skills the neighbourhood had in abundance." "We set up a simple method of communication." "F Michael was sending, messages were left for me at vvork to call my non-existent girlfriend Gloria." "F I needed to get word to Michael, would have someone from the neighbourhood pick up an early edition of the New York Times, write "Edmund" in the right-hand corner of the Metro section and drop it in front of Michael's apartment." "For this plan to succeed, we needed total secrecy and the only people we completely trusted." "The plan depended on keeping Michael alive, which meant word had to get to John and Tommy's killing crew that he was not an open target." "After this night, Michael would not be available to any of us." "The only time we would see him would be in court." "That's it?" "Not quite." "We got four witnesses who saw the shooting are willing to testify." "Gotta get that number down." "'Ll talk to King Benny." "Good." "Can handle two, but, uh, you got to get us one for our side." "One what?" "One witness, a witness who will put John and Tommy somewhere else on the night of the murder." "A witness they can't touch." "Don't they got a name for that?" "Thejudge will call it perjury." "See." "And what are we calling it?" "A favour." "Get up." "Come on." "Tony?" "Yeah, King?" "Bring Danny Snyder to see me." "Danny Snyder the lawyer?" "You know more than one Danny Snyder?" "No, King." "Bring me the one you know." "Can't do this now." "You got to know that." "T's been a long time for me." "Mean, uh..." "You need somebody younger, you know, somebody like I used to be." "Younger is not better." "Doesn't have experience, doesn't know its way around the courthouse." "Yeah, I'm lucky can find the courthouse." "Had only four cases last year." "You know how many I won?" "None." "That's how many." "None." "N two of them, -, uh, think the, uh, the jury blamed me personally." "They must have been innocent." "T's tough to get innocent men off a rap." "Wasn't even planning on going to court with this one." "Wasjust going to plead it down best could and walk away." "Wasn't planning on taking this to trial, sir." "Well, your plans have been changed." "Well, am afraid that 'll make a mistake and say the wrong thing and, you knovv, uh, uh, uh, make a wrong turn somewhere, and you don't want to take that risk." "Life is risk." "'M sorry?" "Life is risk." "Life is a risk?" "Haven't been in here before." "What do you need me to do?" "Listen, you're going to be given the answers and the questions." "All you have to do is read." "You can read, can't you?" "S-is-is it in English?" "Just don't drift, don't drink, and don't lose." "What if DO lose?" "Then you go down for the dirt nap." "Never heard that expression before." "Dirt nap." "Yeah." "'M really not cut out for this anymore." "Mean, a guy gets hit by a bus, you know, and sues," " like that." "Some lady slips in a supermarket, 'm with her." "A guy..." "The discussion's over." "'M an alcoholic." "This is a murder case." "This isn't for me." "T was once." "Yes, but, uh..." "Before you let the drink lead." "Be sober by tomorrow." "And don't look so worried, Snyder." "You got nothing to lose, just like the rest of us." " Don't want to be a burden to you, but I do, you know... aside..." "Or along with my alcohol problem, have a slight drug problem." "Nothing big." "Go away." "Within days of Michael taking the case, the West Side Boys got a visit from King Benny." "He asked that the verbal abuse directed at M1ichael continue." "Cries of "Traitor" and "Gutter rat"" "were heard up and down the avenue." "But there vvas never to be a death move against him." "The hit on Michael Sullivan, if there was to be one, could only come from King Benny." "The underground word, the only one that mattered, had spread through the streets with the speed of a bullet." "King Benny's sleepers were making their play." "Sleepers was a street name for anyone who spent time in a juvenile facility." "Hey!" "You going to pay for that, you little prick?" "Need your help, Fat Man." "Need a big favour." "Be outside." "King Benny been to see you?" "Oh, my goodness." "What a fucking thing we put together, huh?" "You have a drunk lawyer on one side, a kid lawyer on the other, fucking paperboy making like Dick Tracy." "There are four sets of eyeballs that saw the whole thing." "You know?" "Meanwhile, the two on trial killed more people than cancer." "Fucking General Custer has a better shot at a walk." "There's no connection with the guard and us." "The cops think it's a drug-related homicide." "T's just, we need you to pull a few strings, Fat Man." "You know, you get caught on this, you're looking straight at serious." "'M talking real jail, the big house." "They're not good boys anymore." "They're killers now." "Cold as stone." "Know." "Know what they were and I know what they are, and it's not about that." "T's not worth it, throwing away a life just to get even." "You and the lawyer have a chance to get out, to get out the right way." "There's no choice, not for us." "On occasion, 'd have dinner with Carol." "On occasion, 'd have dinner with Carol." "She still lived in the neighbourhood and was a social worker in the South Bronx, her concern for us undiminished by the passing years." "Whenever we went out as a group," "Carol would walk between Michael and John, grasping their arms, in step betvveen the lawyer and the killer." "Mug me or marry me, Shakes." "'M too tired for anything else." "Would you settle for a couple of beers, Carol?" "F that's your best offer." "'Ll throw in a hug and a kiss." "Deal." "You look tired." "Thank you." "They don't let you sleep in this new job of yours?" "So how much do you know?" "Just what the neighbourhood says and what read in papers like yours." "What does the neighbourhood say?" "That they're going to put Johnny and Tommy away, that their best friend's going to be the one to do it." "Do you believe that?" "T's hard not to, Shakes." "Or else we all have it wrong." "He did take the fucking case." "He did take the case." "What else is there to say?" "You know Michael very well." "Maybe even better than I do." "Yeah, thought I did." "Novv I don't know." "You do... don't know!" "He went in there and he asked for the case." "You tell me what the hell kind of friend is that?" "The best kind, the kind that vvill throvv away everything to help his friends." "What are you telling me, Shakes?" "You know this neighbourhood, Carol." "Everything's a shakedown or a scam." "Why should this be any different?" "'M hungry." "'M going to get something to eat." "There's this point in Michael that you can't go beyond, but you can try." "Tried, and he just... shut down." "Couldn't touch him." "Couldn't even breathe on him." "Thought it was me." "After a while, it just gets easy to let it go." "You still love him?" "Don't think about it, Shakes." "F I did, 'd say yes." "But you're with John novv." "Yeah." "As much as anybody can BE with John." "Oh, the man know is not the boy you remember." "None of us are." "But there's something special about John." "You just have to look a little harder to see it." "Yeah." "Why didn't you ever ask me out?" "Me?" "Yeah." "'Cause you were Mikey's girl." "He got to you first." "And after Mikey?" "Think it was Tommy's turn." "Oh, fuck you!" "Don't know." "'Cause it was, uh... didn't think you'd say yes, and, uh, da da da..." "You know?" "Well, you were wrong, Shakes." "You were wrong." "What?" "Go ahead, say it." "You work in social services, you got access to files, and from time to time, we're going to need some information." "Yeah, sure." "Whatever." "Wait." "What?" "Well, vvhat do you want?" "You want information?" "You want me to get the files?" "Get the files." "No, I didn't want..." "What do you want?" "You still visit John?" "Yeah, once a week for about an hour." "Good." "Good?" "Yeah, good." "Just don't tell him that you've seen me." "Don't tell him anything." "The more he thinks this thing's hopeless, the better it might work." "Shakes, what is this about?" "You want a Rolls Royce, you don't come here." "No, no, no." "You go to England, or wherever the fuck they make it." "You want champagne, you go see the French." "F you need money, you find a Jew." "But if you want dirt or scum buried under a rock somewhere, or some secret nobody wants anybody to know about, there's only one place to go - right here, Hell's Kitchen." "T is the lost and found of shit." "They lose it and we find it." "Forget about it, man." "Novv you only got two witnesses who are going to testify." "Two others changed their minds." "Which two?" "The suits at the bar." "So that still leaves the couple in the booth." "For now." "Everything else falling into place?" "Except for your witness." "That pocket's still empty." "Know." "When you were sent away, was always sorry couldn't do more for you." "Didn't know you liked pigeons so much." "Like anything that don't talk." "Michael's vision of where he wanted this case to go was very clear." "He was aiming for guilty..." "A charge of guilty against the Wilkinson Home for Boys, against Sean Nokes, Adam Styler," "Henry Addison and Ralph Ferguson." "Will present you evidence and testimony to prove that." "Will place them at the scene of the crime." "Will bring witnesses to the stand who will confirm that they vvere there on that deadly night." "Will present enough evidence that you can then go into a jury room and come back with a clear decision that's beyond a reasonable doubt." "'M sure you all know what that means since you probably watch as much television as I do." "John" " John Reilly and Thomas Marcano are two innocent pawns quickly arrested and just... uh, as, uh, quickly prosecuted on the slightest threads of evidence." "On the bright side, he seems to know their names." "T's nice when you come around." "Hey, bring me another spoon." "This one's dirty." "Take it." "No, no." "She'll do it." "So how's work?" "'M still there." "You know, Pop, uh... went dovvn to the courthouse." "John and Tommy - saw John and Tommy, and, uh, saw them there, started thinking back..." "Well, vvhere's the chicken?" "So?" "Nothing." "Wasjust thinking things." "But you're doing good, right?" "Oh, yeah, 'm good." "Good." "What the hell do these things do?" "They're for praying'." "Just look at all this shit." "Your mother think you're in the fucking army?" "None of it on the approved list." "Your mommy got a copy of that list?" "My mother can't speak English that well." "Don't blame us for your fucking mother being stupid, all right?" "When are you going to let us hear you pray?" "Maybe he needs something to pray for." "Put your hands on the table and lay them down flat." "Spread your legs." "Start thinkin' up some prayers." "We don't hear no praying." "You better start, or Styler may lose his baton up your ass." "Blessed art thou among vvomen and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus." "Pray nice and loud." "Louder." "Fucking pray, come on now!" "Louder!" "Pray like you're in fucking church!" "Sorry I'm late." "lost all track of time." "Look, I got this idea for a witness, but 'm not sure yet." "But wanted you to come along so you wanna just...?" "Where are we going?" "His place." "Where is it?" "T's in the rectory." "No, Shakes." "Trust me." "Trust me." "How vvas court today?" "Like the first round of a fight, everybody just feeling each other out." "How'd the boys look?" "Like they vvished they was someplace else." "T's the sheep that stray that you most want back." "T's not too late, Father." "We still have a chance to bring in a couple of stray sheep." "One more chance." "S that chance legal?" "Last chances never are." "King Benny behind this?" "He's in on it, but he's not calling the shots." "Who is?" "Michael." "Should have smelled it." "The minute he went for the case, should have figured something was up." "T's a good plan." "Michael's got it all covered." "Just about every base you look at, he's got it covered." "Not every base." "You're short something or else you wouldn't be here." "You don't shit a shitter, right?" "That's right." "So what is it?" "Where do you come up short?" "Witness." "We need somebody to say they were with John and Tommy on the night of the murder." "So you figured if you had a priest it would be perfect." "Not just any priest." "So you're..." "You're asking me..." "You're asking me to lie." "You're asking me to swear to God and then lie." "'M asking you to save two of your boys." "Did they kill that guard?" "Yes." "So what they said is true." "They walked in and they killed him." "Yes..." "They killed him exactly like that." "Think need a drink." "Anyone want a drink?" "Yeah." "This is some favour you're asking me." "We know that." "No, I don't think you do know." "You said if there was ever anything really important, could come to you, ask you." "Was thinking more along the lines of Yankee tickets." "Don't need Yankee tickets, Father." "Need a witness." "What about the life that was taken?" "What's that worth?" "To me?" "Nothing." "Why not?" "Tell me." "He was a..." "He was a guard at Wilkinson's..." "All right?" "F Father Bobby was going to be involved, he deserved to know what he was getting into." "F he vvasn't, trusted that the truth would go no further." "Thought that Carol needed to know as well." "Jesus Christ, we were just boys." "Not tough." "And they held us down." "Told him about the torture, the beatings and the rapes." "Told him about the four frightened boys who prayed to Father Bobby's God for help that never came." "Told him everything." "And you can't - you can't fight any more." "Wejust took it all." "John used to wail at night." "You'd hear it all the vvay down the hall." "You know he wanted to be a priest." "John wanted to be a priest." "Just sort of blacked out." "What I could remember is I couldn't breathe." "Still had to choke..." "Then I blacked out." "But do remember when, for fun, they'd take us down in the basement and tie two of us together..." "And watch... got a decision to make." "Only pray it's the right one." "T will be, Father, whichever vvay you go." "Goodnight." "OK, so you were sitting down." "You were having dinner, and two men entered McHale's, correct?" " Yes." " Did you see the two men as they approached the table where Mr Nokes was sitting?" " Noticed it, yes." "Did you hear what was said between them?" "Um, no." "Did you see them pull out their guns?" "No." "Did you hear the shots?" "Yes, I heard the shots." "And what was their behaviour after the shooting?" "They walked out of McHale's as if nothing had happened." "And at that time, Mrs Salinas, did you see their faces clearly?" "Yes." "looked up as they walked away." "Are you positive?" "Yes." "Very positive." "And are the two men you saw in McHale's in this room today?" "Yes, they are." "Could you point them out for the jury, please?" "They're sitting right over there." "Your Honour, will the record show that Mrs Salinas identified" "John Reilly and Thomas Marcano as the two men in question." "Noted." "Thank you." "No further questions." "Counsel, are you ready to proceed?" "Yes, Your Honour, we are." "Good morning." "Just have a few questions." "Won't take too much of your time, Mrs Salinas." "Uh, you say that you only had wine to drink with dinner." "S that correct?" "Yes." "Are you sure about that?" "Are you sure that was all you had, one, uh, bottle of wine?" "Yes, a bottle of red Chianti." "Uh-huh." "Had you anything to drink, uh, prior to that?" "What do you mean, prior?" "At, uh, uh, lunch." "Maybe, did you have anything to drink at lunch?" "Yes, I did." "And, uh, what did you have to drink?" "Went shopping, and I, um - stopped at a place on Madison Avenue for some... didn't ask where you went." "Asked what you had to drink at lunch." "A Martini." "And what else?" "Um, probably some wine." "And how... uh... hovv many glasses of wine did you have to drink?" "Um..." "One glass, maybe two." "Closer to two?" "Yes, probably tvvo glasses." "About two." "And did you, uh..." "Uh... t's like pulling teeth." "Uh... should've pinned the questions to his shirt." "And, uh, tell me, uh, then at dinner, do you, uh, uh " "Strike that." "Uh..." "Uh, uh..." "What time, Mrs Salinas, did you have lunch?" "Objection, Your Honour." "What Mrs Salinas did on the day of the murder has nothing to do with what she saw on the night of the murder." "How much she had to drink does, Your Honour." "Overruled." "Ahem." "Mrs Salinas, what time, uh, did you have lunch?" "About 1:30." "And what did you have for lunch?" "T's a while ago." "Um, probably a salad." " Like to eat a little light in the day." "A Martini, two glasses of vvine, and a salad." "Is that correct?" "Yes." "That's right." "And you had wine at dinner about 6 hours later." "S that right?" "Yes, that's right." "How much wine did you have to drink by the time my clients allegedly walked into McHale's?" "Two glasses." "Would you say that four glasses of wine and a Martini within a 6-hour period is a lot for you to drink?" "Yes, it is." "Yes." "Uh-huh." "Sure." "Uh..." "And, uh, have you ever heard a gun fired prior to the night in question?" "No." "Uh, how would you describe the sound?" "T's loud, like fireworks loud." "Did the sound, uh, frighten you?" "Very much." "Did you close your - uh, your eyes?" "At first, um, until the shooting stopped, then opened them." "Did you think the men who did the shooting were going to kill everybody in McHale's?" "Well, - really didn't know what to think." " Just knew that a man had been shot." "Did you think you might be shot by the cold-blooded killers?" "Yes." "Yes, did." "Yet, despite that fear, despite that, uh, risk to your life, you looked at their faces, uh, as they left?" "Yes, I did." "S that correct?" "Yes, I did." "Did you look at their faces?" "Did you really, really look," "Mrs Salinas?" "Glanced at them vvhen they walked by, but did see them." "You glanced." "You didn't look." "Saw them." "You glanced at them, Mrs Salinas." "You glanced at them through the eyes of a very frightened woman who maybe had too much to drink." "Objection, Your Honour." "There is no need, Your Honour." "Have no further questions." "Thank you, Mrs Salinas." "You may step down." "T was 6:15 on Sunday morning." "Frank Magcicco worked out of a homicide unit in Brooklyn." "He was a first grade detective with an honest name and a solid reputation." "He was also King Benny's nephew." "Nick Davenport was with nternal Affairs." "He was ambitious and wanted to make captain before he hit 40." "He knew the fastest way up the track was to reel in a maximum amount of dirty cops in a minimum amount of time." "Frank, what is this shit?" "Hey, were you, 'd do what the kid says." "You make this one, you're going to be having breakfast once a month with the commissioner." "Man, you got a real hard-on for this Styler guy, huh?" "What's your beef with him?" "One more thing." "Can't wait." "T's simple." "No one knows if give you this information, and I mean nobody." "How did you get it?" "T fell into my lap." "Just like it's going to fall into yours." "Christ Almighty." "Got everything in here but a confession." "Thought I'd leave that up to you." "My preference is that you beat it out of him." "There's even surveillance photos." "This piece of shit's pulling in about 5 grand a month ripping off pushers." "Has been for about three years." "More like four." "He ain't going to see five." "So you got enough for a conviction?" "That ain't up to me." "That's up to ajury." "Shovv thejury this." "Well, vvhat've you got there, Ness?" "About three weeks ago, the body of a drug-dealer named Indian Red Lopez was found in an alley in Jackson Heights." "Three bullets in his head, nothing in his pockets." "'M with you so far." "This is the gun that killed him, and these are the shells." "And, uh, what's behind door number 3?" "The prints on the gun belong to Adam Styler." " Do me a favour, would you?" " What's that?" "F I ever make it on to your shit list, give me a call." "Give me a chance to apologize." "So, you need anything else, you talk to Frank." "He knows how to get a hold of me." "Take care of yourself, kid." "The water gets choppy out your way." "'Ll do what I can." "Hey, Ness." "Did you ever think of becoming a cop?" "And leave the good guys?" "The body of Christ." "Amen." "The body of Christ." "Amen." "The body of Christ." "Amen." "The body of Chri..." "The body of Christ." "Michael had done all that could be expected of an assistant district attorney seeking a conviction." "He had a forensic expert detail the make and calibre of the gun that killed Nokes." "He just never had the murder weapon to present as evidence, and he never gave thejury a motive for the murder." "The tension of his task, the hours he was working, and the uncertainty about the outcome vveighed heavily on him." "Did you see their faces?" "Yes." "I looked at them, and they looked at me." "Did they say anything to you?" "No, they just looked at me and walked out of McHale's." "Are you sure the two defendants killed Sean Nokes?" "KNOW they killed him." "F the plan vvorked, it would be everyone's success." "F it failed, the fault would fall to Michael." "Father Bobby Carillo, remained the key to a plan that called for all involved to get away with murder." "Did you turn around, when you heard the shooting, Mr Carson?" "Why-why didn't you turn around, Mr Carson?" "Was concerned for my..." "Did the two individuals threaten you in any way?" "No." "Did they threaten anyone in McHale's restaurant, as far as you know?" "Didn't see it, but I know it." "F you didn't see the defendants shoot the guy, then how do you know it was the defendants that shot the guy?" "So what's the emergency?" "You know, Shakes shouldn't have sent you." "It's too risky." "Hey, nobody sent me." "Wanted to see you." "Why?" "Shakes met with Father Bobby two weeks ago." "He hasn't heard from him since." "T's not an overnight decision for him." "What if he doesn't testify?" "Then we got a very serious problem." "Have Shakes talk to Father Bobby again." "Have him tell him the vvhole story." "He already has." "What?" " Was with him when he talked to Father Bobby." "Heard everything, Michael." "So you knovv." "Yeah." "F only you'd told me." "... think things could have been different." "F you could've talked." "Well, maybe..." "Maybe..." "Maybe... don't..." "Hey, how you doing?" "Oh, man, that diet is working." "Don't care vvhat anybody says." "You still have a thing for Doris Day?" "She's a good woman." "You know Lastrega?" "Hard to miss a lady with four warts and only one eye." "She needs the heads." "Salvatore." "Take this to the witch." "Novv, why does she need the heads?" "She takes the eyes." "Oh." "Wonderful." "Puts them in a bowl and mixes them with water and oil." "And then?" "People get headaches, they go to her." "She looks into their eyes and tells them who is wishing the headaches." "She says a fevv words, and the headaches go avvay." "Once in a while, the person who wished the headaches goes away, too." "This guy Addison, the one who works for the mayor, he quits his job in two weeks." "He don't want nobody to know what kind of a guy he is." "He don't want nobody to see pictures of him they shouldn't." " He knows us." " He will." "The boys he buys for parties are expensive." "Novv, Addison makes good money, but he don't make real money." "How much does he owe?" "8 grand." "Paid that off." "You paid?" "Addison's debts belong to me now." "You hate debts." "Hate Addison." "We're in the dirty end of the field now." "That's where play, and I like to play alone." "You're a nice kid." "You always were." "Don't let this change it." "Yeah." "His mother named him Edward Goldenberg Robinson, after her favourite actor." "To continue the Hollywood connection," "Eddie Robinson took the street-name Little Caesar, as he made his way up the ranks of the lucrative drug trade." "He had a 12-year-old son in a private school upstate." "He named him Rizzo, after his youngest brother, who died while in the custody of the Wilkinson Home for Boys." "Want you to give me some money." "All right. 'll play along." "How long before you pay it back?" "Ain't paying it back, somebody else is." "This somebody I know?" "Your little brother knew him." "Rizzo?" "How did he know Rizzo?" "Henry Addison was a guard in an upstate reform school." "He was there the same time as Rizzo, before and after he died." "Bip..." "Count out $8,000, put it in an envelope." "You, uh... go back a long time, old man." "Old men always do." "Ran with the Guineas, back when the Guineas were tough." "Ran when I could." "Looked good doing it, too." "You gave the business some style, some class." "Made it a call for respect, the vvay you wore it, the vvay you talked it." "Always liked that about you." "'M no help to you." "My tailor is dead." "'Ll look up our friend and collect the money he owes me." "He owes you something more than money." "Ain't nothing worth more than the green." "This is." "What, old man?" "What's this guy owe that means more than dollars?" "He owes you Rizzo." "He's the man that killed your brother." "They said that he died of pneumonia." "They SAD." "What is the relevance of this?" "What is the relevance of this?" "So Ralph Ferguson is a Sunday school teacher." "Don't know, counsel, vvhat you're asking is highly unusual." "Understand that, Your Honour." "Again, I need to put a face to the victim." "Uh, otherwise, he'sjust another name in the obituaries." "Mr Snyder, any objections?" "Don't have a problem with it." "The prosecution would like to call Ralph Ferguson." "Good morning, Mr Ferguson." "Good morning." "'D like to thank you for coming." "Realize, for you, this has been a long trip." "'M just sorry it had to be for something like this." "You and the victim Sean Nokes were such good friends - your testimony as a character witness will be very valuable." "We were great friends." "It vvould be hard to find a better friend." "Would you say you were his best friend?" "Was his closest, that's for sure." "How long did you know each other?" "Uh, about 17, 18 years." "And did you see each other often?" "As often as we could." "Weekends, holidays, vacations - things like that." "What kind of man was Sean Nokes?" "He was a good man." "He was too good to be shot dead by a couple of street punks." "Objection." "Statement is one of opinion, not fact." "He was asked his opinion." "Overruled." "Please proceed." "Mr Ferguson... were you aware of any enemies he might have had?" "Sean Nokes had no enemies." "Thank you, Mr Ferguson." "Have no further questions." "What is that, a prison?" "No, it's ajuvenile facility for young boys." "And your function was vvhat, at this juvenile facility?" "Standard stuff." "Keep the boys in line, make sure they got to their classes on time, keep an eye out for trouble, put them down for the night - nothing exciting." "As guards, were you and Mr Nokes allowed to use force to, as you put it, keep the boys in line?" "What?" "What do you mean "force"?" "Were you allowed to hit them?" "No." "Of course not." "Were any of the boys hit by any of the guards at any time at the Wilkinson Home?" "Yeah, I'm sure that something like that may have happened." "T was a... it was a big place." "But it wasn't the common practice." "Sure." "Let's narrow the place down, then." "Did you or Mr Nokes ever hit any of the boys under your care at the Wilkinson Home for Boys?" "Would you like me to repeat the question, Mr Ferguson?" "No." "Then answer it, please." "And remember, you're under oath." "A few boys who we considered to be discipline problems uh, were hit on occasion." "And, uh, hovv were they hit?" "Don't know what you mean." "A fist?" "Open hand?" "A kick?" "Baton, maybe?" "T depended on what the situation called for." "Who determined that situation?" "The guard on the scene." "That's a lot of power to have over a boy, isn't it?" "T came with the job, sir." "Did torture come with the job?" "Boys were tortured, weren't they, Mr Ferguson?" "Define torture." "Well, let's define torture." "Uh, cigarette burning..." "Random beatings..." "Solitary confinement with no food and no light." "Would you say that took place?" "On occasion." "Who tortured them?" "Guards." "Which guards?" "Don't... can't remember all of them." "Remember one." "Mr Ferguson, remember one." "Remember one." "Aah!" "Let me ask you this, Mr Ferguson." "Was there ever...?" "Counsel, this line of questioning better lead somewhere having to do with this case." "T will, Your Honour." "For your sake." "Yes, sir." "Uh, Mr Ferguson, was there ever any sexual abuse at the Wilkinson Home for Boys?" "Was there ever any sexual abuse at the Wilkinson Home for Boys?" "Yes, I heard that there vvas." "'M not asking what you heard." "'M asking what you saw." "Please push the door closed." "Thought all you boys liked this." "No!" "Yes, I saw." "And did you and Sean Nokes ever force yourself on any of the boys?" "Did you and Sean Nokes ever rape any of the boys at Wilkinson Home?" "Counsellors..." "Approach." "Just fucked your little friend Johnny." "Counsellor, what the hell is going on here?" "Guess called the vvrong character vvitness." "'Ve given you wide latitude in calling this character witness." "Novv it's blown up in your face." "Don't like it." "Please answer the question." "Let me ask you, Mr Ferguson... like it nice and slow." "Sean Nokes visited your home on occasion, is that correct?" "Would your ex-wife leave Sean Nokes alone with your child?" "My child?" "Yes." "Would your ex-wife ever leave Sean Nokes alone with... vvith your child?" "There would be no reason for that." "There would be no reason for him to be alone with our child." "T wouldn't come up." "Aha." "Never came up." "Did she ever voice any concern... n explaining why she would never allow" "Sean Nokes to be in a room alone with your son?" " Objection." " Sustained." "Like it nice and slow." "Yes." "Yes?" "Yes, what?" "Yes, Sean Nokes had experiences with some boys." "Were you there?" "Yes." "Did you observe these experiences?" "Yes." "Did you more than observe?" "Was drinking, and..." "Were there any other guards around during these experiences?" "Yes." "With you and Mr Nokes?" "Yes." "On more than one occasion?" "Yes." "Yeah." "Mr Ferguson, do you still think that Sean Nokes was a good man?" "He was my friend." "A friend who raped and abused boys he was paid to look after." "Have no further questions." "Want this to be over." "Want this to be over." "Witness is excused." "Mr Ferguson." "Mr Ferguson." "F I were you, wouldn't stray too far from home." "People will want to talk to you." "Do you understand?" "Michael continued to swim both ends of the pool at the same time." "Playing prosecution and defence attorney, he exposed Ferguson for what he was and still kept John and Tommy's motive for killing Nokes hidden from the eyes of the court." "Little Caesar," "Little Caesar, who always kept a picture of his dead brother in his pocket, called in the Henry Addison loan." "T was a loan Addison couldn't afford to pay back, and it gave Little Caesar the only reason he needed to even his score for Rizzo." "Davenport wasted little time on following up on Adam Styler." "He was quickly arrested and charged with the shooting death of the Queens drug dealer and eight counts of corruption and bribery." "See, most people play this game in the summer." "T's easier to see the ball without tears in your eyes." " Yeah. []" " Yeah?" "Give a fuck about most people." "You're going to have a heart attack and I'm not breathing in your mouth." "Yeah, well, I'm not going to marry you either." "John and Tommy smell something and they just don't know what." "A spic be living in the White House by the time it reaches their fucking brains." "Snyder came through big." "He's not half bad." "The way you talk, thought he could hardly stand up." "Oh, no, he's a drunk, but he is not a fool." "We only win when John and Tommy walk." "Then you'll have to get them out of the shooting hall." "You have to put them someplace else." "And only a witness does that for you." "And he's doing a Claude Rains so far." "Nobody's seen the fucker." "What if he doesn't show?" "What if we have to go on the vvay we are?" "The street is the only one that matters." "Court is for uptown people with suits, money, lavvyers with three names." "F you got cash, you can buy courtjustice, but on the street, justice has no price." "She's blind where the judge sits, but she's not blind out here." "Out here, the bitch got eyes." "We need both." "Then you need a witness." "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you are to disregard the testimony of Ralph Ferguson." "His entire testimony is stricken from this record." "That concludes the people's case, Your Honour." "People rest?" "People rest." "S the defence ready to proceed?" "Uh, I'm not sure, uh..." "Your Honour, don't, uh, don't know, uh..." "You don't know?" "Well, 'm not sure that, uh," " we're waiting, uh..." " All right." "9 am tomorrow morning, present a witness or be prepared to sum up." "9 am." "Everything good?" "Good." "Good, like to hear that." "Bye-bye." "You're late." "Very interesting attending the morning mass." "Your Honour, the defence calls Father Robert Carillo." "Father, do you know most of the people in your parish?" "Know all the people in my parish." "Do you know the two defendants - John Reilly and Thomas Marcano?" "Yes, I do." "How long have you known them?" "Since they were boys." "They were both students of mine." "How long has it been?" "T'll be 20 years this spring." "'M a priest." "The case of the people of the state of Nevv York against John Reilly and Thomas Marcano." "Do you swear that the evidence you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?" "Do." "Do you recall, uh, where you were on the night of November 1st of this past year?" "Yes, I do." "Where was that?" "Was at the basketball game at the Garden, the Knicks versus the Celtics." "And, uh, when did the Knick game begin?" "About 7:30." "What time did it end?" "Between 9:30 and 10:00." "Do you remember who won that game?" "Sad to say, it was the Celtics." "Kevin McHale and Robert Parrish were a little too much for our boys that night, even if it was All Saints Day." "Well, next time give me a call." "'Ll try my guy." "'Ll try that." "Father Carillo, were you at the game alone?" "No, I went there with two friends." "And who were those two friends, Father?" "John Reilly and Thomas Marcano." "The two defendants?" "Yes, the same two defendants." "Father Carillo, at 8:25 pm, the time the police say victim Sean Nokes was murdered, were you still with Mr Reilly and Mr Marcano at the basketball game?" "Yes, I was." "And at what time did you, Mr Reilly, and Mr Marcano part company?" "T was around 10:30..." "A little later." "They dropped me off in front of the rectory, near where they had picked me up." "Did the defendants tell you where they were going?" "No, they didn't, but I imagine after a night spent with a priest, they went looking for the first open bar they could find." "So then, Father, if the two defendants were with you at 8:25 at the night of the murder, they couldn't have shot and killed Sean Nokes as the prosecution contends, isn't that correct?" "Not unless they shot him from the blue seats at the Garden." "No, he was not shot from there." "Then he vvas not shot by those boys." "No further questions, Your Honour." "Thank you, Father." "Your witness, Mr Sullivan." "Thank you, Your Honour." "Did you buy the tickets, or were they given to you?" " No, bought them." " On the day of the game?" "Went to the box office about a week before." "Did anyone know you were going to the game, other than the two defendants?" "Don't think so." "Was anyone with you when you purchased the tickets?" "No." "No one saw you buy the tickets?" "That's right." "Did you get a receipt?" "No, I didn't." "Pay by cheque, Mastercard, Visa?" "No, I paid by cash." "Usually pay for things in cash." "You care for the boys in your parish, don't you, Father?" "Very much." "And there isn't anything you wouldn't do for them, am right?" "Anything in my power to do, would make it a point." "You're like a father, a good father, looking out for one of his sons." "Something along those lines, yes." "And is it true, then, as a good father, you would want to protect them from something they shouldn't have done?" "As much as I would want to protect them from something someone else said they did, yes." "Like a murder?" "Yes, like a murder." "Let me get this straight." "No one knew you were going to the game." "No one saw you at the game." "No one saw you buy tickets for the game." "There's no record you even bought tickets." "You have no receipt for the tickets." "Am I correct?" "Yes, that's correct." "Then how do we really know, Father?" "How do we know you and the two defendants were at the game on the night of the murder?" "'M telling you as a vvitness and as a priest, we were at the game." "Yes, as a priest." "And a priest wouldn't lie, am right?" "A priest with ticket stubs wouldn't need to lie and... always keep the stubs." "Do you want to see them?" "Uh, why is that, Father?" "Why-why do you keep the stubs?" "You never know when someone might want more than your word." "Has anyone ever questioned your word before today?" "No, no one ever has..." "But there's a first time for everything." "Have no further questions." "Thank you, Father." "Thank you, Father." "You may step down." "'Ve never recovered from seeing Father Bobby take the stand and lie for us, to even the score for John and Tommy." "He didn't just testify for them." "He testified against Wilkinson and the evil that had lived there for too long." "Still, I was sorry he had to do it." "With respect to the charge of murder in the second degree, do you find the defendant, John Reilly, guilty or not guilty?" "Not guilty." "With respect to the charge of murder in the second degree, do you find the defendant, Thomas Marcano, guilty or not guilty?" "Not guilty." "Thank you very much." "Thisjury is discharged." "Hi, how are you?" "Could I get a hot dog?" "Uh, mustard, relish." "Lot of relish." "Give him two napkins." "You did good there, counsellor." "So, what happens to you now?" "What happens, walk avvay." "'Ll wait a few weeks, 'll hand in my notice." "After the way handled this case, they won't be in a rush to keep me from the door." "So, you switch to the other side." "Work as a defence lawyer, the money's better." "There's always going to be more bad guys than good, Mikey." "Can you imagine the work you'll get from John and Tommy's crew?" "Yeah." "That's a house and a pool." "Not for me." "'Ve seen all the lavv want to see." "T's time for something else." "Like what?" "Let you know when know." "You know, you're too old to play for the Yankees, and you're too young to take up golf." "Why you shooting holes through all my plans?" "You're-you're going to make me panic." "You'll work it out, you always have." "T's time for quiet, Shakes." "Just want to shut my eyes and not have to see the places 've been." "'M weary." "Don't know..." "Maybe 'll get lucky, forget I was even there." "Well, don't disappear on me, counsellor." "May need a good lawyer one day." "You can't afford a good lawyer." "May need a good friend though." "'Ll find you when you do." "Count on it." "Always have." "A full month had passed since the acquittal and no-one had made contact." "N those few weeks, our lives had reverted back to what they'd been prior to the murder of Sean Nokes." "Carol had returned to her stack of social service files, helping troubled teens and single mothers." "John and Tommy went back to the streets, running the West Side Boys." "Was promoted from clerk to reporter trainee covering the entertainment beat." "Michael, as he promised, resigned from hisjob after working the losing end of a "can't miss" case." "Don't know how to fucking thank you." "Can't believe what you did." "Can't believe we got away vvith it." "T wasn't me, man." "That was Mikey." "T was all Mikey's plan." "You know, when first heard he was taking the case, was going to have him burned." "And?" "And I figured he's a friend and if you've got to be sent away on a murder rap, who better to do it?" "The way he handled his end of the case, thought he sucked." "Started feeling sorry for the bastard." "Never feel sorry for a lawyer." "Hey, get over here, counsellor." "You are the real Count, alive and well and living in New York City." "He's a maniac." "All right, all right." "You maniac, Jesus." "What is this, a gay bar?" "T was until you came in." "Why don't you give me a kiss to go with that hello?" "Get out of the way." "Let's have a drink." "The Four Gladiators." "Oh, he's right, forget, you know." "The Four Gladiators..." "The worst quartet to ever hold a Hell's Kitchen corner." "Yeah, but what was that name that Shakes wanted to call it?" "The genius wanted to call it, the Count and his Cristos." "Come on, it's so sweet." "We weren't that..." "we weren't that bad." "Some people wanted to hear us sing." "Yeah, the kids at the deaf school don't count." "One song for Carol." "Oh, no..." " I retired." " Come on, you mutts." "Don't you guys have to go and shoot somebody?" "No." "We always got time for a song." "Just kidding, you know what 'm saying?" "Wine, anybody?" "You pick, but nothin' too slow." "Oh, start us off." "How many songs do you know?" "One." "Oh vvhee oo whee oo whee oo" "Walk like a man" "Walk like a man fast as you can" "Walk like a man, my son..." "On March 16, 1984, John Reilly's bloated body was found face up in a tenement building, right next to the bottle of boiler gin that killed him." "At the time, he vvas a suspect in five unsolved homicides." "He was two weeks past his 29th birthday." "Thomas Marcano died on July 26, 1985." "He was shot at close range five times." "The body lay undiscovered for more than a week." "A crucifix and a picture of St Jude were in his pocket." "He was 29 years old." "Michael Sullivan lives in a small town in the English countryside where he works part-time as a carpenter." "He no longer practises law, and he has never married." "He lives quietly and alone." "Carol still works for a social service agency, and lives in Hell's Kitchen." "She has never married, but is a single mother supporting her growing 12-year-old son." "The boy, John Thomas Michael Martinez, loves to read and is called "Shakes" by his mother." "T was our special night, and we held it for as long as we could." "T was our happy ending." "And the last time we vvould ever be together again." "The future lay sparkling ahead and we thought we would know each other forever." "Get up." "Come on." "Tony?" "Yeah, King?" "Bring Danny Snyder to see me." "Danny Snyder the lawyer?" "You know more than one Danny Snyder?" "No, King." "Bring me the one you know." "Can't do this now." "You got to know that." "T's been a long time for me." "Mean, uh..." "You need somebody younger, you know, somebody like I used to be." "Younger is not better." "Doesn't have experience, doesn't know its way around the courthouse." "Yeah, I'm lucky can find the courthouse." "Had only four cases last year." "You know how many I won?" "None." "That's how many." "None." "N two of them, -, uh, think the, uh, the jury blamed me personally." "They must have been innocent." "T's tough to get innocent men off a rap." "Wasn't even planning on going to court with this one." "Wasjust going to plead it down best could and walk away." "Wasn't planning on taking this to trial, sir." "Well, your plans have been changed." "Well, am afraid that 'll make a mistake and say the wrong thing and, you knovv, uh, uh, uh, make a wrong turn somewhere, and you don't want to take that risk." "Life is risk." "'M sorry?" "Life is risk." "Life is a risk?" "Haven't been in here before." "What do you need me to do?" "Listen, you're going to be given the answers and the questions." "All you have to do is read." "You can read, can't you?" "S-is-is it in English?" "Just don't drift, don't drink, and don't lose." "What if DO lose?" "Then you go down for the dirt nap." "Never heard that expression before." "Dirt nap." "Yeah." "'M really not cut out for this anymore." "Mean, a guy gets hit by a bus, you know, and sues," " like that." "Some lady slips in a supermarket, 'm with her." "A guy..." "The discussion's over." "'M an alcoholic." "This is a murder case." "This isn't for me." "T was once." "Yes, but, uh..." "Before you let the drink lead." "Be sober by tomorrow." "And don't look so worried, Snyder." "You got nothing to lose, just like the rest of us." " Don't want to be a burden to you, but I do, you know... aside..." "Or along with my alcohol problem, have a slight drug problem." "Nothing big." "Go away." "Within days of Michael taking the case, the West Side Boys got a visit from King Benny." "He asked that the verbal abuse directed at M1ichael continue." "Cries of "Traitor" and "Gutter rat"" "were heard up and down the avenue." "But there vvas never to be a death move against him." "The hit on Michael Sullivan, if there was to be one, could only come from King Benny." "The underground word, the only one that mattered, had spread through the streets with the speed of a bullet." "King Benny's sleepers were making their play." "Sleepers was a street name for anyone who spent time in a juvenile facility." "Hey!" "You going to pay for that, you little prick?" "Need your help, Fat Man." "Need a big favour." "Be outside." "King Benny been to see you?" "Oh, my goodness." "What a fucking thing we put together, huh?" "You have a drunk lawyer on one side, a kid lawyer on the other, fucking paperboy making like Dick Tracy." "There are four sets of eyeballs that saw the whole thing." "You know?" "Meanwhile, the two on trial killed more people than cancer." "Fucking General Custer has a better shot at a walk." "There's no connection with the guard and us." "The cops think it's a drug-related homicide." "T's just, we need you to pull a few strings, Fat Man." "You know, you get caught on this, you're looking straight at serious." "'M talking real jail, the big house." "They're not good boys anymore." "They're killers now." "Cold as stone." "Know." "Know what they were and I know what they are, and it's not about that." "T's not worth it, throwing away a life just to get even." "You and the lawyer have a chance to get out, to get out the right way." "There's no choice, not for us." "On occasion, 'd have dinner with Carol." "On occasion, 'd have dinner with Carol." "She still lived in the neighbourhood and was a social worker in the South Bronx, her concern for us undiminished by the passing years." "Whenever we went out as a group," "Carol would walk between Michael and John, grasping their arms, in step betvveen the lawyer and the killer." "Mug me or marry me, Shakes." "'M too tired for anything else." "Would you settle for a couple of beers, Carol?" "F that's your best offer." "'Ll throw in a hug and a kiss." "Deal." "You look tired." "Thank you." "They don't let you sleep in this new job of yours?" "So how much do you know?" "Just what the neighbourhood says and what read in papers like yours." "What does the neighbourhood say?" "That they're going to put Johnny and Tommy away, that their best friend's going to be the one to do it." "Do you believe that?" "T's hard not to, Shakes." "Or else we all have it wrong." "He did take the fucking case." "He did take the case." "What else is there to say?" "You know Michael very well." "Maybe even better than I do." "Yeah, thought I did." "Novv I don't know." "You do... don't know!" "He went in there and he asked for the case." "You tell me what the hell kind of friend is that?" "The best kind, the kind that vvill throvv away everything to help his friends." "What are you telling me, Shakes?" "You know this neighbourhood, Carol." "Everything's a shakedown or a scam." "Why should this be any different?" "'M hungry." "'M going to get something to eat." "There's this point in Michael that you can't go beyond, but you can try." "Tried, and he just... shut down." "Couldn't touch him." "Couldn't even breathe on him." "Thought it was me." "After a while, it just gets easy to let it go." "You still love him?" "Don't think about it, Shakes." "F I did, 'd say yes." "But you're with John novv." "Yeah." "As much as anybody can BE with John." "Oh, the man know is not the boy you remember." "None of us are." "But there's something special about John." "You just have to look a little harder to see it." "Yeah." "Why didn't you ever ask me out?" "Me?" "Yeah." "'Cause you were Mikey's girl." "He got to you first." "And after Mikey?" "Think it was Tommy's turn." "Oh, fuck you!" "Don't know." "'Cause it was, uh... didn't think you'd say yes, and, uh, da da da..." "You know?" "Well, you were wrong, Shakes." "You were wrong." "What?" "Go ahead, say it." "You work in social services, you got access to files, and from time to time, we're going to need some information." "Yeah, sure." "Whatever." "Wait." "What?" "Well, vvhat do you want?" "You want information?" "You want me to get the files?" "Get the files." "No, I didn't want..." "What do you want?" "You still visit John?" "Yeah, once a week for about an hour." "Good." "Good?" "Yeah, good." "Just don't tell him that you've seen me." "Don't tell him anything." "The more he thinks this thing's hopeless, the better it might work." "Shakes, what is this about?" "You want a Rolls Royce, you don't come here." "No, no, no." "You go to England, or wherever the fuck they make it." "You want champagne, you go see the French." "F you need money, you find a Jew." "But if you want dirt or scum buried under a rock somewhere, or some secret nobody wants anybody to know about, there's only one place to go - right here, Hell's Kitchen." "T is the lost and found of shit." "They lose it and we find it." "Forget about it, man." "Novv you only got two witnesses who are going to testify." "Two others changed their minds." "Which two?" "The suits at the bar." "So that still leaves the couple in the booth." "For now." "Everything else falling into place?" "Except for your witness." "That pocket's still empty." "Know." "When you were sent away, was always sorry couldn't do more for you." "Didn't know you liked pigeons so much." "Like anything that don't talk." "Michael's vision of where he wanted this case to go was very clear." "He was aiming for guilty..." "A charge of guilty against the Wilkinson Home for Boys, against Sean Nokes, Adam Styler," "Henry Addison and Ralph Ferguson." "Will present you evidence and testimony to prove that." "Will place them at the scene of the crime." "Will bring witnesses to the stand who will confirm that they vvere there on that deadly night." "Will present enough evidence that you can then go into a jury room and come back with a clear decision that's beyond a reasonable doubt." "'M sure you all know what that means since you probably watch as much television as I do." "John" " John Reilly and Thomas Marcano are two innocent pawns quickly arrested and just... uh, as, uh, quickly prosecuted on the slightest threads of evidence." "On the bright side, he seems to know their names." "T's nice when you come around." "Hey, bring me another spoon." "This one's dirty." "Take it." "No, no." "She'll do it." "So how's work?" "'M still there." "You know, Pop, uh... went dovvn to the courthouse." "John and Tommy - saw John and Tommy, and, uh, saw them there, started thinking back..." "Well, vvhere's the chicken?" "So?" "Nothing." "Wasjust thinking things." "But you're doing good, right?" "Oh, yeah, 'm good." "Good." "What the hell do these things do?" "They're for praying'." "Just look at all this shit." "Your mother think you're in the fucking army?" "None of it on the approved list." "Your mommy got a copy of that list?" "My mother can't speak English that well." "Don't blame us for your fucking mother being stupid, all right?" "When are you going to let us hear you pray?" "Maybe he needs something to pray for." "Put your hands on the table and lay them down flat." "Spread your legs." "Start thinkin' up some prayers." "We don't hear no praying." "You better start, or Styler may lose his baton up your ass." "Blessed art thou among vvomen and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus." "Pray nice and loud." "Louder." "Fucking pray, come on now!" "Louder!" "Pray like you're in fucking church!" "Sorry I'm late." "lost all track of time." "Look, I got this idea for a witness, but 'm not sure yet." "But wanted you to come along so you wanna just...?" "Where are we going?" "His place." "Where is it?" "T's in the rectory." "No, Shakes." "Trust me." "Trust me." "How vvas court today?" "Like the first round of a fight, everybody just feeling each other out." "How'd the boys look?" "Like they vvished they was someplace else." "T's the sheep that stray that you most want back." "T's not too late, Father." "We still have a chance to bring in a couple of stray sheep." "One more chance." "S that chance legal?" "Last chances never are." "King Benny behind this?" "He's in on it, but he's not calling the shots." "Who is?" "Michael." "Should have smelled it." "The minute he went for the case, should have figured something was up." "T's a good plan." "Michael's got it all covered." "Just about every base you look at, he's got it covered." "Not every base." "You're short something or else you wouldn't be here." "You don't shit a shitter, right?" "That's right." "So what is it?" "Where do you come up short?" "Witness." "We need somebody to say they were with John and Tommy on the night of the murder." "So you figured if you had a priest it would be perfect." "Not just any priest." "So you're..." "You're asking me..." "You're asking me to lie." "You're asking me to swear to God and then lie." "'M asking you to save two of your boys." "Did they kill that guard?" "Yes." "So what they said is true." "They walked in and they killed him." "Yes..." "They killed him exactly like that." "Think need a drink." "Anyone want a drink?" "Yeah." "This is some favour you're asking me." "We know that." "No, I don't think you do know." "You said if there was ever anything really important, could come to you, ask you." "Was thinking more along the lines of Yankee tickets." "Don't need Yankee tickets, Father." "Need a witness." "What about the life that was taken?" "What's that worth?" "To me?" "Nothing." "Why not?" "Tell me." "He was a..." "He was a guard at Wilkinson's..." "All right?" "F Father Bobby was going to be involved, he deserved to know what he was getting into." "F he vvasn't, trusted that the truth would go no further." "Thought that Carol needed to know as well." "Jesus Christ, we were just boys." "Not tough." "And they held us down." "Told him about the torture, the beatings and the rapes." "Told him about the four frightened boys who prayed to Father Bobby's God for help that never came." "Told him everything." "And you can't - you can't fight any more." "Wejust took it all." "John used to wail at night." "You'd hear it all the vvay down the hall." "You know he wanted to be a priest." "John wanted to be a priest." "Just sort of blacked out." "What I could remember is I couldn't breathe." "Still had to choke..." "Then I blacked out." "But do remember when, for fun, they'd take us down in the basement and tie two of us together..." "And watch... got a decision to make." "Only pray it's the right one." "T will be, Father, whichever vvay you go." "Goodnight." "OK, so you were sitting down." "You were having dinner, and two men entered McHale's, correct?" " Yes." " Did you see the two men as they approached the table where Mr Nokes was sitting?" " Noticed it, yes." "Did you hear what was said between them?" "Um, no." "Did you see them pull out their guns?" "No." "Did you hear the shots?" "Yes, I heard the shots." "And what was their behaviour after the shooting?" "They walked out of McHale's as if nothing had happened." "And at that time, Mrs Salinas, did you see their faces clearly?" "Yes." "looked up as they walked away." "Are you positive?" "Yes." "Very positive." "And are the two men you saw in McHale's in this room today?" "Yes, they are." "Could you point them out for the jury, please?" "They're sitting right over there." "Your Honour, will the record show that Mrs Salinas identified" "John Reilly and Thomas Marcano as the two men in question." "Noted." "Thank you." "No further questions." "Counsel, are you ready to proceed?" "Yes, Your Honour, we are." "Good morning." "Just have a few questions." "Won't take too much of your time, Mrs Salinas." "Uh, you say that you only had wine to drink with dinner." "S that correct?" "Yes." "Are you sure about that?" "Are you sure that was all you had, one, uh, bottle of wine?" "Yes, a bottle of red Chianti." "Uh-huh." "Had you anything to drink, uh, prior to that?" "What do you mean, prior?" "At, uh, uh, lunch." "Maybe, did you have anything to drink at lunch?" "Yes, I did." "And, uh, what did you have to drink?" "Went shopping, and I, um - stopped at a place on Madison Avenue for some... didn't ask where you went." "Asked what you had to drink at lunch." "A Martini." "And what else?" "Um, probably some wine." "And how... uh... hovv many glasses of wine did you have to drink?" "Um..." "One glass, maybe two." "Closer to two?" "Yes, probably tvvo glasses." "About two." "And did you, uh..." "Uh... t's like pulling teeth." "Uh... should've pinned the questions to his shirt." "And, uh, tell me, uh, then at dinner, do you, uh, uh " "Strike that." "Uh..." "Uh, uh..." "What time, Mrs Salinas, did you have lunch?" "Objection, Your Honour." "What Mrs Salinas did on the day of the murder has nothing to do with what she saw on the night of the murder." "How much she had to drink does, Your Honour." "Overruled." "Ahem." "Mrs Salinas, what time, uh, did you have lunch?" "About 1:30." "And what did you have for lunch?" "T's a while ago." "Um, probably a salad." " Like to eat a little light in the day." "A Martini, two glasses of vvine, and a salad." "Is that correct?" "Yes." "That's right." "And you had wine at dinner about 6 hours later." "S that right?" "Yes, that's right." "How much wine did you have to drink by the time my clients allegedly walked into McHale's?" "Two glasses." "Would you say that four glasses of wine and a Martini within a 6-hour period is a lot for you to drink?" "Yes, it is." "Yes." "Uh-huh." "Sure." "Uh..." "And, uh, have you ever heard a gun fired prior to the night in question?" "No." "Uh, how would you describe the sound?" "T's loud, like fireworks loud." "Did the sound, uh, frighten you?" "Very much." "Did you close your - uh, your eyes?" "At first, um, until the shooting stopped, then opened them." "Did you think the men who did the shooting were going to kill everybody in McHale's?" "Well, - really didn't know what to think." " Just knew that a man had been shot." "Did you think you might be shot by the cold-blooded killers?" "Yes." "Yes, did." "Yet, despite that fear, despite that, uh, risk to your life, you looked at their faces, uh, as they left?" "Yes, I did." "S that correct?" "Yes, I did." "Did you look at their faces?" "Did you really, really look," "Mrs Salinas?" "Glanced at them vvhen they walked by, but did see them." "You glanced." "You didn't look." "Saw them." "You glanced at them, Mrs Salinas." "You glanced at them through the eyes of a very frightened woman who maybe had too much to drink." "Objection, Your Honour." "There is no need, Your Honour." "Have no further questions." "Thank you, Mrs Salinas." "You may step down." "T was 6:15 on Sunday morning." "Frank Magcicco worked out of a homicide unit in Brooklyn." "He was a first grade detective with an honest name and a solid reputation." "He was also King Benny's nephew." "Nick Davenport was with nternal Affairs." "He was ambitious and wanted to make captain before he hit 40." "He knew the fastest way up the track was to reel in a maximum amount of dirty cops in a minimum amount of time." "Frank, what is this shit?" "Hey, were you, 'd do what the kid says." "You make this one, you're going to be having breakfast once a month with the commissioner." "Man, you got a real hard-on for this Styler guy, huh?" "What's your beef with him?" "One more thing." "Can't wait." "T's simple." "No one knows if give you this information, and I mean nobody." "How did you get it?" "T fell into my lap." "Just like it's going to fall into yours." "Christ Almighty." "Got everything in here but a confession." "Thought I'd leave that up to you." "My preference is that you beat it out of him." "There's even surveillance photos." "This piece of shit's pulling in about 5 grand a month ripping off pushers." "Has been for about three years." "More like four." "He ain't going to see five." "So you got enough for a conviction?" "That ain't up to me." "That's up to ajury." "Shovv thejury this." "Well, vvhat've you got there, Ness?" "About three weeks ago, the body of a drug-dealer named Indian Red Lopez was found in an alley in Jackson Heights." "Three bullets in his head, nothing in his pockets." "'M with you so far." "This is the gun that killed him, and these are the shells." "And, uh, what's behind door number 3?" "The prints on the gun belong to Adam Styler." " Do me a favour, would you?" " What's that?" "F I ever make it on to your shit list, give me a call." "Give me a chance to apologize." "So, you need anything else, you talk to Frank." "He knows how to get a hold of me." "Take care of yourself, kid." "The water gets choppy out your way." "'Ll do what I can." "Hey, Ness." "Did you ever think of becoming a cop?" "And leave the good guys?" "The body of Christ." "Amen." "The body of Christ." "Amen." "The body of Christ." "Amen." "The body of Chri..." "The body of Christ." "Michael had done all that could be expected of an assistant district attorney seeking a conviction." "He had a forensic expert detail the make and calibre of the gun that killed Nokes." "He just never had the murder weapon to present as evidence, and he never gave thejury a motive for the murder." "The tension of his task, the hours he was working, and the uncertainty about the outcome vveighed heavily on him." "Did you see their faces?" "Yes." "I looked at them, and they looked at me." "Did they say anything to you?" "No, they just looked at me and walked out of McHale's." "Are you sure the two defendants killed Sean Nokes?" "KNOW they killed him." "F the plan vvorked, it would be everyone's success." "F it failed, the fault would fall to Michael." "Father Bobby Carillo, remained the key to a plan that called for all involved to get away with murder." "Did you turn around, when you heard the shooting, Mr Carson?" "Why-why didn't you turn around, Mr Carson?" "Was concerned for my..." "Did the two individuals threaten you in any way?" "No." "Did they threaten anyone in McHale's restaurant, as far as you know?" "Didn't see it, but I know it." "F you didn't see the defendants shoot the guy, then how do you know it was the defendants that shot the guy?" "So what's the emergency?" "You know, Shakes shouldn't have sent you." "It's too risky." "Hey, nobody sent me." "Wanted to see you." "Why?" "Shakes met with Father Bobby two weeks ago." "He hasn't heard from him since." "T's not an overnight decision for him." "What if he doesn't testify?" "Then we got a very serious problem." "Have Shakes talk to Father Bobby again." "Have him tell him the vvhole story." "He already has." "What?" " Was with him when he talked to Father Bobby." "Heard everything, Michael." "So you knovv." "Yeah." "F only you'd told me." "... think things could have been different." "F you could've talked." "Well, maybe..." "Maybe..." "Maybe... don't..." "Hey, how you doing?" "Oh, man, that diet is working." "Don't care vvhat anybody says." "You still have a thing for Doris Day?" "She's a good woman." "You know Lastrega?" "Hard to miss a lady with four warts and only one eye." "She needs the heads." "Salvatore." "Take this to the witch." "Novv, why does she need the heads?" "She takes the eyes." "Oh." "Wonderful." "Puts them in a bowl and mixes them with water and oil." "And then?" "People get headaches, they go to her." "She looks into their eyes and tells them who is wishing the headaches." "She says a fevv words, and the headaches go avvay." "Once in a while, the person who wished the headaches goes away, too." "This guy Addison, the one who works for the mayor, he quits his job in two weeks." "He don't want nobody to know what kind of a guy he is." "He don't want nobody to see pictures of him they shouldn't." " He knows us." " He will." "The boys he buys for parties are expensive." "Novv, Addison makes good money, but he don't make real money." "How much does he owe?" "8 grand." "Paid that off." "You paid?" "Addison's debts belong to me now." "You hate debts." "Hate Addison." "We're in the dirty end of the field now." "That's where play, and I like to play alone." "You're a nice kid." "You always were." "Don't let this change it." "Yeah." "His mother named him Edward Goldenberg Robinson, after her favourite actor." "To continue the Hollywood connection," "Eddie Robinson took the street-name Little Caesar, as he made his way up the ranks of the lucrative drug trade." "He had a 12-year-old son in a private school upstate." "He named him Rizzo, after his youngest brother, who died while in the custody of the Wilkinson Home for Boys." "Want you to give me some money." "All right. 'll play along." "How long before you pay it back?" "Ain't paying it back, somebody else is." "This somebody I know?" "Your little brother knew him." "Rizzo?" "How did he know Rizzo?" "Henry Addison was a guard in an upstate reform school." "He was there the same time as Rizzo, before and after he died." "Bip..." "Count out $8,000, put it in an envelope." "You, uh... go back a long time, old man." "Old men always do." "Ran with the Guineas, back when the Guineas were tough." "Ran when I could." "Looked good doing it, too." "You gave the business some style, some class." "Made it a call for respect, the vvay you wore it, the vvay you talked it." "Always liked that about you." "'M no help to you." "My tailor is dead." "'Ll look up our friend and collect the money he owes me." "He owes you something more than money." "Ain't nothing worth more than the green." "This is." "What, old man?" "What's this guy owe that means more than dollars?" "He owes you Rizzo." "He's the man that killed your brother." "They said that he died of pneumonia." "They SAD." "What is the relevance of this?" "What is the relevance of this?" "So Ralph Ferguson is a Sunday school teacher." "Don't know, counsel, vvhat you're asking is highly unusual." "Understand that, Your Honour." "Again, I need to put a face to the victim." "Uh, otherwise, he'sjust another name in the obituaries." "Mr Snyder, any objections?" "Don't have a problem with it." "The prosecution would like to call Ralph Ferguson." "Good morning, Mr Ferguson." "Good morning." "'D like to thank you for coming." "Realize, for you, this has been a long trip." "'M just sorry it had to be for something like this." "You and the victim Sean Nokes were such good friends - your testimony as a character witness will be very valuable." "We were great friends." "It vvould be hard to find a better friend." "Would you say you were his best friend?" "Was his closest, that's for sure." "How long did you know each other?" "Uh, about 17, 18 years." "And did you see each other often?" "As often as we could." "Weekends, holidays, vacations - things like that." "What kind of man was Sean Nokes?" "He was a good man." "He was too good to be shot dead by a couple of street punks." "Objection." "Statement is one of opinion, not fact." "He was asked his opinion." "Overruled." "Please proceed." "Mr Ferguson... were you aware of any enemies he might have had?" "Sean Nokes had no enemies." "Thank you, Mr Ferguson." "Have no further questions." "What is that, a prison?" "No, it's ajuvenile facility for young boys." "And your function was vvhat, at this juvenile facility?" "Standard stuff." "Keep the boys in line, make sure they got to their classes on time, keep an eye out for trouble, put them down for the night - nothing exciting." "As guards, were you and Mr Nokes allowed to use force to, as you put it, keep the boys in line?" "What?" "What do you mean "force"?" "Were you allowed to hit them?" "No." "Of course not." "Were any of the boys hit by any of the guards at any time at the Wilkinson Home?" "Yeah, I'm sure that something like that may have happened." "T was a... it was a big place." "But it wasn't the common practice." "Sure." "Let's narrow the place down, then." "Did you or Mr Nokes ever hit any of the boys under your care at the Wilkinson Home for Boys?" "Would you like me to repeat the question, Mr Ferguson?" "No." "Then answer it, please." "And remember, you're under oath." "A few boys who we considered to be discipline problems uh, were hit on occasion." "And, uh, hovv were they hit?" "Don't know what you mean." "A fist?" "Open hand?" "A kick?" "Baton, maybe?" "T depended on what the situation called for." "Who determined that situation?" "The guard on the scene." "That's a lot of power to have over a boy, isn't it?" "T came with the job, sir." "Did torture come with the job?" "Boys were tortured, weren't they, Mr Ferguson?" "Define torture." "Well, let's define torture." "Uh, cigarette burning..." "Random beatings..." "Solitary confinement with no food and no light." "Would you say that took place?" "On occasion." "Who tortured them?" "Guards." "Which guards?" "Don't... can't remember all of them." "Remember one." "Mr Ferguson, remember one." "Remember one." "Aah!" "Let me ask you this, Mr Ferguson." "Was there ever...?" "Counsel, this line of questioning better lead somewhere having to do with this case." "T will, Your Honour." "For your sake." "Yes, sir." "Uh, Mr Ferguson, was there ever any sexual abuse at the Wilkinson Home for Boys?" "Was there ever any sexual abuse at the Wilkinson Home for Boys?" "Yes, I heard that there vvas." "'M not asking what you heard." "'M asking what you saw." "Please push the door closed." "Thought all you boys liked this." "No!" "Yes, I saw." "And did you and Sean Nokes ever force yourself on any of the boys?" "Did you and Sean Nokes ever rape any of the boys at Wilkinson Home?" "Counsellors..." "Approach." "Just fucked your little friend Johnny." "Counsellor, what the hell is going on here?" "Guess called the vvrong character vvitness." "'Ve given you wide latitude in calling this character witness." "Novv it's blown up in your face." "Don't like it." "Please answer the question." "Let me ask you, Mr Ferguson... like it nice and slow." "Sean Nokes visited your home on occasion, is that correct?" "Would your ex-wife leave Sean Nokes alone with your child?" "My child?" "Yes." "Would your ex-wife ever leave Sean Nokes alone with... vvith your child?" "There would be no reason for that." "There would be no reason for him to be alone with our child." "T wouldn't come up." "Aha." "Never came up." "Did she ever voice any concern... n explaining why she would never allow" "Sean Nokes to be in a room alone with your son?" " Objection." " Sustained." "Like it nice and slow." "Yes." "Yes?" "Yes, what?" "Yes, Sean Nokes had experiences with some boys." "Were you there?" "Yes." "Did you observe these experiences?" "Yes." "Did you more than observe?" "Was drinking, and..." "Were there any other guards around during these experiences?" "Yes." "With you and Mr Nokes?" "Yes." "On more than one occasion?" "Yes." "Yeah." "Mr Ferguson, do you still think that Sean Nokes was a good man?" "He was my friend." "A friend who raped and abused boys he was paid to look after." "Have no further questions." "Want this to be over." "Want this to be over." "Witness is excused." "Mr Ferguson." "Mr Ferguson." "F I were you, wouldn't stray too far from home." "People will want to talk to you." "Do you understand?" "Michael continued to swim both ends of the pool at the same time." "Playing prosecution and defence attorney, he exposed Ferguson for what he was and still kept John and Tommy's motive for killing Nokes hidden from the eyes of the court." "Little Caesar," "Little Caesar, who always kept a picture of his dead brother in his pocket, called in the Henry Addison loan." "T was a loan Addison couldn't afford to pay back, and it gave Little Caesar the only reason he needed to even his score for Rizzo." "Davenport wasted little time on following up on Adam Styler." "He was quickly arrested and charged with the shooting death of the Queens drug dealer and eight counts of corruption and bribery." "See, most people play this game in the summer." "T's easier to see the ball without tears in your eyes." " Yeah. []" " Yeah?" "Give a fuck about most people." "You're going to have a heart attack and I'm not breathing in your mouth." "Yeah, well, I'm not going to marry you either." "John and Tommy smell something and they just don't know what." "A spic be living in the White House by the time it reaches their fucking brains." "Snyder came through big." "He's not half bad." "The way you talk, thought he could hardly stand up." "Oh, no, he's a drunk, but he is not a fool." "We only win when John and Tommy walk." "Then you'll have to get them out of the shooting hall." "You have to put them someplace else." "And only a witness does that for you." "And he's doing a Claude Rains so far." "Nobody's seen the fucker." "What if he doesn't show?" "What if we have to go on the vvay we are?" "The street is the only one that matters." "Court is for uptown people with suits, money, lavvyers with three names." "F you got cash, you can buy courtjustice, but on the street, justice has no price." "She's blind where the judge sits, but she's not blind out here." "Out here, the bitch got eyes." "We need both." "Then you need a witness." "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you are to disregard the testimony of Ralph Ferguson." "His entire testimony is stricken from this record." "That concludes the people's case, Your Honour." "People rest?" "People rest." "S the defence ready to proceed?" "Uh, I'm not sure, uh..." "Your Honour, don't, uh, don't know, uh..." "You don't know?" "Well, 'm not sure that, uh," " we're waiting, uh..." " All right." "9 am tomorrow morning, present a witness or be prepared to sum up." "9 am." "Everything good?" "Good." "Good, like to hear that." "Bye-bye." "You're late." "Very interesting attending the morning mass." "Your Honour, the defence calls Father Robert Carillo." "Father, do you know most of the people in your parish?" "Know all the people in my parish." "Do you know the two defendants - John Reilly and Thomas Marcano?" "Yes, I do." "How long have you known them?" "Since they were boys." "They were both students of mine." "How long has it been?" "T'll be 20 years this spring." "'M a priest." "The case of the people of the state of Nevv York against John Reilly and Thomas Marcano." "Do you swear that the evidence you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?" "Do." "Do you recall, uh, where you were on the night of November 1st of this past year?" "Yes, I do." "Where was that?" "Was at the basketball game at the Garden, the Knicks versus the Celtics." "And, uh, when did the Knick game begin?" "About 7:30." "What time did it end?" "Between 9:30 and 10:00." "Do you remember who won that game?" "Sad to say, it was the Celtics." "Kevin McHale and Robert Parrish were a little too much for our boys that night, even if it was All Saints Day." "Well, next time give me a call." "'Ll try my guy." "'Ll try that." "Father Carillo, were you at the game alone?" "No, I went there with two friends." "And who were those two friends, Father?" "John Reilly and Thomas Marcano." "The two defendants?" "Yes, the same two defendants." "Father Carillo, at 8:25 pm, the time the police say victim Sean Nokes was murdered, were you still with Mr Reilly and Mr Marcano at the basketball game?" "Yes, I was." "And at what time did you, Mr Reilly, and Mr Marcano part company?" "T was around 10:30..." "A little later." "They dropped me off in front of the rectory, near where they had picked me up." "Did the defendants tell you where they were going?" "No, they didn't, but I imagine after a night spent with a priest, they went looking for the first open bar they could find." "So then, Father, if the two defendants were with you at 8:25 at the night of the murder, they couldn't have shot and killed Sean Nokes as the prosecution contends, isn't that correct?" "Not unless they shot him from the blue seats at the Garden." "No, he was not shot from there." "Then he vvas not shot by those boys." "No further questions, Your Honour." "Thank you, Father." "Your witness, Mr Sullivan." "Thank you, Your Honour." "Did you buy the tickets, or were they given to you?" " No, bought them." " On the day of the game?" "Went to the box office about a week before." "Did anyone know you were going to the game, other than the two defendants?" "Don't think so." "Was anyone with you when you purchased the tickets?" "No." "No one saw you buy the tickets?" "That's right." "Did you get a receipt?" "No, I didn't." "Pay by cheque, Mastercard, Visa?" "No, I paid by cash." "Usually pay for things in cash." "You care for the boys in your parish, don't you, Father?" "Very much." "And there isn't anything you wouldn't do for them, am right?" "Anything in my power to do, would make it a point." "You're like a father, a good father, looking out for one of his sons." "Something along those lines, yes." "And is it true, then, as a good father, you would want to protect them from something they shouldn't have done?" "As much as I would want to protect them from something someone else said they did, yes." "Like a murder?" "Yes, like a murder." "Let me get this straight." "No one knew you were going to the game." "No one saw you at the game." "No one saw you buy tickets for the game." "There's no record you even bought tickets." "You have no receipt for the tickets." "Am I correct?" "Yes, that's correct." "Then how do we really know, Father?" "How do we know you and the two defendants were at the game on the night of the murder?" "'M telling you as a vvitness and as a priest, we were at the game." "Yes, as a priest." "And a priest wouldn't lie, am right?" "A priest with ticket stubs wouldn't need to lie and... always keep the stubs." "Do you want to see them?" "Uh, why is that, Father?" "Why-why do you keep the stubs?" "You never know when someone might want more than your word." "Has anyone ever questioned your word before today?" "No, no one ever has..." "But there's a first time for everything." "Have no further questions." "Thank you, Father." "Thank you, Father." "You may step down." "'Ve never recovered from seeing Father Bobby take the stand and lie for us, to even the score for John and Tommy." "He didn't just testify for them." "He testified against Wilkinson and the evil that had lived there for too long." "Still, I was sorry he had to do it." "With respect to the charge of murder in the second degree, do you find the defendant, John Reilly, guilty or not guilty?" "Not guilty." "With respect to the charge of murder in the second degree, do you find the defendant, Thomas Marcano, guilty or not guilty?" "Not guilty." "Thank you very much." "Thisjury is discharged." "Hi, how are you?" "Could I get a hot dog?" "Uh, mustard, relish." "Lot of relish." "Give him two napkins." "You did good there, counsellor." "So, what happens to you now?" "What happens, walk avvay." "'Ll wait a few weeks, 'll hand in my notice." "After the way handled this case, they won't be in a rush to keep me from the door." "So, you switch to the other side." "Work as a defence lawyer, the money's better." "There's always going to be more bad guys than good, Mikey." "Can you imagine the work you'll get from John and Tommy's crew?" "Yeah." "That's a house and a pool." "Not for me." "'Ve seen all the lavv want to see." "T's time for something else." "Like what?" "Let you know when know." "You know, you're too old to play for the Yankees, and you're too young to take up golf." "Why you shooting holes through all my plans?" "You're-you're going to make me panic." "You'll work it out, you always have." "T's time for quiet, Shakes." "Just want to shut my eyes and not have to see the places 've been." "'M weary." "Don't know..." "Maybe 'll get lucky, forget I was even there." "Well, don't disappear on me, counsellor." "May need a good lawyer one day." "You can't afford a good lawyer." "May need a good friend though." "'Ll find you when you do." "Count on it." "Always have." "A full month had passed since the acquittal and no-one had made contact." "N those few weeks, our lives had reverted back to what they'd been prior to the murder of Sean Nokes." "Carol had returned to her stack of social service files, helping troubled teens and single mothers." "John and Tommy went back to the streets, running the West Side Boys." "Was promoted from clerk to reporter trainee covering the entertainment beat." "Michael, as he promised, resigned from hisjob after working the losing end of a "can't miss" case." "Don't know how to fucking thank you." "Can't believe what you did." "Can't believe we got away vvith it." "T wasn't me, man." "That was Mikey." "T was all Mikey's plan." "You know, when first heard he was taking the case, was going to have him burned." "And?" "And I figured he's a friend and if you've got to be sent away on a murder rap, who better to do it?" "The way he handled his end of the case, thought he sucked." "Started feeling sorry for the bastard." "Never feel sorry for a lawyer." "Hey, get over here, counsellor." "You are the real Count, alive and well and living in New York City." "He's a maniac." "All right, all right." "You maniac, Jesus." "What is this, a gay bar?" "T was until you came in." "Why don't you give me a kiss to go with that hello?" "Get out of the way." "Let's have a drink." "The Four Gladiators." "Oh, he's right, forget, you know." "The Four Gladiators..." "The worst quartet to ever hold a Hell's Kitchen corner." "Yeah, but what was that name that Shakes wanted to call it?" "The genius wanted to call it, the Count and his Cristos." "Come on, it's so sweet." "We weren't that..." "we weren't that bad." "Some people wanted to hear us sing." "Yeah, the kids at the deaf school don't count." "One song for Carol." "Oh, no..." " I retired." " Come on, you mutts." "Don't you guys have to go and shoot somebody?" "No." "We always got time for a song." "Just kidding, you know what 'm saying?" "Wine, anybody?" "You pick, but nothin' too slow." "Oh, start us off." "How many songs do you know?" "One." "Oh vvhee oo whee oo whee oo" "Walk like a man" "Walk like a man fast as you can" "Walk like a man, my son..." "On March 16, 1984, John Reilly's bloated body was found face up in a tenement building, right next to the bottle of boiler gin that killed him." "At the time, he vvas a suspect in five unsolved homicides." "He was two weeks past his 29th birthday." "Thomas Marcano died on July 26, 1985." "He was shot at close range five times." "The body lay undiscovered for more than a week." "A crucifix and a picture of St Jude were in his pocket." "He was 29 years old." "Michael Sullivan lives in a small town in the English countryside where he works part-time as a carpenter." "He no longer practises law, and he has never married." "He lives quietly and alone." "Carol still works for a social service agency, and lives in Hell's Kitchen." "She has never married, but is a single mother supporting her growing 12-year-old son." "The boy, John Thomas Michael Martinez, loves to read and is called "Shakes" by his mother." "T was our special night, and we held it for as long as we could." "T was our happy ending." "And the last time we vvould ever be together again." "The future lay sparkling ahead and we thought we would know each other forever."