"WMD." "Got that WMD." "You got to move it on down." " It ain't pretty." " Doesn't have to be." "Just needs to pull them from the places still worth salvaging." "All right, I told the other shifts... now I'm telling you." "When I ride my district at the end of this week..." "I want to see empty corners." "They bring it here, or the other two free zones... or you bang them senseless." "Anything you need to do, you do." "Up to a body that can't walk itself up out of the emergency room..." "I'll back up you and your men." "You understand me?" "Now, I've detailed our I.I.D. Representative to the range for the entire week." "All citizen complaints will be handled by Lieutenant Mello here." "Whatever it takes." "Man, I ain't even dirty." "I got rights and shit." "Go with the one about staying silent." "Shit like this don't happen in Hamsterdam." "I'm up for just standing somewhere?" "Fuck y'all." "We in America!" "West Baltimore." "I swear to God, Officer Herc, you unhook Babycakes... and my peoples be down where you want us." "Swear to God." "Fuck with a man's ride, you're gonna get his attention." " Babycakes?" " Yo, yo, yo, hold up!" "Motherfuckers gonna hear from my motherfucking lawyer." " This right here is some outrageous shit." " You think?" "Fuck y'all, lying motherfuckers!" "Gentlemen." "That is outrageous." "That's right." "Come on, sweetheart." "Bust your ass out of there." "It's still Maryland." "But if you all don't take that shit down to Hamsterdam tomorrow... next time it's gonna be West Virginia." "That little star right there, across from the Dipper?" "That's north." "You wanna go the other way." "Assholes." "WMD." "Got that WMD." "Landfill, got Landfill, yo." "WMD." "Got that WMD." "They all here, man." "Landfill." "We'll start the interior construction within the week." "Which means we need to readdress the budget." "Readdress how?" "Well, for one, the price of steel has doubled." "It'll triple if we don't buy it now." " Ain't the steel bought already?" " Not the bulk of it, no." "Then there are the gutting costs." "They exceeded our original expectations." "You, know, he needs to wear that hat when he's on site." "Code, you know." "Gutting costs went up, huh?" "Well, that was due to your modifications." "The changes you asked for in those loft units." " Necessitating new permits." " Which means another delay." "Unless we expedite." "Bring the architect and his people back in... over the weekend and get something to the city on Monday." "Whoa, ain't that part of his original fee?" "No, this was unanticipated." "Look, y'all fucked up." "So y'all supposed to take the hit, right?" "Excuse me?" "I mean, my man here don't know shit about no gutting costs." "He don't know nothing about no price of no steel." "He just trying to get some shit built." "And y'all supposed to have the expertise behind this." "Only what I'm saying is, it seem like the expertise ain't where it supposed to be." "Unfortunately, Mr. Barksdale, cost overruns are the nature of the business." "And, well, we should discuss this over lunch." "Hell no, man, I got elsewhere to be." "And this is the Marlo kid." "He's fresh blood for the organization." "Bell's given him the best real estate." "The Barksdale people took what they needed... when the Towers came down, no problem." "Stringer hasn't missed a step." " They're still selling drugs?" " Lot of drugs." "He's not dropping bodies." "No, he doesn't need to." "He's got all the corners he needs." "And I'm supposed to give a shit?" "Lieutenant, two weeks, Bell looked insulated... like he had enough legitimate front to be able to be just the bank." "What Kima's found out is he's still directly involved with the drugs." "Otherwise, why the face-to-face with the Stanfield kid?" "He's still connected to the day-to-day." "We come back six, eight months... you won't even get him in a room talking drugs, much less handling any." "It's now or never, Lieutenant." "Stringer Bell is quiet." "And if he's quiet, I don't give a fuck if we come back a year from now... and find out he's on the Greater Baltimore Committee." "This unit is about the bodies." "Major Foerster, call 2462." "Major Foerster." "What the fuck is this?" "Ten-page report on the heroic police work... undertaken to retrieve Officer Dozerman's service weapon." "Send that upstairs, keep the bosses out of your ass for a while." "You actually did all this?" "Would it matter if I had?" "Jay, I'm a murder police..." "I got a double on my plate." "I'm gonna work it." "We ain't got Fayette and Poppleton neither, what the fuck?" "I'm working on it, man." "The avenue corners, too." "What you mean you working on it, man?" "Why we ain't at least got a shop set up down the block?" " We did." " There was a setback." " Ran our boys off." " Who?" " Just some player, man..." " Listen." "Let him tell me." "We hired him for muscle." " The boy, Marlo." " Marlo." "Who the fuck is Marlo?" "He tied to one of the mobs?" "Young boy." "Running it on his own, too." "Got maybe 15 spots along here and the avenue." "An independent with no fucking support... got all the prime real estate and we doing what exactly?" "Young boy ran us off the corner?" "I'm losing my motherfucking mind, man." "And I sincerely mean your girl no disrespect... but Tosha wasn't killed because she just happened by that mess." "I think we all know that, right?" "She was a player." "We know that much." "Look, we got the science that says she fired a gun when it all went down." "Gun wasn't there for us to find... but that just means somebody grabbed it up, right?" "I mean, your girl, she definitely had her say... when everybody else on that street was talking." "Am I wrong?" "Well, I got witnesses on the scene that said she was there... right in the middle of a drug robbery." "Boy by the name of Omar was in on it, too." "Nobody saying Tosha was an angel." "Nobody saying that." "But what are they saying?" "The crew Tosha was running with... maybe they didn't throw the shot that killed her... but, if they don't come to me early and tell the true story..." "I guarantee they won't breathe a free breath... until them cicadas come back." "You all get the word to the right people." "And you've spoken to the medical examiner, correct?" "What's he say?" " He says it's lumpy." " Lumpy?" "He says that if an investigation can come up with a credible scenario... he's willing to change the cause of death to homicide." "Do you even have a suspect here?" "No." "Look, I don't know how you city guys do it... but down here in Annapolis we try to duck a punch or two." "Not lean into every last one." "My county doesn't need another murder." "I'm glad you could come." "Ladies, Reverend Wright, I'd like you to meet my husband..." " Cedric Daniels." " Nice to meet you." " Not that I've seen, no." " She was invited, right?" "Oh, of course." "Eunetta doesn't make it too much nowadays." "Not even Council meetings." "I think Eunetta's gonna have her hands full, come the primary." "Mayor will pull her through." " He still have coattails?" " Shit, boy." "You look up "incumbent" in the damn dictionary... and you'll see Clarence Royce smiling back at you." "He gets his whole ticket through." "The Mayor's got a new poll... showing his negatives have really jumped in the last year." "Not that he's gonna be putting a press release out about that." "I hear you took a swipe at His Honor the other day on that witness murder." "Well, not at the Mayor directly." "But we had the police brass in front of the subcommittee... and, I don't know, there's just no excuse for what happened." "You keep on it, Councilman." "A little smack here and there does this administration a world of good." "That's why we need new blood on the Council." "Keep everybody honest." "Yeah." "Yeah." "Give me a Coors Light." "Don't embarrass yourself." "So." "Your murder's never gonna be a murder... and Daniels' got his head all up in another case." "I know." "You know what the hardest part about being a police is?" "Yeah." "Explaining to your wife why she has to take antibiotics... for your kidney infection." "I was gonna say trying to make the job actually matter." "That, too." "Speaking of your ex-wife, what's up there?" "Nothing." "She got her hooks in some lawyer." "Money guy." "Fuck it and fuck her." "So what, you moving on?" "Yeah, I might have some fresh hope, now that you mention it." "Yeah?" "Yeah, there was this woman at this thing for my kids." "She, like, raises money for the school and all that, you know?" "She's got a face, a body, and a brain all working together." "And she looks like the kind who might tell me when my shit stinks... which is probably what I need." "She's kind of like Freamon with tits." " So what, you get her number?" " No, not exactly." "Hey, what kind of detective would I be... if I couldn't track a white woman in Baltimore, right?" "There you go." "See what she wants, okay?" "You were so smooth tonight." "You had them eating right out of your hand." "It's what you need from me, right?" "Anyway, it wasn't too bad." "I'm getting better at it, I guess." "You are." "Cedric, maybe we could..." "I don't know." "Right now, you tell me where you need me... and whether you want the Class A or the Class B uniform, and I'm there." "More than that, I just don't know." "So?" "So?" "I'm saying, what the fuck?" "Take a deep breath, man." "I mean, take a long deep breath." "Know that if you call the shot, we at war." "We at war." "I'm there like I always been." "Thing about turf, man, it ain't like it was." "I mean, you ain't gotta pay no price of buying no corners." "Since when do we buy corners?" "We take corners." "Man, you gonna buy one way or another." "Whether it's with the bodies we done lost or you're gonna lose... time in the joint that's behind us or ahead of us..." "I mean, you gonna get some shit in this game, but it ain't shit for free." "I mean, how many corners do we need?" " How much money can a nigga make?" " More than a nigga can spend." "And then we ain't gonna be around to spend what we done made already." "Shit, I didn't think I was gonna be around this long." "Yeah." "Well, we here now." "The fact is we got every mob in town, East Side, West Side... ready to pull together, share territory on that good shit... that Prop Joe putting out there." "We take that shit downtown and we get in the money game and that... niggas ain't going to jail." "I mean, we past that run-and-gun shit, man... like, we find us a package and we ain't got to see nothing but bank." "Nothing but cash." "No corners, no territory, nothing." "We make so much goddamn straight money, man... the government come after us, man, ain't shit they can say." "Businessmen, huh?" "Let the young'uns worry about how to retail... where to wholesale." "I mean, who gives a fuck who's standing on what corner... if we're taking that shit off the top... putting that shit to good use, making that shit work for us." "We can run more than corners, B. Period." "We could do like Little Willie, man... back in the day, with all that number money... and run this goddamn city." "Like businessmen." "Man, just let me talk to the boy, Marlo." "See if I can't smooth this shit out." "I mean, it ain't gonna be overnight... 'cause the nigga only knows what he knows." "But I think I could talk some sense in his head." "Yeah, I ain't no suit-wearing businessman like you." "You know, I'm just a gangster, I suppose." "And I want my corners." "I gotta tell you, I'm having a tough time... wrapping my head around the reality of you being paroled." "Trust me, I won't fully comprehend it until I'm sipping my first martini." "Homicide police went to Tosha people." "Talking about how they know she was in the mix." "Saying they got witnesses and shit." "They called your name on it, too." " So what they say?" " They called me." " Hey, yo, I know this cop, man." " Yeah?" "Maybe we should help him out." "Tell him who did what." "Man, stop wilding, Kimmy." "All right, now I said I got this." "Tosha's people want to know from me... exactly what happened that day." "That's all I'm saying." "Well, tell them she caught one trying to take them boys down, man." "Ain't no need to involve the police in none of this." "Sound to me like he involved already." "Kimmy, I told you, I got this." "My husband worked for Mr. Cooper at the American Can." "He made good money." "We saved up and bought this house." "There were some white families still living in the neighborhood then." "The neighborhood has changed, Mrs. Hazel." "This is a picture of the house." "Oh." "City-owned, taxes paid and all." "It is very nice." "But I can't afford that." "You don't have to worry about the money." "It's all taken care of." "It's a special program we have." "It's for people who are living... in really bad situations... you know, with the drug trafficking you see outside." "And this is a good neighborhood." "It's safe and it's on the number 19 line." "And it's walking distance from your church." "Officer, this is the only home I know." "It's all I've got." "Now, you say you have a program that can place me somewhere else." "But you ain't got no program for what's outside my door?" "You weren't lying." "Yeah, I told you." "And I've been all over these blocks like you said." "I haven't seen any cameras, nobody peeking." "And Monk Man and his crew been here for grinding for days... and narcos ain't even blink." "I'll tell you what." "Put some of my people on it." "Not too many." "Just them young'uns." "Make the package real small, just in case this a trap." " I wanna hear directly from you on this." " I'm on it." "This shit is just bugged out, you know?" "String called, said to tell you he gonna be late." "Behind something he need to see down the way." " So, what you telling me, we weak?" " Boss, I reached out to Black Donnie." "Okay, spit it out, man." "Listen, stop fucking double-talking me." "Black Donnie say he ain't having any of it." "Say Brother Mouzone put a hex on all of us." "What about Peacock?" "Peacock went and hired out with some Dominicans." "What about Eggy Mule?" "Eggy locked up." "Caught a nickel with the Feds for a pistol." "What about Shorty Boyd?" "Shorty Boyd went and cleaned his whole act up." "Yeah, I know." "Fucked us all up." "What we got?" "The soldier you sent at us, Cutty, he gonna work out... but the rest of them dudes, I don't know." "All right, listen, big man, you about to earn your fucking keep around here, right now." "You go out, you get Cutty and get the best of the rest... and you put a hurting on Marlo." "I want my corners." "What the fuck?" " What now?" " Problems, Mr. Bell." "No, this ain't the time for problems, man." "I got places to be." "We're being told it may take weeks before... we get the city inspectors back down here to approve these site changes." " Weeks?" " Every day we wait, you lose money." "Man, what the fuck?" "How does anybody make any money in this game, man?" "Every time I think we good, you back in my pockets." " You need to make a call." " Again?" "He's the consultant, right?" "You're paying him a nice chunk of change to consult, right?" "This is why we have a politically-connected guy like that on the payroll." "He goes downtown and does for us what we can't do for ourselves." "Democracy in action, Mr. Bell." "All right, look." "Me and Slim, we're gonna work through the alleys... and hit them from the side." "I want you to come through here." " Slow down, through the intersection." " Oh." "Why don't we just come up this way?" "Then we ain't got to worry about crossing no intersection." "Come that way?" "You putting your driver in the line of fire, man." "Think on it." "He getting taken out." "Car gonna crash." "Now, where that put you at?" "Besides you don't wanna be shooting across your driver, do you?" "All right, so come in easy." "They ain't gonna be looking for you 'cause we gonna have they full attention." "And, look, pick your targets, drop them and move out quick." " Who driving?" " I'm under the wheel." "All right, you make sure you slow down at the end of the block... and toss your weapons." "And get rid of any shell casings that kick back in the car." "Police can trace them shits." " Toss the gloves, too, right?" " No, hold on to them." "They're gonna have that DNA shit all on them." "All right, look, it's gonna take us some time to get set up... so we need y'all to lay back about four or five blocks." "And when we ready, we're gonna hit you on the burner... but y'all hold tight till I call you." "You got it?" "We gonna handle our end." "You just make sure there's some fucking work left out there for us... 'cause I don't wanna feel like I'm just some damn decoy." "Damn right about that." "It's just to relocate, no big deal." "I'm not asking for round-the-clock protection..." " or anything like that." " No big deal?" "Come on, Bunny... where the fuck am I gonna find a house for this old broad?" "I got one already." "It's a foreclosure up on the Harford Road." "All you gotta do is file the emergency petition... my boys'll move her in." "And she's witnessing against a violent drug crew." "Without her cooperation, I doubt if it'll go forward." "She's 73 years old." "Brave old broad to be doing this, I guess, but..." "Come on, Ray." "Look, we just lost a witness in a drug case." "We don't wanna lose another one so quick." "If Rawls gets wind of this, you forged my signature." "Where is she living now, anyway?" "She's on Vincent Street, Sector Two." " It's a bad location, huh?" " You wouldn't believe it." "We should wait for the call." "Man, what if that crew got lookouts?" "Motherfucker, if we wait, it'll be all over time we get there." "Man, plus, look, man, I'm saying how's that gonna play with Avon, man?" "They taking all the credit." "Yo, fellas, strap up." "There go that motherfucker Nay-Nay, man." "I say we take him." " We should wait for the call." " Man, we wait, he gonna get away, man." "Go, go, go!" "Get out, get out!" "Motherfucker!" "What the fuck?" "Didn't I say something about waiting for a fucking phone call?" "You know how you blow off half the invitations you get to be somewhere?" "Ribbon cuttings, playground clean-ups and shit?" "I got to." "No choice." "I was gonna cut out on one the other day." "It was a fundraiser for the Delta Phis, you know?" "But I drag-ass over to the Forum to show the flag." "And who was there in his ironsides but old Odell Watkins." "The rainmaker himself." "Yeah, talking in public about being kind of disappointed in the Mayor." "Disappointed." "Yeah?" " Like how?" " Like sincerely disappointed." "The way you'd be with one of your kids." "Like he really wanted to see the Mayor pressed, you know?" "Got me thinking." "Maybe somebody can take a run at Royce in next year's primary." "Like who?" "Madam Council President?" "Well, Mickey Pepper would give him a fight." "No, Mick's already said he doesn't want to leave the legislature." "He won't risk it." "Well, you gotta have someone with balls." "And somebody black." "This being Baltimore and all." " How many y'all take?" " Two." "Didn't get nearly a shot off." "Speak to the quality of Barksdale people." "He's gonna have to come back at you." "You know it ain't gonna stop at this." "I don't want it to stop." "Barksdale weak today." "And he ain't working with the ammunition I got." "No doubt, you carrying a full clip." "But what you gonna do when you sitting at the head of the table?" "Once you there, you got to hold it down." "Sound like one of them good problems." "Yeah." "Prison and graveyards... full of boys who wore the crown." "Point is, they wore it." "It's my turn to wear it now." "We're gonna do this, right, Chris?" " Gonna do this, son." " It's ready like yesterday, dawg." "Want a white T's, man?" "Need to get yourself a white T, dawg." "So you working your plan, huh, Bubs?" "Dollar here, dollar there, Kima." "So, what's up?" "Why you call?" "Was just checking in." "You're still interested in that boy, Marlo, right?" "No?" "You wanna keep getting paid, you need to get your ass up to Park Heights... school yourself on that Jamaican named Kintel got them corners." "Kintel, huh?" "My bosses don't give a fuck about Marlo." "Stringer's people neither." " That's too bad." " Yeah." "'Cause now we got a whole lot of drama." "What happened?" "That young buck, Marlo, ain't getting runned off." "He just dropped two of Barksdale soldiers on the corner of Mount and Fayette." " Two hours past." " What?" "Corners is all jumping bad." "I thought Marlo had them corners for Stringer." "We saw them meet." "I don't know what you saw." "All I know is Marlo is flying his own colors." "West Side's about to be all Baghdad and shit." "But y'all looking for Jake, what's his name?" "Kintel?" "Y'all are too fickle with Bubs, man." "I swear." "A little gift for you and your boys." "Call me." "Whitey sale!" "Whitey sale!" "Deputy, I am aware of the incident and my men are on it." "We called in the 7-to-3 flex squad early... and my DEU is out canvassing." "And what do we know?" "Only that it seems to be rival gangs." "But, what does homicide have?" "Fuck homicide." "I'm asking you for answers right now, Major." " Sir, my men..." " And you damn sure have none." "My men are out there..." "What do we know that we can actually tell the man?" "It's like you said." "Rival gangs." "No, which gangs?" "Gangs." "Assholes who don't like each other." "I'm sorry, Major, but we got nothing on it." "Play it." "It don't make me no never mind." "It's all about trumps." "Evening, Omar." "Evening, Bruiser." "Speaking of them trumps now." "Hey, everybody." "What's for dinner, Jen?" "I'm starving." "It's working." " Hi, Daddy." " How you doing, beautiful?" "Daddy, we shared with you." "That's nice." "Hey, Jen, you seen that tape I was watching last night?" "I don't know what you're talking about." "You gotta see this." "Videotape from last Monday night's Council meeting." "Keiffer tried to block my resolution, but I laid him out good." "I was in rare form, baby." " You seen that tape?" " Maybe you left it in the VCR?" "What?" "Son of a bitch!" " Who the hell..." " Daddy, Franky shared... his sandwich with you." "We hid it so no one else could eat it before you came home." "Can I get some chips and pickles with that, too?" "I don't want to disrespect you." "String been good to me, you know?" "Not just my bills." "Him and Avon probably think they owe me that much." "And it ain't what people might be thinking or saying, either." "What they saying, honey?" "It ain't like I don't miss D." "I do." "Yeah, well, I miss him, too." " But he's been gone a while now." " More than a year." "Stringer's fine." "No denying that." "I feel safe around him." "You asking to get with String..." "I'm okay with that." "Thought you was gonna be mad." "I mean, everything with D is so messed up, you know?" "I mean, every time I think about it..." "And you know this one police... he came by here and brought it all up again." " Who did?" " Police detective from the city." "The one tried to turn D on Avon when he got pulled up in Jersey." "White boy?" " Bushy hair?" " Yeah." "What'd he say?" "What'd he say?" "He said... maybe D'Angelo didn't take..." "You know." "Take his own life." "He said maybe it was something else." "And he came to you with that?" "Left his card here one day... but I didn't say nothing to the man." "Just told Stringer, is all." "She's gonna run for Council?" "She is." "Probably win, too, if I know her." "And you're the proud husband?" "Not sure how that makes me feel." "It's just for show until the election next year." "A city police lieutenant looks good on her arm." "Who even cares anymore?" "Half the country are separated." "The other half are getting divorced for the second time." "This is a favor." "For her." "It's hard to explain." "Look, I disappointed her." "She lived through me for a lot of years... telling herself I was tracked for Deputy Commissioner at worst... and past the police department, who knows?" "And there were some things that happened a long time ago... when I was in Eastern." "I guess she wanted more out of me." "I guess she wanted more out of me." "And after a lot of years and a lot of plans... it turns out I have a better head for police work... than I do for climbing the ladder." "She hung in there thinking my career was going to turn into some kind of big deal." "And I probably let her believe it just to keep peace." "Now she wants to be the big deal." "What do you want?" "I just don't want to disappoint her anymore." "And right now..." "I'm more help showing up at some chicken dinner... in my wedding ring and dress blues... than being the not-even-divorced-yet husband... with the white woman on his arm." "I'm going to do what I can to see she gets what she wants this time around." "Nothing more than that." "Last seen Gerard, man, he was racing bullets up on Fayette Street." "He appeared to be winning, too." "Look, man, till he shows back up here... we ain't gonna know what happened out there." "I damn sure know one fucking thing for sure." "Two of our people chalked and we ain't got shit to show for it." "Man, police gonna be real heavy on this, man." "I say we slow down... take our time to build our muscle..." "No, I ain't got no more motherfucking time, man!" "When the word come out this boy, Marlo, punking me, what I'm gonna look like?" "I'm gonna go do this shit my damn self." "No, man, you just this minute got home." "Your name come up in a murder beef, man, they gonna pull your parole." "Let me take care of this." "We was thinking, man, me and Cutty... you know what I'm saying, we could hit at them ourselves, man." "That way there won't be no fuck-ups." "Look, you two niggas get on it, man." "And get it right." "You see how shit have to be handled, man?" "The game is the fucking game." "Period." "Same as it ever was." "I don't know though, man." "I mean..." "I mean..." "I don't know, I was just down the way with one of our young'uns... on Vincent Street where they got the, you know, the empty houses over there." "And they got crews over there... twirling dope and coke like the shit was candy." "Kids with a lemonade stand." "It's a different world down there." "Like the cops was just standing around like that shit was... legal." "I mean... every day." "Now, that shit was business." "What you saying, man?" "What's up?" "Nothing, man." "Nothing at all." "Our CI tells us those are Stringer's people." "You want us to be about bodies, now we are." "We had this kid, Marlo, working for Stringer... but that might be wrong." "He might be going to war for those corners." "Let me be clear." "This is no longer about Stringer Bell... or Kintel fucking Williamson or any of them." "What is my rank, Detective Greggs?" " My rank!" " Lieutenant, sir." "What is my rank, Detective McNulty?" "If you can't remember that much, then you can go the hell back to narcotics." "And you can go to whatever the hell unit will still have you." "Now get the fuck out of my office." "Your message said you'd be here." "Still, kind of thought it'd be one of your minions showed up in the flesh." "You called on some of my people's people." "I was just working." "Doing what a man is supposed to do." "Well, I know you been busy." "Caught some talk from them young men you rousted over there on the West Side." "That was about a gun belonged to a police." "Yeah, caught some talk about that, too." "This here, it's about something else." "Girl by the name of Tosha who got her head blown off in a firefight." "If you're not here to cooperate, then why are you here?" "Okay, I could just pull up that other girl from your squad." "She ain't gonna talk to you." "Ain't nobody gonna talk to you." "I just came here to make that clear, man." "Ain't no thing." "'Cause I already got me an eyeball wit." "You do?" "I don't know about that." "Old Bruiser, he be blind behind that fortified half the time." "Shit, you gonna have to dry him out just to get him on the stand." "Besides, he done had a change of heart to that story." "That's what I heard anyway." "Shit, past that, y'all gonna have to call this one of them..." "Shit, past that, y'all gonna have to call this one of them... cost-of-doing-business things y'all police be talking about all the time." "You feel me?" "No taxpayers." "Shoot, the way y'all look on things, ain't no victim to even speak on." "Bullshit, boy." "No victim?" "I just came from Tosha's people, remember?" "All this death, you don't think that ripples out?" "You don't even know what the fuck I'm talking about." "I was a few years ahead of you at Edmondson." "But I know you remember the neighborhood, how it was." "We had some bad boys for real." "Wasn't about guns... so much as knowing what to do with your hands." "Those boys could really rag." "My father... had me on the straight." "But, like any young man, I wanted to be hard, too." "So I'd turn up at all the house parties where the tough boys hung." "Shit, they knew I wasn't one of them." "Them hard cases would come up to me and say..." ""Go home, schoolboy, you don't belong here."" "Didn't realize at the time what they were doing for me." "As rough as that neighborhood could be... we had us a community." "Nobody, no victim, who didn't matter." "And now all we got is bodies... and predatory motherfuckers like you." "And, out where that girl fell, I saw kids acting like Omar." "Calling you by name." "Glorifying your ass." "Makes me sick, motherfucker, how far we done fell." "$25,000." "You don't need more than that to get it done." "The fuck you say?" "I'm just telling you how they do down at zoning and permits." "They know you got a general contractor... and his people out there sitting on they ass." "They know you paying twice that every week they sit." "$25,000 gets me the permits?" "$20,000 gets you the permits." "$5,000 is for me for bribing these downtown motherfuckers." "I mean, I'm the one got to risk walking up to these thieving bitches... with cash in hand, right?" "I'm telling you, String... the people running the city nowadays... they make the last bunch look sanctified." "I mean, this some shameful shit." "Permits come when?" "Monday." "Latest." "Spider bags!" "Green tops." "Spider bags!" "Cut, that's him." "Fool." "Spider bags!" "Green tops." " Yo, I know that nigga, man." " Yeah?" " Owe me money, actually." " Yeah?" "Spider bags." "Green tops." " She ain't say it like that." " Spider bags." "Green tops." "No, she say it like she wanna get pregnant and shit." "Hold on." "You all right?" "Damn!" "I opened up too early, man." "I stepped on your shot." "Come on, let's roll." "Hey, yo, there go five-o right there, yo." " Yeah, I know." "It's nothing." " Huh?" "The cops be letting niggas grind down here." "It's all..." "Get the fuck out of here, little hoppers." "Get the fuck out of here, son." "Who are these little niggas?" "Hey, yo, what if they lock us up?" "I hope y'all got toothbrushes." "'Cause down in Boys' Village... you know what I'm saying, if you don't have no toothbrush... you gonna be using some other boy's brush... or rubbing your teeth with your damn finger." "If you don't get locked up... y'all can keep an extra $20 each off the pack." "All right." " Who got that fire, baby?" "That fire." " WMD!" "Come on, Tommy, give it up already." "Look, Terri, you gotta do this for me." "Tell me why you wanna be mayor." "And why should I vote for you over Royce?" "'Cause something is wrong in that city and I think I can fix it." "This guy, he don't give a shit about tackling the problems." "Crime is out of fucking control." "Last week, a kid witness in a drug case... turns up shot dead because of flaws in the system." "I go to the Mayor who promises action." "And then Mr. "Reform is more than the watchword of my administration"... pats me on the ass, thanks me for my concern... points me out the door." "The end." "So, with crime as the issue... the great white father rides to the rescue... against a black incumbent mayor, in a city that's 65% black?" "Black, white, green, people are pissed off." "What makes you think this is doable?" "One, I hear the Mayor's got problems in his base and with key supporters." "Two, I got the Police Commissioner..." "Royce's own man, telling me all kinds of stuff about his fucked-up department... and about Royce's inner circle." "And three, Tony Gray, from the Fifth District... comes pretty close to telling me he's thinking about a run for mayor." "That'd split the black vote." "You'd still need a player who gives the black middle class... permission to vote against one of their own." "You got one of those in your pocket?" "Not many of those around." "Elijah?" "Congressional Black Caucus ain't gonna save your skinny white ass." "What about Odell Watkins?" "Well, it's funny you should mention him... 'cause I don't think he's too happy with the Mayor right now." "I don't know." "I hear a new poll shows Royce's negatives pretty high." "You'd have to raise a load of dough." "He has to see it." "I know he sees it." "It's past that now." "It's about us showing some respect." "Oh, fuck respect." " He ain't right." " No, he ain't." "But at this point, with you on the other side of the argument, he'd rather be wrong." "Maybe if the word came down from on high... it might change his mind." "I mean... if your friend Bunny Colvin's up to his ass in bodies..." "I bet he'd take all the help he can get." "Not that you'd ever go behind anybody's back or anything like that." "Right?" "No way." "Two more murders yesterday." "Another three today... including a 14-year-old." "We're doing all we can." "You're at 260 for the year... and it's barely October." "You promised me 275 or under, Erv." "I had that as a promise." " Sir..." " We see 300 before the New Year... and I'm not sure that I can justify a full term for you." "Now, I hate to say it, but there it is." "Barksdale's people and who?" "Marlo Stanfield." "It's the new kid." "We've been on him a couple weeks." "I thought Daniels' people are up in the Northwest." "Look, your war's only gonna get worse, Major." "Northwest has been quiet for weeks." "You willing to backdoor your lieutenant like this, huh?" "You ain't changed, Jimmy." "Shit." "It's always about your case, huh?" "Do what you can." "Keep my name out of it." "How'd it go?" "We got one of the two of them motherfuckers, you know?" "You mean, you motherfuckers come strolling in here all walking tall and shit..." "Yo, B, man, I'm saying, man... we was blazing on them dudes." "Man, you know what I'm saying?" "Just got in the heat, man." "We was blazing, though." " It was like..." " All right, all right." "Relax, man." "I already heard." "Go sit down." "I'm not tweaking behind none of this." "That's one less motherfucker that's breathing than was yesterday." "You know what I'm saying?" "So we all good." "But I'm surprised at you, though, man." "Shit didn't get by you back when." "Wasn't my man's fault, man." "I unloaded on the young'un too soon, man." "Gave him enough room to buck and run, man." " I fucked that shit up myself, you know." " Hold on." "It's on me." "I had that kid in my sights... close enough to take off his Kangol and half his dome with it." "Couldn't squeeze the trigger." "Couldn't do it, man." "Why not?" "Wasn't in me, I guess." "You know, whatever it is in you... that lets you flow like you flowing... do that thing." "It ain't in me no more." "All right." "So you done soldiering, but you ain't done." "Could use you for what you got in your head." "We're gonna put you on a corner, you could be inside..." "No, man." "I ain't making myself clear." "The game ain't in me no more." "None of it." "But you ain't done shit else." "You know what I'm saying?" "So what you gonna do?" "I don't know." "But it can't be this." "All right then." "We straight." " See you." " See you." "B, he was a man in his time, you know?" "Yeah." "He a man today." "He a man." "Any idea what this is about?" "Lieutenant." "What's he got in his head, right?" "Here he is, Bunny." "Cedric Daniels to the rescue." "Man of the hour."