"[MUSIC PLAYING]" "JOHN:" "Everybody has some kind of jones here in New York City." "Everybody has something that they need to do in order" "To get through the today." "And if you're like me, you don't want to hurt anybody," "But I sure would like somebody to come by who I could" "Hustle out of a few bucks." "Then you're sitting here, you're sick," "You don't know where the fuck to get some drag." "It's like a chill you can't shake." "Like an ache you don't know where it comes from." "It's like a good love affair..." "It's nice when it starts," "Then it becomes fucked just like everything else." "[WATER DRIPPING]" "[FOOTSTEPS]" "[GASP]" "You know, you could stop." "I don't want... it's just the best part." "Let me enjoy it." "It'll only last another minute, K?" "[SIRENS]" "[HONKING]" "[YELLING IN SPANISH]" "[MUSIC PLAYING]" "Executive brand." "[YELLING]" "[DOOR CREAKING]" "[DOG BARKING]" "[RUNNING WATER]" "Works, works works, works, works, works." "You need someone works?" "Works, works, works, works, works, works, works." "Man, that stuff must be good." "You guys copping?" "Yeah." "Why don't you throw me over the bag, bro?" "No, man." "Are you crazy, man?" "I just copped so bad." "I'm shaking like a motherfucker, bro." "Hey, if I could do it, I will do it." "I just copped two bags." "Don't hold me, man." "Yo, man." "Look, you know me, right?" "If I could do it, I would do it, man." "Yo, man." "Bag, man." "Bag ain't going to do nothing to you, bro." "[INAUDIBLE], bro." "[DOG BARKING]" " Hey." " Hey." "What do you want?" "[INAUDIBLE]." "I ain't gonna step on you." "What do you want?" "Two dimes." "Two dimes?" "Only 10 dimes or more." "Cool." "Cool." "[RUNNING WATER]" "[SIRENS]" "[MUSIC PLAYING]" "[MUSIC" " CHUCK KENTIS, "CHILDREN OF PARADISE"]" "[CHATTER IN SPANISH AND ENGLISH]" "Can you speak nicely or whatever, man?" "Get the fuck away." "You going to the fucking battery, man." "What?" "[INAUDIBLE] expect [INAUDIBLE] shop, bro?" "You watch my fucking back." "You make sure the motherfucker don't leave, man." "Hey, wait." "And one of these fudge bars." "Hey, listen." "Get... get over there." "Come on." "All" "Come on." "All right." "All right." "All right." "Get your hands in your pocket, and get it right in my eyes." "What?" "[INAUDIBLE]" " No." " Can I get one beer?" "Shut up." "You see that?" "Keep walking." "All right." "Now turn around and [INAUDIBLE]." "OK." "I'm..." "I'm gonna hurt you." "All right." "Get the hell out of here." "[FOOTSTEPS RUNNING]" "Yeah, everybody was bragging." "Remember, he was bragging?" "Oh, yeah." "Look, he had a fight today." "Not him, man. [INAUDIBLE]." "And it was about this guy that..." "He had his..." "He had a pit bull." "It was a pit bull." "Hey, Cisco." "Hey." "What's up, Gringo?" "How you been, man?" "Oh, fuck all that Gringo shit." "What's going on with you, brother?" "Ah, yeah." "This guy taking off with everything I had." "Yeah?" "That's bad." "Ah, gee, he got ripped of." "Oh, fuck you." "What is it with you guys?" "When you people get ripped off, you don't go back and kick ass?" "I mean, what the fuck is wrong with you guys?" "JOHN:" "When you gonna go back and kick ass?" "CISCO:" "What's wrong with you?" "Even though I don't believe in fighting," "I don't understand you." "JOHN:" "What do you mean, "I don't believe in fighting"?" "I got a seven-inch knife wound on my stomach," "I lost this eye, I've had two sides of my jaw broken..." "But didn't die." "From fighting 15 dudes." "And, you know, I bit one motherfucker's ear off" "And spit it in his face, because four of them" "Were jumping on me." "If I'm right there and I'm fighting," "I don't mind fighting." "But going back for..." "Yeah, the cops were there, too?" "The cops were there." "The cops were there." "Fucking $20, $30, you know." "Well, you know, you say "you" and" ""They" and "you guys" and "you Whiteys can't even fight back."" "Shit." "I mean, you know." "You got to show your man..." "He's playing with your manhood." "He take your shit away you you going to just stay there and go" "And your not coming back?" "He sees you the next day, he's going to do it again." "What are you guys?" "Fucking Dear Abby or something." "Oh, come on." "Get the fuck our of here, man." "Dear, Chico, what should I do?" "I'm not giving you a buys, man." " What?" " Go, man." " What?" " No buys, man." "No buys." "What?" "All right." "All right." "All right." "Go." "Go with somebody, man, because, yo, man." "I usually do." "You know that, Jimbo." "What am I going to do?" "Fight that?" "It's easy to do, but today you didn't do it." " Yeah, right." " Yeah." "Yeah." "[INAUDIBLE] fucking guy, man." "I don't understand you." "What's wrong with yous, man?" "If you wouldn't be getting high, none of this shit" "Would be happening." "It's stupid, man." "I don't understand." "These people are dumb, man." "And by "people" he thought I meant just white people," "But I don't mean just white people," "I'm talking about people that get high and that shit." "It's not fucking good, man." "Look at him." "[MUSIC" " CHUCK KENTIS, "CHILDREN OF PARADISE"]" "Oh, you fucker." "Got a cigarette you could spare?" "Could you spare a cigarette?" "Sure can." "Thanks." "[TRAFFIC AND STREET NOISES]" "All right, you know, it's..." "I can always get $10 together," "Panhandle a few bucks, hit up a friend, collect on a debt." "You know, there's always some way of getting $10 together." "We got the punk rock special joints here." "(SINGING) I was a lonely soul, I had no nobody till I met you." "But you keep me..." "Maybe sometimes you sell your clothes out" "On the street or everything." "You know, anything you can get your hands on," "You sell it or you help a friend sell something he's got" "And he gives you some of the money from it." "But, I mean, you know, you don't have to hurt nobody to keep" "A drug habit in this city." "[INAUDIBLE] and this is Chelsea." "Yeah, right here." "What do you want?" "I got nickels." "I mean, shit, we all do something we wouldn't" "Do to keep our habit together." "Hey, Jose, man, don't kill my business." "Come here, I got joints." "You got joints?" "Yeah, I got joints." "Come here, I got joints." "Come here." "Get me a paper, Jose." "That's all you're going to smoke?" "Yeah." "But can I have a paper for this guy?" "Come on." "[INAUDIBLE]." "Jose, come on." "Jose, give me two papers, one for you and me... hey." "[EXASPERATED NOISE]" "Assholes." "You know what's up, too, they'll find somebody that's clean," "You know, they ain't got high yet that day," "And they'll have them test the dope." "[SNAPPING]" "Mm." "Sometimes that's real nice, you know," "Because they don't know it's really strong" "And you get real fucked up." "So how you been?" "I been doing all right now." "You know, can't complain really." "Start complaining, nobody don't want to hear about it." "I ain't seen you at the Y. You still living down there?" "JOHN:" "I'm sure more than one dope tester's wound up" "On the roof top with the rats eating at his balls" "Because someone sort of didn't cut it right." "They don't like it." "Oh." "How'd it go?" "Well, we'll find out in a minute, ladies." "It's hot as hell, though." "It don't look like it's coming too fast." "No, not really, because it's getting cold now, you know?" "Summertime is all right, you know?" "But now it's getting kind of cold," "It's gonna be kind of hard." "Mm-hm." "[BAGS CRINKLING]" "Not too full?" "[INAUDIBLE]." "Just bag." "No, just bag." "No." "No." "Here, you just bag this." "Just bag those." "OK." "Get one more boot and come on out of this joint here." "OK." "This ain't what you call a midnight snack." "Nine, ten." "That's a bundle." "JOHN:" "In this one apartment, there's $100,000 worth of drugs" "Going down, and they got these chicks" "Bagging up dope and running it up to the corners." "That's really, like, you know, a quality control." "[HUMMING]" "I got nice [INAUDIBLE] so far so good, man." "Dope tastes really nice." " Yeah?" " Yeah." "Yeah." "Nice [INAUDIBLE] here, too, you know?" "He said it's all right." "Enjoy." "OK." "I appreciate that, man." "LADY BAGGER:" "You want to be paid in cash" "Or just take a couple of lines, man?" "[SNIFFING]" "Yeah." "LADY BAGGER:" "Yeah, well, this is good stuff," "So it can hold, you know, like a decent cut." "[CHATTER]" "You put a 1 or a 2 on it?" "Oh, no." "You can put more than that on this side right here." "No, on this side right here, you can put more." "Three or four." "Yeah, definitely." "You know, like, it took me an hour." "First of all, I had to wait an hour in line to cop." "There was, like, a million people." "What?" "An hour?" "Well, come on." "I mean, it was, like, you know..." "Yeah, yeah, yeah." "It was a long time." "I finally cop, and all of a sudden, [INAUDIBLE], red light," "You know?" "So they make us... they make us sit there, you know?" "They say, everybody crouch down." "Don't say a word." "So we're sitting there." "Well, I'm glad I didn't go." "Well, I know." "That's why I never want you to go, baby." "You know that." "You know I always go cop for you." "But anyway, so then so we're all crouched down" "Waiting in this spot, running, seriously, like, at least 15" "Minutes waiting while they said the police are right out front," "Don't nobody move." "And so we're sitting here." "And then I said fine." "Fuck it, you know." "I'm going to try to get out of here," "Because, like, I already have the dope on me" "Stashed in my pants." "So there's this guy up on the second floor," "And, like, there's no steps going up." "So, like, he had to pull me up, you know." "And, like, there was, like, a hole going down" "To the basement and all these broken glass" "And tin cans and rats." "Right." "So he's pulling me up." "I'm scared of heights, as you know, anyway." "So, like, he pulls me up, I ran through the... run" "Through the building, go out a window," "Have to hop over an air shaft right through another abandoned" "Building, down a fire escape, over three fucking barbed wire" "Fences, and on the third fence, these dogs were chasing" "Me and biting at my legs, man." "I fucking hop over, right?" "Go around through, come out the other end, like, I don't know." "Totally fucking destroyed my body, you know." "Like, all banged and scratched up." "I come out and the police are gone." "The police are gone and people are going back in the place" "Again." "Already?" " Right." " Two seconds later." "Right." "Right." "Right." "In, like, two minutes." "That figures." "It figures." "Like, if I had waited two more minutes," "I wouldn't have had to go through all" "This fucking bullshit." "[MUSIC" " CHUCK KENTIS, "CHILDREN OF PARADISE"]" "[INAUDIBLE] true blue." "[INAUDIBLE] works." "Works." "[SPEAKING SPANISH]" "Works, works." "I need works." "Excuse me." "You can't hand out here." "I'm waiting for somebody, sweetheart." "I'm sorry, but you got to hang out" "Across the street somewhere." " Across the street?" " Yeah." "I'm standing right here." "Yeah, well, I'm sorry." "You know, we're conducting business here." "You got to hand out down..." "Your business is inside, and I'm waiting" "For my man to come out..." "I'm sorry." "[INTERPOSING VOICES]" "Excuse me?" "Go ahead." "You cannot hang out here, babe." "Go ahead." "Give me some of that, man." "It wasn't all... it wasn't all that hot [INAUDIBLE]." "It wasn't all that hot." "No." "No hanging out here." "Excuse me?" "No hanging out." "You're going to get sick, man." "No, where we going?" "Where we going?" "Hey, hey, there's your line, brother." "You know..." "None of that bullshit, OK?" "Take your time." "You're getting it." "That's all." "Everybody's waiting in fucking line." " Hey, who's breaking the line?" " Yo, man." "We ain't going no place." "[INTERPOSING VOICES]" "Yeah, right." "Everybody straight out." "You can go in." "[KNOCKING]" "Money straight out if you want to cop." "C and D. Coke and Dope." "I just got two..." "Three bags, man." "OK." "[INAUDIBLE]." "Come on, man, you got to move faster than that." "Yo." "Yo." "Yo." "Move the line up." "Move the line up." "Yeah." "[INTERPOSING VOICES]" "Three and one." "Three and one." "DRUG DEALER:" "Sometimes I think, like, what would it" "Be like if we didn't have dope?" "I don't think there would be a Lower East Side." "I don't think, you know, that we would survive," "Because they would be..." "Everybody would be on welfare," "You know?" "The city would go down the drain." "The dope money has a lot to do with the economy of the city," "Because it does bring in a lot of money from different states." "You know, a lot of people come up from Connecticut," "Pennsylvania, Jersey, all heavy and they leave a lot of money" "Down here." "OK?" "It's a hot night out here, and I ain't feeling that good." "Come on, next." "Make that snappy." "Yo, man, I got people waiting." "Move." "Go ahead." "Come on, let's go." "Come on." "All right." "I've got two people in line, man." "Hey, yo, hold it right there man." "Stay right there." "Yo, have your money straight out." "DRUG DEALER:" "A lot of kids who go on and try to get a job," "There's too many kids and too little jobs." "So if a guy come along offering a job in a dope" "Spot making $200, $300 a week at a young age." "You know, as you get older, salary goes up." "They start wearing nice clothes, you know, jewelry." "They see that they can get just about anything" "They want in the neighborhood." "Maybe they'll shoot a guy, get a little respect." "Then for them, that's it." "Some kids, if they're smart, they'll" "Work they way from watching to bodyguard" "Where they bodyguard the person selling, and to manager." "Once they become a manager, they could branch off" "And boss'll open up another spot and they'll receive a percent," "Like, maybe 50%, 75%." "Someone lives out in the suburbs will never" "See the money that we see." "You could sell 20 bundles, a hundred bags in a bundle," "That's, like, $20,000 a day." "Yeah." "What you want?" "I need two coke." "Next." "Can I get two and one?" "Yo." "Puerto Rico." "DRUG DEALER:" "You have people come in here with $400, $500" "Every day, the same people." "Ten dope." "DRUG DEALER:" "That means that they're" "Spending, like, $3,000 a week." "Some kids start off as early as 20" "Thinking about retiring by the time they're 29, 30." "I know a few guys that have gone to Puerto Rico with half" "To million, a million dollars." "A lot of them don't make it." "A lot of them get hooked, spend most of the money they save." "And they don't have anyone that'll" "Back them up or care for them." "They'll just wind up in the gutter." "Get these bags together." "Some of them have been millionaires" "Twice, three times, and lost it all till they got to the point" "Where they don't care anymore." "You know, like they lost it all." "So they'll just resort to shooting drugs and shooting" "Drugs and shooting drugs." "Hey." "[WHISTLING]" "[HONKING]" "JOHN:" "You know, the brand names are funny." "They'll usually from hip movies at the time, like "Black"" "Sunday" and "ET" and Mr. T., a dope brand and say, Paco," "Or Flaco, or wherever, you know, the head dope guy for such" "And such a label." "You know, he buys it at the same place as the other guys," "And they all may go to the same factory" "And say, put my stamp on this, and put a one and a half step" "On it." "And that means that for, like, every gram of heroin," "There's a gram and a half of cut," "And that's how you get the different grade" "Of dope on the street." "And then all of a sudden, boom, they'll say, put a three on it." "And then they'll put it out on the street and sell it." "It ain't beat, but it takes you three" "Bags to get straight instead of, you know, one and a half" "Or two." "Move, move, move." "Cindy." "Let's go." "Move on." "Come on." "God dammit, let's go." "Move it, move it, move it." "Cindy." "You want some, homeboy?" "I got some [INAUDIBLE]." "C and D." "All right, let's go." "Green light, green light, green light." "Let's go." "Come on, move it, boys." "Come on, let's go." "Yo, buddy." " What's happening, man?" " Yo." "Yo." "What's happening, man?" "Ain't you the one that stuck up the First National Bank, man?" "No?" "No?" "Yeah." "C and D." "I ought to turn you in for the reward money, buddy." " What's up?" " C and D." "Hey, old boy." "Right." "All right." "What's up, man?" "What's happening?" "C and D. C and D. C and D. C and D." "What's up, Cool?" "Yeah, why not." "C and D." "They good, right?" "Take care of them, boy." "What's happening, man?" "What's happening?" "What's happening?" "What's up, Jesus Christ?" "[SPEAKING SPANISH]" "Yellow Mellow, Yellow Mellow, Yellow Mellow." "[HORN HONKING]" "Hey, que paso?" "What's happening?" "Listen, man, you and Jesus gave me some shit about you selling" "To some dummies out here." "Yo, man" "And beating customers." "I don't play that shit, man." "I don't play that." "Yo, I didn't do that." "Yo, yo, what about putting your shit out" "On the street instead of ours?" "Man, you're talking out of your fucking face, man." "I don't fuck with nobody's product." "Hey, fuck you, fatty." "Hey, fuck you, too, man." "What the fuck does he have to do with us, man?" " Watch your mouth." " Listen, man..." "He's... he's getting greedy is what it is, man." "You're a motherfucker." "You're the one who's getting greedy." "I ain't getting greedy, man." "He don't got nothing to do with us, man." "He's just coming out of his face." "We don't want you here, we don't want you in this spot." "We don't want you at all." "[GUNSHOTS]" "Come on, come on." "Shit." "You got a cigarette?" "Sure." "Thanks, man." "[DOGS BARKING]" "[KNOCKING]" "JOHN:" "Suzanne." "Suzanne." "JOHN:" "Hey, Suzanne, it's me." "It's John." "Shit." "JOHN:" "Open the door." "It's 4 o'clock in the morning." "JOHN: [INAUDIBLE]." "I got time to [INAUDIBLE]." "Just come in for a bit." "Shut up." "You're waking everybody up." "JOHN:" "I need to hold on to a few bucks." "I already lent you money." "You never paid me back." "JOHN:" "Come on, I've done you plenty." "Dammit, go take a walk." "Check this out, [INAUDIBLE]." "[INAUDIBLE] motherfucker." "Man, check this out." "The other day I came here, man, I bought some dope," "And the shit was cut with meat tenderizer man." "That's your business." "Hey, I bought it right here, man." "I don't want no money back or nothing." "[INAUDIBLE] fucker, [INAUDIBLE]." "Oh." "[GASPING]" "Oh, shit." "[GASPING]" "[SIRENS]" "[POLICE RADIO]" "POLICE DISPATCH:" "Here we go, 4 George 6 Adam" "Larry 5784 David Eddy 840986." "OK." "He is my brother, then." "No." "And I... he's involved with drugs." "We will find out about it, but we would like" "To know who the fuck did it." "Now, excuse my language there, ma'am," "But, like, that's what it is." "You know, when you live in the Lower East Side," "That's the way it is." "Eventually you find out." "Everybody out here fucks up with everything," "You know what I'm saying?" "The best thing to do is, you know, you gotta be cool." "But when it comes to brothers, man," "You know, and they know that these guys are" "My brother-in-laws, they know, you know, who we are," "You know, we don't fuck with nobody," "They shouldn't be messing with us." "Now, whatever he did is, you know, between him." "But we would like the find out who did it." "Now, if it's for drugs, then we'd like to know." "You know, now, the best thing I did" "Was to get in touch with the family, you know?" "And once the family so, yo, we gotta do this, we got to do it." "You know?" "I wish I knew who did it." "But, like they say, drugs lead you to your death," "You know what I'm saying?" "Sometimes you got it, sometimes you don't." "You don't have it, you find a way of getting it." "JOHN:" "Heroin is a cruel mistress." "A voodoo overseer, man." "It wakes you up early in the morning, it takes you out," "It makes you do things you would never do." "And, well, you just don't have time" "To worry about other things, things" "That maybe you should be worrying about." "Facing reality, sometimes, is a hard thing to do." "What's really sad is, like, the kids that come down to cop." "You know, they got nothing." "Shaking their lives up, you know." "You know that now, but..." "The cops get..." "JOHN:" "But it's amazing, you know." "These young white chicks, you know," "They go into this building with $100 and they're straight," "You know." "They don't want to go out on the street and cop." "You know, you can get your throat slit out there." "They'll come down, buy the guy so dope for himself" "And some dope for them and send them out." "And then they'll sit there and they'll get high," "You know, the guys will have the works and everything." "Oh, yeah." "Up it, puppet." "[SPEAKING SPANISH]" "[INAUDIBLE] been on your string." "Not OK." "I'll tell you, you always get loose when" "There's girls around you, girl." "Huh?" "I know." "JOHN:" "So the kids wind up using these shitty works," "You know, that who knows who's used these things." "And that's how these diseases get transferred, you know." "I've been going in this vein too much lately." "You know, this is really [INAUDIBLE]." "That's coming up slow." "Now that you can smoke a Marlboro, huh?" "Yeah." "Oh, man, what am I doing?" "I got a vein right here." "What's going [INAUDIBLE] that vein's got you [INAUDIBLE]." "I'm having a hard time hitting myself [INAUDIBLE]." "You think you can get me off?" "Mm-hm." "Yeah, you think you can handle it?" "That's not... my veins... my veins are..." "Huh?" "I have shallow veins." "All right, just tie your..." "I used to get off an awful lot." "I was looking for..." "Man, this is really..." "Susan, you got any..." "And now I just get high, like, once or twice a week." "And I'm having a lot of hard times." "As you can see, I've been making a lot of whole." "So you're going to have to take a ride down" "There, because his boss doesn't usually" "Put phone calls through." "I was just had..." "I seen, you know, like one thing." "A girlfriend and this... a girlfriend" "Of mines and her old man, they were arguing over drugs." " It's crazy." " But it's stupid." "It's not worth it." "Yeah." "Who's doing more and all that." "And... right." "And who's holding this and who's holding that." "You know what I mean?" "[SPANISH], in other words, let go." "[SPANISH], I love it." "And I, you know, really getting sick of it, you know?" "You can't fool with..." "Even when my old man says..." "You know, he gets... he hates." "You know, sometimes you'll be arguing over stupid shit," "You know?" "It's really, really shitty, man." "I know." "It's a drag." "It's no good, man." "Just want to just clean up this shit, start working..." " Hey, like I said..." " I used to fight with my lover." "We used to do the same thing." "It's like, you know, we used to fight over" "Who was going to get off first." "Yeah, but it's..." "You're always saying, I'm right, I'm right, I'm right," "And you're going to stop and you're going to stop." "That's good." "[INTERPOSING VOICES]" "The first thing you think if when you get up in the mornings" "Is where you're going to get your first shot." "No, not really." "But I feel this way about having my..." "You wake up sick every morning." "Well, that's true." "You get to the bathroom, 10, 20 minutes, half an hour." "And then you got to cut that shit out." "You get jobs, you know." "Hey." "Hey, it's better than doing what you're doing." "It's a start, you know." "Put a gun in my hands..." "It's a start." "No, no." "Everybody's got to start somewhere." "That's bullshit." "That's bullshit." "No." "The first... the first step, man, if you want..." "Every day you get up, you gotta say, where" "Am I going to eat today, right?" "Where am I going to get the money to eat?" "You know how many days we've gone hungry, right?" "All we've worried about is getting off?" "Getting our fix." "Because we were sick." "How many times do I say to her, fuck the dope?" "Buy a pack of cigarettes." "Miss perfect." "Oh, far from it." "Oh, Miss Perfect." "Far from it, that's for sure." "OK, baby." "But at least I'll by cigarettes and shit." "OK." "At least I buy cigarettes, too And I'll eat, too, OK?" "When I have it." "When I have it." "You might don't be here." "How much money do you have on you right now?" "You understand?" "How much money I got on me?" "Weren't you ever at the point she's at now?" "He has money." "What he has, I got." "No." "No." "No?" "Ever in your life?" "No." "Cigarettes are very important to me." "No." "You never got to the point where you'd leave" "Yourself short cigarettes..." "No." "No." "To go get some dope?" "Well, I'm happy for you." "No." "No." "Give me..." "let me get two dopes, man." "You got tracks?" "Yeah." "Yeah, I've got tracks." "You want to see my tracks?" "Yeah." "Let me wee your tracks." "You want to see them?" "Yeah." "All right." "Give me one." "It's good, huh?" "Tell me it's good." "Yeah." "That's the toilet." "That's the best." "I've seen both real nice, huh?" "Oh, yeah." "You'll like that." "All right." "Thanks a lot." "OK." "Don't OD now." "I won't." "Got that D. Got that D. Hold it." "You know we got something." "What you want?" "What you want?" "What you want?" "Some of both." "Some of both?" "Only got D." " Only got some D left." " Only got D?" "Let me see some tracks." "You got some tracks, man?" "I got tracks all over the fucking place." "What the fuck is with you?" "All right." "You see me around." "What the hell is with you?" "All right." "I seen you around." "How many you want to get?" "Give me two D." "Two Ds." "You got it." "Thank you, [INAUDIBLE]." "All right." "Don't OD now, all right?" "Shit." "Yeah, I couldn't OD on this cheap fucking" "Dope you got for all the fucking rice in China." "Oh, watch that guy, Eddie." "He don't look right." "[SPITTING]" "JOHN:" "Heroin is like..." "Well, first of all," "It's a treasure hunt." "You know, you got to find the money." "You know, and then it's the adventure," "Going through the jungle or the war zone." "And, you know, then it's finding the drugs" "And finding good drugs." "[SIRENS]" "You know, it's dodging the cops and the thrill of the chase" "And the thrill of the hunt for the dope." "It's the satisfaction and relief once you get something good," "You know." "That's always the end result, natch." "Then it's the satisfaction and the relief of getting high." "[STREET NOISES]" "DRUG USER:" "Everybody need drugs." "Everybody live on drugs." "Main... main... main base of the thing, everybody... everybody" "Can't stop messing with drugs." "I like drugs." "I like to deal with drugs." "I sell works to get my drugs." "And me, I love..." "I love drugs, mainly cocaine." "Cocaine's a beautiful thing when you're getting high off it." "And mainly when you're getting high off it and it's beautiful." "I love it and I like it and I will never stop using it." "It's always beautiful to deal with... deal with drugs." "Cocaine is my main hobby." "I will never..." "I will never deal with nothing else but cocaine" "And believe me, it's beautiful." "I can never stop using it." "And I will always keep using it as long as I can." "And it's like a lovely, beautiful thing to me." "And I'm sorry that I started messing with drugs" "And I would always..." "I would always will mess with drugs" "As long as I like to." "Very much so." "Cocaine's a beautiful drug." "I like it and I love it and I will always stick by it." "I will always deal with it." "Mainly I..." "I have sold works for them." "For so many period of months to get my drugs" "And build my habit up and my needs," "My need for that bag of coke that everybody love and like." "Mainly I love it." "I can never stop using it." "I would always use it." "I would always need it." "JOHN:" "You know, for most of the people down there," "It's a pretty shitty place." "You know, they're living on Fruit Loops and pizza." "When you're high on dope, it's like I don't know," "I guess, well, I hope some day I get" "Out of this fucking hell hole." "I'll tell you, you know, I never thought about death so much." "But it's really become a part of my life, and nothing matters." "The only thing that matters is feeling" "Good, and the only time I feel good is when I'm really stoned." "And most of the time these motherfuckers won't let you" "Feel good." "They'll just give you enough to get you straight." "You get beat." "It's just part of the game, you know." "You got to take it with a grain of salt." "Fuck," "If I'd gotten in an uproar over every time I got beat," "I'd be dead a long time ago." "You know, maybe someday I'll get off this merry-go-round" "And I'll find something else to do." "Hi, Diane?" "Yeah, it's Space." "Listen, I want to stop by for a minute, OK?" "Thanks." "I'll be right by." "A couple of more, man." "Ow." "That's nice." "Anyways, this chick at the pit, she's a weird number." "She's got... she's got his necklace around her neck" "With a... it's like a heart with a skull on it," "And inside it is cyanide." "That's weird." "Hi, guy." "Yeah." "I was..." "I was reading up on these tarantulas," "And they got eight eyes." "And if they lose legs, they can regenerate them." "You know, they shed their skins every year." "They just come right out of it, and they" "Look..." "leave skins that are exactly like the tarantulas." "You, like, wake up in the morning," "And the next thing you know, it looks like you've" "Got two of them in there." "Ha." "You now." "And mice are really aware of what you're doing" "For them with the tarantulas." "Because the fuckers are really boring." "They have no, like, emotions or response." "They don't like, you know, they don't" "Even know you're feeding them." "They have no idea what's going on at all." "Yeah." "The best thing about having spiders" "Is that you feed them crickets, and, like, for a couple of days" "You get to listen to the crickets." "You sound like you're in the country." "That's The only really good thing." "Oh, let me try this one." "DIANE:" "Come here." "[SQUEAK]" "You know what you are?" "Come on, don't go in there." "All right, do go in there." "Come out this way." "This little mouse thinks he's a rat still." "I have got to get some new works." "DIANE:" "Yeah." "These things are like a nail." "DIANE:" "Yeah, well, typical." "Yeah, I've been feeding the rats," "Like, beans and peas and stuff." "And the mice." "And they really like them, you know." "You don't have to just buy this food if you give" "Them, like, dried vegetables." "You know, they eat that just as much." "It's pretty interesting." "Wow, good stuff." "Rat pellets." "JOHN:" "They'll still be here when we're all gone." "Well, rats don't live long." "JOHN:" "Yeah, but, like during the Cuban Crisis" "When I was 10 years old, I had all" "These nightmares of atomic war." "DIANE:" "Sure." "Those were the days of hide under your desk." "You know, like that's going to do some good, you know," "When they drop an atomic bomb." "JOHN:" "And there's nothing that's really stimulating" "To kids today except for the fear of, you know," "Out-and-out war." "DIANE:" "Oh, Ratso's..." "Now see, these" "Guys are much more intelligent." "They know what's happening." "Come on, Ratso." "See, this one's all fat, see?" "One skinny one and one fat one." "It's like I went to the nuclear demonstration on June 12," "And there was all kinds of people there." "And there was even punks, you know?" "And it's, like, really good to see that the young people that" "Are interested will occasionally come out and do actions," "You know?" "Because..." "JOHN:" "Sure." "It seems to be an incredible waste of time, you know, that," "Like, you know, guys go around with shirts" "That say "New York Rules" and "DC Rules"" "And "LA Rules," you know?" "But where it's at is that no one rules." "JOHN:" "Right." "You know, people are conditioned" "To look for the differences, you know," "In between people and not to realize that they should be," "Like, working together." "JOHN:" "Well, the only thing that's" "Going to wake them up is if the youth of America is threatened." "And if they're threatened, like the youth was threatened" "During the Vietnam War, then there will be," "You know, an overall consciousness again." "DIANE:" "If you go to school and you realize that you're going" "To come out and you're going to make $3 an hour" "And it's not going to pay your rent" "And it's not going to buy you food, you know," "That's a distinct threat on your consciousness, you know." "JOHN:" "The poor kids go into service." "It's not contained to poor blacks anymore." "It's, you know, it's all the poor people." "They go into the service just like" "In an underdeveloped country." "DIANE:" "It's not that many kids going into the Army, you know." "JOHN:" "It's plenty of them." "Poor kids are all going into the Army." "It's the best thing they could do." "It gives them... it gives them experience," "It gives them training, it gives them money," "It gives them everything." "When they come out, they can get any kind" "Of fucking loan they want to." "They're covered medically." "You know, everything is covered for them after they" "Get out of the fucking service." "You know, me, I'm stuck." "I never went into the Army." "DIANE:" "How many people have you met [INAUDIBLE]" "Gone into the service?" "I never even talked to the motherfuckers" "About nothing, man." "I'm an anarchist." "I never fucking filed income tax." "I ain't done shit with these motherfuckers." "You know, I don't want to talk to them about." "When they said I had amnesty, all I had to do..." "DIANE:" "How are you going to get married?" "Is go down an salute the flag." "You know?" "I didn't do it." "I don't want nothing to do with them, you know?" "DIANE:" "How are you going to get married without identification," "Spacely?" "I have identification now." "DIANE:" "Oh, that's good." "I just sent for my birth certificate," "But it's the first time I've had ID in 12 years." "[MUSIC" " CHUCK KENTIS, "CHILDREN OF PARADISE"]" "When I was 15, I picked up this 31-year-old hooker." "You know, she told me if a woman makes" "Too much noise while you're making love with her," "She's faking it." "And they're either trying to get you to come fast" "Or trying to get you to tip them more." "I think it's a little bit of both if it's a whore." "Personally, I haven't had a woman like her in a long time." "She was really good in bed." "At first, you know, I really dug her, because, like, what 14, 15-year-old boy gets enough sec?" "You know?" "But I stayed with her, like, two or three years." "And then I grew tired of her, and I wanted" "A girl a little bit younger." "And this is about a year before, you know," "Hendrix and Joplin and all them people died." "I met..." "I met JC and John at the same time together." "I was walking down Haight Street." "I was about 17." "And me and JC just, like, right away we turned to each other," "You know." "We both had... you know, we kind of looked alike, you know?" "And, you know, we both had long brown hair" "And wore the same kind of hippie shit." "You know, patches everywhere." "Patches on our patches." "This is all during the Vietnam War era, you know." "And we're all radicals or hippies, you know," "Riot fanatics or something." "You know." "I mean, I wasn't going to no fucking Vietnam War." "So we all had, like, an affinity." "We were all against the government, you know." "Us, the Indians." "Cesar Chavez." "You know, everybody was kind of like together," "Even though, like, we had different causes." "It's the same cause, all-in-all." "You know, smash the state." "Anyway STP John was the leader of the gang." "He got shot while taking a piss behind this guy..." "This speed freak's house." "And on the one-year anniversary of his death," "Me and JC went out there and we took a couple of chicks" "And a bunch of booze and got real drunk" "And fucked the chicks on his grave and threw out..." "Did everything." "You know, pissed on the gravestone." "He's dead now, too." "He got blown away in a $5,000 heroine deal about five," "Six years ago." "They found him floating in a lake in LA." "And I was drunk once seeing my old girlfriend." "I got there, and she was there with her new boyfriend." "He had all his friends there." "And so I waited there for about five minutes, and the guy said," "Well, I think it's time you leave now." "I said, well, yeah?" "Well, fuck you." "I'll stay as long as I want." "This is my ex-girlfriend." "You know, I came to visit." "And all of a sudden one dude flew at me." "I think it was her boyfriend." "And then his friends jumped in, too," "And they were, like, jacking me up in the fireplace, you know?" "And this one guy was hitting me, and it felt real hard," "So I grabbed his fist." "And said, oh, my God." "Fucking brass knuckles, you know?" "So I grabbed him by the hair and pulled his head" "Down and all of a sudden his ear popped into my mouth," "So I, like, ah." "Bit as hard as I could and pulled his head back" "And spit his ear in his face." "And all this blood came out and everything." "So detectives came and everything with the ambulance." "Started asking me, who did this to you?" "Who did this to you?" "And I said, get the fuck out of there." "I spit on one of their faces." "They took me to the hospital and put" "Me into emergency operation." "And the cocksuckers said, well, he's too high." "So they didn't give me any... no anesthetic, nothing, you know?" "They did two layers of stitches, like fished all" "Around in my stomach and everything" "To see if anything was broken." "Man, you could hear me screaming for three city blocks." "No fucking shit." "That was, like, some of the most pain I ever felt in my life." "I mean, it had to be as bad as having a baby at least." "It was actually two slices." "The guy had sliced me twice, so there" "Was, like, a little piece of meat in between two..." "Both slices." "So they had to cut that slice of meat of before sewing me up." "And so they cut that piece of meat off," "And they sewed me up, finally." "Two layers of stitches, mind you, with no anesthetic." "And after the whole thing, I said, well," "Can I have the piece of meat that" "Was lying there on the, you know," "Tray that they put beside the bed?" "Looks like you're going out to eat at a drive-in diner." "And they said, no." "And I said, how come?" "And they said, well, it's not hygienic." "And I said, what the fuck you talking about?" "That's me." "You know, are you going to me I can't take me with me?" "So the doctors all stepped out of the room for a minute," "And when they did, I hopped up off the operating table," "Grabbed the hunk of meat and stuck it in my pocket." "[HARMONICA MUSIC]" "Thanks for it, man." " OK." " Hey, take care, baby." "All right, baby." "Take it easy." "Hi." "Oh, what's up?" "Oh, geez." "Hope you're [INAUDIBLE]." "It's the same as..." "[SINGING]" "You ever heard of it?" "[SINGING]" "Yep." "[SINGING]" "OK." "It's good every day." "Hey, man." "Every day." "I had it hanging around, man." "Check it out." "See if I could sell it." "Yeah?" "You want to sell it?" "Yeah." "Move down." "All right." "Yeah." "I figured I'd bring it out of the house" "And get some money for it." "Don't be too long, man." "What's happening, man?" "How you doing?" "Hey, [INAUDIBLE]." "What's up, baby?" "Hey, you're good at that, man." "How much you want for it?" "$20 bucks, man." "Yeah?" "Listen, I'll tell you what..." "The man's getting uptight." "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah." "If you can wait, like, 15 minutes for me to get" "Is, because I just copped and you know" "That I can take the money back." "I want it definitely." "[SIRENS]" "Hi, is mom there?" "Hi, Mom." "Hi, Mom." "How are ya?" "Good." "Everything's been going good with me." "Listen, Mom, you know, it's been a while since I asked you," "And, like, I'm really put out." "I've gotta come up with my rent." "You know, I got some money coming to me next week," "But, you know, I need to have some cash now." "Even a hundred would make it, you know?" "I love you." "You're so sweet." "You always come through when I need you." "Three or four guys, one of them was a drag queen," "And I spit on the street and one of them" "Said, you know, got all indignant and said," "Oh, you tried to spit on me." "And I said, I did not, you fucking drag queen." "And, you know, words were exchanged and then, you know," "A couple shoves happened." "And all of a sudden they whipped out chains and started" "Kicking the shit out of me." "You know?" "They beat me over my head." "Just kept beating me and beating me." "And the cops came and, you know, they stopped everything." "But, you know, what it is, it's just a scar over the lens," "You know." "If you can see it, it's like a white cloud, you know." "Can you see it?" "Do you see it?" "It's like a $5,000 operation." "And what they do, they use, like," "A laser with a small little vacuum," "And they go in with the laser and they" "Cut away the scar tissue." "And then they got this little vacuum that sucks it out," "You know?" "It's $6 more to come in." "Come on, man, my..." "The money or leave." "Fuck you then, an." "I'm getting out of this..." "All right." "Right, you're leaving now." "All right." "All right." "[COUGHING]" "I don't know what you fucking be knocking on my door" "Early in the morning for asking for a spike" "And all that dumb shit." "I said I'm sorry." "God damn." "You got a cigarette or two?" "You got a cigarette?" "[MUSIC" " GRANDMASTER FLASH, "THE MESSAGE"]" "Hey, Larry." "Hey." "I wasn't able to get..." "I didn't have the money" "To get all of them at once, but I brought you two of these," "The ones you saw that you like." "And this is the style I was telling you about." "They have the, like, little red stone in the back." "And it's the same thing, bro, five each." "OK." "So take these three for now and I'll bring you the other 90." "OK." "Money." "[MUSIC" " GRANDMASTER FLASH, "THE MESSAGE"]" "Well, I knew Cindy since she was 11 years old." "She was in this gang in Berkeley called The Red Rockets." "And I was really in love with her," "And, you, know, she was, like, very" "Cute when she was real young." "And we decided to get married, which was at the time" "A good idea, because I was drunk." "And one morning, it was about 5:30, 6:00 in the morning," "She woke up and complained of stomach pains." "I was a little worried, you know, because she was pregnant." "All of the sudden, she just aborted." "My only son and heir came popping out of," "You know, covered in blood." "It was gross." "It was the grossest thing I ever saw." "You know, I didn't know what to do, you know?" "So I just took... it looked like a little rat" "Fetus or something." "It was just about this big, you now." "She was only about three months pregnant, I guess." "And it's very disgusting." "I know it's illegal, because you're supposed" "To report those sort of things." "But I just took the fetus and I threw it in a plastic trash" "Bag, put it out in the garbage." "I mean, I don't know what to do with it." "You know, what are you going to do with this little thing?" "You know, it's nothing more than a huge period." "It was weird." "But then after that happened, then I sent her back to her mom" "In Washington state." "A couple weeks later, her mom called me up" "And said that Cindy had been run over by a logger truck" "While riding on the back of a motorcycle with this other guy." "Then I started shooting heroine, you know," "Because I had all these nightmares about the baby," "About her, about how things could have been different," "I guess." "But, I don't know, maybe it was just never supposed to be." "I guess it wasn't, was it?" "But, I don't know, I always kind of blamed myself." "And I had horrible nightmares for at least a couple of years." "I'm pretty much over the nightmares, but..." "This is brown dope." "In other words, it's made with Nestle's Quik." "Bastards." "God damn, it's so obviously Nestle Quik." "You can smell the chocolate." "[CHUCKLING]" "Ain't that funny?" "[YELLING]" "[SIRENS]" "[TAPPING]" "It's sometimes a lot of fun." "I mean, if you can imagine a movie in our mind." "That's what it's like when you're really high." "And you could be with somebody that you love" "That's dead and long gone, but you're" "So high right now that they're right there next to you." "And they're kissing you like they used" "To, laughing like they used to." "And you can see it." "It's right there." "But for some reason, opium lets you create" "Whatever you want in your mind." "[INTENSE MUSIC]" "I try." "I'm a bit nervous." "[TAPPING]" "[DISCORDANT MUSIC]" "Come on." "[COUGHING]" "[SPITTING]" "You want me to tell you what it's like to be sick?" "Like the worst flu you never had." "You're tired." "You have no energy." "You sweat a lot when you're under the covers." "When you're not under the covers," "Then you freeze and you're chilling." "It's the worst." "That's why it's better to quit gradually" "And not just stop all at once." "Not cold turkey." "Cut back down to two bags a day then one bag a day," "Then to Methadone for a few days and then [INAUDIBLE]." "That's it." "I'd be off." "[VOMITING]" "[SPITTING]" "[PIANO MUSIC]" "[HIP HOP PLAYING OVER PIANO MUSIC]" "[MUSIC" " DON MCLEAN, "SINCE I DON'T HAVE YOU"]" "[MUSIC" " CHUCK KENTIS, "CHILDREN OF PARADISE"]"