"I dunno, man." "I mean, I'm kinda sad." "Them towers be home to me." "You gonna cry over a housing project, now?" "Man, they shoulda blew them motherfuckers up a long time ago, you ask me." "Man, it ain't all been bad." "I mean, I been seen some shit happen up in them towers it still make me smile, yo." "A few moments from now, the Franklin Terrace towers behind me, which sadly came to represent some of the city's most entrenched problems, will be gone." "Ya'll talking' about steel and concrete, man." " Steel and fucking concrete." " Man, I'm talkin' about people." "Memories an' shit." "Ain't the same." "Look, they gonna tear this building down, they gonna build some new shit." "But people?" "They don't give a fuck about people." "You are very soon going to see low and moderately priced houses built in their place." "My cousins used to live in 2-2-1." " I used to be up in there all the time." " Ma who you tellin'?" "I caught my first pussy up in there." "The girl Chantay." "Man, why didn't you say something before?" "They probably wouldn't be tearin' this tower down now." "They gonna put a big-ass sign in front sayin'" ""here's where Malik Carr first got his dick wet"." "You know what I'm sayin'." "Poot, you can be takin' pictures, tourists takin' pictures an' shit, souvenirs of your dick about this size." "He ain't funny, yo, he just jealous." "What?" "Jealous of that?" "You crazy, Chantay?" "Man, the mention of that bitch make my dick burn." "Yo, ain't no bad pussy, fool." "Yeah, that's what they keep tellin' your ass down at the clinic, man." "Keep that shit up." "You ever see this motherfucker when he walking' down to the clinic burnt?" "Poot be like this." "He looks like a backward ass cowboy an' shit." "Instead of like this." "Only he walking' like this." "Dick lookin' like a fried chicken wing." "Mistakes have been made." "And we will learn from those mistakes." "Reform is not just a watchword with my administration, unh-huh, no, it's a philosophy." "Shit, no matter how many times you get burnt, man, you just keep on doin' the same." "Nigger do not learn." "Now, what do you say, huh?" "Are you ready for a new Baltimore?" "Shit gonna be off the hook, yo." "Man, my whole life been around them towers, you know." "I mean I feel." "Shit, I feel like I don't got no home now." "Housing just moved your mama up off Poplar Prove, didn't they?" "You ain't homeless, nigga, you got a home." "Shit, you just damn near outta work is all." "What you mean?" "I mean look all over the city, even out in the county, you had people, coke or dope, 24/7, where was it they go?" "Man, look, you live in the projects, you ain't shit." "But you sling product there." "You got the game by the ass, man." "Shit." "Now these downtown, suit-wearin' ass bitches just snatched up the best territory in the city from y'all." "You wanna cry over some shit, cry over that." "Alright, everyone, count with me." "Ten nine eight seven six five four three two one!" "Oh shit." "Time After Time" "Fuck." "I just stepped in dogshit, man." "You hope." "Is it Cheese, can you see him?" "Yo, where he at?" "Who you mean?" "Cheese, I'm lookin' for Cheese, man." "Nigga, you ain't supposed to be droppin' names an' shit." "Ain't you got no sense?" "I ain't say shit about shit, man." "I'm jus' lookin' to get together with the man." "Need to see him about nuthin' at all." "So he be where he be, fool." "Is he at the place that we was at?" "'Cause I'm lookin' to, you know, saddle up and then put another bat on this motherfucker." "He need to feel with me today, or I'ma take it to someone who can handle them, man." " It's nothin' you let him know." " A-ight." ""Saddle up an' put another bat on the motherfucker?"" ""Settle" up and put another "bet"." "But what was that last part?" "Man said, "he need to deal with me today or I'ma take it to someone who can handle them. "" "Girl, you do have an ear." "He lookin' to get with him." "A-ight." " Same thing as before?" " Same thing I tell 'em." "A-ight." "What'r you seeing?" "Call comes in to Cheese's number two, he whispers in the man's ear and off they go." "Yeah." "Nothing to the call here." "Figured that." "These guys come correct." "The phones only go so far, above that, it's all done as a face-to-face meet." "Three months and we've yet to hear his voice." "And Herc takes the alley to cut that off from Calhoun." "So, me an' Truck go up the wrong way on Stricker Street?" "You gotta badge, remember?" "And we're doing the same one block over." "So they can't go to ground in that block neither." "Now the thing is when we jump out on these little cocksuckers, there'll be a designated runner." "Who's gonna sky up just so we get to chase his ass." "But fuck him." "We let him go and jack every other motherfucker who stays." "Let's mount up." "Carv." "He's a complicated man." "And the only one who understands him is his woman." "Seek therapy." "Narcos!" "Back off!" "See your hands." "See your hands." "Against the wall." "Hands up." "Get your hands up." "Get your hands up against the wall." "There he goes." "Later son, step light!" "Yo, was that the stash?" "Fuck." "Let's go, let's go, cut him off at Stricker!" "I've got Calhoun." "Where you at?" "Lost him." "Rear Stricker 800 block." "Clear on Riggs." "He just went across Stricker in an alley headed for Gilmore." "Fuck." "We have rabbit in the alleys near Gilmore and Riggs." "How bout some back up?" "Roger that." "Dozerman, what's your 20?" "Hey, Doze, where you at, man?" "He's across Stricker, definitely." "Everybody to Lambert's 20." "Who's the man who would risk his neck for his brother man?" "He went to ground in this block, man." "Hey, listen to me you little fuckin' piece of shit!" "I'ma tell you one thing, and one thing only about the Western boys you are playing with!" "We do not lose!" "And we do not forget!" "And we do not give up!" "Ever!" "So I'm only going to say this one time:" "If you march your ass out here right now and put the bracelets on, we will not kick the living shit out of you!" "But if you make us go into them weeds for you, or if you make us come back out here tomorrow night, catch you on a corner." "I swear to fucking Christ we will beat you longer and harder than you beat your own dick!" "'Cause you do not get to win, shitbird!" "We do!" "With these towers down, we need to take the rest of them low-rises an' all them Fayette Street corners." "Take 'em?" "Take 'em how, Mr. Bodie?" "Ya say fuck it and take 'em." "Nigga, you ain't got the floor." "The chair don't recognize your ass." "Take 'em how?" "I dunno, just... let them Fayette niggers know, you know, we serious, right?" "You know, get or get got." "Yeah, yeah, like you did on McCulloh Street last year?" "Snatch the real estate, load up, and just wait for some shit to happen, right?" "Naw, man, we done worryin' about territory, man." "What corner we got, what project?" "Game ain't about that no more." "It's about product." "Yeah." "And we got the best goddamn product so we gonna sell no matter where we are, right?" "Product, motherfuckers." "Product." "Chair recognize Slim Charles." "Chair, our people got to stand somewhere, don't it?" "I mean, all the product in the world don't mean nothin' if you constantly getting your ass whooped for standing' on another fool's corner." "A- ight." "We had six of the towers of the Terrace right, all running 24/7, but three of those we had to give to Prop Joe's people to upgrade the package that we was puttin' out there, right?" "Now how much you think we lost in the deal?" "Alright, the answer is we made more." "Half the real estate, twice the product." "And our profit went up like eight, nine percent." "Yo, get it straight." "Your territory ain't gonna mean shit if your product's weak." "Go ahead and ask them motherfuckers tryin' to sell them Ford Tempos an' you got niggas ridin' around in Japanese and German cars in America all day." "Territory ain't shit." "Especially when you consider it's the fight for the territory that be bringin' the bodies." "And the bodies that bring the police." "Yeah, but how we gonna stand..." "Yo, chair ain't recognize your ass, man." " How we gonna stand on some..." " Come on, man." "How we gonna stand on some corner that's not ours?" "Well, we got the best product, right?" "So the chances are, we gonna be able to bring in the competition by offering the re-up with us from our package." "Feel me?" "Everybody making' money, sharing the real estate." "Slim Charles?" "What if they don't cop our re-up though?" "Well, I'ma worry about that when it happen." "Until then, Mr. Charles, we gonna handle this shit like businessmen." "Sell the shit, make the profit and later for that gangster bullshit." "Yeah?" "Do the chair know we gonna look like some punk-ass bitches out there?" "Motherfucker, I will punk your ass for sayin' such shit!" " Yo, String." " What?" "!" "Poot did have the floor, man." "Shut the fuck up, man!" "This nigga too ignorant to have the fuckin' floor." "Y'all niggas need to start lookin' at the world in a new fucking light." "Start thinkin' about this shit like some grown fucking men, not some niggas off the fuckin' corner." "You heard me?" "Adjourn your asses." "Y'all look like shit." "We been stuck in that vacant since before dawn." "How should we look?" "Proud to know you, Detective." "Nice look on you." "Dress for success." "I watched that motherfucker Cheese take re-ups, move weight all day and not once did he go near a fucking telephone." "Closest it comes is a call to a hanger-on's cellphone 10 feet away." "Which brings me back to what I was just discussing with the Lieutenant." "So far, we've been up on some of these cellphones for nearly six months, the only drug talk we have is from street-level small fry." "So, the feeling is that maybe two weeks from now, we don't go back to the court for another extension." "We charge what we have, we try to roll someone up at Cheese or one of Joe's other lieutenants." "Are you kidding?" "We don't have a case worth making yet." "And at this rate, we never will." "For chrissake." "As a plan on paper it was a good one:" "We came out of the port investigation with good phone numbers for some of Prop Joe's people and the P.C. To get up on those phones." "I guarantee if we can push this thing a level or two above the street we're gonna start seeing Prop Joe himself." "We start seeing Joe, we're gonna see Stringer." "I can't ask for more time on a wire that's going nowhere." "Either we figure a way to punch through the wall, or we let it go." " Baker." " Yes, Sir." "So you must be Castor." "Yes, Sir." "Officer Aaron Castor." "You any kin to Lloyd Castor?" "Yes, Sir, that's my uncle." "Good police." "Do you know where you are?" "You too." "Where are you?" "The Western, Major?" "Right this very goddamn second you're getting your hindparts kicked and you're on the horn screaming for help." "And you got your backup lookin' all over the place, 'cause you don't know where the fuck you are." "And that means I got to explain to your next of kin how you went and got yourselves killed on my watch." "Sir, we're at 1034 North Mount, first floor rear." "Good." "Now which way's north?" "Point." "That's east." "Now, don't you think if you're in a foot pursuit, it might help your backup to know what direction you're running?" "Even numbers tell you north and west, odd, south and east." "Compasses." "'Til you learn that much, you carry one." "Welcome to the Western." "Gentlemen?" "Scuff yourselves up a little." "And learn the stare." "Hey Carv, where you at?" "I'm at a desk outside the roll call room on the first floor of 1034 North Mount." "And my feet are facing west and my dick is pointing south, southwest." "Bunny Colvin's been giving that speech as long as you guys been sucking air." "Where you at, shitbird?" "You're in handcuffs, in my house, lookin' stupid, ain't you?" "Fleeing and eluding?" "Do we have a drug charge here?" "Loitering in a designated drug-free zone." "Let me re-phrase." "Do we have drugs?" "He raised up when we hit his corner and he grabbed this bag." "We pursued and recovered the bag." "But no drugs." "An' they whipped my ass." "The Western District way." "So, what do we learn?" "Using half my district, canine and the copter to bring a 14-year-old to bay, what did we learn?" "That you can't raise up and run from a drug corner in sector one without my boot finding your ass." "Right?" "I got it, I got it, I got it." "Got it, got it, got it." "Cast-iron. 20 at least." "It be better if it was copper." "Be better if it was copper." "It be better if it was gold." "But you know you got to take life as it goes along, you know?" "Oh shit, oh shit." " What's wrong with you!" "?" " Sorry." "You past sorry." "Chill, chill." "We don't mean this, man." "You think you fucked up now." "S'up?" "Look what they did to my ride." "Do it or don't." "But I got someplace to be." "Thank you for your kindness." "Y'all got to pay something, anything!" "Be a principle here." "If we had a dime, you would have a dime." "We a little insufficient right now, okay?" "We on our way to the metal man." "We'll come back and pay for everything I promise you." "Hey, hey, after this junk, man, we gotta rolpast K-Mart." "Definitely." "One last question, Commissioner." "Looking back over the past couple months, if I read the felony breakdowns correctly, you've been seeing an uptick in shootings and serious assaults in the Eastern District especially." "Can we assume that you're already addressing this?" "Let me throw that over to Bill." "As Deputy for Operations," "I'm sure he's got a handle on our response." "I do indeed." "In answer to your question, Councilman," "I can assure you that we put additional tactical teams on a seven-to-three shift in every eastern sector." "Additionally, we've put the district flex squad on a seven-to-three shift" "being as those are the hours when we're seeing a spike in aggravated assaults." "Thank you, Deputy." "Anything else for these esteemed constables?" "No?" "Okay, then I guess" "I'll see you all tomorrow night for the quarterly budget review." "Erv, hey, you don't mind," "I'd like to get with you about a couple things." "Can we get lunch?" "Glad to, Mr. Chairman." "How 'bout Werner's in half hour?" "Half hour." "Good." " You see Watkins in the back?" " Yeah." "Who's that skirt with him?" "That's him there in the orange?" "That's Drac." "Our last best hope." "The talkingest motherfucker I ever heard on a wiretap." "Listen." "No, no, the other thing." "The other thing, nigga." "You talkin' about him." "No, her, I mean her." "Oh." "Cocaine, nigga, you feel me now?" "Goddamn, you ignorant." "When was the last time you heard that on a wire?" "Shame he doesn't report to anyone who matters." "Right now, Drac's reups are with Lavell Manns, he's got those corners over on Preston and Bond." "And is pretty close to selling us weight." "No shit." "Sydnor's been working toward him for a couple of months now." "Lavell's a soldier." "He's not gonna roll up on Prop Joe." "That's true." "But if we take him off with a hand-to-hand, they gotta promote someone to replace him." "Why Drac?" "One thing about our boy?" "That's Prop Joe's nephew." "On his momma's side." "20 and two." "Y'all know you ain't got pants?" "And there's Dominic standing in line, and when he finally gets up to meet the President, who's looking the other way," "Dominic reaches around behind Carter, grabs his belt, yanks it up... secret service musta shit." "He says, "hey, Mister President, remember me?"" "And Carter, actually remembers," ""sure, Dominic Dipietro from Baltimore, on the campaign trail"." "And Dominic doesn't miss a beat." "He puts a finger in Jimmy Carter's face and says," ""so where's that money you promised me three years ago to fix up my streets and alleys?"" "Unbelievable." "That's nothing." "After losing to Reagan, Carter comes back here to speak at a Jefferson-Jackson dinner or something, and Dominic's ushered up to him." "Carter asks about his health and Dominic says:" ""You sonofabitch, I'm still waiting on that money for my streets and alleys"." " Come on." " No shit." "Carter's just grinning through those big teeth, some guy grabs Dominic's arm, and off he goes." "Guy says, "christ, Dominic, you just called" ""the President of the United States an S.O.B."" "He shrugs he says, "fuck 'im," "I don't need him." "He lost. "" "That's good." "That is good." "And that is from whence I come, proud son of the fighting first district." "But the truth is..." "I don't wanna be just another muldoon like Dominic Dipietro, warming the backbench." "Not with the way things are right now in the city." "We're losing 10, 12,000 residents a year and when you ask 'em why they're moving to the county, you know what they say?" "Schools." "And crime." "Schools and crime and there goes our tax base right across the line." "And the Mayor's acting like a 10% bump in the murder rate is business as usual." "Check, please?" "And you know what?" "If you were smart, you'd come to me when the Mayor shorts you." "On hiring, on equipment, on overtime, on cars." "You get the shit end of the stick, you come to me." "Not publicly." "I know you can't cross the Mayor publicly." "But back door, you come to me and I can use that subcommittee to give you what you need." "Thanks." "Kind offer." "Erv, I can help you and we can turn this thing... but long ago, when I was just starting out in the department" "I had the good fortune to be taught a little something about chain of command." "And right now, in my capacity as Acting Commissioner," "I report to Mayor Royce." "I got your coffee." "Leave a tip if you want." "So, what do you need to see me for?" "Gettin' out tomorrow, right?" "Yeah." "He probably trying' to reach out." "What you gonna do first?" "Huh?" "Tomorrow, what you gonna do?" "I dunno." "I know what be first." "You don't know?" "I know what be first." "Time out." "Back in." "Short-timer." "You only got the one day left, huh." "You done the one, just got to do the other." "Like they say... you only do two days." " It's the day you go in." " The day you come out." "I don't know, I did 14 years." "Yeah, well, you know you did you a little stretch there, true." "But you still a soldier, right?" "You know them towers came down now, huh?" "The Terrace, the Murphy homes." "All that shit is gone, man." "A lot of things are different now since you been up in here." "You'll see." "Lotta changes." "Yeah, no doubt." "But I mean you know, shit, some things they stay the same, man." "I mean, the game's the game." "And the thing is, since the towers gone, I'm gonna need to take my thing to some new places." "Feel me?" "You know I'ma be home soon enough, right?" "First parole hearing, I'm out." "For real." "Shit is fixed right." "I come home." "Shit, there's gonna be a little hell to be paid." "You know, what I mean?" "A good soldier ain't gonna lack for work." "Take that number, man." "When you out, you call." "We'll hook you up, man, no problem." "Like a coming-home gift, a-ight." "Call it." "Joint mighta broke him." "Boss, you talkin' about a homey walked up an' shot Elijah Davis in broad daylight at Pennsie and Gold, then picked up the phone, dialed 9-1-1, told the police," ""I just shot a nigger, come get him"." "And do they break him?" "Naw." "Look we had the 20, you know, we had to go buy some pants, so if you just take this short money, we get back at you tomorrow, man." "We get you on the comeback." "He want two for 16." "Tell him to get two." "Tell him to get two." "This young motherfucker." "Naw." "You see we a little short now, but tomorrow, I be right back here with the four." "Joey said "no"." "Fucking guy, man." "At these prices, I can't afford more phone surveillance." "I'm aware of that and right now, the plan is to go for a hand-to-hand on one lieutenant a couple rungs down from Proposition Joe." "And then roll the lieutenant up?" "We don't think he'll have much roll to him." "Joe's people are pretty schooled." "The hope is that they promote this mid-level dealer who's a fool to replace him." "Name a Drac." "We're on his cellphone, if he gets promoted, maybe he talks to Joe or Joe's top people." "We get that far, maybe we start to see Stringer Bell." "What makes you think they'll promote the wrong man?" "We do it all the time." "Look, speaking of promotions," "I sent yours over to the hall." "As promised." "And?" "The Mayor's holding it up." "My understanding is he wants to know what your wife is doing." " My wife?" " Yeah." "There's a rumor that she's going to take a run at a council seat, maybe try to knock off Eunetta Perkins." "That's my wife's business." "Yes, it is." "But the Mayor counts Eunetta as an ally." "Our deal was for a permanent unit and the next vacancy for major." "You got your unit and I sent your name over to the hall." "I kept my word." "But the Mayor, he may want to know who his friends are before he makes a new commander." "Where'd she say she was gonna be at?" "Near the dugout, first-base side." "She'll turn up." "When she supposed to bring 'em over to you?" "Middle of the fourth." "Dad, can I have a hotdog?" "Yeah, as soon as the guy comes around." "Speaking of which, where's the beer man?" "There they are." "Oh, damn, they got great seats." "Ah, hell." "What?" "The guy on her left, the suit." "Just a friend." "Nah, he's in the cake." "Who goes to an Orioles game in a suit, spends half the time on a his cellphone?" "Downtown lawyer." "Someone wealthy like that." "Wish we had more of it." "Long way to go for half a shot." "We'll do better tomorrow, Bubs." "What kinda dope fiend be talkin' about tomorrow?" "Tomorrow ain't shit." "Today, Johnny." "Today I hunted down all that metal, lugged it around like a dog," "and nearly got kilt over a scratch of metal so that I had to beg for my life." "Lost my trousers, man." "My fuckin' trousers." "And then I'm beggin' again for half a shot." "Swear to god, man, I'm not even high." "We just missed a foul pop." "Yeah?" "Our seats are great." "We're practically on the field." "Yeah my friend, Dennis, he gets company seats every now and then." "Where are you sitting?" "Mezzanine." "Come on." " Aw..." " No, no, you guys go." "Your dad hasn't seen you all week." "Now, don't take their jackets off 'cause Sean's just getting over a cold." "Okay?" "Jimmy, right?" "Dennis Kerpelman." "Great kids." "Anyway, nice meeting you." "You want anything from the stand?" "No, thank you." "Don't stay 'til the last inning 'cause it's a school night." "Bye." "You got spatter going in two different directions, just off the curb." "Yeah." "Shooting on the West Side." "Another one?" "Christ, where?" "North and Polanski, Cole's up." "Cole's working a cutting off Belvedere." "Call Crutchfield and see if he's back from the Westport scene." "Crutchfield." "If not, call Bunk at home." "It's his off day." "Fuck his off-day." "I love this town." "Maz's kinda quick to yank a pitcher, ain't he?" "I'm thinking of becoming a woman." "Office." "Yeah." "I'm at the ball game." "The ball game." "Yeah, what about Cole?" "Call him." "Ah, shit." "Alright." "Can you believe this?" "They caught five tonight, they're telling me I gotta come in on my day off." "Five?" "City's jumpin' bad, man." "Hey, listen," " I gotta go to work, alright?" " Alright." "Mr. Jimmy's gonna..." "He's gonna take you home." "You're on your own, partner." "Mee-maw." "And Ertman Avenue?" "No ballistic information." "Are you sure?" "Take your time, Major." "Can you believe that cocksucker Carcetti?" "Thinkin' I'm talkin' out of school." "Any day now, Marvin." "What can a white councilman give me that a black mayor can't?" "No, you played it right." "It was a 38 recorded on Ertman Avenue, Sir." "So what you are in effect saying, Major, is rather than lookin' at this cluster of robberies you had along Monument Street, you chose to investigate each using separate personnel." "No, Sir." "Three of those cases were commercial robberies so we sent those downtown to C.I.D." "My people had responsibility." "Goddamnit, Marvin, did you just invoke the word responsibility to explain why you didn't get on top of this shit?" "Did you just do that?" "I don't think you know what the word means when I look at the 24s and plainly see that some 38 caliber asshole is raping your entire district." "All the way from Greenmount to fucking Edison Highway." "It's policing like that makes it possible for us to get hit with five fucking homicides in a single fucking night people." "Poor fucking Marvin." "Better him than us, right?" "Based on your testimony, the buy itself will be enough to charge." "But you get him saying something on tape, it's even better." "Are you sure this guy wants to be selling you weight?" "We don't want to be forcing this." "I been stroking' this guy for two months, man." "That's not what he asked you." "The guy is ripe and ready, Kima." "It ain't no thing." "They're about ready." "You livin' out of the office, Cedric?" "Alright." "Drac is depending on you people." "Mount up." "Find your way home." "Look a little light to be an ounce, don't you think?" "Naw, man, ain't nuthin' light." "It just settled is all." "Weight, man, if it does what it should," "I'ma come back to you for three, maybe four a week." "That could work." "We good then." "We good." "That's it." "Take 'em down." " Somebody snitchin'." " Shut the fuck up!" "Let's go, Lavell." "This Cutty." "Told I could call for help." "What 'bout the oxbow?" "The oxbow on Laurens, at Fulton." "A- ight." "I'm sayin', they caught 'em with a whole ounce." "Might not be no bail for that much weight." "They might just take it federal, run wild on they ass." "And you know Joey's gotta give Lavell's corner to someone right?" "Might be my turn." "Our boy won't shut up." "Caroline, you say it like it's a bad thing." "Let's just hope we're listening to a candidate for elevation." "I heard about you, man." "I hear your name used to ring out." "You got somethin' for me?" "You see where Shorty sittin' right there, you find a little help." "But when you ready, we got some real work for ya, a-ight?" "Jesus." "Hey, how you doing?" "Okay." "We were just talking about you." "Really?" "You know Denise from the sorority." "Charles of course." " Always a pleasure Lieutenant." " Good to see you." "And I don't think you've ever met Delegate Watkins." " How do you do?" " Nice to meet you." "We were saying you fill out a lieutenant's uniform nicely." "Makes an impression on the campaign lit." "That matters?" "Marla's a new face taking on a longtime incumbent." "Everything matters, I'm afraid." "Well, anything I can do to help." "I'll, um... get out of the way and leave you all to it." "Marla, I have to tell you that your photo with Cedric works really well on the mailing." "Yeah." "I sure hope he knows what he's in for because it's going to be a long race for the both of you." "speaking of which, you've got to make some..." "Jesus, who called the media?" "Naw, you think the man might respect my shit enough to let me step up, but it ain't even go like that." "Why not?" "He gonna give Lavell's corners to that off-brand nigga Cheese." "An' you know what?" "Joe my uncle an' shit." "I mean, I'm kin to the fat motherfucker." "That idiot worked for us he'd be a deputy commissioner by now." "Ain't no luck at all to this case." "And how in all good conscience can I, as chairman of this subcommittee, authorize anymore above-the-line overtime." "When it's clear enough from the data in front of me that that money is not going to go to line officers or working detectives." "But is being to be paying for drivers and clerical and Jesus look at this." "So that two colonels and three majors can attend a community policing seminar in Miami, Florida?" "Mr. Chairman." "What does South Beach have to teach this department about making Baltimore a safer place, Commissioner?" "I have no idea and you have no idea and it is an embarrassment." "Cedric?" "They're gone." "I want to thank you for this." "No problem." "It's not easy, I know." "But they seem to think it matters that I present myself as..." "I'm fine with it." "All those years you were all about my career," "Well, it's the least I can do, right?" "Goodnight." "We're not holding anything up in his district." "Repaving, foot patrols, streetlights." "He's getting his share." "Unless, it's not about his district." "It's about him." "Maybe he's got big eyes for something." "For what?" "Not me, not my chair." "Not in this town." "Oh, no." "If the man came off any whiter, he'd be see-through." "But, if that's it, come on with it." "In fact, please Jesus." "Or maybe John the Baptist." "Soften you up for someone else." "If he's gonna bang us on crime." "Bang me on crime." "Look, is there any way for you to talk to this guy?" "Keep him from crawling up my ass?" "He's old first district." "Not a lot of favors we can call in over that side of town." "So, we gotta show him something, right?" "Four to five percent drop in felonies." "And murders." "Get the murders down to under 250 for the year." "All due respect, Mr. Mayor, we're at 232 now." "What can you realistically do?" "Best case scenario, if we bump the overtime is 275 maybe." "275, Christ." "That's a promise, right?" "275 and this asshole Carcetti has no issue." "Gentlemen, the word from on high is that felony rates district by district will decline by five percent before the end of the year." "We are dealing in certainties." "You will reduce the U.C.R. felonies by five percent or more, or..." "I've always wanted to say this... let no man come back alive." "In addition, we will hold this year's murders to 275 or less." "Christ." "Feeling a little fazed, Colonel Foerster?" "A little dyspeptic?" "Dis-who?" "No, Sir." "I'm good to go." "He's a fun fact for you people:" "If Baltimore had New York's population, we'd be clocking 4000 murders a year at this rate." "There is no excuse I will except." "I don't care how you do it, just fucking do it." "Deputy, as familiar as we all are with the urban crime environment," "I think we all understand there's certain processes, by which you can reduce the number of overall felonies." "You can re-classify an agg assault or you can unfound a robbery." "But, how do you make a body disappear?" "There is not one of you in this room who isn't here by appointment." "If you want to continue wearing those oak clusters, you will shut up and step up." "Any of you who can't bring the numbers we need will be replaced by someone who can." "That is all." "Jesus, Bunny." "What got into you?" "I got six months to my 30," "I'm out the door on a major's pension." "The hell can they do to me?" "Spider bags, red tops." "Any other bright ideas?" " How about a bug?" " A bug?" "Yeah, bug one or two of the big corners where these mopes hang." "Watchin' those corners over on Ashland yesterday," "I'm seeing dumpsters, weeds, maybe utility poles." "You hide a bug on the right corner at the right moment you make this case." "We don't have the manpower." "Not to mention the money." "And for what?" "We're still a long way from a quality target." "I say we come down off the wire, charge what we can and move on." "We come down early two years ago and we left a real bastard on the street." "You're telling me we're gonna let that same sonofabitch beat me again?" "How many times do you let a cocksucker like Stringer Bell go 'round the board?" "Collect another fuckin' 200 million." "There's other fish in the barrel, McNulty." "Stringer's the target." "There isn't a better motherfucker out there, you know it, Lieutenant." "Don't you let him go soft on this." "It's you against the world, is it?" "What the fuck did I do?" "Red tops!" "Spider bags!" "You up?" "Step the fuck off, motherfucker." "You got a need you talk to one of the younguns." "I ain't in the market." "I'm sellin'." "You look like the right person to be talkin' to, chief." "You seem like you steady running' this shit here." "What, you some kind of police or somethin'?" "I'm a long motherfuckin' way from the police." "I just finished a 14 year bit in Jessup." "Got a package as a comin' home present." "G- pack." "Why not sell that shit your own self?" "I just came home." "I ain't tryin' to get my ass violated." " Even split." " Sheet." "It's all profit to you." "Risk mine, too." "What make you think I ain't on paper or someshit?" "60/40." "Cool." "Give your shit to my boy." "He good with it, then come past tonight." "A'ight." "And one last item for you gents." "It seems foxtrot was hovering over the station house a few days ago and caught a lovely view of about seven or 800 discarded beer cans on the garage roof." "Seriously, no off-duty drinking on the station lot and if you do find yourself holding a beer can don't throw it on the roof, take it home with you." "Come on, guys, the memo came down from our beloved Deputy of Operations." "Alright, get outta here." "Don't get captured." "At ease." "Anything from day shift?" "Nothing that'll make the papers." "Alright then." "I'm gonna ride the district until the Deputy Major gets in." "If you need me, hit the radio." "Distribution?" "Possession, and some loitering." "Loitering?" "And behaving like assles in the presence of sworn officers, boss." "5-0 creepin'!" "Midnight relief comin' in." "The hell is all this?" "You don't look at what you did before, you do the same shit all over." "I'm outta here." "Where he at?" "The fuck you lookin' at?" "Huh?" "What, you want a go?" "Just my split." "Some bad luck there." "Poh-leece came through snatched up a grod stash or two." "Shit happened to be yours." "Fuck, right?" "You got a number?" "A number?" "Back in the day, when a player tried to say he lost a package to the police, he had to give up a number for the report." "We ain't back in the day." "I'm gettin' fuckin' tired of your ass." "Yeah, walk it off, motherfucker." "Fuckin' old school ass bitch." "Got them spider bags." "Two get you three." "What?" "You up?" "Spider bags." "Two gets three." "You up or you not?" "Don't you know five-o?"