what is it?
somebody call an ambulance!
all right.
yeah.
i'll be fine, charlie. half the people here owed bumpy money when he died. a lot of money. if they think i'm going to forget to collect, they're wrong.
fuckin crooks.
it's chaos. every gorilla for himself.
thank you, charlene. last one.
then maybe i'll have to go for a walk. just cause you said so.
how's nate? you seen him?
where, saigon?
you're gonna have to boot it a couple times. cops keep cutting it, selling it, cutting it -
twenty percent?
twenty percent's my profit. if i'm giving it to you then what am i doing? twenty percent puts me, and everyone you know, out of business, which puts you out of business. there are ways to make money legitimately, and then there's this way. not even bumpy took twenty percent.
there. that's twenty-percent.
get yourself a new suit.
a hundred kilos.
that's not what i want.
no, even then it's too late. it's been chopped. i want to get it where they get it. from the source.
why not.
i've lived in jungles all my -
they ain't chinese.
what do you care?
what do you care?
it says right there. frank lucas.
me.
then there'd be more. on a regular basis. though i'd rather not have to drag my ass all the way up here every time.
give them a hundred.
a hundred. and it's all i got left. so if that dope doesn't arrive, for whatever reason - cousin or no cousin - don't let me down.
take it with you. i don't want to have to call the coroner.
you show me after supper.
is that right.
this is your room.
i had it made. from memory.
i remember.
i was with him every day for fifteen of them, looking after him, taking care of things, protecting him, learning from him.
bumpy was rich, but never white man rich. why? because he didn't own the company. he thought he did. he didn't. he only managed it. someone else owned it. so they owned him.
nobody owns me. because i own my company.
and my company sells a product that's better than the competition's at a price that's lower.
honey, these are my brothers.
what matters in business is honesty, integrity, hard work, loyalty, and never forgetting where you came from.
you are what you are and that's one of two things. you're nothing .  or you're something. understand what i'm saying?
i'll be right back.
hey, tango, what's up. i was just thinking about you.
i was looking at the jar and you know what? i didn't see nothing in it.
yeah, that's right.
for the cops. should be enough.
that basically's the whole picture right there.
no loan, no contingencies. cash sale.
who's the beauty queen?
what is this?
i'm wearing clothes. these are clothes. those - - are a costume. with a sign on it that says arrest me. you look like fuckin jackie fox.
you like jackie? you want to be superfly? go work for him, end up in a cell with him.
the guy making all the noise in the room is the weak one. that's not who you want to be.
you and jackie were talking about me?
i'm taking you shopping tomorrow.
you go shopping every day. like a girl.
how much you owe?
sure. don't worry about it.
joe. it's a gift. not a loan. you don't owe me nothing.
i'm frank.
because i don't have to.
i got it.
i hope you weren't waiting long. a woman as beautiful as you shouldn't have to wait for anything.
you really don't know who that is? it's martin luther king.
you're right. he was as important as dr. king, though.
a lot of things. he had a lot of friends. he served new york and it served him.
teacher.
how to take my time .  how if you're going to do something, do it with care .  do it with love.
how be a gentleman.
i got five different apartments in the city i could've taken you to. i brought you here instead -
to meet my mother.
i deal with enough crooks as it is.
mr. sibota. what can i get you?
it's been his dream all his life to play for the yankees - and he's good enough.
i can't have this kind of stupidity.
he doesn't feel shit, coked up all the time. get rid of him.
gimme those glasses.
pull -
too many things to look after right now to think about that.
bumpy was interested in a lot of things.
he didn't have what you needed. you had what he needed. we've always had to come to you.
i'm just trying to make a living.
i set a price i think is fair.
i'm thinking of them as much as they ever thought of me.
i don't need it. i already got everything from 110th street to yankee stadium, river to river.
you pay what a kilo now, 75, 80? i'd consider 50. and i can get you as much as you want. tosca slips on his best poker face. fifty thousand a kilo would be an extraordinary coup for him.
they look at me like it's christmas and i'm santa claus.
no. they're working for me now.
what is it?
i wish bumpy could've met her. i wish she could've met him.
stay in the car
detective.
listen to me. before you say another word - about her - or me - remember that you're saying it on the most important fuckin day of my life.
i don't know what you're talking about.
you want to keep talking, talk to my lawyer, here's his card. you call him, because we're done here -
if you're not getting your share, it's not my fault, go ask the chief of police.
no, you're all the fuckin same.
detective .  there are some things you don't do. this is one of them. not on a man's wedding day.
stevie. come over here. i heard you didn't show up.
you're too busy to meet with billy martin? after i set it up?
what're you talking about? this is your dream since you were their age - maybe i can set it up again.
you tested it. you're sure.
the fuck you looking at?
we need to talk.
that's not why i'm here. everybody's happy, jackie. charlie, baz, the cops, the italians, everybody. everybody except you.
then i don't understand. why do you have to take something that's perfectly good the way it is, and wreck it?
brand names mean something, jackie. consumers rely on them to know what they're getting. they know the company isn't going to try to fool them with an inferior product. they buy a ford, they know they're gonna get a ford.
not a fuckin datsun. blue magic is a brand name; as much a brand name as pepsi. i own it. i stand behind it. i guarantee it and people know that even if they don't know me any more than they know the chairman of general foods.
what you're doing, as far as i'm concerned, when you chop my dope down to five percent, is trademark infringement.
that's not true. that's where you're wrong.
jackie, you don't need to. you don't need to make more money than you can with blue the way it is. no one does. at a certain point it's just greed.
i have to insist. you call it blue magic, that's misrepresentation.
that's all i'm saying. wrap it in red cellophane and -
whack it down to nothing, tie a bow around it and call it blue dogshit if you want, just don't let me catch you doing this again.
you don't go over there any more.
it's all right, pull over, what are they going to do? give us a ticket?
detective. how's it going? you have a nice thanksgiving?
where's the shelby?
we're gonna shut the trunk and say good night, forget you pulled us over.
i don't know, would you rather it's your fuckin house blows up next time?
i know.
don't you ever put me in a car with dope in it.
yeah, i see them.
here you go, boys. merry christmas.
paying cops is one thing, i understand that. i been paying them since i was ten - put more of their kids through college than the national merit award. this is different, this special investigations unit. they think they are special.
someone's been following me. besides cops. i see cars where they shouldn't be. guys i don't know -
bumpy hardly ever went out at a certain point. he stayed in - read - watched tv - played chess. i thought he chose to lead a quiet life. he didn't. he couldn't go out without something happening.
where? with who? everyone i know is under surveillance. i can't even be with my family at christmas anymore.
i do pay them, i pay them all. cops, accountants, lawyers, who don't i pay? everybody. i pay them a fortune, it doesn't matter. it doesn't satisfy them. the more you pay, the more they expect.
you can't start with them because they can't stop. it's like dope. they always want more.
put on something nice, we're going out.
keep going.
fuck that. i'm not going to sneak into my own club. just drive.
you can carry it all? we ordered a lot.
don't forget the yellow sauce.
doc's got the keys. let's go back.
i'm not leaving you on the street.
what the fuck was that?
who didn't like charlie? everybody liked charlie .
go home. go see your kids.
what are you doing? where've you been?
what money?
in your car?
where's the car?
with ten million dollars in it?
are you crazy? take it back to teaneck. what are you doing driving around without security? doc'll take you back.
to go where? no, we're not.
shhh. come on, now. shhh.
where are we going to go? spain? china? which fuckin place is it going to be?
we can run and hide is what you're saying.
this is where i'm from. this is where my family is. my business. my mother. this is my place. this is my country. this is america.
"i can guarantee you peace of mind," you said. do i look like a man with peace of mind to you? they shot at my wife. who does that?
who was it, which one of your people? i'll take that gun away and shove it up their ass.
then maybe i'll kill them all just to make a fuckin point.
i'm watching the news. where the hell's everyone going?
just like that? we're going to leave the fuckin country to the communists?
i haven't!
i'll figure something out. you'll see me again. the general seems fond of frank, and not only because of all the money on the table.
that's what my wife thinks.
give them half!
cut half of them loose! the mules!
newark. short term parking lot 3.
tomorrow will be fine.
ten million dollars means nothing to me.
this - is his death warrant.
is that where i'm going?
you think you got frank lucas. you got nothing.
here he is, let me talk to him alone.
i just heard something. i said it couldn't be true. you didn't really turn in a million dollars you found in the trunk of a car, did you?
want me to tell you what happened to it? it ended up in cops' pockets.
maybe? no. it did. all you did was give it to them for nothing in return. not nothing: you got their contempt.
why'd you do that? what're you trying to prove, you're better than them? you're not better than them. you are them.
you did it because it was right. that's all. why's that hard to say? the question is would you do it again? that was a long time ago. it'd be very easy to find out. tell me you want to find out, tell me the address, and a car will be there, the trunk loaded.
who the fuck are you to say no to that? you think that impresses me?
let me ask you something. you think by putting me in jail, you're going to stop even one junkie from dying? because you won't. if it isn't me, it'll be someone else. with me or without me, nothing's going to change.
you have any sort of case? or just that idiot drives for my brother. is he your case? because if it's just him and the powder, it's not enough.
my brothers won't talk to you. my cousins. none of my family. no one but that mother fucking driver.
bullshit.
who the fuck are they? i don't know them and they don't know me.
this is who you're going to put on the stand? guys who don't know me? who got nothing to do with me?
i don't represent nothing.
look at me. you looking? can you tell by looking it would mean nothing to me if tomorrow you turned up dead?
what can we do?
i could give you cops, but that's not who you want, is it. you want organized crime names.
you'll take them, too? you'd go after cops? are you serious? you'd do that? lock up your own kind?
what can you promise me?
you know, i don't care if the feds take all my buildings, my stocks, my off-shore accounts. they can take it all, i don't care - use it to build battleships, paint bridges, whatever the fuck they want. fight another war. but those other motherfuckers - the cops - put my money in their pockets. millions.
oh, i remember them all. that's not the problem.
the jail's aren't big enough.
you go up here. your "special."
frederick douglass boulevard? what was wrong with just plain 8th avenue?
i used to sit here with ana in my old car. she hated it. now i don't even have a car. or her.
just do what?
the fuck is that? just do what?
who the fuck would buy those?
i haven't talked to them in years. it's better that way. for them. i don't know where they are. went back to greensboro when they got out, i guess.
what am i going to do now, be a janitor? what do i know how to do? how am i going to live?
you told me but you can barely take care of yourself.
you know, one phone call, richie, i could be back in business.
i won't. i'm just saying i could.
thanks for the clothes.
uh-oh. look out. here come the gangsters.
every idiot gets to be young once.
Let's get out of here.