Original subtitles

Okay, let's go. Hold it. Hold it. The only reason you brought me is because

black. What was he doing there? Maybe he thought it was America.

Now, I know where you're headed on this, and I don't like it. Then stand on the

shore and wave. Trying a police officer in the press. The police officer's

weapon that killed Bobby Johnson had some bearing on your lack of enthusiasm.

I never forget they're black. I think everyone's a racist.

I am not a bigot, if that's what you're saying.

Great. Bunch of niggas flip out and whack them. You dumb kitty!

Hey, nice, Eddie. You win this week's lotto?

Some little old lady in Brooklyn who's trying to remember where she parked her

car. That's the man I got my license.

What you got is an appointment that you missed down at criminal court.

Whoa.

Is this September?

What I have here is a non -appearance warrant.

So the choice is yours, huh? We either found you or we didn't.

Hot luxury car, Eddie. Mercedes. Who's moving them in Manhattan?

It's way above my head.

Guess we found you.

Move it, please.

Keep moving.

And not you.

You come on back here.

Eddie!

Get him up.

You don't have to yell at me.

You embarrass me in front of those people. I know. Hey, hey, hey, hey. The

brother didn't have any bruises on him. Boy, he better not have any. Hey, hey,

hey, hey. Take a walk and join him. He better not end up like Bobby Johnson.

Look, look, ladies. That car belongs to a friend of mine.

Mercedes in Midtown. Give us something or you're going in.

I don't know a thing.

You gorgeous young ladies don't want to give me a parole problem, now do you?

Have a heart. I'm just small change.

You're wasting our time, Eddie. Give a name.

Okay. So maybe I did.

Borrowed the car.

But I got a job interview in Jersey, and I just wanted to make a good

impression. I'm going to take it back. I swear.

When? After you give the owner a complimentary paint job and a new serial

number? You got it all wrong.

Look, let me buy you a lady's lunch, a nice bottle of wine, and please, forgive

the racial remarks out there.

We're all folks.

Okay. Coffee.

You want the names alphabetically?

One of Eddie's leads was deported. Sam Barton is deceased. And the third guy is

due in federal time for trying to steal a National Guard tank.

We're running on fumes here, Mary Biff.

One more bad lead and Eddie vacations on Rikers.

Come on, Lieutenant.

Damn thing cost me a five -day trip and it reprimanded my jacket. I thought this

was over months ago. It's a nightmare.

Well, it's back and I want you prepared to handle it. You're going to have to

answer all the old questions and a lot of new ones, too.

I guess the upside of this whole thing is I'm never going to have to worry

studying for the sergeant's exam.

Rasa, you can cry later. Right now, before the phones start ringing, I want

go over everything from top to bottom.

Hey, get your nigger hands off of me.

How about Polish hands, scum -o?

Hey, Victor.

If it was worth it, I'd buy some more on myself.

Lunchtime.

Nothing with onions now, Victor.

What else must we deliver with?

We could start with our list of chop -chops they put together on the Havna

thing. I never want to see those again. Come on, now, think. Where would you go

shopping for a hot Mercedes?

Harvey and I have a simple rule about cars. You drive them till they die.

Think flash, huh? Class.

What do you do to impress your girlfriend?

Oh, well, you're talking red 62 Caddy about two blocks long with a suspension

system that eats up 7th Avenue potholes, makes you swear you're driving your

bathtub. No way. She's talking stylish, tasteful elegance. Or Ben.

Another passion we share.

Bad enough we share the same air.

Figure this, Joyce Richards is on hold for the lieutenant.

The Johnson family's big -time lawyer.

I wonder what she wants in the Hancock's. Probably wants to have a

She was all over the post this morning.

She blames the Johnson homicide on the Bernard Getz verdict.

Oh, please.

She's not that far off. That works for me.

If the boys and queens don't solve this soon, the mobs will be in the streets

until Hanukkah. Mm -hmm.

With Miss Wannabe D .A. leading the cheers.

Oh, wait a second. You should listen to what she's saying.

It's been a week.

There's no witnesses, no suspects, and Bobby Johnson didn't even have a record.

Real boy scout.

Been on the job too long, Cagney.

Good kids do get wasted, you know.

The second black kid killed in that neighborhood this year. What was he

there? Maybe he thought it was America.

You got it, Marcus.

Hey, listen up, everybody.

We got a problem.

Crosses off -duty gun, the one that was stolen, turned up in a queen sewer last

night.

Forensics has ID'd it as a weapon that killed Bobby Johnson.

The night he was killed, I was here playing poker.

You were here losing at poker. As a matter of fact, now you still owe me

bucks.

I expect that the media and community groups are going to be poking their nose

around here for information.

Well, let them get it from the press section downtown.

I don't want anyone of you in this squad talking to anyone on or off the cuff.

You understand?

Talk about luck.

I've been there.

You'll get through it.

Don't worry, Al.

You've got a room full of witnesses.

My name's Richie, and I'm an alcoholic.

Hi, Richie.

Let me tell you, I really need a meeting.

Not only...

Did I get a pile of garbage dumped on me at 118th Street?

At the project, you know, with kids screaming and laughing at me.

But I'm getting looked at like I'm from the Planet of the Apes.

Just because I'm wearing a uniform.

People are just nuts out there.

And they got nothing better to do than taking it out on me.

entire city.

That all too often, when the victim's black, New York's finest becomes New

York's dumbest.

That'll win you a lot of cooperation, lady.

That the task force assigned to this investigation is coming up empty.

Now that a police officer's revolver has been identified as the murder weapon.

Hey, babe, I'm watching that. It's been a hard day, Harth.

Woman's entitled to her point of view, Mary Beth. She's trying a police officer

in the press.

Carrasco's suffered enough already.

Honey, if he's innocent, he'll be cleared. Which side are you on?

Well, if you're choosing teams, I'm on your side.

I'm saying she's not the bad guy.

Joyce Richards has a reputation as a hell of a civil rights lawyer. That's

circumstantial evidence. She's already got him convicted.

Nobody cares what Al is going through.

Even when he's cleared of this thing, he's not going to feel any better. The

record will say he's not responsible.

It's not going to change what's in here.

His gun took a boy's life, Harvey.

Doesn't matter who pulled the trigger.

If it was my gun... I still feel like it was me that killed that kid.

The woman is doing her job, Mary Beth. The Johnsons have a right to learn the

truth. What about Al Carrasco's rights? Al Carrasco, he's part of the privileged

class. Same as you and me.

Black people are still treated like second -class citizens.

They have to fight their way out of the ghetto to get where we've already

started from.

At first it's Howard Beach and then it's there, but now this thing here is

getting so I want to tell people I live in Jersey instead.

Come on, everybody in Queens is not a racist.

We should have moved where there's a better mix of people, huh?

Hey, babe, we did not move out here to run away from anyone. We came out here

looking for bedrooms, bathrooms, a place of our own.

Yeah, so now we have space.

I don't want to sit there pretending like I'm not part of the rest of the

There are black people in Queens. Yeah, we don't know them, huh?

The only black kids the boys meet are in school, and Alice only sees them at the

playground.

All right.

What do you want to do about it?

I don't know.

I have been patient. I have been understanding.

I have meditated on my thought for the day until I'm dizzy.

But forget it. It's over. All right?

We're going to chase car thieves now.

I'm sure we could have found an AVA for you. We tried four in the last two

hours. That's enough for me.

Listen, they can't handle Eddie's warrant. It's just too bad for him. He

the list. We owe him. Not a whole day we don't.

We tried.

It's not our fault the entire legal system is shut down because of one lousy

homicide.

Which happens to bring up some serious questions.

Come on, Mary Beth. You know black kids are killed in Parliament bedside all the

time. And the city of Newark's never had a heart attack before.

Unfortunately, black victims in black neighborhoods do not make the 6 o 'clock

news. Unfortunately, Joyce Richards is out there fanning the flame. If a white

kid killed in an all -black neighborhood, what would you call it?

Getting off at the wrong subway stop.

I didn't say it was right.

You take your questions out of one police plaza, ma 'am. We do not want a

hand out. We want the truth, Sergeant. And if you're afraid to give it to us,

then send someone out who will.

Background music.

Take a mind of the theater arts.

And what about the good citizens to my right?

What kind of sense that Bobby Johnson is just another dead nigger?

Nobody here is saying that, ma 'am.

All right, that's it. Out of here. Throw it out.

Throw it out of here.

Let's go, ma 'am.

Out the step.

Let's go, ma 'am.

Joyce Richards' mob has the right to be out there. So does the other bunch.

Who do you think you are, David Keeler?

It's nothing, Chris.

It's a rock or something.

What is with Basil? Did he get caught in a paper feed?

Anything on your Mercedes yet?

Still waiting for the computer to burp.

Rough out there, huh?

What do you make of it?

You mean as a black cop or a black man?

Oh, come on, Marky. Come on, nothing.

I wanted your point of view is all.

I'll tell you what I think. I think everyone's a racist.

That's the way this country is set up.

It's only a matter of what you do with it.

Hey.

Hope you find your car, P.

Hi.

Hey, Derek, very bad.

Very bad.

Three of the stolen cars all parked in the same garage on 44th Street.

Good, huh?

Back up a coincidence.

Yeah.

I'm not putting up with that scum up there.

Scum. So what are you going to do, Al? Arrest him? The kid's eight years old.

You tell me. The little black kid spits on me, and I'm the bad guy, right? I'm

not taking this.

I'll be the same little creep that put a brick through my windshield.

Get the feeling we're losing our sense of proportion around here.

I knew it was going to be a rotten day.

Mr. Callaghan, what a pleasant surprise.

There you are.

Long time no see in the last two to five.

Dykeman. Okay.

John Dykeman. But Callaghan is a beautiful Irish name.

Look, I had nothing to do with those cars.

Please don't lose me this job.

You always had a real love for cars, Hanson.

All I do is park them. I don't even peek in the glove box.

Who's doing business in this area? German prestige cars.

Now, if it was me, would I still be here? What's the scam, Hans? Press the

Look, none of those cars were parked on my shift.

I'd done three bits. I paid my debt to society.

I'm thinking about the priesthood.

Does your PO know you're using an alias? What about your boss?

I can't believe this.

Here I am trying to make a living like a normal citizen.

I'm saving the state 40 grand a year by staying out of the joint. Now, what do I

get?

Harassment.

Arrestment. Okay, so I park cars.

What am I supposed to do, get a job at Gracie Mansion?

Who's hitting this garage?

Officers, come on.

Look, I pressed half the license plates that come into this place. I still hear

the pressing machine in my sleep.

Don't take me back.

We're wasting our time here, Sergeant.

Right. We should be talking to this P .O. anyway.

Attica's beautiful this time of year. Oh, yes.

Okay.

Okay.

Are we that good or are they that stupid?

How come it works every single time?

Half the losers on the west side.

He's a talkative little weasel once he gets going. When I put a short in the

list, my shoes are getting thin.

Yep.

Tomorrow, schlepping around this town dragging bad guys in one right after the

other.

East side, west side, I hate my job.

What's on tonight?

Usual meeting.

And then I have a date with the gay caballero.

He's talked me into trying out the tutus one more time.

Tony's taking you to the ballet?

Oh, that's wonderful.

What's on?

Swan Lake.

Can you believe it?

Ballet is so romantic, Christine.

No, no, no.

Romance is watching Pepe Rodriguez knock Buster Prentiss' teeth out.

Huh?

Middleweight's at the garden.

Now that's dandy.

Uh -huh.

I didn't give it a chance.

Resting my eyes.

And snoring.

Tony, my mother used to drag me to this garbage all the time until I was 12

years old, at which point I said I would kill myself if I ever had to watch one

more half -starved, pinch -faced cake decoration twirl around and get passed

from man to man like some...

Fuzzy toothpick nobody wants. Well, now I was an adult. I learned to appreciate

the finer... Yeah, they charge people to come and look at that overrated Texas

prissy male bandit thing.

Well, the women never stand on their own two feet. They're either balancing on

one leg or they're getting carried around.

Bud, how do you really feel about it?

What's your problem?

I need a cab.

Not my problem. It's your problem, buddy. Now, out of my way, huh?

No way I'm going into Holland this time of the night, buddy.

You racist son of a bitch. That's all right, honey. I'm sure the gentleman

mind me reporting his medallion to the Taxi Commission.

Who needs a cab here? Hey, Jack.

You can't refuse a fare.

Where's Hugh?

Take him home.

Come here, big mouth.

What, who, me? Come here. Yeah, you. Come here, Christine.

Come here.

Yeah, right. It's always the big, tough guy that walks away.

Do what? I'm not doing it. Keep walking, buddy. What difference does that make?

Tony, I just want...

What? I just wanted to have a nice evening. I don't feel like playing cop

now. Outright discrimination.

That guy is a jerk.

Look, a lot of black cabbies don't want to go uptown either. What do you want me

to do? Start a crackdown on discriminating taxi drivers? What are

me? There's no law against this?

It's an infraction and it's not an offense.

I'm not going to spend my next two days off in front of a taxi commission.

I think I should be arrested.

Well, maybe it feels the same way about you. I'm sure there's still sodomy laws

on the books.

Oh, big tea for taste, Christine.

Retired. It's been a long day. Sorry.

Well, we're going to talk about it when I get home, okay?

No, I don't think so.

You'll do fine.

Claudia.

No, don't. Tell her I love her.

I love you too, babe.

Bye -bye.

What's up?

Claudia wants me to come home.

A couple of kids at Lauren's progressive school chased her on the playground

yelling nigger at her.

Give me that date again.

I thought we were finished with all that stuff.

I guess we're not.

I feel like a recycling center.

Drag them in, shake them down. Get a lead, cut them loose. Go out and recycle

starts all over again.

I got a feeling about this league, Christine.

Had a feeling about the last five years.

Carmine Delgado owns a wrecking yard.

Carmine Delgado?

The fence that punk was dealing with? Right.

Dad, I want a drink.

You guys got an IAD, you treat me like a perp.

All right, who's catching?

Got a dead kid here.

Just like someone's right to even a score for Bobby Johnson.

Oh, that's great.

Bunch of niggas flip out of whack.

Don't get him!

One more time. One more time. He's a mistake.

He wasn't even a white kid.

He's a light -skinned Puerto Rican.

It doesn't count because he's a spick, huh? Hey!

You guys just want to calm down here. Shut it down.

All of yous.

The press, the mayor's office, demonstrators, rocks through our window.

enough.

Now all of a sudden we got to go at each other's throats in here?

Lieutenant. I want the rest of the day out.

Family problem. Go!

So how was, um, Swan Lake?

Hate it.

Go later in the season.

Giselle is coming on.

I'd rather die first.

Tell you my best.

All this crap starting to get on my nerves.

People get short fuses and say stupid things.

Look what happened to the Irish Catholics in this country at the turn of

century. We suffered. We were killed. We shouldn't hear a screaming police cover

-up and throwing rocks at people. We tried to work within the system, unlike

some people.

Trying to be considerate of her feelings.

Right. She walked into the middle of a private conversation.

Maybe Delgado's taking an early lunch or something.

I'm not a bigot. That's what you're saying.

I can't see anybody stashing a hot Mercedes in a place like that. Why are

hawking me?

We don't see it the same way. Let's drop it, all right?

Just because you're upset by what Petrie said, you know, you don't have to dump

on me. What Petrie said? Yeah. I'm watching friends and partners, adults,

calling each other names that ought to make anybody want to vomit.

That was not just a bunch of guys blowing off steam. Damn right it upsets

Joyce Richards is burning with me. Well, she waltzes in that little opportunist

and turns the entire city into a three -ring circus. It would not be a circus

there wasn't hatred there to stir up.

Of course, some of us don't have that problem.

Okay.

You're right, Mary Beth. Huh?

You're right. I admit it. I am prejudiced.

I happen to think that all car thieves are scums.

I don't discriminate.

I don't try to find the good in them. I don't even lose sleep when they go to

jail. I despise all of them, regardless of race, color, or hat size. Okay?

There's a playground by the subway, and the black mothers sit on one side, the

white mothers sit on the other.

I don't even think it's conscious.

The kids play together in the middle, but how long does that last?

Look who's here.

I told you I had a feeling.

As we're a little short on time, you know the speech.

Assume the position. Down.

You're making a mistake, ladies. No mistake.

Hey, what are you doing?

You got a search warrant?

Cut the crap, Carmine.

What'd you do with the ten Mercedeses?

I don't know what you're talking about.

Look, if I gotta go through that junkyard looking for evidence and I get

jacket dirty, you're history.

All right, I'm gonna run the place, find out where this car lives.

Wait, hey, come on, ladies.

Can we talk about this?

I don't think we have much to discuss.

He could always discuss his list of priors.

Perhaps he's curious about the persistent felon program.

You're gonna love it, Karma, and it's tailor -made just for you.

Hey, give me a break, huh?

Maybe we can work something out.

No, Dills, we're in the market for hot claws only. Looks like you're our guy.

Don't be so hasty. Hey, move it, all right?

Move it. I've got something much bigger.

Not interested.

You gonna pass on a murder tip?

I guess I said the magic word.

Bobby Johnson's killer handed to us right on a plate. It'll be the collar of

year. Assuming that Carmine isn't feeding us a line.

Are you kidding? His name in this rap sheet? They're a gift. They're sent from

heaven. We don't even have time for our own caseload.

Charlie was up there watching out for us. Beware of grounders. I'm telling

this is going to be trouble, besides which I never volunteer. It's a matter

principle.

Wait a minute. You listen to me.

There are times when one must set aside one's own personal philosophies for the

greater good.

Or the collar of the year.

Look, we give Captain Stewart what we've got. Now, if he acts for our assistance

in tracking it down, we're certainly not going to refuse.

You mean you're going to present this to him like he's got a choice?

You have a suspicious mind, Mary Beth.

I also have a wonderful memory.

Look, I cannot help it if these people don't have time to track down every

These task forces are overworked. All right, I'm sure Captain Stewart himself

probably up to his eyebrows just trying to get the press off his back.

You want me to tell the Dawson family to be patient?

They've already buried... their son and you still have nothing to say.

Miss Richards, please.

I assure you we're moving on this as quickly as possible. Apparently not as

quickly as the department moved on the shooting in Spanish Harlem.

They have three black suspects in custody within the hour. There we had

witnesses. Queens, we had none.

Or maybe the police officer's weapon that killed Bobby Johnson had some

on your lack of enthusiasm.

You get the hell out of my face.

I'll tell the mayor you said that. Don't threaten me, lady, please.

This is not a game to me, Captain.

I spend my life with the likes of you. Believe me, I'll get to the truth here.

Because I'm not afraid of it.

Captain!

What do you want?

Only to make your life easier, sir.

James O 'Neill.

Anybody know him?

Maybe you've seen him around the neighborhood.

About the spade that was off a few nights back, right?

This about a young black man who was killed a few nights back?

Oh, excuse me.

He got what he came for, lady.

They cruise down here like they own the place, mess with our women, look for

trouble.

Well, he found it.

Hey, anybody that kills with spooks is a friend of ours.

When you find the dude that did it, tell him we said to keep up the good work.

The milk of human kindness is certainly flooding this neighborhood.

They talk a big game, officers, but I know Mark. He's a good kid.

Who are you looking for?

Do you recognize his face?

No, can't say I do.

Faces I never forget.

It's a shame about that Johnson boy.

Yeah, it's too bad more of your neighbors don't share that opinion.

Come on.

Nobody liked the murder.

But that kid should have been more careful.

What was he doing down here at one in the morning? He knew he shouldn't have

been here.

There are neighborhoods I won't go into.

Look, people are worried about crime going up. They see somebody hanging

that doesn't fit, they get scared.

I'm not saying it's right.

But they did.

Just the way it is.

Personally, I hope you catch them.

Thanks.

You had enough?

Yeah, for one day.

You know, Harvey and I looked for a house in this neighborhood.

Where's that?

My kids could have been hanging out with those punks.

You would not have let them.

They could have been buying sodas in that lady's store. They're not.

You don't live here, Mary Beth. I'm 15 minutes away on the beach a week.

Who knows what the people in my neighborhood are teaching their kids?

Look, you can't change the whole world, Mary Beth.

I am sorry that those kids have minds like sewer rats.

The lady is worse.

Underneath that little white apron and all the smooth talk, she doesn't even

know she's a monster.

Anyone else want to share?

My name is Christine. I'm an alcoholic.

Hi, Christine.

The only reason I'm talking is because my sponsor said she wants me to be a

of whatever that means.

So, I want to say I'd kill for a scotch.

Thank you for letting me share.

Daggy Lacey in my office.

Lieutenant? Morning, sir.

Close the door for me, Lacey.

I don't worry whenever the brass occasionally complains about the loose

that I'm running here.

I just point to this squad's exemplary record and then I can look my superior

straight in the eye and say with a clear conscience that my people are out

there. Given 200 % work in their cases at all times. Sir. Because they are

professionals.

Well, thank you, Lieutenant.

So, you can imagine my surprise, huh?

When I get a phone call from Captain Stewart of the Queen's Task Force

wanting to thank me for a temporary loan of two of my detectives. It isn't

exactly a loan. How can this be, I ask myself?

Cagney and Lacey are busy working a car theft ring? Must be some kind of

mistake. And that's when I get a phone call from Joyce Richards wanting to know

why in hell two detectives from the same precinct as the gun implicated in the

Johnson homicide are working the same damn task force!

Now! You can speak.

We were going to tell you, sir. This guy Carmine Delgado.

We think he's connected with the Mercedes ring, right? So we bring him

You're not going to believe this, Lieutenant.

I don't even want to hear it, Cadney.

Lacey. When we leaned on him, sir, he gave us the name, James O 'Neill.

Carmine has a cousin who swears that O 'Neill is the one who's responsible for

the Queen's killing. O 'Neill has the record, sir. Now, if Bobby Johnson is so

clean, what would have brought them together?

Kismet.

So you two just decided to assign yourself to the case.

We...

Offered a helping hand.

Well, it seemed a shame to turn over a lead that would... Well, bring some

sunshine to the 14th.

Selling swampland too, Cagney?

Excuse me, Lieutenant.

Joyce Richards is here to see Cagney and Lisa.

Better wait.

She's like a bad itch, Lieutenant. She's not going to go away until she gets

scratched. All right, talk to her.

But be careful.

She can come back here.

We're not finished.

Yes, Lieutenant.

Lucky day, ladies.

Sergeant Tagg.

I'm Detective Lacey, Miss Richards.

I understand that you have something regarding the Bobby Johnson house.

The department was following up on every possible lead. Yes. Good.

We're all anxious to get the ugly mess behind us. Yes, ma 'am.

Is this the photo you've been circulating in Queens?

We are trying to locate this man, yes.

May I?

This is a mugshot.

The man we're looking for has a criminal record.

What happened to Detective Carson?

This lady, we've got a lot of work to do, all right? Is this ex -con from the

neighborhood where Bobby Johnson was murdered?

Oh.

I get the strategy.

A nice little ploy to take the heat off, huh?

Actually, it's a nice little ploy to try and get at the truth. Which is, of

course, that it wasn't a cop.

Or even anyone from the neighborhood.

It was just a common criminal.

So it wasn't a racial killing, because we don't have that particular problem

here in New York City, right?

Where's Detective Carrasco?

May I speak with him?

He's not sick, David.

Of course.

The police vernacular for hiding.

Now, you listen. Excuse me.

I understand how you feel, Miss Richards, but that is not what's going

Don't tell me you bought into this.

Officially, I can't talk to you, but I can tell you off the record that

Detective Carrasco was here that night. I was with him. I should have known.

Why do I have a feeling I've been here before? It's the truth.

Because you said it.

You'll have your day in court, Miss Richards. Why not let the department

its investigation?

This case was put on low priority just because the victim's black. There is a

task force. That's dragging his heels.

This is how a lynching gets handled down south.

It's still an unsolved homicide. Until we know more, that's all it is. That's

simple, huh?

You're a real token.

They let you in the house and all.

I think we're finished here, Ms. Richards.

Can you believe that, Schwarzer?

Marcus.

Leave it alone.

I feel like I'm Rod Steiger in the heat of the night, Rouse and Sidney Poitier.

I mean, what is this, South Africa?

Black kid walks into a white neighborhood past midnight. I'm supposed

why.

How many black people we bust compared to white people?

Do you?

Harvey. You're absolutely right, Mary Beth.

Would you stop it with the mail?

Honey, I don't believe that the tickets, they finally pay.

Tomorrow night.

Lame as it are.

Tomorrow night?

Yep.

Let's exchange them, Harvey.

What, are you crazy?

There's this potluck dinner at the white church and a black church. The families

are getting together. I'd like for us all to go.

Marybeth, we waited three months for this.

So we can wait another three months.

What do you want me to do, sit here and nod my head yes? Okay, I'll nod my head

yes. The world is a terrible place we live in, Marybeth.

Last year on that bank robbery, Chris and I stopped a black man carrying a

briefcase. Turns out he's a lawyer on his way back to his own office. We

wouldn't have stopped him if he was white.

You were following your instincts.

Cop instincts?

Or somewhere in the back of my head, am I still some little girl from a lily

-white neighborhood in South Boston? Oh, come on, Mary Beth. You try to treat

everybody the same.

Harvey, I never forget they're black.

Well, that's not automatically bad.

That's one of the colors we come in.

Didn't see anything, didn't hear anything.

I love it. It's been long since I did the task force.

I must have been sound asleep. I'm a very heavy sleeper.

A .38 may not be a cannon, but at one in the morning, it ought to wake somebody

up. It's one out of, what is it, 1 ,500 homicides this year. Go over to 137th

Street and lay that on Mr. and Mrs. Johnson. There you go putting words in

mouth again. Come on, Al, before they send you home for good.

Look, maybe I fit some stupid things, but this hasn't been easy for me either.

It has been tough on him.

Not enough.

Let's go back to work, all right? Right. We got a kid to prove dirty.

You'd be happier maybe if it'd been a lynching.

We got people jumping down our throats on the word of a steward. A perfectly

reliable steward. We'd have to be putting it out at Rikers right now.

For all we know, James O 'Neill's on his way to Tibet.

James O 'Neill was from Brooklyn. Johnson was from Harlem.

So what are they doing hanging out at Queens at that hour?

Christine, I know where you're headed on this, and I don't like it. Well, fine.

Then stand on the shore and wave.

If Johnson was such a choir boy, what is he doing hanging out with a guy who's

got pride in everything from purse snatching to grand larceny auto? The

regular Renaissance perp.

Can we push past the idle speculation and get back to the evidence, please?

On the day he was murdered, Bobby was happier than I've ever seen him before.

That's what this Jacob Gold kid says.

He's not like any teenager I've heard about lately.

Maybe he's happy on drugs.

You're getting cynical, Christine. We were driving out to Jones Beach on

Saturday, then Bobby got... driving.

So? You know what insurance costs for a teenage driver?

Now who's getting cynical?

The kid's a box boy.

Minimum wage.

Gee, the task force did a great job following up on this interview.

Want to go for a ride?

Miss Whitman, all we want to do is talk with Jacob. Talk to him.

Look, I got hot fat.

I got buzzed this evening.

This job isn't easy.

I burned two jumbo packs yesterday.

Frances, we're not here to ask about the secret sauce.

And neither Jacob's mom nor his boss have seen or heard from him in a week.

And his friend was shot down in Coldwater.

Well, what do you want from me? I mean, maybe nine to five is a little hot for

him to handle right now.

But you heard from him, didn't you?

this some other time, like after work? We could continue down in the freezer.

you want to go tell your boss you'll be coming with us for a few hours? And you

might be late to work tomorrow?

Francis, do you know what conspiracy means?

Where do you park it, Jacob?

Park what?

Your car.

I don't have one.

Neither did Bobby. So how are you going to drive to Jones Beach?

That is what your statement says.

Look, I meant the bus.

I told the other detectives everything I know.

Withholding evidence, hindering prosecution, you're going on to fast,

I'm not lying.

Then why were you hiding? We read your statement. It is pathetic.

You were with Bobby and you know what happened to him.

I was at my girlfriend's the whole night.

Well, we talked to Frances, but she wasn't willing to risk her career in

fat. Come on, Jacob. The DA is going to charge you as a material witness. You'll

sit for a year, two years, and he'll keep on charging you until you turn

What are you talking about? I didn't do anything. Okay, fine. Let's go, Julia.

Start the paperwork.

What do you think, detective? About a week before he starts wearing nail

Come on. Give me a break here.

Right past that, hotshot.

Look, he's crazy.

Who's crazy?

The guy's nuts.

Who?

Is this the man?

Look at him.

You know this man?

Okay, listen up, all you crackers, wops, niggers, chinks, spics, micks,

kikes, and polacks.

Did I leave anybody out?

Because that's the last time I want to hear those words in this place.

Go ahead.

We have an eyewitness on the Bobby Johnson homicide.

It was nothing but a hot car deal gone sour.

Bobby Johnson had saved up his money to buy the car of his dreams.

Jim O 'Neill had one at the right price.

They agreed to meet in Queens.

But O 'Neill welched on the deal, took Johnson's money and blew him away.

That's it.

There was nothing racial about it.

Thank you, Judge Cagney.

Now, you look detected. What do you know about it anyway, Sergeant?

What do you know about names that get cut?

Would you like to be called a spoiled, hunky bitch?

Or how about lush?

Huh? Shut up!

Does that measure up to gook or heeb or coon?

Would you like to explain that to my daughter?

I did last night.

I got an early meeting tonight.

How about you?

We're going to go see Les Miserables, right? Tonight?

Change of plans.

I'll put the emails in on the details and you can call Captain Stewart when

handle the vibe.

Sure.

Maybe Joyce Richards was wrong this time.

But that doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

Marcus, don't hurt yourself.

How is Lauren?

A little wiser, maybe.

Maybe some of us are, too.

I hope so.

Petrie, better get going.

You and his Becky are up.

Bunch of white kids just stabbed a black kid, 14th and Broadway.