Original subtitles

Nothing. Let's go back.

Over!

Boys.

Give it to me. Give it to me.

Hey. - What?

I think we got us a couple of battery boosters.

Wonderful.

Wouldn't it be nice to have one day you didn't have to look at a theft?

Yeah, well, this ain't it.

Look, through the lot, we

I just hope the kid's over 16 because I can't stand children's court.

'cause I can't stand children's court.

It's a waste of time.

All right, fellas, police, where'd you get the battery?

Put it down, you're under arrest, both of you.

All right, where'd you get the battery from?

It's mine, I bought it around the corner.

Yeah, sure.

why don't we all take a walk and see where you bought it from.

Hector!

Hector!

Mama, it's all right, it's nothing.

¿A dónde vas? ¡Háblame, Chacho!

Alicia! Alicia!

Alicia!

Mamá, ¿qué está pasando?

¡Mamá!

¡Hector! ¡Hector!

Jimmy he's got my gun!

Drop it!

No! No!

No, Hector!

- Do you want to stay by, Steve?

- Where are they?

- Right this way, Chief, I'll show you.

- Hey guys, this is Chief Wilson.

- Two kids, they had the battery, they had the possession.

They resisted the arrest, they grabbed Garrett's gun and they pointed at O'Connor.

- Get that kid out of here for God's sake and calm this crowd down.

What the hell are you doing?

Hanging around, get these men out of here.

- Investigating a shooting, we're covering the scene.

- It is a police officer shooting a boy, don't get them away.

Now what the hell are you doing?

I'll tell you what I'm doing, Lieutenant Kojak.

I am ordering you to cool this thing off and fast.

- Captain.

- Are you men finished?

All right, get this area cleaned out now!

The boy could be moved, move him.

- Kojak, is this your case?

- Well, unless I've been transferred or promoted, this is still Manhattan South.

Promotion is doubtful, a transfer is always possible.

- Then what can I tell you, baby, the case is mine.

- I expect to be kept filled in on whatever you come up with, you understand?

- If we come up with anything other than justifiable, you'll be informed, yes, sir.

- Justifiable, clearly defined, right out of departmental regulations, you hear?

- They were investigating a shooting, not a cop reciting dirty words.

- Captain McNeil, this is Officer Garrett, Officer O'Connor from the Anti-Crime Squad.

- Which one of you shot him? - I did.

- He's been over to the precinct, now.

- Uh, come on, guys.

(overlapping chatter)

(overlapping chatter)

(overlapping chatter)

(overlapping chatter)

(overlapping chatter)

From this moment on, you make no statement to anyone till the P.B.A. lawyer shows up.

You have the rights and protections of a private citizen.

Take advantage of it.

Hey, wait a minute. What the hell's going on here?

It was the only thing I could do.

What was I supposed to do?

Let the kid kill my partner?

Is that what would have happened?

Captain. - Hi.

How are you?

Well?

What are they doing?

Are you choosing sides?

It may come to that.

It hasn't yet.

But let's go over the scorecard.

They are the police brass that has to answer to the public.

I am the P.B.A. representative who has to answer to the membership.

And you two are the involved officers who have to tell your story to somebody who's

going to fight for your side.

Almost a class reunion.

Captain. This call's for you.

Tell him.

Hey!

Tell him what happened.

The kid had me dead.

I was gone.

Take it easy, O'Connor.

Alright, now what the hell do we do to be here like this?

Get him into my office.

The assistant district attorney is coming down.

I want to talk to the girl now.

How'd it go over at the hospital?

The boy died.

If the cops were wrong, they were wrong.

You gonna say so?

These men committed a crime.

We'll help convict them.

Believe me.

Sure, I believe.

That cop shoot my brother.

I believe that too.

Did you see it?

I was there. - Why?

Why? My mother was screaming, so I ran.

Then you weren't there.

I got there.

And they were fighting.

Who was fighting?

Everybody.

Who is everybody?

I don't know.

I mean I don't know the names,

but my brother had his hands up.

He was fighting with his hands up?

He stopped.

Show us.

Were they open or closed?

Open.

Holding a gun?

I saw it.

I tell you.

My brother was with his friend who was showing him a battery he bought.

And the cops came up

and grabbed them

and hit them and shot Hector and my brother fell.

But now you want to tell me.

No gun.

Nothing. No gun.

I didn't see no gun in my brother's hand.

He don't have no gun.

Why did they do that to him?

Two cops against two boys.

He shoots and shoots.

My poor brother.

Hector.

Hector is dead.

Why?

I find that hard to believe because you were observed running from the scene.

Hey man, they got crazy.

I was scared. - Yeah, sure.

Scared.

You had the guts to steal a battery.

Hey, steal? Hey, nah, man.

We bought it off a man.

Hector paid him $10 and he gave us the battery.

Off a man?

Off a man.

Well, then you have a receipt.

What receipt?

Hector gave him $10 and he gave us the battery.

A cab driver from a repair shop around the corner had this receipt.

Seems the battery was missing from his car.

Right where the officer said it was missing.

Hey man, they got lots of batteries, lots of receipts.

Customers come and go.

Hector paid $10 and he got the battery.

Now I saw it.

What'd they shoot my friend for?

It was our battery. You didn't have to shoot him.

If he stole it, why don't you shoot the cabbie that lies to you?

Yeah, but your friend tried to shoot the officer.

No!

He was on the ground and the cops shot him because he's Puerto Rican.

Easy, Chino.

They shot him for no reason.

They always do it.

Hector, man, he's a good friend of mine.

He don't make no trouble.

The cop is a pig.

So, okay.

Let's take this whole thing again all over from the beginning, huh?

Sergeant O'Connor, you're fully aware of all

your rights and of course you know that you

do not have to make any kind of a statement at this time.

What happens if I don't make a statement?

You'll be temporarily suspended.

I'll make a statement.

Hey, wait for a lawyer.

Wait for a lawyer? That's well advice.

My wife's sitting home pregnant, worried, sick.

How do I support her without any paychecks while they drag this thing out?

Maybe I'll go on welfare.

On this date,

at about 1,800 hours,

my brother officer

and I were on patrol.

Diaz was chasing me around the car, pointing my gun at me.

O'Connor came running over yelling, drop it.

The kid turned to him, cocked the gun.

O'Connor drew and fired.

Okay, that's it?

That's it.

Bueno, Lieutenant,

the way it sounds so far,

it seems to me that there is no case here.

However, the grand jury will be the ones to decide that.

Are there any questions you'd like to ask him?

Were you scared?

Yeah, I was scared.

O'Connor?

He was scared.

Would you say that you and O'Connor were in fear of your lives or of bodily harm?

He had my damn gun.

That gun kills anybody it hits.

Yeah, man.

I just want to get on the record, you know, that cops get shot and they get killed too.

Thank you very much, Officer Garrett.

No further questions.

You know, we also have the owner of the car.

Received the battery, $26.

Uh-huh.

A boy's life for $26.

Oh, now, let's not get too profound.

Okay, counselor, you know, the case heads up pretty clean for all of us.

So when are you going to get in front of the grand jury?

I don't know.

You're going to put those two guys through the Chinese water torture?

I am very sorry.

I'm going to do my best, you know.

Okay, meanwhile, I want to keep tab on the family.

You know, they have a right also to testify before the grand jury.

Where are you holding the kid's mother?

What?

You know,

for interference,

obstruction of justice,

et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Isn't that your procedure?

Oh, yeah, but, uh, this is the dead kid's mother.

Well, besides being the dead boy's mother,

she also happens to be material witness.

The mother sees a guy drag away her kid.

She's hysterical.

She speaks no English.

She's in shock.

Now, what the hell do you think I am?

Yeah, well, gentlemen, I bid both of you very good thanks.

Mamacita, nada va a pasar.

They will not move you out.

If they move you out, I'll give you my apartment.

Now, Candice, go and see this man.

Please.

Did you read the letter they sent me?

Yes.

Todo va a salir muy bien.

Taxi!

Now, do it today, not tomorrow, okay?

Muchas gracias.

I'll call them to expect you.

Voy a necesitar un dinero.

Aquí.

Muchas gracias.

Hey!

Everyone's talking about it,

but there's nothing but a couple of lines in the Anglo press.

It figures.

A defenseless boy shot in front of his family in this neighborhood.

It happens all the time, doesn't it?

Hey, Mr. Serio.

I knew this kid. Defenseless, he was not.

We had him in here, remember?

Gangs?

He was in a gang. We tried to reach him. He laughed at us.

So we failed.

They're all in gangs here.

Hey, hey, the kid was a thief.

Sure, thief.

Only in those office buildings is it done with accountants,

with lawyers, and English names.

And they tell themselves it is different when a kid steals a battery

instead of corporate funds.

We have to do something about this.

Okay, and what's going to happen?

They're gonna give us another empty lot and

a bunch of grass seeds and we call it a park.

I am telling you.

We're talking about a dead kid.

We start something over this, we'll eat a bum.

Look at them.

Fighting for their side already.

We have to do something, Garcia.

For this mother, for the sister.

It's our job.

It's our moral responsibility.

Wait, wait.

Where are you going now?

To put their heads on the mayor's coffee table.

Who's that?

Thomas Serio.

The Spanish community's representative to the mayor's office.

Well, it looks like they're choosing sides.

That's too bad. Come on, let's go.

I said, I want to know what you were doing there.

What are you talking about?

I mean, I'm investigating a shooting in my district.

I don't want you making them nervous.

They're a very emotional people.

Oh, now that's a bigoted line, no matter who said it.

Damn it, I want no fuses lit.

Understand?

I want no racial problems, no matter who said what.

Are you reading me, lieutenant?

Chief, I'm investigating a case and I'm gonna do it my way, thoroughly.

But you know how a thing like this can blow up a kid being shot down that way?

What way?

By pointing a loaded gun at a police officer?

Okay.

Thomas Serio was in to see the mayor.

You know the name?

Oh, how do I know the name?

He grinds his axe and I grind my axe, but we both do the job.

Yeah, well, he already explained to me what his job is.

He wants to see justice done.

It's wonderful.

That puts us on the same side for a change.

Look, I want to speak to those two police officers.

Where'd you bury them?

Now... Garrett's in the borough office and O'Connor's in the Department of Records.

I see.

Well, it's bad enough you made clerks out of them.

You had to split them up, huh?

Kojak,

this thing goes sour.

You go with it.

Too bad, Chief.

I bet when you used to be a cop,

you loved the job.

Joe, washed and scrubbed.

You ought to stay out of the sunshine.

It gives you wrinkles. You won't look pretty.

or to keep the conversation rolling along,

uh, what have they got you doing down here?

Oh, today I put the A's before the B's.

Tomorrow I get into C's and D's.

Check with me on Thursday.

Hey, O'Connor.

Could have happened to any one of us.

Yeah.

And I could have stood back and let Garrett die first.

Then if I blew the kid away, I'd be a hero.

When you were firing, what was the kid doing?

Pointing Garrett's gun at me.

Was he standing?

What?

Come on, will you hang loose?

By just digging into it?

What are you digging for?

Witnesses? - On whose orders?

The D.A.'s office. Hey, what's to get to the bottom of this?

The D.A.'s office wouldn't care less about two street cops.

Hey, I care,

the captain cares, my men care.

Now, who the hell are you to say that nobody cares?

Yeah.

You read the latest papers?

Now, what does it say in there that the boy had a gun on my head?

You dig into that.

Was that the way it happened?

The white cop, he killed him.

Just like we did.

What's the matter?

I thought he was standing.

Here.

Which way was it, you know?

I told you he was on the ground.

She was scared. She forgot.

He's dead.

That's what's important.

What's all this for, anyway?

He was on the ground.

Was Hector holding our gun?

I saw no gun.

No, man, no gun.

All of you who were here when the shooting happened,

give your name to Garcia.

If you know any other witnesses but cannot

remember what happened now that it's cleared up,

you can help them.

Tell the police.

Testify to it in court.

It will be the only way and we'll get justice here.

Justice?

My brother is dead.

The police did it.

We'll let them die, too.

Frank, how are you? Sometimes.

It's pretty hard to take sometimes.

Now, look, print, will you, Theo?

Your writing's like a chicken scratch.

I see you got Sanchez.

They sure loaded the deck on those two cops.

What are the odds in the hole?

Well, you got an assistant D.A.

with the right surname,

but a lot of people calling in,

coming in, going out.

It's the smell of politics, Kojak.

Eat two cups and win a prize.

Listen.

Now, I don't know when it will go to the grand jury, okay?

Now, when I know, you'll know.

Gracias.

Carajo, every dumb reporter in this whole country's

looking for another Watergate to make him famous.

Hello, Lieutenant.

The case was supposed to go in front of the grand jury two days ago.

Come on.

I'm going to buy you lunch.

Yeah, well, that means how do I tell them

what I don't want to tell them or something like that, right?

Right here.

What's this?

That's a little gift from Mr. Tomas Serio.

A list of witnesses who saw the shooting.

They'll all have to go before the grand jury,

and that means that you're going to have to find them.

A list? Where'd the shooting take place?

In Yankee Stadium?

I'm going to say, did he get a parade pass

in order to get all these witnesses together?

What is it that you're saying?

Yeah, well, I'm saying that two police officers with good records,

I think they're entitled to know where they stand.

That's what I'm saying.

Where they stand?

Bueno, I'll tell you where they stand.

Where they stand is in trouble

because the sister

gave a soaring statement.

Her defenseless brother was shot down in cold blood,

and she gave the same line to the press.

You throw away the other kid's corroboration as his alibi, but

she has no record, and she's a very good student.

Yeah, I told her she was hysterical.

She lying?

Well, you say cop to her, and she throws up.

Lieutenant, was she lying?

Hey, the most I would say is that she's mistaken.

She was there, and you weren't.

Uh,

Mr. Sanchez,

what are you? You know.

Lieutenant, I think it's about time that we let it all out.

I mean, we're going to be working together for the next couple of weeks.

Yeah, well, why don't you say it softly, counselor.

Bien.

Kojak,

I'm a Puerto Rican.

And a Puerto Rican kid

was shot to death.

And I'm going to be trying the case.

How do I worry you?

Just say it as it is, counselor.

I promise you lunch?

Yeah, that's right.

As I said before,

I mean, in my opinion,

there is no murder indictment here.

But,

my opinion goes only

as far as the grand jury.

So,

I suggest, lieutenant,

that you dig up really hard,

as though the executioner was ready to pull that switch.

Don't worry about me.

I believe in upholding the law.

Go sue me.

Why, you got to be kidding.

I'm the guy who takes me to these high-class group-mate joints, so you...

What's the matter? The city's short of mustard?

Cheers.

Well, what a picture.

The upholders of justice breaking ground eat.

Hello, George. Nice to see you.

Lieutenant Kojak.

I heard that your people questioned the family

of the murdered boy right after it happened.

It's a little cruel, don't you think?

Murdered boy? I don't know anything about a murdered boy.

Well, that's the way it's beginning to look, isn't it?

Serio, murder is decided by a grand jury after they get the facts.

The facts are the boy is dead.

He had no gun. The cops did.

Witnesses saw it clearly.

The cops had a shoot

or get shot themselves.

Or, having shot, lied to protect themselves.

What are you talking about? Murder.

I said it. You didn't like it.

I still say it.

Un momentito.

We don't know that yet. We haven't even begun.

Sanchez, those are your people that shoot down every day.

Whose side are you on, huh?

Look, Serio,

you push to buy them,

you wind up even.

One's black and one's white.

I, uh,

hear that O'Connor is having a little talk to or live with what he did.

Sure he is.

Because what he did bothers him.

Maybe also his conscience, conspiracy,

false testimony, collusion,

one cop protecting another. It happens, doesn't it?

Doesn't it, Sanchez?

Well, no, it happens.

So where is the image of the good guy cop, huh?

Where is it?

Too many times, Kojak, the ends have justified the means.

You know it and I know it.

And maybe this time to get away with murder

or with my dead body.

I guess when I got pregnant I got to be a lousy cook, huh?

Well, you're gonna find it on the lunch tomorrow.

Got a family to support.

Waste not, want none.

Honey, it's gonna be okay.

Hey.

Jimmy, did I ever lie to my guy?

I'm laid out for the slaughter.

Why?

Because I'm a cop?

I wanted to be a cop because I respected the profession.

Now a cop gets home, he can't wait to take his uniform off.

Jimmy, there's a lot of people on your side.

People, people saying what they saw.

That Serio reminded them what they saw

when he wasn't there, when they were no place around.

Jim,

it's gonna be all right.

I know it.

I'm a dead man.

What has he got against me, huh?

Hey, you get freaks in every case, Jim.

You tell me every time.

Anyway, Lieutenant Kojak is on our side and all the guys in the division,

everybody's helping.

Are you okay?

I'm all right, I'm okay.

Come on, you see?

Nobody helps.

Nobody but me.

Anybody for pizza?

Why you lie?

No, stop.

All I'm asking you to do is tell the truth.

Tell the truth.

Oh, baby, you really cut it all today.

I just got the call.

You want to tell me more about it or do I wait for the newspapers again?

Oh, it's nothing, you almost started a riot

on that block where the dead boy's sister lives.

What possessed you to go over there?

I had to ask her why.

The story is you assaulted her.

I grabbed her arm and I asked her to tell the truth.

You guys are too much.

Officer O'Connor, let me tell you something.

For whatever reason, right or wrong,

you're in trouble.

You don't understand why it's happening

and you have every right to feel that way.

But don't, for one minute,

dare to believe that the people you work with don't want to see you out of this mess

and with respect.

Captain, excuse me.

I volunteered for the anti-crime squad you were in a couple of weeks ago.

I'm glad I did.

Another anti-crime squad nut.

Taken off at a thankless job.

Who knows, you could be shot by your own fellow police officer

without him knowing who you are.

O'Connor.

Hold on.

Hello.

Hey, what is it?

His wife just had a miscarriage.

Oh.

I called in a civil engineer and he checked in all directions with his level

and according to him, the shooting could only be seen

from the end windows of that tenement over there.

It's called the Angle of Declivity.

Oh, the Angle of Declivity.

Precisely.

You see, the truck that was parked there

obscured a precluded vision from all the other windows of that building

and the only other possible views were from the abandoned buildings.

Am I clear, Lieutenant?

Luminously.

Would you like me to explain further?

What I would like you to explain, Stopper,

is what the aforementioned people who reside behind those unobscure windows.

What they said to you during your no doubt precise and accurate interrogation.

Nothing. Nothing.

Let me clear that up, Lieutenant.

Please proceed.

Four of the apartments at the end of the building in question are empty.

The fourth floor windows behind which it has been determined one Mrs. Celia Moore resides

does not answer when we knock.

Now, you stay here, Stopper, okay? And keep your eye on the Angle of Declivity.

Yes, sir.

You know,

uh, the police were knocking on your door the other day and nobody answered.

How did I know they were police?

How did I know someone, like I always read in the papers, say they're police,

get let in, steal and plunder,

pillage and rape,

wasn't out there.

To?

To crime.

Else you'd be out of a job.

Uh, there was a shooting across the street a couple of days ago.

That's why I never opened the door.

Did you see it?

Some of it.

When I heard the shouting, I moved over to the window.

What did you see?

When I reached the window

there were shots.

I saw a boy,

two men.

The boy, was he standing up or lying down when you heard the shots?

I think he was standing.

A truck was partly in the way.

Did the boy have a gun in his hand when you saw him?

I saw one man pick up something off the ground

I think it was a gun.

I bet you're not sure.

Could have been a gun.

Thank you, Mrs. Ball.

Yes, here it is, a picture of you, Ms. Diaz.

It says, the two men looked like bums. They knocked my brother down.

He put his hands over his face

and then one of them shot him and I screamed.

Is this what you told the reporters?

Yes.

And the district attorney's office?

Yes.

Well, this is not what you told us.

Mrs. Diaz,

now,

I don't want you to do or say anything.

My own daughter wouldn't say if she were asked

a question by a police officer. The truth.

Yes.

Well, this was your statement to us.

My brother had his hands up, fists open.

I saw it.

I tell you, my brother was with his friend who was showing him a battery he bought.

The cops came up and grabbed them and hit them and shot them

and my brother fell.

Standing or lying down, fists open or closed, which is it?

I told you.

The moment I got a call that a police car picked

it up, I knew it could be for only one reason.

Gentlemen, what are you doing?

Interrogating a witness to a shooting.

But you already did that.

Now, leave the child alone.

They haven't even had the funeral.

Her mother is still in a state of shock.

Mr. Serio, you're confused.

This isn't the Superior Court of New York City.

You're pleading a case in a dingy little room in a midtown police station.

Will you listen to them?

First, a neurotic,

bigoted cop goes to the sister of the boy he killed

and physically attacks her,

intimidates her

and then the lieutenant of the police

brings the girl in

alone for what?

To make a change her statement, maybe.

She already changed it. That's why she's here.

She was confused the first time.

He was right after seeing her brother die.

Now, come on, honey. Let's go.

Hold it, Tomas.

If Alicia here is indeed telling the truth,

then why are you so upset about?

What's the matter with you, Sargent?

Look at her.

Our people are afraid of the police to start with.

What's the matter with you?

Have you forgotten the ghetto?

You came from there once.

Yeah, that's right.

I came from the same place that you did.

And maybe one block poorer, okay?

So? So what does that make me, Tomas? Blind to the truth?

Their truth or ours?

Sanchez, understand what the fight is? Is our

people against them? The hell it is, Tomas!

It is either right or it is wrong.

It is false or it is true.

And that is the law, Tomas, okay?

Honey, it's all right.

Come on, I'll take you home.

Alicia,

look, honey, someday you're going to have to answer those questions I asked you.

Maybe only to yourself,

but you're going to have to answer them, okay?

Let's go.

It was legal.

Oh, yeah.

I know it was legal,

but in this case, it was also dumb.

Yeah, I know, Frank.

It was legal, but it was dumb.

I was going to say that

we're doing the same thing that Serio is doing, exactly the same thing.

That's the real heavy here.

Everybody's fighting for his side when in fact there shouldn't be any dividing lines.

Oh, there are, Frank. There always are.

Hey, look,

I'm your partner. I know how you feel.

Like it's all coming down.

You're flipping out.

You've got to get a hold.

She lost the baby

after trying for 12 years.

What did she do for that?

I'll have a beer and whatever I got for the boys.

You're having us tailed.

I am.

Hey, look, I can't take any chances with your buddy over there.

One man against the world.

I'm on your side and you can bet on it.

There used to be a cop who knew what side he was on.

Now we're only on the right side if we get killed.

Serio had a play act of a crime today for all the witnesses.

You hear about that?

Don't worry about it. Sanchez will shoot him down.

Sanchez is one of their people.

Sanchez is our assistant district attorney.

Yeah.

You're sure.

You know you'll bet on it.

Look, you've got to understand what's happening to him.

I understand you.

Me?

I'm scared.

Hey, look, I was there, but nobody's going to believe me.

What's happening in the world, Kojak?

If I go against him, they say it's because he's white and I'm black.

If I go with them, they say it's because we're both cops.

Now that scares the hell out of me.

Go ahead, stay with him.

Because whatever the hell you are, you're the only one he trusts now.

Go ahead.

My brother the honky ain't that something.

Mm-hmm.

Cheers, world.

Captain, Lieutenant, I just came from the courthouse.

First they say three weeks, then they turn around a schedule for tomorrow.

I mean, what's going on?

The D.A. figures it's ready.

Got all the subpoenas lined up?

I don't know why so many. The engineers say the only possible person

that could have seen the shooting was that little lady in the end window.

Yeah, well, those people on the street are scared.

I mean, the cops are scared. There's a lot of hatred down there.

Some of it deserved.

Now they see a chance to nail the cop.

Yeah, they're gonna do it.

Today was right.

Because once another cop leans a little too heavy.

I'll tell you, with a guy like Zuri, I wouldn't want to be O'Connor.

Let's just hope that the grand jury's a lot more impartial than any of us.

Have a pleasant walk.

What do you say we pony express these in the

neighborhood and then we go and eat, all right?

I'll take the stairs. My legs are younger than yours.

All right.

Let's do it then before mine get any older.

And I'll tell you what.

If my legs don't collapse young then I'll buy you dinner. Come on.

Hey, baby, what's your rush?

I'm worried about my mother. The doctor came again.

I want to talk to you a minute.

Then walk me down the block.

Hey, man, with them pigs, they took Hector... Please, I don't want to talk about it.

They've been talking to the cops.

They wanted to check my story.

So?

So they asked why I changed it.

So?

So Mr. Serio came in.

So I didn't say nothing.

What do you want, Chino? I know where I come from.

Hey.

It bothers you, huh? I'm lying.

He's a cop.

Chino, my brother is dead. We can't bring him back.

Hey, you could get me into a lot of trouble.

Don't put your hands on me.

Hey, you better not forget where you came from.

Otherwise I'll help you remember.

Leave that girl alone!

Leave her go!

Police!

Police!

Over there!

Kojak!

On to those steps!

The girls!

What are you doing here?

I mean, I thought you lived upstairs.

You like getting girls to do their life being slapped, don't you?

Hey, man, I know my rights and I ain't gonna say nothing to nobody.

Oh, all right, then. Crocker, don't bother reading it to him.

This is the way it ends up.

Lies on top of lies.

Tell everybody it's a fate to tell the truth.

You know something? You change your story.

If you lied, then it's more than just remembering your brother.

Chino won't let you forget you lied.

He'll get you to lie again, other times, for other reasons.

And there you are.

To remember.

If you lie tomorrow, Chino will strip you around.

To put your hair to hitch or whatever.

And for whatever reason, he just didn't.

Hector was my brother.

How could I say he was going to shoot a cop?

He was my brother.

Victor Ramos?

Lieutenant.

Oh, come on, lieutenant.

You know, this is a battle. We each fight for our side.

Let's look at it that way.

Mr. Serio, do you feel that the two police officers

assigned to your district are qualified?

Not now.

You're professionals. You're an honest man. I try to be.

So that's all this is.

You win some, you get commendations.

I win some, we get street lights.

And a park.

Alicia Diaz.

So we might need each other one day.

There's no need for bitterness.

Mr. Serio,

we're not talking about lampposts.

We're talking about two men.

Two of my men. Two of your police officers.

And you know what you're doing?

You're crucifying them before the facts.

Lieutenant, I assure you, I don't wish to hang anyone.

Oh, I know. You know why?

Because she won't let you.

She's got guts. She's got integrity.

And she don't want to hang anyone either.

Oh, Mr. Serio,

the judge would like to see you again for a moment.

Excuse me.

Sure.

Waivers of immunity.

They want us to sign waivers of immunity.

She's going to tell the truth now.

We got nothing to worry about.

You're hurting. You win some, you lose some.

Wife, baby,

suspended.

Fired.

It's going to be okay, I tell you.

Yeah.

Twelve years we've been trying.

Now she'll never be able to have one.

Why?

Even if I'm let off, you know as well as I do, I'm finished.

Read the papers. I've already been tried and executed.

What did I do?

Lieutenant Kojak.

Mrs. Serio,

how does he look for an indictment?

No decision yet. That's a foregone conclusion,

isn't it? He did kill an unarmed boy.

Look, what is important here is that justice be served.

The officer's life,

the boy's life, these are not the basics here.

What counts is the direction we're taking in our society.

What counts is the end result.

Innocent people suffer while the guilty go free?

No.

This must stop. This must end.

Once and for all.

Chief Wilson?

Well,

regardless of what happens here today, I can promise Mr. Serio and the people

of his neighborhood full satisfaction regarding the method

the department uses to screen men for the anti-crime squad.

You believe Officer O'Connor was prejudiced?

I just feel that the full

interdepartmental investigation of Officer O'Connor, his record,

his attitude toward the citizens of that area are in order.

I think that a tragedy like this must never happen again.

They voted no true bill.

You're both clean.

Hey, Lieutenant,

listen, if I open my mouth, I...

What would I say?

Don't say anything. Where's O'Connor?

Across the street.

Come on, let's give them the good news.

Do you know what you just did to yourself?

It doesn't matter, Lieutenant.

Empty!