Frank Lucas's Criminal Activities and Wedding, Summaries of Chinese

Download Frank Lucas's Criminal Activities and Wedding and more Summaries Chinese in PDF only on Docsity! American Gangster by Steven Zaillian FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT (AG 16) July 27, 2006 EXT. JAZZ CLUB - DAY1 1 A tall, handsome man in a dark suit emerges from a Lincoln Towncar and enters a small, basement R&B/Jazz club. INT. JAZZ CLUB - DAY2 2 He approaches a booth, says something in the din to the men there, then calmly shoots them and exits. AMERICAN GANGSTER EXT. HARLEM STREET - DAY (NOVEMBER)3 3 Bumpy Johnson, an elderly but still sturdy black man, elegantly dressed - cashmere overcoat, gloves, Homburg - stands in falling snow atop a flatbed truck - as he does every Thanksgiving - tossing down turkeys to the poor - like a benign king. Legend: Harlem A younger man, the gunman from the club - Frank Lucas - Bumpy's driver/bodyguard/collector/protege - watches from below. INT/EXT. STREET / DISCOUNT EMPORIUM - DAY (NOVEMBER)4 4 Whispering gunfire from a television set veiled by foreground snow: Soldiers in the jungles of Vietnam in 1970. A rich, cultured, authoritative voice offers: BUMPY O/S This is the problem. This is what’s wrong with America. The war footage multiplies by twenty: a stack of TVs with price tags dangling from the knobs behind a display window. BUMPY O/S It’s gotten so big you can’t find your way. People on the sidewalk, out of respect or fear, part to let Frank and Bumpy and Bumpy’s German shepherd pass. BUMPY The corner grocery’s a supermarket. Candy store’s a MacDonald’s. And this place. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 1. (MORE) (CONT) Frank doesn’t say. It feels unseemly to him to be talking about money here. He watches Tango carelessly set a watery glass of ice on an antique inlaid chess table. BANKER Bumpy set something up for you? Frank excuses himself without an answer, crosses to where Tango left the glass, and sets it on a coaster. TANGO Hey, Frank, get me an ashtray while you’re at it. Bumpy’s German shepherd watches as Frank reaches into his jacket, revealing a gun nestled in its shoulder holster. He takes out a handkerchief, wipes the condensation dry, opens a drawer and removes an ashtray. He holds it out to Tango - who isn’t sure it’s not a dare and decides to wander off. CHARLIE I know you’re hurting, Frank. So am I. Frank sits back down with Charlie Williams, an older dope man. CHARLIE You going to be all right? FRANK Yeah. CHARLIE I’m sure Bumpy never told you, but he made me promise, anything ever happened to him, I’d make sure you didn’t go without. FRANK 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. CHARLIE That’s the spirit. Go get them. On the TV, over archive film and photographs of crime figures from the 1940’s and ‘50’s, the opinion is offered that Bumpy’s death “marks the end of an era ...” American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 4. CONTINUED:6 6 INT. CLASSROOM - NIGHTA7 A7 A figure, his back to us, walks slowly toward a blackboard like a man to the gallows. RICHIE V.O. I live in fear of hearing my name * called. * PROFESSOR Mr. Roberts, Give us U.S. vs. Meade - * RICHIE V.O. * Of walking up there, turning around, * knowing every one of them knows more * than I do - * PROFESSOR * Subject, issues, what the determination * was and what it means to us today. * Richie Roberts turns and faces his classmates, all of them a decade or more younger than him. EXT. MOTEL - NEW JERSEY - DAY7 7 Harlem’s jagged teeth skyline juts across the river at the other end of the George Washington Bridge. On this side - a sledgehammer gripped in Richie’s fist, on the move, suddenly fills the frame. RICHIE * You know the Number 1 fear of most * people isn’t dying; it’s public speaking. * They get physically ill. They throw up. * RIVERA * And that’s what you want to do for a living. RICHIE I don’t like being like that. I want to * beat it. Armed with the sledgehammer, Richie and his partner - Javy * Rivera - come past a seedy motel office where a TV shows * another report about Bumpy Johnson. Legend: New Jersey A motel clerk looks up, glimpses the sledgehammer - American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 5. (CONT) CLERK Hey - Rivera flashes a New Jersey detective’s shield without * breaking stride. Takes a subpoena out of another pocket. * RIVERA * Who’s going to do this? * RICHIE He knows me, he’ll take it from me. * I’ve known him since high school. * RIVERA * Just throw it in, he doesn’t take it. * That’s good service. * They reach a particular motel room door. Rivera knocks. * The door opens the length of a chain, revealing a wise guy in an undershirt, who, when he sees the subpoena, start to * close the door - * RIVERA * Throw it - * As Richie flings the subpoena in, the door slams on his * hand. He wails in agony, tries to shoulder it open, hears * the dead bolt lock on the other side, feels Campizi’s teeth * bite into his fingers, watches his blood run down the frame. * RIVERA * Down - * Richie hangs down from his hand as the sledgehammer swings * past his head shattering the door - * INT/EXT. MOTEL ROOM - CONTINUOUS8 8 The door rips from its hinges and the detectives crash in. The wise guy - Campizi - hurries for the bathroom, slams the * door. This one’s hollow and the detectives more easily * break through it - * Campizi tries to climb out the bathroom window. Richie * grabs him, throws him into the shower stall, taking the plastic curtain down with them, smearing it with blood as Richie beats at him before Rivera can pull him off. * INT. AMBULANCE - MOVING - DAY9 9 A male paramedic attends to Campizi’s bloodied face while a female paramedic cleans Richie’s bloodied hand. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 6. CONTINUED:7 7 (CONT) INT. ITALIAN BAR - NY - DAY17 17 Frank comes into an empty bar, chairs up on tables. A middle-aged man mopping up glances up at him as he crosses to a back room. ROSSI V/O They seize it, arrest everybody, whack it up and sell it back to us. Our dope. They been living off it for years, these New York cops. INT. ITALIAN BAR - BACK ROOM - NY - DAY18 18 Several ounces of the dope sits in foreground on a table. ROSSI They basically control the market with it. What the fuck has happened to the world, Frank? FRANK Fuckin crooks. Rossi, who looks more like a middle-aged accountant than the Italian dope supplier he is, makes two espressos. ROSSI Sad about Bumpy. Behind Frank, a TV airs a report by Walter Cronkite on the heroin problem among GIs in Vietnam. ROSSI Things are never going to be the same in Harlem. The girls, the clubs, the music - walk down the street, nobody bothers you because Bumpy’s making sure of it. (hands Frank one of the espressos) How bad is it there now? FLASHCUTS TO HARLEM18pt 18pt Guys barge into a room, steal money from a crap game at gunpoint - Cops push guys against a bar, empty their pockets - A dealer shoots another dealer in an alley - BACK TO THE HOTEL ROOM18pt 18pt FRANK It’s chaos. Every gorilla for himself. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 9. (CONT) ROSSI Who can live like that? There has to be order. That would never happen with Italians. More important than any one man’s life - is order. EXT. HARLEM - DAY19 19 A street sign on a corner: 116th and 8th Avenue. INT. DINER - HARLEM - DAY20 20 As is his custom, Frank eats breakfast alone. A middle- aged waitress appears when he’s done, picks up his plate and refills his coffee. FRANK Thank you, Charlene. Last one. CHARLENE It’s all right with me, Frank, you can stay all day if you want, but I wouldn’t. It’s nice outside. FRANK Then maybe I’ll have to go for a walk. Just cause you said so. She smiles and leaves. Frank pours some sugar in his coffee. Someone taps on the window and he looks up, sees two servicemen - one in uniform - one he recognizes. INT. REDTOP’S APARTMENT BUILDING - DAY21 21 Frank leads the servicemen up the stairs of a building. INT. REDTOP’S APARTMENT - DAY22 22 Corner apartment above the street. A girl sits smoking at a work table covered with drug-cutting apparatus. Another - Frank’s cutter and sometimes-girlfriend, Red Top - sets a couple of packets of heroin in front of the servicemen. RED TOP On the house for our men in uniform. SERVICEMAN 1 Why, thank you, sugar, that’s very kind. RED TOP Thank Frank. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 10. CONTINUED:18pt 18pt (CONT) Frank nods, you’re welcome before the man can thank him. The servicemen start cooking up the dope. FRANK How’s Nate? You seen him? SERVICEMAN 1 All the time. Nate is everywhere. He’s good. Got himself a club now. FRANK Where, Saigon? SERVICEMAN 1 Bangkok. SERVICEMAN 2 I don’t think he’s ever coming home. Regarding the dope as the servicemen shoot it up - FRANK You’re gonna have to boot it a couple times. Cops keep cutting it, selling it, cutting it - SERVICEMAN 1 I don’t want to say anything cause the price is right - but the shit in Nam is way, way, way, way, way - He begins to nod out before he can finish the sentence. 23 OMIT 23 OMIT EXT. SOCIAL CLUB - NEWARK - LATE AFTERNOON24 24 Across the river, Richie, Rivera and Campizi sit in the car * parked across from a closed social club. A man carrying a grocery bag comes out and Campizi ducks lower in the seat. CAMPIZI That’s him. Newsboy Moriarty's mob accountant puts the grocery bag in the trunk of a car, climbs in behind the wheel. EXT. NEWARK - SCRAP METAL YARD - LATE AFTERNOON25 25 From the parked car they observe the accountant putting another bag in his trunk. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 11. CONTINUED:22 22 RICHIE Check inside. Rivera may as well; the damage to the case, if there is one * anymore, is done. He crawls inside the car to look under the seats and in the glove compartment. Gravely - RICHIE Javy ... * Richie’s staring into the trunk like there’s a body inside. Rivera comes over, takes a look, sees it’s money: stacks of * it rubber-banded together, spilling from grocery bags - more * than either of them has ever seen. As the trunk closes - * EXT. PARKING LOT / RICHIE’S CAR - LATER - NIGHT29 29 * Richie and Rivera sit in their car in silence, staring out * at the car with the money in it. Eventually - * RICHIE This isn’t a couple of bucks. RIVERA * It’s the same thing. In principle. RICHIE We’re talking about principle? RIVERA * Richie, a cop who turns in this kind of money says one thing: He’ll turn in cops who take money. We’ll be pariahs. RICHIE We’re fucked either way. RIVERA * Not if we keep it. Only if we don’t. Then we’re fucked, you’re right. But not if we keep it. RICHIE (more to himself) Yes, we are. RIVERA * Goddamn it, did we ask for this? Did we put a gun to someone’s head and say, Give us your money? Cops kill cops they can’t * trust. We can’t turn it in. * They regard each other again in silence ... American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 14. CONTINUED:28 28 INT. NEWARK POLICE STATION - LATER - NIGHT30 30 As a police captain counts the stacks of money, Lou Toback, Richie’s superior from the prosecutors office, walks in, his night out interrupted by this emergency. He crossed to where Richie and Rivera sit alone in a corner. Quietly: * TOBACK How much. RICHIE Nine hundred and eighty thousand. TOBACK What happened to the rest? It’s a joke but isn’t funny, not even to Toback. He regards his men who turned it in, then the other cops in the place - who are watching them and the money being counted. Toback walks over to the captain, and, quietly: TOBACK What’re you doing counting this in front * of everybody? Are you out of your fuckin mind? Take it into a room. Now. Richie’s glance to Rivera says, You’re right, we’re fucked. * INT/EXT. NEWARK POLICE STATION - PRE-DAWN31 31 As Richie leaves alone, he’s aware of all the eyes on him - knowing the other cops’ looks don’t signify awe or respect, but contempt and fear, like Rivera predicted. Neither will * ever be trusted again. He climbs into his car, drives off. INT. DINER - HARLEM - DAY32 32 Tango and his bodyguard come in and approach Frank’s table where he reads the morning paper as he eats breakfast. TANGO Didn’t you see the jar, Frank? I think you walked right past it. Frank ignores him, forks at his eggs, eats. Tango sits. TANGO The money jar. On the corner. What I got to do, put a sign on it? Frank indicates that he would answer if his mouth wasn’t full. He swallows finally, but then only reaches for his coffee cup to take a sip, further irritating Tango. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 15. (CONT) TANGO Bumpy don’t own 116th Street no more, Frank. Bumpy don’t own no real estate in Harlem no more. I’m the landlord now and the lease is twenty-percent. Frank dabs at his mouth with a napkin and gives Tango a look that says that won’t be happening. TANGO Then don’t sell dope, Frank. Get a fuckin job. You need a job? You can be my driver, drive me around, open my door, yes, sir, no sir, where to, sir, right away, Massa Johnson, sir. Right now Tango is dead. No doubt about it. On the surface, though, Frank remains cool. FRANK Twenty percent? TANGO Of every dollar. Every VIG, every truckload, every girl, every ounce. In the jar. FRANK 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. (reaches for his breakfast check) There are ways to make money legitimately, and then there’s this way. Not even Bumpy took twenty percent. TANGO Bumpy’s fuckin dead. Frank regards Tango a moment, gets up, takes out his money clip, covers the check on the table with a five, peels off a $1 bill from the clip, tosses it down in front of Tango. FRANK There. That’s twenty-percent. As he turns and leaves, Tango watches after him ... American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 16. CONTINUED:32 32 INT. CHEMICAL BANK - VICE PRESIDENT’S OFFICE - DAY46 46 Under portraits of bank Vice Presidents before him, the man types out a Chemical Bank check for Frank for $400,000. * 47 - 48 OMIT 47 - 48 OMIT EXT. PARK - NEWARK - DAY - SAME TIME49 49 The sound of the plane growls and fades overhead as Richie’s ex-wife keeps an eye on their son playing on a grassy area. RICHIE I’m sorry. LAURIE I don’t know, Richie. RICHIE It couldn’t be avoided. Next weekend I’ll be able to take him. She regards him with a weary look, but he’s looking over at one of the other - better-looking - moms in the park. LAURIE I’m moving. He looks back, not sure he heard right. RICHIE What? Where? LAURIE To the St. Regis, what do you care. (pause) My sister’s. RICHIE Your sister’s. In Vegas? He glances away to a sound: shattering glass. Some teen- agers breaking bottles on the ground. RICHIE You can’t move to Vegas. Not with Michael anyway. LAURIE What am I supposed to do with him? Leave him with you? There’s a picture. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 19. (CONT) RICHIE (to the vandals) Hey, you want to shut up over there? The teenagers ignore him. He tries to ignore them, but it’s hard with the constant noise. RICHIE No court will allow it for one thing. I won’t allow it. LAURIE You? RICHIE When am I supposed to see my son? LAURIE Last weekend! Their son glances over at them. Richie looks over at the teenagers again breaking bottles, then back to Laurie. RICHIE Laurie, you can’t raise a kid in Las Vegas. * LAURIE Oh, like this is a good environment. Around your friends. There are less * creeps in Vegas. * RICHIE What’s he going to grow up to be in a * mobbed up place like that? What are you * thinking? LAURIE I’m thinking - Richie - of him! RICHIE Goddamn it - The noise of the glass is driving him crazy. He strides over to the teenagers, who look at him like, What are you gonna do, old man, it’s four against one. RICHIE I told you nice to shut the fuck up. Now I’m gonna kill you. He pulls out his gun and aims it at one of them, then the others. All instinctively try to cover their heads. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 20. CONTINUED:49 49 (CONT) RICHIE Pick up the fuckin glass! As they dive to their knees to do what they’re told, Laurie walks away with her son, who looks back over his shoulder at his father with his gun out. EXT. BANGKOK - NIGHT50 50 * Frank sits in the back of a motor samlor. Bicycles dart around it like flies. 51 - 52 OMIT 51 - 52 OMIT * INT. SOUL BROTHERS BAR - NIGHT53 53 The clientele is almost exclusively black servicemen on R&R and Asian women. A trio of ex-GI’s plays authentic Southern blues on a small stage. Ham hocks and collard greens come out of the kitchen. Smoke chokes the place. Frank, one of the few men not in uniform, and not drunk or stoned, sits alone at a table with a Coca-Cola and surveys the activity: Dope being rolled. Dope being smoked. Dope being shot. GI’s and prostitutes climbing a staircase. His eyes follow an Army Master Sergeant, moving among the tables as if checking on the GI’s well being. But at some, his hand takes money, leaves in its place packets of powder. The Sergeant feels eyes on him and glances up, catching Frank watching him from across the room. He squints through the smoke at the figure at the table in the shadows, and, in a kind of shock, more to himself - NATE Frank - ? Frank half-lifts his glass to wave, and Nate beams. INT. SOUL BROTHERS BAR - NIGHT54 54 Frank has guests at his table now: his cousin Nate the Sergeant, and two young Asian wise guys. They talk about him in Thai (subtitled): THAI He say how much he wants? NATE He said “a lot.” What that means, I don’t know. Four or five keys? American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 21. CONTINUED:49 49 (CONT) INT. BAMBOO DWELLING - LATER - DAYD56 D56 The Chinese general examines Frank’s papers - passport, visa, bank receipts - and lots of cash - then studies Frank. GENERAL How would you get it into the States? FRANK What do you care? GENERAL Who do you work for in there? FRANK What do you care? GENERAL Who are you really? FRANK It says right there. Frank Lucas. GENERAL I mean, who you represent? FRANK Me. The man doesn’t believe it, but lets it go. GENERAL You think you’re going to take a hundred kilos of heroin into the US and you don’t work for anyone? Someone is going to allow that? Frank shrugs. The general regards one of his men. In Chinese, subtitled: GENERAL I don’t believe a word of this. The general regards the cash and paperwork again for a moment. And, to Frank: GENERAL After this first purchase, if you’re not killed by Marseilles importers - or their people in the States - then what? American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 24. (CONT) FRANK 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. The man regards Frank for a long moment. Glances back to the cash and paperwork again. Finally - GENERAL Of course not. EXT. JUNGLE ARMY LZ - VIETNAM - DAYE56 E56 Torrential monsoon rains. Dripping camouflage. Nate and Frank climb down from the Huey. Frank no longer wears the bandolier. Now a press card dangles from his neck. INT/EXT. TENT / JUNGLE ARMY LZ - LATER - DAYF56 F56 Stripes on the uniform of a black colonel with Nate under a canopy. Outside, in the distance, in the rain, Frank hangs out with some other black servicemen. COLONEL Where’s it now? NATE Bangkok. I can bring it here or anywhere in between. COLONEL A hundred kilos. (Nate nods) I never seen that much dope in one place. NATE It’s bigger than an Amana refrigerator- freezer. INT/EXT. JUNGLE ARMY LZ - LATER - DAYG56 G56 Nate and Frank watch the colonel emerge from the tent and cross through the rain on duck-boards to another tent to speak with a white officer, a 2-star general. NATE Fifty grand. In advance. That’ll cover them, the pilots and the guys on the other end. FRANK Give them a hundred. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 25. CONTINUED:D56 D56 (CONT) NATE Fifty, to cover them all. FRANK A hundred. And it’s all I got left. So if that dope doesn’t arrive, for whatever reason - (embraces Nate and whispers) Cousin or no cousin - don’t let me down. He holds out a business envelope fat with money. Nate hesitates, knowing Frank has just said he’ll kill him if things don’t go right, then takes it. NATE I’ll let you know when it’s in the air. INT. RICHIE’S APARTMENT - NEWARK - DAWN56 56 The nurse/paramedic who stitched up his hand is in Richie’s bed making so much noise he’s worried someone will call the cops. The phone rings. And won’t stop. Neither will the nurse as Richie answers it - RIVERA V/O * Richie? Richie, I’m in trouble. This fuckin guy “made” me - I don’t know how but he did. He went for his gun. I had to do it, I swear to God. Now they’re going to kill me. Richie can hear in Sander’s voice how serious it is and manages to disentangle himself from the woman. RICHIE Who. RIVERA V/O * There’s a hundred people out there heard the shots. You gotta help me. You gotta do something. RICHIE Is he dead? RIVERA V/O * He’s dead. I’m dead. They’re gonna kill me. RICHIE Where are you? Javy, where are you? * American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 26. CONTINUED:G56 G56 (CONT) RIVERA * What? What are you talking about? Richie rips Rivera’s jacket pockets. Money spills out. * RICHIE This. Where’d this come from? RIVERA * What. That’s my money. I’ve never taken dirty money in my life. RICHIE You lying piece of shit - RIVERA * Maybe the occasional gratuity. Like anybody else. You’re going to tell me that’s wrong? RICHIE Yeah. RIVERA * No, it isn’t. It’s part of the salary for getting shot at. For that, certain courtesies are shown. In gratitude - * Richie, disgusted with him, lets go of him. Rivera is * embarrassed, almost crying, pleading - * RIVERA * A discount on a TV, a Doughboy in the * backyard, a new dress for your girlfriend * maybe once a year. I’m talking about not * living in fucking poverty. You want to * call that wrong, call it wrong. RICHIE * It’s wrong. * RIVERA * Then goddamn it, pay me fifty grand a * year, you son of a bitch. Pay me what I deserve for getting shot at. No? Fine. Next time four guys come into your place with sawed-off shotguns, you take care of it. RICHIE You robbed him, and then you shot him, and I helped you get out of there. How many more you shot? American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 29. CONTINUED:A60 A60 (CONT) Rivera suddenly tries to get tough - * RIVERA * You know what, Richie? Fuck you, you make that kind of accusation against your own kind. And you know why. He takes out his car keys, turns to leave. Comes past * Richie who grabs his arm and pushes the sleeve up exposing a * line of puncture scabs and scars. RICHIE You’re a disgrace. RIVERA * I’m a leper. Because I listened to you and turned in a million fucking dollars. You know who’ll work with me after that? Same as you. No one. Richie squeezes Rivera’s hand around the car key. * RICHIE Don’t look down there. Look here. (at Richie’s eyes) You ever fuckin threaten me again, I’ll kill you. Richie squeezes Sander’s hand so hard the car key cuts through the skin, drawing blood. 60 - 69 OMIT 60 - 69 OMIT EXT. ARMY BASE, NEW JERSEY - DUSK70 70 Silence. Marshland. A beat-up Chevy parked alongside a perimeter fence. Frank waits by the car as a military Jeep with its lights out comes across a firing range. It slows, stops. In it, the silhouettes of three servicemen, black, armed with M-16’s. Silence again, before: ARMY CAPTAIN Open the trunk. Frank does it, then stands aside as the other servicemen drag four large taped-up duffel bags from the Jeep to his car, lift them into his trunk and slam it shut. INT. FRANK’S APARTMENT - LATER - NIGHT71 71 The duffel bags, still closed, on a table. Frank regards them, nursing a drink, putting off the moment of discovery that he has perhaps spent his life’s savings on nothing. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 30. CONTINUED:A60 A60 (CONT) The German shepherd watches as Frank removes the tape from one of the bags. He pulls it open - has almost no reaction - except to breathe again - then opens the next, and the next. And we see: Several brick-like packages of No. 4 heroin wrapped in paper marked with Chinese writing, stamped with a label: two lions on their hind legs, paws on a globe, and, in English: DOUBLE UOGLOBE BRAND 100%. INT. FRANK’S APARTMENT - LATER - DAWNA72 A72 * The duffel bags are elsewhere. The only evidence of any drugs is the small amount Frank has given a chemist - who looks like a Harvard student - to test. It responds * instantly. The young man looks at Frank. * CHEMIST Typically what I see is 25 to 45 * percent pure. I’ve never seen anything * like this. No alkaloids, no adulterants, * no dilutents. It’s a hundred percent. * May I? * The chemist opens a leather travel syringe kit to shoot up, * but Frank gives him some to take home instead. * FRANK * Take it with you. I don’t want to have * to call the coroner. * The chemist gathers his things to leave, offering a last * piece of advice - * CHEMIST * Store it in a cool, dark place. * EXT. GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA - DUSK72 72 A clapboard house set down on a piece of land that was probably once worked by sharecroppers. An elderly woman framed in a lit kitchen window, doing dishes. Dark yew trees and scavenged, discarded cars and car parts like patches of rusty snow. Crickets and bullfrogs. From a mound of dirt, a young man hurls a baseball to another with a catcher’s mitt exactly sixty feet away. The kid’s got a major league arm. Legend: Greensboro, North Carolina A glow spills out from a detached shed where a short man in his early 30’s works on a stock car. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 31. CONTINUED:71 71 (CONT) RICHIE Not enough. But she wants to make it * never. * SHEILA * Yeah, all right. Give me a twenty. * (Richie doesn’t reach for * his wallet) * Well, I’m not going to sit here all day. * She takes a twenty from her purse and carries it up to the * judge’s assistant clipped to their paperwork. * BAILIFF All rise - EXT. HOUSE - TEANECK, NEW JERSEY - DAY74 74 Frank and the dog in the back yard of a suburban house. His neighbors - those he can see - are white. He hears a sound - cars arriving - and crosses toward the house where a sold “For Sale” sign leans against a half-built kennel. Out front, a caravan of cars and pickup trucks - North Carolina plates - loaded with boxes and suitcases - has just arrived. Exhausted from the drive but excited to be here, the travelers climb out: Frank’s five brothers, their wives and kids, and their mother. Teddy thinks it’s the right place. The others aren’t as sure. The house is too nice. There’s a new Lincoln Towncar parked outside the garage. They’ll probably be shot for trespassing. The front door opens and Frank comes out, trailed by his dog. He first gathers his mother in an embrace, then each of his startled brothers. INT. FRANK’S TEANECK HOUSE - LATER - DAY75 75 The house is alive with the noise of family and scent of home-cooked food as the extended Lucas clan - there’s more than twenty of them - sits around a big dining room table passing the platters around. Frank, at the head of the table, clearly loves having them all here. TURNER He got an arm on him. Major League arm, ain’t that right. Everyone agrees as Turner’s son - Frank’s nephew - the 18- year-old boy seen pitching in the North Carolina back yard - tries to shrug. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 34. CONTINUED:73 73 (CONT) FRANK You show me after supper. TURNER You can’t catch him. He’ll take your head off. We’re talking 95-mile-an-hour. You know how fast that is? You see the ball leave his hand, and that’s the last you see it before it knocks you down. FRANK (smiling; happy) Is that right. INT. FRANK’S TEANECK HOUSE - LATER - DAY76 76 The wonderful noise continues downstairs as Frank leads his mother on a tour of the upstairs. The place is a showroom of traditional Americana. FRANK This is your room. Mrs. Lucas is in awe of the splendor of the bedroom and its furnishings. It’s unlike anything she’s used ever seen - not Graceland exactly - but not far off. Her eyes settle on an old vanity dotted with French perfume bottles. MRS. LUCAS How did you ... FRANK I had it made. From memory. MRS. LUCAS You were five when they took it away. How could you remember it? FRANK I remember. She’s stunned. Touches the reproduction of the vanity her son last saw more than thirty years ago. MRS. LUCAS It’s perfect. (looks at the room) It’s all perfect. (she looks at him) I’m so proud of you. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 35. CONTINUED:75 75 American Gangster by Steven Zaillian FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT (AG 16) July 27, 2006 EXT. JAZZ CLUB - DAY1 1 A tall, handsome man in a dark suit emerges from a Lincoln Towncar and enters a small, basement R&B/Jazz club. INT. JAZZ CLUB - DAY2 2 He approaches a booth, says something in the din to the men there, then calmly shoots them and exits. AMERICAN GANGSTER EXT. HARLEM STREET - DAY (NOVEMBER)3 3 Bumpy Johnson, an elderly but still sturdy black man, elegantly dressed - cashmere overcoat, gloves, Homburg - stands in falling snow atop a flatbed truck - as he does every Thanksgiving - tossing down turkeys to the poor - like a benign king. Legend: Harlem A younger man, the gunman from the club - Frank Lucas - Bumpy's driver/bodyguard/collector/protege - watches from below. INT/EXT. STREET / DISCOUNT EMPORIUM - DAY (NOVEMBER)4 4 Whispering gunfire from a television set veiled by foreground snow: Soldiers in the jungles of Vietnam in 1970. A rich, cultured, authoritative voice offers: BUMPY O/S This is the problem. This is what’s wrong with America. The war footage multiplies by twenty: a stack of TVs with price tags dangling from the knobs behind a display window. BUMPY O/S It’s gotten so big you can’t find your way. People on the sidewalk, out of respect or fear, part to let Frank and Bumpy and Bumpy’s German shepherd pass. BUMPY The corner grocery’s a supermarket. Candy store’s a MacDonald’s. And this place. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 1. (MORE) (CONT) Frank doesn’t say. It feels unseemly to him to be talking about money here. He watches Tango carelessly set a watery glass of ice on an antique inlaid chess table. BANKER Bumpy set something up for you? Frank excuses himself without an answer, crosses to where Tango left the glass, and sets it on a coaster. TANGO Hey, Frank, get me an ashtray while you’re at it. Bumpy’s German shepherd watches as Frank reaches into his jacket, revealing a gun nestled in its shoulder holster. He takes out a handkerchief, wipes the condensation dry, opens a drawer and removes an ashtray. He holds it out to Tango - who isn’t sure it’s not a dare and decides to wander off. CHARLIE I know you’re hurting, Frank. So am I. Frank sits back down with Charlie Williams, an older dope man. CHARLIE You going to be all right? FRANK Yeah. CHARLIE I’m sure Bumpy never told you, but he made me promise, anything ever happened to him, I’d make sure you didn’t go without. FRANK 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. CHARLIE That’s the spirit. Go get them. On the TV, over archive film and photographs of crime figures from the 1940’s and ‘50’s, the opinion is offered that Bumpy’s death “marks the end of an era ...” American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 4. CONTINUED:6 6 INT. CLASSROOM - NIGHTA7 A7 A figure, his back to us, walks slowly toward a blackboard like a man to the gallows. RICHIE V.O. I live in fear of hearing my name * called. * PROFESSOR Mr. Roberts, Give us U.S. vs. Meade - * RICHIE V.O. * Of walking up there, turning around, * knowing every one of them knows more * than I do - * PROFESSOR * Subject, issues, what the determination * was and what it means to us today. * Richie Roberts turns and faces his classmates, all of them a decade or more younger than him. EXT. MOTEL - NEW JERSEY - DAY7 7 Harlem’s jagged teeth skyline juts across the river at the other end of the George Washington Bridge. On this side - a sledgehammer gripped in Richie’s fist, on the move, suddenly fills the frame. RICHIE * You know the Number 1 fear of most * people isn’t dying; it’s public speaking. * They get physically ill. They throw up. * RIVERA * And that’s what you want to do for a living. RICHIE I don’t like being like that. I want to * beat it. Armed with the sledgehammer, Richie and his partner - Javy * Rivera - come past a seedy motel office where a TV shows * another report about Bumpy Johnson. Legend: New Jersey A motel clerk looks up, glimpses the sledgehammer - American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 5. (CONT) CLERK Hey - Rivera flashes a New Jersey detective’s shield without * breaking stride. Takes a subpoena out of another pocket. * RIVERA * Who’s going to do this? * RICHIE He knows me, he’ll take it from me. * I’ve known him since high school. * RIVERA * Just throw it in, he doesn’t take it. * That’s good service. * They reach a particular motel room door. Rivera knocks. * The door opens the length of a chain, revealing a wise guy in an undershirt, who, when he sees the subpoena, start to * close the door - * RIVERA * Throw it - * As Richie flings the subpoena in, the door slams on his * hand. He wails in agony, tries to shoulder it open, hears * the dead bolt lock on the other side, feels Campizi’s teeth * bite into his fingers, watches his blood run down the frame. * RIVERA * Down - * Richie hangs down from his hand as the sledgehammer swings * past his head shattering the door - * INT/EXT. MOTEL ROOM - CONTINUOUS8 8 The door rips from its hinges and the detectives crash in. The wise guy - Campizi - hurries for the bathroom, slams the * door. This one’s hollow and the detectives more easily * break through it - * Campizi tries to climb out the bathroom window. Richie * grabs him, throws him into the shower stall, taking the plastic curtain down with them, smearing it with blood as Richie beats at him before Rivera can pull him off. * INT. AMBULANCE - MOVING - DAY9 9 A male paramedic attends to Campizi’s bloodied face while a female paramedic cleans Richie’s bloodied hand. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 6. CONTINUED:7 7 (CONT) INT. ITALIAN BAR - NY - DAY17 17 Frank comes into an empty bar, chairs up on tables. A middle-aged man mopping up glances up at him as he crosses to a back room. ROSSI V/O They seize it, arrest everybody, whack it up and sell it back to us. Our dope. They been living off it for years, these New York cops. INT. ITALIAN BAR - BACK ROOM - NY - DAY18 18 Several ounces of the dope sits in foreground on a table. ROSSI They basically control the market with it. What the fuck has happened to the world, Frank? FRANK Fuckin crooks. Rossi, who looks more like a middle-aged accountant than the Italian dope supplier he is, makes two espressos. ROSSI Sad about Bumpy. Behind Frank, a TV airs a report by Walter Cronkite on the heroin problem among GIs in Vietnam. ROSSI Things are never going to be the same in Harlem. The girls, the clubs, the music - walk down the street, nobody bothers you because Bumpy’s making sure of it. (hands Frank one of the espressos) How bad is it there now? FLASHCUTS TO HARLEM18pt 18pt Guys barge into a room, steal money from a crap game at gunpoint - Cops push guys against a bar, empty their pockets - A dealer shoots another dealer in an alley - BACK TO THE HOTEL ROOM18pt 18pt FRANK It’s chaos. Every gorilla for himself. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 9. (CONT) ROSSI Who can live like that? There has to be order. That would never happen with Italians. More important than any one man’s life - is order. EXT. HARLEM - DAY19 19 A street sign on a corner: 116th and 8th Avenue. INT. DINER - HARLEM - DAY20 20 As is his custom, Frank eats breakfast alone. A middle- aged waitress appears when he’s done, picks up his plate and refills his coffee. FRANK Thank you, Charlene. Last one. CHARLENE It’s all right with me, Frank, you can stay all day if you want, but I wouldn’t. It’s nice outside. FRANK Then maybe I’ll have to go for a walk. Just cause you said so. She smiles and leaves. Frank pours some sugar in his coffee. Someone taps on the window and he looks up, sees two servicemen - one in uniform - one he recognizes. INT. REDTOP’S APARTMENT BUILDING - DAY21 21 Frank leads the servicemen up the stairs of a building. INT. REDTOP’S APARTMENT - DAY22 22 Corner apartment above the street. A girl sits smoking at a work table covered with drug-cutting apparatus. Another - Frank’s cutter and sometimes-girlfriend, Red Top - sets a couple of packets of heroin in front of the servicemen. RED TOP On the house for our men in uniform. SERVICEMAN 1 Why, thank you, sugar, that’s very kind. RED TOP Thank Frank. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 10. CONTINUED:18pt 18pt (CONT) Frank nods, you’re welcome before the man can thank him. The servicemen start cooking up the dope. FRANK How’s Nate? You seen him? SERVICEMAN 1 All the time. Nate is everywhere. He’s good. Got himself a club now. FRANK Where, Saigon? SERVICEMAN 1 Bangkok. SERVICEMAN 2 I don’t think he’s ever coming home. Regarding the dope as the servicemen shoot it up - FRANK You’re gonna have to boot it a couple times. Cops keep cutting it, selling it, cutting it - SERVICEMAN 1 I don’t want to say anything cause the price is right - but the shit in Nam is way, way, way, way, way - He begins to nod out before he can finish the sentence. 23 OMIT 23 OMIT EXT. SOCIAL CLUB - NEWARK - LATE AFTERNOON24 24 Across the river, Richie, Rivera and Campizi sit in the car * parked across from a closed social club. A man carrying a grocery bag comes out and Campizi ducks lower in the seat. CAMPIZI That’s him. Newsboy Moriarty's mob accountant puts the grocery bag in the trunk of a car, climbs in behind the wheel. EXT. NEWARK - SCRAP METAL YARD - LATE AFTERNOON25 25 From the parked car they observe the accountant putting another bag in his trunk. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 11. CONTINUED:22 22 RICHIE Check inside. Rivera may as well; the damage to the case, if there is one * anymore, is done. He crawls inside the car to look under the seats and in the glove compartment. Gravely - RICHIE Javy ... * Richie’s staring into the trunk like there’s a body inside. Rivera comes over, takes a look, sees it’s money: stacks of * it rubber-banded together, spilling from grocery bags - more * than either of them has ever seen. As the trunk closes - * EXT. PARKING LOT / RICHIE’S CAR - LATER - NIGHT29 29 * Richie and Rivera sit in their car in silence, staring out * at the car with the money in it. Eventually - * RICHIE This isn’t a couple of bucks. RIVERA * It’s the same thing. In principle. RICHIE We’re talking about principle? RIVERA * Richie, a cop who turns in this kind of money says one thing: He’ll turn in cops who take money. We’ll be pariahs. RICHIE We’re fucked either way. RIVERA * Not if we keep it. Only if we don’t. Then we’re fucked, you’re right. But not if we keep it. RICHIE (more to himself) Yes, we are. RIVERA * Goddamn it, did we ask for this? Did we put a gun to someone’s head and say, Give us your money? Cops kill cops they can’t * trust. We can’t turn it in. * They regard each other again in silence ... American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 14. CONTINUED:28 28 INT. NEWARK POLICE STATION - LATER - NIGHT30 30 As a police captain counts the stacks of money, Lou Toback, Richie’s superior from the prosecutors office, walks in, his night out interrupted by this emergency. He crossed to where Richie and Rivera sit alone in a corner. Quietly: * TOBACK How much. RICHIE Nine hundred and eighty thousand. TOBACK What happened to the rest? It’s a joke but isn’t funny, not even to Toback. He regards his men who turned it in, then the other cops in the place - who are watching them and the money being counted. Toback walks over to the captain, and, quietly: TOBACK What’re you doing counting this in front * of everybody? Are you out of your fuckin mind? Take it into a room. Now. Richie’s glance to Rivera says, You’re right, we’re fucked. * INT/EXT. NEWARK POLICE STATION - PRE-DAWN31 31 As Richie leaves alone, he’s aware of all the eyes on him - knowing the other cops’ looks don’t signify awe or respect, but contempt and fear, like Rivera predicted. Neither will * ever be trusted again. He climbs into his car, drives off. INT. DINER - HARLEM - DAY32 32 Tango and his bodyguard come in and approach Frank’s table where he reads the morning paper as he eats breakfast. TANGO Didn’t you see the jar, Frank? I think you walked right past it. Frank ignores him, forks at his eggs, eats. Tango sits. TANGO The money jar. On the corner. What I got to do, put a sign on it? Frank indicates that he would answer if his mouth wasn’t full. He swallows finally, but then only reaches for his coffee cup to take a sip, further irritating Tango. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 15. (CONT) TANGO Bumpy don’t own 116th Street no more, Frank. Bumpy don’t own no real estate in Harlem no more. I’m the landlord now and the lease is twenty-percent. Frank dabs at his mouth with a napkin and gives Tango a look that says that won’t be happening. TANGO Then don’t sell dope, Frank. Get a fuckin job. You need a job? You can be my driver, drive me around, open my door, yes, sir, no sir, where to, sir, right away, Massa Johnson, sir. Right now Tango is dead. No doubt about it. On the surface, though, Frank remains cool. FRANK Twenty percent? TANGO Of every dollar. Every VIG, every truckload, every girl, every ounce. In the jar. FRANK 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. (reaches for his breakfast check) There are ways to make money legitimately, and then there’s this way. Not even Bumpy took twenty percent. TANGO Bumpy’s fuckin dead. Frank regards Tango a moment, gets up, takes out his money clip, covers the check on the table with a five, peels off a $1 bill from the clip, tosses it down in front of Tango. FRANK There. That’s twenty-percent. As he turns and leaves, Tango watches after him ... American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 16. CONTINUED:32 32 INT. CHEMICAL BANK - VICE PRESIDENT’S OFFICE - DAY46 46 Under portraits of bank Vice Presidents before him, the man types out a Chemical Bank check for Frank for $400,000. * 47 - 48 OMIT 47 - 48 OMIT EXT. PARK - NEWARK - DAY - SAME TIME49 49 The sound of the plane growls and fades overhead as Richie’s ex-wife keeps an eye on their son playing on a grassy area. RICHIE I’m sorry. LAURIE I don’t know, Richie. RICHIE It couldn’t be avoided. Next weekend I’ll be able to take him. She regards him with a weary look, but he’s looking over at one of the other - better-looking - moms in the park. LAURIE I’m moving. He looks back, not sure he heard right. RICHIE What? Where? LAURIE To the St. Regis, what do you care. (pause) My sister’s. RICHIE Your sister’s. In Vegas? He glances away to a sound: shattering glass. Some teen- agers breaking bottles on the ground. RICHIE You can’t move to Vegas. Not with Michael anyway. LAURIE What am I supposed to do with him? Leave him with you? There’s a picture. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 19. (CONT) RICHIE (to the vandals) Hey, you want to shut up over there? The teenagers ignore him. He tries to ignore them, but it’s hard with the constant noise. RICHIE No court will allow it for one thing. I won’t allow it. LAURIE You? RICHIE When am I supposed to see my son? LAURIE Last weekend! Their son glances over at them. Richie looks over at the teenagers again breaking bottles, then back to Laurie. RICHIE Laurie, you can’t raise a kid in Las Vegas. * LAURIE Oh, like this is a good environment. Around your friends. There are less * creeps in Vegas. * RICHIE What’s he going to grow up to be in a * mobbed up place like that? What are you * thinking? LAURIE I’m thinking - Richie - of him! RICHIE Goddamn it - The noise of the glass is driving him crazy. He strides over to the teenagers, who look at him like, What are you gonna do, old man, it’s four against one. RICHIE I told you nice to shut the fuck up. Now I’m gonna kill you. He pulls out his gun and aims it at one of them, then the others. All instinctively try to cover their heads. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 20. CONTINUED:49 49 (CONT) RICHIE Pick up the fuckin glass! As they dive to their knees to do what they’re told, Laurie walks away with her son, who looks back over his shoulder at his father with his gun out. EXT. BANGKOK - NIGHT50 50 * Frank sits in the back of a motor samlor. Bicycles dart around it like flies. 51 - 52 OMIT 51 - 52 OMIT * INT. SOUL BROTHERS BAR - NIGHT53 53 The clientele is almost exclusively black servicemen on R&R and Asian women. A trio of ex-GI’s plays authentic Southern blues on a small stage. Ham hocks and collard greens come out of the kitchen. Smoke chokes the place. Frank, one of the few men not in uniform, and not drunk or stoned, sits alone at a table with a Coca-Cola and surveys the activity: Dope being rolled. Dope being smoked. Dope being shot. GI’s and prostitutes climbing a staircase. His eyes follow an Army Master Sergeant, moving among the tables as if checking on the GI’s well being. But at some, his hand takes money, leaves in its place packets of powder. The Sergeant feels eyes on him and glances up, catching Frank watching him from across the room. He squints through the smoke at the figure at the table in the shadows, and, in a kind of shock, more to himself - NATE Frank - ? Frank half-lifts his glass to wave, and Nate beams. INT. SOUL BROTHERS BAR - NIGHT54 54 Frank has guests at his table now: his cousin Nate the Sergeant, and two young Asian wise guys. They talk about him in Thai (subtitled): THAI He say how much he wants? NATE He said “a lot.” What that means, I don’t know. Four or five keys? American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 21. CONTINUED:49 49 (CONT) INT. BAMBOO DWELLING - LATER - DAYD56 D56 The Chinese general examines Frank’s papers - passport, visa, bank receipts - and lots of cash - then studies Frank. GENERAL How would you get it into the States? FRANK What do you care? GENERAL Who do you work for in there? FRANK What do you care? GENERAL Who are you really? FRANK It says right there. Frank Lucas. GENERAL I mean, who you represent? FRANK Me. The man doesn’t believe it, but lets it go. GENERAL You think you’re going to take a hundred kilos of heroin into the US and you don’t work for anyone? Someone is going to allow that? Frank shrugs. The general regards one of his men. In Chinese, subtitled: GENERAL I don’t believe a word of this. The general regards the cash and paperwork again for a moment. And, to Frank: GENERAL After this first purchase, if you’re not killed by Marseilles importers - or their people in the States - then what? American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 24. (CONT) FRANK 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. The man regards Frank for a long moment. Glances back to the cash and paperwork again. Finally - GENERAL Of course not. EXT. JUNGLE ARMY LZ - VIETNAM - DAYE56 E56 Torrential monsoon rains. Dripping camouflage. Nate and Frank climb down from the Huey. Frank no longer wears the bandolier. Now a press card dangles from his neck. INT/EXT. TENT / JUNGLE ARMY LZ - LATER - DAYF56 F56 Stripes on the uniform of a black colonel with Nate under a canopy. Outside, in the distance, in the rain, Frank hangs out with some other black servicemen. COLONEL Where’s it now? NATE Bangkok. I can bring it here or anywhere in between. COLONEL A hundred kilos. (Nate nods) I never seen that much dope in one place. NATE It’s bigger than an Amana refrigerator- freezer. INT/EXT. JUNGLE ARMY LZ - LATER - DAYG56 G56 Nate and Frank watch the colonel emerge from the tent and cross through the rain on duck-boards to another tent to speak with a white officer, a 2-star general. NATE Fifty grand. In advance. That’ll cover them, the pilots and the guys on the other end. FRANK Give them a hundred. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 25. CONTINUED:D56 D56 (CONT) NATE Fifty, to cover them all. FRANK A hundred. And it’s all I got left. So if that dope doesn’t arrive, for whatever reason - (embraces Nate and whispers) Cousin or no cousin - don’t let me down. He holds out a business envelope fat with money. Nate hesitates, knowing Frank has just said he’ll kill him if things don’t go right, then takes it. NATE I’ll let you know when it’s in the air. INT. RICHIE’S APARTMENT - NEWARK - DAWN56 56 The nurse/paramedic who stitched up his hand is in Richie’s bed making so much noise he’s worried someone will call the cops. The phone rings. And won’t stop. Neither will the nurse as Richie answers it - RIVERA V/O * Richie? Richie, I’m in trouble. This fuckin guy “made” me - I don’t know how but he did. He went for his gun. I had to do it, I swear to God. Now they’re going to kill me. Richie can hear in Sander’s voice how serious it is and manages to disentangle himself from the woman. RICHIE Who. RIVERA V/O * There’s a hundred people out there heard the shots. You gotta help me. You gotta do something. RICHIE Is he dead? RIVERA V/O * He’s dead. I’m dead. They’re gonna kill me. RICHIE Where are you? Javy, where are you? * American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 26. CONTINUED:G56 G56 (CONT) RIVERA * What? What are you talking about? Richie rips Rivera’s jacket pockets. Money spills out. * RICHIE This. Where’d this come from? RIVERA * What. That’s my money. I’ve never taken dirty money in my life. RICHIE You lying piece of shit - RIVERA * Maybe the occasional gratuity. Like anybody else. You’re going to tell me that’s wrong? RICHIE Yeah. RIVERA * No, it isn’t. It’s part of the salary for getting shot at. For that, certain courtesies are shown. In gratitude - * Richie, disgusted with him, lets go of him. Rivera is * embarrassed, almost crying, pleading - * RIVERA * A discount on a TV, a Doughboy in the * backyard, a new dress for your girlfriend * maybe once a year. I’m talking about not * living in fucking poverty. You want to * call that wrong, call it wrong. RICHIE * It’s wrong. * RIVERA * Then goddamn it, pay me fifty grand a * year, you son of a bitch. Pay me what I deserve for getting shot at. No? Fine. Next time four guys come into your place with sawed-off shotguns, you take care of it. RICHIE You robbed him, and then you shot him, and I helped you get out of there. How many more you shot? American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 29. CONTINUED:A60 A60 (CONT) Rivera suddenly tries to get tough - * RIVERA * You know what, Richie? Fuck you, you make that kind of accusation against your own kind. And you know why. He takes out his car keys, turns to leave. Comes past * Richie who grabs his arm and pushes the sleeve up exposing a * line of puncture scabs and scars. RICHIE You’re a disgrace. RIVERA * I’m a leper. Because I listened to you and turned in a million fucking dollars. You know who’ll work with me after that? Same as you. No one. Richie squeezes Rivera’s hand around the car key. * RICHIE Don’t look down there. Look here. (at Richie’s eyes) You ever fuckin threaten me again, I’ll kill you. Richie squeezes Sander’s hand so hard the car key cuts through the skin, drawing blood. 60 - 69 OMIT 60 - 69 OMIT EXT. ARMY BASE, NEW JERSEY - DUSK70 70 Silence. Marshland. A beat-up Chevy parked alongside a perimeter fence. Frank waits by the car as a military Jeep with its lights out comes across a firing range. It slows, stops. In it, the silhouettes of three servicemen, black, armed with M-16’s. Silence again, before: ARMY CAPTAIN Open the trunk. Frank does it, then stands aside as the other servicemen drag four large taped-up duffel bags from the Jeep to his car, lift them into his trunk and slam it shut. INT. FRANK’S APARTMENT - LATER - NIGHT71 71 The duffel bags, still closed, on a table. Frank regards them, nursing a drink, putting off the moment of discovery that he has perhaps spent his life’s savings on nothing. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 30. CONTINUED:A60 A60 (CONT) The German shepherd watches as Frank removes the tape from one of the bags. He pulls it open - has almost no reaction - except to breathe again - then opens the next, and the next. And we see: Several brick-like packages of No. 4 heroin wrapped in paper marked with Chinese writing, stamped with a label: two lions on their hind legs, paws on a globe, and, in English: DOUBLE UOGLOBE BRAND 100%. INT. FRANK’S APARTMENT - LATER - DAWNA72 A72 * The duffel bags are elsewhere. The only evidence of any drugs is the small amount Frank has given a chemist - who looks like a Harvard student - to test. It responds * instantly. The young man looks at Frank. * CHEMIST Typically what I see is 25 to 45 * percent pure. I’ve never seen anything * like this. No alkaloids, no adulterants, * no dilutents. It’s a hundred percent. * May I? * The chemist opens a leather travel syringe kit to shoot up, * but Frank gives him some to take home instead. * FRANK * Take it with you. I don’t want to have * to call the coroner. * The chemist gathers his things to leave, offering a last * piece of advice - * CHEMIST * Store it in a cool, dark place. * EXT. GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA - DUSK72 72 A clapboard house set down on a piece of land that was probably once worked by sharecroppers. An elderly woman framed in a lit kitchen window, doing dishes. Dark yew trees and scavenged, discarded cars and car parts like patches of rusty snow. Crickets and bullfrogs. From a mound of dirt, a young man hurls a baseball to another with a catcher’s mitt exactly sixty feet away. The kid’s got a major league arm. Legend: Greensboro, North Carolina A glow spills out from a detached shed where a short man in his early 30’s works on a stock car. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 31. CONTINUED:71 71 (CONT) RICHIE Not enough. But she wants to make it * never. * SHEILA * Yeah, all right. Give me a twenty. * (Richie doesn’t reach for * his wallet) * Well, I’m not going to sit here all day. * She takes a twenty from her purse and carries it up to the * judge’s assistant clipped to their paperwork. * BAILIFF All rise - EXT. HOUSE - TEANECK, NEW JERSEY - DAY74 74 Frank and the dog in the back yard of a suburban house. His neighbors - those he can see - are white. He hears a sound - cars arriving - and crosses toward the house where a sold “For Sale” sign leans against a half-built kennel. Out front, a caravan of cars and pickup trucks - North Carolina plates - loaded with boxes and suitcases - has just arrived. Exhausted from the drive but excited to be here, the travelers climb out: Frank’s five brothers, their wives and kids, and their mother. Teddy thinks it’s the right place. The others aren’t as sure. The house is too nice. There’s a new Lincoln Towncar parked outside the garage. They’ll probably be shot for trespassing. The front door opens and Frank comes out, trailed by his dog. He first gathers his mother in an embrace, then each of his startled brothers. INT. FRANK’S TEANECK HOUSE - LATER - DAY75 75 The house is alive with the noise of family and scent of home-cooked food as the extended Lucas clan - there’s more than twenty of them - sits around a big dining room table passing the platters around. Frank, at the head of the table, clearly loves having them all here. TURNER He got an arm on him. Major League arm, ain’t that right. Everyone agrees as Turner’s son - Frank’s nephew - the 18- year-old boy seen pitching in the North Carolina back yard - tries to shrug. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 34. CONTINUED:73 73 (CONT) FRANK You show me after supper. TURNER You can’t catch him. He’ll take your head off. We’re talking 95-mile-an-hour. You know how fast that is? You see the ball leave his hand, and that’s the last you see it before it knocks you down. FRANK (smiling; happy) Is that right. INT. FRANK’S TEANECK HOUSE - LATER - DAY76 76 The wonderful noise continues downstairs as Frank leads his mother on a tour of the upstairs. The place is a showroom of traditional Americana. FRANK This is your room. Mrs. Lucas is in awe of the splendor of the bedroom and its furnishings. It’s unlike anything she’s used ever seen - not Graceland exactly - but not far off. Her eyes settle on an old vanity dotted with French perfume bottles. MRS. LUCAS How did you ... FRANK I had it made. From memory. MRS. LUCAS You were five when they took it away. How could you remember it? FRANK I remember. She’s stunned. Touches the reproduction of the vanity her son last saw more than thirty years ago. MRS. LUCAS It’s perfect. (looks at the room) It’s all perfect. (she looks at him) I’m so proud of you. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 35. CONTINUED:75 75 EXT. HUDSON RIVER - DAY77 77 The Statue of Liberty against the New York skyline. FRANK V/O The man I worked for ran one of the biggest companies in New York City for almost fifty years. EXT. HARLEM - DAY78 78 As Frank leads his brothers down the sidewalk, the Towncar that was parked at the Teaneck house, driven by Frank’s body- guard, Doc, follows alongside at the same pace they walk. FRANK I was with him every day for fifteen of them, looking after him, taking care of things, protecting him, learning from him. The brothers can’t help but notice the storekeepers who wave to Frank, the women who smile, the men who step out of his path like there’s a red carpet under his polished shoes. FRANK 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. INT/EXT. REDTOP’S APARTMENT BUILDING - HARLEM - DAY79 79 Frank leads his brothers up the stairs and down the hall. FRANK Nobody owns me. Because I own my company. INTERCUT: Feminine hands stamp small packets of blue cellophane with the words ‘Blue Magic’ - FRANK And my company sells a product that’s better than the competition’s at a price that’s lower. Frank stops outside an apartment door. TEDDY What are we selling, Frank? American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 36. (CONT) RICHIE Beth. The medical examiner slides open another cadaver drawer containing her body. Richie stares at it. DETECTIVE Should’ve seen their place. Like animals lived there. RICHIE I have seen it. DETECTIVE (to the examiner) Chose a good night, huh? Grand Central Station in here. MEDICAL EXAMINER It’s been like this. I’m lucky I get home before midnight; lots of careless- ness. Richie regards Rivera’s personal effects resting on his * chest in a plastic bag: few bucks, the Corvette key, a half- empty packet of heroin in blue cellophane. Richie takes the blue cellophane from the bag and, as the drawer closes entombing Sanders, holds it in his hand ... REPORTER V/O Heroin addiction is no longer exclusive to big city neighborhoods; it’s epidemic - TIME CUT. A TELEVISION:85 85 The reports shows lawmakers on Capitol Hill juxtaposed against images of inner-cities, junkies, homicide victims and, perhaps most telling, white suburbia. REPORTER ON TV Since 1965, law enforcement has watched its steady increase and with it a rise in violent crime. Now unaccountably, it has exploded, reaching into cities as a whole - our suburbs and towns - our schools. INT. POLICE GYM - DAY The TV is in a small police gym where Richie lifts weights, very much aware of his pariah status as out-of-shape cops * come in, only to leave again when they see him. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 39. CONTINUED:84 84 (CONT) REPORTER ON TV Someone is finally saying: enough. Federal authorities have announced their intention to establish special narcotics bureaus in Washington, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Newark and other major cities - Toback comes in, watches Richie, alone, working out. RICHIE V/O It’s a dog and pony show. * TOBACK V/O It’s not being advertised as one. INT. POLICE GYM - LATER - DAY86 86 * Richie’s changing into his street clothes. RICHIE But it’s federal. I’d have to answer to who? FBI? TOBACK Me and the U.S. Attorney. No one else. No FBI. Hoover knows better than to mix his men with dope. Too much temptation for the feeble-minded. Though he’s not in much of a position to refuse the assignment, Richie still isn’t convinced it’s a good idea. Toback levels with him - TOBACK Richie, a detective who doesn’t have the cooperation of his fellow detectives can’t be effective. RICHIE You know why I don’t have it. TOBACK Doesn’t matter. RICHIE No, they’re all on the take and I’m not * and it doesn’t matter to anyone. Instead of giving you a medal for turning in money, they bury you. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 40. CONTINUED: (CONT) TOBACK It’s fucked up. You’re right. Maybe * this’s an opportunity away from all that. * They regard each other. Eventually - RICHIE I’ll do it, but only like this: I don’t set foot in a police station again. I work out of a place of my own. And I pick my own guys. Guys I know wouldn’t take a nickel off the sidewalk. TOBACK Done. EXT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - DAY87 87 An old building that was once an Episcopal church. INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - DAY88 88 The place has been long abandoned. The city maintenance worker who let Richie in watches him move through the debris- strewn church. INT. PENTHOUSE - NEW YORK - DAY89 89 A real estate broker watches Frank consider the high- ceilinged spaciousness of a grand, unfurnished 50’s modern Upper East Side penthouse - INT. BASEMENT - NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - DAY90 90 Richie regards the colored light thrown down by the stained glass windows - INT. PENTHOUSE - NEW YORK - DAY91 91 Frank regards light streaming in from the garden terrace - INT. MAIN FLOOR - NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - DAY92 92 Richie picks up a faded photograph of a priest in a broken frame. To the maintenance man: RICHIE This is the only floor we’ll be using. INT. PENTHOUSE - NEW YORK - DAY93 93 Frank distractedly opens and closes a 12’ high curtain in one of the rooms - American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 41. CONTINUED:86 86 (CONT) He’s got an armful of New York Times Magazines -with him on the cover, flaunting Gangster Chic. He starts handing them out to the crowd on his way into the club. INT. SMALL’S PARADISE - CONTINUOUS - NIGHT98 98 Joe Louis has come over to speak to Frank at his table. JOE LOUIS It’s a tax thing. It’s a mistake my lawyers will straighten out, but for the time being it’s a headache - FRANK How much you owe? JOE LOUIS It’s nothing, like - fifty grand. Frank isn’t sure if it’s an honor or a curse to have a celebrity like Joe Louis asking to borrow money, but nods. FRANK Sure. Don’t worry about it. JOE LOUIS Thank you. I’ll pay you back soon as - FRANK Joe. It’s a gift. Not a loan. You don’t owe me nothing. Jackie glides into the club with his magazines and entourage. Frank watches him make the rounds, lingering at Miss Puerto Rico’s table and holding her hand longer than he should with his girlfriend on his arm. Frank glances to Teddy wearily, then to Doc, alone at the next table like a sentry. Frank doesn’t have to say he’s ready to leave. Doc knows the look. Gets up. INT. SMALL’S PARADISE - LATER - NIGHT99 99 Frank comes into the coat check area where Doc waits with his overcoat. As Frank slips into it, Miss Puerto Rico - returning from the ladies room - comes through. ANA Hi. I’m Ana. FRANK I’m Frank. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 44. CONTINUED:97 97 (CONT) ANA You’re Frank and this is your place. (he doesn’t say whether it is or not) Why’s it called Small’s? Why don’t you call it Frank’s? FRANK Because I don’t have to. He smiles, and it’s hard to tell which is more enchanted with the other. INT. NIGHTCLUB - NEWARK - SAME TIME - NIGHT100 100 A club across the river. Not nearly as nice as Small’s - much louder - but like Small’s, almost all black. Richie shares a booth with a black undercover detective. RICHIE I’m reluctant to bring anyone in I don’t personally know. SPEARMAN You know me, and I vouch for them. Richie nods, Yeah, he knows that, but remains unconvinced. SPEARMAN Richie, we work together. You want me, you got to take them, too. RICHIE Where are they? Spearman looks out across the crowded dance floor. SPEARMAN That’s Jones. With the skinny white woman. Richie’s glance finds a young black man dancing wildly with his skinny white date. SPEARMAN That’s Abruzzo, with the fat black one. Richie sees a young Italian with tatoos - the only other white man in the place - dancing with a heavy black woman. Both Jones and Abruzzo look more like criminals than cops. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 45. CONTINUED:99 99 (CONT) SPEARMAN Both are good with wires. Have good informants. They’re honest. And they’re fearless. They’ll do anything. They’re insane, Richie, like you. INT. FRANK’S CAR - MOVING - NEW YORK - DAY101 101 Frank sits in back alone. Peers ahead through the windshield. His face relaxes as he sees - EXT. RIVERSIDE - DAY102 102 Ana waiting on a corner, dressed nice, handbag. The Towncar pulls to the curb. FRANK I got it. Frank gets out before Doc can, and escorts Ana to the car. FRANK I hope you weren’t waiting long. A woman as beautiful as you shouldn’t have to wait for anything. He opens the door for her like a perfect gentleman, slides in after her. EXT. MAMA LUCAS’S TEANECK, N.J. HOUSE - DAY103 103 Outside the house, Doc sits in the car reading a newspaper. INT. MAMA LUCAS’S TEANECK, N.J. HOUSE - DAY104 104 Ana considers some family photographs on a mantle. ANA This is your father? Frank shakes his head no. It’s a picture of Bumpy. FRANK You really don’t know who that is? (she doesn’t) It’s Martin Luther King. ANA It is not. FRANK You’re right. He was as important as Dr. King, though. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 46. CONTINUED:100 100 (CONT) RICHIE It’s not true. * INT/EXT. CAR / STREET - NEWARK - DAY107 107 Abruzzo, looking like a junkie, dirty jeans, wool cap, approaches a dealer on the corner. The perspective shifts to Richie, Spearman and Jones in a car, watching as Abruzzo chats briefly with the dealer before the exchange takes place: $10 for a blue-cellophane packet. INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - LATER - DAY108 108 Richie and the others watch Jones tests the heroin. JONES Stuff’s ten percent pure. Strong enough to smoke for all those suburban white kids afraid of needles. The other detectives are exchange a glance. None has ever heard of anything on the street that pure. RICHIE You paid ten bucks for it? JONES And it’s all that’s out there. RICHIE Now, how is that possible? Who can afford to sell shit twice as good for half as much? Richie glances to a Table of Organization: Surveillance photos haphazardly thumb-tacked to a bulletin board - known dope men in the hierarchies of their individual crime families - almost all of them Italian. WOMB TO TOMB SEQUENCE: An R & B song begins and continues over - CLOSE-UPS:109 109 A poppy bulb being pierced, the white liquid oozing, changing into filthy liquids in wooden bowls, and finally a gray paste ... INT. BANK VICE PRESIDENT’S OFFICE - CHEMICAL BANK - DAY110 110 Frank sits with the bank Vice President who wires a transfer to: American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 49. CONTINUED:106 106 INT. BANGKOK BANK - DAY111 111 Where Nate sits with the same Thai bank president as before who converts the transfer to cash. INT. SOUL BROTHERS BAR - BANGKOK - DAY112 112 Nate slides cash across a table to a couple of Chinese gangsters. EXT. JUNGLE ARMY BASE - VIETNAM - DAY113 113 A tent: Nate hands more cash - the military brass’s cut - to the 2-star general from before. An airstrip: Slicing propellers. Wounded soldiers on stretchers, helped onto a transport plane. Nearby, four large crates - Japanese TVs - under cargo netting. The pilot stuffs more cash in a pouch and salutes Nate. TV IMAGE:114 114 General Westmoreland returns a salute (archive). EXT. ARMY BASE - NORTH CAROLINA - DUSK115 115 The same plane on the tarmac here, taxiing. A pile of discarded TV boxes outside a supply warehouse. At the perimeter of the base, black servicemen transfer heavy taped-up duffel bags from an Army Jeep to a station wagon, hoisting those that won’t fit inside onto a roof rack. Two Lucas brothers tie them down with twine. INT/EXT. CAR / HIGHWAY - NEAR WASHINGTON DC - DUSK116 116 The station wagon heading north on a rain-slicked highway, the canvas tarpaulin on top flapping. In the distance, the spire of the Washington monument glows. EXT. DISCOUNT DRUGSTORE - HARLEM - DAY117 117 A black woman pushes a shopping cart containing a baby, Pampers, and cases of milk sugar across a parking lot. INT. RED TOP’S APARTMENT - HARLEM - DAY118 118 Empty milk sugar boxes. Redtop and her five table workers - clothed now, the surgical masks dangling from their necks - wiping down table surfaces, scales and apparatus. Tens of thousands of blue-cellophane packets of heroin neatly cover two of the folding tables. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 50. EXT. HARLEM STREET - DAY119 119 August. Hot. Kids wrench open a fire hydrant and with an empty soda can direct the water into a fountain. The water sprays down onto the windshield of a beat-up Chevy coming slowly through, revealing when it clears, Frank behind the wheel. He parks. Glances at his watch. INT. NYPD 23RD PRECINCT - LOCKER ROOM - DAY120 120 Clock on the wall of a locker area: 3:58. Shift change. Cops in t-shirts. Fans blowing the humid air around. INT/EXT. NYPD 23RD PRECINCT GARAGE - DAY121 121 Blue and whites arriving and leaving, shirts coming off as the cops alight. INT. BUS - MOVING ON 116TH STREET - DAY122 122 The driver checks his watch: 3:59. Turns his almost-empty bus up 8th Avenue. INT/EXT. FRANK’S PARKED CHEVY - HARLEM - DAY123 123 Air conditioner full blast. Radio announcing the time: 4 o’clock. Frank glances out the wet windshield of the Chevy and watches 116th Street transform: It’s as if an outdoor market has just opened its stalls. Junkies and dealers emerging from the alleys, storefronts, tenements and side streets - from the street itself it seems - snarling the cars and delivery trucks caught unaware. Small blue cellophane packets - and only blue - are pulled from pockets and change hands. In alleyways it’s cooked up and sucked into syringes, and in dank, grim, indescribably filthy rooms, plunged into veins - AND THE REVERSE: 124 124 10 and 20 dollar bills changing hands - decks of cash rubber-banded together - put into envelopes and delivered to the Lucas brothers, to: LESTER at his metal door shop. 125 125 EUGENE at his dry cleaners. 126 126 TURNER at his tire service shop. 127 127 EARL at his electrical shop.128 128 American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 51. (CONT) The cop pretends to arrest them all, but what he doesn’t pretend is the hand he puts on Jimmy’s girlfriend’s breast as he frisks her. JIMMY What is that? It was quick but Jimmy saw it, even though his girlfriend didn’t react. The cop, oblivious, is cuffing Teddy now. DETECTIVE I’m taking you all in. JIMMY I said, what the fuck was that? DETECTIVE What was what? The room explodes with a boom and the detective crumples to the floor, clutching at his leg, blood running through his fingers onto the carpet. Frank stares. JIMMY Oh, he’s all right. I just shot him in the leg. You got a health plan, what are you complaining about. He’s fine. Here - (peels off some money) Five hundred all right? Six? Look, he’s feeling better all the time. Suddenly, Frank grabs Jimmy and throws him against the wall. INT. FRANK’S PENTHOUSE APARTMENT - NIGHT133 133 As Ana tries to clean the blood stain on the rug with salt and soda water, Frank sits with his five brothers in the debris-strewn aftermath of the party. Silence before: FRANK I can’t have this kind of stupidity. TEDDY It was an accident. He feels terrible about it. FRANK He doesn’t feel shit, coked up all the time. Get rid of him. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 54. CONTINUED:132 132 (CONT) TEDDY Frank. He’s your cousin. What’s he gonna do? Go back home? I’ll talk to him. I’ll straighten him out. Frank looks at Teddy in his tinted Jackie Fox-like goggle glasses - like he’s going to straighten anybody out. FRANK Gimme those glasses. TEDDY What? Why? Frank pulls them from Teddy’s face and crushes them. INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - DAY134 134 Richie sifts through the morning mail at his desk. Stops * on an envelope from the New Jersey Bar Association. As he * works up the nerve to open it, Spearman, Jones and Abruzzo * organize the Italian wise guys’ photos on the T.O. * JONES Ice Pick Paul goes here - ABRUZZO No, he’s under Benny Two-Socks - JONES No, you’re thinking of Benny the Bishop. Benny Two-Socks is Tosca’s deadbeat son- * in-law. SPEARMAN Jonesy’s right. * Richie comes over, studies the Table of Organization a * moment, then begins untacking the photos from the top down - * JONES What’re you doing? We just - RICHIE * For a cop the uppermost thing is the * arrest. For a prosecutor, the arrest is * nothing without the evidence to convict. * We don’t have any real evidence on anyone * on this board, so they’re coming down. * We’re starting over from the street. * American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 55. CONTINUED:133 133 (CONT) ABRUZZO * What are you, a prosecutor all of a * sudden? * Richie tacks his exam results onto the T.O. He passed. * EXT. STREET - NEWARK - DAY135 135 * Richie and the Amigos observe a buy from a parked car, the blue cellophane changing hands. Ignoring the buyer as he walks away, they keep watching the seller. EXT. GAS STATION / CAR WASH - NEWARK - DAY136 136 The seller is observed coming out of a mechanics garage. Richie ignores him as he walks away, watching instead the garage. Eventually, a mechanic wiping his hands on a rag steps out, and Richie raises a camera. The image of the mechanic - a supplier - freezes - INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - DAY137 137 A slightly-blurred photo of the mechanic goes up on a new, almost bare Table of Organization. * EXT. GAS STATION / CAR WASH - NEWARK - DAY138 138 * Atop of a telephone pole, Abruzzo, dripping with lineman * equipment, works to attach a ‘slave’ to the lines - * INT. STOREFRONT APARTMENT - DAY139 139 Bare room. Richie, Jones and Spearman eating take-out food as tape recorder reels turn. PHONE VOICE Those snow tires you give me last time come in yet? I’m going to want some more of them, gimme one and a half more of them. The detectives laugh. INT. PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE - DAY140 140 Toback has Richie sign a voucher for $20,000 cash. TOBACK This is more than a year’s salary, Richie. If it disappears, I won’t be able to get it for you again. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 56. CONTINUED:134 134 (CONT) From around a corner, striding toward him, come four men looking like Gestapo thugs in leather coats, manicured hair - the Princes of the City. Richie detours into an alley as they enter the restaurant. Richie peers in at the restaurant kitchen through a grimy basement window. Watches Trupo and his SIU detectives burst in, guns drawn. They rough everybody up, get some down on the floor. One detective gathers the money and stuffs it in a bag. Another gathers the dope. The mechanic tries to protest and Trupo slaps him down with his pistol. Richie keeps watching as the NY cops arrest no one - but take the dope and the money (Richie’s money) - and stride out as abruptly as they appeared, like bandits. As they come past Richie - RICHIE That’s my money. SIU DET 1 The fuck are you. What money? Richie shows them his Bureau of Narcotics ID. * RICHIE The bills are sequenced and registered with the Essex County Prosecutors Office. All begin with CF3500. Take a look. One of them checks some of the bills and sees he’s right. SIU DET. 2 Goddamn it, I thought we had a score. I thought I had a fucking Chris-Craft sitting in my driveway. RICHIE Honest mistake. Just give it back to me. SIU DET. 1 This time. Three of the four cops laugh. It’s an affable gang of thieves. The one who doesn’t laugh hangs back as the others start off. He examines Richie’s New Jersey ID. * TRUPO When’s the last time I was in Jersey? Let me think. Never. What’re you doing coming over here without letting anybody know? You don’t know you can get hurt doing that? American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 59. CONTINUED:145 145 (MORE) (CONT) (Trupo smiles; Richie smiles) You got your money. Now, never, ever, come into the city again unannounced. You * come in to see a fuckin Broadway show you call ahead first to see if it’s okay with me. Trupo pats him on the back and leaves with the others. * TOBACK V.O. What do we hate most? Isn’t it the transgressions of others we fear we’re capable of ourselves? * 147 - 148 OMIT 147 - 148 OMIT * INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - LATER - NIGHT149 149 * It’s very late. Richie and Toback are alone. Eventually - * TOBACK * Richie - cops are like - RICHIE Yeah, I know, like everyone else. Some of them will steal no matter what. * There can be a camera on them they’ll do it. Some’ll never do it. The rest are * capable of either, depending how their department leans ... Only theirs isn’t leaning, it’s fallen over. The patrol * cars don’t even stop in Harlem, just roll * down the window so the dealers can throw * the money in. I saw drops made on * precinct steps. * TOBACK What were you doing there? RICHIE It’s where this dope is coming from. * Blue Magic. Out of New York. What am I supposed to do, ignore it? TOBACK The cab driver’s filed aggravated assault * and grand theft charges - * RICHIE * He wouldn’t stop. Motherfucker almost * ran me over. * American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 60. CONTINUED:145 145 TRUPO (CONT'D) (CONT) TOBACK * - which he may reconsider depending on * the amount the State of New Jersey offers * to settle - * RICHIE * I told him I was a cop. I showed him my * identification. * TOBACK * You stole his cab and broke his arm. * RICHIE * I was chasing your 20 thousand dollars. * TOBACK * I don’t want to hear about you going into New York anymore. RICHIE Then my investigation’s over. TOBACK You’re not listening to me. I said: I don’t want to hear about it ... You do whatever you have to do, go wherever you have to go to find out who’s bringing this shit into the country ... Just don’t tell me. (turns to leave) Get some sleep. * A150 - 152 OMIT A150 - 152 OMIT * INT. RICHIE’S APARTMENT - MORNINGAA153 AA153 * Richie - in robe and underwear - opens the door to find a * woman in the hall holding a briefcase. * VIDA * Mr. Roberts? I’m here for our * appointment. * He has no idea who the black woman is. An old girlfriend * he’s forgotten maybe. Behind him, Vida can see a stewardess * buttoning up her uniform by a little travel case on wheels. * The apartment itself, she can also see, is a mess. * VIDA * From Child Social Services? * A153 - 155 OMIT A153 - 155 OMIT American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 61. CONTINUED:149 149 As Mrs. Tosca leads Ana off to give her a tour of the house, the men head off the other way. TOSCA She’s a lovely girl. You should marry her. FRANK Too many things to look after right now to think about that. TOSCA Frank. That’s a mistake. If I may say. Don’t take her for granted, girl like that. They enter a rich, wood-paneled study lined with books. TOSCA You interested in history, Frank? The events that have brought us to where we are today? You know who was? Bumpy. FRANK Bumpy was interested in a lot of things. TOSCA I always wonder if people know when history’s being made. And what they’re doing at the time. This, for instance, could be a historic moment, and you’re sipping a glass of ice water. Droplets snake down Frank’s glass. He senses Tosca has finally gotten around to why he was invited here. TOSCA Bumpy and I did a lot of business together, as you know. Whatever he needed, he’d come to me and I’d do my best to provide it. He came to me, I didn’t go to him, is the point I’m trying to make. You know why? FRANK He didn’t have what you needed. You had what he needed. We’ve always had to come to you. TOSCA Yes. Until now. Tosca studies Frank, who is a study in inscrutability. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 64. CONTINUED:158 158 (CONT) TOSCA Monopolies are illegal in this country, Frank, because no one can compete with a monopoly. If they let the dairy farmers do that, half of them would go out of business tomorrow. FRANK I’m just trying to make a living. TOSCA Which is your right. Because this is America. But not at the unreasonable expense of others. That’s un-American. (he studies Frank) You know the price you pay for a gallon of milk doesn’t represent its true cost of production. It’s controlled. Set. FRANK I set a price I think is fair. TOSCA It’s very unfair, in fact. Your customers are happy, but what about your fellow dairy farmers? You’re not thinking of them. FRANK (very calmly) I’m thinking of them as much as they ever thought of me. TOSCA All right. I can see you’re getting excited. Don’t get excited. That’s not why I invited you to my home. To get excited. Frank doesn’t look excited at all. He’s the picture of calm. Tosca smiles benignly and gets up. TOSCA Here, I got something for you. INT. TOSCA’S SMOKING ROOM - LATER - DAY159 159 Tosca opens a humidor, takes out a couple of Cuban cigars. TOSCA Now what if - I’m just thinking out loud - you sold some of your inventory wholesale and I helped with the distribution. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 65. CONTINUED:158 158 (CONT) FRANK I don’t need it. I already got everything from 110th Street to Yankee Stadium, river to river. TOSCA Which is a little mom and pop store compared to what I’m talking about. I could make you bigger than K-Mart. L.A., Chicago, Detroit, Vegas. I’m speaking nationwide. And I’d guarantee you peace of mind. You know what I mean by that. Frank does. It’s a backhanded threat. Tosca clips the cigars with a gold guillotine TOSCA Frank. You can see I’m a Renaissance man. Unfortunately not all my people are as enlightened. Ask them, What is civil rights, they don’t know. They’re not as open to change from the way things are done and who’s doing it. But I can talk to them so there won’t be any misunderstanding. That’s what I mean by peace of mind. Frank knows, in truth, he’s not being given any choice in this matter. Still, maybe it’s not so bad. FRANK 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. TOSCA You see, I was right. This is a historic moment. You’re going to be bigger than Bumpy himself. He hands Frank one of the cigars, expertly prepared. TOSCA Can’t smoke it here, unfortunately. Grace doesn’t like it. Take it with you. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 66. CONTINUED:159 159 The owner of the gleaming patent leather shoes is shown to his second row ringside seat just behind the sports writers, and we move up the full-length chinchilla coat to Frank’s uneasy expression - Richie’s camera roams the faces of the prime ticket holders ringside: organized crime figures, celebrities, politicians, * women with plunging necklines and platinum hair - * JOE LOUIS * Excuse me - * Richie can’t believe it’s Joe Louis brushing past him - * RICHIE * Mr. Louis - * Joe looks back as Richie approaches him - * RICHIE * I’m sorry, but I just have to tell you, * sir, you were a hero to me growing up. I * still push elevator buttons eight times * for the rounds you beat Billy Conn in. * For luck. * Louis acknowledges Richie only slightly more than not at * all. Turns away to join his friends. Richie watches after * him, stung by Louis’s disregard. * He snaps a picture of an Italian wise guy he doesn’t * recognize ... sifts the camera’s view past Frank in the * chinchilla coat ... then returns to him, watches as Tosca * and his guys sit down behind Frank. Richie can’t hear - * but can see - their good-natured exchange - TOSCA Hey, Frank, you keep that hat on, I’m gonna miss the fight - The odd thing to Richie is, Chinchilla’s seat is better than all the Italians’. Detective Trupo notices this, too. Richie focuses on the Chincilla’s date, a stunning girl, a beauty queen, then shifts back to her boyfriend who’s now shaking the proffered hands of other Italians, then Don King. Joe Louis himself - who barely acknowledged Richie’s * existence - comes over and playfully exchanges “punches” * with the man in the chinchilla coat. A sudden roar from the crowd as the lights go out except for the spot on the ring. Ali and Frazier are coming down the steps through the crush of fans and reporters, preceded by soldiers carrying flags - American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 69. CONTINUED:167 167 (CONT) Richie tries to find the guy in the chinchilla coat, but he’s hidden by a flag. Then he glimpses him again just as Ali shakes his hand before climbing into the ring - Flashbulbs pop throughout the arena as Robert Goulet begins the National Anthem. Ali pointedly doesn’t sing along. Richie frames the shadowy figure in the chinchilla coat, focuses as sharp as he can in the bad light, and snaps the shutter - INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - DAY168 168 Richie tacks the photograph of the man in the chinchilla coat to his Table of Organization - low and off to the side by other pieces of the puzzle that don’t fit, other new faces with no names. Spearman holds a scrap of paper - RICHIE That’s is the plate number on the limo. Check with the company, who rented it. SPEARMAN He’s a supplier at most. Or just a pimp. We’d’ve heard of him otherwise. RICHIE No, he’s bigger than that. His seats * were phenomenal; better than Al Tosca’s. * Joe Louis and Ali shook his fuckin hand. * They look from Tosca’s high position on the board to Frank’s low one, and a wedding march played in traditional fashion on organ begins and carries over: INT. BAPTIST CHURCH - DAY169 169 From above, a sea of ladies’ hats, all coral and pink. Below, Frank stands at the altar, waiting for his bride. RICHIE V/O His name is Frank Lucas ... INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - DAY170 170 Toback sifts through documents Richie has gathered: limousine company records, Frank’s thin arrest record, mug shots of him years younger, the photograph from the fights and some more from subsequent surveillances. RICHIE Originally from Greensboro, North Carolina. Couple of arrests years ago. Gambling, robbery, unlicensed firearm. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 70. CONTINUED:167 167 (MORE) (CONT) For fifteen years he was Bumpy Johnson’s collector, bodyguard and driver. He was with him when he died. INT. BAPTIST CHURCH - CONTINUED171 171 Ana’s family and friends on one side of the aisle, the extended Lucas family - on the other. Frank’s mother looks at her eldest son at the altar with pride. INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - CONTINUED172 172 RICHIE Five brothers, he’s the oldest, lots of cousins, all living here now, spread out around the boroughs and Jersey. The brothers are - INT. DRY CLEANERS - DAY173 173 A Lucas brother hands some dry cleaning to Spearman - RICHIE V/O Eugene Lucas in Brooklyn - INT. ELECTRICAL SHOP - DAY174 174 Another Lucas brother examines a lamp with a frayed cord brought in by Jones. RICHIE V/O Earl Lucas in Newark - INT. METAL DOOR SHOP - DAY175 175 Another brother at the register, hands Abruzzo a receipt - RICHIE V/O Lester Lucas in Queens - EXT. TIRE SERVICE SHOP - DAY176 176 Another brother is photographed by Spearman from a parked car as he changes tires on a car up on a hoist. RICHIE V/O Turner Lucas, the Bronx - EXT. STREET - NEWARK - DAY 177 177 Richie kicks a dent into the fender of his old car. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 71. CONTINUED:170 170 RICHIE (CONT'D) TOBACK You think Frank Lucas took over for Bumpy Johnson? His driver? That’s a little far-fetched. RICHIE Is it? Everything he does, he does like Bumpy. TOBACK Bumpy never wore a chinchilla coat in his life. RICHIE We haven’t seen that again. That apparently has been retired to the closet. EXT. BAPTIST CHURCH - DAY193 193 Frank and Charlie look on as Ana throws the bouquet. CHARLIE She’s the most beautiful bride I ever saw, Frank. FRANK I wish Bumpy could’ve met her. I wish she could’ve met him. INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - CONTINUED194 194 Looking at the Lucas Table of Organization - TOBACK What do you got on him you can use in court? Because this isn’t it. You try * this without informants and powder, no * one’s going to jail. * RICHIE Won’t get any informants. Not inside. It’s like a Sicilian family. Like he’s structured his own family the same way to protect himself. EXT. BAPTIST CHURCH - CONTINUED195 195 Exactly like one, like a scene from The Godfather as Frank dances with Ana before the reception guests. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 74. CONTINUED:192 192 INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - CONTINUED196 196 RICHIE Being with Bumpy long as he was, he would have been around Italians a lot. Enough to learn that much. EXT. BAPTIST CHURCH - CONTINUED197 197 Rice rains down on the bride and groom as they climb into the back of the Towncar. Doc comes around to the driver’s side, gets in and slowly pushes through the crush of guests waving and throwing kisses. INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - CONTINUED198 198 RICHIE But it’s not even Frank Lucas I want. I want to know who he’s working for: Which Italians are bringing the heroin in. INT/EXT. TOWNCAR / NEW YORK - TWILIGHT199 199 Flanked front and rear by Frank’s security, the marriage car moves along a rain-slick street. The newlyweds cuddle in back. Another car pulls up alongside - Trupo’s Shelby - and Doc’s right hand instinctively comes off the steering wheel to settle on his holstered gun. Trupo smiles and shakes his head, no. EXT. CENTRAL PARK - LATER - TWILIGHT200 200 The Lincoln and security cars and Trupo’s Shelby parked. FRANK (to Ana) Stay in the car As Frank and Doc climb out, Frank motions to his other security men to remain calm, he’ll handle this. TRUPO Hello, Frank. If Frank is surprised Trupo knows his name, he doesn’t show it, or anything else except an air of professional courtesy. FRANK Detective. Trupo looks in at Ana in the back seat, smiles at her. She turns her head away and closes the door. Trupo leads Frank away for a private conversation - American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 75. (CONT) TRUPO You sure you done the right thing? She’s a beautiful girl - there’s no question - but she’s got an attitude on (her) - FRANK 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. TRUPO Man walks around in a fifty thousand dollar chinchilla coat and he never even bought me a cup of coffee? Something wrong there. FRANK I don’t know what you’re talking about. TRUPO You pay your bills, Frank? FRANK You want to keep talking, talk to my lawyer, here’s his card. You call him, because we’re done here - TRUPO Do you pay your bills, I asked you. FRANK If you’re not getting your share, it’s not my fault, go ask the chief of police. TRUPO What’s my share? You don’t even know me. Maybe I’m special. FRANK No, you’re all the fuckin same. TRUPO (shows his shield) What does that say? (Frank ignores him) Special - Investigations - Unit. See that word there? “Special.” (he takes out a restaurant business card) Ten grand, first of each month, delivered here. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 76. CONTINUED:200 200 (CONT) RICHIE You fucked up, Jimmy. But nobody knows. Frank doesn’t know. Yet. Do you want him to read about it in the paper? Or do you want to walk out of here - no bail, no trial - just walk out, now. EXT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - DAWN206 206 Jimmy has thought about it all night and walks out of the building into the chilly morning air. RICHIE V/O Jimmy? Look at me - Jimmy looks over his shoulder as if Richie just called to him from it, which he didn’t. There’s no one in sight - RICHIE V/O Any time I want to change my mind? I don’t like the quality of your work? I can find a witness saw you shoot your girlfriend. It just took me a while. I even know what he’ll look like. He’ll look just like you. EXT. MEAT PACKING DISTRICT - DAY207 207 Teddy’s car comes around a corner and down the street. INT. TEDDY’S CAR - MOVING - DAY208 208 Jimmy Racine, wired, looks in the rear view mirror at Teddy in the back seat, and, behind him, Richie’s car following. INT. RICHIE’S CAR - SAME TIME209 209 Richie keeps Teddy’s car in view ahead. Glances in his mirror at the cars following him. His detectives. EXT. MEAT PACKING DISTRICT - LATER - DAY210 210 The detectives’ cars parked behind a warehouse. Richie peers into binoculars at: Teddy’s car parked by Frank’s outside another warehouse loading dock. Frank gets out, discusses something with his brother, comes past Jimmy to some men in bloody white coats. He talks to them, returns to his car, takes a valise from the trunk. He snaps it open revealing stacks of cash, hands it over and walks to a semi-truck, glancing once in Richie’s direction. Though he can’t see anyone there he gives a wave to them - or is it to the truck driver to pull out - American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 79. CONTINUED:205 205 EXT. HARLEM STREET - DAY211 211 Like Bumpy used to do every Thanksgiving, Frank and his brothers, from the back of the truck, hand out hundreds of freshly-butchered turkeys to the poor. INT. MAMA LUCAS’S TEANECK, N.J. HOUSE - DAY212 212 Frank, in an apron, carries in a huge cooked turkey as the extended Lucas family gathers around the table. It’s like Norman Rockwell painting - INT/EXT. ALLEY / ROOMS HARLEM - SAME TIME - DAY213 213 Another Thanksgiving picture: addicts shooting up and nodding out in alleys and dingy rooms. Tight on needles, veins, spoons, filth - INT. RICHIE’S APARTMENT - SAME TIME - DAY214 214 Richie alone at his kitchen table with a sandwich and a beer. The Macy’s parade plays silently on his TV. INT/EXT. TRUPO’S HOUSE - SAME TIME - DAYA215 A215 A doorbell summons Trupo. He comes through his entry. Opens the front door. Finds no one there - except a large live turkey on the doorstep. He stares at it nonplussed, then looks up to a sound - a whoosh - as flames engulf the interior and spit out the windows of his Shelby Mustang ... INT. MAMA LUCAS’S TEANECK, N.J. HOUSE - DAYB215 B215 The big knife in Frank’s hand slices into the turkey and lifts meat onto a plate that’s passed from hand to hand, the family engaged in several conversations at once, laughing - INT. MAMA LUCAS’S TEANECK, N.J. HOUSE - DAY215 215 Bathroom. Jimmy Racine, shirt off, wired, changes the batteries of the little tape recorder. EXT. MAMA LUCAS’S TEANECK, N.J. HOUSE - DAY216 216 Jimmy comes out, tries to take a chair not too far from Frank who’s watching his nephew toss pop-up flies for the younger kids to catch. FRANK Stevie. Come over here. (the nephew comes over) I heard you didn’t show up. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 80. (MORE) (CONT) You’re too busy to meet with Billy Martin? After I set it up? Stevie shifts around, not wanting to make Frank mad ... STEVIE I don’t want to play pro ball, I decided. FRANK What’re you talking about? This is your dream since you were their age - (the younger kids) Maybe I can set it up again. Stevie just stands there, uncomfortable. Finally - STEVIE It’s not what I want. I want to do what you do, Uncle Frank. I want to be you. Frank stares at him unhappily. Teddy comes over but Frank barely notices. TEDDY We got a problem. INT. TEDDY’S CAR - MOVING - LATE AFTERNOON217 217 Jimmy Racine behind the wheel. Frank and Teddy in back, speaking quietly. TEDDY He’s been cutting it so much it’s down to two, three percent pure. FRANK You tested it. You’re sure. Teddy nods. Frank notices Jimmy looking at them in the rear view mirror. FRANK The fuck you looking at? EXT. JACKIE FOX’S CLUB - NEW YORK - DUSK218 218 The car pulls up in front of a building in the clothing district. Jimmy stays while Teddy and Frank go inside. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 81. CONTINUED:216 216 FRANK (CONT'D) JACKIE Pink Magic. Black Magic - FRANK 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. Jackie regards Frank for a long moment ... JACKIE Catch me? Insist? Infringement? I don’t like these words as much as please - thank you - sorry to bother you, Jackie. These are better words to use you come into my place without an invitation. Jackie waits to hear a kinder word but Frank doesn’t offer one. Jackie nods, Fine, okay, but it’s more like a warning. INT. JACKIE’S CLUB - DUSK220 220 Frank pulls a girl off Teddy’s lap and points him toward the door. Jackie watches them leave. EXT. JACKIE’S CLUB - DUSK221 221 They emerge from the building to where Jimmy waits. TEDDY Give me the keys; take a cab home. INT. TEDDY’S CAR - MOVING - NIGHT222 222 Frank and Teddy driving in silence. Eventually - FRANK You don’t go over there any more. Teddy doesn’t like it, but nods. Suddenly his face is illuminated by light reflecting in the rear view mirror, an unmarked police car behind them, flashing its brights. FRANK It’s all right, pull over, what are they going to do? Give us a ticket? But Teddy isn’t as calm as he begins to pull over. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 84. CONTINUED:219 219 EXT. GARMENT WAREHOUSE DISTRICT - NY - LATE AFTERNOON223 223 As Trupo and his partner climb out of their car and approach Teddy’s - TEDDY Frank? Some of it’s in the trunk. Frank regards him with utter disbelief. Teddy shies as if he expects to get hit. The SIU detectives arrive. TRUPO Hello, Frank. FRANK Detective. How’s it going? You have a nice Thanksgiving? TRUPO I did not, as a matter of fact. Get out of the car. The Lucases climb out. FRANK Where’s the Shelby? TRUPO The Shelby’s gone, Frank. Trupo reaches in the driver’s side window, takes the keys from the ignition and comes around to the trunk. Frank and Teddy exchange a glance as it opens. Silence. Then - TRUPO Want to come over here a minute, Frank? Six kilos of heroin are illuminated by the trunk light. Frank and Trupo regard it in silence. Then - TRUPO Now what are we gonna do about this? FRANK We’re gonna shut the trunk and say good night, forget you pulled us over. TRUPO I got a better idea. Trupo reaches into the trunk, picks up two of the heroin bricks, tucks them under his arm and looks at Frank - American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 85. (CONT) TRUPO Or would you rather I took it all and threw you and your brother in the fuckin river? FRANK I don’t know, would you rather it’s your fuckin house blows up next time? They hold each others’ stare for a long moment. TRUPO I loved that car. FRANK I know. Trupo closes the trunk and walks away with his cut of the heroin, calling to his partner - TRUPO Let’s go. As the SIU cops walk to their car, the perspective shifts, through binoculars: Richie watching. INT. TEDDY’S CAR / STREET - LATER - NIGHTA224 A224 From outside the driver’s side, Teddy’s head, inside the car, suddenly smashes against the window, cracking it. His groan is interrupted by Frank’s muffled voice - FRANK Don’t you ever put me in a car with dope in it. INT. RICHIE’S APARTMENT - NIGHT224 224 Richie comes in, opens the fridge and stares in, his mind elsewhere. A ringing phone pulls him out of it. RICHIE Yeah. Tony. How’s it going? INT/EXT. TONY ZACA’S HOUSE - DAY225 225 Tony’s wife and daughters can be seen in the suburban backyard. Here in the kitchen Tony and Richie watch kernels * of popcorn bounce off the inside walls of the first Amana * microwave oven. It’s noisier than modern ones. * RICHIE * The fuck is a ‘micro’ wave? * American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 86. CONTINUED:223 223 (CONT) INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - LATER - NIGHT226 226 Alone in the empty building, he stares at the T.O.: The higher echelon Italians like Tosca; lower echelon Harlem guys like Charlie Williams and Frank Lucas. He gets up then, untacks Frank’s photograph from its lowly position and moves it to a place no black has ever occupied - to the top of the pyramid - above the mafia. * 227 - 230 OMIT 227 - 230 OMIT * INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - DAYA231 A231 * Toback regards Frank’s picture at top of the Lucas T.O. RICHIE INS, FBI, IRS - I can’t get anything out of them. Nothing on his travel, his bank accounts, property holdings - nothing. TOBACK That’s because they all think you’re on the take and you think they are. RICHIE * They don’t want this to stop. It * employs too many people. Cops, lawyers, * judges, probation officers, prison * guards. The day dope stops coming into * this country, a hundred thousand people * lose their jobs. * Toback isn’t as sure the corruption of the official world is that complete. SPEARMAN Richie. Excuse me. Spearman gestures to a couple of men in suits who want to talk to him. INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - LATER - DAYB231 B231 * Richie and Tobacke regard the two stone-faced FBI agents - RICHIE Who took it out? (nothing from the agents) If there’s a contract on me, it would be nice to know who took it out. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 89. (CONT) FBI AGENT We can’t say without compromising our source. You understand. RICHIE No. I don’t. Not when it’s my life. FBI AGENT If you want, we can assign someone to you. RICHIE Who? FBI? You’re going to protect me? Richie almost laughs at the thought, looks to Toback. In fact, none of this is funny. EXT. STREET - NEWARK - NIGHTC231 C231 Walking toward his apartment down its dark street, bag of groceries in arm, Richie becomes aware someone is following him. He slows to let the figure get closer, closer, then turns fast, drops the guy and puts a gun to his head. MAN Don’t shoot! For God’s sake. Richie keeps the gun pressed against the guy’s forehead. RICHIE Talk. MAN Are you Richard Roberts? I got a subpoena. INT. COURTROOM - NEWARK - DAY231 231 Richie and Laurie sit with their respective lawyers, waiting for the judge to appear. He leans over - RICHIE Laurie. I’m sorry I couldn’t give you the kind of life you wanted. I’m sorry it was never enough. But don’t punish me for being honest. Don’t take my son away. She stares at him in disbelief. Then responds in a louder voice than his - American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 90. CONTINUED:B231 B231 (CONT) LAURIE What are you saying? That because you were “honest” and didn’t take money like every other cop, I left you? The bailiff looks over, but she doesn’t care. LAURIE You don’t take money for one reason: to buy being dishonest about everything else. And that’s worse than taking money nobody gives a shit about - drug money, gambling money nobody’s gonna miss. (more people look over) I’d rather you took it and been honest with me. Or don’t take it, I don’t care. But don’t then go cheat on me. Don’t cheat on your kid by never being around. Don’t go out and get laid by your snitches and secretaries and strippers. I can tell just by looking, she’s one of them. His lawyer. Which is true. Everyone’s watching them now. LAURIE You think you’re going to heaven because your “honest.” You’re not. You’re going to the same hell as the crooked cops you can’t stand. BAILIFF All rise - INT. COURTROOM - LATER - DAY232 232 The same judge who sends a collection plate around sits before Richie and Laurie and their attorneys. SHEILA Your honor, a lot has been said here today about how unsavory Mr. Roberts’ environment is for a child. How dangerous it is. I’m sorry, but this is our world. This is where we live and we tell him, Protect us. We give him that responsibility, and then say, Oh, but we don’t trust you to raise a child. We don’t think you’re fit for that. RICHIE I’m not. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 91. CONTINUED:231 231 (CONT) You can’t start with them because they can’t stop. It’s like dope. They always want more. Ana looks vulnerable. Frank almost feels bad that it’s his life and problems that have put them here. Eventually, to try to turn it around - FRANK Put on something nice, we’re going out. INT/EXT. FRANK’S PENTHOUSE BUILDING - NIGHT239 239 Frank and Ana emerge from a service elevator, come down a dark hall and out the back door to an alley to where Doc waits with the car in the falling snow. 240 OMIT 240 OMIT * EXT. SMALL’S PARADISE - LATER - NIGHT241 241 Frank’s car approaches Small’s just as Jackie, with a Santa Claus hat on, climbs out of a sky blue Bentley with his entourage. Frank groans to Doc - FRANK Keep going. DOC Around back? FRANK Fuck that. I’m not going to sneak into my own club. Just drive. 242 OMIT 242 OMIT * INT. CHINESE TAKE-OUT PLACE - NIGHT243 243 Waiting for a take-out order under harsh fluorescent lights - ANA I’m going to wait in the car. DOC Go ahead, Frank. I’ll wait for it. FRANK You can carry it all? We ordered a lot. Doc nods, go on, go with Ana. Frank hands him a couple twenties. Ana’s already outside. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 94. CONTINUED:238 238 FRANK (CONT'D) (CONT) FRANK Don’t forget the yellow sauce. 244 OMIT 244 OMIT * EXT. STREET - CHINATOWN - NIGHT245 245 Ana’s half a block ahead, waiting outside the locked car by the time Frank arrives and realizes - FRANK Doc’s got the keys. Let’s go back. ANA The lights give me a headache, you go. FRANK I’m not leaving you on the street. ANA Get the keys, Frank, it’s cold. He starts back through cascading snow. Notices a car coming slowly down the street - INT. CHINESE PLACE - CONTINUED246 246 The cook dumps sizzling vegetables into a take-out container and puts it in a bag - EXT. STREET - CHINATOWN - CONTINUED247 247 The car passes, continues to the end of the block, turns the corner. 248 OMIT 248 OMIT * INT. CHINESE PLACE - CONTINUED249 249 Doc hands over money, waits for his change - DOC Gimme some of that yellow sauce. EXT. STREET - MIDTOWN - CONTINUED250 250 Frank sees the car again, coming around the corner, walks briskly back to where Ana waits. The car is almost upon them as he grabs her by the wrist and pulls her hard along the sidewalk. The car guns its engine - 251 OMIT 251 OMIT * American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 95. CONTINUED:243 243 INT/EXT. CHINESE PLACE - CONTINUED252 252 As Frank pushes in past the doors with Ana, the windows explode. They dive to the floor, bullets ripping through the place. Doc draws his two guns and fires back at the car, hitting it a couple times as it screeches off. He gathers Ana and Frank off the floor like a presidential bodyguard, hustles them out to the car. Frank’s shoulder is bleeding. DOC You hit? FRANK What the fuck was that? They pile in and Doc screeches away from the curb. 253 OMIT 253 OMIT * INT. FRANK’S PENTHOUSE - NIGHT254 254 Heavy security in the hallways: Frank’s own men and some cops he’s got on the payroll. Ana steps from the elevator and hurries past, early edition New York paper in hand. INT. FRANK’S PENTHOUSE - NIGHT255 255 The brothers watch as a private doctor attends Frank’s wounds. He seems all right fine except for the fact that someone had the fucking nerve to take a shot at him - and Charlie he sees in the newspaper - gunned down, dead, lurid Weegee-like photo of him on the front page. TEDDY Was it Jackie? (Frank doesn’t say) I’ll fuckin kill him whether it was or not, you tell me to. (nothing from Frank) What do you want us to do, Frank? We can’t just sit here and - FRANK Who didn’t like Charlie? Everybody liked Charlie ... ANA Who shot at us? (Frank can’t tell her) It doesn’t matter. We’re leaving. American Gangster 16 - 7.27.06 - SZ 96. (CONT)