Cagney & Lacey (1981–1988): Season 2, Episode 22 - The Informant - full transcript
Cagney and Lacey have a high school drug case blow up in their faces when it turns out their teenage informant is a drug pusher hiself.
This man now works for us.
How could they say
the prisons are overcrowded?
All the criminals are on the police payroll.
If I read my rap sheet,
I wouldn't have much use for me either,
but I've changed.
He made a mistake. He's only 19.
He will never live to see 20.
So, what do you think, kid?
Think they'll let you watch cartoons
in prison?
- 'Cause that's where you're going!
- Just wait a minute.
I got a proposition for you.
I mean, a guy like that could break
any law he wants and not go to jail.
If we hadn't put an informant
in the school,
Jeremy would not be
in the hospital bed right now.
But it isn't informants. It's Matt.
It's Matt this time.
Next time, it's somebody else.
You play in the gutter,
you get your hands dirty.
Matt!
- CAGNEY: Hold it!
- Playtime is over, Matt!
You made a fool out of me, buster,
and I don't like that.
Hey, you look at me when I talk to you.
That's it, isn't it?
He got you with that stuff about the TV
and the promotions.
Because all you care about
is your next step up the ladder
for being first woman chief of detectives.
You really believe that?
No! No! I'm sorry! I'm angry!
(MAN CHA TTERING ON RADIO)
MAN: Well, what kind of car was it?
(GRUNTING)
(YELPING)
WOMAN: This is where you belong.
I don't want to hear it.
- Oh, good morning. Lacey, good morning.
- Watch out!
By the way, you never typed up
the report on felony assault.
- Well, I'll take care of them. All of them.
- ...police brutality!
Hey, I've got a witness. A witness...
ISBECKI: Sit down. Now, we've got
some police work to deal with now.
MAN: You'd just love to see me
get 10 years, wouldn't you?
Ten years? No.
I'd love to see you get a lobotomy
for what you did to that old man.
- This guy's animal life, man.
- What'd he do?
Carved up an old wino for a $5 bill. Ugly.
Now we've gotta listen to his abuse.
You know, nobody loves you
when you're a cop.
If you wanted love,
you should have been a fireman.
What kind of a mood is he in?
Because I gotta ask about Harvey Jr.
coming down to do a project for school.
Well, he's already chewed out Petrie
this morning,
he kicked Coleman out of the office,
and he's gotten down on La Guardia
for some bad paperwork.
He even started to yell at me.
One of his good mornings, huh?
- Mary Beth, you got a minute?
- Paul, no.
It's about your mother-in-law, Muriel.
Oh, go ahead.
Listen, I really enjoyed meeting her,
and I was wondering...
Does she have any free time?
Detective Lacey, if you're not too busy,
I was wondering if you might join
Detective Cagney and me in my office?
Certainly, sir. Right away, sir.
Call her up. She'd love to hear from you.
Four PCP raids and no arrests.
That's a batting average of.000.
You know something?
You two ought to get in touch
with George Steinbrenner.
He pays millions for guys
with records like that.
We're fighting phantoms here, sir.
They move those labs faster
than a floating crap game.
In three out of the four raids, the coffee
was still warm when we got there.
You're bleeding all over my report,
the both of youse.
Look, the bottom line is
that there's somebody out there
selling PCP to high school kids
on school property.
And we got citizens out there
who happen to think
that we should be able to stop this.
And I happen to think that they're right.
Well, would the schools
let one of us go undercover as a teacher?
Yeah, well, that's interesting
you should mention that, Cagney,
because I've been talking
to Max Mulgannon over in Narcotics,
and he's got a young kid working for him,
an informant who we could have on loan
if we want to.
Sir, I'd rather not use an informant
if we don't have to.
There isn't one of them
who wouldn't sell their mother
- for a new bowling shirt.
- Yeah.
Well, we're not working
in a democracy here, Lacey.
The decision's already been made.
Mulgannon is waiting for you.
Yes, sir.
Oh, sir, I know this isn't the time,
but I have a personal favor to ask.
Trust your instincts, Lacey.
It's not the right time.
Yes, sir.
Informants are criminals.
Hey, look, if perps hung out
with model citizens,
we wouldn't have this problem.
But they don't.
Perps hang out with other perps.
Where else
are we gonna get our information?
Have you read this fellow's rap sheet?
"Four counts grand theft auto. Burglary.
Possession, heroin. Possession, cocaine."
And one count of selling his mother
for a bowling shirt.
(CHUCKLES)
This man now works for us.
How could they say
the prisons are overcrowded?
All the criminals are on the police payroll.
Get up against the wall. Get up there.
MATT: Look. I haven't been
doing nothing, man.
Don't try that crap...
Hold it right there. We're police officers.
What?
Oh, boy. You two've gotta be
Samuels' girls, right?
Yeah. Okay, which one's Cagney
and which one's Lacey?
I'm Detective Cagney.
This is Detective Lacey.
You must be Samuels' boy.
You broads don't let us get away
with anything anymore, do you?
This is Matt Thompson.
He's my gift to the 14th Squad.
Say hello to the ladies, Matthew.
- Say hello!
- Hello.
Where do you think you're going?
- Gonna sit down.
- Yeah.
Get us something to eat.
Look, I want a double cheeseburger,
extra tomato and mayonnaise, no relish,
some fries and a root beer, no ice.
You want something?
- Coffee.
- Two.
I guess the ladies don't want you
to strain yourself. That's it.
Hey, don't get cute
with the change, either.
You always this charming
with informants?
He gives me information.
I don't send him to jail.
That don't mean he still isn't a slime ball
or I have to like him any more
than I do my hemorrhoids.
Hey, look.
This ain't no kid from the South Bronx,
you know.
He's from the suburbs.
He grew up with a hell of a lot more
than I ever did.
His parents are probably
at their shrink right now,
trying to figure out
where they went wrong
with their little darling Matthew.
He's a good stoolie, though.
So, why are you giving him to us?
I'm working
on a much bigger case right now.
Hey, listen. Have you dames ever heard
of a guy by the name of Andreas Palmer?
No.
He's a major South American
heroin and cocaine importer.
Just getting ready to close in on him.
The kid can't help us on this one, so...
You two go ahead and use him,
but look...
Treat him rough, will you?
So he don't forget who's boss.
Thanks.
Look, I got one request. Don't spoil him.
I've just about got him broken in.
Use him. Make him work for you.
But don't trust him any further
than you can spit on him.
So, when do I get to go undercover?
Well, what's your hurry?
You got a better offer?
I've been thinking about this,
and I'm really looking forward
to doing this.
I've got my personal reasons, but...
- You do?
- Yes.
My parents, they always wanted me
to go to Weston Prep.
This is gonna make 'em real proud.
Right.
Look, I know you're not gonna believe me,
but I got strong feelings about doing this.
Drugs messed up my life real bad.
If I could do something
to save some other kid from that,
maybe I'd feel
a little bit better about myself.
Detective Cagney is setting it up
right now.
We want you to be registered
like any other student.
There might be a little bit of a problem.
What's that, old friends?
Old clothes.
You see, everyone there,
they wear stuff with alligators
and polo ponies across them.
- We'll get you some new clothes.
- Thank you.
That's the third time
you rubbed that shoulder.
Why don't you let me type?
Yeah, I can type 90 words per minute.
I had a crush on my typing teacher,
so I took typing one, three years in a row.
My only A.
Okay?
- Okay.
- What do I do?
- Take this here and transfer it onto a blue.
- Okay.
- La Guardia?
- Yeah.
I got that form you wanted typed, finally.
Oh, thanks. Oh, Mary Beth, listen.
- About Muriel...
- Did you call her?
No, I can't find the number.
Paul, I gave you the number
half a dozen times.
I know, but I keep losing it.
I think maybe I'm afraid she'll say no
when I ask her to dinner.
She won't say no.
She was very impressed.
Hey, I'm telling you,
I never saw that stuff before.
Hey, man, you planted it on me.
You think I had some...
Who told you to stand up?
Turn around
and put your hands behind your back.
- Hey, Matt, what you in for?
- False arrest.
Yeah? Me, too.
(LAUGHING)
PETRIE: Keep laughing, son.
That old man you carved up
is still in intensive care.
In for false arrest. That's a good one.
I'll see you on the streets, Matt.
That's nice friends you've got.
Thank you.
For what?
We always protect an informant.
Yeah?
Mulgannon would use his handcuff routine
as an excuse to rough me up.
I will tell you again.
You treat us fair, we'll treat you fair.
You're a real decent lady, huh?
If the mutual admiration society's
adjourned,
I'd like to get onto some new business.
Is it set?
Yeah, he enrolls tomorrow.
Look, I'll do a good job for you.
You can trust me.
Right.
You think I'm a dead-end street,
don't you?
I think you are who you are.
Lady, if I read my rap sheet,
I wouldn't have much use for me either,
but I've changed.
I just hope that I can prove it to you.
HERROLD: I've arranged
for one of our students
to walk Matt
through his first day of classes.
Of course, neither he nor the other boys
will know Matt's real purpose
for being here.
(INTERCOM BUZZING)
Jeremy. Come in.
This is Jeremy Martin,
one of our better students.
Jeremy, this is Matt Thompson,
the new boy I told you about.
- Hi.
- How you doing?
(BELL RINGING)
- Can we go now, Mr. Herrold?
- Go ahead.
It was nice meeting you, both of you.
CAGNEY: Thank you, Jeremy.
I have to tell you,
I still have misgivings
about bringing a drug addict,
even an ex-drug addict, into my school.
Our department has done this thing
before, sir, and it's been very successful.
Well, it's your responsibility.
Yes, sir.
(HARVEY SIGHING)
Thank you.
- Your shoulder?
- Yeah.
Okay, darling, give me a second, huh?
Give me the brush. Thank you.
I'll be with you.
All right. Come on, sit down. Sit down.
- It's right here.
- You got it.
(SIGHS)
- Tight?
- Yeah.
Feel better?
It's beginning to.
Mom?
Did you ask Lieutenant Samuels yet
about me coming down
to the station house?
No, but I promise I will.
- But when?
- Soon.
Why don't you work
at the library or something?
No, my work's all done there.
I got 35 pages
on the criminal justice system
and 10 pages on the courts.
All I have left to do
is my interviews with the police.
So, what do I look like?
Well, you're my mother. You don't count.
- Nice. I don't count.
- You know what he means.
Come on, Mom. When can I come?
I give you my solemn word of honor
I will talk to Lieutenant Samuels
this week.
- You're welcome. No, more here.
- More?
- More here.
- More.
- Is Samuels gonna be a problem?
- Yeah, well, he's always a problem.
Yeah, is he still riding you
about that PCP case?
- Yeah.
- Yeah?
And I hate the whole thing.
Half those kids I see on dope
are not any older than what's-his-name.
Don't you worry. He's a good kid.
I didn't think it was possible,
but the Lieutenant was in
an even worse mood than yesterday.
You get to talk to him
about Harvey Jr. yet?
No.
Well, you got tomorrow.
Tomorrow is a school holiday.
Tomorrow I said I'd take the kid in.
I must talk
to the Lieutenant this afternoon.
So, where's our other young scholar?
He said he was gonna be here at noon.
(EXCLAIMS)
Hey, I was here. You're late.
What the hell are you doing,
trying to give us a heart attack?
Get over here.
I'm sorry. I didn't mean nothing by it.
We are not playing games here, Matt.
Look, you don't like hide-and-seek,
we'll play show-and-tell, all right?
Here's the show.
The sherm,
it's a cigarette dipped in PCP liquid.
Found the dealer?
Not the dealer, but a kid
who's a runner for the dealer.
Now, I think he can help us set up a buy.
Who is it?
Well, I'm gonna need a couple of hundred
dollars or so to make it look good.
I think $100 will look good enough.
- A student, or somebody from the outside?
- A student.
Did you get a name?
You met him.
It's that kid that was showing me around.
Martin. Jeremy Martin.
Well, if he's a dealer,
he's one hell of an actor.
They're all actors. That's part of the gig.
Martin has got a bad habit.
Desperate people do desperate things.
I ought to know.
I used to be real desperate myself.
I'll see you around the quad, huh?
Oh, he's good, I'll give him that.
But he's seen one too many Bogart films.
Meaning?
That con job.
The reformed criminal routine. Please.
You don't think it's possible?
You do?
It's possible.
Not in a million years. Come on.
You got very cynical, Christine.
I'm hoping that you are wrong.
Hey, if I'm wrong,
all I have to do is say I'm sorry.
If you're wrong, we get burned.
LACEY: Sir, I promise Harvey Jr. won't
interfere with any police business.
I'll stay with him the whole time.
If you don't think it's a good idea, sir,
I'll put him on the subway home
right now.
Lacey, look,
next time I would appreciate it
if I was consulted
before the damage is done.
- Well, I...
- The police station is just not a place
for a young kid like that.
If it was up to me, I...
What was I saying?
If it was up to you, sir.
Yeah, if it was up to me, I would...
The kid is here already,
so let him stay the whole day.
But you gotta promise
you're gonna watch him, right?
I will, sir. Thank you, sir.
It sounds good. All right, we'll be there.
That was our boy. The buy is going down.
Gotta go pick up the stuff,
take it to the lab,
and then turn it over to the property clerk.
Oh, no.
I am sorry, kiddo, but I cannot leave
you here alone. I got duty.
So get on the subway. Go back home.
Don't worry about it, Mary Beth.
He can stay with me.
- I'd love to give him an interview, anyway.
- You sure?
Sure. I'm just pushing paper
for the next hour.
- Paul, you're a peach. I owe you one.
- That's great.
You, stay with Detective La Guardia.
Sit right down there.
- All right.
- I'll be back in about an hour and a half.
- Okay.
- Yeah. Yeah.
- Bye-bye, Mom.
- Bye-bye.
To begin with,
you might take a look
at the Magna Carta.
- Magna Carta?
- Yeah. It's amazing
when you begin to explore
the ramifications
of the concept of habeas corpus.
Yes, sir.
LACEY: You think
something happened to him?
I think something happened to us.
We've been stood up.
Let's give him 10 more minutes.
Okay.
What do you do with a kid like that?
I mean, what if you're that kid's mother?
Would you put your head in the sand,
or you blame yourself,
or you write him off?
What would I do if Harvey Jr.
got mixed up in that dope stuff?
Harv Jr.? Come on, he's a great kid.
Nothing is gonna happen to him.
- Harvey Sr. told me the same thing.
- See, there you go.
I'd just like him to know
how dangerous it is.
Actually, I'd like to take him down to
the morgue and scare the hell out of him.
Listen, you make too big a deal out of this,
it's gonna make it
all that much more exciting to him.
It's like what happened to me
when I discovered sex was a sin.
LA GUARDIA: It wasn't until the year 1652
that New York actually had
its own police department.
I'm afraid I'm boring you, son.
No. No, not really, sir.
Would you like to talk
about something else?
Like what?
Well, I was wondering if you know
whether your grandmother likes
macrobiotic food?
(CHILDREN CHATTERING)
- MATT: Yeah.
- Open the door, kid.
Hi.
- I screwed up, didn't I?
- We had an appointment.
Or did that just slip your mind?
Come on in.
Look, I could tell you guys a really
outstanding story and you'd believe me.
Or I could tell you the truth.
I got burned. I gave the guy the money,
and he never came back.
I knew you'd be angry, so I came home.
I couldn't face you.
Guess you opted
for the outstanding story...
- That is the truth, I swear it!
- Hey, cut it.
I'm real sick of your act, you know it?
So far, you've produced zilch,
you burned us for 100 bucks,
plus a new wardrobe!
Look, I'm not doing business
on Wall Street.
I'm dealing with low life.
I mean, guys that I think are low life.
You cannot expect things to run smoothly.
I got burned.
- It happens.
- It doesn't happen to me.
Now, I can't prove you've lied,
and you know that.
But I'll tell you this much.
If you don't come up with something soon,
I'm kicking you right back
to the tender care of Detective Mulgannon.
Let's get out of here.
What happened to fair and fair, huh?
Look, wait. Wait.
Not too many people have ever given me
a reason to trust them,
least of all cops.
It is hard for me to accept the idea
that you're just not gonna dump on me
like everybody else.
You're very good at speeches, Matt.
So far, you haven't shown us anything.
Look, I got burned. I know I did.
When I got back here, all I wanted to do
was get stoned, but I didn't.
I believe in what I'm doing,
and it's helping me to stay straight.
Now, you gotta give me another chance.
- You gotta.
- Go back to school and find something out.
You stay clean, you hear me?
Lacey, we're not the feds, you know.
We haven't got unlimited funds
to give to stoolies.
Well, sir, he seems to think that
he's onto the suppliers.
- So, can we give him a few more days?
- I guess we got to.
In the meantime, we got a call
from a guy who lives in
an apartment building near Weston Prep.
He says he thinks there's a guy
in his building making and selling PCP.
Why does he think that?
'Cause he heard a news broadcast
that warns parents
that a minty odor
could be a sign of PCP manufacture.
And there's one apartment in his building
that stinks of mint, he says.
- I think it's worth checking out.
- LA CEY: Yes, sir.
"Madame Frolovsky,
spiritual and herbal healer."
Oh, boy.
So, which one of us
is gonna have the disease?
Not me. My mother always said,
"Pretend to be sick, you get sick."
She just didn't want you to cut school,
that's all.
- I'm not doing it!
- Okay.
I'll have tennis elbow.
You don't play tennis.
So it'll be a quick cure.
- Yes?
- Hello.
- I wondered if you could help me...
- Excuse me, dear.
There's something wrong
with your shoulder, isn't there?
How do you know
I got a problem with my shoulder?
Relax. I don't read minds.
I simply observed that you carry this
shoulder slightly higher than the other.
It looks like it gives you a little pain.
Yeah, it's here. It's right in here.
- Do you use herbs?
- Among other secret ingredients.
Is that why I smell mint?
Yes. Herbal tea.
It lends an air of authenticity.
A lot of people are more comfortable
if everything is exactly
the way they imagine it to be.
You wait here. I'll get you some ointment
to rub into your shoulder.
So much for our PCP bust.
We should've got La Guardia
some of that mint tea.
- What?
- Next time.
You're kidding. You gonna go back there?
I swear, Christine, it's better.
The shoulder is better.
Right.
If she gives you any chocolate mousse,
don't eat it.
Remember Rosemary's Baby?
Are we talking the movies
or are we talking life?
Life in the movies.
(GASPS)
What?
The car was locked!
Yeah, it took me all of 20 seconds
to unlock it.
Listen, I've been looking for you two.
There's a big drug buy
going down in about 10 minutes
in the back of Jack's Café over on 34th.
- Are you sure?
- Hey, be there or be square.
"Be there or be square."
34th Street.
This is it.
- We should call for backup.
- We don't have time.
- Excuse me, where's your restroom?
- In the back.
- Thank you.
- All right.
- Relax, we got a little business back there.
- Okay, yeah.
- I'll take the john.
- Right.
- When you hear me?
- Right.
Excuse me. Sorry. Excuse me.
Gentlemen, stay where you are.
You're under arrest. We're police.
The lady said to freeze, bozo.
Now get your hands over your heads.
- On the wall!
- MAN: Cops! Damn it!
All of you, on the wall!
- Get on the wall!
- Hands on your head!
See, you made a big mistake.
SAMUELS: How could you
let a thing like this happen?
Two of the three perpetrators
are G-men. FBI!
They've been working on the case
for six months.
How were we supposed to know?
Well, you ask. That's how you know.
Now I've gotta spend the next two days
clearing up this mess.
I gotta deal with the feds
and with Narcotics
and with the Division Commander.
And worst of all, I gotta deal with
Deputy Inspector Marquette.
We are very sorry, sir.
Sorry doesn't do me a lot of good.
Now get out of here. The both of youse.
Yes, sir.
He made a mistake. He's only 19.
He will never live to see 20.
I am saying, look at the facts, Christine.
That kid got some information
on a drug buy.
So he had no reason to believe
it wasn't legitimate
and no way of knowing
the feds were there.
I cannot believe you're defending him.
You're the one who didn't want
to work with him in the first place,
and now you're turning into Pollyanna.
I'm saying we treat him
like a human being.
We don't know that he set us up.
Except he's disappeared
off the face of the Earth.
I don't happen to think that's coincidence.
I don't happen to think you can make it...
- What, is it 3:30 already?
- Yeah. Hi, Mom.
- Hi, Aunt Chris.
- Hey, how's my favorite sixth grader?
- Still outrageous?
- Totally.
Whoa!
Cagney, Lacey,
I just got a call from Weston Prep.
Some kid went through
a plate-glass window. They think it's PCP.
Martin is the kid's name.
Now, you get over to St. John's Hospital
and check it out.
Talk to him if he's conscious.
LACEY: Right, sir.
There is one small problem, sir.
- Yeah? What's that?
- Harvey Jr. is here to finish his interviews.
Well, that can wait until you get back.
In the meantime, Petrie and Isbecki will be
more than happy to talk to your son.
Well, they're busy, sir.
And I thought if you had a minute,
Harvey would love to interview you.
I mean, you could really help him out.
A Detective Lieutenant like yourself,
with your wealth of experience
and your skillfulness,
your philosophy of work...
Yeah, I got a real lot of choice here,
don't I?
- I really would like to talk to you, sir.
- You would, huh?
Yeah.
- All right.
- Looks like you're stuck with me.
WOMAN ON PA:
Dr. Fischer to Pathology, please.
He's not that kind of boy.
He had absolutely no interest
in drugs or alcohol.
He never even tried smoking cigarettes.
At least, that's what I thought until now.
Mr. Martin, we see a lot of this.
And a lot of people are fooled.
Don't blame yourself.
Ever since his mother died,
Jeremy and I,
we built a strong relationship.
My son's only problem was his shyness.
I can't believe this, Mr. Martin. How is he?
There was a lot of bleeding,
a lot of stitches,
but they think he'll be okay.
- Mr. Martin, do you have a family lawyer?
- Why?
We have information that Jeremy
may have been dealing drugs at Weston.
That's impossible.
Well, we have a very good source.
I think your son
might want to talk to a lawyer.
- My God.
- Now, hold on a minute, Detective.
I know this boy. I know your source.
And I have a pretty strong suspicion
who's dealing drugs.
It's not Jeremy.
Sir, would you mind very much
if we talked to him?
JEREMY: I don't remember
much of anything.
When I think about
going through that window,
I can't believe it was me that did it.
It doesn't feel like me.
Well, from what we hear about you,
it wasn't like you.
Who gave you the PCP?
Loyalty is a fine thing. Jeremy,
it's something to be respected in a friend.
I'm sure that whoever gave you that dope
counted on that loyalty
and your silence.
No, he just thought I'd have a good time,
that's all.
He's my friend.
You know what I think of his friendship?
I think it stinks.
He almost killed you with his friendship.
It's not gonna work.
I'm not gonna tell you who it was.
Okay.
Isn't it funny the way that things turn out?
We came down
to the hospital this afternoon
because we had information
you were dealing dope.
- Me?
- Yeah.
Who told you something like that?
It was Matt, wasn't it?
Matt told you that?
Yes, he did.
I thought he was my friend.
- Matt gave you the drugs?
- Yeah.
All right. All right. All right.
Pick up the stoolie and bring him in.
Yeah, right.
Harvey Jr.?
Well, he's annoying the hell out of me,
that's what.
No, no, no, no. No, no, no.
You go bust that kid.
Everything here will be fine.
Harvey will be okay. Yeah. Okay. Bye-bye.
Thank you. Gin.
I'm gonna get that little creep,
and I'm gonna kill him.
See, we treated him too good.
He took advantage of us. He would never
have done that to Mulgannon.
It's not Matt, and it's not Mulgannon.
It's the whole system of using informants.
So, you think it's our fault
the kid went out the window?
If we hadn't put an informant
in the school,
Jeremy would not be
in the hospital bed right now.
But it isn't informants. It's Matt.
It's Matt this time.
Next time, it's somebody else.
You play in the gutter,
you get your hands dirty.
Forgot that you were collecting fives.
All right.
- How old are you?
- Twelve, sir.
It's hard to believe.
So, where was I?
You were saying
you liked being a policeman
because it was so real.
Yeah, right. Real.
Well, you see,
when we deal with people, it's because
they did something bad to somebody.
Or somebody did something bad to them.
And at a time like that,
it's kind of hard to put on airs.
Follow what I mean?
Sort of.
You see outside, in the real world, there's,
you know, people.
People say things to each other like,
"Have a nice day,"
or, "Lovely weather we're having."
Stuff like that.
Or they talk about movie stars
or the Queen of England,
like that stuff mattered in their lives.
No. No.
I like it in here, because in here
may not be the prettiest job in the world,
but in here it's real.
(BEEPING)
Hold it right there, sonny!
I'm gonna kill him.
LACEY: We gotta catch him first.
Matt!
CAGNEY: You lousy perp!
There!
(TIRES SCREECHING)
Hold it right there.
- CAGNEY: Hold it!
- Playtime is over, Matt!
Come on down from there.
Keep your hands where I can see 'em.
Do the best you can, kid.
You took our money
and you bought drugs.
You bought drugs with our money
and sold it to those kids in that school.
One of them
is lying in St. John's right now.
- Look, you don't understand. I was...
- Hey, I'll let you know when you can talk!
Did you hear that, Mary Beth?
We don't understand him.
This poor boy is a victim
of our misunderstanding.
You made a fool out of me, buster,
and I don't like that.
Hey, you look at me when I talk to you.
You have fixed it
so I have to come up with answers
to some very rough questions,
and I don't like that, either!
What do we have on him?
We have the original
two counts of possession
which the DA was holding
at Detective Mulgannon's request.
In addition,
we have new charges of possession,
possession with intent to sell,
resisting arrest.
So, what do you think, kid?
Think they'll let you watch cartoons
in prison?
- 'Cause that's where you're going.
- Just wait a minute.
I got a proposition for you.
What say if I get you
a real drug dealer, huh?
What is it? Is it your hearing? Is that it?
See, there are no deals.
The trading post is closed, pal.
I'm talking Mr. Big.
I'm talking Mr. Very Big.
- Have you ever heard of Andreas Palmer?
- Matt, it's over.
It's all over. You're going to jail.
I'm not going.
What could you possibly know
about Palmer?
I know plenty.
- Really?
- Yeah.
Why don't you talk fast
and make it real good?
A few months ago,
when I started working for Mulgannon,
I was making a lot of buys from people
who worked for Palmer.
You see, I was always supposed to try
and set up a meeting, but I never could.
Anyway, we knew where he lived.
So, one night, I paid his place a little visit.
I picked the locks in 10 seconds.
I'd figured he'd have drugs
just lying around.
- Why are we listening to this?
- We've gone this far. Go ahead, talk.
He wasn't stupid enough
to leave drugs lying around,
but I did find one thing, a book.
Believe it or not, a little black book,
only instead of girls' phone numbers,
he had all his contacts listed.
Importers, customers' names,
addresses, the works.
- You've got this book?
- Think I'm stupid?
He would've missed it.
I took pictures of it. Every page.
You conveniently had a camera.
He had a camera.
It was a fancy German model. I stole it.
So why didn't you give these pictures
to Mulgannon?
Well, I thought I ought to keep them
for a rainy day.
You know, in case I got into real trouble.
Right now, it looks like it's pouring.
So, what's it gonna be?
I mean, put a small-time punk
like me in jail and nobody notices.
Or get yourself a big arrest,
6:00 news, medals, promotions.
Come on. Sounds good, don't it?
Don't it?
I hate this whole thing here.
We're talking about Andreas Palmer.
- You know how big this could be?
- Right.
And there's a kid in the hospital.
He could've killed himself.
That could've been my kid.
How many kids are in the hospital now
because of the drugs Palmer sells?
How many murders are committed
to get his stuff?
The robberies that are committed
to get the money to pay him.
Matt Thompson deserves to be in jail.
It's a tradeoff, Mary Beth.
I don't like it any more than you do.
That kid is smart. He knows.
We could nail somebody
much more important.
- Is that it?
- What?
That's it, isn't it?
He got you with that stuff about the TV
and the promotions.
Because all you care about
is your next step up the ladder
for being first woman chief of detectives.
You really believe that?
No! No! I'm sorry! I'm angry!
I'm not gonna stand in the way of this.
Let's go ahead and do it.
For the greater good and all that.
All that... That's why I'm angry, Chris.
That's why I said what I said. Forgive me.
But I will never feel good
about letting Matt Thompson walk.
It may be expedient, Christine.
May be convenient, but it isn't justice.
And it sure as hell isn't right.
- So, you spoke to her?
- Yeah.
And where are you going to dinner, Paul?
- We're not.
- She turned you down?
No. Not exactly.
We had a lovely conversation.
Then I told her
I wasn't busy Saturday night.
And she said?
I should get out more often.
Paul, I think the idea was to ask
if she was busy Saturday night.
Why don't you go and call her again?
Be a little more aggressive.
Some of us still like that in men.
Right, I will.
CAGNEY: I'll get you the arrest reports
from a couple of the interesting cases
your mom and I worked on.
- All right?
- All right.
And then you ask me
any questions you have,
and I'll try and answer them.
- There's one case I'm real interested in.
- What's that?
Matt, the enforcer.
- It's informant.
- All right.
Not one of our great successes.
At least not yet.
I saw an informant on Kojak once.
Kojak would give the guy $10,
and he would help him solve crimes.
He was great.
Well, on television, they are great, Harvey.
But in real life, they are criminals.
I want you to write that down.
"They are criminals."
Now, does that about wrap it up, huh, pal?
Almost.
This informant stuff is real interesting.
I just hope my teacher doesn't think
I made it up.
Nah, you got too honest a face.
Come on, I'm gonna buy you
a candy bar for the road.
I mean, a guy like that could break
any law he wants and not go to jail.
Harvey.
I understand how all of this
is very fascinating to you,
and I know how strange
it must seem to hear
that we use criminals
to help us here in the department.
So I wanna explain it to you.
Are you listening to me?
- Yeah.
- Okay.
They give us very valuable information,
all right? Information that we need.
And, in exchange for that,
we keep them out of jail,
- for as long as they continue to help us.
- Guy goes free, right?
Right, but I want you to understand
what it is that we get in exchange for that.
Can he do anything?
I mean, could he kill someone?
No, I'm not gonna
let him get away with that.
Well, could he break someone's arm
and get away with it?
Harvey, we don't have
any set rules for this.
We make it up as we go along.
Hey, kid, when you're done here,
I just remembered
a terrific case that I cracked.
What is this?
That PCP dealer.
The one you blew the FBI collar on.
Well, they've been tailing him
ever since he was sprung.
What if Matt gave me drugs
and I went to the hospital?
I mean, I don't think
Mom would let him off for that.
I mean, she yelled at Dad once
just for giving me a sip of beer.
I don't have the answer for that, Harvey.
Christine, take a look at this address,
on the bottom.
LACEY: I never figured out how come
Matt happened to see our car
the day he told us about the drug buy.
So, you don't think it was a coincidence.
Not unless it was also a coincidence
that our PCP dealer
went to the same building
one hour after he was released.
I think they both went to see somebody.
- Madame... What's her name? Yeah.
- Frolovsky.
- How do you disguise the smell of mint?
- With more mint.
So your quack's a front?
Well, sir, in fairness,
the shoulder did feel better.
Go get it.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
- Hey!
- I'll cover the back.
Let's go.
Damn! Kick that thing in for me.
MAN: Try the backroom.
- Let's try this one.
- LACEY: Hey, kick that thing in.
LACEY: Hold it right there!
Don't move, either of you!
Get them covered.
Freeze! Police!
That's as far as you go, fool.
Camphor and menthol. You can buy it
across the counter for $1.69.
- Ladies.
- What?
You got a visitor.
- Detectives.
- CAGNEY: Mr. Martin.
- Good evening, sir.
- I hope I'm not bothering you.
I was in the area
and I thought I'd let you know
that Jeremy's gonna be okay.
He's getting out Monday.
Oh, that's terrific. Good.
Did you pick up that Thompson kid, yet?
Jeremy says
he's willing to testify against him.
Yes, sir. We did.
We have him in custody now, actually.
Well, what's the next step?
Should I bring Jeremy down here
to make a statement?
I think that might be a little premature.
- Why don't you let me... I'll give you...
- Please, Detective Cagney.
I don't want this to just fade away.
I almost lost my son,
and I want someone to pay for it.
Mr. Martin, it's just that
we do have procedures.
Detective Cagney, excuse me.
Mr. Martin,
I've been a police officer a long time,
long enough to think
that I know human nature.
I looked at Matt Thompson.
I thought I saw something.
And when my partner said
she saw something else,
I accused her of being cynical.
I'm sorry for that, Chris.
I was wrong about you.
I was wrong about Matt.
Excuse me, I don't understand.
You said you arrested him.
Yes, sir, we did.
But before I sign out tonight
and get on the subway,
go home and make dinner for my boys,
I'm gonna let him go.
Let him go? Why?
Well, when we arrested Matt,
he had certain very important documents.
Documents that can help us
arrest and convict
one of the largest drug importers
in the city of New York.
In exchange for that information,
Matt will go free.
I'm sure you've heard about
this sort of thing before, sir.
Believe me, we only do this
when we are convinced
that the exchange is worth it.
- Does anyone else know about this?
- The whole department, sir.
And his information,
it's really that important?
Yes, sir, we believe it is.
I guess you know your business.
I just wish I could bring you home
to explain that to Jeremy.
- Aren't you gonna say anything?
- Nothing to say.
Yeah, there is.
Come on.
CAGNEY: In the end,
we've gotta live with ourselves.
And I know this much.
I know that we'll just sleep
a lot better if that kid's put in prison.
So, if it's all the same to you, sir,
we'll just get Palmer another way.
Finished?
- I think so.
- Good.
Very nice sermon.
I'm very impressed, but you're a little late.
What do you mean, sir?
The little jerk got tired of waiting
of you two Sunday school teachers
to make up your mind,
so he called Mulgannon,
offered him the information.
Mulgannon sprung the kid in 15 minutes.
Excuse me.
Excuse me, sir.
Christine, you okay?
You been in here half an hour.
Yeah, I just wanted a little privacy.
Right.
Did you want me to leave?
(CHUCKLES)
He's laughing at us, Mary Beth.
Right now, wherever he is,
Matt Thompson is having such a laugh
on the two of us.
The hell with him.
Yeah, but all that talking we did.
Who the hell did we think we were?
Plato and Socrates, huh?
Morality and justice, it's...
It is such a joke.
The system just...
It just keeps on trucking.
Mulgannon gets all the glory,
and that little creep,
he just gets off scot-free.
We did our job.
Our job was bust a PCP ring. We did that.
And I might add,
without the help of an informant.
And don't you laugh at me.
We did it with our principles intact,
which is not an easy thing to do
in this job, in this city.
Mary Beth! Mary Beth!
La Guardia, what in the hell are you doing?
- It's about Muriel.
- LACEY: What?
We're going out tonight
to a macrobiotic dinner.
I'm delighted for the both of youse.
La Guardia, this is the women's john.
Do you wanna talk to me
when I get back to my desk?
Excuse me. Please forgive me.
See you later.
How could they say
the prisons are overcrowded?
All the criminals are on the police payroll.
If I read my rap sheet,
I wouldn't have much use for me either,
but I've changed.
He made a mistake. He's only 19.
He will never live to see 20.
So, what do you think, kid?
Think they'll let you watch cartoons
in prison?
- 'Cause that's where you're going!
- Just wait a minute.
I got a proposition for you.
I mean, a guy like that could break
any law he wants and not go to jail.
If we hadn't put an informant
in the school,
Jeremy would not be
in the hospital bed right now.
But it isn't informants. It's Matt.
It's Matt this time.
Next time, it's somebody else.
You play in the gutter,
you get your hands dirty.
Matt!
- CAGNEY: Hold it!
- Playtime is over, Matt!
You made a fool out of me, buster,
and I don't like that.
Hey, you look at me when I talk to you.
That's it, isn't it?
He got you with that stuff about the TV
and the promotions.
Because all you care about
is your next step up the ladder
for being first woman chief of detectives.
You really believe that?
No! No! I'm sorry! I'm angry!
(MAN CHA TTERING ON RADIO)
MAN: Well, what kind of car was it?
(GRUNTING)
(YELPING)
WOMAN: This is where you belong.
I don't want to hear it.
- Oh, good morning. Lacey, good morning.
- Watch out!
By the way, you never typed up
the report on felony assault.
- Well, I'll take care of them. All of them.
- ...police brutality!
Hey, I've got a witness. A witness...
ISBECKI: Sit down. Now, we've got
some police work to deal with now.
MAN: You'd just love to see me
get 10 years, wouldn't you?
Ten years? No.
I'd love to see you get a lobotomy
for what you did to that old man.
- This guy's animal life, man.
- What'd he do?
Carved up an old wino for a $5 bill. Ugly.
Now we've gotta listen to his abuse.
You know, nobody loves you
when you're a cop.
If you wanted love,
you should have been a fireman.
What kind of a mood is he in?
Because I gotta ask about Harvey Jr.
coming down to do a project for school.
Well, he's already chewed out Petrie
this morning,
he kicked Coleman out of the office,
and he's gotten down on La Guardia
for some bad paperwork.
He even started to yell at me.
One of his good mornings, huh?
- Mary Beth, you got a minute?
- Paul, no.
It's about your mother-in-law, Muriel.
Oh, go ahead.
Listen, I really enjoyed meeting her,
and I was wondering...
Does she have any free time?
Detective Lacey, if you're not too busy,
I was wondering if you might join
Detective Cagney and me in my office?
Certainly, sir. Right away, sir.
Call her up. She'd love to hear from you.
Four PCP raids and no arrests.
That's a batting average of.000.
You know something?
You two ought to get in touch
with George Steinbrenner.
He pays millions for guys
with records like that.
We're fighting phantoms here, sir.
They move those labs faster
than a floating crap game.
In three out of the four raids, the coffee
was still warm when we got there.
You're bleeding all over my report,
the both of youse.
Look, the bottom line is
that there's somebody out there
selling PCP to high school kids
on school property.
And we got citizens out there
who happen to think
that we should be able to stop this.
And I happen to think that they're right.
Well, would the schools
let one of us go undercover as a teacher?
Yeah, well, that's interesting
you should mention that, Cagney,
because I've been talking
to Max Mulgannon over in Narcotics,
and he's got a young kid working for him,
an informant who we could have on loan
if we want to.
Sir, I'd rather not use an informant
if we don't have to.
There isn't one of them
who wouldn't sell their mother
- for a new bowling shirt.
- Yeah.
Well, we're not working
in a democracy here, Lacey.
The decision's already been made.
Mulgannon is waiting for you.
Yes, sir.
Oh, sir, I know this isn't the time,
but I have a personal favor to ask.
Trust your instincts, Lacey.
It's not the right time.
Yes, sir.
Informants are criminals.
Hey, look, if perps hung out
with model citizens,
we wouldn't have this problem.
But they don't.
Perps hang out with other perps.
Where else
are we gonna get our information?
Have you read this fellow's rap sheet?
"Four counts grand theft auto. Burglary.
Possession, heroin. Possession, cocaine."
And one count of selling his mother
for a bowling shirt.
(CHUCKLES)
This man now works for us.
How could they say
the prisons are overcrowded?
All the criminals are on the police payroll.
Get up against the wall. Get up there.
MATT: Look. I haven't been
doing nothing, man.
Don't try that crap...
Hold it right there. We're police officers.
What?
Oh, boy. You two've gotta be
Samuels' girls, right?
Yeah. Okay, which one's Cagney
and which one's Lacey?
I'm Detective Cagney.
This is Detective Lacey.
You must be Samuels' boy.
You broads don't let us get away
with anything anymore, do you?
This is Matt Thompson.
He's my gift to the 14th Squad.
Say hello to the ladies, Matthew.
- Say hello!
- Hello.
Where do you think you're going?
- Gonna sit down.
- Yeah.
Get us something to eat.
Look, I want a double cheeseburger,
extra tomato and mayonnaise, no relish,
some fries and a root beer, no ice.
You want something?
- Coffee.
- Two.
I guess the ladies don't want you
to strain yourself. That's it.
Hey, don't get cute
with the change, either.
You always this charming
with informants?
He gives me information.
I don't send him to jail.
That don't mean he still isn't a slime ball
or I have to like him any more
than I do my hemorrhoids.
Hey, look.
This ain't no kid from the South Bronx,
you know.
He's from the suburbs.
He grew up with a hell of a lot more
than I ever did.
His parents are probably
at their shrink right now,
trying to figure out
where they went wrong
with their little darling Matthew.
He's a good stoolie, though.
So, why are you giving him to us?
I'm working
on a much bigger case right now.
Hey, listen. Have you dames ever heard
of a guy by the name of Andreas Palmer?
No.
He's a major South American
heroin and cocaine importer.
Just getting ready to close in on him.
The kid can't help us on this one, so...
You two go ahead and use him,
but look...
Treat him rough, will you?
So he don't forget who's boss.
Thanks.
Look, I got one request. Don't spoil him.
I've just about got him broken in.
Use him. Make him work for you.
But don't trust him any further
than you can spit on him.
So, when do I get to go undercover?
Well, what's your hurry?
You got a better offer?
I've been thinking about this,
and I'm really looking forward
to doing this.
I've got my personal reasons, but...
- You do?
- Yes.
My parents, they always wanted me
to go to Weston Prep.
This is gonna make 'em real proud.
Right.
Look, I know you're not gonna believe me,
but I got strong feelings about doing this.
Drugs messed up my life real bad.
If I could do something
to save some other kid from that,
maybe I'd feel
a little bit better about myself.
Detective Cagney is setting it up
right now.
We want you to be registered
like any other student.
There might be a little bit of a problem.
What's that, old friends?
Old clothes.
You see, everyone there,
they wear stuff with alligators
and polo ponies across them.
- We'll get you some new clothes.
- Thank you.
That's the third time
you rubbed that shoulder.
Why don't you let me type?
Yeah, I can type 90 words per minute.
I had a crush on my typing teacher,
so I took typing one, three years in a row.
My only A.
Okay?
- Okay.
- What do I do?
- Take this here and transfer it onto a blue.
- Okay.
- La Guardia?
- Yeah.
I got that form you wanted typed, finally.
Oh, thanks. Oh, Mary Beth, listen.
- About Muriel...
- Did you call her?
No, I can't find the number.
Paul, I gave you the number
half a dozen times.
I know, but I keep losing it.
I think maybe I'm afraid she'll say no
when I ask her to dinner.
She won't say no.
She was very impressed.
Hey, I'm telling you,
I never saw that stuff before.
Hey, man, you planted it on me.
You think I had some...
Who told you to stand up?
Turn around
and put your hands behind your back.
- Hey, Matt, what you in for?
- False arrest.
Yeah? Me, too.
(LAUGHING)
PETRIE: Keep laughing, son.
That old man you carved up
is still in intensive care.
In for false arrest. That's a good one.
I'll see you on the streets, Matt.
That's nice friends you've got.
Thank you.
For what?
We always protect an informant.
Yeah?
Mulgannon would use his handcuff routine
as an excuse to rough me up.
I will tell you again.
You treat us fair, we'll treat you fair.
You're a real decent lady, huh?
If the mutual admiration society's
adjourned,
I'd like to get onto some new business.
Is it set?
Yeah, he enrolls tomorrow.
Look, I'll do a good job for you.
You can trust me.
Right.
You think I'm a dead-end street,
don't you?
I think you are who you are.
Lady, if I read my rap sheet,
I wouldn't have much use for me either,
but I've changed.
I just hope that I can prove it to you.
HERROLD: I've arranged
for one of our students
to walk Matt
through his first day of classes.
Of course, neither he nor the other boys
will know Matt's real purpose
for being here.
(INTERCOM BUZZING)
Jeremy. Come in.
This is Jeremy Martin,
one of our better students.
Jeremy, this is Matt Thompson,
the new boy I told you about.
- Hi.
- How you doing?
(BELL RINGING)
- Can we go now, Mr. Herrold?
- Go ahead.
It was nice meeting you, both of you.
CAGNEY: Thank you, Jeremy.
I have to tell you,
I still have misgivings
about bringing a drug addict,
even an ex-drug addict, into my school.
Our department has done this thing
before, sir, and it's been very successful.
Well, it's your responsibility.
Yes, sir.
(HARVEY SIGHING)
Thank you.
- Your shoulder?
- Yeah.
Okay, darling, give me a second, huh?
Give me the brush. Thank you.
I'll be with you.
All right. Come on, sit down. Sit down.
- It's right here.
- You got it.
(SIGHS)
- Tight?
- Yeah.
Feel better?
It's beginning to.
Mom?
Did you ask Lieutenant Samuels yet
about me coming down
to the station house?
No, but I promise I will.
- But when?
- Soon.
Why don't you work
at the library or something?
No, my work's all done there.
I got 35 pages
on the criminal justice system
and 10 pages on the courts.
All I have left to do
is my interviews with the police.
So, what do I look like?
Well, you're my mother. You don't count.
- Nice. I don't count.
- You know what he means.
Come on, Mom. When can I come?
I give you my solemn word of honor
I will talk to Lieutenant Samuels
this week.
- You're welcome. No, more here.
- More?
- More here.
- More.
- Is Samuels gonna be a problem?
- Yeah, well, he's always a problem.
Yeah, is he still riding you
about that PCP case?
- Yeah.
- Yeah?
And I hate the whole thing.
Half those kids I see on dope
are not any older than what's-his-name.
Don't you worry. He's a good kid.
I didn't think it was possible,
but the Lieutenant was in
an even worse mood than yesterday.
You get to talk to him
about Harvey Jr. yet?
No.
Well, you got tomorrow.
Tomorrow is a school holiday.
Tomorrow I said I'd take the kid in.
I must talk
to the Lieutenant this afternoon.
So, where's our other young scholar?
He said he was gonna be here at noon.
(EXCLAIMS)
Hey, I was here. You're late.
What the hell are you doing,
trying to give us a heart attack?
Get over here.
I'm sorry. I didn't mean nothing by it.
We are not playing games here, Matt.
Look, you don't like hide-and-seek,
we'll play show-and-tell, all right?
Here's the show.
The sherm,
it's a cigarette dipped in PCP liquid.
Found the dealer?
Not the dealer, but a kid
who's a runner for the dealer.
Now, I think he can help us set up a buy.
Who is it?
Well, I'm gonna need a couple of hundred
dollars or so to make it look good.
I think $100 will look good enough.
- A student, or somebody from the outside?
- A student.
Did you get a name?
You met him.
It's that kid that was showing me around.
Martin. Jeremy Martin.
Well, if he's a dealer,
he's one hell of an actor.
They're all actors. That's part of the gig.
Martin has got a bad habit.
Desperate people do desperate things.
I ought to know.
I used to be real desperate myself.
I'll see you around the quad, huh?
Oh, he's good, I'll give him that.
But he's seen one too many Bogart films.
Meaning?
That con job.
The reformed criminal routine. Please.
You don't think it's possible?
You do?
It's possible.
Not in a million years. Come on.
You got very cynical, Christine.
I'm hoping that you are wrong.
Hey, if I'm wrong,
all I have to do is say I'm sorry.
If you're wrong, we get burned.
LACEY: Sir, I promise Harvey Jr. won't
interfere with any police business.
I'll stay with him the whole time.
If you don't think it's a good idea, sir,
I'll put him on the subway home
right now.
Lacey, look,
next time I would appreciate it
if I was consulted
before the damage is done.
- Well, I...
- The police station is just not a place
for a young kid like that.
If it was up to me, I...
What was I saying?
If it was up to you, sir.
Yeah, if it was up to me, I would...
The kid is here already,
so let him stay the whole day.
But you gotta promise
you're gonna watch him, right?
I will, sir. Thank you, sir.
It sounds good. All right, we'll be there.
That was our boy. The buy is going down.
Gotta go pick up the stuff,
take it to the lab,
and then turn it over to the property clerk.
Oh, no.
I am sorry, kiddo, but I cannot leave
you here alone. I got duty.
So get on the subway. Go back home.
Don't worry about it, Mary Beth.
He can stay with me.
- I'd love to give him an interview, anyway.
- You sure?
Sure. I'm just pushing paper
for the next hour.
- Paul, you're a peach. I owe you one.
- That's great.
You, stay with Detective La Guardia.
Sit right down there.
- All right.
- I'll be back in about an hour and a half.
- Okay.
- Yeah. Yeah.
- Bye-bye, Mom.
- Bye-bye.
To begin with,
you might take a look
at the Magna Carta.
- Magna Carta?
- Yeah. It's amazing
when you begin to explore
the ramifications
of the concept of habeas corpus.
Yes, sir.
LACEY: You think
something happened to him?
I think something happened to us.
We've been stood up.
Let's give him 10 more minutes.
Okay.
What do you do with a kid like that?
I mean, what if you're that kid's mother?
Would you put your head in the sand,
or you blame yourself,
or you write him off?
What would I do if Harvey Jr.
got mixed up in that dope stuff?
Harv Jr.? Come on, he's a great kid.
Nothing is gonna happen to him.
- Harvey Sr. told me the same thing.
- See, there you go.
I'd just like him to know
how dangerous it is.
Actually, I'd like to take him down to
the morgue and scare the hell out of him.
Listen, you make too big a deal out of this,
it's gonna make it
all that much more exciting to him.
It's like what happened to me
when I discovered sex was a sin.
LA GUARDIA: It wasn't until the year 1652
that New York actually had
its own police department.
I'm afraid I'm boring you, son.
No. No, not really, sir.
Would you like to talk
about something else?
Like what?
Well, I was wondering if you know
whether your grandmother likes
macrobiotic food?
(CHILDREN CHATTERING)
- MATT: Yeah.
- Open the door, kid.
Hi.
- I screwed up, didn't I?
- We had an appointment.
Or did that just slip your mind?
Come on in.
Look, I could tell you guys a really
outstanding story and you'd believe me.
Or I could tell you the truth.
I got burned. I gave the guy the money,
and he never came back.
I knew you'd be angry, so I came home.
I couldn't face you.
Guess you opted
for the outstanding story...
- That is the truth, I swear it!
- Hey, cut it.
I'm real sick of your act, you know it?
So far, you've produced zilch,
you burned us for 100 bucks,
plus a new wardrobe!
Look, I'm not doing business
on Wall Street.
I'm dealing with low life.
I mean, guys that I think are low life.
You cannot expect things to run smoothly.
I got burned.
- It happens.
- It doesn't happen to me.
Now, I can't prove you've lied,
and you know that.
But I'll tell you this much.
If you don't come up with something soon,
I'm kicking you right back
to the tender care of Detective Mulgannon.
Let's get out of here.
What happened to fair and fair, huh?
Look, wait. Wait.
Not too many people have ever given me
a reason to trust them,
least of all cops.
It is hard for me to accept the idea
that you're just not gonna dump on me
like everybody else.
You're very good at speeches, Matt.
So far, you haven't shown us anything.
Look, I got burned. I know I did.
When I got back here, all I wanted to do
was get stoned, but I didn't.
I believe in what I'm doing,
and it's helping me to stay straight.
Now, you gotta give me another chance.
- You gotta.
- Go back to school and find something out.
You stay clean, you hear me?
Lacey, we're not the feds, you know.
We haven't got unlimited funds
to give to stoolies.
Well, sir, he seems to think that
he's onto the suppliers.
- So, can we give him a few more days?
- I guess we got to.
In the meantime, we got a call
from a guy who lives in
an apartment building near Weston Prep.
He says he thinks there's a guy
in his building making and selling PCP.
Why does he think that?
'Cause he heard a news broadcast
that warns parents
that a minty odor
could be a sign of PCP manufacture.
And there's one apartment in his building
that stinks of mint, he says.
- I think it's worth checking out.
- LA CEY: Yes, sir.
"Madame Frolovsky,
spiritual and herbal healer."
Oh, boy.
So, which one of us
is gonna have the disease?
Not me. My mother always said,
"Pretend to be sick, you get sick."
She just didn't want you to cut school,
that's all.
- I'm not doing it!
- Okay.
I'll have tennis elbow.
You don't play tennis.
So it'll be a quick cure.
- Yes?
- Hello.
- I wondered if you could help me...
- Excuse me, dear.
There's something wrong
with your shoulder, isn't there?
How do you know
I got a problem with my shoulder?
Relax. I don't read minds.
I simply observed that you carry this
shoulder slightly higher than the other.
It looks like it gives you a little pain.
Yeah, it's here. It's right in here.
- Do you use herbs?
- Among other secret ingredients.
Is that why I smell mint?
Yes. Herbal tea.
It lends an air of authenticity.
A lot of people are more comfortable
if everything is exactly
the way they imagine it to be.
You wait here. I'll get you some ointment
to rub into your shoulder.
So much for our PCP bust.
We should've got La Guardia
some of that mint tea.
- What?
- Next time.
You're kidding. You gonna go back there?
I swear, Christine, it's better.
The shoulder is better.
Right.
If she gives you any chocolate mousse,
don't eat it.
Remember Rosemary's Baby?
Are we talking the movies
or are we talking life?
Life in the movies.
(GASPS)
What?
The car was locked!
Yeah, it took me all of 20 seconds
to unlock it.
Listen, I've been looking for you two.
There's a big drug buy
going down in about 10 minutes
in the back of Jack's Café over on 34th.
- Are you sure?
- Hey, be there or be square.
"Be there or be square."
34th Street.
This is it.
- We should call for backup.
- We don't have time.
- Excuse me, where's your restroom?
- In the back.
- Thank you.
- All right.
- Relax, we got a little business back there.
- Okay, yeah.
- I'll take the john.
- Right.
- When you hear me?
- Right.
Excuse me. Sorry. Excuse me.
Gentlemen, stay where you are.
You're under arrest. We're police.
The lady said to freeze, bozo.
Now get your hands over your heads.
- On the wall!
- MAN: Cops! Damn it!
All of you, on the wall!
- Get on the wall!
- Hands on your head!
See, you made a big mistake.
SAMUELS: How could you
let a thing like this happen?
Two of the three perpetrators
are G-men. FBI!
They've been working on the case
for six months.
How were we supposed to know?
Well, you ask. That's how you know.
Now I've gotta spend the next two days
clearing up this mess.
I gotta deal with the feds
and with Narcotics
and with the Division Commander.
And worst of all, I gotta deal with
Deputy Inspector Marquette.
We are very sorry, sir.
Sorry doesn't do me a lot of good.
Now get out of here. The both of youse.
Yes, sir.
He made a mistake. He's only 19.
He will never live to see 20.
I am saying, look at the facts, Christine.
That kid got some information
on a drug buy.
So he had no reason to believe
it wasn't legitimate
and no way of knowing
the feds were there.
I cannot believe you're defending him.
You're the one who didn't want
to work with him in the first place,
and now you're turning into Pollyanna.
I'm saying we treat him
like a human being.
We don't know that he set us up.
Except he's disappeared
off the face of the Earth.
I don't happen to think that's coincidence.
I don't happen to think you can make it...
- What, is it 3:30 already?
- Yeah. Hi, Mom.
- Hi, Aunt Chris.
- Hey, how's my favorite sixth grader?
- Still outrageous?
- Totally.
Whoa!
Cagney, Lacey,
I just got a call from Weston Prep.
Some kid went through
a plate-glass window. They think it's PCP.
Martin is the kid's name.
Now, you get over to St. John's Hospital
and check it out.
Talk to him if he's conscious.
LACEY: Right, sir.
There is one small problem, sir.
- Yeah? What's that?
- Harvey Jr. is here to finish his interviews.
Well, that can wait until you get back.
In the meantime, Petrie and Isbecki will be
more than happy to talk to your son.
Well, they're busy, sir.
And I thought if you had a minute,
Harvey would love to interview you.
I mean, you could really help him out.
A Detective Lieutenant like yourself,
with your wealth of experience
and your skillfulness,
your philosophy of work...
Yeah, I got a real lot of choice here,
don't I?
- I really would like to talk to you, sir.
- You would, huh?
Yeah.
- All right.
- Looks like you're stuck with me.
WOMAN ON PA:
Dr. Fischer to Pathology, please.
He's not that kind of boy.
He had absolutely no interest
in drugs or alcohol.
He never even tried smoking cigarettes.
At least, that's what I thought until now.
Mr. Martin, we see a lot of this.
And a lot of people are fooled.
Don't blame yourself.
Ever since his mother died,
Jeremy and I,
we built a strong relationship.
My son's only problem was his shyness.
I can't believe this, Mr. Martin. How is he?
There was a lot of bleeding,
a lot of stitches,
but they think he'll be okay.
- Mr. Martin, do you have a family lawyer?
- Why?
We have information that Jeremy
may have been dealing drugs at Weston.
That's impossible.
Well, we have a very good source.
I think your son
might want to talk to a lawyer.
- My God.
- Now, hold on a minute, Detective.
I know this boy. I know your source.
And I have a pretty strong suspicion
who's dealing drugs.
It's not Jeremy.
Sir, would you mind very much
if we talked to him?
JEREMY: I don't remember
much of anything.
When I think about
going through that window,
I can't believe it was me that did it.
It doesn't feel like me.
Well, from what we hear about you,
it wasn't like you.
Who gave you the PCP?
Loyalty is a fine thing. Jeremy,
it's something to be respected in a friend.
I'm sure that whoever gave you that dope
counted on that loyalty
and your silence.
No, he just thought I'd have a good time,
that's all.
He's my friend.
You know what I think of his friendship?
I think it stinks.
He almost killed you with his friendship.
It's not gonna work.
I'm not gonna tell you who it was.
Okay.
Isn't it funny the way that things turn out?
We came down
to the hospital this afternoon
because we had information
you were dealing dope.
- Me?
- Yeah.
Who told you something like that?
It was Matt, wasn't it?
Matt told you that?
Yes, he did.
I thought he was my friend.
- Matt gave you the drugs?
- Yeah.
All right. All right. All right.
Pick up the stoolie and bring him in.
Yeah, right.
Harvey Jr.?
Well, he's annoying the hell out of me,
that's what.
No, no, no, no. No, no, no.
You go bust that kid.
Everything here will be fine.
Harvey will be okay. Yeah. Okay. Bye-bye.
Thank you. Gin.
I'm gonna get that little creep,
and I'm gonna kill him.
See, we treated him too good.
He took advantage of us. He would never
have done that to Mulgannon.
It's not Matt, and it's not Mulgannon.
It's the whole system of using informants.
So, you think it's our fault
the kid went out the window?
If we hadn't put an informant
in the school,
Jeremy would not be
in the hospital bed right now.
But it isn't informants. It's Matt.
It's Matt this time.
Next time, it's somebody else.
You play in the gutter,
you get your hands dirty.
Forgot that you were collecting fives.
All right.
- How old are you?
- Twelve, sir.
It's hard to believe.
So, where was I?
You were saying
you liked being a policeman
because it was so real.
Yeah, right. Real.
Well, you see,
when we deal with people, it's because
they did something bad to somebody.
Or somebody did something bad to them.
And at a time like that,
it's kind of hard to put on airs.
Follow what I mean?
Sort of.
You see outside, in the real world, there's,
you know, people.
People say things to each other like,
"Have a nice day,"
or, "Lovely weather we're having."
Stuff like that.
Or they talk about movie stars
or the Queen of England,
like that stuff mattered in their lives.
No. No.
I like it in here, because in here
may not be the prettiest job in the world,
but in here it's real.
(BEEPING)
Hold it right there, sonny!
I'm gonna kill him.
LACEY: We gotta catch him first.
Matt!
CAGNEY: You lousy perp!
There!
(TIRES SCREECHING)
Hold it right there.
- CAGNEY: Hold it!
- Playtime is over, Matt!
Come on down from there.
Keep your hands where I can see 'em.
Do the best you can, kid.
You took our money
and you bought drugs.
You bought drugs with our money
and sold it to those kids in that school.
One of them
is lying in St. John's right now.
- Look, you don't understand. I was...
- Hey, I'll let you know when you can talk!
Did you hear that, Mary Beth?
We don't understand him.
This poor boy is a victim
of our misunderstanding.
You made a fool out of me, buster,
and I don't like that.
Hey, you look at me when I talk to you.
You have fixed it
so I have to come up with answers
to some very rough questions,
and I don't like that, either!
What do we have on him?
We have the original
two counts of possession
which the DA was holding
at Detective Mulgannon's request.
In addition,
we have new charges of possession,
possession with intent to sell,
resisting arrest.
So, what do you think, kid?
Think they'll let you watch cartoons
in prison?
- 'Cause that's where you're going.
- Just wait a minute.
I got a proposition for you.
What say if I get you
a real drug dealer, huh?
What is it? Is it your hearing? Is that it?
See, there are no deals.
The trading post is closed, pal.
I'm talking Mr. Big.
I'm talking Mr. Very Big.
- Have you ever heard of Andreas Palmer?
- Matt, it's over.
It's all over. You're going to jail.
I'm not going.
What could you possibly know
about Palmer?
I know plenty.
- Really?
- Yeah.
Why don't you talk fast
and make it real good?
A few months ago,
when I started working for Mulgannon,
I was making a lot of buys from people
who worked for Palmer.
You see, I was always supposed to try
and set up a meeting, but I never could.
Anyway, we knew where he lived.
So, one night, I paid his place a little visit.
I picked the locks in 10 seconds.
I'd figured he'd have drugs
just lying around.
- Why are we listening to this?
- We've gone this far. Go ahead, talk.
He wasn't stupid enough
to leave drugs lying around,
but I did find one thing, a book.
Believe it or not, a little black book,
only instead of girls' phone numbers,
he had all his contacts listed.
Importers, customers' names,
addresses, the works.
- You've got this book?
- Think I'm stupid?
He would've missed it.
I took pictures of it. Every page.
You conveniently had a camera.
He had a camera.
It was a fancy German model. I stole it.
So why didn't you give these pictures
to Mulgannon?
Well, I thought I ought to keep them
for a rainy day.
You know, in case I got into real trouble.
Right now, it looks like it's pouring.
So, what's it gonna be?
I mean, put a small-time punk
like me in jail and nobody notices.
Or get yourself a big arrest,
6:00 news, medals, promotions.
Come on. Sounds good, don't it?
Don't it?
I hate this whole thing here.
We're talking about Andreas Palmer.
- You know how big this could be?
- Right.
And there's a kid in the hospital.
He could've killed himself.
That could've been my kid.
How many kids are in the hospital now
because of the drugs Palmer sells?
How many murders are committed
to get his stuff?
The robberies that are committed
to get the money to pay him.
Matt Thompson deserves to be in jail.
It's a tradeoff, Mary Beth.
I don't like it any more than you do.
That kid is smart. He knows.
We could nail somebody
much more important.
- Is that it?
- What?
That's it, isn't it?
He got you with that stuff about the TV
and the promotions.
Because all you care about
is your next step up the ladder
for being first woman chief of detectives.
You really believe that?
No! No! I'm sorry! I'm angry!
I'm not gonna stand in the way of this.
Let's go ahead and do it.
For the greater good and all that.
All that... That's why I'm angry, Chris.
That's why I said what I said. Forgive me.
But I will never feel good
about letting Matt Thompson walk.
It may be expedient, Christine.
May be convenient, but it isn't justice.
And it sure as hell isn't right.
- So, you spoke to her?
- Yeah.
And where are you going to dinner, Paul?
- We're not.
- She turned you down?
No. Not exactly.
We had a lovely conversation.
Then I told her
I wasn't busy Saturday night.
And she said?
I should get out more often.
Paul, I think the idea was to ask
if she was busy Saturday night.
Why don't you go and call her again?
Be a little more aggressive.
Some of us still like that in men.
Right, I will.
CAGNEY: I'll get you the arrest reports
from a couple of the interesting cases
your mom and I worked on.
- All right?
- All right.
And then you ask me
any questions you have,
and I'll try and answer them.
- There's one case I'm real interested in.
- What's that?
Matt, the enforcer.
- It's informant.
- All right.
Not one of our great successes.
At least not yet.
I saw an informant on Kojak once.
Kojak would give the guy $10,
and he would help him solve crimes.
He was great.
Well, on television, they are great, Harvey.
But in real life, they are criminals.
I want you to write that down.
"They are criminals."
Now, does that about wrap it up, huh, pal?
Almost.
This informant stuff is real interesting.
I just hope my teacher doesn't think
I made it up.
Nah, you got too honest a face.
Come on, I'm gonna buy you
a candy bar for the road.
I mean, a guy like that could break
any law he wants and not go to jail.
Harvey.
I understand how all of this
is very fascinating to you,
and I know how strange
it must seem to hear
that we use criminals
to help us here in the department.
So I wanna explain it to you.
Are you listening to me?
- Yeah.
- Okay.
They give us very valuable information,
all right? Information that we need.
And, in exchange for that,
we keep them out of jail,
- for as long as they continue to help us.
- Guy goes free, right?
Right, but I want you to understand
what it is that we get in exchange for that.
Can he do anything?
I mean, could he kill someone?
No, I'm not gonna
let him get away with that.
Well, could he break someone's arm
and get away with it?
Harvey, we don't have
any set rules for this.
We make it up as we go along.
Hey, kid, when you're done here,
I just remembered
a terrific case that I cracked.
What is this?
That PCP dealer.
The one you blew the FBI collar on.
Well, they've been tailing him
ever since he was sprung.
What if Matt gave me drugs
and I went to the hospital?
I mean, I don't think
Mom would let him off for that.
I mean, she yelled at Dad once
just for giving me a sip of beer.
I don't have the answer for that, Harvey.
Christine, take a look at this address,
on the bottom.
LACEY: I never figured out how come
Matt happened to see our car
the day he told us about the drug buy.
So, you don't think it was a coincidence.
Not unless it was also a coincidence
that our PCP dealer
went to the same building
one hour after he was released.
I think they both went to see somebody.
- Madame... What's her name? Yeah.
- Frolovsky.
- How do you disguise the smell of mint?
- With more mint.
So your quack's a front?
Well, sir, in fairness,
the shoulder did feel better.
Go get it.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
- Hey!
- I'll cover the back.
Let's go.
Damn! Kick that thing in for me.
MAN: Try the backroom.
- Let's try this one.
- LACEY: Hey, kick that thing in.
LACEY: Hold it right there!
Don't move, either of you!
Get them covered.
Freeze! Police!
That's as far as you go, fool.
Camphor and menthol. You can buy it
across the counter for $1.69.
- Ladies.
- What?
You got a visitor.
- Detectives.
- CAGNEY: Mr. Martin.
- Good evening, sir.
- I hope I'm not bothering you.
I was in the area
and I thought I'd let you know
that Jeremy's gonna be okay.
He's getting out Monday.
Oh, that's terrific. Good.
Did you pick up that Thompson kid, yet?
Jeremy says
he's willing to testify against him.
Yes, sir. We did.
We have him in custody now, actually.
Well, what's the next step?
Should I bring Jeremy down here
to make a statement?
I think that might be a little premature.
- Why don't you let me... I'll give you...
- Please, Detective Cagney.
I don't want this to just fade away.
I almost lost my son,
and I want someone to pay for it.
Mr. Martin, it's just that
we do have procedures.
Detective Cagney, excuse me.
Mr. Martin,
I've been a police officer a long time,
long enough to think
that I know human nature.
I looked at Matt Thompson.
I thought I saw something.
And when my partner said
she saw something else,
I accused her of being cynical.
I'm sorry for that, Chris.
I was wrong about you.
I was wrong about Matt.
Excuse me, I don't understand.
You said you arrested him.
Yes, sir, we did.
But before I sign out tonight
and get on the subway,
go home and make dinner for my boys,
I'm gonna let him go.
Let him go? Why?
Well, when we arrested Matt,
he had certain very important documents.
Documents that can help us
arrest and convict
one of the largest drug importers
in the city of New York.
In exchange for that information,
Matt will go free.
I'm sure you've heard about
this sort of thing before, sir.
Believe me, we only do this
when we are convinced
that the exchange is worth it.
- Does anyone else know about this?
- The whole department, sir.
And his information,
it's really that important?
Yes, sir, we believe it is.
I guess you know your business.
I just wish I could bring you home
to explain that to Jeremy.
- Aren't you gonna say anything?
- Nothing to say.
Yeah, there is.
Come on.
CAGNEY: In the end,
we've gotta live with ourselves.
And I know this much.
I know that we'll just sleep
a lot better if that kid's put in prison.
So, if it's all the same to you, sir,
we'll just get Palmer another way.
Finished?
- I think so.
- Good.
Very nice sermon.
I'm very impressed, but you're a little late.
What do you mean, sir?
The little jerk got tired of waiting
of you two Sunday school teachers
to make up your mind,
so he called Mulgannon,
offered him the information.
Mulgannon sprung the kid in 15 minutes.
Excuse me.
Excuse me, sir.
Christine, you okay?
You been in here half an hour.
Yeah, I just wanted a little privacy.
Right.
Did you want me to leave?
(CHUCKLES)
He's laughing at us, Mary Beth.
Right now, wherever he is,
Matt Thompson is having such a laugh
on the two of us.
The hell with him.
Yeah, but all that talking we did.
Who the hell did we think we were?
Plato and Socrates, huh?
Morality and justice, it's...
It is such a joke.
The system just...
It just keeps on trucking.
Mulgannon gets all the glory,
and that little creep,
he just gets off scot-free.
We did our job.
Our job was bust a PCP ring. We did that.
And I might add,
without the help of an informant.
And don't you laugh at me.
We did it with our principles intact,
which is not an easy thing to do
in this job, in this city.
Mary Beth! Mary Beth!
La Guardia, what in the hell are you doing?
- It's about Muriel.
- LACEY: What?
We're going out tonight
to a macrobiotic dinner.
I'm delighted for the both of youse.
La Guardia, this is the women's john.
Do you wanna talk to me
when I get back to my desk?
Excuse me. Please forgive me.
See you later.