Wiseguy (1987–2009): Season 2, Episode 9 - Where's the Money? - full transcript
With Elrose Fashions in its death throes, David and Eli's tenuous relationship shatters, and David seeks to avenge his grievous losses against Rick Pinzolo.
(glass breaking)
- [Commentator]
Tonight on Wiseguy.
- This is an order to appear
before a United
States Grand Jury.
- My efforts to
please you are over!
- David, I'm in the middle
of a crisis that you created!
- I can't believe
it, you and Pinzolo.
- You spied on me?
- I hired him to
protect me from Pinzolo!
It never occurred to me
that I needed protection
from my own blood!
- I'm going out on this
one with a victory, Frank.
And I don't care what it costs.
- This isn't a robbery,
this is retribution.
("Wiseguy" Theme Music)
- Apologies for
working into the night.
But I kept saying to myself,
David Sternberg, Eli Sternberg,
Rick Pinzolo, where's the money?
Their rag trade is a $20
billion a year industry,
illegal activities, loan
sharking, cartage thefts,
sweetheart deals with
unions, trucking.
All told, they account
for 25% of the business.
That's $5 billion a year
for an underworld empire run
by this man, Rick Pinzolo.
Now why would this man
give a hoot in Hell
about this man's business?
On a good year, Eli
Sternberg's company grosses
maybe $30 million, after tax
net, it's less than a mil.
That wouldn't cover the
cost of replacing blades
on Pinzolo's juicer.
So, I ask ya, where's the money?
- David Sternberg
answered that question,
it's not money, it's ego.
Pinzolo's a conqueror
of rag trade merchants,
it's enough that the
Sternberg's are there
and susceptible to takeover.
- It's the money, Frank.
David Sternberg came to us
out of fear for Pinzolo taking
over his family business.
His father borrowed heavily
from Pinzolo to cover the cost
of reproducing goods
stuck in customs.
You got those goods released,
Eli paid back Pinzolo,
deals done, no obligation.
- Pinzolo lost an
opportunity, he hates losing,
and I say he's determined to
takeover because he has to win.
He thinks you're
workin' as his operative
in the Sternberg business,
he has you spying on them.
Why else would he
personally insist
that you follow the fabric
shipment from the trucks
to the sweatshops to
the finished product?
- Where's the money?
That order is the biggest
order Eli ever had,
he'll make a fortune off of it.
(laughs) If Pinzolo wanted
to take over Eli's company,
why would he go about the
business of making him richer?
- All right, John Henry, I
am waiting with bated breath.
- Want to bring in the dress?
Now, the fabric Pinzolo
wanted watched turned
into a Sternberg knockoff
a Medici original,
ordered by Right Wear.
Right Wear, it's the biggest
discount department store chain
in America, blue chip among
publicly held retailers.
Innocent looking
number, isn't it?
(fire crackling)
Might as well be napalm.
If that were
burning on the skin,
it would adhere to the
body like crazy glue.
So, Profesore,
where's the money?
- The fabric is tampered
with at the mill,
no flame retardant, which
is why Pinzolo wanted you
to keep an eye on it until
it became the dress order.
- Correct, where's the money?
- Now a highly flammable dress,
it goes to the
Right Wear stores.
- Correct again,
where's the money?
- Pinzolo knows it's flammable.
- Correct!
- Where is the money?
Pinzolo notifies Right
Wear anonymously,
they force Sternberg
to take back the dress.
Now Eli's in a thick stew,
he has to go to Pinzolo
to help reproduce
the dress order,
and he takes over the
Sternberg company.
- Incorrect.
That dress gets returned
and Eli faces federal
charges, criminal charges.
Right Wear's not gonna
sit on that liability.
Eli won't survive
federal scrutiny
and the rash of
following lawsuits.
Why would Pinzolo, a
suspected mob kingpin,
want to get entangled with a
company under federal scrutiny?
One that's going
bankrupt to boot?
- Oh, yeah?
Well what else is there, Pinzolo
hopin' for a mass melt down
of middle-class housewives?
- Forget the dress, forget the
Sternbergs, forget Pinzolo,
forget everything you know and
ask yourself this question,
what would happen
to Right Wear stock
if it becomes public knowledge
that they're selling dresses
that explode like roman candles?
- That's a very sassy
speculation, John Henry.
What's missing is a reason for
Pinzolo to go through hoops
to get Eli's piddling
little company in bed
with a giant like Right Wear.
Now the tampering with
the fire retardant had
to take place at the mill,
wouldn't Pinzolo just tamper
with an existing
order from a company
that Right Wear already
does business with?
- If it was his idea.
I'm an old dog, I look for
old bones, like motive.
And I found a
double-barreled beauty.
The pure, visceral
satisfaction of revenge
and the mega-bucks bang
of insider trading.
One person gets a double shot
of pleasure in this deal.
One person knows
where the money is,
Carole Goldman, full partner
in the Wall Street Firm
of Decker-Barton,
daughter of Eli's cousin.
She hates Eli with a passion.
She would savor his economic
demise in any event,
and it is made that much sweeter
if attached to her own
financial windfall.
She's the money.
Pinzolo didn't get Eli
in bed with Right Wear,
what Pinzolo got was in
bed with Carole Goldman.
- We're good together, Ricky.
- Yeah, I guess I'm
getting more in this deal
than I bargained for. (laughing)
- [Carole] I'm not gonna
be able to sleep tonight.
- [Rick] Well, I'm
gonna sleep like a baby.
- You don't have to call the
Federal Trade Commission.
I would love to see Eli's
face when he gets that call.
"Hello, Mr. Sternberg,
this is the FTC, (laughs)
"and you're in deep, dummy."
You know, actually,
he should get the call
from one of God's prelates,
because this, my friend,
is Biblical justice.
- The thrill is in
the pump of the deal,
not in seeing the losers
get caught in the wake.
- Oh, please,
spare me the sermon
on how to be the
healthy capitalist.
Money isn't enough,
it's the vantage point.
It's making sure that the
right people in your life
always see you from the
vantage point of looking up.
Preferably, with their
necks craned back
at a 90-degree angle.
And don't tell me it isn't
so for you, too, Ricky.
Why else would you have this,
uh, happy trails to you, office?
- It's not the looking
up, it's the looking down,
you can't see the
pain in their faces.
- Then I want this deal
played out on street level.
- You have no idea how you'll
react to Eli's devastation,
You'll think it'll be a
moment of joyous satisfaction?
You're wrong, you will be empty.
(sighing) You think it'll be
just a little
isolated suffering?
This will ripple out
and touch people in ways
that you haven't
even considered.
- You talking about David?
- I'm talking about people
you don't even know.
I know, I've been there.
- It hasn't slowed you down any.
- I'm an existentialist.
Well, tomorrow will
be quite a day.
A business will die,
stock will crash,
a wolf will rise on Wall Street
and all because of something
as benign as a dress.
(ominous music)
(dramatic music)
(fire crackling)
(glass crashing)
- [Reporter] Top of
the money report,
chaos in the clothing
industry today.
Right Wear, the nation's
leading retailer has been cited
by the FTC for selling a highly
flammable line of dresses.
Right Wear has issued recall,
but not without incident.
A window dresser at its
New York store was fitting
one of the dresses in question
on a display window mannequin.
The dresser, 35-year
old Terry Hutchinson
of Weehawken, New Jersey,
was apparently smoking
when his cigarette made
contact with the material.
The dress burst into
flames trapping Hutchinson,
he jumped through the
plate-glass window
escaping the flames
but broke his neck in the fall.
Hutchinson's family
is suing Right Wear
and the dress manufacturer,
Elrose Fashions.
- Eli Sternberg, this
is an order to appear
before a United
States Grand Jury.
Where and when is
in the subpoena.
- This is your fault.
- What?
- This is your fault!
It's your deal,
this is your fault!
(laughing)
- what are you
laughing at, David?
- You, it's my fault?
Everything is my fault.
Tell me something, before I
was here whose fault was it?
- I won't have you
talk to me that way!
- Oh, stop it, will you please!
I'm a 40-year old man,
you keep talkin' to me
like I'm some
obstinate teenager!
You know, I spent half my
waking hours walking around,
wondering, "How can I
prove to him that I've
"become a responsible adult?"
Well, you know somethin'?
I really don't give a damn
anymore, where does it say
I have to prove anything to you?
You wanna lay blame, put
it at your own doorstep!
I'm your son, I love
you, without this
business I love you.
Your legend is inconsequential
to my affection.
But I seem to be loved
only for my successes
or pity for my failures.
The latter being the more
consistent experience for me.
- I don't pity you!
- No, you pity yourself
for not producing a
child in your image.
And from where I sit, that
is a frightening prospect.
My efforts to
please you are over.
The business is, in all
likelihood, in its death throws.
I'll retreat from your
pity and live a life full
of failures and its
infrequent successes,
but it will be my life!
And I really don't give a
damn how you perceive it!
For--
- You can't beat me up
and walk out of here when
I'm in the middle of a crisis
that you created!
- Oh yes I can, Eli.
And don't, no, don't look
at me with those hurt,
puppy-dog eyes, I've had it
up to here with the schmaltz
and the sentimentality
and the guilt!
I love my father deeply,
but I couldn't care less
for the man sitting
behind that desk.
- Hello, David.
- What, what is it now?
- Pinzolo, and your
cousin, Carole Goldman.
(workers talking)
(phones ringing)
- The letter's certified,
it's being hand-carried
to the SEC as we speak.
(door slamming)
- [David] Carole?
- They stopped trading,
we can't go back in
until they lift the stop order.
Well, we're dealing with
the bigger partners.
What are you doing,
I'm in the final--
- I don't care if you were
on the phone with God!
- Please let go
of me, that hurts!
- I want answers from you.
- Let go of me!
- You destroyed my family!
- Take it easy, David!
- I'm gonna beat your brains out
if you don't talk to me, Carole!
- David, you're stressed out.
- What a perceptive bitch!
I can't believe it,
you and Pinzolo.
- I don't know Pinzolo.
- He saw you with him.
- You spied on me?
- I hired him to
protect me from Pinzolo!
It never occurred to me
that I needed protection
from my own blood!
How can you do this, Carole?
I love you.
That you can be this vicious
with me breaks my heart.
- David, it's not
you, you're protected.
- Oh, oh, I'm sorry,
I'm protected.
See, I'm makin' a big
deal, I'm protected.
- Oh don't be flip!
- What do you mean
I'm protected, what the
hell does that mean?
- You think I wasn't thorough?
I you think I didn't
think this through?
When the dust settles, you're
gonna have a $10 million
line of credit to establish
your own business,
you don't have to
answer to your father.
- Oh, really, Pinzolo's gonna
offer me this generosity
off a short-sale, huh?
- I am!
Rick had no business
telling you this.
I think you'd better go.
- Wrong, he's staying.
- I can't talk to
you with him here.
- Well, unfortunately that's
not one of your options.
- Pinzolo's short
sale is the cost
of doing much bigger business.
I'm leading a takeover
of Right Wear.
And Nagano Chin, the man
you won't let me call back,
he wants Right Wear,
he's willing to spend
$8 billion for it.
I'm gonna make that happen.
My participation could
exceed $80 million.
- Why ruin me in the process?
- It was convenient.
- Convenient?
- I had to destabilize
Right Wear,
the way to do it
was clear, and...
- And what?
- And I get to kick your
father's ass in the bargain.
You don't want to hear
this, but I owe him.
- You owed him bankruptcy?
- He robbed my father of his
business and his dignity!
When they started this
business it was my father's,
but he was a craftsman
not a salesman.
Eli, Eli usurped him of his
ownership and his manhood.
- They worked together
for over 40 years,
I don't recall any complaints?
- You weren't at my
house when he came home.
When he had to beg Eli
for a few lousy buck
for a down payment
on a house in Queens
while you were living in
your mansion in Scarsdale!
Or how he agonized over
asking Eli for my tuition!
- No, but you weren't
at my house, sweetheart,
you weren't at my house
when my father had
to tell your father,
repeatedly, time and time again,
he had to say, "Anything
you want, Phil,
"whatever you want,
Phil, it's yours Phil."
If your father choked on
it, it was self-induced.
And if your father has a
problem with his masculinity,
you better look to your
mother for the problem.
(hand smacking)
Didn't it occur to you that
destroying Eli would have
some affect on me?
- You'll survive it.
- Yeah, but you won't.
You have no idea what
you're dealing with
when you're dealing with
a guy like Ricky Pinzolo.
- I can handle him.
- Oh, yeah, you
think so, Miss MBA?
From Wharton, full partner
of Wall Street big shot.
You think because you can
manipulate and $8 billion deal,
you can handle a Guinea from
the street like Ricky, huh?
- Yeah, that's right.
- I can't believe
how naive you are.
You know there's somebody
already dead in this deal?
You know what you remind me of?
You remind me of those
people from NASA, you know?
You collect enough degrees
and you collect enough money,
and then you believe you're
right by force of your cash
and your credentials rather
than some reasonable analysis.
If there's a problem
it will just go away
because you say so, right?
I mean, what the hell is
50 cents worth of rubber
in an O-ring, remember?
The O-ring, 50 cents worth
of rubber, it'll go away.
We got billions in this deal,
what the hell is 50 cents!
(dramatic music)
(phone ringing)
- Saber Hardware,
Mike Terranova.
- Yeah, it's John Henry,
Carole Goldman needs
24-hour protective
surveillance immediately.
Her dealing with
Pinzolo's put her at risk.
When she realizes
it, she's be the bird
that sings Pinzolo's swan song.
- Consider it done.
- Raglin's comin' in for a
briefing some time tonight.
- Then we sit and wait.
- Raglin's back
with a vengeance.
- There's a soul full of demons
our compadre hasn't exorcized,
don't push the wrong buttons.
- And you just want me to
sit here and do nothing?
- Follow the map, David,
Pinzolo is in his
office counting his cash
and savoring his success.
He's unaware of us
plotting against him,
that makes him vulnerable.
- To a slap on the wrist.
- Point A.
The Right Wear order for
the dresses in question came
from Vivian Schneer.
- Okay.
- Do you think Vivian Schneer
really committed
suicide three weeks ago?
Is there any doubt
that Pinzolo bribed her
to place the order with Elrose?
- Probably not.
- Well, it's my guess that
one of Pinzolo's men helped
her to commit suicide.
- Oh, well you try provin' that.
- I will.
(sighing) Look, the fabric from
which the dresses were made
were not treated
with flame retardant.
- Correct.
- That means somebody
at the mill was bribed
to make that happen.
- Another corpse.
- Maybe another
link in the chain?
That poor bastard who died
in the window, last night,
that's another link.
- Enough links, we get
Italian sausage, huh?
- I'm tryin' to make a point
of fact, absolute fact.
Vivian Schneer, the mill
worker, the window dresser,
stock transactions, windfall
profits, Carole Goldman,
you, me, your father,
Vinnie Terranova,
we are all pieces of evidence
to be used against Pinzolo.
David,
in this country, more
people are convicted
of capital crimes
by a preponderance
of circumstantial evidence
than eyewitness accounts.
Please, give me a chance
to build that evidence
and it'll mean the
gallows for Rick Pinzolo.
What'd ya say?
- Yeah, okay.
Gonna go crazy
just sitting here.
- You'll go to
jail if you don't.
(ominous music)
- We can tie a bow
on a small package,
but I don't think it would be--
- [John] Okay, what'd we got?
- We've got everything you
need to tie down Pinzolo.
- For what?
- Insider trading.
We pierced the veil
on 23 corporations
of which Pinzolo
is the sole owner,
all of which have been in
on the trading frenzy
around Right Wear.
- Anything more serious?
- Nothing sticks.
- We have to make it stick.
- Attorney General's office
and the SEC are confident
they can convict Pinzolo.
- Yeah, what's he gonna get?
If the sentence
carried the full load,
he'd get 10 years and
$150 million fine.
- I'm looking for
lethal injection.
- [Attorney] No can do.
- You guys are wasting my time.
- Raglin.
- No lectures, Frank.
- You know what you
came back here for?
How's your health?
- If you really gave a damn
you wouldn't have asked me
on to this case.
- I give a damn.
Now what'd ya need?
- I need to go home to my wife.
I think the question
is, what do I want?
- What's the answer?
- I want Pinzolo to
fall without a net.
- I'll work with ya for that.
You just keep
control of yourself.
- I'm a rock.
- Any dreams?
- No analysis, okay Frank?
- Any old cases
risin' to the surface?
- Be blunt, Frank.
- Cunningham.
(car exploding)
- I can't close my
eyes without seeing it.
- Then we better fold shop.
- I see Bernice Cunningham,
Weiss and Abrams.
Flashcards of the mind.
- We all carry guilt, it
doesn't mean we're responsible.
Things go wrong sometimes.
- I see him too, John.
It sucks.
I don't know about you, but
it always seems to happen
to me at the weirdest times.
I was in church three
months ago, bored to tears
with this awful sermon,
I fell asleep in the pew.
There was Cunningham
in my face saying,
"Meet me in Room 712, 712."
I don't know why
I remember that?
Then I'm on that little
balcony looking out
over the parking lot,
and Cunningham is
walking to the car,
he waves goodbye.
I heard the explosion.
(car exploding)
It scared me awake,
I jumped up in church
and shouted, "No!" at
the top of my lungs.
(laughs) They all
thought I'd been saved.
Preacher was so happy
I didn't have the heart
to tell him I'd been damned.
- Cunningham knew the
risk he was taking.
- He was a naive
reporter, Frank.
We suckered him into sharing
that investigation with us.
He and Bernice
went up in flames.
Weiss and Abrams are
living in Gstaad,
enjoying the millions they made
on that phony natural gas scam.
- And we would have caught 'em
if we hadn't acted
precipitously.
- We were young then.
Cunningham and Bernice
were young, too.
- Well, now, we
are older and wiser
and we understand mortality.
(ominous music)
I'm goin' out on this one
with a victory, Frank,
and I don't care what it costs.
- Our whole lives
are in this room.
- 40 years of filling orders.
War, strikes, disasters,
natural and otherwise,
illness, death, nothing stopped
us from filling an order.
- 'Til now.
- Yeah.
You talk to the lawyers?
- I'm gonna end up in court
'til the turn of the century.
If I live that long,
and in all probably
I'm gonna lose my house
and most of my future earnings,
assuming there are any.
The good news is that he thinks
he can keep me out of jail
for the death of
the window dresser.
- They can't blame ya for that?
- I'm liable for everything.
This is the end of Elrose.
And I have no idea who did this
or why?
- Eli, if there's
anything I can do?
- No.
- (sighing) Yep.
(suspenseful music)
(soft orchestral music)
- I'm sorry, Dad.
- I know you are, David.
- Hey, look, maybe we can stop
fighting and be friends now?
- I'd rather be father and son.
- So would I.
You know I used to think
of this place as a jail?
- Was it that bad?
- Yep.
- I never meant
for it to be that.
- I know that.
Maybe you could start over?
Pretend you're clawing your
way out of Flatbush again?
- I put my life's
blood into Elrose,
I haven't anything left to give.
That's funny, sitting
here in the ashes
of 40 years of sweat and tears,
I realize the single biggest
failure was losing your mother.
And after all these years,
I still reach out for her
in the morning only to find a
series of cheaper imitations.
Your mother is a
wonderful woman, David.
She loved me for who I
was not who I became.
She's the only person I truly
ever trusted, besides you.
- Maybe you should go see her?
Florida's not the moon.
- That sounds just
like her. (laughing)
No, it's far too
late for Rose and me.
But maybe, I should
stay around here
and help you start
your own business?
I could give you a hand at
it until you got it going?
- That would be nice, Dad.
- And I could get in touch
with Feinstein and Pellagra,
they could put up the money
and everything would
be in your name.
- Why don't we talk
about it tomorrow, okay?
- Here, let me make
some calls, just.
(sentimental music)
- I love you, Dad.
- I love you, David, let
me make those calls, okay?
- Where's your father going,
I just make fresh coffee?
- He's making phone calls,
ready to do it all over again.
Uncle Phil?
- Hmm?
- I'm gonna be going out
of town for a few days,
I want to think everything out.
If I get tied up and don't
get back 'til Friday,
will you see that
Raglin gets that?
- Sure, David, sure.
(locks clicking)
- Hi, doll.
- John, oh I'm so
glad you're home.
(sighing) The case is finished?
- Almost,
almost.
I went in and checked on Paul,
he looks like he's
grown since I left.
- He misses you, I miss you.
- This is the last one.
I promise.
- I don't know how
your first wife did it?
10 years of not
knowing where you are,
what you're doing,
who you're with?
Whether you're hurt or worse?
- I promised I wouldn't
do this to you, I'm sorry.
- It's what it's
doing to you, John.
We just want you back.
- I had a talk
today with two men
who used to be my friends.
- They aren't your
friends anymore?
- I don't know?
(sighing) Right now,
they're just two people
I briefly shared a
common history with.
- Look, just remember there's
two people in this house
you can depend on and we'll
be here with no reservations.
- I think about
that every moment.
- No, Mr. Honing, I
want Swiss francs.
No, I want Swiss francs,
I do not want yen
because that bubble's
about to burst.
That's why.
- Not last I heard.
Get off the phone, Ricky.
(dramatic music)
Get off the phone, Ricky.
(gun firing)
- Okay.
- Get them outta here.
- Okay.
- I'll kill him.
- You screwed up, get
out, get Cacciatore.
Come on, let's go, quick, quick!
- Get Cacciatore!
- Bring me some scampi.
I got a gun on you,
you order takeout?
- You wanted to shoot me you
would have done it by now.
No, Mike Cacciatore
is my negotiator.
- This isn't a negotiation,
this is a transaction.
You're gonna give back to me
what you took from my father.
- Foolish pride is not
a tangible asset, David.
- Since history seems to
escape you, let me elucidate.
While I've always been afraid
of what you're capable of,
I've never been afraid of you.
Now, this is the drill.
- What's goin' on?
- You get him outta here, Ricky.
- This is Mike Cacciatore,
he's the only other man
besides myself who has
access to the safe.
- This isn't a robbery,
this is retribution.
What you've got in your
safe doesn't even begin
to amount to getting even.
- What the hell do you know?
- What you got in your safe,
Ricky, you got $10 million
in your safe?
- How much is in the safe, Mike?
- $1.5 in cash, three
in bearer bonds.
- How about that, David?
- Not even close.
- Rick, what's goin' on?
- Forget it Mike, just
get out, page Raglin.
- Who's Raglin?
- Forget Raglin.
- Hey, Mike, get out!
- This is what happens when
you try to run a business
this close to the vest, I
don't know there's any trouble
until it hits the fan!
- You boys can debate the
organizational chart tomorrow.
You don't get out of
here, he loses an arm.
- Who the hell is Raglin?
- I got his number.
(metal crunching)
- I feel a lot better now.
(pager beeping)
(phone ringing)
- Yeah?
- John, that beeper that Pinzolo
gave you, it just went off.
- Thanks. (sighing)
(phone ringing)
- Raglin.
- Yeah, who's this?
- Look, I don't know
who the hell you are,
but there's a guy
here by the name
of David Sternberg holding
Pinzolo hostage at gunpoint.
- Where?
- At the office.
You better get down here.
- Look, it's the middle
of the night, man,
I'm in Pittsburgh.
- Hey, I don't really
care, from where I sit,
you're in trouble.
- (sighing) It'll be
morning soon, then what?
- We're going to the bank and
you're gonna wire $10 million
into my business account.
- Fine, you can leave.
- I don't think so.
(Rick sighing)
- What?
- You remember pulling
all nighter's in college?
- Um-hmm.
- You ever take
Burke's Lit course?
- No, I hated that guy.
- You ever read the
Mayor of Casterbridge?
It's about a guy who makes
a mistake in his youth
and he pays for it
the rest of his life.
20 years ago, man, I guess
I sealed my fate then, huh?
When you killed
that Portuguese guy?
- We did that together.
- No, wrong, I let that become
the truth, but it wasn't.
I figured we were equal
partners on the drug deals,
so I rationalized
it for five years.
I rationalized 'til cold-blooded
murder became self defense.
Over a couple pounds of hash
and clashing mediterranean
tempers, I ruined a life.
You didn't have
to kill him, Rick.
- Things got outta hand.
It's a little too late for
sackcloth and ashes, David.
- You know, I buried all of it?
I buried everything except
the look in your eye
when you killed him.
- He raised a hand to me.
- He was gesticulating.
- David, put down the gun,
if you want your money,
you got your money.
Come on, man, we were friends.
- (laughing) Yeah,
we were friends.
The anti-war hippie entrepreneur
and the preppy Goomba,
providing the Woodstock
nation with brain food.
Simple deals right,
we buy a little pot,
we sell it for a little more.
Suddenly we're selling
pounds, buying pounds,
you're short-changing
the supplier,
he objects, you kill him.
I'll give you you
waited for an objection
that had the vague
appearance of a threat.
But we know better,
don't we, Rick?
Don't we, Rick?
- Yes.
(dramatic music)
- [David] Why?
- I was making my bones.
- Why did I have
to be part of it?
- Because you were
my best friend.
And because I thought
you wanted to be.
Had you not gone limp on me,
this empire would
be ours, not mine.
- And what you've done
to my father's business
is punishment for that?
- No, no,
that was for Carole.
For me, it was a
solid business deal.
Do you intend to kill me?
- No.
And you're not gonna kill me,
I've made protective provisions.
- With Raglin?
- Don't fish, Rick.
- You know I built my life
around that entire incident?
I went out of my
way to avoid you,
I've dabbled in dozens
of different things
'cause I knew, I knew that
to be in the rag trade was
to answer to you.
And you, my friend, have
no humanity, no compassion,
no sense of family.
We live through
our children, Rick,
just like your father
lives through you.
You should have held your own
infant in your arms, Rick.
In that one moment, you would
have sensed all the promise,
and all the innocence,
you would have been a
different man, Rick.
- I don't want to be different.
(suspenseful music)
- There they are.
(car honking)
All right, let's go.
They're inside.
- What now, David?
- [Teller] We'll send it
over with your usual runner.
Yes, we have both
signatures on file.
(suspenseful music)
- Get Mr. Newman.
Smile for the cameras, David.
It's a hold up, he's got a gun!
(woman screaming)
- Stop!
- No!
(guns firing)
(dramatic music)
(solemn music)
(car exploding)
(dramatic music)
- [Frank] Federal officer,
everybody hold it, you hold it!
You put your guns down,
you put your guns down!
Don't you do it!
You don't do it!
(suspenseful music)
(solemn music)
Get them outta here,
they're all under arrest.
- You got no cause for arrest.
- What are you,
greaseball, a lawyer?
- Yeah, as a matter
of fact, I am.
When you grow to 6'4" and
everybody automatically assumes
you're brain dead, now
I think you're too short
and wimpy looking to be
a fed, but there you are.
You arrest my client,
and I'll make you wish
you were a farmer
rather than a fed.
- You know, you have
your hand on me?
(door slamming)
What the hell was that?
- You shouldn't have
stopped me, Frank.
- I'm supposed to let
a federal agent blow
a guy's brains out
in a public building?
You're off the case.
- The hell I am.
- You're unstable, John!
- You knew that when you
brought me in to this.
(sighing) What'd you do, Frank?
Just as David Sternberg's name
on a list below Cunningham
or whoever else you got
killed on a case before?
Why do I get the feeling
the rest of us remember
in Kodachrome and your mind's
like the Vietnam Memorial?
(dramatic music)
- I have nightmares
like everybody else.
(solemn music)
- [Doctor] While
your jaw's wired,
you're gonna have to
be on a liquid diet
for at least three weeks.
- [Frank] No!
- [Rick] No!
(metal slamming)
- Get back!
Back off, back off!
(Rick screaming)
Look like you're gonna need
some more wiring, Ricky.
- Get Raglin!
- What is it?
- It's you cousin, David.
He's dead.
He took Pinzolo hostage and
marched him down to the bank
with a gun and tried
to get back his money.
Two bank guards shot him
dead at 10:09 this morning.
- Did he suffer?
- Do you know what a
hollow-point bullet
does to a man's face?
No, you wouldn't know that
from up here, would ya?
Everything's nice and clean
and tidy up here, isn't it?
When a hollow-point bullet
enters a man's right eye,
here, the soft lead flattens,
and expanding as it tears
away skull and tissue,
leaving an exit wound hole
in the back of the head
the size of a softball!
Spewing what was once his brains
across whatever room
he happens to be in!
Did David suffer?
I really don't know!
- Stop it, stop it! (sobbing)
Oh, David, David,
oh, I love you!
("Wiseguy" theme music)
(upbeat music)
- [Commentator]
Tonight on Wiseguy.
- This is an order to appear
before a United
States Grand Jury.
- My efforts to
please you are over!
- David, I'm in the middle
of a crisis that you created!
- I can't believe
it, you and Pinzolo.
- You spied on me?
- I hired him to
protect me from Pinzolo!
It never occurred to me
that I needed protection
from my own blood!
- I'm going out on this
one with a victory, Frank.
And I don't care what it costs.
- This isn't a robbery,
this is retribution.
("Wiseguy" Theme Music)
- Apologies for
working into the night.
But I kept saying to myself,
David Sternberg, Eli Sternberg,
Rick Pinzolo, where's the money?
Their rag trade is a $20
billion a year industry,
illegal activities, loan
sharking, cartage thefts,
sweetheart deals with
unions, trucking.
All told, they account
for 25% of the business.
That's $5 billion a year
for an underworld empire run
by this man, Rick Pinzolo.
Now why would this man
give a hoot in Hell
about this man's business?
On a good year, Eli
Sternberg's company grosses
maybe $30 million, after tax
net, it's less than a mil.
That wouldn't cover the
cost of replacing blades
on Pinzolo's juicer.
So, I ask ya, where's the money?
- David Sternberg
answered that question,
it's not money, it's ego.
Pinzolo's a conqueror
of rag trade merchants,
it's enough that the
Sternberg's are there
and susceptible to takeover.
- It's the money, Frank.
David Sternberg came to us
out of fear for Pinzolo taking
over his family business.
His father borrowed heavily
from Pinzolo to cover the cost
of reproducing goods
stuck in customs.
You got those goods released,
Eli paid back Pinzolo,
deals done, no obligation.
- Pinzolo lost an
opportunity, he hates losing,
and I say he's determined to
takeover because he has to win.
He thinks you're
workin' as his operative
in the Sternberg business,
he has you spying on them.
Why else would he
personally insist
that you follow the fabric
shipment from the trucks
to the sweatshops to
the finished product?
- Where's the money?
That order is the biggest
order Eli ever had,
he'll make a fortune off of it.
(laughs) If Pinzolo wanted
to take over Eli's company,
why would he go about the
business of making him richer?
- All right, John Henry, I
am waiting with bated breath.
- Want to bring in the dress?
Now, the fabric Pinzolo
wanted watched turned
into a Sternberg knockoff
a Medici original,
ordered by Right Wear.
Right Wear, it's the biggest
discount department store chain
in America, blue chip among
publicly held retailers.
Innocent looking
number, isn't it?
(fire crackling)
Might as well be napalm.
If that were
burning on the skin,
it would adhere to the
body like crazy glue.
So, Profesore,
where's the money?
- The fabric is tampered
with at the mill,
no flame retardant, which
is why Pinzolo wanted you
to keep an eye on it until
it became the dress order.
- Correct, where's the money?
- Now a highly flammable dress,
it goes to the
Right Wear stores.
- Correct again,
where's the money?
- Pinzolo knows it's flammable.
- Correct!
- Where is the money?
Pinzolo notifies Right
Wear anonymously,
they force Sternberg
to take back the dress.
Now Eli's in a thick stew,
he has to go to Pinzolo
to help reproduce
the dress order,
and he takes over the
Sternberg company.
- Incorrect.
That dress gets returned
and Eli faces federal
charges, criminal charges.
Right Wear's not gonna
sit on that liability.
Eli won't survive
federal scrutiny
and the rash of
following lawsuits.
Why would Pinzolo, a
suspected mob kingpin,
want to get entangled with a
company under federal scrutiny?
One that's going
bankrupt to boot?
- Oh, yeah?
Well what else is there, Pinzolo
hopin' for a mass melt down
of middle-class housewives?
- Forget the dress, forget the
Sternbergs, forget Pinzolo,
forget everything you know and
ask yourself this question,
what would happen
to Right Wear stock
if it becomes public knowledge
that they're selling dresses
that explode like roman candles?
- That's a very sassy
speculation, John Henry.
What's missing is a reason for
Pinzolo to go through hoops
to get Eli's piddling
little company in bed
with a giant like Right Wear.
Now the tampering with
the fire retardant had
to take place at the mill,
wouldn't Pinzolo just tamper
with an existing
order from a company
that Right Wear already
does business with?
- If it was his idea.
I'm an old dog, I look for
old bones, like motive.
And I found a
double-barreled beauty.
The pure, visceral
satisfaction of revenge
and the mega-bucks bang
of insider trading.
One person gets a double shot
of pleasure in this deal.
One person knows
where the money is,
Carole Goldman, full partner
in the Wall Street Firm
of Decker-Barton,
daughter of Eli's cousin.
She hates Eli with a passion.
She would savor his economic
demise in any event,
and it is made that much sweeter
if attached to her own
financial windfall.
She's the money.
Pinzolo didn't get Eli
in bed with Right Wear,
what Pinzolo got was in
bed with Carole Goldman.
- We're good together, Ricky.
- Yeah, I guess I'm
getting more in this deal
than I bargained for. (laughing)
- [Carole] I'm not gonna
be able to sleep tonight.
- [Rick] Well, I'm
gonna sleep like a baby.
- You don't have to call the
Federal Trade Commission.
I would love to see Eli's
face when he gets that call.
"Hello, Mr. Sternberg,
this is the FTC, (laughs)
"and you're in deep, dummy."
You know, actually,
he should get the call
from one of God's prelates,
because this, my friend,
is Biblical justice.
- The thrill is in
the pump of the deal,
not in seeing the losers
get caught in the wake.
- Oh, please,
spare me the sermon
on how to be the
healthy capitalist.
Money isn't enough,
it's the vantage point.
It's making sure that the
right people in your life
always see you from the
vantage point of looking up.
Preferably, with their
necks craned back
at a 90-degree angle.
And don't tell me it isn't
so for you, too, Ricky.
Why else would you have this,
uh, happy trails to you, office?
- It's not the looking
up, it's the looking down,
you can't see the
pain in their faces.
- Then I want this deal
played out on street level.
- You have no idea how you'll
react to Eli's devastation,
You'll think it'll be a
moment of joyous satisfaction?
You're wrong, you will be empty.
(sighing) You think it'll be
just a little
isolated suffering?
This will ripple out
and touch people in ways
that you haven't
even considered.
- You talking about David?
- I'm talking about people
you don't even know.
I know, I've been there.
- It hasn't slowed you down any.
- I'm an existentialist.
Well, tomorrow will
be quite a day.
A business will die,
stock will crash,
a wolf will rise on Wall Street
and all because of something
as benign as a dress.
(ominous music)
(dramatic music)
(fire crackling)
(glass crashing)
- [Reporter] Top of
the money report,
chaos in the clothing
industry today.
Right Wear, the nation's
leading retailer has been cited
by the FTC for selling a highly
flammable line of dresses.
Right Wear has issued recall,
but not without incident.
A window dresser at its
New York store was fitting
one of the dresses in question
on a display window mannequin.
The dresser, 35-year
old Terry Hutchinson
of Weehawken, New Jersey,
was apparently smoking
when his cigarette made
contact with the material.
The dress burst into
flames trapping Hutchinson,
he jumped through the
plate-glass window
escaping the flames
but broke his neck in the fall.
Hutchinson's family
is suing Right Wear
and the dress manufacturer,
Elrose Fashions.
- Eli Sternberg, this
is an order to appear
before a United
States Grand Jury.
Where and when is
in the subpoena.
- This is your fault.
- What?
- This is your fault!
It's your deal,
this is your fault!
(laughing)
- what are you
laughing at, David?
- You, it's my fault?
Everything is my fault.
Tell me something, before I
was here whose fault was it?
- I won't have you
talk to me that way!
- Oh, stop it, will you please!
I'm a 40-year old man,
you keep talkin' to me
like I'm some
obstinate teenager!
You know, I spent half my
waking hours walking around,
wondering, "How can I
prove to him that I've
"become a responsible adult?"
Well, you know somethin'?
I really don't give a damn
anymore, where does it say
I have to prove anything to you?
You wanna lay blame, put
it at your own doorstep!
I'm your son, I love
you, without this
business I love you.
Your legend is inconsequential
to my affection.
But I seem to be loved
only for my successes
or pity for my failures.
The latter being the more
consistent experience for me.
- I don't pity you!
- No, you pity yourself
for not producing a
child in your image.
And from where I sit, that
is a frightening prospect.
My efforts to
please you are over.
The business is, in all
likelihood, in its death throws.
I'll retreat from your
pity and live a life full
of failures and its
infrequent successes,
but it will be my life!
And I really don't give a
damn how you perceive it!
For--
- You can't beat me up
and walk out of here when
I'm in the middle of a crisis
that you created!
- Oh yes I can, Eli.
And don't, no, don't look
at me with those hurt,
puppy-dog eyes, I've had it
up to here with the schmaltz
and the sentimentality
and the guilt!
I love my father deeply,
but I couldn't care less
for the man sitting
behind that desk.
- Hello, David.
- What, what is it now?
- Pinzolo, and your
cousin, Carole Goldman.
(workers talking)
(phones ringing)
- The letter's certified,
it's being hand-carried
to the SEC as we speak.
(door slamming)
- [David] Carole?
- They stopped trading,
we can't go back in
until they lift the stop order.
Well, we're dealing with
the bigger partners.
What are you doing,
I'm in the final--
- I don't care if you were
on the phone with God!
- Please let go
of me, that hurts!
- I want answers from you.
- Let go of me!
- You destroyed my family!
- Take it easy, David!
- I'm gonna beat your brains out
if you don't talk to me, Carole!
- David, you're stressed out.
- What a perceptive bitch!
I can't believe it,
you and Pinzolo.
- I don't know Pinzolo.
- He saw you with him.
- You spied on me?
- I hired him to
protect me from Pinzolo!
It never occurred to me
that I needed protection
from my own blood!
How can you do this, Carole?
I love you.
That you can be this vicious
with me breaks my heart.
- David, it's not
you, you're protected.
- Oh, oh, I'm sorry,
I'm protected.
See, I'm makin' a big
deal, I'm protected.
- Oh don't be flip!
- What do you mean
I'm protected, what the
hell does that mean?
- You think I wasn't thorough?
I you think I didn't
think this through?
When the dust settles, you're
gonna have a $10 million
line of credit to establish
your own business,
you don't have to
answer to your father.
- Oh, really, Pinzolo's gonna
offer me this generosity
off a short-sale, huh?
- I am!
Rick had no business
telling you this.
I think you'd better go.
- Wrong, he's staying.
- I can't talk to
you with him here.
- Well, unfortunately that's
not one of your options.
- Pinzolo's short
sale is the cost
of doing much bigger business.
I'm leading a takeover
of Right Wear.
And Nagano Chin, the man
you won't let me call back,
he wants Right Wear,
he's willing to spend
$8 billion for it.
I'm gonna make that happen.
My participation could
exceed $80 million.
- Why ruin me in the process?
- It was convenient.
- Convenient?
- I had to destabilize
Right Wear,
the way to do it
was clear, and...
- And what?
- And I get to kick your
father's ass in the bargain.
You don't want to hear
this, but I owe him.
- You owed him bankruptcy?
- He robbed my father of his
business and his dignity!
When they started this
business it was my father's,
but he was a craftsman
not a salesman.
Eli, Eli usurped him of his
ownership and his manhood.
- They worked together
for over 40 years,
I don't recall any complaints?
- You weren't at my
house when he came home.
When he had to beg Eli
for a few lousy buck
for a down payment
on a house in Queens
while you were living in
your mansion in Scarsdale!
Or how he agonized over
asking Eli for my tuition!
- No, but you weren't
at my house, sweetheart,
you weren't at my house
when my father had
to tell your father,
repeatedly, time and time again,
he had to say, "Anything
you want, Phil,
"whatever you want,
Phil, it's yours Phil."
If your father choked on
it, it was self-induced.
And if your father has a
problem with his masculinity,
you better look to your
mother for the problem.
(hand smacking)
Didn't it occur to you that
destroying Eli would have
some affect on me?
- You'll survive it.
- Yeah, but you won't.
You have no idea what
you're dealing with
when you're dealing with
a guy like Ricky Pinzolo.
- I can handle him.
- Oh, yeah, you
think so, Miss MBA?
From Wharton, full partner
of Wall Street big shot.
You think because you can
manipulate and $8 billion deal,
you can handle a Guinea from
the street like Ricky, huh?
- Yeah, that's right.
- I can't believe
how naive you are.
You know there's somebody
already dead in this deal?
You know what you remind me of?
You remind me of those
people from NASA, you know?
You collect enough degrees
and you collect enough money,
and then you believe you're
right by force of your cash
and your credentials rather
than some reasonable analysis.
If there's a problem
it will just go away
because you say so, right?
I mean, what the hell is
50 cents worth of rubber
in an O-ring, remember?
The O-ring, 50 cents worth
of rubber, it'll go away.
We got billions in this deal,
what the hell is 50 cents!
(dramatic music)
(phone ringing)
- Saber Hardware,
Mike Terranova.
- Yeah, it's John Henry,
Carole Goldman needs
24-hour protective
surveillance immediately.
Her dealing with
Pinzolo's put her at risk.
When she realizes
it, she's be the bird
that sings Pinzolo's swan song.
- Consider it done.
- Raglin's comin' in for a
briefing some time tonight.
- Then we sit and wait.
- Raglin's back
with a vengeance.
- There's a soul full of demons
our compadre hasn't exorcized,
don't push the wrong buttons.
- And you just want me to
sit here and do nothing?
- Follow the map, David,
Pinzolo is in his
office counting his cash
and savoring his success.
He's unaware of us
plotting against him,
that makes him vulnerable.
- To a slap on the wrist.
- Point A.
The Right Wear order for
the dresses in question came
from Vivian Schneer.
- Okay.
- Do you think Vivian Schneer
really committed
suicide three weeks ago?
Is there any doubt
that Pinzolo bribed her
to place the order with Elrose?
- Probably not.
- Well, it's my guess that
one of Pinzolo's men helped
her to commit suicide.
- Oh, well you try provin' that.
- I will.
(sighing) Look, the fabric from
which the dresses were made
were not treated
with flame retardant.
- Correct.
- That means somebody
at the mill was bribed
to make that happen.
- Another corpse.
- Maybe another
link in the chain?
That poor bastard who died
in the window, last night,
that's another link.
- Enough links, we get
Italian sausage, huh?
- I'm tryin' to make a point
of fact, absolute fact.
Vivian Schneer, the mill
worker, the window dresser,
stock transactions, windfall
profits, Carole Goldman,
you, me, your father,
Vinnie Terranova,
we are all pieces of evidence
to be used against Pinzolo.
David,
in this country, more
people are convicted
of capital crimes
by a preponderance
of circumstantial evidence
than eyewitness accounts.
Please, give me a chance
to build that evidence
and it'll mean the
gallows for Rick Pinzolo.
What'd ya say?
- Yeah, okay.
Gonna go crazy
just sitting here.
- You'll go to
jail if you don't.
(ominous music)
- We can tie a bow
on a small package,
but I don't think it would be--
- [John] Okay, what'd we got?
- We've got everything you
need to tie down Pinzolo.
- For what?
- Insider trading.
We pierced the veil
on 23 corporations
of which Pinzolo
is the sole owner,
all of which have been in
on the trading frenzy
around Right Wear.
- Anything more serious?
- Nothing sticks.
- We have to make it stick.
- Attorney General's office
and the SEC are confident
they can convict Pinzolo.
- Yeah, what's he gonna get?
If the sentence
carried the full load,
he'd get 10 years and
$150 million fine.
- I'm looking for
lethal injection.
- [Attorney] No can do.
- You guys are wasting my time.
- Raglin.
- No lectures, Frank.
- You know what you
came back here for?
How's your health?
- If you really gave a damn
you wouldn't have asked me
on to this case.
- I give a damn.
Now what'd ya need?
- I need to go home to my wife.
I think the question
is, what do I want?
- What's the answer?
- I want Pinzolo to
fall without a net.
- I'll work with ya for that.
You just keep
control of yourself.
- I'm a rock.
- Any dreams?
- No analysis, okay Frank?
- Any old cases
risin' to the surface?
- Be blunt, Frank.
- Cunningham.
(car exploding)
- I can't close my
eyes without seeing it.
- Then we better fold shop.
- I see Bernice Cunningham,
Weiss and Abrams.
Flashcards of the mind.
- We all carry guilt, it
doesn't mean we're responsible.
Things go wrong sometimes.
- I see him too, John.
It sucks.
I don't know about you, but
it always seems to happen
to me at the weirdest times.
I was in church three
months ago, bored to tears
with this awful sermon,
I fell asleep in the pew.
There was Cunningham
in my face saying,
"Meet me in Room 712, 712."
I don't know why
I remember that?
Then I'm on that little
balcony looking out
over the parking lot,
and Cunningham is
walking to the car,
he waves goodbye.
I heard the explosion.
(car exploding)
It scared me awake,
I jumped up in church
and shouted, "No!" at
the top of my lungs.
(laughs) They all
thought I'd been saved.
Preacher was so happy
I didn't have the heart
to tell him I'd been damned.
- Cunningham knew the
risk he was taking.
- He was a naive
reporter, Frank.
We suckered him into sharing
that investigation with us.
He and Bernice
went up in flames.
Weiss and Abrams are
living in Gstaad,
enjoying the millions they made
on that phony natural gas scam.
- And we would have caught 'em
if we hadn't acted
precipitously.
- We were young then.
Cunningham and Bernice
were young, too.
- Well, now, we
are older and wiser
and we understand mortality.
(ominous music)
I'm goin' out on this one
with a victory, Frank,
and I don't care what it costs.
- Our whole lives
are in this room.
- 40 years of filling orders.
War, strikes, disasters,
natural and otherwise,
illness, death, nothing stopped
us from filling an order.
- 'Til now.
- Yeah.
You talk to the lawyers?
- I'm gonna end up in court
'til the turn of the century.
If I live that long,
and in all probably
I'm gonna lose my house
and most of my future earnings,
assuming there are any.
The good news is that he thinks
he can keep me out of jail
for the death of
the window dresser.
- They can't blame ya for that?
- I'm liable for everything.
This is the end of Elrose.
And I have no idea who did this
or why?
- Eli, if there's
anything I can do?
- No.
- (sighing) Yep.
(suspenseful music)
(soft orchestral music)
- I'm sorry, Dad.
- I know you are, David.
- Hey, look, maybe we can stop
fighting and be friends now?
- I'd rather be father and son.
- So would I.
You know I used to think
of this place as a jail?
- Was it that bad?
- Yep.
- I never meant
for it to be that.
- I know that.
Maybe you could start over?
Pretend you're clawing your
way out of Flatbush again?
- I put my life's
blood into Elrose,
I haven't anything left to give.
That's funny, sitting
here in the ashes
of 40 years of sweat and tears,
I realize the single biggest
failure was losing your mother.
And after all these years,
I still reach out for her
in the morning only to find a
series of cheaper imitations.
Your mother is a
wonderful woman, David.
She loved me for who I
was not who I became.
She's the only person I truly
ever trusted, besides you.
- Maybe you should go see her?
Florida's not the moon.
- That sounds just
like her. (laughing)
No, it's far too
late for Rose and me.
But maybe, I should
stay around here
and help you start
your own business?
I could give you a hand at
it until you got it going?
- That would be nice, Dad.
- And I could get in touch
with Feinstein and Pellagra,
they could put up the money
and everything would
be in your name.
- Why don't we talk
about it tomorrow, okay?
- Here, let me make
some calls, just.
(sentimental music)
- I love you, Dad.
- I love you, David, let
me make those calls, okay?
- Where's your father going,
I just make fresh coffee?
- He's making phone calls,
ready to do it all over again.
Uncle Phil?
- Hmm?
- I'm gonna be going out
of town for a few days,
I want to think everything out.
If I get tied up and don't
get back 'til Friday,
will you see that
Raglin gets that?
- Sure, David, sure.
(locks clicking)
- Hi, doll.
- John, oh I'm so
glad you're home.
(sighing) The case is finished?
- Almost,
almost.
I went in and checked on Paul,
he looks like he's
grown since I left.
- He misses you, I miss you.
- This is the last one.
I promise.
- I don't know how
your first wife did it?
10 years of not
knowing where you are,
what you're doing,
who you're with?
Whether you're hurt or worse?
- I promised I wouldn't
do this to you, I'm sorry.
- It's what it's
doing to you, John.
We just want you back.
- I had a talk
today with two men
who used to be my friends.
- They aren't your
friends anymore?
- I don't know?
(sighing) Right now,
they're just two people
I briefly shared a
common history with.
- Look, just remember there's
two people in this house
you can depend on and we'll
be here with no reservations.
- I think about
that every moment.
- No, Mr. Honing, I
want Swiss francs.
No, I want Swiss francs,
I do not want yen
because that bubble's
about to burst.
That's why.
- Not last I heard.
Get off the phone, Ricky.
(dramatic music)
Get off the phone, Ricky.
(gun firing)
- Okay.
- Get them outta here.
- Okay.
- I'll kill him.
- You screwed up, get
out, get Cacciatore.
Come on, let's go, quick, quick!
- Get Cacciatore!
- Bring me some scampi.
I got a gun on you,
you order takeout?
- You wanted to shoot me you
would have done it by now.
No, Mike Cacciatore
is my negotiator.
- This isn't a negotiation,
this is a transaction.
You're gonna give back to me
what you took from my father.
- Foolish pride is not
a tangible asset, David.
- Since history seems to
escape you, let me elucidate.
While I've always been afraid
of what you're capable of,
I've never been afraid of you.
Now, this is the drill.
- What's goin' on?
- You get him outta here, Ricky.
- This is Mike Cacciatore,
he's the only other man
besides myself who has
access to the safe.
- This isn't a robbery,
this is retribution.
What you've got in your
safe doesn't even begin
to amount to getting even.
- What the hell do you know?
- What you got in your safe,
Ricky, you got $10 million
in your safe?
- How much is in the safe, Mike?
- $1.5 in cash, three
in bearer bonds.
- How about that, David?
- Not even close.
- Rick, what's goin' on?
- Forget it Mike, just
get out, page Raglin.
- Who's Raglin?
- Forget Raglin.
- Hey, Mike, get out!
- This is what happens when
you try to run a business
this close to the vest, I
don't know there's any trouble
until it hits the fan!
- You boys can debate the
organizational chart tomorrow.
You don't get out of
here, he loses an arm.
- Who the hell is Raglin?
- I got his number.
(metal crunching)
- I feel a lot better now.
(pager beeping)
(phone ringing)
- Yeah?
- John, that beeper that Pinzolo
gave you, it just went off.
- Thanks. (sighing)
(phone ringing)
- Raglin.
- Yeah, who's this?
- Look, I don't know
who the hell you are,
but there's a guy
here by the name
of David Sternberg holding
Pinzolo hostage at gunpoint.
- Where?
- At the office.
You better get down here.
- Look, it's the middle
of the night, man,
I'm in Pittsburgh.
- Hey, I don't really
care, from where I sit,
you're in trouble.
- (sighing) It'll be
morning soon, then what?
- We're going to the bank and
you're gonna wire $10 million
into my business account.
- Fine, you can leave.
- I don't think so.
(Rick sighing)
- What?
- You remember pulling
all nighter's in college?
- Um-hmm.
- You ever take
Burke's Lit course?
- No, I hated that guy.
- You ever read the
Mayor of Casterbridge?
It's about a guy who makes
a mistake in his youth
and he pays for it
the rest of his life.
20 years ago, man, I guess
I sealed my fate then, huh?
When you killed
that Portuguese guy?
- We did that together.
- No, wrong, I let that become
the truth, but it wasn't.
I figured we were equal
partners on the drug deals,
so I rationalized
it for five years.
I rationalized 'til cold-blooded
murder became self defense.
Over a couple pounds of hash
and clashing mediterranean
tempers, I ruined a life.
You didn't have
to kill him, Rick.
- Things got outta hand.
It's a little too late for
sackcloth and ashes, David.
- You know, I buried all of it?
I buried everything except
the look in your eye
when you killed him.
- He raised a hand to me.
- He was gesticulating.
- David, put down the gun,
if you want your money,
you got your money.
Come on, man, we were friends.
- (laughing) Yeah,
we were friends.
The anti-war hippie entrepreneur
and the preppy Goomba,
providing the Woodstock
nation with brain food.
Simple deals right,
we buy a little pot,
we sell it for a little more.
Suddenly we're selling
pounds, buying pounds,
you're short-changing
the supplier,
he objects, you kill him.
I'll give you you
waited for an objection
that had the vague
appearance of a threat.
But we know better,
don't we, Rick?
Don't we, Rick?
- Yes.
(dramatic music)
- [David] Why?
- I was making my bones.
- Why did I have
to be part of it?
- Because you were
my best friend.
And because I thought
you wanted to be.
Had you not gone limp on me,
this empire would
be ours, not mine.
- And what you've done
to my father's business
is punishment for that?
- No, no,
that was for Carole.
For me, it was a
solid business deal.
Do you intend to kill me?
- No.
And you're not gonna kill me,
I've made protective provisions.
- With Raglin?
- Don't fish, Rick.
- You know I built my life
around that entire incident?
I went out of my
way to avoid you,
I've dabbled in dozens
of different things
'cause I knew, I knew that
to be in the rag trade was
to answer to you.
And you, my friend, have
no humanity, no compassion,
no sense of family.
We live through
our children, Rick,
just like your father
lives through you.
You should have held your own
infant in your arms, Rick.
In that one moment, you would
have sensed all the promise,
and all the innocence,
you would have been a
different man, Rick.
- I don't want to be different.
(suspenseful music)
- There they are.
(car honking)
All right, let's go.
They're inside.
- What now, David?
- [Teller] We'll send it
over with your usual runner.
Yes, we have both
signatures on file.
(suspenseful music)
- Get Mr. Newman.
Smile for the cameras, David.
It's a hold up, he's got a gun!
(woman screaming)
- Stop!
- No!
(guns firing)
(dramatic music)
(solemn music)
(car exploding)
(dramatic music)
- [Frank] Federal officer,
everybody hold it, you hold it!
You put your guns down,
you put your guns down!
Don't you do it!
You don't do it!
(suspenseful music)
(solemn music)
Get them outta here,
they're all under arrest.
- You got no cause for arrest.
- What are you,
greaseball, a lawyer?
- Yeah, as a matter
of fact, I am.
When you grow to 6'4" and
everybody automatically assumes
you're brain dead, now
I think you're too short
and wimpy looking to be
a fed, but there you are.
You arrest my client,
and I'll make you wish
you were a farmer
rather than a fed.
- You know, you have
your hand on me?
(door slamming)
What the hell was that?
- You shouldn't have
stopped me, Frank.
- I'm supposed to let
a federal agent blow
a guy's brains out
in a public building?
You're off the case.
- The hell I am.
- You're unstable, John!
- You knew that when you
brought me in to this.
(sighing) What'd you do, Frank?
Just as David Sternberg's name
on a list below Cunningham
or whoever else you got
killed on a case before?
Why do I get the feeling
the rest of us remember
in Kodachrome and your mind's
like the Vietnam Memorial?
(dramatic music)
- I have nightmares
like everybody else.
(solemn music)
- [Doctor] While
your jaw's wired,
you're gonna have to
be on a liquid diet
for at least three weeks.
- [Frank] No!
- [Rick] No!
(metal slamming)
- Get back!
Back off, back off!
(Rick screaming)
Look like you're gonna need
some more wiring, Ricky.
- Get Raglin!
- What is it?
- It's you cousin, David.
He's dead.
He took Pinzolo hostage and
marched him down to the bank
with a gun and tried
to get back his money.
Two bank guards shot him
dead at 10:09 this morning.
- Did he suffer?
- Do you know what a
hollow-point bullet
does to a man's face?
No, you wouldn't know that
from up here, would ya?
Everything's nice and clean
and tidy up here, isn't it?
When a hollow-point bullet
enters a man's right eye,
here, the soft lead flattens,
and expanding as it tears
away skull and tissue,
leaving an exit wound hole
in the back of the head
the size of a softball!
Spewing what was once his brains
across whatever room
he happens to be in!
Did David suffer?
I really don't know!
- Stop it, stop it! (sobbing)
Oh, David, David,
oh, I love you!
("Wiseguy" theme music)
(upbeat music)