Wiseguy (1987–2009): Season 3, Episode 3 - Sins of the Father - full transcript
In his bid for the governor's seat, Peter Alatorre plans to reveal Vinnie as a mob boss.
- [Announcer]
Previously on Wiseguy
- I muscled my way
into the Commission,
demanded your seat at the table.
- The center of power's
a dangerous place to be.
- Wish my son and
wife were here.
Gives me perspective.
- You never give
up business, Joey.
- You lost plenty with that
hot head of your yours.
- To sign Yoman at the
business on Monn Street
isn't worth the war.
Bring your family home.
- The only reason that you're
running things and I'm not
is because I wasn't born a son.
- You got penis envy.
(gunshot)
Are you crazy?
- I like that.
(upbeat theme song)
(many people talking)
- Hi, I need your
election day vote.
All right, don't let me down.
- Tony Ziffo,
Tony Ziffo.
- Yeah, and I'm running
for governor now.
My friend, how are you today?
I need your vote.
- What about the garbage
who own this city?
- Dan, this election is about
more than organized crime.
- The families are at
each other's throats
for control of the
garbage business.
Tony Ziffo gets whacked
and somebody in the
familia gets promoted.
Who do you think that is?
- Dan, Dan, Dan.
Mr. Alatorre is
visiting this market
to emphasize his proposal
of lowering city taxes
for the smaller businesses...
- Nobody cares
about fruit stands.
They care about Tony Ziffo
getting his melon shot off.
(speaking foreign language)
- Hey, Pete, your campaign
is stuck in the mud.
The polls show you losing.
- Only poll I care
about is election day.
- The governor says you
don't have the experience
to run this State.
He says you should have stayed
in the State's
attorney's office,
so you can do what you're
good at, chase mobsters.
Who's in control of
the garbage cartel?
Who's running the mob, Pete?
- Go ask Albert.
- Money's in bing and
he can't buy a headline,
so he comes back to
Brooklyn, says go ask Albert.
For 15 years since he was an
assistant State's attorney
he's been addicted to a dream.
Governor Alatorre, senator
Alatorre, president Coma Sigam,
and the opiate that
drives that dream
is the destruction
of Albert Cerrico.
Six times he's
tried to invite me,
never got past the grand jury.
Those that prosecute, persecute.
His persecution
is made legitimate
because it's done in
the name of the law.
He's using me to
achieve a political end.
Guilt or innocence,
couldn't be more irrelevant.
Hey, look at this.
- [TV Presenter] Garbage
barge loaded with over 30 tons
of refuse has reached the
Caribbean island of Eleuthera,
but as has happened
at every other port
during the barge's
12 day odyssey,
it has not been
allowed to offload
this rather unsavory cargo.
- That barge.
The boys at the club
make jokes about it.
Costing me six grand a
day to keep it floatin'.
Who wants to put a
price on laughter, huh?
- Yeah, it's a very rare
commodity these days.
We got a war on our hands.
It is very expensive
and very stupid.
Unless we bring it to an end,
this war is gonna
be the last one.
Peace is a rare commodity, too,
but you can put a price on it.
Now, I can get across to Annie,
but what about you?
What are you willing
to give up for peace?
- I give up nothing.
Not one inch of my territory,
not one dollar of my business.
We've given up too much already.
- This is a negotiable issue.
- We emasculated ourselves.
Ziffo's legacy is
carried out by Grossit.
It's to sell off
pieces of our business,
to broker our future
to the highest bidder.
As a result, we've become
vulnerable to those
who aren't even a part of us,
the Chinese, Tongs,
the Jamaicans.
That's never happened before.
The solution to
our problem is not
what we're willing to give,
it's what we're able to take.
After the turn of the
century, the 20s, the 50s,
our vitality comes
from expansion.
Study history, Vincent.
What's past is prolonged.
- Grossit?
Grossit is short sighted,
so maybe the best way
to deal with him is
not to make him look
past his own nose.
The risk of expansion is
what's making him nervous.
You protect his exposure, he's
got no reason to stonewall.
- So, you're suggesting that
I underwrite the expansion?
- Call it backing up
your faith of capital.
Unless, your faith isn't
as strong as you say it is?
- I'll do it.
Throw a peacemaker.
What do you expect
to gain from it?
- My family's safety.
A piece of the action that
rightfully belongs Aiuppo,
which I hope to be
worth something to me.
- The law of primogeniture.
- I have studied history.
- [Driver] The car
is ready, Albert.
- Come, I'll take your ride.
I want you to meet my family.
- Albert, maybe we should
go out the back door.
(many people talking)
- Come on, out.
Get out of here, you guys.
What kind of behavior
is this, huh?
We can go for a picture,
whatever you guys want,
when you come to my office.
Now, you gotta violate my home.
Show some respect, all right?
Don't do this again.
- Alatorre said we should
come here and talk to...
- Yeah, I know.
He said, go ask Albert, right?
Well, you know,
what is it with him?
Why does he gotta single
me out all the time?
Except, my last name
ends in a vowel.
- Oh, come on, Albert.
So does his.
- Yeah, well, it must
be psychological.
- Who's running the Commission,
now Tony Ziffo's dead?
- Are you in control
of the garbage cartel?
- Cartel?
What is that, cartel?
- You know?
- What I do know
is that I got a barge on the
Caribbean I can't get rid of.
Costs me six Gs a day.
Does that sound like a guy
who's controlling anything?
- What about the garbage wars?
Is it gonna get worse?
- Wars?
What?
This isn't Beirut.
There are no wars here.
You know, fellas,
I'm a family man.
Right, you know that.
I'm going to the airport
now, pick up my family,
and would I bring them
back if it wasn't safe?
- And what should
we tell Alatorre?
- Tell him that I
give him my vote.
We need a nice Italian
boy running things.
- Okay, thanks.
- All right?
- Thanks.
- All right.
- [Reporter] You get the
car, I got the camera.
- Give them a good quote,
they lay down like
a two dollar whore.
- I don't think
they're gonna lay down.
I think they're gonna dog
you everywhere you go.
You just told them
where you're going.
- Daddy!
(reporters shouting questions)
- It's like a
football game, huh?
We're busting through the
line like O.J. used to.
(reporters shouting questions)
Let's get out of here.
Come on.
(reporters shouting questions)
- [Driver] Those reporters
have me blocked in, Albert.
We can't go anywhere.
- It's all right.
It's okay.
Honey, this is Vinny Teranova.
He's a good fella.
- Hi.
- This is my son, Albert.
- Hi, Albert.
- [Albert] Hey,
sweetheart, you okay?
Huh?
- I thought they
were gonna hurt us.
- What do you mean, hurt you?
Come here.
Come here, would I
let them do that?
Nobody's gonna hurt you, huh?
Nobody's gonna hurt you
as long as I'm here.
Promise, all right?
Huh?
- We keep selling off territory.
The only thing we
buy is vulnerability.
We have to expand, Joey.
- Expand?
That's Cerrico's favorite word.
- It's just another
word for survival.
- I thought you were
representing Aiuppo's interest.
Since when did you become
Cerrico's mouthpiece?
- My stepfather is sucking
air through six bullet holes.
I am protecting his interest
and his interest is peace.
Now, expansion is a good idea.
I'm not gonna ignore a good
idea when one comes along.
- Expansion costs
time, money, manpower.
Cerrico wants to
expand, let him.
I got my own family
to worry about
now that Ziffo's dead.
- You know, you're right.
You're absolutely right.
Your family's security has
to be the foremost thing
in your mind.
It is for all of us.
That's why Cerrico's willing
to underwrite your risk.
- Hey, Joey, that's...
- Hey, I want advice from
you on how to run my family,
I'll ask for it.
Til then, you walk behind
me and you shut up.
- These cigarette
machines, video games,
how far up in the alley
are you placing them?
- Far enough.
- Suffolk County?
You know, people
are moving out there
like there's no tomorrow.
What about your launders
and garbage trucks?
- What, I gotta account to you?
- No, you don't have
to account to me.
What I'm saying is, you
get the families behind you
you can push your
territory all the way out
to Montague Point.
- You'd be pushing me off
the point, into the ocean.
- Geeze, Joe, you're not a
very trusting guy, are you?
- I don't believe in trust.
I believe in control.
You expand, you lose it.
I'm in control of my
family and that's the way
it's gonna stay.
- Joey.
- I'm talking here!
- [Gina] I need you.
- Now, you be my mouthpiece.
No expansion.
(door slamming)
(Joey and Gina arguing
in the other room)
- She's still Ziffo's
daughter, isn't she?
- Ah, my cousin, Joey.
(Joey and Gina arguing
in the other room)
He's in love with her, really.
- Oh, yeah?
Sure hope he's paying
you a lot, Carlos.
- Hey, you gotta feel
for the guy, Vinny.
He's been under a
lot of stress lately,
what with Tony's ego in the way.
(Joey and Gina arguing
in the other room)
Maybe we can work something out.
I think this expanding is
a good thing for everybody.
- Yeah?
- Really.
Let me take him down to AC
and get him to
relax a little bit.
I think I can convince him.
- He either goes along or
becomes an obstruction.
You know what happens to
obstructions, right, Carlos?
(Joey and Gina arguing
in the other room)
- Absolutely.
- [Media Manager]
We're emphasizing the
fact that your cost
per conviction ratio is
the lowest in the history
of the State's
attorney's office.
Nobody cares about that.
They want Cerrico in jail.
- Peter, we're
strategizing a campaign
that portrays you, despite your
youth, as a skilled manager,
not the caped crusader.
- Tonight at Grand Central,
they were screaming, get Albert.
Get Albert.
Like they were at
a damn ball game.
- We can't strategize on the
basis of emotional responses.
- What the hell do
you think politics is?
I've paid your friend three
million for your strategizing
and it's costing me an election
that should have
been in the bag.
From now on, every print
or film piece we run
had better have the word
mob, crime, or law in it
or you're fired, all of you.
This is my campaign, not yours.
I'm gonna take control of it.
It might be too late
to save this thing,
but I'm going to start
playing to my strength.
- Alatorre is losing his mind.
- Hello?
- Ernie, it's Peter.
What's going on with La Familia?
- [Ernie] We're
investigating the Ziffo hit.
We won't find much.
- Is the war going to continue?
- [Ernie] Probably, til
Cerrico consolidates his power,
it takes a bullet.
- Pull Cerrico's file.
- [Ernie] We figure Grossit
is his main composition.
- [Peter] Joey Grossit or Gina?
- [Ernie] Your guess
is as good as ours.
We heard Gina's wearing her
late father's jock straps.
- [Peter] Tell me something new.
Ernie, it's desperation time.
- [Ernie] There's a new
face that keeps popping up.
Vincent Teranova.
- Why do I know that name?
- [Ernie] Apparently,
he's got some juice,
but we don't know the source.
Cerrico's been
buddying up with him.
- That's it.
Started out in Atlantic
City, small time muscle,
brother was a small time
priest, died last year.
His mother's married
to Rudy Aiuppo.
- [Ernie] You gotta be kidding?
- Who's Rudy Aiuppo?
- Thanks, Ernie.
My love to Carol.
That was worth three million.
- Who's Rudy Aiuppo?
- You don't know media and
you don't know the mob.
Rudy Aiuppo was the former
head of the La Familia.
Retired 15 years ago and
was deported to Sicily.
The Silver Fox.
There was a maelstrom of
criminality surrounding him
and he just sat right in its
eye, tending his tomatoes.
When's the best time to
call a press conference?
- Four o'clock.
We can just make
the evening news.
They won't have time to
strain their own sound bytes.
They'd have to use ours.
- Tell them we have a major
announcement on mob activity,
but don't be too specific.
- The press club?
- The steps of the courthouse.
I want them to see those
scales of justice behind me
when I tell them Rudy
Aiuppo's controlling the mob
from Palermo through his
stepson, Vincent Teranova.
(dramatic music)
- [Radio Announcer] Editorial
candidate, Peter Alatorre,
has scheduled a press
conference this afternoon.
His staff confirmed he will
make a major announcement
on the Commission of La Familia
and the personalities involved
in the so-called garbage war.
- Mr. Peter Alatorre,
step up and say hello.
Mr. Peter Alatorre,
your next governor.
Meet Peter Alatorre,
your next governor.
Shake hands with Peter Alatorre.
- Hi, I need your
help, election day.
- Mr. Alatorre.
- Hi.
Hope the other guy looks worse.
- Yes, sir.
Frank McCray, Coast OCB.
We need to talk now, sir.
Please, please.
- Hey, where you going?
- We gotta be in
the Bronx at 9:30.
- The law comes first, Jacobson.
Always.
How can I help you?
So, what's this all about?
- I just need a moment to speak
to you privately, Mr. Alatorre.
- This boat's not in service.
- That'll be perfect.
What are you gonna announce
at your press conference?
- Why couldn't you
ask me on the dock?
- We don't wanna throw
water on your campaign.
If anything, or sympathy goes
with the next prosecutor,
but we need to know what
you're going to announce.
- That Rudy Aiuppo's
controlling the mob from Sicily
through his stepson,
Vincent Teranova.
(sighing)
- Uncle Mike.
- I'm right here, Frank.
- I need a chopper at
Battery Park, stat.
Contact four five eight seven.
Pimlico's Open.
(sighing)
- Aiuppo's stepson's an agent
and Aiuppo doesn't know it?
- That's the idea, isn't it?
We have a man that's sitting
on the Commission of La Familia
and of all people that should
appreciate it, it's you.
I know the timing
stinks and I'm sorry,
but if the OCB can
do anything to offset
you canceling the news
conference, we'd be...
- What are you talking about?
I'm not canceling.
I'm making the
announcement, as scheduled.
This campaign cost
ten million dollars.
If it were June, I'd
cancel the conference
no one would remember,
but it's October
and I committed myself to making
an announcement on the mob.
If I cancel now, I'll be
accused of grandstanding
and no one will forget that
when they walk in the booth.
- I have a man that's
on the line here.
- I've got the State
of New York on the line
and I'm egotistical enough to
think I can make a difference
in the lives of
18 million people.
- You cannot go public
with this man's name.
- Why not?
He's had coverage before.
- Fifth paragraph, also
under investigation,
the only people that gave a damn
were the people
that owed him money
and you're talking
about putting his mug
on every newspaper in the
State, maybe the nation.
- That works for you, Frank.
It'll only serve to
confirm his position
to Cerrico and the others.
- No, I'm not talking
about the future.
I'm talking about now.
You make this man a public image
and you'll never be
able to shed that.
- Guys get over-exposed, the
next case you get someone else.
It's in the manual, Frank.
I've read it.
That's the business you're in.
- I'm not talking
about business.
Now, you listen to me.
I'm talking about a man who
is as dedicated to his work
as you are to yours.
You're talking about
putting a marker cane on him
that he'll never
be able to erase.
You're talking about
turning him into a paria.
You're talking about
ruining his life.
- I don't know, Frank.
I don't know.
(foreboding music)
(phone ringing)
- Yeah?
- Yeah, Vinny.
Hey, it's your uncle Mike.
Listen, I've been calling
all over town for you.
You must be busy, huh?
- Yeah, I got an appointment
with a certain party.
- Yeah, well, can
you get out of it?
- I don't think so.
- [Mike] Gee, that's too pad.
Pimlico's Open.
Here, I thought maybe you
could lead from Teterboro,
judge the first race.
- Yeah, I'll talk to you later.
Hey.
- Sorry, Vince, I gotta cancel.
There's a problem with my son.
- What's the matter?
- I don't know.
Something with the school.
I gotta go home.
Something with the school.
Can we deal with this tomorrow?
I wanna know how it
went with Grossit.
- [Vinny] Yeah, sure.
(car tires screeching)
- What does he think, you
got this kinda flexibility
built into your schedule?
- I do today, Pooch.
- You know, I bet if you
went through the Alatorre
and the Teranova family albums,
they'd be pretty much the same.
- Don't play me, Frank.
I'm not a tune you know.
- Vincent Teranova's
first generation.
To his parents, nothing
spelled making it in America
more than to have a son that
was a doctor, lawyer, or a cop,
if it was only to tear
down the stereotype
that all Italians are gangsters.
- And, all Irishmen are drunks.
- I admit that I worked a little
harder to bring down Mick,
who'd gone bad.
- I put away criminals, Frank.
I never cared where
their parents come from.
- I'm trying to save
my friend, Peter.
- I don't wanna hurt him.
Honest to God, I don't.
Well, give me something else.
Give me something else to
announce and I'll do it.
- I can't do it in eight hours.
- If I cancel, I cut my throat.
- Then, you don't cancel.
You just postpone.
- How long?
- Sunday afternoon.
- 36 hours?
- Slowest news day of the week.
It'll take World War three
to knock you off the lead.
- I should have hired you
as my media consultant.
Whatever you give me
has to be as important
as I said it would be
or at least something
I can sell as being important.
- I understand and I thank you.
- This means I have your vote?
- I live in Jersey.
For you, I move.
(plane engine whirring)
- All right, let's get airborne.
- I thought this
was just a meet.
What did you do to yourself?
- It's all right.
We're gonna land in Baltimore
in case your phone wasn't safe
and they try to figure
out where you've been.
Now, Sunday afternoon,
Alatorre is gonna announce
to the world that you've
been warming a seat
on the Commission
and you've been
running the mob for Aiuppo.
- What?
- All this to win
the governorship.
So much for the
electoral process.
(plane engines whirring)
Can we give him Cerrico?
- He's 80% Tefline.
The 20% that might stick
is just gonna bring
a suspended sentence,
maybe short time.
- Grossit?
- I tried pumping him
about his business,
but he's real cagey.
The only thing
I'm sure about him
is that his wife's got
a ring through his nose.
- Alatorre's not gonna
give us another reprieve.
(sighing)
- I'm not sure I care anymore.
- Have you talked to her?
- Yeah, on the phone.
She won't see me.
She knows as long
as I'm with the OCB,
my life is gonna be nothing.
Nothing but this all the time.
If it wasn't for my mother,
I could probably live
with the press coverage.
If it wasn't for her and you.
I'd just as soon
go with the mob.
What the hell?
They eat better.
- You only say it
'cuz you mean it.
Is there anybody else that's
worth a press conference
besides Grossit and Cerrico?
- Yeah, maybe.
- [Frank] Who?
- Carlos Spaletta,
Grossit's cousin.
- We turn him?
- If Grossit treated
me that way, I would.
He's a real hustler, Frank.
He's always looking
for new business.
- [Frank] We could provide that.
- How?
- Cartage business,
uptown sting.
- In a day and a half?
- Could be done.
If he's the only card we're
holding, we gotta play him.
(sighing)
- Then, let's play.
(plane engine whirring)
- I'm placing North
Side with information.
I'll get the line in,
but you're gonna have
to handle surveillance.
Now, Frank, the phone
company's giving us a history
for North Side Carting.
Bills, service records,
as well as the hardware.
I've ordered microphones
and a video package.
I'm figuring you'll
pick the spot to install
the two-way window,
then we're gonna have to
get on the stake.
I talked to Vinny.
He's at Tosca Cartage
waiting for Cerrico.
From there, he's
going to Grossit's
to put the hook into Carlos.
Carlos could be up
your way any time
within the next couple of hours.
(tense music)
(objects clattering)
(tense music)
(objects clattering)
(sobbing)
(tense music)
- The only crime was being nice.
All this for Alatorre.
I had alliances.
(heavy breathing)
Private school.
Congressmen's kids go there.
Headmaster said that they
don't want their kids
to go with
undesirables, you know?
That their support keeps
the school solvent,
so their wishes gotta
be respected, you know?
They need a new library.
I said I'd give it to them.
Putting my name on their
would be unacceptable.
I said I'd give it
to them, you know?
No, you don't have
to put my name on it.
He said, no.
He said the congressmen are
worried about their reputations.
I told them that my son's
reputation is beyond reproach.
I knew that's not what he meant.
He said that Albert's a great
kid and everybody likes him.
But, all I kept hearing
was sins of the father.
What about Kennedy's money?
Old man Kennedy was a bootlegger
and a stock manipulator
and his sons went to Harvard.
- His sons died.
- I don't know what
to say to Albert.
I'm gonna go to the...
- Albert, he's your son.
He trusts you.
He'll believe
anything you tell him.
- Kids today, they
don't buy that garbage,
I'm your father and all of that.
Does he know?
- He just doesn't know why.
(seagulls squawking)
- David said it was because
you were on the news again.
I said, Ritchie's
father was on the news.
He said Ritchie's father
makes laws and you break them.
Do you?
Do you break laws?
- There are different
kinds of laws, Albert.
Laws that are made
by powerful people
to make sure that other people
don't take that power away.
Those are selfish laws.
And then, there are laws
that nobody really makes,
they just exist and always have.
Those are the important laws
and the most important law
is to protect your family
and be loyal to your friends.
Now, I've never broken that law.
If you live by it,
you'll be a man
that people will
respect, you know?
- Do people respect you?
- I think so, yeah.
Yeah.
- David said nobody
will mess with you.
- That's a sign of respect.
- He said they're afraid of you.
- What's he telling you?
He thinks that I'm a monster,
is that what he thinks?
That I'm gonna come get him
and do something like this?
(seagulls squawking)
- If people respect you, why
can't I go back to school?
(somber music)
- It's okay if you cry.
I cried.
- Why?
- Because I couldn't
keep my promise to you
when I said that I'd make sure
no one would ever hurt you.
No matter how much I wanna
protect you from that, I can't.
And, when I realized
that, I cried.
(somber music)
What's my favorite record?
(singing in foreign language)
- Tosca.
- That's right.
Good.
Well, it's about an
artist named Cavaradossi.
His friend escapes from prison
and comes to him for help.
Now, they tortured Cavaradossi,
but he doesn't
give up his friend,
he doesn't tell him where he is.
See, he believes that loyalty
to the people he cares about
is so important that he'll
suffer in order to do it.
- Did his friend get away?
- No, he died.
You know, even though
Cavaradossi tried
to protect him,
he wound up suffering, too.
You see, it's kinda
like that with us.
You're my friend and
I want to protect you.
Hey, come here.
You know what I'm gonna do?
I'm gonna go to Mr. Baldwin
and I'm gonna talk to him
and I'm gonna try to make
him get you back into school.
- How?
- I know how to
deal with people.
But, if I can't, you'll
go to a new school,
you'll make new friends.
- I don't care about my friends.
Just don't go on
the news anymore.
(somber music)
(phone ringing)
- Tosca Cartage.
- Vinny Teranova there?
- This is he.
Who's this?
- It's me, North Side Carting,
1416 west 126th street.
- Whoa, wait a minute, Frank.
Wait a minute.
Cerrico's kid's been taken
out of his private school
because of the
publicity about the war.
I want you to get him
to take him back in.
- [Frank] Vince, we
got more important...
- Hey, congressmen's
kids go to this school.
I want you to find out who
and tell them to back off.
- Vince!
- Frank!
Just do it.
- There's a message here, Joey,
and you better
start receiving it.
There's territory to
be gained, not lost.
- Like what?
- Like I already told you.
The island is ripe
with opportunity.
About half an hour
north of here,
there's a place we could
take, any time we want?
- [Joey] What place?
- [Vinny] A place called North
Side Carting, 126th street.
- [Joey] Jews do
business in Harlem.
- [Vinny] Jews do
business in Harlem.
That's because they know
where the business is.
This place carts for
restaurants from the west side
all the way to Fort Tryon.
There is money to
be made here, Joey,
and money is money.
Unless, you already have so much
you don't know
what to do with it.
Unless, you just wanna
keep your people hungry.
- My people are my business
and how I treat them...
- Is none of my
concern, I realize that.
Unless, it impacts on all of us.
What I'm saying is
carry your own weight
through this expansion or
it'll be carried for you.
Good talking to you, Carlos.
- He tries to take what mine.
He ain't gonna
like what he gets.
I'll see you Sunday
at the house.
- How come you keep fighting
with these guys, huh?
You don't think I hear?
Joey, babe, expansion
makes sense.
We can handle Cerrico
and this Teranova.
- I don't know what to do.
- Why?
- Your father had answers.
- That's all right.
- Why'd they have to...
I was learning from him.
- I know.
- I'm lost without him.
- It's all right, babe.
I'm here.
I'm here.
(somber music)
(car tires screeching)
(tense music)
- Tell you what, make sure
you look after my car for me.
(tense music)
Yo, who's working here?
- The hell you want?
- I wanna talk business.
- [Man In Suit] Yeah, what kind?
- It don't concern you.
You go get the boss out here.
- Man, I don't have to get him.
- You own this place?
You own this place?
- Yeah, I own this place.
Now, what you got to say?
- Goodbye.
(tense music)
You didn't tell me Mo
Jones' running this place.
- [Mike] Frank, what happened?
What the hell happened, Frank?
Frank?
(glass shattering)
- I can't believe it.
I can't believe that Frank
would let this happen.
- Well, mom, short
of shooting Alatorre,
there's not much
else Frank could do.
- So, that's it?
You just accept this?
You just accept the
fact that the newspapers
would print your
picture and next to it
would be the word, mafioso?
- Mom, I'm not accepting it.
I'm making a conscious,
active decision.
Look, come here.
Come on, sit down.
Please.
Listen to me, mom.
I never expected to be
sitting on the Commission.
I didn't wanna have
anything to do with it,
McPyke wanted me to and
I told him I wouldn't
because of you and Rudy.
Because, it was family.
Then, Rudy got shot
and I had to do it
because it was family.
After four o'clock
tomorrow afternoon,
my life will never
be the same again.
I won't be able to delude
myself into thinking
that I can blend into
the woodwork of Brooklyn
or any place else,
for that matter.
My life will become
a photo opportunity.
- And, that's what you want?
- No, of course not,
but I do wanna get the guys
that violated your home.
It's not like it
was before, mom.
I'm not confused by
these guys anymore.
I know exactly who they are.
That's why I'm gonna
play this to the hilt.
I'm gonna take all these
guys down and enjoy
every minute of it.
Then, when it's all over,
I know I'll have given
them a piece of my life,
but it'll be worth it.
But, I know it won't
ever really be over.
- You'll be lonely, Vincenzo.
- Yeah, I know that'll
be part of the price
and I won't enjoy paying it,
but I'll find somebody.
I will.
Maybe, it's Amber.
I don't know.
But, I'll find somebody
who can look past the label
until I know her well
enough to tell her the truth
and when I tell her,
she'll believe it
'cuz she'll believe in
me more than she cares
what the rest of
the world thinks.
I'll find somebody like you.
(somber music)
- Caralotta, I was hoping...
- You've taken my
son away from me.
You've given him
to your criminals.
You've sacrificed him, Rudy.
Peter Alatorre is having a
press conference tomorrow.
He's going to announce that
Vincenzo is your representative
on the Commission.
You lied to me when you
said you were finished
with La Familia.
Not only was that a lie, but
Vincenzo has become part of it
and you were content
not to let me know.
I had to find out myself.
The lies that you told
me, I could live with
as long as only I
had to bear the pain,
but Vincenzo is going
to be branded a criminal
on the front page of the Times
and that's gonna be his pain
for the rest of his life.
No, you chose your life, Rudy,
but you manipulated his
to suit your own desires.
You wanted a son to
follow in your footsteps,
but he's my son, not yours.
My son.
- Carlotta.
Carlotta.
- When you come home,
I won't be there.
- Carlotta!
(dramatic music)
- What's wrong, boss?
She...
- I have a job for you.
- Step up and say hello
to Mr. Peter Alatorre.
Please, say hello.
Shake hands with the next
governor of New York,
Mr. Peter Alatorre.
Please, say hi to Mr. Peter
Alatorre, your next governor.
Could Peter Alatorre be the
next governor of New York?
Mr. Peter Alatorre.
Step up and say hello.
Mr. Peter Alatorre,
your next governor.
Step up and say hello
to Mr. Peter Alatorre.
Please, say hello.
Shake hands with the next
governor of New York,
Mr. Peter Alatorrea.
Please, say hi to Mr. Peter
Alatorre, your next governor.
Could Peter Alatorre be the
next governor of New York?
Mr. Peter Alatorre.
(tense music)
- You were deported.
- Is this Palermo?
- How did you get back?
- A powerful mind can
do the unexpected.
It's part of what
makes him powerful.
This election, you may think
it's about service and altruism.
No, it's about power.
You want it and I
can understand that.
- You don't understand
anything about me.
- If it makes you feel better.
- All I have to do
is pick up a phone
and I could have you sent
right back to Sicily.
(chuckling)
- I'm an old man.
I can fight deportation.
Besides, I've been savagely
wounded by who knows?
- Cerrico?
Grossit?
- You wanna go
fishing, buy a boat.
- I shouldn't even be here.
- But, you came, as
I knew you would.
You see, I do understand.
- Why did you wanna see me?
- I wanted you to see me.
(tense music)
- I am sick and tired of seeing
innocent people victimized.
In this garbage
war, as in all wars,
the innocent are
the ultimate victims
while organized
criminals get richer
and elected officials get
older and more complacent.
During my campaign, I've
been asked many times,
who's running the mob?
Who are the generals
in the garbage war?
Some of the names
we already know.
The old names, like Cerrico,
Grossit, Hasternack, Bescoff.
But today, today I wanna
add a new name to that list.
- Who the hell's
he talking about?
- The man who
leads the mob today
does so through the connection
of family and of experience.
It will take a man
with the experience
of a former prosecutor
to bring him down.
Who is this man?
Rudolpho Aiuppo, formerly
known as the Don.
Deported once.
He has returned
illegally to our State.
Our State.
We know where the
responsibility for that lies.
As we speak...
- Won't be long before Alatorre
knows about you, Vince,
then you'll be the
one they're following.
Sins of the father.
- [Peter] If I am elected,
his deportation will be
the number one
organized crime priority
of this administration.
I'll take questions now.
- Get out of the ball game.
(somber music)
Vincenzo.
- I'm here, pa.
- Vinny.
- [Vinny] How are you feeling?
- I can eat like a
human being again.
How'd you make out
with the negotiations?
- Slow.
That Grossit's a tough nut.
- Him or his wife?
- See Alatorre's
press conference?
- Politicians.
I was watching the Giants.
- He knows you're back.
I don't know how he
knows, but he does.
- Hey, I can eat again.
Who cares what he knows?
- He's gonna make it his
business to deport you again.
- I'll be here to see
your children get married
or maybe, I'll be up there,
or maybe, down there.
But, wherever I'll be,
I won't be in Sicily.
The longer this war lasts, the
more dangerous it will become
for you, for all of us.
Grossit is hand pecked.
You never know what a
hand pecked man's gonna do
to prove he's a man.
Cerrico, if he suspects
you're forming alliances
with people other than him,
his soft voice could be
the last one you hear.
Act quickly, Vincenzo,
but carefully.
Kapeesh?
- Si.
- Go back.
There it is.
(laughing and grunting)
- Fumble!
- I just got off the
phone with Mr. Bowman.
You're gonna go back to school.
- Are you serious?
- Yeah, I'm serious.
Didn't I tell you I
was gonna try my best?
- I'm gonna go tell David.
David!
David!
David!
- Hey.
You gotta know how
to deal with people.
(unsettling music)
(upbeat theme music)
Previously on Wiseguy
- I muscled my way
into the Commission,
demanded your seat at the table.
- The center of power's
a dangerous place to be.
- Wish my son and
wife were here.
Gives me perspective.
- You never give
up business, Joey.
- You lost plenty with that
hot head of your yours.
- To sign Yoman at the
business on Monn Street
isn't worth the war.
Bring your family home.
- The only reason that you're
running things and I'm not
is because I wasn't born a son.
- You got penis envy.
(gunshot)
Are you crazy?
- I like that.
(upbeat theme song)
(many people talking)
- Hi, I need your
election day vote.
All right, don't let me down.
- Tony Ziffo,
Tony Ziffo.
- Yeah, and I'm running
for governor now.
My friend, how are you today?
I need your vote.
- What about the garbage
who own this city?
- Dan, this election is about
more than organized crime.
- The families are at
each other's throats
for control of the
garbage business.
Tony Ziffo gets whacked
and somebody in the
familia gets promoted.
Who do you think that is?
- Dan, Dan, Dan.
Mr. Alatorre is
visiting this market
to emphasize his proposal
of lowering city taxes
for the smaller businesses...
- Nobody cares
about fruit stands.
They care about Tony Ziffo
getting his melon shot off.
(speaking foreign language)
- Hey, Pete, your campaign
is stuck in the mud.
The polls show you losing.
- Only poll I care
about is election day.
- The governor says you
don't have the experience
to run this State.
He says you should have stayed
in the State's
attorney's office,
so you can do what you're
good at, chase mobsters.
Who's in control of
the garbage cartel?
Who's running the mob, Pete?
- Go ask Albert.
- Money's in bing and
he can't buy a headline,
so he comes back to
Brooklyn, says go ask Albert.
For 15 years since he was an
assistant State's attorney
he's been addicted to a dream.
Governor Alatorre, senator
Alatorre, president Coma Sigam,
and the opiate that
drives that dream
is the destruction
of Albert Cerrico.
Six times he's
tried to invite me,
never got past the grand jury.
Those that prosecute, persecute.
His persecution
is made legitimate
because it's done in
the name of the law.
He's using me to
achieve a political end.
Guilt or innocence,
couldn't be more irrelevant.
Hey, look at this.
- [TV Presenter] Garbage
barge loaded with over 30 tons
of refuse has reached the
Caribbean island of Eleuthera,
but as has happened
at every other port
during the barge's
12 day odyssey,
it has not been
allowed to offload
this rather unsavory cargo.
- That barge.
The boys at the club
make jokes about it.
Costing me six grand a
day to keep it floatin'.
Who wants to put a
price on laughter, huh?
- Yeah, it's a very rare
commodity these days.
We got a war on our hands.
It is very expensive
and very stupid.
Unless we bring it to an end,
this war is gonna
be the last one.
Peace is a rare commodity, too,
but you can put a price on it.
Now, I can get across to Annie,
but what about you?
What are you willing
to give up for peace?
- I give up nothing.
Not one inch of my territory,
not one dollar of my business.
We've given up too much already.
- This is a negotiable issue.
- We emasculated ourselves.
Ziffo's legacy is
carried out by Grossit.
It's to sell off
pieces of our business,
to broker our future
to the highest bidder.
As a result, we've become
vulnerable to those
who aren't even a part of us,
the Chinese, Tongs,
the Jamaicans.
That's never happened before.
The solution to
our problem is not
what we're willing to give,
it's what we're able to take.
After the turn of the
century, the 20s, the 50s,
our vitality comes
from expansion.
Study history, Vincent.
What's past is prolonged.
- Grossit?
Grossit is short sighted,
so maybe the best way
to deal with him is
not to make him look
past his own nose.
The risk of expansion is
what's making him nervous.
You protect his exposure, he's
got no reason to stonewall.
- So, you're suggesting that
I underwrite the expansion?
- Call it backing up
your faith of capital.
Unless, your faith isn't
as strong as you say it is?
- I'll do it.
Throw a peacemaker.
What do you expect
to gain from it?
- My family's safety.
A piece of the action that
rightfully belongs Aiuppo,
which I hope to be
worth something to me.
- The law of primogeniture.
- I have studied history.
- [Driver] The car
is ready, Albert.
- Come, I'll take your ride.
I want you to meet my family.
- Albert, maybe we should
go out the back door.
(many people talking)
- Come on, out.
Get out of here, you guys.
What kind of behavior
is this, huh?
We can go for a picture,
whatever you guys want,
when you come to my office.
Now, you gotta violate my home.
Show some respect, all right?
Don't do this again.
- Alatorre said we should
come here and talk to...
- Yeah, I know.
He said, go ask Albert, right?
Well, you know,
what is it with him?
Why does he gotta single
me out all the time?
Except, my last name
ends in a vowel.
- Oh, come on, Albert.
So does his.
- Yeah, well, it must
be psychological.
- Who's running the Commission,
now Tony Ziffo's dead?
- Are you in control
of the garbage cartel?
- Cartel?
What is that, cartel?
- You know?
- What I do know
is that I got a barge on the
Caribbean I can't get rid of.
Costs me six Gs a day.
Does that sound like a guy
who's controlling anything?
- What about the garbage wars?
Is it gonna get worse?
- Wars?
What?
This isn't Beirut.
There are no wars here.
You know, fellas,
I'm a family man.
Right, you know that.
I'm going to the airport
now, pick up my family,
and would I bring them
back if it wasn't safe?
- And what should
we tell Alatorre?
- Tell him that I
give him my vote.
We need a nice Italian
boy running things.
- Okay, thanks.
- All right?
- Thanks.
- All right.
- [Reporter] You get the
car, I got the camera.
- Give them a good quote,
they lay down like
a two dollar whore.
- I don't think
they're gonna lay down.
I think they're gonna dog
you everywhere you go.
You just told them
where you're going.
- Daddy!
(reporters shouting questions)
- It's like a
football game, huh?
We're busting through the
line like O.J. used to.
(reporters shouting questions)
Let's get out of here.
Come on.
(reporters shouting questions)
- [Driver] Those reporters
have me blocked in, Albert.
We can't go anywhere.
- It's all right.
It's okay.
Honey, this is Vinny Teranova.
He's a good fella.
- Hi.
- This is my son, Albert.
- Hi, Albert.
- [Albert] Hey,
sweetheart, you okay?
Huh?
- I thought they
were gonna hurt us.
- What do you mean, hurt you?
Come here.
Come here, would I
let them do that?
Nobody's gonna hurt you, huh?
Nobody's gonna hurt you
as long as I'm here.
Promise, all right?
Huh?
- We keep selling off territory.
The only thing we
buy is vulnerability.
We have to expand, Joey.
- Expand?
That's Cerrico's favorite word.
- It's just another
word for survival.
- I thought you were
representing Aiuppo's interest.
Since when did you become
Cerrico's mouthpiece?
- My stepfather is sucking
air through six bullet holes.
I am protecting his interest
and his interest is peace.
Now, expansion is a good idea.
I'm not gonna ignore a good
idea when one comes along.
- Expansion costs
time, money, manpower.
Cerrico wants to
expand, let him.
I got my own family
to worry about
now that Ziffo's dead.
- You know, you're right.
You're absolutely right.
Your family's security has
to be the foremost thing
in your mind.
It is for all of us.
That's why Cerrico's willing
to underwrite your risk.
- Hey, Joey, that's...
- Hey, I want advice from
you on how to run my family,
I'll ask for it.
Til then, you walk behind
me and you shut up.
- These cigarette
machines, video games,
how far up in the alley
are you placing them?
- Far enough.
- Suffolk County?
You know, people
are moving out there
like there's no tomorrow.
What about your launders
and garbage trucks?
- What, I gotta account to you?
- No, you don't have
to account to me.
What I'm saying is, you
get the families behind you
you can push your
territory all the way out
to Montague Point.
- You'd be pushing me off
the point, into the ocean.
- Geeze, Joe, you're not a
very trusting guy, are you?
- I don't believe in trust.
I believe in control.
You expand, you lose it.
I'm in control of my
family and that's the way
it's gonna stay.
- Joey.
- I'm talking here!
- [Gina] I need you.
- Now, you be my mouthpiece.
No expansion.
(door slamming)
(Joey and Gina arguing
in the other room)
- She's still Ziffo's
daughter, isn't she?
- Ah, my cousin, Joey.
(Joey and Gina arguing
in the other room)
He's in love with her, really.
- Oh, yeah?
Sure hope he's paying
you a lot, Carlos.
- Hey, you gotta feel
for the guy, Vinny.
He's been under a
lot of stress lately,
what with Tony's ego in the way.
(Joey and Gina arguing
in the other room)
Maybe we can work something out.
I think this expanding is
a good thing for everybody.
- Yeah?
- Really.
Let me take him down to AC
and get him to
relax a little bit.
I think I can convince him.
- He either goes along or
becomes an obstruction.
You know what happens to
obstructions, right, Carlos?
(Joey and Gina arguing
in the other room)
- Absolutely.
- [Media Manager]
We're emphasizing the
fact that your cost
per conviction ratio is
the lowest in the history
of the State's
attorney's office.
Nobody cares about that.
They want Cerrico in jail.
- Peter, we're
strategizing a campaign
that portrays you, despite your
youth, as a skilled manager,
not the caped crusader.
- Tonight at Grand Central,
they were screaming, get Albert.
Get Albert.
Like they were at
a damn ball game.
- We can't strategize on the
basis of emotional responses.
- What the hell do
you think politics is?
I've paid your friend three
million for your strategizing
and it's costing me an election
that should have
been in the bag.
From now on, every print
or film piece we run
had better have the word
mob, crime, or law in it
or you're fired, all of you.
This is my campaign, not yours.
I'm gonna take control of it.
It might be too late
to save this thing,
but I'm going to start
playing to my strength.
- Alatorre is losing his mind.
- Hello?
- Ernie, it's Peter.
What's going on with La Familia?
- [Ernie] We're
investigating the Ziffo hit.
We won't find much.
- Is the war going to continue?
- [Ernie] Probably, til
Cerrico consolidates his power,
it takes a bullet.
- Pull Cerrico's file.
- [Ernie] We figure Grossit
is his main composition.
- [Peter] Joey Grossit or Gina?
- [Ernie] Your guess
is as good as ours.
We heard Gina's wearing her
late father's jock straps.
- [Peter] Tell me something new.
Ernie, it's desperation time.
- [Ernie] There's a new
face that keeps popping up.
Vincent Teranova.
- Why do I know that name?
- [Ernie] Apparently,
he's got some juice,
but we don't know the source.
Cerrico's been
buddying up with him.
- That's it.
Started out in Atlantic
City, small time muscle,
brother was a small time
priest, died last year.
His mother's married
to Rudy Aiuppo.
- [Ernie] You gotta be kidding?
- Who's Rudy Aiuppo?
- Thanks, Ernie.
My love to Carol.
That was worth three million.
- Who's Rudy Aiuppo?
- You don't know media and
you don't know the mob.
Rudy Aiuppo was the former
head of the La Familia.
Retired 15 years ago and
was deported to Sicily.
The Silver Fox.
There was a maelstrom of
criminality surrounding him
and he just sat right in its
eye, tending his tomatoes.
When's the best time to
call a press conference?
- Four o'clock.
We can just make
the evening news.
They won't have time to
strain their own sound bytes.
They'd have to use ours.
- Tell them we have a major
announcement on mob activity,
but don't be too specific.
- The press club?
- The steps of the courthouse.
I want them to see those
scales of justice behind me
when I tell them Rudy
Aiuppo's controlling the mob
from Palermo through his
stepson, Vincent Teranova.
(dramatic music)
- [Radio Announcer] Editorial
candidate, Peter Alatorre,
has scheduled a press
conference this afternoon.
His staff confirmed he will
make a major announcement
on the Commission of La Familia
and the personalities involved
in the so-called garbage war.
- Mr. Peter Alatorre,
step up and say hello.
Mr. Peter Alatorre,
your next governor.
Meet Peter Alatorre,
your next governor.
Shake hands with Peter Alatorre.
- Hi, I need your
help, election day.
- Mr. Alatorre.
- Hi.
Hope the other guy looks worse.
- Yes, sir.
Frank McCray, Coast OCB.
We need to talk now, sir.
Please, please.
- Hey, where you going?
- We gotta be in
the Bronx at 9:30.
- The law comes first, Jacobson.
Always.
How can I help you?
So, what's this all about?
- I just need a moment to speak
to you privately, Mr. Alatorre.
- This boat's not in service.
- That'll be perfect.
What are you gonna announce
at your press conference?
- Why couldn't you
ask me on the dock?
- We don't wanna throw
water on your campaign.
If anything, or sympathy goes
with the next prosecutor,
but we need to know what
you're going to announce.
- That Rudy Aiuppo's
controlling the mob from Sicily
through his stepson,
Vincent Teranova.
(sighing)
- Uncle Mike.
- I'm right here, Frank.
- I need a chopper at
Battery Park, stat.
Contact four five eight seven.
Pimlico's Open.
(sighing)
- Aiuppo's stepson's an agent
and Aiuppo doesn't know it?
- That's the idea, isn't it?
We have a man that's sitting
on the Commission of La Familia
and of all people that should
appreciate it, it's you.
I know the timing
stinks and I'm sorry,
but if the OCB can
do anything to offset
you canceling the news
conference, we'd be...
- What are you talking about?
I'm not canceling.
I'm making the
announcement, as scheduled.
This campaign cost
ten million dollars.
If it were June, I'd
cancel the conference
no one would remember,
but it's October
and I committed myself to making
an announcement on the mob.
If I cancel now, I'll be
accused of grandstanding
and no one will forget that
when they walk in the booth.
- I have a man that's
on the line here.
- I've got the State
of New York on the line
and I'm egotistical enough to
think I can make a difference
in the lives of
18 million people.
- You cannot go public
with this man's name.
- Why not?
He's had coverage before.
- Fifth paragraph, also
under investigation,
the only people that gave a damn
were the people
that owed him money
and you're talking
about putting his mug
on every newspaper in the
State, maybe the nation.
- That works for you, Frank.
It'll only serve to
confirm his position
to Cerrico and the others.
- No, I'm not talking
about the future.
I'm talking about now.
You make this man a public image
and you'll never be
able to shed that.
- Guys get over-exposed, the
next case you get someone else.
It's in the manual, Frank.
I've read it.
That's the business you're in.
- I'm not talking
about business.
Now, you listen to me.
I'm talking about a man who
is as dedicated to his work
as you are to yours.
You're talking about
putting a marker cane on him
that he'll never
be able to erase.
You're talking about
turning him into a paria.
You're talking about
ruining his life.
- I don't know, Frank.
I don't know.
(foreboding music)
(phone ringing)
- Yeah?
- Yeah, Vinny.
Hey, it's your uncle Mike.
Listen, I've been calling
all over town for you.
You must be busy, huh?
- Yeah, I got an appointment
with a certain party.
- Yeah, well, can
you get out of it?
- I don't think so.
- [Mike] Gee, that's too pad.
Pimlico's Open.
Here, I thought maybe you
could lead from Teterboro,
judge the first race.
- Yeah, I'll talk to you later.
Hey.
- Sorry, Vince, I gotta cancel.
There's a problem with my son.
- What's the matter?
- I don't know.
Something with the school.
I gotta go home.
Something with the school.
Can we deal with this tomorrow?
I wanna know how it
went with Grossit.
- [Vinny] Yeah, sure.
(car tires screeching)
- What does he think, you
got this kinda flexibility
built into your schedule?
- I do today, Pooch.
- You know, I bet if you
went through the Alatorre
and the Teranova family albums,
they'd be pretty much the same.
- Don't play me, Frank.
I'm not a tune you know.
- Vincent Teranova's
first generation.
To his parents, nothing
spelled making it in America
more than to have a son that
was a doctor, lawyer, or a cop,
if it was only to tear
down the stereotype
that all Italians are gangsters.
- And, all Irishmen are drunks.
- I admit that I worked a little
harder to bring down Mick,
who'd gone bad.
- I put away criminals, Frank.
I never cared where
their parents come from.
- I'm trying to save
my friend, Peter.
- I don't wanna hurt him.
Honest to God, I don't.
Well, give me something else.
Give me something else to
announce and I'll do it.
- I can't do it in eight hours.
- If I cancel, I cut my throat.
- Then, you don't cancel.
You just postpone.
- How long?
- Sunday afternoon.
- 36 hours?
- Slowest news day of the week.
It'll take World War three
to knock you off the lead.
- I should have hired you
as my media consultant.
Whatever you give me
has to be as important
as I said it would be
or at least something
I can sell as being important.
- I understand and I thank you.
- This means I have your vote?
- I live in Jersey.
For you, I move.
(plane engine whirring)
- All right, let's get airborne.
- I thought this
was just a meet.
What did you do to yourself?
- It's all right.
We're gonna land in Baltimore
in case your phone wasn't safe
and they try to figure
out where you've been.
Now, Sunday afternoon,
Alatorre is gonna announce
to the world that you've
been warming a seat
on the Commission
and you've been
running the mob for Aiuppo.
- What?
- All this to win
the governorship.
So much for the
electoral process.
(plane engines whirring)
Can we give him Cerrico?
- He's 80% Tefline.
The 20% that might stick
is just gonna bring
a suspended sentence,
maybe short time.
- Grossit?
- I tried pumping him
about his business,
but he's real cagey.
The only thing
I'm sure about him
is that his wife's got
a ring through his nose.
- Alatorre's not gonna
give us another reprieve.
(sighing)
- I'm not sure I care anymore.
- Have you talked to her?
- Yeah, on the phone.
She won't see me.
She knows as long
as I'm with the OCB,
my life is gonna be nothing.
Nothing but this all the time.
If it wasn't for my mother,
I could probably live
with the press coverage.
If it wasn't for her and you.
I'd just as soon
go with the mob.
What the hell?
They eat better.
- You only say it
'cuz you mean it.
Is there anybody else that's
worth a press conference
besides Grossit and Cerrico?
- Yeah, maybe.
- [Frank] Who?
- Carlos Spaletta,
Grossit's cousin.
- We turn him?
- If Grossit treated
me that way, I would.
He's a real hustler, Frank.
He's always looking
for new business.
- [Frank] We could provide that.
- How?
- Cartage business,
uptown sting.
- In a day and a half?
- Could be done.
If he's the only card we're
holding, we gotta play him.
(sighing)
- Then, let's play.
(plane engine whirring)
- I'm placing North
Side with information.
I'll get the line in,
but you're gonna have
to handle surveillance.
Now, Frank, the phone
company's giving us a history
for North Side Carting.
Bills, service records,
as well as the hardware.
I've ordered microphones
and a video package.
I'm figuring you'll
pick the spot to install
the two-way window,
then we're gonna have to
get on the stake.
I talked to Vinny.
He's at Tosca Cartage
waiting for Cerrico.
From there, he's
going to Grossit's
to put the hook into Carlos.
Carlos could be up
your way any time
within the next couple of hours.
(tense music)
(objects clattering)
(tense music)
(objects clattering)
(sobbing)
(tense music)
- The only crime was being nice.
All this for Alatorre.
I had alliances.
(heavy breathing)
Private school.
Congressmen's kids go there.
Headmaster said that they
don't want their kids
to go with
undesirables, you know?
That their support keeps
the school solvent,
so their wishes gotta
be respected, you know?
They need a new library.
I said I'd give it to them.
Putting my name on their
would be unacceptable.
I said I'd give it
to them, you know?
No, you don't have
to put my name on it.
He said, no.
He said the congressmen are
worried about their reputations.
I told them that my son's
reputation is beyond reproach.
I knew that's not what he meant.
He said that Albert's a great
kid and everybody likes him.
But, all I kept hearing
was sins of the father.
What about Kennedy's money?
Old man Kennedy was a bootlegger
and a stock manipulator
and his sons went to Harvard.
- His sons died.
- I don't know what
to say to Albert.
I'm gonna go to the...
- Albert, he's your son.
He trusts you.
He'll believe
anything you tell him.
- Kids today, they
don't buy that garbage,
I'm your father and all of that.
Does he know?
- He just doesn't know why.
(seagulls squawking)
- David said it was because
you were on the news again.
I said, Ritchie's
father was on the news.
He said Ritchie's father
makes laws and you break them.
Do you?
Do you break laws?
- There are different
kinds of laws, Albert.
Laws that are made
by powerful people
to make sure that other people
don't take that power away.
Those are selfish laws.
And then, there are laws
that nobody really makes,
they just exist and always have.
Those are the important laws
and the most important law
is to protect your family
and be loyal to your friends.
Now, I've never broken that law.
If you live by it,
you'll be a man
that people will
respect, you know?
- Do people respect you?
- I think so, yeah.
Yeah.
- David said nobody
will mess with you.
- That's a sign of respect.
- He said they're afraid of you.
- What's he telling you?
He thinks that I'm a monster,
is that what he thinks?
That I'm gonna come get him
and do something like this?
(seagulls squawking)
- If people respect you, why
can't I go back to school?
(somber music)
- It's okay if you cry.
I cried.
- Why?
- Because I couldn't
keep my promise to you
when I said that I'd make sure
no one would ever hurt you.
No matter how much I wanna
protect you from that, I can't.
And, when I realized
that, I cried.
(somber music)
What's my favorite record?
(singing in foreign language)
- Tosca.
- That's right.
Good.
Well, it's about an
artist named Cavaradossi.
His friend escapes from prison
and comes to him for help.
Now, they tortured Cavaradossi,
but he doesn't
give up his friend,
he doesn't tell him where he is.
See, he believes that loyalty
to the people he cares about
is so important that he'll
suffer in order to do it.
- Did his friend get away?
- No, he died.
You know, even though
Cavaradossi tried
to protect him,
he wound up suffering, too.
You see, it's kinda
like that with us.
You're my friend and
I want to protect you.
Hey, come here.
You know what I'm gonna do?
I'm gonna go to Mr. Baldwin
and I'm gonna talk to him
and I'm gonna try to make
him get you back into school.
- How?
- I know how to
deal with people.
But, if I can't, you'll
go to a new school,
you'll make new friends.
- I don't care about my friends.
Just don't go on
the news anymore.
(somber music)
(phone ringing)
- Tosca Cartage.
- Vinny Teranova there?
- This is he.
Who's this?
- It's me, North Side Carting,
1416 west 126th street.
- Whoa, wait a minute, Frank.
Wait a minute.
Cerrico's kid's been taken
out of his private school
because of the
publicity about the war.
I want you to get him
to take him back in.
- [Frank] Vince, we
got more important...
- Hey, congressmen's
kids go to this school.
I want you to find out who
and tell them to back off.
- Vince!
- Frank!
Just do it.
- There's a message here, Joey,
and you better
start receiving it.
There's territory to
be gained, not lost.
- Like what?
- Like I already told you.
The island is ripe
with opportunity.
About half an hour
north of here,
there's a place we could
take, any time we want?
- [Joey] What place?
- [Vinny] A place called North
Side Carting, 126th street.
- [Joey] Jews do
business in Harlem.
- [Vinny] Jews do
business in Harlem.
That's because they know
where the business is.
This place carts for
restaurants from the west side
all the way to Fort Tryon.
There is money to
be made here, Joey,
and money is money.
Unless, you already have so much
you don't know
what to do with it.
Unless, you just wanna
keep your people hungry.
- My people are my business
and how I treat them...
- Is none of my
concern, I realize that.
Unless, it impacts on all of us.
What I'm saying is
carry your own weight
through this expansion or
it'll be carried for you.
Good talking to you, Carlos.
- He tries to take what mine.
He ain't gonna
like what he gets.
I'll see you Sunday
at the house.
- How come you keep fighting
with these guys, huh?
You don't think I hear?
Joey, babe, expansion
makes sense.
We can handle Cerrico
and this Teranova.
- I don't know what to do.
- Why?
- Your father had answers.
- That's all right.
- Why'd they have to...
I was learning from him.
- I know.
- I'm lost without him.
- It's all right, babe.
I'm here.
I'm here.
(somber music)
(car tires screeching)
(tense music)
- Tell you what, make sure
you look after my car for me.
(tense music)
Yo, who's working here?
- The hell you want?
- I wanna talk business.
- [Man In Suit] Yeah, what kind?
- It don't concern you.
You go get the boss out here.
- Man, I don't have to get him.
- You own this place?
You own this place?
- Yeah, I own this place.
Now, what you got to say?
- Goodbye.
(tense music)
You didn't tell me Mo
Jones' running this place.
- [Mike] Frank, what happened?
What the hell happened, Frank?
Frank?
(glass shattering)
- I can't believe it.
I can't believe that Frank
would let this happen.
- Well, mom, short
of shooting Alatorre,
there's not much
else Frank could do.
- So, that's it?
You just accept this?
You just accept the
fact that the newspapers
would print your
picture and next to it
would be the word, mafioso?
- Mom, I'm not accepting it.
I'm making a conscious,
active decision.
Look, come here.
Come on, sit down.
Please.
Listen to me, mom.
I never expected to be
sitting on the Commission.
I didn't wanna have
anything to do with it,
McPyke wanted me to and
I told him I wouldn't
because of you and Rudy.
Because, it was family.
Then, Rudy got shot
and I had to do it
because it was family.
After four o'clock
tomorrow afternoon,
my life will never
be the same again.
I won't be able to delude
myself into thinking
that I can blend into
the woodwork of Brooklyn
or any place else,
for that matter.
My life will become
a photo opportunity.
- And, that's what you want?
- No, of course not,
but I do wanna get the guys
that violated your home.
It's not like it
was before, mom.
I'm not confused by
these guys anymore.
I know exactly who they are.
That's why I'm gonna
play this to the hilt.
I'm gonna take all these
guys down and enjoy
every minute of it.
Then, when it's all over,
I know I'll have given
them a piece of my life,
but it'll be worth it.
But, I know it won't
ever really be over.
- You'll be lonely, Vincenzo.
- Yeah, I know that'll
be part of the price
and I won't enjoy paying it,
but I'll find somebody.
I will.
Maybe, it's Amber.
I don't know.
But, I'll find somebody
who can look past the label
until I know her well
enough to tell her the truth
and when I tell her,
she'll believe it
'cuz she'll believe in
me more than she cares
what the rest of
the world thinks.
I'll find somebody like you.
(somber music)
- Caralotta, I was hoping...
- You've taken my
son away from me.
You've given him
to your criminals.
You've sacrificed him, Rudy.
Peter Alatorre is having a
press conference tomorrow.
He's going to announce that
Vincenzo is your representative
on the Commission.
You lied to me when you
said you were finished
with La Familia.
Not only was that a lie, but
Vincenzo has become part of it
and you were content
not to let me know.
I had to find out myself.
The lies that you told
me, I could live with
as long as only I
had to bear the pain,
but Vincenzo is going
to be branded a criminal
on the front page of the Times
and that's gonna be his pain
for the rest of his life.
No, you chose your life, Rudy,
but you manipulated his
to suit your own desires.
You wanted a son to
follow in your footsteps,
but he's my son, not yours.
My son.
- Carlotta.
Carlotta.
- When you come home,
I won't be there.
- Carlotta!
(dramatic music)
- What's wrong, boss?
She...
- I have a job for you.
- Step up and say hello
to Mr. Peter Alatorre.
Please, say hello.
Shake hands with the next
governor of New York,
Mr. Peter Alatorre.
Please, say hi to Mr. Peter
Alatorre, your next governor.
Could Peter Alatorre be the
next governor of New York?
Mr. Peter Alatorre.
Step up and say hello.
Mr. Peter Alatorre,
your next governor.
Step up and say hello
to Mr. Peter Alatorre.
Please, say hello.
Shake hands with the next
governor of New York,
Mr. Peter Alatorrea.
Please, say hi to Mr. Peter
Alatorre, your next governor.
Could Peter Alatorre be the
next governor of New York?
Mr. Peter Alatorre.
(tense music)
- You were deported.
- Is this Palermo?
- How did you get back?
- A powerful mind can
do the unexpected.
It's part of what
makes him powerful.
This election, you may think
it's about service and altruism.
No, it's about power.
You want it and I
can understand that.
- You don't understand
anything about me.
- If it makes you feel better.
- All I have to do
is pick up a phone
and I could have you sent
right back to Sicily.
(chuckling)
- I'm an old man.
I can fight deportation.
Besides, I've been savagely
wounded by who knows?
- Cerrico?
Grossit?
- You wanna go
fishing, buy a boat.
- I shouldn't even be here.
- But, you came, as
I knew you would.
You see, I do understand.
- Why did you wanna see me?
- I wanted you to see me.
(tense music)
- I am sick and tired of seeing
innocent people victimized.
In this garbage
war, as in all wars,
the innocent are
the ultimate victims
while organized
criminals get richer
and elected officials get
older and more complacent.
During my campaign, I've
been asked many times,
who's running the mob?
Who are the generals
in the garbage war?
Some of the names
we already know.
The old names, like Cerrico,
Grossit, Hasternack, Bescoff.
But today, today I wanna
add a new name to that list.
- Who the hell's
he talking about?
- The man who
leads the mob today
does so through the connection
of family and of experience.
It will take a man
with the experience
of a former prosecutor
to bring him down.
Who is this man?
Rudolpho Aiuppo, formerly
known as the Don.
Deported once.
He has returned
illegally to our State.
Our State.
We know where the
responsibility for that lies.
As we speak...
- Won't be long before Alatorre
knows about you, Vince,
then you'll be the
one they're following.
Sins of the father.
- [Peter] If I am elected,
his deportation will be
the number one
organized crime priority
of this administration.
I'll take questions now.
- Get out of the ball game.
(somber music)
Vincenzo.
- I'm here, pa.
- Vinny.
- [Vinny] How are you feeling?
- I can eat like a
human being again.
How'd you make out
with the negotiations?
- Slow.
That Grossit's a tough nut.
- Him or his wife?
- See Alatorre's
press conference?
- Politicians.
I was watching the Giants.
- He knows you're back.
I don't know how he
knows, but he does.
- Hey, I can eat again.
Who cares what he knows?
- He's gonna make it his
business to deport you again.
- I'll be here to see
your children get married
or maybe, I'll be up there,
or maybe, down there.
But, wherever I'll be,
I won't be in Sicily.
The longer this war lasts, the
more dangerous it will become
for you, for all of us.
Grossit is hand pecked.
You never know what a
hand pecked man's gonna do
to prove he's a man.
Cerrico, if he suspects
you're forming alliances
with people other than him,
his soft voice could be
the last one you hear.
Act quickly, Vincenzo,
but carefully.
Kapeesh?
- Si.
- Go back.
There it is.
(laughing and grunting)
- Fumble!
- I just got off the
phone with Mr. Bowman.
You're gonna go back to school.
- Are you serious?
- Yeah, I'm serious.
Didn't I tell you I
was gonna try my best?
- I'm gonna go tell David.
David!
David!
David!
- Hey.
You gotta know how
to deal with people.
(unsettling music)
(upbeat theme music)