Public Morals

What do you say, Lieutenant?

What's up, baby? You tell me, what's the word?

- It's all there paid in full. - I wouldn't expect nothing less from you, Jack.

You know I'm never shy, Lonnie. I'm never shy.

Listen, I gotta ask you a question.

I gotta put another man up.

Mickey Liberty on 121st and 1st.

I don't know about that, Jack.

That's a little too close to Pleasant Avenue.

That's Joe Fish's territory. You don't want that headache.

No, man, we ain't gonna be doin' his shit.

We'll be doing our shit.

But I don't need no trouble

from the guineas up there neither.

- Listen, I'll put the word out to Joe and see what he says. - Solid.

Now what's that other thing you said you needed to

talk to me about.

Frenchie!

Go on, tell him.

I hate to bother you with this kind of bullshit,

but it's my cousin Tina. She asked about you.

Yeah? What's she askin'?

She wouldn't say. Told me it was none of my business.

Said it was important that I got word to you.

All right, tell her I'll be in touch.

- You good? - We're good, baby.

All right.

French?

Hey.

Thank you, baby.

French, is she okay?

Yeah. But you should call.

All right, kids, hustle up. You're gonna be late. Let's go.

- Dad, is mom okay? - Yeaah, mom is fine.

- She's just a little tired, okay? - Is she sad about something?

Yeah, she's very sad. She wishes your brother James would be a better student.

that's not what she's upset about, and you know it.

All right, you two, do me a favor,

have a wonderful day at school.

You with the attitude, stay with me a second.

- Let's go, Michael, hustle it up. - See you, Dad.

- Close the door. - Got it.

What'd she say to you?

She wants to move. She hates it here.

And what about you? You really wanna move to the Suburbs?

I don't care.

You don't have an opinion one way or the other?

What about your friends? You don't think you'd miss them?

Most of my friends are gone.

All right.

So what do you have today?

Uh, social studies test.

- Did you study? - Yeah. Remember?

- You said I couldn't go out last night. - That doesn't mean you studied.

Yeah, I studied.

All right.

I'll pick you up after basketball practice today.

Okay, can I go now?

Sure. Get outta here.

Unless, of course, you want a hug and kiss before you go.

Bob Davis worked for me for 20 years,

and now he's dead because of you.

I didn't tell him to try to shoot it out with the cops.

Not just any cop...

Terry Muldoon.

Whom I do not need as an enemy.

I need Mr. Muldoon as a friend.

It's all Rusty's bullshit.

Every day that dumb shit does something to cause me grief.

He did what needed to be done.

Did he, indeed?

Why don't you explain it to me?

See, I've been trying to wrap my brain around his behavior,

- and I can't make any sense of it. - Here's the thing.

No one's ever gonna suspect us of taking Smitty out

days after you give him Mr. O.'s book, right?

Doesn't make any sense.

And because of that, nobody's gonna suspect Rusty...

Of taking out Mr. O. either, because they're naturally gonna

try to connect the two.

Except for Mr. O.'s crew,

which is why we're gonna take care of them, too.

Jesus Christ.

And that's your idea of sense?

Jesus.

Smitty was scared shitless.

He was grateful to have his job.

And his crew was happy to be workin' for him.

And makin' money for all of us.

So tell me again, why the hell did he have to kill Smitty?

Because, like I said to you before,

I knew that Smitty was always gonna be loyal to Mr. O.,

and his guys, not to us.

Jesus Christ, loyal to Mr. O.?!

Mr. O. was dead!

O'Bannon was dead, killed by Rusty, for Christ sake!

It's all bullshit!

Bullshit and bloodshed. Too much goddamn bloodshed.

And it's smeared all over me.

Sometimes, it's the only way to handle these situations, Joe.

Remember what the old man always used to say?

"You cross a Patton, we cross you off."

Our father, our father.

The old man is dead. Long dead. And good goddamn riddance.

And good riddance to those crazy cowboy days as well.

Jesus Christ.

Now you listen to me, and get it fairly clear,

I'm givin' the orders here.

I'm the only one givin' the orders. Do you understand?

Come on, Joe. We ain't young like we used to be.

You even more so than me.

What the hell does that mean?

You've had a good long run.

Sometimes you gotta read the writing on the wall.

The writing on the wall, huh?

Why don't you read it to me?

Go ahead. Read me the writin' on the wall.

I wanna hear it.

Yeah. Yeah, I figured as much.

Now you listen to me.

There's only one person giving the orders around here

and that's me. Do you understand?

Until further notice,

I am the only one who gives orders.

Whoo!

Hey, Hopkins, get your ass over here!

You need the practice more than me.

Oh, Richie, I'm fine, I'm fine. Do your thing.

All right. Suit yourself.

Why'd you have to bring him up here?

We could've had such a nice time just the two of us.

'Cause he's got the car.

I could've come pick you up instead.

We were in a hurry.

How long are you staying for?

I don't know.

Gotta lay low for a while, though.

You're still not gonna tell me what kind of trouble

you got yourself into, are you?

No, 'cause we ain't in trouble. Quite the opposite.

We're the ones causing the trouble.

Danny, that isn't funny.

I'm serious. Why don't you just...

Just tell him to go back to the city,

and you can just stay here with me.

'Cause I told you already I can't do that.

Me and him got a job that we're workin' on.

And if it works out, I'm gonna make a lot more money.

And then I'll come back for you.

I still wish you didn't bring him.

He gives me the creeps.

Well, he gives most people the creeps.

That's what happens when you're a psycho.

Whoo!

What do you say, handy?

It's a shame, Muldoon.

The Docks ain't what they used to be.

Yeah, it seems like everybody in this city's got

- the same complaint lately. - Well, it's true.

There are parts of this town I don't recognize anymore.

You know when my old man ran the Docks? Forget about it.

Hand over fist. I grew up like a rockefeller.

All right, don't give me the poor mouth, handy.

You forget, I've been to your 4th of July party.

I've seen your spread on Long Island.

Even so, I'm still gonna have to cut the nut

a couple of hundred a month, you know?

Given the changing of the times.

Hey, you wanna knock a few guys off the list, be my guest.

But if the list remains the same, so does the nut.

I swear, you hump,

I feel like I'm dealing with your old man all over again.

See, and I thought we were old friends.

What are you tryin' to do? Hurt my feelings here?

Nah.

Oh, I heard about Bob Davis. What happened there?

You know, Davis got what he deserved.

He's the one that knocked off Mr. O.?

Who ever said anything about that?

Why else would you kill him?

Oh, if I did kill him, which I did not,

it would imply I gave a shit about Mr. O., which I did not.

No, Davis died because he broke the number one rule...

he shot a cop.

I'll see you next month.

- All good? - Same old, same old.

And unlike your friend Tedesco, I didn't have to twist his arm.

Ah, don't worry about the moose. He learned his lesson.

He'll have his money today.

Well, what about you, Tucch? You learned your lesson?

What the hell's that supposed to mean?

It means Johanson is concerned about you and your relationship

with Tedesco.

Jesus Christ, Terry, I would... I would never do anything to screw you guys,

you gotta know that. What the hell is the matter with him?

I know, I know, it's not just him.

There's also people downtown that are worried.

Yeah, but they don't understand how

we do things in little Italy. It's different.

I'm just tellin' ya, all right?