Kill the Poor

The fire began when a person unknown cut a hole in the roof

and poured gasoline into Carlos DeJesus's living room...

and lit it.

The flames spread... through the kitchen, the hall, bedroom...

no one was home at the time,

but I know if I had been there, if I had seen the fire,

I would have had one question...

... do I let it burn?

- The world's in a state. - The world's always been in a state.

It's no worse now than it's ever been.

Yeah, it is, Joe. Your generation's fuckin' up royally.

There's no doubt about it.

Why don't you people get responsible?

Hey, Anabelle!

Hey, I got you Le Monde.

You're never gonna get a real job, you're never gonna have a family...

- You're my family, Yakov. - Nothin's gonna happen to you.

- Thanks, Joe. - Hello.

Oh... Joe, will you marry me?

You're the only American I trust.

Do I get to go on a honeymoon?

This is not romance. This is...

...politics.

Do I get to go on a honeymoon?

For some stupid European broad?

What?

That's not a marriage, Joe.

Your mother was a stupid European broad, Yakov.

Hey! Show a little goddamn respect for your grandmother.

She left you the only thing of value she ever got in this world.

A fur coat?

- We don't even know what kind of animal... - Joe!

What the fuck you gonna do, bitch?!

What the fuck you gonna do?!

You shouldn't...

You shouldn't... don't...

My God, call an ambulance.

Call an ambulance!

Yes, I will marry you. Yes. I want to.

- Yes? - I want to.

I want to help. So...

Then keep this safe, Joe, keep this someplace in a safe place.

- What is it? - Thirty thousand American dollars.

Thirty thousand American dollars?

Bruno didn't want me to call the cops. They shut him down if I call the cops.

He fucked up your face with a bottle.

It's okay. He said it was mindless violence.

He said he'd pay.

He didn't know where it came from. A mindless violence.

Thirty thousand dollars.

We're moving.

What?

We need a new place to live. There isn't enough room here.

We need room for both of us. And for the baby.

- Baby. - "Apartment for sale.

"Award-winning block. Part owner of building ready to sell their interest.

Terms to be discussed. Fifteen thousand dollars down."

That's my block. My mother was born on that block.

Your mother?

My mother was born right on this block.

My grandmother got married right on...

Avenue E. Avenue E?

- It's the old neighborhood. - It's not the old neighborhood anymore.

You see what they found on Avenue E today?

- Where's the fuckin' paper? - It's supposed to be better now.

- The ad said "award-winning block." - Yeah. Shithole of the Year.

Here, look. Look what they found on this award-winning block.

Look what they busted.

There was a bodega on your award-winning block...

Human meat, Joe.

This is where you want to raise my little nephew? Huh?

Human meat.

There's nothing there anymore. There's just drug dealers there.

Well, the tailor shop's there. With the green awning.

It's not open, but it's... it's there.

I mean, that's my grandfather's tailor shop, where he pressed the pants of...

I know whose fuckin' tailor shop it is. I told you these stories, you asshole.

He pressed the pants of Louie Lefkowitz...

future big shot New York State Attorney General.

Louie Lefkowitz, future big shot New York State Attorney General.

Oh, yeah? Which building?

Uh... there, with the green awning.

And the two junkies in the doorway.

I'll be raising my son

where his family started out.

Yeah? Then he'll turn out like you.

- Trash. - Garbage.

So much garbage.

When I first saw this building I said to myself,

"Me? Live here? Never!"

In back it was discarded sinks and toilets,

old appliances, everything you could imagine...

vacuums, refrigerators, stoves,

hot plates, rotten food...

- Do you know, Mr. Peltz... - Joe.

Joe, we found three or four corpse in the building

when the corporation took it over.

- The corporation? - Corpses?

They're junkies. Nobody cares. Cops don't care, family don't care.

Everybody has to do their share, keep the building up.

You have the biggest apartment,

but everybody's equal at the board meetings.

- It don't matter which apartment you have. - You have shares in the building.

Is this legal? Are you squatting?

The cops don't care. They're happy somebody keeps up the place.

There were four corpses in here when you moved in?

You think you could do this, man?

Huh? You think you're able to live here?

Follow through with this?

This is something major, man.

Is it true about the bodega?

Every single couple that's lived here have broken up because of this building.

Except us. We survived.

What you gonna do?!

What?!

Well, come on, then!

What you gonna do?!

Come on!

Ha ha ha ha!

I want you to meet somebody.

I saw you were getting nervous when I told you

everyone had broken up in this building.

So I thought...

Who haven't I broken up with in this building?

- that you could meet a nice girl close to your age.

Scarlet, meet Anabelle Peltz.

No, that's Joe's name. I'm keeping my own.

She's a dancer. - Not now. I'm starting to show, and...

Anabelle and Joe are taking over our apartment.

Well, they're first on the list, but...

- But I thought we need to... - Oh, the board.

You do. You just need to get approval from the board.

- You think you can do this, man? - Tell Anabelle about the building.

You think you got what it takes to live here in this building?

This building's fucked up. It's cheap, though.

Segundo!

That better not be you, man! That better not be you!

That better not be fuckin' Segundo.

I'm so fuckin' tired of him.

Okay, okay.

Nope.

I don't know.

I know. No.

This is not...

We aren't going to live in this building, neighborhood.

- This neighborhood is... - Are you here for the apartment?

- Yeah. - No.

- Are you? - Yeah.

- The apartment's... taken. You must be...

The apartment's taken.

I thought that we were at the top of the list.

- You are, honey, but... - Joe.

- You said... - And it's not really our decision,

- and the board has to... - Okay, where is this board? When?

- Could we just see? - When? When can I talk to this board?

Louie Lefkowitz. Future big shot New York State Attorney General.

And somewhere around here actually is the temple

where my grandparents got married.

This is my neighborhood, you know, this is...

My mother was born right across the street.

No offense to your mother, man, but that's an empty lot.

Yo, it used to be a building.

- "Yo." - It used to be my building.

- Yeah, yeah, and a synagogue and a... - I think there was supposed to a be...

You "think"? You're not supposed to have an opinion.

It don't matter this was your neighborhood.

What matters it that you take your turn sleeping downstairs,

- scaring off junkies. - Speaking of which, where is Scarlet?

- Why you want to know? - We know why he wants to know.

And we know where she is, too.

Well, somebody keeps kicking down the door.

- "Somebody"? We know who it is. - Where is Scarlet?

- Our representative... You kiddin' me?

They show you some drunk chick,

and that's the advertisement for the building?

For fifteen thousand dollars, what do you expect?

No, no, no. What I expect is, I expect you to honor your grandmother

and stay as far away from that fuckin' neighborhood as possible.

- My grandmother wanted me to... - Your grandmother didn't know

what the neighborhood would turn out to be.

- The place is trashed. - My grandmother knew...

She'd rise up and snatch your fuckin' coat away from you if she knew...

- My grandmother said... - - No, no, no, no, no.

Not your grandmother... you. You gotta be here for this building.

Not your grandmother. Not some building that's not here anymore.

Not Louie Fuckowitz.

Does he belong here? That's the question. He looks like a fish out of water.

Fish out of water? Who are you, grad student?

Hey, you're moving out. You're not present anymore.

- You don't get an opinion. - All right, all right.

All right, all right. A fish out of water.

Let me tell you a story about a fish out of water, okay?

This is a true story, I just saw this in the paper.

Yakov.

Do not move to the goddamn neighborhood or I swear to God...

No, no, no. Listen, listen. Listen to this.

There's this front page story.

Native American boy going to Israel.

Big wire service photograph of the kid in the dance bustle and head dress

getting off the Jerusalem plane. For what?