The Wire

but if we...

but how can...

jesus christ.

- so this means that, uh...

- so no one killed any homeless men.

no serial killer.

some were random killings, some were natural deaths

that were likely manipulated.

but they're not linked in any way.

but why?

- the detectives used the money to fund a case

against the drug traffickers responsible

for the slayings in the vacants a year ago.

- last week's arrests and seizures were a direct result.

- so let me just understand this...

so i've been going out there for weeks,

slamming the governor for his neglect of the

homeless and declaring how we will stop

at nothing to findhe person responsible for

preying on the homeless and all the while--

hey, norman, this is my ass here.

that's true, boss.

but it does have a certain charm to it.

they manufactured an issue to get paid,

we manufactured an issue to get you

elected governor.

everybody's gettin' what they need behind

some make-believe.

- the detectives involved will be suspended and

ultimately fired, at the least.

beyond that, a criminal prosecution

on fraud and perjury charges is probable.

- so, what, you're saying we call a press conference

and we say, "hey, by the way,

"all that stuff about homeless people getting killed and

"the governor cutting the safety net and us doing

"everything in our power to catch the guy,

hey, guess what, the joke's on us?"

- not to mention that the evidence against

the traffickers arrested last week is tainted.

that case could collapse as well.

- i don't fucking believe this.

you two are on point here.

word of this gets down to annapolis,

the governor's gonna wreck me with it.

and if it comes to that, you guys drop on your swords,

so help me.

- how does word not get out

once we suspend the detectives?

never mind sending it to the grand jury

- the cops that did this, they gotta go.

you cannot be telling me i have to live with this.

deputy, counselor...

if you two will excuse us, we are going to

discuss this first as a matter of public policy.

until we can reason the best way to address this,

do nothing and speak to no one

about any of this.

- if this becomes public in the wrong way,

a lot of people who were legally responsible

for the situation, good people

who were nonetheless in a supervisory role here...

are going to suffer.

and that's not the outcome that anyone wants.

- what mike is saying is that we need to

be very careful about how to proceed.

- i wish i was still at the newspaper

so i could write on this mess.

it's too fuckin' good.

the wire - 5x10, #60, series finale " -30- "

" ... the life of kings." - h. l. mencklen.

lester. what brings you down?

we don't have anything scheduled from you today,

i don't think...

- 40,000 from the showboat on the boardwalk.

26 at the borgata.

80 over the last year at the taj mahal...

and that's just the atlantic city casinos.

i like to play. so what?

- you lost three times your salary over

the last two years.

i ran you through sentinel title and came back

with seven pages of liens and a third mortgage

you folded on two months ago.

gary, you're done.

what do you mean?

- we found sealed grand jury papers in the houses

of drug dealers.

and we've got people naming you on it.

you have a problem, gary.

but you have friends in this courthouse,

lifelong friends.

cop to the problem, give up the names of those

that bought from you.

disbarred? yeah, no doubt.

but you play it clean from this moment on,

and we both know you'll probably walk.

why did you look at me?

- i ran the finances on everyone who worked

this unit over the last couple years.

you were the only bogie.

if the s.a.o. weren't so screwed up,

they'd have been running background

checks as a routine.

but i guess you knew that.

- i always wondered if they'd get their shit together.

but that's baltimore, isn't it?

so what happens now?

well, for starters...

you're gonna make a phone call.

mcnulty, freamon,

sydnor,

anyone who has the smell of this on them should be gone.

before the close of business, they should be suspended

and before the end of the week, indicted.

- i know, but... - but what?

we're gonna let this shit stand because it'll

hurt carcetti to air it out?

instead of cleaning house like we need to,

he's up there figuring out how to hide the dirt.

i swear, i gotta mind to call the governor myself

and just let it fly.

- cedric, you can't. - why not?

if i let this thing stand, i might as well just

roll over and play dead for every police

who knows about this.

we cover this up...

- cedric, you can't do anything.

those are your detectives.

they need someone to blame, they will measure you for it...

i don't give a fuck.

and they'll fire me.

you heard steintorf...

i was in charge of this thing.

i was on that wiretap...

this is my career.

this is everything.

you go public, and it hurts carcetti.

maybe he doesn't get to be governor.

but he is still the mayor and bond is still my boss

and you know the weight will not fall on them.

it never does.

christ.

- everything i've worked for, all those years

in that courthouse...

please.

- 25 cents. "baltimore sun."

sir, "baltimore sun." one quarter.

- keep it. - thank you, sir. thank you.

- people tip pretty good, don't they?

- paining for what he had done to us.

i'm sorry for him, man, really, but i still

can't let him come up from the basement.

you gonna put all that in the paper?

that's the plan.

- even the parts about sherrod?

yeah.

what good is...

what good is a story like that?

like what?

- me, sherrod. gettin' high. not gettin' high.

my sister, all that shit in there.

what good do any of that do to put it in the newspaper?

- people read it, they think about it.

maybe see things different.

i don't know, man.

- bubs, you don't want me to do this,

i won't do it.

i don't know.

"baltimore sun." a little bit of sun.

sun paper.

- look, rupert, you can go public with

this thing if you want,

but your shop is going to come out looking

worse for letting it happen in the first place.

- the better move is to shut it down quietly

and then deal with those responsible

through back channels.

we'll bury these guys softly,

and in a hole so deep no one will ever get close

to digging them up.

i can see that.

- commissioner, do you agree?

- well, it is a little more problematic for me.

the offenders are in my shop, are they not?

- can i have a word with you in private, bill?

- hey, if rawls isn't in, i'm not either.

- oh, i wouldn't worry about bill rawls.

i believe he's about to have one of those road

to damascus moments....

- i can see what you're thinking in there.

i can see the gears grinding in that head

of yours.

you're thinking, hey, i might have some wood

on carcetti here.

after all, there's no way they can pin the blame

on me for this fiasco without doing their

boy daniels, too, right?

you're thinking we'd have to fire daniels

to fire you and that wouldn't sit well