Sentencing

INT: HOSPITAL

GREGGS (Groaning)

COLE: Hey, now.

GREGGS (Laughing)

BUNK: We called earlier, they said you were up. Time we get here, you back asleep.

GREGGS: Been there long?

BUNK: Naw. 20 minutes. You know, we didn't want to exactly disturb you, you know.

GREGGS: I'm bored is all.

BUNK: Yeah, but still.

GREGGS: So, what you got for me? Spreads?

BUNK: Ah, yeah.

GREGGS: Little Man. For sure.

COLE: That's good. Are you able to write?

BUNK: Okay. Number Two.

GREGGS: I can make Little Man, 'cause he's in the front, trying to snatch the cash off the dashboard. But the other one, he's outside in the dark. So...

BUNK: You know, it's okay. It's okay. Ah, is there anyone here that you do recognize?

GREGGS: Sure, Wee-Bey.

BUNK: Alright. Let me tell you where we're from with the shooters. We tracked their escape route, and Landsman came up with their hoodies. Now, DNA matched human hair from one of the hoodies to Wee-Bey. Freamon, he tracked a call from the pay phone near the scene to Stringer Bell's pager. Now the caller was using Bey's beeper code. Crime lab, they lift a print off a soda can near that phone and that matches Little Man. You know, so, you know, I'm saying... Okay, hear me out. There's a downside here. We don't have the guns, no prints from the scene, no witnesses. But worse, we gonna be dealing with a Baltimore City jury, and a good man is hard to find in this town. 12 of 'em together especially. An I.D. of both your shooters will play a whole lot easier come trial.

GREGGS: Yeah. Sometimes things just gotta play hard.

[Cut to title sequence]

[CUT TO: CRIME SCENE]

[Police radio chatter]

HERC: Yeah, we got everyone on our list except C.C.O. Yeah, we hit his mama's house and she says that he went up to wabash for some court date, so you might wanna get on the computer and see if any of the sheriff's deputies can snatch him up in some courtroom. Yeah. No, no, no, we got Ronnie Mo. Yeah, I'm lookin' at him go in the jail van right now. (Shouting) Alright.

CARVER: Fished our limit. Let's go home.

HERC: Sir.

CARVER: Huh?

HERC: Let's go home, sir. You're looking at a soon-to-be-made sergeant, so, what I'm saying is, when we're around the troops, you gotta get used to showing the proper respect. So, let's go home, sir. Alright?

CUT TO: MAJOR CRIMES UNIT HQ

[Prez updates the board to list Ronnie Mo as "ARRESTED"]

DANIELS: What's the count?

PREZ: So far we've picked up 12, leaves seven on the wing.

DANIELS: Anything worthwhile?

FREAMON: Some phone numbers that match, scraps of nicknames, not much else.

DANIELS: We need something now. They're gonna shut us down unless we come up with something fresh to run with right now.

FREAMON: The wires are dead. The bug on the club is useless. They were moving out of there even as we got up on them.

PREZ: To where?

FREAMON: No clue, but they're gonna have to set up again. Either Barksdale moves distribution or he gives up the towers.

McNULTY: If not Avon, then Stringer.

FREMAON: And why not Avon? With no priors, he's out two hours after the bail review. Shit, what we put on barksdale barely makes him break stride.

McNULTY: Okay, so, we get a hint of where they're setting back up, we ask the state's attorney for a new bug, maybe even a wire if we get onto a phone.

DANIELS: Not while the deputy breathes air. We'll be reassigned before you finish typing up your affidavit.

McNULTY: How about the feds?

DANIELS: You think the deputy's gonna let you take this mess federal?

McNULTY: Why does the deputy need to know?

[Phone rings]

DANIELS: McNulty, you are a piece of work.

PREZ: McNulty.

McNULTY: Yeah?

PEARLMAN (over the phone): ... D'Angelo Barksdale.

McNULTY: No shit.

PEARLMAN: He's in custody in New Jersey...

McNULTY: No fucking shit. It's Rhonda Pearlman, she just got a call from an assistant public defender in North Jersey, who claims to represent a man by the name of D'Angelo Barksdale. Yeah, meet me in homicide, bring a tape recorder.

FREAMON: No drug lawyers? No Levy?

DANIELS: Case got some legs on her, don't she?

FREAMON: Don't she?

[CUT TO: BALTIMORE CENTRAL BOOKING]

AVON: Shit, a quarter of a million dollars bail. You believe that shit?

STRINGER: Right, it hurts to even show that kinda money.

AVON: Yeah. Where Levy at, he's ain't at the club, is he?

STRINGER: Oh, hell, no, club's out. We can't talk there no more. C'mon, man, let get out of here.

AVON: What's up, baby?

[Avon and Stringer enter the car and drive away]

[CUT TO: PARKING GARAGE]

AVON: So, this is it, huh?

LEVY: Look, before you go anyplace else, before you talk anyplace else, we gotta think this through. We're up to almost 20 arrests at last count. And if you look at the probable cause, they all read just like yours, information from a confidential source.

STRINGER: Don't this seem way too much?

LEVY: Well, I agree. My gut tells me a wire. Either on a phone or two, or maybe something in a room somewhere. You talk to your nephew on the phone about the Jersey thing?

AVON: Naw, 'course not, man, no phones. When I talk to him, I talk to him face-to-face, in my office, in the back of the club. Fuck.

LEVY: It's good you moved out of there.

STRINGER: I don't know, man. I mean, if they got a mike up in there, they got you and me sayin' all kind of shit, man.

LEVY: Oh, that reminds me. He said he'd be in tonight.

STRINGER: Thing is, they take you and leave me?

AVON: Yeah, that's what's fuckin' me up, too, man.

LEVY: Look, we'll know soon enough, as soon as I start pressing for discovery. In the meantime, what do you wanna do about the people they locked up?

STRINGER: We gotta pull 'em.

AVON: That's showing lot of money.

STRINGER: Well, if we don't, we run the risk of makin' them enemies.

LEVY: Speaking of which, where are you with your nephew? Is he gonna see the light or what?

AVON: Let me tell you something, man. He family, a-ight? He not gonna buck. A day or two in a New Jersey bullpen, he gonna be cryin', waitin' for bail money, like the rest of 'em.

LEVY: Alright. So, let's run the money through the families, that'll hide it some. And don't use the same bondsman.

STRINGER: Alright.

LEVY: Well, look, gentlemen, I know it's early, but I want you to start thinking about who was charged and what kind of time they can do. One of the ways to limit your exposure is what's called a structured plea. That means that you're gonna have to deliver your people, all of them, down to a man.

[CUT TO: BPD HOMICIDE]

BUNK: I saw your girl today. For the idents.

McNULTY: How's she doin'?

BUNK: Okay, I guess. She's out of the I.C.U. Movin' slow, but movin', you know?

[Phone rings]

BUNK: Jimmy, you ain't been to see her?

McNULTY: Naw, I couldn't go in.

BUNK: This ain't about you, right?

McNULTY: I get back from Jersey, I will.

[Bunk gives him a look]

MCNULTY: I will.

BUNK: You know, Cole and me, we showed her the spreads. Picked out little man, no problem. Wouldn't go for Wee-Bey, so, I tried the fat finger. Damn near down on my knees, begging her to make this play easier in court. You know what she said? "Sometimes things gotta play hard."

McNULTY: Real police.

[Rhonda Pearlman walks in, gives McNulty a glare, drops a tape recorder on the table, then smiles at Bunk]

BUNK: Oh, yeah. What the fuck did you do to her?

McNULTY: I don't know

BUNK: You two in the same car gonna make for a long-ass drive to Jersey. Shit.

CUT TO: FUNERAL HOME

MALE #1: Is this mahogany?

MALE #2 : This is a mahogany front, sir.

AVON: Damn, man, it's just, it's too still in here.

[Avon looks out the window to see kids playing craps]

CHILDREN: C'mere! Go here. Slow down some.

AVON: You know what? We can--

[Stringer motions to Avon to come closer and talk quieter]

AVON: This place'll be fine. All we really gotta do, man, is put a little safe in here someplace and let 'em know the count comes here from now on. Period.

BRIANNA: Damn, boy, when y'all change up, y'all--

STRINGER and AVON: Shhhhh.

[CUT TO: OUTSIDE FUNERAL HOME]

BRIANNA: Y'all that paranoid? You ain't even been up in there before.

AVON: I'm tellin' you, sis, this shit is different. We are not gonna talk about nothing indoors. It's a new day. Thing is, man, we gotta get back on our feet. You know what i'm talking about? I mean, the longer we hold off, the harder it's gonna be for us to maintain them towers.

BRIANNA: You want to get it back up, you lean to me and String here.

AVON: Naw, you need to step back.

STRINGER: She's right, bro. You can't take a second chance here, you know what I'm saying? Until you fixed, sis gonna handle that money, I'm gonna handle that products. We here for you.

AVON: A-ight. But you tell Roberto, he gotta make it a serious smoker. I mean, I want them motherfuckin' fiends in the projects, I want them droppin' like flies you feel me? You send out the word, you let 'em know we ain't dead yet. What about my nephew?

BRIANNA: Don't fret. Give me a chance to get with Roberto, then I'll get up to Dee, do what needs doing.

AVON: Tell him, I'm sorry for puttin' him out there like that. And that I'm gonna make it up to him.

BRIANNA: You gonna make it up. Most def.

[CUT TO: NEW JERSEY POLICE DEPARTMENT]

A.P.D.: But again, I want to make it clear that all of this cooperation is contingent on a commitment that my client finds acceptable. Failing that, everything said in here, stays in here.

DEE: Damn straight.

PEARLMAN: I'm sure a proffer in Maryland plays much the same in Jersey, counselor. And I do agree that with regard to matters involving drug trafficking, your client has been helpful. He's indicated a willingness to testify that he was a lieutenant in Avon Barksdale's distribution organization, sold large quantities of drugs for his uncle, delivered money, attended organizational meetings, and on one occasion, made a trip to New York on the behest of his uncle. All of which corroborates much of what we already know.

DEE: Well, what else is there?

McNULTY: The murders.

DEE: Man, why you keep on that, huh? I already told you, I don't know nothin' about that witness bein' killed.

BUNK: Which witness?

McNULTY: Remember her?

[McNulty shows Dee a picture of the dead security guard]

DEE: Jesus. They did her?

McNULTY: Yeah, about the same time they did the boy.

[Shows a picture of Wallace, dead]

BUNK: All them bodies.

DEE: They coverin' up, man.

BUNK: Yeah, that's what we think. No loose ends.

McNULTY: I can understand the guard. She got paid, so, she had to go. Orlando, he knew too much, got to snitchin', so he had to go. But then there's the kid... Wallace.

[McNulty plays tape recorder]

(Male on tape recorder) But I need to go past tonight. Check in with Wallace.

(Female) Wallace?

(Male) He off the hook since we helped the tower crew get that stick-up boy. I'm tellin' you, man, Wallace is buggin'. Don't hardly even come out of that room no more.

(Female) Now, why he be like that?

(Male) I'm thinkin' he might be gettin' high.

(Female) Wallace?

(Male) The boy's scarin' me with his shit.

(Female) Alright, holler at me later.

(Male) That'll work. (Dial tone)

DEE: You got that shit on tape?

McNULTY: Mm-hmm.

[Shows a picture of Brandon's mutilated corpse]

A.P.D.: God!

BUNK: His name is Brandon Wright.

McNULTY: Burnt him, broke fingers, gouged an eye out. All kinds of fun.

DEE: Wallace was the one who saw. He saw the boy. But he really ain't think about what they'd do.

McNULTY: You must have known. You were standing there by that pay phone. You knew.

DEE: What was I gonna do, huh? I don't call String, the word get back uptown, what's gonna happen then?

BUNK: So, you told Wallace to wait, then you called Stringer, and Stringer, he gathered the troops.

DEE: Yeah.

McNULTY: And down at the Greek's, they got Wallace to point the finger, right? And then they went in like cops with handcuffs, so they could take their time on Brandon.

DEE: They dropped the body where we'd see it. "Send a message to the 'jects", they said. Wallace... He couldn't handle that. After seeing that, he wanted to get out. Go back to school. We even joked about it, him being 16 and all, needin' to go start back over again as a freshman. And about a week ago, my uncle and String, they call me down to the club. Stringer, he's all worried about Wallace, and I told him. I said, "Wallace ain't no snitch." Plus, he's out the fucking game. I told him that. But I needed to do more. I should've done more, but I didn't, and... Fuck, that's on me.

BUNK: Any idea who they sent at Wallace?

[D'Angelo shakes his head]

BUNK: C'mon, Dee, wild guess.

DEE: Man, I don't know, could've been anybody. You know, shooters come cheap.

BUNK: I don't think so. Not in the pit. Not in his crib. I counted seven beds there. Where were the younguns?

DEE: Look, if I knew, I would tell you. A-ight, I swear to God, I would tell you.

McNULTY: They've been charged with Orlando and the undercover cop, but we're still hunting.

[Shows a picture of Wee-Bey]

DEE: Him, he in Philly.

McNULTY: How you know?

DEE: I know 'cause I dropped him there.

BUNK: Where?

DEE: I don't know, some corner, man. Northend, I don't know where he be stayin'.

BUNK: Did Wee-Bey say anything to you about the shootings?

DEE: We don't talk shop in a car. It's a rule we got. So, is that it?

PEARLMAN: Your client must realize that any agreement is dependent on his full cooperation.

DEE: Well, yo, there ain't nothin' else.

[McNulty pulls out a picture of Deirdre's corpse]

DEE: Deidre.

[Bunk knocks on the table three times]

DEE: Tap, tap, tap.

[Bunk knocks again]

DEE: She was one of my uncle's girls.

McNULTY: Yeah, but we got people who put you with her the night she's killed.

DEE: Yeah, I didn't know what he was gonna do her. I swear. They played me.

BUNK: How so?

DEE: My uncle gave me an eight ball of coke. Told me to take it over there to her. I was surprised, 'cause, you know, I thought he dumped her. But he said, naw, it wasn't like that no more. So, he had Wee-Bey take me over there. You know, I walked up, knocked on the door, she came to the door, all naked and shit, with this little-ass robe on.

BUNK: So, she's your uncle's girl, but she comes to the door for you naked?

DEE: She used to do that shit with me all the time, man. Teasin'. You know how girls do. Maybe you don't. I don't know. Anyway, I'm like, "Ain't you gonna let me come in?" She's like, "Naw," because she gotta get ready for my uncle to come by later. So, I give her the coke. She laughs about how she's gonna put that shit on ice for later on.

BUNK: Refrigerator.

McNULTY: Uh-huh.

DEE: I don't know shit about no refrigerator. Like I said, I ain't go in. So, I turned around, started walkin' back to the truck, and I heard this shot. Wee-Bey, he come runnin' back with this big-ass 45 he like to use so much. Tells me how he was tappin' on the window, real soft. How with the lights on, she had to walk all the way up, 'cause she couldn't see what was on the outside. And when she gets up to the window and looks out...

McNULTY: You did good, D'Angelo.

BUNK: Yeah, you did.

DEE: Y'all don't understand, man. Y'all don't get it. I grew up in this shit. My grandfather was Butch Stamford. You know who Butch Stamford was in this town?

McNULTY: Mm-hmm.

DEE: All my people, man, my father, my uncles, cousins. It's just what we do. You just live with this shit, until you can't breathe no more.

[Cut to picture of Wallace's body]

DEE: I swear to God, I was courtside for eight months, and I was freer in jail than I was at home.

PEARLMAN: What are you looking for?

DEE: I want it to go away.

PEARLMAN: I can't...

DEE: I want what Wallace wanted. I want to start over. That's what I want. I don't care where. Anywhere. I don't give a fuck. I just want to go somewhere, where I can breathe like regular folk. You give me that... And I'll give you them.

[CUT TO: DANIELS HOUSEHOLD]

DANIELS (on phone): No, that's great. Really great. Yeah. That's our move. Mm-hmm. Okay.

DANIELS (to Marla): We broke it open tonight. Wide open. I'm bringing this case in big.

MARLA: So, this squares things with Burrell, right?

DANIELS: To hell with the man. But I think we might have enough to reach out to the feds, try to run this thing through them.

MARLA: Cedric.

DANIELS: He knows about the money, Marla. He's known for a long while. Fact is, I wouldn't be surprised if it's why he picked me for this case.

MARLA: Well, what does he-- What are you gonna--

DANIELS: He's got me if he wants me. Thing is, I don't think he wants me. Too much stink, too much mess. Kinda like this case.

[CUT TO: PARKING GARAGE]

PEARLMAN: I have to admit it, Jimmy, this is a great case. I mean, not just because of Greggs, because it goes to that and answers that, but because, because of how deep it goes. I mean, the murders, the money-- Jesus, I feel like I've been drunk ever since that kid starting talking to us.

McNULTY: You okay to drive? I can drop you home, and you can pick up your car tomorrow.

PEARLMAN: No, I'm good. I'm great, this was fucking great! You want to try to go federal with this? I am up for it. I get cross-designated as an A.U.S.A. and we can really run with it, you know? Career fucking case. Anyway...

McNULTY: Ronnie... The thing at, um... Levy's the other day, I was, ah... I was...

[Ronnie starts kissing McNulty]

MCNUTY: Jesus, Ronnie, not here. What are you doing?

PEARLMAN: Like you never did it in the headquarters garage before?

[CUT TO: BPD TELECOMMUNICATIONS DEPT.]

BROWN: Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Look what just walked in without a fucking escort.

FREAMON: Downtown Roy Brown. The living legend... in his own mind.

BROWN: Uptown Lester Freamon. Fuck me, how long's it been?

FREAMON: Your retirement party, wasn't it? And this is retirement, huh?

BROWN: Yeah. Nice fuckin' digs, huh? Ask my supervisor when I'll see a little sunlight. Runt cocksucker says, "When your unit turns a profit." But enough of my joy, what do you guys need?

FREAMON: We need a trap and trace. But not in Maryland.

BUNK: Pennsylvania, Philly.

BROWN: You gotta go through them.

FREAMON: No, we try that, we lose a week, them tellin' us it can't be done, then another week for their attorneys to okay our subpoena.

BUNK: Plus, it's a little more complicated than just a straight-up trace. We actually need a list of phones in Philly that called this number in the past week.

BROWN: Well, what's the number?

FREAMON: Drug lawyer, downtown office.

BUNK: Thought billing be the place to look.

BROWN: Well, if we could do it, and I'm not sayin' we can, it's gonna be a fuckin' week, maybe two.

FREAMON: Thanks, Roy.

BROWN: Hey, Lester, isn't this supposed to be the time you tell me how all-fired fuckin' important this is?

FREAMON: The Philly number gives us the mope who shot that female undercover.

[CUT TO: PARKING LOT]

McNULTY: I'm tellin' you, Fitz, it's the perfect case. You'll love it.

FITZ: Well, it sounds great. But like I said, Jimmy, we're not fishing for drug cases anymore. Try D.E.A.

McNULTY: No, that field office is too close to our C.I.D. We go there, our bosses know it before a meeting is scheduled.

FITZ: Your bosses don't know you're doing this?

[McNulty shakes his head no, grinning]

FITZ: Who'll be coming?

McNULTY: Me, a detective name of Freamon and Daniels. I can speak for Daniels, brother. He's played this thing out with real heart. C'mon, set something up.

FITZ: Alright.

[CUT TO: STRINGER'S COPY SHOP]

CUSTOMER: Could I get 10 copies?

STRINGER: 10 copies?

CUSTOMER: 10, right.

STRINGER: No problems?

CUSTOMER: Naw.

STRINGER: Money? Alright, man, I'll get at you.

[Cut to backroom of "Copy Cat"]

STRINGER: Yo, you locked that door, right? Yeah? Alright, so, listen. It's not street-ready, alright? So, everybody gotta work on their own cut and vial up. Now, listen to me, tell 'em to get this straight. Three parts of this, alright? To one of raw, alright? And that's how we gonna do until we get the new stash. And I want you to put the word out there that we back up. Understand me? We back up.

[CUT TO: FBI HQ]

FBI DETECTIVE: It's a good target. You guys have a pretty good case here.

McNULTY: Look at the violence alone. It's at least a dozen murders, including state's witnesses. If you can help us squeeze the Barksdale kid into a witness protection program, we can run wild with this thing.

DETECTIVE: No suppliers though.

DANIELS: We're still looking for a way into that. There was nothing on the wire that took us toward New York.

FITZ: The trouble is, we have these post 9-1-1 protocols. We can't pick up any new narcotics work unless it goes to priority organized-crime targets.

DETECTIVE: Meaning Cosa Nostra or Colombians. Or Russians maybe.

McNULTY: Well, we don't have any Colombians in Baltimore.

FREAMON: Yeah, we don't have any wiseguys. All we got is a whole lot of locals a little busy tearing the Westside apart.

DETECTIVE: I hear you, but the bureau-wide protocol applies. To run with you on this, we need a recognized O.C. target, or even better, a connect to counterterrorism or corruption.

FRITZ: You go near stuff like that, we have something we can bring to our A.S.A.C.

DANIELS: What kind of corruption?

F.B.I. Detective: Don't know, what kind you got?

[CUT TO: THE PIT]

BODIE: Yo, Poot! We up yet?

POOT: Where Roc-Roc at with the shit?

BODIE: Package in. Who is it?

POOT: Onion and them off-brand niggas.

BODIE: Onion? The fuck they got?

POOT: Some shit they call yellow tops. Yellow tops?

DEALER: Got them yellow tops, y'all, yellow tops. Yellows tops. Yellow tops. Got them yellow tops.

[Bodie smacks rival dealer with a bat]

BODIE: Motherfucker, what the fuck is up?! Huh?! Fuck is y'all doin'? Yo, do what you feel. But be ready to finish what you start. What is you doin'? This ain't no open market, you know that.

ONION: Ain't no market at all, nigga. You ain't got shit to sell, back that ass up for those that do.

BODIE: You know what? What?! Fuck, fuck. Get the fuck out of here, bitch!

[Fight ensues. Camera cuts to Carver and Herc watching the fight from the car]

CARVER: See, that's why we can't win.

HERC: Why not?

CARVER: They fuck up, they get beat. We fuck up, they give us pensions.

DEALER: Go! Get the fuck outta here!

[CUT TO: KIMA'S HOSPITAL ROOM]

McNULTY: Heard you ain't much as an eyeball witness. Bad as any civilian.

GREGGS: Guess so. Where we at?

McNULTY: With what?

GREGGS: With the case, fool.

McNULTY: Jesus, give it a rest.

GREGGS: What's on the wire? C'mon, man.

McNULTY: Wire's dead. They changed up after we hit 'em with raids. Daniels didn't tell you?

GREGGS: Hell, naw. He only talks to me about the good shit. About how y'all were onto my shooters and stuff.

McNULTY: Yeah, well, yeah, we lost the wire, but the good news is D'Angelo's flipped, and we're talking to the feds about maybe--

CHERYL: Fuck both y'all.

[Gets up and leaves]

GREGGS: She wants me to quit. Says ain't nothing worth this. So, I promised her I'd think about it. Well, what do you say?

McNULTY: I don't know. I guess you should do what you need to. But she's right... It isn't worth it.

GREGGS: No? Yeah. Probably not. Anyway, what took you so long getting up in here? Shit, no cards, no flowers. I mean, what the fuck, Jimmy?

McNULTY: I couldn't, I, uh... I felt, uh... A case like this, it's always you or Sydnor or some other black cop who ends up going undercover. I swear, if I could do it over... If I...

GREGGS: If I could do it over, you know what I'd do? Put more tape on that fucking gun.

McNULTY: I'm sorry, Kima. I'm sorry.

GREGGS: Anyway, since I got you up in here acting like my bitch and shit, with all your guilty-ass cryin' and whatnot, maybe you can do something for me.

[CUT TO: PARK BENCH]

McNULTY: She said you were doin' good. Said she was proud of you.

BUBBLES: How she doin'?

McNULTY: Still shook. But she wanted you to have that. And told me to tell you she's sorry to be late with it.

BUBBLES: Girl got such heart, you know?

McNULTY: Yeah. This is enough for what I got goin' now, man. You, uh, you give the rest back to her.

McNULTY: Are you sure?

BUBBLES: Give her my love.

McNULTY: Right.

BUBBLES: Hey, McNutty. Don't tell her.

[McNulty nods. Bubbles takes the money over to a dealer]

BUBBLES: What you got, man?

DEALER: Over there, man.

[CUT TO: MAJOR CRIMES HQ]

HERC: Un-fucking-believable. Five guys got jumped. Not just you. Four other guys jumped me.

CARVER: I'm sorry, man.

HERC: It's gotta be all the brutality complaints. Which means it ain't never gonna matter how well I do on no fucking test.

CARVER: You don't know that. You might make the next list, you know? You don't know.

HERC: Guess I ain't leadership material. Well, congratulations, Carv.

CARVER: Thanks.

[Phone rings]

PREZ: Yeah?

[Freamon walks in with a dancer from Orlando's club, sits down and starts whispering in her ear]

CARVER: The world is on its ass.

PREZ: Guy called for you from the phone company. Says he's got the number you wanted for a house in Philadelphia.

FREAMON: Beautiful, thank you.

[Daniels closes the door]

[CUT TO: FBI OFFICES]

1ST DEPUTY US ATTORNEY: Good casework.

DANIELS: Thank you.

1ST DEPUTY US ATTORNEY: I don't think I'm giving anything away by telling that Arnold here has had a file on Senator Davis for two and a half years.

FREAMON: It took us a while to see it, but the quid-pro-quo is right there in that Westside redevelopment mess. Barksdale or his fronts grease enough city politicians and word comes back years in advance where the development zone's gonna be.

DANIELS: He buys up every piece of garbage real estate he can, flips it three or four times, exaggerating the values.

FREAMON: And now the city's gonna pay him millions to condemn the properties for the renewal project.

1ST DEPUTY US ATTORNEY: It's a lot to work with, but we're willing. The question is, can your cooperator give us the senator? Or any other political figure?

McNULTY: The cooperator?

A.D.A.: D'Angelo Barksdale. What does he have on the money?

DANIELS: Nothing. He gives you the drugs and the violence. He gives you Avon Barksdale. Stringer Bell.

1ST DEPUTY US ATTORNEY: And they give us the senator.

FREAMON: Maybe, yeah.

McNULTY: Whoa, whoa, whoa. You're talking about turning Barksdale and Bell into cooperators, and making the politicians the primary target?

F.B.I. SUIT: Of course.

McNULTY: No, fuck the politicians. Just Barksdale and Bell. Those guys have turned West Baltimore into a free-fire zone.

A.D.A.: No one's saying they walk.

FREAMON: But what you are saying is that if we bring you guys the case, it's your intention to let Barksdale and Bell reduce any sentence they get through cooperation, huh?

MCNULTY: Jesus christ, are you kidding? You're seeing all this ass-backwards.

ADA: Detective, in this office, we have a mandate to pursue political corruption

MCNULTY: Can you believe these guys?

FITZ: Jimmy, look...

McNULTY: What? Drugs and murder don't cut it anymore, huh? Well, how 'bout terrorism? These guys have dropped 14, 15 bodies. The witnesses, cooperators...

1ST DEPUTY US ATTORNEY: That kind of hyperbole doesn't serve anyone, detective.

[Daniels, Pearlman, and Lester exchange disappointed looks]

DANIELS: I think we're going with a different direction on this. Thank you for your time.

McNULTY: West Baltimore is dying and you empty suits are running around to pin some politician's pelt to the wall. Thought you was real police, "brother".

[CUT TO: D'ANGELO'S HOLDING CELL]

BRIANNA: So, they got you all the way out here, huh? I started out thinkin' you was in Jersey. You ain't in Jersey, I figure they still got you down in central booking. All the way out here. Do send a message though.

DEE: Yeah, well, a message needs sending. How y'all even find me?

BRIANNA: Ain't no one gonna keep a mother from her son, right?

BRIANNA: You know, he's always talkin' family. "Family is the heart," he say. Well, I'm family, ain't I? Well, what about me for once? It ain't right.

BRIANNA: What's right? Hmm? You like for him to step up, take all the weight, and let you walk? 'Cause he will. You know he will. But if he gotta go away, that mean you got to step up and fill his shoes. You ready for that?

DEE: Ma, you know I ain't. I ain't ready and I ain't never gonna be ready for this game.

BRIANNA: Dee, c'mon.

DEE: Look, they giving me a chance to walk away, to start again someplace else.

BRIANNA: And what you givin' them? Look... He messed up, Dee, he knows it. Now if you want to get even with him, you can. But you hurt him, whole family. All of us. Me and Trina and the cousins. And Donette, too. And your baby. Your own baby boy. This right here is part of the game, Dee. And without the game, this whole family would be down in the fuckin' terrace, livin' off scraps. Shit, we probably wouldn't even be a family. Start over, huh? How the fuck you gonna start over without your peoples, without your own child even? You ain't got family what the hell you got?

[CUT TO: MAJOR CRIMES HQ]

[Herc cocks gun back]

HERC: This motherfucker Wee-Bey twitches, there won't even be a trial.

DANIELS: Detective Carver, a word? Shut the door.

CARVER: What's up, L.T.?

DANIELS: Anything you want to tell me? Been weeks, now. The deputy ops knows what's going on in this unit almost before I do. Except last week, we run the bug up into Barksdale's club office and Burrell... For once, he's a step behind. You see it?

CARVER: Maybe, he...

DANIELS: I see it. I look around the office and I see that one of my people is at the academy for in-service.

CARVER: Lieutenant, I swear, it wasn't my idea. I mean, I'm minding my business, doin' my fuckin' job, when the man calls me upstairs for coffee and a danish, right? I mean, I never even been on the eighth floor of that fucking building. And there's the deputy fucking ops telling me how concerned he is about the case, how he needs to be informed. I mean, he's the deputy fucking ops, man.

DANIELS: Couple weeks from now, you're gonna be in some district somewhere with 11 or 12 uniforms looking to you for everything. And some of them are gonna be good police. Some of them are gonna be young and stupid. A few are gonna be pieces of shit. But all of them will take their cue from you. You show loyalty, they learn loyalty. You show them it's about the work, it'll be about the work. You show them some other kinda game, then that's the game they'll play. I came on in the Eastern, and there was a piece-of-shit lieutenant hoping to be a captain, piece-of-shit sergeants hoping to be lieutenants. Pretty soon we had piece-of-shit patrolmen trying to figure the job for themselves. And some of what happens then is hard as hell to let down. Comes a day you're gonna have to decide whether it's about you or about the work. Grand jury came in Tuesday. But you knew that, right? We're working a flight warrant today.

PREZ: There's... There's a lot to do here in-office.

DANIELS: I'd be careful with that, though. I understand the trigger pull used to be light.

[Helicopter hovering] [Car alarm going off]

McNULTY: Keep him down, keep him down. You got him? Get him up there, get him up.

BEY: Oh! Bunch of low-bottom bitches.

MALE: Get his wrists.

BEY: Y'all ain't have to fuck with my ride. Motherfuckers got lucky.

[Phone ringing]

PEARLMAN: Yeah? Podunk lawyer in Denton's giving the guards a hard time about moving D'Angelo from original jurisdiction. Put the call through. Okay. Officer Mace, A.S.A. Pearlman, you got a problem with the lawyer? Okay, put the asshole on.

LEVY: This is he.

RAWLS: You do not make it easy, Jimmy. I have to admit, I am deeply ambivalent.

McNULTY: Excuse me?

RAWLS: Sit. Sit! Here. I heard from Bunk. Philly. Great work. You all did and the number of clearances I'm looking at here, I mean, Christ, for the first time this year, we got the clearance rate up over 40%. That's on the one hand. On the other hand, I know the deputy ops got a call from the first deputy U.S. Attorney this morning asking whether an asshole such as yourself really works for us. And, of course, this is the first the deputy hears his troops are creeping behind his back, trying to take a case federal when they've already been told the case is closed. You're a good detective. And I've got to admit you got some stones on you. Did you actually call the first deputy an empty suit? (Chuckling) I want to see you land okay, Jimmy. So, tell me, where don't you wanna go?

LEVY: You all know as well as I do that Baltimore City jurors are capable of just about anything. Now, look, you want to sit around for months on end, scratching our way through a bunch of half-heard, half-said telephone conversations and see how well you do, I'll certainly respect the effort.

PEARLMAN: It's not just talk on the wire. We've got seized money and a lot of dope on the table.

S.A.: And a lot of violence.

LEVY: All of which stops way short of Mr. Barksdale. You know this.

DANIELS: All of it except for the New Jersey bust. That one he eats.

LEVY: Maybe he does. Maybe he pleads to one count of attempted possession, and takes, I don't know, three, four. Maybe he can arrange for everyone you have on those tapes to follow suit. Maybe you get five-year pleas from those with no prior felony convictions, 10 years for those with one prior, 15 for two or more.

S.A.: What about the murders?

LEVY: Maybe we acknowledge you've got Mr. Brice cold for the murder of Orlando Blocker and the wounding of the police officer.

PEARLMAN: Who?

DANIELS: Wee-Bey.

BEY'S ATTORNEY: Representing Mr. Brice, I'm fairly confident that to avoid the death penalty, he'll proffer to at least a half dozen of your open murders.

S.A.: Naming co-conspirators? For that kind of cooperation, I'd be willing to consider straight life.

LEVY: No, indeed. I believe Mr. Brice is ready to take sole responsibility for all of his crimes. Still, you walk away with at least a half dozen clearances.

PEARLMAN: Assets.

LEVY: You take the strip club and take whatever trucks and cars you can link to the drug trafficking, and, of course, whatever cash you've seized.

DANIELS: He's got dozens of other properties. The funeral parlor, the towing company.

LEVY: No, no, you get the cars, because you can tie them to illegal activity, but there's nothing else in his name to take.

PEARLMAN: So, you keep most of the money, most of the real estate. And Stringer Bell stays on the street with his hand on the throttle.

LEVY: If you have a charge against Mr. Bell, file it. Otherwise, it's my understanding that nothing in all those hours of tape implicates him.

PEARLMAN: Three or four years ain't enough, Maury. Not for Avon Barksdale.

LEVY: No? Make an offer.

BAILIFF: Part 14 of the circuit court of Baltimore City now in session. Be seated.

JUDGE: First up.

PEARLMAN: State versus Avon Randolph Barksdale, your honor. One count of possession with intent to distribute, to wit, a kilogram of heroin.

JUDGE: You have a statement of facts?

PEARLMAN: Yes, your honor. Mr. Barksdale is offering a plea of guilty in exchange for a maximum of seven years in D.O.C. in consideration of the following agreed-upon facts on or about the date of September 17th, 2002, in the jurisdiction of Essex County, New Jersey, trooper Robert Warren of the Newark Barracks effected a traffic stop on a rented Ford Taurus traveling southbound near exit 13. That traffic stop resulted from information gleaned from electronic surveillance of Mr. Barksdale and his nephew, D'Angelo Barksdale, by detectives assigned to a special detail under the command of a city narcotics supervisor. A search of the vehicle, which was rented from the Avis location at B.W.I. Airport, revealed that a kilogram of nearly pure heroin was concealed beneath the spare tire in the car trunk. In accepting this plea, Mr. Barksdale acknowledges his role in procuring those drugs with the intent to dilute, package, and sell retail amounts of heroin...

BUNK: Deidre Kresson, Roland Leggett, Toreen Boyd, all tied to the same gun. Plus, we got the stick-up boys, Brandon Wright, John Bailey. With Orlando, that makes six, plus the attempted murder on a police.

NORRIS: That it?

BEY: I do better if I give 'em more?

BEY'S ATTORNEY: Life, no parole means what it says. This proffer keeps you off death row, but that's all it does.

A.S.A.: You were on the wrong side of a cop getting shot, Mr. Brice. You want to even dream about straight life for all these bodies, you gotta wake up talking about Avon Barksdale and Stringer Bell.

BEY: Naw.

BEY'S ATTORNEY: But as to murders, you might as well give them what you have, because anything you leave out is outside the deal. If they learn about it later, they can charge you later.

BEY: Fuck it then. For another pit sandwich and some 'tater salad, I'll go a few more.

NORRIS: How you want that?

BEY: Medium rare, a lot of horseradish. Alright, I did Little Man. Thinkin' he might get weak on that cop gettin' shot.

BUNK: Yeah? Where's the body?

BEY: Druid Hill. Behind the reptile house. You get back in them weeds, you might could find what's left of him.

BUNK: Alright, that's seven. What else you got?

BEY: How 'bout them witnesses? The security lady and what's-his-name, the maintenance man.

BUNK: Gant?

BEY: Yeah, Gant.

BUNK: You did Gant, alone?

NORRIS: They're out of 'tater salad, how 'bout slaw?

PEARLMAN: Information gleaned from electronic surveillance would also show that Mr. Watkins, a.k.a. Ronnie Mo, was integrally involved in the distribution of heroin and cocaine in the high-rises at 734 Fayette Fremont. In exchange for his pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy, he agrees to a sentence not to exceed 15 years in D.O.C. Mr. Watkins, who is on probation for a drug distribution charge that was adjudicated in Judge Prevas' court in August 2001...

CANTRELL: Cedric, hey.

DANIELS: Major Cantrell. Congrats.

CANTRELL: Thanks.

DANIELS: So, where they sending you?

CANTRELL: Northwest, Spurgeon's retiring.

DANIELS: Yeah, I heard that was gonna happen.

CANTRELL: You ever feel like a change, give a yell. I could use a good shift lieutenant. I mean, right now, the whole fucking district's a mess.

DANIELS: What isn't?

CANTRELL: Hey, good seeing you.

DANIELS: You, too.

HERC: You see, this ain't no D.E.U. It ain't like that. When you all came downtown, the job changed. Down here, we make big cases, big hairy-balled cases, like this Barksdale thing, right? And all that mess you call police work down in the districts, all that fuck-somebody-up and rip-and-run bullshit, it won't play down here. You think I'm kidding. This is what makes cases, gentlemen. This! Remember that.

STRINGER: Nicely done.

BODIE: Motherfucker, I been here since lunch, waitin'. Ain't nobody been through here. You hear me? I been waitin' and y'all ain't about shit. Yeah, listen, listen to me. Look, if you feel like that, his phone, come down here and step to me then, nigga. Yeah, a-ight. Yo, if Roc-Roc ain't here in 10 minutes with my re-up, whoop his ass, man.

[Radio playing]

RAWLS: Now, I understand you did a tour in homicide years ago, but let me tell you how I run this unit, because how I run it is how it runs. We work on a strict rotation, you're up until you catch a call, and then you step down and work your case and someone else up behind you. This is the way we do business in a town with 250, 300 murders a year. And it works. You do not play the game for yourself, you play it for us. If you remember these few rules, you'll find me to be supportive and reasonable.

LANDSMAN: Very reasonable, sir.

RAWLS: That's what they say about me.

LANDSMAN: They say that, they do.

MALE: Red tops.

[Rap music playing]

POOT: Yo, Dink! What the fuck was that?

DINK: Huh?

POOT: You take a nigga's money, then you serve him? What the fuck? I'm sayin', you take their money, then you send 'em 'round an' let some other nigga serve. The way you doin' it, someone snappin' pictures got the whole deal. You hear? We gotta tighten up around here, yo!

PHELAN: Jimmy. Hell of a case. Read all about it in the papers. You done good, kiddo. I gotta--

PEARLMAN: D'Angelo Barksdale supervised distribution in the low-rise courtyards and was also integrally involved in the violence attributed to the organization. Further, he was arrested by authorities in New Jersey in possession of a kilo of raw heroin intended for distribution in Baltimore. He acknowledges his role as a leading conspirator and is already on parole for two earlier counts of distribution dating from March 1999.

JUDGE: What are you asking here?

PEARLMAN: As Mr. Barksdale has two prior convictions and is insisting that the effort to purchase and transport the kilo was undertaken on his own behest and is refusing gainst others in the conspiracy, the state is offering only the maximum allowable 20 years, your honor.

JUDGE: Mr. Levy... This is your understanding of the plea agreement?

LEVY: Yes, sir.

JUDGE: Very well then, Mr. Barksdale. Can you hear me distinctly?

DEE: Yes.

JUDGE: Are you now under the influence of alcohol...

BUNK: Wee-Bey, man.

McNULTY: How'd it go?

BUNK: For life, no-parole. He puts himself in for Orlando and the attempt murder on Greggs. Then he also takes Nakeisha Lyles, Deidre Kresson, the two project murders that match that gun, both the stick-up boys, and Little Man.

McNULTY: Little Man?

BUNK: Yeah, body found up behind the reptile house in Druid Hill. He gave us that one just for fun, I think. He also takes William Gant. I know, it's bullshit.

McNULTY: Well, how'd he tell it?

BUNK: Boom.

McNULTY: He said a contact wound?

BUNK: Yeah.

McNULTY: It doesn't play. Gant had no compression, no stippling. Wound was Bey's talkin' out of his ass.

BUNK: I know it, but this motherfucker's just taking murders just to take 'em.

McNULTY: He's taking life, no-parole for shooting a cop, what the fuck? Might as well try to spring Bird for killing Gant.

BAILIFF: All rise.

McNULTY: Jesus, what the fuck did I do?

BUNK: You happy now, bitch?

[Honking]

[Whistling "The Farmer in The Dell"]

OMAR: Are you the man with them jumbo sixes?

Omar gunDEALER: How many you fuckin' want?

OMAR: Take about three or four hundred.

DEALER: Damn.

OMAR: All in the game, yo. All in the game.

DEALER: Right, but I didn't think--

OMAR: Mm, mm, mm, for sure.