- Lt. Mike Torello: Hey you. You hurt anybody else, when this is over, I'm gonna find what you love the most and I'm gonna kill it. Your mother, your father, your dog... don't matter what it is, it's dead.
- Lt. Mike Torello: Listen to me, you big dummy. I'm a cop. I make $12,000 a year, and I'm the highest paid guy on this street. I got $3.65 in my pockets. You want me to, I'll take up a collection. You want a million dollars, you gotta wait!
- Chief Kramer: Look, Mike, you gotta watch what they now call an 'image.' The Daily News is treating the other night like you're Billy the Kid.
- Lt. Mike Torello: That's pretty accurate. I felt like Billy the Kid.
- Lt. Mike Torello: Where were you Monday night, Pauli?
- Pauli Taglia: Home, watching skin flicks with my wife.
- Lt. Mike Torello: Spend a lot of time with her, because you're going away real soon.
- Indian 'Billy Running Bird': I want some action!
- Lt. Mike Torello: Lieutenant Mike Torello, MCU.
- Indian 'Billy Running Bird': I got serious problems here, Lieutenant.
- Lt. Mike Torello: Who am I talking to?
- Indian 'Billy Running Bird': I need what I need, now!
- [coming out with a hostage at gunpoint]
- Indian 'Billy Running Bird': I want a car, and I want a million dollars in cash, in front, right now!
- Lt. Mike Torello: That's gonna take some time.
- Indian 'Billy Running Bird': Say goodbye to her.
- [pulling her back inside]
- Indian 'Billy Running Bird': Say goodbye! Say goodbye!
- [he shoots a row of wine bottles]
- Indian 'Billy Running Bird': This is gonna take her head off if you don't deal.
- Lt. Mike Torello: [taking cover] Listen, don't hurt those people. Let 'em go and call it the way you want.
- Indian 'Billy Running Bird': Torello, you'd better deal, now.
- Det. Danny Krychek: He's a psycho.
- Lt. Mike Torello: [sarcastic] I didn't notice.
- Det. Walter Clemmons: Guy you killed is an Indian.
- Lt. Mike Torello: Indian?
- Det. Walter Clemmons: Yeah, like Sioux or Apache. Car was licensed from New Mexico. Says his name was Billy Running Bird.
- Lt. Mike Torello: Who the hell are these guys? Who do we know that puts down this type of action and runs with an Indian?
- Det. Walter Clemmons: Got me.
- Lt. Mike Torello: Check it out, will you?
- Julie Torello: What's your name?
- Lt. Mike Torello: Mike Torello. Yours?
- Julie Torello: Julie.
- Lt. Mike Torello: Hi, Julie. Are, uh... are you alone?
- Julie Torello: Only for the moment.
- Lt. Mike Torello: You meeting someone?
- Julie Torello: Yeah.
- Lt. Mike Torello: As good as me?
- Julie Torello: That's a tough call.
- Lt. Mike Torello: Married?
- Julie Torello: To an absolute animal.
- Lt. Mike Torello: [she kisses him] Your place or mine?
- Julie Torello: Do I have a choice?
- Lt. Mike Torello: Get in the car.
- Chief Kramer: It's an oven in here.
- Lt. Mike Torello: Forget about those windows. They haven't opened in five years.
- Chief Kramer: What do you got on Boyer's?
- Lt. Mike Torello: Nothing.
- Chief Kramer: You blew the guy away on the expressway?
- Lt. Mike Torello: I was dealing with the moment.
- Chief Kramer: You haven't made this crew.
- Lt. Mike Torello: Only the Indian.
- Chief Kramer: These are the kind of crews we're supposed to be working. How can I go upstairs and tell 'em we got nothing? My selling point to get this squad started was that we were gonna be on top of this kind of thing.
- Lt. Mike Torello: Look, when you brought me into this unit a year ago, you told me "major crimes only, Mike, the MCU." Focus on high-line crews, intelligence. Major criminals. Outfit guys. Have you seen what's outside my door? I haven't sat down yet.
- Lt. Mike Torello: We got scorecards on most of the independent crews. What kind of scores they're taking down, who they're downing the merch to. The guys who took down Boyer's are brand new.
- Chief Kramer: Maybe they're an Outfit crew?
- Lt. Mike Torello: I don't think so.
- Chief Kramer: Why?
- Lt. Mike Torello: Too many wise guys eat there. These guys are operating on their own.
- Chief Kramer: You had to blow 'em away on the highway? Was that good judgment?
- Lt. Mike Torello: I figured those women had a better chance in a car crash than they did dealing with that crazy Indian.
- Phil Bartoli: Your friend's an idiot.
- Ray Luca: To Johnny, respect and 25 cents gets you a ride on the bus. He doesn't understand how these things work. But, uh, you know this score's worth every dime of the 40% agreed to.
- Phil Bartoli: So what?
- Ray Luca: So, I think that you're smarter than offering us the bottom price. Look, you give us fifteen cents now, and then another ten cents at your convenience, if you don't have trouble moving it.
- Phil Bartoli: Why is that such a good deal for you? What if I stiff you the ten cents?
- Ray Luca: You won't.
- Phil Bartoli: Why not?
- Ray Luca: 'Cause you're gonna want my steady stream of high-line merch, just flowing across your desk.
- Phil Bartoli: All right. But I got a piece of advice for you. You stay away from that kid. Talented, maybe, but he's too much a hotshot.
- Atty. David Abrams: Lieutenant Torello, you testified before the grand jury that your search warrant was obtained on the basis of information from a confidential informant. Is that correct?
- Lt. Mike Torello: Yes, it is.
- Atty. David Abrams: And you qualify your informant by citing prior cases, according to your affidavit. Now, in reviewing other affidavits you've sworn to, I see that you frequently cite a confidential informant as the basis for your actions.
- Lt. Mike Torello: Informants are critical to sucessful police work.
- Atty. David Abrams: So you use informants a lot?
- Lt. Mike Torello: Whenever it's necessary.
- Atty. David Abrams: The same informant?
- Lt. Mike Torello: I have several informants.
- Atty. David Abrams: Lieutenant, would you produce the informant that gave you the information in this case?
- Lt. Mike Torello: Well, that would be dishonorable. It's the same as the, uh, the attorney/client privilege.
- Atty. David Abrams: Except the attorney/client privilege is based on the attorney actually having a client, where in your case, the police/informant relationship is simply based on your say-so.
- Atty. David Abrams: If the court demanded you produce your informant, you could not do it, Lieutenant, could you? Even in dishonor, you could not produce your informant.
- Judge: Mr. Abrams, do you have a point?
- Atty. David Abrams: I have more than a point, Your Honor. I have Lieutenant Torello's informant.
- [holding up a wiretapping bug]
- Atty. David Abrams: This is your informant, isn't it, Lieutenant Torello? This illegally placed listening device, taken from Mr. Taglia's telephone by a telephone security officer. Your Honor, I submit this as Defense Exhibit 15.
- Judge: What about it, Lieutenant?
- Lt. Mike Torello: May I see that, Your Honor?
- [the judge hands the bug over]
- Lt. Mike Torello: Well, Your Honor, this isn't the kind that we use. This is a, uh, transistorized D-19, used exclusively by the FBI, never by us. They probably planted it, uh, investigating Taglia's link to the KGB.
- Atty. David Abrams: [incredulous] KGB?
- Lt. Mike Torello: Well, it's strictly speculation. But word on the street is that Taglia is selling nuclear, uh, secrets to the Russians. I mean, I don't know how true it is, but...
- Atty. David Abrams: Your Honor, the man's a liar! That is a complete lie.
- [he throws his notebook at Mike, who throws it back]
- Lt. Mike Torello: Your Honor, do I have to suffer these indignities, right here in the halls of justice?
- Judge: I think not. Mr. Abrams, tomorrow morning, 9:00. Show cause why you shouldn't be held in contempt.
- Atty. David Abrams: You lied on the stand, Lieutenant. You didn't tell the truth once.
- Lt. Mike Torello: That's not true. I gave my right name. Which reminds me, how'd you get this case in the first place?
- Atty. David Abrams: It's none of your damn business how I got the case.
- Lt. Mike Torello: Well, you were doing all right until you got emotional, and then you lost it.
- Atty. David Abrams: I didn't lose. We still got a trial, remember?
- Lt. Mike Torello: I mean, even if you cut him loose, what do you think you've accomplished? He hits the streets tomorrow, he does the same thing all over again.
- Atty. David Abrams: So you lie to put him in jail?
- Lt. Mike Torello: Oh, come on, counselor. Taglia was a bust-out the day he was born. This guy's been stealing since he was in kindergarten.
- Lt. Mike Torello: I lost $3 million in jewelry over the weekend. I'm not saying that Taglia was involved, but if he wasn't, he'll know who was. I'm gonna squeeze him. He scratches my back, I'm gonna get a clear head, and suddenly I'm gonna be very helpful. That's the way the courtroom game is played around here, isn't it, counselor?
- Atty. David Abrams: That's not the way I play.
- Lt. Mike Torello: Let me tell you something, pal. Half the time, we don't know which side the law is on. That's the way the wheels of justice turn in this town, and they're the only wheels we got. You bet I lied. You know, I wouldn't be wasting my time telling you all of this if I didn't think you were my kind of guy. You're working the wrong side of the courtroom, counselor, only you don't know it yet.
- Phil Bartoli: I bet you figured you were never gonna see that.
- Ray Luca: Mr. Bartoli, keep this. I want to invest my money with you.
- Phil Bartoli: What'd you have in mind?
- Ray Luca: Juice. Let it ride with your money on the street.
- Phil Bartoli: You're a smart guy, Ray. But it ain't so smart, being so independent. I got guys all over the city. Their only job is to keep me clean. I got the courts. I got the districts. I got it covered. I could make that protection available to you, if you were interested.
- Ray Luca: Yeah, I'm interested.
- Phil Bartoli: But you gotta understand: in an organization, it's the guy on the top who makes the decisions.
- Ray Luca: I know how it goes, Mr. Bartoli.
- Phil Bartoli: Think you're ready to move up in the world, hey, kid?
- Ray Luca: Time's right for me.
- Phil Bartoli: Yeah? Three punks hit a joint of mine on the Gold Coast. Like they think I'm not gonna find out who did it, right? Like they're gonna steal from me. Think you can handle that?
- Ray Luca: They're gone. It's done.
- Phil Bartoli: One of them was your friend O'Donnell.
- Lt. Mike Torello: Who is he, Julie? Who is he, 'cause I'm gonna kill him.
- Julie Torello: Who is who?
- Lt. Mike Torello: The dead man from the dance floor. Who is he?
- Julie Torello: Andy Torello. Your cousin.
- Lt. Mike Torello: Little Andy? Little Andy was coming on to you?
- Julie Torello: He's 23 years old. He'd come on to a collie if you put it in a skirt.
- Lt. Mike Torello: [roughing up Pauli] Who killed Connelly? Who killed him?
- Pauli Taglia: I don't know!
- Lt. Mike Torello: Who had him on the museum score?
- Pauli Taglia: Luca! Luca!
- Lt. Mike Torello: What's next? What's next, Pauli?
- Pauli Taglia: Oh, god, please!
- Lt. Mike Torello: I'll kill you, Pauli! What's next?
- Pauli Taglia: Burnett's! Burnett's.
- Lt. Mike Torello: When?
- Pauli Taglia: Good Friday. Good Friday.
- Lt. Mike Torello: Tall or heavy?
- Pauli Taglia: Please!
- Lt. Mike Torello: Tall or heavy, Pauli?
- Pauli Taglia: Heist, ten minutes before closing. Please. Please!
- Lt. Mike Torello: Make sure it happens, and make sure Luca's there, or I'm gonna come looking for you, Pauli.
- Pauli Taglia: What about me?
- Lt. Mike Torello: What about you, Pauli?
- Pauli Taglia: I'm gonna be there!
- Lt. Mike Torello: Wear a white hat and pray. Pray and hope that I remember.
- Det. Danny Krychek: Who hits a place like this on Good Friday?
- Lt. Mike Torello: Ray Luca.
- Det. Danny Krychek: Moving up in the world, huh?
- Lt. Mike Torello: It's gonna be his last move.
- Manny Weisbord: One thing I learned early on, you should know. This is a business. And like any other business, it has managers and mules. You are a good manager. You can pull things together and maintain a tight organization. So why do you take an unnecessary risk by getting yourself personally involved in a score? You're a manager. Manage. Leave the streets to the mules. Stay out of the cops' faces. Management is a boring business when you first start out. But believe me, when you make your first big deal and it's your own, nothing like it. Makes the edge you get on a score feel like nothing. And you'll never again have to worry about those overzealous prosecutors, or those elite law enforcers like the FBI, the MCU. They are out of your life when you're at the top, Ray. And even when they know who you are, they can't touch you. You are invisible. The MCUs, they come and go. We go on forever.