The Black Donnellys s01e02 Episode Script

Okay, here's what you might have missed.
There were four Donnelly brothers, Sean, Kevin, Jimmy, and Tommy.
They had this thing for always getting into trouble, usually 'cause Jimmy did something stupid like stealing a truckload of Hawaiian shirts, leaving Tommy to clean up the mess.
Did I mention that Tommy had this thing for Jenny Reilly? Okay.
Skip to a couple of days ago.
Kevin had a huge gambling debt.
Damn.
So Jimmy got the idea to kidnap an Italian.
To get back at the Donnellys, the Italians beat up Sean.
To get back at the Italians, Jimmy killed Louie.
At this point, Tommy went to see Huey, the head of the Irish mob, to try and fix things, but that didn't work.
So to protect his brother, Tommy got Jimmy arrested for the shirt thing, then Tommy and Kevin killed Sal, the head of the Italian mob, and Huey, the aforementioned head of the Irish mob, and hoped that, somehow, no one would notice.
Me? I always wanted brothers like that.
Joey, I am your lawyer, okay? You don't need to lie to me.
What? Who's lying? I'm an open book.
What do you wanna know? Why I'm representing you.
'Cause I'm an innocent man.
I just I hear things, I pick up things.
Oh, God in heaven.
Like that night for example.
I wasn't there.
So there's no way I could actually know what happened.
And that was Tommy's plan, see? To keep his brothers safe by keeping that night a secret.
KEVIN: Tommy, Tommy, wait.
We should go back.
I think somebody saw me.
Who? I don't know.
It's just a feeling.
So we should go back and be seen in order to make sure that nobody saw us? You don't have to use sarcasm on me.
Kevin, nobody saw us.
What about the parking lot guy? We're five blocks away.
Yeah, but he nodded at me.
So we should kill him? Kevin, stop.
Breathe.
Tommy, all the breathing in the world is not gonna change what we did.
Guns are loud.
People heard us.
And what if Sal and Huey told someone that Jimmy was coming? They were planning on killing Jimmy.
That's not something you tell somebody.
Yeah, but these guys Shh.
Kevin, no one saw us.
No one knows.
And as long as we keep what happened between the two of us, no one's gonna.
Okay? Okay.
JOEY.
But it's like the old saying goes, "The only way two people can keep a secret is if both of them are dead.
" You mean if one of them is dead.
That's the saying.
Obviously we come from different neighborhoods.
Which is why Kevin might have been nervous when Tommy asked for his gun.
What if there are guys waiting for us back at the hospital? Just give me the damn gun.
Okay.
(GUNSHO TS) JENNY: Hey, Henry.
We went for coffee.
Hey, Sean.
(E.
K.
G.
BEEPING) For such a pretty boy, you sure are one tough son of a bitch.
TOMMY: Sean, this is important.
If anybody asks you what happened, you say you were mugged.
And you didn't see who did it.
Can you hear me? You understand? Okay.
Hey.
You okay? Yeah.
Just ran down for coffee.
Coffee.
For two hours? With your brother just out of surgery? Yeah.
Your coat's wet.
Tommy Tommy, wait.
Tell me what happened.
You can tell me, it's okay.
What happened? (SNIFFLES) Tell me.
It's okay.
JOEY.
However, not all the Donnelly brothers were enjoying the evening quite as much.
Hey! Hey! Answer the phone, answer the phone.
Pick up the phone! (RINGING) Bro, you gonna be all day? Am I gonna be all day? (GRUNTS) HELEN: Tommy? Tommy? The doctor wants to see us.
DOCTOR 1: We'll repeat the CAT scan to see if the edema, the swelling, has decreased.
Remember, he is young and healthy and he should respond favorably to treatment.
We'll monitor him for the next 24 hours.
And we'll need to do additional tests to determine what the long-term effects of his injuries will be.
But I feel confident DOCTOR 2: His injuries are severe.
We won't know for a while if there's nerve damage, and the majority of the breaks have fused.
What are you saying? Huh? My Jimmy's a cripple? Helen, let the doctor talk.
Mrs.
Donnelly, we're hopeful that your Jimmy will make a full recovery, but you have to be prepared for the fact that he may not walk again.
JOEY.
That day, Tommy made a deal.
He would pay whatever price God demanded on earth as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread if he just let Jimmy walk again.
forgive those who trespass against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom But for now, Sean is stable.
Hopefully we'll know more soon.
Thank you.
We gotta slip out.
Go ahead.
Where are we going? Shopping.
Man! Kim? You're still here? Did we hear anything from the doctor yet? She says Sean's stable.
Good.
Hey, listen, Kim, the guys who attacked Sean, did you get a good look at them? I can definitely describe one of them.
You know what would be good? What? What would be the best thing for Sean? For you to not remember what those guys look like.
How would that be better? You think I love my brother? Yeah, of course you do.
It would really be better for him, okay? Okay.
Thanks.
And don't let my mother scare you.
I'll be all right.
Tommy, I hate shopping.
How close were you to those two guys when you shot them? A few feet.
Which means you got blood on your clothes whether you can see it or not.
So I'll change and burn them.
And when someone remembers what you were wearing? And they ask you where those clothes are? I thought you said no one was gonna ask.
How much money you got? A couple bucks.
(SIGHS) How's he doing? How do you think he's doing? Thanks.
You're welcome.
Make sure the sensors are at the bottom.
Where the hell do you come up with this? Science class.
You see why you should pay attention? MAN 1: All set? MAN 2: Yeah.
All right.
Excuse us.
(CHATTERING ON POLICE RADIO) Sal Minnetta and Huey Farrell.
Gee, think there's gonna be any fallout from this? I got a couple guys say they work here.
No kidding? You ask me, this isn't the brightest idea you've come up with.
Really? What do you think was my best idea? The very best? Best you can think of.
Squeezing Jimmy Donnelly till he whacked Sal.
That worked out pretty well, didn't it? Why don't you have a little faith? Morning, Detective.
Nicky Cottero, right? That's right, Detective.
So I was, you know, wondering if you had any news.
You're a reporter now, Nicky? Well, Sal, you know, he was a beloved employer.
It's understandable the staff is gonna be upset.
I was just wondering if you had something I could pass on to them.
No.
Right now I just have questions.
Like what was the head of the Irish mob doing down here with all these Italians? Drinking, watching porn, I couldn't tell you.
So what brings you down here this early in the morning? Is it a responsibility to brief the staff? Well, I'm the beverage manager.
People are gonna naturally look to me for answers.
Well, why don't you go upstairs and think of some, and then when I'm finished down here, you can fill me in, too.
I'm glad to help.
This is a terrible crime.
Thanks.
You guys are doing a great job.
Cocky son of a bitch came down here to plant a flag.
Meanwhile, Huey's brother, Dokey, was also curious about who killed his brother, and was asking some questions of his own.
So you don't know anything, huh? (GROANING) You know anything now? TOMMY: Make sure the ink part's face down.
KEVIN: Got it.
And you got enough tin foil around it.
I got it, I got it.
Damn.
I'm telling you, Tommy Kevin, will you stop worrying? It's gonna be okay.
I can see the ink.
Are you wearing two jackets? How do you mean? You are! I told you we had to get rid of what we were wearing.
Yeah, but it's my favorite one.
Throw it out right now! Oh, man.
I'm going to class.
You do what you normally do.
We gotta act like it's a regular day and nothing happened.
What are you staring at, Kevin? Kev! Damn it, Jimmy.
Here you go, fellas.
Thanks a lot.
Okay.
It's coming right up, May, okay? Hey, no problem.
Here you go.
Hey! Hey, Pop, who hasn't ordered? Everybody's good, I got you covered.
You just coming from the hospital now? Yeah.
They kept that boy in overnight? Yeah.
He's still in ICU.
It's terrible.
Yeah.
"Yeah"? I hate to see anyone get hurt.
Pop, just leave it for once.
There's just two sides to every story.
There's two sides to Sean being beaten so hard he might have brain damage? What's the second side to that, Dad? Well, you don't give somebody a beating like that unless you got a reason.
Are you good here? 'Cause I'm gonna take a walk.
Jenny, listen to me, please.
I know you like Tommy.
And I don't think he's a bad kid.
It's just that It's like something is in their blood.
No matter how hard they try to do good, that blood is always gonna seep through.
And it poisons whatever it touches.
Gosh, Dad, why didn't you ever tell me you felt this way? Jenny.
Come on, Jenny! You wonder why we have to keep buying new stools.
I should've known Jimmy was too messed up to take care of anything.
Now we gotta get rid of a body in broad daylight? Okay, so we'll wait till tonight.
Yeah, you're right, Kevin.
'Cause the smell of a rotting body is not gonna attract any attention.
Let's wait.
Again with the sarcasm.
I'm getting sick of it, Tommy.
I mean, how could he just dump it there? What the hell is he thinking? Come on, where would you put it? Not in the dumpster behind the bar, Kevin! Okay, so where? I don't know.
How many bodies you get rid of before? Hey, what about the landfill? I mean, we could sneak in, put him under some garbage, they'd bury him for us.
The landfill on Staten Island? Yeah.
So what, we just take a ferry, just the three of us? Okay.
We stuff him in a furnace.
Our furnace? No, of course not, somebody else's.
Oh, you know someone with a furnace large enough for a body? Well, I'd have to think about it.
How about a tub full of acid? Kevin, stop making suggestions.
You're really freaking me out.
Okay, we can bury him.
Oh, you know a place in the city where we can bury a body? Jersey.
(PHONE RINGING) I know a place.
Hello? JIMMY.
Where the hell have you been? Jimmy! I been calling since 7.
00! You should be down here to bail me out! I don't know, I guess we're a little preoccupied, what with Louie's body out back in the trash! What, now it's my fault that I got arrested? You told me you took care of it.
I was going to You know, it's real smart, Tommy, talking about this on the phone.
Just get down here and bail me.
Not gonna do it.
What do you mean? I'm not gonna argue about it.
You wanna talk to somebody, you can talk to Kevin.
Why me? Hey, Jimmy.
We're not gonna do it! JIMMY.
Kevin, listen to me.
There's a bag under the bar.
From Sal.
You know what bag I'm talking about.
Hold on.
Where under the bar? It's under the taps, I think.
This place is disgusting.
Sorry.
You know what? Stop looking, I don't want you to get dirty.
Why is everyone using sarcasm on me today? Okay, I got it.
Just get down here and get me out.
Wait, Jimmy, wait, wait.
What? If I took this to the track first, I could double it.
You gamble a penny of that, I'm gonna bite your thumbs off! You coming? Where you going? Nowhere.
What's in that bag? Nothing.
Hmm? Hey! Hey.
This is the ransom money! You think? Give it back, Tommy.
Hey! Give it back! Hey! What the hell's wrong with you? You think you can just bail Jimmy out and suddenly he's not gonna be the guy who got us into all this crap? You wanna forget the fact he shot Louie? Yeah? How many people did we shoot last night? Because of Jimmy! I'm not gonna argue with you, either.
We don't have enough time, because we gotta go clean up another one of Jimmy's messes.
Look, there's 30 grand in there.
We could bail Jimmy out with five.
You don't get it, do you? We're screwed here.
Let's go.
Wait.
How do you know any of this? Oh.
Well, maybe that particular time I was there.
Hey, you guys take off, I'll watch everything.
Where the hell did you come from? What? I been here the whole time.
Don't worry, mum's the word, lips are sealed.
You pay for that beer? Yeah, probably.
Psst.
Tommy.
Pony car? We're not going for a joyride, Kevin.
Get in, I'll grab him on this end.
You get in.
I'm driving.
Yeah, what's that got to do with anything? You don't get in, I don't drive.
Let's go! Damn, the stench of him.
I feel like it's in my skin.
Drive faster.
And get stopped for a ticket? Smart.
Did you lock the door at the back of the bar? While you were berating me or while I was digging a corpse out of the dumpster? Oh, that's sarcasm, isn't it? Don't make me laugh, I'm pissed at you.
You're pissed at me? Damn straight.
Are you sure we're going in the right direction? I'm sure.
How you know about this place? Jake Macey.
Used to steal cars and drag race out here.
It's right by a swamp, no one around for miles.
It's perfect.
This is it? Yeah.
This is the abandoned swamp with no one around for miles and miles? Last time I was here, yeah.
It's not like you had a better plan.
Yeah.
Now who's stupid, huh? You couldn't get a bigger barrel? They don't make bigger barrels.
Come on.
(RUMBLING) What are you doing? He's alive! Where did you get that? How many guns did Jimmy have at the bar, huh? Come on.
Grab his legs again.
No, no! Not until I know he's dead.
He's dead! That was just gas escaping from his body.
Then why did you jump? Because you did! Yeah.
We need holes in the barrel, anyway.
Come on.
It's not gonna work.
Stay out of sight.
I'll be right back.
Hey! Wait.
Hey! Whoa, whoa.
What's that for? Strip down.
What? Take off your clothes, Kevin.
Hold his ankles.
Tommy.
Do it, Kevin.
(VOMITING) Come on, Kevin.
I can't.
Hello? Tommy? Tommy! I'm sorry.
I'm sorry I couldn't help over there.
I don't know what happened to me.
It's just like I started shaking and everything went dark.
Not now, Kevin.
What I'm trying to tell you is it was just like Like I didn't have any control.
And my hands and my legs Kevin, I'm not really interested in how you feel about what happened here.
Please just shut the hell up.
Did you take anything out of that bag? No.
What are you doing? Counting the money.
We gotta get out of here.
You don't believe me, why'd you even ask, huh? I wanna see if you were lying to me.
All right, fine! I took some money, okay? But only enough to bail Jimmy out.
What a great idea.
I turn myself inside out to get him into jail, to rehab, so that he won't be killed or kill himself, and you're gonna bail him out? We're his brothers.
He's sick, he needs us.
I'm helping him.
No one gets help in there.
If you'd ever been in there you'd know that.
Give me the money, Kevin.
No, it's not your money, all right? It was Jimmy's idea, you didn't want any part of it.
Give me the money.
I'm keeping it, all right? It's my cut, I can do with it what I want.
There is no cut, don't you understand that? This is ransom money, and the Italians know who they paid it to.
You want a chance of living, we gotta give it back.
Give it back, Tommy? This is part of your big plan to make everything right? Tommy, Louie is dead! If they wanna kill us for that, giving back the money is not gonna change anything.
Nobody knows Louie's dead.
The only people who knew were Huey and Sal.
So what, they're gonna think he went on vacation? He's a low-level bookie.
Nobody cared about him but Sal, because he was his nephew.
Nobody's gonna care.
What they're gonna care about is that money.
And we're giving it back.
You give the money back, they're gonna blow your brains out.
Then they're gonna come looking for the rest of us.
Where is it? Keep your hands off of me.
Do it again, Tommy, I swear to God Yeah? What are you gonna do? What are you gonna do? Hmm? (GROANS) (SHOUTS) Go ahead, Kevin.
You're right.
I'm the one trying to hurt Jimmy.
Shoot me.
Pull the trigger.
Come on, Kevin, pull the trigger.
Get up.
Get out of here, Kevin.
Here? Yeah.
Go home.
You been up for two days.
Get some sleep.
You coming? Get out, Kevin.
Tommy.
Not gonna need it.
Go home.
I'll be there in a couple hours.
No, you won't.
Thanks, honey.
Sure.
Whenever I watch my boys sleeping, I still see them as five years old in my head.
Does that sound crazy? Always five.
And they're not babies anymore.
But they're not little men, either.
I'm so sorry this happened.
Thanks for hanging in with me.
I know it's not easy watching people suffer.
No, it's not.
Do you know what happened last night? How do you mean? You know what I mean.
I think that if you know someone's good, you know it in your belly, then you trust that if they had to do something, they had no other choice.
We're closed.
Yeah, I'm here to see Nicky Cottero.
Someone's here for Nicky.
It's Tommy Donnelly.
Tommy Donnelly.
Okay.
The stairs are in the back.
This way? Yeah.
Thanks.
What the hell are you doing here? I'm too tired to sleep.
Stay put.
Whatever you say.
I mean it.
I'll be back in a minute.
I'll be here.
Anything happens, I'll be here.
(KNOCKING) NICKY: Come in.
Take a seat.
You want a drink? No.
No, thanks.
I heard about Sal.
I'm sorry.
Yeah, it's a real loss.
You here to pay your respects? I'm here with some unfinished business.
My brother Jimmy kidnapped Louie Downtown.
My brother's a junkie.
Never thinks things through.
So I took him to rehab, and I let Louie go.
In the hopes that it would end things.
I don't want any bad blood.
There's 30,000 in there.
With Sal gone, I assume it belongs to you.
Where's Louie? Don't know.
Like I said, I let him go.
Every day Louie's missing, I lose money.
Tell you what I'm gonna do.
I'm gonna accept this money in good faith.
I appreciate it.
But I need you to pay me $1,000 a week until Louie gets back.
For disruption of business.
You understand? That money makes us even.
You got a lost bookie, that's your problem.
See you around.
Hey, kid! Tell your brother Jimmy I'm gonna be seeing him real soon.
That'd be great.
He'd enjoy the visitor.
Didn't you hear? Jimmy was arrested yesterday.
He's been in jail.
And one more time, you know this because Oh, yeah.
I was there, too.
How'd it go? Like it went.
What the hell's Joey Ice Cream doing here? I have no idea.
JOEY.
We were that tight.
They never took a step without me.
JOEY.
Remember when I said how as a kid Tommy Donnelly tried to make that deal? Well, God didn't hear him right away.
So Tommy kept going back.
Kept trying to get God's attention.
Until He finally listened.
Your mom's looking for you.
The doctor said Jimmy's gonna walk.
Only thing is, Tommy never negotiated the price.
I should have told you last night.
I love you.
You got customers waiting? Glad you came by.
Yeah.
Me, too.
Because I wanted to tell you that I can't Can't what? Do this.
Be with you.
I really am sorry.
Wait.
Jenny If you want breakfast, come on down.
JOEY.
There was no way for him to know way back then that God was gonna take away the one thing Tommy wanted most.
But that's what life is like, am I right? When one door closes, another window opens.
Tommy.
Get in.
If you don't mind, I'd just like to walk.
Hey, put him in the trunk.
I'm getting in.
I guess you heard, somebody shot my brother to death? Yeah, I heard.
I'm really sorry.
You know, I can understand somebody wanting to kill Huey.
He had enemies.
Who doesn't, right? I just can't figure out what he was doing in Sal Minnetta's basement.
He didn't tell anyone? I mean, the last thing anybody knows, he went to visit you and your brother at the hospital.
Brought you the pie his wife made.
Yeah, he came by.
He was checking on Sean.
I heard that Sean took quite a beating.
Is he okay? He's gonna be okay.
That's good.
That's good you still got your brother.
Did Huey say anything to you before he left the hospital? Where he was going? Anything? I wish I could tell you more.
Me, too.
All right, get out of here.
Hey.
You hear anything, all right? I'll let you know.
Good.