**SPOILERS** A bloody shootout in a Mafia safe-house apartment results in the rip off of $300,000.00 from the mob's Harlam bank. It also cost the lives of seven people including two members of the Mafia Gennaro family.
Old Don Gennaro, Frank Macetta, is worried about his operations in Harlem falling apart and has his young hot-shot and sadistic son-in-law Nick D'Salvio, Tony Franciosa,to get things back to normal. Nick starts by trying to get back the stolen loot with the help of the Mafia controlled Doc Johnson, Richard Ward,who runs their Harlem rackets.
The three, who knocked off the mob's monthly take, Jim Harris Joe Logart & Henry Jackson, Paul Benjamin Ed Bernard & Antonio Fargas,are marked for death not only by the Mafia and the Jackson Harlem syndicate but by the NYPD. Not just for ripping off the mob but for the murder of two policemen who tried to stop the trio's getaway.
Put in charge of the murder/robbery investigation is young and collage educated Let. Poke, Yaphet Kotto, which irritates the local police precincts Capt. Mattelli, Anthony Quinn, who feels he should be the one in charge. This causes friction not only between the two cops but the men of the 27th precinct who feel that Capt. Mattelli should run the investigation.
During the movie Capt. Mattelli grudgingly accepts the decision of Let. Poke being put in charge over him since he's been compromised by taking graft from Johnson for years, that will only hamper finding the three hoods who ripped the Johnson/Mafia off. Capt. Mattelli also learns only to late that once your in the pay of the mob the only way you can get out, or retire, of that squalid arraignment is in a pine box.
Extremely brutal crime/drama with two of the persons, Henry J. Jackson & Joe Logart, who dared to take the mob's ill-gotten gains ending up viciously tortured and murdered by the maniacal Nick D'Salvio, who took a sick and morbid glee in doing the two in.
The third man, and head, of the group of robbers Jim Harris was a lot harder and far more dangerous nut to crack and find by Nick and his hoods. Tracked down in an abandoned building in West Harlem. Jim alone with his common-law wife Gloria,Norma Donaldson, begins to freak-out when he get's epileptic seizures with no medication on hand to relive them. This time thing don't go off that well for Nick and both the Mafia and Johnson mob, like it did with both Joe & Henry. By the time the shootout was over the entire block, where Jim was holding out in, was left shot up and demolished together with Jim Nick and Gloria.
Superior crime/movie with a stand-out performance by a young, 34 at the time, Yaphet Kotto as Let. Poke who showed the overly brutal Capt. Mattelli that you don't get the same results in solving crimes with 1940's police tactics in the year 1972. Even more important it's a lot better to be an honest cop then a dirty one in both having a clear conscience and long lifespan.
Old Don Gennaro, Frank Macetta, is worried about his operations in Harlem falling apart and has his young hot-shot and sadistic son-in-law Nick D'Salvio, Tony Franciosa,to get things back to normal. Nick starts by trying to get back the stolen loot with the help of the Mafia controlled Doc Johnson, Richard Ward,who runs their Harlem rackets.
The three, who knocked off the mob's monthly take, Jim Harris Joe Logart & Henry Jackson, Paul Benjamin Ed Bernard & Antonio Fargas,are marked for death not only by the Mafia and the Jackson Harlem syndicate but by the NYPD. Not just for ripping off the mob but for the murder of two policemen who tried to stop the trio's getaway.
Put in charge of the murder/robbery investigation is young and collage educated Let. Poke, Yaphet Kotto, which irritates the local police precincts Capt. Mattelli, Anthony Quinn, who feels he should be the one in charge. This causes friction not only between the two cops but the men of the 27th precinct who feel that Capt. Mattelli should run the investigation.
During the movie Capt. Mattelli grudgingly accepts the decision of Let. Poke being put in charge over him since he's been compromised by taking graft from Johnson for years, that will only hamper finding the three hoods who ripped the Johnson/Mafia off. Capt. Mattelli also learns only to late that once your in the pay of the mob the only way you can get out, or retire, of that squalid arraignment is in a pine box.
Extremely brutal crime/drama with two of the persons, Henry J. Jackson & Joe Logart, who dared to take the mob's ill-gotten gains ending up viciously tortured and murdered by the maniacal Nick D'Salvio, who took a sick and morbid glee in doing the two in.
The third man, and head, of the group of robbers Jim Harris was a lot harder and far more dangerous nut to crack and find by Nick and his hoods. Tracked down in an abandoned building in West Harlem. Jim alone with his common-law wife Gloria,Norma Donaldson, begins to freak-out when he get's epileptic seizures with no medication on hand to relive them. This time thing don't go off that well for Nick and both the Mafia and Johnson mob, like it did with both Joe & Henry. By the time the shootout was over the entire block, where Jim was holding out in, was left shot up and demolished together with Jim Nick and Gloria.
Superior crime/movie with a stand-out performance by a young, 34 at the time, Yaphet Kotto as Let. Poke who showed the overly brutal Capt. Mattelli that you don't get the same results in solving crimes with 1940's police tactics in the year 1972. Even more important it's a lot better to be an honest cop then a dirty one in both having a clear conscience and long lifespan.