Blow
INT. FRED’S LTD. – 1989 – CONTINUOUS
Tears come crashing out of the old man’s stoic face.
GEORGE (V.O.) I finally understand. You’re the best, Dad. I just wish I could have done more for you. I wish we had more time.
EXT. OTISVILLE F.C.I. – NEW YORK – 1999 – DAY
A vision of Fred Jung sits on the ground before his fifty-two year old son.
GEORGE I guess I kind of lost sight of things. “May the wind always be at your back and the sun always upon your face, and the winds of destiny carry you aloft to dance with the stars.” Love, George.
FRED That was a beautiful message.
GEORGE I meant every word of it.
FRED Did you know I died two weeks after you sent me that tape?
The apparition of Fred disappears and George is left alone once again.
GEORGE Yeah, Dad. I knew that.
INT. OTISVILLE F.C.I. – NEW YORK – 1990 – DAY
George is led into the room where THREE FBI MEN await him. One of them is named FRED GARCIA.
GARCIA How are you doing, George?
GEORGE What do you guys want?
GARCIA You hear about your old friend, Diego?
GEORGE What about him?
Garcia tosses a newspaper onto the table. The Miami Herald. Inside is a full page letter addressed from Diego Delgado to Vice President George Bush. In the letter, Diego offers to make a deal. In exchange for immunity, Diego will rat out the entire cocaine business. Americans, Colombians, Noriega, Escobar, everybody. Just let him free.
GEORGE (CONT’D) What the fuck? Is he going to walk?
GARCIA He’s going down, George. It’s election year. We’re not making any deals.
FBI GUY #1 He’s never getting out. Orders from the top.
GARCIA So, how would you like to help us put him away?
FBI GUY #2 We’ve done our homework. We know you hate this motherfucker.
GEORGE I don’t think so.
GARCIA Don’t be stupid, George. We’ve got him. We’ve got him dead to rights. But like I said, this is top priority so we’re handing out free passes on this one. And the first one’s got your name on it. Cut your sentence in half, maybe more.
GEORGE No thanks, fellas. You’ve got the wrong fucking guy. I’m not a rat.
INT. OTISVILLE F.C.I. – VISITOR’S ROOM – 1990 – DAY
George sits in the chair behind the plexiglass. Mirtha enters and takes a seat on the other side.
GEORGE Mirtha, what’s going on? Everything okay with Kristina?
MIRTHA Kristina’s fine.
GEORGE Is she here? Is she coming?
MIRTHA Is she here? George, Kristina hates you. You fucked her over one too many times. And I’m not here to socialize. Did you hear about Diego?
GEORGE Yeah.
MIRTHA Well, I got a call from Pablo. He said this thing with Diego is a disaster. He’s giving up lab locations, names, bank accounts, he was very pissed off. Pablo said to take him down. His exact words were “Fuck Diego.”
GEORGE He wants me to testify? Is that what he’s asking me to do?
MIRTHA George, he wasn’t asking.
Mirtha gets up and starts to move away.
GEORGE Mirtha, how are you doing?
MIRTHA Better than you.
INT. COURTHOUSE HALLWAY – JACKSONVILLE – 1990 – DAY
George, Archie Zigmond and two armed guards walk down the corridor.
GEORGE Hey, Arch, you think the judge will let us get a cocktail after this is all over?
ZIGMOND I’ll see what I can do, George.
GEORGE Thanks, Arch.
They walk into the crowded courtroom.
INT. COURTHOUSE HALLWAY – JACKSONVILLE – 1990 – DAY
Packed. Nuts. Standing room only. The courtroom buzzes as George is led down the center aisle and is handed off to the bailiff. Over this we hear…
CLERK Sir, please state your name.
GEORGE I’m George Jung. Spelled J-U-N-G.
CLERK Thank you.
PROSECUTOR Mr. Jung, do you know Diego Delgado?
GEORGE Yes, I do.
PROSECUTOR Do you see him here in the courtroom?
GEORGE Yes, he’s sitting right there at the end of the table.
PROSECUTOR Let the record state the witness has identified, Diego Delgado.
The following sound bytes are dissolved together in montage style…
PROSECUTOR (CONT’D) Mr. Jung, can you describe the circumstances of how you began talking about cocaine with Mr. Delgado?
GEORGE Shortly after I arrived at Danbury Federal Correctional Institute I related to Diego that the crime I was in for was smuggling marijuana. Diego told me he had high level connections in Colombia and they needed to find someone to help them transport cocaine into America…
GEORGE (CONT’D) The first run was fifteen kilos, which we smuggled into Logan Airport in hard shelled suitcases.
GEORGE (CONT’D) We wrapped the cocaine in kitchen cabinet paper, and duct tape, that way if there were any dogs in customs…
GEORGE (CONT’D) I introduced Diego to a pilot named Jack Stevens, who helped us fly 300 kilos of cocaine per week into the United States via twin-engine Cessnas. Jack would fly into North Carolina, we’d meet him there and drive it down to different distribution points…
GEORGE (CONT’D) I never met Pablo Escobar. Diego Delgado was my only connection to cocaine from Colombia…
GEORGE (CONT’D) Diego convinced me to keep most of my money in a Panamanian bank. Diego had a close relationship with Manuel Noriega. In exchange for allowing us to keep our money there, we paid him a percentage.
GEORGE (CONT’D) There was an 85% chance that if you snorted cocaine between 1977-1984, it was ours. Initially with my LA connections, we invented the marketplace. In 1977, there was no other real competition.
GEORGE (CONT’D) The first year we made about 100 million dollars between us. It was an expensive operation. Eventually we built up to three different pilots doing multiple runs per week, connections on both coasts, everything was running smooth. We were like a corporation…
GEORGE (CONT’D) he was very anti-government. He talked about revolution, forming his own country or island, he was looking for power as well as money. I was just looking for money.
GEORGE (CONT’D) He disliked the United States, thought it was a police state. He hoped that by flooding the country with cocaine, it would disrupt the political system and tear down the morality of the country.
GEORGE (CONT’D) Well, yes, Derek Foreal was my connection, I met him back in 1968 when I first moved to Manhattan Beach. It was Foreal’s marijuana connections that kicked off our cocaine market.
GEORGE (CONT’D) Yes, it was my idea to bring the kilos to Los Angeles. When Diego finally got Derek Foreal’s name from me, it was only a matter of months before he’d cut me out.
GEORGE (CONT’D) I’m not sure how my relationship with my daughter and ex-wife have anything to do with this trial. I mean we’re here to talk about Diego Delgado, aren’t we?
CALIBANOS Yes, we are Mr. Jung.
We come out of the montage, the defense attorney Diego Delgado, Joe Calibanos, a sleazy-Greek-like-ex-basketball weight lifter guy is now doing the questioning.
CALIBANOS (CONT’D) Mr. Jung, you’re a convicted felon, correct?
GEORGE Yes, I am.
CALIBANOS Do you have any agreement or understanding whatsoever with the United States government in regards to your testimony?
GEORGE No, I cam here out of my own volition.
CALIBANOS Excuse me?
GEORGE Something about vengance being best served cold.
CALIBANOS Really. Are you getting paid, Mr. Jung?
GEORGE Excuse me?
CALIBANOS Mr. Jung, don’t you have an agreement or understanding with the United States Government in connection with your testimony in this case?
GEORGE I’m doing sixty years at Otisville, no chance of parole. Even if they cut my sentence in half I’ll be seventy-three years old. That’s some fucking deal. I don’t know if the parole board, the judge, the pope or Jesus Christ himself can get me out of here. I have a really bad record, I’m not sure what’s going to happen.
CALIBANOS So you do have an agreement with the United States Government, Mr. Jung, correct?
George can’t respond. Looks to Diego. Looks from the jury, the judge, George is on the spotlight and it’s uncomfortable. He feels suddenly sleazy.
CALIBANOS (CONT’D) I thought so. No more questions.
Silence. The judge tells George he can step down. Calibanos laughs quietly with associates. George is bummed. He walks by Diego. They look at each other.
GEORGE You shouldn’t have taken the 30 million, Diego, I was out.
George is lead away.
CLERK The court calls Mr. Jack Stevens.
Jack Stevens is lead to the stand. WE SLOWLY DISSOLVE TO:
