Blow
DIEGO DELGADO My name is Diego Delgado. How do you do?
INT. DANBURY F.C.I. – MESS HALL – 1974 – DAY
George pushes his tray through the cafeteria line. Diego is behind him.
DIEGO If you don’t mind me asking, what is the reason you are in this place?
GEORGE What?
DIEGO Your offense? Why are you here?
GEORGE I don’t want to talk about it.
DIEGO Intriguing. I see. Would you like to know my crime?
GEORGE Not really, no.
DIEGO No?
GEORGE I don’t like a lot of conversation, Diego.
DIEGO Me, too. Too much blah, blah, blah, blah is no good. But we are roommates, okay? And we must talk to each other. I am arrested for stealing cars. For the grand theft auto. Okay? So, now it is your turn. Now you will tell me, okay? You will tell me why you are here?
George says nothing. He keeps eating his food.
DIEGO (CONT’D) Oh, come on, George. If we are to be friends, we must trust each other.
GEORGE Murder.
DIEGO Ah, yes. The murder.
INT. DANBURY F.C.I. – GEORGE’S CELL – NIGHT
George lays on his bunk, smoking. Diego is on the bottom bunk, furiously writing on a notepad. He flips through his books and rustles his papers. George peeks over the side to see what Diego is doing.
GEORGE What do you got there, Diego?
DIEGO Nothing. Just a little project.
GEORGE What kind of project?
DIEGO Never mind. Not for you to worry.
GEORGE I thought you said we were roommates. That we should talk about everything.
DIEGO You have your intrigues. I have mine. This is a happy day for me, George. Nine months from today, I will be in Medellin sipping champagne. In nine months, I am free. How much time do you have?
GEORGE Twenty-six months.
DIEGO Twenty-six months? For murder? I must be your lawyer.
GEORGE I’ve got to get out of here, Diego.
DIEGO Only two ways I know to leave here early. One is to escape.
GEORGE What’s the other one?
INT. DANBURY F.C.I. – CLASSROOM – DAY
George is trying to teach basic education to the inmates. The room, mostly black and hispanic, is hostile. They don’t want to learn.
GEORGE Alright, let’s open our books.
INMATE #1 Man, fuck you.
INMATE #2 We ain’t opening shit.
INMATE #1 You just the warden’s boy. We on to you. You just trying to knock some time off, asskissing motherfucker.
Diego watches as the room reacts with laughter. This ain’t going to be easy.
GEORGE Alright. You’re right. I want to get out of this shithole as fast as I can. And I don’t want to do this any more than you do. But for me to walk early, some of you have to graduate. You, forget about it. You’re hopeless, go to sleep.
The room laughs again.
INMATE #3 Damn, homeboy, you got ruined.
GEORGE But the rest of you could get diplomas and get jobs when you’re on the outside.
The room looks at him. They ain’t buying it.
INMATE #1 Shit, I’m in for life.
INMATE #2 I’m a criminal. I ain’t getting no motherfucking job.
GEORGE We can learn some criminal shit, too. Alright, I’ll make you a deal. What if half the time, we learn about George Washington, and the other half, I’ll teach you how to smuggle drugs?
INMATE #2 Man, you don’t know dick about smuggling no drugs.
GEORGE I was arrested in Chicago with six hundred and sixty pounds of grass. I think that qualifies me.
Diego looks up from his desk, suddenly very interested.
INMATE #1 How did you get a hold of six-hundred and sixty pounds of dope?
GEORGE Flew it in from Mexico on a single engine Cessna. Now, do we have a deal or not?
They react. They’re in.
GEORGE (CONT’D) Alright, the first thing you need to know about smuggling drugs is that it’s easy. The DEA are a bunch of losers. They couldn’t find their dicks in a whorehouse. They don’t know what the fuck they’re doing…
Diego watches George winning over the room. He listens intently to George’s every word. His wheels are turning.
INT. DANBURY F.C.I. – GEORGE’S CELL – NIGHT
Lights out. Diego and George lay in their cots. George is tired. Diego is not.
DIEGO George? Hey, George? I listen to what you say to the class today about the smuggling. You are a magico, ah?
George doesn’t respond.
DIEGO (CONT’D) I never believed you were a murderer. I knew. I knew you are a magico. I have seen it in you. It’s in your spirit.
GEORGE I’m tired, Diego. Go to bed.
DIEGO You like to make the boundaries disappear. It’s not only the money, is it, George? The adventure is part of the victory. It’s the thrill, ah?
GEORGE Good night.
DIEGO In my country, I am a magico. A man with a dream. A man on the rise. To take nothing and make it something, okay? I have failed my dream, but I will accomplish. That is why I am in your country. Yes, I lose my freedom. But they do not take my dream. Do you have a dream, George?
GEORGE I would if I could get some sleep.
DIEGO Yes, you have a dream. And maybe you accomplish your dream. But yet you failed. Why?
GEORGE Because I got caught.
DIEGO No, my brother.
GEORGE Because they caught me?
DIEGO You failed because you had the wrong dream.
Diego climbs off his bunk and looks George square in the eye.
DIEGO (CONT’D) George? What do you know about cocaine?
INT. DANBURY F.C.I. – MESS HALL – DAY
GEORGE I don’t know, Diego. I’ve got a good thing going already. Everybody smokes pot. It’s easy. Cocaine is a rich man’s drug. It’s too expensive.
DIEGO No, no. That is where you are wrong. For us, it is cheap. In Medellin, we buy for six-thousand dollars a kilo. IN Miami, we sell for sixty.
George’s interest is piqued.
GEORGE That’s over fifty-thousand dollars profit per kilo.
DIEGO And that’s wholesale. Cut it a few times and retail, you’re looking at two, three-hundred thousand.
GEORGE Oh my G-d.
DIEGO Yes. And a kilo of coca is smaller than a kilo of your precious marijuana. Everything is the same, George, except instead of thousands, you are making millions.
GEORGE Jesus Christ. Jesus fucking Christ.
DIEGO Now do you see what I am saying?
GEORGE Getting it here is no problem. Trust me. I’ll fly it in myself if I have to. What about supply? How much can we get?
DIEGO Don’t worry. We will talk of everything. We have the time. You arrive here with a Bachelor of Marijuana, but you will leave with a Doctorate of Cocaine.
INT. DANBURY F.C.I. – GEORGE’S CELL – NIGHT
Diego and George pouring over Diego’s plans. Discussing, planning, plotting.
DIEGO What type of planes do you have?
GEORGE Four passenger, single engine Cessna.
DIEGO How many kilos can we fit in these planes?
GEORGE I don’t know. A hundred, hundred and fifty. How many miles is it from Colombia to Miami?
DIEGO Fifteen hundred. We’ll have to stop somewhere to refuel.
GEORGE We’ll refuel in the Bahamas. I know someone there.
DIEGO Great. I love the Bahamas.
