Donnie Brasco
JUDY What other grown men would have nothing better to do than sit here all afternoon drinking coffee and nobody says anything?
They all look at each other.
NICKY We could be cops.
LAUGHTER all around. Lefty steals another look at Donnie as he sits placidly drinking his coffee.
CUT TO:
EXT. LATER. LITTLE ITALY
Lefty RUMMAGES in the trunk of his Cadillac. Takes out several DESIGNER DRESSES, on hangers. Two cartons of TUNA FISH. Two large STEREO SPEAKERS. Rummages some more. Finds A JEWEL BOX.
CUT TO:
INT. LATER. CASA BELLA
Donnie sips his coffee at the bar, reads the paper. The restaurant is otherwise DESERTED — Sonny and the other guys have left. Lefty approaches him.
LEFTY You Don the Jeweler?
Donnie looks up to the Bartender. The Bartender nods. Lefty reaches in his pocket, produces
A FIVE-CARAT DIAMOND RING
LEFTY That’s a beauty, eh? That’s some beautiful thing.
Donnie looks it over. Gives it to Lefty.
DONNIE Give it to your wife.
LEFTY How’m I gonna give it to my wife? I ain’t married.
DONNIE You got a girlfriend?
LEFTY Yeah. Louise.
He returns the diamond to Lefty.
DONNIE Marry her.
LEFTY Are you for real? I’m asking if you want to middle a diamond here. All I want for my end’s eight thousand.
DONNIE I’m saying give it to somebody don’t know any better. It’s a fugazy.
LEFTY How can you say it’s a fugazy? You looked at it two seconds.
DONNIE Go ahead, try and sell it, you wanna be a dunsky.
LEFTY (angry) I’m a dunsky? Let me tell you something, my friend — do you know who you’re talking to?
The Bartender, SCARED — he knows what Lefty’s capable of. Quickly mixes a SPRITZER.
BARTENDER Here, Left, have a spritzer.
LEFTY (sputtering) My family, my children — my mother can hold her head up in any neighborhood in the city when she walks down the block. In all the Five Boroughs I’m known, fuggedaboudit — I’m known all over the world. You ask around — ask anybody about Lefty from Mulberry Street.
DONNIE I’m sorry. It was just a misunderstanding. Okay?
Donnie backs off, EXITS. Lefty takes the diamond out, looks at it — FUMES. The Bartender slides the spritzer over.
BARTENDER On the arm.
LEFTY Fugazy. Fugazy my fucking ass.
CUT TO:
EXT. LATER. CASA BELLA
Donnie exhales out his tension — unwinds from the dicey moment with Lefty. Pulls his collar up against the cold, heads up the block.
Takes a last look back inside at Lefty.
CUT TO:
INT. LATER. JEWELER
A JEWELER, loupe in his eye, examines the diamond.
JEWELER It’s a fake.
LEFTY This’s a fake?
JEWELER Nothing is what it seems.
Lefty takes the fugazy back. Pockets it.
LEFTY Because that’s what I’m thinking. I thought it was a fake. (beat) It’s a good fake, though, ain’t it.
JEWELER It’s a very good fake.
LEFTY That’s what I’m saying. I thought it was a fake. That’s what I thought.
Lefty takes the fugazy back. Pockets it.
CUT TO:
EXT. DAY. NEW JERSEY SUBURBS
Donnie drives the big station wagon, Maggie alongside him. The girls in back.
SHERRY Daddy, will you be home Easter?
MAGGIE Don’t ask Daddy those questions.
SHERRY Mommy, will Daddy be home Easter?
TERRY You still believe in the Easter bunny?
KERRY You’re such a snot, Terry.
MAGGIE (to Terry) He’ll try his best.
TERRY (to Kerry) Don’t look at me. I think it’s great he’s never home.
SHERRY Denise in school asked me today what Daddy’s job is.
MAGGIE What’d you tell her?
SHERRY None of her beeswax.
TERRY Just tell her he’s a salesman on the road a lot. I mean, who cares what he really does?
MAGGIE (stern) You be proud of what your father does. Do you understand me? Your father is an outstanding individual.
TERRY Jesus. Lighten up. That’s not the point.
KERRY Shut up, Terry.
CUT TO:
EXT. LATER. GRANDPARENTS’ HOUSE
The station wagon pulls up. The kids run out into the embrace of Maggie’s PARENTS. Maggie climbs out, turns.
MAGGIE You said it was going to be six months, Joe.
CUT TO:
INT. DAY. ACERG, INC.
A storefront for fenced goods. WISEGUYS play cards, smoke cigarettes. The PAY PHONE rings. Jilly picks it up.
CUT TO:
INT. SAME TIME. FBI SAFEHOUSE
A phone line patched into a reel-to-reel TAPE RECORDER among rows of tape recorders. VOICE-ACTIVATED it clicks on, UNSPOOLS…
JILLY (O.S.) Hello?
CUT TO:
INT. MORNING. CASA BELLA
Lefty talks on a pay phone. Watches a MAN, indistinct in the background, sipping coffee at the bar.
LEFTY He’s okay?
PHONE (O.S.) Don the Jeweler? Stand-up guy. Ain’t a leech, good earner. Keeps to himself.
RACK FOCUS
to Donnie at the bar, sipping coffee. Lefty watches him.
FLASH CUT TO:
INT. THE PRESENT. FBI HEADQUARTERS
Hogue listens on headphones.
LEFTY (O.S.) Where’s he from?
PHONE (O.S.) California. He’s a jewel guy.
LEFTY (O.S.) Where California? L.A.?
PHONE (O.S.) Do you know how fucking big California is? How the fuck should I know? He’s a jewel guy.
