New Jack City (1991)

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Plot

The film takes place in early 90's New York City. The film opens with a man being dangled from a highway bridge by Duh Duh Duh Man (Bill Nunn), one of the CMB crew. Soon the leader, Nino Brown (Wesley Snipes), shows up. The man begs for his life while his mate screams in terror, but Nino makes it clear that the man had his chance to deliver some money and drugs, but failed. Duh Duh Duh Man drops the man off the bridge into the river below.

Police officer Scotty Appleton (Ice-T) is undercover trying to make a drug buy. The dealer, Pookie (Chris Rock), gives him a hard time and finally demands to see the money. Scotty shows Pookie the money, only to get assaulted as Pookie takes the money and runs for it. Scotty chases him down and arrest him. While this happens, Kareem (Christopher Williams), sees the arrest and reports back to Nino Brown.

Gee Money (Allen Payne), one of the CMB crew, and Nino's closest friend, is on a public basketball court. He bets some of the men that he can make a jump shot from a bad angle. Gee Money makes the shot and collects the money from all those that bet against him. Nino Brown and Duh Duh Duh Man arrive at the public basketball court in a custom jeep. Gee Money greets his crew members and rides with them. While the three CMB members are in the jeep, Gee Money tells Nino about how base crack cocaine was more powerful than the powdered formula. While both Nino and Duh Duh Duh Man get on him for selling drugs without their knowledge, Nino considers Gee Money's endorsement of using base.

The three CMB members arrive at a downtown night club called Spotlight, run by Public Enemy hype-man Flava Flav. As they head toward to the backroom, Scotty, whose at the club, gets a good look at Nino while dancing with two girls. Nino, feeling like he's being watched, spots Appleton, but doesn't think anything of it. In the backroom, other key CMB members, including Keisha (Vanessa Williams), and Nino's girlfriend,Selina (Michael Michele), are waiting for them. She tells Nino that her cousin Kareem wants to become part of the CMB crew full time. Nino jokes about him being a university graduate, slumming for cash. He then sells the idea of selling base instead of powdered cocaine. He also makes it clear that he wants to set up one place of operations where they make and sell the base. He tells the CMB crew that they're going to take over the carter apartments complex and turn it into a drug lab.

The CMB crew don't waste any time. First Keisha kills the drug dealer who runs the streets around the carter apartments. While this happens, Nino forces the owner of the apartment complex out on the street butt naked with a shotgun to his head. He threatens the man to sign over the apartment complex to him. An old military veteran (Bill Cobbs) watches as this happens. The CMB crew then evacuate all the residents in the apartment complex, killing those who resist. The crew set up shop and immediately start making tons of money.

Scotty is looking at a school teacher on a pubic playground full of her students. She gives them a lecture and has the students repeat the most important part. At the police station, the old military veteran complains to the police about the carter apartments, but he gets completely ignored. While this happens, police detectives Stone (Mario Van Peebles) and Park (Russell Wong) have a meeting with the police chief. Stone suggest that the only way to stop Nino Brown, is to hire ex-police officers with extreme reputations. The chief disagrees at first, but after seeing Stone's logic, agrees to let him have his men. Stone goes to the apartment of Scotty Appleton with one of the men already with him. He introduces him as Nick Peretti (Judd Nelson). Scotty complains at first, but agrees to work with him.

Nino has a meeting with Frankie Needles (Anthony DeSando). Needles accuses Nino of cutting his mafia family out on the fifteen percent that was agreed upon. Nino tells Frankie that the CMB crew stands alone and no longer does business with Don Armeteo (John Aprea), Frankie's boss. Frankie reports to Armeteo, but the boss tells him that Nino will make a mistake, and when he does, they'll make him pay.

Nino gives out free turkeys during the Thanksgiving holidays much to the disgust of Nick and Scotty who are watching from afar. Pookie, whose now a homeless drug addict, charms Nino into giving him a whole turkey and a job offer. Scotty spots Pookie and decides to follow him. Later that night, Pookie threatens to beat up his homeless girlfriend for not putting out. He's stopped by Appleton, who puts him into a drug rehab program. After sometime, Pookie recovers and returns to his old self. Pookie, now grateful, begs Scotty to make him part of the team to stop Nino. Pookie gets employed at the carter apartments and gives the police detailed accounts of what goes on.

New Years Day arrives and the CMB crew celebrate being the top drug dealers of New York City at the Spotlight. They have a toast to their success. Nino and Gee Money then have a private conversation, swearing loyalty to one another. Frankie Needles pays Nino a visit and gives him an insulting New Years present. Nino attacks Frankie by cutting off his pony tail. Nino and Gee Money hit the dance floor to enjoy their night. Nino spots an attractive woman who use to date Gee Money. Nino ask Gee Money if he's still with her. Gee Money responds by saying he doesn't know yet, because he still needs time to know her better. Gee Money, with his lady friend named Uniqua (Tracy Camilla Johns), goes back to Nino's house. After watching the film Scarface, Uniqua openly flirts with Nino, even though Selina is in the room with them. Nino then jokes about Selina not being able to have any kids, comparing her to Tony Montana's wife Elvira from the film. The two of them have an argument in his room about it, but Nino makes it clear he's no longer interested in her.

Stone decides to make Pookie wear a wire so they can get more information about the dealings in the carter apartments. Nick is against it, but Scotty vouches for him. After sometime in the apartments, Pookie is approached by Kareem. Kareem takes him to see Gee Money who promotes Pookie to work in the drug making room. At this point, Nick begs Stone to pull Pookie out, but Pookie and Scotty argue against it. Stone agrees with Nick, but tells Scotty that it's his call. Scotty tells Pookie that a lot of people, including the victims of drug related crimes, are counting on him to succeed. Pookie gives into temptation, stealing some base from the drug room; he slowly gets addicted again. While in the drug room one night, Pookie's actions of addiction get noticed by Gee Money and Duh Duh Duh Man. They discover that Pookie is wearing a wire and kill him. Scotty and crew don't reach him in time as they discover Pookie's body attached to a bomb. They stop the bomb seconds before it goes off.

Nino is having sex with Uniqua, when the phone rings. She answers and gets an ear full from Gee Money. Gee Money breaks the bad news to Nino Brown. Nino calls a meeting and confronts Gee Money for messing up. Gee Money blames Kareem and almost blames Nino, himself, but thinks better of it. Nino responds by stabbing Kareem in the hand and chokes him with a chain. Duh Duh Duh Man prevents Nino from killing him. Nino tells Kareem he never liked him, because he was too pretty. Nino then warns Gee Money not to fail him again.

Stone, Park, Nick, and Scotty are at Pookie's funeral. Stone tells Scotty that him depending on a drug addict, ruined their chance to arrest Nino Brown. Stone ends the investigation and tells Scotty to move on. Scotty and Nick decide to bring Nino Brown down themselves. They harasses Frankie Needles into contacting Gee Money. Pretending to be drug dealers, they make a deal with Gee Money, with Scotty playing the personal contact man.

During a game of basketball between Gee Money and Nino Brown, Scotty shows up. He gets threatened by Nino Brown, whose mad about his game being disturbed. Nino then talks to Gee Money and tells him that if Scotty turns out to be a fake, he'll kill him. Nino intentionally has Scotty hang out with him. During one night, Nino tells Scotty how he killed an innocent school teacher so he could be a member of a street gang. Some time later, Nino is giving children money, trying to win over the neighborhood. The old military veteran shows up and notices that even the Pastor of his church has given into Nino Brown. He tries to attack Nino, but Scotty prevents it. Later that night, Nino thanks Scotty. Scotty tells Nino that Gee Money made a side deal with him for the new batch of base cocaine coming in. Months later, Scotty is at a wedding hosted by Nino Brown. Nick breaks into Nino's house and gets some of his financial records. After the wedding is over, Nino gets attacked by Don Armeteo's men. Nino uses a little girl as a shield from the bullets. Keisha gets killed in the gun fight.

Afterwards, Selina makes it clear she now hates Nino for his ruthless actions over the years. Nino throws her out the house. He gets a phone call from Don Armeteo, taunting him. Nino responds by personally killing Don Armeteo during a drive-by shooting.

Scotty and Nick go to Stone about their activities. Stone brings in a female prosecutor named Hawkins (Phyllis Yvonne Stickney) . They setup a drug buy, hoping to arrest Nino Brown. The drug deal goes bad, as Kareem recognizes Scotty back when he arrested Pookie. Nino kills two police men, including Park, and makes his escape. Duh Duh Duh Man is killed by Scotty and Nick. Afterwards, Nino kills Gee Money, after he discovers his best friend was a jealous base head. Nino hides in one of the neighborhood apartments, but Nick and Scotty are able to find him, after a teenager gladly tells them his whereabouts. Scotty confronts Nino and nearly beats him to death. he reveals that the innocent school teacher he killed in the past, was his mother. Scotty then almost shoots Nino, but Stone and Nick are able to talk him out of it.

During Nino Brown's criminal trial, Nino is able to slick talk his way out of serious prison time. He lies on Kareem, claiming he's the real leader of the CMB crew. Because of Nino further cooperation, he only gets a year in prison, much to Scotty's disappointment. Nino taunts Scotty and smiles at the news cameras. However, Nino is killed by the old military veteran who catches him off guard.

The film ends with a message telling the audience that real solutions must happen to stop all the real life Nino Brown's,