King of New York

King of New York is an ultraviolent 1990 motion picture depicting Frank White, a recently-released drug lord who, in a modern-day retelling of the Robin Hood legend, returns to New York City to retake control of the illegal drug trade and use the profits to fight poverty.

Synopis

The film opens with Frank White (Christopher Walken), a wealthy and powerful crime boss, leaving Sing Sing and riding by limousine into New York. As he makes the long journey into the city, we see Emilio El Zapa (Freddy Howard), a Colombian drug dealer, enter a phone booth, where he is almost immediately gunned-down by three assailants. As the hit men leave, one of them drops a newspaper onto Zapa's lap, the headline of which announces Frank White's release.

Related Topics:
Crime boss - Sing Sing - Limousine - Colombia - Phone booth - Hit men - Newspaper - Headline

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Across town, Zapa's partner, King Tito (Ernest Abuba), sits in a hotel room with Jimmy Jump (Larry Fishburne) and Test Tube (Steve Buscemi), a pair of gangsters who are negotiating the purchase of several kilograms of cocaine. Finally, the two agree to pay Tito $100,000 up front, plus 10% of the street value. When Tito opens the suitcase ostensibly containing the money, however, he discovers that is full of tampons. Jump and Test Tube then draw pistols, shoot Tito and his bodyguards to death, and steal the cocaine.

Related Topics:
Hotel - Kilogram - Cocaine - Suitcase - Tampon - Pistol - Bodyguard

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A few hours later, in the presidential suite at the Plaza Hotel, Frank White steps out of the shower to discover that Jump, Test Tube, and the three phone booth killers are waiting for him. They are revealed to be the core members of his gang, and they welcome him home with a gift of champagne and Zapa's briefcase full of money. After an exchange of pleasantries, Frank leaves to meet two of his many lawyers, Joey Dalesio (Paul Calderon) and Jennifer (Janet Julian), for dinner.

Related Topics:
Presidential suite - Plaza Hotel - Gang - Champagne - Briefcase

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After the dinner, during which Frank proclaims himself "reformed," expresses his desire to be elected mayor, and asks Dalesio to set up a meeting with Mafia boss Arty Clay (Frank Gio), he and Jennifer leave to take a ride on the subway, where it is revealed that she is one of his many mistresses. Upon being confronted by three muggers, Frank first brandishes his gun, then gives them a wad of money, telling them to ask for him at the Plaza Hotel if they want work.

Related Topics:
Mayor - Mafia - Subway

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In Little Italy, Dalesio attempts to set up Frank's meeting with Arty Clay, but the crime lord refuses to accept. Referring to Frank as a "nigger-lover" in front of the black Dalesio, Clay proceeds to urinate on the messenger to drive his point home. Upon hearing of this, Frank, Jump, and several other members of the gang arrive at Clay's social club, where Frank tells Clay that he wants a percentage of all Clay's profits. When Clay refuses and insults him to his face, Frank draws his gun and empties it into the mafioso. As he makes his way out, Frank announces to Clay's henchmen that they can all find employment at the Plaza.

Related Topics:
Little Italy - Nigger - Urinate

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The next night, after watching an avant-garde play, Frank confronts a city councilman about the city's failure to continue the funding of a hospital in a poverty-stricken area of the Bronx. When the councilman explains that there wasn't enough money in the budget, Frank vows to fund the facility himself. Moments later, he is confronted by Roy Bishop (Victor Argo) and his right-hand men, Dennis Gilley (David Caruso) and Thomas Flanigan (Wesley Snipes), three members of the NYPD's narcotics squad, who tell him that they are taking him to police headquarters for questioning. Instead, the three drive him to an abandoned lot, where they show him the body of Emilio El Zapa in the trunk of their car. When Frank refuses to confess to the crime, Gilley and Flanigan beat him. The cops then drive off, leaving Frank to find his own way home.

Related Topics:
Avant-garde - Play - City council - Hospital - The Bronx - NYPD - Trunk

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Apparently unfazed by Bishop's warnings, Frank sends Dalesio to Chinatown to make contact with Larry Wong (Joey Chin), a Triad gangster who possesses 220 pounds of heroin worth over $15 million on the street. Wong, however, is leery of dealing with Frank, especially after the demise of Arty Clay. He demands that Frank meet him alone on neutral ground to discuss the deal. As the meeting is being scheduled, however, Jimmy Jump and several of Frank's top lieutenants are arrested by Gilley and Flanigan, who reveal that one of King Tito's bodyguards is still alive and willing to testify against them.

Related Topics:
Chinatown - Triad - Heroin

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Meeting at the very hospital he is intent on saving, Frank attempts to hammer out a deal with Wong. The Triad demands $3 million up front and another $500,000 after the drugs are sold, but Frank counters that, since the drugs are worth over five times that amount on the street, the two team up, with Wong providing the drugs and Frank providing the dealers, then split the profits evenly. When Frank insists that part of the profits be directed into funding the hospital, however, Wong turns him down and demands that Frank decide immediately whether he want to buy the drugs for $3.5 million or not at all. Frank declines and the two part ways.

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Returning to the Plaza, Frank learns of Jump's arrest and orders his lawyers to arrange their release, a process that eventually entails paying $1 million in bail for each man. Frank sends his limousine to the county jail to pick up Jump and his men, and they head directly to Chinatown, where they use machine guns to massacre Wong's entire gang. Kidnapping Wong, they force him to take them to the warehouse where he keeps the heroin (which is kept in metal drums marked "MSG") before killing him.

Related Topics:
Bail - County jail - Machine gun - Kidnapping - Warehouse - MSG

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With the money gained from selling some of Wong's heroin, Frank sets up a fundraiser, hosted by singer Freddie Jackson, to raise even more money for the hospital. Witnessing this latest outrage on TV, Gilley, Flanigan, and several like-minded officers resolve to use extrajudicial means to get rid of Frank. Posing as drug dealers, they bribe Joey Dalesio into leading them to the nightclub where Frank and most of his men are partying. Catching the criminals unawares, the death squad bursts in with guns blazing, succeeding in slaying all of Frank's girlfriends and most of his gang.

Related Topics:
Fundraiser - Freddie Jackson - Extrajudicial - Nightclub - Death squad

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Fleeing in their limousine, Frank and Jump trade shots with the police, killing all of them except Gilley and Flanigan. After momentarily giving their pursuers the slip, the two men split up, with the nearly-maniacal Jump staying behind to deal with the two cops. Sneaking up on Flanigan, Jump shoots him five times in the chest, puncturing his bulletproof vest and killing him instantly. Seeing this, Gilley shoots Jump in the gut and, after pausing to attempt CPR on his partner, kills his assailant with a round to the head.

Related Topics:
Bulletproof vest - CPR

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Reeling from the unexpected assault and the loss of his friend, Frank responds with narcoterrorism. A few days after the murders, as Gilley is leaving Flanigan's funeral, Frank kills him personally with a shotgun blast to the head. That night, after watching his surviving henchmen kill Dalesio, Frank shows up at Roy Bishop's apartment, telling him that he has placed a $250,000 bounty on every police officer on the case, including Bishop. Still holding Bishop at gunpoint, Frank explains that he killed Tito, Wong, and the others because he disapproved of their business practices, which included the exploitation of immigrants and child prostitution. When Bishop asks, "Did you really think you could get away with killing all these people?" Frank replies with the most oft-quoted line of the film: "I never killed anyone who didn't deserve it."

Related Topics:
Narcoterrorism - Shotgun - Exploitation of immigrants - Child prostitution

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His business seemingly concluded, Frank forces Bishop to handcuff himself to a chair before taking his leave. As Frank makes his way down to the subway, Bishop uses a gun from a nearby drawer to free himself and gives chase. Following Frank to the last car on the subway, Bishop corners him, causing Frank to take a hostage. During the ensuing standoff, Frank fires on Bishop, killing him instantly, but not before the policeman is able to fire off one shot himself. Escaping from the subway and into a nearby taxi, Frank looks down to see that he has been hit. As police officers surround the car, Frank closes his eyes and dies. The last image of the film is his gun falling limply to his side.

Related Topics:
Handcuff - Hostage - Taxi

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