Logline

Three boys swear an oath to be friends forever, but life interferes and their paths go different ways. Years later, they reunite and one of them breaks the oath. Now, someone must die. Murder Takes Time is Goodfellas meets A Bronx Tale.

Theme: Oaths are meant to be kept – at least in the neighborhood Frankie and Nicky grew up in.

Synopsis

The story starts with Nicky Fusco watching Nino Tortella finish his day at the car lot. When Nino leaves, Nicky drives to his house, getting there before him. When Nino arrives, he is brutally killed. It’s a gruesome murder, done for a reason we don’t yet know. The next scene is a mobster (Paulie Perlano) meeting his boss (Tony Sannullo) at a restaurant and explaining that Nino was killed. From the conversation, they know who did it. Tony curses, tosses his napkin, and stands to leave, exclaiming that “a lot more people are gonna die now.”

The scene shifts back to Nino’s house. Detective Frankie Donovan pulls up and enters. Kate Burns, the medical examiner, is already there. She tells Frankie that she found DNA from many people and that if he doesn’t get more leads, they’ll have nothing. Frankie finds rat shit and a dead rat in the refrigerator – clues, he tells Lou, and he wants evidence from all the crime scenes. Going home to ponder the murder, Frankie realizes it’s a message from one of his old friends.

Flashback to Frankie and his friends Nicky and Tony when they were eight. The boys go to the local supermarket to steal cigarettes, but Nicky and Frankie get caught and are taken to the police station. After hours of questioning, the boys refuse to give their names or tell who else was with them. Nicky earns the nickname “the rat” from Doggs, the local mob boss, because he wouldn’t talk. The boys soon graduate to stealing large hauls and working the poker games at the smoke shop. Frankie is given the name “Bugs” for his ability to kill bugs so quickly. Before long, Tony and Nicky are running numbers for Doggs, and Tony escalates to doing drugs.

Nicky falls for a local girl, Angela, and after his father dies, he vows to stop hanging with the guys. He gets a job and is keeping his promise to Angie when Frankie’s sister tells him Frankie and the others are in a gang fight and need help – the other gang has guns. Nicky runs to the card shop, gets a gun, and races to the woods. The fight is in full swing; a rival pulls a gun and shoots Mick, one of Nicky’s friends. Nicky shoots the rival, killing him. The other gang runs. Nicky stays with Mick. Cops arrive; Nicky is arrested, tried and sent to prison for seven years. He kills several would-be molesters in prison and earns three additional years. The only people who visit are Angela, Mamma Rosa, and Sister Thomas; eventually Angela stops coming.

Seven years later, Mamma Rosa is dead and Nicky is released. He finds out Angela is married with a child, so he goes to NY to see Tony, now a crew boss for the Titi Martelli mob family, with Paulie working for him. They call Frankie, now a cop. Six months later Tony introduces Nicky to Tito, who assigns Nicky as Johnny Muck’s apprentice. As an initiation, Nicky kills three men who owe Tito money. Tony, worried about Nicky’s rising influence (and his own secret), suggests Tito use Nicky to take care of Gina, a woman extorting him. Knowing Nicky wouldn’t kill a woman, Tony hopes to get rid of him before Nicky learns the truth.

Nicky agrees to kill Gina, but she twirls her hair like Angela and he can’t do the job. He conspires with Gina, tells her Tito is after her, and devises a plan to keep her safe. When Tito gets suspicious, Tony lures Nicky toward Indianapolis. Nicky and Gina flee to Cincinnati, then Cleveland; they fall in love and marry. As Nicky goes to confession before a real church wedding, Tito’s men shoot Gina dead outside. Nicky runs home for guns and fake IDs and heads to New York seeking vengeance. He tortures Donnie Amato until Donnie reveals it was Johnny Muck, then kills him too.

Frankie connects the dots and warns Tony, convincing him to wear a wire. Nicky gets to Tony, rips the wire off; in the struggle, he shoots Tony. Before dying, Tony tells Nicky that Frankie never broke the oath. Nicky kidnaps and brutally kills Tito, then calls Frankie: he’s done. Frankie tracks Nicky down in a mall bathroom. They come up with a plan to frame Tito. Frankie then suggests Nicky go try to be with Angela. He does, and Angela tells him about Tony raping her and that Rosa is Tony’s daughter – why she stopped visiting him in prison. Nicky tells her he’s sorry and wants to be with her.

Potential for sequels: Frankie as the Brooklyn detective and Nicky as a reformed hit man in Wilmington, DE – Nicky helping Frankie with cases, using his unique skills, and Frankie sometimes helping Nicky. Five more books are written and could easily be adapted to screenplays.