Giacomo Giammatteo
jgiammatteo@mac.comhttps://nomistakespublishing.com/
(281) 370-2233
Murder Takes Time AWARDS:
Murder Takes Time: Feature film script. (received a ‘recommended’ rating from
WEScreenplay, won the Wiki screenplay contest, won best crime film in the Washington
Film Awards, WRPN Gold Award winner, and was a finalist in the Big Apple Film Fest)
Author: Giacomo Giammatteo (novel and screenplay)
Source: Adaption of book: Murder Takes Time
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.
Murder Takes Time Synopsis
The story starts with Nicky Fusco watching Nino Tortella finish his day at the car lot. When he
leaves, Nicky drives to his house, getting there before him. When Nino arrives, he is brutally
killed. It’s a gruesome murder, and it’s done for a reason, but we don’t know why.
The next scene is a mobster (Paulie Perlano) meeting his boss (Tony Sannullo) at a restaurant,
and explaining that Nino was killed. It’s obvious from the conversation, that they know who did
it. Tony curses, tosses his napkin onto the table, and stands to leave, exclaiming that ‘a lot more
people are gonna die now.’
The scene shifts back to Nino’s house with a lot of cars parked out front. Detective Frankie
Donovan pulls up and enters. Kate Burns, the medical examiner is already there investigating.
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. He tells Lou that
these are clues, and he wants evidence from all the crime scenes.
Frankie goes home to ponder the murder, and as he thinks on it, he realizes it’s a message from
one of his old friends.
Flashback to Frankie and his friends, Nicky and Tony when they were eight years old. 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. While still being grilled, Nicky's father comes and and gets them out. Nicky
earns the nickname of ‘the rat’ from Doggs, the local mob boss, because he wouldn’t talk.
The boys soon graduate to stealing large hauls of cigarettes 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 comes to his
house and tells him, Frankie and the others are in a gang fight and need help. “The other gang
has guns,” she said.
Nicky runs to the card shop and gets a gun, then he races to the spot in the woods where the fight
is to take place. The fight is in full swing by the time Nicky gets there, and one of the rival gang
members pulls a gun and shoots Mick, one of Nicky's friends. Nicky pulls his gun and shoots the
rival, killing him. The other gang runs, and Nicky kneels down to care for the Mick. All his other
friends run when they hear the sound of sirens, but Nicky stays with Mick.
Cops arrive with the ambulance, and Nicky is arrested. He is tried and sent to prison for seven
years. Several people try molesting Nicky and he kills them, earning three additional years in
prison. The only people who visit him in prison are Angela, Mamma Rosa, and Sister Thomas,
but after a while, Angela stops coming.
Flash forward seven years. Mamma Rosa is dead, and Nicky is released from
prison. He finds out Angela is married with a child, so he decides to go to NY to
see Tony. Tony is working as a crew boss for a mob family, run by Titi Martelli,
and Paulie (one of the childhood friends) works for Tony.
Tony (and Paulie) picks up Nicky from the train station, and they go to a bar and
call Frankie (now a cop). After hours of drinking, Frankie calls it quits and gives
Nicky his number to call him anytime.
Six months later, Tony introduces Nicky to Tito. Nicky tells Tito he will do
anything Tito needs as long as he can make enough money to get Angela back.
Tito gets one of his men (Chicky) to check Nicky out, and he finds that Nicky
killed two guys in prison who attacked him, and that even the guards were scared
of him. Tito assigns Nicky to be Johnny Muck’s apprentice. As an initiation, Nicky
kills three men who owe Tito money.
Tony is worried about Nicky's rising influence in Tito’s organization, so he
suggests Tito use Nicky to take care of a woman who is extorting him, because
Tony knows that Nicky will probably say no. Secretly, he knows that sooner or
later, Nicky will find out what he did to Angela, and he wants to get rid of Nicky
before that happens.
Back to Nicky – he agrees to kill Gina (one who is extorting Tito), but when he
goes to kill her, she twirls her hair like Angela, and he can’t bring himself to do the
job. He conspires with Gina, tells her Tito is after her, and devises a plan to keep
her safe.
Tito tells Tony that Nicky followed through and killed Gina, but Tony is not
convinced because he knows Nicky wouldn’t kill a woman. Tito get suspicious and
tells Tony to keep an eye on Nicky and make sure nothing is afoul.
Tony concocts a devious plan to find Gina. He tells Nicky that Tito knows where
she is, then follows Nicky to Indianapolis. Nicky suspects they are onto him, and
takes Gina and flees to Cincinnati, then Cleveland. During their escape, Nicky falls
for Gina, and the two end up making love, and eventually get married, even if it is
a justice of the peace marriage.
Nicky plans a ‘real wedding’ in a church, but they both go to confession
beforehand. As Nicky is in confession, Tito’s men pull up outside the church and
shoot Gina. Nicky hears the shots, and runs outside. He fires at them, but they get
away. He runs to Gina, but sees she is dead, so he gets away from the scene, goes
home and gets his guns, fake IDs, etc., and heads to New York, seeking vengeance.
Nicky shows up at Donnie Amato’s house, and demands the name of who planned
Gina’s killing. After some torture, Donnie reveals it was Johnny Muck. Nicky kills
Donnie anyway and spreads evidence around the apartment (multiple people’s
DNA).
Frankie connects the dots that the killings are about a girl who was shot in the head
and heart, and begins to dig into what that could mean.
Frankie figures it out, and he calls Tony to tell him that Nicky is after him, and he
convinces Tony to wear a wire. Lou tells Frankie about a newly-found body – it’s
Johnny Muck, brutally murdered.
Tito finds out about Muck, and proclaims he will kill Nicky. Nicky gets to Tony,
rips the wire off him. After a struggle, Nicky shoots Tony. Before dying, Tony tells
Nicky that Frankie never broke the oath.
Nicky kidnaps Tito, then brutally kills him. He calls Frankie and tells him he didn’t
mean to kill Tony, and that he was done killing after Tito. Frankie says he is
coming to arrest Nicky. He tracks Nicky down at the mall, finds him in a bathroom.
Nicky blames Frankie for all his woes, invoking the Woodside event. Frankie asks
Nicky if he is done killing. Nicky says there is no one left.
Frankie surmises there is not enough evidence to connect him to these crimes, and
they come up with a plan to frame Tito for them.
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, and that’s why she
stopped visiting him in prison. Nicky tells her he’s sorry, and he wants to be with
her. Angela kisses him, and they go upstairs to make love.
Frankie calls Kate and tells her about his case, and about his life growing up with
Nicky and Tony. Afterward, they watch a movie together.
Potential for sequels: There is definite potential for sequels with Frankie as the
Brooklyn detective and Nicky being a reformed hit man in Wilmington, DE. Nicky
helps Frankie with cases, using his unique set of skills, and sometimes Frankie
helps Nicky with problems.
Five more books are written and could easily be adapted to screenplays.
Theme
Murder Takes Time is a story about friendship and loyalty, and how bonds built in youth impact
adulthood. It’s a tale told over a span of twenty plus years, beginning when Nicky, Frankie, and
Tony were innocent eight-year-olds, and carrying through to adulthood where one is a mobster,
one a cop, and one a hit man.
It shows how things can go wrong as people age, and how there are consequences to that.
Tonally, the story is a mix of crime thriller, coming-of-age story, love story, but most of all a
story about friendship and what happens when it goes wrong.
Unique Structure
Characters
Cast of characters: The characters are introduced at different stages in their life. The three main
characters — Nicky, Frankie, and Tony — are seen in their youth (8 year old), teenage years, and
adulthood. Some of the other characters only appear as adults.
Nicky Fusco: We meet Nicky when he is a hit man, cold and calculated, no remorse. Then, we’re
taken back to Nicky as an eight-year old, when he and his friends were innocent and fun-loving,
albeit ornery. Nicky grows emotionally as the flashback progresses, and at fifteen he falls in love
with Angela. At twenty, he goes to help Tony and Frankie, who are in a gang fight, and he shoots
someone, which puts him in prison for seven years.
Prison makes Nicky grow in a different way. He becomes cynical, untrusting, but most of all, he
becomes extremely self-reliant. Once he is released, any semblance of sweet, innocent, Nicky is
gone, though optimism sometimes shines through, if only momentarily. Through it all, though,
Nicky maintains his respect for women. Respect he learned from Mamma Rosa (Tony’s mother,
and Sister Thomas).
Frankie Donovan: We meet Frankie as a seasoned detective charged with solving a string of
murders in Brooklyn. He is intense and thorough, determined to find out who committed the
crimes. We then go back to Frankie as an eight-year-old, intent on having fun. The story shows
Frankie's growth through childhood and into adulthood before jumping back to Frankie
Donovan, the detective.
Frankie soon learns that he is caught in a dilemma, once he realizes the killings can only be one
of two people — both his best friends.
Tony Sannullo: We meet Tony after he has become a crew boss for a crime family, and one of
his men reports the murder of another member. It frustrates and angers Tony because he suspects
it is his oldest friend doing this. We then go back to Tony as an eight-year-old, intent on having
fun while being ornery as hell with Nicky and Frankie.
The story shows Tony’s growth through childhood and into adulthood, and it shows the struggles
he went through while taking drugs. We pick up again with Tony as an adult after Nicky is
released from prison. We see Tony struggle with decisions on how to cover up the mistakes he
made early on, and we see him continue to make mistakes so that he can hide things from Nicky.
Paulie Perlano: We meet Paulie in the second scene. He is the one who delivers the news about
Nino being dead to Tony. We then see him during the flashback, but briefly, not nearly as much
as the others. When Nicky is sent to prison, Paulie follows Tony to New York. Though hardened
by life, Paulie is still the lovable and loyal guy he always was.
Tito Martelli: Tito is a hardened, tough crime boss and he rules with an iron fist. He demands
loyalty, and he expects performance from his people.
Lou Mazzetti: Lou is a seasoned detective and Frankie’s partner. He’s fifty, a lot older than
Frankie, but that benefits the investigation due to his experience and wisdom. Lou is easy going
while still being intense.
Kate Burns: Kate is the medical examiner for Brooklyn, and she was once lovers with Frankie.
They ended on good terms and have a friendly working relationship. Frankie even uses her to
listen to his problems, and Kate is all-too-happy to do so. As she tells Frankie “I work with dead
people all day, so when I have someone who talks back, I listen.”
Angela Catrino: Angela is the love of Nicky's life. She is enthusiastic and optimistic, and she
does anything for Nicky.
Gina Petrucci: We meet Gina when a package arrives at Tito’s house. It is a blackmail note from
her. Then Nicky is assigned the contract to shoot her, but when he goes to do it, she does
something that reminds him of Angela, and he can’t do it. Nicky then helps Gina disappear and
sets her up with a new identity and a new life. Gina is thoughtful and caring and wants nothing
more than to settle down with a man and be loved.