(There are Spoilers) Trying to go straight and raise a family ex-convict & car thief Jimmy Killmartin, David Caruso, gets back into his chosen profession by trying to keep his sleazy cousin Ronnie, Michael Rapaport, from getting his brains beat out by his demanding and not too kindly boss Little Junior, Nicolas Cage. Ronnie wants Jimmy to drive an 18 wheeler loaded with stolen cars for his chop-shop business. As you would expect Jimmy gets caught by a cop sting that results in one of the NYPD detectives Calvin Hart, Samuel L. Jackson, getting a bullet in his head but miraculously surviving.
Even though Jimmy was set up and deserted by Ronnie he lives by an unbroken and moral code not to rat on any of his fellow hoods. But that's quickly broken when Jimmy's wife Bev, Helen Hunt,is killed in a car crash that Ronnie was responsible for. It turned out that instead of looking after Bev and her and Jimmy's infant daughter Corinna, Lindsay J. Wrinn, Ronnie was taking advantage of Bev while Jimmy was locked up. Also the day she was killed Ronnie got Bev drunk and took her home to his place for both fun and games. Bev waking up from her alcohol-induced sleep ran out of Ronnie's place into her car and, still being under the influence, drove into an oncoming truck killing herself.
Realizing what Ronnie did Jimmy agrees with the State prosecutor Frank Zioli, Stanley Tucci, to rat on his fellow car-thieves at a closed door grand jury hearing implicating even himself in number of car robberies but slyly keeps Ronnie's name out of it. The news of the car-theft gang being ratted out by someone from the inside gets back to Little Junior from his mobbed-up lawyer Jack Gold, Anthony Heald. It's then agreed that it had to be Ronnie, since he was the only member who wasn't indicted, who ratted on his gang and in no time at all Little Junior pay him a friendly visit with a half dozen of his goons that turns out to be Ronnie's funeral.
Having served his time Jimmy is released from Sing Sing Prison but the aggressive State procurator Zioli has plans for him to get Little Junior in a sting operation which will result in him getting a federal judgeship. Going to Little Junior's Baby Cakes strip club Jimmy has a wire planted on him by the police in order to get evidence. Jimmy gets friendly with the mob boss only to be later shaken down in the club's bathroom to see if he's working for the cops or not. Jimmy realizing what was going down threw away his wire before Little Junior and his boys got to him.
As crazy as Little Junior is he still strikes me as a pretty smart cookie being able to sense if he's being set up in a sting operation, with a wiretap. But later he act's so stupidly that he guns down in cold blood an undercover federal agent Omar, Ving Khames, right in front of a shocked Jimmy who's got a wire on him. This in the end can lead to Little Junior to be indited and arrested for murder one. With Jimmy having the incriminating tape it looked like a slam dunk to convict Little Junior but his lawyer Jack Gold comes to his rescue having the evidence thrown out on a technicality; Little junior killed a federal agent thinking that he was hood like himself and even more convincing it was in self-defense! With Little Junior out free Jimmy, who's cover was blown, is now a marked man and with only Det. Hart, who's since become bonded with him, willing to help Jimmy it looks as if it's only a matter of time before he's history. But unknown to Little Junior as well as the double-crossing state procurator Zioli, who promised Jimmy that he and his family would be protected , Jimmy had devised a plan to keep himself alive. And that plan is to use the same method that get him into hot water to get him out of it: the wiretap.
The David Caruso came across completely colorless as Jimmy Killmartin showing in most of his scenes almost no emotion at all. The final scene in the movie showed that he, or Jimmy, also wasn't all that bright even though he miraculously survived a assassination attempt on his life. NIcholas Cage as the mob boss Little Junior has a very serious asthma condition but looks and act in the pink of health. He even lifts heavy weights, as well as showgirls, 15 at a time without even breathing hard. Little Junior also viciously beats people up sometimes to death which is very strenuous exorcise for an asthmatic. With the only sign of his asthma condition is the occasionally asthmatic aerosol spry that he uses to keep himself from possibly suffocating to death.
Samual L. Jackson as Det. Hart is totally wasted as the good cop who risk his job and life in setting up his bosses in the federal government and NYPD. I also found it odd that Jimmy's wiretaps on both Little Junior and prosecutor Zioli had such an impact of bringing them both down to earth, Little Junior in jail and Zioli facing a serious ethics charge, that can also put him behind bars. When the wiretaps were done without a court order not only making them illegal but even criminal on Jimmy's part! Just earlier in the movie a court ordered wiretap that resulted in getting evidence of the murder of a federal agent, by Little Junior, was thrown out of the same courtroom on the most flimsiest of legal technicalities. But these totally illegal and uncalled for wiretaps, on Little Junior and Zioli, were allowed to stand!
Even though Jimmy was set up and deserted by Ronnie he lives by an unbroken and moral code not to rat on any of his fellow hoods. But that's quickly broken when Jimmy's wife Bev, Helen Hunt,is killed in a car crash that Ronnie was responsible for. It turned out that instead of looking after Bev and her and Jimmy's infant daughter Corinna, Lindsay J. Wrinn, Ronnie was taking advantage of Bev while Jimmy was locked up. Also the day she was killed Ronnie got Bev drunk and took her home to his place for both fun and games. Bev waking up from her alcohol-induced sleep ran out of Ronnie's place into her car and, still being under the influence, drove into an oncoming truck killing herself.
Realizing what Ronnie did Jimmy agrees with the State prosecutor Frank Zioli, Stanley Tucci, to rat on his fellow car-thieves at a closed door grand jury hearing implicating even himself in number of car robberies but slyly keeps Ronnie's name out of it. The news of the car-theft gang being ratted out by someone from the inside gets back to Little Junior from his mobbed-up lawyer Jack Gold, Anthony Heald. It's then agreed that it had to be Ronnie, since he was the only member who wasn't indicted, who ratted on his gang and in no time at all Little Junior pay him a friendly visit with a half dozen of his goons that turns out to be Ronnie's funeral.
Having served his time Jimmy is released from Sing Sing Prison but the aggressive State procurator Zioli has plans for him to get Little Junior in a sting operation which will result in him getting a federal judgeship. Going to Little Junior's Baby Cakes strip club Jimmy has a wire planted on him by the police in order to get evidence. Jimmy gets friendly with the mob boss only to be later shaken down in the club's bathroom to see if he's working for the cops or not. Jimmy realizing what was going down threw away his wire before Little Junior and his boys got to him.
As crazy as Little Junior is he still strikes me as a pretty smart cookie being able to sense if he's being set up in a sting operation, with a wiretap. But later he act's so stupidly that he guns down in cold blood an undercover federal agent Omar, Ving Khames, right in front of a shocked Jimmy who's got a wire on him. This in the end can lead to Little Junior to be indited and arrested for murder one. With Jimmy having the incriminating tape it looked like a slam dunk to convict Little Junior but his lawyer Jack Gold comes to his rescue having the evidence thrown out on a technicality; Little junior killed a federal agent thinking that he was hood like himself and even more convincing it was in self-defense! With Little Junior out free Jimmy, who's cover was blown, is now a marked man and with only Det. Hart, who's since become bonded with him, willing to help Jimmy it looks as if it's only a matter of time before he's history. But unknown to Little Junior as well as the double-crossing state procurator Zioli, who promised Jimmy that he and his family would be protected , Jimmy had devised a plan to keep himself alive. And that plan is to use the same method that get him into hot water to get him out of it: the wiretap.
The David Caruso came across completely colorless as Jimmy Killmartin showing in most of his scenes almost no emotion at all. The final scene in the movie showed that he, or Jimmy, also wasn't all that bright even though he miraculously survived a assassination attempt on his life. NIcholas Cage as the mob boss Little Junior has a very serious asthma condition but looks and act in the pink of health. He even lifts heavy weights, as well as showgirls, 15 at a time without even breathing hard. Little Junior also viciously beats people up sometimes to death which is very strenuous exorcise for an asthmatic. With the only sign of his asthma condition is the occasionally asthmatic aerosol spry that he uses to keep himself from possibly suffocating to death.
Samual L. Jackson as Det. Hart is totally wasted as the good cop who risk his job and life in setting up his bosses in the federal government and NYPD. I also found it odd that Jimmy's wiretaps on both Little Junior and prosecutor Zioli had such an impact of bringing them both down to earth, Little Junior in jail and Zioli facing a serious ethics charge, that can also put him behind bars. When the wiretaps were done without a court order not only making them illegal but even criminal on Jimmy's part! Just earlier in the movie a court ordered wiretap that resulted in getting evidence of the murder of a federal agent, by Little Junior, was thrown out of the same courtroom on the most flimsiest of legal technicalities. But these totally illegal and uncalled for wiretaps, on Little Junior and Zioli, were allowed to stand!