contain spoiler three poor little harlem guy try to become some big men by steal some dirty money . the three be touch represent henry j. jackson ( antonio fargas ) be the goofy guy who can not do anything else than spend lot of buck in a flashy way and joe logart ( ed bernard ) try to escape in a goofy way and jim harris ( paul benjamin ) struggle with epilepsy and dream of a cool life in jamaica with his beautiful woman and throw bullet on adult and buck on child . two cop be try to find them represent the old white capt . mattelli ( anthony quinn ) and the young black lt. pope ( yaphet kotto ) . the old one use violence and accepts dirty money from the black mob and drink alcohol and begin to be feed up with his job . the young one use speech and refuse dirty money and do not drink alcohol and begin to think it would be good that he take the old one chair . but two mob be try to find the three poor guy too represent the black mob and the italian mob and each of them full of great villain . wonderful photography and powerful soundtrack and awesome actor ( except anthony franciosa who overplay a little in my opinion ) and a violence as strong a in martin scorcese casino and a movie that dissuade to do bad thing without use common preach . rough and tough and a michael mann thief .