Carlito's Way: Rise to Power stars Jay Hernandez as Carlito Brigante, and chronicles Brigante's rise as a heroin drug czar in 1960s Harlem, New York. The film also features Mario Van Peebles, Michael Joseph Kelly, Luis Guzmán, Jaclyn DeSantis, Sean Combs, Burt Young, and Domenick Lombardozzi. Critically panned, the film nevertheless received Torres's as an accurate adaptation of the first half of his novel. The story begins in the 1960s with three inmates in a New York prison — Earl (Van Peebles), Rocco (Kelly), and Carlito (Hernandez) — controlling their criminal empire within their cell. Upon their release, they all look to control the drug
Carlito Brigante from prison. One of Tony's sons named Frank "Frankie" Taglialucci accompanies Carlito and Kleinfeld in a boat readied for Tony's escape. Kleinfeld instead proceeds to kill Tony T. and his son, while Carlito painfully watches realizing that mob retribution is guaranteed. Carlito recognizes that Gail was correct in her judgment of Kleinfeld, along with his own premonitions. Soon thereafter Kleinfeld is stabbed outside an elevator in his office building. Carlito is escorted, along with Gail to District Attorney Norwalk's office. Norwalk plays a tape of Kleinfeld agreeing to testify against Carlito. Carlito personally visits him in the hospital to learn