The Rat (Screeenplay)

The 1980s – a decade marked by nightclubs, MTV music videos and rising inner-city crime – sets the cultural background for two childhood Bronx friends, on opposite sides of the law, waging a personal vendetta against each other.

Born and raised in the Morris Park section of The Bronx, Sergeant Anthony Bianchi is a ten year NYC detective at the forty-ninth precinct. While Bianchi usually gets the job done, his unorthodoxed methods create constant tension with his Captain. Bianchi also has a giant thorn in his side that he can’t get rid of - a childhood friend, now working for the Cusimano crime family - Chris DeCaprio.

DeCaprio is a low-end earner. Sentenced to Spofford Juvenile Detention Center when he was fifteen, he’s released and lured into the quick-buck schemes of Cusimano’s world. No one in the NYPD lists DeCaprio high on their list of problems - except Bianchi.  

In a game of chess, the two wage a personal war against each other. Bianchi pits the police against DeCaprio, while DeCaprio uses the mob against Bianchi. Both have to answer to their superior - and neither are happy.

Captain Spellman sees Bianchi’s corner-cutting techniques as a problem for the department; while Cusimano only sees their feud bringing more heat on his organization.

There’s obviously a leak sending Bianchi hints to Cusimano’s operations. An undercover? A rat? No one knows.

When the final act begins, two soldiers from Cusimano’s crew are dead, and a wild chase for stolen, imported diamonds from Italy goes through Philadelphia, New Jersey and New York.

What’s this twenty-year-old beef all about? Whatever it is, they better settle it soon. If they don’t... the NYPD, the FBI, and The Mafia are going to settle it for them.