The Black Donnellys

American television drama

The Black Donnellys (2007) is an American television drama about four brothers in Hell's Kitchen and their involvement in organized crime. It was created by Paul Haggis and Robert Moresco.

Season 1

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Pilot [1.1]

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Detective: So, where are the bodies?
Joey Ice Cream: Oh, man. These guys are my friends.
Detective: Here's the deal, Joey. You tell us where the bodies are, how they got there, and you stay in solitary, nice and safe. You lie, you go to general population where more people than I can count want to see you dead.
Detective Sunny: [throws a book down on the table harshly] Where are the bodies?

Joey Ice Cream: The Irish have always been victims of negative stereotyping. I mean people think we're all drunks and brawlers. And sometimes that gets you so mad all you wanna do is get drunk and punch somebody.

Kevin Donnelly: Tommy. Me and Jimmy went downtown with goodness in our hearts to work out a deal. But Louie starts threatening me, I mean what was I supposed to do?
Tommy Donnelly: Kevin, everybody knows who did this. You kidnap somebody, they're not supposed to know who you are.
Kevin Donnelly: Tommy, you think we're stupid? We wore masks!
Tommy Donnelly: You went down there with goodness in your hearts but you wore masks?

Tommy Donnelly: [Sean is in the hospital] Thank you for coming.
Jenny Reilly: Where's your mother?
Tommy Donnelly: She's in the waiting room. We're just waiting to hear from the doctor.
Jenny Reilly: I brought some food from the restaurant.
Tommy Donnelly: Good. Maybe if we get some more we could open up a deli.
Jenny Reilly: You know, when I heard about Sean the person who told me thought it was you. I thought, what if he dies, and he never knows that I loved him? Dumb, huh? I mean I'm a married woman nothing's ever going to happen, I just couldn't stand the idea of you dying and not knowing.

Joey Ice Cream: I was the only one who saw, the only one who knew that it was Tommy driving the car. And to this day it's the one thing I never told anybody. I'm ashamed to be telling you now. Tommy never stole a car again, never did nothing, turned his whole life around. I mean he could have made it out, only he was never going to let his brother get hurt again. And this was the day that changed Jimmy's life forever, 'cause Jimmy went to rehab. And Tommy? Tommy became everything he never wanted. And whether he realized it or not, with Huey dead, Tommy had just taken over the neighborhood. And he was going to have to defend it.

A Stone of the Heart [1.2]

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Kevin Donnelly: [about where to dump Louie's body] What about the landfill? I mean we could sneak him in, put him under some garbage, they bury him for us.
Tommy Donnelly: The landfill on Staten Island?
Kevin Donnelly: Yeah
Tommy Donnelly: So what, we just take the ferry? Just the three of us?
Kevin Donnelly: Okay, we stuff him in a furnace.
Tommy Donnelly: Our furnace?
Kevin Donnelly: No, of course not. Somebody else's.
Tommy Donnelly: So you know somebody who's got a furnace large enough for a body?
Kevin Donnelly: I'd have to think about it. Umm... How about a tub full of acid?
Tommy Donnelly: Kevin stop making suggestions. You're really freaking me out.

Joey Ice Cream: But it's like the old saying goes: "The only way two people can keep a secret is if both of them are dead".
Lawyer: You mean if one of them is dead. That's the saying.
Joey Ice Cream: Obviously we come from different neighborhoods.

Helen Donnelly: I think that if you know someone's good, you know it in your belly. And you trust that if they had to do something, they had no other choice.

Jenny's Pop: Jenny, listen to me, please. I know you like Tommy, and I don't think he's a bad kid. It's just that... it's like something is in their blood. And no matter how hard they try to do good, that blood is always gonna seep through. And it poisons whatever it touches.

Tommy Donnelly: [to his brothers] From now on, we only trust the people in this room.

God Is a Comedian [1.3]

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Nicky Cottero: [to Tommy] See, here's the thing, Tommy. If I don't get my money, I kill you and I collect from your brother. He don't pay me, I kill him and move on to the next brother.

Father Dufelt: [to Tommy] Before I can even think about giving you absolution, you have to promise before God that you won't ever do anything like this again. Can you do that?
Joey Ice Cream: [narrating voice over] Tommy didn't need to promise. He already decided there was never gonna be a good enough reason to kill anybody ever again.
Detective McCarthy: Are you saying Tommy Donnelly never killed again? Because if I look stupid to you, I'd just like to know right up front.
Joey Ice Cream: That was the plan. Tommy's plan was to make things right with God and save what was left of his soul. The problem was he thought he could do that and still take care of his brothers. Which of course was the same plan that got him into all this trouble to begin with. Which meant he had to get Jimmy into rehab.

Jimmy Donnelly: Plead guilty?
Tommy Donnelly: Frankie's tight with the DA. You're not gonna do a day in jail.
Jimmy Donnelly: It's really nice of you and Frankie to take care of me like this. Do I say thank you before I plead guilty or after?

Tommy Donnelly: The only way we get out of this is if nobody talks. Understand me? More people who know, the more chance it has of getting out.
Jimmy Donnelly: I'm not people. I'm your brother.

Tommy Donnelly: Can we meet up later, maybe talk a little bit?
Jenny Reilly: I don't think so. I gotta get back to work.
Tommy Donnelly: Come on, Jenny.
Jenny Reilly: It's hard enough for me to say it the first time. I don't wanna have to do it again.

The World Will Break Your Heart [1.4]

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Joey Ice Cream: [narrating voice over] There are a lot of guys in my neighborhood who would still be alive today if they'd just shut up and gone to bed the night before.

Tommy Donnelly: We're hosting Jimmy's wake tonight.
Kevin Donnelly: What?
Tommy Donnelly: Kate Farrell came by this morning. She wants the wake to be here.
Kevin Donnelly: Can I remind you that we killed her husband?

Derek 'Dokey' Farrell: [to Matthew] I know you're young, buddy. But you're still the man. So I don't wanna see you crying in here, okay? I don't have a son of my own, Matt. So I'm looking to you to make me proud. I want you to walk in there, standing tall with your head held high. It's the way you're daddy would've wanted it. And you're a Farrell! And Farrell's don't wear their hearts on their sleeves. Alright? Do you know what that means? Means you don't go showing the world how you feel. Keep it locked up real tight, right in here, okay? That way people can't take the good pieces away from you.

Joey Ice Cream: [voice over narration] There are a couple of things you need to know about the Irish. I forget the first. But the second thing is this: they don't believe that death is the end, they think it's about resurrection. And what is more life affirming than sex?

Kevin Donnelly: I always wanted to drive a cab.
Joey Ice Cream: Are you nuts? Twenty hours in a confined space being told what to do by the kind of people who can't even afford cars?

Lies [1.5]

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Joey Ice Cream: [narrating voice over] Even someone as good as Jenny Reilly couldn't start the day without lying.

Tommy Donnelly: What the hell are you doing here?
Nicky Cottero: Hi Tommy, nice to see you. Look at Seany up and around.
Tommy Donnelly: What the hell are you doing here?
Nicky Cottero: It's pay day. You got my money?
Tommy Donnelly: I told you already. You're not gonna get any money.
Nicky Cottero: See... That's what you don't know yet. I am gonna get my money... by midnight tonight. And you're the one that's gonna be giving it to me.
Tommy Donnelly: Don't get near my mother or anyone of my family again, you understand me?
Nicky Cottero: The way to avoid that... is to pay me my money.
Tommy Donnelly: You come here again, I'll kill you.
Nicky Cottero: You know where to find me, kid. Just bring a handful of cash.

Father Dufelt: [approaching Jenny sitting in the pew] Okay you outlasted me, you won't come in I'll come to you.
Jenny Reilly: Thanks Father, but I'm not here for confession.
Father Dufelt: You've been on your knees forty five minutes, I know a sin when I see one.

Joey Ice Cream: [voiceover narration] See the thing about telling lies is if you're good at it people don't know they're being lied to. So then the question is... can you live with the lies you tell?

Tommy Donnelly: We're gonna need some Scotch and a lot of it. But we're not gonna be able to pay for it just yet.
Liquor Store Owner: Get outta here.
Tommy Donnelly: I think you're gonna wanna give it to us.
Liquor Store Owner: Oh yeah? And why's that?
Tommy Donnelly: Because your daughter has a crush on Kevin. He's gonna date her if you don't.

Run Like Hell [1.6]

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Joey Ice Cream: [narrating] Me, I've always believed honesty is best served cold.

Joey Ice Cream: [narrating] See, here's the problem. Always trying to help people? It'll kill you. I mean it's worse than a disease. Tommy Donnelly was just beginning to figure that out.

Tommy Donnelly: Since when are you collecting bets for Louie Downtown?
Jimmy Donnelly: Since I found his phone down here covered in his brains.
Tommy Donnelly: What do you think the Italians are gonna do when they find out you're collecting Louie's bets? Money that's supposed to be going to them.
Jimmy Donnelly: To hell with the Italians. [picks up a gun] This is for Eddie Maxwell.
Tommy Donnelly: Jimmy? Jimmy, hey! You're gonna shoot Jimmy Maxwell for money he owes Louie Downtown?
Jimmy Donnelly: It's my money! My money!
Tommy Donnelly: Come on, Jimmy.

Joey Ice Cream: [voice over narrating] Kevin introducing Jimmy to Whitey was gonna result in one of the most gruesome and violent deaths the neighborhood had ever seen. I mean what did Kevin know. He was only trying to help. Was Whitey gonna kill Jimmy or was Jimmy gonna kill Whitey?
Detective: [voice over] So who killed who?
Joey Ice Cream: [voice over] When?
Detective: [voice over] In the knife fight!
Joey Ice Cream: [voice over] Oh. That was later.

Jenny Reilly: That's a lot of money.
Tommy Donnelly: Yeah.
Jenny Reilly: Where'd you get it?
Tommy Donnelly: I already said in the bathroom.
Jenny Reilly: Yeah, sure. I don't want your money.
Tommy Donnelly: It's not my money.
Jenny Reilly: What did you do? What did you do to get that money? Something terrible, right?
Tommy Donnelly: If you don't want the money, Jenny, you can burn it.

The Only Thing Sure [1.7]

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Detective McCarthy: Tell us about Robert Kelly.
Joey Ice Cream: Who?
Detective McCarthy: Bob The Mouth.
Joey Ice Cream: Never heard of him. But I gotta tell you, you gotta feel for a guy unlucky enough to get tagged with a name like that...
Detective McCarthy: You wanna know what unlucky is? How a guy can fall off his chair like the one you're sittin' in and break his neck!
Joey Ice Cream: You know, I suddenly remember the fellow you're talking about.

Joey Ice Cream: Actually it's a lucky thing we stumbled into the extortion business because the book making business was about to hit a bump.
Detective McCarthy: Stop right there. What does any of this have to do with Kelly?
Joey Ice Cream: Bob the Mouth?
Detective McCarthy: Yeah.
Joey Ice Cream: Oh, well, all of that started with Kevin.
Detective McCarthy: Kevin? Kevin Donnelly?
Joey Ice Cream: Yes, Kevin Donnelly. Who are we talking about here? [gives the officer a funny look]

Michael: [about the money Kevin owes him] You wanna know why I never went after him?
Tommy Donnelly: Because then me and my brothers would go after you.
Michael: I don't loan money to nobody I can't beat up.

Derek 'Dokey' Farrell: [to his nephew, Matthew] Napoleon lost a whole empire in one battle because he didn't see a rainstorm coming. You always gotta look out for the thing that you don't know.

Sean Donnelly: [referring to The Firecracker, wanting Kevin to get to work] Come on Kevin, have a little pride. This is the family business here.
Kevin Donnelly: Crime is the family business Shawn, this is just a staging area.

In Each One a Savior [1.8]

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Sean Donnelly: [about his new car] Hey, hey, hey. What do you think?
Tommy Donnelly: You pay money for this thing?
Sean Donnelly: Yeah, two thousand, got a great deal.
Tommy Donnelly: Dollars?
Sean Donnelly: Plus, he gave me a free driver's license.

Jenny Reilly: We're not gonna give you a nickel! Not ever!
Jimmy Donnelly: Wake up! Someone always gets paid. From now on, it's gonna be me.

Tommy Donnelly: You extorting money from Jenny? From her Father?
Jimmy Donnelly: It's business, Tommy. It's the habit.

Joey Ice Cream: [narrating] Jimmy loved Tommy more than anybody. But see, once you've been betrayed by somebody you love... you're capable of anything.

Derek 'Dokey' Farrell: How old are you, Reilly?
Jenny's Pop: What's my age have to do with anything?
Derek 'Dokey' Farrell: 'Cause you're way too old to be playing the hero.

All of Us Are in the Gutter [1.9]

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Joey Ice Cream: [narrating] See, Tommy Donnelly's dream was to pursue all that art crap. Now, it's a little gay for me, but for Tommy, it was the only thing other than Jenny Reilly that he ever really wanted. And he decided to go for it, once and for all.

Kevin Donnelly: Okay, we got a problem. [he shows Jimmy Louie's cell phone]
Jimmy Donnelly: What's this?
Kevin Donnelly: Louie Downtown's cell phone.
Jimmy Donnelly: The one you were supposed to throw away!
Kevin Donnelly: Yeah, but that's not the problem.
Jimmy Donnelly: [cut to Jimmy smashing the phone on the counter] That's how you're supposed to get rid of a cell phone, Kevin!
Kevin Donnelly: I guess I should've done that.
Jimmy Donnelly: You guess?

Whitey: [about Nicky] He's playing games with us.
Jimmy Donnelly: Or he wants to make a deal with us.
Whitey: What kind of deal?
Jimmy Donnelly: I don't know. But If someone stole my business I'd wanna kill them, unless I thought they could make me money.

Derek 'Dokey' Farrell: Jack, you talk to me like I'm some street punk again and I'm gonna cut your tongue out.

Joey Ice Cream: [narrating] Now, for some people, losing a dream can make you dangerous, 'cause they don't think long term. They just want what they want, when they want it.

When the Door Opens [1.10]

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Kevin Donnelly: [After being pelted with piss-filled balloons] This is disgusting. I don't care if that guy's in a wheelchair, I'm breaking his legs!

Nicky Cottero: Thanks Joey. Give your mother a kiss.
Vinnie: Yeah and your father a shot in the head.
Foreman Joey: My whole life I wanted to do that.

[Tommy and Kevin are trying to rid squatters in an apartment]
Tommy Donnelly: We're gonna wait until you go.
Dunn: Where the hell am I supposed to go?
Kevin Donnelly: Not a problem.
Tommy Donnelly: I'd use the money Highland Management gave you to get new place.
Dunn: I spent that money.
Tommy Donnelly: Better find yourself a sidewalk.

Agent Hicks: Sit up. [slaps his head] Sit up! Now cross your legs.
Joey Ice Cream: What, do I have to?
Agent Hicks: Only if you don't want to get a kick in the balls.

Vinnie: [feeling a spot under his shirt] Hey, feel this.
Nicky Cottero: I'm not touching you.
Vinnie: Look at it. It's a bump.
Nicky Cottero: It's not a bump, it's a rash. You wanna put your shirt down?
Vinnie: Just feel it.
Nicky Cottero: I swear, if you ask me that one more time, I'm gonna shoot you in the mouth.

Wasn't That Enough [1.11]

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Franny: [when he was unable to find anything in the documents] No, we're done here, boys. C'est la vie.
Kevin Donnelly: What the hell's that mean?
Tommy Donnelly: It's French for "we're screwed".

Jenny Reilly: You know what? To hell with that. You wanna hurt me? Try it. But whatever I need to do to protect myself, I'll do it. I promise you that. I will hurt you right back.
Samson: I never knew you were so tough. I guess one of us will have to be looking over their shoulder, huh?

Nicky Cottero: Vinnie, if I have to depend on your nose for the truth, me and you will be in a lot of trouble.

Tommy Donnelly: I want you to know I got an extra ten from Lambert. Well, you don't get a piece of that because you weren't square with us.
Derek 'Dokey' Farrell: How wasn't I square with you?
Tommy Donnelly: He gave us his word to clear out the building. But you never told us you were going to burn it down. I say that's not square.
Derek 'Dokey' Farrell: I say it's none of your business.
Tommy Donnelly: I say that's makes for a tough partnership.
Derek 'Dokey' Farrell: Oh, so now we're partners?

Joey Ice Cream: [on the phone to Tommy] You got a visitor. Dokey. The good news is he doesn't have an axe with him.

The Black Drop [1.12]

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Joey Ice Cream: [narrating] The thing about blood, family, it's always there. You can hate each other, you can wanna kill each other but you never stop loving each other. But love-love... damn, that's a whole other thing.

Tommy Donnelly: Just know this: You didn't know my father. And you sure as hell don't know me.

Joey Ice Cream: [narrating] The stupidest people in the world are rich people. They'll hand over twenty bucks and a brand new BMW to any idiot with a windbreaker and a tucked in shirt. In this case, the idiots were Kevin and Tommy.

[Jimmy enters Dokey's car]
Jimmy Donnelly: Hey Doke. How are you partner?
Derek 'Dokey' Farrell: I gotta remember to lock my doors.
Jimmy Donnelly: Not really. Who'd be stupid enough to get in a car with you?

Joey Ice Cream: Jenny had heard the rumors that some drug dealers had killed Teach and stuffed him in an oil drum, but who wants to believe in a rumor?

Easy Is the Way [1.13]

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Jimmy Donnelly: Stop with the jumping.
Joey Ice Cream: I always get jumpy when people try to kill me. I gotta tell you, Jimmy, I don't know about this plan.
Jimmy Donnelly: You haven't even heard it yet.
Joey Ice Cream: Yeah, but anything with grenades and me is a poor plan.

Ray: This way, ladies.
Nicky Cottero: Hey, be nice Ray. I'm a comer.
Ray: You're a scumbag.
Nicky Cottero: That's not what my friends tell me.
Ray: You mean that friend right there? The one that stood by while I played the bongos on your head with a shovel?
Vinnie: They did have a gun to my head.

Detective: You lied to your lawyers. To the Grand Jury. To your priest.
Joey Ice Cream: I swear to God.
Detective: I think you lied to Him too.

Jimmy Donnelly: (to Tommy) Well you picked a hell of a time to find your conscience.
Kevin Donnelly: I don't have a conscience, it doesn't bother me.

Joey Ice Cream: [narrating] That was the Donnellys. They could never make it more than a block outta the neighborhood.

Cast

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