Vinnie Terranova quotes from Wiseguy

Vinnie Terranova

Look, Frank, you may think this job is who you are, but I don't. I want to get the hell out of it someday. I want to fight with my wife, play with my kids, worry about my taxes and crabgrass.

Vinnie Terranova

[in the confessional] Bless me, father, for I have sinned.

No kidding. Well then, I guess you haven't changed much, have you, Vinne?

Vinnie Terranova

Listen, Pete, I'm not gonna confess to you 'cause the last time I did, you told Mom and I had to wash the kitchen floor for a month.

You were six. You stole my cowboy boots.

Vinnie Terranova

Says you!

Vinnie Terranova

Pete, you know, all the people who come in here and pray, they all got problems... seventy percent of 'em can't get a bank loan; a guy can't make the payments on his house, he's got a wife and kid, he doesn't want 'em to be evicted so he goes on the street for the money. He misses a couple of payments, the next thing he knows somebody's ringing his doorbell with a steel pipe! Now you got his widow and his kid and they're praying for help!

And the Lord will provide it!

Vinnie Terranova

Okay, all right, but what if what the Lord provides is people like me? People to go out and get these brazholes? What if you and I are just on different ends of the same handoff?

[stares at him for a moment] How did we turn out so different... and so much alike?

Vinnie Terranova

[about his undercover work] Look, if I told Mom, she'd tell Uncle Pete and Aunt Celeste; they'd let it slip to Norwood, he'd tell that dingbat wife of his, and she'd tell half the Metropolitan Life Building!

She got sacked. She's home eating bon-bons and doing crosswords and hacking poor Norwood to pieces.

Vinnie Terranova

[shakes his head] Still, Mom couldn't keep it to herself. I shamed her, she'd have to tell somebody, and then you count to ten I'd be the captain of a fifty-gallon oil drum at the bottom of the river.

You could tell her you're working for the government. What would it hurt?

Vinnie Terranova

Pete, I wasn't even supposed to tell you, but I figured a guy could tell his priest anything!

[describing how the mafia bosses operate] They use the most draconian methods!

Sonny Steelgrave

Huh?

Vinnie Terranova

Like Dracula.

Are you sure you OK?

Vinnie Terranova

Oh yeah, I'm fine. It takes more than an antenna-wielding maniac to put Vinnie Terranova on the bench!

Frank McPike

[appearing out of nowhere] Boo!

Vinnie Terranova

Frank!

Frank McPike

No cotton candy?

Vinnie Terranova

Why did you bust us last night?

Frank McPike

I didn't. I was up on the roof playing shutterbug. I didn't know those units were going to roll.

[Vinnie has shown her his official ID, proving that he's not a criminal] Why didn't you tell me you work for the government?

Vinnie Terranova

I wasn't allowed to. I thought the rules were more important than anything, but I learned that they're not.

Two years! I've prayed for this! My prayers have been... [she suddenly looks sad] Oh, but what I've done to you, figlio mio. Oh Vincenzo, can you forgive me?

Vinnie Terranova

For what?

For not believing in you.

Oh, no, no, you're my son... no matter what they said I should have believed in you. I'm sorry.

Vinnie Terranova

I took something away from you that no one can ever give you back... that's two years out of your life. I shamed you, in front of your friends, la famiglia...

It doesn't matter what they think. All that matters is that I know the truth!

Vinnie Terranova

Mama... the reason I'm telling you this today... is because, um... I was afraid I might lose you.

[leans back in bed, smiling at him] Where am I going? I have two sons again!

Vinnie Terranova

Hey, Frank. Your father really a boozer?

Frank McPike

Only on days of the week that ended in Y.

Do you really care for this man?

Vinnie Terranova

Yes.

Then you're a fool. That man is an anathema.

Vinnie Terranova

Ma, I didn't say he wasn't. But he's also my friend.

Vincenzo, we're all human beings. Every person who ever lived in this Earth from Ivan the Terrible to Hitler, had their moments of kindness and love. But there has to be balance. What good's a man who loves his children and murders someone else's?

Vinnie Terranova

You speak French?

Frank McPike

Perrier.

Vinnie Terranova

What do you do, Frank? What do you do when you're 3,000 miles from your wife and the urge hits you?

Frank McPike

I watch Billy Graham and pray for salvation.

Vinnie Terranova

I want you to tell me what happened to Mel. I want you to tell me so I can help you.

Susan Profitt

Do you think, do you think he knew I loved him? I know I told him, but do you think he really knew?