Freddie is currently staying with his new friend Linus, a young rich white man who spends most of his day getting high. Meanwhile, Ray sees Freddie for the first time in weeks. Ray begins plots his revenge against Duke. The Dumas Club rejects Ray’s application and, after an angry confrontation, Duke refuses to return the money. Believing that membership will help him to grow his business, Ray gives Duke the money, though Elizabeth warns him that Duke is a crook. An influential local businessman named Wilfred Duke implies that he can secure Ray’s membership in exchange for $500. He is offered to apply for membership in the Dumas Club, an African American Ray’s father-in-law is a member, but he believes that Ray is too dark-skinned and from the wrong background to join the group. Two years later, Ray is selling more stolen goods than ever before and he has expanded his furniture store. Before Joe can kill Ray, Pepper arrives and shoots Joe. He returns to the store where Joe is already waiting for him.

Later, Ray spots Joe on the street and ducks out of the way when Joe shoots at him.

They search for Miami Joe but cannot find him. They agree to lay low temporarily but insist that Ray sell the stolen necklace as soon as possible.Īfter Arthur is murdered, Pepper visits Ray and demands to be driven around Harlem. The gang includes a hardened criminal named Pepper and an elderly safecracker named Arthur. Miami Joe and the rest of the gang meet at Ray’s furniture store. Freddie meets with Ray and shows him the necklace, asking him to help sell it. They take an expensive necklace from a safe deposit box which belongs to a local mobster named Chink Montague, who sends his henchmen out to search Harlem for the necklace. Nevertheless, Freddie and Miami Joe rob the hotel. Ray promises to think about the offer but plans to decline.

He asks Ray if they can use his store to fence the stolen goods, in return for a cut of the profits. At a bar, Freddie tells Ray that he is involved with a gangster named Miami Joe in planning a big heist at the Hotel Theresa. While Ray and Freddie are close, Freddie lacks Ray’s respectable reputation. Elizabeth’s parents are successful professionals who look down on Ray and his family’s reputation.Īfter a family meal, Ray goes to meet his cousin Freddie. At home, his wife Elizabeth is pregnant with their second child, and Ray worries about making rent. Although Ray wants to show the world that he can run a respectable furniture store, he also secretly deals in stolen goods. Ray is the son of a Harlem criminal named Big Mike, whose influence casts a long shadow over his son. In June 1959, an African American furniture salesman named Raymond “Ray” Carney drives his truck around New York City.

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