When nervous rookie cop Ethan Lang (Galligan) freezes during a holdup/shootout, two other officers die. NYPD compatriot Blair Valdez (Van Peebles) covers up the kid's fatal failure. Much later, when Lang has become a law professor, Valdez comes back to collect on the favor. He's facing an internal investigation and must conceal his shady business relationships. Ethan gives a helpful hand, but both discover Blair's been unwittingly giving police protection to massive money-laundering by New York's Dominican mob. Bloody bodies pile up as Blair turns into a paranoid psychotic. He's also terminally ill with with groin pains (as though the grisly violence wasn't bad enough), and it's an admirable Van Peebles performance that takes his character from the usual LETHAL WEAPON icon to an unstable sadist. Still, the grim, film-noir tone and over-the-top action makes a strange combo. For other corrupt cops trapped in their own snowballing schemes, check out James Belushi and Tupac Shakur in GANG RELATED.