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| “ | Money talks, and bullshit run the marathon. So see ya and wouldn't wanna be ya. | „ |
| ~ Nino Brown. |
| “ | I'm not guilty. You're the one that's guilty. The lawmakers, the politicians, the Columbian drug lords, all you who lobby against making drugs legal. Just like you did with alcohol during the prohibition. You're the one who's guilty. I mean, c'mon, let's kick the ballistics here: Ain't no uzi's made in Harlem. Not one of us in here owns a poppy field. This thing is bigger than Nino Brown. This is big business. This is the American way. | „ |
| ~ Nino Brown ranting during his court trial. |
| “ | Sit your five dollar ass down before I make change! | „ |
| ~ Nino Brown's iconic line. |
Nino Brown is the main antagonist of the 1991 film New Jack City.
He was portrayed by Wesley Snipes, who also played Simon Phoenix in Demolition Man, Jason York in Chaos, Maris Morlak in Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, and General Izzi in Coming 2 America.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Not much is known about Nino Brown's past life. But during somewhere in 1981 where crack-cocaine was first created, a 19-year-old Nino worked with a gang called the L.A. Boyz. In order to prove his loyalty to the nihilistic gang's leader named "Jughead", Nino was given instruction to approach a woman and put a hit on her in cold blood, to do this task Nino had to get himself extremely hopped up on smoking "angel dust" (phenylcyclohexyl piperidine), he stepped in front of her and shot her between her eyes, then he ran off.
It turns out that she was Mrs. Appleton, the mother of Scotty.
New Jack City[]
In 1986, Nino Brown and his gang, the Cash Money Brothers, became the dominant drug ring in New York City, once crack cocaine was introduced to the streets, since five years prior in early-1981, reports of crack were appearing in Los Angeles, Oakland, New Jack, Miami, Houston, and in the Caribbean. He starts off by dropping a deadbeat customer to his death on the East River because the man fails to come up with his money.
Soon enough Nino plots to turn an apartment complex into a crack house, with the assistance of his best friend/right-hand man, Gee Money, enforcer, Duh Duh Duh Man, gun moll Keisha, Nino's girlfriend, Selina and her tech-savvy cousin, Kareem Akbar. Gee Money and Keisha take out Rastafarian rival, Fat Smitty, while the CMB throws the tenants out of the Carter, and Nino forces the building's landlord out into the streets, bare naked.
Frankie Needles pays Nino a visit to deliver him a message from mob boss Don Armeteo who taxes the CMB. Nino scornfully calls for Needles to relay a message back to the Don that he is cutting off taxing him, and that CMB is an independent operation.
Nino does not trust Gee Money's new clientele, but agrees to do business with Scotty, warning Gee that if Scotty is not who he claims, he'll kill the both of them. On their first encounter, Nino tells Scotty a story of how he murdered a school teacher as a part of his initiation into a gang called the L.A. Boyz, as a youth. When questioned by Scotty if the murder was personal or business, Nino explains this away by saying: "My brother, it's always business. Never personal." Scotty further gains the trust of Nino after "saving" him from a gun-toting old man—who earlier, tried to convince the police of Nino's destruction of the community—and by revealing information about Gee Money's side deal.
While at a wedding, the Don orders a hit on Nino, A massive shootout erupts between the CMB and the hitters. After witnessing Nino use a little girl as a shield to protect himself, Scotty attempts to shoot Nino behind his back. Keisha is gunned down as she sprays a hail of bullets into the van the shooters escape in. Later, Selina condemns Nino for his murderous activities and Nino throws her out. Don Armeteo calls Nino to taunt him, explaining that he "needed to be spanked" for his arrogance. Nino threatens him before the Don hangs up. Later, he opens fire on Don Armeteo and his henchman from the back of a speeding motorcycle, killing them all.
Eventually, Scotty and the police sets up a sting operation, But at the sting, Scotty's cover is blown by Kareem, who just happened to be at the scene the day Scotty wounded Pookie. A shootout ensues; Nick saves Scotty by killing the Duh Duh Duh Man, before he could open fire on him. Nino manages to escape. That night, he confronts Gee Money for his act of betrayal. Gee accuses Nino of being egotistical, and putting himself over what they built together. Gee wants things to go back to the way they were, but Nino sees no going back, and regretfully kills him.
After the gang's collapse, Nino holes himself up in an apartment and continues his criminal empire, solo. Scotty and Nick infiltrate the complex, with Nick taking out Nino's guards and Scotty crashing into Nino's apartment. Nino is brutally beaten by Scotty, who reveals that the school teacher Nino killed was his mother. For his crimes against the community, as well as his mother's murder, Scotty attempts to kill Nino again, but Nick gets him to put down the gun. As a bloodied Nino is taken into custody, he warns Scotty that he will be out in a week and that he is a dead man.
At his trial, Nino pleads guilty to a lesser charge and turns the state's evidence, falsely claiming that he was forced to work for the CMB because they threatened to kill his mother and pointing the finger at Kareem as the actual leader of CMB. Because his punishment would include at least 12 months of prison time, Nino gets only a year in prison, which leaves Scotty outraged. But as he is speaking with reporters outside the courtroom, Nino is greeted by the old man (who tried to kill him earlier) who says "Idolater! Your soul is required in hell!" before shooting Nino in the chest.
Scotty and Nick are both satisfied, as Nino falls over the balcony to his death. As onlookers look down at Nino's corpse, an epilogue states to the viewers that "Although this is a fictional story, there are Nino Browns in every major city in America. If we don't confront the problem realistically--without empty slogans and promises--then drugs will continue to destroy our country."
Appearance[]
Nino Brown is a dark-skinned African-American alpha male whose dress-coded uniform, black beret and gang colors were inspired by the Black Panther Party (sometimes he wears onyx and other times he wears blue), he seems to like sunglasses and is also adorned with gold jewelry and accessories to flaunt his wealth and lavish to others.
As Nino gradually becomes a multi-millionaire from successfully selling crack-cocaine, he has his hairdo artistically buzz-cutted into a speedbump-like "frohawk" on his neatly trimmed flattop, he also started wearing loud dress suits and cross buttoned wool-made bandhgala suits, his dress colors being either black, red or blue.
Nino has a cane very similar to the one the vampire Barnabas Collins used on the 1960's soap opera, Dark Shadows (1966). It even has a sword concealed in it, as described in the Dark Shadows novels.
Personality[]
Nino is a smart, charismatic, sadistic, violent, sociopathic, and ambitious egotist who is willing to lie and deceive as a way to achieve his own goals. Nino's true colors are ultimately revealed when he uses a little girl as a bulletproof vest, making him a coward. He is not above redemption and usually cares about money and power more than his morals and will endanger anyone whose vulnerable, especially those closer to him.
Nino Brown is also shown to have a racial inferiority complex, particularly around African-Americans who are both good-looking with light-skinned complexions, ones such as Scotty Appleton and Kareem Akbar. During the interrogation meeting of his gang, Nino's violent mood swing headed straight for Kareem, trying to murder him (in a similar way to how Luca Brasi was murdered in The Godfather), but "Duh Duh Duh Man" had to calm him down, then Nino callously admits to Kareem that he never liked him.
Trivia[]
- Blair Underwood was first considered for the role of Nino Brown before Wesley Snipes was cast.
- Barry Michael Cooper chose Wesley Snipes for the lead role after seeing him in the music video for "Bad" by Michael Jackson. But Wesley Snipes originally wanted to play Scotty Appleton. However, Mario Van Peebles and Barry Michael Cooper insisted that he play Nino Brown, as the part was written especially for him.
- In the original script, the infamous scene where Nino used a little girl as a human shield, she was actually murdered by the Italians during the intense wedding shootout but was changed to avoid controversy.
- In the opening Nino Brown suspends a man from a bridge and then drops him as he plummets to his death. At the end of the film, Nino is shot and falls over a bannister as he descends to his death.
- The story of Nino Brown was based on the Chambers Brothers story. These four brothers sold crack in Detroit. Like Nino had his apartment building called "The Carter," the Chambers Brothers also had an apartment called the Broadmoor. They moved into the 4 story, 52 unit building, selling different types of drugs on each floor. They often sold drugs alongside families who already lived in the building, forcing them to leave or deal with their illegal and dangerous activity. Officials have often claimed that the brothers ran their drug operation like a large, very organized corporation. The foursome became nationally known when they were caught on tape counting laundry baskets of money and flaunting their wealth.
- Barry Michael Cooper recently revealed that the name Nino Brown was a reference to his own sartorial experiences growing up in Harlem in the 1970s. Cooper refers to a group of "scramblin' guys" (the idols of neighbourhood) who would shop at expensive boutiques in Manhattan. After window shopping at one store, Cooper inquired about the price of a pair of loafers and was told that they were $105. "I had a Neighborhood Youth Core job after school, and I saved up six of my $45-dollar-a-week checks to buy those shoes, before I went to my first-and last year-at North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina," Cooper said. "The icing on the cake was the Nino Gabriele store shopping bag. It looked like this ultra-fly plastic valise, in shades of brown and tan, with the name 'Nino Gabriele' written in an art-deco style." The bag earned Cooper respect, and the memory inspired him to name the film's lead character.