Carlito's Way: Rise to Power

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Carlito's Way: Rise to Power
Promotional poster for the film
Directed by	Michael Bregman
Produced by	Martin Bregman
Written by	Michael Bregman, Edwin Torres
Starring	Jay Hernandez, Mario Van Peebles, Luis Guzmán, Sean Combs, Michael Kelly, Giancarlo Esposito, Jaclyn DeSantis
Music by	Joe Delia
Cinematography	Adam Holender
Editing by	Ramsey Denison, David Ray
Distributed by	Universal Studios
Release date(s)	September 27, 2005
Running time	100 min
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	fddfhhdh
Preceded by	Carlito's Way
IMDb profile

Carlito's Way: Rise to Power is a 2005 direct-to-video prequel to Brian DePalma's 1993 film Carlito's Way. Rise to Power is based on the novel Carlito's Way by Judge Edwin Torres (the 1993 Carlito's Way film was based on the sequel, After Hours, but used the title of the first novel to avoid being confused with Martin Scorsese's 1985 film After Hours). It stars Jay Hernandez as Carlito Brigante, the character played by Al Pacino in the first film. The film also features Mario Van Peebles, Michael Joseph Kelly, Luis Guzmán as Nacho Reyes, Jaclyn DeSantis, Sean Combs, Burt Young, and Domenick Lombardozzi.

[edit] Plot outline

The story begins in 1969, with three inmates in a New York prison — Earl (Van Peebles), Rocco (Kelly), and Carlito (Hernandez) — controlling their criminal empire within their cell. Upon their release, they all three look to control the drug trade in Harlem, which is currently in a power dispute between the Italian Bottolota crime family and black gangsters led by Hollywood Nicky (Combs). Rocco takes them to Artie Bottolota (Young) who at first is reluctant to work with blacks and Puerto Ricans, but who eventually cuts a deal with them in heroin distribution. The friends also meet Artie's son, Artie Jr. Soon, Earl's troubled younger brother Reggie joins them. After Artie jr. offers to shake hands with Reggie, when he sees he and Carlito at a strip joint, Reggie turns him down, saying "my brother was doing fine without you". Artie jr. insults Reggie with a racial slur, spurring Reggie to curse him and spit in his face. Artie jr. assaults Reggie, but the fight is broken up. Carlito urges Reggie to wait until Artie jr. and his crew leave. The mobsters leave, only for Carlito and Reggie to be cornered by them outside. As Artie jr. attempts to kill Reggie, Rocco pulls up and tells Artie jr. to let him go. Carlito also meets a young lady named Leticia, and has a confrontation with her brother, Sigfredo.

The three must maintain peace with Hollywood Nicky, deal with Earl's troublesome younger brother Reggie, deal with the two most feared cops in Harlem, and meet Bottolota's demands. They end up taking full control of the drug trade after paying the NYPD to raid and kill off the Bottolota mob. Earl then retires and Carlito becomes the Puerto Rican ganglord of Spanish Harlem.