Werner’s Turn (a/k/a Indictment)

A feature film screenplay based on a True Story
Crime, Thriller, Drama, Action
Written by Jim Amatulli & Brien Master
Director – Jim Amatulli – DGA

LOG LINE

A Massachusetts State cop navigates a corrupt legal system and goes undercover as a bookie in Whitey Bulger’s mob.

SYNOPSIS

The State of Massachusetts. The 1970s. Henry “Chip” Werner is state trooper, and he is great at what he does. The Irish mob is muscling its way into Italian territory. Prostitution, gambling, corruption, and murder are beginning to metastasize from Boston all the way to Cape Cod.

Moving up in the ranks with big wins, Chip is invited to take point in an elite crime prevention group to counter the rapid expansion of organized crime.  But the daily two hour drive from Cape Cod to Boston leads to family stress and feeds Chip’s drinking problems. Realizing he can’t continue this way, Chip transfers back to Plymouth County and agrees to take an undercover role to infiltrate the bookmaking rackets in Southern Massachusetts. Chip effortlessly eases into this lifestyle. He’s a lifelong shit kicker who likes to drink. And drink he does. Along the way, he befriends Brian Halloran, one of Irish mob boss James “Whitey” Bulger’s hit men. Halloran knows where the bodies are buried – especially those he put there himself. And eventually, he decides to come in from the cold.

Preparing to testify against Bulger, Halloran is gunned down in the street. Chip doubles down on the undercover work, as well as the drinking. His marriage implodes when his wife catches wind of his undercover persona’s girlfriend. The last straw. With the family moving back to Cincinnati, all Chip has left is the case. He works harder than ever, accruing forty-two affidavits. These indictments are enough to permanently cripple the bookmaking revenue stream, so Bulger decides to turn the screws on key members of the state police and the FBI to make these charges go away. And nothing makes a case vanish faster than a disgraced cop.

Chip is arrested for stealing two pounds of cocaine from the barracks’ evidence room. No one in the department backs him. No one points out that he keeps his nose clean. The D.A. drops all of Chip’s casework as soon as Werner is indicted. The set up culminates with Chip found guilty and receiving an unreasonable sentence of ten years at Walpole. Following death threats, he is moved to a different facility, and eventually released on appeal. A near-fatal car crash puts Chip in a coma, precluding a retrial. When he comes to, the judge lifts the sentence without exoneration.

Unable to rejoin the force, his family, his career, his reputation destroyed, Chip settles into a monotonous life of odd jobs, drinking, and visits to his estranged children. Some years pass. The alcohol gets to him – bad. It takes an intervention from his sons to get him to sober up. But six months later, he is clean and sober. He signs up to mentor and be night manager at a halfway house, assisting other drunks and addicts get their lives back in shape.

Sixteen years later, he testifies against the corrupt feds, but it is not enough to help clear his name. The capture of Whitey Bulger in 2011 offered hope as he knew that Werner was setup. Chip contacted Bulger and they were to meet  but Bulger was killed in prison.

The legal system is not always just. Life is not fair. But Werner continues to have hope.