A Brief History of Seven Killings

Weeper has sex with a blonde man. Three weeks earlier, Weeper defended himself and his friend from a mugger. Before they had sex the first time, the man asked Weeper if he was afraid of the “gay cancer,” meaning AIDS. Weeper replied that he wasn’t.

As Weeper tries to wake up the blonde man, he considers letting him sleep in his house. He also considers staying in with the man for the rest of the day, but fears becoming emotionally vulnerable.

Weeper needs to pick Josey up from the airport. They are going to inspect a crack house in Brooklyn to do market research. Josey expects that Weeper is keeping their Brooklyn operations in order. Weeper is aware that Josey’s notoriety rose after he led a shootout on Rema.

Weeper came to New York to escape Josey’s oversight. Once Josey arrives, Weeper knows that his blond lover will have to leave.

Tristan Phillips is interviewed by Alex Pierce on Rikers Island, a New York City prison. He is amused when Alex asks him about the 1966 fall of the Balaclava neighborhood, an event that Tristan cites as the origin of Copenhagen City.

Balaclava was a poorly-built tenement that housed 5,000 people in downtown Kingston in the 1960s. Many of Balaclava’s residents were aligned with the PNP or were Rastafarian, which meant that they received little support from the JLP-dominated government. In 1966, Tristan personally witnessed the demolition of Balaclava, which was initiated by the JLP.

Tristan joined the Eight Lanes after his release from incarceration in 1972. Following the Green Bay ambush of 1979, Shotta Sherrif approached Tristan to lead the peace council.

Tristan knows that Alex is really interested in Josey Wales. He tells Alex to stop recording and offers to tell him a story about the second peace concert. Josey called Tristan to tell him about lighting equipment that needed to be picked up at the wharf. Josey sent Weeper to recover the equipment, though Tristan later realized that what Weeper was really picking up was the gun shipment that led to the Green Bay ambush. He confronted Weeper to confirm his theory, but Weeper denied it. Tristan remains suspicious of Weeper.

Tristan asks Alex to explain why he can’t go back to Jamaica again.

A hitman named John-John K flees from Chicago after a botched hit. Following another hit in New York, he escapes to Miami, where his friend Paco lives. John-John gets caught up in a failed hit on a group of Cubans when he and Paco accidentally inform the Cubans about the hit.

Before John-John can return to New York, he is abducted by three men. John-John immediately registers they are Colombians working for drug kingpin Griselda Blanco. They take him to her Miami estate.

Josey criticizes Weeper for failing to manage the relationship of their new gang, the Storm Posse, with Blanco, accusing Weeper of not knowing how to connect with women. Josey thinks that Weeper’s queerness is a phase, which is why Josey hasn’t killed him yet. He moved Weeper to New York to protect him from the cartel.

Weeper dislikes Josey’s man in the Bronx, an educated gang member named Eubie Brown, who branches their operations out along the Atlantic coast. Josey gave Eubie control of their Miami operation as well, which Weeper resents. Josey acknowledges that Eubie is ambitious and may be eyeing to overstep Josey’s leadership, but Weeper is sloppy and is failing to defend his turf from their rival gang, the Ranking Dons.

In 1982, Josey sent Weeper to assassinate Tristan Phillips in Queens. Though Josey was told that the hit was success, he learns in 1985 that Tristan is alive in Rikers and talking about Josey. When Josey brings Tristan up to Weeper, Weeper does not act as though anything is wrong. Josey prepares to travel to New York, much to his teen son’s chagrin.

Tristan suggests that Alex isn’t really writing about the Singer. When Alex threatens to leave, Tristan placates him.

The peace council used to operate out of the Singer’s house. Efforts seemed harmonious at first, but when Papa-Lo sent Josey to collect the proceeds from the peace concert, Tristan noticed that the Singer was furious to see Josey. The Singer identified Josey as one of his assailants and proclaimed that the peace would not last. Tristan warned Papa-Lo to monitor Josey’s activities.

Tristan told Papa-Lo that he was traveling to New York, but at the last second, Tristan changed his mind and went instead to Miami to promote the peace council. While in Miami, Tristan learned that Weeper claimed to have killed him in New York. Tristan visited Weeper’s house to confront him. He held Weeper and his lover at gunpoint in the shower. Weeper denied ever making the claim, after which the two men cried for mercy.

Tristan knew that Weeper wouldn’t come after him for revenge. Soon after, Copper and Papa-Lo were killed by the police, who Tristan realizes must have had an informer. When Shotta Sherrif was killed by a Wang Gang member in New York, Tristan fled Jamaica, never to return.

Dorcas’s new client Ken gets impatient with his daughter-in-law Gail when she brings Dorcas to Ken’s house. He thinks that Dorcas is his new maid. Ken makes racist statements about his previous maid, though Dorcas already expects the worst when she mentions she is from Jamaica. To her surprise, Ken describes a part of Jamaica she has never heard of, Treasure Beach.

Gail encourages Ken to show Dorcas around. It becomes clear that she also thinks Dorcas is a maid, not Ken’s caretaker. After Gail leaves, Dorcas explains the scope of her service. Ken assures her it was his children’s mistake; he knows he needs care because he is expected to die soon. He asks Dorcas to humor him, but when she won’t, he tells offensive jokes about Black people. Dorcas responds with offensive jokes about white people, which amuses Ken. Ken encourages Dorcas to stay.

John-John meets drug kingpin Griselda Blanco while she is having breakfast with her young sons. She blames John-John for the failed hit on the Cubans and demands he make up for it by assassinating a Jamaican target in New York. Blanco describes the target as humorless and suggests that the order is coming from a higher-up. John-John has only one night to kill the target.

John-John goes home and is surprised to find that the male sex worker he hired the night before is still there. John-John demands his wallet back at gunpoint. They have sex.

Eubie calls Josey to make sure he is prepared for his first trip to New York. Josey twice registers that Eubie thinks that he is ignorant. Josey knows that Eubie comes from a fairly affluent background, which makes him out of place in the drug business.

Eubie can’t reach Weeper to discuss an issue with their Brooklyn operations: They’ve been losing customers as people have been traveling to the Bronx to buy drugs following a price increase in Brooklyn. Eubie tries to reassure Josey that it’s nothing to worry about. Eubie also accuses one of their Miami dealers of getting high on their own supply in a crack house. He insinuates that this is all Weeper’s fault, but leaves Josey to deal with him. Josey tries to call Weeper, but also gets no answer.

Weeper chooses to have sex with his boyfriend instead of answering the phone. The boyfriend tells him he is beautiful with his glasses. Weeper rejects the compliment, as well as the suggestion that he is gay. This frustrates Weeper’s lover. They continue having sex. Weeper tries to suppress his insecurities. His friend accuses him of being uptight. Weeper reassures himself that he can do anything he wants in America, which he plans to tell Josey as soon as he arrives.

The phone rings over and over. Weeper ignores it until his lover picks up the phone and hands it over to Weeper. It’s Eubie, who is shocked that another man answered the phone. Weeper tries to explain his boyfriend away as a neighbor, but Eubie suspects something else is going on. Eubie informs Weeper that he is picking up Josey and that they will be inspecting their operation in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn. He tells Weeper to meet them there.

Dorcas remembers the man she met at the Jamaican club. They went to Dorcas’s house, where she decided she no longer wanted to have sex. When the man forced her to continue, Dorcas retrieved a cutlass and drove the man away.

Ken notices that Dorcas’s mind is elsewhere. Ken won’t disclose which illness he has and instead encourages Dorcas to go out with him because he is bored. They travel to the Bronx, though Dorcas fears that the Bronx will be dangerous closer to night.

Ken observes how much bolder Dorcas sounds as they get further away from Fifth Avenue. Dorcas suspects that Ken has a death wish, which is emboldening him to do whatever he wants. Ken rejects her pop psychology and makes a comment that makes Dorcas sound like a sex worker. When she points this out, Ken loudly dispels the notion to everyone around them, indicating that she is his wife.

When they get off the train, Dorcas is still embarrassed about Ken’s comment. Ken encourages her not to worry too much about it because she’ll never see those people again.

Alex assures Tristan that he can return to Jamaica whenever he likes, but Tristan doesn’t believe him. He cites the inconsistency between Alex’s desire to learn about the peace treaty with his failure to visit Jamaica since 1978. Alex also hasn’t sought out Lucy, the only other surviving member of the peace council.

In the wake of Shotta Sherrif’s death, Tristan joined the Ranking Dons, one of the gangs that formed from the remnants of the Eight Lanes. Eubie became one of Josey’s most notorious enforcers, pairing his penchant for violence with his classy style. Tristan contrasts this against the classlessness of certain Ranking Dons members, who threaten to rape and murder families just because they want to.

Tristan notices that Alex gets nervous every time Tristan mentions Josey. When Alex denies ever having met him, Tristan deduces that Josey tried to kill Alex.

Weeper arrives in Bushwick ahead of Josey and Eubie. The nearest spotter reports that he has been sending drug customers to Weeper’s building, but they come back saying there’s nothing to buy. Some of Weeper’s employees have abandoned the operation, causing the Ranking Dons to move in on the area.

Weeper sends his enforcer Omar to inspect the building, only to confirm that the dealers who should be there are instead getting high in the nearby crack house. One of their bodyguards outside the crack house offers them a hit of his pipe and can’t make sense of anything they are telling him. Weeper kills the guard, then sends Omar to collect the dealers and the spotter.

John-John regrets everything that has happened to him over the past year. He wishes he were back in Chicago with a romantic partner named Rocky. He blames his short temper for messing things up with Rocky.

While waiting outside his target’s address, John-John finds a phone booth and calls Rocky. John-John is upset that Rocky hasn’t answered his calls. Rocky guesses that John-John misses him. John-John denies it, but when Rocky says goodbye, John-John asks if he’s seeing anyone else. Rocky says no. John-John hangs up on Rocky while he is saying bye.

John-John attributes his anxiety to his father. John-John’s dad was repulsed by his queerness. John-John retaliated by trying to gross his father out with the sexual acts he’s performed with other men. When his father tried to hit him, John-John pulled out a gun. John-John’s father threw him out, claiming that people would look down on him and that he had nearly killed his mother in childbirth.

John-John calls Rocky again, stuttering through what he wants to say. He hangs up when hears a voice message prompt.

Dorcas takes Ken to her apartment. She is mildly attracted to him and considers changing into comfortable clothes. Ken indicates that he doesn’t want to leave because of how bold Dorcas is getting. They have drinks and dance to Dorcas’s record of “Let’s Go Crazy” by Prince and the Revolution.

Ken asks Dorcas where she is from. She tells him that she left the Havendale suburbs because it was “time to go” (537). She then relates her experience to Ken’s, suggesting that she needed to get away from her family.

Ken uses Dorcas’s bathroom. While Dorcas imagines Ken being reported missing on the news, Ken comes out holding a book that Dorcas has been reading entitled How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found.

When Tristan tells Alex that Josey is arriving in New York that very evening, Alex tells Tristan about the hotel room intruder he killed in 1979. When Alex says that there was no police report about the intruder’s body, Tristan realizes that Alex killed Tony Pavarotti, which shocks and amuses Tristan. He concludes that Josey sent Tony because Alex must have learned about Josey. When Alex mentions that he was following the Singer, Tristan realizes that Josey inadvertently revealed to Alex that he shot the Singer.

Eubie meets an impatient Josey at the airport. Josey is not amused by Eubie’s jokey pick-up sign and forces a laugh. Josey gets paranoid, which amuses Eubie’s men.

Josey wants to go to Bushwick directly, but Eubie takes him to eat jerk chicken first. Josey asks Eubie about tensions with the Ranking Dons in Weeper’s territories. Eubie explains that their operations are suffering because of Weeper’s mismanagement. He accuses Weeper of using crack from their supply. Josey doesn’t believe this and demands to visit Bushwick immediately.

Even though John-John had sexual encounters in Miami, he continued to think of Rocky.

New York provokes John-John’s nostalgia and guilt. He enters his target’s apartment and shoots at the bed. He is startled by a white man behind him and realizes he was given the wrong address. John-John chases after the resident and shoots him.

Ken believes that Dorcas is a fugitive. Dorcas tries to downplay the meaning of the book he found, but Ken suspects that Dorcas has used it multiple times. After Dorcas gets him to calm down, she admits that she’s used multiple books like the one he found.

“Dorcas Palmer” is a name Nina lifted from the cemetery. The real Dorcas died in a car accident. Nina used publicly available information to procure a copy of the real Dorcas’s birth certificate and social security number.

Ken wonders what Nina is running from. Nina denies that it has anything to do with criminal activity or an abusive husband. Ken deduces that whoever she is running from has the means to track her down. Nina explains that New York was big enough for her to disappear.

Nina suggests that Ken go home. Ken forgets where he is, then goes into the bathroom again. Nina finds an emergency phone number inside Ken’s jacket. She calls it and tells Ken’s kids where he is. Ken forgets who Nina is and tells her to get away.

Tristan reassures Alex that Alex is too insignificant to be the reason Josey is traveling to New York, unless Alex does something to catch his attention.

Alex wants to write a book about the Kingston gangs. Tristan cautions him, suggesting that Alex should wait until everyone involved is dead. He asks Alex to explain when he became drawn to Jamaica. Alex answers that it was when he saw how much of a “shit hole” Jamaica was, to which Tristan agrees.

Tristan is destined to remain in the Ranking Dons after he gets out of Rikers. He encourages Alex to write the book because Jamaicans are too close to the subject to write it themselves. He wants people to know about the brief hope they had during the peace treaty. This will help to remind people that the failure of Jamaica isn’t a given.

Eubie gives Weeper credit for setting up their Bushwick operation in an area with low property values. He and Josey watch a runner, Romeo, close some deals. Josey learns that Weeper hired the runner only five hours earlier, promoting him from spotter. He also learns how bad things were a week ago, with the dealers using the product. When Romeo tells him that Weeper was at the crack house, Josey decides to inspect it.

Outside the crack house, a man holds Josey at gunpoint. Josey gives him some money, but the man fires, revealing that his gun is full of urine. The man runs into the crack house. Eubie brings Weeper to Josey. Josey asks for both of their pistols, then enters.

Josey shoots everyone he finds inside the crack house, including women and children. Weeper tries to stop Josey. Josey points the gun at Weeper and shoots, but he is out of ammo. He and Eubie leave without saying anything.

Nina distracts herself from the situation with Ken, worried that she will start remembering traumatic things again. Finally, Ken’s son Gaston and his daughter-in-law Gail arrive at Nina’s apartment. They try to convince Ken to come out, but he remains belligerent. Nina observes that Gail’s behavior is characteristic of rich women all over. Ken finally comes out and Gail walks him to the car.

Gaston explains his father’s condition: a neurological illness that prevents him from remembering each day after it’s over. Nina’s predecessor quit because she couldn’t handle working with Ken every day. When Gaston offers to call the agency, Nina instead offers to look after Ken full-time.

John-John knocks out his target, Weeper, as soon as he arrives home. He ties him to a chair and prepares to execute him. Weeper deduces that John-John was sent by Blanco. Weeper insulted Blanco because he’d found her impossible to work with. Weeper believes that being killed will spark a war between Josey and Blanco, so he offers to buy out John-John’s hit contract and then warns him about the consequences of carrying out the hit. John-John explains that Blanco only organized the hit, on someone else’s behalf.

Weeper guesses that John-John is eager to get back to someone. John-John sentimentally admits that he wants to return to Rocky. He regrets that Weeper is his target because he enjoys talking to him. Weeper asks for one last hit of cocaine before he is killed.

John-John remembers Blanco mentioning that the person who ordered the hit offered to neutralize the Miami Ranking Dons in exchange. This makes Weeper realize that Eubie ordered the hit to consolidate his power over New York. Weeper asks John-John to inject him with the cocaine. Its purity triggers an immediate overdose. John-John embraces Weeper as Weeper dies.

An Ethiopian Orthodox funeral is held for the Singer; Rasta men attend and chant against the liturgy. The Singer is posthumously awarded the Order of Merit, which distances him from the people and aligns him with the government.

Jennings observes that Nasser rots but does not die. He has lost relevance in the JLP as he gets older. The PNP returns to power. Jennings also observes Josey getting richer through his operations in the United States. The violence between the Storm Posse and the Ranking Dons continues. Three of the killers outlive the Singer, though each of their deaths is imminent. The Singer’s music remains popular, soothing the wounds of other troubled countries. It is powerless, however, against the violence that continues to move the world.