The Boondock Saints - Plot

Plot

Irish brothers Connor and Murphy McManus attend Mass at a Catholic Church, where the priest mentions the fate of Kitty Genovese. Later, while celebrating St. Patrick's Day with friends, the two get into a bar brawl with three Russian mobsters who want to close the pub and take over the land it is built on. The two brothers try to reason with the mobsters, but the latter respond with violence. The next morning, two of the Russians seek revenge on Connor and Murphy, who kill the mobsters in an act of self-defense.

FBI Special Agent Paul Smecker is assigned to the case, and finds that the Police and local news reporters see them as heroes. During an interview with Smecker, they reveal that their mother insisted they be fluent in several languages (including Russian, Italian, Spanish, French, Gaelic, and German), something they demonstrate as an explanation of how they communicated with the mobsters. Connor and Murphy retell their incident to Smecker and to avoid attention from the media Smecker allows the brothers to spend the night in a holding cell, where they receive what appears to be a "calling" from God telling them to hunt down wicked men so that the innocent will flourish.

Connor and Murphy resolve to rid Boston of evil men, with their friend and former mob errand boy Rocco eventually joining them to help. Connor learns of a meeting of Russian syndicate bosses at a hotel from a pager taken from one of the dead Russian mobsters. Having equipped themselves with weaponry from a local underground gun dealer, the brothers quickly kill eight of the nine bosses and underbosses, and they save the leader, Yuri Petrov, for last. The brothers recite their family prayer and kill Petrov with two gunshots to the back of the head—the bullets cross and go out his eye sockets. They place coins on the eyes of all nine bodies, as if to pay the toll to cross the River Styx. During the investigation, Smecker believes that the killings of the Russian mobsters are the result of the beginning of a mob war.

The next day, Rocco learns that he was set up and sold out by his boss, Giuseppe "Papa Joe" Yakavetta, as he confirms that Papa Joe attempted to send Rocco to the hotel to solely confront the Russian mobsters at the hotel with only a revolver (this concern was also brought up by the brothers prior to Rocco confirming it). Rocco kills three of the mob members who were in on the setup, and decides to officially join the McManus brothers in their mission. That night, the McManus brothers and Rocco hunt down an underboss of the Yakavetta crime family, Vincenzo Lapazzi, at a live peep show and kill him. A few other criminals are killed as well. These incidents lead Smecker to dismiss the gang war theory he earlier brought up. In response to the growing threat from the three vigilantes, Papa Joe contracts the feared hitman, Il Duce (The Duke) to deal with them. After killing a criminal that Rocco had a personal hatred for at the former's house, the three men are ambushed by Il Duce as they are exiting the house. Although they manage to chase Il Duce away, the three men suffer from wounds, the most serious being the loss of Rocco's finger. Rather than risk going to a hospital and having to explain the bullet wounds, the three cauterize the wounds with an iron.

Hours later as the Police conduct an investigation on the spot of where the firefight took place, the investigation seems futile since the brothers covered their tracks by spraying any blood left behind with ammonia. However, during his frustrated rant, Smecker happens upon the part of the finger lost by Rocco. Smecker decides to do an independent investigation to see who was behind the gun battle and is able to track the evidence down to Rocco and his two allies. This leaves Smecker in a difficult scenario, and struggles with the choice of whether to prosecute the three men, or join them in their cause, as Smecker had become sympathetic towards the brothers' actions. After getting severely drunk at a gay bar and insulting several people, Smecker wanders into a Catholic church confessional. Smecker decides to help the three men, all of whom are listening in on his conversation with the reluctant priest. He later questions the retired mob boss who had helped Papa Joe recruit "Il Duce" and finds out that the brothers are walking into a trap.

Later, the brothers and Rocco infiltrate the Yakavetta headquarters to finish off the family, followed by Smecker who dresses in drag to gain admittance. The brothers are captured, and Rocco is shot and killed by Papa Joe. Meanwhile, Smecker kills two men before being knocked unconscious by Il Duce, in accordance with one of his two rules: no women, no children. As Papa Joe leaves his house, the brothers manage to escape and subdue their captors. As the brothers say their family prayer over Rocco, Il Duce enters the room and is prepared to open fire. However, it is revealed that Il Duce is the brothers' father, Noah. He finishes the prayer and decides to join his two sons in their mission to destroy all evil.

Three months later, Papa Joe is sent to trial. However, the reporters on-scene anticipate his acquittal. The brothers and Noah, aided by Agent Smecker and three detectives, infiltrate the trial, after sliding their weapons over the metal detector, unmasked, and make a speech stating that they intend to eradicate evil wherever they find it before the three men recite their family prayer and kill Papa Joe in front of the audience. The media dubs the three as "the Saints", and the movie ends with various candid interviews with the public, reflecting on the question "Are the Saints ultimately good...or evil?"