Mr. Ricco
Mr. Ricco is a 1975 crime drama film directed by Paul Bogart and starring Dean Martin in his last leading film role, along with Eugene Roche, Denise Nicholas and Cindy Williams. Plot A murder charge is dropped against San Francisco black militant Frankie Steele, who is represented by liberal attorney Joe Ricco. Two police officers are then gunned down. An eyewitness, the young son of a friend of Ricco's, identifies Steele as the man he saw leaving the scene of the crime. Ricco is a lonely widower. He has a loyal secretary and a dog. His closest friend is George Cronyn, the detective in charge of the case. Cronyn is irate that Steele got away with killing a woman, Mary Justin, resulting in the deaths of two of his fellow officers. Cronyn and his men raid a hideout of Steele's organization, the Black Serpents. But while Steele manages to get away, a racist cop named Tanner kills the unarmed Calvin Mapes and plants a gun on him, then arrests his brother, Purvis Mapes. Their sister, Irene Mapes, who works in an art gallery, asks Ricco if he would be Purvis's lawyer. He agrees and uncovers evidence that Tanner was at