The victim had been following the crime boss and his henchman before he was discovered and murdered.Two Disguised Brooklyn Cops In the Midst of a Drug Bust:In Brooklyn, New York during the Christmas holiday season, two NYPD cops are disguised outside the seedy Oasis Bar & Grill in the course of their work - a drug stakeout:Detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle (Gene Hackman) - a passionate, tough, pushy, unorthodox, bigoted and racist NYPD cop, disguised as a Santa ClausDetective Buddy "Cloudy" Salvatore Russo (Roy Scheider) posing as a hot dog vendor in a black and white checkered coatAtwo-bit black dope-drug Pusher named Willy (Alan Weeks) is confronted and accosted, who reacts by slashing Russo"s arm with one swipe of his concealed knife.With a production budget of $170 million, and box-office gross receipts of $208.5 million (domestic) and $710.6 million (worldwide).It was the highest-grossing (domestic) film of the 3-film "Reboot" Trilogy, AND it was the highest-grossing (domestic AND worldwide) film of the initial 9 films in the entire series.And then the young and inexperienced Eva met with the slimy, handsome, middle-aged, philandering and opportunistic Broadway producer Lewis Easton (Adolphe Menjou) - a slick businessman and theatre owner." Although retired from the burglary business, he can"t understand how the crimes bear such a striking, copy-cat similarity to his own methods.