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In the movie The Drop, we see how Bob Saginowski (Tom Hardy) who acted as the bartender for Cousin Marv (James Gandolfini):

In the case of the kid that got the money from the loan shark that is cousin Marv and then paid him back, apparently Cousin Marv didn't appreciate that, and got him killed. However the cops were unable to relate Bob to the murder. And everybody around town were suspecting the bit of lunatic Eric Deeds of the act. However, it is revealed that Eric couldn't possibly be part of the murder since that day he was at a mental institute. Which leads to my question:

WHY didn't the cops act on a 10 year old murder with clear evidence that the main suspect is not guilty and the real killer is still on the loose? Am I missing something here? Couldn't they trace back the loan he got from Cousin Marv?

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    The detective in the movie always suspected that Bob has something to do with murders, that's why in the end he says, "No one ever sees you coming, do they Bob?". But the reason cops couldn't approach Bob is because of the lack of evidence.
    – chaitanya89
    Commented Jan 29, 2015 at 9:56
  • @chaitanya89 To put things into perspective, the thing happened many years ago, why was the police so late to pick up the trail ? I do have a strong feeling they were kinda protected for some reason.
    – yondaime008
    Commented Jan 29, 2015 at 10:02
  • Just a note: we allow spoilers everywhere except the title (see help center). There is no need to spoiler-mark the question or answer.
    – CGCampbell
    Commented Jan 30, 2015 at 17:07
  • Roger that @CGCampbell
    – yondaime008
    Commented Jan 30, 2015 at 19:40
  • I just finished reading the book and at the end nadia and bob took the dog for a walk in the park..nothing else..so it was a happy ending after all I think..?
    – user32214
    Commented Mar 13, 2016 at 0:18

2 Answers 2

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Both Marv and Eric are now dead. So the cops don't actually know anything new based on that (aside from the one cop that knew Bob was the guilty one all along). So I'd say there's no new 'clear evidence' to act upon. As to why they didn't investigate earlier, I believe the issue was that the hospitalization alibi wasn't shared information between the policing departments. This seems common both in movies and real life where even though departments are seemingly on the 'same side of the law' there is internal competition and conflict between them preventing open sharing of data.

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  • Yeah, but for many years they weren't, if they do not have a suspect, why didn't they investigate everybody around ??
    – yondaime008
    Commented Jan 29, 2015 at 16:10
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    @yondaime008 ah! Yes, good point. Hmm...I know it had something to do with 'left hand not talking to the right hand'. Remember that that information was only found out through the 'unofficial' sharing of information between departments during the film, so the mental institution wasn't even known by the investigators until just recently.
    – DA.
    Commented Jan 29, 2015 at 16:14
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    That's what I mean, it was shady. Why did they hide information? Couldn't cops investigate seperately the past of Eric Deeds? It is just weird. I'll try to rewatch the scene and try to find something I may have missed
    – yondaime008
    Commented Jan 29, 2015 at 16:55
  • @yondaime008 well, I don't know if they were 'hiding' information. I just don't think the two agencies were big on sharing in the first place. They each have different priorities and aren't necessarily worried about the other's priorities.
    – DA.
    Commented Jan 29, 2015 at 16:56
  • @yondaime008 good comments. I expanded the answer in hopes of addressing them better.
    – DA.
    Commented Jan 30, 2015 at 16:16
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Detective Torres "knowing" what he (thinks he) knows is not the same thing as having evidence. No body, no witnesses, no direct corroboration = no arrest. Torres simply lets Bob know that he's on to him.

This is the second time I've seen people comment about the ending. Lehane's original short story, Animal Rescue is available online. You may wish to read it to get more insight into Bob's personality, state of mind and motivation. That would resolve this and change POV on what happened after the fade-to-black.

You may also wish to rewind to 3 other times where Tom Hardy's face understatedly tells it all. Notice his eyes when Torres confronts him on the docks after he's just disposed of the arm, notice his face and wording after confronting Marv and the moment of absolute decision after Eric tells him he will kill Rocco. It's all right there in his eyes, face and posture. After looking at those, then re-watch that final scene. The look on his face when Nadia reappears is one of relief. Lehane described Bob as profoundly lonely. I took this to mean that he had self-sentenced out of guilt, but the short story shows that Bob has always been lonely and isolated.

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  • excellent remarks, i'll be sure to check the short story, i didn't know there was an original work that it was based on it. Thanks !
    – yondaime008
    Commented Nov 13, 2015 at 14:07
  • While interesting, I'm afraid the majority of this answer (basically everything but the very first paragraph) doesn't relate to the question at all and is entirely superfluous commentary about another aspect of the story.
    – Napoleon Wilson
    Commented Nov 25, 2017 at 1:24

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