Captain Dudley Smith

"I admire you as a policeman - particularly your adherence to violence as a necessary adjunct to the job."

- Dudley Smith's most famous quote as he manipulates Officer Wendell "Bud" White into partaking his "assignment".

Captain Dudley Smith is a fictional character and the hidden main antagonist of the 1997 epic crime film LA: Confidential.

History
Captain Dudley Smith is the superintendent of the Los Angeles Police Department, specifically controlling the detective's division whilst also maintaining his own corruption within the justice system. He and the cops under his command partake in bribes, getting confessions through torture, and even assassinating suspects. Following the incarnation of Mickey Cohen, the city's reigning crime kingpin, Smith and his detectives take over his criminal empire by assassinating many of Cohen's top lieutenants and anyone else who plans to gain control of the city's organized crimes; those killed include Cohen's narcotics overseer Deuce Perkins, as well as his high-ranking subordinates Anthony Trombino and Tony Brancato. Soon afterwards, Smith's fellow officers Richard "Dick" Stensland and Leland "Buzz" Meeks have extracted Cohen's heroin from the assassination events. Smith then proceeds to have the pair murdered at The Nite Owl coffee shop, where several other customers are caught in the crossfire and killed as a result; Stensland is later identified as one of the victims whilst Meeks' body has disappeared.

Prior to Stensland's death, Smith denounces his reputation as a result of the "Bloody Christmas" scandal - which Stensland has instigated by attacking the criminals he arrested on Christmas night, in retribution for the assaulting of his fellow officers, and then goading the other department into joining his quest. This leads to Smith organizing a meet-up with his police commissioner and local attorney Ellis Loew at the latter's office, where he convinces them to fire Stensland and summon his close partner Bud White to see if he could testify against him. They do so, and end suspending White after he refuses to testify against Stensland. Once White has left, Smith has the commissioner and attorney summon Edmund Exley - a fellow-yet-hotshot detective whom Smith has taken under his wing for some time as this point - into the office. Exley agrees to testify against Stensland in exchange for being promoted to "Detective Lieutenant", as well as requesting that fellow police-cum-celebrity Vice sergeant Jack Vincennes aid him in order to complete his case - with Exley pointing out that Vincennes was involved in the "Bloody Christmas" scandal. Smith agrees to Exley's terms, and later organizes another meet-up with White at a restaurant - where Smith grants him a personal assignment of helping him torture the out-of-town criminal elements regarding Cohen's criminal activities and the assassination of his lieutenants; Smith intents to use White's habit of violently punishing woman-beaters as a way of implicating Cohen behind his crime.

Smith continues to cover-up his involvement behind Stensland's death by assuming command of the Nite Owl investigation, thus preventing Exley from taking charge of the case. Nevertheless, Smith promotes Exley as his second-in-command and orders the department to follow his lead in solving Stensland's murder. Exley's investigation leads him to suspect that local habitual offender Raymond Collins and his associates, Ty Jones and Louis Fontaine, are the perpetrators behind the Night Owl shooting. Smith inspects the trio's arrest and subsequent interrogation by Exley, who soon learns that their rape victim is being held hostage by their remaining accomplice. Smith leads White and the department to join Exley in apprehending the fourth suspect, whom White kills to save the rape victims. There, Smith secretly stages a feud between Exley and White over their differences in solving the case and maintaining the department's justice image. When the three offenders later escape, Smith summons Exley to apprehend them - though he ends up killing them after the trio accidentally start a gunfight that ends with Exley shooting them dead. Smith congratulates Exley for his bravery, and arranges him to be rewarded under the nickname "Shotgun Ed".

With the Negro offenders dead and suspected as the perpetrators behind the Nite Owl murders, Smith's involvement is seemingly covered-up - until White investigates one of the Nite Owl victims, Susan Lefferts, whom he and Stensland had previously encountered on the night before the "Bloody Christmas" scandal. White's investigation leads him to uncover Meeks' body at Susan's house, whilst also earning from Susan's mother that she was one of Meeks' escorts on behalf of their millionaire pimp boss: Pierce Patchett. As White discovers Meeks' involvement with Patchett's filming operation, the Fleur-de-Lis, Exley seeks Vincennes' help in investigating White to find out more about his case. Vincenees agrees at the request that Exley helps him solve the murder of his actor Matt Reynolds, whom Smith has killed as part of his plan to tie up loose ends regarding his usurpation of Cohen from the Los Angeles criminal underworld. Smith's scheme is soon threatened when Vincennes visits him with the case he and Exley have uncovered from White's investigation, regarding the discovery of Meeks' corpse as well as it's connection to the Night Owl incident. Smith, knowing that Vincennes' investigation could jeopardize his scheme, manages to distract long enough to catch him off guard and shoot the vice sergeant after brandishing a pistol; Vincennes dies, though in his last moments learns that Smith is actually "Rollo Tomasi" - a nicknamed purse snatcher whom Exley has recently told Vincennes about; Exley explained that "Rollo Tomasi" had killed his father Preston by shooting him dead with six bullets before getting away scot-free, thus unknowingly describing the events of Smith's past crime and the fact that Smith is the reason why Exley became a cop.

After killing Vincennes and ordering the department to solve his murder, in his act to make the justice both "swift and merciless", Smith questions Exley about "Rollo Tomasi" - claiming that Vincenees has described the name as his associate during his case. This causes Exley to grow suspicious of Smith, up to the point where Exley denies involvement. Smith, upon realizing that the investigations that Exley and White have made would threaten his scheme, plots to kill the two by tricking White into believing that Exley had a one-night stand with his girlfriend Lynn Bracken - one of Patchett's call girls who, along with Susan, is part of his service that runs on prostitutes who are altered by plastic surgery to resemble film stars. He lures White into bait by having him torture Vincennes' boss Sid Hudgens, whom Smith plans to kill as part of his cover-up in Vincennes' murder. This seemingly works when Hudgens admits that Exley slept with Lynn, which sends White into a rage and prompts him to confront the pair. After watching White leave, Smith proceeds to execute Hudgens by suffocating him to death. Smith later has Patchett killed to further accomplish his goal, but his plan to have White kill Exley is foiled after Exley uses his last interaction with Smith to investigate White's case. In doing so, Exley learns how close Meeks and Stensland used to work with Smith - which causes him to deduce that Smith killed Vincennes, thus realizing how the captain is involved in all the cases that was being investigated since the Nite Owl murders. When White confronts and attacks Exley about his involvement with Lynn, he too ends up learning the truth about Smith. This causes the pair to stop fighting, and their each of their own investigations along with Vincennes' - including how Smith framed the Negroes by having his gunmen Michael Breuning and William Carlisle plant their shotguns at the Nite Owl incident.

With the pair concluding that Smith is responsible for all the killings, as well as identifying him as the mastermind behind the Nite Owl incident and their longstanding feud, Exley and White decide to put their differences aside in order to stop Smith for good. They manage to gather evidence against Smith by threatening Leow, whom they found out was partly involved in Smith's scheme, at his office. Afterwards, they find Patchett murdered before going separate ways to investigate Lynn and Hudgens - with Exley learning that Lynn is safe while White finds out that Smith has already murdered Hudgens. Exley and White later meet at Smith's interrogation hotel to rely on the evidence gathered, and both are about to leave when Smith and his gunmen arrive to kill the pair. Left with no other choice, Exley and White arm themselves to prepare their last stand against Smith. A gunfight ensure that leaves both Exley and White critically injured, though the pair survive after killing all of Smith's gunmen - including Bruening and Carlisle. The two prepare to exit the building when Smith enters, and subdues White by shooting him twice. Smith then aims his gun at Exley, who confronts him over the fact that he is "Rollo Tomasi" - thus concluding that it was Smith who killed both his father and Vincennes as part of his longtime curiosity. Smith prepares to execute Exley when White stabs him in the leg, prompting Smith to shoot White in the face - seemingly killing him. The distraction allows Exley to grab a shotgun and point it at Smith before he could turn to face Exley. In response, Smith finds himself forced to drop his gun. He then taunts Exley over whether he intends to shoot or arrest him, but Exley doesn't seem to respond. Smith commends Exley for his inability to gun down an unarmed suspect and tries to further manipulate him into his scheme by having him corroborate his story, so they both come out of the shooting looking like heroes and that Exley would end up being promoted to his long-awaited achievement of becoming Chief of Detectives. Just as Smith exits the hotel, hearing the police sirens approaching the hotel, he advice Exley to "Hold up your badge, so they'll know you're a policemen". Smith then begins to walk away from the scene towards the incoming cop cars, thinking he has won. However, just as the police come over the hill, Exley chooses to heed Smith's previous advice about shooting a hardened criminal in the back for the greater good and ends up firing his shotgun into the corrupt Captain's back - killing Smith as he dies slumping onto the floor, thus avenging the deaths of both his father and Vincennes.

Following Smith's death, Exley is summoned back to the LAPD headquarters - where he emulates all the killings that Smith orchestrated to explain his criminal reign, as well as how it links to the murders of both Preston and Vincennes. Afterwards, Exley and White - who survived the shootout - are commended as heroes for unearthing Smith's coup and ending his criminal reign with the addition of solving the Nite Owl murders and it's link to their own cases. Although Smith's crimes are exposed, the LAPD cover-up this up in order to protect the department's image and reputation - which they do by stating that Smith died in the shootout, and in exchange promote Exley to their first captain's position in honor for his bravery within the investigations.

Trivia

 * Captain Dudley Smith is the reason why Edmund Exley, his first lieutenant and the film's central protagonist, became a police officer in the first place; as Smith killed Edmund's father Preston under the alias "Rollo Tomasi" prior to the events of the movie, and Edmund himself would later explain to Jack Vincennes that Smith's killing of his father is the sole motive that made him become a cop.
 * As such, Smith's creation of Edmund would ultimately lead to his downfall; as Edmund would end up killing Smith upon discovering his corruption and it's linking to all the killings he made amid usurping Los Angeles crime kingpin Mickey Cohen.
 * In the 1990s novel of L.A. Confidential, it is alleged that Dudley Smith had committed infanticide - as the character from the novel had personally strangled the two-day-old baby of the Herrick family back in 1937.