Once again, the film leaves out essential details that were explained in the book. The car was left on an abandoned street to be picked up by local garage mechanics who were supposed to remove the heroin from the undercarriage. The police jumped the gun and arrested the wrong guys blowing their cover, as is portrayed in the film. In the real case, there were two cars, both 1960 Buick Invictas. The first time in early December, 1961, the police sat on the car on the Lower East Side. It was taken away right under their noses. While they were shocked, they also realized they were onto something especially when the heroin turned up on NY streets a few days later. The second Invicta came six weeks later, and this time the detectives were ready, except like in the film, some boosters came along to strip the tires and the police arrested them assuming they were the part of the smuggling operation. What didn't happen was the police impounding the car, they simply went back to surveilling it. The car was stripped after the arrests were made and booked into evidence.
All the stuff about Nicoli trying to kill Doyle was added to the film and was not part of the real case. So, you are right about its inconsistencies.
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