Sheriff Geronimo

"You have the right to remain silent...and all that other shit."

- Geronimo, arresting Tony Palermo

Thomas Jefferson Geronimo III was the protagonist of the 1984 movie Final Justice.

At some point in the past Geronimo was an officer in the Dallas police department. Due to some incident Geronimo was forced to leave that police department and became a deputy sheriff in a small community near the Mexican border. The Sheriff Bob thought very highly of Geronimo, feeling the Dallas PD's loss was his gain.

Bob and Geronimo found a couple of Italian mobsters traveling through the area trying to hot wire a car after their own car was disabled. The mobsters Joseph and Tony Palermo engaged the lawmen in a shootout, with Bob getting shot and killed in the process. Geronimo was forced to kill Tony when the latter pointed a gun at him. Incensed over the loss of his brother the elder Palermo swore revenge against Geronimo, who arrested him near the Mexican border.

The Italians were very interested in having Palermo extradited to Italy, and arrangements were made by the State Department official Wilson for Geronimo to escort Palermo back to Italy. Two of Palermo's mob allies arranged for an instrument malfunction on the plane, which was forced to land in Malta. Geronimo then proceeded to transport Palermo to the local jail for holding but Palermo's mob allies were able to free him en route.

Disobeying orders to return home Geronimo ran afoul of both his superiors and the Maltese law enforcement several times while he pursued Palermo. Most of his attempts to track down Palermo ended with Palermo in a Maltese jail cell, then being let out by an increasingly angry Superintendent Mifsud.

It turned out that Wilson had been working with Palermo all along, and had staged the flight to Italy as a way of getting Palermo out of custody. Confronting Palermo and Wilson on a boat as the two prepared to leave Malta, the situation became a gun battle which Geronimo won. Seriously wounded himself he asked the Maltaese officer Gina to retrieve his badge.

Trivia

 * Thomas Jefferson Geronimo III was played by Joe Don Baker, who had played other cops such as Tom Dugan and Mitchell.


 * Final Justice was the second film starring Joe Don Baker to be lampooned by MST3K.