Sleepers is based on a book published as nonfiction in 1995 by Ballantine Books. According to the author, Lorenzo Carcaterra, the story is true but names & dates are changed.
Sleepers begins with a narrator's saying, ''This is a true story about friendship that runs deeper than blood.'' In the book, Mr. Carcaterra writes about himself (played in the film by Jason Patric) and three young friends living in the Hell's Kitchen section of Manhattan in the 1960's.
After they stage a street prank that unintentionally leaves a man seriously injured, the book says, the four are sent to an upstate juvenile detention center, where they are brutalized.
Years after their release, two of the boys, now professional killers, accidentally encounter a former guard who took part in the assaults. The two promptly kill the guard in a restaurant, but to save them from prison, a third member of the old foursome, an assistant district attorney (played by Brad Pitt), privately manipulates the evidence in their behalf. He needs the help of a popular Roman Catholic priest (Robert De Niro), who is asked to perjure himself on behalf of the killers, whom he has known since childhood.
View Sleepers summary of box office results, charts and release information and related links at Box Office Mojo.
See full cast of the movie on IMDb.