Confused

The landlord found the money coincidentally, when the drawers of the chest opened accidentally during his scuffle. It was implied that Hackman's character found the money as a result of his detective work; once he narrowed the choice of the suspect down to the landlord, who wasn't of the most sound mind, we assumed the crooked cop encountered the loot, as well. Jim Brown's character got wind of the landlord as the suspect through a newspaper headline, if I recall correctly, and it was an easy next step for him to dig up the detective on the case. When he confronted Hackman's character in the cop's apartment, you might recall Brown said, "you curl up easily for a cop," or something to that effect, once Brown noticed Hackman was unusually nervous. It was an easy matter, we must assume, for one with street-smarts, as Brown's character exhibited, to put two and two together; he could smell his fellow crook without much problem.

The landlord found the money coincidentally, when the drawers of the chest opened accidentally during his scuffle. It was implied that Hackman's character found the money as a result of his detective work; once he narrowed the choice of the suspect down to the landlord, who wasn't of the most sound mind, we assumed the crooked cop encountered the loot, as well. Jim Brown's character got wind of the landlord as the suspect through a newspaper headline, if I recall correctly, and it was an easy next step for him to dig up the detective on the case. When he confronted Hackman's character in the cop's apartment, you might recall Brown said, "you curl up easily for a cop," or something to that effect, once Brown noticed Hackman was unusually nervous. It was an easy matter, we must assume, for one with street-smarts, as Brown's character exhibited, to put two and two together; he could smell his fellow crook without much problem.