Law & Order (1990) s08e15 Episode Script
Faccia a Faccia
NARRATOR: In the criminal justice system the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups, the police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders.
These are their stories.
MANNY: Even in winter, the park is full of things to eat.
The fruit of the staghorn sumac are edible and taste like lemon.
(EXCLAIMS) I'm not tasting any lemon.
I taste it.
I know lemon.
This isn't lemon.
It tastes lemony.
Can I continue the tour? Over here we have high-brush cranberries which are actually sweeter Lina, look.
Somebody threw some nice boots in the lake.
MANNY: Stay with the group.
Oh, my God! They still have feet in them.
The victim was in a T-shirt and jockeys and cowboy boots.
We're still looking for the rest of his clothes.
Hunting season for cowboys? Looks like.
I counted six entry wounds, small caliber, and we got several blunt force blows to the face.
How long was he soaking? Hard to tell, maybe 6 hours, We got some clothes in the woods.
Hey, hey! Let's be careful where we step, huh.
Yeah, yeah.
Looks like good quality threads.
Pants pockets have been turned inside out.
No wallet.
Could have been a sex thing, huh? Hooker mugged him just as he was getting down to business.
Yeah.
Right.
Pick up a date for the night, why waste money on a hotel? All right.
Seal it off and get CSU up here.
Always the romantic, huh, Lennie? Six gunshot wounds to the chest and gut.
Four blunt force injuries to the face.
Marks on the wounds indicate he might've been worked over with a piece of rebar.
We got divers working the lake.
Have them look for teeth.
Most of his were knocked out.
So much for dental records.
I found something better than dental records.
He got a chin implant.
Along with some nose work, a face lift and ear lobes shortened.
Guy spent all that dough, winds up looking like hamburger.
Oh.
Speaking of.
Stomach contents.
Veal piccata, capers, risotto, asparagus, salad.
That could be arugula, could be spinach.
Peanuts, red wine, and espresso.
All within an hour before he was killed.
So he was coming from an Italian restaurant.
And before that, corned beef on rye, mustard and french fries.
This guy eats like you, Lennie.
Thanks.
These are from Dookies, a bootmaker in Billings, Montana.
Any record of sale? No.
They went out of business two years go.
The underwear and the socks are a store brand, Diefenbaker's stores in Montana, the Dakotas.
So the guy was a tourist? The suit and the overcoat are from Garibaldi's, downtown.
Off the rack.
Going by the cut, I'd say they were bought four, five years ago.
So the guy buys his suits in New York and his underwear in Montana? Gloves are Isotoners.
Could have been bought anywhere.
No name tags, laundry markings? No.
Just marinara sauce on his shirt and caramel sugar on the lining of his gloves.
We sent his particulars to half a dozen states in the Midwest.
No nibbles yet.
Tourists stay at hotels.
No hotel key.
He got cleaned out.
$100 million worth of forensic technology and all we got is a John Doe cowboy with a big appetite.
We can narrow down his last stop to one of 200 Italian restaurants near the park.
Yeah.
Unless he ate at a friend's.
Well, that only keeps us out of the hardware stores.
Let's see, the lab found caramel sugar on the inside of his gloves.
Didn't they also find peanuts next to his veal piccata? Those hot peanuts you buy on the street? You can smell them two blocks away.
Check out the vendors around the park.
Oh! Why can't these be good for you? Because then you wouldn't eat them.
How you doing? Let me ask you something.
Were you working here on Tuesday night around 10:00? I am here every day until 10:00.
Well, do you remember selling a bag of peanuts to a white guy about that time on Tuesday, wore a camel-hair coat, pair of cowboy boots? Oh, yeah.
Cowboy boots.
Yeah.
That guy gave me a $50 bill for a $1 bag of peanuts.
Took all my change.
Said he was sorry but he gave his singles to the waiter at Bella Flora's over there.
MAITRE D': Do you have a picture? The way he looks right now, a picture wouldn't help.
But he might have had a Midwest accent.
He was wearing a camel-hair coat from Garibaldi's and a pair of cowboy boots.
Oh, yes, I remember.
He had dinner with another gentleman.
Tweed jacket, gray hair.
CURTIS: You took the reservation? No.
The day girl takes them.
Here.
Yes.
Yes.
It's, under the name Curren.
No phone number.
You remember this guy because of the Garibaldi coat? No.
When he was leaving, he looked out the window and he saw a guy in a car across the street who was watching the restaurant.
He asked me to show him to the back exit.
He say why? No.
I was concerned about the guy in the car, too.
We've been robbed twice in the past year.
So, I wrote down the license number.
Our lucky day.
So, uh, who paid for the dinner, the tweed jacket or the Garibaldi coat? The Garibaldi coat.
Cash.
Oh, and the accent, when he ordered wine, he spoke Italian.
Brooklyn Italian.
VICKY: That car's assigned to one of our sales reps.
Which one? John DeMayo.
Is he in? No.
When will he be back? Depends.
Well, what, is he out on a call? I don't know.
Um, why don't you leave your card and when he calls in, I'll give him your information.
Okay.
Meantime, mind if we take a look in his office? We won't touch anything.
I guess.
It's this way.
This is it.
July.
DeMayo must be on the road a lot.
You have his home address? Sure.
John DeMayo? Johnny.
Who are you guys? Detectives, Johnny.
We need to ask you a few questions.
Like what? Like how'd a guy like you luck into a job you don't have to show up for? Come on.
I'm making a living, okay.
What do you guys want? Tuesday night, somebody saw you in this car in front of Bella Flora's.
Yeah, sure.
I remember that.
I was waiting for a chick.
Blind date.
Oh, yeah? What's her name? Gina something.
She stood me up, so I went to another bar.
What are you, her brother? This bar have a name? A bar with a name.
You know what, that's a great idea.
It was Donny's in Ozone Park.
I was there the rest of the night.
And Donny says whatever you tell him to, right? Hey, look guys, you know, I just stopped in here to tap a kidney.
I've got to meet people in the city.
So if we're done Yeah.
We'll talk again, Johnny.
Soon.
The only rugs he moves have bodies rolled up in them.
So we got this mook and a victim from Montana with plastic surgery who speaks Brooklyn Italian.
Our victim's a wiseguy in hiding? A wiseguy whose prints aren't on file.
Let's talk to the U.
S.
Marshals.
Sorry, I came up blank on those prints.
So you're saying whoever's prints these are isn't in your Witness Protection Program? Our policy is we can't confirm or deny who's in the program.
What's this regarding? The prints came up in connection with an investigation.
What type of investigation? No.
First you tell us whose prints these are.
We have our policies too, Mr.
Wheeler.
Sorry I couldn't help you.
Call if you need anything else.
I removed the chin implant to give me the true width of the jaw.
I lengthened the earlobes.
Tucked in the cheek bones.
But the nose is a first, he paid to make it bigger.
You think it's him? Sure looks like him.
I heard he was in Puerto Rico.
Who are we talking about? Nick Lagrassa, a.
k.
a.
Nicky Shakes.
Button man for the Virgini family.
Confessed to 23 murders.
Three years ago he testified for the Feds.
Sent a dozen guys to Leavenworth for the rest of their lives.
Well, now we know where he'll spend the rest of his.
Can't wait to tell the Marshals.
Thanks.
WHEELER: This individual's in your morgue? Cut the crap.
You got his prints, you got his photos.
Is it Lagrassa? It's Lagrassa.
How long has he been dead? Since Tuesday night last week.
Tapped six times, .
22 caliber.
Suspects? How about answering one of our questions.
What was he doing in New York? Frankly, we don't have a clue.
Mr.
Lagrassa left his relocation site a week ago without authorization.
What? He just got homesick? Any outstanding items on his court schedule? I'm not at liberty to discuss that.
Listen, I don't need to play slap and tickle with the U.
S.
Attorney.
The only leak you should be concerned about is the one to the press if you don't cooperate.
(SIGHS) We've been putting together a RICO case against Alberto Napoli.
Lagrassa was going to testify that he was present when Napoli ordered the hit on Louie Bonaventura five years ago.
Napoli's a big fish, killing Lagrassa's right up his alley.
Napoli's arrest was still six months down the road and only if we could lock in corroborating evidence.
All right, thanks for the information.
We'll take it from here.
I'm sorry, Lieutenant, this is our case.
Lagrassa is our witness.
Was your witness.
If you think you can just come Excuse me.
Mr.
Campos, I'm not into all this piss-and-mark-your-territory crap.
If I need your help, I will call you.
You don't, you'll be talking to the Attorney General.
CURTIS: Well, so far, we only know that Johnny DeMayo was staking out the restaurant.
And that Lagrassa tried to avoid him.
What about Lagrassa's dinner date, the tweed jacket? Dead end.
(PHONE RINGING) Yeah.
Hold on.
Curtis.
Where? Okay, thanks.
Well, the trace on Lagrassa's new identity as Michael Tobias has him using a credit card authorization for a hotel off of Madison.
Oh, God! They didn't miss a thing.
Yeah.
Except for some beaded belts.
Silver buckles.
Lagrassa really went whole hog for the cowboy look.
What happened here? Who's Lagrassa? Never mind.
We're gonna need a list of phone calls from this room.
Isn't Mr.
Tobias coming back? No.
Well, Lagrassa was living it up.
Most of his local calls were to escort services.
The rest were to the Hotel Vogue on 57th.
The 1935 number? Yeah.
Well, check this out.
The calls to the 406 area code, that's a phone company message center in Montana.
Looks like he was calling there every half hour.
Right before he called the Hotel Vogue.
He calls Montana, picks up a message from somebody at the Vogue, then calls them.
Right.
Lagrassa didn't want anybody calling him direct at his hotel.
The question is, who at the Vogue was leaving messages for him in Montana.
Do you have any idea how many people stay here a night? No, why don't we close the place down and do a head count? Mr.
Walerstein, I think I found the guest.
Dozens of calls to the 406 area code.
The last one was this morning.
Ned Curren, Sydney, Australia.
But the credit card's in the name of Brendan Hall.
Mr.
Hall checked in as Ned Curren.
Mr.
Hall's a distinguished author.
He doesn't want his fans bothering him.
Don't worry.
I just bought it for the picture.
"When the world's most eligible bachelor finally decided to marry," "many hoped it would be to someone who looked more like Jackie O.
" Thank God for the Kennedys.
Otherwise, a lot of bad writers would be waiting tables.
Brendan Hall? Oh, sorry.
I thought you might be process servers.
You want me to sign that for you? Actually, we're detectives.
What's this about? Nicholas Lagrassa.
You know him? Can't say I do.
He's the guy you were exchanging phone calls with last week.
Also the guy you shared a bottle of Chianti with at Bella Rosa's last Tuesday night.
What about him? He's dead.
Dead? My God.
You feel like answering some questions now? I better talk to my lawyer before I say anything.
Fine.
He can meet you down at the precinct.
Mr.
Lagrassa was looking for a ghost writer to do a book about his life in crime.
I flew in from Sydney to meet with him.
This scum admits to killing 23 people and you think he rates a book? An insider's look at the mob? The public eats this stuff up.
Look, Joe Bonanno wrote a book, so did Henry Hill, Sammy "The Bull" Barry.
Detective, I find the idea of making money off of Lagrassa's crimes as repulsive as you do.
But I admit I was curious.
You don't often get to meet a real hitman.
So you had dinner with him.
It took a lot of cloak-and-dagger phone calls to arrange.
Afterwards, I told him I wasn't interested and I left.
Who knew where you were having dinner? No one.
Lagrassa insisted.
VAN BUREN: Who made the reservation at Bella Flora's? I did.
You just pulled the name out of Zagat's? The hotel concierge recommended it to me.
Bella Flora's has an outstanding reputation.
Why, did someone find a roach in their soup? Read the badges carefully, Lionel.
We're not from the health department.
Hall's dinner partner was murdered after he left the restaurant you picked.
I didn't have anything to do with a murder.
You recommended a restaurant where this guy had his last meal.
You're involved.
Let me tell you something, the job concierge takes on a whole new meaning in Attica.
Danny Maxwell in housekeeping.
He paid me $100 to tell him when Hall went anywhere.
I didn't give a penny to that little flamer.
He says you did.
He says, she says.
We looked up your jacket, Danny.
You're on parole.
We hook you up to this hit, you're gonna go back upstate for the rest of your crummy life.
Hey, this guy Hall got hit? Well, you know how the D.
A.
's gonna look at it.
You set Hall up.
I swear I didn't know.
Well, who paid you to keep tabs on Hall? I tell you, what am I in for? Maybe facilitation, you do a bullet, you'll be back here folding sheets.
This guy I know from the union.
He gave me 500 bucks.
Name of Johnny DeMayo.
(OPERA PLAYING ON STEREO) OFFICER 1: We're clear.
OFFICER 2: Clear.
Lennie.
I 90¢ you.
He's still breathing.
The doctors say he's got a punctured lung, fractured ribs.
One bullet missed his heart by about half an inch.
Fat and muscle's what saved him.
Can he talk? Barely.
Any idea who shot him? Probably the same people who paid him to whack Lagrassa.
Guys like DeMayo are expendable.
SALTZMAN: I need to see him.
Hey! Who are you? Mort Saltzman.
I'm Mr.
DeMayo's attorney.
His mother told me he was here under arrest.
We need to talk, Mr.
Saltzman.
Then you can see your client.
Rey, what happened at DeMayo's door? What? You starting to pull your punches? No.
It was nothing.
Nothing? You want to talk about it? Won't happen again.
I hope not.
SALTZMAN: Do we absolutely have to do this now? JACK: In a couple of days, I might not feel so generous.
I discussed your offer with Mr.
DeMayo.
He indicated he had nothing to do with Lagrassa's death.
The people who tried to kill him seem to think he does.
Mr.
DeMayo woke up in the middle of the night and found two black men burglarizing his apartment.
They shot him.
So he just coincidentally followed Mr.
Hall to a meeting with Lagrassa hours before Lagrassa was killed? Officer, remove those handcuffs.
What are you doing? I'm pulling the guard detail from his room.
You can't do that.
He's under arrest.
Not anymore.
He's on his own.
Those burglars can come stuff a pillow in his face and finish the job for all I care.
DEMAYO: Wait.
He wants the same deal Lagrassa got.
Four years in jail? One year.
Lagrassa admitted to 23 killings.
My client is only accused of one murder.
And he wants to be put in the Federal Witness Protection Program.
That's up to the U.
S.
Attorney.
I'm sure you could work it out.
Assuming we can, what do we get? Al Napoli.
He ordered the hit on Lagrassa? Told me himself.
(SIRENS WAILING) Alberto Napoli? RONNY: What's going on? BRISCOE: Step away from him, Ronny.
FBI.
What're you doing? What does it look like? We're arresting him.
News travels fast.
We're surveillance.
Then watch this.
Alberto Napoli, you're under arrest for the murder of Nicholas Lagrassa.
You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can be used against you at trial.
Are you the altar boys? What? It's okay, Pop.
He had a stroke eight months ago.
He's not right in the head.
You have the right to an attorney.
If you can't afford one, one will be appointed to you by a court of law.
Do you understand these rights? "Case number 484193, People v.
Alberto Napoli," "conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree," "murder in the first degree, attempted murder in the first degree.
" Mr.
Napoli, your plea? My client pleads not guilty, Your Honor.
TORLEDSKY: People on bail? Remand, Your Honor.
Your Honor, that's inhumane.
Mr.
Napoli suffered a stroke eight months ago.
He's under the constant care of his doctor.
He should be sent home ROR.
He was healthy enough to order the murders of two witnesses.
We want him held where he'll be unable to conduct his criminal activities.
Your Honor, any confinement is tantamount to a death sentence.
We have many fine doctors on the prison ward at Bellevue, Mr.
Dobbs.
The defendant is remanded.
I'll allow visits from his personal physician and members of his immediate family.
Ah, his natural family.
(CHUCKLES) We have thousands of photos, hundreds of hours of tapes, and so far we found only six shots of DeMayo in the same frame with Napoli.
This one's from two years ago.
This one's from two months ago.
DeMayo's connected through his cousin, a shylock on the West Side.
There's not one mention on the tapes of a hit on Lagrassa.
It's a start.
Anything else you turn up CAMPOS: Mr.
Schiff, the U.
S.
Attorney and the FBI have been building a racketeering case against Napoli for years.
ADAM: Soon as we convict him of murder, he's all yours.
Mob prosecutions are the traditional province of the U.
S.
Attorney's office.
Mr.
Napoli committed his crimes against the taxpayers of this county.
They've earned the first bite at the apple.
Leave the photos here.
Maybe we should let them take the case.
They have the resources.
Napoli's the last one of his breed.
He goes, the mob goes with him.
Now, would you rather that the Feds put him away or us? We screw up, they'll eat us for breakfast.
DEMAYO: I caught up with him in the park.
I took him into the woods, and then I clipped him.
ROSS: Describe exactly what you did.
I had him take off his clothes.
I let him keep his boots.
Then I shot him twice in the chest.
He went down.
I shot him four more times.
I found a piece of rebar on the path.
I used it to bust up his face.
Why did you have him undress? To show disrespect.
That's what you do.
ROSS: And breaking his teeth? For opening his mouth.
Hey, I hope this protection program works.
I got my teeth capped last year.
Let's go on.
Yeah, okay.
So then I did all that, and then I put him in the lake.
Then I got his ID out of his clothes.
Why did you go to his hotel? DEMAYO: Napoli wanted me to look for material related to what the Feds were up to.
(SIREN WAILING) Hey, I gotta hear that every 10 minutes.
The Marshals have gotta move me.
You're not going anywhere, Mr.
DeMayo.
Hey, come on now.
I'm the guy who clipped Nicky Shakes.
You have our deepest appreciation.
Just to be clear.
You approached Napoli? Yeah.
I heard this writer guy, Brendan Hall, was in town and that he might hook up with Lagrassa.
Where did you hear that? A friend.
They don't wanna be involved.
SALTZMAN: That individual can be listed on the indictment as a John Doe unindicted co-conspirator.
So then, I told Paul Matera, and he told Napoli.
And then I got to see the man himself.
And he told me he'd consider it a personal favor if I clipped Lagrassa.
We're going to need to corroborate Napoli's involvement.
DEMAYO: Like how? Another witness.
Somebody else you told this to.
Okay.
I was seeing this girl, and she was with me when I picked up a clean piece from Matera.
But I don't know, her and me, we were like oil and vinegar.
ROSS: His name is Paul Matera.
We think you met him with Mr.
DeMayo in a parking lot four weeks ago.
Yeah.
And say I did.
Then what? You'd testify before a grand jury and possibly at a trial.
Whose trial? Alberto Napoli.
(SIGHS) Johnny said he knew people like that.
I never believed him.
ROSS: We can protect you.
(SCOFFS) You're kidding me, right? Look, maybe Johnny's stupid enough to fall for that crap.
You're already on a hit list, Ms.
Grant.
Make no mistake, your only hope is to cooperate with us.
(SIGHS) Johnny and I had dinner, then he drove to this parking lot on 23rd.
That man was there.
He gave Johnny a paper bag.
Johnny was all pumped up.
Showed me what was in the bag.
It was a gun.
He said it was gonna change his life.
DOBBS: (SCOFFS) This is some indictment.
Alberto Napoli, Paul Matera, Johnny DeMayo, plus an unnamed unindicted co-conspirator.
Who would that be, Santa Claus? We're in a hurry, Mr.
Dobbs.
We have other cases.
And what does Adam Schiff expect to get out of this, besides photo ops for his re-election campaign, of course? Well, we're going for a conviction.
(LAUGHS) With a nobody like Johnny DeMayo as your star witness? Look, even if someone did want Lagrassa dead, I mean, the idea that they would trust DeMayo with it, it's laughable.
How smart do you have to be to shoot an unarmed man? DOBBS: Look, I know you're all on some sort of mission here, but this case is never going to trial.
I won't permit my client to be made a spectacle of.
Motion to dismiss.
He is not competent to stand trial.
Since his stroke, Your Honor, Mr.
Napoli has suffered from disorientation, memory impairment, auditory hallucination and paranoid delusions of persecution.
He neither understands the charges nor can he assist in his own defense.
Their medical records can't be taken at face value.
This one diagnosed Mr.
Napoli as borderline retarded with an IQ of 61.
This one diagnosed him with an onset of Alzheimer's.
Mr.
Dobbs, your experts have him suffering from every conceivable mental defect.
Regardless, Your Honor, they rebut the initial presumption of competency.
The burden is now on the People to prove that my client is competent.
People v.
Feyre.
The fact that he controls a criminal organization speaks for itself.
I want to hear what the court psychiatrist has to say first.
I'm ordering a 730 exam.
NAPOLI: A-B N I forgot.
DR.
SKODA: How about spelling your last name? I can hear singing.
Am I getting baptized? Let's try something else.
I want you to count down from 30 by subtracting 3.
Okay? So, 21, 24 Go ahead.
Where's that singing coming from? They're singing my name.
It's okay, Pop.
There's no singing.
You almost done? He's tired.
Just a few more questions.
Mr.
Napoli, do you know where you are? Mr.
Napoli, do you know where you are? In school.
Do you know you've been arrested? The archangel Michael says I can't talk about that.
Do you know you're charged with murder? The archangel doesn't want me talking about that.
Who's the archangel Michael? Him.
(SIGHS) RONNY: Now we're done? What, time to change his diaper? Hey! He's sick.
You think that's funny? He has accidents.
(LAUGHS) Al Napoli, the diaper don.
What did you say? Ronny.
You better apologize.
What? Does he play with himself in public, too? DOBBS: Calm down! Calm down.
RONNY: No.
That son of a bitch's gonna show some respect.
You're right.
I'm sorry.
JACK: After claiming he didn't know where he was, (INDISTINCT CHATTERING ON TV) Mr.
Napoli suddenly became sufficiently aware of his surroundings to quickly move out of harm's way.
That shows a remarkable presence of mind.
Your Honor, Dr.
Skoda's examination room theatrics notwithstanding, my client's behavior is consistent with a diagnosis of multi-infarct dementia, schizophrenia and Alzheimer's.
JACK: Mr.
Napoli's condition is like a Chinese menu.
They've taken symptoms from columns A, B and C, to manufacture a claim of incompetence.
Your Honor, is Mr.
McCoy suggesting that my client is such an accomplished actor that he can fool experts from Bellevue, Columbia-Presbyterian, Johns Hopkins? He didn't fool the camera.
That evidence speaks for itself.
He's malingering.
His condition is an elaborate ruse to avoid prosecution.
Your Honor, that is state-sponsored blackmail.
Calm down, Mr.
Dobbs.
This is a mental competency hearing.
I'm sure if the threat of imminent prosecution were removed permanently, Mr.
Napoli would experience a remarkable recovery.
I find the defendant fit to proceed to trial.
Parties to meet in my chambers on Monday to set a trial date.
We're adjourned.
You're trying to kill him.
That's what you want.
What kind of people are you? This is gonna be fun.
RUGGIERO: As these photos show, Johnny DeMayo was a known associate of the Napoli crime organization.
In this photo, please identify the man standing to his left.
That's the second defendant Paul Matera.
He's what we call a street boss.
He oversees the day-to-day operations of the Napoli organization.
In your experience, could a street boss order an assassination without his boss's approval? No, not without suffering dire consequences.
Did there come a time when you observed Mr.
Napoli in the privacy of his home? Yes.
The bureau had an apartment in a high-rise across the street from him.
And what did you observe? He talked to his family, read documents and what appeared to be leather-bound record books.
He received visitors and spoke to them in an authoritative manner.
Thank you.
Agent Ruggiero, you couldn't actually hear what he was saying, isn't that right? Yes.
We didn't have a bug in his home.
Uh-huh.
So as far as you know that, he could've been speaking nonsense.
And as for these record books, they could have been photo albums? Yes.
Hmm.
For the six months that you watched my client, did you ever see him speak to Mr.
DeMayo? No.
Or make a gesture to him or wave hello? Not that I saw.
Did you observe Mr.
DeMayo during that period ever perform any service for my client? One time.
Oh? What was that? He brought coffees to his car.
He delivered coffees? (DOBBS CHUCKLES) And this is the man that my client hired to kill Nick Lagrassa? Well, if that isn't proof that he's mentally incompetent, I don't know what is.
Thank you.
No further questions, Your Honor.
Delivery boy.
I brought him coffee once.
Get over it, Mr.
DeMayo, or they'll eat you alive on the stand.
He's right, Johnny.
Yeah, okay, I'm sorry.
Okay.
I forgot.
Where were we? The question was, please tell us what happened after you took Mr.
Lagrassa into the woods.
Right, okay.
I had him take off his clothes.
Then I shot him twice in the chest.
He went I meant, I let him keep his boots then I shot him twice in the chest.
He went down.
I shot him four more times.
I found a piece of rebar JACK: Hold on.
Did you memorize your testimony? Yeah.
So? I just want to keep it straight in my head.
Juries don't like witnesses who sound rehearsed.
If you leave something out, just move on.
I'll come back to it in a follow-up question.
Yeah.
Okay.
Whatever you say.
Good.
Lagrassa had a large bruise on his right side.
Did you kick him? DEMAYO: A bruise? Oh, yeah, I kicked him.
I forgot that.
All right.
Get plenty of rest.
Lagrassa wasn't bruised.
Nope.
DeMayo's lying.
He didn't kill Lagrassa.
He got a contract from Napoli and had somebody else do the dirty work? We got two days to find out.
The John Doe who told DeMayo the author was in town? Start there.
Brendan Hall says only his lawyer knew he was in town.
He was pretty rabbity.
Checked in under an assumed name, would only talk to us with the lawyer, and then only off the record.
What was he worried about? I don't know.
Process servers for one thing.
Guys who write tell-all books tend to get sued a lot.
Let's see.
Hall, Brendan.
Middle name? Scott.
(SIGHS) Here's one, it's about his Kennedy book.
Libel and defamation.
$50 million! No wonder Hall was keeping a low profile.
Here's another lawsuit.
Brendan Hall, Nicholas Lagrassa and Mattawin Publishing, respondents.
Look at the plaintiffs.
There must be 30 of them.
Albanese, Andrea Albanese, Julia.
Disanto, Marie.
Macavoy, Diane.
Call me crazy, but those are the family names of the people Lagrassa killed.
The suit alleges Lagrassa, Hall and the publishers had made a contract for a book.
The victim's families are suing under the Son of Sam laws to collect whatever Lagrassa was being paid.
That opens up a whole new universe of suspects.
Oh, I think I might've narrowed it down.
owner of a sporting goods store, Sam Panetti.
He owed money to the wrong people.
He was found shot dead.
Stripped to his shorts.
His teeth knocked in.
He has a daughter, Victoria.
She's a plaintiff in the suit.
Victoria.
Vicky Grant? One and the same.
She could be our shooter.
We can't let DeMayo take the stand.
If we ask for a delay, the defense will smell trouble.
It's that or suborning perjury if he testifies he killed Lagrassa.
I know.
Talk to the other plaintiffs.
See what they have to say about Vicky Grant.
Lagrassa killed my brother 'cause he couldn't pay a gambling debt.
ROSS: And now you were suing him? The government gave him four years for killing 23 people.
Now they were gonna let him write a book, make big money.
What did Vicky Grant think about it? She was 12 when Lagrassa killed her dad.
Our lawyer said it could take years to find the money.
(SIGHS) Vicky got fed up.
Dropped out of the suit.
Did you know Hall was meeting with Lagrassa? The book writer comes from Australia.
We'd been trying to serve him papers.
Our lawyer found out he was gonna be in New York.
Did Vicky know? Sure.
I told Marie Disanto, she told Andrea Albanese, and like that.
We all keep in touch.
Why the emergency meeting? (TOILET FLUSHING) Hey, this better not take all day.
The pro bowl starts in half an hour.
Sit down.
Hey, I got a big day tomorrow.
If I want to relax, I'm gonna relax.
Shut up and sit down.
What's got into him? You'd better sit down.
You didn't shoot Nick Lagrassa! Well, then who did? ROSS: Vicky Grant.
Vicky? Come on! She was at the restaurant.
The maitre d' identified her.
When Lagrassa gave you the slip, she followed him.
JACK: Isn't that what happened, Mr.
DeMayo? Maybe you didn't hear me the first time.
You don't fill in the blanks, we're throwing you out on the street.
By the end of the day, you'll be back where we found you, in a pool of your own blood.
And if he talks? He remains a protected witness.
Yeah, okay.
She told me about that writer coming to town.
The idea was, we're gonna grab Lagrassa, take him someplace, and then she was gonna kill him.
But things didn't work out that way, and she took care of it on her own.
Then she came back to get me.
I ditched the body, and I got rid of her gun.
And she let you take the credit with Napoli? She didn't know about Napoli.
Before all this happened, I went to him, to get his okay on killing Lagrassa.
JACK: You wanted to play the hero, the man who clipped Nicky Shakes.
I wanted respect.
And you didn't tell Napoli that your girlfriend was part of the plan? The police picked her up This is a disaster.
She's the shooter.
Napoli didn't know.
We can't pin the murder on him.
He did conspire to kill Lagrassa.
Yeah.
According to who? DeMayo? The man perjured himself before the grand jury.
Some case.
We might still get a conviction.
And Napoli might get all of six years.
I wanted him put behind bars forever, for murder.
The Feds will laugh themselves silly.
Johnny DeMayo gave you up.
An eyewitness placed you in the restaurant.
By tomorrow, we'll have recovered the weapon you used.
You dragged her up here to watch you beat your chest? We're prepared to be lenient.
ROSS: You avenged your father.
You couldn't stand the idea Lagrassa might write a book and make money off his crimes.
JACK: There's enough mitigation here for a plea of first-degree manslaughter.
But we need you to testify to it at Napoli's trial.
You'll be in prison for a year.
After that, you'll go into Federal Witness Protection.
(SIGHS) It wasn't "might write a book.
" Lagrassa had the book in his hand.
He got it from the writer in the restaurant.
He said a book company gave him nearly half a million dollars for his story.
He said he would split it with me if I let him get away.
You still have the draft? Someone else killed Mr.
Lagrassa? Was this woman also acting on orders from Mr.
Napoli? No.
Ms.
Grant was unaware that Mr.
Napoli was involved.
Your Honor, it sounds like my client is off the hook on the murder charge.
I'm moving to dismiss.
I'm inclined to agree, Mr.
McCoy.
The charges against Mr.
Napoli can't be sustained.
Unless Ms.
Grant was a part of his conspiracy.
(LAUGHS) How could she? Neither of them knew the other was involved.
People v.
Treuber.
Ms.
Grant made an agreement with Mr.
DeMayo to kill Lagrassa, and Mr.
DeMayo made one with Napoli.
That's a conspiracy.
The fact that the right hand didn't know what the left was doing is immaterial.
Treuber? You have the cite? Your Honor, it's too late for Mr.
McCoy to amend the indictment.
Ms.
Grant isn't named as a conspirator.
Yes, she is.
As the John Doe co-conspirator who gave information to DeMayo about Mr.
Hall.
Ms.
Grant has agreed to testify? JACK: Yes, Your Honor.
Have her in my courtroom tomorrow.
I'm denying your motion to dismiss.
Judge Larkin went for it.
We've gotta have Vicky Grant prepped for tomorrow morning.
I've been reading Lagrassa and Hall's masterpiece.
I'll wait for the movie.
You don't want to wait that long.
GRANT: Lagrassa begged me for his life.
He offered me money.
I got in his face.
(SPEAKING ITALIAN) I told him that I was the daughter of Sam Panetti, and I shot him, like the dog that he was.
And then? I broke his teeth, just like he did to my father.
I went back to look for Johnny.
That idiot was still at the restaurant.
We drove to the park.
He put the body in the lake.
I gave him my gun, and he dropped me off at the subway.
And what did you do with the book? I kept it.
People's 64, Your Honor.
Is this the manuscript you took from Mr.
Lagrassa? Yes, it is.
"âMob Life by Nicholas Lagrassa with Brendan Hall.
" I'd like you to read the passage I marked.
(SIGHS) "When Joey's brother came out of Attica," "Joey wanted to set him up in his own business.
" "His brother liked sports" "so a sporting goods store seemed like a natural.
" "Panetti's on Atlantic Avenue owed us 20 bills.
" "We called in the note.
" "Mr.
" (CRYING) "Panetti was found dead" "in Prospect Park by a man walking his dog.
" And Mr.
Panetti was your father? Yes.
This bastard Lagrassa, they were gonna put him on Larry King, get a big-name actor to play him in a movie and make a hero out of him.
A piece of dirt like Nick Lagrassa.
These wiseguys, they are psychos and losers, and everybody loves them.
And I don't get it.
I'd like you to read one more passage.
"Joey and I were at Stark's Restaurant with Al Napoli "when we heard the Feds popped Frank Masucci for murder.
"Al said" Objection, Your Honor.
Hearsay.
LARKIN: No.
I'm going to allow it.
The objection is overruled.
Go ahead, Ms.
Grant.
(SIGHS) "Al said Masucci should claim insanity," "like John Hinckley, the man who shot Reagan.
" "Al said that's what he'd do if he got arrested," "a crazy act.
" Thank you.
Two hours to return a guilty verdict.
Must be some kind of record.
We'd like to talk about a sentence recommendation.
He was convicted of murder one.
First he serves life, then we can talk.
And if my client had some information to offer? About? The five families, the Russian mob, Chinese, Jamaican, the whole melting pot.
What kind of time are you looking for? No time.
He goes straight into Witness Protection.
I mean, Adam Schiff'll be prosecuting cases for the next 10 years on his testimony.
I'm not giving him a walk.
One year.
Somewhere near the city.
He has grandchildren.
Two.
Two years? Maybe I'll write a book.
In the end, they all rat each other out.
And we all end up paying their living expenses.
Or buying their memoirs.
Time to share the good news.
Happy faces, everybody.
WOMAN: All right.
WOMAN 2: Mr.
Schiff.
Mr.
Schiff.
Can you comment? Mr.
Schiff.
Sir.
Sir.
These are their stories.
MANNY: Even in winter, the park is full of things to eat.
The fruit of the staghorn sumac are edible and taste like lemon.
(EXCLAIMS) I'm not tasting any lemon.
I taste it.
I know lemon.
This isn't lemon.
It tastes lemony.
Can I continue the tour? Over here we have high-brush cranberries which are actually sweeter Lina, look.
Somebody threw some nice boots in the lake.
MANNY: Stay with the group.
Oh, my God! They still have feet in them.
The victim was in a T-shirt and jockeys and cowboy boots.
We're still looking for the rest of his clothes.
Hunting season for cowboys? Looks like.
I counted six entry wounds, small caliber, and we got several blunt force blows to the face.
How long was he soaking? Hard to tell, maybe 6 hours, We got some clothes in the woods.
Hey, hey! Let's be careful where we step, huh.
Yeah, yeah.
Looks like good quality threads.
Pants pockets have been turned inside out.
No wallet.
Could have been a sex thing, huh? Hooker mugged him just as he was getting down to business.
Yeah.
Right.
Pick up a date for the night, why waste money on a hotel? All right.
Seal it off and get CSU up here.
Always the romantic, huh, Lennie? Six gunshot wounds to the chest and gut.
Four blunt force injuries to the face.
Marks on the wounds indicate he might've been worked over with a piece of rebar.
We got divers working the lake.
Have them look for teeth.
Most of his were knocked out.
So much for dental records.
I found something better than dental records.
He got a chin implant.
Along with some nose work, a face lift and ear lobes shortened.
Guy spent all that dough, winds up looking like hamburger.
Oh.
Speaking of.
Stomach contents.
Veal piccata, capers, risotto, asparagus, salad.
That could be arugula, could be spinach.
Peanuts, red wine, and espresso.
All within an hour before he was killed.
So he was coming from an Italian restaurant.
And before that, corned beef on rye, mustard and french fries.
This guy eats like you, Lennie.
Thanks.
These are from Dookies, a bootmaker in Billings, Montana.
Any record of sale? No.
They went out of business two years go.
The underwear and the socks are a store brand, Diefenbaker's stores in Montana, the Dakotas.
So the guy was a tourist? The suit and the overcoat are from Garibaldi's, downtown.
Off the rack.
Going by the cut, I'd say they were bought four, five years ago.
So the guy buys his suits in New York and his underwear in Montana? Gloves are Isotoners.
Could have been bought anywhere.
No name tags, laundry markings? No.
Just marinara sauce on his shirt and caramel sugar on the lining of his gloves.
We sent his particulars to half a dozen states in the Midwest.
No nibbles yet.
Tourists stay at hotels.
No hotel key.
He got cleaned out.
$100 million worth of forensic technology and all we got is a John Doe cowboy with a big appetite.
We can narrow down his last stop to one of 200 Italian restaurants near the park.
Yeah.
Unless he ate at a friend's.
Well, that only keeps us out of the hardware stores.
Let's see, the lab found caramel sugar on the inside of his gloves.
Didn't they also find peanuts next to his veal piccata? Those hot peanuts you buy on the street? You can smell them two blocks away.
Check out the vendors around the park.
Oh! Why can't these be good for you? Because then you wouldn't eat them.
How you doing? Let me ask you something.
Were you working here on Tuesday night around 10:00? I am here every day until 10:00.
Well, do you remember selling a bag of peanuts to a white guy about that time on Tuesday, wore a camel-hair coat, pair of cowboy boots? Oh, yeah.
Cowboy boots.
Yeah.
That guy gave me a $50 bill for a $1 bag of peanuts.
Took all my change.
Said he was sorry but he gave his singles to the waiter at Bella Flora's over there.
MAITRE D': Do you have a picture? The way he looks right now, a picture wouldn't help.
But he might have had a Midwest accent.
He was wearing a camel-hair coat from Garibaldi's and a pair of cowboy boots.
Oh, yes, I remember.
He had dinner with another gentleman.
Tweed jacket, gray hair.
CURTIS: You took the reservation? No.
The day girl takes them.
Here.
Yes.
Yes.
It's, under the name Curren.
No phone number.
You remember this guy because of the Garibaldi coat? No.
When he was leaving, he looked out the window and he saw a guy in a car across the street who was watching the restaurant.
He asked me to show him to the back exit.
He say why? No.
I was concerned about the guy in the car, too.
We've been robbed twice in the past year.
So, I wrote down the license number.
Our lucky day.
So, uh, who paid for the dinner, the tweed jacket or the Garibaldi coat? The Garibaldi coat.
Cash.
Oh, and the accent, when he ordered wine, he spoke Italian.
Brooklyn Italian.
VICKY: That car's assigned to one of our sales reps.
Which one? John DeMayo.
Is he in? No.
When will he be back? Depends.
Well, what, is he out on a call? I don't know.
Um, why don't you leave your card and when he calls in, I'll give him your information.
Okay.
Meantime, mind if we take a look in his office? We won't touch anything.
I guess.
It's this way.
This is it.
July.
DeMayo must be on the road a lot.
You have his home address? Sure.
John DeMayo? Johnny.
Who are you guys? Detectives, Johnny.
We need to ask you a few questions.
Like what? Like how'd a guy like you luck into a job you don't have to show up for? Come on.
I'm making a living, okay.
What do you guys want? Tuesday night, somebody saw you in this car in front of Bella Flora's.
Yeah, sure.
I remember that.
I was waiting for a chick.
Blind date.
Oh, yeah? What's her name? Gina something.
She stood me up, so I went to another bar.
What are you, her brother? This bar have a name? A bar with a name.
You know what, that's a great idea.
It was Donny's in Ozone Park.
I was there the rest of the night.
And Donny says whatever you tell him to, right? Hey, look guys, you know, I just stopped in here to tap a kidney.
I've got to meet people in the city.
So if we're done Yeah.
We'll talk again, Johnny.
Soon.
The only rugs he moves have bodies rolled up in them.
So we got this mook and a victim from Montana with plastic surgery who speaks Brooklyn Italian.
Our victim's a wiseguy in hiding? A wiseguy whose prints aren't on file.
Let's talk to the U.
S.
Marshals.
Sorry, I came up blank on those prints.
So you're saying whoever's prints these are isn't in your Witness Protection Program? Our policy is we can't confirm or deny who's in the program.
What's this regarding? The prints came up in connection with an investigation.
What type of investigation? No.
First you tell us whose prints these are.
We have our policies too, Mr.
Wheeler.
Sorry I couldn't help you.
Call if you need anything else.
I removed the chin implant to give me the true width of the jaw.
I lengthened the earlobes.
Tucked in the cheek bones.
But the nose is a first, he paid to make it bigger.
You think it's him? Sure looks like him.
I heard he was in Puerto Rico.
Who are we talking about? Nick Lagrassa, a.
k.
a.
Nicky Shakes.
Button man for the Virgini family.
Confessed to 23 murders.
Three years ago he testified for the Feds.
Sent a dozen guys to Leavenworth for the rest of their lives.
Well, now we know where he'll spend the rest of his.
Can't wait to tell the Marshals.
Thanks.
WHEELER: This individual's in your morgue? Cut the crap.
You got his prints, you got his photos.
Is it Lagrassa? It's Lagrassa.
How long has he been dead? Since Tuesday night last week.
Tapped six times, .
22 caliber.
Suspects? How about answering one of our questions.
What was he doing in New York? Frankly, we don't have a clue.
Mr.
Lagrassa left his relocation site a week ago without authorization.
What? He just got homesick? Any outstanding items on his court schedule? I'm not at liberty to discuss that.
Listen, I don't need to play slap and tickle with the U.
S.
Attorney.
The only leak you should be concerned about is the one to the press if you don't cooperate.
(SIGHS) We've been putting together a RICO case against Alberto Napoli.
Lagrassa was going to testify that he was present when Napoli ordered the hit on Louie Bonaventura five years ago.
Napoli's a big fish, killing Lagrassa's right up his alley.
Napoli's arrest was still six months down the road and only if we could lock in corroborating evidence.
All right, thanks for the information.
We'll take it from here.
I'm sorry, Lieutenant, this is our case.
Lagrassa is our witness.
Was your witness.
If you think you can just come Excuse me.
Mr.
Campos, I'm not into all this piss-and-mark-your-territory crap.
If I need your help, I will call you.
You don't, you'll be talking to the Attorney General.
CURTIS: Well, so far, we only know that Johnny DeMayo was staking out the restaurant.
And that Lagrassa tried to avoid him.
What about Lagrassa's dinner date, the tweed jacket? Dead end.
(PHONE RINGING) Yeah.
Hold on.
Curtis.
Where? Okay, thanks.
Well, the trace on Lagrassa's new identity as Michael Tobias has him using a credit card authorization for a hotel off of Madison.
Oh, God! They didn't miss a thing.
Yeah.
Except for some beaded belts.
Silver buckles.
Lagrassa really went whole hog for the cowboy look.
What happened here? Who's Lagrassa? Never mind.
We're gonna need a list of phone calls from this room.
Isn't Mr.
Tobias coming back? No.
Well, Lagrassa was living it up.
Most of his local calls were to escort services.
The rest were to the Hotel Vogue on 57th.
The 1935 number? Yeah.
Well, check this out.
The calls to the 406 area code, that's a phone company message center in Montana.
Looks like he was calling there every half hour.
Right before he called the Hotel Vogue.
He calls Montana, picks up a message from somebody at the Vogue, then calls them.
Right.
Lagrassa didn't want anybody calling him direct at his hotel.
The question is, who at the Vogue was leaving messages for him in Montana.
Do you have any idea how many people stay here a night? No, why don't we close the place down and do a head count? Mr.
Walerstein, I think I found the guest.
Dozens of calls to the 406 area code.
The last one was this morning.
Ned Curren, Sydney, Australia.
But the credit card's in the name of Brendan Hall.
Mr.
Hall checked in as Ned Curren.
Mr.
Hall's a distinguished author.
He doesn't want his fans bothering him.
Don't worry.
I just bought it for the picture.
"When the world's most eligible bachelor finally decided to marry," "many hoped it would be to someone who looked more like Jackie O.
" Thank God for the Kennedys.
Otherwise, a lot of bad writers would be waiting tables.
Brendan Hall? Oh, sorry.
I thought you might be process servers.
You want me to sign that for you? Actually, we're detectives.
What's this about? Nicholas Lagrassa.
You know him? Can't say I do.
He's the guy you were exchanging phone calls with last week.
Also the guy you shared a bottle of Chianti with at Bella Rosa's last Tuesday night.
What about him? He's dead.
Dead? My God.
You feel like answering some questions now? I better talk to my lawyer before I say anything.
Fine.
He can meet you down at the precinct.
Mr.
Lagrassa was looking for a ghost writer to do a book about his life in crime.
I flew in from Sydney to meet with him.
This scum admits to killing 23 people and you think he rates a book? An insider's look at the mob? The public eats this stuff up.
Look, Joe Bonanno wrote a book, so did Henry Hill, Sammy "The Bull" Barry.
Detective, I find the idea of making money off of Lagrassa's crimes as repulsive as you do.
But I admit I was curious.
You don't often get to meet a real hitman.
So you had dinner with him.
It took a lot of cloak-and-dagger phone calls to arrange.
Afterwards, I told him I wasn't interested and I left.
Who knew where you were having dinner? No one.
Lagrassa insisted.
VAN BUREN: Who made the reservation at Bella Flora's? I did.
You just pulled the name out of Zagat's? The hotel concierge recommended it to me.
Bella Flora's has an outstanding reputation.
Why, did someone find a roach in their soup? Read the badges carefully, Lionel.
We're not from the health department.
Hall's dinner partner was murdered after he left the restaurant you picked.
I didn't have anything to do with a murder.
You recommended a restaurant where this guy had his last meal.
You're involved.
Let me tell you something, the job concierge takes on a whole new meaning in Attica.
Danny Maxwell in housekeeping.
He paid me $100 to tell him when Hall went anywhere.
I didn't give a penny to that little flamer.
He says you did.
He says, she says.
We looked up your jacket, Danny.
You're on parole.
We hook you up to this hit, you're gonna go back upstate for the rest of your crummy life.
Hey, this guy Hall got hit? Well, you know how the D.
A.
's gonna look at it.
You set Hall up.
I swear I didn't know.
Well, who paid you to keep tabs on Hall? I tell you, what am I in for? Maybe facilitation, you do a bullet, you'll be back here folding sheets.
This guy I know from the union.
He gave me 500 bucks.
Name of Johnny DeMayo.
(OPERA PLAYING ON STEREO) OFFICER 1: We're clear.
OFFICER 2: Clear.
Lennie.
I 90¢ you.
He's still breathing.
The doctors say he's got a punctured lung, fractured ribs.
One bullet missed his heart by about half an inch.
Fat and muscle's what saved him.
Can he talk? Barely.
Any idea who shot him? Probably the same people who paid him to whack Lagrassa.
Guys like DeMayo are expendable.
SALTZMAN: I need to see him.
Hey! Who are you? Mort Saltzman.
I'm Mr.
DeMayo's attorney.
His mother told me he was here under arrest.
We need to talk, Mr.
Saltzman.
Then you can see your client.
Rey, what happened at DeMayo's door? What? You starting to pull your punches? No.
It was nothing.
Nothing? You want to talk about it? Won't happen again.
I hope not.
SALTZMAN: Do we absolutely have to do this now? JACK: In a couple of days, I might not feel so generous.
I discussed your offer with Mr.
DeMayo.
He indicated he had nothing to do with Lagrassa's death.
The people who tried to kill him seem to think he does.
Mr.
DeMayo woke up in the middle of the night and found two black men burglarizing his apartment.
They shot him.
So he just coincidentally followed Mr.
Hall to a meeting with Lagrassa hours before Lagrassa was killed? Officer, remove those handcuffs.
What are you doing? I'm pulling the guard detail from his room.
You can't do that.
He's under arrest.
Not anymore.
He's on his own.
Those burglars can come stuff a pillow in his face and finish the job for all I care.
DEMAYO: Wait.
He wants the same deal Lagrassa got.
Four years in jail? One year.
Lagrassa admitted to 23 killings.
My client is only accused of one murder.
And he wants to be put in the Federal Witness Protection Program.
That's up to the U.
S.
Attorney.
I'm sure you could work it out.
Assuming we can, what do we get? Al Napoli.
He ordered the hit on Lagrassa? Told me himself.
(SIRENS WAILING) Alberto Napoli? RONNY: What's going on? BRISCOE: Step away from him, Ronny.
FBI.
What're you doing? What does it look like? We're arresting him.
News travels fast.
We're surveillance.
Then watch this.
Alberto Napoli, you're under arrest for the murder of Nicholas Lagrassa.
You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can be used against you at trial.
Are you the altar boys? What? It's okay, Pop.
He had a stroke eight months ago.
He's not right in the head.
You have the right to an attorney.
If you can't afford one, one will be appointed to you by a court of law.
Do you understand these rights? "Case number 484193, People v.
Alberto Napoli," "conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree," "murder in the first degree, attempted murder in the first degree.
" Mr.
Napoli, your plea? My client pleads not guilty, Your Honor.
TORLEDSKY: People on bail? Remand, Your Honor.
Your Honor, that's inhumane.
Mr.
Napoli suffered a stroke eight months ago.
He's under the constant care of his doctor.
He should be sent home ROR.
He was healthy enough to order the murders of two witnesses.
We want him held where he'll be unable to conduct his criminal activities.
Your Honor, any confinement is tantamount to a death sentence.
We have many fine doctors on the prison ward at Bellevue, Mr.
Dobbs.
The defendant is remanded.
I'll allow visits from his personal physician and members of his immediate family.
Ah, his natural family.
(CHUCKLES) We have thousands of photos, hundreds of hours of tapes, and so far we found only six shots of DeMayo in the same frame with Napoli.
This one's from two years ago.
This one's from two months ago.
DeMayo's connected through his cousin, a shylock on the West Side.
There's not one mention on the tapes of a hit on Lagrassa.
It's a start.
Anything else you turn up CAMPOS: Mr.
Schiff, the U.
S.
Attorney and the FBI have been building a racketeering case against Napoli for years.
ADAM: Soon as we convict him of murder, he's all yours.
Mob prosecutions are the traditional province of the U.
S.
Attorney's office.
Mr.
Napoli committed his crimes against the taxpayers of this county.
They've earned the first bite at the apple.
Leave the photos here.
Maybe we should let them take the case.
They have the resources.
Napoli's the last one of his breed.
He goes, the mob goes with him.
Now, would you rather that the Feds put him away or us? We screw up, they'll eat us for breakfast.
DEMAYO: I caught up with him in the park.
I took him into the woods, and then I clipped him.
ROSS: Describe exactly what you did.
I had him take off his clothes.
I let him keep his boots.
Then I shot him twice in the chest.
He went down.
I shot him four more times.
I found a piece of rebar on the path.
I used it to bust up his face.
Why did you have him undress? To show disrespect.
That's what you do.
ROSS: And breaking his teeth? For opening his mouth.
Hey, I hope this protection program works.
I got my teeth capped last year.
Let's go on.
Yeah, okay.
So then I did all that, and then I put him in the lake.
Then I got his ID out of his clothes.
Why did you go to his hotel? DEMAYO: Napoli wanted me to look for material related to what the Feds were up to.
(SIREN WAILING) Hey, I gotta hear that every 10 minutes.
The Marshals have gotta move me.
You're not going anywhere, Mr.
DeMayo.
Hey, come on now.
I'm the guy who clipped Nicky Shakes.
You have our deepest appreciation.
Just to be clear.
You approached Napoli? Yeah.
I heard this writer guy, Brendan Hall, was in town and that he might hook up with Lagrassa.
Where did you hear that? A friend.
They don't wanna be involved.
SALTZMAN: That individual can be listed on the indictment as a John Doe unindicted co-conspirator.
So then, I told Paul Matera, and he told Napoli.
And then I got to see the man himself.
And he told me he'd consider it a personal favor if I clipped Lagrassa.
We're going to need to corroborate Napoli's involvement.
DEMAYO: Like how? Another witness.
Somebody else you told this to.
Okay.
I was seeing this girl, and she was with me when I picked up a clean piece from Matera.
But I don't know, her and me, we were like oil and vinegar.
ROSS: His name is Paul Matera.
We think you met him with Mr.
DeMayo in a parking lot four weeks ago.
Yeah.
And say I did.
Then what? You'd testify before a grand jury and possibly at a trial.
Whose trial? Alberto Napoli.
(SIGHS) Johnny said he knew people like that.
I never believed him.
ROSS: We can protect you.
(SCOFFS) You're kidding me, right? Look, maybe Johnny's stupid enough to fall for that crap.
You're already on a hit list, Ms.
Grant.
Make no mistake, your only hope is to cooperate with us.
(SIGHS) Johnny and I had dinner, then he drove to this parking lot on 23rd.
That man was there.
He gave Johnny a paper bag.
Johnny was all pumped up.
Showed me what was in the bag.
It was a gun.
He said it was gonna change his life.
DOBBS: (SCOFFS) This is some indictment.
Alberto Napoli, Paul Matera, Johnny DeMayo, plus an unnamed unindicted co-conspirator.
Who would that be, Santa Claus? We're in a hurry, Mr.
Dobbs.
We have other cases.
And what does Adam Schiff expect to get out of this, besides photo ops for his re-election campaign, of course? Well, we're going for a conviction.
(LAUGHS) With a nobody like Johnny DeMayo as your star witness? Look, even if someone did want Lagrassa dead, I mean, the idea that they would trust DeMayo with it, it's laughable.
How smart do you have to be to shoot an unarmed man? DOBBS: Look, I know you're all on some sort of mission here, but this case is never going to trial.
I won't permit my client to be made a spectacle of.
Motion to dismiss.
He is not competent to stand trial.
Since his stroke, Your Honor, Mr.
Napoli has suffered from disorientation, memory impairment, auditory hallucination and paranoid delusions of persecution.
He neither understands the charges nor can he assist in his own defense.
Their medical records can't be taken at face value.
This one diagnosed Mr.
Napoli as borderline retarded with an IQ of 61.
This one diagnosed him with an onset of Alzheimer's.
Mr.
Dobbs, your experts have him suffering from every conceivable mental defect.
Regardless, Your Honor, they rebut the initial presumption of competency.
The burden is now on the People to prove that my client is competent.
People v.
Feyre.
The fact that he controls a criminal organization speaks for itself.
I want to hear what the court psychiatrist has to say first.
I'm ordering a 730 exam.
NAPOLI: A-B N I forgot.
DR.
SKODA: How about spelling your last name? I can hear singing.
Am I getting baptized? Let's try something else.
I want you to count down from 30 by subtracting 3.
Okay? So, 21, 24 Go ahead.
Where's that singing coming from? They're singing my name.
It's okay, Pop.
There's no singing.
You almost done? He's tired.
Just a few more questions.
Mr.
Napoli, do you know where you are? Mr.
Napoli, do you know where you are? In school.
Do you know you've been arrested? The archangel Michael says I can't talk about that.
Do you know you're charged with murder? The archangel doesn't want me talking about that.
Who's the archangel Michael? Him.
(SIGHS) RONNY: Now we're done? What, time to change his diaper? Hey! He's sick.
You think that's funny? He has accidents.
(LAUGHS) Al Napoli, the diaper don.
What did you say? Ronny.
You better apologize.
What? Does he play with himself in public, too? DOBBS: Calm down! Calm down.
RONNY: No.
That son of a bitch's gonna show some respect.
You're right.
I'm sorry.
JACK: After claiming he didn't know where he was, (INDISTINCT CHATTERING ON TV) Mr.
Napoli suddenly became sufficiently aware of his surroundings to quickly move out of harm's way.
That shows a remarkable presence of mind.
Your Honor, Dr.
Skoda's examination room theatrics notwithstanding, my client's behavior is consistent with a diagnosis of multi-infarct dementia, schizophrenia and Alzheimer's.
JACK: Mr.
Napoli's condition is like a Chinese menu.
They've taken symptoms from columns A, B and C, to manufacture a claim of incompetence.
Your Honor, is Mr.
McCoy suggesting that my client is such an accomplished actor that he can fool experts from Bellevue, Columbia-Presbyterian, Johns Hopkins? He didn't fool the camera.
That evidence speaks for itself.
He's malingering.
His condition is an elaborate ruse to avoid prosecution.
Your Honor, that is state-sponsored blackmail.
Calm down, Mr.
Dobbs.
This is a mental competency hearing.
I'm sure if the threat of imminent prosecution were removed permanently, Mr.
Napoli would experience a remarkable recovery.
I find the defendant fit to proceed to trial.
Parties to meet in my chambers on Monday to set a trial date.
We're adjourned.
You're trying to kill him.
That's what you want.
What kind of people are you? This is gonna be fun.
RUGGIERO: As these photos show, Johnny DeMayo was a known associate of the Napoli crime organization.
In this photo, please identify the man standing to his left.
That's the second defendant Paul Matera.
He's what we call a street boss.
He oversees the day-to-day operations of the Napoli organization.
In your experience, could a street boss order an assassination without his boss's approval? No, not without suffering dire consequences.
Did there come a time when you observed Mr.
Napoli in the privacy of his home? Yes.
The bureau had an apartment in a high-rise across the street from him.
And what did you observe? He talked to his family, read documents and what appeared to be leather-bound record books.
He received visitors and spoke to them in an authoritative manner.
Thank you.
Agent Ruggiero, you couldn't actually hear what he was saying, isn't that right? Yes.
We didn't have a bug in his home.
Uh-huh.
So as far as you know that, he could've been speaking nonsense.
And as for these record books, they could have been photo albums? Yes.
Hmm.
For the six months that you watched my client, did you ever see him speak to Mr.
DeMayo? No.
Or make a gesture to him or wave hello? Not that I saw.
Did you observe Mr.
DeMayo during that period ever perform any service for my client? One time.
Oh? What was that? He brought coffees to his car.
He delivered coffees? (DOBBS CHUCKLES) And this is the man that my client hired to kill Nick Lagrassa? Well, if that isn't proof that he's mentally incompetent, I don't know what is.
Thank you.
No further questions, Your Honor.
Delivery boy.
I brought him coffee once.
Get over it, Mr.
DeMayo, or they'll eat you alive on the stand.
He's right, Johnny.
Yeah, okay, I'm sorry.
Okay.
I forgot.
Where were we? The question was, please tell us what happened after you took Mr.
Lagrassa into the woods.
Right, okay.
I had him take off his clothes.
Then I shot him twice in the chest.
He went I meant, I let him keep his boots then I shot him twice in the chest.
He went down.
I shot him four more times.
I found a piece of rebar JACK: Hold on.
Did you memorize your testimony? Yeah.
So? I just want to keep it straight in my head.
Juries don't like witnesses who sound rehearsed.
If you leave something out, just move on.
I'll come back to it in a follow-up question.
Yeah.
Okay.
Whatever you say.
Good.
Lagrassa had a large bruise on his right side.
Did you kick him? DEMAYO: A bruise? Oh, yeah, I kicked him.
I forgot that.
All right.
Get plenty of rest.
Lagrassa wasn't bruised.
Nope.
DeMayo's lying.
He didn't kill Lagrassa.
He got a contract from Napoli and had somebody else do the dirty work? We got two days to find out.
The John Doe who told DeMayo the author was in town? Start there.
Brendan Hall says only his lawyer knew he was in town.
He was pretty rabbity.
Checked in under an assumed name, would only talk to us with the lawyer, and then only off the record.
What was he worried about? I don't know.
Process servers for one thing.
Guys who write tell-all books tend to get sued a lot.
Let's see.
Hall, Brendan.
Middle name? Scott.
(SIGHS) Here's one, it's about his Kennedy book.
Libel and defamation.
$50 million! No wonder Hall was keeping a low profile.
Here's another lawsuit.
Brendan Hall, Nicholas Lagrassa and Mattawin Publishing, respondents.
Look at the plaintiffs.
There must be 30 of them.
Albanese, Andrea Albanese, Julia.
Disanto, Marie.
Macavoy, Diane.
Call me crazy, but those are the family names of the people Lagrassa killed.
The suit alleges Lagrassa, Hall and the publishers had made a contract for a book.
The victim's families are suing under the Son of Sam laws to collect whatever Lagrassa was being paid.
That opens up a whole new universe of suspects.
Oh, I think I might've narrowed it down.
owner of a sporting goods store, Sam Panetti.
He owed money to the wrong people.
He was found shot dead.
Stripped to his shorts.
His teeth knocked in.
He has a daughter, Victoria.
She's a plaintiff in the suit.
Victoria.
Vicky Grant? One and the same.
She could be our shooter.
We can't let DeMayo take the stand.
If we ask for a delay, the defense will smell trouble.
It's that or suborning perjury if he testifies he killed Lagrassa.
I know.
Talk to the other plaintiffs.
See what they have to say about Vicky Grant.
Lagrassa killed my brother 'cause he couldn't pay a gambling debt.
ROSS: And now you were suing him? The government gave him four years for killing 23 people.
Now they were gonna let him write a book, make big money.
What did Vicky Grant think about it? She was 12 when Lagrassa killed her dad.
Our lawyer said it could take years to find the money.
(SIGHS) Vicky got fed up.
Dropped out of the suit.
Did you know Hall was meeting with Lagrassa? The book writer comes from Australia.
We'd been trying to serve him papers.
Our lawyer found out he was gonna be in New York.
Did Vicky know? Sure.
I told Marie Disanto, she told Andrea Albanese, and like that.
We all keep in touch.
Why the emergency meeting? (TOILET FLUSHING) Hey, this better not take all day.
The pro bowl starts in half an hour.
Sit down.
Hey, I got a big day tomorrow.
If I want to relax, I'm gonna relax.
Shut up and sit down.
What's got into him? You'd better sit down.
You didn't shoot Nick Lagrassa! Well, then who did? ROSS: Vicky Grant.
Vicky? Come on! She was at the restaurant.
The maitre d' identified her.
When Lagrassa gave you the slip, she followed him.
JACK: Isn't that what happened, Mr.
DeMayo? Maybe you didn't hear me the first time.
You don't fill in the blanks, we're throwing you out on the street.
By the end of the day, you'll be back where we found you, in a pool of your own blood.
And if he talks? He remains a protected witness.
Yeah, okay.
She told me about that writer coming to town.
The idea was, we're gonna grab Lagrassa, take him someplace, and then she was gonna kill him.
But things didn't work out that way, and she took care of it on her own.
Then she came back to get me.
I ditched the body, and I got rid of her gun.
And she let you take the credit with Napoli? She didn't know about Napoli.
Before all this happened, I went to him, to get his okay on killing Lagrassa.
JACK: You wanted to play the hero, the man who clipped Nicky Shakes.
I wanted respect.
And you didn't tell Napoli that your girlfriend was part of the plan? The police picked her up This is a disaster.
She's the shooter.
Napoli didn't know.
We can't pin the murder on him.
He did conspire to kill Lagrassa.
Yeah.
According to who? DeMayo? The man perjured himself before the grand jury.
Some case.
We might still get a conviction.
And Napoli might get all of six years.
I wanted him put behind bars forever, for murder.
The Feds will laugh themselves silly.
Johnny DeMayo gave you up.
An eyewitness placed you in the restaurant.
By tomorrow, we'll have recovered the weapon you used.
You dragged her up here to watch you beat your chest? We're prepared to be lenient.
ROSS: You avenged your father.
You couldn't stand the idea Lagrassa might write a book and make money off his crimes.
JACK: There's enough mitigation here for a plea of first-degree manslaughter.
But we need you to testify to it at Napoli's trial.
You'll be in prison for a year.
After that, you'll go into Federal Witness Protection.
(SIGHS) It wasn't "might write a book.
" Lagrassa had the book in his hand.
He got it from the writer in the restaurant.
He said a book company gave him nearly half a million dollars for his story.
He said he would split it with me if I let him get away.
You still have the draft? Someone else killed Mr.
Lagrassa? Was this woman also acting on orders from Mr.
Napoli? No.
Ms.
Grant was unaware that Mr.
Napoli was involved.
Your Honor, it sounds like my client is off the hook on the murder charge.
I'm moving to dismiss.
I'm inclined to agree, Mr.
McCoy.
The charges against Mr.
Napoli can't be sustained.
Unless Ms.
Grant was a part of his conspiracy.
(LAUGHS) How could she? Neither of them knew the other was involved.
People v.
Treuber.
Ms.
Grant made an agreement with Mr.
DeMayo to kill Lagrassa, and Mr.
DeMayo made one with Napoli.
That's a conspiracy.
The fact that the right hand didn't know what the left was doing is immaterial.
Treuber? You have the cite? Your Honor, it's too late for Mr.
McCoy to amend the indictment.
Ms.
Grant isn't named as a conspirator.
Yes, she is.
As the John Doe co-conspirator who gave information to DeMayo about Mr.
Hall.
Ms.
Grant has agreed to testify? JACK: Yes, Your Honor.
Have her in my courtroom tomorrow.
I'm denying your motion to dismiss.
Judge Larkin went for it.
We've gotta have Vicky Grant prepped for tomorrow morning.
I've been reading Lagrassa and Hall's masterpiece.
I'll wait for the movie.
You don't want to wait that long.
GRANT: Lagrassa begged me for his life.
He offered me money.
I got in his face.
(SPEAKING ITALIAN) I told him that I was the daughter of Sam Panetti, and I shot him, like the dog that he was.
And then? I broke his teeth, just like he did to my father.
I went back to look for Johnny.
That idiot was still at the restaurant.
We drove to the park.
He put the body in the lake.
I gave him my gun, and he dropped me off at the subway.
And what did you do with the book? I kept it.
People's 64, Your Honor.
Is this the manuscript you took from Mr.
Lagrassa? Yes, it is.
"âMob Life by Nicholas Lagrassa with Brendan Hall.
" I'd like you to read the passage I marked.
(SIGHS) "When Joey's brother came out of Attica," "Joey wanted to set him up in his own business.
" "His brother liked sports" "so a sporting goods store seemed like a natural.
" "Panetti's on Atlantic Avenue owed us 20 bills.
" "We called in the note.
" "Mr.
" (CRYING) "Panetti was found dead" "in Prospect Park by a man walking his dog.
" And Mr.
Panetti was your father? Yes.
This bastard Lagrassa, they were gonna put him on Larry King, get a big-name actor to play him in a movie and make a hero out of him.
A piece of dirt like Nick Lagrassa.
These wiseguys, they are psychos and losers, and everybody loves them.
And I don't get it.
I'd like you to read one more passage.
"Joey and I were at Stark's Restaurant with Al Napoli "when we heard the Feds popped Frank Masucci for murder.
"Al said" Objection, Your Honor.
Hearsay.
LARKIN: No.
I'm going to allow it.
The objection is overruled.
Go ahead, Ms.
Grant.
(SIGHS) "Al said Masucci should claim insanity," "like John Hinckley, the man who shot Reagan.
" "Al said that's what he'd do if he got arrested," "a crazy act.
" Thank you.
Two hours to return a guilty verdict.
Must be some kind of record.
We'd like to talk about a sentence recommendation.
He was convicted of murder one.
First he serves life, then we can talk.
And if my client had some information to offer? About? The five families, the Russian mob, Chinese, Jamaican, the whole melting pot.
What kind of time are you looking for? No time.
He goes straight into Witness Protection.
I mean, Adam Schiff'll be prosecuting cases for the next 10 years on his testimony.
I'm not giving him a walk.
One year.
Somewhere near the city.
He has grandchildren.
Two.
Two years? Maybe I'll write a book.
In the end, they all rat each other out.
And we all end up paying their living expenses.
Or buying their memoirs.
Time to share the good news.
Happy faces, everybody.
WOMAN: All right.
WOMAN 2: Mr.
Schiff.
Mr.
Schiff.
Can you comment? Mr.
Schiff.
Sir.
Sir.