Smackdown
By Hank74
This ep idea is based on a real life story which took place in my hometown.
This story actually began around 1990, when L&O started. Yet it has
continued for another 10 years or so with many twists and turns. I've tried to
remember the important points and players through the years, so hopefully
you'll be impressed.
The title is "Smackdown"
Cast:
Trial Judge: Judge Robert Quinn
Corrupt Defense Attorney: Alex Rocco
Attorney for the Corrupt Attorney: Barry Nathenson from "Amends"
Bank Robber: Jared Leto
Attorney for the Robber: John Slattery
"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.
Ching-ching."
Opening Scene:
It is a normal day at a midtown bank when the officer opens up the safe. He was
expecting to find some new money in the drawers, for daily business purposes.
Unfortunately, no money is to be found and he begins to call the police
suspecting a robbery. When Lennie and Ed come in, they are baffled as to why
homicide detecives would be involved in a bank robbery. There is no dead bodies
or shooting. The officer then tells Lennie and Ed the armored truck is late and
it was carrying about $1 million dollars in it. "Now there's a reason to
call in the cavalry" quips Lennie. Go to opening credits.
Lennie and Ed question other employees
at the bank to see if they saw anything suspicious the day before. Van Buren
comes by with the president of the armored car company. He gives Lennie and Ed
an itinerary of where the car in question went the day before it was missing.
Lennie asks if its policy for drivers to take the armored car with them home
after work. The president says no. Van Buren then tells Lennie and Ed she has
gotten some officers from other precints to be on the lookout for a suspicious
car. In the meantime, Lennie and Ed re-trace the deliveries of the car from
yesterday.
Among the places where Lennie and Ed question would be a department store, a
prestigious law firm, a real estate company, and a night club. Nothing from the
department store raises any eyebrows, but the others do in one way or the
other. The developer at the real estate company has had some cash problems due
to a soft market. Ed grills him pretty good on whether he orchestrated the
robbery. The owner denies this strongly. But Ed isn't sure and asks Serena for
a search warrant of the property. There is no major money or weapons to be
found. There is hardly any evidence linking the developer to any robbery. Ed
almost gets physical with the developer when he begins to mock Ed. Ultimately
Lennie asks Ed to cool down and the two move on.
At the law firm of a prominent defense attorney known for getting gansters and
hustlers off the hook, the attorney brushes Lennie and Ed off by invoking
privilige. Ed wants to take a peek and at least see if there is something around.
The attorney again claims no knowledge of the robbery and invokes priviliege.
He adds that any further inquiry might consistute harrassment.
So Lennie and Ed then walk over to the night club. It happens to be empty.
Seems nobody has been inside for some time now since there are some cobwebs and
even rats crawling by. When they stumble upon a side room for any evidence,
they do find quite a lot of heroin, marijuana, cocaine, and other drug
paraphenila stashed.
Van Buren comes to the night club to see the drugs for herself. The technicians
put the value at about $5 million dollars worth. She also tells Lennie and Ed
nothing has come up regarding the mystery armored truck. Lennie reports to Van
Buren the developer is squeaky clean right now and the defense lawyer is
invoking privilege. Van Buren does mention the names of the drivers who were
supposed to be in the truck when it was taken.
Lennie and Ed talk to their wives and friends to see if they might have any
clues on where they might be. They all tell the detectives it is very unusual
to not hear from them for so long. Ed realizes the wife of the driver was
having some cash problems with the mortgage and growing child care expenses.
Before he goes any further though, he and Lennie leave politely. Both seem to
agree there is a possibility the supposed victim in this missing truck might be
the culprit. It doesn't wash at this point with Van Buren, but then Ed pulls up
the rap sheet for the driver and it lists he was convicted of misdeamor assault
three years ago. It goes on to say the driver is still being investigated by
the IRS for possible tax violations.
Van Buren is now convinced and is delighted when Cordova informs everyone of a
suspicious truck located at a barn upstate. Lennie and Ed rush up there and
find out the driver has been tied up and his partner is missing. Inside the
truck is about 7 million dollars in cash.
Additional Cast Members:
Real Estate Developer-Robert Knepper from CI's "The Good Doctor"
Attorney for the Developer-Ms. Rubinov from "Slave"
Court Clerk-James Waterston.
Note-Jared Leto plays the driver who is accused of stealing the money from the
armored truck. He stands trial in this case as a defendant.
The driver who was tied up is OK after being treated at the hospital. But
Lennie and Ed have some questions for him. Serena is there to listen as well.
Lennie and Ed grill him on the drugs at the nightclub and the money in the
truck. They believe he was going to launder the money after purchasing some
drugs. The driver begins to get upset by the detectives implications and says
he plans on seeing an attorney.
Serena wonders if there is a connection between the money and the drugs along
with an old case involving the real estate developer. She begins to do some
research and tells Jack she might be up to something. Turns out the developer
was represented by the same defense attorney six years ago on a racketerring
charge. Ed then in saying there was a witness at the club who swore to seeing
the developer and the driver at the club a year ago talking for about an hour
at a table.
When Serena and Jack come in to talk to the developer, the defense attorney is
also present just to protect his client. The developer says he knew the driver
from high school and was just reliving old times. Jack and Serena don't seem to
buy this story and feel there is a drug conspiracy going on. Both the developer
and the attorney gets defensive about this and cuts the interview short. The
attorney announces he will file a formal harrassment complaint.
When they get back to the DA's office, Jack and Serena report to Nora on the
case's status. They don't have much evidence to go with and are worried about
the missing partner. Suddenly, Nora gets a call saying the detectives found the
partner shot and dumped in an alley near the nightclub. The gun used was the
same one which the driver used to protect himself. Jack tells Lennie and Ed to
arrest the lawyer, the developer, and the driver all for murder and conspiracy.
At arraignment, Serena asks for all three to be held without bail. The defense
attorneys claim there is insufficient evidence and request some form of bail.
Judge Ian Fiest sets bail on all three at $1 million each.
Nora wonders if any of them is willing to roll on the other. Jack is considering
of raising their bail to light a fire in this case. Nora is not enthused by
this, but Jack points out that Judge Quinn would be deciding on whether bail
should be raised. "Judge Quinn did this to Russo a few years back, maybe
he'll pull for us again. I could even suggest the mob is involved." Nora
is not thrilled by this and asks for Jack to consider the stereotyping that
might be done considering that all three defendants are of Italian heritage.
Jack counters, "I'm not saying all Italians are mobbed up, just there
might be more than what we see here. Besides an Irish-Catholic judge will be
making the decision." Nora groans.
In Judge Quinn's chambers, Jack wants bail on all three raised to $10 million
dollars. The defense attorneys say this is playing to ethnic stereotyping and
dreaming up of conspiracies when there is none. Jack points out that Judge
Quinn did buy the argument of a mob connection in "Ambitious." But
Nathenson counters with that case being several years old and the connection was
mad more clear. Judge Quinn decides to raise bail, but only to $3 million on
each defendant.
Only the defense attorney was able to post bail and is therefore exonerated.
But Jack gets a note from the disciplinary committee about the harrassment
complaint which was promised. Nora is not thrilled by this, but stands by Jack
for doing his job. She makes a few calls and requests a postponement until the
trial is over. She also wonders though if there is enough right now to get a
conviction. Serena suggests of going to Rikers and bring along the US attorney
to see if either the developer or truck driver is willing to deal.
At Rikers, in separate rooms (Serena with the developer and Jack with the
driver), they talk the possibility of a reduced sentence in exchange for their
testimony. The driver again denies any wrongdoing by saying there was a robbery
and he is the victim. He is willing to go to trial. Yet the developer tells
Serena he is willing to deal. For his testimony, he gets reduced sentences on
money laundering and conspiracy from both the state and feds. He gets 12 years
altogether.
When the developer takes the stand, he says he was having a cash flow problem
trying to keep his company afloat. His attorney at the time, now a defendant,
suggested of selling drugs and using the money to help out his client. The
money would be laundered and some would go to the developer. Jack then brings
up the issue of whether the mob was involved. Nathenson objects to this. Jack
tries to get Judge Quinn to play along but he isn't amused. "Don't think
for one moment what happened with Sean Russo means it's open season on Italian
Americans" retorts Judge Quinn. The objection is sustained. Nathenson
tries to break the developer on cross by pointing out the sweetheart deal he
got and pointing out he had a big role in the drugs and the stolen money. No
dice though.
In Jack's office, a videotape is played by the feds implicating the lawyer and
the driver in a hotel room cooking up a way to peddle drugs and to hijack the
truck and use the money to continue their operations. Jack is offering a deal
similar to what the developer got, 12 years in club fed plus 6 more in Attica.
After consulting with Nathenson, the lawyer breaks down and takes the plea. He
offers the same testimony by adding he needed the money as well to keep his
practice going. He also said he had a drug problem and regrets any harm this
might have done. The driver's attorney on cross wonders who ordered the hit
then on the driver's partner. The sleazy attorney doesn't know and denies
ordering any hit. He only admits responsibility on peddling drugs and laudering
money. The driver's attorney then tries to pin the blame on the robbery on the
sleazy attorney saying his client was simply ordered to do this or else. Jack
tries to object on this, but Judge Quinn overrules him. By the time the
driver's attorney is done, reasonable doubt is cast on the driver.
In Jack's office, Nora comes by and congratulates Jack on getting some progress
on this case with a couple of plea deals. She also tells him the committee has
dismissed the harrassment charges and disbarred the sleazy attorney. Serena
comes in and tells Jack the jury has come back out.
The jury forewoman informs Judge Quinn they are deadlocked on both the robbery
and murder charges against the driver. Jack wants more time for them to
deliberate, but Judge Quinn grants a mistrial since the jury's been
deliberating for almost a week.
As they are walking out of the courthouse steps, Jack and Serena see the sleazy
attorney being escorted to a van shackled and in an orange uniform ready to be
transported by the feds to one of their cells. Serena tells Jack, "Could
have been one of us." Jack nods his head in the affirmative with a stern
grin.
Executive Producer: Dick Wolf.