Law & Order (1990–2010): Season 3, Episode 5 - Wedded Bliss - full transcript
Two washed-up, handcuffed corpses are identified as Mexican immigrants, and the investigation reveals that they may have been working as slave labor in a sweatshop.
(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.
[sea gulls crying]
Hey, you're scaring
my dinner away!
Go play somewhere else!
[ship horn blowing]
[police radio chattering]
(Logan) What do you
think he was fishing for?
(Steinmetz) In the Hudson?
I don't want to breathe
near it, let alone eat from it.
Well, what have we got?
A floater. Female.
Weighted with concrete blocks.
Must have been
more, they fell off.
Handcuffed behind her back.
[policemen chattering]
You thinkin' a cop? Forget it.
Cuffs are Grenadiers,
not our brand.
Been in the water
maybe eight weeks.
Hispanic, Italian.
Lamp cord around her neck.
Probably strangled, then dumped.
Steinmetz, you've seen
your share of floaters.
How old do you think she is?
Post-mortem
decomposition, tough call.
My guess? She
never saw sweet 16.
I don't need this.
That kid's the
same age as Linda.
You know Lopez in the one-nine?
No.
He's a good cop.
He had a case.
Male Hispanic teenager.
Floater, East River.
Strangled, electric
cord, handcuffed.
He said all he could think about
was the kid was so small
he didn't fill half
the body bag.
Concrete blocks?
Fire bricks.
They never got an ID.
This ain't a pro.
Our friends in silk suits weight
them so they never come up.
Which leads us where?
Oh, boy! Oh, boy!
A kid that age, doesn't
she have parents?
Cousins? I mean, somebody who's
gonna notice that she's missing?
The ME says she's
probably Hispanic.
Eleven girls were
reported missing.
Seven have already turned up.
The other four don't match in
terms of hair or color of eyes.
So, what do you think?
I mean, I know what
we do with our handcuffs,
but obviously, some
people have other uses.
Well, it's hard to tell if she was
raped. I talked to Sex Crimes.
They have ropes, dog leashes,
but no homicides with handcuffs.
Yeah, I appreciate that. I'll
call if we need more. Thank you.
Grenadier ships
40,000 cuffs a year.
Big market with
the fringe crowd.
Survival catalogues,
adventure stores,
you know, Ollie North country.
Direct sales to cops in
California, Montana, and Missouri.
Why don't I think this
was a cop from Missoula?
Wouldn't find him if it was.
The lot number on the
ones we got, 9,000 pair.
We got a serial perv. And
from what the FBI says,
they don't leave breadcrumbs.
Forensics.
Uh, they got a, you know, uh...
She studies bodies and faces.
An anthropologist.
So?
So wouldn't it be nice
to have an ID on the girl?
Last month, they identified
a body from a picture.
Matched up a face and a skull.
What if they reverse that?
Start with the skull and
work out. Make us a face.
Oh, I think I saw that movie.
Well, see it again.
The march of technology,
Phil. Sometimes it works.
And the boy from the other
case, where's he buried?
(Logan) Potter's field.
(Cragen) Get an order,
have him exhumed.
Maybe we can get
a face on him, too.
(Cerreta) Is it possible?
Who said the
accidents of the possible
were the future of the
probable? Was it Einstein?
I don't think we're
the ones to ask.
This is the boy you had exhumed.
I took all the aspects
of the facial structure.
Based on my measurements,
my sketch artist has
worked up a face.
Now I'm refining it.
[beeping]
How close is that going to
be to what he looked like?
You'll know when
somebody identifies him.
I'm working on the girl.
[phone ringing]
Dr. Sacks.
It's for you. Missing Persons.
You asked for floaters
14 to 17, strangled.
Don't tell me you
found another one.
Almost.
Male, 49, Caucasian,
found belly down
in the Hudson off
the Spuyten Duyvil.
Uh, strangled with
his own necktie.
Ira Bender. Missing six weeks,
inspector for the Apparel
Industry Task Force.
Investigated sweatshops.
He surfaced last month.
We get water. We get strangled.
But not often, and
never together.
Who's the lead detective?
Markson, two-seven.
Yeah, I called.
He's expecting you.
Hmm.
Thank you.
[police radio chattering]
(Markson) Bender? Oh,
yeah. We're talking Mack Truck.
This guy made me
look like an anorexic.
First I thought he was
just bloated from the river.
Hey, look, it's a
dead-end case. Forget it.
He was investigating sweatshops.
Maybe he tried to
close somebody down?
What, an inspector? He
couldn't close a closet.
You can give a summons.
The garment business,
you know, it's still 1930.
You got 5,000 sweatshops,
you got 50,000 immigrants
at sewing machines.
Most of these places, they got
eight, nine people, lots of them kids.
They get paid crap
if they get paid at all,
and nobody complains,
because they're
all illegal anyway.
And the Feds,
they don't even inspect
with less than 10 workers.
But the city does.
Yeah, so give them a summons.
Child labor, locked
windows, you know.
They tear it up, they
move to a new hellhole.
It's like a floating crap game.
What about Ira Bender?
The day he
disappeared, six stops.
He shows up at all
six, not one summons
and even if he gave one,
who'd kill him for a $600 fine?
Thanks.
Two Hispanic teenagers.
You got better candidates
for a sweatshop?
I'll grant you, but the
inspector makes no sense.
If anybody really cared
about people working
for slave wages, it
would've stopped.
They got half the city
scared about parking tickets.
You read the ME's
report on the girl?
Scars, cuts on her fingers.
Same as the boy
when they found him.
They didn't get that
making fruit salad.
They were cutting fabric.
All right, let's see what
Forensics has on the girl's face.
(Sacks) Move the
left eye in about 2 cm.
[computer beeping]
Good. Print it.
[printer whirring]
I think the girl's more
accurate than the boy.
With the picture of her face,
we had more to work with.
Here they are.
So, what do you think?
Puerto Rican, Dominican?
From the nose and
the cheekbones,
I'd say more likely
Mezzo-American. Mexican.
Ira Bender.
Remember his last stop
the day he disappeared?
The Bronx. Tremont in the Bronx.
Our newest immigrant paradise.
Mexicans.
[chuckling] They could
be anybody, these kids.
You sure they don't resemble
somebody you've seen?
[people chattering]
Where's the nearest high school?
What country you in, man?
Nobody go to school.
Where do the kids hang out?
The club. El Tampequeño.
Ask for Rudy. He
teaches them how to play.
I said, do you recognize them?
I don't see too good.
Oh, you blind?
I'll smack that hairdo
right off your head!
(Cerreta) Mike! Mike!
Amigos, what's the problem?
What can we do for you?
Rudy Armandariz. It's my place.
Hey, you said Rudy left.
He wasn't coming back.
[laughing] Hector, tough
guy, huh? Be nice, huh?
We don't see cops too much,
you know. Just Immigration.
Hey, we gonna make friends, I'm
sorry, you don't make top of the list.
How do you know
we're not Immigration?
With those shoes?
La miga, they get paid
a little better, I think.
[speaking Spanish]
Beers for our friends.
No, no, no, no, thanks.
Have you seen these kids?
Ah, kids!
They think New York
is gold in the streets.
They come here to make
money, send it home.
Better they stay in Mexico.
Prostitution, drugs,
then they disappear.
Does that mean yes or no?
We don't know those kids.
You could've
broken that kid's arm.
He threatened me
with that pool cue.
[hawkers chattering]
This case is pushing my buttons.
The next button it could push
is the one at the
Civilian Review Board.
[speaking Spanish]
You see 'em? You recognize 'em?
[speaking Spanish]
He speak English.
[speaking Spanish]
[speaking Spanish]
What? What? Come on.
I know Eduardo and
María, his cousin.
You know, on the street.
I haven't seen them.
They have family?
In Acuña.
They worked making dresses
so they could bring their
brothers and sisters here.
Where did they make the dresses?
[horn blaring]
[dog barking]
Okay? I'm finished now?
Yeah. Gracias, okay.
Well, this is progress, huh?
Those kids worked here.
Ira Bender was
investigating a sweatshop
in this building
before he disappeared.
You want to think
about a warrant?
[door rattling]
You need a warrant for this?
Well, I guess we're
not really breaking in.
[door creaking]
[clattering]
Phil!
[police radio chattering]
So, what are you saying to me?
They had people
here who were slaves?
Handcuffs.
And they weren't
playing cops and robbers.
In Texas, with migrant
workers, maybe.
But here...
So this Insp. Bender, he's
looking around, he walks in on this.
They ain't gonna buy him off
with a few dresses for his wife.
A belt buckle and a zipper.
Tough to trace, but
this clothing label.
"Wedded Bliss Fashions. The
finest wedding gowns in the world."
This is one of ours, yes.
Brides, bridesmaids,
flower girls.
Thank God people are
getting married again.
Must take a lot of work
to make one of these, eh?
Every stitch
made for a lifetime.
And made in America.
At Third-World wages.
Oh, I don't know
that's the case at all.
You work in a sweatshop,
you don't get to wear
one of these at the altar.
I admit. I get a rush
order, I use contractors.
Piecework, veils.
I go with the lowest bid.
Something wrong with that?
Depends on the
working conditions, sir.
Be realistic.
We're competing with Singapore.
Do contractors use immigrants?
I'm sure they do.
That suit on your back,
you know who sewed it?
You sure whoever sewed the
buttons got minimum wage?
We are interested in the name of
the contractor who sewed this label.
Ever hear of the
Hot Goods Statute?
It forbids the shipping
across state lines
of any product made in
violation of federal labor laws.
In this case we're also
talking murder and kidnapping.
My God, I wouldn't think...
This one, it would
be Royalty Fashions.
Used to be in the
Bronx, Manhattan now.
Ave. D, Alphabet City.
[sewing machines whirring]
[woman chattering in Spanish]
(Betty) They like working here.
We have milk for the child,
and we save the mother
money on a babysitter.
If it wasn't for us, they'd be on
the street, starving or selling crack.
(Betty) We treat 'em like
our family, like our kids.
And it pays off.
They work hard.
They're wonderful people,
devoted to their children.
I'm touched. I didn't know there
were people like you in the world.
How much do you pay them?
(Betty) We pay
them by the piece.
If they work fast,
they make $7 an hour.
It's better than the $4 a
day they'd make in Nogales.
And it's twice the minimum wage.
322 E. Tremont Ave.
That was your last address?
That was two places ago.
Several contractors
have used it.
The place wasn't
in good condition.
There were break-ins, rats.
Have these kids
ever worked for you?
Oh.
They look much too
young, don't they, Ellis? No.
We've been inspected.
We have fire extinguishers.
The windows are never locked.
We're just trying
to make a living.
The girl we found in
the river, María Carranza,
we got a DNA match with blood
from the mattress on Tremont.
And the flower vendor, the kid?
From his description,
there is no doubt
that those kids
worked for the Drakes.
Can we prove who these kids are?
Because we're not gettin'
fingerprints from Mexico.
They don't exist.
I just don't get this.
I mean, why chain them up?
They're not makin'
that much anyway.
Oh, you got seven or eight
immigrants making $250 a week.
You handcuff 'em, they
are saving $100,000 a year.
And that is the difference
between being in business and not.
Those green cards, one
of 'em had to be bought.
And one of those kids is not
old enough to go to high school.
So call Social Welfare.
You got nothing specific.
They'll get there in a month?
Maybe they're underage.
Maybe they're illegal.
Maybes will not
get you a warrant.
Doesn't the Drakes' yellow sheet
give us a little bit
of leeway here?
[sighing] Do you see
murder and kidnapping here?
Health and safety,
non-payment of wages,
endangering the
welfare of a child.
The state took their books,
closed them down a dozen times.
Drove 'em out of business.
Endangerment. What's
that, a Class A misdemeanor?
That must've shook
'em up for 30 seconds.
Well, our case couldn't
shake dirt from a dust mop.
Name a judge, I'll call him.
As long as I can hang up
before he starts screaming
we interrupted his dinner.
Okay, let's call the State.
I want to look at
the Drakes' books.
They ordered Bing
Crosby's Christmas Album.
The CD.
"Third notice, East
Orange Savings and Loan."
Behind on the mortgage.
What are we lookin' for,
anyway? A check for handcuffs?
How about a check to
the State Liquor Authority?
For a permit.
I didn't notice an open
bar at the sweatshop.
Do you think they own
a nightclub on the side?
Let's find out who
got the permit.
The liquor license. Sí.
Uh, Mr. and Mrs...
Drake. Uh-huh.
They are like mother and
father, and they take Rudy in
and he works for them
and they buy him a present.
This boy and girl also
worked for the Drakes.
(Rudy) Amigos.
Oh.
You here so often,
take a membership.
Get a game free.
Yeah, well, last
time we were here,
you didn't recognize those kids.
(Cerreta) What about your wife?
Does your husband
always speak for you?
Lina, oblige the gentlemen.
No.
You get into Manhattan
much, Mr. Armandariz?
Bar, pool tables.
You know, I don't
make what a cop makes.
Special night out, we hit a few
clubs, you know, we go dancing.
You like to play around
in the clubs on Ave. D?
My friends, Ellis and
Betty, do you know them?
Generous people. I
come from Nogales.
I cut clothes as a boy.
They help me work my way up.
They took care of me.
You got a liquor license.
You get paid a lot
more than most kids.
I worked harder.
[people chattering]
♪♪[music playing]
Anything else we can do for you?
Our amigo has two juvenile
arrests, one with a knife.
Guarding a sweatshop,
he stabbed an inspector.
Mug shot?
Get us a picture? Thanks.
The sweatshop, was
it Royalty Fashions?
Royalty Ready-to-Wear.
Ellis and Betty Drake.
So they took Rudy off the
streets to save him, huh?
He was their goon.
If we could tie
him to the cuffs.
Yeah.
[dogs barking]
Well, they could have
bought 'em anywhere.
9,000 Grenadier cuffs.
Twenty-two more shops.
You want to do 'em all?
He could have bought
'em through the mail.
Or maybe closer to home.
The Bronx?
The Drakes, East Orange.
They sell police equipment
in Jersey, don't they?
New York cops. I sell
to you guys all the time.
How many of your customers
aren't cops or security guards?
I get the weirdoes.
They want to dress
up in blue or fatigues.
Ankle irons. Keep the wife
chained to the stove. I don't know.
Not my idea of weekend fun.
So, what can I sell you?
How about ID?
He's not familiar.
This isn't a Mexican neighborhood.
You wouldn't forget him.
Neighborhood's gone bad,
but Mexicans, not that bad.
No, it got bad
when you moved in.
My Jersey law's
just a little rusty,
but the way I remember it,
you need a job reference
for police supplies.
I hope you have records for
everybody you sold Grenadiers to.
You're on the wrong
side of the river.
How fast can we get a
state trooper here, Phil?
(Cerreta) We're about eight to
ten minutes from the parkway.
Maybe I remember him.
I thought he was a PR.
He looked at cattle prods.
Yeah, I think I sold
him some cuffs.
He bought the
cuffs! A dozen pair!
Handcuffs with the
same lot number.
Which happened to
be attached to a bed
with the same blood
as the dead girl.
They can put the
kids in the sweatshop.
They got a witness
who saw the Drakes.
You can put the kids
and the Drakes there.
You can't prove the
Drakes killed them.
They bought Rudy
a liquor license.
They're paying him for
something! What do you want?
More dead kids?
(Cragen) All right,
that's enough, Mike.
This one's got everybody
a little upset, Paul.
Hey, you guys put a stakeout
on somebody named Armandariz?
They said you wanted to know.
He just parked on Ave. D.
We have no witnesses,
no convincing Forensics.
I take this to the grand jury,
I have more holes than
the Internal Revenue Code.
Paul, Rudy Armandariz, 16
years old, he stabs an inspector.
What the hell you
think he's gonna do
if Ira Bender stumbled
into that backroom?
And if those Mexicans
are still working on Ave. D,
they won't be tomorrow.
Okay.
[sewing machines whirring]
Where are they? Where are the
Mexican kids who were working here?
People come and go.
They probably went home.
Uh, where's your
friend, Mr. Armandariz?
Downstairs? Okay, let's go!
You're under arrest for the murder
of Eduardo and María Carranza.
You have the right
to remain silent.
Cover me on the street!
Halt, Armandariz,
hold it! Get away from...
Don't even think about it!
You think that window's
bulletproof, huh?
You like to get 'em around
the neck, don't you, huh?
That way you can
feel 'em die. Mike!
Did you rape the girl
before you killed her?
How about the boy,
huh? Mike! Mike! Mike!
Rudy Armandariz, you're
under arrest for murder.
Anything you say can be used
against you in a court of law.
Do you understand that?
"Docket number 52782.
"The People v. Rudy Armandariz,
Ellis Drake, and Betty Drake.
"Three counts
murder, second degree,
two counts kidnapping,
first degree."
Everybody's
pleading guilty, right?
Not guilty, Your Honor.
Not guilty.
Not guilty.
Your Honor, Mr. Armandariz
has repeatedly visited Mexico.
The risk of flight
is substantial.
We request that he
be held without bail.
For Mr. and Mrs. Drake,
$250,000 each defendant.
Mr. Armandariz owns a business
that needs his
attention, Your Honor.
The risk of flight...
Is humongous, Counselor.
The charge is murder, not
spitting on the subway. No bail.
Mr. Dunlap.
Your Honor, my clients
are innocent victims
of a career criminal
and an ungrateful
orphan they tried to help.
They took him off the
street, set him up in business,
bought him a house
as a wedding present.
Oh, this isn't
about slave labor.
It's about a
dysfunctional family.
Why don't we send
it to Family Court?
Family values week is over.
The People's request is granted.
And, Mr. Dunlap,
no bond. All cash.
Beautiful, Charlie.
He made slaves of
them, then he kills them?
Did you have to take this case?
Where's the
congregation, Rev. Stone?
The sermon can't be for me.
How did you end up with
this? Your office is on Park Ave.
Does Armandariz
even know the zip code?
He reads the Post.
He knows I give people
of color a good defense.
Especially when you try and
plead white people against him.
If that's a preamble to a speech
on the racist system, can
we roll it over till tomorrow?
Man two, one count, two years.
He testifies against the Drakes.
Man one, three counts.
I want him deep into
old age when he gets out.
With your case?
It's not circumstantial,
it's atmospheric.
Man two, two counts.
For handcuffing people
to beds and killing them.
May I explain to you why
you won't win on the cuffs?
Rudy's video rentals.
One of his favorites shows a
woman handcuffed to a bed.
His wife will testify
that's why he bought 'em.
That'll convince a
jury. A dozen pair?
The jury may
find it's disgusting.
They don't dish out
25-to-life on disgust.
(Schiff) Slavery.
I woke up this morning, I
thought it was the 20th century.
In some places.
The mayor's appointing
a commission.
Yeah, they'll debate it for
six months, issue a report.
It will disappear
before anyone reads it.
(Stone) People
chained to their beds.
Why don't they
take a few dollars
from street cleaning
and hire more inspectors?
In politics, two choices:
do nothing, do something.
Nothing has fewer risks.
I hope we have a case.
A lot of ifs and maybes.
The big problem is, I
have to prove a crime
that nobody wants
to believe happened.
A good couple with
a small business.
Who wants to think they
have Dachau in the back room?
It's just too horrifying.
Porn movies with handcuffs.
Doesn't even beat
possession by the devil.
It's the big lie, Adam.
Repeat it often
enough, it's the truth.
Charlie Meadow will sell
the hell out of pornography.
And you'll sell the
hell out of those kids
being connected with
all three defendants.
Why can't you use the Drakes?
Dunlap wants to plead, but
his clients won't discuss it.
Won't discuss
they're accessories.
Yes, they didn't
strangle those kids,
they didn't dump an
inspector in the river.
But they also didn't make bail.
And they're in Rikers, hoping
they don't get their throats slit.
I'd sure want to discuss a plea.
Dunlap said the Drakes
were victims of Armandariz.
It's a good tactic, but
his clients didn't like it.
They're scared of Rudy.
Make 'em scared of you.
(Robinette) If you're
convicted, Mrs. Drake,
you'll die in prison.
I'm gonna die in my
own bed at home.
With my dear husband next to me.
Mrs. Drake, we don't believe
that you killed Ira
Bender or those children.
But if you try to
save Mr. Armandariz,
you'll go down with him.
(Dunlap) Betty, he's
offering 12 years.
You're facing 75-to-life.
I'm no lawyer.
You guys would sell your
mother for a day at the races.
We don't testify against a boy
we brought up like our own son.
Mr. Drake?
[alarm buzzing]
I asked them to plead, Ben.
They don't understand
the odds on conviction.
Sophisticated they're
not. That's right.
This lady gets a cold,
she wants to go to Lourdes.
I'll see you in court.
It's a good deal. Why
won't they take it?
Well, we're missing something.
Do the Drakes have visitors?
(Jenner) Just him. The lawyer.
At the end of every day have
the visitor's list sent downstairs.
I want it faxed to
my office. Right.
[people chattering]
Ellis Drake's brother, Fred,
has been there six times.
To see his brother?
Only Ellis, not Betty.
I talked to Fred's bookkeeper.
Fred and Ellis were
partners, garment business.
But the partnering
wasn't very brotherly.
And Fred definitely wasn't
crazy about his sister-in-law.
See how crazy he is about
his brother goin' to prison.
I'm not stupid.
I'm not making it easier
to convict my brother.
If your brother's a pawn of
Armandariz, we'd like to help him.
Oh, sure you would.
And I always put
money in the meter.
(waiter) More coffee, gentlemen?
Thank you.
If your brother
doesn't cooperate,
you'll be visiting him
upstate the rest of his life.
Money was tight.
This kid Rudy,
sweeping the floors,
says he can get Mexicans
cheaper than Chinese.
Suddenly this psycho
is running the company.
Ellis won't turn on Rudy.
And your sister-in-law?
Oh, sweet Betty?
Yeah, she's like
a mother to Rudy.
Only most mothers
are not that loving.
She do some cooking?
Home cooking.
She didn't even have the
decency to do it behind Ellis's back.
I begged Ellis, sell
that son of a bitch out.
He said if it didn't work,
he would have a little
trouble breathing underwater.
You want to use
Armandariz's wife?
We need a witness.
And if Ellis's brother knew
that Rudy was in bed with Betty,
you'd think Rudy's
wife would know.
And if she didn't,
you'll be glad to tell her.
And that's enough to turn
her against her husband?
Jealousy and anger.
What about loyalty and fear?
How are you gonna
handle spousal privilege?
Spousal privilege has limits.
And maybe she
won't have to testify.
Maybe she'll lead us
to those missing kids.
Busy signal at the
Armandariz house.
Phone company says off the hook.
The Drakes are scared.
She's probably
hiding under the bed.
Go out to East Orange,
take a run at her.
I work at the club.
The wedding gowns,
I never saw that.
The Drakes paid for your
liquor license, bought this house.
Your husband
was having intimate
relations with Mrs. Drake.
This is true?
You say, "Marry
him." For the Church.
You say God will strike me down.
You wanted his
bed, you marry him.
I told you, be respectable.
The girl, and the boy,
the ones you found.
Rudy?
Ask your granddaughter.
I don't know.
I wanted to stop Rudy.
They tried to escape,
and he caught them.
He said that they
would go to the police.
He had to kill them.
He had to kill them.
Spouses testifying
against spouses.
I don't like it under
any circumstances.
(Stone) The
privilege in this case
rests with Lina Armandariz,
not her husband.
Judge, what country
is he practicing in?
No court in New
York, trial or appellate,
encroaches on the
sanctity of marriage.
He can't compel her to testify.
(Stone) It's not
about compelling.
It's about allowing
her to testify.
And if she witnessed
a criminal act uninvited,
and was not a participant,
her husband has no privilege.
Thank you, Ben. I know the law.
Suppose I whisper
to my wife in bed:
"I hate my brother. I bought
a gun. I wanna kill him."
The next day she sees me do it.
Is her witnessing the crime
a result of marital intimacy?
If it is, then I have privilege.
But, in this case, we don't know
what Lina Armandariz
heard on the marital bed.
Mrs. Armandariz said she
was there by coincidence.
I'm deeply surprised.
I'm sure you didn't
put words in her mouth.
(Gannon) Mr. Meadow,
you're in the gutter.
You want to insult
his intelligence, fine.
You will not accuse him in my
chambers of suborning perjury.
I don't know, Ben.
(Stone) There's another
exception, Your Honor.
A spouse who witnesses the
planning of a crime can testify.
Mrs. Armandariz knew that her
husband planned to kill those kids.
Talk about a hole you
could drive an army through.
I think he's got the right army.
Judge, you can't accept...
You bet I can.
If that child wasn't
dead when she got there,
the wife sure saw
a crime planned.
This court rules the
husband has no privilege.
The wife wants to
testify, it's her choice.
It, uh, happened a
couple of months ago.
Maybe, I think, last June.
Did you witness a struggle
between your husband
and Eduardo Carranza?
Yes, I did.
Did your husband say
that he would have to
kill Eduardo Carranza
to prevent another
attempt at escape?
No.
What did you say?
No, he never say that.
Uh, Rudy let María and
Eduardo go back to Mexico.
Mrs. Armandariz, this
isn't what you told me.
Did your husband threaten you?
Off the record.
Mrs. Armandariz,
you're making a mistake.
What do you think
he'll do to you anyway
when he gets out of jail?
[sighs]
You are under oath. You
are committing perjury.
Rudy never killed anybody.
I don't know what
happened to the children.
[bangs on table]
You had to lose your temper.
She lied, Adam. She
denied everything.
With that husband,
who can blame her?
Compared to what he can do,
you're threatening to
take away her hairdresser.
I'll get a perjury indictment
based on a deposition.
Good. When you go to trial,
invite a couple of law
students to provide the laughter.
Why I thought this was winnable.
I assumed we'd have
some kind of witness.
Without one, we're gonna lose.
Rudy, Mr. Armandariz,
he asked kids to
work in the sweatshop.
Did you personally hear him
ask María and Eduardo Carranza
if they wanted jobs
sewing wedding gowns?
Yes, he asked them in the club.
Did there come a time when
you looked for María and Eduardo
because you hadn't seen
them in the neighborhood?
(Alejandro) I had a letter
from Eduardo's mother.
She didn't hear from him.
I went to the
sweatshop, the factory.
The boss told me Eduardo
and María went home to Mexico.
Is that man in the
courtroom today?
That man, there.
(Stone) Let the record indicate
he's pointing at the defendant,
Ellis Drake.
The record will so indicate.
Thank you. No further questions.
Mr. Lopez,
did you ever go
inside this sweatshop
during the time when
María and Eduardo
were supposedly working there?
No, I didn't.
Well, then you never
actually saw them in there
with Mr. Drake, did you?
No.
How well did you know
Eduardo and María?
Just around the neighborhood.
(Dunlap) In point of fact, they
might have gone back to Mexico
without your knowing.
No, they would
have said goodbye.
Really? To a casual
acquaintance?
Even if they left in a hurry?
(Medill) Blood on the
mattress found in the tenement
matches DNA from
María Carranza's body
with 90% accuracy.
What accounts for a
less than perfect match?
The body was submerged
in water for several weeks.
Tissue damage made a
perfect match impossible.
Well, thank you. Your witness.
90%.
Is that a good match,
in your experience?
Yes, it is.
Is that so?
How many other people
would that blood sample match?
Several thousand.
A hundred thousand?
Possibly.
So that might not be María
Carranza's blood at all.
In fact, you don't even know
if that's María
Carranza's body, do you?
She did work there.
The picture was identified.
The odds of someone
else with so close a match...
Are what, Mr. Medill?
Are you an expert in population
demographics or forensics?
Never mind. No
further questions.
Each hit by itself
doesn't hurt us,
but you add 'em up...
Suppose we charge Rudy's wife,
say I'll testify.
Accessory to murder. She
admitted she was there.
To an assistant
district attorney.
You want to take
that to a grand jury?
Call Frank Dunlap.
Let's go out to Rikers.
Did you look at Ellis Drake?
He turns right,
his wife burns him.
He turns left, he's staring
at the bottom of the Hudson.
By now, maybe he's
more angry than scared.
He would've broken by now.
You can't light a
fire without tinder.
Put Rudy in the room.
We might not have
to strike the match.
(Stone) The boy
pointed at you, Mr. Drake.
If they want to convict anyone,
it's not your wife or sonny boy.
Time out. We agreed,
no separate deals.
You think we'd turn against
each other? We're family here.
Well, cut the family
number, Mrs. Drake.
We all know who's
playing musical beds.
[chuckling] Hey, I got music
in me. What does that prove?
Stop it! Shut up! It's bad
enough you were doing it!
She begged for it, man.
She screamed for it.
Mr. Drake, manslaughter
one, two counts.
You only do nine years.
Hold on, you can't
do that. Guard!
We're offering you a deal.
You testify against your
wife and Mr. Armandariz.
I'm leaving. You've to stop.
You can't talk in
front of my client.
Fine. Guard, take
Mr. Armandariz to his cell.
Ben, Ben, this is unethical.
You had to sleep with him.
The money wasn't enough.
Ellis, keep your mouth shut.
Bought him a house,
rubbed my face in it!
You pathetic wimp!
That's what I am?
Him... You couldn't stop!
I'll do it.
I'm going to jail, and
you're going with me.
(Ellis) He got
these Mexican kids.
We promised to pay
them by the piece.
End of the week, Rudy
said don't pay them.
They can't complain.
Did there come a time
when Mr. Armandariz
suggested other ways
of making money?
Well, he found these
metal beds in a vacant lot.
He said he could
just tie the kids up.
He did it with handcuffs.
(Stone) Tell the
court what happened
when Mr. Ira Bender
came to inspect your factory.
He wanted to see the backroom.
He opened the door.
Rudy was inside.
He got him around the neck.
He handcuffed
him, pulled his tie up.
And he killed him.
And what happened to
María and Eduardo Carranza?
We were trying to move
them and they tried to get away.
Rudy killed them
in front of the others.
He said nobody would
try to escape again.
Thank you, sir.
Mr. Drake,
you testified that you and
your wife and Mr. Armandariz
turned these people into slaves.
Did you really do that?
It doesn't seem like something
I could've done, but I did.
Why are you testifying today?
We deserve to be
punished. All of us do.
Is that the reason?
Or is it your agreement
with the district attorney
for a reduced sentence?
Nine years instead of 75.
The sentence doesn't matter.
It would matter to me.
Tell us, Mr. Drake,
was your wife sexually
involved with Mr. Armandariz?
That's not the reason, either.
But she was.
And you were jealous.
Were you also angry?
What was the effect
of that humiliation?
Is it reason enough to
implicate your wife and her lover
in crimes that you
committed? You alone?
I never killed those children.
Oh, well, you could
only enslave them.
Did you pay for
Mr. Armandariz's liquor license?
Did you buy him a house?
Only because Betty insisted.
Is that why?
Or were you buying his
silence to cover up your crimes?
No, that's crazy.
Tell us, Mr. Drake,
why should we believe
that Mr. Armandariz
killed those children?
Why shouldn't we
believe you did it?
It's not a good theory?
If I was on that jury,
I'd believe Meadow.
So he bought him
a house. Come on.
They know Ellis
Drake was terrified.
They also know he got a deal.
You want to take another
run at Armandariz's wife?
She's more afraid
of him than us.
Who's she more
afraid of than him?
You see her grandmother
in court today?
If my grandmother
had a look like that,
she could fry eggs with it.
Maybe she's not
afraid of anybody.
I tried, believe me,
but Lina is afraid.
I know she was wrong, too.
What could she do?
Do you know if the
Drakes or Mr. Armandariz
own any other property?
A nightclub, maybe
somewhere else.
I don't know.
The other people who
worked at the sweatshop,
if your granddaughter
could tell us what happened.
Not Lina, not now.
If I never said marry him...
He pretends to love her.
He called me.
Told me to come be with her.
But she can't live
in that house now.
I'll take her to my place.
Mrs. Andon, where did you
say you're planning to take Lina?
To my house in Brooklyn.
You have a house in Brooklyn?
When did Mr. Armandariz
ask you to take care of her?
After the police
came to the club.
He asked you to leave
your house and go to Jersey?
He sent a boy from the pool hall
to cut the grass,
get the mail, he said.
Call Cerreta and Logan.
[speaking Spanish]
He wanted my house.
[policemen chattering]
[police siren wailing]
[police radio chattering]
There's two of 'em.
More underneath.
I'll re-indict. We'll add
seven counts of murder two.
Bodies are at the
mother-in-law's house.
You had circumstantial,
you have more circumstantial.
Seven bodies? That's
a lot of circumstance.
Ellis Drake is already guilty.
They could throw it all on him.
[phone buzzing]
Yes. We're discussing it now.
I'll get back to you.
Brooklyn D.A. wants the case.
The crime started in Manhattan.
The bodies were
found in Brooklyn.
Their case is no
stronger than ours.
Thank you. I was
about to say that myself.
We could lose it all.
Make a deal with
Rudy and the wife.
Bluff 'em, I don't care
how. Make a deal.
[both chattering]
My client is receptive.
Mine's willing, with
the right circumstances.
Both of your clients
face 10 counts.
Ten times 25, that's 250 years.
We'll take one
count, murder two.
They both do 25.
Or we show the pictures
of the backyard to the jury.
I don't think they'll believe
Ellis Drake did that all by himself.
You'll never prove my
client dug that grave.
Or mine.
With Lina's grandmother on
the stand, I'll take my chance.
You'll have the
plea papers today.
(Stone) Cons don't
like people who do kids.
Rudy may not live to get parole.
I think he'll manage.
Bar Association
dinner next month.
Adam's getting an award.
I bought a new tuxedo.
I have to wonder who made it.
[people chattering]
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.
[sea gulls crying]
Hey, you're scaring
my dinner away!
Go play somewhere else!
[ship horn blowing]
[police radio chattering]
(Logan) What do you
think he was fishing for?
(Steinmetz) In the Hudson?
I don't want to breathe
near it, let alone eat from it.
Well, what have we got?
A floater. Female.
Weighted with concrete blocks.
Must have been
more, they fell off.
Handcuffed behind her back.
[policemen chattering]
You thinkin' a cop? Forget it.
Cuffs are Grenadiers,
not our brand.
Been in the water
maybe eight weeks.
Hispanic, Italian.
Lamp cord around her neck.
Probably strangled, then dumped.
Steinmetz, you've seen
your share of floaters.
How old do you think she is?
Post-mortem
decomposition, tough call.
My guess? She
never saw sweet 16.
I don't need this.
That kid's the
same age as Linda.
You know Lopez in the one-nine?
No.
He's a good cop.
He had a case.
Male Hispanic teenager.
Floater, East River.
Strangled, electric
cord, handcuffed.
He said all he could think about
was the kid was so small
he didn't fill half
the body bag.
Concrete blocks?
Fire bricks.
They never got an ID.
This ain't a pro.
Our friends in silk suits weight
them so they never come up.
Which leads us where?
Oh, boy! Oh, boy!
A kid that age, doesn't
she have parents?
Cousins? I mean, somebody who's
gonna notice that she's missing?
The ME says she's
probably Hispanic.
Eleven girls were
reported missing.
Seven have already turned up.
The other four don't match in
terms of hair or color of eyes.
So, what do you think?
I mean, I know what
we do with our handcuffs,
but obviously, some
people have other uses.
Well, it's hard to tell if she was
raped. I talked to Sex Crimes.
They have ropes, dog leashes,
but no homicides with handcuffs.
Yeah, I appreciate that. I'll
call if we need more. Thank you.
Grenadier ships
40,000 cuffs a year.
Big market with
the fringe crowd.
Survival catalogues,
adventure stores,
you know, Ollie North country.
Direct sales to cops in
California, Montana, and Missouri.
Why don't I think this
was a cop from Missoula?
Wouldn't find him if it was.
The lot number on the
ones we got, 9,000 pair.
We got a serial perv. And
from what the FBI says,
they don't leave breadcrumbs.
Forensics.
Uh, they got a, you know, uh...
She studies bodies and faces.
An anthropologist.
So?
So wouldn't it be nice
to have an ID on the girl?
Last month, they identified
a body from a picture.
Matched up a face and a skull.
What if they reverse that?
Start with the skull and
work out. Make us a face.
Oh, I think I saw that movie.
Well, see it again.
The march of technology,
Phil. Sometimes it works.
And the boy from the other
case, where's he buried?
(Logan) Potter's field.
(Cragen) Get an order,
have him exhumed.
Maybe we can get
a face on him, too.
(Cerreta) Is it possible?
Who said the
accidents of the possible
were the future of the
probable? Was it Einstein?
I don't think we're
the ones to ask.
This is the boy you had exhumed.
I took all the aspects
of the facial structure.
Based on my measurements,
my sketch artist has
worked up a face.
Now I'm refining it.
[beeping]
How close is that going to
be to what he looked like?
You'll know when
somebody identifies him.
I'm working on the girl.
[phone ringing]
Dr. Sacks.
It's for you. Missing Persons.
You asked for floaters
14 to 17, strangled.
Don't tell me you
found another one.
Almost.
Male, 49, Caucasian,
found belly down
in the Hudson off
the Spuyten Duyvil.
Uh, strangled with
his own necktie.
Ira Bender. Missing six weeks,
inspector for the Apparel
Industry Task Force.
Investigated sweatshops.
He surfaced last month.
We get water. We get strangled.
But not often, and
never together.
Who's the lead detective?
Markson, two-seven.
Yeah, I called.
He's expecting you.
Hmm.
Thank you.
[police radio chattering]
(Markson) Bender? Oh,
yeah. We're talking Mack Truck.
This guy made me
look like an anorexic.
First I thought he was
just bloated from the river.
Hey, look, it's a
dead-end case. Forget it.
He was investigating sweatshops.
Maybe he tried to
close somebody down?
What, an inspector? He
couldn't close a closet.
You can give a summons.
The garment business,
you know, it's still 1930.
You got 5,000 sweatshops,
you got 50,000 immigrants
at sewing machines.
Most of these places, they got
eight, nine people, lots of them kids.
They get paid crap
if they get paid at all,
and nobody complains,
because they're
all illegal anyway.
And the Feds,
they don't even inspect
with less than 10 workers.
But the city does.
Yeah, so give them a summons.
Child labor, locked
windows, you know.
They tear it up, they
move to a new hellhole.
It's like a floating crap game.
What about Ira Bender?
The day he
disappeared, six stops.
He shows up at all
six, not one summons
and even if he gave one,
who'd kill him for a $600 fine?
Thanks.
Two Hispanic teenagers.
You got better candidates
for a sweatshop?
I'll grant you, but the
inspector makes no sense.
If anybody really cared
about people working
for slave wages, it
would've stopped.
They got half the city
scared about parking tickets.
You read the ME's
report on the girl?
Scars, cuts on her fingers.
Same as the boy
when they found him.
They didn't get that
making fruit salad.
They were cutting fabric.
All right, let's see what
Forensics has on the girl's face.
(Sacks) Move the
left eye in about 2 cm.
[computer beeping]
Good. Print it.
[printer whirring]
I think the girl's more
accurate than the boy.
With the picture of her face,
we had more to work with.
Here they are.
So, what do you think?
Puerto Rican, Dominican?
From the nose and
the cheekbones,
I'd say more likely
Mezzo-American. Mexican.
Ira Bender.
Remember his last stop
the day he disappeared?
The Bronx. Tremont in the Bronx.
Our newest immigrant paradise.
Mexicans.
[chuckling] They could
be anybody, these kids.
You sure they don't resemble
somebody you've seen?
[people chattering]
Where's the nearest high school?
What country you in, man?
Nobody go to school.
Where do the kids hang out?
The club. El Tampequeño.
Ask for Rudy. He
teaches them how to play.
I said, do you recognize them?
I don't see too good.
Oh, you blind?
I'll smack that hairdo
right off your head!
(Cerreta) Mike! Mike!
Amigos, what's the problem?
What can we do for you?
Rudy Armandariz. It's my place.
Hey, you said Rudy left.
He wasn't coming back.
[laughing] Hector, tough
guy, huh? Be nice, huh?
We don't see cops too much,
you know. Just Immigration.
Hey, we gonna make friends, I'm
sorry, you don't make top of the list.
How do you know
we're not Immigration?
With those shoes?
La miga, they get paid
a little better, I think.
[speaking Spanish]
Beers for our friends.
No, no, no, no, thanks.
Have you seen these kids?
Ah, kids!
They think New York
is gold in the streets.
They come here to make
money, send it home.
Better they stay in Mexico.
Prostitution, drugs,
then they disappear.
Does that mean yes or no?
We don't know those kids.
You could've
broken that kid's arm.
He threatened me
with that pool cue.
[hawkers chattering]
This case is pushing my buttons.
The next button it could push
is the one at the
Civilian Review Board.
[speaking Spanish]
You see 'em? You recognize 'em?
[speaking Spanish]
He speak English.
[speaking Spanish]
[speaking Spanish]
What? What? Come on.
I know Eduardo and
María, his cousin.
You know, on the street.
I haven't seen them.
They have family?
In Acuña.
They worked making dresses
so they could bring their
brothers and sisters here.
Where did they make the dresses?
[horn blaring]
[dog barking]
Okay? I'm finished now?
Yeah. Gracias, okay.
Well, this is progress, huh?
Those kids worked here.
Ira Bender was
investigating a sweatshop
in this building
before he disappeared.
You want to think
about a warrant?
[door rattling]
You need a warrant for this?
Well, I guess we're
not really breaking in.
[door creaking]
[clattering]
Phil!
[police radio chattering]
So, what are you saying to me?
They had people
here who were slaves?
Handcuffs.
And they weren't
playing cops and robbers.
In Texas, with migrant
workers, maybe.
But here...
So this Insp. Bender, he's
looking around, he walks in on this.
They ain't gonna buy him off
with a few dresses for his wife.
A belt buckle and a zipper.
Tough to trace, but
this clothing label.
"Wedded Bliss Fashions. The
finest wedding gowns in the world."
This is one of ours, yes.
Brides, bridesmaids,
flower girls.
Thank God people are
getting married again.
Must take a lot of work
to make one of these, eh?
Every stitch
made for a lifetime.
And made in America.
At Third-World wages.
Oh, I don't know
that's the case at all.
You work in a sweatshop,
you don't get to wear
one of these at the altar.
I admit. I get a rush
order, I use contractors.
Piecework, veils.
I go with the lowest bid.
Something wrong with that?
Depends on the
working conditions, sir.
Be realistic.
We're competing with Singapore.
Do contractors use immigrants?
I'm sure they do.
That suit on your back,
you know who sewed it?
You sure whoever sewed the
buttons got minimum wage?
We are interested in the name of
the contractor who sewed this label.
Ever hear of the
Hot Goods Statute?
It forbids the shipping
across state lines
of any product made in
violation of federal labor laws.
In this case we're also
talking murder and kidnapping.
My God, I wouldn't think...
This one, it would
be Royalty Fashions.
Used to be in the
Bronx, Manhattan now.
Ave. D, Alphabet City.
[sewing machines whirring]
[woman chattering in Spanish]
(Betty) They like working here.
We have milk for the child,
and we save the mother
money on a babysitter.
If it wasn't for us, they'd be on
the street, starving or selling crack.
(Betty) We treat 'em like
our family, like our kids.
And it pays off.
They work hard.
They're wonderful people,
devoted to their children.
I'm touched. I didn't know there
were people like you in the world.
How much do you pay them?
(Betty) We pay
them by the piece.
If they work fast,
they make $7 an hour.
It's better than the $4 a
day they'd make in Nogales.
And it's twice the minimum wage.
322 E. Tremont Ave.
That was your last address?
That was two places ago.
Several contractors
have used it.
The place wasn't
in good condition.
There were break-ins, rats.
Have these kids
ever worked for you?
Oh.
They look much too
young, don't they, Ellis? No.
We've been inspected.
We have fire extinguishers.
The windows are never locked.
We're just trying
to make a living.
The girl we found in
the river, María Carranza,
we got a DNA match with blood
from the mattress on Tremont.
And the flower vendor, the kid?
From his description,
there is no doubt
that those kids
worked for the Drakes.
Can we prove who these kids are?
Because we're not gettin'
fingerprints from Mexico.
They don't exist.
I just don't get this.
I mean, why chain them up?
They're not makin'
that much anyway.
Oh, you got seven or eight
immigrants making $250 a week.
You handcuff 'em, they
are saving $100,000 a year.
And that is the difference
between being in business and not.
Those green cards, one
of 'em had to be bought.
And one of those kids is not
old enough to go to high school.
So call Social Welfare.
You got nothing specific.
They'll get there in a month?
Maybe they're underage.
Maybe they're illegal.
Maybes will not
get you a warrant.
Doesn't the Drakes' yellow sheet
give us a little bit
of leeway here?
[sighing] Do you see
murder and kidnapping here?
Health and safety,
non-payment of wages,
endangering the
welfare of a child.
The state took their books,
closed them down a dozen times.
Drove 'em out of business.
Endangerment. What's
that, a Class A misdemeanor?
That must've shook
'em up for 30 seconds.
Well, our case couldn't
shake dirt from a dust mop.
Name a judge, I'll call him.
As long as I can hang up
before he starts screaming
we interrupted his dinner.
Okay, let's call the State.
I want to look at
the Drakes' books.
They ordered Bing
Crosby's Christmas Album.
The CD.
"Third notice, East
Orange Savings and Loan."
Behind on the mortgage.
What are we lookin' for,
anyway? A check for handcuffs?
How about a check to
the State Liquor Authority?
For a permit.
I didn't notice an open
bar at the sweatshop.
Do you think they own
a nightclub on the side?
Let's find out who
got the permit.
The liquor license. Sí.
Uh, Mr. and Mrs...
Drake. Uh-huh.
They are like mother and
father, and they take Rudy in
and he works for them
and they buy him a present.
This boy and girl also
worked for the Drakes.
(Rudy) Amigos.
Oh.
You here so often,
take a membership.
Get a game free.
Yeah, well, last
time we were here,
you didn't recognize those kids.
(Cerreta) What about your wife?
Does your husband
always speak for you?
Lina, oblige the gentlemen.
No.
You get into Manhattan
much, Mr. Armandariz?
Bar, pool tables.
You know, I don't
make what a cop makes.
Special night out, we hit a few
clubs, you know, we go dancing.
You like to play around
in the clubs on Ave. D?
My friends, Ellis and
Betty, do you know them?
Generous people. I
come from Nogales.
I cut clothes as a boy.
They help me work my way up.
They took care of me.
You got a liquor license.
You get paid a lot
more than most kids.
I worked harder.
[people chattering]
♪♪[music playing]
Anything else we can do for you?
Our amigo has two juvenile
arrests, one with a knife.
Guarding a sweatshop,
he stabbed an inspector.
Mug shot?
Get us a picture? Thanks.
The sweatshop, was
it Royalty Fashions?
Royalty Ready-to-Wear.
Ellis and Betty Drake.
So they took Rudy off the
streets to save him, huh?
He was their goon.
If we could tie
him to the cuffs.
Yeah.
[dogs barking]
Well, they could have
bought 'em anywhere.
9,000 Grenadier cuffs.
Twenty-two more shops.
You want to do 'em all?
He could have bought
'em through the mail.
Or maybe closer to home.
The Bronx?
The Drakes, East Orange.
They sell police equipment
in Jersey, don't they?
New York cops. I sell
to you guys all the time.
How many of your customers
aren't cops or security guards?
I get the weirdoes.
They want to dress
up in blue or fatigues.
Ankle irons. Keep the wife
chained to the stove. I don't know.
Not my idea of weekend fun.
So, what can I sell you?
How about ID?
He's not familiar.
This isn't a Mexican neighborhood.
You wouldn't forget him.
Neighborhood's gone bad,
but Mexicans, not that bad.
No, it got bad
when you moved in.
My Jersey law's
just a little rusty,
but the way I remember it,
you need a job reference
for police supplies.
I hope you have records for
everybody you sold Grenadiers to.
You're on the wrong
side of the river.
How fast can we get a
state trooper here, Phil?
(Cerreta) We're about eight to
ten minutes from the parkway.
Maybe I remember him.
I thought he was a PR.
He looked at cattle prods.
Yeah, I think I sold
him some cuffs.
He bought the
cuffs! A dozen pair!
Handcuffs with the
same lot number.
Which happened to
be attached to a bed
with the same blood
as the dead girl.
They can put the
kids in the sweatshop.
They got a witness
who saw the Drakes.
You can put the kids
and the Drakes there.
You can't prove the
Drakes killed them.
They bought Rudy
a liquor license.
They're paying him for
something! What do you want?
More dead kids?
(Cragen) All right,
that's enough, Mike.
This one's got everybody
a little upset, Paul.
Hey, you guys put a stakeout
on somebody named Armandariz?
They said you wanted to know.
He just parked on Ave. D.
We have no witnesses,
no convincing Forensics.
I take this to the grand jury,
I have more holes than
the Internal Revenue Code.
Paul, Rudy Armandariz, 16
years old, he stabs an inspector.
What the hell you
think he's gonna do
if Ira Bender stumbled
into that backroom?
And if those Mexicans
are still working on Ave. D,
they won't be tomorrow.
Okay.
[sewing machines whirring]
Where are they? Where are the
Mexican kids who were working here?
People come and go.
They probably went home.
Uh, where's your
friend, Mr. Armandariz?
Downstairs? Okay, let's go!
You're under arrest for the murder
of Eduardo and María Carranza.
You have the right
to remain silent.
Cover me on the street!
Halt, Armandariz,
hold it! Get away from...
Don't even think about it!
You think that window's
bulletproof, huh?
You like to get 'em around
the neck, don't you, huh?
That way you can
feel 'em die. Mike!
Did you rape the girl
before you killed her?
How about the boy,
huh? Mike! Mike! Mike!
Rudy Armandariz, you're
under arrest for murder.
Anything you say can be used
against you in a court of law.
Do you understand that?
"Docket number 52782.
"The People v. Rudy Armandariz,
Ellis Drake, and Betty Drake.
"Three counts
murder, second degree,
two counts kidnapping,
first degree."
Everybody's
pleading guilty, right?
Not guilty, Your Honor.
Not guilty.
Not guilty.
Your Honor, Mr. Armandariz
has repeatedly visited Mexico.
The risk of flight
is substantial.
We request that he
be held without bail.
For Mr. and Mrs. Drake,
$250,000 each defendant.
Mr. Armandariz owns a business
that needs his
attention, Your Honor.
The risk of flight...
Is humongous, Counselor.
The charge is murder, not
spitting on the subway. No bail.
Mr. Dunlap.
Your Honor, my clients
are innocent victims
of a career criminal
and an ungrateful
orphan they tried to help.
They took him off the
street, set him up in business,
bought him a house
as a wedding present.
Oh, this isn't
about slave labor.
It's about a
dysfunctional family.
Why don't we send
it to Family Court?
Family values week is over.
The People's request is granted.
And, Mr. Dunlap,
no bond. All cash.
Beautiful, Charlie.
He made slaves of
them, then he kills them?
Did you have to take this case?
Where's the
congregation, Rev. Stone?
The sermon can't be for me.
How did you end up with
this? Your office is on Park Ave.
Does Armandariz
even know the zip code?
He reads the Post.
He knows I give people
of color a good defense.
Especially when you try and
plead white people against him.
If that's a preamble to a speech
on the racist system, can
we roll it over till tomorrow?
Man two, one count, two years.
He testifies against the Drakes.
Man one, three counts.
I want him deep into
old age when he gets out.
With your case?
It's not circumstantial,
it's atmospheric.
Man two, two counts.
For handcuffing people
to beds and killing them.
May I explain to you why
you won't win on the cuffs?
Rudy's video rentals.
One of his favorites shows a
woman handcuffed to a bed.
His wife will testify
that's why he bought 'em.
That'll convince a
jury. A dozen pair?
The jury may
find it's disgusting.
They don't dish out
25-to-life on disgust.
(Schiff) Slavery.
I woke up this morning, I
thought it was the 20th century.
In some places.
The mayor's appointing
a commission.
Yeah, they'll debate it for
six months, issue a report.
It will disappear
before anyone reads it.
(Stone) People
chained to their beds.
Why don't they
take a few dollars
from street cleaning
and hire more inspectors?
In politics, two choices:
do nothing, do something.
Nothing has fewer risks.
I hope we have a case.
A lot of ifs and maybes.
The big problem is, I
have to prove a crime
that nobody wants
to believe happened.
A good couple with
a small business.
Who wants to think they
have Dachau in the back room?
It's just too horrifying.
Porn movies with handcuffs.
Doesn't even beat
possession by the devil.
It's the big lie, Adam.
Repeat it often
enough, it's the truth.
Charlie Meadow will sell
the hell out of pornography.
And you'll sell the
hell out of those kids
being connected with
all three defendants.
Why can't you use the Drakes?
Dunlap wants to plead, but
his clients won't discuss it.
Won't discuss
they're accessories.
Yes, they didn't
strangle those kids,
they didn't dump an
inspector in the river.
But they also didn't make bail.
And they're in Rikers, hoping
they don't get their throats slit.
I'd sure want to discuss a plea.
Dunlap said the Drakes
were victims of Armandariz.
It's a good tactic, but
his clients didn't like it.
They're scared of Rudy.
Make 'em scared of you.
(Robinette) If you're
convicted, Mrs. Drake,
you'll die in prison.
I'm gonna die in my
own bed at home.
With my dear husband next to me.
Mrs. Drake, we don't believe
that you killed Ira
Bender or those children.
But if you try to
save Mr. Armandariz,
you'll go down with him.
(Dunlap) Betty, he's
offering 12 years.
You're facing 75-to-life.
I'm no lawyer.
You guys would sell your
mother for a day at the races.
We don't testify against a boy
we brought up like our own son.
Mr. Drake?
[alarm buzzing]
I asked them to plead, Ben.
They don't understand
the odds on conviction.
Sophisticated they're
not. That's right.
This lady gets a cold,
she wants to go to Lourdes.
I'll see you in court.
It's a good deal. Why
won't they take it?
Well, we're missing something.
Do the Drakes have visitors?
(Jenner) Just him. The lawyer.
At the end of every day have
the visitor's list sent downstairs.
I want it faxed to
my office. Right.
[people chattering]
Ellis Drake's brother, Fred,
has been there six times.
To see his brother?
Only Ellis, not Betty.
I talked to Fred's bookkeeper.
Fred and Ellis were
partners, garment business.
But the partnering
wasn't very brotherly.
And Fred definitely wasn't
crazy about his sister-in-law.
See how crazy he is about
his brother goin' to prison.
I'm not stupid.
I'm not making it easier
to convict my brother.
If your brother's a pawn of
Armandariz, we'd like to help him.
Oh, sure you would.
And I always put
money in the meter.
(waiter) More coffee, gentlemen?
Thank you.
If your brother
doesn't cooperate,
you'll be visiting him
upstate the rest of his life.
Money was tight.
This kid Rudy,
sweeping the floors,
says he can get Mexicans
cheaper than Chinese.
Suddenly this psycho
is running the company.
Ellis won't turn on Rudy.
And your sister-in-law?
Oh, sweet Betty?
Yeah, she's like
a mother to Rudy.
Only most mothers
are not that loving.
She do some cooking?
Home cooking.
She didn't even have the
decency to do it behind Ellis's back.
I begged Ellis, sell
that son of a bitch out.
He said if it didn't work,
he would have a little
trouble breathing underwater.
You want to use
Armandariz's wife?
We need a witness.
And if Ellis's brother knew
that Rudy was in bed with Betty,
you'd think Rudy's
wife would know.
And if she didn't,
you'll be glad to tell her.
And that's enough to turn
her against her husband?
Jealousy and anger.
What about loyalty and fear?
How are you gonna
handle spousal privilege?
Spousal privilege has limits.
And maybe she
won't have to testify.
Maybe she'll lead us
to those missing kids.
Busy signal at the
Armandariz house.
Phone company says off the hook.
The Drakes are scared.
She's probably
hiding under the bed.
Go out to East Orange,
take a run at her.
I work at the club.
The wedding gowns,
I never saw that.
The Drakes paid for your
liquor license, bought this house.
Your husband
was having intimate
relations with Mrs. Drake.
This is true?
You say, "Marry
him." For the Church.
You say God will strike me down.
You wanted his
bed, you marry him.
I told you, be respectable.
The girl, and the boy,
the ones you found.
Rudy?
Ask your granddaughter.
I don't know.
I wanted to stop Rudy.
They tried to escape,
and he caught them.
He said that they
would go to the police.
He had to kill them.
He had to kill them.
Spouses testifying
against spouses.
I don't like it under
any circumstances.
(Stone) The
privilege in this case
rests with Lina Armandariz,
not her husband.
Judge, what country
is he practicing in?
No court in New
York, trial or appellate,
encroaches on the
sanctity of marriage.
He can't compel her to testify.
(Stone) It's not
about compelling.
It's about allowing
her to testify.
And if she witnessed
a criminal act uninvited,
and was not a participant,
her husband has no privilege.
Thank you, Ben. I know the law.
Suppose I whisper
to my wife in bed:
"I hate my brother. I bought
a gun. I wanna kill him."
The next day she sees me do it.
Is her witnessing the crime
a result of marital intimacy?
If it is, then I have privilege.
But, in this case, we don't know
what Lina Armandariz
heard on the marital bed.
Mrs. Armandariz said she
was there by coincidence.
I'm deeply surprised.
I'm sure you didn't
put words in her mouth.
(Gannon) Mr. Meadow,
you're in the gutter.
You want to insult
his intelligence, fine.
You will not accuse him in my
chambers of suborning perjury.
I don't know, Ben.
(Stone) There's another
exception, Your Honor.
A spouse who witnesses the
planning of a crime can testify.
Mrs. Armandariz knew that her
husband planned to kill those kids.
Talk about a hole you
could drive an army through.
I think he's got the right army.
Judge, you can't accept...
You bet I can.
If that child wasn't
dead when she got there,
the wife sure saw
a crime planned.
This court rules the
husband has no privilege.
The wife wants to
testify, it's her choice.
It, uh, happened a
couple of months ago.
Maybe, I think, last June.
Did you witness a struggle
between your husband
and Eduardo Carranza?
Yes, I did.
Did your husband say
that he would have to
kill Eduardo Carranza
to prevent another
attempt at escape?
No.
What did you say?
No, he never say that.
Uh, Rudy let María and
Eduardo go back to Mexico.
Mrs. Armandariz, this
isn't what you told me.
Did your husband threaten you?
Off the record.
Mrs. Armandariz,
you're making a mistake.
What do you think
he'll do to you anyway
when he gets out of jail?
[sighs]
You are under oath. You
are committing perjury.
Rudy never killed anybody.
I don't know what
happened to the children.
[bangs on table]
You had to lose your temper.
She lied, Adam. She
denied everything.
With that husband,
who can blame her?
Compared to what he can do,
you're threatening to
take away her hairdresser.
I'll get a perjury indictment
based on a deposition.
Good. When you go to trial,
invite a couple of law
students to provide the laughter.
Why I thought this was winnable.
I assumed we'd have
some kind of witness.
Without one, we're gonna lose.
Rudy, Mr. Armandariz,
he asked kids to
work in the sweatshop.
Did you personally hear him
ask María and Eduardo Carranza
if they wanted jobs
sewing wedding gowns?
Yes, he asked them in the club.
Did there come a time when
you looked for María and Eduardo
because you hadn't seen
them in the neighborhood?
(Alejandro) I had a letter
from Eduardo's mother.
She didn't hear from him.
I went to the
sweatshop, the factory.
The boss told me Eduardo
and María went home to Mexico.
Is that man in the
courtroom today?
That man, there.
(Stone) Let the record indicate
he's pointing at the defendant,
Ellis Drake.
The record will so indicate.
Thank you. No further questions.
Mr. Lopez,
did you ever go
inside this sweatshop
during the time when
María and Eduardo
were supposedly working there?
No, I didn't.
Well, then you never
actually saw them in there
with Mr. Drake, did you?
No.
How well did you know
Eduardo and María?
Just around the neighborhood.
(Dunlap) In point of fact, they
might have gone back to Mexico
without your knowing.
No, they would
have said goodbye.
Really? To a casual
acquaintance?
Even if they left in a hurry?
(Medill) Blood on the
mattress found in the tenement
matches DNA from
María Carranza's body
with 90% accuracy.
What accounts for a
less than perfect match?
The body was submerged
in water for several weeks.
Tissue damage made a
perfect match impossible.
Well, thank you. Your witness.
90%.
Is that a good match,
in your experience?
Yes, it is.
Is that so?
How many other people
would that blood sample match?
Several thousand.
A hundred thousand?
Possibly.
So that might not be María
Carranza's blood at all.
In fact, you don't even know
if that's María
Carranza's body, do you?
She did work there.
The picture was identified.
The odds of someone
else with so close a match...
Are what, Mr. Medill?
Are you an expert in population
demographics or forensics?
Never mind. No
further questions.
Each hit by itself
doesn't hurt us,
but you add 'em up...
Suppose we charge Rudy's wife,
say I'll testify.
Accessory to murder. She
admitted she was there.
To an assistant
district attorney.
You want to take
that to a grand jury?
Call Frank Dunlap.
Let's go out to Rikers.
Did you look at Ellis Drake?
He turns right,
his wife burns him.
He turns left, he's staring
at the bottom of the Hudson.
By now, maybe he's
more angry than scared.
He would've broken by now.
You can't light a
fire without tinder.
Put Rudy in the room.
We might not have
to strike the match.
(Stone) The boy
pointed at you, Mr. Drake.
If they want to convict anyone,
it's not your wife or sonny boy.
Time out. We agreed,
no separate deals.
You think we'd turn against
each other? We're family here.
Well, cut the family
number, Mrs. Drake.
We all know who's
playing musical beds.
[chuckling] Hey, I got music
in me. What does that prove?
Stop it! Shut up! It's bad
enough you were doing it!
She begged for it, man.
She screamed for it.
Mr. Drake, manslaughter
one, two counts.
You only do nine years.
Hold on, you can't
do that. Guard!
We're offering you a deal.
You testify against your
wife and Mr. Armandariz.
I'm leaving. You've to stop.
You can't talk in
front of my client.
Fine. Guard, take
Mr. Armandariz to his cell.
Ben, Ben, this is unethical.
You had to sleep with him.
The money wasn't enough.
Ellis, keep your mouth shut.
Bought him a house,
rubbed my face in it!
You pathetic wimp!
That's what I am?
Him... You couldn't stop!
I'll do it.
I'm going to jail, and
you're going with me.
(Ellis) He got
these Mexican kids.
We promised to pay
them by the piece.
End of the week, Rudy
said don't pay them.
They can't complain.
Did there come a time
when Mr. Armandariz
suggested other ways
of making money?
Well, he found these
metal beds in a vacant lot.
He said he could
just tie the kids up.
He did it with handcuffs.
(Stone) Tell the
court what happened
when Mr. Ira Bender
came to inspect your factory.
He wanted to see the backroom.
He opened the door.
Rudy was inside.
He got him around the neck.
He handcuffed
him, pulled his tie up.
And he killed him.
And what happened to
María and Eduardo Carranza?
We were trying to move
them and they tried to get away.
Rudy killed them
in front of the others.
He said nobody would
try to escape again.
Thank you, sir.
Mr. Drake,
you testified that you and
your wife and Mr. Armandariz
turned these people into slaves.
Did you really do that?
It doesn't seem like something
I could've done, but I did.
Why are you testifying today?
We deserve to be
punished. All of us do.
Is that the reason?
Or is it your agreement
with the district attorney
for a reduced sentence?
Nine years instead of 75.
The sentence doesn't matter.
It would matter to me.
Tell us, Mr. Drake,
was your wife sexually
involved with Mr. Armandariz?
That's not the reason, either.
But she was.
And you were jealous.
Were you also angry?
What was the effect
of that humiliation?
Is it reason enough to
implicate your wife and her lover
in crimes that you
committed? You alone?
I never killed those children.
Oh, well, you could
only enslave them.
Did you pay for
Mr. Armandariz's liquor license?
Did you buy him a house?
Only because Betty insisted.
Is that why?
Or were you buying his
silence to cover up your crimes?
No, that's crazy.
Tell us, Mr. Drake,
why should we believe
that Mr. Armandariz
killed those children?
Why shouldn't we
believe you did it?
It's not a good theory?
If I was on that jury,
I'd believe Meadow.
So he bought him
a house. Come on.
They know Ellis
Drake was terrified.
They also know he got a deal.
You want to take another
run at Armandariz's wife?
She's more afraid
of him than us.
Who's she more
afraid of than him?
You see her grandmother
in court today?
If my grandmother
had a look like that,
she could fry eggs with it.
Maybe she's not
afraid of anybody.
I tried, believe me,
but Lina is afraid.
I know she was wrong, too.
What could she do?
Do you know if the
Drakes or Mr. Armandariz
own any other property?
A nightclub, maybe
somewhere else.
I don't know.
The other people who
worked at the sweatshop,
if your granddaughter
could tell us what happened.
Not Lina, not now.
If I never said marry him...
He pretends to love her.
He called me.
Told me to come be with her.
But she can't live
in that house now.
I'll take her to my place.
Mrs. Andon, where did you
say you're planning to take Lina?
To my house in Brooklyn.
You have a house in Brooklyn?
When did Mr. Armandariz
ask you to take care of her?
After the police
came to the club.
He asked you to leave
your house and go to Jersey?
He sent a boy from the pool hall
to cut the grass,
get the mail, he said.
Call Cerreta and Logan.
[speaking Spanish]
He wanted my house.
[policemen chattering]
[police siren wailing]
[police radio chattering]
There's two of 'em.
More underneath.
I'll re-indict. We'll add
seven counts of murder two.
Bodies are at the
mother-in-law's house.
You had circumstantial,
you have more circumstantial.
Seven bodies? That's
a lot of circumstance.
Ellis Drake is already guilty.
They could throw it all on him.
[phone buzzing]
Yes. We're discussing it now.
I'll get back to you.
Brooklyn D.A. wants the case.
The crime started in Manhattan.
The bodies were
found in Brooklyn.
Their case is no
stronger than ours.
Thank you. I was
about to say that myself.
We could lose it all.
Make a deal with
Rudy and the wife.
Bluff 'em, I don't care
how. Make a deal.
[both chattering]
My client is receptive.
Mine's willing, with
the right circumstances.
Both of your clients
face 10 counts.
Ten times 25, that's 250 years.
We'll take one
count, murder two.
They both do 25.
Or we show the pictures
of the backyard to the jury.
I don't think they'll believe
Ellis Drake did that all by himself.
You'll never prove my
client dug that grave.
Or mine.
With Lina's grandmother on
the stand, I'll take my chance.
You'll have the
plea papers today.
(Stone) Cons don't
like people who do kids.
Rudy may not live to get parole.
I think he'll manage.
Bar Association
dinner next month.
Adam's getting an award.
I bought a new tuxedo.
I have to wonder who made it.
[people chattering]