Law & Order (1990–2010): Season 4, Episode 22 - Old Friends - full transcript

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.

Ladies and gentlemen,
I am not a criminal.

I just need some
money for my medicine.

So help me not break the law.

Thank you.

Change?

Can you spare some... Hey,
thank you, buddy, thanks a lot.



Spare some change?

How about you, sir?
You got some change?

Excuse me, can you
spare some change?

Oh, yeah. That's right, just turn
your back, ignore me, walk away, huh?

What, you think I'm not gonna
go anywhere, Mr. Rockefeller?

Well, I got news for
you. I got no place to go!

Change?

Excuse me, sir, can
you spare some change?

You know, I got a
right to be here, too!

Oh, my God!

Six months until my pension. Now
it's gonna be spent in a courtroom.

Let's get a little head
start on your statement.

Hey, what's to say?

I mean it's rush hour. I'm
on my way downtown...



a guy dives off the
curb in front of my rig.

He wants to kill himself.
What does he gotta use me for?

How compassionate.

I'm the one who's gotta
take all the blood tests.

It ain't like I could've
turned away.

The guy was a maniac. I know
he pushed him deliberately.

One of our homeless hordes
was hassling the commuters.

I'm gonna need a description.

He had on a dirty blue
coat and a plaid scarf.

And he was filthy.

Well, that narrows it down. Look,
did you get a look at his face?

Who wants to look?

Good luck. Thanks.

Well, he was begging for change.

I work for a living. I'll be
damned if I give it away.

You remember anything about him?

We tried to get away.
He couldn't take a hint.

Maybe we should have
given him something.

He shoves a cappuccino
cup from Bon Matin in my face.

That's $3 a throw. He
doesn't need my quarter.

Hey, Logan!

Mr. Keeley was
standing next to the victim.

How you doing? I'm Det. Logan. Did
you get a look at this homeless guy?

I saw him coming
and turned my back.

So you didn't actually
see anybody get pushed?

No, I heard the guy scream.

All right, we'll call you if
we need you. Thank you.

Not easy to read the ID.

Renkmeyer, Harry. Thirty-two.

I guess he should've given
the guy a quarter, huh?

We give the second cup free...

so these bums lift a paper cup out
of the trash and come in for a refill.

You ever see one
wearing a plaid scarf?

Oh, yeah. You mean
Bruce Springsteen.

Some kind of musician, plays
the air guitar. Between gigs...

he uses the scarf
to wash car windows.

So he's a regular around here?
Yeah, couple of times a week.

He lives in the
neighborhood. Lucky us.

Where in the neighborhood?

Well, he did invite me
back to his place once...

but I didn't go.

The guitar-playing squeegee man?

Yeah, that'd be Rudy.

He has a part-time job in
the psycho ward at Bellevue.

And the rest of the
time he lives here?

You ever been in Bellevue?

Well, I think it's time for
Rudy's monthly checkup.

Is this his crib?

Yeah, but you're gonna
have to come back at night.

During the day
they're all out working.

Working?

Hey, that's what they call it.

All right, we'll come
back for the night shift.

Come on, let's go pay a visit
to the late Mr. Renkmeyer.

There's not much of him to see.

Without the driver's license you
couldn't even give him a name.

Next of kin ID him?
Yeah, she called.

We wanna wait until we glue him back
together and make sure it's really him.

You can't tell from
the face and the ID?

You try playing speed
bump to an 18-wheeler.

We'll x-ray the body, look
for fillings, surgical pins.

It's a hell of a way to go, huh?

Well, he took
something with him.

Under his fingernails,
ripped blue fibers.

Blue fibers?

So he grabbed onto
the guy who pushed him?

You better get
this to Forensics.

You think Rudy, the guitar
player, is back from work?

Welcome to
Strawberry Fields West.

The berries are
smelling a little ripe.

Hey, old-timer, you
know a guy named Rudy?

Guess not.

I should sleep so well.

Well, he puts in a
longer day than you.

♪♪

♪ Hey, now, baby ♪

♪♪

♪ Get into my ♪

♪♪

Rudy! Hey, Rudy!

Show's over, baby.

Hey, this is my encore.

Come on, Elvis, let's
go. Get out of here!

♪ Where have all
the flowers gone? ♪♪

I'll tell you, man, lawyers,
bankers... Indian chiefs.

It's the system, man. It's only
as strong as its weakest member.

And you're looking at him.

I bet that really gets
your blood going.

I'm on fire, man. I
see them every day.

They spend more on one suit
than I've made in the last 10 years.

And when I ask them for
change they just turn their backs.

And you give them a little push?

You guys think I did it?

No way, man.

We got a whole crowd of
people who saw you there, Rudy.

You know, it's funny.

They don't notice me when
my hand's out asking for change.

So you're saying you didn't
shove anybody into traffic?

Hey, some guy gets
squashed on my corner...

they say I did it, huh?

I mean, it's bad for
business. Think about it.

No, you think about it.

And we got a semi-private
cell for you to think about it in.

You guys can't arrest
me. What's the charge?

Singing off-key.

My client wants to go home.

Home? It's wall-to-wall rats.

I'm not here to defend his
home furnishings, just his rights.

You haven't got anything
on him in this murder.

He just happened
to be in the vicinity.

And he was hassling pedestrians.

He was talking to pedestrians.

Did anyone see him push anybody?

The fabric under the victim's nails
doesn't match the suspect's coat.

So go back to square one.

He definitely got
run over by a truck.

Brilliant, Rodgers. We
already noticed that.

The truck didn't kill him.
He was already dead.

Heart attack.

What attacked Mr. Renkmeyer's
heart was a small piece of lead.

He was shot?

X-rays found an anterior entry
wound in the upper-left quadrant.

Straight through the heart,
then it lodged in the spine, .32.

Thought you might want it.

I'll call CSU, tell them
to start looking for a shell.

I don't understand.
What can I tell you?

Well, we're trying to find out who
killed your husband, Mrs. Renkmeyer.

He was killed by a
crazy, homeless person.

It seems we were wrong about
how your husband died, ma'am.

He was shot.

By a homeless
man? We don't know.

Had your husband been
threatened by anybody?

Harry? Of course not.

Mr. Renkmeyer worked for a
company called Nature's Way?

He was Chief Financial Officer.

They make baby food.

Had he been having any
problems? Acting oddly in any way?

You think someone
killed him on purpose?

Why?

What's up? Detective.

You ever hear the story of the farmer's
daughter and the needle in the haystack?

I'm just glad our guy
didn't use a revolver.

We opened the grating,
picked through the gutter.

Crap people throw on the street.

They don't throw
away shell casings.

But they do when they
use an automatic gun.

I would say a .32. And
I would say very recent.

When you called, I thought...

you should talk to
both me and my partner.

Harry worked very
closely with both of us.

Steve Green, Detectives
Briscoe and Logan.

Gentlemen, sit down.

You want some
coffee? No, thanks.

So what's your thinking on this?

The bum who shot
Harry was stalking him?

We're thinking it
wasn't the bum.

Are you saying somebody
wanted him dead?

Harry? I don't think so.

Well, we're wondering, did
Mr. Renkmeyer have any bad habits?

When I started this company, I wanted
someone dependable in accounting.

No one was better
than Harry Renkmeyer.

And Mr. Renkmeyer
was happy working here?

We're a growing
company. He was well paid.

He was also in charge of the money.
Did he ever want more than he earned?

Maybe he had a
gambling problem...

a couple of girlfriends?

No. Harry was so conservative. We
used to make fun of his button-down shirts.

How about enemies
in the business?

Did he fire anybody?

Just the usual.

He let go of a bookkeeper about a
year ago. He said she was incompetent.

It was personal.

That's what he said.

There'd been
something between them.

Steve? You didn't know.

They asked about girlfriends.

We worked together for
three years, and nothing.

We were closing out the
fiscal year, putting in late hours.

You know how
these things go. Yeah.

You get together for a
couple of drinks after work...

and pretty soon it's
your place or mine, right?

Harry didn't look it,
but he liked a good time.

We had some fun.

Was he a big spender?

No, strictly Dutch
treat, but I didn't mind.

I kept telling myself it
was just for fun but...

You got involved.

We made plans.

He was going to get some money
together and divorce his wife.

Miss Torvald didn't seem too
happy about being dumped.

What, you think she
carried a grudge for a year?

Or his wife did.

If she knew about his
definition of employee relations.

Don't wives always know?

Mine did.

Yours didn't hire
a hit man. Not yet.

We were married nine years.

It wasn't the first
time. I said, "End it."

Harry did.

She told us he was putting
money away, planning a divorce.

He was lying to her.

Look, it changed
after Sam was born.

Harry wanted to stay with me.

And you wanted to stay
with him? Of course I did.

So everything was
perfect. I don't understand.

If Harry had any problems,
they weren't about our marriage.

Did Harry have any problems?

It was just the aftermath,
the affair, having a baby.

He was restless. He talked
about getting another job. So what?

He was unhappy at work? Did he
tell you what was bothering him?

A couple of weeks ago...

middle of the night, I
heard him in the kitchen.

He was throwing out baby
food he'd brought from the office.

What for?

He just said, "We're not
feeding this to Sam anymore."

He wanted me to
buy another brand.

It's not about the wife.

Yeah, the horizontal tango
with the bookkeeper was over.

But he was looking
for a new job.

Flip a coin.

I mean, the baby food moguls
say he was happy in his work.

But his wife says he
has résumés in the mail...

and he didn't even want to
keep their stuff around the house.

You don't like your job, does it
mean you throw away the product?

Maybe there was something
wrong with the baby food.

Or the company.

Maybe he didn't want the
food around the house...

'cause it reminded him
of trouble at the office.

You think your job's not gonna
last, you're gonna look to move on.

Let's check their books.

I'll get a subpoena. Get the
D.A.'s auditors over there.

It looks like they were in
the classic start-up squeeze.

This baby food was
walking off the shelves.

Then the money was pouring in.

That's not the way it works.

You have to pay for supplies to
make this stuff months before...

you get paid for selling it.

The more successful you are,
the more strapped you are for cash.

So you go to the bank, you show them
your sales records, and you borrow money.

Yeah, new ideas
are hard to sell.

Miss Madsen had
a $2 million loan.

But she had to pledge
her personal assets

as collateral and pay
six points over prime.

That's a sweet
deal for the bank.

Apparently, not sweet enough.
They called the loan six months ago.

I worked very hard to
get Ann Madsen that loan.

The timing was in our favor.

The bank was under pressure
to help women entrepreneurs.

But not under pressure
to keep on helping them?

I fought our loan committee
on this one for months.

Her accounts were technically out
of balance. We had to call the loan.

Out of balance? You mean
there was money missing?

No, nothing like that. It was just
that her inventory, plus receivables...

fell below some
arbitrary figure.

I tried to save it, but...

Well, she must have
spent part of that $2 million.

How did she pay it back?

She get a loan from
some other bank?

She got a new partner. They must
have found the money somewhere.

Did she say Steve
Green was a new partner?

We didn't ask.

It sounds like they're operating with
no visible means of financial support.

A time like that, where
do you go for $2 million?

You don't go to the
neighborhood loan shark.

And why did her finance guy
end up with a bullet in his heart?

You know, I'm starting to think you're
right. These people are all mobbed up.

I think we should ask
about the investors.

After Harry was killed, we
explored, in our own minds...

any possible connection
to our company.

We looked at the books before we
gave them to you. They were straight.

Well, we heard Mr. Renkmeyer
was looking for a new job.

I can't believe that.
He would have told me.

Do you have any idea why he wouldn't
want his baby eating Nature's Way products?

He took a couple of cartons from
the office. Maybe you can tell us.

What's this have to
do with his being shot?

Mr. Renkmeyer was in finance.

He must have done a good job,
because after your loan was called...

you've been running this
company on absolutely no money.

Harry took care of that by
bringing Steve into the company.

Steve arranged refinancing. It was
part of our partnership agreement.

I pledged my own assets.
I believe in this company.

There's nothing about
that in your books.

It came from a private venture capital
group. They like to operate quietly.

Okay, where can we find them?

Why, Detective? You have
an idea for a new product?

Where can we find them?

I've got it.

It's not exactly Wall Street.

It ain't Little Italy, either.

There is no one here, mister.
You must make an appointment.

Well, who would that
appointment be with?

You leave your name,
pozhaluista, here.

And they call you, okay? Lady.

That's not the way it
works. I know nothing.

I don't think these people are gonna
exactly give Citibank a lot of competition.

Well, no wonder Steve Green
didn't want to talk about it.

Well, it was his partner
who gave us the address.

When Harry brought
Steve in, it saved my life.

I was staring at a backlog
of orders I couldn't fill.

The bank was going to take the
house I inherited from my mother.

I'd lose everything. Steve
got me all the capital I needed.

Did you ever meet the people
from Brookings who made this loan?

I was busy promoting baby food.

Steve handled the whole
thing. All I did was sign papers.

I take it you trust
him completely?

He's honest. He's hands-on.

You know, hardworking
son of immigrants.

Steve Green?

Immigrants from
where? Scarsdale?

His real name is Sasha
Gruskov. He was born in Russia.

What kind of interest
did you pay on this loan?

Twenty-five percent.

That's one point
less than usury.

Didn't that seem kind of high?

Yes, but I had no choice.

Makes sense Steve
Green changed his name.

Gruskov family: extortion,
credit card fraud, prostitution.

The Mafia's taking
lessons from them.

Well, for Gruskov money, 25%
was obviously a family favor.

Hey, they put money on
the street at 20% a week.

And Little Miss Organic doesn't
know who she's dealing with?

Maybe Harry Renkmeyer knew. He
brought Steve Green to the company.

Report on your print.

For the partial we had
to go with the AFIS...

and they only started to
feed cards into their computer.

How's it stand? One
million in, 60 million to go?

Well, lucky for you, they
started with the two-time losers.

Lucky for us, our print belonged to
one. Nikolai Rostov, Brighton Beach.

Assault and more assault.

Brighton Beach. Gruskov family.

Think he knew Steve Green?
Let's pay him a visit with a warrant.

Look, I don't like this. You
should really wait for him.

Well, don't worry about it, huh?

Nick must have a good job.

He drives a Camaro.

Oh, yeah?

You seen him around lately?

Sure, I saw him this morning.

He likes silk suits to
go with his Camaro.

Good for him.

You know what?

Judging by his
taste in ammunition...

he also likes .32s.

I got a pea coat. Navy issue.

You. Stick around.

Nickie, you're under arrest. You
have the right to remain silent.

Anything you say can and will be
used against you in a court of law.

Do you understand that?

Hey, Nickie, this the
flavor of the week?

"Docket number 96522,
the People v. Nikolai Rostov.

The charge is murder
in the second degree."

Shoots a man, pushes
him under a truck.

I've heard of overkill,
but this is ridiculous.

Can we get a plea here?

Not guilty. Bail application?

My client has strong
ties to the community.

And another community
12,000 miles away.

Your Honor, my
client is a citizen.

"Give us your tired,
your poor, your vicious."

Miss Kincaid?

Due to the risk of
flight, Your Honor...

Thank you, that's all I need to
hear. I'll give this citizen his rights.

He's remanded
without bail. Next?

Six years the Brooklyn
D.A. has been asking:

"Is Steven Green
part of his family?"

Now we have him.
We have his hit man.

And we're gonna roll him against
him until he does somersaults.

Are we clear on the motive?

We assumed Harry Renkmeyer
knew about tainted food.

So we called the
USDA. We were right.

They closed Nature's
Way this morning.

Renkmeyer could've
blown that company apart.

$2 million. That's a big
loss for the Gruskovs.

Killing a man over that. You'd think
they have other means of persuasion.

The Russians?

They make the Colombians
look like the Von Trapp family.

Adam, the Colombians
roll on each other.

The investment bankers do.

But Russian hit men?

Twist him till he's a
corkscrew. Make it work.

My client owns an ice cream
parlor in Brighton Beach.

A front for the Gruskov family.

I own my business. It's mine.

Nick.

I went cross-town yesterday, watched
the witnesses parade past the lineup.

My client was number two,
number six was very popular.

As they say in law school, Larry,
eyewitnesses are like dessert.

They're nice, but
they're not necessary.

Mr. Rostov left his
thumbprint on a shell casing...

and fiber from his coat under
the dead man's fingernails.

You didn't mention
the slug from the victim.

Did they match it
to my client's gun?

I guess not. And I bet you can't
match the lip mark on the shell.

Very hard with a .32, isn't it?

Keep dancing, Counselor. Your
client can start counting 25 years.

Without motive?

Just one hole in the
physical evidence, he walks.

He had no reason
to kill Mr. Renkmeyer.

Steven Green had motive.

The Gruskov's money.

Oh, you're gonna turn this into
a trial about the Russian mob.

No judge'll let it happen.

You won't even get to
order chicken Kiev for lunch.

So where are we going?

You want to make an
offer? Please, make it.

Manslaughter one, your
client names Steven Green...

as the man who ordered
the hit on Harry Renkmeyer.

You will be convicted, sir...

your lawyer's two-step
notwithstanding.

And, by the way, who is
paying your lawyer's fee?

Whose interest does
he really represent?

Nick, I advise you to
go back to your cell.

About the time Nixon's getting
tossed from the White House...

young Stevie's dad here gets shot, and the
kid goes off to a private school in Maine.

And the cousins build
the business. Yeah.

Are they successful enough to
float million-dollar loans to Steve?

By now?

They could pay the debt
of a Third World country.

The shooter, Rostov,
on the lower left,

what do you know about him?

All right. This guy, a
cousin, we had him in '89.

Truckload of fur. Grand
larceny for the third time.

We turned him, he
was gonna testify.

He's out on bail. They found
him with a slug in his heart.

Put there by Mr. Rostov.

We think so, yeah.

And it wasn't the first time.

Two years before that, we
had a witness in Rikers...

at the same time as Joe Andreyev,
another friend of the family.

Witness falls off a catwalk.

And if you believe that, I'll
introduce you to the tooth fairy.

What about Steven Green?

Changed his name, moved out of Brooklyn,
got an M.B.A., and never looked back.

You're not saying he's clean?

Oh, no.

He looks good in a $1,000
suit, but it doesn't cover the dirt.

How solid is this information?

I believe it. My
boss believes it.

Convincing a jury?

We may not be able to
mention the Russian mob...

without a better
connection to Rostov.

We still convict him.

Well, that doesn't get us
an arrest of Steven Green.

What about Ann Madsen?

The police are fairly
sure she wasn't involved.

If she's not involved,
what does she bring us?

Whatever didn't seem important to
them before might be important now.

See if you can
get her in. Tonight.

I never knew.

I thought Steve's
family was in real estate.

You knew they were
Russians from Brighton Beach.

Please, I grew
up in Westchester.

To me, Brighton Beach is
a place in a Neil Simon play.

Sure, I met Steve's relatives. I knew
they didn't shop at Brooks Brothers.

I never thought
they were gangsters.

Did you ever see Nikolai
Rostov with Steven Green?

This is really scaring me.

Miss Madsen?

He was in Steve's
office late at night.

The night before Harry...

Before he was shot.

You know why he was killed.

The police told you. He wouldn't
feed your product to his own son.

A week before it happened...

Harry said Steve was
buying apricots from Poland.

They were moldy.

He was afraid kids
would get sick, maybe die.

He was gonna go
to the government.

Steve said it wasn't true.

He was going to talk
to Harry, reassure him.

A week later he ends up dead.

It's an odd coincidence.

I asked Steve...

after the police came, "Did you
have anything to do with this?"

He said I was crazy. Why
would he kill anybody?

I didn't know about his family.

When they arrested this man,
I saw his picture in the paper.

Steve knows I saw
him in the office.

It's the link we needed.

She can put Steven Green
together with his hit man.

Yep, and I can put my barber
on Broome Street together...

with half the hit
men in the city.

One of them slits somebody's throat,
you can't prove the barber ordered it.

What else was Rostov
doing in Green's office?

Selling spring vacation
trips to the Baltics?

No.

Discussing ice cream baby food.

You don't have enough
to arrest Steven Green.

The jury can draw the inference.

Never ask a jury to
think. They want to hear it.

Connect Green with his family,
and the jury will buy the motive.

The hit man, defendant
Rostov, was born in Minsk.

As was Mr. Green, and as was
Mr. Green's father, Ivan Gruskov.

Do the People plan to convict my
client based on a common dialect?

Hold on, Mr. Weaver.

Just because a connection's
ephemeral, who's to say it isn't real?

With the history of the Gruskov family
and Mr. Green's loan to Nature's Way...

the People will show why
Rostov shot Renkmeyer.

Which is?

Renkmeyer was a threat to
a $2 million mob investment.

There's not a scintilla of evidence linking
my client to an alleged Russian mob.

Rostov rents from this family.

Along with hundreds of residents
from the borough of Brooklyn.

Doesn't make him a hired killer.

What else do you have, Ben?

A string of arrests
dating from the '70s.

Yes, the Gruskovs were
implicated in racketeering...

not Steven Green, or my client.

Your Honor...

allow this, it's guilt
by association.

It is no accident that your
client met with Mr. Green...

the night before
Renkmeyer was shot.

All right.

I understand you need motive, Ben.
If this was about racketeering, okay.

If you could prove Rostov
worked for Mr. Green's family, okay.

But connect this to baby
food based on a single loan?

There'll be no reference to the
Russian mafia at Rostov's trial.

Ludicrous.

Adam, you can't be surprised.

She's being very
literal. Judge Barry?

She thinks that we ought to supply
the defendants with nice clothes...

so the jury won't be prejudiced.

Maybe we have to forget
about going after Steven Green.

Well, we put his hit man
away, he gets another one.

To hell with the branches.
Let's chop down the tree.

The hit man turned
down your deal.

I'm not going lower
than manslaughter one.

What did that cop say about snitches?
The ones that turned on the Gruskovs?

These here are
federal marshals, sir.

And they're here to
offer you protection.

I'm not saying nothing
about Steve Green.

Do you think you'll
survive in prison?

He's a survivor,
always has been.

Mr. Rostov, this is a transfer
paper for Mr. Joseph Andreyev.

Now, he's been moved
here, to Riker's, from Attica.

You ordered it. You
had him moved here.

Mr. Andreyev killed a witness
against your family two years ago.

Suppose he's in the yard, and
you're with him, and he's got a knife?

Ben, this is coercion.

Now, we're prepared to move
you to a high-security federal prison.

If you cooperate.

Or you can stay here.

The offer is 8
and a third to 25.

And you tell us
who ordered the hit.

He has nothing to say.
That's it. We're finished.

Mr. Rostov, you know
what goes down...

with anybody who
worries the Gruskovs.

You know what happened two years
ago. Same thing happened in '89.

Gentlemen. Wait.

Nick.

I'll tell you what you want.

Who knows? Maybe
Steve Green skipped town.

Costa Rica?

I don't think he's the
surf-and-sand type.

Someplace colder,
maybe, where he can ski.

Colder where he can
make license plates.

There he is.

Sasha Gruskov, you're under arrest
for the murder of Henry Renkmeyer.

The name is Steven Green.

You're still under arrest. You
have the right to remain silent.

Anything you say can and will be
used against you in a court of law.

Do you understand that?

You have the
right to an attorney.

Steven Green will spend
his 60th birthday in a cell.

A little bloodlust, Ben?

For the truth? Yes, sir.

Occupational hazard.

Ben?

Ann Madsen's here.
You better talk to her.

My phone rang at 11:00, 12:00, 1:00,
every hour on the hour, nobody there.

We're putting you
under protective custody.

I got in a cab to
come down here...

somebody in a car waved
a flashlight across my face.

You'll be in a witness
protection program.

We'll move you out of the city.

How did they even
know I was here?

Look, I've done all I
can just talking to you.

I can't testify against Steve.

Miss Madsen, listen carefully.

You're gonna have to leave
New York no matter what.

You've got to face the truth that
your life will never be the same.

Don't do this to me.

A man is dead.

He had a wife and a child, and
unless you've changed your mind...

he was a friend.

Please. Of course
I cared about Harry.

But Steve and his family,
now that I know who they are...

how can I testify?

If you refuse to testify...

you're subject to indictment
for hindering prosecution.

Oh, come on. Miss Madsen...

anyone who dances with the
devil thinks they can walk away.

You can't.

It was only baby food.

Oh, my God, how
did I end up here?

He coerced the witness.

The arrest of Steven
Green is a farce.

What did you do, Ben?

Tell her.

Larry, you were there.

Mr. Packard, please. I speak
English. I can ask the questions.

Ben?

Yes, Your Honor, I did ask
for a prisoner to be transferred.

To make his client
feel threatened?

If his client had nothing to hide,
he had nothing to worry about.

What is this, semantics?

You told him he'd
be knifed in the yard.

Well, I suggested that.
You said I was bluffing.

You're going to let them
proceed against Steven Green?

This is outrageous.

It's close to the line...

but Mr. Rostov felt the threat,
whether it was real or not.

That's his decision.

Let's go to trial.

Our team went to the processing
plant after a call from your office.

What did the Agriculture
Department find?

Our inspectors at Nature's
Way sent samples of 16 lots...

to our lab in Washington.

Of those, 12
contained spoiled food.

And what did the Department do?

We obtained an administration
order to shut down their production line.

Now, these spoiled lots...

do you know what dates
they were processed on?

Yes. The week of
March 10th, this year.

That's the week of
Mr. Renkmeyer's death, right?

Objection.

No, I'll allow it.

Yes, that same week.

Now, if you had found these
spoiled lots then, in March...

what would you have done?

Exactly what we did.
Shut the company down.

Steve had other businesses. He
had a lot of visitors to the office.

Did you ever have
the opportunity

to see these people?

Sometimes I saw them,
but I was never introduced.

Now, you've testified that
after Mr. Renkmeyer was killed...

you saw a photo of his
accused killer in the newspaper.

Prior to that date...

had you ever seen
Nikolai Rostov?

No.

Miss Madsen...

I saw his picture in the paper.

I had never seen
him before in my life.

Please, consider
your answer carefully.

Do you recall telling me
that you saw Nikolai Rostov?

Objection.

Asked and answered.

Sustained.

A brief recess, Your Honor?
A moment with my witness?

Any objection, Mr. Packard?

Not at all, Your
Honor. No objection.

I don't have to talk to you.

I suggest you do.

Do you want to go to jail
to protect these people?

It's better than dying.

You are as well-guarded as
any witness possibly can be.

I don't think they can
even get near you.

Maybe not today.
Where will you send me?

Kansas? Iowa? They'll find me.

Miss Madsen...

you will tell the truth, or
I'm gonna prosecute you.

I'm sorry, Mr. Stone.
I've done all I can.

Officer, the charge
is felony perjury.

Take her to the 5th Precinct.

Just a minute, Officer.

Ben, do you want to do
this? It won't change her mind.

Officer, take her away.

Don't tell me it's required.

She perjured herself
and destroyed this case.

Is that what it's about?

Or is it about you looking
foolish in front of a jury?

It's felony perjury.

How many felony perjury
indictments did we file last year?

She lied.

Without her testimony, there's no
motive, there's no link to Green...

and there's no
corroboration of Rostov.

The total number of
felony perjury indictments...

we filed last year was four.

And we do this to hardened
criminals, not innocent bystanders.

If she lies, she's no longer innocent,
and these people don't go away.

Are you prepared to testify
against her in front of a judge?

Her word against yours?

And Claire's.

You really want to
prosecute Ann Madsen?

If I have to.

But maybe a few
nights in Rikers...

will change her mind.

Were you hired to
kill Mr. Renkmeyer?

Hired for money? No.

Let's say I was asked to do it.

Who asked you?

Steve Green.

He asked you to commit murder,
and he wasn't going to pay you for it?

Why was that?

Steve's family.

When they ask...

Objection.

May we approach?

Approach.

Judge, you ruled on this.

Your Honor...

how the witness was compensated
by the defendant is relevant.

He just said he
wasn't compensated.

Because he was a member
of the Gruskov family.

This is an end run,
Ben, and you know it.

The witness is only
testifying to what he knows.

Why he acted,
who instructed him.

You're linking the witness to
the defendant through his family.

I told you, it's prejudicial,
and I won't allow it.

Your Honor, off the record...

this decision of yours has
forced me to prosecute a woman...

who committed perjury
out of fear for her life.

Whatever happens to her is as
much your responsibility as mine.

Exception noted,
Counselor. Step back.

Mr. Rostov...

who directed you to
commit this murder?

Steve Green.

And did he tell you why he
wanted Harry Renkmeyer killed?

The guy was gonna talk.
I don't know about what.

Nothing further.

Your Honor, may I
be heard in chambers?

A motion to dismiss
is premature.

I have to consider it, Ben.

The only thing the People have established
is that Mr. Rostov is the killer.

There is no evidence linking
my client to the shooting.

Ben, if that's your
last witness, I'm sorry.

The statute's clear.

You can't convict solely on the
basis of accomplice testimony.

Your Honor, as you well know,
my only other witness won't testify...

because she's been threatened.

Are you implying that I'm
involved with witness tampering?

I'm not implying anything, sir.

Ben.

I have to make a ruling.

I haven't rested my
case, Your Honor.

In the morning you will.

If you have nothing
then, I'll grant the motion.

I can't do it.

Then we are prepared
to prosecute you.

Come on, Ben, I don't believe
you. You'll put her in jail for a year?

The penalty for conspiracy
to commit murder is 25 to life.

You wouldn't.

This is crazy.

I didn't have
anything to do with it.

Because you say so?

Are you protecting
Mr. Green or yourself?

You don't believe that.
You're only trying to scare me.

There's no evidence my client was
involved in the death of Harry Renkmeyer.

If you're innocent, and you
don't do this, they'll go on killing.

They killed Harry
Renkmeyer. They'll kill you.

Not if I don't testify.

Really?

Will you ever go to a movie
and not look over your shoulder?

Will you ever have a child and be
comfortable sending her to school?

If you testify, we'll
get you a new identity.

You don't, you're on your own.

I'm not a policeman.

I'm not the District
Attorney. It's not my job.

He can't do this, can he?

I don't have to do this.

Don't lie to her.

Ann, I'm an officer of the court. I
understand what you're trying to do...

but it's improper for
me to say it's right.

You are a citizen.

A witness to a crime.

You don't do this, the
system doesn't work.

I don't care about the system.

I admit, I should have been
more suspicious of Steve Green...

but I don't deserve this.

I made a mistake. That's all.

The mistake you're
making is not telling the truth.

I believed I could
be in business...

and make a decent product,
and make the world a better place.

Maybe that's naive,
but that's what I believed.

When you discovered that
Mr. Green did not share your values...

what did you do?

I told him...

we didn't have to save money
by risking the health of children.

I told him Harry
Renkmeyer was right.

And what did he tell you?

He said he would
discuss it with Harry.

Everything would be just fine.

Now, we've heard Mr. Nikolai Rostov
testify that he killed Harry Renkmeyer.

Previously, did you say that you
had never seen Mr. Rostov in person?

Yes, I did, but I lied.

And why was that?

I was in fear for my life.

Would you please
tell the court now...

if you ever saw Mr. Rostov...

before you saw his
photo in the paper?

Yes, I did.

Please, tell us where and when.

In Mr. Green's office...

just past 11:00, the night
before Harry was killed.

Thank you.

In the People v. Steven Green...

on the sole count
of the indictment...

the charge is murder
in the second degree.

Has the jury reached a verdict?

We have, Your Honor.

We find the defendant guilty.

The jury is excused
with the Court's thanks.

The defendant is remanded
into custody until sentencing.

We're adjourned.

Ben?

They were moving Ann
Madsen out of her apartment.

She was shot in the street.

Surrounded by cops?

They shot the guy that
killed her. He had no ID.

They still don't know
who the hell he is.

And she never even
made it to the hospital.

Knowing who you are, Ben...

you didn't have a choice.

I never thought I'd get a
letter of resignation from you.

Thought you'd be here
long after I was gone.

It's not entirely about you.

That's kind of you. Thank you.

Steven Green
has filed an appeal.

Based on what?

Coercion of a
witness. Ann Madsen.

Considering the
witness is dead...

the Appeals Court
should be amused.

I've brought Claire up to
speed on my open cases.

She'll be fine.

And you?

I'm clear as a bell.