The Torrents of Greed: Part 2 (Season 1, Episode 16)
Premise: Barred from retrying the mob boss for murder, the prosecutors look for another way to reach him.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 1, Episode 16
- Detectives
- Sgt. Max Greevey (George Dzundza), Det. Mike Logan (Chris Noth)
- ADAs/DA
- Exec. ADA Ben Stone (Michael Moriarty), ADA Paul Robinette (Richard Brooks), DA Adam Schiff (Steven Hill)
- Guest stars
- Charles Cioffi as Frank Masucci, Christine Baranski as Katherine Masucci Beigel, Bruce Altman as Harv Beigel, Victoria Christian as Laurel McGinty
- Director
- E. W. Swackhamer
- Writers
- Story: Michael Duggan; Story & teleplay: Michael S. Chernuchin
Summary
The Investigation
“The Torrents of Greed: Part 2” picks up after the murder case against Frank Masucci is dismissed. The mobsters behind the candy-store beating are convicted, but Masucci is protected by double jeopardy and his brother-in-law, Harv Beigel, by his plea deal. Stone and Robinette refuse to let it end there and look for new charges that don’t depend on the case they lost.
Surveillance turns up evidence that Beigel has been bribing a city inspector to ignore violations in his buildings, giving the prosecutors fresh leverage. Facing new charges, Beigel begins to talk about how Masucci’s orders, including orders to kill, pass through him. Before he can deliver, Beigel disappears. The detectives had been expecting Beigel to lead them to the people who carry out Masucci’s orders, and his disappearance leaves the prosecution without its new witness.
The Trial
Beigel’s murder points straight back to Masucci. His widow, Katherine, who is Masucci’s sister, is shaken by evidence that her brother was behind it and leads investigators to a burial ground in New Jersey where the family has been disposing of its victims. The site holds the remains of Beigel and others, including the union leader from the first case.
Masucci is arrested again, this time for a murder he has never been tried for, which means double jeopardy no longer protects him. The prosecutors believe they finally have a case that can hold. At a hurried bail hearing, however, he is released when Katherine puts up the money for his bond, and he walks out of court a free man while the case is pending.
Spoiler, the ending: Within hours of leaving court, Masucci is shot dead by gunmen. Katherine, who posted his bail and left town, gets her money back, and the prosecutors suspect she arranged the hit but cannot prove it. Stone, Robinette and Schiff accept that Masucci is finished, even if the courts were not the ones to do it, and expect a violent fight over who replaces him.
Why it stands out
- It completes the series’ first two-part story, which begins in Part 1.
- The case ends with the target dead rather than convicted, an unusual result for the prosecutors.