Blood Money (Season 10, Episode 8)
Premise: An elderly man dies in a taxi from a stab wound and a hidden gunshot, and his death exposes an insurance company’s effort to bury policies sold to Jewish families during World War II.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 10, Episode 8
- Detectives
- Det. Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach), Det. Ed Green (Jesse L. Martin)
- ADAs/DA
- Exec. ADA Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston), ADA Abbie Carmichael (Angie Harmon), DA Adam Schiff (Steven Hill)
- Guest stars
- George Grizzard as defense attorney Arthur Gold, Henderson Forsythe as Hamilton Stewart, Philip Goodwin as Alan Bresler, Matt Servitto as Jordan Grimaldi, Felix Fibich as Mr. Radsenhauer
- Director
- Matthew Penn
- Writers
- Barry Schindel
Summary
The Investigation
“Blood Money” starts in the back of a taxi, where a cab driver discovers that his elderly passenger, retired insurance man Peter Grimaldi, has died of a stab wound. Bank video shows Grimaldi emptying a safe deposit box minutes earlier, and prints on the cab door lead to parolee Roland Dell, the young man seen helping him into the cab. A witness can only tentatively identify Dell, and the medical examiner then finds a bullet wound hidden under Grimaldi’s arm.
A process server’s visit to Grimaldi points the detectives to All-Atlantic Insurance, his employer of 40 years, and to the family of a Bronx woman who said he sold her father a policy and never paid. Her daughter, Evelyn Walcoff, explains that during the war Grimaldi sold life insurance to Jewish families in Poland and Czechoslovakia for an Italian firm, Federali, and later refused the claims. Italy had just subpoenaed him, Federali turns out to be an All-Atlantic subsidiary, and Grimaldi’s son, Jordan, says his father kept a book listing every policy.
The Trial
Dell takes a 10-year deal and names his employer, security contractor Donald Burton, who says All-Atlantic lawyer Alan Bresler hired him to grab the book after Grimaldi offered to sell it to the company. Ballistics trace the bullet to a 1934 Beretta registered to Jordan, who is arrested. Instead of murder counts, McCoy charges Bresler and chairman Hamilton Stewart with more than a thousand counts of grand larceny, one per policy, and the judge warns that he must prove the book existed.
A survivor, Mr. Radsenhauer, describes how Grimaldi sold his father a policy in 1939 and later turned him away when he came asking for the money. Jordan testifies about the book without any deal, and under cross-examination he admits he shot his father outside the bank to stop the sale, saying the gun fired when his father grabbed for it. Shaken, Bresler confesses that Stewart ordered the theft, and McCoy grills Stewart about selling policies to people the company expected never to collect.
Spoiler, the ending: Stewart uses the book as his last bargaining chip, pleading guilty in exchange for four to 12 years and agreeing not to contest extradition to Italy. Jordan Grimaldi’s fate is not shown.
Why it stands out
- McCoy turns a street robbery into more than a thousand counts of grand larceny, one for each stolen insurance policy.
- The shooter turns out to be the victim’s son, who confronted his father to keep him from selling the record of the policies.
- An All-Atlantic lawyer decides to confess after watching the son testify, saying he has a son of his own.