Oxymoron (Season 12, Episode 23)
Premise: A cosmetic dermatologist found strangled and dumped from a car turns out to have been writing forged painkiller prescriptions for a mobster’s son.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 12, Episode 23
- Detectives
- Det. Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach), Det. Ed Green (Jesse L. Martin)
- ADAs/DA
- Exec. ADA Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston), ADA Serena Southerlyn (Elisabeth Röhm), DA Nora Lewin (Dianne Wiest)
- Guest stars
- David Deblinger as Tommy Avakian, Tom Mardirosian as Nicky Avakian, Patricia Charbonneau as Janet Naiman, Becky Ann Baker as Susan Simels, Caprice Benedetti as Alexandra Shabtai
- Director
- Constantine Makris
- Writers
- Michael Harbert
Summary
The Investigation
“Oxymoron” starts with the body of a well-dressed woman, strangled and apparently thrown from a car, with alcohol and GHB in her system. A hack license number in her pocket leads to cab driver Nick Slater, who dropped her on West 60th Street, where she climbed into a black Infiniti. A deli owner and a doorman steer Briscoe and Green to an invitation-only swingers’ party, where she called herself “Xena” and quarreled with a guest, Alexandra Shabtai.
Shabtai identifies the victim as Dr. Eliza Glazer, a cosmetic dermatologist who supplied her with oxycodone and had just cut her off. Glazer lost her Oregon license years earlier over amphetamine prescriptions. Her files hold oxycodone prescriptions in the names of identity-theft victims, all filled at one family pharmacy, where the owners’ son-in-law, Peter, admits filling forged scrips for Tommy Avakian, son of mobster Nicky Avakian, who walked away from witness protection after testifying against the Russian mob.
Tommy is picked up with oxycodone in his pocket and denies knowing Glazer. Slater cannot make a firm lineup identification, and Tommy’s car yields no trace evidence. Shabtai, who works at one of Tommy’s clubs, then admits she introduced him to Glazer and says the doctor wanted out.
The Trial
Federal prosecutor Janet Naiman lets Southerlyn hear an FBI wiretap of Tommy threatening Glazer, on condition it never be used. McCoy hints at its contents without revealing the source, and Tommy, convinced someone informed on him, offers up his father as the man who ordered the murder in return for a walk and witness protection. Nicky Avakian is charged with three murders, and his lawyer counters with the name of a chemical supplier who sells bomb ingredients, demanding immunity in return.
Federal officials, through a mediating judge, press Lewin to deal, but she refuses. Tommy then withdraws his cooperation, and Judge Kerner rules his proffer cannot be used against him unless he testifies, exposing the scheme as a con planned by father and son. McCoy answers with Tommy’s drug arrest, which as a third felony could bring a life term, and Tommy accepts a deal covering Glazer’s murder that requires him to testify against his father, in exchange for federal prison and witness protection.
Spoiler, the ending: Tommy testifies against his father at trial, and no verdict is shown. As court breaks, Nicky tells his son he would have done the same in his place, and Tommy is warned to watch his back.
Why it stands out
- The case centers on illegal oxycodone sales, a drug the detectives note is nicknamed “hillbilly heroin.”
- Lewin rejects heavy federal pressure to trade three murder prosecutions for an unverified tip about a seller of bomb-making chemicals.
- McCoy turns a minor pill possession arrest into a possible third-strike felony to force the son’s cooperation for real.