(male announcer) In New York City's war on crime,
the worst criminal offenders are pursued
by the detectives of the Major Case Squad.
These are their stories.
I swear I don't know how it happened!
[panting] I can find out.
Just give me a chance!
[thud]
[Adam Crossley's The Prisoner]
♪ ♪
♪ Prisoner writes without lights ♪
♪ Half a mile underground ♪
♪ He's won the hearts of the murderous thieves ♪
♪ He can't see, that surround ♪
♪ And the rain ♪
♪ Cries for him ♪
♪ Like they'll never ♪
♪ Know him again ♪
♪ Like they'll never hold him again ♪
♪ Hold him again ♪
♪ Love him ♪
♪ Love him again they say ♪
♪ Take me home ♪
♪ When you're done here ♪
♪ Take me home ♪
♪ When you're done here ♪
♪ Take me home ♪
♪ ♪
♪ 'Cause I'm done here ♪
(Wheeler) Hold up.
We got paper from the M.E.
You gotta dig up 26A14B.
Turns out the guy used to be a TV star.
Natural causes?
What did you do, a drive-by intake?
He was outdoors three or four weeks,
exposed to the elements.
He was hanged!
After his ribs were broken. How do you miss that?
Did you even look at him?
[softly] We should come back.
Yeah, I looked at him.
See?
(Logan) What does this mean,
"WNL. WNL."
WNL.
I found body disposition
and protocols Within Normal Limits.
No. WNL: We never looked.
I checked with Missing Persons.
That's about all you checked.
You're fired.
[Logan whistles]
That may come back to haunt you, Rodgers.
What galls me--
"Skater" Stevens was murdered.
If he wasn't a celeb, nobody would even know.
Yeah. Celeb?
Do you believe this?
Logan swears he's never heard of him.
Two of us.
Alvin "Skater" Stevens?
From the sitcom Goofin' 'Round?
It ran for years.
So, uh,
this thing was a junkie?
Had been.
Pretty much clean the last six months.
Before that, livin' hard.
How bad?
If the dentist hadn't confirmed he was 30,
I'd have put him at 50.
How bad was the beating?
Short but merciless.
Even for a child star, this kid fell far.
Skater's mom is on her way in.
Maybe we can spare her some of the details.
I get the feeling this isn't the first time
that Skater's broken her heart.
Enjoy, Rodgers.
Yeah.
Skater, I can't go to the prom with you.
I already made plans.
With who?
Could it be Kirk?
[fast footsteps]
Come on, Karen.
Kirk. Oh, no, not again!
Ackackackackackackack!
[turns off sound]
That was Skater's skater noise.
Yeah?
(Lucinda) I gave it to him.
I said, "Honey, to be a star,
you have to have a signature, a hook."
Wheeler, Logan, this is Mrs. Stevens.
Skater's mom, Lucinda.
He was such a beautiful boy.
We're sorry for your loss.
I don't understand
how "Skater" Stevens ended up in a pauper's grave.
There was no Missing Persons report.
No, not formally.
Then you weren't in close touch.
[sighs] The last few years,
I told him it was his responsibility to keep up.
Did he?
(Lucinda) A postcard in June.
Said he was going back to stand-up,
had a job.
Any idea where?
His friends might know.
There's a memorial for him tonight.
They passed the hat, flew me in.
Why did you change your mind?
A week ago,
you called the studio and asked them to help find him?
Wonder Street Films produced Goofin' 'Round.
They made a fortune off Skater.
So you just called him out of the blue?
I mean, was there any particular reason?
Well, they just announced Goofin' 'Round
as coming out on DVD.
My Skater, he was terrible with money.
Oh. So you thought
if there was a check comin' from the DVD,
you'd hold onto it.
Those checks,
if they even got to Skater,
they just slipped through his fingers.
Some mother.
She didn't love Skater,
just saw her son as a meal ticket.
Hmm. If anybody had cared about him,
he wouldn't have ended up in Potter's Field.
Least he didn't stay there.
You guys pulled him out.
(Willie) And even now,
I can't believe that Skater's not gonna come down those stairs
and say--come on--
ackackackackack!
I gave him that.
He played my best pal for five years.
He'll never stop being that.
Thank you.
Oh, no, no. Thank you, thank you.
So Skater's whole career
was playing a doormat to Kirk?
More like he worshipped Kirk.
Everybody did.
You had to be there.
Oh, I see.
Hello.
[snaps phone closed]
Thank you for coming.
[kisses]
So you must be from TV Guide
for the interview.
Not quite.
Different interview. You got a minute?
Oh, sorry.
I thought you were--
Yeah, sure, sure.
Look, we're trying to get a handle
on the last few months of Skater's life.
Oh, well, good luck.
I thought you were his best pal.
We both had our childhoods taken from us.
That's a bond.
(woman) Could you sign this, please?
How about lately?
Well, doing okay.
No acting, but I'm still keeping a hand in the business.
Thanks. Production side.
We were talking about Skater.
Had you been in touch with him lately?
Long after everyone else gave up on him.
Know where he lived? Where he worked?
Hand-to-mouth.
I mean, last I saw him, he'd just lost a fast food job.
[clicks tongue]
Slipped him a few 20s.
Told him it was an advance on our residuals.
Oh, there's my interview.
Have you got a recent photo of Skater on that thing?
Oh, sure. Here you go.
You're kidding.
An ice cream window boy for Sweet Swirl?
On the show, his after-school job--
soft serve vendor.
(Joey) Orange shirt, brown pants.
Say again what your guy wore.
Brown shirt, orange pants. Fooled me.
Fools a lot of people.
Must be 30 trademark infringer operators out there.
These people, they're vultures.
(Joey) Substandard ice cream treat,
inferior melody.
Here's the McCoy.
[click]
[jingle plays]
♪ ♪
Catchy.
Can't improve on that.
(Wheeler) So no home address
because our guy was never your employee.
You don't keep track of these vultures?
We don't. Unless we get their bills.
Three weeks ago, we got a call from the city impound lot.
They wanted us to pick up one of our trucks.
Thing was, it wasn't our truck.
Three weeks ago.
Do you remember which impound lot it was?
Major case.
Let me get the lock. It might be tricky.
Looks like a tough one.
Maybe we should call the FBI.
Ha. This is a real rathole.
Yeah, but it's Skater's truck, all right.
It's his wall of fame.
It looks like he spent all his time in here.
Smells like it too.
Stale--sleep and sweat.
Ooh!
Birdbaths in the sink.
Looks like he was living here.
Could be a stalker.
Look at the way he hides this girl.
That's one photo, Delgado.
(Walker) One photo he hid.
She might be special to him.
He didn't want his customers seeing her.
Customers? He wasn't selling ice cream out of this truck.
It's a rusted piece of crap.
He didn't even have a refrigerator in here.
I wonder what he was selling.
(Wheeler) Wouldn't be the first time
a child star went from using to dealing.
Where'd you say they towed this from?
McCarren Park, down by the handball courts.
We have a child sitcom star
dealing drugs to children out of an ice cream truck
in the park.
Heartwarming.
Do we have anything else?
This girl's picture was in his truck.
So that's a no.
Okay. Put together a SNEW team,
put the truck back in the park, see who shows up.
(Walker) A SNEW team?
Captain, it's a straight buy and bust.
We can handle that.
It's a piece of cake.
[jingle plays]
Song on. How you holding out, Wheeler?
(Wheeler) Well, it's funny how this whole time
only three kids have come up to an ice cream truck.
Well, kids wise up fast.
Oh, there's kid number four.
Copy. I'll lose him.
Sorry. We're, um, waiting for ice.
We're closed.
(Logan) Damn, Wheeler,
that black guy on your right, he just made you.
Okay.
She's closed.
Let that kid go!
Hey, let him go!
[speaking Albanian]
Don't move.
[speaking Albanian]
[tires squeal]
What the hell was that?
Yeah.
Why are we still alive?
Bullets went through both sides of the truck.
Cheap metal.
No. Nasty guns.
a Czech scorpion-- a pray and spray.
and a .9-millimeter Gyurza
and I think a Polish P-64.
So, extrapolating, you'd agree with Logan--
you two shouldn't be alive.
These guys were blasters.
Count inside the car-- there were four of them.
They used the kid as a shield.
We were outnumbered, outgunned,
then all of a sudden they put their guns away
and split.
Just like that--
no backup coming, no sirens scaring them off?
Nope.
What do we know about the target?
How does that guy connect to Skater Stevens?
So far we know his name's Chibueze.
He's Nigerian, and he's legal,
a licensed peddler, and the bullet just grazed him.
So you all got lucky.
Not lucky.
They let us off the hook.
Our victim won't go in the ambulance.
He's afraid the blasters are gonna take him out
at the E.R.
Did you offer him an escort?
No sale. Just wants to go.
The kid, the one who fronted for the Nigerian--where's he?
He took off when the car backed down the road.
I see.
You saved his life, so you thought he'd stay put.
Well, there was a lot going on.
He dropped his lunchbox.
No lunch, but there are some baseball cards
and a Harry Potter DVD.
Great. That should make him easy to trace.
I got a favor to call in.
Do I hold Chibueze?
On what charge?
He let the kid get caught in the crossfire.
So did you.
How much you wanna bet
this Chibueze guy doesn't have health insurance?
Let's offer him some free medical.
There ya go.
Your construction wound should be fine.
He's all yours.
There he is, Mr. Ace Bandage.
Logan.
No more favors.
Rodgers fix you up?
Where is my shirt?
That's in shirt heaven. I got you a new one.
Here. I have to go to work.
Back out there? Someone's got it in for you.
Any idea who?
I just wanted ice cream.
(Walker) So you sent the kid
up ahead of you to check out the flavors?
You could have gotten him killed.
He was pleased with the way I paid him.
Whoa.
Hey, Chibueze.
Chibueze, hold on a second.
Listen,
I could book you for endangering that kid,
take away your peddler's license.
I don't want to play those games with you.
And what game is this, scare the African?
You're alive.
Your friend Skater, by the time he got here--
They killed Skater?
That's right.
Wanna see the photos? So who's "they?"
You saw them. Not my tribe.
No, but two hours after Skater's truck arrived,
so did they, and so did you.
What kinda drugs were you and Skater
selling out of that truck?
I don't sell drugs.
I sell tube socks and irregular underwear,
uptown, Spanish Harlem.
Then what were you doing in Brooklyn?
I thought Skater was back.
But Skater always warned me not to let the girl see me.
What girl is this?
The Albanian girl.
Now I don't use that word again.
This girl-- does she have a name?
She wouldn't say her name to me.
Can you describe her?
Cold.
Like this room.
Her picture--
he taped it on the wall of his truck.
He kept it covered...
so she was all his.
How much time do you think
before I'm back in this room?
[door opens]
[door closes]
I heard you ran into some bad dude Albanians.
This is a good dude Albanian,
Detective Zim Flamur from Organized Crime Control.
Zim says that our shell casings read Albanian mob.
OCC?
You put away that Albanian gang
that was making a bid to become the sixth mob family.
Yeah, nice work on that.
See, cops know.
TV, the press-- It's all still Italian mobsters.
They're stuck in the '70s.
And we're stuck in the '80s.
The truck they shot up belonged to a former TV star,
"Skater" Stevens.
The "ackackack" guy?
My kids loved him.
Any of these guys look familiar?
(Wheeler) This blaster we met.
Ditmir Minojilj. One son of a bitch.
Son of a bitch.
In my home country,
he shot out a rival gang with an RPG-25.
An antitank weapon?
(Ross) If he's such a tough guy,
why didn't he take out my detectives?
'Cause they're not in blood with him.
If they were, they'd be dead with the Nigerian.
"In blood" like a vendetta?
Older. From the 15th century Code of Lek.
You're not up on that, Wheeler?
Goren would have known.
An offense to it demands blood.
But it can't be enforced
if there's a child, a woman, or a stranger in the picture.
The lunchbox kid,
Wheeler, and Logan.
That's why they left.
But yesterday's target, the Nigerian,
he's still in blood.
Is he in protective custody?
Wouldn't take it.
Better pick him up before they do.
Yeah.
[speaking Albanian]
It's okay.
[screams]
Well, I guess this is what Ditmir means
by "in blood."
No drug stash. Just disks and recorders.
Skater and Chibueze were counterfeiting DVDs.
Imagine getting killed over a Harry Potter DVD.
Oh, God.
What?
I missed it. That DVD.
The kid had the same one. That's not out yet.
That's worth a fortune for about three more weeks.
Then why did the Albanians leave him behind?
There were Con Ed guys on the street.
They heard Chibueze's screams, called 911.
The killers hit and ran.
Well, at any rate, this is Skater's operation.
Copied the DVDs here, and Chibueze sold for him,
and somehow they both ended up in blood.
I never heard of this one either.
None of these movies are out yet.
Skater was sitting on a gold mine.
And living in a truck.
Let's get these back to the squad
and see if they're real.
And this one?
Skater Stands Up!
(man) Hey, you stink!
Come on! Come on, get 'em up.
None of you guys are jealous
that I starred in Goofin' 'Round?
None? (man) No way!
Right. [chuckles]
Ackackackackack!
He's bombing.
Five years, 110 episodes i-in 120 countries?
I should be rich, right?
All right, well, guess what this is.
It's my latest royalty check from Wonder Street Films.
Guess how much?
Drumroll, please!
$49.37.
Hi-oh!
You're right. It's not funny.
I got screwed by Wonder Street,
as in, uh...
I wonder where they're hidin' my money.
(Logan) Raging against the studio.
That's his act?
It may not have been an act--he was obsessed.
Except for the Harry Potter,
all the unreleased DVDs were from the same studio.
Wonder which one.
Yeah. Thank you very much.
(Ross) That was the head of the studio
at Wonder Street.
They're in deep mourning.
Over Skater?
Over the counterfeit DVDs.
Turns out that every title Skater had in his cave
is from their holiday list--
early cuts, all limited distribution,
eyes only.
Did you tell them we're sorry for their loss?
They're ballistic.
If Skater weren't dead, they'd kill him.
Do they have any idea how he got hold of these copies?
They're positive the leaks aren't in-house.
Still, a lot of their work is outsourced--
trailers, dubbing, special effects.
They're faxing us a list
of everyone who had access to early cuts.
Let's hit the pavement.
You got your gumshoes on?
Two down, nine to go.
Translation Films. What's that?
It's a foreign language dubbing house.
Oh. Apres vous.
Slow, slow.
Look. That's the dream girl from Skater's wall.
(Logan) Girl dresses like that up front
usually means she has a big daddy in the back.
[squeals, laughs]
Skater's old friend Kirk.
Oh, no.
Gonna be all right, Wheeler?
Shut up.
Well, well, well.
Willie "Kirk" Tunis.
Is there someplace we could talk?
Uh, actually, I'm in the middle of a session.
Is that what you call it?
It's about your friend Skater.
Seems he got caught up with some DVD bootleggers.
H-he got killed for that?
Um, Mira, could you pour the detectives some coffees?
Nice walk.
Actress working temp?
No, no. We met through friends.
And I really am in a session.
(Logan) Yeah, well, uh, we were just wondering,
seeing as this is a dubbing house,
if your friend Skater had access to new releases.
Here? You crazy?
The studios, they'd shut us down.
Every disk is locked up tight. It's like a bank.
Two people have to be there when it's unsealed.
I'll be right down, okay?
Two people, like you and Skater?
You said he was your best pal.
Well, was.
But, uh, Thanks.
other than our past,
we didn't have anything in common.
I've got a name to protect,
a reputation.
I would never jeopardize that.
That sounds a little... rehearsed.
Did it?
Yeah. Oh.
That does happen a lot because I was on TV,
and my voice, my cadence, is so familiar
that people can't believe it's just me talking.
They think it's a performance. It's weird.
Ha. That must be it.
Willie? They're waiting.
You're busy now.
Is there a chance you can come downtown later today,
take a look at some mug shots of bootleggers?
Sure, sure. 3:00 okay?
Oh, that'll be perfect.
Great.
Appreciate it.
I thought that Willie said
that he and Skater didn't have much in common.
I heard the cops came by today.
For a second.
Why you no tell me?
Huh?
Maybe I can't trust you.
Maybe I need to have a talk with Willie,
small scare.
Willie was fine with them.
There's no need to hurt Willie.
Yet.
No?
Mm-mm.
[both chuckling]
Why hurt the golden goose?
Why? We just mess his beautiful golden goosey hair,
hmm? [gasps]
Yeah?
[Mira whimpers]
Walk with me.
I want you to meet a guy I brought in from Special Frauds.
He's turned something up.
Ira, this is my partner Logan.
Hey.
Tell him about the Darknet.
Look at him-- "Darknet."
He's thinking,
"This guy's too old to be playing Dungeons."
No, we're grateful for any help.
Okay. Every one of these unreleased movie titles
that got your guy Skater toasted
were all--all posted weeks ago on the Darknet.
So that would be like the underground Internet
where they download stolen movies?
Darknet, Internet.
It's a pretty inaccessible area,
but there are undercover Net cops busting people.
Originally, it was just a few college kid movie fans
file sharing and swapping bad prints.
The ones where they tape the films in the theater
and their camcorders, and you got people talking
and walking in front of the screen--
Right. But the stuff Skater had--primo.
Straight from Wonder Street.
Figure by now half the cities in Asia
have copies of it out on the street.
Thanks for the info.
It's 3:30. Kirk was supposed to be here by now.
So the studio screwed Skater, Skater screwed the studio.
So why would the Albanians care?
They can't be working for Wonder Street.
Oh, they can't?
Well, maybe they thought they had the exclusive with Skater.
There's no answer at reception.
Let's go there.
[gagging]
Please!
I didn't tell them anything.
[gasping] Please.
Tell me, whose turn, you or Stephen?
I--I go.
[Willie whimpers]
You think we don't know. We knw what you're doing.
[Willie gags]
You told the police.
[Willie whimpers]
No. Come on!
Mira, where's Willie?
Over there in the storage room.
[gagging]
Oh, my bad.
Police! Hands up, hands up!
Against the wall!
You got him?
Okay, yeah. Good.
Call for a bus!
Willie. Willie!
Is he gonna make it?
Another minute, he'd never have come back.
You saved his life.
Shouldn't you be interviewing him?
I tried. If he was grateful, he kept it to himself.
(Willie) I told your partner I don't know a Ditmir.
I don't know these guys.
You didn't run a DVD piracy scam with Skater,
but somehow Skater had access to your studio cuts?
I don't know what you're talking about.
I wish I knew more.
I can't believe I once had a crush on this guy.
Yeah. We were all young and naive once.
Let him go. The Albanians will tail him.
We should too.
(Wheeler) Private charter jet.
Next stop--Costa Rica.
When they start to board, move.
Okay.
Again. Keep shining.
Hi.
Uh, Willie Tunis.
Police.
Nice and easy, Ditmir.
Nice shine.
It's gonna have to last you 60 years.
We've got Mira, Willie, and Ditmir in separate rooms.
Runners at every base.
Who do we pick off first?
Mira. She's a survivor.
Let me take a pass at her while Willie watches.
[chuckles]
We don't keep a cot here,
so you might be more comfortable in a chair.
What if I stand?
Hmm?
Is that better for you?
That's much, much better.
Hey--what the hell's going on?
I'd say Mira's about to feed you to my partner.
You can feed first, but...tick-tock.
How does a girl like you end up
with a Skater or a Willie?
Not pretty enough for TV stars?
Sure, you are.
One of those guys didn't even have a shower.
Skater. He came to me to shower.
Sometimes,
we shower three, four times a day.
That's a lotta showers.
I like to shower. Mmm.
Do you?
Oh, I, uh, I love to shower.
I fact, you and I should, uh,
talk about that sometime later.
Meanwhile, think you could help me out?
My boss, he, uh, needs some answers
about how you met Skater.
Blind date. Ditmir fixed me up.
Oh, they were friends.
Skater was selling DVDs from his truck.
First-class copies.
Ditmir saw them,
he asks me to make friends with Skater.
Oh, so maybe he wanted to know who Skater's source was.
Final seconds.
Look--look, okay.
I duped some cuts,
but it was just to help out Skater.
It was like
h-he'd hit the bottomless bottom.
You and Skater hook up. Mm-hmm.
How long before you and Willie have a shower?
I work fast.
Willie, he shows me his setup,
gives me personal tour.
[chuckles] I bet.
[both chuckling]
But you've had Willie and his studio cuts,
I mean, I guess that Skater's just deadweight.
I know nothing about that. Nothing.
Put her in a holding cell.
No. No, no, no, no, no, wait, wait.
What about our shower?
I don't care for Skater or Willie!
I'll be with you.
I want to break away from these people.
Lady, you are these people.
Well.
That was a bold move.
Might've worked in Albania.
Don't tell me you still think that she's on your side.
She's scared. She's afraid of Ditmir.
We were running away from all this.
(Wheeler) Willie, this isn't a sitcom.
How do you think Ditmir ended up at the airport this morning,
telepathy?
Well--
You heard her.
Ditmir pimped her out,
first to Skater and then to you.
If you hadn't taken the bait,
your buddy'd still be alive today.
That's not what happened!
Well, what did happen?
Off the record?
For now.
Okay.
Skater blew it.
He betrayed me and them.
I got Ditmir to hand him a grand a week finder's fee
just to stay out of their way.
And there's Skater, he's selling from his stupid truck,
side-dealing to Chibueze.
He should have just gone to ball games.
So that's why they killed him.
They tolerated him until a month ago
when he posted all of my Christmas releases
on some chat board.
Darknet.
The Albanians lost their exclusive,
and Skater lost his life.
Betrayal.
It's a blood offense.
Skater never listened!
He never learned.
He never outgrew his part.
(Walker) By going on the Darknet,
he got back at Ditmir, the studio, and at you.
(Logan) What do you think
could make a little nerd like Skater mad enough
to get even with everyone?
Could it be that you took away his girlfriend?
She wanted to be with me.
What was it about Skater's girlfriend
that you had to have?
(Wheeler) On the show, if Skater liked a girl,
she'd end up with Kirk.
What was the line?
What's yours is mine, Skatinsky!
You never outgrew your part either.
She loved me.
Hey, look, I'm Kirk.
He's Skater.
I--I took care of him.
I got him cash.
I get the girl. [laughs]
I get the girl!
When Skater posted on the Darknet,
that was his death wish.
You killed him, not Ditmir.
I--
Look, I tried to look after him.
I did.
But these guys--
I didn't even know about it
until Ditmir showed me Skater's noose.
These guys--we're gonna need you to testify against them.
No, no. I said it was off the record.
Hey, Willie.
They killed your buddy.
You gotta do the right thing.
Against Ditmir?
But where am I gonna hide?
Witness Protection.
Witness Protection?
Do--do you get the extent of my fame?
I--I have over 129,000 Google references!
You counted?
What am I gonna do, run the small-town framing shop?
I mean, this face does not blend in.
They're doing amazing, amazing things
with plastic surgery today.
No!
I am Kirk!
The Kirkster!
I get to walk down the street
and have people shout at me, "Hey, you used to be Kirk!"
And I shout right back at 'em,
"That's right, baby. I still am!
24/7!"
You wouldn't understand.
I get it.
You never know when someone's
gonna push a napkin at you to autograph
or ask you to scream, "Give me el breako!"
Yeah.
Yeah, like that.
You ever wonder what it'd be like
to let that all go, no Kirk to lug around?
Okay, make yourself beautiful.
You're goin' into a lineup.
I been before,
but for some reason, no one ever picks me.
H-he knows I'm in here.
It's one-way, Willie, like on TV.
Oh.
We'll take care of you. He'll never find you.
I-It's number two.
He told me he killed Skater. He showed me the noose he used.
(Logan) Ditmir.
Stick around.
Tough luck, huh?
For you too.
Why? Am I in blood now?
That's right.
You did the right thing, Willie.
Oh, Willie...
Willie's gone.
So's Kirk.
And how do you feel?
I've never felt more relieved in my whole life.