Without a Trace s02e13 Episode Script
Life Rules
You know, before I met you, my life was in shambles.
I was broke, I had a drinking problem I was in a relationship with an abusive man.
I was on the verge of killing myself.
I know you were.
But how did you turn your life around? It was because of you.
The things you taught me the way you helped me to believe in myself.
No, Corrine.
It was you.
You were the one with the will.
You were the one who faced your fears.
You were the one that decided who you wanted to be.
And then you made it happen.
I just gave you the tools.
Corrine McCormick.
One of over 20,000 people who have found the power within themselves using the techniques of Life Rules.
- And, cut.
That is a wrap.
- Great.
Thanks.
Hey, that was fantastic.
How do you feel? Good.
Great.
I'm just so honored that you would want me to do this for you.
Will, come on.
We got to get you to the airport.
- Thank you.
Bye.
- Bye.
All right.
So the limo's out front.
Stephanie's going to meet you at the Buffalo airport with a car service.
Then you'll go straight to Niagara Falls for the first night's orientation.
- I thought this went well today.
- Yeah.
Absolutely.
Gary, relax.
It's all going the way it's supposed to.
Hey.
Thanks.
- Going to miss you.
- So, come with me.
And compete with the throng? Well, it's Niagara Falls.
We could get married again.
- I'll be fine here.
- Suitcase is in the car, Will.
- Shirts are on top this time.
- Thanks, Jules.
- Hey.
- Good luck.
It's not about luck.
That's really not my concern.
I just said it's not my concern.
- Gary! - Can you hold on for a second? What? Another limo just showed up.
They say they're here for Will.
Guess helping people really pays.
I know you got a summer pad just like this, don't you? Yeah, a couple of them.
So what's the skinny on this guy? Will Sterling.
33 years old.
He's a self-help guru you know, the tapes, the seminars.
- The guy's gaining quite a following.
- Never heard of him.
He just shot his first infomercial this morning.
Then he was to catch a flight to Niagara Falls to teach a seminar.
- Never made it to the airport.
- Ransom demand? - Not yet.
But look at this place.
- We ever find the limo? Ten miles from here, on the side of the road.
Must've transferred him to another car.
What did the limo company say? That their driver showed up 15 minutes after Sterling left.
Is the limo hot? Stolen early this morning from a dealership in Huntington.
So the car shows up early, Sterling hops in.
And the rest is history.
Whoever put this whole plan together knew exactly what time Sterling was leaving for the airport.
- Inside job.
- We better find this guy fast because there's 200 people sitting in a hotel ballroom in Niagara Falls waiting for Will Sterling to change their lives.
Using the techniques ofLife Rules.
I grew up having every disadvantage.
My father left my mother when I was six.
My mother was a methadone addict.
Social services took me from her when I was 12.
Then I got passed around from one foster home to the next.
You can probably guess what happened to me.
Drugs, jail, degradation.
- But then one day, in the prison library - He discovers self-help books.
Read every one he could get his hands on.
When he gets out of jail, he gets into the self-help business himself.
Six years later, he is a millionaire.
- American dream comes true.
- Yeah.
This is the footage from the infomercial he was making.
Up until recently, he marketed himself mostly by word of mouth on the Internet, and he's pretty much based out of New York.
- Now he's trying to expand.
- Maybe the timing's not so coincidental.
It's possible that somebody didn't want him to go national.
Like a disgruntled employee.
Steven Pine, Life Rules, junior vice-president.
Now the founder of an anti-Will Sterling web site.
And he's still on the company payroll.
I'm calling him in.
Guys like Sterling have a lot of power over people.
He's bound to inspire some pretty strong feelings.
He's not Jim Jones, Jack.
He's a smart, ambitious guy with some good strategies for tackling life.
Have you listened to the tapes? As a matter of fact, I have.
Just for a little while, a couple years ago.
- They're actually very helpful.
- Really? So what's the hook? What does this Sterling guy sell that the other con men don't? Nothing that original.
He sort of condenses everything from other self-help philosophies into - seven basic "life rules.
" - Here you go, sir.
- Want to hear them? - Not particularly.
Okay.
These are forensics on the limo.
No prints, no blood, no evidence of a struggle.
- They must've wiped the car down.
- That sounds like a professional job.
Yeah, but where's the ransom demand? If this is about money, the kidnappers are in for a big surprise.
Sterling is leveraged up to his ass.
The house, the business.
There's not a lot of cash flow.
We should check his core group, the people that are closest to him.
Should also look into his background.
He is an ex-con.
- That could have caught up with him.
- Life Rules, huh, Sam? Did you walk over the coals? It's the first cigarette I've had in three years.
- Will's the one who got me to quit.
- Did the two of you meet in his seminars? No.
Will never dated any of his students.
Believe me, he had plenty of opportunity.
No, we met at a restaurant.
I was on a date, actually.
He was alone at the bar.
I think he was waiting for someone.
I got up to go the bathroom and he followed me.
He said that I was the woman of his dreams there was no doubt about it.
And that I should go back, finish my date and meet him at the corner of That's the kind of guy Will is.
He sees something he wants and he goes after it.
Is there anything specific you can tell me that you think might help me? Last week, it must have been Wednesday night.
It was late.
We were upstairs in bed.
And the phone rang.
- Who's that? - It's probably Gary.
Hello? Wait, hold on a second.
Yeah.
No.
Slow down.
I want to talk to you about this, I really do.
I want to help you get through this, just I will call you back in two minutes.
I promise.
Okay? - I'm going to take this downstairs.
- Who was it? - It doesn't matter, Hill.
- It matters to me, Will.
It was one of my clients.
At 1:00 in the morning on the private line? I will tell them not to call like that again.
But listen somebody's in a crisis and they need my help.
Okay? I love you.
I'll be back up in a few minutes.
And he wouldn't tell you specifically who was on the phone? I think he was protecting their privacy.
Does Mr.
Sterling give out his private number to all of his clients? No.
Not usually.
It scares me sometimes.
The need that people have for him.
I found a late-night call to Will Sterling's house.
Corrine McCormick, 34 years old, lives in Bayside.
What have we got here? Registered handgun.
That's the girl from the infomercial they were taping today.
She was at the house right before Will left.
Strange.
She's stalking him and he's putting her in a video as one of his star students.
Just 'cause she called him when she was having trouble doesn't mean she was stalking him.
It does when she calls his house eight times in the same day.
Can anybody say Enron? Shredded documents? Standard operating procedure, or so they say.
A lot of corporations shred documents.
I got five more of these babies downstairs.
Our guys are gonna have a nice time pasting this together.
You and Will started the company together six years ago? Will's the genius behind the whole thing.
I'm just here to run the day-to-day operations but together we make a pretty good team.
We understand that financially you're not in such great shape.
Will insists on putting everything we earn back into the company.
He always bets on himself.
That's what he teaches and that's what's worked.
When you say "back into the company," does that include this place? This is the hub of our activity.
It's a pretty good business investment.
When people see this place, they see success, you know? Do you mind holding off on that until we're done? Sure.
Are you aware that one of your own employees has a very negative website attacking both Will and the company? - Are we talking about Steven Pine? - That's right.
Yeah.
We had to let go of Steven a couple weeks ago.
- But he's still on your payroll.
- Severance package.
So why did you have to fire him? Let's just say that Steven over-identified with Will.
- Will? - Yes.
I need to talk to you.
What's up, Steve? I was just thinking that I would really like to go with you on that Niagara Falls trip.
I think Gary really needs you here.
Come on, that's true, Steven.
You know you're invaluable here.
I appreciate that, I really do.
But I think if I'm going to grow within this company I need to be out there, at the seminars, learning from you.
I love your enthusiasm and your drive and your passion.
That is all great and it's where you should be.
But you got to know how to harness that for the task at hand.
Remember what we talked about? Knowing your long-term goals but keeping the short ones achievable, right? I want to go to Niagara Falls.
There's no reason why I'm not ready, Will.
No reason.
Think about where you're channeling your energy right now.
Forget it.
Just forget it.
You just want to keep me down.
He started out as our computer geek.
And then we promoted him to mid-level manager.
The next thing you know, he's got these delusions of grandeur.
Did he know the date that Will was traveling to Niagara Falls? Yes.
And the flight.
The reason that they fired me is because Gary couldn't handle that I was very clearly becoming the number two.
Will counted on me for more and more and Gary was threatened.
- So why did you turn on Will? - Will couldn't stand up to Gary.
This guy preaches all this self-fulfillment crap and he winds up a total hypocrite.
You sound pretty disillusioned.
Let me tell you something.
Now that I'm out of there and I have a little time to reflect on it I realize the whole thing is a scam.
You buy the tapes and the tapes get you to the seminars.
Seminars get you to the inner circle, and every step costs more money until you get to the Sterling Circle which costs $3,000 for a weekend.
It's interesting.
For all this talk of money, the company was almost broke.
- I'm not surprised.
- Why are you not surprised, Mr.
Pine? Because they had some pretty funky business practices, I'll tell you that.
Funky? Funky how? You know, little things.
You know, cutting corners writing off questionable stuff as business expenses.
I mean, Gary sends a $5,000 check to his brother every week and his brother doesn't even work at the company.
What would the name of this brother be? Paul Moskowitz, $5,000 a week for at least the last four months.
Where have the checks been going? Lakeside Convalescence Home, down in Cleveland, Ohio.
Here's what I got on Paul Moskowitz.
According to the IRS, he's not received a paycheck or paid taxes in six years.
The last known address is in Cleveland in '97.
He is, however, still an active member of SAG and AFTRA.
Out-of-work actor.
That would explain why his brother's still taking care of him.
We got to go to Cleveland.
- Can I help you? - Hi.
We're with the FBI.
- We're looking for Paul Moskowitz.
- He's right over here.
I could show you his room, but I don't think he's going to say much.
- Why is that? - He's been in a coma for six years.
- You sure that's Paul Moskowitz? - Positive.
- How can I help you? - Mr.
Adler, we're with the FBI.
I understand that you have power of attorney over Paul Moskowitz.
That's right.
It's fairly unusual for a hospital administrator to have power of attorney over a patient, isn't it? That's the way his family wanted it.
Can you explain to me why it costs $5,000 a week to maintain this patient? Well, all this machinery, and the nursing and the meals Costs $1,400 a week.
We read the records.
Can you explain why Gary Moskowitz is paying $3,600 a week extra to maintain his brother? - I think I'd better speak to my attorney.
- Take it easy, Mr.
Adler.
We're not interested in arresting you.
We just need some answers, okay? That's not Paul Moskowitz.
His real name is Will Sterling.
So if Will Sterling's lying in a coma, in Cleveland who the hell is on the cover of this box? This guy happens to be my brother.
Paul Moskowitz.
So, your brother switched identities with an ex-con in a coma? - That is right.
- Why? Because America loves an underdog and Will Sterling is a lot better of a story than Paul Moskowitz.
Wouldn't you rather get advice from an ex-con who heroically rose from the ashes than a boring middle-class kid who wants to be an actor? Now, where did you guys find Will? Coma Will? He's our foster brother.
It was great.
Our parents thought it would be fun and charitable to have a round robin of other kids constantly passing through our house stealing things and getting arrested.
And as for the real Will, he was with us for a couple years then gangs, drugs.
And about six years ago, he overdosed.
That's when Paul got the idea to steal Will's identity and trade on it.
No, it was my idea.
Everything's been my idea.
Let me see if I get you straight.
I take Will's name, his background, his life.
Yes, that becomes your new identity.
And then I move to New York and we set up a self-help business.
Yes, I told you.
You are the front man and I am the man behind the scenes.
But, Gary, this is crazy.
- Is there actually any money in this? - Millions.
- We'd be helping people, right? - Yes.
I've read every book.
I've gone to every one of these seminars.
I'm telling you right now, half of these guys, they are freaking quacks.
None of them have the charisma or the good looks that you have.
So, you'd - You'd coach me on what to say? - I'll teach you everything.
Strategies, the presentation, the seven simple rules to change your life.
- You're going to be a guru in two months.
- Why don't we just make up my past? - Why do we have to steal his? - Because when we succeed at this people are going to want to look up your past and we're going to have the paperwork to back that up.
This is insane.
Would you rather do regional theater in Cleveland for the rest of your life? Because this is the role of a lifetime, Paul.
Life Rules.
So I knew Paul would eat it up.
And frankly, between you and me he's kind of over the top as an actor, but I knew he'd be perfect for this.
You arranged the switch with the hospital administrator - and you've been paying him ever since.
- That is right.
Who else knows about your little identity swap? Just me and Will.
I mean, Paul, I guess, I should say at this point.
- Not even his wife? - Not even his wife.
His name is Paul Moskowitz and he and Gary are brothers? Is that my name? I mean, he's the fraud.
But is my marriage a fraud? No, I mean, is my name actually Hillary Moskowitz? Mrs.
Sterling, that's a question you need to ask your attorney.
I don't know.
I know this is a lot to digest.
But I need to ask you about Corrine McCormick.
Maybe her name is Moskowitz, too.
Apparently, she's the one who made that late-night call last week.
Do you think there's a possibility that maybe your husband and her Of course.
Now, I'd say just about anything goes, wouldn't you? When I first met Will, my life was a shambles.
I was broke.
I had a drinking problem.
I was in a relationship with an abusive man.
- I was - On the verge of killing yourself.
I know.
I watched the videotape, Miss McCormick.
Well, it's all true.
Will turned my life around.
Now I own my own business.
I'm financially independent and I have a community of people who enrich my life.
Does Will enrich your life? It's not what you think.
He helps me.
You were supposed to go to Niagara Falls with him.
Who told you that? Gary? A flight booked in your name.
The ticket was then cancelled.
We know you kept calling his house that day.
- You must've been pretty upset.
- Look.
I was angry at Gary, not Will.
That's what I called to talk to him about.
Gary is the one who cancelled my trip.
Gary was trying to keep me away from Will.
Why is that? - He said it was to protect me.
- From what? From having my heart broken.
Truth is, I think Gary is jealous of Will.
Before you can make any change you need to look at yourself, cold and hard and think about what holds you back.
What is it that makes you see a beautiful woman across a room and not go talk to her? What is it? It's fear.
It's fear of rejection.
Fear of failure.
Even fear of success.
I want to suggest to you that it is that fear the fear of your own power, that holds you back.
- Pretty interesting, huh? - Yeah.
Jack wanted me to look at these tapes.
You know, there is a lot of useful information.
There is He talks about his youth in Cleveland, about his foster brothers.
- You know, he used to be fat? - So what have we got? Meet Reese Randall.
Not a nice person.
A foster brother with the Moskowitz clan in 1985.
In and out of juvie, he served three years for armed robbery assault and battery, drunk driving, domestic abuse.
I just got off the phone with his landlord in Cleveland.
She says that she hasn't seen him for a couple days and that his car is missing.
What I remember from those tapes, he was close to his foster brothers, right? He still is.
According to these phone records - he still talks to them.
- Reese Randall? No, Carlos Gonzalez.
He has a local cell phone.
What do we know about Mr.
Carlos Gonzalez? Not much.
DMV photo.
It's three years old.
It was issued by the state of Ohio.
I still haven't been able to find a local address for him.
You been able to get him on his cell phone? I wish.
He doesn't answer it.
- All right, I'll get into it.
- All right.
Enjoy your research.
Jack, they found this at the mansion.
I thought it was a seminar tape.
But it turns out that our out-of-work actor wasn't always out of work.
- I don't want you to go.
- It's only three days.
- I know.
It just feels like 300 already.
- Oh, honey.
This is a classic.
Think he made a wise choice getting out of acting.
Wait till you see what happens next.
It's not a limo, but it feels familiar.
Hi, Mr.
Hastings.
Where's your wife? What are you doing here, Bernie? The other driver said you were sick.
What are you talking about? I'm fine.
Stella.
Stella! Stella! Those schmucks.
This whole thing's a hoax.
I don't have the slightest idea of what you are talking about.
- Come on, Gary.
We saw the old movie.
- Well, I haven't.
- Gary, this just came for you.
- Let me see that.
- Who brought this to you? - I don't know.
A courier.
- And you opened it? - He took off already.
He's gone.
All right.
I need a VCR.
See this? This here's Will Sterling.
The man with the plan.
Except the plan's changing.
I got me a very expensive piece of property right here and I intend to collect on it.
Five million dollars, to be exact.
Five million, by tomorrow at 9:00 or he's dead.
You'll be contacted at 8:00 a.
m.
And told where to leave my money.
That's all for now.
Thanks for playing Life Rules.
Five million dollars? We do not have five million dollars.
What did he mean "the plan's changing"? How the hell should I know? Gary didn't know about any of this.
- You want to fill me in? - He should be back by now.
They were never supposed to ask for money.
You have to believe me.
Something has gone wrong.
It was not supposed to happen like this.
Will came to me the night before you know, the kidnapping and told me what he was planning.
You're having yourself kidnapped? I'll have a limo pick me up here to take me to the airport.
Ten minutes later, the real limo will arrive and everyone will think that I've been kidnapped.
- And then what? - Well, then I lay low for 24 hours and then they let me go.
- And what the hell will that accomplish? - They'll videotape me at gunpoint.
I'm going to talk them out of it using the techniques of Life Rules.
The cops will find the videotapes, they'll get released to the media.
A week later, the infomercial comes out.
I will go through the stratosphere.
Honey, you're not doing well enough as it is? I mean, you really need to do this? I did not get where I've gotten by playing it safe, Hill.
You got to go after it in life.
- Does Gary know you're doing this? - No.
No.
This is just me.
You and me.
Nobody else knows.
- Will, this is crazy.
- No, it's inspired.
I should have tried to stop him.
It's just When these things come out of his mouth, you believe them.
I really hope you're not lying to me right now.
I swear to God.
Will is in trouble.
As I said, we do not have five million dollars.
Even if we hocked this place, with all of our debt I don't think we can raise more than two.
Well, when the kidnappers contact us tomorrow we'll try and counter.
Hopefully that will buy us some time.
Okay.
Good.
That's good.
You set this up, didn't you? - Say what? - You're the brains behind this.
Your brother's just the front man.
He couldn't pull off a scam without you.
Are you kidding me? I'm furious at him for this, don't you get it? He risked everything we built.
- Not to mention risking his own life.
- Yes, of course.
But I never would have I never wanted him to do the infomercial.
It's easy to look at a situation and see the problem.
I understand that, as executives, that's what you've been trained to do to anticipate what will go wrong and prepare for it.
But what you need to do is ask yourself and everyone around you to think boldly, to be daring and to take risks.
And just so you don't think that I'm living on a cloud when we get back from lunch, we'll move on right to our next chapter.
Crisis management.
Now, we've got steaks and lobsters and all sorts of great stuff in the dining room.
And anyone interested in being in the infomercial should talk to Gary.
Thanks.
Hey, that went well.
I thought we were still debating the merits of doing this infomercial.
- Could you give me a second? - Okay.
No, I decided.
We're going ahead with it.
We're going Actually, can we go outside for a second, please? Thanks.
Okay.
I'm your partner.
- You don't just decide - Gary, I'm great at this.
I want to share it with as many people as possible.
No, I don't think you understand.
Will, if you expose us to this next level of scrutiny sooner or later, some guy from the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal will come sniffing around, and the jig is up.
So, what? You just want to rest on our laurels? When things are going well, you do not get complacent.
- It's rule number six, Gary.
- Okay.
Don't Don't start quoting those rules to me, okay? I'm the one who wrote them.
Apparently, you've stopped following them.
If things are getting too hot for you here, you're welcome to go.
What did you say to me? I'm the guy on the box, Gary.
Sounds like he drank too much of his own Kool-Aid.
Apparently that was the tip of the iceberg.
And now I'm beginning to feel like I'm Dr.
Frankenstein chasing after his own monster.
Well, if he wouldn't trust you, who would he trust? - Honestly, I could not tell you.
- Stay in contact with your foster brothers? Carlos Gonzalez, Reese Randall.
God, I haven't heard from those guys in years.
- What about your brother? - What are you saying? He might have used one of them to pull off this stunt? It's possible.
They're ex-cons.
All of our foster brothers were in and out over a long period of time.
He didn't have that kind of relationship with them.
I don't think that he trusted any one of them enough to do something like this.
That's today's paper.
The Chronicle is tough to get out in the Hamptons.
- The kidnapper might live in the city.
- Or maybe he's holding him in the city.
I can't figure out why they even bothered shredding some of this stuff.
When you build something on a lie, you get paranoid.
Gary may have been careful, but Will certainly wasn't.
Can you imagine the hubris to stunt your own kidnapping for good publicity? After watching those tapes, one thing's clear.
This guy thinks he could do anything.
Carlos Gonzalez.
The foster brother with the local cell phone.
Check it out.
He's asking Will to help him out with money.
- Is there a return address? - No.
Says to call him on that cell phone.
Well, the ransom tape came from Cold Spring Harbor.
- Let's check for Carlos Gonzalez.
- All right.
What is that right there? Do me a favor and enhance that area right there.
A wall calendar, a plaque? Woodbury Bowling League.
Wait.
Woodbury.
Isn't that near Cold Spring Harbor? - Next town over.
- That's right.
These guys aren't too bright.
- Nothing in Cold Spring Harbor.
- Woodbury.
He's being held in Woodbury.
Woodbury.
We got him.
Got one down! - Who are you? - Was about to ask you the same question.
- I'm Carlos Gonzalez.
- Where's Will Sterling? - He's in a coma, in Cleveland.
- Where is Paul Moskowitz? I don't know.
We all lived together.
- Gary, Paul, me, Will, Reese - Reese Randall, right? Yeah.
So many kids going in and out of that house all the time with Gary and Paul.
We were all like the same age.
So it was like we had our own little basketball team.
That's a great story.
Get to the part about the kidnapping and what happened to your head.
Paul and I stayed in touch over the years, you know? Even after he became Will Sterling or whatever.
And he was always trying to help me.
He would even send me those tapes.
He really wanted to get me out of my rut.
That's why I ended up moving to New York.
- How about Gary? You talk to him? - No.
He told me not to tell Gary that I knew about the gig or even that I'd come to New York.
All right.
Let's go back a month.
You're writing Will letters.
You're asking Will for money.
Why? Yeah.
It was for a job, though.
I wasn't trying to blackmail him.
So he hired you to pull off a fake kidnapping.
Look, he calls me up.
He says that he'll give me $30,000.
And all I have to do is find the limo and pick him up at his house bring him back here, we hang out for the night.
And in the morning, we make a video of him talking his way out of it.
- And then I'd let him go.
- But that's not the video you made.
You're not even in that video.
I know that.
That's what I'm trying to explain to you.
That has got to be Reese who made that tape after he hit me over the head and tied me up.
How did Reese become a part of this whole plan? I was nervous about the job.
- So I called Reese for backup.
- Backup? It was a staged kidnapping, Carlos.
- What the hell do you need backup for? - I know that.
I thought even with the mask, somebody might figure out that it was me in front of the camera.
So I called Reese and he said he didn't have a problem with it.
Okay? So he drove up from Cleveland and we were gonna split the $30,000.
Okay.
It was supposed to be easy money.
Until Reese turned on us.
- When do you want to make that tape? - A few minutes.
All right.
Don't be nervous, Carlos.
It's all going to work out like clockwork.
Just hope nobody saw me at your house yesterday.
What a putz.
I don't know why didn't call me.
I could have taken care of everything.
I haven't heard from you in eight years.
If I'd have known you were running some self-help racket under Will's name I would have called on you.
You can believe that.
You should take a seminar.
Free of charge.
Yeah.
Maybe I'll do that.
Carlos! Change of plans, Paulie boy.
Sit down.
I don't know what happened, okay? We had it all figured out.
- Anybody else know about this? - No, nobody.
Carlos, do you have any idea where Reese would've taken Will or Paul? I don't know.
But he's unstable.
- What do you mean? - He could kill him.
He's crazy.
- Unbelievable.
- What is it? I got Gary Moskowitz's cell phone records.
He and Reese Randall have been talking quite a bit over the last three days.
Only over the last three days? Carlos said that he panicked and needed backup, right? So he called Reese.
Then almost immediately Reese turns around and calls Gary.
Reese must have heard from Carlos that Gary was the one really running the show.
So he squeezes him for some extra cash.
Then Gary heard the fake kidnapping plan and he went through the roof.
As far as Gary's concerned, Will is going to blow everything and take them both to jail in the process.
This kidnapping stunt was the perfect opportunity for Gary to get rid of him.
Hey, Gary, thanks for coming in so late.
Yeah, sure.
It's not like I was getting any sleep or anything.
Well, it turns out that we were right.
It appears that one of your foster brothers is involved.
Really? - Who? - Reese Randall.
Reese Randall.
We're gonna need you to do something for us.
Sure.
Anything.
We need you to talk to him on the phone.
- Me? - Yeah.
We'll connect you to him from here and make it look like it's coming from your cell phone and, hopefully, he'll pick up.
What do you want me to say to him? Well, just stay calm.
Tell him that you're trying to organize the money but it's taking a little longer than you thought.
Just keep him talking.
We're putting a trace on the call.
- Okay.
- We'll be right here for you.
- Great.
- Grab a seat.
- You ready to patch him through? - Okay.
Pick up the phone.
Okay.
Patch is in.
- Yeah? - Hey, Reese.
It's Gary, buddy.
Gary Moskowitz.
- What do you want? - How is Paul doing? - I haven't done it yet.
- Well, that's great.
Don't do anything violent, Reese, okay? Because we're gonna get you your money.
What do you mean, "Don't do anything violent"? Listen to me, Reese.
Just don't hurt him.
We're gonna get you whatever you want.
Just do not hurt him.
I know you've had a raw deal in life.
There's just no reason to take it out on Paul.
Now, whatever you're feeling, pal I swear to God, we are gonna get you whatever you want.
Whatever it takes.
Reese? Yeah, okay.
Bye.
Reese? Are you - Did you track that? - Almost.
God damn.
- Well, we're gonna have to try that again.
- No.
- What do you mean, "no"? - Well, I don't I mean, don't you think that went well? Why would we want to do that? That seemed to go pretty well.
He seemed like he was being reasonable.
Why would we Why would I want to provoke him? We got a call coming in.
Same transponder.
It seems like he wants to talk to you.
Pick it up.
- Hello? - I don't get you, man.
Thought you'd be asking me why I hadn't killed him yet.
Now, you're telling me not to kill him.
I don't know what you're talking about, Reese.
Don't give me that.
I got Mr.
Life Rules here, talking my head off for the last 12 hours got me thinking about my dreams and aspirations.
- I'm all screwed up.
- Know what? You are all screwed up.
Know what we're going to do? Get you some help for that, okay? Hello? Okay.
You know what? He's crazy.
Jack, we got a location.
Martin, do me a favor and arrest him.
Stand up.
- What goes up must come down.
- Who taught you that one? Clear.
Guys? That way.
People will go wrong.
But you need to let go of that.
Gary gave in to his pettiness and his jealousy because he doesn't see what's really possible.
You do.
You have the tools.
So this is a big step for you, Reese.
And I think you're ready for it.
Now what say me and you, we walk out of here together? You're going to go forward with your life and I'm going to forget this whole thing ever happened.
What do you say? Thank you, Paul.
Call me Will.
Oh, please.
Freeze.
FBI.
Drop the gun.
It's okay, Reese.
Do what he says.
- Use your tools.
- You shut up! And you drop the gun.
Stand up.
- Turn around.
Am I covered? - Yeah.
Put your hands behind your back.
Wasting my damn time.
Come on, let's go, you big wuss.
- You all right? - Yeah.
He just needed someone to see him, someone to believe in him.
What are you talking about? Your brother was the brains behind this whole operation.
- So you guys know everything.
- Yes, Paul, we do.
You saw what I just did.
- He was going to kill me.
- Right.
Gary was going to pay him $100,000 and he was going to kill me.
I talked him out of it.
And whatever you report, you're going to have to report that, too.
Right.
Just in time for the release of your infomercial.
- That's right.
- Yeah.
Too bad you'll be doing time for false report.
Turn around, please.
Lying to a federal officer.
Obstruction of justice.
See, here's the thing, Mr.
Sterling.
The truth will out.
That's also one of life's rules.
Let's go.
- Hey.
- Hey.
You know, these may become collector's items.
I won't tell anyone if you want to take one home.
Thanks.
I appreciate that, but I'm fine.
- Okay.
Good night.
- Good night.
- Good night.
- Good night.
Go! English
I was broke, I had a drinking problem I was in a relationship with an abusive man.
I was on the verge of killing myself.
I know you were.
But how did you turn your life around? It was because of you.
The things you taught me the way you helped me to believe in myself.
No, Corrine.
It was you.
You were the one with the will.
You were the one who faced your fears.
You were the one that decided who you wanted to be.
And then you made it happen.
I just gave you the tools.
Corrine McCormick.
One of over 20,000 people who have found the power within themselves using the techniques of Life Rules.
- And, cut.
That is a wrap.
- Great.
Thanks.
Hey, that was fantastic.
How do you feel? Good.
Great.
I'm just so honored that you would want me to do this for you.
Will, come on.
We got to get you to the airport.
- Thank you.
Bye.
- Bye.
All right.
So the limo's out front.
Stephanie's going to meet you at the Buffalo airport with a car service.
Then you'll go straight to Niagara Falls for the first night's orientation.
- I thought this went well today.
- Yeah.
Absolutely.
Gary, relax.
It's all going the way it's supposed to.
Hey.
Thanks.
- Going to miss you.
- So, come with me.
And compete with the throng? Well, it's Niagara Falls.
We could get married again.
- I'll be fine here.
- Suitcase is in the car, Will.
- Shirts are on top this time.
- Thanks, Jules.
- Hey.
- Good luck.
It's not about luck.
That's really not my concern.
I just said it's not my concern.
- Gary! - Can you hold on for a second? What? Another limo just showed up.
They say they're here for Will.
Guess helping people really pays.
I know you got a summer pad just like this, don't you? Yeah, a couple of them.
So what's the skinny on this guy? Will Sterling.
33 years old.
He's a self-help guru you know, the tapes, the seminars.
- The guy's gaining quite a following.
- Never heard of him.
He just shot his first infomercial this morning.
Then he was to catch a flight to Niagara Falls to teach a seminar.
- Never made it to the airport.
- Ransom demand? - Not yet.
But look at this place.
- We ever find the limo? Ten miles from here, on the side of the road.
Must've transferred him to another car.
What did the limo company say? That their driver showed up 15 minutes after Sterling left.
Is the limo hot? Stolen early this morning from a dealership in Huntington.
So the car shows up early, Sterling hops in.
And the rest is history.
Whoever put this whole plan together knew exactly what time Sterling was leaving for the airport.
- Inside job.
- We better find this guy fast because there's 200 people sitting in a hotel ballroom in Niagara Falls waiting for Will Sterling to change their lives.
Using the techniques ofLife Rules.
I grew up having every disadvantage.
My father left my mother when I was six.
My mother was a methadone addict.
Social services took me from her when I was 12.
Then I got passed around from one foster home to the next.
You can probably guess what happened to me.
Drugs, jail, degradation.
- But then one day, in the prison library - He discovers self-help books.
Read every one he could get his hands on.
When he gets out of jail, he gets into the self-help business himself.
Six years later, he is a millionaire.
- American dream comes true.
- Yeah.
This is the footage from the infomercial he was making.
Up until recently, he marketed himself mostly by word of mouth on the Internet, and he's pretty much based out of New York.
- Now he's trying to expand.
- Maybe the timing's not so coincidental.
It's possible that somebody didn't want him to go national.
Like a disgruntled employee.
Steven Pine, Life Rules, junior vice-president.
Now the founder of an anti-Will Sterling web site.
And he's still on the company payroll.
I'm calling him in.
Guys like Sterling have a lot of power over people.
He's bound to inspire some pretty strong feelings.
He's not Jim Jones, Jack.
He's a smart, ambitious guy with some good strategies for tackling life.
Have you listened to the tapes? As a matter of fact, I have.
Just for a little while, a couple years ago.
- They're actually very helpful.
- Really? So what's the hook? What does this Sterling guy sell that the other con men don't? Nothing that original.
He sort of condenses everything from other self-help philosophies into - seven basic "life rules.
" - Here you go, sir.
- Want to hear them? - Not particularly.
Okay.
These are forensics on the limo.
No prints, no blood, no evidence of a struggle.
- They must've wiped the car down.
- That sounds like a professional job.
Yeah, but where's the ransom demand? If this is about money, the kidnappers are in for a big surprise.
Sterling is leveraged up to his ass.
The house, the business.
There's not a lot of cash flow.
We should check his core group, the people that are closest to him.
Should also look into his background.
He is an ex-con.
- That could have caught up with him.
- Life Rules, huh, Sam? Did you walk over the coals? It's the first cigarette I've had in three years.
- Will's the one who got me to quit.
- Did the two of you meet in his seminars? No.
Will never dated any of his students.
Believe me, he had plenty of opportunity.
No, we met at a restaurant.
I was on a date, actually.
He was alone at the bar.
I think he was waiting for someone.
I got up to go the bathroom and he followed me.
He said that I was the woman of his dreams there was no doubt about it.
And that I should go back, finish my date and meet him at the corner of That's the kind of guy Will is.
He sees something he wants and he goes after it.
Is there anything specific you can tell me that you think might help me? Last week, it must have been Wednesday night.
It was late.
We were upstairs in bed.
And the phone rang.
- Who's that? - It's probably Gary.
Hello? Wait, hold on a second.
Yeah.
No.
Slow down.
I want to talk to you about this, I really do.
I want to help you get through this, just I will call you back in two minutes.
I promise.
Okay? - I'm going to take this downstairs.
- Who was it? - It doesn't matter, Hill.
- It matters to me, Will.
It was one of my clients.
At 1:00 in the morning on the private line? I will tell them not to call like that again.
But listen somebody's in a crisis and they need my help.
Okay? I love you.
I'll be back up in a few minutes.
And he wouldn't tell you specifically who was on the phone? I think he was protecting their privacy.
Does Mr.
Sterling give out his private number to all of his clients? No.
Not usually.
It scares me sometimes.
The need that people have for him.
I found a late-night call to Will Sterling's house.
Corrine McCormick, 34 years old, lives in Bayside.
What have we got here? Registered handgun.
That's the girl from the infomercial they were taping today.
She was at the house right before Will left.
Strange.
She's stalking him and he's putting her in a video as one of his star students.
Just 'cause she called him when she was having trouble doesn't mean she was stalking him.
It does when she calls his house eight times in the same day.
Can anybody say Enron? Shredded documents? Standard operating procedure, or so they say.
A lot of corporations shred documents.
I got five more of these babies downstairs.
Our guys are gonna have a nice time pasting this together.
You and Will started the company together six years ago? Will's the genius behind the whole thing.
I'm just here to run the day-to-day operations but together we make a pretty good team.
We understand that financially you're not in such great shape.
Will insists on putting everything we earn back into the company.
He always bets on himself.
That's what he teaches and that's what's worked.
When you say "back into the company," does that include this place? This is the hub of our activity.
It's a pretty good business investment.
When people see this place, they see success, you know? Do you mind holding off on that until we're done? Sure.
Are you aware that one of your own employees has a very negative website attacking both Will and the company? - Are we talking about Steven Pine? - That's right.
Yeah.
We had to let go of Steven a couple weeks ago.
- But he's still on your payroll.
- Severance package.
So why did you have to fire him? Let's just say that Steven over-identified with Will.
- Will? - Yes.
I need to talk to you.
What's up, Steve? I was just thinking that I would really like to go with you on that Niagara Falls trip.
I think Gary really needs you here.
Come on, that's true, Steven.
You know you're invaluable here.
I appreciate that, I really do.
But I think if I'm going to grow within this company I need to be out there, at the seminars, learning from you.
I love your enthusiasm and your drive and your passion.
That is all great and it's where you should be.
But you got to know how to harness that for the task at hand.
Remember what we talked about? Knowing your long-term goals but keeping the short ones achievable, right? I want to go to Niagara Falls.
There's no reason why I'm not ready, Will.
No reason.
Think about where you're channeling your energy right now.
Forget it.
Just forget it.
You just want to keep me down.
He started out as our computer geek.
And then we promoted him to mid-level manager.
The next thing you know, he's got these delusions of grandeur.
Did he know the date that Will was traveling to Niagara Falls? Yes.
And the flight.
The reason that they fired me is because Gary couldn't handle that I was very clearly becoming the number two.
Will counted on me for more and more and Gary was threatened.
- So why did you turn on Will? - Will couldn't stand up to Gary.
This guy preaches all this self-fulfillment crap and he winds up a total hypocrite.
You sound pretty disillusioned.
Let me tell you something.
Now that I'm out of there and I have a little time to reflect on it I realize the whole thing is a scam.
You buy the tapes and the tapes get you to the seminars.
Seminars get you to the inner circle, and every step costs more money until you get to the Sterling Circle which costs $3,000 for a weekend.
It's interesting.
For all this talk of money, the company was almost broke.
- I'm not surprised.
- Why are you not surprised, Mr.
Pine? Because they had some pretty funky business practices, I'll tell you that.
Funky? Funky how? You know, little things.
You know, cutting corners writing off questionable stuff as business expenses.
I mean, Gary sends a $5,000 check to his brother every week and his brother doesn't even work at the company.
What would the name of this brother be? Paul Moskowitz, $5,000 a week for at least the last four months.
Where have the checks been going? Lakeside Convalescence Home, down in Cleveland, Ohio.
Here's what I got on Paul Moskowitz.
According to the IRS, he's not received a paycheck or paid taxes in six years.
The last known address is in Cleveland in '97.
He is, however, still an active member of SAG and AFTRA.
Out-of-work actor.
That would explain why his brother's still taking care of him.
We got to go to Cleveland.
- Can I help you? - Hi.
We're with the FBI.
- We're looking for Paul Moskowitz.
- He's right over here.
I could show you his room, but I don't think he's going to say much.
- Why is that? - He's been in a coma for six years.
- You sure that's Paul Moskowitz? - Positive.
- How can I help you? - Mr.
Adler, we're with the FBI.
I understand that you have power of attorney over Paul Moskowitz.
That's right.
It's fairly unusual for a hospital administrator to have power of attorney over a patient, isn't it? That's the way his family wanted it.
Can you explain to me why it costs $5,000 a week to maintain this patient? Well, all this machinery, and the nursing and the meals Costs $1,400 a week.
We read the records.
Can you explain why Gary Moskowitz is paying $3,600 a week extra to maintain his brother? - I think I'd better speak to my attorney.
- Take it easy, Mr.
Adler.
We're not interested in arresting you.
We just need some answers, okay? That's not Paul Moskowitz.
His real name is Will Sterling.
So if Will Sterling's lying in a coma, in Cleveland who the hell is on the cover of this box? This guy happens to be my brother.
Paul Moskowitz.
So, your brother switched identities with an ex-con in a coma? - That is right.
- Why? Because America loves an underdog and Will Sterling is a lot better of a story than Paul Moskowitz.
Wouldn't you rather get advice from an ex-con who heroically rose from the ashes than a boring middle-class kid who wants to be an actor? Now, where did you guys find Will? Coma Will? He's our foster brother.
It was great.
Our parents thought it would be fun and charitable to have a round robin of other kids constantly passing through our house stealing things and getting arrested.
And as for the real Will, he was with us for a couple years then gangs, drugs.
And about six years ago, he overdosed.
That's when Paul got the idea to steal Will's identity and trade on it.
No, it was my idea.
Everything's been my idea.
Let me see if I get you straight.
I take Will's name, his background, his life.
Yes, that becomes your new identity.
And then I move to New York and we set up a self-help business.
Yes, I told you.
You are the front man and I am the man behind the scenes.
But, Gary, this is crazy.
- Is there actually any money in this? - Millions.
- We'd be helping people, right? - Yes.
I've read every book.
I've gone to every one of these seminars.
I'm telling you right now, half of these guys, they are freaking quacks.
None of them have the charisma or the good looks that you have.
So, you'd - You'd coach me on what to say? - I'll teach you everything.
Strategies, the presentation, the seven simple rules to change your life.
- You're going to be a guru in two months.
- Why don't we just make up my past? - Why do we have to steal his? - Because when we succeed at this people are going to want to look up your past and we're going to have the paperwork to back that up.
This is insane.
Would you rather do regional theater in Cleveland for the rest of your life? Because this is the role of a lifetime, Paul.
Life Rules.
So I knew Paul would eat it up.
And frankly, between you and me he's kind of over the top as an actor, but I knew he'd be perfect for this.
You arranged the switch with the hospital administrator - and you've been paying him ever since.
- That is right.
Who else knows about your little identity swap? Just me and Will.
I mean, Paul, I guess, I should say at this point.
- Not even his wife? - Not even his wife.
His name is Paul Moskowitz and he and Gary are brothers? Is that my name? I mean, he's the fraud.
But is my marriage a fraud? No, I mean, is my name actually Hillary Moskowitz? Mrs.
Sterling, that's a question you need to ask your attorney.
I don't know.
I know this is a lot to digest.
But I need to ask you about Corrine McCormick.
Maybe her name is Moskowitz, too.
Apparently, she's the one who made that late-night call last week.
Do you think there's a possibility that maybe your husband and her Of course.
Now, I'd say just about anything goes, wouldn't you? When I first met Will, my life was a shambles.
I was broke.
I had a drinking problem.
I was in a relationship with an abusive man.
- I was - On the verge of killing yourself.
I know.
I watched the videotape, Miss McCormick.
Well, it's all true.
Will turned my life around.
Now I own my own business.
I'm financially independent and I have a community of people who enrich my life.
Does Will enrich your life? It's not what you think.
He helps me.
You were supposed to go to Niagara Falls with him.
Who told you that? Gary? A flight booked in your name.
The ticket was then cancelled.
We know you kept calling his house that day.
- You must've been pretty upset.
- Look.
I was angry at Gary, not Will.
That's what I called to talk to him about.
Gary is the one who cancelled my trip.
Gary was trying to keep me away from Will.
Why is that? - He said it was to protect me.
- From what? From having my heart broken.
Truth is, I think Gary is jealous of Will.
Before you can make any change you need to look at yourself, cold and hard and think about what holds you back.
What is it that makes you see a beautiful woman across a room and not go talk to her? What is it? It's fear.
It's fear of rejection.
Fear of failure.
Even fear of success.
I want to suggest to you that it is that fear the fear of your own power, that holds you back.
- Pretty interesting, huh? - Yeah.
Jack wanted me to look at these tapes.
You know, there is a lot of useful information.
There is He talks about his youth in Cleveland, about his foster brothers.
- You know, he used to be fat? - So what have we got? Meet Reese Randall.
Not a nice person.
A foster brother with the Moskowitz clan in 1985.
In and out of juvie, he served three years for armed robbery assault and battery, drunk driving, domestic abuse.
I just got off the phone with his landlord in Cleveland.
She says that she hasn't seen him for a couple days and that his car is missing.
What I remember from those tapes, he was close to his foster brothers, right? He still is.
According to these phone records - he still talks to them.
- Reese Randall? No, Carlos Gonzalez.
He has a local cell phone.
What do we know about Mr.
Carlos Gonzalez? Not much.
DMV photo.
It's three years old.
It was issued by the state of Ohio.
I still haven't been able to find a local address for him.
You been able to get him on his cell phone? I wish.
He doesn't answer it.
- All right, I'll get into it.
- All right.
Enjoy your research.
Jack, they found this at the mansion.
I thought it was a seminar tape.
But it turns out that our out-of-work actor wasn't always out of work.
- I don't want you to go.
- It's only three days.
- I know.
It just feels like 300 already.
- Oh, honey.
This is a classic.
Think he made a wise choice getting out of acting.
Wait till you see what happens next.
It's not a limo, but it feels familiar.
Hi, Mr.
Hastings.
Where's your wife? What are you doing here, Bernie? The other driver said you were sick.
What are you talking about? I'm fine.
Stella.
Stella! Stella! Those schmucks.
This whole thing's a hoax.
I don't have the slightest idea of what you are talking about.
- Come on, Gary.
We saw the old movie.
- Well, I haven't.
- Gary, this just came for you.
- Let me see that.
- Who brought this to you? - I don't know.
A courier.
- And you opened it? - He took off already.
He's gone.
All right.
I need a VCR.
See this? This here's Will Sterling.
The man with the plan.
Except the plan's changing.
I got me a very expensive piece of property right here and I intend to collect on it.
Five million dollars, to be exact.
Five million, by tomorrow at 9:00 or he's dead.
You'll be contacted at 8:00 a.
m.
And told where to leave my money.
That's all for now.
Thanks for playing Life Rules.
Five million dollars? We do not have five million dollars.
What did he mean "the plan's changing"? How the hell should I know? Gary didn't know about any of this.
- You want to fill me in? - He should be back by now.
They were never supposed to ask for money.
You have to believe me.
Something has gone wrong.
It was not supposed to happen like this.
Will came to me the night before you know, the kidnapping and told me what he was planning.
You're having yourself kidnapped? I'll have a limo pick me up here to take me to the airport.
Ten minutes later, the real limo will arrive and everyone will think that I've been kidnapped.
- And then what? - Well, then I lay low for 24 hours and then they let me go.
- And what the hell will that accomplish? - They'll videotape me at gunpoint.
I'm going to talk them out of it using the techniques of Life Rules.
The cops will find the videotapes, they'll get released to the media.
A week later, the infomercial comes out.
I will go through the stratosphere.
Honey, you're not doing well enough as it is? I mean, you really need to do this? I did not get where I've gotten by playing it safe, Hill.
You got to go after it in life.
- Does Gary know you're doing this? - No.
No.
This is just me.
You and me.
Nobody else knows.
- Will, this is crazy.
- No, it's inspired.
I should have tried to stop him.
It's just When these things come out of his mouth, you believe them.
I really hope you're not lying to me right now.
I swear to God.
Will is in trouble.
As I said, we do not have five million dollars.
Even if we hocked this place, with all of our debt I don't think we can raise more than two.
Well, when the kidnappers contact us tomorrow we'll try and counter.
Hopefully that will buy us some time.
Okay.
Good.
That's good.
You set this up, didn't you? - Say what? - You're the brains behind this.
Your brother's just the front man.
He couldn't pull off a scam without you.
Are you kidding me? I'm furious at him for this, don't you get it? He risked everything we built.
- Not to mention risking his own life.
- Yes, of course.
But I never would have I never wanted him to do the infomercial.
It's easy to look at a situation and see the problem.
I understand that, as executives, that's what you've been trained to do to anticipate what will go wrong and prepare for it.
But what you need to do is ask yourself and everyone around you to think boldly, to be daring and to take risks.
And just so you don't think that I'm living on a cloud when we get back from lunch, we'll move on right to our next chapter.
Crisis management.
Now, we've got steaks and lobsters and all sorts of great stuff in the dining room.
And anyone interested in being in the infomercial should talk to Gary.
Thanks.
Hey, that went well.
I thought we were still debating the merits of doing this infomercial.
- Could you give me a second? - Okay.
No, I decided.
We're going ahead with it.
We're going Actually, can we go outside for a second, please? Thanks.
Okay.
I'm your partner.
- You don't just decide - Gary, I'm great at this.
I want to share it with as many people as possible.
No, I don't think you understand.
Will, if you expose us to this next level of scrutiny sooner or later, some guy from the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal will come sniffing around, and the jig is up.
So, what? You just want to rest on our laurels? When things are going well, you do not get complacent.
- It's rule number six, Gary.
- Okay.
Don't Don't start quoting those rules to me, okay? I'm the one who wrote them.
Apparently, you've stopped following them.
If things are getting too hot for you here, you're welcome to go.
What did you say to me? I'm the guy on the box, Gary.
Sounds like he drank too much of his own Kool-Aid.
Apparently that was the tip of the iceberg.
And now I'm beginning to feel like I'm Dr.
Frankenstein chasing after his own monster.
Well, if he wouldn't trust you, who would he trust? - Honestly, I could not tell you.
- Stay in contact with your foster brothers? Carlos Gonzalez, Reese Randall.
God, I haven't heard from those guys in years.
- What about your brother? - What are you saying? He might have used one of them to pull off this stunt? It's possible.
They're ex-cons.
All of our foster brothers were in and out over a long period of time.
He didn't have that kind of relationship with them.
I don't think that he trusted any one of them enough to do something like this.
That's today's paper.
The Chronicle is tough to get out in the Hamptons.
- The kidnapper might live in the city.
- Or maybe he's holding him in the city.
I can't figure out why they even bothered shredding some of this stuff.
When you build something on a lie, you get paranoid.
Gary may have been careful, but Will certainly wasn't.
Can you imagine the hubris to stunt your own kidnapping for good publicity? After watching those tapes, one thing's clear.
This guy thinks he could do anything.
Carlos Gonzalez.
The foster brother with the local cell phone.
Check it out.
He's asking Will to help him out with money.
- Is there a return address? - No.
Says to call him on that cell phone.
Well, the ransom tape came from Cold Spring Harbor.
- Let's check for Carlos Gonzalez.
- All right.
What is that right there? Do me a favor and enhance that area right there.
A wall calendar, a plaque? Woodbury Bowling League.
Wait.
Woodbury.
Isn't that near Cold Spring Harbor? - Next town over.
- That's right.
These guys aren't too bright.
- Nothing in Cold Spring Harbor.
- Woodbury.
He's being held in Woodbury.
Woodbury.
We got him.
Got one down! - Who are you? - Was about to ask you the same question.
- I'm Carlos Gonzalez.
- Where's Will Sterling? - He's in a coma, in Cleveland.
- Where is Paul Moskowitz? I don't know.
We all lived together.
- Gary, Paul, me, Will, Reese - Reese Randall, right? Yeah.
So many kids going in and out of that house all the time with Gary and Paul.
We were all like the same age.
So it was like we had our own little basketball team.
That's a great story.
Get to the part about the kidnapping and what happened to your head.
Paul and I stayed in touch over the years, you know? Even after he became Will Sterling or whatever.
And he was always trying to help me.
He would even send me those tapes.
He really wanted to get me out of my rut.
That's why I ended up moving to New York.
- How about Gary? You talk to him? - No.
He told me not to tell Gary that I knew about the gig or even that I'd come to New York.
All right.
Let's go back a month.
You're writing Will letters.
You're asking Will for money.
Why? Yeah.
It was for a job, though.
I wasn't trying to blackmail him.
So he hired you to pull off a fake kidnapping.
Look, he calls me up.
He says that he'll give me $30,000.
And all I have to do is find the limo and pick him up at his house bring him back here, we hang out for the night.
And in the morning, we make a video of him talking his way out of it.
- And then I'd let him go.
- But that's not the video you made.
You're not even in that video.
I know that.
That's what I'm trying to explain to you.
That has got to be Reese who made that tape after he hit me over the head and tied me up.
How did Reese become a part of this whole plan? I was nervous about the job.
- So I called Reese for backup.
- Backup? It was a staged kidnapping, Carlos.
- What the hell do you need backup for? - I know that.
I thought even with the mask, somebody might figure out that it was me in front of the camera.
So I called Reese and he said he didn't have a problem with it.
Okay? So he drove up from Cleveland and we were gonna split the $30,000.
Okay.
It was supposed to be easy money.
Until Reese turned on us.
- When do you want to make that tape? - A few minutes.
All right.
Don't be nervous, Carlos.
It's all going to work out like clockwork.
Just hope nobody saw me at your house yesterday.
What a putz.
I don't know why didn't call me.
I could have taken care of everything.
I haven't heard from you in eight years.
If I'd have known you were running some self-help racket under Will's name I would have called on you.
You can believe that.
You should take a seminar.
Free of charge.
Yeah.
Maybe I'll do that.
Carlos! Change of plans, Paulie boy.
Sit down.
I don't know what happened, okay? We had it all figured out.
- Anybody else know about this? - No, nobody.
Carlos, do you have any idea where Reese would've taken Will or Paul? I don't know.
But he's unstable.
- What do you mean? - He could kill him.
He's crazy.
- Unbelievable.
- What is it? I got Gary Moskowitz's cell phone records.
He and Reese Randall have been talking quite a bit over the last three days.
Only over the last three days? Carlos said that he panicked and needed backup, right? So he called Reese.
Then almost immediately Reese turns around and calls Gary.
Reese must have heard from Carlos that Gary was the one really running the show.
So he squeezes him for some extra cash.
Then Gary heard the fake kidnapping plan and he went through the roof.
As far as Gary's concerned, Will is going to blow everything and take them both to jail in the process.
This kidnapping stunt was the perfect opportunity for Gary to get rid of him.
Hey, Gary, thanks for coming in so late.
Yeah, sure.
It's not like I was getting any sleep or anything.
Well, it turns out that we were right.
It appears that one of your foster brothers is involved.
Really? - Who? - Reese Randall.
Reese Randall.
We're gonna need you to do something for us.
Sure.
Anything.
We need you to talk to him on the phone.
- Me? - Yeah.
We'll connect you to him from here and make it look like it's coming from your cell phone and, hopefully, he'll pick up.
What do you want me to say to him? Well, just stay calm.
Tell him that you're trying to organize the money but it's taking a little longer than you thought.
Just keep him talking.
We're putting a trace on the call.
- Okay.
- We'll be right here for you.
- Great.
- Grab a seat.
- You ready to patch him through? - Okay.
Pick up the phone.
Okay.
Patch is in.
- Yeah? - Hey, Reese.
It's Gary, buddy.
Gary Moskowitz.
- What do you want? - How is Paul doing? - I haven't done it yet.
- Well, that's great.
Don't do anything violent, Reese, okay? Because we're gonna get you your money.
What do you mean, "Don't do anything violent"? Listen to me, Reese.
Just don't hurt him.
We're gonna get you whatever you want.
Just do not hurt him.
I know you've had a raw deal in life.
There's just no reason to take it out on Paul.
Now, whatever you're feeling, pal I swear to God, we are gonna get you whatever you want.
Whatever it takes.
Reese? Yeah, okay.
Bye.
Reese? Are you - Did you track that? - Almost.
God damn.
- Well, we're gonna have to try that again.
- No.
- What do you mean, "no"? - Well, I don't I mean, don't you think that went well? Why would we want to do that? That seemed to go pretty well.
He seemed like he was being reasonable.
Why would we Why would I want to provoke him? We got a call coming in.
Same transponder.
It seems like he wants to talk to you.
Pick it up.
- Hello? - I don't get you, man.
Thought you'd be asking me why I hadn't killed him yet.
Now, you're telling me not to kill him.
I don't know what you're talking about, Reese.
Don't give me that.
I got Mr.
Life Rules here, talking my head off for the last 12 hours got me thinking about my dreams and aspirations.
- I'm all screwed up.
- Know what? You are all screwed up.
Know what we're going to do? Get you some help for that, okay? Hello? Okay.
You know what? He's crazy.
Jack, we got a location.
Martin, do me a favor and arrest him.
Stand up.
- What goes up must come down.
- Who taught you that one? Clear.
Guys? That way.
People will go wrong.
But you need to let go of that.
Gary gave in to his pettiness and his jealousy because he doesn't see what's really possible.
You do.
You have the tools.
So this is a big step for you, Reese.
And I think you're ready for it.
Now what say me and you, we walk out of here together? You're going to go forward with your life and I'm going to forget this whole thing ever happened.
What do you say? Thank you, Paul.
Call me Will.
Oh, please.
Freeze.
FBI.
Drop the gun.
It's okay, Reese.
Do what he says.
- Use your tools.
- You shut up! And you drop the gun.
Stand up.
- Turn around.
Am I covered? - Yeah.
Put your hands behind your back.
Wasting my damn time.
Come on, let's go, you big wuss.
- You all right? - Yeah.
He just needed someone to see him, someone to believe in him.
What are you talking about? Your brother was the brains behind this whole operation.
- So you guys know everything.
- Yes, Paul, we do.
You saw what I just did.
- He was going to kill me.
- Right.
Gary was going to pay him $100,000 and he was going to kill me.
I talked him out of it.
And whatever you report, you're going to have to report that, too.
Right.
Just in time for the release of your infomercial.
- That's right.
- Yeah.
Too bad you'll be doing time for false report.
Turn around, please.
Lying to a federal officer.
Obstruction of justice.
See, here's the thing, Mr.
Sterling.
The truth will out.
That's also one of life's rules.
Let's go.
- Hey.
- Hey.
You know, these may become collector's items.
I won't tell anyone if you want to take one home.
Thanks.
I appreciate that, but I'm fine.
- Okay.
Good night.
- Good night.
- Good night.
- Good night.
Go! English