Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001) s05e20 Episode Script
To the Bone
The following story is fictional and does not depict any actual person or event.
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.
It's them, it's them! Mom, the movie starts in 30 minutes.
Not until you eat something, Lucas.
Ah, the excitement of the first sleepover.
- Mom, the guys are there waiting.
- Gotta go.
- Bye.
/ Bye, Tina! - Bye, mom! What a stain that Lucas has turned into! Now he's too busy to come.
But he's the tallest.
How will we get the tickets now? Stain.
Sheila's gonna smell it on you.
Nah, I take Timber in through the garage, brush my teeth in the laundry sink.
We're gonna miss you guys.
But if I'm gonna work in Stamford I know, gotta live in Stamford.
- Good night.
- Come on.
Mommy and daddy aren't answering.
Oh, well, they probably just have the TV turned up, sweetheart.
Okay? Friday night, Susu and Ellis in a kid-free house.
What could distract them? Move, mom! Mom! You know, I could use the little girl's room too.
Oh, sorry.
Toilets are backed up.
Crazy in here today.
Is Ellis here? I just wanna tell him about these Mets tickets for tomorrow.
I'll tell him.
He's still sleeping.
Gotta go.
Bye.
What do you think they'll get for the house? Uh, 3 1/2, easy.
I'm leaving a signature card.
Don't worry.
They're probably in the city.
I'd never show a house without calling first.
Could be a zillion embarrassing situations.
You could turn the basement into a recording studio.
Your next CD could be live from the island of Staten.
Oh, my god! Law & Order CI We got multiple victims.
The De Pinna family.
Parents and two kids.
We got ransacking, entry through a back door.
They beat the alarm.
It's, uh You gonna be okay? It's like Charlie Manson in there.
Cut off his hand maybe to get the safe combination.
Looks like they used meat cleavers.
I'd go with machetes.
All the victims have 10, 15-inch cutting wounds all the way to the bone.
Mr.
De Pinna's the only one coming out of rigor.
So he was the first to go.
Right before midnight? The little one and the mom I put at about eight hours ago.
There's no sign of any funny business.
Rob and slaughter.
That was the plan.
Another kid? Based on his body temp and lack of rigor, - I'd make him as the last to die.
- Oh, boy.
They put this poor kid through the wringer.
Cigarette burns.
Chopped his fingers off.
They wanted something from him they couldn't get from his parents.
Little girl had a sleepover last night.
Can we get the name and address? All the doors are alarmed except this one.
And this is the one they hit.
Couldn't be dumb luck.
Place is for sale, right? We vet everybody.
We're very careful.
This is so horrible.
I can't get the picture out of my head.
I know how you feel.
What's this box next to their name? "Virtual tour"? I check it if they took a preview of the house on our website.
Show me.
You can take a tour of each room in the house.
Show me the kitchen.
Stop.
Can you zoom in? "Kitchen door bypass.
" It's not alarmed.
Ms.
De Pinna said that the kitchen door was like Grand Central.
We'll need to check who's been logging on to your website, okay? Sure.
Hey, these guys are sharp.
They cased the place by checking on the realtor's website.
I got an address on the sleepover.
Home of Len and Paula Chopauer Staten Island, New York Tuesday, April 4 Oh, god.
Oh, god, she saved our lives.
We were gonna go in.
You were saying that Mrs.
De Pinna made a gesture? Yeah, when she was talking about her toilets backing up.
She pointed her finger at her head, like things were crazy.
Like she twirled her finger or just pointed at? No, no, just pointed.
You mean like a gun at someone's head? Is that what she meant? I missed it.
It could have been anything.
What else did she say? We were talking about a Mets game.
Oh, no, her fingers.
Remember, she flashed them.
/ Yes.
She flashed them like this.
Four of them.
Four perps.
Anything they took we can trace? Tiffany vases, gold coins, jewelry.
Maybe 700 grand, total.
Yeah, the vases were front and center in the virtual tour.
Lot of high-end electronics in these photos.
They left it.
Took high-value items they could fit in a knapsack.
Crew this good, they're gonna do it again.
They traced the computer addresses of everyone who logged on to the real estate website in the last couple of weeks.
People from out of state.
Fancy neighborhoods.
Somebody logged on from a laundromat in Bed-Stuy and spent two hours taking virtual tours.
Cousin Chet's Laundro-Net Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York Thursday, April 6 Yeah, it was last Monday.
It was two of them hogging one computer.
They looked 19, 20.
Tall one was, uh, 6'4"-ish.
Short one was 5'6" and some change.
Light-skinned something or other.
It's getting hard these days to tell who's what.
They been in here before? If they had, they wouldn't have been invited back.
It was bedlam.
Shorty was on the computer.
Tall one kept swiping his earphones.
- You said something to him? - Nah.
Shorty made a phone call.
Handed the phone to the tall one.
And whoever he had words with cooled him out.
- Thank you very much, sir.
- All right.
Well, lucky them.
They got a cool head to run the crew.
They took virtual tours of dozens of two-million-plus houses in the outer boroughs.
The last one was the De Pinna home.
If they're gonna find another house to hit, they're gonna need more virtual tours.
Unless they already found a house.
They tortured the De Pinna boy.
Rich kids know other rich kids.
Who live in big houses.
CSU found cigarette ash on the carpet right in front of this board.
Maybe from the cigarettes they used to torture him.
It's a junior varsity party.
Couple of pictures are missing.
Check out the size of this house.
Maybe somebody on his tennis team lives there.
Lucas Benjamin Price.
David Feist.
Rabinth Robbie Khan.
Rabinth Khan? Yeah.
He's Indian.
There's a statue inside the house.
It's the Hindu god Ganesh.
K-h-a-n.
Rabinth Khan.
I don't care if you gotta break into the school.
We need the address now.
Got it.
are finally gonna pay off.
Clear! Clear! Clear! Statue of Ganesh, green jade, $88,000.
Going by the body temp on this one, you missed them by less than an hour.
Too bad near misses don't count.
Somebody on this crew knows what they're doing.
They cherry-picked the good loot and left the eye candy.
We got bleeding and torn tissue back here.
Looks like he was sodomized, probably with a foreign object.
Does this qualify? Blood on the handle.
Why drag him in here unless you wanna do something you didn't want your pals to see? Those shelves might have been knocked down in a fight.
Maybe his pals walked in on the fun, tried to stop it.
I don't know.
Rogers, pick that up for me, would you? Guy at the laundromat said that shorty was into music.
Think we can get some DNA off this ear bud? Antonio Mattini.
Lab found skin cells on the foam cover of the ear bud.
Why is his DNA in the system in the first place? He was sampled two years ago after a felony beating of an 11-year-old kid in the bathroom at the Bushwick pools.
He's got no current address.
I see he aged out of foster care two years ago.
Get word to his foster parents.
Maybe he's been in touch.
From Antonio's probation officer.
As of last December, Antonio was working at a burger joint in Bayside.
Oh, man, this chunk-blower? The guy was making defective clownies to fill the discard bag.
Pretend we don't work in the fast-food business, okay? The burgers they make wrong, they burn, they sneeze on, they go in the discard bag.
This guy was burning clownies on purpose.
Okay, why was he doing that? I found him, 3:00 A.
M.
behind the store.
He was feeding these little dogs, you know, strays? I'm like, "what are you doing?" He says, "the runts never get a chance.
" I fired him.
But thanks to him, we got the Santiago rule.
Every MGR has gotta do hand counts of the discarded burgers.
And why do you call it the Santiago rule? That's his name, Jacopo Santiago.
What? That's not his real name? You don't hire people with a criminal record, do you? Not if I can help it.
Logan.
/ We're gonna need this Santiago's social security number.
Sure.
Barek, you know a lieutenant named Lemoyne in Brooklyn? Office of Lt.
Roger Lemoyne 74th Precinct Brooklyn, New York Tuesday, April 11 So you wanna know about an Antonio Mattini? Yeah, about those home invasions on Staten island.
I want you to meet his foster mother.
I cannot get over these boys, Roger.
- Such handsome young men.
- Thank you.
This is detective Barek and Logan.
Chesley Watkins.
I've known Ms.
Watkins since she was the director of the Tremont foster care agency.
And then she became a foster parent herself.
I got a call about one of my boys, Antonio.
They wouldn't say why they wanted him, so I reached out to an old friend.
Do you know where Antonio is? I haven't seen him since he aged out two years ago.
What is it you think he's done? Well, let's just say he's not one of your success stories.
He's one case I never cracked.
How was he with the younger kids in your home? I had to watch him.
He was small himself, and the bigger boys roughed him up.
The runt takes the brunt, huh? So he does, but I protected him.
Excuse me.
Detective Barek.
Do I make you uncomfortable, detective? / Sorry, uh I'm just not a huge fan of foster care.
You know frozen rooms, starved kids.
Am I gonna deny it? Some people should never be allowed near children.
On the other hand, some children, you give them families they're just not family boys.
- Yeah, like Antonio.
- My bad seed.
I don't envy you, son.
Son? Thanks, Mrs.
Watkins, but, uh I don't need any foster mothering.
Maybe not mothering.
But definitely dry-cleaning.
Good afternoon.
We got a line on Antonio.
Jacopo Santiago's social security number turned up at BBR's barbecue on Marcy avenue.
Guy works till midnight.
We sit on him, maybe his pals show up.
Let's sit on him.
Any word on the backup? Still in traffic.
ETA in 10.
Looks like the rest of the crew.
This is M.
C.
325.
What's your location? We're on 1700 Huan hill road.
Short 5 minutes out.
Who's this clown? Antonio's guardian angel.
All right, forget the backup.
Stop, police! - Gun! - Drop it! Drop it! Police! Drop the gun! Mike, he's still alive.
- Call EMS.
- Mike! Mike! He's a cop.
What? No! Okay, okay, get him in the car.
Help, help.
Help.
Ready? Turn around.
Here we go.
Easy, easy.
Okay, go, go, go, go, go! You're our backup.
Where the hell were you? Well, make yourself useful.
Secure the scene.
Get inside.
Talk to witnesses.
I gotta get to the hospital.
Mike, Mike, Mike! What? You can't.
You gotta stay.
Come on.
You know you gotta stay.
Be advised.
2-7-Charlie is en route to Kings hospital, transporting an MOS with a gunshot wound.
Copy that, 2-7-Charlie en route.
All units are advised to broadcast only emergency calls at this time.
We are assisting in the shooting of a member of the service.
Please stand by - You make your IAB statement? - Yeah.
So the sense of the room is your partner did ID himself as a cop.
Officer Tarkman didn't and swung his weapon on you.
I think officer Martinez got there too late to see very much.
That's what he said.
But the employees here back your team's version of events.
That's gonna count more with IAB than anything that Martinez could say.
All right.
- What's the word on Tarkman? - He's hanging on.
IAB is done with me.
Give me the keys.
I'm gonna go to the hospital and give blood.
Come on, you're in no shape to drive.
Besides, every cop in the borough is over at the hospital.
Come on, Barek, if I can spill it, I can give it.
Keys.
I'll drive you.
It was just a matter of time.
And I'm not the only one at IAB saying it.
Say what you want.
Logan's done exemplary work.
Was it corroborated that Tarkman didn't identify himself? Yeah.
It was corroborated.
And there's a security tape that shows Tarkman had his weapon out.
Chief, it's a lousy situation.
But Logan was by the book.
I got two home invasions.
Two butchered families.
I need him back.
Pending the official report, you're cleared.
You made the right call.
You know, the department has shrinks on the payroll.
Any word on our suspects? A search of the neighborhood turned up nothing.
From where you sat, it looked like Tarkman knew these guys? Yeah, like he was friends with Antonio.
Like he was saving him from a beat-down.
Just heard what Tarkman's partner told IAB.
the barbecue place, Tarkman got a phone call.
He told his partner it was urgent business, personal business.
All right, so maybe Antonio knew that the crew was coming after him.
He calls Tarkman to help him out.
Deakins.
Okay.
Thanks.
Tarkman died.
They couldn't stop the bleeding.
Hey, bad break, Mike.
Could happen to any of us.
- Hang in there.
- Yeah.
What do you got? Tarkman was in foster care for seven years about the same time that Antonio was living with Chesley Watkins.
Chesley Watkins was always talking about her boys.
Well, maybe Tarkman was Antonio's big brother.
It could be he wasn't the only one.
So I ID'd them off the surveillance video.
James "Jimbo" Duncan, Carlos Espilla, Floyd Bolton.
They were Chesley Watkins' foster kids the same time as Antonio and Tarkman.
Looks like Tarkman was the only good seed of the bunch.
That call Tarkman got before going in the barbecue.
Tarkman was undercover.
He was using a phone issued by the department.
Only his team members were supposed to have that number.
Maybe he gave it to Antonio for emergencies.
- What time was that call? - 11:32.
It's 11:32, and there's Antonio cleaning the grill.
So somebody else called Tarkman, told him to come help his foster brother.
Foster mom knew we were looking for Antonio.
Same night Floyd, Carlos, and Jimbo drop in on him.
The way they jumped Tarkman there.
It's like they were waiting for him.
It was a setup to kill Antonio.
And his guardian angel.
Somebody called everyone to the table.
They're Watkins' kids.
They all grew up under her roof.
But they haven't lived with Watkins for over two years.
I mean, what are you accusing her of? Somebody got word to these three that we were looking for their little brother.
That somebody set a trap for Tarkman.
Maybe the three big guys conned her into calling Tarkman, and she thought she was helping out.
I got the sense that her foster kids were important to her.
They are.
She quit the agency to take care of her husband when he got MS.
That's when she started taking in kids.
When he died, the kids were all she had.
Well, maybe these three knew how to play her emotions.
You have no proof she called Tarkman.
Right? He was undercover.
She wouldn't even know how to reach him.
The only way to get his number was to call central from an inside line.
From a precinct, for instance.
Ms.
Watkins was alone in your office.
Yeah, checking outgoing calls on this extension.
Wednesday between 2:30, 2:45.
Yeah.
Thank you.
There was request for the confidential number of officer Tarkman.
He came to me when he was 12.
Handsome boy.
I raised him.
The police department said they would take care of the arrangements.
They sent his dress uniform.
I don't want him dressed in the uniform of the people that killed him.
I don't want their arrangements.
He's mine now.
And you make him handsome again.
Swear.
Ms.
Watkins isn't here right now.
She had to run out.
Well, it's important that we talk to her.
So is it okay if we come inside and wait? Okay.
But you have to stay in the vestibule.
Your other brothers and sisters out too? I never had sisters.
They took everybody else away.
I'm the only one left.
Martell, honey, you wanna make us some tea? Yes, momma.
You better be here to apologize for killing my son.
He was one of my success stories.
Well, I am sorry.
Wrong place, wrong time for everybody.
Wrong place? Actually, officer Tarkman didn't identify himself as a cop.
He pointed his gun at us.
He was confused.
That's 'cause he was beaten senseless by three of your other foster sons.
I don't know anything about that.
Really? Floyd, Jimbo, Carlos? It was like a family barbecue.
These are grown men.
With lives of their own.
Until somebody takes it from them.
You've only ever taken in boys? Boys listen to their mothers.
Not like girls.
You'd be right about that.
How'd you learn to raise so many kids? Do you have any of your own? No.
It wasn't in the stars.
I wasn't afraid of hard work.
Raised my siblings myself and, after my husband Kenneth died, I just couldn't stand having an empty house.
Looks pretty empty now.
You only got the one boy there.
Foster care gets backed up.
They'll be sending me new boys soon.
Maybe you can get them to throw in some fresh paint.
Are you here to give me housekeeping tips? Actually, we're here because you made a call from lieutenant Lemoyne's office to get officer Tarkman's number.
And now, we're assuming that you didn't mean him any harm I didn't make any call.
You trying to put his death on me? We suspect that your sons perpetrated two home invasions.
Killed eight people with machetes.
Monsters did this.
I didn't raise monsters.
Now get out.
You knew we were looking for Antonio.
You better hope nothing happened to him.
Out! Oh, wow.
Art books.
Auction catalogs.
- You interested in art? - I don't just feed their stomachs.
I feed their minds.
I want these boys to know everything they're entitled to.
Those art books are for her.
Antonio and the other three, they wouldn't know a Tiffany vase from, uh, you know, Britney Spears.
They brought foster mom along to help them cherry-pick their swag? - Come on.
- So, uh the foster agency said Watkins got a pass on a psych evaluation because she used to work for the agency.
But then, six months ago, they tightened the standards for foster parents.
She still wouldn't take an evaluation.
So they started taking kids away from her.
No more kids, no more income.
Maybe she got her boys to invade other people's homes to pay for her own.
Deakins.
Oh, great.
Mr.
Mattini is surrendering himself with the full confidence he'll be cleared of all charges in connection with these tragic home invasions.
Antonio's my foster son.
I raised him to be an honest person.
I've already lost one son to the police department.
Let's hope they take better care of this one.
That's it.
Excuse us, please.
- Let us through, please.
- You were saying? It's my client's position that those earphones were stolen from him.
What's his position on being identified as one of the guys cruising real estate websites? Well, if you had such an ID, it'd be in the affidavit for the arrest warrant.
You know where we found that earphone? Right next to the kid he sodomized with a tennis racket.
I guess you're used to being on the receiving end, aren't you, Antonio? Detective, don't think you can provoke us with lies.
I'm just repeating what his foster mother told us.
Before she told his brothers to go get rid of him.
Momma wouldn't hurt me.
Oh, she was gonna have you killed, Antonio.
You and your cop brother.
It's you.
- You killed him! - Antonio! That's it, my client has nothing more to say.
Maybe if you didn't push so hard to implicate Chesley Watkins She's involved.
There's no doubt in my mind.
No doubt? You forget she turned in a potential witness against her.
She knows a kid like Antonio who's been in foster care since he's three has major attachment disorder.
She'd count on his loyalty.
But for how long? We better make sure this kid gets put in the isolation wing at Rikers.
I'll issue the order.
You were cleared, Mike.
Anybody gives you any crap, they can talk to me.
The selection of what to take, the artwork That's where they need her.
They cased the house over the internet.
Maybe that's how they got her input.
Used their phone to take a picture, and then they e-mailed it to her.
And then she e-mails back, yea or nay? Yeah.
You know what? Maybe tech assist can trace the e-mails from one house to the other.
I'll get on it as soon as I get home.
What, you're going? Well, yeah.
Sleep, remember? Yeah, but you live all the way in Brooklyn.
My place is right down the street.
I'll take the couch.
I don't believe you got a couch that big.
Yeah, maybe not.
Forget it.
I will, Mike.
On account you're not in your right head.
Vodka, ice.
I've been watching you.
Your girlfriend dump you? My partner.
You're a cop.
I love cops.
Can you get a cab? The faster we go back to your place, the better.
Away we go.
You know what, honey? Let's do this another time, okay? I'm sorry.
It's called post-traumatic stress, Mike.
I'm so relieved it has a name.
If you're looking for the silver lining, you called me.
Ten years ago, you never would have done that.
Would have been better if he shot me.
What about your colleagues? Oh, yeah, they're all they're all very supportive.
You know? What do you want them to do? Take a swing at you? Is that why you tried to provoke your partner? I killed a cop.
Mike you have to accept it's possible to do all the right things and still get a bad result.
How? How do you accept that? With time, you learn to live with it.
Oh, time.
A support system.
Everybody needs one.
This time of night can't be good news.
He has an asthma condition nobody knew about.
He was brought in here.
He was waiting in the corridor.
Alone? Just for a moment.
He was cuffed to the bench.
He was stabbed seven times.
We'll find who did it.
We'll start with ex-foster kids.
She had this all worked out.
Now it's our fault that he's dead.
That vicious bitch.
Tech assist thinks they got a line on that e-mail traffic.
Technical Assistance Response Unit(TARU) Friday, April 14 Cell phone e-mails containing photo files leave a distinctive signature.
We found transmissions matching the dates and neighborhoods you supplied.
You have the photos? Sure, they were sent to an untraceable file-sharing account.
Mrs.
Watkins logged on, and then her fingers do the stealing.
What about the cell phone these pictures came from? All from the same no-name phone.
But as long as it's turned on, we can find it for you.
Anywhere in the city.
Yo! No littering.
Out of the car.
I said out of the car! You're under arrest, Floyd.
Get up.
Hands on your back.
Machetes-R-us.
Come on, Floyd, we know it was you and Antonio.
Just the two of you.
Yeah, Antonio was the chop-chop man.
And you picked out the goods.
We know it the same way we found you.
Your momma told us, after she turned Antonio in.
That's true, Floyd.
As a matter of fact, she's right behind this mirror watching you.
You could say something to her, if you want to.
It may be the last chance you'll have to talk to her.
With her statement and the machetes in your car, oh, man, you are cooked.
She's cutting you loose, Floyd.
Just like your real mother did.
Do you remember what that felt like? They're not gonna let her stay much longer.
No, wait! Wait up! Why'd you lie, momma? Why you put the weight on me? You know Carlos and Jimbo were there too.
How would she know that? 'Cause she sent us! She sent us to the houses.
Like the houses she always said we'd live in one day.
She told us to use machetes.
She said people see you with a machete, they listen up.
I did it for you, momma.
Why you throwing me away? Your brother gave you up, Carlos.
He fingered you for killing Mrs.
De Pinna.
And the little boy in the other house.
I ain't got nothing to say about his lies.
Better talk, Jimbo.
Your mother, your brothers.
They'll put it all on you.
Without either one of these two or corroborating evidence, Floyd's testimony won't get us far.
The machetes are clean.
They've never been used.
That leaves the mother of all mothers.
Well, don't get carried away.
It's not like you nursed those kids.
You don't know anything about a mother's love.
Or a child's.
A child'll say anything if he's scared.
Well "People see you with a machete, they listen up.
" That sounds like it came right out of your mouth.
People believe what they wanna believe if it conforms to what they learned in childhood at their mother's feet.
I learned that raising kids doesn't give you a free pass to sainthood.
Son, what did your mother do to you to make you so hateful of me? Lady, I'm probably the only person in this house who understands you.
Are you? I had one of those martyr mothers.
Big cross to bear.
Laid the guilt on like butter.
What's your cross? Had to bring up your brothers and sisters? Your husband dying young? Which one is it? Maybe you can convince me those big, scary boys threatened you into helping them.
I can't convince you of anything.
Your mind's made of cement.
You know something? I knew kids who grew up in foster homes, and they're survivors.
They can smell a good soul, and they can play her.
And do you think I'm a good soul? I think you try to be.
I have a lot of love to give.
Oh, you have a lot of love to take.
It's the love you didn't get.
It's the love you missed out on.
It's what you want from those kids, isn't it? You understand that about me? That's what makes you an easy mark for those kids.
I only ever wanted to be loved.
I even gave up my self-respect when I was young.
'Cause I thought I knew how to get love.
Everyone takes advantage of you.
You're a good man.
I want to help you.
I know I took away one of your sons.
I want to make it up to you.
You need to tell me what those boys forced you to participate in.
And I'm gonna go to bat for you.
- Just tell you? - Just tell me.
Those children came to me with nothing.
And you fed them, you enriched their lives.
And they paid you back by forcing you to commit crimes with them.
Foster care stopped giving me boys.
They have so many new rules.
I, I was going broke.
And my boys my caring boys they I forgive you.
What? Mother forgives you.
Can you forgive her? I'm sorry, it's not for me to forgive you.
You need to tell me what those boys coerced you into.
You can't forgive your own mother? It's the only way you can be happy.
Please.
Okay.
I forgive her.
You don't mean it.
You're just I mean it.
I've forgiven my mother.
Now Now? Nothing.
Lawyer.
When you feel ready to face your colleagues behind there, you know you tell them I want a lawyer.
Not guilty.
- Not guilty.
- Not guilty.
Not guilty.
Your honor, the people request a remand.
- Your honor - Machetes, counselor? I don't want to hear it.
Bail is denied.
The defendants are remanded.
Every day Carlos and Jimbo spend in prison, Chesley's hold on them gets weaker.
What's going on? What happened? What the hell happened? We were transferring him to the elevator on the sixth floor.
He got away from us.
He just launched himself through the window.
Her lawyer filed a motion to dismiss.
The other two are bound to follow suit.
With our witness gone, the motion will undoubtedly be granted.
Not by me.
Anything you need to put this woman back in jail let me know.
Well, where do you want to start? Witness statements or pawn shops? Officer Martinez.
Wasn't he the first patrolman on the scene at the Tarkman shooting? Yeah, he helped me put Tarkman in the car.
Internal affairs wants to talk to me about him.
Said to bring my CEA rep with me.
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.
It's them, it's them! Mom, the movie starts in 30 minutes.
Not until you eat something, Lucas.
Ah, the excitement of the first sleepover.
- Mom, the guys are there waiting.
- Gotta go.
- Bye.
/ Bye, Tina! - Bye, mom! What a stain that Lucas has turned into! Now he's too busy to come.
But he's the tallest.
How will we get the tickets now? Stain.
Sheila's gonna smell it on you.
Nah, I take Timber in through the garage, brush my teeth in the laundry sink.
We're gonna miss you guys.
But if I'm gonna work in Stamford I know, gotta live in Stamford.
- Good night.
- Come on.
Mommy and daddy aren't answering.
Oh, well, they probably just have the TV turned up, sweetheart.
Okay? Friday night, Susu and Ellis in a kid-free house.
What could distract them? Move, mom! Mom! You know, I could use the little girl's room too.
Oh, sorry.
Toilets are backed up.
Crazy in here today.
Is Ellis here? I just wanna tell him about these Mets tickets for tomorrow.
I'll tell him.
He's still sleeping.
Gotta go.
Bye.
What do you think they'll get for the house? Uh, 3 1/2, easy.
I'm leaving a signature card.
Don't worry.
They're probably in the city.
I'd never show a house without calling first.
Could be a zillion embarrassing situations.
You could turn the basement into a recording studio.
Your next CD could be live from the island of Staten.
Oh, my god! Law & Order CI We got multiple victims.
The De Pinna family.
Parents and two kids.
We got ransacking, entry through a back door.
They beat the alarm.
It's, uh You gonna be okay? It's like Charlie Manson in there.
Cut off his hand maybe to get the safe combination.
Looks like they used meat cleavers.
I'd go with machetes.
All the victims have 10, 15-inch cutting wounds all the way to the bone.
Mr.
De Pinna's the only one coming out of rigor.
So he was the first to go.
Right before midnight? The little one and the mom I put at about eight hours ago.
There's no sign of any funny business.
Rob and slaughter.
That was the plan.
Another kid? Based on his body temp and lack of rigor, - I'd make him as the last to die.
- Oh, boy.
They put this poor kid through the wringer.
Cigarette burns.
Chopped his fingers off.
They wanted something from him they couldn't get from his parents.
Little girl had a sleepover last night.
Can we get the name and address? All the doors are alarmed except this one.
And this is the one they hit.
Couldn't be dumb luck.
Place is for sale, right? We vet everybody.
We're very careful.
This is so horrible.
I can't get the picture out of my head.
I know how you feel.
What's this box next to their name? "Virtual tour"? I check it if they took a preview of the house on our website.
Show me.
You can take a tour of each room in the house.
Show me the kitchen.
Stop.
Can you zoom in? "Kitchen door bypass.
" It's not alarmed.
Ms.
De Pinna said that the kitchen door was like Grand Central.
We'll need to check who's been logging on to your website, okay? Sure.
Hey, these guys are sharp.
They cased the place by checking on the realtor's website.
I got an address on the sleepover.
Home of Len and Paula Chopauer Staten Island, New York Tuesday, April 4 Oh, god.
Oh, god, she saved our lives.
We were gonna go in.
You were saying that Mrs.
De Pinna made a gesture? Yeah, when she was talking about her toilets backing up.
She pointed her finger at her head, like things were crazy.
Like she twirled her finger or just pointed at? No, no, just pointed.
You mean like a gun at someone's head? Is that what she meant? I missed it.
It could have been anything.
What else did she say? We were talking about a Mets game.
Oh, no, her fingers.
Remember, she flashed them.
/ Yes.
She flashed them like this.
Four of them.
Four perps.
Anything they took we can trace? Tiffany vases, gold coins, jewelry.
Maybe 700 grand, total.
Yeah, the vases were front and center in the virtual tour.
Lot of high-end electronics in these photos.
They left it.
Took high-value items they could fit in a knapsack.
Crew this good, they're gonna do it again.
They traced the computer addresses of everyone who logged on to the real estate website in the last couple of weeks.
People from out of state.
Fancy neighborhoods.
Somebody logged on from a laundromat in Bed-Stuy and spent two hours taking virtual tours.
Cousin Chet's Laundro-Net Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York Thursday, April 6 Yeah, it was last Monday.
It was two of them hogging one computer.
They looked 19, 20.
Tall one was, uh, 6'4"-ish.
Short one was 5'6" and some change.
Light-skinned something or other.
It's getting hard these days to tell who's what.
They been in here before? If they had, they wouldn't have been invited back.
It was bedlam.
Shorty was on the computer.
Tall one kept swiping his earphones.
- You said something to him? - Nah.
Shorty made a phone call.
Handed the phone to the tall one.
And whoever he had words with cooled him out.
- Thank you very much, sir.
- All right.
Well, lucky them.
They got a cool head to run the crew.
They took virtual tours of dozens of two-million-plus houses in the outer boroughs.
The last one was the De Pinna home.
If they're gonna find another house to hit, they're gonna need more virtual tours.
Unless they already found a house.
They tortured the De Pinna boy.
Rich kids know other rich kids.
Who live in big houses.
CSU found cigarette ash on the carpet right in front of this board.
Maybe from the cigarettes they used to torture him.
It's a junior varsity party.
Couple of pictures are missing.
Check out the size of this house.
Maybe somebody on his tennis team lives there.
Lucas Benjamin Price.
David Feist.
Rabinth Robbie Khan.
Rabinth Khan? Yeah.
He's Indian.
There's a statue inside the house.
It's the Hindu god Ganesh.
K-h-a-n.
Rabinth Khan.
I don't care if you gotta break into the school.
We need the address now.
Got it.
are finally gonna pay off.
Clear! Clear! Clear! Statue of Ganesh, green jade, $88,000.
Going by the body temp on this one, you missed them by less than an hour.
Too bad near misses don't count.
Somebody on this crew knows what they're doing.
They cherry-picked the good loot and left the eye candy.
We got bleeding and torn tissue back here.
Looks like he was sodomized, probably with a foreign object.
Does this qualify? Blood on the handle.
Why drag him in here unless you wanna do something you didn't want your pals to see? Those shelves might have been knocked down in a fight.
Maybe his pals walked in on the fun, tried to stop it.
I don't know.
Rogers, pick that up for me, would you? Guy at the laundromat said that shorty was into music.
Think we can get some DNA off this ear bud? Antonio Mattini.
Lab found skin cells on the foam cover of the ear bud.
Why is his DNA in the system in the first place? He was sampled two years ago after a felony beating of an 11-year-old kid in the bathroom at the Bushwick pools.
He's got no current address.
I see he aged out of foster care two years ago.
Get word to his foster parents.
Maybe he's been in touch.
From Antonio's probation officer.
As of last December, Antonio was working at a burger joint in Bayside.
Oh, man, this chunk-blower? The guy was making defective clownies to fill the discard bag.
Pretend we don't work in the fast-food business, okay? The burgers they make wrong, they burn, they sneeze on, they go in the discard bag.
This guy was burning clownies on purpose.
Okay, why was he doing that? I found him, 3:00 A.
M.
behind the store.
He was feeding these little dogs, you know, strays? I'm like, "what are you doing?" He says, "the runts never get a chance.
" I fired him.
But thanks to him, we got the Santiago rule.
Every MGR has gotta do hand counts of the discarded burgers.
And why do you call it the Santiago rule? That's his name, Jacopo Santiago.
What? That's not his real name? You don't hire people with a criminal record, do you? Not if I can help it.
Logan.
/ We're gonna need this Santiago's social security number.
Sure.
Barek, you know a lieutenant named Lemoyne in Brooklyn? Office of Lt.
Roger Lemoyne 74th Precinct Brooklyn, New York Tuesday, April 11 So you wanna know about an Antonio Mattini? Yeah, about those home invasions on Staten island.
I want you to meet his foster mother.
I cannot get over these boys, Roger.
- Such handsome young men.
- Thank you.
This is detective Barek and Logan.
Chesley Watkins.
I've known Ms.
Watkins since she was the director of the Tremont foster care agency.
And then she became a foster parent herself.
I got a call about one of my boys, Antonio.
They wouldn't say why they wanted him, so I reached out to an old friend.
Do you know where Antonio is? I haven't seen him since he aged out two years ago.
What is it you think he's done? Well, let's just say he's not one of your success stories.
He's one case I never cracked.
How was he with the younger kids in your home? I had to watch him.
He was small himself, and the bigger boys roughed him up.
The runt takes the brunt, huh? So he does, but I protected him.
Excuse me.
Detective Barek.
Do I make you uncomfortable, detective? / Sorry, uh I'm just not a huge fan of foster care.
You know frozen rooms, starved kids.
Am I gonna deny it? Some people should never be allowed near children.
On the other hand, some children, you give them families they're just not family boys.
- Yeah, like Antonio.
- My bad seed.
I don't envy you, son.
Son? Thanks, Mrs.
Watkins, but, uh I don't need any foster mothering.
Maybe not mothering.
But definitely dry-cleaning.
Good afternoon.
We got a line on Antonio.
Jacopo Santiago's social security number turned up at BBR's barbecue on Marcy avenue.
Guy works till midnight.
We sit on him, maybe his pals show up.
Let's sit on him.
Any word on the backup? Still in traffic.
ETA in 10.
Looks like the rest of the crew.
This is M.
C.
325.
What's your location? We're on 1700 Huan hill road.
Short 5 minutes out.
Who's this clown? Antonio's guardian angel.
All right, forget the backup.
Stop, police! - Gun! - Drop it! Drop it! Police! Drop the gun! Mike, he's still alive.
- Call EMS.
- Mike! Mike! He's a cop.
What? No! Okay, okay, get him in the car.
Help, help.
Help.
Ready? Turn around.
Here we go.
Easy, easy.
Okay, go, go, go, go, go! You're our backup.
Where the hell were you? Well, make yourself useful.
Secure the scene.
Get inside.
Talk to witnesses.
I gotta get to the hospital.
Mike, Mike, Mike! What? You can't.
You gotta stay.
Come on.
You know you gotta stay.
Be advised.
2-7-Charlie is en route to Kings hospital, transporting an MOS with a gunshot wound.
Copy that, 2-7-Charlie en route.
All units are advised to broadcast only emergency calls at this time.
We are assisting in the shooting of a member of the service.
Please stand by - You make your IAB statement? - Yeah.
So the sense of the room is your partner did ID himself as a cop.
Officer Tarkman didn't and swung his weapon on you.
I think officer Martinez got there too late to see very much.
That's what he said.
But the employees here back your team's version of events.
That's gonna count more with IAB than anything that Martinez could say.
All right.
- What's the word on Tarkman? - He's hanging on.
IAB is done with me.
Give me the keys.
I'm gonna go to the hospital and give blood.
Come on, you're in no shape to drive.
Besides, every cop in the borough is over at the hospital.
Come on, Barek, if I can spill it, I can give it.
Keys.
I'll drive you.
It was just a matter of time.
And I'm not the only one at IAB saying it.
Say what you want.
Logan's done exemplary work.
Was it corroborated that Tarkman didn't identify himself? Yeah.
It was corroborated.
And there's a security tape that shows Tarkman had his weapon out.
Chief, it's a lousy situation.
But Logan was by the book.
I got two home invasions.
Two butchered families.
I need him back.
Pending the official report, you're cleared.
You made the right call.
You know, the department has shrinks on the payroll.
Any word on our suspects? A search of the neighborhood turned up nothing.
From where you sat, it looked like Tarkman knew these guys? Yeah, like he was friends with Antonio.
Like he was saving him from a beat-down.
Just heard what Tarkman's partner told IAB.
the barbecue place, Tarkman got a phone call.
He told his partner it was urgent business, personal business.
All right, so maybe Antonio knew that the crew was coming after him.
He calls Tarkman to help him out.
Deakins.
Okay.
Thanks.
Tarkman died.
They couldn't stop the bleeding.
Hey, bad break, Mike.
Could happen to any of us.
- Hang in there.
- Yeah.
What do you got? Tarkman was in foster care for seven years about the same time that Antonio was living with Chesley Watkins.
Chesley Watkins was always talking about her boys.
Well, maybe Tarkman was Antonio's big brother.
It could be he wasn't the only one.
So I ID'd them off the surveillance video.
James "Jimbo" Duncan, Carlos Espilla, Floyd Bolton.
They were Chesley Watkins' foster kids the same time as Antonio and Tarkman.
Looks like Tarkman was the only good seed of the bunch.
That call Tarkman got before going in the barbecue.
Tarkman was undercover.
He was using a phone issued by the department.
Only his team members were supposed to have that number.
Maybe he gave it to Antonio for emergencies.
- What time was that call? - 11:32.
It's 11:32, and there's Antonio cleaning the grill.
So somebody else called Tarkman, told him to come help his foster brother.
Foster mom knew we were looking for Antonio.
Same night Floyd, Carlos, and Jimbo drop in on him.
The way they jumped Tarkman there.
It's like they were waiting for him.
It was a setup to kill Antonio.
And his guardian angel.
Somebody called everyone to the table.
They're Watkins' kids.
They all grew up under her roof.
But they haven't lived with Watkins for over two years.
I mean, what are you accusing her of? Somebody got word to these three that we were looking for their little brother.
That somebody set a trap for Tarkman.
Maybe the three big guys conned her into calling Tarkman, and she thought she was helping out.
I got the sense that her foster kids were important to her.
They are.
She quit the agency to take care of her husband when he got MS.
That's when she started taking in kids.
When he died, the kids were all she had.
Well, maybe these three knew how to play her emotions.
You have no proof she called Tarkman.
Right? He was undercover.
She wouldn't even know how to reach him.
The only way to get his number was to call central from an inside line.
From a precinct, for instance.
Ms.
Watkins was alone in your office.
Yeah, checking outgoing calls on this extension.
Wednesday between 2:30, 2:45.
Yeah.
Thank you.
There was request for the confidential number of officer Tarkman.
He came to me when he was 12.
Handsome boy.
I raised him.
The police department said they would take care of the arrangements.
They sent his dress uniform.
I don't want him dressed in the uniform of the people that killed him.
I don't want their arrangements.
He's mine now.
And you make him handsome again.
Swear.
Ms.
Watkins isn't here right now.
She had to run out.
Well, it's important that we talk to her.
So is it okay if we come inside and wait? Okay.
But you have to stay in the vestibule.
Your other brothers and sisters out too? I never had sisters.
They took everybody else away.
I'm the only one left.
Martell, honey, you wanna make us some tea? Yes, momma.
You better be here to apologize for killing my son.
He was one of my success stories.
Well, I am sorry.
Wrong place, wrong time for everybody.
Wrong place? Actually, officer Tarkman didn't identify himself as a cop.
He pointed his gun at us.
He was confused.
That's 'cause he was beaten senseless by three of your other foster sons.
I don't know anything about that.
Really? Floyd, Jimbo, Carlos? It was like a family barbecue.
These are grown men.
With lives of their own.
Until somebody takes it from them.
You've only ever taken in boys? Boys listen to their mothers.
Not like girls.
You'd be right about that.
How'd you learn to raise so many kids? Do you have any of your own? No.
It wasn't in the stars.
I wasn't afraid of hard work.
Raised my siblings myself and, after my husband Kenneth died, I just couldn't stand having an empty house.
Looks pretty empty now.
You only got the one boy there.
Foster care gets backed up.
They'll be sending me new boys soon.
Maybe you can get them to throw in some fresh paint.
Are you here to give me housekeeping tips? Actually, we're here because you made a call from lieutenant Lemoyne's office to get officer Tarkman's number.
And now, we're assuming that you didn't mean him any harm I didn't make any call.
You trying to put his death on me? We suspect that your sons perpetrated two home invasions.
Killed eight people with machetes.
Monsters did this.
I didn't raise monsters.
Now get out.
You knew we were looking for Antonio.
You better hope nothing happened to him.
Out! Oh, wow.
Art books.
Auction catalogs.
- You interested in art? - I don't just feed their stomachs.
I feed their minds.
I want these boys to know everything they're entitled to.
Those art books are for her.
Antonio and the other three, they wouldn't know a Tiffany vase from, uh, you know, Britney Spears.
They brought foster mom along to help them cherry-pick their swag? - Come on.
- So, uh the foster agency said Watkins got a pass on a psych evaluation because she used to work for the agency.
But then, six months ago, they tightened the standards for foster parents.
She still wouldn't take an evaluation.
So they started taking kids away from her.
No more kids, no more income.
Maybe she got her boys to invade other people's homes to pay for her own.
Deakins.
Oh, great.
Mr.
Mattini is surrendering himself with the full confidence he'll be cleared of all charges in connection with these tragic home invasions.
Antonio's my foster son.
I raised him to be an honest person.
I've already lost one son to the police department.
Let's hope they take better care of this one.
That's it.
Excuse us, please.
- Let us through, please.
- You were saying? It's my client's position that those earphones were stolen from him.
What's his position on being identified as one of the guys cruising real estate websites? Well, if you had such an ID, it'd be in the affidavit for the arrest warrant.
You know where we found that earphone? Right next to the kid he sodomized with a tennis racket.
I guess you're used to being on the receiving end, aren't you, Antonio? Detective, don't think you can provoke us with lies.
I'm just repeating what his foster mother told us.
Before she told his brothers to go get rid of him.
Momma wouldn't hurt me.
Oh, she was gonna have you killed, Antonio.
You and your cop brother.
It's you.
- You killed him! - Antonio! That's it, my client has nothing more to say.
Maybe if you didn't push so hard to implicate Chesley Watkins She's involved.
There's no doubt in my mind.
No doubt? You forget she turned in a potential witness against her.
She knows a kid like Antonio who's been in foster care since he's three has major attachment disorder.
She'd count on his loyalty.
But for how long? We better make sure this kid gets put in the isolation wing at Rikers.
I'll issue the order.
You were cleared, Mike.
Anybody gives you any crap, they can talk to me.
The selection of what to take, the artwork That's where they need her.
They cased the house over the internet.
Maybe that's how they got her input.
Used their phone to take a picture, and then they e-mailed it to her.
And then she e-mails back, yea or nay? Yeah.
You know what? Maybe tech assist can trace the e-mails from one house to the other.
I'll get on it as soon as I get home.
What, you're going? Well, yeah.
Sleep, remember? Yeah, but you live all the way in Brooklyn.
My place is right down the street.
I'll take the couch.
I don't believe you got a couch that big.
Yeah, maybe not.
Forget it.
I will, Mike.
On account you're not in your right head.
Vodka, ice.
I've been watching you.
Your girlfriend dump you? My partner.
You're a cop.
I love cops.
Can you get a cab? The faster we go back to your place, the better.
Away we go.
You know what, honey? Let's do this another time, okay? I'm sorry.
It's called post-traumatic stress, Mike.
I'm so relieved it has a name.
If you're looking for the silver lining, you called me.
Ten years ago, you never would have done that.
Would have been better if he shot me.
What about your colleagues? Oh, yeah, they're all they're all very supportive.
You know? What do you want them to do? Take a swing at you? Is that why you tried to provoke your partner? I killed a cop.
Mike you have to accept it's possible to do all the right things and still get a bad result.
How? How do you accept that? With time, you learn to live with it.
Oh, time.
A support system.
Everybody needs one.
This time of night can't be good news.
He has an asthma condition nobody knew about.
He was brought in here.
He was waiting in the corridor.
Alone? Just for a moment.
He was cuffed to the bench.
He was stabbed seven times.
We'll find who did it.
We'll start with ex-foster kids.
She had this all worked out.
Now it's our fault that he's dead.
That vicious bitch.
Tech assist thinks they got a line on that e-mail traffic.
Technical Assistance Response Unit(TARU) Friday, April 14 Cell phone e-mails containing photo files leave a distinctive signature.
We found transmissions matching the dates and neighborhoods you supplied.
You have the photos? Sure, they were sent to an untraceable file-sharing account.
Mrs.
Watkins logged on, and then her fingers do the stealing.
What about the cell phone these pictures came from? All from the same no-name phone.
But as long as it's turned on, we can find it for you.
Anywhere in the city.
Yo! No littering.
Out of the car.
I said out of the car! You're under arrest, Floyd.
Get up.
Hands on your back.
Machetes-R-us.
Come on, Floyd, we know it was you and Antonio.
Just the two of you.
Yeah, Antonio was the chop-chop man.
And you picked out the goods.
We know it the same way we found you.
Your momma told us, after she turned Antonio in.
That's true, Floyd.
As a matter of fact, she's right behind this mirror watching you.
You could say something to her, if you want to.
It may be the last chance you'll have to talk to her.
With her statement and the machetes in your car, oh, man, you are cooked.
She's cutting you loose, Floyd.
Just like your real mother did.
Do you remember what that felt like? They're not gonna let her stay much longer.
No, wait! Wait up! Why'd you lie, momma? Why you put the weight on me? You know Carlos and Jimbo were there too.
How would she know that? 'Cause she sent us! She sent us to the houses.
Like the houses she always said we'd live in one day.
She told us to use machetes.
She said people see you with a machete, they listen up.
I did it for you, momma.
Why you throwing me away? Your brother gave you up, Carlos.
He fingered you for killing Mrs.
De Pinna.
And the little boy in the other house.
I ain't got nothing to say about his lies.
Better talk, Jimbo.
Your mother, your brothers.
They'll put it all on you.
Without either one of these two or corroborating evidence, Floyd's testimony won't get us far.
The machetes are clean.
They've never been used.
That leaves the mother of all mothers.
Well, don't get carried away.
It's not like you nursed those kids.
You don't know anything about a mother's love.
Or a child's.
A child'll say anything if he's scared.
Well "People see you with a machete, they listen up.
" That sounds like it came right out of your mouth.
People believe what they wanna believe if it conforms to what they learned in childhood at their mother's feet.
I learned that raising kids doesn't give you a free pass to sainthood.
Son, what did your mother do to you to make you so hateful of me? Lady, I'm probably the only person in this house who understands you.
Are you? I had one of those martyr mothers.
Big cross to bear.
Laid the guilt on like butter.
What's your cross? Had to bring up your brothers and sisters? Your husband dying young? Which one is it? Maybe you can convince me those big, scary boys threatened you into helping them.
I can't convince you of anything.
Your mind's made of cement.
You know something? I knew kids who grew up in foster homes, and they're survivors.
They can smell a good soul, and they can play her.
And do you think I'm a good soul? I think you try to be.
I have a lot of love to give.
Oh, you have a lot of love to take.
It's the love you didn't get.
It's the love you missed out on.
It's what you want from those kids, isn't it? You understand that about me? That's what makes you an easy mark for those kids.
I only ever wanted to be loved.
I even gave up my self-respect when I was young.
'Cause I thought I knew how to get love.
Everyone takes advantage of you.
You're a good man.
I want to help you.
I know I took away one of your sons.
I want to make it up to you.
You need to tell me what those boys forced you to participate in.
And I'm gonna go to bat for you.
- Just tell you? - Just tell me.
Those children came to me with nothing.
And you fed them, you enriched their lives.
And they paid you back by forcing you to commit crimes with them.
Foster care stopped giving me boys.
They have so many new rules.
I, I was going broke.
And my boys my caring boys they I forgive you.
What? Mother forgives you.
Can you forgive her? I'm sorry, it's not for me to forgive you.
You need to tell me what those boys coerced you into.
You can't forgive your own mother? It's the only way you can be happy.
Please.
Okay.
I forgive her.
You don't mean it.
You're just I mean it.
I've forgiven my mother.
Now Now? Nothing.
Lawyer.
When you feel ready to face your colleagues behind there, you know you tell them I want a lawyer.
Not guilty.
- Not guilty.
- Not guilty.
Not guilty.
Your honor, the people request a remand.
- Your honor - Machetes, counselor? I don't want to hear it.
Bail is denied.
The defendants are remanded.
Every day Carlos and Jimbo spend in prison, Chesley's hold on them gets weaker.
What's going on? What happened? What the hell happened? We were transferring him to the elevator on the sixth floor.
He got away from us.
He just launched himself through the window.
Her lawyer filed a motion to dismiss.
The other two are bound to follow suit.
With our witness gone, the motion will undoubtedly be granted.
Not by me.
Anything you need to put this woman back in jail let me know.
Well, where do you want to start? Witness statements or pawn shops? Officer Martinez.
Wasn't he the first patrolman on the scene at the Tarkman shooting? Yeah, he helped me put Tarkman in the car.
Internal affairs wants to talk to me about him.
Said to bring my CEA rep with me.