Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001) s06e13 Episode Script

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.
¢Ü "Under Pressure" by Queen and David Bowie ¢Ü Gentlemen! Aim! Fire! You can get up now, judge.
Judge? You guys stay right here until I come back.
Do not move.
Police.
Stand back.
Oh, no, please God! He's gone.
/ No.
Tommy! Tommy, no! Law & Order CI Judge Thomas Layton was re-enacting the Hamilton-Burr duel.
Has anybody left the island? No one, not even my boys.
Your boys? Are they okay? Considering.
I put them to work collecting camcorders from the crowd.
Is that Maureen Pagolis with them? The former state senator herself.
The man in blue is her husband, George, the former embezzler.
He played Burr.
So the entry wound is through his back.
How many gunshots did you hear? Just two, from the pistols.
Well, if there had been a boat, you would've seen it or heard it.
So that means that the kill shot came from over there? Cross the river? That was to be a mile away.
Hell of a shot.
Why would he be wearing a bulletproof vest to a re-enactment? I don't know, but if a bullet came across the East river and pierced armor, this is a military hit.
It's crazy, huh? My wife makes me do this duel thing, and then Tommy gets shot for real.
You knew the judge.
Well, 15 years.
Maureen went to work for him when she got out of Yale.
Tommy was my mentor and first boss.
He's the reason I got into public service.
I'm Maureen Pagolis.
You spoke at my academy graduation ceremony.
So what happened here? Was one of the pistols loaded with real ammunition? Maureen, he got shot in the back, huh? I knew the second he fell it wasn't the way we rehearsed it.
- You rehearsed this? - Yeah, last Sunday.
It's history, right? Can't fake it.
Got it.
What the hell is that? This is business end of the new The whole bullet's four inches long.
It looks like a little missile.
There's only one gun in the world that shoots it.
Cheytac long range sniper rifle.
Give me 20 minutes, I'll tell you where it was fired from.
Whoa.
It's windy up here.
The Cheytac comes with its own handheld weather station, a wrist computer to measure the slant angle, and a separate ballistic computer.
It corrects for wind, air temp, and spin of the earth.
Piece of cake.
For maybe five or six guys on the eastern seaboard.
Your guy's a pro.
He would need a smart nest to snipe from.
This is sheltered from the other buildings.
How big is this gun? Well, it's designed for easy infiltration, so he could've carried it in a large case, assembled it up here, easy teardown afterwards.
This gun is not a shoulder mount.
He probably used a bi-pod.
These scratch marks could be from the recoil.
Took the shell casing with him.
- Shells come out hot? - Very.
To the right of the weapon.
Our shooter was here.
A duel re-enactment gone bad involving scandal-plagued George Pagolis, bad boy husband of Maureen Pagolis, is seen as yet another blow to her political career.
Not only was George previously indicted for embezzlement and perjury, he's been a material witness in connection with several mob investigations.
The tabloid press has caught him time and time again flagrantly escorting young lovelies around town.
No politician in New York has done more work for women than Maureen Pagolis.
The, um, shelters, the childcare programs.
She's been absolutely amazing.
She's done a ton of fund-raising for battered women.
I mean, I just don't understand why people have to judge her personal life based on what her husband does.
Which has absolutely nothing to do with all of her good work.
Sister, I am begging you.
Would you drop the dead weight already? A woman politician taking the fall for her corrupt husband.
You never see it go the other way.
You look up to her, don't you? Very much.
Word to the wise.
Don't let that get in the way of your investigation.
Right after you two left Governors island, a private boat pulls up.
Turns out Pagolis called his chauffer.
Didn't want to wait for the ferry.
Maureen Pagolis went along with that? She's not the type to pull rank.
She didn't.
She stayed with the judge's body till it was moved.
She called his family, thanked every officer individually.
And then cried on cue for the TV news.
You sound cynical about Mrs.
Pagolis.
Well, she is angling to be the city's first woman mayor.
She was also a very good friend of the judge.
So she should know why he was wearing a vest.
She didn't, but the US attorney's office did.
A prison wire tap picked up a threat on judge Layton's life late last week.
He turned down a security detail, but agreed to the vest.
So the threat you picked up against judge Layton wasn't viable? No, some wannabe Goomba knew we were wire tapping him, so he made some death threats just to jerk us around.
You didn't get a chance to tell the judge.
Well, we tried to contact the judge this afternoon to tell them to take the vest off.
He'd already been shot.
If you're looking for suspects, the US attorney's office betting pool is six to one, George Pagolis.
How come Maureen stays married to Pagolis no matter how many times he cheats on her, or he gets indicted? Like my mother would say, you know, if she stays in it, she must be getting something out of it.
Maybe Maureen's loyal to a fault.
Or maybe she depends on his construction company to finance her campaigns.
Well, he may have financed her first campaigns, he sabotaged her last ones.
His timing's impeccable.
The minute she announced for senate, the story of his love nest is all over the papers.
When she was up for that cabinet post, he went down for embezzlement.
What? Impeccable timing.
How did the sniper know when to pull the trigger from so far away? - Okay, what am I missing? - Well, the shooter, he'd want to time his shot exactly with the duel, so he would enlist the duel master.
You see? He's signaling.
Now, that little salute, in American sign language, that means "gentlemen.
" Then, see, he points.
That's "aim.
" And then - "fire.
" - Why bother? Why not just shoot him the first time he had a clear shot? A guy that can pin a shot like this, he's like a a Swiss watchmaker.
He'd not only want to accurate, he'd want to be elegant.
Thank you.
You okay, Mrs.
P? I'm a wreck, Dave-O.
No problem.
You just hang in there.
What, you gotta talk to everybody? It's a funeral service, not a fund-raiser.
Where to? Home.
The cemetery.
Maureen, you've done enough.
You gave a beautiful eulogy.
Tommy's gone! I make these.
Nitrated paper blanks.
They're ignited by the powder, so we, uh, get a big bang, lots of smoke.
And the hand signals? "Gentlemen, aim, fire.
" That got you a really big bang.
No.
No! You signaled someone, Mr.
Few.
I'm sorry.
I try to remember not to sign, but sometimes when I'm nervous I can't help it.
My wife's deaf.
We've been married for 30 years, so I talk with my hands, yes.
So you weren't signaling the shooter? No! Of course not.
Did you think No.
This blue jacket here is out of place.
I know, I know.
Before Mr.
Pagolis and the judge traded costumes, we tried to find the judge a larger size.
It wouldn't button.
My son brought it back.
He doesn't care where they go.
They traded costumes when? For the rehearsal, the judge played Burr.
But come the duel, he's wearing a bulletproof vest.
His blue jacket is too tight.
We tried this one, and then George says, "look, let's just switch.
I'll be Burr.
" Pagolis was supposed to wear the gray.
Yeah, he got shot in rehearsal, but judge Layton got Oh, dear.
So you think Best shot of the killer's life and he hit the wrong guy.
The duel master was telling the truth.
His wife has been deaf since her teens.
So the sniper took his own cue aiming for the man in gray.
George Pagolis.
He has to suspect the hit was meant for him.
And somehow, he forgot to mention that to us.
Excuse us.
Uh, we're here to see George Pagolis.
Mr.
Pagolis is in session.
Send him in, Manny.
Detective.
Uh, we can come back.
Oh, sorry, didn't know you brought your partner with.
Throw a towel on me, will you? What can I do for you? We found out about your last minute costume change.
We wondered why you forgot to mention it to us.
Didn't seem important.
The guy in gray got shot.
Didn't seem like an important detail? Do you think this hit was meant for you? You ever heard of Joe E.
Lewis? Al Capone's favorite comedian.
Al loved him.
But one night, this other thug's gal got, um, offended by a joke.
Lewis winds up with his throat slashed ear to ear.
He's tough.
He lives.
The next day he tells a cop, "I cut myself shaving.
" He ended up opening for Sinatra.
Do you know anyone who might want you dead, Mr.
Pagolis? Yeah, I do.
Next question? Yamiko, good to see you, sweetie.
I want to make sure you get all the chalk off this time.
Good-bye.
You get the feeling there's a long list of people who'd want this jerk dead? No one keeps better track of their enemies than a politician.
Look, if Pagolis won't talk to us, maybe his wife will.
Women politicians have a hard time in terms of husbands.
If they have one, that means that they're accused of not being there for their family.
She's an inspiration for all women, you know, in this country.
And she doesn't need that guy on her side.
She doesn't need to put up with all the bad things.
Judge Layton fought tirelessly to protect women from abuse, at home and in the workplace.
So while I am grieving today, I am also rededicating myself to that struggle, as I hope you all will.
Thank you.
Yes, my husband is in construction, but that doesn't mean that he's mobbed up or that someone has put a hit on him.
Mrs.
Pagolis, your husband's extracurricular activities could have made him a target.
We need to know what you know.
Detective my husband is a human being.
Our marriage has ups and downs like any other.
The only difference is that our life is played out on the front pages of the newspapers.
Makes the two of you easy targets.
You know, the embezzlement, the rumor about the affairs.
I've read all the smears.
But our three boys need their father.
If I thought for a moment that he was in danger, believe me, I would tell you.
Now, I'm sorry.
If you'll excuse me, I really need to get back to these young attorneys.
She keeps her mask on.
Well, she doesn't know who to trust, between her husband and the press.
She probably can't trust her own staff.
Mrs.
Pagolis, she'll be up there for a while.
Every event, she talks to everybody.
Won't say no.
So she keeps you waiting? I don't mind.
She's doing her job.
I do mine.
Mr.
Pagolis keep you waiting too? On occasion.
Must be complicated, huh? I mean, you know, driving two people, two separate lives.
- I get paid.
- By Mr.
Pagolis.
That's right.
I get paid to drive and to keep my mouth shut.
Puts you in a tough position when Mrs.
Pagolis asks you where her husband's been.
She's too classy to ask.
But she's smart.
She knows.
She tells me where she wants to go.
I take her there.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna wait in the car.
Mr.
Oldren, you probably noticed that we have a tail on Mr.
Pagolis.
It's only a matter of time.
Fine, then.
Tell your guy to stick close.
It's Wednesday night.
Mr.
Pagolis he's a creature of habit.
You got plans for the night? You know she's got everybody convinced she's saving the world.
I gotta tell you, it's pleasure to spend time with somebody who's making calls and raising money for social injustice in the middle of dinner, you know? Excuse me.
Okay, sweetheart.
It's about time.
Yeah? George and I, we're just good friends.
Who dine till midnight.
You ever pick up your friend's check? George would never let me.
He's a gentleman.
You have any more questions, you can call my husband.
He's an attorney.
Where is he tonight? Working.
Like Maureen.
George and I have a lot in common.
Does your wife mind you having so many you know, beautiful, female friends? My wife's booked 8 nights a week.
You know, she's got town hall meetings, fund-raisers, benefits.
In fact, she's having an award given to her tonight in DC, you know.
I guess you either understand it or you resent it.
Me? Well, let's just say I hate to eat alone.
Tell Silvio the veal was, out of this world tonight.
Yes, sir, Mr.
Pagolis.
Would we be having this discussion if she was a male politician? I don't think so.
We wouldn't be talking about her husband and her kids.
She's got class and style and she fights for the city.
I'd vote for her.
But I don't like her husband being that close to the city's money.
Maureen.
Were you expecting someone else? No, I thought you were in DC.
Where is she? She's in your head, Maureen.
Yeah, stop it.
Come on, Mau, man's gonna be a man, right? His wife's away, he's gonna go someplace else.
But now if the wife comes home Oh, no, you don't lay a finger on me.
- Where'd the boys go? - They went to a Knicks game.
I had five tickets.
We could've gone as a family, but Oh, please.
I have wanted to be your wife, but you couldn't quit, could you? Not the women, not the bribery, none of it.
If you ever even think about getting a divorce, every single check that's ever been written to you is gonna get looked at.
You'd be in a nursing home before the investigation's over.
I haven't done anything illegal.
You don't know the half of what you've done.
Did you have anything to do with Tommy's dying? That's funny, see, 'cause I thought maybe it was you who put the hit out on me.
I've certainly wanted you dead, George.
But it's not a crime to want someone dead.
- Oh, you little spitfire! - Let me go! - Oh, baby! - I told you to let me go! - Baby! - I am not kidding you! Perfect.
Thank you.
All right.
How great to meet all you wonderful gals! You're just beautiful and talented.
Bye-bye.
Thanks for being here.
Thank you.
- Bye-bye! - Bye! Mrs.
Pagolis.
Detectives, I have a court date on behalf of a women's shelter.
We only need a minute.
It's about your husband.
Yes.
He told that you've been stalking him.
We're detectives.
We don't stalk.
Do you still think that he was the target? We're not sure.
That far away, the shooter had to be told, "get the guy in gray.
" So if the hit was meant for the judge, then somebody told the sniper about the costume change, and the only people who knew about the costume The judge and my husband.
But why would George do that? There was no tension between the judge and my husband, okay? Now, if you'll excuse me.
Her husband may be trying to pull her into the gutter, but Maureen Pagolis went out and put on her game face today at the opening of a new community center.
While she's at it, she should write a book.
"When bad men happen to good women.
" NYPD, wake up.
If this man isn't guilty, well, then Macy's doesn't sell pantyhose.
I don't understand.
This guy just shows up and says he was approached to kill the judge? Goren's in with him.
Guy's on parole for gun possession.
So he wanted to get out in front of this.
Smart move.
- Special forces? - No.
Okay, black OPs? Commercial assassin? I told you "no" already.
And yet you were approached to shoot a target at a distance of a mile and half from the rooftop of a building 60 stories.
We didn't get that far.
I was just asked, did I have an interest in taking care of a judge? You remember who asked you? Black man in a black suit handed me an envelope with a typed "job offer".
And this guy got your name from the phone book.
I don't know.
I got a record, I admit, but I've never killed anybody.
So you told him you weren't interested.
Kill a judge? I might be reckless.
I'm not stupid.
This man in the suit, the one who approached you, you remember anything about him? I never met him before.
He drove a nice car, though.
A Mercedes.
Had a neat bronze medallion mounted on the back.
How neat? New York state assembly.
We know you've been driving the Pagolises for years.
Ever make any deliveries for them? I drop off a lot of stuff for Mr.
Pagolis.
He gives me an envelope.
I take it where he tells me to take it.
Sometimes I wait for an answer.
We've looked into your background.
We know you're not in the service.
But you've got a half-brother.
He was in the special forces.
I bet he'd know some super snipers.
I just drop off packages and drive the car.
The "see no evil, hear no evil" isn't gonna cut it, Dave.
You don't cooperate, you're look at conspiracy to commit murder.
Your friend, George Pagolis.
How come everybody ends up taking a bullet that was meant for him? Last chance.
I handed envelopes to 3 guys.
Two of them sent the envelopes back.
The third, I made a return trip.
This time with a thick, heavy envelope.
Address? I better go.
He's been garroted with some type of wire.
And he is out of rigor.
No sign of the murder weapon.
Start a canvass.
See if anybody saw or heard anything.
Looks like our sniper's name is Steve Gilteri.
- He likes mysteries.
- Now he gets to be in one.
You find something? These plants Soil's moist on a radiator cover? Ballistics match.
The bullet that killed judge Layton was fired from the sniper's Cheytech.
No prints on it.
- He was a pro.
- Seems like it.
CSU found 20 grand cash inside his computer printer.
And let me guess.
His no-name cell phone only had calls logged on it to other no-name cell phones.
No, the killer must've taken it.
But the phone in his apartment, the LUDs showed two calls to George Pagolis early yesterday morning.
Anything else link him to Pagolis? The money we recovered had traces of blue carpenter's chalk.
We've seen the same chalk on Pagolis' fingers.
When, when is he coming in for questions? We're working that out.
They're bringing Mrs.
Pagolis up here now.
I understand your theory.
I just still don't believe that my husband could be involved with this.
That was the district attorney.
Evidently, you had already spoken with him.
Yes, I sought his advice.
He's worried any action we take might appear to be politically motivated.
Mr.
Pagolis will be processed quietly.
No press, no cameras, no holding cell.
Thank you.
I appreciate that.
I'll coordinate our arrival time with your detectives.
There's no reason for you to be with him.
His lawyer can walk him through it.
No, I need to be there.
Why? 'cause he's my husband.
Thank you.
Hey, look, there they are.
Those sons of bitches.
They gave me their word.
We'll go around back.
No, we're getting out here.
In front of these bastards? Please, go.
We're fine, Dave-O.
Maureen, I invited these people.
You what? Are you out of your mind? No, I don't go through back doors.
I want the handcuffs.
If I'm the perp, I want the perp walk.
Come on, honey.
It's showtime.
Don't you remember? Stand by your man, huh? See? Isn't this more fun? Can you empty your pockets, sir? What's this? It's a chalk snap line.
Use it to make a straight line.
It's not gonna set a metal detector off.
It's plastic and string and chalk.
Hit it again? - May I? - What the hell? Detective, this is harassment.
This is heavy gauge piano wire.
That's not something you get at Home Depot.
It's a good thing you found that.
That could kill somebody.
I didn't hire the sniper.
I didn't kill the sniper.
Killing is not my thing.
What is your thing, Mr.
Pagolis? Well, French food, Nordic women, German cars.
State of the art guns.
with high-gauge garrote wire.
The blood and skin samples on your chalk line match the sniper's.
How did it end up in your pocket? I'm in construction.
I usually carry a chalk line with me.
Obviously, somebody planted this one on me instead of mine.
- Somebody - Somebody at work.
The coat check girl at the club.
I don't know, whoever wanted to frame me for this.
I don't know your dead guy from Adam.
Then how come he called you the morning he was killed? I never spoke to him.
If you don't believe me, why don't you check out the tapes? I'm sorry.
Tapes? The tapes.
My wife's got my whole life bugged.
You don't know this? I don't even know when it started.
She's got my office bugged.
The house, the car.
She's probably listening in on us right now.
I mean, the point is, if I has spoken to the sniper, it would be on the tapes.
So why don't you listen to them, get back to me, hmm? Can you give us a minute? She can wire their home, but if she taped anywhere else, she broke the law.
Which means she probably won't own up to having them.
Well, tell her if she doesn't, then we'll subpoena them, and we'll leak it to the press.
So Pagolis kills a judge out of jealousy, and we persecute her for taping him? Something like that.
I'll speak to Mrs.
Pagolis about those tapes.
In the meantime, we have more than enough to hold him.
Maybe a little too much.
Using his own phone to make a hit.
The murder weapon in his coat.
It's tapes which we won't have until morning.
Maisy.
She was on coat check Wednesday night.
She should be in soon, um While you're waiting, can I get you folks something? I'll have a Glenlivet.
Eames.
- Okay, got it.
- Just one second.
Uh, vodka martini double, easy on the vermouth.
Yes, ma'am.
That was the captain.
He threatened to go public, and she caved on the tapes.
You happy now? I want Pagolis to go down, but not if he didn't do it.
Either way, she'll go down now.
You know this'll leak out.
Her career's ruined.
Well, then she shouldn't have bugged him.
She should've left him.
Are we all right? I hope so.
Here we go.
Thank you.
I think those tapes are gonna clear Pagolis.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have brought it up.
He knows who did this, and it wasn't him.
He checks the girl's.
Or, I mean, whoever he came in with.
The man has to wear an overcoat sometime.
I asked him about it once.
He said that's why he has a car, so he has a safe place to leave his coat.
All right, so Dave-O watches his coat, and George wanted us to know that.
Good night.
So we're clear.
They're gonna be standing there just like that? Yes, so you don't worry about who's where.
Just get the guy in gray.
Come on, Dave-O, Chop-chop.
We gotta go.
Yes, sir, Mr.
Pagolis.
Gotta go.
Don't know him.
Sorry.
Steve Gilteri.
He was in the special forces with your half-brother.
Well, maybe I met him some time.
What the hell happened to him? We've got it all on tape.
- Come again? - Mrs.
P bugged your boss.
Every conversation you've had in the car was handed over to us this morning.
That pen of yours has a bug in it, too.
But Mr.
Pagolis gave me that pen.
Yeah, once he found out that she was taping him, he passed the bugs around.
You know, for fun.
We already know you called the sniper, and that he had the rifle from a warehouse theft.
And that's just the first couple of tapes.
You caught a tough break when the judge was killed.
I guess you decided to frame Pagolis for the murders.
That would be your way of getting rid of him.
You got me.
I did it.
I hired Steve.
He shot the judge.
And then I killed him.
Want me to sign something? Uh, yeah.
Uh, why did you do it? I like Mrs.
Pagolis.
I want her to have a chance.
I wanted that cheating, lying, scumbag of a husband out of her life so she could be free.
I don't know what he had on her, but who was just like my mother.
She was never gonna get away.
Yeah, I guess, uh, it was like a rescue operation? It was a rescue operation.
Did Maureen know about your plan? No, ma'am.
She'd have tried to stop me.
He wanted her to fail.
Every chance he had, he pulled some stunt to get her smeared in the press.
You really got his whole life on tape? That's good.
He's gotta go down for something.
This guy, he's, he's got his own code.
Okay, that's a confession.
Now his fate is up to a judge.
And Maureen? What's the DA's verdict? She'll be charged with illegal wire tapping, and unless we find something on the tapes, her husband skates.
Why am I not surprised? Eames, if Dave-O's still protecting her, we can't assume Maureen wasn't involved.
You should go to her.
See if she can fill in any gaps about Dave-O.
Please come in.
Would you like coffee? Oh, uh, no, thank you.
My husband called to tell me about Dave-O.
He couldn't wait to tell me that my loyal driver had killed my best friend.
The tapes.
You knew they were against the law.
I don't understand The judge told me not to do it.
He said it would be trouble.
But I had to know.
Didn't you know already? I needed proof.
And even when I had it, he could lie to me and I'd still believe him.
That's why you kept on taping.
You never stopped listening.
For a while, yes, I did.
Until he started the new affair.
I could tell when I went to the club and the maitre d' would pretend he hadn't seen George there the night before.
And you started listening again.
I thought that maybe I could divorce him now.
Maybe the boys were old enough to understand.
It was awful listening to the tapes.
I think that he told her things just to hurt me 'cause he knew that I was listening.
We weren't like this in the beginning.
We had parties.
We had friends.
So that was is that all that you heard? About the affair? I'm sorry.
That pen.
I gave that to my husband.
And he gave it to Dave-O.
Who had it with him all the time.
Even while hiring the sniper, while watching the rehearsal with the sniper.
While telling the sniper to kill the guy in gray.
Now, you heard him, didn't you? You heard Dave-O arranging to kill your husband, didn't you? Yes.
On the tapes.
I heard that.
- What did you do? - I didn't know what to do.
I thought of canceling the duel.
Telling my husband, telling the judge, confronting Dave-O, telling the police.
But you didn't do any of those things.
No.
I just decided to let the father of my children, this horrible man just die.
I didn't know about them changing rules until they came out for the duel.
Why didn't you do anything? I didn't know what to do! I couldn't think! If I rushed out there and stopped the duel, I would have to say that there was a plot to kill my husband.
I couldn't move.
Could not move.
I was so busy trying to think of some way not to implicate myself.
And all I kept thinking about was "he could miss.
Please, God.
" "No one could make a shot like that.
" And then the pistols fired and the judge fell forward.
And it was done.
And I think that I screamed but I and I am so sorry.
I'll go with you while you get dressed.
It's fine.
I'm okay.