Law & Order (1990) s09e24 Episode Script
Refuge (2)
NARRATOR: In the criminal justice system the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups, the police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders.
These are their stories.
DINELLl: We saw Miss Ricci go into the building.
She left the blinkers on on her BMW.
We recognized her from the other time she'd been here.
Then just after that, this white guy rolls up on a red mountain bike.
What'd the guy look like? Mid-20s, half-assed beard, short hair.
He seemed a little hinky, but not a hitter.
Did you brace him before he went in? No.
Why not? When the kid moved in two months ago, we braced everybody that came in here.
Then the tenants squawked, so word came down to back off.
Okay, so this bicyclist goes in.
What else? Must have been a minute later, these two Hispanics, young couple, clean cut, they're holding hands, you know, laughing.
They go in.
Then the bicycle guy comes back out maybe five minutes after that.
That was it.
Until we got concerned because Miss Ricci was taking so long.
And the Hispanic lovebirds, you see them go out? No.
I swear, we were expecting a couple of Russian hitters.
They're upstairs.
Looks like Ricci caught it when she opened the door to leave.
How many assailants? CURTIS: One guy could've done this.
He cut Ricci's throat, then the mother's, then the boy.
Hospital says he'll make it.
Excuse me.
Miss Ricci have family? I think just her parents in Queens.
Get me their number.
Safe house.
None of the tenants have vouched for the bicycle guy or the Spanish kids.
Couple of people weren't home.
We left cards.
What did the M.
E.
Say? Same knife used on all of 'em? CURTIS: Same kind of knife.
The only difference between the three was the force of the cut.
On Ricci and Mrs.
Woodson it was deep, right through the jugular and the carotid.
On the boy, the cut missed the jugular, just nicked the carotid.
I want to know how this disaster happened.
Best guess, Ricci was followed from work.
Why wasn't a police officer stationed in the apartment? In a one-bedroom? That would have been cozy.
We tried putting someone downstairs in the vestibule, but the tenants complained.
Lieutenant, I don't have to tell you No, you don't.
We're treating this like Ricci was one of our own.
What are you going to do about this retrial? I don't know.
Ricci left the office around 8:00.
Check if the surveillance cameras around the D.
A.
's building picked up anything.
Rey, there's a Mr.
Gales on the phone from the murder building.
You left your card on his door.
What kind of people would do that to a little kid? I got a boy around the same age, lives with my ex.
If anything like that would happen We're trying to identify a few people who were seen entering the building just before the attack.
What time did you leave? Just around 8:30.
There was a Latino couple.
Late teens, early 20s, clean-cut.
You ever see them in the building before? Doesn't sound familiar.
How about a white guy, mid-20s, scruffy beard, rides a mountain bike.
Red bike? Yeah, red.
That's my neighbor's connection.
As in dope connection? His weekly delivery.
Like in 1-800 reefer.
This connection, you happen to know where we can find him? Yo, Jay Jay.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
What's in here, huh? Today's deliveries, fresh from the oven? Hey, come on, man, it's just a little reefer.
You know, some peace weed.
Since when are you guys sweating this stuff? Hey, we're rousting you because of a delivery you made a couple of nights ago on West 97th.
A yuppie on the third floor? Let's say I did.
Three people were attacked in an apartment on the second floor.
Well, that's not my style.
Yeah, we figured that, but your eyes and your ears look pretty healthy.
All I seen was a couple of people making out on the stairs.
Where? Between the first and second floor.
I was on my way down.
They were like Ricans, a couple of Latinos.
You ever seen them in the neighborhood? No, just that night, when I rode up to the building.
They were getting out of a cab.
They took a cab? (STUTTERING) No, the guy, I think he was driving it.
I don't suppose you remember the medallion number.
Do you recognize them? Yeah, sure.
Good, 'cause we have some tape we want to show you.
DR.
SHIMO: The muscle tissue is affected.
I wired his jaw shut to keep the area stable.
He's on intravenous feeding for at least a week.
I told his aunt she could take him home in about 10 days.
How long till he's back to normal? At his age, they heal pretty quick.
The bruising and swelling should disappear in about three weeks.
For normal activities, I'd give it another month.
Thank you, Doctor.
So what do we tell Judge Taylor? Can we have the tape of the parking lot? Now, this was taken a couple of hours before the murders.
Shout if you recognize anyone.
You can speed it up a little.
It's how I like to watch videos.
Whoa.
Right there.
CURTIS: Move in.
Yeah, that looks like the girl.
You sure? Yeah.
I remember the bag.
Put up the tape of Hayes' place.
Hold it.
Now, go in on the driver.
That's her Romeo.
And that's his medallion number.
JACK: He's been gravely injured, his mother's been killed.
I don't think it's fair or even appropriate to subject him to another turn in the witness stand.
MANNING: The boy is the People's whole case.
I don't see how they can proceed without him.
JACK: CPL 670.
10.
His prior testimony can be used in the new trial.
Not if the witness is available.
The boy hasn't fled the jurisdiction.
He's not dead.
He's not dead because whoever your clients hired didn't sink the blade deep enough into his throat.
Your Honor, I didn't come here to listen to this crap.
JACK: Your Honor, we're looking at the same parties in both trials, the same issues.
Billy Woodson's prior testimony is admissible.
MANNING: You're omitting a crucial factor.
The boy wasn't sworn in.
People v.
Fleury.
Prior testimony has to be quote, "Hallowed by oath.
" Your Honor determined that the boy was too young to understand the significance of giving an oath.
You waived it.
Fleury doesn't care why the oath wasn't given.
Mr.
McCoy, I'm in a bind here.
I can't admit the prior testimony.
When the boy recovers, you'll have to put him on the stand.
I can't put him through this again.
I won't be presenting this witness at trial.
Your Honor, I'm moving to dismiss.
JUDGE TAYLOR: Mr.
McCoy, you're absolutely sure? Yes.
Very well, then.
On the strength of the remaining evidence, I find insufficient basis to sustain the top count of the indictment, Murder in the Second Degree.
The defense motion to dismiss is granted.
Defendant Tolstonog will be held for deportation.
I don't know where Gabriel is.
He's driving a cab.
That's why we need to talk to him.
(BABY CRYING) He ever lend it to anybody? No, I don't know.
Look, I don't got time to talk to you! Hey, did you ever see him with either of these two people? She don't hardly see Gabriel, except to make another stupid baby.
(BOTH ARGUING IN SPANISH) Hey, hey, hey.
Did Gabriel mess with you? Is that why you don't like him? I take care of myself.
I don't like him 'cause she lets him beat her when she's all pregnant like that.
Well, you show us where he is, we'll make sure he doesn't mess with your sister again, all right? (BABY CONTINUES CRYING) (SOFT MUSIC PLAYING) That's Gabriel in the red jacket.
BRISCOE: And that's the cabbie from the video.
(SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY) (DOG BARKING) OFFICER: Against the wall.
Ari! Ari! (GROANING) Rey! (GRUNTING) You move, you die, understand? This was in his pocket.
His and hers.
Wonder if they come with matching bathrobes.
Leo Zamora, Aricella Santos.
Latent got a pop on their fingerprints from a murder in Dade County six months ago.
Oh, the Sunshine State.
Have knives, will travel.
It's a little more complicated than that.
The victim was a confidential informant against the Cali drug cartel.
The Miami police are convinced the murder was ordered by the Colombians.
They're sure these two worked for the Colombians? Yes.
Miami says they have a history as drug couriers along the l-95 corridor.
Any chance they'd freelance the killings here for the Russians? Well, everyone I talked to in Miami and at OCCB thinks that's unlikely.
The Colombians stick together.
There's only one conclusion to draw.
The Russians are in bed with the Colombians.
Remember what Ricci said? The Russians'll do business with anybody.
It's the worst possible scenario.
GABRIEL: Leo knows my cousin in Miami.
They come here, they don't know nobody, they look me up.
That's all.
And you rent him your cab, even though he doesn't have a hack license? I gotta pay $1,600 a month for the medallion, okay? I can't drive every shift.
I gotta put the car to work.
You ever meet any of Leo's friends? You know, guys who have a little juice? No, he don't know nobody.
You lying piece of crap.
You're an accessory to two murders, to the attempted murder of a 10-year-old boy.
Now, your life is lying on that table and you have the audacity to lie to us? You better get your brain in gear, man! Okay, okay.
Look, look, there's one guy, a Colombian, all right? Leo and I, we pick him up at the Galleria about a month ago, okay? We drove him to the FedEx office downtown, and he picks up two boxes, and then we drove him to a bank.
What bank? I don't remember.
In midtown.
The guy goes inside with the boxes, and then we drop him off at the Galleria.
What's the guy's name? Omar.
(SPORTS COMMENTARY ON TV) I can't believe this crap.
They just gave Yepes a red card.
Well, I was asking you about your friend, Leo Zamora.
I don't know him.
He say he knows me? (TURNS OFF TV) He and a friend picked you up in a cab about a month ago.
I take a cab, I sit in the back.
I don't talk to the drivers.
You picked up a package from a FedEx office.
You took it to a bank.
Not me.
The description fits.
You stand in a lineup, we'll know for sure.
I give you my lawyer's number.
You talk to him about a lineup.
Fine.
Now, we checked out your resident visa, Mr.
Pinella.
It says you're in the agro business? Yeah.
I sell sugar cane in Colombia.
(SPEAKING SPANISH) (SPEAKING SPANISH) My lawyer's number.
No, never seen either one with Mr.
Pinella.
Well, what about these two? They're Russians.
No.
You ever see Mr.
Pinella with anybody? He's hardly here.
He travels a lot.
Hi, George.
Thanks.
Business traveler, huh? What kind of business? Something to do with moving money.
You know, foreign exchange.
Seems to know a lot about it.
He tell you that? One time, I took him upstairs 'cause he lost his keys.
We talked about that Swiss plane that crashed.
They found $100 bills floating on the water from the shipment it was carrying.
Yeah.
What'd Mr.
Pinella say about that? Said that was pocket change.
Here you go.
He knew planes that carried a thousand times more money every day.
What planes? He said flight number 40 ever goes down in the ocean, I should grab a boat and start rowing.
Flight 40 is a daily flight from JFK to Moscow.
Now, if you believe what Pinella told his doorman, it's loaded with money most any day of the week.
Drug money? I doubt if it's from selling sugar cane.
Sounds like the Colombians are sending their drug profits to Russia to be laundered.
Well, how are they getting it on the planes? In suitcases? Be an awful lot of suitcases.
Or it could all be talk.
You check with the airline? We tried.
Company policy not to discuss currency shipments on their flights.
They will, once they're looking at a search warrant.
Your manifest says you have 2,000 pounds of U.
S.
Currency onboard.
We want to see it.
We're already boarding the passengers.
Search warrant, Mr.
Grouse.
That means from cockpit to stewardesses.
Open this one.
What are we supposed to tell the passengers? Hey, you're the guys with the million excuses.
That's it.
Who are you? William Cross.
I'm a courier for Gramercy Savings.
I'm accompanying this currency shipment to Moscow.
Is there a problem? You mind opening one of these bags? They have a search warrant.
These are brand new.
Uncirculated.
How much is in there? $105 million.
BRISCOE: Of whose money? Look, Detectives, this is a completely legitimate transaction.
I have all the required customs documents.
I have the bill of transfer signed by the president of my bank.
Carlton Radford? That's him? Yes.
His family owns the bank.
Well, we're gonna have to check these out.
Meantime, the money stays here.
Yes, this is my signature.
It's a routine currency purchase between financial institutions.
$100 million is routine? We ship that much four or five times a week.
Who to? Russian banks.
They order the currency from us on behalf of their clients.
We buy it from the Federal Reserve.
Who pays for it? The money is wired to us from a number of overseas banks.
And no questions asked, right? Look, fellas, the New York State Department of Banking knows what we're doing.
Now, if you'll excuse me, my wife will kill me if I don't get back to our guests.
You'll see that the shipment is released? That'll be up to the D.
A.
, Mr.
Radford.
Our apologies to your wife.
The Federal Reserve just sells the currency to Gramercy Savings, Mr.
McCoy.
Who they sell it to isn't our responsibility.
You're not concerned you might unwittingly be part of a money laundering operation? Gramercy Savings has compliance officers who make sure they're not doing business with criminals.
As long as they give us the thumbs-up I heard the Fed gets four cents on every $100 bill Gramercy Savings ships to Russia.
Is that right? Thank you, Mr.
Kozinsky.
(DOOR OPENS) (DOOR CLOSING) How close are we on the Ricci murder? Trail ends with the slice-and-dice kids.
Will they talk? No.
They're still facing a capital charge for the murder in Miami.
No matter how good a deal we offer them we can't make that go away.
(SIGHING) This case started with a single murder committed to gain control of a Russian bank.
To launder dirty money.
It's all about the money.
We connect Volsky, Maletkov, Pinella to those bags at JFK, we can get them for everything.
A RICO case.
Let's get started.
(MAN CHATTERING OVER PA) What is all this? This is a restraining order freezing all shipments of U.
S.
Currency from your bank to any foreign country.
Of all the high-handed bull.
Yeah, we get that a lot.
Konstantin Volsky, we're friendly movers from the NYPD.
We're executing a search warrant for bank statements, pass books, certificates of deposit, Eurodollar accounts, traveler's checks, wire transfer records reflecting deposits, withdrawals and exchange of funds at any bank or financial institution in or out of the United States.
In other words, everything except the family snapshot and the rubber in your wallet.
I've only had a couple of days to go through these, but so far it appears that over the last year, a dozen Russian banks have purchased nearly $15 billion in U.
S.
Bank notes from Gramercy Savings.
Well, how are these bank notes being paid for? From accounts held by Russian banks in London, Nice, the Bahamas, Mexico, you name it.
So somebody like Omar Pinella drops a million bucks of drug money into one of these accounts, calls up Moscow, and the next thing you know, there's a canvas bag full of 100s jetting out of JFK.
Well, multiply that by 100, and that's pretty much how it works.
And Gramercy Savings is the last stop in the spin cycle.
Would people like Volsky and Pinella have any contact with them? No, wouldn't need to.
That's what the Russian banks are there for.
Like they say, why rob a bank when you can own one? (ALARM BEEPING) Bomb in the basement.
Everybody out.
Come on, move.
You owe your maintenance man an extra round on Friday.
He was in the basement chasing rats when he found it strapped to the heating oil tank.
Half a pound of Centex and enough magnesium thermite to ignite the oil.
Hello, Oklahoma City.
What time was it set for? Well, I wasn't planning to stay late anyway.
I was.
Same device was used on a police station in central Russia a couple of months ago.
That one went off.
Killed nearly I think we hit a nerve.
So did they.
The lab's drawing a blank on the device.
None of it's traceable.
No prints, no return address.
In the meantime, we're beefing up security, reviewing procedures.
Sounds like a good idea.
Yes, if we're going to turn every precinct into a fortified garrison.
Better idea.
I'm ordering police protection for both of you.
I don't want martyrs, I want convictions.
How's that coming along? Slower than molasses.
Yeah.
CARMICHAEL: But we found a new player.
One of the overseas accounts buying currency from the Russians is controlled by the Matera family.
VAN BUREN: The Sicilian mob.
Yeah, the Russians are positioning themselves as money launderers to the world.
(SCOFFS) Lenin must be spinning in his mausoleum.
Let's not be too smug.
They're using our banks, our Federal Reserve They turned their country into a thieves' paradise.
Now they're doing it to us.
They're waging a war.
By the time we get indictments, it'll be game over.
What are you proposing? I'm issuing arrest warrants for Volsky, Maletkov, all of 'em.
Didn't Miss Carmichael just finish telling me you're nowhere near indictments? I'm not taking this to the Grand Jury.
So you're just going to hold them in prison? For as long as we need, until we can make a case, before this thing spreads like wildfire.
I see.
You're planning to violate three, no, five amendments to the Constitution.
It's time someone talked to Mr.
Volsky in a language he understands.
And what language is that? Adam, unless you order me not to do it I'm ordering you not to do it.
(DOOR OPENING) (DOOR CLOSES) (TAPS TABLE) Hand me that pad of arrest warrants.
Okay, class, listen up.
You have the right to remain silent Watch your step.
anything you say can be used against you in a court of law.
You have the right to an attorney.
If you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you.
(CELL PHONE RINGING) It's my phone.
In my jacket.
Yeah? He's busy right now.
May I take a message? It's Volsky's office, telling you he's been arrested.
That's gonna hurt business, yeah? What's the charge? Hey, I'm asking you a question.
What's the charge? Ah, there's no charge.
This one's on us.
MANNING: Since our clients were arrested three days ago, we have been allowed one 10-minute consultation with them.
They're confined to their cells, they're denied visitors, phone calls, books, newspapers.
Mr.
McCoy refuses to bring them for arraignment.
He won't even tell us what they're charged with.
These extreme measures were made necessary by their clients' brutal attempts to undermine the People's investigation.
Pure rhetoric, Your Honor.
A 10-year-old eyewitness had his throat cut.
His mother was murdered, along with an Assistant District Attorney.
Witnesses have been threatened.
A bombing attempt was made on a police precinct.
If he has evidence our clients have anything to do with these crimes, let him present it at the Grand Jury, and let us apply for bail.
JACK: I'm not putting them up for bail.
Your Honor, under Article 70, I'm asking you to issue a writ of habeas corpus.
I want Mr.
McCoy compelled to bring the prisoners here and explain to this court the legal reasons for holding them.
Mr.
McCoy, as moving as this material is, it doesn't blind me to what you're attempting to do.
I'm issuing the writ.
I'm ordering you to produce the defendants in my court today.
Your Honor, I respectfully decline.
And I'm filing Notice of Intent to Appeal.
Your prerogative.
Good luck.
The People's appeal is denied.
The writ is sustained.
The lower court's decision is affirmed.
The writ is upheld.
We find Mr.
McCoy's Memorandum of Law unpersuasive.
We see no reason to reverse the lower court's decision.
The writ is to be enforced with all due speed.
This isn't over.
The United States Supreme Court? I got an expedited review.
Arguments are scheduled for next Tuesday.
Withdraw it.
Adam You're lucky that the Second Circuit didn't nail the writ to your forehead.
The Supreme Court's a much more conservative bunch.
You read Wyoming v.
Houghton? Very pro-police decision.
Forget Houghton.
Read Milligan.
Habeas corpus cannot be suspended, quote, "Where the courts are open and their process unobstructed.
" And that was during the Civil War.
When witnesses and officers of the court are being killed the process of the court is being obstructed.
These thugs are threatening the viability of the criminal justice system.
Get off your high horse.
This city has had riots, police officers killed, government buildings attacked.
We got through it just fine without tearing up the Constitution.
And this time, Adam, we're out-muscled, out-gunned Out-sleazed! If that's what you want, out-sleaze 'em.
I don't agree that's I don't care what you agree.
You go to Washington.
JUDGE BERKSIT: Having declined to seek redress in the Supreme Court, I order the immediate release of the named defendants.
At least it's three weeks no one was killed, and now they know we're watching them.
And the public's watching us.
We need indictments we can sustain.
Now.
JACK: Interpol confirms most of the Russian banks buying banknotes from Gramercy Savings are probably controlled by the Russian mob.
But we don't have a trail that leads back to Volsky.
And nobody at Gramercy knew that this was going on right under their noses.
Maybe they did.
The first of every month, there's a $20,000 wire transfer from Gramercy Savings' general account to a personal account in London.
Twenty thousand.
(SCOFFS) The London bank just faxed me the account holder's name and particulars.
Galina Krylov, East 61st Street.
I'm a consultant for the bank.
What did they consult you about, Russian banks? No.
Investments.
Foreign currency, hedge funds.
The yen goes up, the pound goes down Who do you report to at Gramercy? Mr.
Carlton Radford.
The president of the bank pays you $20,000 a month off the books? For what? I told you, I advise on investments.
Foreign currency, hedge funds Yeah.
The yen, the pound.
I'm sure there's a lot of up and down in your work.
How did you meet Mr.
Radford? Who is wanting to know this? I am doing nothing wrong.
You have nearly a quarter of a million dollars in undeclared income.
I don't know about Russia, but in America, you don't pay your taxes, you break the law.
I know most important thing about America.
Get lawyer.
Take it from me.
Sometimes a mistress is just a mistress.
Russian mistress, Russian banks.
I don't buy the coincidence.
How's Deborah? I'll tell you later.
What are you looking at? Carl Radford's been playing stuff the blini with some Russian bim.
Carmichael here thinks it's just a cover-up for something more nefarious.
Well, what do we know about the girl? She came over on a student visa two years ago.
Lives in a $5,000 a month apartment and has six-figure stash in London.
Rey, do me a favor.
Look up that phone number.
Keeps turning up on her LUDs, couple of times a night.
The number belongs to Gorky's Restaurant on 58th.
Galina is our friend.
We meet her here.
She was hostess.
How much does New York detective make? In a year? Probably enough to keep you girls happy for about a week.
Was she ever involved in finances? You know, banking, that sort of thing.
Yes, finance, same as us.
Visa, MasterCard, American Express.
No, that's not what we mean.
Does she have any connections with Russian banks? No, she is model like us.
She wants fun, she wants husband.
That's two different things.
So basically, she was looking to hook some nice rich guy? Yes, of course.
Just like you.
So how's it working out for her? She find rich guy.
Lots of fun.
She must bring out a side of Radford we haven't seen.
Radford? Who is Radford.
She is with Konstantin.
Konstantin? You mean Konstantin Volsky? You know him? He's a big shot.
Galina always finds big shots.
Sounds like the blini's getting stuffed from both ends.
I had no idea Miss Krylov was seeing anybody else, and certainly not this Russian criminal.
What about the $20,000 a month you gave her from the general account? Carl, I'd be careful here.
The bank's wholly owned by my family.
I'm doing nothing criminal.
You're sharing a woman with a gangster who's laundering money through your bank.
Now, why would I be involved in a racket like that? Blackmail comes to mind.
I'm sure Volsky knows all about you and Miss Krylov.
So does my wife.
Well, maybe not the gory details.
We've been married we have three children.
She has her hobbies, I have mine.
That leaves only one option.
You're willingly involved in money laundering.
I categorically deny knowing anything about that.
How could you not know? You could have called Interpol.
They would have told you the Russian banks Mr.
Radford depends on his compliance officers to verify the integrity of the banks he deals with.
Now, if his compliance officers don't send up any flares JACK: I've heard enough.
Mr.
Radford, I'm offering you a last chance to put your cards on the table.
Or what? I'm charging him with enterprise corruption under the RICO statute.
The three underlying acts being money laundering, fraud and murder.
The charge is nonsense.
You can't prove he knew anything.
Then he has nothing to worry about.
Except a knock on your door.
Girlfriend went wheels-up two days ago, one step ahead of our subpoena.
She took a flight out of Montreal, emptied her London account.
I guess she wanted to save Volsky the bother of having to kill her.
Same result.
You can forget about your case against Radford.
He's the first domino.
I have to knock him down.
Well, where's the proof that he knew what was going on? I just have to prove the truth was staring him in the face and he avoided looking at it.
Willful blindness.
A jury can infer he should have known the Russian banks were crooked.
Or they can infer that he was sloppy or stupid.
The burden is on you to prove otherwise.
It's worth a shot.
Hell, Adam, it's the only shot.
WEYER: I've been a compliance officer with Gramercy Savings since I retired from the Treasury Department four years ago.
Let's talk about Gramercy Savings' bank note trade with Russian banks.
People's 15.
These documents show that $1 billion of those bank notes was paid from an account in the Meridian Bank of Panama.
An account held in the name of the Shine-Rite Company.
Do you know what Shine-Rite does, Mr.
Weyer? It's a carpet cleaning company.
It would have to be the most successful carpet cleaning company in the world.
Did you question where Shine-Rite was getting a billion dollars to buy bank notes? No.
Did you question the source of these payments? $500 million from a Mexican tire recapping company.
Those aren't our accounts.
Our policy is if there's a problem with another bank's customer, it's up to that bank to warn us.
Who did you say set that policy? Mr.
Radford.
Last November, you received a phone call from Richard Gershon of the U.
S.
Customs' Task Force on Money Laundering? Yes.
He told you his task force suspected Russian organized crime was laundering large sums of money through the Russian banks you dealt with? Yes.
But the task force just had unconfirmed reports.
Did you phone the FBI or the Treasury Department to inquire further? No.
Did you call Interpol or the Russian National Police or even the Russian Central Bank? No.
That's not the way we do things.
And you said that Mr.
Radford decides how you do things, isn't that right? Yes.
Thank you.
Did Mr.
Radford specifically tell you not to call any of the agencies Mr.
McCoy just named? No.
Did you ever tell Mr.
Radford you suspected that Gramercy Savings was being used to launder money? No.
No further questions.
We did what we were required by the Annunzio-Wylie Anti-Money Laundering Act of 1992.
Beyond that, we're limited with what we can do.
We're not a large bank.
We don't have an army of investigators.
You have to understand, it is not easy to verify a Russian bank's bona fides.
There aren't many public documents to look at, no way to find out what the underlying source of capital is.
But I assure you, I never imagined we were doing business with criminals.
My family has been in the banking business for three generations.
If I'd been presented with substantial evidence of criminality, if someone from the government said don't do these transactions, we would have stopped immediately.
Thank you, Mr.
Radford.
You said you're not a large bank.
Isn't it fair to say your bank's been struggling these last five years? Well, we haven't met our growth projections, no.
How about after you began receiving commissions for these bank note transactions? We've increased our after-tax income, yes.
By $1.
2 billion.
Wasn't that your commission? Yes, something like that.
And you say you have limited resources to check out the people you do business with? I did a little bean-counting, Mr.
Radford, and to gather compelling evidence of ties to organized crime cost our office $96,000, give or take.
People's 32.
Mr.
Radford, why didn't you spend $96,000 to adhere, not just to the letter, but to the spirit of the Anti-Money Laundering Act? I think I met my obligations.
You mean you had better places to spend your money, isn't that right? On your Russian mistress, $20,000 a month? We heard testimony about that.
I'm not proud of it, but yes.
Did you meet her before or after you began sending planeloads of currency to Russia? Before.
But there's absolutely no connection.
We heard testimony that she was also the mistress of a reputed Russian crime boss, Konstantin Volsky.
I didn't know anything about that.
You didn't know she had another man in her life? Never occurred to you to ask? That's not something one asks.
Not if one doesn't want to know.
Life must be blissful, Mr.
Radford.
Your girlfriend is sleeping with Russian gangsters.
These gangsters are using your bank to launder money, and you just float through it all, as innocent as a newborn kitten.
Your Honor JACK: Are you really that stupid, Mr.
Radford? Or do you think we are? Now, you just hold on.
You show me one thing that proves these Russian banks are mobbed up.
You can't.
You can't tell me that bank or that money belongs to that guy, and that guy is a convicted felon.
Some task force suspects this.
Some agency has heard that.
It's not evidence.
It doesn't convince me.
Because you don't want to be convinced.
Withdrawn.
No more questions.
Abbie.
I didn't mean to sneak up on you.
I need the Cardozo case on willful blindness.
Yeah, sure.
It's in here.
Everything okay? Yeah.
I just ran across a case that Ricci and I did, and it reminded me of, you know One thing led to another.
Yeah.
This case, there's so much death.
How's the summation going? (CHUCKLES) I used to get this dream when I was a kid.
I'm swimming in a blue ocean toward this island, green mountains rising out of the water.
I swim and I swim, but the island doesn't get any closer.
That's how it's going.
I'll show you a draft when I get it done.
The law says negligence and foolishness aren't willful blindness.
Mr.
McCoy has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt my client deliberately avoided the truth about the people he was dealing with.
But my client did exactly what the Money Laundering Act required of him.
No more, no less.
In our society, it's not supposed to be a crime to follow the rules.
That's what my client did.
He followed the rules.
Following the rules does not put you above the law.
Just ask the Swiss bankers who appropriated the unclaimed accounts of Holocaust victims.
Following the rules does not explain how someone who runs a bank could be so incompetent, so gullible.
There can be only one explanation.
Mr.
Radford willingly turned a blind eye to what was obviously a criminal enterprise.
And the Russian mob didn't have to cut off his uncle's hands to get him to do it.
All they had to do was wave a fat commission in front of him.
Now, some might think that money laundering is just some white-collar crime, far removed from our everyday concerns.
Let me remind you what money laundering is really about.
Mr.
Radford made his commission on the backs of these people.
This country has always been a beacon to the world for liberty and justice.
That's why we keep our borders open.
But we're also a beacon for another kind of people, for criminals and con men.
We rely on the law to protect us from them.
Sometimes that's not enough.
Do we need more law? Less freedom? Do we cross out parts of the Constitution? I've learned that's not the answer.
The answer is that each one of us is responsible to everyone else.
Not one of us can afford to turn a blind eye.
By respecting the laws we do have, by living up to the true meaning of the word "citizen," we preserve our common good.
Through his deliberate ignorance, Mr.
Radford allowed a criminal enterprise to flourish, innocent people to be killed.
He allowed a cancer to grow.
This is where it has to stop.
Here in this courtroom.
With you.
Has the jury reached a verdict? Yes, Your Honor.
On the sole count of the indictment, Enterprise Corruption, we find the defendant, Carlton James Radford, guilty.
(PEOPLE MURMURING SOFTLY) (GAVEL POUNDS) (INAUDIBLE) Volsky, Maletkov, Pinella.
He can help you make cases against all of them.
What does he want in return? Five years.
He's looking at And you're looking at another dozen convictions, if he cooperates.
Ten years.
Medium security.
JUDGE KENDRICK: Ajury, having found each defendant guilty of two counts of Murder in the First Degree, one count Murder in the Second Degree, Attempted Murder in the First Degree, Attempted Arson in the First Degree, Enterprise Corruption, Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering in the First Degree, and three counts of Intimidating a Witness in the Third Degree, I sentence each defendant to life imprisonment without possibility of parole, to be served at a facility to be determined by the Department of Correction.
(GAVEL POUNDS) Go ahead, try and kill me, I'm not afraid.
I'm tough, I'll survive.
Can I have an envelope? What's that? The verdict slip.
I'm sending it to Ricci's parents.
Just cleaning up.
It's okay, Adam.
If I'd disobeyed a direct order from Frank Hogan, he'd have canned me, too.
That's Frank Hogan.
Adam.
I told you, no martyrs.
She can't even pick up a toothbrush, L.
T.
It's gotten really bad.
Okay.
I'll square it with the borough commander.
I'm really sorry, Rey.
It's just that I not only want to be there for her, (STUTTERING) I want to be there with her.
All right, then.
Rey.
Take care.
Okay, so Yeah.
Send her my love, will you? You'll come visit.
Girls want to see their Uncle Lennie.
Definitely.
Anything.
Rey, I don't care what time it is.
Just pick up the damn phone, okay?
These are their stories.
DINELLl: We saw Miss Ricci go into the building.
She left the blinkers on on her BMW.
We recognized her from the other time she'd been here.
Then just after that, this white guy rolls up on a red mountain bike.
What'd the guy look like? Mid-20s, half-assed beard, short hair.
He seemed a little hinky, but not a hitter.
Did you brace him before he went in? No.
Why not? When the kid moved in two months ago, we braced everybody that came in here.
Then the tenants squawked, so word came down to back off.
Okay, so this bicyclist goes in.
What else? Must have been a minute later, these two Hispanics, young couple, clean cut, they're holding hands, you know, laughing.
They go in.
Then the bicycle guy comes back out maybe five minutes after that.
That was it.
Until we got concerned because Miss Ricci was taking so long.
And the Hispanic lovebirds, you see them go out? No.
I swear, we were expecting a couple of Russian hitters.
They're upstairs.
Looks like Ricci caught it when she opened the door to leave.
How many assailants? CURTIS: One guy could've done this.
He cut Ricci's throat, then the mother's, then the boy.
Hospital says he'll make it.
Excuse me.
Miss Ricci have family? I think just her parents in Queens.
Get me their number.
Safe house.
None of the tenants have vouched for the bicycle guy or the Spanish kids.
Couple of people weren't home.
We left cards.
What did the M.
E.
Say? Same knife used on all of 'em? CURTIS: Same kind of knife.
The only difference between the three was the force of the cut.
On Ricci and Mrs.
Woodson it was deep, right through the jugular and the carotid.
On the boy, the cut missed the jugular, just nicked the carotid.
I want to know how this disaster happened.
Best guess, Ricci was followed from work.
Why wasn't a police officer stationed in the apartment? In a one-bedroom? That would have been cozy.
We tried putting someone downstairs in the vestibule, but the tenants complained.
Lieutenant, I don't have to tell you No, you don't.
We're treating this like Ricci was one of our own.
What are you going to do about this retrial? I don't know.
Ricci left the office around 8:00.
Check if the surveillance cameras around the D.
A.
's building picked up anything.
Rey, there's a Mr.
Gales on the phone from the murder building.
You left your card on his door.
What kind of people would do that to a little kid? I got a boy around the same age, lives with my ex.
If anything like that would happen We're trying to identify a few people who were seen entering the building just before the attack.
What time did you leave? Just around 8:30.
There was a Latino couple.
Late teens, early 20s, clean-cut.
You ever see them in the building before? Doesn't sound familiar.
How about a white guy, mid-20s, scruffy beard, rides a mountain bike.
Red bike? Yeah, red.
That's my neighbor's connection.
As in dope connection? His weekly delivery.
Like in 1-800 reefer.
This connection, you happen to know where we can find him? Yo, Jay Jay.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
What's in here, huh? Today's deliveries, fresh from the oven? Hey, come on, man, it's just a little reefer.
You know, some peace weed.
Since when are you guys sweating this stuff? Hey, we're rousting you because of a delivery you made a couple of nights ago on West 97th.
A yuppie on the third floor? Let's say I did.
Three people were attacked in an apartment on the second floor.
Well, that's not my style.
Yeah, we figured that, but your eyes and your ears look pretty healthy.
All I seen was a couple of people making out on the stairs.
Where? Between the first and second floor.
I was on my way down.
They were like Ricans, a couple of Latinos.
You ever seen them in the neighborhood? No, just that night, when I rode up to the building.
They were getting out of a cab.
They took a cab? (STUTTERING) No, the guy, I think he was driving it.
I don't suppose you remember the medallion number.
Do you recognize them? Yeah, sure.
Good, 'cause we have some tape we want to show you.
DR.
SHIMO: The muscle tissue is affected.
I wired his jaw shut to keep the area stable.
He's on intravenous feeding for at least a week.
I told his aunt she could take him home in about 10 days.
How long till he's back to normal? At his age, they heal pretty quick.
The bruising and swelling should disappear in about three weeks.
For normal activities, I'd give it another month.
Thank you, Doctor.
So what do we tell Judge Taylor? Can we have the tape of the parking lot? Now, this was taken a couple of hours before the murders.
Shout if you recognize anyone.
You can speed it up a little.
It's how I like to watch videos.
Whoa.
Right there.
CURTIS: Move in.
Yeah, that looks like the girl.
You sure? Yeah.
I remember the bag.
Put up the tape of Hayes' place.
Hold it.
Now, go in on the driver.
That's her Romeo.
And that's his medallion number.
JACK: He's been gravely injured, his mother's been killed.
I don't think it's fair or even appropriate to subject him to another turn in the witness stand.
MANNING: The boy is the People's whole case.
I don't see how they can proceed without him.
JACK: CPL 670.
10.
His prior testimony can be used in the new trial.
Not if the witness is available.
The boy hasn't fled the jurisdiction.
He's not dead.
He's not dead because whoever your clients hired didn't sink the blade deep enough into his throat.
Your Honor, I didn't come here to listen to this crap.
JACK: Your Honor, we're looking at the same parties in both trials, the same issues.
Billy Woodson's prior testimony is admissible.
MANNING: You're omitting a crucial factor.
The boy wasn't sworn in.
People v.
Fleury.
Prior testimony has to be quote, "Hallowed by oath.
" Your Honor determined that the boy was too young to understand the significance of giving an oath.
You waived it.
Fleury doesn't care why the oath wasn't given.
Mr.
McCoy, I'm in a bind here.
I can't admit the prior testimony.
When the boy recovers, you'll have to put him on the stand.
I can't put him through this again.
I won't be presenting this witness at trial.
Your Honor, I'm moving to dismiss.
JUDGE TAYLOR: Mr.
McCoy, you're absolutely sure? Yes.
Very well, then.
On the strength of the remaining evidence, I find insufficient basis to sustain the top count of the indictment, Murder in the Second Degree.
The defense motion to dismiss is granted.
Defendant Tolstonog will be held for deportation.
I don't know where Gabriel is.
He's driving a cab.
That's why we need to talk to him.
(BABY CRYING) He ever lend it to anybody? No, I don't know.
Look, I don't got time to talk to you! Hey, did you ever see him with either of these two people? She don't hardly see Gabriel, except to make another stupid baby.
(BOTH ARGUING IN SPANISH) Hey, hey, hey.
Did Gabriel mess with you? Is that why you don't like him? I take care of myself.
I don't like him 'cause she lets him beat her when she's all pregnant like that.
Well, you show us where he is, we'll make sure he doesn't mess with your sister again, all right? (BABY CONTINUES CRYING) (SOFT MUSIC PLAYING) That's Gabriel in the red jacket.
BRISCOE: And that's the cabbie from the video.
(SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY) (DOG BARKING) OFFICER: Against the wall.
Ari! Ari! (GROANING) Rey! (GRUNTING) You move, you die, understand? This was in his pocket.
His and hers.
Wonder if they come with matching bathrobes.
Leo Zamora, Aricella Santos.
Latent got a pop on their fingerprints from a murder in Dade County six months ago.
Oh, the Sunshine State.
Have knives, will travel.
It's a little more complicated than that.
The victim was a confidential informant against the Cali drug cartel.
The Miami police are convinced the murder was ordered by the Colombians.
They're sure these two worked for the Colombians? Yes.
Miami says they have a history as drug couriers along the l-95 corridor.
Any chance they'd freelance the killings here for the Russians? Well, everyone I talked to in Miami and at OCCB thinks that's unlikely.
The Colombians stick together.
There's only one conclusion to draw.
The Russians are in bed with the Colombians.
Remember what Ricci said? The Russians'll do business with anybody.
It's the worst possible scenario.
GABRIEL: Leo knows my cousin in Miami.
They come here, they don't know nobody, they look me up.
That's all.
And you rent him your cab, even though he doesn't have a hack license? I gotta pay $1,600 a month for the medallion, okay? I can't drive every shift.
I gotta put the car to work.
You ever meet any of Leo's friends? You know, guys who have a little juice? No, he don't know nobody.
You lying piece of crap.
You're an accessory to two murders, to the attempted murder of a 10-year-old boy.
Now, your life is lying on that table and you have the audacity to lie to us? You better get your brain in gear, man! Okay, okay.
Look, look, there's one guy, a Colombian, all right? Leo and I, we pick him up at the Galleria about a month ago, okay? We drove him to the FedEx office downtown, and he picks up two boxes, and then we drove him to a bank.
What bank? I don't remember.
In midtown.
The guy goes inside with the boxes, and then we drop him off at the Galleria.
What's the guy's name? Omar.
(SPORTS COMMENTARY ON TV) I can't believe this crap.
They just gave Yepes a red card.
Well, I was asking you about your friend, Leo Zamora.
I don't know him.
He say he knows me? (TURNS OFF TV) He and a friend picked you up in a cab about a month ago.
I take a cab, I sit in the back.
I don't talk to the drivers.
You picked up a package from a FedEx office.
You took it to a bank.
Not me.
The description fits.
You stand in a lineup, we'll know for sure.
I give you my lawyer's number.
You talk to him about a lineup.
Fine.
Now, we checked out your resident visa, Mr.
Pinella.
It says you're in the agro business? Yeah.
I sell sugar cane in Colombia.
(SPEAKING SPANISH) (SPEAKING SPANISH) My lawyer's number.
No, never seen either one with Mr.
Pinella.
Well, what about these two? They're Russians.
No.
You ever see Mr.
Pinella with anybody? He's hardly here.
He travels a lot.
Hi, George.
Thanks.
Business traveler, huh? What kind of business? Something to do with moving money.
You know, foreign exchange.
Seems to know a lot about it.
He tell you that? One time, I took him upstairs 'cause he lost his keys.
We talked about that Swiss plane that crashed.
They found $100 bills floating on the water from the shipment it was carrying.
Yeah.
What'd Mr.
Pinella say about that? Said that was pocket change.
Here you go.
He knew planes that carried a thousand times more money every day.
What planes? He said flight number 40 ever goes down in the ocean, I should grab a boat and start rowing.
Flight 40 is a daily flight from JFK to Moscow.
Now, if you believe what Pinella told his doorman, it's loaded with money most any day of the week.
Drug money? I doubt if it's from selling sugar cane.
Sounds like the Colombians are sending their drug profits to Russia to be laundered.
Well, how are they getting it on the planes? In suitcases? Be an awful lot of suitcases.
Or it could all be talk.
You check with the airline? We tried.
Company policy not to discuss currency shipments on their flights.
They will, once they're looking at a search warrant.
Your manifest says you have 2,000 pounds of U.
S.
Currency onboard.
We want to see it.
We're already boarding the passengers.
Search warrant, Mr.
Grouse.
That means from cockpit to stewardesses.
Open this one.
What are we supposed to tell the passengers? Hey, you're the guys with the million excuses.
That's it.
Who are you? William Cross.
I'm a courier for Gramercy Savings.
I'm accompanying this currency shipment to Moscow.
Is there a problem? You mind opening one of these bags? They have a search warrant.
These are brand new.
Uncirculated.
How much is in there? $105 million.
BRISCOE: Of whose money? Look, Detectives, this is a completely legitimate transaction.
I have all the required customs documents.
I have the bill of transfer signed by the president of my bank.
Carlton Radford? That's him? Yes.
His family owns the bank.
Well, we're gonna have to check these out.
Meantime, the money stays here.
Yes, this is my signature.
It's a routine currency purchase between financial institutions.
$100 million is routine? We ship that much four or five times a week.
Who to? Russian banks.
They order the currency from us on behalf of their clients.
We buy it from the Federal Reserve.
Who pays for it? The money is wired to us from a number of overseas banks.
And no questions asked, right? Look, fellas, the New York State Department of Banking knows what we're doing.
Now, if you'll excuse me, my wife will kill me if I don't get back to our guests.
You'll see that the shipment is released? That'll be up to the D.
A.
, Mr.
Radford.
Our apologies to your wife.
The Federal Reserve just sells the currency to Gramercy Savings, Mr.
McCoy.
Who they sell it to isn't our responsibility.
You're not concerned you might unwittingly be part of a money laundering operation? Gramercy Savings has compliance officers who make sure they're not doing business with criminals.
As long as they give us the thumbs-up I heard the Fed gets four cents on every $100 bill Gramercy Savings ships to Russia.
Is that right? Thank you, Mr.
Kozinsky.
(DOOR OPENS) (DOOR CLOSING) How close are we on the Ricci murder? Trail ends with the slice-and-dice kids.
Will they talk? No.
They're still facing a capital charge for the murder in Miami.
No matter how good a deal we offer them we can't make that go away.
(SIGHING) This case started with a single murder committed to gain control of a Russian bank.
To launder dirty money.
It's all about the money.
We connect Volsky, Maletkov, Pinella to those bags at JFK, we can get them for everything.
A RICO case.
Let's get started.
(MAN CHATTERING OVER PA) What is all this? This is a restraining order freezing all shipments of U.
S.
Currency from your bank to any foreign country.
Of all the high-handed bull.
Yeah, we get that a lot.
Konstantin Volsky, we're friendly movers from the NYPD.
We're executing a search warrant for bank statements, pass books, certificates of deposit, Eurodollar accounts, traveler's checks, wire transfer records reflecting deposits, withdrawals and exchange of funds at any bank or financial institution in or out of the United States.
In other words, everything except the family snapshot and the rubber in your wallet.
I've only had a couple of days to go through these, but so far it appears that over the last year, a dozen Russian banks have purchased nearly $15 billion in U.
S.
Bank notes from Gramercy Savings.
Well, how are these bank notes being paid for? From accounts held by Russian banks in London, Nice, the Bahamas, Mexico, you name it.
So somebody like Omar Pinella drops a million bucks of drug money into one of these accounts, calls up Moscow, and the next thing you know, there's a canvas bag full of 100s jetting out of JFK.
Well, multiply that by 100, and that's pretty much how it works.
And Gramercy Savings is the last stop in the spin cycle.
Would people like Volsky and Pinella have any contact with them? No, wouldn't need to.
That's what the Russian banks are there for.
Like they say, why rob a bank when you can own one? (ALARM BEEPING) Bomb in the basement.
Everybody out.
Come on, move.
You owe your maintenance man an extra round on Friday.
He was in the basement chasing rats when he found it strapped to the heating oil tank.
Half a pound of Centex and enough magnesium thermite to ignite the oil.
Hello, Oklahoma City.
What time was it set for? Well, I wasn't planning to stay late anyway.
I was.
Same device was used on a police station in central Russia a couple of months ago.
That one went off.
Killed nearly I think we hit a nerve.
So did they.
The lab's drawing a blank on the device.
None of it's traceable.
No prints, no return address.
In the meantime, we're beefing up security, reviewing procedures.
Sounds like a good idea.
Yes, if we're going to turn every precinct into a fortified garrison.
Better idea.
I'm ordering police protection for both of you.
I don't want martyrs, I want convictions.
How's that coming along? Slower than molasses.
Yeah.
CARMICHAEL: But we found a new player.
One of the overseas accounts buying currency from the Russians is controlled by the Matera family.
VAN BUREN: The Sicilian mob.
Yeah, the Russians are positioning themselves as money launderers to the world.
(SCOFFS) Lenin must be spinning in his mausoleum.
Let's not be too smug.
They're using our banks, our Federal Reserve They turned their country into a thieves' paradise.
Now they're doing it to us.
They're waging a war.
By the time we get indictments, it'll be game over.
What are you proposing? I'm issuing arrest warrants for Volsky, Maletkov, all of 'em.
Didn't Miss Carmichael just finish telling me you're nowhere near indictments? I'm not taking this to the Grand Jury.
So you're just going to hold them in prison? For as long as we need, until we can make a case, before this thing spreads like wildfire.
I see.
You're planning to violate three, no, five amendments to the Constitution.
It's time someone talked to Mr.
Volsky in a language he understands.
And what language is that? Adam, unless you order me not to do it I'm ordering you not to do it.
(DOOR OPENING) (DOOR CLOSES) (TAPS TABLE) Hand me that pad of arrest warrants.
Okay, class, listen up.
You have the right to remain silent Watch your step.
anything you say can be used against you in a court of law.
You have the right to an attorney.
If you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you.
(CELL PHONE RINGING) It's my phone.
In my jacket.
Yeah? He's busy right now.
May I take a message? It's Volsky's office, telling you he's been arrested.
That's gonna hurt business, yeah? What's the charge? Hey, I'm asking you a question.
What's the charge? Ah, there's no charge.
This one's on us.
MANNING: Since our clients were arrested three days ago, we have been allowed one 10-minute consultation with them.
They're confined to their cells, they're denied visitors, phone calls, books, newspapers.
Mr.
McCoy refuses to bring them for arraignment.
He won't even tell us what they're charged with.
These extreme measures were made necessary by their clients' brutal attempts to undermine the People's investigation.
Pure rhetoric, Your Honor.
A 10-year-old eyewitness had his throat cut.
His mother was murdered, along with an Assistant District Attorney.
Witnesses have been threatened.
A bombing attempt was made on a police precinct.
If he has evidence our clients have anything to do with these crimes, let him present it at the Grand Jury, and let us apply for bail.
JACK: I'm not putting them up for bail.
Your Honor, under Article 70, I'm asking you to issue a writ of habeas corpus.
I want Mr.
McCoy compelled to bring the prisoners here and explain to this court the legal reasons for holding them.
Mr.
McCoy, as moving as this material is, it doesn't blind me to what you're attempting to do.
I'm issuing the writ.
I'm ordering you to produce the defendants in my court today.
Your Honor, I respectfully decline.
And I'm filing Notice of Intent to Appeal.
Your prerogative.
Good luck.
The People's appeal is denied.
The writ is sustained.
The lower court's decision is affirmed.
The writ is upheld.
We find Mr.
McCoy's Memorandum of Law unpersuasive.
We see no reason to reverse the lower court's decision.
The writ is to be enforced with all due speed.
This isn't over.
The United States Supreme Court? I got an expedited review.
Arguments are scheduled for next Tuesday.
Withdraw it.
Adam You're lucky that the Second Circuit didn't nail the writ to your forehead.
The Supreme Court's a much more conservative bunch.
You read Wyoming v.
Houghton? Very pro-police decision.
Forget Houghton.
Read Milligan.
Habeas corpus cannot be suspended, quote, "Where the courts are open and their process unobstructed.
" And that was during the Civil War.
When witnesses and officers of the court are being killed the process of the court is being obstructed.
These thugs are threatening the viability of the criminal justice system.
Get off your high horse.
This city has had riots, police officers killed, government buildings attacked.
We got through it just fine without tearing up the Constitution.
And this time, Adam, we're out-muscled, out-gunned Out-sleazed! If that's what you want, out-sleaze 'em.
I don't agree that's I don't care what you agree.
You go to Washington.
JUDGE BERKSIT: Having declined to seek redress in the Supreme Court, I order the immediate release of the named defendants.
At least it's three weeks no one was killed, and now they know we're watching them.
And the public's watching us.
We need indictments we can sustain.
Now.
JACK: Interpol confirms most of the Russian banks buying banknotes from Gramercy Savings are probably controlled by the Russian mob.
But we don't have a trail that leads back to Volsky.
And nobody at Gramercy knew that this was going on right under their noses.
Maybe they did.
The first of every month, there's a $20,000 wire transfer from Gramercy Savings' general account to a personal account in London.
Twenty thousand.
(SCOFFS) The London bank just faxed me the account holder's name and particulars.
Galina Krylov, East 61st Street.
I'm a consultant for the bank.
What did they consult you about, Russian banks? No.
Investments.
Foreign currency, hedge funds.
The yen goes up, the pound goes down Who do you report to at Gramercy? Mr.
Carlton Radford.
The president of the bank pays you $20,000 a month off the books? For what? I told you, I advise on investments.
Foreign currency, hedge funds Yeah.
The yen, the pound.
I'm sure there's a lot of up and down in your work.
How did you meet Mr.
Radford? Who is wanting to know this? I am doing nothing wrong.
You have nearly a quarter of a million dollars in undeclared income.
I don't know about Russia, but in America, you don't pay your taxes, you break the law.
I know most important thing about America.
Get lawyer.
Take it from me.
Sometimes a mistress is just a mistress.
Russian mistress, Russian banks.
I don't buy the coincidence.
How's Deborah? I'll tell you later.
What are you looking at? Carl Radford's been playing stuff the blini with some Russian bim.
Carmichael here thinks it's just a cover-up for something more nefarious.
Well, what do we know about the girl? She came over on a student visa two years ago.
Lives in a $5,000 a month apartment and has six-figure stash in London.
Rey, do me a favor.
Look up that phone number.
Keeps turning up on her LUDs, couple of times a night.
The number belongs to Gorky's Restaurant on 58th.
Galina is our friend.
We meet her here.
She was hostess.
How much does New York detective make? In a year? Probably enough to keep you girls happy for about a week.
Was she ever involved in finances? You know, banking, that sort of thing.
Yes, finance, same as us.
Visa, MasterCard, American Express.
No, that's not what we mean.
Does she have any connections with Russian banks? No, she is model like us.
She wants fun, she wants husband.
That's two different things.
So basically, she was looking to hook some nice rich guy? Yes, of course.
Just like you.
So how's it working out for her? She find rich guy.
Lots of fun.
She must bring out a side of Radford we haven't seen.
Radford? Who is Radford.
She is with Konstantin.
Konstantin? You mean Konstantin Volsky? You know him? He's a big shot.
Galina always finds big shots.
Sounds like the blini's getting stuffed from both ends.
I had no idea Miss Krylov was seeing anybody else, and certainly not this Russian criminal.
What about the $20,000 a month you gave her from the general account? Carl, I'd be careful here.
The bank's wholly owned by my family.
I'm doing nothing criminal.
You're sharing a woman with a gangster who's laundering money through your bank.
Now, why would I be involved in a racket like that? Blackmail comes to mind.
I'm sure Volsky knows all about you and Miss Krylov.
So does my wife.
Well, maybe not the gory details.
We've been married we have three children.
She has her hobbies, I have mine.
That leaves only one option.
You're willingly involved in money laundering.
I categorically deny knowing anything about that.
How could you not know? You could have called Interpol.
They would have told you the Russian banks Mr.
Radford depends on his compliance officers to verify the integrity of the banks he deals with.
Now, if his compliance officers don't send up any flares JACK: I've heard enough.
Mr.
Radford, I'm offering you a last chance to put your cards on the table.
Or what? I'm charging him with enterprise corruption under the RICO statute.
The three underlying acts being money laundering, fraud and murder.
The charge is nonsense.
You can't prove he knew anything.
Then he has nothing to worry about.
Except a knock on your door.
Girlfriend went wheels-up two days ago, one step ahead of our subpoena.
She took a flight out of Montreal, emptied her London account.
I guess she wanted to save Volsky the bother of having to kill her.
Same result.
You can forget about your case against Radford.
He's the first domino.
I have to knock him down.
Well, where's the proof that he knew what was going on? I just have to prove the truth was staring him in the face and he avoided looking at it.
Willful blindness.
A jury can infer he should have known the Russian banks were crooked.
Or they can infer that he was sloppy or stupid.
The burden is on you to prove otherwise.
It's worth a shot.
Hell, Adam, it's the only shot.
WEYER: I've been a compliance officer with Gramercy Savings since I retired from the Treasury Department four years ago.
Let's talk about Gramercy Savings' bank note trade with Russian banks.
People's 15.
These documents show that $1 billion of those bank notes was paid from an account in the Meridian Bank of Panama.
An account held in the name of the Shine-Rite Company.
Do you know what Shine-Rite does, Mr.
Weyer? It's a carpet cleaning company.
It would have to be the most successful carpet cleaning company in the world.
Did you question where Shine-Rite was getting a billion dollars to buy bank notes? No.
Did you question the source of these payments? $500 million from a Mexican tire recapping company.
Those aren't our accounts.
Our policy is if there's a problem with another bank's customer, it's up to that bank to warn us.
Who did you say set that policy? Mr.
Radford.
Last November, you received a phone call from Richard Gershon of the U.
S.
Customs' Task Force on Money Laundering? Yes.
He told you his task force suspected Russian organized crime was laundering large sums of money through the Russian banks you dealt with? Yes.
But the task force just had unconfirmed reports.
Did you phone the FBI or the Treasury Department to inquire further? No.
Did you call Interpol or the Russian National Police or even the Russian Central Bank? No.
That's not the way we do things.
And you said that Mr.
Radford decides how you do things, isn't that right? Yes.
Thank you.
Did Mr.
Radford specifically tell you not to call any of the agencies Mr.
McCoy just named? No.
Did you ever tell Mr.
Radford you suspected that Gramercy Savings was being used to launder money? No.
No further questions.
We did what we were required by the Annunzio-Wylie Anti-Money Laundering Act of 1992.
Beyond that, we're limited with what we can do.
We're not a large bank.
We don't have an army of investigators.
You have to understand, it is not easy to verify a Russian bank's bona fides.
There aren't many public documents to look at, no way to find out what the underlying source of capital is.
But I assure you, I never imagined we were doing business with criminals.
My family has been in the banking business for three generations.
If I'd been presented with substantial evidence of criminality, if someone from the government said don't do these transactions, we would have stopped immediately.
Thank you, Mr.
Radford.
You said you're not a large bank.
Isn't it fair to say your bank's been struggling these last five years? Well, we haven't met our growth projections, no.
How about after you began receiving commissions for these bank note transactions? We've increased our after-tax income, yes.
By $1.
2 billion.
Wasn't that your commission? Yes, something like that.
And you say you have limited resources to check out the people you do business with? I did a little bean-counting, Mr.
Radford, and to gather compelling evidence of ties to organized crime cost our office $96,000, give or take.
People's 32.
Mr.
Radford, why didn't you spend $96,000 to adhere, not just to the letter, but to the spirit of the Anti-Money Laundering Act? I think I met my obligations.
You mean you had better places to spend your money, isn't that right? On your Russian mistress, $20,000 a month? We heard testimony about that.
I'm not proud of it, but yes.
Did you meet her before or after you began sending planeloads of currency to Russia? Before.
But there's absolutely no connection.
We heard testimony that she was also the mistress of a reputed Russian crime boss, Konstantin Volsky.
I didn't know anything about that.
You didn't know she had another man in her life? Never occurred to you to ask? That's not something one asks.
Not if one doesn't want to know.
Life must be blissful, Mr.
Radford.
Your girlfriend is sleeping with Russian gangsters.
These gangsters are using your bank to launder money, and you just float through it all, as innocent as a newborn kitten.
Your Honor JACK: Are you really that stupid, Mr.
Radford? Or do you think we are? Now, you just hold on.
You show me one thing that proves these Russian banks are mobbed up.
You can't.
You can't tell me that bank or that money belongs to that guy, and that guy is a convicted felon.
Some task force suspects this.
Some agency has heard that.
It's not evidence.
It doesn't convince me.
Because you don't want to be convinced.
Withdrawn.
No more questions.
Abbie.
I didn't mean to sneak up on you.
I need the Cardozo case on willful blindness.
Yeah, sure.
It's in here.
Everything okay? Yeah.
I just ran across a case that Ricci and I did, and it reminded me of, you know One thing led to another.
Yeah.
This case, there's so much death.
How's the summation going? (CHUCKLES) I used to get this dream when I was a kid.
I'm swimming in a blue ocean toward this island, green mountains rising out of the water.
I swim and I swim, but the island doesn't get any closer.
That's how it's going.
I'll show you a draft when I get it done.
The law says negligence and foolishness aren't willful blindness.
Mr.
McCoy has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt my client deliberately avoided the truth about the people he was dealing with.
But my client did exactly what the Money Laundering Act required of him.
No more, no less.
In our society, it's not supposed to be a crime to follow the rules.
That's what my client did.
He followed the rules.
Following the rules does not put you above the law.
Just ask the Swiss bankers who appropriated the unclaimed accounts of Holocaust victims.
Following the rules does not explain how someone who runs a bank could be so incompetent, so gullible.
There can be only one explanation.
Mr.
Radford willingly turned a blind eye to what was obviously a criminal enterprise.
And the Russian mob didn't have to cut off his uncle's hands to get him to do it.
All they had to do was wave a fat commission in front of him.
Now, some might think that money laundering is just some white-collar crime, far removed from our everyday concerns.
Let me remind you what money laundering is really about.
Mr.
Radford made his commission on the backs of these people.
This country has always been a beacon to the world for liberty and justice.
That's why we keep our borders open.
But we're also a beacon for another kind of people, for criminals and con men.
We rely on the law to protect us from them.
Sometimes that's not enough.
Do we need more law? Less freedom? Do we cross out parts of the Constitution? I've learned that's not the answer.
The answer is that each one of us is responsible to everyone else.
Not one of us can afford to turn a blind eye.
By respecting the laws we do have, by living up to the true meaning of the word "citizen," we preserve our common good.
Through his deliberate ignorance, Mr.
Radford allowed a criminal enterprise to flourish, innocent people to be killed.
He allowed a cancer to grow.
This is where it has to stop.
Here in this courtroom.
With you.
Has the jury reached a verdict? Yes, Your Honor.
On the sole count of the indictment, Enterprise Corruption, we find the defendant, Carlton James Radford, guilty.
(PEOPLE MURMURING SOFTLY) (GAVEL POUNDS) (INAUDIBLE) Volsky, Maletkov, Pinella.
He can help you make cases against all of them.
What does he want in return? Five years.
He's looking at And you're looking at another dozen convictions, if he cooperates.
Ten years.
Medium security.
JUDGE KENDRICK: Ajury, having found each defendant guilty of two counts of Murder in the First Degree, one count Murder in the Second Degree, Attempted Murder in the First Degree, Attempted Arson in the First Degree, Enterprise Corruption, Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering in the First Degree, and three counts of Intimidating a Witness in the Third Degree, I sentence each defendant to life imprisonment without possibility of parole, to be served at a facility to be determined by the Department of Correction.
(GAVEL POUNDS) Go ahead, try and kill me, I'm not afraid.
I'm tough, I'll survive.
Can I have an envelope? What's that? The verdict slip.
I'm sending it to Ricci's parents.
Just cleaning up.
It's okay, Adam.
If I'd disobeyed a direct order from Frank Hogan, he'd have canned me, too.
That's Frank Hogan.
Adam.
I told you, no martyrs.
She can't even pick up a toothbrush, L.
T.
It's gotten really bad.
Okay.
I'll square it with the borough commander.
I'm really sorry, Rey.
It's just that I not only want to be there for her, (STUTTERING) I want to be there with her.
All right, then.
Rey.
Take care.
Okay, so Yeah.
Send her my love, will you? You'll come visit.
Girls want to see their Uncle Lennie.
Definitely.
Anything.
Rey, I don't care what time it is.
Just pick up the damn phone, okay?