Law & Order (1990) s12e04 Episode Script
Soldier of Fortune
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.
SIMON: What are you looking for? SARA: The map with the subway stuff.
Baby, this is New York.
We'll just hop in a cab.
You're not getting me in one of those damn taxis, Simon.
Oh, stop being such a tosser.
Simon, we don't have the money.
(CAR HORN BLARING) Did you see that? Bloke almost hit me.
Go! Go! (TIRES SCREECHING) Bloody hell! What's going on? (WOMAN SCREAMING) (MACHINE GUN FIRING) (CLAMORING) MAN: Stay down! Stay down! SERGEANT: Dead female's Iris Draper.
That's her friend over there.
What about the guy? Wallet.
John Hammins, Federated International Bank.
The guy's a VP of their private banking group.
BRISCOE: Whatever the hell that is.
Looks like he got hit four or five times.
SERGEANT: Six, the CSU says.
What about her? One in the neck.
So, what happened? Witnesses say a van comes roaring down the block, stops right here.
Then two guys wearing masks jump out carrying automatic weapons.
You gotta be kidding me.
They used the Honda to block off the intersection.
Then the snatch up a guy.
Somebody got kidnapped, too? Well-dressed white guy.
carrying a briefcase or attache or some damn thing.
So why'd the shoot the other two? This might have something to do with it.
According to the dead woman's friend over there, the snatched-up guy went for this gun.
I guess he didn't wanna go for a ride.
Bad guys took it away, dead guy trying to help.
That's brave.
I don't know how smart.
All right, keep the area blocked off.
Let's get the Honda down to the lab and have ballistics round up all the shell casings.
You got it, Detective.
And don't let any of these other witnesses go yet either.
Nobody goes anywhere till you say so.
Oh, God! BRISCOE: You okay, ma'am? I was standing right next to her.
Next to your friend, Iris? We just came in from Jersey to look for a ring, a diamond wedding band.
Iris and Jimmy were gonna renew their vows next month.
Oh, my God.
Jimmy! Oh, that's okay Take your time.
Take your time.
I was looking in the window and this van came up.
And these two men jumped out.
BRISCOE: What did they look like? They had masks on.
ED: Can you tell us anything about them at all? They both had on black boots.
You know, those kind that lace up real high.
Combat boots? Right.
I don't know why I even remember that.
Anything else? Well, it just happened so fast.
They went right for the guy with the briefcase.
And, he reached in his jacket and they just started shooting.
I'm sorry.
It's okay.
Don't be.
Could you make sure that she gets home okay? Sure.
Thanks.
She has two little boys.
And they say diamonds are forever.
He came right down these stairs, ran past my booth, and then he jumped the turnstile.
What'd he look like? Black, 20-25.
How good a look did you get at him? I saw the side of his face as he came by the booth.
Reason I remember was because he was running.
You think you could ID him if you saw him again? Yeah, could be.
He had real thick sideburns.
BRISCOE: So, where'd he go after he jumped the turnstile? Down to the Brooklyn platform.
Okay, thanks.
I tried to stop him, I did.
I yelled, "Hey you pay your fare.
" Guy paid me no heed.
Shocking! Victims were Iris Draper and John Hammins.
Appear to be unknown to one another.
She's hit once, he's hit six times.
Sergeant at the scene says Hammins tried to help the kidnapped victim.
Any luck on the ID? Well, his description was a 30- to 40-year-old white guy, suit and tie, carrying some kind of briefcase.
A professional with a piece.
What about the van? BRISCOE: Some had it grey, some green.
And this token booth clerk? He thinks he can make an ID, if we catch somebody.
We got a name on our kidnapped victim.
GILLINGHAM: Uh, Detectives Agent Frank Gillingham, FBI Hostage Recovery.
Green, Briscoe.
This is Mrs.
Powell, and her father-in-law, Mr.
Powell.
Mrs.
Powell said that she heard about what happened on the news last night.
She thought it might be her husband.
I don't know why I thought it was Richard.
I just did.
GILLINGHAM: Mr.
Powell said his son didn't return to the office after lunch yesterday.
The .
45 was registered in his name.
What sort of business are you in, sir? Mr.
Powell and his son are diamond dealers.
He's done a full inventory.
Nothing's missing.
Could somebody have thought your son was carrying stones? I don't see how.
We cut and polish.
Mostly sell to other dealers.
The only time either of us would have diamonds would be if we were coming back from a sight in London.
A sight? Oh, I'm sorry.
A sight is a diamond sale.
They're held nine, ten times a year.
BRISCOE: And that wouldn't have been yesterday? The next one isn't for several weeks.
He'll be okay though, right? If we pay these people what they want, they'll let him go, won't they? I explained to Mrs.
Powell the importance of hearing from whoever took him in the next few hours.
(TELEPHONE RINGING) Okay.
Keep them talking for as long as possible.
If they ask, you're alone.
Nice and easy.
It's gonna be fine.
(EXHALES) Hello? No.
No.
I can't talk right now.
I'll call you as soon as we hear something.
(SIGHS) It was my mom.
They're in Arizona.
I'm sorry.
That's okay.
It's okay.
We should have heard something by now.
What do you guys have? BRISCOE: The driver of the car that blocked the intersection was black, mid-20s, with long side-burns.
That's it? We were lucky to get that.
I spoke to your lieutenant.
Right now I'm gonna coordinate the investigation, until we hear either way on Powell.
All right.
We're gonna go over to the guy's office and see what comes up.
The last time I saw Richard was about 11:00 yesterday.
He saw a customer in the morning, and then he said he wasn't feeling well.
Who was the customer? Mrs.
Kaufer.
She's been buying here for I don't know how long.
So what did he do? This is his office.
Richard said he was meeting someone at 11:30, and that he might go home after that.
Who was his 11:30? I don't know, Richard must have made it without going through me.
Is this his? Yes.
ED: Does he own another one? Not that I know of.
There's nothin' in here but papers.
Most nights Mr.
Powell takes work home with him.
I thought since he wasn't feeling well, he left it.
Is this his BlackBerry? Yes.
BRISCOE: His what? It's a personal data assistant.
Can you access yesterday's calendar? Well, that's odd.
What's odd? Well, I wondered why no one called.
I mean, he has his 11:30 here at the Diamond Club, but it looks like he canceled the rest of his appointments himself the day before.
Now, how would he know that he wasn't gonna be feeling well? SLATER: Mr.
Powell was in here yesterday, about 11:30.
ED: Did he come in alone? I think he joined Mr.
Aldrich at a table.
Who's that? Mr.
Aldrich is a senior buyer for Jay Jordan.
Oh, the department store.
Yes.
How long were they here? I'd say about Did you notice anything unusual? In what way? In an unusual way.
Everything seemed perfectly fine to me.
Mr.
Powell and his father meet with buyers quite often.
Though I'd say less frequently with someone like Mr.
Aldrich.
So that would be unusual? Just that the Powells ordinarily sell to private dealers, and Mr.
Aldrich is obviously on the retail end.
The Powells carry wonderful merchandise, the type of stones our customers clamor for.
But the Powells don't ordinarily sell to retail buyers.
There's never enough quality out there.
He called, I came.
ED: Mr.
Powell takes, let's just say for the sake of argument, an a-typical meeting with you.
A few hours later he's abducted off the street at gunpoint.
You can see how our interest might be piqued by this meeting.
ED: Do you know where he was going, Mr.
Aldrich? I believe he mentioned a lunch appointment.
ED: Did he mention who with? No.
Do you know what was in his briefcase? He didn't have a briefcase.
If he didn't show you any merchandise, then what did you talk about? It was just a prospective conversation.
Richard said he was expecting to get his hands on some diamonds.
All high-end stones.
You can see how my interest would be piqued.
His father claims the next trip to London isn't scheduled for weeks.
So where'd his son think he was getting these diamonds from? Well, he had to be getting them from somewhere.
I checked with the insurance company.
Four days ago Powell took out a policy for $7 million worth of stones.
Yeah, but his assistant claims that Powells only have two mill in inventory.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR) A unit on a patrol just spotted the van in Long Island City.
Powell? No word.
But the sergeant on the scene says there's a problem getting access to the vehicle.
What kind of problem? Yo, what's the problem? The vehicle's on my driver's lift.
City regs say it can't be let down until it's at the pound.
This van is a crime scene.
I'm aware of its potential evidentiary value, Detective.
But the City Marshals office are the ones who found it.
So that's what this is about? A turf war? You tryin' to get your picture in the paper? Just want a little credit where credit's due.
I can't make out anything.
All right.
Cuff 'em.
You can't cuff me.
Well, just watch me.
And if he tries to resists, shoot him.
You're breaking the law.
Not to mention violating my civil rights, and the mayor's own policy.
Detectives, I think you're gonna wanna see this.
Give me that.
Put the damn thing down.
RODGERS: Well, he's been dead at least two days.
My guess is within hours of his abduction.
ED: So this was never about a ransom.
I mean, the kidnappers had to figure that the family would want some proof of life.
And if that's what the hand was for, why would they leave it in the van? The hand.
What about it? It was severed while he was alive.
Maybe to get the briefcase.
Well, whatever.
We can't tell the wife he didn't feel anything.
Oh, this guy felt plenty.
These other injuries? The bruising, around his torso and face? Whoever did this beat him to a pulp, till they were kind enough to slit his throat.
What did they use? On the hand? A large, heavy blade.
ED: Like a cleaver? No.
Blade's a little longer.
Maybe slightly thinner than your average kitchen cutlery.
What about his throat? Serrated edge.
Like I said, whoever did it wanted it to hurt.
And cutting off his hand wasn't enough? The guy at the Diamond Club puts him there till about 12:00.
Now that's The kidnapping took place at 27th and Lex, around 2:00.
And nobody sees him with a briefcase before that.
Ballistics report on the guns.
Powell never got off a shot.
Even if he had, a .
45 isn't gonna do much against an UZI, which is the kind of slugs they took out of the victims.
An UZI? Spectrograph analysis of the gunpowder residue in the discharged shell casings indicate a foreign manufacturer.
Most likely British.
I'm still trying to run it down.
Thanks, Cordova.
Let us know what you come up with.
Okay.
Hey, check this out.
Powell used his credit card that day.
At 1:13, at a place called Forber's Gifts.
Twenty-fifth and Fifth Avenue.
That's about four blocks from where he got grabbed.
The cost of the item was $204.
59.
We sell so many different kinds of goods here.
Wait.
What if you worked backwards, and subtracted eight and quarter percent for the sales tax.
$189.
Let me run that through our inventory on the computer.
How about a briefcase? Yes.
A Clarkson.
It's right over there.
Now, why wouldn't he take his own? Maybe he was worried he wouldn't be able to keep it.
So, it's 1:15, this guy buys a briefcase, and he heads towards 27th Street.
Yeah.
That's only a few blocks from here.
It doesn't take him 40 minutes.
What does he do in the meantime? I don't know, stops for a coffee, get something to eat.
I don't see anything around here.
Well, maybe around the block.
So, what do you say to a canvas detective? Hey, Lennie, the Hammins guy.
The male victim.
He worked for Federated International? Yeah, over on Third Avenue.
There's a branch right there.
Mr.
Hammins works at our corporate headquarters which is on Third Avenue.
BRISCOE: So, why would he come here? This branch holds all the collateral for the private banking groups in our custody department.
What kind of collateral? Anything of worth.
Paintings, bearer bonds.
The bank holds the asset, until the debt's repaid.
BRISCOE: And what about diamonds? Diamonds, of course, gold bars.
As I said, anything of worth.
Do you recognize this man? I believe he came in with Mr.
Hammins the other day.
BRISCOE: That's Hammins, going into the vault with Powell's briefcase.
Here they are about 20 minutes later comin' out together.
Only Powell has it this time.
Obviously Hammins took something out of the vault.
Question is what.
The bank gave us the number to the vault they signed in for.
It's a Swiss company.
We're gonna need a subpoena to get the inventory.
All right.
I'll call the D.
A.
In the meantime, let's try to figure out where Hammins was going before he was robbed.
Lieutenant, we may have gotten something on the two vehicles.
Both vehicles were stolen from the same used car lot in Brooklyn.
HAKIM: The van and the Honda.
They came through the fence.
You didn't report them missing right away.
Both cars were part of an auction sale, in Virginia.
I had to wait for the paperwork to show up.
As soon as it showed up, I called the police.
So that means whoever took the cars were drivin' around a couple of days without any problem.
Well, how often do these cars show up? From the auction? I send my cousin the first Tuesday of every month.
Hey, were the two vehicles parked next to each other the night they were stolen? No.
I don't think so.
Why? How many people you got working for you, Mr.
Hakim? I've got five salesman.
We're gonna need all their names and addresses.
Lennie.
Let me guess, thick sideburns? Who's this? Denebe Wurie.
Denebe Wurie? Where's he now? Out sick.
He called in a couple days ago.
Where does he live? Brooklyn.
All right, remember, we're looking for at least four perps, armed with automatic weapons.
My guys'll go in first.
Precinct has the perimeter.
Be my guest.
Okay, let's go.
ESU SERGEANT: Police! We have a warrant! Device in! Okay.
Down.
Down.
New York City Police Department! Everybody get down! (COUGHING) Get down! Down on the ground, now! Check the back! COP 1: Bedroom's clear.
COP 2: Bathroom's clear.
We're clear, Detectives.
(GRUNTING) Where's Wurie? COP 2: Detectives.
Ooh.
ED: A machete? It's a jungle out there, huh? There were four mattresses in that apartment.
Only your buddy's landlord said he lives alone.
My name is Umaru Gasana.
I am a Captain in the Sierra Leone army.
My serial number is 63099.
You keep sayin' that, man, but you're not tellin' us about what happened.
We've got hair and fiber analyses that puts whoever slept on those mattresses in the van.
ED: We also got a machete with blood on it from the guy who got his hand chopped off.
(SIGHS) We know about the diamonds.
How Hammins got them out of the bank, gave them to Powell.
Then you understand why I did what I did.
What do you know? He says more than one thing.
Yeah, we understand.
The guy you robbed pulled a gun, and you and your friends did what you had to do to protect yourselves, right? I'm talking about the diamonds.
BRISCOE: What about the diamonds? Hey, when ballistics matches up these guns, you're gonna kiss this world good-bye.
My name is Umaru Gasana.
My rank is Captain.
My serial number Name, rank and serial number.
That's all we're gonna get out of this guy.
At least we know we're right about diamonds being involved.
Thanks.
JFK Immigration puts Wurie on a flight to Frankfurt two days ago.
Traveling on what passport? Sierra Leone.
See if we can get the names of any passengers sitting with him.
We'll run it down.
What do you want to do with him? Book him on gun possession.
Murder one as soon as the fiber analysis puts him in the van.
Wurie was seated next to two other Sierra Leone nationals.
All three made the connecting flight to Sierra Leone the next day.
In and out in two weeks.
They entered the US with Gasana.
All on military passports.
So, what's a Captain in the Sierra Leone army doing in New York City with automatic weapons? And what's his connection to Hammins and the bank? What's the Consulate saying about all this? I have a meeting there this morning.
SERENA: I got some information from those Federated International bank subpoenas.
What'd you find out? The vault was registered to a Swiss mining concern, a company called AG Renwald.
Diamond mining.
SERENA: I'm still going through the documents.
Do we know what was in the box? Approximately $100 million in uncut diamonds deposited eight years ago.
Wow.
Did they say how much is missing? Hammins and Powell apparently stole all of it.
And then they're robbed.
Double-cross.
How does Hammins do this in the first place? Waltzes into the bank with a briefcase, and waltzes out with $100 million in diamonds? Private bankers make money available to companies and high-net worth individuals, then secure the debt with collateral.
As the head of the group, it would've been Hammins' responsibility to inspect those diamonds on a fixed schedule.
He would have been in and out of the custody section all the time.
I summered with a firm on Wall Street.
ASSISTANT CONSUL: I'm sorry, but any information about military personnel is classified.
We already know Gasana entered this country along with two other Sierra Leone nationals, under military passports issued by your government.
What is it you want? The weapons in the attack were UZls, guns used by your armed forces.
These types of weapons are bought and sold all over the world, including the United States.
But not the ammunition.
Our experts traced the chemical composition of the gunpowder to an arms manufacturer in Great Britain.
One of the companies that supplies your country with ammunition.
These are serious allegations.
McCOY: I have three people dead, one, the mother of two small children.
What you have are diamonds purchased by a Swiss company, removed from a vault by an American banker, then allegedly stolen by a renegade army officer.
Forgive me, but any connection to my government is tenuous at best.
SERENA: What about extradition? Waste of time.
We don't have any leverage.
Well, where do we get that? From an army captain who was just abandoned in the field.
My client insists on speaking with someone at the Consulate.
You can insist on whatever he likes.
The fact is, no one at the Consulate wants to talk to him.
I am not his client.
Captain Gasana is disputing our government's exercise of jurisdiction over him.
McCOY: Disputing it? How? He claims that the crimes he's been charged with fall under the Geneva Conventions as acts of war.
SERENA: Acts of war? In the first place, he's on American soil.
In the second, none of the people he killed were active combatants in any recognized conflict.
Tell your client that makes him a murderer, not a soldier.
You're all alone, Mr.
Gasana.
LAWYER: What do you want from him? McCOY: Who gave him the guns? Who told him about Hammins' plan to steal the diamonds? An innocent citizen was gunned down in the street, Mr.
Gasana.
Her murder was committed in the course of a kidnapping.
Are you really prepared to face the consequences of that alone? At least tell us where the diamonds are now.
Back where they belong.
AG Renwald's annual reports.
They don't show any income.
Why not? Well, it looks like they were just a shell.
They were formed solely to purchase these diamonds.
Formed by who? The company's actually owned by Girard, Ltd.
The Swiss diamond conglomerate.
Right.
Think cartel.
Girard controls more than two-thirds of the world's diamond market.
And they rule with a fairly iron fist.
So if one of their bankers decided to go into business for himself Mmm-hmm.
Girard might take exception.
Using Sierra Leone soldiers? Girard does do business there.
But if that's what happened, we have a problem.
Girard's under federal indictment for price fixing.
No one from the company's allowed to set foot in the States.
Actually, their CEO's in New York right now.
In settlement talks with the Justice Department.
I saw it in the Daily News.
We appreciate your making yourself available on such short notice.
Mr.
Girard's happy to help, if he can.
We wanted to ask him a few questions about these diamonds.
I'm afraid I can't tell you very much.
We already know they were being used as collateral.
By one of our subsidiaries.
We were wondering who else might have known about that.
I don't understand.
Well, somehow these men knew that this banker would have the diamonds when he left the bank.
Which means that whoever engineered the robbery had access to information about the account.
When your office called, I was led to believe a man already was in custody? There is some doubt now as to his guilt? SERENA: We think others were involved.
Involved? In what way? Somehow the information about the account was given to someone in Sierra Leone.
Well, perhaps you should direct your inquiries to the Sierra Leone government.
We have.
They denied knowledge.
ROTHENBERG: Then perhaps the subsidiary.
We are.
Mr.
Girard's on its board of directors.
So, we were wondering why you hadn't filed a criminal complaint? Why you never notified the authorities? SERENA: Is it because you didn't want anyone to know you had these diamonds? ROTHENBERG: You know what? I think at this point, I'm going to direct my client not to answer any other of your questions.
Not until the parameters of your interest in Mr.
Girard become more clear.
Someone had to know what Hammins and Powell were planning.
In order to have been there waiting when they came out.
Question is who else did they confide in? Well, Hammins wasn't married.
Powell was.
Thanks Your welcome.
Why would Richard do this? SERENA: The diamonds were unfinished stones.
We believe they brought your husband in to cut them in order to increase their value.
Richard was not a diamond cutter.
He was a diamond dealer like me.
And like my father before me.
But he had access to professionals who could do that? Of course.
We have a diamond cutter who works for us.
What's his name? Martin's been with me over 40 years.
The man's worked with some of the finest stones the world's ever known.
What reason would he have to steal now? What reason would your son have? My son was impatient.
And he was proud.
In this business, I'm afraid neither is very helpful.
Not when one company controls the market.
Girard.
They force you to buy like beggars.
Girard gives you a small box of diamonds.
We're not even allowed to inspect the stones.
But you have to buy, or risk not being invited back.
I think my son was just trying to take control of his own destiny.
And with those diamonds, he wouldn't need Girard.
What about Janusz? He and Richard talked about their frustration with Gerard all the time.
McCOY: Who's Janusz? Janusz Bruk.
BERNARD: Our apprentice diamond cutter.
He's very talented.
I've already told the police I don't know anything.
We think you know a great deal, Mr.
Bruk.
A maitre d' at a restaurant less than two blocks from Mr.
Powell's abduction identified your picture as the only one in a party of three who showed up for a lunch reservation that day.
The reservation was made by John Hammins.
One of the men killed in the robbery.
SERENA: When Mr.
Hammins didn't show up, the restaurant called his office to find out why he hadn't canceled his reservation.
You see the policemen outside? They're waiting to arrest you for murder.
Murder? During the course of a theft you were participating in, three violent deaths occurred.
I'm told you have a great deal of talent, Mr.
Bruk.
I'd hate to see that talent die in prison.
We were supposed to meet in the restaurant.
You, Powell and Hammins? Richard said he could get hundreds of diamonds.
Raw stones.
We were going to pick out a few, only the best quality.
And then Hammins would return the rest to the bank vault.
Who else knew about the meeting? No one.
There were men waiting outside when they came out of the bank, Mr.
Bruk.
Richard told me that another diamond dealer already had been approached by Hammins to sell the diamonds.
Maybe he tipped off Girard.
Who was the other dealer? All I know is Richard said this other dealer was afraid of being found out.
Of being cut off by Girard, if he went along with Hammins.
Why wasn't Mr.
Powell afraid of the same thing? Because he knew that Girard was not supposed to have those diamonds.
Blood diamonds.
Mined in countries like Angola and Sierra Leone by rebels, then sold to Girard to finance more Civil War.
Only what these rebels fight for isn't freedom or independence, it's for control of the diamond mines.
LEWIN: Gang war masquerading as revolution.
SERENA: Only what Girard was doing was illegal.
The UN put a sanction on these type of diamonds because of all the violence.
So Hammins and Powell thought they could steal from him because Girard wasn't supposed to have the stones in the first place.
Girard's greatest fear is that its customers will begin to associate diamonds with the violence.
When that happens, diamonds go the way of the fur industry.
And what Hammins and Powell didn't count on was Girard finding out.
Or that he apparently had a friend in the Sierra Leone army to do his dirty work for him.
SERENA: We're looking into who that could be.
Hammins and Powell are silenced and Girard gets to keep his diamonds.
You're lying.
The man I serve under could never be in business with Girard.
McCOY: We have a diamond cutter who tells us Hammins offered another dealer the stones first.
Only that dealer told Girard about it.
McCOY: There's no other way whoever ordered you to steal these diamonds could have known about Hammins' plan to remove them from the vault that day.
Which means you were working for Girard, too.
McCOY: Whatever you thought justified what you did was a lie.
You were just preserving Girard's stranglehold on the diamond market.
Is there an offer? McCOY: Twelve and a half to 25 provided he's willing to tell us who was behind his orders.
No.
We know how awful the violence was, but if what we're telling you is the truth, you were working for a company you were fighting against your whole life.
McCOY: According to Gasana, his orders came from a Colonel Koidu in the Sierra Leone army.
So the Consulate was lying about their not being involved.
Oh, it's hard to say because it turns out this Colonel Koidu had ties to a half-dozen private security firms operating in and around Central Africa.
Paid for by Girard to protect the diamond mines.
So, he enlists this colonel's help to insure that these diamonds in the vault never see the light of day.
All along he's been promising the world he's out of the blood diamond business.
And these stones were the proof he wasn't.
So we can show motive.
Is Gasana's testimony enough to tie Girard directly to the diamonds? Gasana connects the colonel, I can connect the colonel to Girard.
What's to stop Girard from arguing that Gasana acted on his own? Who else but Girard himself was in a position to know of Hammins' plan to steal the diamonds? It's still a process of elimination, Jack.
You're counting on a jury being able to follow it.
It may be our only chance to bring him to justice, Nora.
McCOY: How long have you been a diamond dealer, Mr.
Powell? My family's been in the business for almost 75 years.
And in all that time where have you purchased your diamonds? Always from Girard.
Why is that? Objection.
Relevance? Your Honor, the people's theory is that the motive for these murders is directly linked to the defendant's ability to control the world diamond market.
I think the jury could use a little background here.
I'm going to allow it.
McCOY: Why buy from Girard? POWELL: They're the only game in town.
How did they manage that? Intimidation, or by sheer size.
If somebody doesn't play ball, they flood the market with diamonds and drive the competition out of business.
Do they have diamonds available in supply to do that? It's a myth that diamonds are a rare commodity.
The fact is, diamonds aren't scarce at all, but that's what we're led to believe.
This way your heirs don't even sell them even after you die.
The stones never make it back into the marketplace.
I was told to choose two men, that we would be supplied with weapons and vehicles once we arrived in New York.
By Mr.
Wurie? Yes.
Then what? I was told about Hammins and the diamond dealer, and about when they would take the stones from the bank.
How was that information supplied? I was given a timetable.
It detailed when this man Hammins was scheduled to inspect the diamonds.
Why were you sent for these diamonds? When I was a boy, diamonds near my village were found.
Until that time my family was together.
My brothers and sisters.
Then the men in trucks came.
Who were these men? They called themselves Rebels.
They came into my village with guns, and ask us, "Who is it here who has been mining diamonds?" They begun to check the hands of the people, of the children, to see who it was who did the digging.
They came to my sister.
She was afraid to show them her hands.
So they put rifles to her head and forced her to stick out her arm.
She looked at me, looked at me the way a little sister looks at her big brother.
And I told her to close her eyes.
And when she opened them, her arm was gone.
I was sent for these diamonds because they are a part of me, of my family, of my country.
The rebels aren't the only one who chop off hands, are they? You used this to sever a man's hand in the back of a van.
Left him for dead, did you not, sir? The money this man made with his hands was used to destroy my people.
Children who committed no crime suffer a lifetime for his.
I cut it off so he could never do such a thing again.
And the woman that you killed? What was her crime, Mr.
Gasana? Now, you have never met with my client, have you? GASANA: No.
Or anyone from his company? No.
And the orders you received came from your colonel? Yes.
The problem is, your own country claims that it had no knowledge of this mission, doesn't it? By the way, where are the diamonds that you stole? Judge, I'm going to ask that the witness be directed to respond.
Where are the diamonds, Captain Gasana? My men carried them back to my country, where we thought they could do no more harm.
Only we were betrayed.
Because the man who gave me my orders, Colonel Koidu, was not saving our people.
Pretty serious allegations we've heard.
Extremely serious.
Are any of them true? That my family made mistakes? Yes.
That we weren't very careful years ago about verifying the source of some of these diamonds that we purchased? Yes.
That I ordered the robbery and the murder of anyone? Absolutely not.
My company's led the boycott against these conflict diamonds.
We've severed relationships with nations, shut down offices, worked with the United Nations, all in an effort to stop the killings.
Thank you, Mr.
Girard.
Nothing further, Your Honor.
Your concern wasn't so great that it made you rid yourself of these blood diamonds, though, was it? We no longer buy conflict diamonds.
But you still sell them, don't you? Every effort is made to assure that every diamond that bears our name Oh, come on, Mr.
Girard.
The truth is you have no idea whether the diamonds you sell are or aren't blood diamonds, isn't that right? The difference here is that these diamonds were a matter of public record.
That's why you buried them away in that bank vault, isn't it? Objection.
So no one would ever know that you had these diamonds purchased with the lives of men, women and children.
ROTHENBERG: Your Honor? That's enough, Mr.
McCoy.
Do you think we are the only ones? The whole world looks the other way when it suits it.
Wood from the Amazon.
Coal from India.
Rubber from Malaysia.
If companies stopped every time to consider the politics of nations, the business of the world would cease to function.
So you turned a blind eye.
These countries plunge themselves into violence.
They murder each other.
We haven't purchased these diamonds in years, and still the killing continues.
Would you hold me responsible for it all? Don't pretend your hands are clean, Mr.
Girard.
Not unless you're willing to risk losing them.
It was me.
I was the dealer Hammins approached first.
Only, I was too afraid to go through with it.
I should have come forward from the very beginning.
I was too afraid of losing my seat at the beggars' table.
It's a terrible thing to lose your courage.
You told Girard what Hammins was planning? I heard Girard was in New York.
I went to see him at his hotel.
Only I had no idea that Hammins would approach Richard.
No idea that the information I gave Girard would cost my son his life.
Don't you see? I killed him.
I killed my own son.
I assume we're here to dismiss the charges? We have a witness, Mr.
Girard.
A witness who ties you to the robbery.
What witness? Richard Powell's father.
He'll testify he told you about the Hammins plan.
Henri.
Please.
We have to tell them now.
Whatever the publicity Whatever the fallout.
Tell us what? You were right.
I was in no position to get these diamonds back myself.
So I asked my contact to use whatever back channels were available to retrieve the stones and avoid any public disclosure.
That's certainly not what happened.
Colonel Koidu heads a pro-government faction in the eastern region of the country.
They are still in a bitter struggle with the Rebels for control of the diamonds there.
These stones were mined by the Rebels.
I can only assume Koidu somehow felt justified in taking them back in the manner he did.
But not on your orders? No, not on my orders.
ROTHENBERG: We can provide you with the name of our government contact.
He can corroborate what you've just been told.
What about Koidu and the three others in Sierra Leone? You have whatever influence with their government I can offer.
For your sake, I hope that's considerable.
ROTHENBERG: And the charges? (SIGHS) In return for the extradition of these men, plus a list of the Girard holdings, including your stockpile of blood diamonds, your client will be allowed to leave this country.
ROTHENBERG: We will leave you the name and the list of holdings by week's end.
Henri.
(DOOR OPENS) I wonder if my mother had any idea how many lives were lost bringing these up from the earth? Girard's worst nightmare.
These are their stories.
SIMON: What are you looking for? SARA: The map with the subway stuff.
Baby, this is New York.
We'll just hop in a cab.
You're not getting me in one of those damn taxis, Simon.
Oh, stop being such a tosser.
Simon, we don't have the money.
(CAR HORN BLARING) Did you see that? Bloke almost hit me.
Go! Go! (TIRES SCREECHING) Bloody hell! What's going on? (WOMAN SCREAMING) (MACHINE GUN FIRING) (CLAMORING) MAN: Stay down! Stay down! SERGEANT: Dead female's Iris Draper.
That's her friend over there.
What about the guy? Wallet.
John Hammins, Federated International Bank.
The guy's a VP of their private banking group.
BRISCOE: Whatever the hell that is.
Looks like he got hit four or five times.
SERGEANT: Six, the CSU says.
What about her? One in the neck.
So, what happened? Witnesses say a van comes roaring down the block, stops right here.
Then two guys wearing masks jump out carrying automatic weapons.
You gotta be kidding me.
They used the Honda to block off the intersection.
Then the snatch up a guy.
Somebody got kidnapped, too? Well-dressed white guy.
carrying a briefcase or attache or some damn thing.
So why'd the shoot the other two? This might have something to do with it.
According to the dead woman's friend over there, the snatched-up guy went for this gun.
I guess he didn't wanna go for a ride.
Bad guys took it away, dead guy trying to help.
That's brave.
I don't know how smart.
All right, keep the area blocked off.
Let's get the Honda down to the lab and have ballistics round up all the shell casings.
You got it, Detective.
And don't let any of these other witnesses go yet either.
Nobody goes anywhere till you say so.
Oh, God! BRISCOE: You okay, ma'am? I was standing right next to her.
Next to your friend, Iris? We just came in from Jersey to look for a ring, a diamond wedding band.
Iris and Jimmy were gonna renew their vows next month.
Oh, my God.
Jimmy! Oh, that's okay Take your time.
Take your time.
I was looking in the window and this van came up.
And these two men jumped out.
BRISCOE: What did they look like? They had masks on.
ED: Can you tell us anything about them at all? They both had on black boots.
You know, those kind that lace up real high.
Combat boots? Right.
I don't know why I even remember that.
Anything else? Well, it just happened so fast.
They went right for the guy with the briefcase.
And, he reached in his jacket and they just started shooting.
I'm sorry.
It's okay.
Don't be.
Could you make sure that she gets home okay? Sure.
Thanks.
She has two little boys.
And they say diamonds are forever.
He came right down these stairs, ran past my booth, and then he jumped the turnstile.
What'd he look like? Black, 20-25.
How good a look did you get at him? I saw the side of his face as he came by the booth.
Reason I remember was because he was running.
You think you could ID him if you saw him again? Yeah, could be.
He had real thick sideburns.
BRISCOE: So, where'd he go after he jumped the turnstile? Down to the Brooklyn platform.
Okay, thanks.
I tried to stop him, I did.
I yelled, "Hey you pay your fare.
" Guy paid me no heed.
Shocking! Victims were Iris Draper and John Hammins.
Appear to be unknown to one another.
She's hit once, he's hit six times.
Sergeant at the scene says Hammins tried to help the kidnapped victim.
Any luck on the ID? Well, his description was a 30- to 40-year-old white guy, suit and tie, carrying some kind of briefcase.
A professional with a piece.
What about the van? BRISCOE: Some had it grey, some green.
And this token booth clerk? He thinks he can make an ID, if we catch somebody.
We got a name on our kidnapped victim.
GILLINGHAM: Uh, Detectives Agent Frank Gillingham, FBI Hostage Recovery.
Green, Briscoe.
This is Mrs.
Powell, and her father-in-law, Mr.
Powell.
Mrs.
Powell said that she heard about what happened on the news last night.
She thought it might be her husband.
I don't know why I thought it was Richard.
I just did.
GILLINGHAM: Mr.
Powell said his son didn't return to the office after lunch yesterday.
The .
45 was registered in his name.
What sort of business are you in, sir? Mr.
Powell and his son are diamond dealers.
He's done a full inventory.
Nothing's missing.
Could somebody have thought your son was carrying stones? I don't see how.
We cut and polish.
Mostly sell to other dealers.
The only time either of us would have diamonds would be if we were coming back from a sight in London.
A sight? Oh, I'm sorry.
A sight is a diamond sale.
They're held nine, ten times a year.
BRISCOE: And that wouldn't have been yesterday? The next one isn't for several weeks.
He'll be okay though, right? If we pay these people what they want, they'll let him go, won't they? I explained to Mrs.
Powell the importance of hearing from whoever took him in the next few hours.
(TELEPHONE RINGING) Okay.
Keep them talking for as long as possible.
If they ask, you're alone.
Nice and easy.
It's gonna be fine.
(EXHALES) Hello? No.
No.
I can't talk right now.
I'll call you as soon as we hear something.
(SIGHS) It was my mom.
They're in Arizona.
I'm sorry.
That's okay.
It's okay.
We should have heard something by now.
What do you guys have? BRISCOE: The driver of the car that blocked the intersection was black, mid-20s, with long side-burns.
That's it? We were lucky to get that.
I spoke to your lieutenant.
Right now I'm gonna coordinate the investigation, until we hear either way on Powell.
All right.
We're gonna go over to the guy's office and see what comes up.
The last time I saw Richard was about 11:00 yesterday.
He saw a customer in the morning, and then he said he wasn't feeling well.
Who was the customer? Mrs.
Kaufer.
She's been buying here for I don't know how long.
So what did he do? This is his office.
Richard said he was meeting someone at 11:30, and that he might go home after that.
Who was his 11:30? I don't know, Richard must have made it without going through me.
Is this his? Yes.
ED: Does he own another one? Not that I know of.
There's nothin' in here but papers.
Most nights Mr.
Powell takes work home with him.
I thought since he wasn't feeling well, he left it.
Is this his BlackBerry? Yes.
BRISCOE: His what? It's a personal data assistant.
Can you access yesterday's calendar? Well, that's odd.
What's odd? Well, I wondered why no one called.
I mean, he has his 11:30 here at the Diamond Club, but it looks like he canceled the rest of his appointments himself the day before.
Now, how would he know that he wasn't gonna be feeling well? SLATER: Mr.
Powell was in here yesterday, about 11:30.
ED: Did he come in alone? I think he joined Mr.
Aldrich at a table.
Who's that? Mr.
Aldrich is a senior buyer for Jay Jordan.
Oh, the department store.
Yes.
How long were they here? I'd say about Did you notice anything unusual? In what way? In an unusual way.
Everything seemed perfectly fine to me.
Mr.
Powell and his father meet with buyers quite often.
Though I'd say less frequently with someone like Mr.
Aldrich.
So that would be unusual? Just that the Powells ordinarily sell to private dealers, and Mr.
Aldrich is obviously on the retail end.
The Powells carry wonderful merchandise, the type of stones our customers clamor for.
But the Powells don't ordinarily sell to retail buyers.
There's never enough quality out there.
He called, I came.
ED: Mr.
Powell takes, let's just say for the sake of argument, an a-typical meeting with you.
A few hours later he's abducted off the street at gunpoint.
You can see how our interest might be piqued by this meeting.
ED: Do you know where he was going, Mr.
Aldrich? I believe he mentioned a lunch appointment.
ED: Did he mention who with? No.
Do you know what was in his briefcase? He didn't have a briefcase.
If he didn't show you any merchandise, then what did you talk about? It was just a prospective conversation.
Richard said he was expecting to get his hands on some diamonds.
All high-end stones.
You can see how my interest would be piqued.
His father claims the next trip to London isn't scheduled for weeks.
So where'd his son think he was getting these diamonds from? Well, he had to be getting them from somewhere.
I checked with the insurance company.
Four days ago Powell took out a policy for $7 million worth of stones.
Yeah, but his assistant claims that Powells only have two mill in inventory.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR) A unit on a patrol just spotted the van in Long Island City.
Powell? No word.
But the sergeant on the scene says there's a problem getting access to the vehicle.
What kind of problem? Yo, what's the problem? The vehicle's on my driver's lift.
City regs say it can't be let down until it's at the pound.
This van is a crime scene.
I'm aware of its potential evidentiary value, Detective.
But the City Marshals office are the ones who found it.
So that's what this is about? A turf war? You tryin' to get your picture in the paper? Just want a little credit where credit's due.
I can't make out anything.
All right.
Cuff 'em.
You can't cuff me.
Well, just watch me.
And if he tries to resists, shoot him.
You're breaking the law.
Not to mention violating my civil rights, and the mayor's own policy.
Detectives, I think you're gonna wanna see this.
Give me that.
Put the damn thing down.
RODGERS: Well, he's been dead at least two days.
My guess is within hours of his abduction.
ED: So this was never about a ransom.
I mean, the kidnappers had to figure that the family would want some proof of life.
And if that's what the hand was for, why would they leave it in the van? The hand.
What about it? It was severed while he was alive.
Maybe to get the briefcase.
Well, whatever.
We can't tell the wife he didn't feel anything.
Oh, this guy felt plenty.
These other injuries? The bruising, around his torso and face? Whoever did this beat him to a pulp, till they were kind enough to slit his throat.
What did they use? On the hand? A large, heavy blade.
ED: Like a cleaver? No.
Blade's a little longer.
Maybe slightly thinner than your average kitchen cutlery.
What about his throat? Serrated edge.
Like I said, whoever did it wanted it to hurt.
And cutting off his hand wasn't enough? The guy at the Diamond Club puts him there till about 12:00.
Now that's The kidnapping took place at 27th and Lex, around 2:00.
And nobody sees him with a briefcase before that.
Ballistics report on the guns.
Powell never got off a shot.
Even if he had, a .
45 isn't gonna do much against an UZI, which is the kind of slugs they took out of the victims.
An UZI? Spectrograph analysis of the gunpowder residue in the discharged shell casings indicate a foreign manufacturer.
Most likely British.
I'm still trying to run it down.
Thanks, Cordova.
Let us know what you come up with.
Okay.
Hey, check this out.
Powell used his credit card that day.
At 1:13, at a place called Forber's Gifts.
Twenty-fifth and Fifth Avenue.
That's about four blocks from where he got grabbed.
The cost of the item was $204.
59.
We sell so many different kinds of goods here.
Wait.
What if you worked backwards, and subtracted eight and quarter percent for the sales tax.
$189.
Let me run that through our inventory on the computer.
How about a briefcase? Yes.
A Clarkson.
It's right over there.
Now, why wouldn't he take his own? Maybe he was worried he wouldn't be able to keep it.
So, it's 1:15, this guy buys a briefcase, and he heads towards 27th Street.
Yeah.
That's only a few blocks from here.
It doesn't take him 40 minutes.
What does he do in the meantime? I don't know, stops for a coffee, get something to eat.
I don't see anything around here.
Well, maybe around the block.
So, what do you say to a canvas detective? Hey, Lennie, the Hammins guy.
The male victim.
He worked for Federated International? Yeah, over on Third Avenue.
There's a branch right there.
Mr.
Hammins works at our corporate headquarters which is on Third Avenue.
BRISCOE: So, why would he come here? This branch holds all the collateral for the private banking groups in our custody department.
What kind of collateral? Anything of worth.
Paintings, bearer bonds.
The bank holds the asset, until the debt's repaid.
BRISCOE: And what about diamonds? Diamonds, of course, gold bars.
As I said, anything of worth.
Do you recognize this man? I believe he came in with Mr.
Hammins the other day.
BRISCOE: That's Hammins, going into the vault with Powell's briefcase.
Here they are about 20 minutes later comin' out together.
Only Powell has it this time.
Obviously Hammins took something out of the vault.
Question is what.
The bank gave us the number to the vault they signed in for.
It's a Swiss company.
We're gonna need a subpoena to get the inventory.
All right.
I'll call the D.
A.
In the meantime, let's try to figure out where Hammins was going before he was robbed.
Lieutenant, we may have gotten something on the two vehicles.
Both vehicles were stolen from the same used car lot in Brooklyn.
HAKIM: The van and the Honda.
They came through the fence.
You didn't report them missing right away.
Both cars were part of an auction sale, in Virginia.
I had to wait for the paperwork to show up.
As soon as it showed up, I called the police.
So that means whoever took the cars were drivin' around a couple of days without any problem.
Well, how often do these cars show up? From the auction? I send my cousin the first Tuesday of every month.
Hey, were the two vehicles parked next to each other the night they were stolen? No.
I don't think so.
Why? How many people you got working for you, Mr.
Hakim? I've got five salesman.
We're gonna need all their names and addresses.
Lennie.
Let me guess, thick sideburns? Who's this? Denebe Wurie.
Denebe Wurie? Where's he now? Out sick.
He called in a couple days ago.
Where does he live? Brooklyn.
All right, remember, we're looking for at least four perps, armed with automatic weapons.
My guys'll go in first.
Precinct has the perimeter.
Be my guest.
Okay, let's go.
ESU SERGEANT: Police! We have a warrant! Device in! Okay.
Down.
Down.
New York City Police Department! Everybody get down! (COUGHING) Get down! Down on the ground, now! Check the back! COP 1: Bedroom's clear.
COP 2: Bathroom's clear.
We're clear, Detectives.
(GRUNTING) Where's Wurie? COP 2: Detectives.
Ooh.
ED: A machete? It's a jungle out there, huh? There were four mattresses in that apartment.
Only your buddy's landlord said he lives alone.
My name is Umaru Gasana.
I am a Captain in the Sierra Leone army.
My serial number is 63099.
You keep sayin' that, man, but you're not tellin' us about what happened.
We've got hair and fiber analyses that puts whoever slept on those mattresses in the van.
ED: We also got a machete with blood on it from the guy who got his hand chopped off.
(SIGHS) We know about the diamonds.
How Hammins got them out of the bank, gave them to Powell.
Then you understand why I did what I did.
What do you know? He says more than one thing.
Yeah, we understand.
The guy you robbed pulled a gun, and you and your friends did what you had to do to protect yourselves, right? I'm talking about the diamonds.
BRISCOE: What about the diamonds? Hey, when ballistics matches up these guns, you're gonna kiss this world good-bye.
My name is Umaru Gasana.
My rank is Captain.
My serial number Name, rank and serial number.
That's all we're gonna get out of this guy.
At least we know we're right about diamonds being involved.
Thanks.
JFK Immigration puts Wurie on a flight to Frankfurt two days ago.
Traveling on what passport? Sierra Leone.
See if we can get the names of any passengers sitting with him.
We'll run it down.
What do you want to do with him? Book him on gun possession.
Murder one as soon as the fiber analysis puts him in the van.
Wurie was seated next to two other Sierra Leone nationals.
All three made the connecting flight to Sierra Leone the next day.
In and out in two weeks.
They entered the US with Gasana.
All on military passports.
So, what's a Captain in the Sierra Leone army doing in New York City with automatic weapons? And what's his connection to Hammins and the bank? What's the Consulate saying about all this? I have a meeting there this morning.
SERENA: I got some information from those Federated International bank subpoenas.
What'd you find out? The vault was registered to a Swiss mining concern, a company called AG Renwald.
Diamond mining.
SERENA: I'm still going through the documents.
Do we know what was in the box? Approximately $100 million in uncut diamonds deposited eight years ago.
Wow.
Did they say how much is missing? Hammins and Powell apparently stole all of it.
And then they're robbed.
Double-cross.
How does Hammins do this in the first place? Waltzes into the bank with a briefcase, and waltzes out with $100 million in diamonds? Private bankers make money available to companies and high-net worth individuals, then secure the debt with collateral.
As the head of the group, it would've been Hammins' responsibility to inspect those diamonds on a fixed schedule.
He would have been in and out of the custody section all the time.
I summered with a firm on Wall Street.
ASSISTANT CONSUL: I'm sorry, but any information about military personnel is classified.
We already know Gasana entered this country along with two other Sierra Leone nationals, under military passports issued by your government.
What is it you want? The weapons in the attack were UZls, guns used by your armed forces.
These types of weapons are bought and sold all over the world, including the United States.
But not the ammunition.
Our experts traced the chemical composition of the gunpowder to an arms manufacturer in Great Britain.
One of the companies that supplies your country with ammunition.
These are serious allegations.
McCOY: I have three people dead, one, the mother of two small children.
What you have are diamonds purchased by a Swiss company, removed from a vault by an American banker, then allegedly stolen by a renegade army officer.
Forgive me, but any connection to my government is tenuous at best.
SERENA: What about extradition? Waste of time.
We don't have any leverage.
Well, where do we get that? From an army captain who was just abandoned in the field.
My client insists on speaking with someone at the Consulate.
You can insist on whatever he likes.
The fact is, no one at the Consulate wants to talk to him.
I am not his client.
Captain Gasana is disputing our government's exercise of jurisdiction over him.
McCOY: Disputing it? How? He claims that the crimes he's been charged with fall under the Geneva Conventions as acts of war.
SERENA: Acts of war? In the first place, he's on American soil.
In the second, none of the people he killed were active combatants in any recognized conflict.
Tell your client that makes him a murderer, not a soldier.
You're all alone, Mr.
Gasana.
LAWYER: What do you want from him? McCOY: Who gave him the guns? Who told him about Hammins' plan to steal the diamonds? An innocent citizen was gunned down in the street, Mr.
Gasana.
Her murder was committed in the course of a kidnapping.
Are you really prepared to face the consequences of that alone? At least tell us where the diamonds are now.
Back where they belong.
AG Renwald's annual reports.
They don't show any income.
Why not? Well, it looks like they were just a shell.
They were formed solely to purchase these diamonds.
Formed by who? The company's actually owned by Girard, Ltd.
The Swiss diamond conglomerate.
Right.
Think cartel.
Girard controls more than two-thirds of the world's diamond market.
And they rule with a fairly iron fist.
So if one of their bankers decided to go into business for himself Mmm-hmm.
Girard might take exception.
Using Sierra Leone soldiers? Girard does do business there.
But if that's what happened, we have a problem.
Girard's under federal indictment for price fixing.
No one from the company's allowed to set foot in the States.
Actually, their CEO's in New York right now.
In settlement talks with the Justice Department.
I saw it in the Daily News.
We appreciate your making yourself available on such short notice.
Mr.
Girard's happy to help, if he can.
We wanted to ask him a few questions about these diamonds.
I'm afraid I can't tell you very much.
We already know they were being used as collateral.
By one of our subsidiaries.
We were wondering who else might have known about that.
I don't understand.
Well, somehow these men knew that this banker would have the diamonds when he left the bank.
Which means that whoever engineered the robbery had access to information about the account.
When your office called, I was led to believe a man already was in custody? There is some doubt now as to his guilt? SERENA: We think others were involved.
Involved? In what way? Somehow the information about the account was given to someone in Sierra Leone.
Well, perhaps you should direct your inquiries to the Sierra Leone government.
We have.
They denied knowledge.
ROTHENBERG: Then perhaps the subsidiary.
We are.
Mr.
Girard's on its board of directors.
So, we were wondering why you hadn't filed a criminal complaint? Why you never notified the authorities? SERENA: Is it because you didn't want anyone to know you had these diamonds? ROTHENBERG: You know what? I think at this point, I'm going to direct my client not to answer any other of your questions.
Not until the parameters of your interest in Mr.
Girard become more clear.
Someone had to know what Hammins and Powell were planning.
In order to have been there waiting when they came out.
Question is who else did they confide in? Well, Hammins wasn't married.
Powell was.
Thanks Your welcome.
Why would Richard do this? SERENA: The diamonds were unfinished stones.
We believe they brought your husband in to cut them in order to increase their value.
Richard was not a diamond cutter.
He was a diamond dealer like me.
And like my father before me.
But he had access to professionals who could do that? Of course.
We have a diamond cutter who works for us.
What's his name? Martin's been with me over 40 years.
The man's worked with some of the finest stones the world's ever known.
What reason would he have to steal now? What reason would your son have? My son was impatient.
And he was proud.
In this business, I'm afraid neither is very helpful.
Not when one company controls the market.
Girard.
They force you to buy like beggars.
Girard gives you a small box of diamonds.
We're not even allowed to inspect the stones.
But you have to buy, or risk not being invited back.
I think my son was just trying to take control of his own destiny.
And with those diamonds, he wouldn't need Girard.
What about Janusz? He and Richard talked about their frustration with Gerard all the time.
McCOY: Who's Janusz? Janusz Bruk.
BERNARD: Our apprentice diamond cutter.
He's very talented.
I've already told the police I don't know anything.
We think you know a great deal, Mr.
Bruk.
A maitre d' at a restaurant less than two blocks from Mr.
Powell's abduction identified your picture as the only one in a party of three who showed up for a lunch reservation that day.
The reservation was made by John Hammins.
One of the men killed in the robbery.
SERENA: When Mr.
Hammins didn't show up, the restaurant called his office to find out why he hadn't canceled his reservation.
You see the policemen outside? They're waiting to arrest you for murder.
Murder? During the course of a theft you were participating in, three violent deaths occurred.
I'm told you have a great deal of talent, Mr.
Bruk.
I'd hate to see that talent die in prison.
We were supposed to meet in the restaurant.
You, Powell and Hammins? Richard said he could get hundreds of diamonds.
Raw stones.
We were going to pick out a few, only the best quality.
And then Hammins would return the rest to the bank vault.
Who else knew about the meeting? No one.
There were men waiting outside when they came out of the bank, Mr.
Bruk.
Richard told me that another diamond dealer already had been approached by Hammins to sell the diamonds.
Maybe he tipped off Girard.
Who was the other dealer? All I know is Richard said this other dealer was afraid of being found out.
Of being cut off by Girard, if he went along with Hammins.
Why wasn't Mr.
Powell afraid of the same thing? Because he knew that Girard was not supposed to have those diamonds.
Blood diamonds.
Mined in countries like Angola and Sierra Leone by rebels, then sold to Girard to finance more Civil War.
Only what these rebels fight for isn't freedom or independence, it's for control of the diamond mines.
LEWIN: Gang war masquerading as revolution.
SERENA: Only what Girard was doing was illegal.
The UN put a sanction on these type of diamonds because of all the violence.
So Hammins and Powell thought they could steal from him because Girard wasn't supposed to have the stones in the first place.
Girard's greatest fear is that its customers will begin to associate diamonds with the violence.
When that happens, diamonds go the way of the fur industry.
And what Hammins and Powell didn't count on was Girard finding out.
Or that he apparently had a friend in the Sierra Leone army to do his dirty work for him.
SERENA: We're looking into who that could be.
Hammins and Powell are silenced and Girard gets to keep his diamonds.
You're lying.
The man I serve under could never be in business with Girard.
McCOY: We have a diamond cutter who tells us Hammins offered another dealer the stones first.
Only that dealer told Girard about it.
McCOY: There's no other way whoever ordered you to steal these diamonds could have known about Hammins' plan to remove them from the vault that day.
Which means you were working for Girard, too.
McCOY: Whatever you thought justified what you did was a lie.
You were just preserving Girard's stranglehold on the diamond market.
Is there an offer? McCOY: Twelve and a half to 25 provided he's willing to tell us who was behind his orders.
No.
We know how awful the violence was, but if what we're telling you is the truth, you were working for a company you were fighting against your whole life.
McCOY: According to Gasana, his orders came from a Colonel Koidu in the Sierra Leone army.
So the Consulate was lying about their not being involved.
Oh, it's hard to say because it turns out this Colonel Koidu had ties to a half-dozen private security firms operating in and around Central Africa.
Paid for by Girard to protect the diamond mines.
So, he enlists this colonel's help to insure that these diamonds in the vault never see the light of day.
All along he's been promising the world he's out of the blood diamond business.
And these stones were the proof he wasn't.
So we can show motive.
Is Gasana's testimony enough to tie Girard directly to the diamonds? Gasana connects the colonel, I can connect the colonel to Girard.
What's to stop Girard from arguing that Gasana acted on his own? Who else but Girard himself was in a position to know of Hammins' plan to steal the diamonds? It's still a process of elimination, Jack.
You're counting on a jury being able to follow it.
It may be our only chance to bring him to justice, Nora.
McCOY: How long have you been a diamond dealer, Mr.
Powell? My family's been in the business for almost 75 years.
And in all that time where have you purchased your diamonds? Always from Girard.
Why is that? Objection.
Relevance? Your Honor, the people's theory is that the motive for these murders is directly linked to the defendant's ability to control the world diamond market.
I think the jury could use a little background here.
I'm going to allow it.
McCOY: Why buy from Girard? POWELL: They're the only game in town.
How did they manage that? Intimidation, or by sheer size.
If somebody doesn't play ball, they flood the market with diamonds and drive the competition out of business.
Do they have diamonds available in supply to do that? It's a myth that diamonds are a rare commodity.
The fact is, diamonds aren't scarce at all, but that's what we're led to believe.
This way your heirs don't even sell them even after you die.
The stones never make it back into the marketplace.
I was told to choose two men, that we would be supplied with weapons and vehicles once we arrived in New York.
By Mr.
Wurie? Yes.
Then what? I was told about Hammins and the diamond dealer, and about when they would take the stones from the bank.
How was that information supplied? I was given a timetable.
It detailed when this man Hammins was scheduled to inspect the diamonds.
Why were you sent for these diamonds? When I was a boy, diamonds near my village were found.
Until that time my family was together.
My brothers and sisters.
Then the men in trucks came.
Who were these men? They called themselves Rebels.
They came into my village with guns, and ask us, "Who is it here who has been mining diamonds?" They begun to check the hands of the people, of the children, to see who it was who did the digging.
They came to my sister.
She was afraid to show them her hands.
So they put rifles to her head and forced her to stick out her arm.
She looked at me, looked at me the way a little sister looks at her big brother.
And I told her to close her eyes.
And when she opened them, her arm was gone.
I was sent for these diamonds because they are a part of me, of my family, of my country.
The rebels aren't the only one who chop off hands, are they? You used this to sever a man's hand in the back of a van.
Left him for dead, did you not, sir? The money this man made with his hands was used to destroy my people.
Children who committed no crime suffer a lifetime for his.
I cut it off so he could never do such a thing again.
And the woman that you killed? What was her crime, Mr.
Gasana? Now, you have never met with my client, have you? GASANA: No.
Or anyone from his company? No.
And the orders you received came from your colonel? Yes.
The problem is, your own country claims that it had no knowledge of this mission, doesn't it? By the way, where are the diamonds that you stole? Judge, I'm going to ask that the witness be directed to respond.
Where are the diamonds, Captain Gasana? My men carried them back to my country, where we thought they could do no more harm.
Only we were betrayed.
Because the man who gave me my orders, Colonel Koidu, was not saving our people.
Pretty serious allegations we've heard.
Extremely serious.
Are any of them true? That my family made mistakes? Yes.
That we weren't very careful years ago about verifying the source of some of these diamonds that we purchased? Yes.
That I ordered the robbery and the murder of anyone? Absolutely not.
My company's led the boycott against these conflict diamonds.
We've severed relationships with nations, shut down offices, worked with the United Nations, all in an effort to stop the killings.
Thank you, Mr.
Girard.
Nothing further, Your Honor.
Your concern wasn't so great that it made you rid yourself of these blood diamonds, though, was it? We no longer buy conflict diamonds.
But you still sell them, don't you? Every effort is made to assure that every diamond that bears our name Oh, come on, Mr.
Girard.
The truth is you have no idea whether the diamonds you sell are or aren't blood diamonds, isn't that right? The difference here is that these diamonds were a matter of public record.
That's why you buried them away in that bank vault, isn't it? Objection.
So no one would ever know that you had these diamonds purchased with the lives of men, women and children.
ROTHENBERG: Your Honor? That's enough, Mr.
McCoy.
Do you think we are the only ones? The whole world looks the other way when it suits it.
Wood from the Amazon.
Coal from India.
Rubber from Malaysia.
If companies stopped every time to consider the politics of nations, the business of the world would cease to function.
So you turned a blind eye.
These countries plunge themselves into violence.
They murder each other.
We haven't purchased these diamonds in years, and still the killing continues.
Would you hold me responsible for it all? Don't pretend your hands are clean, Mr.
Girard.
Not unless you're willing to risk losing them.
It was me.
I was the dealer Hammins approached first.
Only, I was too afraid to go through with it.
I should have come forward from the very beginning.
I was too afraid of losing my seat at the beggars' table.
It's a terrible thing to lose your courage.
You told Girard what Hammins was planning? I heard Girard was in New York.
I went to see him at his hotel.
Only I had no idea that Hammins would approach Richard.
No idea that the information I gave Girard would cost my son his life.
Don't you see? I killed him.
I killed my own son.
I assume we're here to dismiss the charges? We have a witness, Mr.
Girard.
A witness who ties you to the robbery.
What witness? Richard Powell's father.
He'll testify he told you about the Hammins plan.
Henri.
Please.
We have to tell them now.
Whatever the publicity Whatever the fallout.
Tell us what? You were right.
I was in no position to get these diamonds back myself.
So I asked my contact to use whatever back channels were available to retrieve the stones and avoid any public disclosure.
That's certainly not what happened.
Colonel Koidu heads a pro-government faction in the eastern region of the country.
They are still in a bitter struggle with the Rebels for control of the diamonds there.
These stones were mined by the Rebels.
I can only assume Koidu somehow felt justified in taking them back in the manner he did.
But not on your orders? No, not on my orders.
ROTHENBERG: We can provide you with the name of our government contact.
He can corroborate what you've just been told.
What about Koidu and the three others in Sierra Leone? You have whatever influence with their government I can offer.
For your sake, I hope that's considerable.
ROTHENBERG: And the charges? (SIGHS) In return for the extradition of these men, plus a list of the Girard holdings, including your stockpile of blood diamonds, your client will be allowed to leave this country.
ROTHENBERG: We will leave you the name and the list of holdings by week's end.
Henri.
(DOOR OPENS) I wonder if my mother had any idea how many lives were lost bringing these up from the earth? Girard's worst nightmare.