The Ledger

10.8 Blood Money

In this interesting episode (10.8), an old insurance salesman is found stabbed and shot in the back of a cab. When it's discovered he reneged on life insurance policies sold to Polish Jews during World War II, everyone realizes the list of people with a motive to kill him is almost infinite, but it turns out the real killer has more than just a business relationship with him. Briscoe and Green investigate, and McCoy and Carmichael orchestrate difficult prosecutions against some unlikely defendants.

The episode begins with the discovery of the old man, Peter Grimaldi, in the back of his cab, stabbed to death. The cabbie, Mr Singh, was talking on his cell phone and didn't notice anything amiss till the end of the ride. All he noticed was a young black man helping him into the cab at the start of the trip.

The detectives trace a stamp on his shirt to a dry cleaner, who has records based on the stamp. They are able to identify him as Peter Grimaldi. The talk to his doorman, who says he was a grumpy old traditional man who used to sell insurance. They talk to his bank, which is located right next to where the cab ride originated. The bank says he had a safe deposit box there, which he emptied the day he was killed. Partial prints on the taxi cab lead to a young man named Roland Dell who fits the description the cabbie gave. They track him down to his brother-in-law's apartment, and after a brief chase through the apartment, they take him into custody. As Green draws his gun and corners Dell, Green looks at the metal bar in Dell's hand and says, "Rock, paper, scissors...gun."

Back at the precinct, Dell lawyers up and refuses to say anything, and Van Buren makes a crack to Green about being in "hot pursuit" today. She says she's surprised Green didn't push Dell out the window. Green says he's surprised too. This is AVB needling Green about his history of excessive force.

Carmichael tells the detectives they need more evidence. They go to the ME and get some surprising information: he was not merely stabbed; he was also shot. Either injury could have killed him.

The detectives wonder, What could be in the briefcase. They talk to the victim's daughter and his son, Jordan. Neither have much to say. They mention the victim's lady friend, Gail Bartlett, who tells the detectives that a man came to Grimaldi's door recently and Grimaldi was upset after the exchange. They talk to the doorman who says it was a process server. AC checks for lawsuits involving Grimaldi, but can't find any, but figures he could be involved even if he wasn't a plaintiff or defendant.

They talk to his former employer, All Atlantic Insurance, who also doesn't have much to say. They check to see if Grimaldi was still practicing insurance, so they visit the licensing bureau where they learn that Grimaldi's original first name was Pietro, and they learn of an angry letter from a Mrs Wolcoff. They track Wolcoff to a nursing home, but she's dead. A nurse there remembers hearing Grimaldi's name a alot. Wolcoff was angry because, she said, Grimaldi sold her family some insurance a long time ago but never paid up. They talk to Wolcoff's daughter, who explains: Grimaldi sold life insurance to Jews during the war in Poland, but then refused to pay the policies when they died. The DAs meet to discuss this case, and have at least 59 people who were similarly ripped off. That number is about to grow, however.

AC visits the Italian consulate to learn more about Grimaldi's insurance company from the old days, Federale Insurance. They theorize that perhaps Federale arranged Grimaldi's death so he wouldn't testify against them in a case that was being brought against them. AC also learns some interesting stuff about Federale: she gleefully (for her) reports to McCoy that Federale is owned by...All Atlantic Insurance.

McCoy visits the board chairman and an executive of All Atlantic and grills them about their connection to Grimaldi. They are quite defensive. McCoy talks to Grimaldi's children again, and reveals that the case could involve hundreds of millions of dollars. He asks what they know, and the son finally admits that he's seen a book containing records of all these policies. The book was kept secretly by his father, and he said it might be worth money some day.

They talk to Roland Dell again to see what he knows about the part of the murder he wasn't involved in. He won't talk, but his brother-in-law says he hooked Dell up with the boss of a security company. That boss, Mr Burton, acted on behalf of All Atlantic and apparently hired Dell to rob the briefcase (containing the ledger book), but the robbery went bad and Dell stabbed him. Dell eventually rolls on Burton, and Burton says he saw a man (who fits Jordan Grimaldi's description) at the scene, arguing with Grimaldi right before the robbery. They arrest Grimaldi (33') and then decide to go after the executives of All Atlantic for grand larceny for defrauding the Jews during the war, and continuing to defraud them by not paying now. They arrest the execs (off camera) and charge them with 1136 counts of grand larceny, which makes for an interesting arraignment. The execs are representing by recurring character Arthur Gold (George Grizzard). Gold tells AC she better come up with that book: no book, no case.

The judge tells the ADAs the same thing, but lets the case proceed. McCoy talks to the son to see what else he knows. Grimaldi says he didn't want the book to sell it, he wanted it to make things right for the victims of his father's fraudulent activity. McCoy asks him to testify without making a plea deal, and he does.

At the execs' trial (41') an eldery victim of the fraud testifies about how Grimaldi sold insurance to his father, and how his father was later killed and he had to carry his ill sister to Italy to claim the money, and then Grimaldi refused to acknowledge the policy. Jordan Grimaldi then takes the stand and, in a moment of courage and self-rectification, I suppose, admits that he shot his father to keep him from selling the book to All Atlantic, a sale which would have kept secret these policies forever. Bressler, the lower executive of the company, wants to make a deal. He rolls on his chairman, Hamilton Stewart, and says he gave the ledger book to Stewart. Schiff is present during this session, which is extremely unusual. Stewart testifies, and McCoy makes him look like a bad man. Not wanting to face the jury's verdict, he makes a deal: he'll give up the book in exchange for 4-12 years, and he won't be able to fight extradition if Italy wants him to atone for his crimes.

As the episode ends, McCoy looks at the ledger book, and Schiff says it wasn't the book that made the crimes real.

Casting note: Jordan Grimaldi is played by Matt Servito [pic], who plays Dwight Harris, the recurring FBI agent on The Sopranos.

Posted by adm at June 13, 2004 01:55 AM

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