Miami Vice - Pilot Episode - Synopsis

The next scene introduces Detective Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson), posing as a undercover drug dealer (Sonny Burnett), along with his partner, Eddie Rivera (Jimmy Smits), who’s posing as a buyer. Crockett is talking about the deal about to go down, and while they’re waiting for their contact to arrive, Eddie is telling Sonny about a tiff he’s had with his pregnant wife, Maria. Crockett suggests that Eddie call her and make up, but just then their connection, Corky, shows up. Eddie, Sonny, and Corky take off in Corky’s car, where Corky informs them that the game plan has changed for the deal, and that the meet will take place at a different place then planned, as Corky’s dealing with a new supplier. They stop below an underpass; Eddie and Corky head toward a parked car where the dope is stashed, while Sonny lags behind to grab the measuring scale. Sonny drops his sunglasses, ans as he stoops to pick them up, he sees the bomb that’s been planted under the other car. He yells a warning to Eddie, but he’s too late. The bomb blows up as Corky opens the trunk, and Eddie and Corky are killed.

The next scene (at the car bombing site) introduces Lieutenant Lou Rodriguez (Gregory Siera), and detectives Larry Zito (John Diehl), and Stan Switek (Michael Talbott); the latter two are making a sick joke about the car bombing situation, which yields a strong rebuke from the lieutenant. The lieutenant then sits down with Sonny in a squad car, and Crockett tells Lou the whole story. Lou accuses Sonny of not playing by the book, and Sonny angrily tells Lou he suspects a leak in the department that is causing all his operations to turn sour. Lou threatens to pull Sonny off the street if he doesn’t follow procedure in the future.

Sonny gets out of the car and is approached by Trudy Joplin (Olivia Brown) and Gina Calabreze (Saundra Santiago), who express their sympathies on the death of his partner. Sonny asks Gina to have a drink with him later, but she says she has to work. At this point, Sonny goes to break the bad news to Eddie’s wife.

Meanwhile, Ricardo Tubbs arrives in Miami.

After breaking the news to Eddie’s wife, Sonny shows up belatedly at his ex-wife’s house to attend his son Billy’s birthday party, and we meet his ex-wife, Caroline (Belinda Montgomery). After the party, Sonny and Caroline have a discussion that reveals, in part, the reasons why the couple is no longer together - his drinking, and the fact that Sonny gets high on the action. Sonny resignedly goes into the bedroom to check on his son, and falls asleep, exhausted, with the boy in his arms.

The next day, Sonny goes to meet Leon, his Columbian drug connection’s underling. Sonny expresses his anger that his ‘client’ got killed, and that he lost money because of the previous day’s car bombing. Leon says he’s sorry about Sonny’s client, and that the target was Corky, who was trying to go into business for himself. Sonny, still angry, says he wants to deal with the boss, the Columbian drug dealer, directly - no more middle men. Leon says that isn’t possible, but he does, however, offer to conclude the original deal that evening.

We next see Tubbs posing as Teddy Prentice, at another club; he’s trying to make a drug connection. A man addressed as ‘lieutenant’ by the bartender enters and approaches Prentice. They discuss a potential deal with a drug lord named Calderone. The ‘lieutenant’ is also one of the people who attended Billy’s birthday party the night before. Later in the evening, the ‘lieutenant’ calls Teddy Prentice at his hotel, and gives him the details of the deal. After they hang up, we see Rico ‘flash back’ to a murder he witnessed, obviously of someone close to him, in which Calderone was obviously involved.

Still later that evening, Sonny and Leon take Sonny’s boat to the location of the drug deal where they meet the buyer, who is none other than Teddy Prentice, who’s accompanied by the ‘lieutenant’. Vice cops show up on the dock a bit prematurely to make the bust, and Prentice escapes in Sonny’s boat. Leon is arrested, however, and Sonny and the ‘lieutenant’, who we now find is an colleague of Sonny’s, one Scotty Wheeler, ‘give themselves up’ until Leon is taken away. At that point, Sonny takes off in his car in pursuit of Teddy Prentice in the boat. Sonny eventually stops his car, walks to the center of a bridge, and jumps into the boat as it passes under the bridge. He accosts Prentice, who informs him that he’s actually a cop from New York, one Raphael (not Rico) Tubbs.

In the next scene, Lou, Sonny, and Rico discuss the situation, and it is revealed that three of the four people in on the bust are cops, with Scotty Wheeler being a DEA agent. We also find out that the Columbian Sonny is trying to bust, and the Calderone that Tubbs is after, are one and the same. Lou suggests that Sonny and Rico work together, but Sonny disagrees. He does, however, tell Rico he wants copies of the photographs Rico has first thing in the morning.

The next morning, Tubbs shows up at Crockett’s boat with the files and coffee for Crockett. At first, things don’t go well; Crockett punches Tubbs for a remark he makes, and Tubbs reciprocates, making them even. At this point, Rico asks for ice for his swollen jaw, and Crockett points him to the part of boat below deck. Rico goes to get the ice, and encounters Elvis, Crockett’s pet alligator. Elvis’ history is established by Crockett, who then takes off for Leon’s arraignment, leaving a still terrified Tubbs to feed the alligator.

In court, Leon is released on his own recognizance in return for cooperating with law enforcement. This occurs much to Leon’s dismay, since he has not cooperated in the least. Now he realizes that the police have engineered this, and that his life is in danger unless he cooperates. [Note: A very cute moment occurs in this courtroom scene when the lights momentarily go out. All the courtroom personnel, including the judge, draw weapons and point them at Leon. When the lights come back on, the judge makes a comment about the right to bear arms, then has to coax one of his courtroom personnel to put her gun away.] When he leaves the courthouse, obviously concerned for his life, Tubbs follows him to a beach. Crockett and Scotty Wheeler, who have both been in court for the arraignment, return to the police station, to await a desperate call from Leon, offering to cooperate with police in return for protection. We find, during a conversation at the station, that Crockett and Scotty were once partners, until Scotty went to work for the DEA.

After the call comes from Leon, Crockett goes to the beach to take him into protective custody. Sonny runs into Tubbs and they go to meet Leon together. They find him....shot dead.... propped up against the side of a vendor’s booth on the boardwalk. We’ve seen, though they haven’t, that a man, dressed in drag, has killed Leon. At this point a reluctant, but frustrated, Crockett concedes that he and Tubbs need to work together on the case.

Crockett and Tubbs go to Leon’s apartment looking for clues. It’s already been trashed. During conversations there, we find out that Crockett was a top-notch college football player at the University of Florida, and a Vietnam vet. In the apartment, Tubbs does run across a phone book with only numbers, no names. Crockett suggests they do a back trace with the phone company.

Tubbs shares with Sonny his suspicions that there is a leak in the department. Sonny takes offense, and tells Rico that he’ll handle any problem of that nature. A little later, Sonny goes back to the department, sees Gina, asks her to dinner, and asks her to do a background check on one Raphael Tubbs. Still later, Tubbs calls Crockett to say they’re back in business with respect to their drug deal, and are to meet a contact, Trini DeSoto, at a club. The two meet with Tring, and are told to bring the money to a club/restaurant at 9:00 p.m. that night. As Crockett and Tubbs drive away from the restaurant, Rico suggests that the departmental leak might be Lou Rodriguez, who just deposited a large sum of money in his bank. Sonny is angry that Rico would investigate his lieutenant, but he IS interested in what Rico is telling him.

That evening, Sonny, Rico (still posing as Teddy Prentice), Gina, and Trudy meet Trini at a club. Tubbs brings the down payment (?) to Tring, and is then given the opportunity to meet Calderone. Crockett and Tubbs are now to await another call from Tring detailing where the drug deal is to take place. Tubbs and Trudy leave the club, leaving Gina and Crockett alone. Gina questions the fact that Crockett used the name Tubbs in referring to Teddy Prentice. Crockett tells her that Teddy Prentice is really Raphael Tubbs, at which point Gina tells him that Raphael Tubbs died two weeks ago. Crockett is livid. He and Gina head back to his boat, the St. Vitus Dance, and try to contact Tubbs, with no success. Then, he and Gina have a personal conversation in which Sonny indicates that he really likes her. She claims, however, that he’s still in love with Caroline. He denies it... and the two end up spending the night together.

Tubbs shows up at the boat the next morning (Gina has already left.) Crockett threatens him and demands that Tubbs tell him who he really is. Rico finally tells Sonny that Raphael Tubbs was his brother, and that his own name is Ricardo Tubbs. He also tells Sonny that it was Raphael who was the cop that was killed by Calderone in New York. Sonny is upset at the deception and at Tubbs’ determination to get Calderone as ‘justice’, and wants to back out of the whole operation. Rico begs him to keep going, even as the phone in the boat begins ringing. Crockett gives in. Answering the phone, Rico finds out that the deal is set for Virginia Key that evening. Crockett leaves Rico in the boat, and goes back to the police station to set up the law enforcement operation for that evening. In the process, Crockett briefs Lou, at which time a secretary walks in and says Lou needs to call Immaculate Heart ( a private school). Lou tells Sonny he’s sending his son there in the fall, and Crockett uses the opening as a way to ask him about his financial status. Lou takes offense and refuses to tell Sonny how he’s gotten the money to send his son to private school. It appears this is not Sonny’s day, as Gina is mad at him, too. He corners her, trying to find out why she is suddenly mad at him, and finds out that while they were together, the morning after the romantic interlude, Sonny rolled over and murmered Caroline’s name in her ear.

Rico, who’s still cooling his heels on Crockett’s boat, gets a call from Trini, telling him that the deal will go down earlier than planned and that he’s to meet Tring in 40 minutes. Tubbs leaves a message for Crockett; meanwhile, Crockett looks at the reverse phone directory information he’s received from the analysis of the contents of Leon’s address book, and finds Scotty Wheeler’s name on the list. Sonny realizes that Scotty Wheeler is the leak, and that this means Trini knows Tubbs is a cops. Sonny races to get to Tubbs, but Tubbs has already met up with Trini, who’s in drag (obviously the same person who shot Leon). Trini tries to shoots Tubbs, but Tubbs kills him first.

With Tubbs now safe, Sonny goes after Wheeler. When confronted, Scotty says that he was hurting financially because of his son’s medical bills, and that he had, in fact, sold out to Calderone for $70,000. Sonny is extremely angry, and has to be pulled away, literally, from Scotty by Tubbs to keep him from beating the tar out of Wheeler. Wheeler does tell Sonny that the drug deal is still on for that evening at a marina.

Crockett and Tubbs drive towards the deal location, and the quintessential Vice scene takes place with Phil Collins’ ‘In the Air Tonight’ playing in the background. Sonny stops the car at a pay phone and calls Caroline to assure himself that, at least, THEIR relationship had once been ‘real.’ Sonny and Rico continue on to the marina and then to the meeting with Calderone. A showdown between them and Calderone’s men occurs. The men are killed, but Calderone tries to flee. Rico catches him, however, and at the urging of Crockett, backs away from killing Calderone then and there.

Calderone is taken to a Miami jail, but Crockett goes back to the office and makes arrangements to have him transferred out-of-town to a more secure location. When Crockett and Tubbs go to the jail to pick up Calderone, they find out he’s been sprung by a local judge. They race after him, but Calderone gets away in a seaplane, while Sonny and Rico look on helplessly, having arrived at the dock too late to catch him. As Sonny and Rico leave the scene, Crockett apologizes to Tubbs for Calderone’s escape, but notes that Calderone will probably be back. As the two drive away from the scene, Crockett asks Tubbs if he’s ever considered ‘a career in southern law enforcement.’

Burnett and Cooper, after they get bailed out of jail, meet up with Jimmy again and quiz him about why they can’t meet the porno dealer, Sam Kovics, directly. Instead, they are forced to go through a middleman named Artie Rollins, whom they also have yet to meet. Jimmy, Sonny, and Rico are riding in a car, and it soon becomes obvious they’ve picked up a tail. Jimmy’s driver immediately drives Sonny and Rico back to the place they’ve left their own car, eliminating any immediate chance for continuing work on the porno film deal. After Sonny, Rico, and Jimmy exit the car and it speeds away, Jimmy tells them that Artie was actually the driver.

Back at the OCB, Crockett and Tubbs are visited by two FBI agents, Dennis Doyle and Mark Russo. They were responsible for providing the less than subtle tail on Burnett and Cooper, and are looking for Artie Rollins. Crockett and Tubbs, however, don’t offer them any help or information.

The young woman in the porno film, Penny McGraw, is sprung from jail by Sam Kovics, but is found dead a few hours later. A large amount of drugs were found at the scene, suggesting that Penny may have died of an overdose. She was a 16-year-old runaway from Salina, KS. A background check on Artie Rollins shows that he is actually Artie Lawson, an undercover agent for the FBI. Lt. Rodriguez, however, is unable to find out anything more about Lawson, and an autopsy shows that Penny McGraw was murdered - strangled, to be precise.

Switek has a contact with the Feds, and Rodriguez tells Crockett to use Switek’s contact to get more information about Rollins. Crockett and Tubbs go to see Switek and Zito, who are preparing for a burglary sting operation in south Dade. Switek doesn’t want to ‘use up’ his contact, but Crockett uses a little subtle blackmail to get Switek to call the contact. Meanwhile, Tubbs advises Zito how to better prepare for their sting operation. Switek contacts Kalman Claiborne, the Fed, and sets up a meet between Claiborne and Crockett. As Crockett and Tubbs leave, we hear Zito reiterating to Switek, the advice Tubbs gave him for improving the sting operation set-up. The way Zito presents the ideas, one would think that the idea were his. Crockett meets with Claiborne, and finds that the FBI suspects Artie Rollins of going over to the other side.

Sonny then gets a call setting up a meet with Rico, Rollins, and Kovics, for that evening at a local restaurant. The four meet, and at one point, Sonny, Rico, and Artie go outside to meet a contact, Rene, who is bringing a payment. Artie appears to lose control and starts beating up on Renee for being late with the delivery of the money. Sonny and Rico have to pull Artie off of Renee, and they’re rather disturbed by Artie’s overly violent actions.

The next day, Crockett and Tubbs go to visit Artie’s wife. She hasn’t heard from Artie in three weeks. The last time she talked with him, he sounded confused. He’d asked the FBI to bring him back in, but they refused and insisted he complete the work he was doing. Artie’s wife is upset and wants him to come home.

Levity brings a little relief at this point. Crockett and Tubbs go out to the St. Vitus Dance, only to find that Elvis, the alligator, has broken his chains and has been wreaking havoc around the neighborhood. The two FBI agents choose this moment to show up in search of Artie. Crockett and Tubbs refuse to cooperate. The agents tell Crockett and Tubbs that Sam Kovics is moving his operation to Mexico almost immediately. Rico convinces the FBI to allow him and Crockett to continue their work on the case, since Kovics is planning to sell all his merchandise to them.

Burnett and Cooper pay a visit to Artie’s condo. Artie has figured out that Burnett and Cooper are really cops, and he calls their bluff. Crockett and Tubbs tell Artie the FBI thinks he’s gone over. Artie denies this and tells them he’s got enough on Kovics for a huge bust that will put him away for a long time. Crockett suggests they bust Kovics as soon as possible. Artie says he didn’t know that Penny McGraw had been murdered.

Crockett and Tubbs are concerned that Artie’s ‘on the edge’, but decide to support him, even after Rodriguez informs them that Artie’s porno queen girlfriend has tickets for her and Artie to flee to Mexico, making the move with Kovics. Tubbs is concerned that Crockett is not seeing Artie’s ‘shakiness’ clearly because Crockett sees too much of himself in Artie. Nevertheless, Tubbs supports Crockett’s decision to give Artie a little more slack.

Crockett and Tubbs go out to Artie’s condo again, only to find that he’s cleared out completely. Crockett and Tubbs return to the St. Vitus Dance, believing that both Artie and Kovics are gone. Crockett goes below deck and comes out fuming because Elvis has now devoured his whole Buddy Holly record collection. Artie finally calls, and tells Crockett the deal is once again on for that night. Miami Vice cops set up the bust, and Tubbs is outfitted with a wire to collect incriminating evidence on tape.

Burnett and Cooper are picked up in a car by Artie and Sam. Sonny and Rico show Kovics the money, but then Tubbs’ wire malfunctions, and his chest starts broadcasting music, giving Sonny and Rico away. Artie tells Kovics he knew nothing about this. The other vice cops quickly realize that Sonny and Rico are in danger, and they closely pursue Kovics’ car, but lose it at a drawbridge. The car stops at a place near the docks, and all four men get out. Kovics gives Artie the gun to kill Crockett and Tubbs. But Artie quickly pitches one of his guns to Crockett, and a gunfight ensues. In the end, Kovics and all his men are killed.

We next see Crockett hosting a party on the St. Vitus, with a number of his fellow officers, including two undercover detectives, Jake and Bobby. Some good-natured ribbing occurs, in which Crockett bets Jake and Bobby that he and Tubbs can score more dope in busts over the next month than Jake and Bobby can.

The next day, Crockett and Tubbs visit Switek and Zito, who are working a stolen goods operation, in search of more information about the botched drug deal that occurred a few nights earlier. They learn that a middleman named Desmond Maxwell set up the drug buy. At this point, we’re introduced to one of Vice’s more memorable characters – Noogie Lamont, who saunters in hoping to sell some stolen merchandise to Switek and Zito. Noogie is arrested and dragged off to the OCB.

As Noogie is coming in, Jake and Bobby are leaving, heading out for a meeting with a dealer. Sonny asks where their backup is, but they reply that no backup is needed, since this is just a preliminary meet.

Sonny then makes contact with Gina and sets up a date for a romantic evening on the St. Vitus. In the process, Trudy walks in and hands him an envelope containing divorce papers filed by Caroline. Although Sonny is obviously upset by the news, he rejects Gina’s offer of a rain check.

Noogie, meanwhile, is searching for a way to deal himself out of trouble. He swipes a report off Sonny’s desk while Sonny is gone, and comes across the information about Desmond Maxwell. Now, all of sudden, Noogie is willing to talk. He claims to know Desmond and offers to set up a buy with Crockett and Tubbs, in order to regain his freedom.

They head to a local bar in search of Desmond. Noogie claims to have spotted Desmond’s right hand man and weasels $60 from Crockett with which to buy some information. He heads to a back room and escapes out a window. When Crockett and Tubbs finally catch up with him, Noogie tells them he doesn’t really know Desmond at all. They stuff him in the trunk of their car with the intent of returning him to the OCB.

Sonny goes to a restaurant to meet Caroline and her lawyer. Much to his dismay, he finds out that Caroline has accepted a job in Atlanta and plans to move there with Billy, their son. He’s upset, but eventually agrees, as Caroline is standing firm on her decision. As Sonny storms out of the restaurant, upset and angry, he’s hailed by the maître d’ to receive a phone call. It’s bad news; Bobby has been killed, and Jake is badly wounded and in the hospital – another drug deal gone bad.

As it turns out, Bobby and Jake audiotaped their meeting with the dealers, and Sonny and Rico listen to the tape back at the OCB. After the shooting occurs, Jake attempts to identify their assailants on the tape, but it’s difficult to make out what he’s saying. Crockett asks a technical colleague to clean up the tape.

Noogie continues to be full of surprises. Trudy and Gina have run a background check on him, only to find that he’s done time with Desmond Maxwell; Maxwell is no stranger to him after all. Sonny and Rico now threaten Noogie with the horrors of prison if he doesn’t cooperate and introduce them to Maxwell. Noogie reluctantly agrees. The meet occurs at a local reggae club (music = "Jammin’" – Bob Marley and the Wailers), and a deal is set up between the two Vice cops and Maxwell. Crockett gives Maxwell Noogie’s phone number as the point of contact. This upsets Rico, who feels Crockett is endangering a private citizen, but Sonny feels obligated to do the best he can for Bobby and Jake by catching Bobby’s killers, even if it does put Noogie at risk.

It appears, however, that Rico’s fears are a moot point, when Crockett and Tubbs receive word that Homicide has arrested one of the shooters driving the van used in the earlier shootout. Noogie is released, and Sonny and Rico return to the OCB. The alleged shooter is Haitian, which confuses Tubbs, who feels sure that the voices on the tape were Jamaican, not Haitian. The Vice squad now has an opportunity to listen to the cleaned up audiotape and, at this point, are able to hear Jake identify the shooters as three Jamaicans driving a red El Dorado, not a van. Sonny and Rico recontact Noogie, only to find that the Jamaicans are in Noogie’s apartment.

With the help of the SWAT team, the Vice squad prepares to move on the apartment. But Sonny sees this as too risky for Noogie, and proposes an alternate plan. Sonny goes into the apartment, as if planning to go through with the deal. The SWAT team is strategically positioned but unobtrusive. The Jamaicans want to see the cash which, Sonny says, is in his car. He’s escorted out by one of the Jamaicans, and when they open the trunk of Sonny’s car, Rico hops out, subdues the Jamaican, then dresses in his clothes. He now escorts Crockett back to the apartment.

As soon as they knock on the door of the apartment, gunfire erupts. Noogie is shot, as is one of the Jamaicans. The other, who tries to use Noogie as a shield, is shot by a SWAT sniper from outside the building. In the final scene, Rico and Sonny go to the hospital to visit Jake, who has come out of his coma. As they enter the building, they encounter Noogie, whose arm is patched up. He’s back to his old vibrant self again.

Sonny and his lawyer meet with Caroline and her lawyer on the courthouse steps. The two lawyers begin arguing about the details of the custody arrangement for Billy, which leads Caroline and Sonny to walk away from them and talk alone. Caroline and Sonny settle their differences, then proceed to fire their lawyers and leave together.

In the next scene, we see two of the men Switek and Zito are surveilling gunned down by a person who appears to be their limo driver, just after the pair have gotten into a limo. Another man with a gun steps out into the street to stop the shooter. At first it looks like a cop, but we find out later it was the chauffeur. Nevertheless, when he takes his eyes of the shooter for a brief moment, the shooter takes the opportunity to shoot him. The shooter walks towards a waiting car and escapes. The cops give chase, but do not catch him. Supposedly, there is still one suspect inside the apartment building that’s been under surveillance, but the vice cops don’t find him. They do find $20,000, a brief case, some pistols, and something else (unidentified to us) that the shooter left behind.

Sonny and Caroline go back home and make love. A knock on the door from Tubbs and Rodriguez interrupts their subsequent pillow talk. Rico tells Sonny that Castronova, his bodyguard, and his chauffeur were shot, and what the shooter left behind (the item unidentified to us earlier) was a book containing the names of eight people, six of whom were already dead. Sonny’s is the eighth name on the list.

Back at the OCB later, Rodriguez finds out that the shooter is, perhaps, an Argentinian with a long history known to INTERPOL, a trained assassin with no name. A torn receipt found in the shooter’s room gives them a name – Carlos Mendez – to check out.

Caroline and Billy have been taken into protective custody, and Rodriguez wants Sonny to go to the safe house and stay with them. Sonny balks, but Lou insists. The two leave for the safe house. Still at the OCB, Zito brings Tubbs an FBI surveillance photo, supposedly of Mendez, though it’s almost impossible to make it out. Tubbs, however, identifies another person in the photo – Calderone.

Meanwhile, Sonny and Lou have stopped at Sonny’s boat to pick up some things. The shoorter has targeted Sonny on the boat from a perch on top of a building across the way, and he takes a shot. Lou sees the shooter, yells to Sonny, and blocks a bullet that was meant for Crockett. In the process, Lou is gravely wounded.

It so happens that Calderone is found to have links with the six people who have already been killed. Sonny wants to go after Carlos Mendez. Rico tries to stop him, but when he realizes that Crockett is determined, he decides to go along with him. The seventh person on the list, one Linus Oliver, a dealer, is now under surveillance and gets a call about a deal. He’s supposed to meet someone named Mendez. Sonny and Rico catch up with Oliver and tell him that he is being set up. They want Linus to call Mendez and reschedule the meeting. Oliver now fears for his life and doesn’t want to do it, but he doesn’t have much choice but to cooperate, since Sonny and Rico found both drugs and the drug deal money in Oliver’s car when they caught up with him.

Crockett is, of course, a bit jumpy, and this is conveyed in a short scene in which a stranger approaches Sonny from behind to return a pack of cigarettes Sonny has dropped. Sonny pulls a gun on the man. Sonny, subsequently, goes to the safe house to see Caroline and Billy, but tells Caroline that he can’t stay.

In the next scene, Oliver goes to the meeting with Mendez at a club. The place is crowded and noisy, with the Pointer Sisters’ I’m so excited, playing in the background. Zito is there as a waiter, Switek as a bartender, and Tubbs, Oliver, Trudy, and Gina wait, at a table, for Mendez. They’re all especially vigilant, since no one really knows what Mendez looks like, except for Oliver. Gina and Trudy get up to dance, after which Trudy heads to the bar. She is accosted by a guy who wants to dance and won’t take "no" for an answer. ZZ Top’s Tush is now playing in the background. A friend of his also bothers Trudy, gets a bit rough, and strikes out at Zito when he attempts to intercede, after which Zito punches him. A brawl breaks out. In the midst of it, Oliver spots Mendez in the crowd, and the cops are able to apprehend him. They believe they’ve caught the shooter (but we know that Mendez is not the shooter). The shooter also happens to be at the club, but doesn’t take any action.

Sonny goes to get Caroline and Billy out of the safe house and take them home, believing it’s all over. Meanwhile, Tubbs is interrogating Mendez, who won’t admit to knowing Calderone’s whereabouts. Rico gets word that Oliver has just gotten blown away outside his apartment building. At this point, they all realize Mendez is not the shooter, and that the shooter will now be after Sonny.

Rico races to the Crockett home, but the family has already arrived, and the shooter is waiting inside. Just after Sonny, Caroline, and Billy walk through the door and Sonny turns on the lights, he realizes someone is in the house, because he sees a cup of coffee has been spilt on the living room carpet. He grabs Caroline and Billy and pushes them out of the way. A shoot-out with the assassin ensues. The vice cops arrive, and the shooter is killed after he plunges through a window and right into their arms.

Sonny and Caroline’s home is a wreck, and Sonny’s chances for reconciliation with his wife are nil. Caroline tells Sonny that she loves him, but things just aren’t going to work out. Sonny tells her he’ll reschedule the divorce hearing.

The vice squad, still on the scene at Sonny’s home, get word that Rodriguez has died, and that Mendez has finally caved, admitting that he knows Calderone is in the Bahamas. Crockett and Tubbs make plans to go after Calderone. To be continued¼..

Episode 5 - Calderone’s Return, Part II (a.k.a. Calderone’s Demise)  - Synopsis

As the episode opens, Tubbs and Crockett are at the OCB, roughly questioning Mendez about Calderone’s precise whereabouts in the Bahamas. They pour Mendez a glass of water, then knock the glass out of his hand as he attempts to drink from it. Mendez denies knowledge of Calderone’s exact location, and also claims not to know anything about Angelina when the officers show him her picture. Mendez doesn’t want to talk but, with further threats from Crockett and Tubbs, tells them that Calderone is using the Bahamas as a base for Miami operations. He’s using shrimpers to haul coke to the islands and cigarette boats back to the mainland. Calderone is opening up new supply routes, and Luduvicio Armstrong was hired to remove the competition threatening those routes. Sonny and Rico don’t feel that Mendez has given them anything they can use and threaten him some more. Finally, Mendez tells them that Armstrong is still owed half his pay for the hits in Miami. Armstrong is supposed to go to a resort lodge on St. Andrews Island, check in under the name of Miller, and wait to be contacted. Mendez also says that Calderone doesn’t know what Armstrong looks like; only Mendez has seen him.

Sonny and Rico’s temporary boss warns the pair that they’re going to the Bahamas for surveillance purposes only, and are not to be vigilantes. The two take off in Sonny’s boat, with Russ Ballard’s Voices heard in the background. Shots of the boat are mixed with flashbacks to scenes from relevant earlier episodes (e.g., death of Rico’s brother).

Sonny poses as Miller once they arrive on the island. They head to an island bar, where they casually talk with the bartender, asking him if he knows Angelina. He tells them that she’s a school teacher on the north end of the island. Crockett (as Crockett) goes to talk with the local police chief, a man named Albry (sp?), who tells Sonny that he’s not aware that Calderone is on the island, but will keep him informed in the event that Calderone shows up. Meanwhile, Rico goes to see Angelina. He finds her painting on the beach, but she’s fairly coy and doesn’t reveal much about herself. Rico is smitten with the woman, but is not able to arrange an official date with her at this meeting. Crockett meets Tubbs on the beach, and they watch Angelina head out in a small boat to a large yacht just offshore. Rico spots Calderone on the yacht. Crockett sees the determination on Tubbs’ face and warns him about NOT being a vigilante. Tubbs responds, however, that he’ll play it by the book, but if things go sour, he will get Calderone, and nobody will stop him.

The Miami paper has announced that Crockett has been killed, so Calderone should be lured into believing that Armstrong has finished with the hit list. Crockett (Miller) receives a note that he’s supposed to meet with one of Calderone’s men to pick up his pay. While Sonny goes off to the meeting, Rico goes to see Angelina again at the school where she teaches, under the pretense of returning a watch she left behind the previous day. He asks her to lunch, but she says she’s not free. She agrees, however, to meet him for dinner. Crockett (Miller), meanwhile, meets his contact but refuses to accept the $60,000 payment offered. He tells Calderone’s man that he wants and extra $30,000 for killing Crockett, or Calderone will become number nine on his hit list. He also specifies that Calderone bring the money in person.

Crockett and Tubbs meet up again and are driving down one of the island’s roads when a car begins chasing them and its occupants shooting at them. A chase through town ensues. Sonny drives their rented car into the bay, and the pursuers shoot at its gas tank, causing the car to blow up. Sonny and Rico, however, managed to get out before it blew. The pursuers, however, assume they’re dead and take off.

The police chief, Albry, comes by the site of the "accident" to tell Crockett and Tubbs that Calderone has left the island. Crockett feels certain that it is Albry who tipped Calderone about "Miller’s" true identity. Sonny and Rico make plans to leave the island, but Tubbs wants to see Angelina one more time before he leaves, supposedly to get information from her about Calderone’s destination. Rico meets Angelina, the romantic spark ignites, and the two make love. Afterwards, Tubbs notices a picture of Angelina and Calderone on the bedside table. When he asks Angelina about the picture, she tells him that Calderone is her father. She wants Rico to meet him at a masquerade ball that night - a ball being held in conjunction with a local festival. Crockett and Tubbs make plans to leave the island, and then double back, so Tubbs can meet Calderone at the party.

Sonny and Rico attend the masquerade party on the beach, wearing masks of course. Tubbs goes off to dance with Angelina, then goes to get some drinks, and sees Crockett being captured and led away. He can’t stop that from happening, so he goes back to Angelina. They argue as Rico tells her the truth about her father. Angelina doesn’t want to believe it, but Rico also tells her that Calderone had his brother killed.

Crockett is taken straight to Calderone who, of course, plans to kill him. Albry is there, confirming Crockett’s suspicions. However, Angelina and Tubbs show up a few minutes later. Tubbs has a gun and orders Calderone’s men to drop their weapons. They feign doing so, but then draw and fire at Tubbs. Crockett attacks one of Calderone’s men and grabs his weapon, shooting Calderone, who falls backwards from a sitting position into the pool, dead. Angelina is screaming in the background.

Sonny later has a talk with Barbara, who turns out to be an old girlfriend with a gambling problem. She owes Mickey $11,000; at least that’s what he claims. Barbara is married to a man named Jerry, and because she hasn’t been able to pay her debt, Al Lombard’s right-hand man, loan shark Vincent DeMarco, arranged to have Jerry’s tools stolen, effectively putting him out of business. Barbara begs Sonny to go to DeMarco and try to get Jerry’s equipment back.

Back at the OCB, the new lieutenant, Castillo, makes his entrance. Crockett, returning to the office, asks Tubbs what he’s like and Rico says "Charles Bronson by way of Havana." Crockett introduces himself to the lieutenant, and Castillo responds by asking him if he’s filed his report on the morning’s incident yet. Crockett says "no", as if he’s surprised anyone would want it that quickly, and Castillo stares him down for several seconds before walking away.

Crockett goes to see DeMarco and orders him, essentially, to return the equipment to Barbara’s husband, or Sonny will make his life miserable. Sonny then returns to the St. Vitus, only to find that the authorities are about to take Elvis away from him because the wayward alligator got loose and crashed a cocktail party, scaring all the guests. Crockett, however, tells them that Elvis is an employee of the county and not subject to the game and wildlife regulations. Problem solved...for now.

Sonny gets s a call from DeMarco, who wants to meet. At the meeting, DeMarco tells Sonny he has already gotten rid of the equipment, but is giving Sonny cash to give to Barbara, to make things good. The minute Crockett accepts the money, he’s placed under arrest by an Internal Affairs officer named Schroeder. DeMarco has set him up.

Schroeder tries to portray Sonny to the new lieutenant as a crooked cop - a "one-eyed jack" who lets you see only one side of himself. Castillo neither defends nor denounces Sonny, though Sonny’s fellow cops, particularly Rico, make a point of supporting him verbally against Schroeder’s accusations. After Crockett is "released," he goes to see Barbara, but she’s not home. Sonny talks to Jerry, though, who gives him a few more details about Barbara’s gambling problem. Tubbs puts out an APB on Barbara, who appears to be missing. She had gone to see DeMarco again, and offered him a small amount of money, which he refused, saying he had a better idea. He then shepherded her into his car.

Tubbs, that evening, is working to infiltrate the Lombard organization. Meanwhile, Sonny goes back to the St. Vitus to find Gina there. She stays the night. In the morning, Tubbs shows up, pleased with the progress he’s making with Lombard, and pleased that he’s won a little money gambling at the same time. Sonny, Gina, and Rico are chatting like friends do when Crockett gets a phone call. Barbara has been killed. Crockett and Tubbs head to the scene, where they find Castillo, who tells them Barbara was shot five times with a .22. Crockett says he’s sure she was killed by Lombard’s people, but Castillo counters with "Anyone could have bought a .22." Rico gets angry, walks up to Castillo, and asks him whose side he’s on. Castillo says, "Don’t ever come up to my face like this again, detective." Sonny leads Rico away from Castillo. End of conversation.

Rico goes to a meeting with Lombard on his boat. Crockett returns to the OCB to find that there’s no evidence linking DeMarco to Barbara’s murder. Tubbs walks in and tells everyone he’s got a job working for Lombard. In the next scene, we see Tubbs at a cock fight, obviously one of Lombard’s minor operations. A man named Angel, organizer and manager of this event, is supposed to give DeMarco the proceeds, and DeMarco’s expecting a precise amount of money. Angel is short by $6000. Tubbs, under the pretense of squeezing Angel for the money, takes him to a back room. But in reality, Rico comes out of the room with $4000 of his own money, which he gives to DeMarco, making it look as if he got it from Angel. DeMarco gives the cash to Lombard. A little later, Rico talks to Lombard and tells him he’s collected $6000 from Angel and given it to DeMarco. Now, Lombard believes that DeMarco has been holding out on him. In effect, Rico set up DeMarco, and he lets DeMarco know that, too.

Miami Vice decides to investigate Amato and places bugs all over his home. Surveillance is set up on a boat across the harbor(?) from Amato’s home. While surveillance is being setup, federal agents show up at the boat, saying they want to take over the investigation. They say that Amato broke into the National Armory and stole a crate of Stinger missiles. Nevertheless, they agree to piggyback on Vice’s operation and not take over completely.

Crockett and Tubbs, doing surveillance from the boat, observe Amato (Bruce Willis) fighting with his wife, Rita. Among other rude acts, he pushes her, fully clothed, into the pool during their argument - a real sweetheart. Afterwards, Amato leaves the house. Rita receives a phone call from a friend, and their conversation suggests that Rita has made the decision to try to have Amato killed. Her friend helps to set up a meeting between her and a hit man - Jimmy Eureka.

The Feds and Vice cops argue about whether to do anything about the situation with Rita while, at the same time the Feds plan to have one of their own men, who’s inexperienced, play the role of DuPas, a Jamaican gun merchant, at a meeting that’s being set up with Amato. Crockett and Tubbs convince the Feds that their man is too inexperienced, and Tubbs takes on the role of DuPas. Crockett, meanwhile, intercepts Jimmy Eureka, and scares him away from Rita by flashing his badge. Crockett (now posing as Eureka) meets with Rita, who tells him that she tried to leave Amato; he found her and brought her back. She hired a lawyer; Amato had two of his men beat up (and probably rape) the lawyer’s wife and tell her that if her husband didn’t back off, they would return and do the same thing to their daughter. Yet, Rita can’t bring herself to have Amato killed and turns to leave. At that point, Crockett reveals himself to her as a cop, and she goes with him to the OCB, where she’s told about their plans. She agrees to cooperate by going back home to Amato for a little while longer, to keep him from becoming suspicious.

Rico meets with Amato’s men for a demonstration of the Stinger, and makes plans to finalize the deal with Amato. As the song "Stay with Me" plays in the background, Amato goes home to Rita with a pair of earrings, but becomes enraged when she shuns his affection. He begins knocking her around. Crockett, who’s still doing surveillance in the boat, is greatly affected by this but, since he can do nothing more at the moment, only quietly mouths an apology to Rita.

The Feds are anxious to bust Amato right away because they feel they can already get what they want - the Stingers. Crockett and Tubbs have to work hard to convince them to wait until the deal goes down to bust Amato for attempting to sell the guns, as well, but the two eventually prevail. That evening, before the scheduled meet, Amato spots the bugs that have been placed in his house. Crockett and Tubbs see this from the surveillance boat, and Tubbs immediately calls Amato, again posing as DuPas, angrily telling him that he’s being watched himself, and that he wants to back out of the deal. Of course, Amato agrees to have the deal go down immediately. Rico goes to meet with Amato and all of the cops move into place. As the song "Don’t Care Any More" plays, Tubbs goes to meet Amato on a huge ship in the harbor. As Crockett tries to sneak up on Amato’s men on the ship, the Feds jump the gun a bit and move in. Nevertheless, Amato is caught, and Crockett calls Rita to tell her it’s all over.

Crockett and Tubbs are chasing a slippery character, whom they finally corner in a building under construction. It turns out to be Izzy Moreno, and he is apprehended along with some drugs. Izzy’s known for ratting on everyone with whom he’s ever had contact, in order to get himself out of trouble. In this case, back at the OCB, he gives the vice squad a new name - Louis McCarthy. Izzy’s been moving drugs for him and tells Crockett and Tubbs that McCarthy has a new shipment coming in soon.

Tubbs, posing as Richard Taylor, goes to meet with McCarthy, under the pretense of getting himself and Sonny into a boat race to Bimini that McCarthy is planning for the upcoming weekend. McCarthy won’t agree to let them into the race, but invites Rico to attend the festivities. During the course of their conversation, Rico makes it clear that he’s interested in doing business beyond the boat race. Also at the meeting with McCarthy is a "first class weasel" named Giff, who’s been an police informant in the past.

After the meeting with McCarthy, Sonny and Rico pay a visit to Giff and lean on him. They pressure Giff into showing them McCarthy’s books. As it turns out, Giff is skimming money off of the accounts, not for himself, but for Vanessa, McCarthy’s "woman," who runs an exclusive clothing store owned by McCarthy. Crockett and Tubbs then pay a visit to Vanessa. Tubbs finds himself attracted to her and manages to get invited to have brunch with her the next day. Unfortunately, for Tubbs, Crockett is included in Vanessa’s brunch invitation. McCarthy also attends the brunch and, when the meal is over, Crockett speaks with McCarthy, trying to entice him to deal, but McCarthy won’t bite. He does, however, invite Crockett and Tubbs to a party that night. They attend the party, where Tubbs becomes even more enamored of Vanessa, and Crockett wins a place in the boat race in return for beating McCarthy in a game of pool. McCarthy confronts Tubbs about his flirtations with Vanessa, but before Tubbs can respond, they’re conversation is interrupted by a scream from outside. Rushing outside, they find that Giff has been murdered.

Sonny tells Rico he thinks McCarthy had Giff killed because he found out Giff was "fooling around" with Vanessa and skimming money from his accounts. Rico doesn’t want to believe it. Crockett and Tubbs assure Castillo that their cover is intact. Castillo tells them, however, that he can’t supply them with "good faith"money, and that Crockett and Tubbs will have to get that from Gina and Trudy, who are about to arrest a college professor who is dealing cocaine. Sonny and Rico show up when Gina and Trudy arrest the professor, and convince the ladies to let them use the money they had for the bust.

Rico goes back to see Vanessa and ends up making love with her. The next day is the boat race, which occurs with "Born to Be Wild" playing in the background. In a scene that’s entirely too long for my taste, Crockett wins the race despite the fact that McCarthy cheats by having two identical boats in the race, one of which has the cocaine on it. The vice squad arrests McCarthy on the dock after the race and confiscates the drugs.

Crockett and Tubbs head into court that Friday morning, where Rico testifies against a dealer defendant named Ruiz. Though Tubbs gives incriminating evidence, Ruiz doesn’t seem worried. The cops are, nevertheless, confident that Bramlin’s testimony the following Monday should convict Ruiz. Bramlin has other ideas. When Zito and Switek aren’t paying attention, Bramlin slips away from the hotel room. Needless to say, Castillo is not happy with this unfortunate turn of events. He gives Crockett and Tubbs until Monday morning to find Bramlin. The pair go to Harry’s - a club where Bramlin typically hangs out. There they admire (?) some lady boxers (background music = INXS’ "Send a Message") until they run into Harry, who tells them they should look for Bramlin in Okeechobee Springs in the Everglades.

Sonny and Rico dress for a fishing trip and drive to the Everglades to the tune of Tommy Shaw’s "Girls with Guns." The two attempt to make friends with the locals, who eventually appear to warm up to them. Crockett and Tubbs ask about Joey Bramlin’s whereabouts under the pretense of hiring him as a guide. The locals offer to take them to Joey, but end up driving Crockett and Tubbs deep into the swamps, knocking them around a bit, and deserting them.

Now Sonny and Rico are lost, battling swamp bugs, snakes, and other nasty stuff, trying to get out of the swamp. They’re both irritable and griping at each other. To make matters worse, they run smack dab into some men with guns who now take them prisoner. They are led on foot to a woman in the swamp/woods, named Cassie, who also has a gun and orders them to a boat in the swamp. She takes them for a lazy boat ride, all the while saying nothing, and eventually brings them in to shore near a house where a number of men with guns await, including Bramlin.

Bramlin proceeds to introduce his family and friends, and tells Sonny and Rico that the letter he’d received back at the hotel stated that his 9-year-old daughter, Tammy, had been kidnapped by Ruiz’ people, who said they’d kill her if Bramlin testified. When Crockett asked Bramlin why he didn’t just clam up in court, Bramlin says Ruiz would kill her anyway. He has to get her back, and he wants Crockett and Tubbs to help him. He continues by telling them that about 20 Columbians are holding Tammy in a house. Between his family, friends, and Crockett and Tubbs, it’d be 20 against eight - lousy odds. But Bramlin also says that about half the Columbians will be busy with an incoming shipment the next night, bettering the odds a bit. Crockett and Tubbs agree to check out the house, at least. Bramlin admits that his family and friends are all smugglers, but says that only Ruiz’s people are murderers.

The next day, after Bramlin sends one of his tooth-missing friends, Clint, to find out when and where the drug shipment is coming in, Bramlin tells Sonny and Rico the group’s story. In effect, they were peaceful pot smugglers, just doing enough business in order to feed their families, until Ruiz moved in. Ruiz forced everyone to work for him and didn’t deal kindly with freelancers. Crockett and Tubbs begin to warm to these backwoodsy folks. Meanwhile, Clint cleverly gets the information about the shipment, and the Bramlins and company devise a plan to recover Tammy.

When the seaplane carrying the shipment arrives, one group of Ruiz’s men goes to the dock to meet the plane, and Rico and some of the Bramlin family keep them pinned down. Crockett and the rest of the Bramlins pick off the remaining Columbians at the house, and Sonny goes in to get Tammy. Tammy just happens to be the sweest little blue-eyed girl you’d ever want to see, but she has a gun being held to her head by one of the Columbians. So it’s a standoff, now, between Crockett and the Columbian. The Columbian says that if Crockett so much as twitches, he’ll blow the girl away. Crockett, aiming the gun at the Columbian, says "Maybe you won’t even twitch," and shoots him down. Crockett coaxes the girl away from the dead man, and out the door to her family. But there is still a Columbian lurking. While Crockett has his back turned, the Columbian prepares to take his best shot, but Clint, whose big alligator gun has been misfiring during the entire episode, saves Crockett by blasting a big hole in the Columbian.

Sonny and Rico head to the warehouse. Guarding the goods is a young, naive guy named Bob Richards. Rather than arresting him, Crockett gives him a scare and lets him go after he tells Crockett the time of the pick-up the next morning, and the address to which the shipment will be delivered. Meanwhile, Trudy and Gina are working to connect with Ramirez.

The next day, Sonny and Rico go to the address (a house) Bob has told them about. They don’t even get to the door before people start firing at them from inside. A sports utility vehicle (SUV) shoots out of the garage next to the house. Crockett and Tubbs pursue it in Tubbs’ Caddy. The SUV crashes during the chase and Crockett and Tubbs arrest the occupant. On the other case, Gina finally gets an audience with Ramirez. She offers him money in return for protecting her as a call-girl.

Sonny and Rico are summoned to the office of a big-time lawyer who, as it turns out, represents Sal ElVarado, the man they arrested earlier in the day. ElVarado is a punk, but was bailed out of jail by some people of means. The lawyer tells Sonny and Rico that they’re in over their heads, and he wants to know the name of their informant. Sonny, of course, refuses to give up Bob Richards. Back at the OCB, Castillo tells Crockett and Tubbs that he’s getting intense pressure for Sonny to name the informant and that Crockett risks a contempt of court charge if he won’t do it. Crockett goes into court and runs up against a judge who insists he give up Richards. Sonny refuses and goes to jail. Richards finds out through the television news that Crockett has gone to jail for his sake.

Gina has begun to make progress with Ramirez. He makes her an offer - to work exclusively for him - meeting an elite clientele, and accompanying him on special business trips. He invites her to a party that night to meet some of these wonderful people. Ramirez’ underling, who turns out to be none other than Sal ElVarado, tells Ramirez that he’s being watched, but he doesn’t know by whom. Ramirez suspects that Gina is involved and may be an informant.

Trudy meets with Gina and becomes very upset when Gina insists on going to the party alone, without backup. Gina, however, is adamant she can handle it. Sonny suddenly gets released from jail and assumes Castillo must have pulled some strings. But upon returning to the OCB, he finds out Castillo had nothing to do with it. Bob Richards came forward and identified himself as the informant. He agreed not to testify, meaning that ElVarado gets a walk....and Sonny can do nothing but fume, which he does.

Gina shows up for the party, but there’s no party. It’s just Ramirez, and he wants Gina to have sex with him (background music - Etta James’ "You Want More"). Gina has no backup and no way out, so she complies to avoid blowing her cover.

Noogie, who in his own way admires the fact that Sonny has gone to jail rather than give up the name of informant, brings someone who knows ElVarado to meet with Crockett and Tubbs. Noogie’s pal tells them that ElVarado works for Ramirez. He also tells them Ramirez is going to murder another prostitute he thinks is an informant - a girl named Paula. Sonny and Rico recognize instantly that Paula is Gina’s "working girl" name, and take off looking for her in a flash.

Among those arrested is Mark Jorgenson, Jr., a "poor little rich kid" who’s been in trouble before. Sonny and Rico interrogate Mark, who doesn’t want to rat on his friends, but finally agrees to do so to avoid six months in jail for possession. But before young Mark can make a statement, a hot-shot lawyer strides into the interrogation room with a court order for his release. Vice cannot touch the kid, but they can "rattle his cage," which is what they proceed to do with Castillo’s blessing. Crockett shows up at a polo match in which Mark is playing - just to say "hello."

We next see Mark Jr. totally strung out and laying on one of the bathroom floors in the family mansion. Mary McDermott, Mark Sr.’s current love interest, walks in on Mark. The two talk, and Mary appears sympathetic. A little later, when Mark Sr. arrives home and asks about Mark’s whereabouts, Mary tries to protect Mark Jr. by telling his father the boy is asleep. The father suspects the truth, however, and says as much to Mary. The next day, a conversation between the two male Jorgensons reveals that they have no rapport. Mark Sr. says the family attorney can get Mark off, provided he goes to a rehab center for six months. Mark balks at that. His father says that, of course, he can finish the semester and polo season first. Nice to know he has his priorities straight!

Back at the OCB, Trudy has run a background check on the elder Jorgenson, who seems to be involved in some very shady dealings, but the authorities haven’t been able to nail him. Tubbs listens to some surveillance tapes from recent investigations of Mark Jorgenson Sr., which pinpoint the location of a warehouse where some illegal activities may be going on. Tubbs quietly breaks into the place and finds a huge shipment of cocaine worth about $75 million on the street. Vice sets up surveillance on the warehouse to catch whoever shows up to claim the shipment. Crockett, meanwhile, goes to some record offices to try to find out who owns the warehouse. He doesn’t have much luck.

Finally, several well-dressed people, including Mary, show up at the warehouse to claim the drugs, and Vice makes the bust. Tubbs tries to get Mary to talk, as he drives her to the OCB, but no dice.

Back at the Palace Jorgenson, father and son are having a conversation in which it becomes quite apparent that Mark Sr. is involved with the drug shipment, but what he tells Mark Jr. is that it’s Mary who’s involved, not him, and that he can’t get involved, either. He sends Mark Jr. to negotiate Mary’s release. While Mark Jr. is at the OCB, Crockett and Tubbs try to tell him that Mary is merely the middle "man" for his father’s drug deals, but Mark doesn’t want to believe it. He springs Mary from jail and rides home with her in Daddy’s chauffeur-driven limo. Mark gets dropped off at his own home first. After he’s out of the car, the chauffeur locks the back doors of the limo, and Mary realizes she won’t ever be going home again.

Mary’s body is discovered soon after. Vice summons Mark Jr. to the crime scene, and he finally faces the truth. He agrees to help Vice "get" his father. Mark goes to see his father at the mansion, wearing a wire. Mark Sr. is distraught and evidently riddled with guilt about Mary. He breaks down, telling Mark Jr. that he’s been tough on him because that’s the way his own father was, always challenging his children to be tough - because they were superior, above the law, etc., as Jorgensons. He said that he admired his son’s sensitivity - the fact that he rebelled against all of that. Then he tells his son that he killed Mary. Mark Jr. bursts into tears and rips open his shirt to reveal the wire. Vice arrests Mark’s father, and the son takes off. Sonny and Rico go back to the house later to see young Mark, but it appears he’s left for good.

The episode opens to the tune of "Legs" (ZZ Top) as Crockett and Tubbs do passenger surveillance at the airport. A counter clerk signals Crockett, who comes to the airline counter to find that a young juvenile has just paid cash for a ticket to Bogota, Columbia. Sonny and Rico find the juvenile, Eddie Rivers, and his friend, Louis Martinez, sitting at an airport eatery, having a bite to eat before the flight. The kids bolt from the table as the two detectives approach, and a chase ensues. The boys get away.

We next see Crockett grabbing a hot dog at a street vendor’s stand. An attorney named Sloane pulls up in a snazzy convertible. It’s immediately clear that Crockett loathes the guy, who turns out to be a public defender who has recently obliterated one of Crockett’s cases. The defendant in that case, a low-life dealer named Rojas, walked because Sloane rounded up a stable of witnesses, all of whom were subsequently paid off in cocaine by Rojas, not to testify. Sloane is an arrogant man, who seems to delight in irritating Sonny.

Sonny and Rico are sent to do surveillance on a coke lab in South Miami. Meanwhile, we hear a discussion between Martinez and Rivers, two kids from New York City with big dreams. Their idea is to make one big coke deal that will net them enough money to open a swanky club back in New York. Back at the surveillance site, Sonny and Rico watch the coke lab explode into smithereens. In checking the remains of the coke lab, they find that sophisticated business and equipment operations were going on. Coke was being shipped from Columbia in statues and processed at the lab. If the kids were playing ball with the coke lab boys, they’d be in way over their heads. There was only one survivor of the explosion, who gave up a name – Moya.

Eddie Rivers, now in Bogota, makes a drug pickup, meeting with a man who shows him how to store the coke in statues such that it can be transported without detection by dogs and baggage handling security systems. Crockett and Tubbs pay a visit to a girl named Angela, who they’d busted a few months earlier. Perhaps she can tell them something about Moya and/or the coke lab. Angela points them to a Diego Moya and a gym in South Beach. They check out the action at the gym (music = Pat Benatar’s "Hit ‘em With your Best Shot"), posing as businessmen looking to invest in a fighter. They meet Pepe Moya, who tells them that his brother, Diego, handles all the fight business. He’ll be at the gym later that evening. Crockett would like to talk further, but Tubbs has spotted Louis Martinez slipping out of the back door of the gym, and hustles Sonny away. Louis has grabbed a cab, and Crockett and Tubbs pursue him to the Senator Hotel. They walk inside and, seconds later, see Eddie Rivers coming through the hotel door. They arrest Rivers, who is carrying a big duffle bag with the statues in it.

Sonny and Rico work on Rivers back at the OCB, trying to get him to cooperate with the police. Rivers tells him that his lawyer, Sloane, said the cops would just use him and then toss him away. Crockett, in particular, is furious, and he and Tubbs go in search of Sloane. When they find him, they force him to return to the OCB and come clean with the kid about what a sleaze he really is and the fact that the kids should cooperate with the police. Sloane doesn’t exactly cooperate, but his actions are enough to convince Eddie Rivers to help the vice cops.

Eddie leads the cops to Martinez. They catch him and get his agreement to cooperate, as well, in order to avoid a mandatory 15-year jail sentence for dealing drugs. Crockett and Tubbs brief Rivers and Martinez about how to handle the drug deal at the Senator Hotel. Diego Moya and another man show up to the make the deal for the statue, but figuring to double-cross the boys all along, Diego proceeds to pull a gun on Eddie. The cops move in and kill Moya before he can kill the terrified boys, however.

Switek and Zito take Eddie and Louis to a safe house. In the mean time, Crockett and Tubbs head to the gym in the hopes of finding Pepe Moya, or at least Angela, who may know where he is. They find Angela, who says that Pepe is involved with the main coke lab. One of Angela’s friends bursts in on the discussion with Sonny and Rico. They grab him, and following a little "unfriendy persuasion," the guy says that Pepe Moya is a real sicko, and that he’s willing to give the vice cops the location of the main coke lab so they can catch him. Back at the OCB, Castillo says the rest of the vice squad will handle the raid on the main coke lab, and that Crockett and Tubbs are to get Martinez and Rivers to the airport to catch a flight home to New York..

The episode opens with Crockett and Tubbs posing as security officers at a hotel, faced with handling a little domestic problem - a male and a female guest out of control on PCP. It takes both of them to subdue the male, whom they eventually cuff to the stair railing at the entrance to the hotel. Sonny and Rico have "had it" with this detail. They meet with Castillo with the idea of requesting reassignment, but Castillo tells them that there are some bad cops at the hotel, extorting money from high-class hookers in return for protection. He doesn’t just want their badges; he wants that "slime flushed down the sewer."

So, Sonny and Rico continue on the job. They need to enlist the aid of a hooker, so Sonny, in one of Don Johnson’s rare comedic turns on Miami Vice, poses as a nerdy hotel guest poolside - complete with bermuda shorts, thick eyeglasses, and pocket protector - to snag a hooker. Indeed, a hooker, a girl named Candy, comes calling. (Music = Dolly Parton’s "Great Balls o’ Fire".) He arrests her and takes her to the OCB. She agrees to help Crockett and Tubbs if they’ll wipe her record clean.

Crockett and Tubbs now pose as hotel security guards with a sideline - serving as pimps to hookers. Trudy and Gina pose as a few of their "ladies," along with Candy, who wears a wire. Two of the suspected dirty cops, Ross and Garcia, pick up on this nifty little arrangement, and make a point of following Candy when she leaves the hotel later in the evening. When Candy stops her car and gets out, the two cops drag her into a nearby alley and rough her up, as they try to impress upon her the importance of her "pimps" paying them for protection. Crockett and Tubbs wait a little too long, perhaps, before intervening, and find Candy doubled over on the ground when they finally reach the alley. She’s o.k., but when Sonny and Rico ask if there is anything they can do to help her, she says "Eat dirt and die" and stomps off. They’ve gotten the goods on Ross and Garcia thanks to Candy, however, and arrest them. Unfortunately, they’re released from jail almost immediately.

Sonny, back at his hotel security "job," shows a hotel guest the security vault as proof that his valuables will be safe in the hotel’s hands. Later that day, this same guest, accompanied by a friend, makes an appearance at Sonny’s boat. Crockett and Tubbs are both there, and the two other men approach them with a business deal, boldly telling Sonny and Rico that they figure the two must be crooked to be living so high on the hog with just a hotel security job for income. At this point, Sonny and Rico aren’t given any of the details of the deal. Heading back to the OCB, they attempt to check out the men. One of them turns out to be Elias Zarbo, a con with a very long rap sheet - but not for burglary or robbery, so if breaking into the hotel vault is the game, it would be counter to Zarbo’s M.O.

Back at the hotel again, Candy does not appear to have learned her lesson. She’s still hooking and is making a play for Zarbo. Sonny is livid, but Candy appears not to notice or care when he tries to lure her away from Zarbo. Nevertheless, it appears that she’s still willing to help the cops because she waltzes into the hotel security office a little while later with the keys to Zarbo’s car. Checking out the car in the hotel’s parking garage, Sonny finds all the tools needed to successfully break into the hotel vault. In the glove compartment, Rico finds a bill from a sleazy local hotel, but what does it mean? On the way back into the hotel, the trio (Candy included) are accosted by Zarbo and his friend.

Zarbo forcibly steers them to a place where Ross is waiting, and Ross promptly identifies Sonny as the person who turned him in to the cops. Sonny denies this, and Candy pipes in that it was she who turned him in. Ross slaps her, whereupon Sonny steps in and knocks him to the ground, telling him that if he ever touches one of his girls again, he’ll kill him. He and Rico start to leave with Candy, but Zarbo stops them, now fully convinced that Sonny and Rico are, indeed, crooks. He lets them in on his idea of robbing all the security safe deposit boxes at the hotel. He wants Sonny and Rico to get them past the guard, but first he wants them to get him into the vault alone for a while so he can check it out.

Crockett and Tubbs inform Castillo, who okays the pair to move forward and let Zarbo go all the way with his plan. Unfortunately, it turns out that Zarbo doesn’t need the help of Sonny and Rico once he’s cased the vault. Zarbo and his friend pull the job with no help from them. Back in their sleazy hotel, the two crooks are surprised to find that there was nothing in the vault but papers. A man in a ski mask breaks into their hotel room and kills them. Switek and Zito find Zarbo dead, and the other man dying and babbling something about all the effort they made being just for some papers. Switek and Zito deliver the news to Crockett, Tubbs, and Castillo, back at the other hotel. Larry and Stan look a little green around the gills while telling their story. Castillo notices and asks what’s wrong, but Sonny and Rico are already thinking ahead about who else could be involved in all this, and they come up with Ross. Sonny and Rico go to Ross’ home to arrest him, but he swears he didn’t kill Zarbo. He was supposed to get Zarbo out of town after the job, he says, in case there was trouble. When Zarbo didn’t show, he went to find him, and the man was dead when he got there. Ross claims he didn’t kill Zarbo and his friend, that he couldn’t have killed them...."not like that, I could never do that."

Back at the OCB, convinced that Ross is telling the truth, Sonny and the vice squad are trying to figure out what’s going on. While they’re talking, Switek mentions that Zarbo’s "friend" was Thai and that he’d been tortured. Castillo goes a little crazy (for him), demanding to know why Switek never mentioned this before. Castillo, Crockett and Tubbs go to the morgue to inspect the bodies. Castillo recognizes the marks on the bodies as a signature of a Thai assassin. The victim defied someone very important, and the markings are meant to warn anyone that sees them. Castillo has seen these marks before. When Castillo was in southeast Asia, investigating a Chinese nationalist ex-general living in Thailand - a man named Lao Li - involved in the opium trade, he had seen an informant murdered this way. He believes Lao Li is moving his drug operation to Miami, and that the papers in the vault were schedules or contact information related to the drug trade. It’s clear that Castillo has an emotional involvement in this case.

Castillo, Crockett, and Tubbs start checking out all kinds of places where Thais might congregate. At a Thai restaurant, at which Castillo surprises Rico by speaking fluent Thai, Castillo begins to tell his story with some strong urging from Tubbs. He had been three years with the DEA, working in the mountains between Burma and Thailand. It was a lifetime, he says. A hotel waiter serves some water and all of a sudden Castillo sees something, perhaps a tattoo on the waiter’s body, that leads him to tell Rico to go and cover the back of the restuarant. Meanwhile, he quietly moves towards the kitchen of the restaurant. The waiter, once Castillo is in the kitchen, throws a knife at him and flees. Castillo pursues him, as does Rico. Crockett arrives and also gives chase. Castillo finally catches up with the man. The two have words in Thai and begin to fight, martial arts style. Castillo gets the best of the man, who promptly commits suicide by swallowing his tongue. Castillo tells Sonny and Rico that this man was the Thai assassin.

Not surprisingly, once Menton has gone, Crockett and Tubbs ask for more details from Castillo. He tells them that the ambush in Mai Sa occurred when he and his men were about to stop one of Lao Li’s mule-train opium shipments. Most of his men were killed, and he was wounded. When his body wasn’t recovered, his house was grenaded, and he was told that May Ying had been killed. He left Thailand. Menton was CIA; Castillo was DEA. They should have been working together, but their goals were completely different.

To add insult to injury, Martin next meets with Lao Li in his limousine. A cool, calm, and arrogant Lao Li tells Castillo that opium is just a commodity, like any other commodity, and he’s just a respectable businessman, being protected by a federal agency of the U.S. government. Castillo can’t touch him. Castillo is just a local cop, who can only enforce local laws and kow-tow to Lao Li if someone infringes on his rights. Lao Li intends to break no laws. Lao Li freely gives Martin May Ying’s address, insisting that he is not using May Ying as a hostage. Nevertheless, when Lao Li returns to his home in Miami, he warns his entire family not to break any laws - that Castillo is a dangerous man who would harm them if he could.

One wouldn’t think Castillo could be punished much more, but his day is not over yet. He goes to see May Ying, only to find that she is now married to someone else and has a son.

Despite Lao Li’s warning, two of his grandsons have decided to start their own little drug operation in Miami. They meet with a potential buyer at his local restaurant. Meanwhile, Castillo has instructed the vice squad to lean on the family for every little legal infraction, and to pay close attention to every move they make. The squad does this for a day or two, but doesn’t come up with anything. The family is, indeed, being extra careful. Castillo can’t justify maintaining the surveillance. He tells the squad that he is going to take a leave of absence to build a case again Lao Li. They, on the other hand, are to go back to their other cases. But the vice squad is loyal to their leader. They continue to gather information that could help Castillo.

Trudy and Gina go to Noogie for info, but he doesn’t know anything. He promises to see what he can find out. Zito and Switek meet up with him a little later, and Noogie gives them the name of a Howie Wong, a restauranteur who, rumor has it, is serving as a middleman for the sale of Lao Li’s smack. Zito and Switek go to Wong’s restaurant and spot the car Lao Li’s young grandsons have been driving parked outside. After the boys leave, Switek and Zito pick up Howie, and he agrees to tell the cops about the planned drug deal to avoid being thrown in jail for violation of probation (law-abiding citizen that he wasn’t!).

Based on information from Wong, Castillo outlines a plan to bust Lao Li’s grandsons. The plan works, Lao Li’s grandsons are arrested, and Castillo personally delivers this bit of news to Lao Li. Crockett and Tubbs go to lean on Menton, telling him that they plan to prove he’s been personally benefitting from Lao Li’s drug operation. Castillo then pays a visit to May Ying and her husband. He explains to May Ying that she and her husband are hostages, whether they realize it or not. Lao Li could kill them at any time. He promises to protect them. Castillo then returns to the OCB and, in a seemingly odd move, has Lao Li’s grandsons released from custody. The vice squad doesn’t understand, and Castillo is not talking. But when Lao Li’s grandsons are escorted away by family members upon their release, the vice squad, including Martin, follow them. The boys are taken to a warehouse where Lao Li and the family are waiting. Lao Li tells the boys they have compromised the entire operation. When one of the boys talks back to him and shows disrespect, Lao Li effectively disowns them and orders them killed. As other family members proceed to strangle the two boys, the vice squad moves in, having picked gotten all they needed on tape, and begins making arrests. Castillo himself arrests Lao Li for attempted murder. As the two men face each other once more, Lao Li expresses his respect for Martin Castillo.

The next morning at the OCB, Castillo tells them that there have been a number of kidnappings of smugglers recently, all ending in murders. The smugglers were bringing large shipments of cocaine into Miami. He sends Crockett and Tubbs to a meeting with a man named Ed Waters, to find out more about this. When Sonny and Rico show up for the meeting with Waters, Castillo is already there. Waters tells them that all the smugglers being killed had records and had been under investigation. They were well known to law enforcement and someone in law enforcement – DEA, FBI, or local police – had to be arranging these killings. He asks Crockett and Tubbs to pose as smugglers and go to Cartagena to make a big drug buy. Trudy is to pose as Tubbs’ wife – the bait – back in Miami. Roberto Morales has agreed to cooperate and identify Tubbs as his cousin, to pave the way for the deal in Cartagena. Waters says he doesn’t care how Crockett and Tubbs get to and from Cartagena; it’s up to them and he doesn’t want to know the details.

Sonny and Rico go to a local drug den and find an informant who gives them a name of a pilot who might be able to provide transportation. The pilot’s name is Jimmy (Glenn Frey), and Crockett and Tubbs go to see him. Jimmy agrees to fly the plane, but makes it clear that’s ALL he’s agreeing to do. As Jimmy readies the plane for the trip, we hear "Smuggler’s Blues," a song that’s interwoven throughout this episode.

Once in Cartagena, Sonny and Rico go to meet their contact, a man named Grossero, but he refuses to make a deal with them at the first meeting; it seems they can’t agree on a price. As Crockett and Tubbs are leaving the meeting, some street bandits accost them. Cops show up; Jimmy forces Sonny to flee with him, while the cops arrest Rico. While Tubbs sits in jail, Jimmy and Sonny have some time to get to know each other and find they have one thing, at least, in common – Vietnam. Both have lost countless buddies there, but Sonny tells Jimmy that he HAS to wait for Tubbs.

He doesn’t have long to wait because, it turns out, the cops are crooked and working for Grossero. After checking out Tubbs, they’re satisfied that he’s a bona fide drug smuggler, and let him go. Even better, they arrange for him to meet Grossero to sample the cocaine.

Crockett and Tubbs again go to meet Grossero. Rico pulls a gun on him – a gutsy move considering all the men with guns surrounding the drug lord. Tubbs tells Grossero he doesn’t appreciate his techniques, but Grossero simply insists he has to be careful. Tensions ease, and the deal is arranged. Later that evening, the money-for-drugs exchange is smoothly executed, and Sonny and Rico think they’re home free. But as they prepare to leave in the plane, people show up who try to prevent them from taking off. Luckily, however, they make it out of Caragena. On the way home, the plane swoops down low over a swamp, and the cocaine is jettisoned.

Once back in Miami, Crockett and Tubbs head out to the swamp to retrieve the cocaine. Once there, they are met by the bad cops. They’ve kidnapped Trudy, and now they want money.

Trudy, Gina, and Castillo, having much less fun, are at a crime scene. A body has just been fished out of the water. There are no marks on the woman’s body, and it’s not clear how she died, since she’s been in the water about eight hours. Interestingly, though unknown to the vice cops, Rico’s old flame, Valerie, is among the spectators on hand.

The next morning, we see Valerie in Castillo’s office at the OCB, a fact instantly noticed by Rico when he walks in. Rico shepherds Valerie away from Castillo’s office to take a walk with him. Valerie tells him that her sister, Diane, came down to Miami with some friends after graduation. After being there awhile, she and her friends moved on to Chicago. The friends got tired of Chicago and went home to New York. Diane didn’t, and now she’s nowhere to be found. Valerie had been looking for her again in Miami, but with no success.

On a seemingly unrelated case, Switek and Zito are posing as exterminators to take videos of a party going on at a house that’s suspected to be a front for a high-class call-girl operation. Meanwhile, Tubbs and Valerie rekindle their romance.

The next morning, Valerie again comes to the OCB to say goodbye to Rico before her return flight to New York. Crockett invite her to kill some time by watching the video shot by Larry and Stan the previous evening. Watching the video, Valerie recognizes her sister. She’s in the company of a man named Roberto Marquez. This changes everything for Valerie, who now decides to stay in Miami a bit longer.

The next scene juxtaposes shots of Diane being outfitted with a new wardrobe, courtesy of David Trainor, with shots of cocaine on a round, glass mirror and shots of Diane snorting it. All of this occurs with Rockwell’s "Change your Ways" performed in the background.

Valerie and Rico pay a visit to Marquez. They show him pictures of himself with Diane. At first, he refuses to give them any information, but after Valerie tells him Diane is her baby sister, he relents and agrees to set them up to meet David Trainor. We next see Trainor with Diane. She is now obviously addicted to cocaine and, just as obviously, Trainor is clearly no gentleman.

Sonny and Rico head to a party at David Trainor’s house. While Crockett is being hit upon pretty much continuously, Tubbs spots Diane. He follows her to an upstairs room where she’s preparing to snort some cocaine. He tells her he wants to take her home. She refuses to leave, so Rico drags her out of the place kicking and screaming – to a car where Valerie awaits. Valerie slaps her to stop her from screaming.

Diane is taken to a drug rehabilitation center to get straight. While she’s there, Valerie tries to talk with her, but Diane insists she is contented with her life. Recognizing that arguing is futile, Valerie just tells Diane that she’ll be there if Diane ever needs her. Back at the OCB, Sonny argues strenuously that Diane be made to testify against Trainor. Rico and Valerie, on the other hand, insist that she’s been used enough. Castillo tells Crockett to find another way.

Valerie’s evidently made an impression on her baby sister. Diane calls David Trainor and tells him she’s going back to New York. Surprisingly, Trainor doesn’t object, but he asks to see her one last time before she leaves Miami. Wisely, Diane refuses. But Trainor realizes Diane could do him damage and orders Lyle to kill her.

In a scene whose technique later will be copied to some extent by director, Don Johnson, in the episode "By Hooker by Crook" – we see intimate shots of Valerie and Rico in bed together, discussing Valerie’s plans to stay in Miami to be with her sister, juxtaposed with shots of Lyle’s entering Diane’s apartment and proceeding to inject her with an overdose of cocaine. The befitting music for this scene is Foreigner’s "I Wanna Know What Love Is." Rico and Valerie are still in bed together when Sonny calls to inform them that Diane is dead.

David Trainor is brought into the OCB for questioning, but it doesn’t yield anything. Tubbs nearly comes to blows with Trainor, and would have seriously harmed the man, had Crockett not restrained him. Castillo gives Tubbs a dressing-down, and Valerie also tells Tubbs that he must go by the book. Valerie then tells Rico she’s taking her sister back home to New York.

Crockett and Tubbs are out on the town with a couple of fellow detectives, Dickey and Tim. As the foursome is heading for their cars and home for the evening, the cops hear a disturbance down the street. Some punks are terrorizing a local shopowner. The detectives rush to catch them, and in the process Dickey is shot and killed. Some of punks escape in a truck, but one runs away on foot. Sonny and Rico pursue but can’t catch him. After the incident, the Vice cops are able to identify the punks as the Escobar brothers, but no one seems to know how or where to find them.

Sonny and Rico case the neighborhood with no results. They head to a local club, and lean on a man named Pepe. Pepe tells them that the Escobars are holed up in an abandoned building, a place called "the maze." Pepe says the building is loaded with squatters and that the vice squad with never be able to get to the Escobars there.

Crockett locates the "the maze" and asks Larry and Stan to visit its owner, Jim Bostwick, to get blueprints of the building. Unfortunately, it isn’t possible to apprehend the Escobars without placing the squatters at risk. Therefore, Castillo sends in Tubbs, undercover as a squatter, to locate the Escobars and quietly evacuate the squatters from the building. We see Tubbs strolling down the street heading for the building, singing the tune, "Living the Book of My Life."

Police and SWAT units have surrounded the building. Tim (who’s with them) gets antsy because Rico is taking so much time, so he makes a stupid move on the building (duh!). The Escobars are alerted and start trading gunfire with the police. The brothers take a group of the squatters hostage, threatening to kill them if the police don’t back off. Rico is among those taken hostage; his cover has not been blown. The cops back off for the moment.

As a result of this little episode, Castillo removes Tim from the operation (like he ever should have been there in the first place!). The police can now do nothing but try to negotiate with the Escobars, which they do using a bullhorn. The Escobars demand a helicopter and safe transit to the Bahamas; they will kill hostages if their demands are not met within four hours.

One of the Escobars takes a shine to one of the female hostages, and attempts to rape her (smart move!). When the woman’s brother attempts to intervene, he’s shot by the Escobars. (This scene is pretty pointless – guess they needed to fill two minutes.)

The police finally send in Crockett to see if he can pinpoint the location of the hostages within the building. Meanwhile, the SWAT team prepares for an assault. Crockett locates the hostages and relays the information to the police and SWAT team outside. They now order Crockett out of the building, but he refuses to leave (loyalty to one’s partner and all that). The SWAT teams moves on the building, and, interestingly enough, Crockett suddenly appears beside them, and seamlessly fits himself into their operation!

The Escobars now move all the hostages to the roof of the building, except for Rico, who remains tied up with young Jaime Escobar guarding him. (Why?) Claiming an itch that needs scratching, Rico lures the young punk towards him, and draws his gun when Jaime gets close enough. Tubbs forces Jaime to untie him.

When the helicopter arrives, one of the other Escobar brothers runs downstairs to get Jaime. Rico shoots him, and heads out of the building with Jaime in tow. They run into Tim (wasn’t he supposed to be gone?), who would have shot Jaime if Switek (where did he come from and why is he with Tim?) hadn’t intervened to stop him. Tim and Rico have words.

One of the Escobar brothers is still on the loose, shielding himself with a female hostage. The SWAT team closes in on him, however, and he realizes he must give it up.

Stan Switek drives the injured Larry home after the bust, and as they approach Zito’s house, they spot a fire. There’s been a gas leak, and Zito’s house is ablaze. He loses everything except, ironically, his gas bill. Even his pet goldfish is gone. Larry goes home with Stan, who has just started sharing his apartment with his girlfriend, Darlene. She is not pleased about the arrival of a houseguest.

The next morning, Larry gets a new goldfish – Harriett, from his vice squad colleagues. He and Switek also get a new assignment, to catch a slippery fence named Costolada. The pair pays a visit to one of Costolada’s customers, Banzo Barry, to try to set u