The veteran crime drama continues its 14th series.
This week, the execution of a former bookie turned

mob informant leads Briscoe and Green into a
murky world of hit men and gangsters.
Detectives Briscoe and Green are called to the
stables of a carriage-hire company where driver
Jerry Tortino has been shot dead. The murder has
all the hallmarks of a mob execution, and the killer
has left a calling card in the form of a crescent
moon branded behind the victim’s ear. Van Buren
has the obvious question on her lips: “Who’d hire
a hit for a part-time carriage driver?”
The detectives take a step towards answering
that when they learn that Tortino was a former
bookie and ex-con with mob connections. His
time in jail was cut short after he informed on a
mafia boss named Federico Righetti. On Tortino’s
testimony, Righetti was sentenced to ten years in
prison – despite pleading insanity at his trial.
Righetti is now a free man, and it seems likely that
he ordered Tortino’s murder as payback. “He gets
out – a week later, the guy that gave him up gets
shot dead,” Green says.
Since his release, Righetti has been struggling to
regain control of his crew from his nephew, Peter.
The old man is now living in a rundown apartment
with his nurse. When Briscoe and Green go to
arrest him, they find him sitting under his shower,
fully dressed with an umbrella over his head.
Righetti is doing his best to convince the cops
that he is too crazy to be involved in a murder plot,
but other witnesses claim he is perfectly sane.
Unfortunately, Righetti has an alibi for the night of
the murder and Briscoe and Green are forced to
release him. Their interest turns to a real-estate
broker named Cary Stillman, who apparently
knew both Tortino and Righetti. “This broker just
happens to know Tortino and the guy that had him
whacked,” Briscoe remarks. “Small world.”
The detectives gain permission to bug Righetti’s
phone and overhear a conversation between him
and Stillman about an apartment that the mobster
wished to buy. Van Buren realises that the
apartment in question is owned by Alec Ravello, a
man who has just been murdered in exactly the
same way as Tortino. It would seem that Righetti
used to the apartment as a code to order a hit on
Ravello. The dead man’s connection to the
gangster is soon made clear when it emerges that
he is the husband of the lawyer who originally
prosecuted Righetti.
McCoy is convinced that the gangster is settling
old scores and using the mild-mannered Stillman
as his hitman. But evidence against the estate agent is only circumstantial – until Briscoe
discovers that Stillman owns a safety deposit box
full of incriminating items, including bullets and
$300,000 in cash. The box also contains a lighter
and a money clip with a crescent moon logo that
matches the brand burned on the victims’ bodies.
Stillman denies the charges against him and
the case goes to trial, where his friendly
demeanour starts to sway the jury. “He doesn’t fit
anyone’s idea of what a hitman should be,”
McCoy remarks. “I’m afraid the jury’s buying his
act.” But the prosecution gains the upper hand
when someone inside the mob supplies the
whereabouts of the murder weapon – which
matches the bullets in Stillman’s possession.
Faced with this evidence, the estate agent comes
clean and offers to testify against Righetti.
The mobster is arrested once again and McCoy
prepares to tie up the case – only to be overruled
by Branch. Federal prosecutors want to keep
Righetti on the streets in the hope of bringing
down his whole gang. McCoy is furious to learn
that the architect of the two murders will be
allowed to go free. “Sometimes we do deals that
leave a bad taste in the mouth,” Branch reminds
him. But a final twist in the tale proves more bitter
than anyone expected...