Original subtitles

In New York City's war on crime

the worst criminal offenders are pursued

by the detectives of the Major Case Squad.

These are their stories.

I don't know what you expect me to say.

I want an explanation.

I'm getting calls from Mr. Tyler every day.

Obviously, there's been a mix-up.

Obviously.

Mr. Hagman, the florist is here.

He's got a couple of questions for you.

Thank you, Mr. Rivera.

You have the weekend to straighten this out.

If I hadn't happened to check.

It's just a mix-up.

What am I going to tell him come Monday?

Part of being a successful businessman

is knowing when to worry and when not to.

He's going to make trouble. I know it.

No, he's not.

He doesn't want the publicity.

Appearances count, Russell.

All I'm saying is

this could be a big problem for me.

I got to catch the ferry back.

Russell...

Problems are just solutions in work clothes.

What are you doing in here?

You know you're not supposed to be here alone.

Sorry, Mr. H.

We got Mr. Knowles on deck.

His chart says he died from cirrhosis of the liver.

That's drinking, right?

Scotty, why don't you go home tonight.

Mr. H...

We'll talk about it next week.

You just go home.

Tell your mother happy Easter.

(phone ringing)

Hi. They all asleep?

No, not yet.

I want to finish up Mr. Knowles by tonight.

The viewing's at noon.

No, don't wait up.

Love you, too.

Hi, Doug.

Long time no see.

Do I know you?

How's my Easter bunny?

You got in late last night.

The traffic was backed up all the way to Millwood.

You work too hard.

Do you know what happens to little boys

who work too hard?

Look what the Easter bunny brought!

Oh, Whoa!

I'll bet there's more.

Who wants to go on an Easter egg hunt?

Me! Me! Me! Me!

Start...

looking.

(laughing)

Douglas, are you back here?

Oh, God.

Oh, my God.

Captioning sponsored by UNIVERSAL NETWORK TELEVISION

NBC

and TOYOTA. Get the Feeling.

Crucifixion pose.

Yeah. No characteristic mutilation.

No nail holes, no crown of thorns.

Just these.

His wife said he didn't have a medical condition.

You must have been so much fun in biology class.

Actually, my biology teacher, Mr. Dixon

didn't think I was much fun at all.

There was no sign of forced entry.

There's only one employee with a key-- Mr. Rivera.

He's been with Hagman for 11 years.

Something's floating in this embalming fluid.

It's a marijuana seed.

Hagman had this kid working for him--

Scotty Calderone.

Yeah, my moms was a cosmetician for Mr. H.

She got sick, so he lets me work part time.

You know, showing me the ropes.

I'm sure you could show him a few ropes yourself.

Like the many profitable uses for embalming fluid.

I don't know about that.

You don't know about

fry sticks, clickums, wet daddies?

Damn.

Damn is right, Scotty.

Joints soaked in embalming fluid

sell for 20 bucks a pop on the street.

Mr. H found out what you were doing?

He didn't know about that, I swear.

I just...

He knew I was getting high.

That's why he sent me home early last night.

Early?

His wife told us you quit work every day at 6:00.

Not the last couple of weeks.

He had me stay late till he locks up.

Why?

I don't know, man.

Anything unusual happen two weeks ago?

Anything that had Mr. H worried?

There was that message on the answering machine.

Some guy was reading from the Bible.

Well, do you remember what he said?

Something about eating the bread--

going back in the ground like that.

Okay, Scott.

Just, uh...

Follow the officer out.

So, that's what a brain looks like on embalming fluid.

Hagman was getting harassing phone calls.

"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread

"until thou return unto the ground

for out of it was thou taken."

Genesis.

I need to use my most important investigative tool--

my library card.

The M.E. analyzed the bumps on Hagman.

They were filled with a blend of mineral spirit

propylene glycol, surfactant, lanolin, aloe.

That's some kind of soap.

The lab's not sure.

The bumps were made postmortem using a syringe.

The skin was red from being burned

with a lighter or a torch.

The sixth plague.

Boils were the sixth plague sent by God to the Egyptians.

Each plague was meant to discredit

a different Egyptian god.

Boils were aimed at Imhotep the god of medicine.

Hagman was killed by a religious fanatic?

Who opposes embalming.

He's probably not the only undertaker in town

who was targeted.

MAN: Ryan took the call.

The person asked for me by my first name-- Fritz.

Was this someone you knew?

I didn't recognize the voice.

He had a whole spiel.

Mostly about embalming being against God's plan.

How every time I insert a trochar into a corpse

I desecrate the body.

What's a trochar?

Tool of the trade.

It's inserted near the navel

and used to puncture the stomach, bladder, large intestines

and lungs.

Let's leave it at "tool of the trade."

That was the term the caller used-- trochar?

Yes.

Mr. Vaughn, where did you study for your license?

Queens College of Mortuary Sciences.

I was just about to go home.

Just wanted to see how you were.

Did you ever hear from that man Hagman?

No, he...

I told you.

Things have a way of working themselves out.

Harry, he got killed over the weekend.

Right in the funeral home.

God has a very peculiar sense of humor.

"Careers in advertising."

What is all this?

I got this idea on how to sell advertising.

You know when you call up a business

and they put you on hold.

What if instead of playing music

they played commercials?

See, this is where companies

get into trouble.

They squander all their capital

by extending themselves into areas

where they have no track record--

no expertise.

Stop dreaming and start reaping.

I'm going to go take a look out back.

Out back?

Well... why?

Is there a problem?

No problem yet, Russell.

I wanted to offer comfort to the grief-stricken.

The mortuary college was teaching us

to shake every dime loose from them.

That's why you dropped out?

Yes.

And why you made threatening phone calls

to your classmate Fritz Vaughn

and to Doug Hagman.

I don't threaten.

I called to open a dialogue.

Hmm, to rant against

what your literature calls

"the ritual desecration of the human body."

Do you have any idea

what embalming actually entails?

Do you want your anus stuffed with cotton?

Your mouth glued shut?

All to preserve the illusion

that death doesn't change anything.

There's always cremation.

No. Don't you understand?

Death and decay are eternal truths of man's existence.

Any interference, any desecration

is a stain in God's plan.

Uh...anydesecration at all

of humans' remains?

Yes.

He's a true believer.

He wouldn't have desecrated Hagman's body.

Not even to make a point?

You heard him.

He'd put a stain on God's plan.

The fake boils, the crucifixion pose--

it was all just to throw us off.

It's impressive.

It's demented.

It worked.

Whoever it is killed Hagman

I can't wait to meet them.

Mr. Hagman didn't mention

any problems with other funeral homes.

What about your customers, Mr. Rivera?

You ever get any complaints from them?

No. People are always grateful.

Mr. Hagman did good work.

There's a Mr. Tyler here

who doesn't sound very grateful.

He's threatening a lawsuit.

Do you remember him?

He brought in his wife and his mother

a couple of weeks ago for a cremation

but I don't know of any trouble.

"If, as you told me, the ashes aren't lost

then where the hell are they?

"You have no idea what agony you've put my family through.

"If you don't return the ashes by the end of this week

you'll get a taste of what we've had to endure."

It's dated Tuesday last week.

Did you get him his ashes back?

I don't remember any paperwork about it.

You do the cremations here?

No, we send the remains

to the Fox Hills Crematory on Staten Island.

RUSSELL: Right.

Tyler.

Poor guy lost his wife and mother.

He called here, right?

I told him-- sent the ashes back to Hagman's.

You got any paperwork on that?

Sure.

"Problems are just solutions in work clothes."

I like that.

You had the business long?

A couple years, since my dad died.

Family business.

Interesting work?

You get used to it.

Burning bodies?

Really?

You know, I heard

they don't burn all the way through.

You have to

you know, roll them over

like a log in a fireplace.

Shove them back in.

It's called repositioning.

And you get used to that?

Eh. Yeah.

You get used to anything.

Here.

Hagman's signature accepting receipt

for the urns containing the Tyler ashes.

Can you think

of any reason why Mr. Hagman didn't

return the ashes to Tyler?

No... but, look

I don't mean to sound callous.

I mean, the guy just lost his family

but on the phone he was ranting

like some crazy man.

MAN: He promised to get the ashes back

within three days-- he promised.

So you threatened him.

I told him I was going to sue

to make sure he never did business in this state again.

Uh...

Your mother lived with you?

Yes.

She wasn't in good health.

She had a heart problem.

She had an arrhythmia.

It was partially controlled by medication.

Partially.

She had a pacemaker?

Yes, she did.

Do you know if it was removed at the hospital

before they sent her to the funeral home?

I have no idea.

What difference does it make?

The hospital didn't remove it

before sending the body to the funeral home.

Hagman's inventory of everything he removed

from Mrs. Tyler's body

doesn't mention the pacemaker.

And this is a big deal because?

Pacemakers have to be removed before cremation

otherwise the lithium batteries explode.

Gives off a toxic fume and could damage the cremation chamber.

Yeah, I heard silicone implants had to be removed.

My buddy Martinelli in the three-seven married a stripper.

Did Mr. Matthews mention any problem with Mrs. Tyler?

No. You'd think he'd remember

if she exploded in his furnace.

Maybe the pacemaker popped out

in the accident at the hospital.

Do we have a list of Hagman's clients

who were cremated at Fox Hills?

I ironed your gray shirt.

I worry about you driving at night.

Don't.

I'm careful.

Call you from the motel

soon as I get there.

Okay.

My clients need to see me.

They like the personal contact.

I know you do, too.

(laughs)

Ooh. I almost forgot.

Molly made you some cookies for the road.

WOMAN: I found only one family

who would let me examine their relatives' ashes.

Their Aunt Edith.

She was cremated six months ago at Fox Hills.

I ran the test twice just to be sure.

These so-called ashes are nothing but debris.

Debris?

Cement dust, dried clay

bits of charcoal briquettes, wood chips.

Nothing human?

Not a speck.

Just an urn filled with three pounds of dirt.

So where's Aunt Edith?

Detectives!

I didn't expect to see you back.

Couple of things came up in connection with Damon Tyler.

Did you run into any problems when you cremated his mother?

No. Why?

It came to our attention she had a pacemaker.

Oh. Well, that would have been removed

before we got the remains.

That's the problem.

See, there's no record that it was removed by anybody.

Well, if it hadn't been removed...

I would have found out the hard way.

It's a slow day.

Excuse me?

There's no smoke coming from the chimney.

Oh, well, we only run

the cremation chamber at specific times.

When was the last time?

Uh... yesterday.

Are you sure?

Mm-hmm.

Because there's birds nesting

directly downwind from the chimney.

Well.

Well, I don't know much about birds.

Yeah.

But you'd think, with the smoke

they'd keep from nesting there.

Well. Like you said

you don't know much about birds. So.

But I like fresh air.

Doesn't smell so fresh here.

What do you think?

It's a little ripe.

Well, Fresh Kill's landfill's not far.

What's back there?

It's just some land my dad bought

with the crematory.

Hey, think we could take a walk?

You know, I'm real busy and my insurance won't allow

anybody back there without me. So.

So that's a no on the nature walk?

Yeah. Sorry, it's...

This is Goren.

We're at the Fox Hills Crematory.

Right.

Uh...

The D.A.s will be faxing you a search warrant.

We got two over by those rocks.

Four, could be five, down in that little gully.

Some are buried deep.

Some are just covered with branches.

Some look a few weeks old.

Some... who knows?

Rough count so far is north of 30.

I've never seen anything like this.

You and me both, brother.

Dad left a lot of debt

like when he got the furnace fixed.

So you saved on your gas bill

by dumping bodies in your backyard?

Is that where the $70,000

we found in your bank account came from?

It's just a mistake, I swear.

I-I never wanted this.

You never wanted... what?

The crematory?

Your dad's business?

You had... other plans for your life?

You wanted to be what?

An advertising executive?

A web page designer?

Oh, and look at this.

An alpaca rancher.

Anything but a guy who repositions

half-burnt corpses on the grill.

This is what you buried back there.

Your dreams, your...

your frustrated ambitions.

That's why you

defrauded these families.

That's what Hagman

found out.

No. No.

I didn't defraud anybody.

Come on, Russell.

Take some pride in your work.

Look at the books that you kept.

Every decimal in its place, every penny accounted for.

You covered yourself like a pro.

Where did you learn to do this?

Nowhere.

You went to business school?

No.

You had someone help you keep the books.

No. No one.

I don't need to do this anymore.

I want a lawyer.

I want a lawyer-- now.

I just got the latest tally from the M.E.

They broke a hundred about an hour ago.

That's a hundred counts of larceny

not to mention innumerable violations

of the public health laws

but I'd trade it all for a single count of murder.

Matthews isn't sophisticated enough

to have pulled off Hagman's murder

or this scam.

He's a pie-in-the-sky dreamer--

with no practical experience in business

but his books and his records

would stand up to a tax audit.

Does he have a bookkeeper?

None we could find.

It's not just that.

It's marketing techniques, the ads in the journals.

It speaks to a professionalism that's beyond his grasp.

This kind of professionalism.

"Problems are just solutions in work clothes."

"Enthusiasm is the rocket fuel

that propels you up the ladder of success."

"If you think you can, you can."

Matthews' silent partner is a motivational speaker?

"Don't get what you want, want what you get."

Hmm.

It's M&H Consulting, Queens, New York.

HARRY: Russell is my cousin

on my mother's side.

He asked for my advice

when he took over Uncle Leon's business.

So I instructed him...

Ah... in the basics, you know.

A little bookkeeping, marketing.

He took your lessons to heart.

He runs his business

in a very professional manner.

Except in the... the one respect.

Right. I don't know what got into him.

Greed, for one thing.

That's probably it.

But greed only gets you so far.

Takes a special kind of callousness

to do what Russell did.

(metal scraping)

Russell never struck me as especially callous.

You should see what it looks like

behind his crematory.

Half buried bloated corpses crawling with vermin.

(scraping continues)

Rotting entrails seeping out.

Bodies piled one on top of the other.

Flesh decaying into each other

like a...

...like a putrid soup.

(scraping continues)

Of course, those people were dead to begin with.

Like I say, I don't know what got into him.

WOMAN: Harry?

Lunch is ready.

They're detectives.

They're asking about Russell.

I'll be right there.

That's my wife.

You didn't need her, did you?

No.

I didn't think so.

This is a terrific little workshop

you have here.

It's the one thing I miss

about being in the city.

No room for a workshop.

No room to get away from the family.

I don't like to get away from the family.

Aw, geez.

Uh...

Do you mind?

Well, we'll let you get back to your family.

Thanks for giving us your time, Mr. Rowan.

You okay?

I need to get my hands to the lab.

The lab sent me their analysis

of the cleanup goop from your hands.

It has the same chemical composition

as the fluid found in the boils on Hagman.

Not a conclusive match

but well within the hash marks.

How about that?

Not only does Mr. Harry Rowan have a green thumb

he has an aptitude for murder.

I think he does it for a living.

His lifestyle... his personality...

his obsessive concentration on the task at hand.

It fits the profile.

So why is a professional hit man

interested in a crematory?

I'd like to say he was cremating his victims

but there's no cremation going on.

Your cataloging the DNA from the crematory.

Of course.

Could you start running it through the national database?

Albert Lundy.

His remains were found buried behind the crematory

and identified through DNA.

He died in October last year.

Which is odd, because his DNA matched the DNA

found at a murder scene in Brooklyn three months ago

under the fingernails of the victim--

Lyle Curachelli.

He was found strangled

in an alley.

Curachelli was in debt to the Masucci family.

His murder was a suspected hit.

The skin samples in the DNA found under his fingernails

were thought to belong to his assailant.

The DNA belonging to grandpa Lundy.

Right.

Next we have Kenneth Hemrick.

Mr. Hemrick died in June, 1999.

His DNA turned up in a blood sample from Newark

on the body of a bookie

James, Hurley.

Mr. Hurley was stabbed to death in January 2000.

Another suspected Masucci hit.

We found four more bodies behind the crematory

whose DNA turned up at Masucci hits.

GOREN: The DNA from the crematory

was harvested from those remains

and then planted on these victims

to mislead the murder investigators

and create reasonable doubt in the event of a trial.

Harvested and planted by Harry Rowan?

That's our theory.

In the past, the Masuccis

have used two known hit men, Frank Curtis...

he's been in federal custody for a year and a half

and Eddie Ferguson-- he's been missing for the last six months.

Presumed to be in hiding

or to have fled the jurisdiction.

So Harry picked up the slack.

We don't think he works exclusively for the Masuccis.

There's a lot of blood on his hands.

Oh, hi, honey.

Hi.

What are you doing out here?

Mommy said we need more ice cream.

Ice cream?

What do we got in here?

Chocolate!

(giggling)

Or there's... rocky road.

(giggling)

What do you think?

Chocolate.

Chocolate it is.

(silly growl)

We got an anonymous phone call from a concerned jogger.

Said he saw two guys last week

arguing on the Roosevelt Boardwalk.

Couple days ago, he recognized one of them

from his picture in the papers-- Russell Matthews.

Said the other guy had a goatee, so, we took a look.

Guess what we found caught between the rocks?

Eddie Ferguson.

Fingerprints confirmed it.

Dead of blunt force trauma to the head.

That's not all.

There were hairs caught under his fingernails.

Same coloration as Russell Matthews.

I obtained a hair sample

from Mr. Matthews.

The hairs matched?

Yes.

He looks well-preserved.

How long has he been dead?

Without a full autopsy it's hard to tell.

I'd say a week or two.

I heard a major case

was looking for a Masucci hit man

that was doing business with Russell Matthews.

Here's your guy.

Nice of him to drop out of the sky like that.

What's this?

Could be a number of things.

Looks like a freezer burn to me.

The hit man who came in from the cold.

I'm telling you

I've never seen this guy before.

I don't know what my hair is doing on his hands.

Maybe you were in business with Ferguson.

Maybe you let him take DNA from your backyard.

Maybe you got in an argument with him.

No. No.

We like this story, Russell

and unless you have one we like better

about your cousin Harry

using your backyard as his own petri dish...

I'm not saying anything against Harry.

Who do you think put your hair

under Eddie Ferguson's fingernails?

Let me get this straight.

You think this whole Ferguson thing

was set up by Harry Rowan?

I don't care.

I'm not going against Harry.

I've seen Harry go after his own kid brother.

Harry'd kill you and wash his hands in your own blood.

We'll never get anything out of this mutt.

Did the autopsy on Mr. Ferguson prove

he'd been frozen, then thawed?

The autopsy proved when it comes to medical science

you're better off asking the Magic Eight Ball.

Any luck on the search warrant for Rowan's place?

Since the hairs connect

the late Mr. Ferguson to Russell Matthews

Judge Whitman feels there's already a viable murder suspect

lying in the morgue on Staten Island.

So, Rowan's little ruse paid off.

The guy doesn't leave anything to chance.

Well, chance is probably what keeps him up at night.

There's no such thing as a margin of error

in his line of work.

Not unless he wants to stay out of jail.

The fear of making a mistake...

for him must be overwhelming, consuming.

Like an itch he can't scratch.

Hi, Ms. Rowan.

Let me give you a hand.

You're the detectives my husband was talking to.

That's right.

We need to ask you about his consulting business.

Well, I'm sure my husband

will be happy to answer all of your questions.

Oh, I'm not sure that he'd want to.

Does he ever talk

about his business travels, his clients?

We have two kids.

We have plenty to talk about besides his business.

Have you ever met his clients?

We have some photos to help you remember.

Eddie Ferguson.

Actually, last time your husband saw him

this is how he looked.

And then there's James Hurley.

This is Mr. Hurley

last time he had a business meeting with your husband.

And this job-- Tommy Dunn.

Shotgun blast to the head

while waiting at a stoplight.

Why are you showing me this?

This is what your husband does

for a living.

He kills people.

This is how he paid for this car.

For your house.

For the Florida condo.

It's not true.

Okay. You ask your husband.

You show him these... and then ask him.

That day when we came over

did you notice that he didn't want you around

when he was talking to us?

You ask him.

If he's got nothing to hide

then why is he afraid to talk to us in front of you?

We, we got your message.

I bet my partner here...

We just came here to return these.

Stop harassing my family.

Do we understand each other?

You're not going to stay and talk?

Clear the air?

What did I tell you, Mrs. Rowan?

We can go in there.

You can wait right here and see everything.

After you.

Let's start with a softball.

The Saturday night before Easter

where were you?

Stuck on the Taconic.

Where had you been?

Scouting an industrial park in Ossining.

We'll want a list of your clients

your consulting clients.

Do you read the Bible, Mr. Rowan?

Not much.

Exodus 9:8 the sixth plate.

This is very...

it's a very elegant and inspired stanchion.

I'm looking at this as a professional.

What's most impressive is the attention to detail.

The posing of the body

the reddening of the skin with the torch

the injections of mineral spirit

propylene glycol, lanolin.

It's the same composition as your hand cleaner

in your little workshop.

The same careful planning

went into these crimes.

Timing, lack of forensic evidence.

Except, of course, for...

what the perpetrator choseto leave behind.

And this is where I step back in awe.

The planting of the DNA and harvesting from human remains.

As a preemptive measure, it's, it's a...

it's a stroke of genius.

Watching the police fumbling around

must have been tremendous fun...

for the perpetrator, don't you think?

Speaking as a concerned citizen

I wish the police were half as capable

as this... "fellow" seems to be.

Oh, uh, everyone...

wants us to think that Eddie Ferguson is this fellow.

We think that Eddie was killed by this fellow.

Killed six months ago and kept in a freezer.

The reality is

in this fellow's line of work

you live with the knowledge that the smallest thing

can give you away.

Things like this freezer burn right here

on Eddie's shoulder.

That tells us that...

whatever Eddie was wrapped in...

got loose or... or torn.

Just a small mistake to remind us

that no one's perfect.

Not that most of us need reminding.

Uh... excuse me.

Why is he talking to my wife?

I don't know.

Porcelain cap?

Like, uh...

from a tooth.

You don't remember seeing it in the garage?

Mr. Rowan, thank you so much for coming in.

The officers will show you downstairs.

He said a porcelain cap like for a tooth.

Why would he ask me that, Harry?

What else did he say?

Harry? What else, Susan?

He wanted to know

if the kids would be home tomorrow morning.

I told him they'd be at school.

Harry, what is going on?

Just get in the car.

One search warrant limited to the garage.

Give me a chance to call home

and I'll go with you.

We're not executing the warrant tonight.

We want to make sure

that Harry Rowan gets a good night's rest.

What did you find out?

Can we fight it?

You are my lawyer, you tell me.

Okay, okay.

Yes, I-I have an idea when they'll be here.

(grunts)

Harry?

It's late.

What are you doing?

Go to bed, Susan.

Go to bed!

EAMES: You didn't find it, did you?

The porcelain cap.

You told him I asked you about it.

Yes, but...

I don't understand.

The porcelain cap

that fell out of Eddie Ferguson's mouth

through the tear in the plastic that you wrapped him in

before...

stuffing him into the freezer six months ago.

Right next to the leg of lamb

and the Rocky Road ice cream.

My God.

Oh, my God.

Harry, what did you do?

How long do you think it'll take us to find it, Harry?

It's not here.

Can't be here.

I looked.

I didn't make a mistake.

Sounds like an admission of guilt to me.

Harry Rowan, you're under arrest for murder.

A costly mistake.

Harry didn't make a mistake.

Eddie Ferguson doesn't wear caps.