All language subtitles for Mother.Undercover.S01E03.720p.WEB.h264-EDITH.Hi

- My name is Frieda.

[tense music]

I am a mother.

My ex-husband tried to take
my children away from me.

I went undercover to stop that.

♪♪ ♪♪

- And brought down
a corrupt judge.

This is my story.

♪♪ ♪♪

[dramatic rock music]

♪♪ ♪♪

[tense music]

I'm nervous.
I don't know what I'm facing.

I don't know what
it's all about.

It's a very bad neighborhood.

- She takes her car
and drives up

to the front of the building.

- We had a surveillance van
outside the location.

FRIEDA:
I knocked on that door.

A big scary guy opened the door
for me and told me, "Come in."

♪♪ ♪♪

JEANNETTE: She was a civilian.
She wasn't a cop.

But you know, she was a mother

that was fighting
for her son's life.

GEORGE:
But now the door shuts.

So we don't see her.
She's out of sight.

- Boom.
I really freaked out.

I was so nervous,
I was shaking.

I'm pregnant.
I'm not a detective.

I never did this work before.

I'm just a mother,
and look what I'm facing.

I have to go undercover
to win my kids.

This is not normal.

MICHAEL: Frieda went in,
and we held our breath.

FRIEDA:
They said, "Just follow me."

Really, really scared.

I felt like I'm walking
into my death sentence.

♪♪ ♪♪

- Good morning.
Yeah, lots of snow.

All this just fallen
since last night.

And as you guys
just mentioned,

the storm's not over yet.

- When I came to America
on April 1, 1987,

it was very snowy in New York.

I was 18 when I just
finished school.

I came from Israel.

I had moved in with my sister,
who was living here already.

She was living
in a one-bedroom apartment

on Ocean Avenue in Brooklyn.

I did not like it.

I wanted to live
the rich life.

I wanted to achieve
my American dream.

[hip-hop music]

[folksy music]

I found a job as a cashier
in a food store.

I was a waitress.
I was assistant teacher.

I was doing a lot
just to make a living.

After living here
for three months,

my brother-in-law told me
that he had a coworker

that he wants
to introduce me to.

And he invited him for dinner.

When Yuri walked
into the apartment,

I was shocked.

He is nine years
older than me,

very short,
not a good-looking guy.

I said, no, no, no.
This is not my type.

Forget about it.

My brother-in-law and my sister
convinced me to date him,

so I said, OK,
let me give him a chance.

♪♪ ♪♪

Me and Yuri had
a lot in common.

We came from the same country.

We speak the same language.

We eat the same food.

Yuri told me
on the first date that,

"You're gonna be my wife,"
and I start laughing.

Yuri worked very hard.
He's a diamond setter.

He bought me jewelry.

He took me
to expensive restaurants.

He showed me how
to live in America,

that lives are beautiful.

This is like a dream,

and I started
falling in love with him.

After three months,
he proposed to me,

and he told me,
"Here is a ring.

And I really want you
to be my wife."

And I was so excited.

♪♪ ♪♪

We had a big wedding,
over 300 people.

After a month, I found out
that I'm pregnant.

I was 18.

When I had Yaniv,
I gave him all my love.

He was so pretty.

When Yaniv turned two,
then I found out

that I'm pregnant again
with my daughter, Sharon.

We bought a house
in Mill Basin,

a very expensive neighborhood,
also a Jewish neighborhood.

And after a year,
I give birth to Nathan.

I was living
my American dream.

[seagulls calling]

We used to come here
to Brighton Beach in Brooklyn,

walking on the board,
getting ice cream,

going to the ocean,
going to the park over here.

Yuri was working,
and working, working.

Most of the time,
it was just me and my kids.

Our marriage started
to fall apart.

[tense music]

Me and Yuri,
we had a lot of fights.

After six months
of not talking,

and fighting all the time,
one day I came home,

and I saw that he moved
all his stuff out.

Now I'm by myself
with a lot of expenses.

We both end up
in Supreme Court.

There is a judge there,
Judge Garson,

about 70 years old.

Judge Garson was ruling
against me all the time.

I did not get anything.

Everything in his courtroom
went against me,

and I don't know why.

OK, I let it go.

I said, what the hell
with the money.

I have my three kids.
I'm good to go.

I continue with my life.
I was working very hard.

I was 31 years old.
I got my freedom back.

Life was beautiful.

[folksy music]

My son Yaniv was coming
into bar mitzvah age,

which is 13 years old,

and he brought into the house
a man by the name Shlomo.

Shlomo is a cantor
that teach kids how

to read the Torah
in the bar mitzvah.

Shlomo helped me so much
with the kids.

He was like an angel
that God sent.

After six months,
I got married to Shlomo.

And I got pregnant
a month later.

♪♪ ♪♪

♪♪ ♪♪

My life was so happy.

I was full of joy.

♪♪ ♪♪

But then it all
went horribly wrong.

[police siren wailing]

[somber music]

One day,
when I came from work,

I hear a knock on the door.

When I opened the door,

I see
two police officers standing.

And I said, "What happened?"

He said, "We got a phone call

that you hit your son
with a belt."

I was shocked.

Guys, please understand,
this is totally wrong.

I'm in the custody battle
with my ex-husband.

Please understand.

They told me, unfortunately,
we got to take everybody

downtown Brooklyn
to the hospital

to examine everyone.

♪♪ ♪♪

They took my kids separately,

and they put them
into the examination room.

I just didn't believe
this is happening.

I wasn't allowed
to speak to them.

I wasn't allowed
to look at them.

Shlomo was hugging me
and trying to tell me, "Relax.

"Everything's gonna be fine.
We're gonna go home.

We're gonna be
a big family again."

A very bad experience.

The doctor and the police
officer came out with my kids.

They told me to turn around.

"Put your hands
behind your back.

You're under arrest
for child abuse."

I start talking to him
and telling him,

"Listen, this is not true.
Please understand."

And the police officer put
those metal cuffs on my hands.

He start reading me my rights.

Yaniv starts
screaming and crying.

He ran to the police.

"Please let my mother go."

They didn't listen to him.

♪♪ ♪♪

The police officer, he was
driving me to the precinct.

I was in tears.
I was very stressed out.

I'm just a mother.
I'm a nurse.

I don't do those things.
I just help people.

And now I have to be in jail?

A lady officer, she gave me
some numbers to hold,

and she took pictures of me,
right, left, front.

I'm now accused of child abuse.

I thought
that's the end of my life.

[door slams]
- No!

FRIEDA:
They put me in a small cell

with 30-40 criminal people--

drug addicts, prostitutes,

some of them screaming,
yelling.

I kept myself
on the floor in the corner,

and I did not talk to anybody
because I was scared to death.

And the worst thing that
happened to me in that cell,

that as a real pregnant woman,
you urinate a lot.

And that you don't
have privacy.

It's a one bathroom that
everybody basically sitting

and watching you urinate.

And those women
screaming and yelling,

saying, what are you doing?

Like you're the only one
using that bathroom.

[tense music]

I cursed the day
that I came to America.

♪♪ ♪♪

[tense music]

♪♪ ♪♪

FRIEDA: In the morning,
Shlomo hired a lawyer.

He came, and he asked me

a lot of questions
before I saw the judge.

Did you been arrested before?

Did you accused
of any crime before?

I said never, ever.

The judge just released me
with no bail.

They gave Yaniv order
of protection,

and they told me
nice and clear,

"You cannot see your son.
You cannot call your son.

"No interaction whatsoever.

Your son will be
with your ex-husband."

And next thing I know,

Yuri said he wanted
to have all the kids,

and he filed for custody.

♪♪ ♪♪

My lawyer recommend
to go straight to court

to get back custody
of my three kids.

As soon as I saw
Judge Garson's name

on the paper, I said,
it's the end of it.

I knew that right away,

that I'm not
gonna see my son anymore.

♪♪ ♪♪

I came here to win custody
and fight for my kids.

I hated this place so much.

♪♪ ♪♪

Every time my lawyer put
motions on Garson's desk,

he never even look at it.

Judge Garson told me
and my lawyer that,

"She better settle.

"If she's not gonna settle,
she gonna go to jail,

and she'll have
to give the kids to Yuri."

I don't get visitation
with Yaniv.

For six months,
I did not see my son.

Six months.

And I was scared.

I may lose custody
of Sharon and Nathan.

Every time I go to court,

every time I walk
into Judge Garson's room,

they look at me like criminal.

I always get blame,
I always get yelled.

So the only thing
I had to do is just talk

to people to get some answers.

Somebody, tell me something.

I just didn't know
what I'm doing wrong.

I start schmoozing
around in court.

I see this man, short guy,
walking to the front,

and he's Israeli,
with heavy, heavy accent.

His name is Nissim Elmann.

Then I heard that he
won custody of his kids

in front of Judge Garson.

So I start talking
to him in Hebrew.

I told him, can you tell me
what do I do wrong?

Because I'm losing my kids.

And he starts talking
to me in the courtroom

and told me, "Call me.
Call me tonight.

"I cannot talk right now.
Call me tonight.

Call me tonight."

♪♪ ♪♪

[phone ringing]

I said, "Hi, Elmann.
This is Frieda.

You remember me
from court this morning?"

He said,
"Yeah, hi, how are you?"

And I said, "What did you do
that you won your kids?

It's very difficult
with this judge."

And he tells me on the phone,

"Oh, this judge
is in my pocket."

The judge is in your pocket?
What do you mean by that?

He said, "Yeah,
I spent millions of dollars

on this judge,"

nice and clear,
with no hesitation.

"My wife did not
have any chances.

No visitation, nothing.
I have everything."

I said, "How did you do that?"

He told me,
"I cannot talk on the phone.

If you want, you have to come
to my office, and we'll talk."

I froze.
I couldn't talk.

I was--I had a cold sweat.

Couldn't sleep all night.
I was so anxious.

How do I go against a judge?

How can you go up
against a judge?

But looking at my kids,
and looking at this corruption,

I couldn't just sit down
and be quiet.

[dialing phone]

Next morning, I called
the district attorney office.

[phone ringing]

The gentleman on the other line
pick up the phone.

And I said, "Listen, there
is a judge taking bribes,

"and I'm losing my kids.

"I have to transfer
the custody to my ex-husband.

Please help. Please help."

I begged for my life.

I ask him,
"Please give me a chance."

He put me on hold.

- She seemed to be
very concerned and distraught

because she believed
her husband

was paying off the judge.

And to me, that's
an extremely serious matter.

This is something you'd want
to address as quickly

and thoroughly as possible.

FRIEDA: After five minutes,
he comes back to the phone.

He said, "You know what,

can you come now
to the downtown Brooklyn?"

I said, "Of course, of course.
I'm coming right now.

Give me 20 minutes,
and I'm going to be there.

[dramatic music]

- She sat down, and she
began to tell us her story.

FRIEDA: I was crying a lot.
I was pregnant.

I was very emotional
in front of those detectives.

GEORGE: I didn't know whether
she was telling me the truth

or just making
this whole thing up.

FRIEDA:
We were in disbelief, really.

- I went to see Mike Vecchione.

He was
the rackets bureau chief.

Any case that I was
involved with Mike oversaw.

MICHAEL: I said to George,
"Let's find out more

about this person
who spoke to her in court."

FRIEDA: I just was sitting,
nervous, nervous, crying,

and just hope that somebody's
going to believe me,

because this is the last chance
I have to get my kids back.

♪♪ ♪♪

- I did some initial homework
on Mr. Nissim Elmann.

He seemed to be a businessman
who sold electronics.

- George came back to me maybe
ten minutes later and said,

"Listen, I ran his record.
He's got nothing.

"But apparently,
he had a divorce custody case

in front of Garson."

And George tells me
he did pretty well.

So maybe he does
know something.

I said,
"Well let's set this up."

- The proof's in the pudding.

♪♪ ♪♪

- In the DA's office,
we have a room

where you can link up phones
and record the conversation.

♪♪ ♪♪

- I felt like I was in a movie,
like, in Hollywood.

Those headphones, and the room,
and police, and detectives.

It was like, oh, my God.

They connected my phone
to some device,

and I called Nissim Elmann.

[dialing phone]

I was nervous,
very, very nervous.

I didn't want them
to think that I'm lying.

I said "Nissim, hi.
Good morning.

"This is Frieda.
Do you remember me?

"I'm the lady you spoke
to last night.

You told me
to call you this morning."

I said, "Can we meet today?"

He said, "Absolutely.
You can come at 11:00."

I said, "OK, I'll be there."

[phone beeps]

MICHAEL: We did not know
if he directly had

the connection to the judge.

He may have just been trying
to con Frieda out of money.

Is the risk worth it,
sending this woman

who is emotional,
who has an ax to grind,

against the supreme
court judge,

who never had done anything
like this before.

My thought was,
catching a supreme court judge

is worth the risk.

- I said, "We're gonna
wire you up, take him out,

and have a conversation
with this person."

- This is
an undercover operation.

FRIEDA: They give me
a recording device.

It's like a small beeper.

They put it on my bag,
so it's gonna be clear,

so I don't miss anything.

I said, what the hell?
I'm not losing anything.

My kids, my kids, my kids.

That's the only thing
I wanted to see,

is my kids in my custody.

MICHAEL:
She was ready to do it.

You know, it was,
"I'm ready, Coach.

Send me in.
Let's do this."

[dramatic music]

♪♪ ♪♪

- George Terra and Jeannette
Sbordone got into the car,

and I drove behind them.

♪♪ ♪♪

- When they sent
Frieda in there,

it was to have Elmann
say something

that would confirm
her allegations.

♪♪ ♪♪

The instructions
were always the same:

Let him speak.

Let him tell you
what he needs.

GEORGE:
Don't talk.

I need the words
to come out of his mouth.

♪♪ ♪♪

- I was very nervous
because if I'm not going

to be able to prove that
this judge is taking bribes

or something wrong
at that courthouse,

I'm screwed.

This is it. This is it.

Oh, my God, this is it.
100%, this is it.

I have butterflies in my chest.

[laughs]
In my belly.

♪♪ ♪♪

Yes, this is the place.

This is the place.

I came here,
and I knocked on the door.

My heart was beating fast

and just waiting
for the gate to come up

and see what
I'm going to be facing.

♪♪ ♪♪

GEORGE: I gave Frieda
a recording device

that was just a box.

Didn't have any wires.

♪♪ ♪♪

- Frieda was told
she didn't have to touch it,

but when she was
in Elmann's office,

it had to be in a certain way,
so we could pick up the voices.

- I see this big,
big place, dark.

I look around.

Boxes, boxes.

JEANNETTE: We had no idea
who was in the warehouse.

We didn't know
what his intentions were.

And so we were both concerned.

FRIEDA: All of a sudden,
I see Nissim Elmann sitting

in a room with six TVs
on top of him,

sitting like this,
like a macho man.

I took my bag,
and I put it on my lap

because the recording device
is right there.

GEORGE: She's a pregnant nurse
from Israel, comes here,

and she's wearing a wire
against people

that are trying to take
her children away from her.

You know, a woman
with a lot of moxie,

and I give her a lot of credit.

♪♪ ♪♪

FRIEDA: I said, "What exactly
are you selling here?

It's such a big place,
you know?"

"Oh, I'm an electronic person.
I sell a lot of DVDs.

I sell a lot of electronics."

JEANNETTE: As I sat there
waiting for Frieda,

I was thinking of all
the things that could

have possibly gone wrong.

What if something
happened to her?

What if he hurt her?
What if he hit her?

What if he tried to rape her?

Because our minds

just take us
to a different place.

♪♪ ♪♪

FRIEDA:
We start talking in Hebrew.

[both speaking Hebrew]

- I start telling him, how can
he help me to get my kids back?

I wanted him to believe me
so much that I told him

everything about me
from head to toe,

exactly what happened to me.

- He told me,
"Don't worry, don't worry.

"I'll help you.
You look like a nice woman.

I'm going to help you."

- He trusted me,
and that's what I wanted

to get to this point.

But I also wanted
to have some proof.

[clock ticking]

JEANNETTE: The conversation
took much longer

than we had anticipated.

FRIEDA: So I told him, "You
promising me so many things.

"Can you prove me that
this judge is in your pocket,

"and you're not lying to me?

"Why should I believe you?

Prove it to me."

Nissim Elmann
picks up the phone.

He wasn't hesitating.

He just dialed
the courthouse immediately.

[phone line trilling]

"Oh, he's not
available right now.

"He's in court.

All right.
I'll call back later."

- Are you kidding me?
I was so excited.

- I got up.
I said, "Thank you so much."

I hugged him.

And Nissim called
the scary guy to walk me

out of the warehouse.

♪♪ ♪♪

He opened that metal,
big scary gate,

and I drove two blocks.

I called Jeannette,
and I told her I'm out.

She said, "Thank God."
And then I broke up with tears.

♪♪ ♪♪

- We were like,
"Why did you take so long?

Why were you
in there that long?"

FRIEDA:
I was so excited.

I had my tears of joy.

And I was explaining,
he called the courtroom.

I have evidence.

I heard the lady.
He put on the speaker phone.

I mean,
this judge is taking bribes.

I told you, I told you,
I wasn't lying.

MICHAEL:
That was the start.

That tape gave us
the incentive

that we needed to continue.

♪♪ ♪♪

FRIEDA:
Thank God they believed me.

In this point,
I felt so relieved.

I'm not a detective,
and I'm not a police officer.

I'm just a mother
that's frustrated

to get her little babies.

I told them anything
I need to do, I'm 100% in.

I'm 100%, with all my body,
with all my thought,

with all my tears.

I'm all the way in.

- This case
just started snowballing.

[tense music]

♪♪ ♪♪

[dramatic music]

FRIEDA: The following day,
Jeannette Sbordone called me,

and she told me,
"Come back down.

We need to talk to you."

- There was so much more
that we needed.

MICHAEL: The next steps
in the investigation

was to get Elmann
to say more about what

he wanted from Frieda.

FRIEDA: How much money
we're talking about.

What exactly you need to do
in order to get your kids.

JEANETTE:
Because she spoke Hebrew,

and Elmann also spoke Hebrew,

there was sort of like
a bond there.

GEORGE: And without Frieda,
we have nothing.

We absolutely needed Frieda.

[car horns honking]

[dialing phone]

[phone ringing]

FRIEDA:
We called Nissim Elmann again.

I make another appointment.

[phone beeps]

He agreed.

He was excited
to meet with me again.

They gave me
that little pager,

and on top of it,
they wire my jacket.

They put a wire
right here around it.

♪♪ ♪♪

GEORGE: That unit
was an aid transmitter,

so we could hear
the conversation

while Frieda was inside.

And it did have a wire or two

sticking out of it as antennae.

- And I said, "Are you sure?
He's an electronic guy.

He's going to be able
to see those wires."

They said, "Don't worry."

Basically,
"Continue with your mission,

"and do what you got to do,

and we need
this judge in jail."

[static buzzing]

I said, "How much money
are we talking about?"

- I told George Terra
I need money.

MICHAEL: Obviously,
we weren't gonna pay them

that kind of money,
but we wanted to pay him

in dribs and drabs,
a little bit at a time.

GEORGE:
So that we have more meetings,

more recordings,
more conversation.

More bites of the apple.

FRIEDA: George Terra, gave me,
I believe, $2,000 initially.

I just wanted him to give me
the whole amount,

and just go one time,
and not meet Elmann anymore.

I'm pregnant,
I'm heavy, I'm tired.

Every time I went down there,
I was scared.

JEANNETTE:
I was there to comfort her

and to encourage her
to take the next step.

[static buzzing]

FRIEDA:
I said, "Can you give me

some more proofs, you know?"

He said, "Absolutely."

He started digging
into his cabinets,

and he started
pulling out folders

with different people's cases.

FRIEDA: And he told me,
"Do not share this information

with no one
because people can go to jail

for a long time for this.

♪♪ ♪♪

As soon as I
started giving money,

I start seeing
results in court.

All of a sudden, Judge Garson
says good morning to me.

All of a sudden,
I don't have to wait

until 2:00 to see a judge.

I'm the first in line.

I got to keep my son Nathan
and my daughter Sharon.

I get visitation rights
with Yaniv.

They're not talking
about child abuse.

I start feeling better
and better in court.

♪♪ ♪♪

I felt so good about that.

But from the other side,
I'm facing corrupted judge,

sitting in his courtroom.

It was very, very sad.

I just couldn't believe
this is happening in America.

♪♪ ♪♪

[dramatic music]

♪♪ ♪♪

MICHAEL: Nissim Elmann
kept accepting money from her.

JEANNETTE: And then he
would get on the phone

and call somebody.

Based upon what Frieda
was able to get for us

in her visits to Elmann
was enough evidence

to get a wiretap order
to put on Elmann's phone.

[dialing phone]

[phone line trilling]

GEORGE: Once we were up
on Nissim Elmann's phones,

we were able
to hear conversations

between him
and Paul Siminovsky.

FRIEDA: Paul Siminovsky was
the law guardian for my kids

that got appointed
by Judge Garson.

He's supposed to say
what's good for my children,

the best for my kids.

MICHAEL: And she told us that,
you know, "When I go to court,

Siminovsky wasn't necessarily
as mean, so to speak.

Was he involved
in the corruption?

Was he involved
in the bribe receiving?

♪♪ ♪♪

One day, after she had made
several visits to Elmann

and paid him off, Frieda left.

Elmann then comes
out of the warehouse.

Our guys are still there.
And they saw something.

♪♪ ♪♪

And that was another gentleman
dressed in a suit.

They were seen hugging,
smiling, happy, talking.

George identifies that person
as Paul Siminovsky.

♪♪ ♪♪

We put surveillance teams

on Paul Siminovsky
and Judge Garson.

And they see Paul Siminovsky
and Judge Garson

going to dinner,
going for drinks,

going for lunch.

There was no direct connection
between Elmann and Garson,

in spite of the fact
that he showed Frieda

the phone with the name on it.

The connection
between Elmann and Garson

was Siminovsky.

Elmann and Siminovsky
had the relationship.

Siminovsky and Garson
had the relationship.

- However, we never came up
with any evidence whatsoever

that Frieda's ex-husband
had anything to do

with any bribery
or bribe attempt of anyone,

including Justice Garson.

- What started out
with Frieda Hanimov coming in,

making a case for herself,
actually turned out

to be a much
bigger investigation.

GEORGE: This is
a truly significant matter,

when you're talking
about a supreme court justice

taking bribes.

It's a big to-do.

We really have to put
as much as we can into this.

MICHAEL:
But we needed hard evidence.

[dramatic music]

♪♪ ♪♪

Siminovsky's office
was on the second floor

of a building that had,
across the street from it,

a burger joint.

So we had the detectives
in the burger joint

looking
into Siminovsky's office,

hoping to see Siminovsky
and Elmann together.

We never got that.

So we called Frieda in.

FRIEDA: The district attorney
tell me that,

"We need you to go
to Siminovsky office

"and give him $2,000,
and just say,

"'I need my Yaniv now.

I want to get custody
of him tomorrow.'"

I have no problem doing it.
This is their game.

I'm in.

MICHAEL: They have
a thing that they call

"tickling the wire"

to kind of get
the people talking again.

That's what
we were hoping for,

sending Frieda in
to see Siminovsky.

Rattle the cage.

We were hoping to get him
to make a mistake.

♪♪ ♪♪

[dramatic music]

♪♪ ♪♪

FRIEDA:
I drive downtown Brooklyn.

They meet me by their office.

They put wires on me.
They give me the money.

And they tell me,
"Go and give it to him."

[tense music]

I really like the idea of
walking into Siminovsky office

and giving him
personally the bribe

because for me,
it's like a payback time.

Here, I got you.

You're taking money
away from Frieda directly,

not Nissim Elmann.

This is 100% bribe.

MICHAEL:
She's clearly pregnant.

It was not the easiest thing
for her to do.

But once again,
Frieda never let us down.

♪♪ ♪♪

FRIEDA: I walk inside, and the
secretary's very nice there.

And I said, "Hi, can I speak
to Paul Siminovsky?

It's very, very important."

She said,
"Do you have an appointment?"

I said, "No."
She said, "Hold on a second."

She walked to him.

Then I walked
right behind her.

And she tried to stop me.

And I said, "One second."

And I start shouting
at Siminovsky.

FRIEDA: I was so heavy and
tired that I had to sit down.

- It would have been
a home run if he said,

"Yeah, I'll take care of this.

"Give me the money.
I'll get it to Garson.

And all your troubles
will be over."

FRIEDA:
He got very nervous.

He said, "No, no, you
don't have to give me money."

He gave me back the envelope.

And they just gently took me
out of the room.

♪♪ ♪♪

MICHAEL:
Unfortunately, Siminovsky

did not take the money.

♪♪ ♪♪

He did not take the bait.

♪♪ ♪♪

But what we did get,
after Frieda left,

and after he turned
down the bribe,

was a concerned Siminovsky
making a call to Elmann.

[phone line trilling]

"What is happening here?"

- And that gave us enough,
with all of the other things

that we were able
to put Siminovsky into,

enough to go to a judge
and get a wiretap now

on Siminovsky's business phone.

♪♪ ♪♪

[cell phone ringing]

- Elmann called my cell phone
immediately and tell me,

"Are you stupid?
Are you crazy?

Why did you go to his office?"

- I swear.

[laughs]

And when I came
to court the next day,

Siminovsky didn't look
in my eyes.

MICHAEL:
She was great at this.

She was just terrific.

She has done everything
we've asked her to do.

She has set up
the Elmann situation.

She has set up
the Siminovsky situation.

It was now our job
to make the connection

between Elmann,
Siminovsky, and Garson.

- You don't stop until you
think you got to the--

all of it and everything
you need.

MICHAEL:
We applied for a wiretap

on Judge Garson's phone
in his chambers.

And the answer was yes.
And we did it.

GEORGE: I believe that
this is the only time ever

that anyone was allowed to put

an audio and video
recording device

in the chambers
of a supreme court justice.

♪♪ ♪♪

MICHAEL: When we turn that
equipment on the first day,

it was terrific.

MICHAEL:
The picture was clear.

The voice was clear.
Everything was great.

- [laughing]

- They were on trial
at the time,

and Siminovsky and Garson
were discussing

the trial and the evidence.

- And Garson
was giving opinion.

- For the next several months,
we watched and listened

to Garson and Siminovsky
commit crime after crime.

♪♪ ♪♪

- I was angry at Judge Garson.

I was angry at Paul Siminovsky.

- The conversation
was so belittling to women.

It's just like,
how dare you, you know?

So I was angry.

FRIEDA: I kept calling George
and asking, "What's going on?"

He said, "Just be patient.
Be patient."

Just to sit and wait.

"We don't need you
at this point.

Relax, we'll call you
when we need you."

And I did not know
what they're doing.

GEORGE: I tell her the same
thing I tell all my sources,

"I may not tell you everything,
but I will never lie to you."

So I don't tell them
about the case.

It's on a need-to-know basis.

♪♪ ♪♪

There comes a time in a case,

we have all
this really good evidence.

- In my opinion,
we needed more.

We're going to take
a supreme court judge to trial.

We really needed a smoking gun.

- Who do we go after?
Who do we try to flip?

So a decision was made
to go after Paul Siminovsky

because he had more direct
contact with the judge.

MICHAEL:
We knew where he lived.

We knew how he got to work.

We knew the route that he
took to go to his office.

So it was all set.

[police siren chirping]

We brought him in, and we
sat him down at a table.

Siminovsky looked at me,

and he kind of gave me
the look that,

"I don't know
what you guys have.

You can't have much."

I said, "Really?

"I know that you broke
Garson's candy dish

when you were digging
your hand into it one day.

It fell off the desk, and you
had to buy him a new one.

That was it.

- He cried.

And he said, "If I wasn't
a coward, I'd kill myself."

And I thought to myself,
"You're done.

Good."

[dramatic music]

MICHAEL:
He decided to cooperate.

Siminovsky said to me,

"I'm having lunch
with Garson today.

Should I start today?"

We said, "Yep,
let's go back to the office."

George took them back,
wired Siminovsky up,

and he went off to lunch.

He discussed what he should
be doing in the trial

that he was involved with
with Garson

to make him decide
the case in his favor.

And Garson went
right along with it.

[laughter]

[police siren wailing]

[soft piano music]

♪♪ ♪♪

FRIEDA: Finally,
I went to the hospital,

and I give birth
to my little undercover baby.

February 27, 2003,
I delivered a baby boy,

and I felt relieved.

I just wanted my family
back together.

And I just wanted
to get this judge.

I was really curious to know,

what exactly
is going on over there?

- I still wasn't satisfied.
I wanted one more shot.

- And I said to Siminovsky,
"Would Garson take money?"

He said, "In fact, Mike,
I haven't paid him in a while.

I do, quote-unquote,
owe him some money."

I said, "Perfect."

Siminovsky walks
into Garson chambers

in view of the camera up above.

Garson was in view.
It was perfect setup.

Siminovsky takes the money out

and hands it to him.

Couldn't miss it.

Siminovsky says to him,
"That's what I owe you."

Garson says,
"Ah, OK, thank you."

And Siminovsky leaves.

We now watch.

And Garson opens up the drawer,
he takes out the envelope,

he looks in it,
picks up the phone,

and asks Siminovsky
to come back to chambers.

I said, oh, to myself, oh, man.

He's going to give
this thing back to him.

This is going to backfire.

Siminovsky walks in.

He says, "What's up?"

Garson says...

[sighs]

"It's cash.

Instead of the cash, write
a check to my wife's campaign."

She was running for judge.

Siminovsky then says,
"Don't worry about it.

I'll write the check.
Keep the cash anyway."

And he tosses the envelope
back to Garson.

Garson says, "OK,"

opens the drawer,
puts the cash in the drawer.

But then we got
the real bonus.

When Siminovsky
leaves the chambers,

Garson opens the drawer, takes
the cash out of the envelope,

and he starts counting it
on his desk.

Takes three $100 bills,

puts them now into his pocket.

There was no more blatant
taking of money than that.

It was perfect.

We decided, man, it's time.

We were going
to now arrest Garson.

[dramatic music]

♪♪ ♪♪

[upbeat music]

FRIEDA:
George called me.

He told me,
"Stay tight because tomorrow

we're going
to arrest Judge Garson."

GEORGE: Well, it's the least
they could do, you know?

If it wasn't for her, we
wouldn't have had this case.

We got Paul, we got Nissim,

and we had the judge,
thanks to you.

- I saw Judge Garson
getting arrested

with his hands behind his back.

I was so happy.

I felt like a big stone
came out of my chest.

And I just told myself,
what a bastard.

- He looked at me,
and he said, "You got nothing.

You don't have anything."

I said, "OK, let me show you."

And we pop the tape in

of Siminovsky giving him
him the cash,

him counting it,

putting the money
in his pocket.

And I turned it off.

No more than ten minutes later,

the lawyer comes out
and says to me,

"He can give you the head

of the Democratic Party
in Brooklyn."

REPORTER: There are hundreds
of hours on videotape

and hundreds more
audiotaped conversations,

many of them recorded
by this mother.

MICHAEL: Frieda Hanimov
was the beginning

of what rocked the judicial
and legal community

in Brooklyn
for a very long time.

REPORTER: Garson's legal team
argued today at a hearing

that what he's accused
of doing isn't really a crime.

- The tape will talk
for himself.

We have a lot on tape.

♪♪ ♪♪

- We went further,
and we looked.

And then every time we looked,
we found something else.

♪♪ ♪♪

JEANNETTE: Judge Garson, when
I handcuffed him, he cried.

He cried
because his future was over.

FRIEDA: Judge Gerald Garson,
he sold kids.

I got justice.

♪♪ ♪♪

- When Garson said, "I can give
you the Democratic leader,"

we wound up
with four indictments

against the leader of the
Democratic Party in Brooklyn.

REPORTER:
Prosecutors convinced the jury

that Norman had threatened
to withhold

the Democratic Party
endorsement

if candidates
didn't cough up cash.

♪♪ ♪♪

[soft music]

- After Judge Garson
got arrested,

I got a phone call
from a young lawyer

that agreed
to represent me for free.

We went to court,
and I got Yaniv back.

Thank God, finally, my family
is--we all together again.

OK, guys.

Let's celebrate our victory.

Yeah, one.
- One.

- Two.
[champagne cork pops]

- Oh!
- Ooh!

JEANNETTE:
Frieda Hanimov, fearless.

A warrior.

I'm proud to know her.
I really am.

MICHAEL:
Tenacious, exuberant,

caring, and loving.

[laughter]

FRIEDA: 22 years later,

I have all my kids around me.

We live all together
in the same neighborhood.

We work together.

Yaniv want to say something.
Sure, yeah, let's go.

Yaniv got married, and he
has two beautiful children.

My daughter Sharon
got married.

She has three beautiful girls.

Nathan is 25 years old.

- All right, guys.
I got a date.

FRIEDA: I have two more babies
from Shlomo.

[person speaking Hebrew]

- Everything is great.

Whoo! Mazel tov!

♪♪ ♪♪