Original subtitles

- [Announcer] Tonight on Wiseguy.

(dramatic music)

- My wife.

- What's wrong with Jenny?

- She dying Vinnie.

- That makes her ineligible for

a transplant under our insurance.

- You mean to tell me that the OCB

is just gonna turn its back on Frank?

- $1,250,000.00,

I tell you I need money

and the next morning, there's a million in change

in non-sequential bills in the front seat of my car.

Now doesn't that seem a little coincidental to you?

- Where would I get that kind of money?

- That's what I'm here to find out!

(dramatic music)

(knocking loudly)

(breathing heavily)

- Who is it?

- [Frank] Vince open the door.

- What happened to you?

- Can I come in?

- Yeah, yeah.

(coughing heavily)

- Well, if you tell me what you're looking for,

maybe I can help you.

- You have anything to drink in here?

Ah, there you are.

- Ah.

Frank, Mr. Bosley the egg man gave us

that three years ago for Christmas.

Probably ready to peel paint by now.

(banging loudly)

- Why are you staring at me?

- I never had ringside seats to a fool festival before.

- What's the matter with you?

Give me that.

- I guess I'm a little drunk, Vinnie.

- Yeah.

- I'm a little drunk.

Here you take it, take it.

I don't believe alcohol and driving mix

and sure as hell don't believe firearms and alcohol mix.

Ugh.

Oh, Vinnie.

I never could drink.

- What's wrong Frank?

- There's nothing wrong.

If there was something wrong,

I could take care of it myself.

- You don't have to bite my head off.

I'm just trying to help.

- I'm not biting you head off!

- Frank, it's two o'clock in the morning.

It's an hours drive to Jersey.

Why don't you tell me what's wrong?

- My wife,

she collapsed with internal bleeding

this morning while she was emptying the dryer.

Drake found her.

- Is she alright?

- Vinnie, oh God.

And I hate hospitals.

I hate the sounds.

I hate the smells.

I hate the colors of it.

I break into a cold sweat every time I get near one.

You know, my old man died a slow death.

Maybe I associate loss and lack of control with hospitals.

I don't know.

You know what shrinks say about guys like us?

They say we become cops because we want to be in control.

- Frank, what's wrong with Jenny?

- Control.

She dying, Vinnie.

You know what it's like to watch somebody

you love disintegrate by the day?

- Well, what did the doctors say?

- Smoldering hepatitis.

What the hell is smoldering hepatitis?

This insidious little beauty that eats

away at the liver and then it begins on the brain.

When the liver can't filter the toxins in the body anymore,

it causes periods of confusion

that are similar to Alzheimer's.

Jenny loses her ability to think.

She can't remember to wash

and comb her hair, change her clothes.

Ah.

She gets lost going places she's gone to for years.

She wears a little bracelet Vinnie,

so people can call me when she's lost

and I can come and get her.

- Have she seen any specialists?

I don't know, I'm sorry, that was a stupid question.

I'm sorry.

- There's an outside chance that

a liver transplant could save her life.

- Well then, do it.

- It's the money, Vinnie.

I don't have the money.

- Frank, what are you talking about?

You're a Federal Agent.

The government has great health benefits.

- Not for liver disease, accelerated by alcoholism,

it doesn't.

- Jenny's an alcoholic?

- It's not something we're proud of.

Been in good clinics, I've had her in AA.

I thought we had it licked.

- Well Vinnie, you're telling me that

nobody will do anything for her?

- The operation cost $250,000 plus maintenance.

And even if I was covered,

we'd be at the bottom of the list as recipients,

'cause she's a 40 year old alcoholic.

I sat in my car outside of a savings and loan.

And I couldn't do it.

I couldn't do it (crying).

I'm sorry.

Jenny's gonna die

and I'm gonna sit there and I'm gonna watch it.

I'm sorry Vince.

I shouldn't have come to you house with all this.

I gotta go home.

- Where's Drake?

- He's staying with friends tonight.

- Well you're staying with me tonight.

Get a goodnight sleep.

And we'll tackle this fresh in the morning, alright?

Alright?

Alright, you take the couch.

- Ah!

Ah, Vinnie.

(banging loudly)

- Here ya go.

- Thanks Vince.

- Yeah.

I don't know what I'm gonna do.

(dramatic music)

- Rise and shine Frank.

Take an Admil and he's dying for a real break...

Frank!

- I fine combed the bureau's

insurance policy top to bottom.

Frank's wife simply doesn't qualify.

- The government's got to be able to do something.

What about a waiver?

- The government doesn't control the policy.

The insurance company does.

They're not about to change the rules for us.

Not to the tun of $250,000 floor

and bills that can reach seven figures.

(keyboard typing)

Jenny McPike's medical records clearly indicate

that she's been treated for alcoholism

and alcohol related illness.

That makes her ineligible under

transplant under our insurance.

- You mean to me that the OCB

is just gonna turn its back on Frank?

- While you were in the hospital,

we raised $22,678 in donations.

Beckstead kicked in $11,000 of his own money.

Raglin 4,500, we're still collecting.

We'll never get close.

(sigh heavily)

- She's all yours Mr. McPike.

- I wrote down some things that you'll have to do.

I think it's all there.

The pallbearers and the music.

I used to joke about playing Stairway To Heaven,

but I want church classical, you know Bach and Brahms.

- I can't believe you did this.

- Oh, Frank I know you're not

very good at the kind of thing.

- I've given a lot of thought

and I think that Drake should go and live with my sister.

- You what?

- I spoke to her already.

Frank, there's no way that you can give a 12 year old boy

the attention that he needs, with the demands of your job.

- Jenny, we'll talk about this later.

- I'm thinking of both of you.

- Mr. and Mrs. McPike.

Hey, you look like you're holding your own.

Bleeding stopped.

Seem to be thinking a little clearer.

Looks like Thursday might be a good day to let you go home.

- You'd let her go?

What about her care?

- There's nothing we can give her here

the part time nurse can't provide at home.

- What a second buster.

- Frank.

Thank you Dr. Orecchio, I would like to

get out of here as soon as possible.

- Okay.

(bell ringing)

- Hey doc.

Dr. Orecchio, can I talk to you a minute?

- Looks like you'd be better off

talking to an orthopedic specialist.

- Naw, it's about Jenny McPike.

- You a relative Mister?

- Terranova, no, I'm a friend of the family.

I know she's dying.

- Want to step into my office?

- Yeah.

(bell ringing)

- Jenny McPike is a very brave woman

who's accepted her fate.

Sometimes friends and loved ones have a more difficult

time accepting terminal illness of the patients.

- Ah, you're absolutely right about that.

I'm not accepting it.

- Mr. Terranova do you have any idea

the extent of Jenny's illness?

- No I don't.

But I do know that she's in one of

the most foremost hospitals in this country

and you're just sitting there letting her die!

Now I want some straight answers.

- You like to sail Mr. Terranova, I love to sail.

But I don't sail anymore.

I take care of terminally ill patients.

And even a five minute delay can mean the difference

between a life and death, so I don't sail.

I come in here and I work on these models

so that I can be closer to my patients,

but they still die.

Candidates who meet all the requirements

and I have to go out there in that waiting room

and tell their families there's

nothing more that I can do for them.

Now Mr. Terranova, I'm telling you,

at this point, there's nothing more

that I can do for Jenny McPike.

- You can do a transplant.

- Screening process for transplant

recipients is meticulous, it has to be.

There are hell of a lot more diseased livers

than healthy livers to replace them.

We have to take a look at all the factors.

- You mean like medical coverage.

- Yeah, like medical coverage.

Liver transplants cost a fortune.

- So if you don't have the money,

you don't get the operation, right?

- I'm not denying that hospitals do all their biopsies

before they decide to take patients on.

- Well aside from the money,

what are the other factors?

- Age, heredity, family support.

Transplant recipients need a lot of care.

A lot of loving support.

Jenny is 40 years old, she's got a lousy family

medical history and a husband with a job

that is stressful to the family.

None of these make her an ideal candidate.

- Who are you to make that judgment?

- [Doctor] She's an alcoholic.

- She's a human being.

- We have young people in these wards

waiting for young people to die so they can live.

We can not, we will not risk anything so valuable

as a healthy liver on a patient with an alcoholic history.

These are hard facts that we have to live with.

And I'll tell you what, Mr. Terranova.

You get the state to appoint you Solomon,

I'll give a liver to anyone you want.

I had to look Jenny McPike and her husband

in the eye and tell them that I couldn't save her.

She accepted that, I suggest you do the same.

- Is there anything you can do?

- If John D. Rockefeller walked through that door

and donated a million dollars to the hospital

researched center, that might tweak somebody's attention,

but at this point, no, there's nothing more I can do.

(soft music)

(banging loudly)

(birds chirping)

(whistle quickly)

(motor revving)

(dramatic music)

(beeping)

- [Man] Group two.

Group two, this is group two.

(dramatic music)

(knocking loudly)

- Vinnie!

- I'm coming!

- Vinnie, open up!

(banging loudly)

- What's that?

- Open it.

$1,250,000.00.

- Where did you get that?

- [Frank] You don't know?

- Naw.

- I mean you really don't know.

- No, I really don't know.

- I tell you I need money

and the next morning there's a million

and change in non-sequential bills

in the front seat of my car.

Now doesn't that seem a little coincidental to you?

- But where would I get that kind of money?

- That's what I'm here to find out!

That is really not your money?

- No.

- Then I'm being set up!

- Oh, come on Frank, you're not being set up.

- No, there are all kinds of task forces

running around the capital, trolling for dirty feds.

This is probably some kind of ambs scam operation.

Either that or some rat bastard druggie trying

to pay me back with a sting of him own.

I'm being set up!

- Nobody is setting you up.

- Then where did the money come from?

- I don't know, maybe it fell outta the sky.

What difference does it make?

You can use this money for your wife's operation.

- I'm not made that way Vince.

I should've turned it into the OCB

and that's just what I'm gonna do.

- Frank!

I put that money in your car.

If you turn it in, it could come back on me.

- This, this, this is (mumbles) money

from the Atlantic City casinos.

- No it's not Frank, it's not Sonny's money.

- I need to know where you got it.

- What difference does it make?

- It makes a difference to me.

- Alright.

Just call it my parachute.

- Roger.

- Yeah as in Roger Lococco.

This is Mel Profits money, the case is cursed from day one.

- You know I'm wrestling with those demons myself Frank.

We're talking about your demons now.

- Roger gave you this money and you kept it.

- The government hung Roger out to dry.

Come on, you were there.

They persuaded him to leave the invasion of the (mumbles)

and when it went bad, they tried to crucify him.

- And you'd take a million dollars

as the price they should pay for that?

- If I knew the exact price, this would've come close.

But this is my cushion Frank.

It's my insurance policy.

And you work under deep cover,

and it's real easy, it's real easy

to get swept away in the undertone.

But the upper echelons of bureaucracy

they can wash their hands with you any time they want.

They did it to Roger and they can do it to me

if they think it fits their needs.

Roger gave me this money to hold

and when he disappeared I decided to hang onto it.

And I kept it because if they decide to turn on me,

I want options.

- You are rationalizing an illegal act.

- I don't believe its an illegal act

unless the money was used for illegal means.

I haven't used one dime of this money.

I've still driving the same car.

I'm living in my mother's house.

You don't see me driving around in a limousine

and eating at 21, do you?

- You took the money, you kept the money,

it's in your possession.

You committed an illegal act.

And if I don't report it, I am in collusion!

Jesus, why did you do this to me!

- I didn't do anything to you!

Can't!

(pound loudly)

Yeah, life would be a lot less complicated

if I didn't have this money,

but I do and I gave it to you.

And that means you're involved.

So what's it gonna be Frank?

Are you gonna turn the money and me in?

Or are you gonna use it for your wife's operation?

- I'm turning it in.

- Not, the hell you are!

- Take your hands off...

Take your hands off me!

(banging loudly)

I had to get away from that money so I could think.

You know, Thomas De Quincey said,

if once a man indulges in murder,

soon he thinks very little of robbing.

- We're not talking about murder Frank.

We're talking about saving a life.

- We're talking about a series of illegal acts.

It's not right, Vince.

- Well, who's to say what's right?

What's right about Khashoggi cruising around in a (mumbles)

while a quarter of a million people in Sudan starve.

What's right about 50,000 people in Armenia

getting killed in an earthquake.

You know there was over a hundred

indictments in the last administration?

Drugs in the Olympics, AIDS infected

syringes washing up on beaches.

What's right about my brother

getting killed in a truck, Frank?

What's right about any of it?

I'm talking about real life here.

- The money came from the profits, Vince.

It's drug...

- Thank you.

- It is drug money Vince and it's a felony.

- We don't know it's drug money,

it could be munitions money sanctioned by the government.

- That doesn't make taking it any less of a crime.

- The real crime is people without money

can't get the medical attention they need.

- You are asking me to go against everything I believe in.

- Frank.

Let's say we use the money for Jenny's operation.

We donate a million dollars to the

Liver Research Center at the hospital.

If we turn that money in, they can use it for anything.

Use it for some sleazy South American dictator

or security fence for Oliver North.

- It may be used to put away some

of the crud that we go after.

- Yeah, maybe it might.

But I'm making a moral judgment here

that that money is best used for Jenny.

(instrumental music)

I say it's the individual's duty to make tough decisions

so as long as he's willing to stick by those decisions.

Now I'm willing to do that Frank.

What about you?

You mean to tell me that you've never done anything illegal?

Not even a little bit?

You never ran a stop sign?

Never tuned up your income tax a little bit?

Were you born perfect?

- Wasn't born perfect, I'm far from perfect.

- Uh, must've done something illegal.

- I smoked dope.

- Naw.

(laughter)

- I went to college nights, but I went college.

I was a normal kid.

You never tried it?

- No, I still got my eye on the Supreme Court.

- I only did it a couple of times.

It made me paranoid.

(laughter)

It did, it made me paranoid.

- I don't believe you.

- Anyway I stopped when I found out the Greenbelt

Police Force required a polygraph.

- Oh so you took the polygraph?

- [Frank] Yeah.

- What happened?

- Kind of fooled the machine.

I never felt like I was a user

so the machine registered negative.

- Well, there you are.

- Vince, you can't equate to taking this

money with the indiscretions of youth.

- No, no I can't.

But I didn't take that money, Frank.

It was given to me.

I just didn't pass it along, that's all.

Frank.

I'll go along with whatever you want to do.

- I always wanted to be a cop.

You know Jenny and I were high school sweethearts together.

Same dreams, same ideals.

I don't know what I thought.

I work hard through school,

get a job with the police agency.

Life would be a breeze.

Nice whole weekends together.

Trips to Ray Hovert beach.

I loved the beach.

(soft music)

I had no ideas what the demands of the job were.

Cases don't know weekends.

The first couple times I saw her drunk,

I wrote it off an an aberration.

I didn't know about the coffee cups filled with Vodka

that was strategically placed about the house.

The liquor bills paid in cash.

(soft music)

I didn't know until the doctor told me she had

liver disease and she was an alcoholic.

(soft music)

Vinnie,

I still see her as a fresh faced bright eyed

high school sophomore with all her dreams ahead of her.

Boy, I was the guy that was gonna

make those dreams come true.

(soft music)

Now she's dying.

- Frank,

take the money.

- Doctor, I'd like to thank you

for taking the time to see me.

I want one last try of getting my wife some help.

- You have to understand that your wife is not

one of the fortunate who meets

eligibility standards for a donor organ.

What's this?

- That's a donation for your research facility.

- Mr. McPike, I know you're a federal agent.

Might you feel that scalp of a renown hospital administer

would look good come funding review time?

- I am not setting you up.

- What would you think?

- I think my wife is sick.

- Federal reserve funds are drying up.

Look I can't guarantee anything.

The rules aren't etched in stone.

There's been special considerations in the past.

- And Jenny will get the operation?

- To keep this facility running,

I've had to make some very unusual deals.

Some of my colleagues would call

them compromising or sell outs.

I don't give a flying crap what they call them.

I'll do anything to save lives.

- Jenny's name will be put on the list?

- Mr. McPike, there's no guarantee

she'll survive the operation.

- Yes, sir,

that I know.

(bell ringing)

- What did you do, Frank?

- I didn't do anything.

- Damnit, yes you did.

I don't know what kind of federal weight you threw around,

but I know you did something.

Damn!

(crying lowly)

I had resigned myself to dying,

I had accepted this.

Now, if they find me another liver,

I've got to deal with the possibility

of living or dying all over again.

Damn you, Frank (crying)!

- Pull up a board, have a seat.

How did soccer practice go?

- Fine.

- Did you score any goals?

Ah, that's right, you're a defense man are you?

- Mom's been wanting a gazebo for a long time.

- It's the job, buddy.

I wanted to finish this since last summer.

- I know.

Maybe sometime you can show me how to build a gazebo.

(birds chirping)

- I'll show you how to build a gazebo right now.

As soon as we finish this fine sandwich.

(phone ringing)

McPike.

Yes sir, thank you.

They have a new liver for your mother.

- They're gonna take another human beings liver

and put it inside me.

Somebody who was living and breathing just hours ago.

Somebody who had a family and dreams.

- So you both know the chances for survival.

- Whose liver am I getting?

- It's not important.

- Oh it is to me, I wanna know.

- It belongs to a 19 year old Georgetown co-ed

who was killed on a DC beltway at 4:16 this afternoon.

The donor organ will be at

the airport in a matter of minutes,

so we're gonna have to get her downstairs.

Why don't we give them a minute.

- Where's Drake?

- Mrs. Harmon is staying with him.

- This has been hardest on him.

He's really an emotional boy.

You should get to know him Frank.

- I know him Jenny, he's my son.

- Takes more than chromosomes to be connected to somebody.

- You know, I know I was gone a lot,

but I spent my fair share of sleepless

nights with him when he was sick.

I even changed a few diapers in my time.

Yeah, a few, yeah you were a good provider Frank.

And I know you meant well.

It's just your damn sense of duty that

kept you this far from being human being.

- I did my best.

- Did you Frank?

- I thought I did.

I realize now, I could've done more.

- Well me too.

I could've done a lot better.

Somewhere along the line,

I just started feeling sorry for myself.

Do you think anybody could say that

they did everything exactly right?

- Your mother.

(laughter)

- Frank,

if I don't make it you should remarry.

You should, you need somebody around to pick up the pieces

for you, both physically and psychologically.

Be good to Drake.

(soft music)

He's really gonna need you now.

- Hey.

Ugh, she's in the recovery room.

- And.

- Ah, it's a little bit too soon to tell yet.

I've got her on some potent (mumbles) suppressant drugs

to help with the rejection.

At this point, kind of a roll of the dice.

It can be days, maybe weeks before

we know if the donor organ took.

- That's good partner.

(drilling loudly)

(phone ringing)

McPike.

Thank you doctor.

That's it big guy.

Dr. Orecchio feels like the liver has taken.

Your mother is out of the woods.

(soft music)

- Carl, I'd like to thank you for the money

you contributed for Jenny's operation.

- Frank we're all happy that Jenny is doing so well.

- Thank you.

- I gather this isn't a social visit.

- No sir,

Vince and I are here to turn ourselves in

for misuse of government funds.

- What did you do Frank, fudge on your gas mileage check?

- I used money confiscated in

a case to get Jenny her operation.

I knew I was committing a felony.

A chargeable offense and I went ahead and used it anyway.

- How much money are we talking about here?

- $1,250,000.00

- Where did you get this $1,250,000.00?

- I got it.

From Roger Loccoco.

- It was Loccoco's money?

- Naw, he took it from Mel and Susan Profit.

He took it so our government could replace (mumbles)

dictator with one they could pull the strings on.

- And you didn't like what the government was doing

so you took the money for yourself.

- I didn't take it, Roger gave it to me.

- Vince turned the money over to me

and I used it for Jenny's operation.

- Now, wait a minute Frank.

I have full culpability in this.

- Mel and Susan Profit.

Those names have a familiar ring.

The other name was Roger?

- Loccoco, L-o-c-c-o-c-o.

(keyboards clicks)

- As far I can tell, the Profit case is closed.

As far as the government is concerned,

there is no Roger Loccoco.

- What are you talking about?

- The money you're talking about doesn't officially exist.

(dramatic music)

And

this meeting never took place.

(dramatic music)

It'll be better for everyone involved,

if that's the way it stands.

Frank,

you've been a good friend and a good agent.

The bureau is giving you some time off

to be with your wife during her recovery.

How much more of this non-existent money

do you have agent Terranova?

- What do ya think?

I say we did a pretty good job.

- Mom's really gonna like it.

- I hope so.

Let's leave this mess

and take on a Super Mario Brothers again.

- Alright.

Dad I'm sorry mom's sick,

but I'm happy to be hanging out with you.

- I'm happy to be hanging out with you too.

I'm gonna be around a lot more from now on.

And you are gonna teach me about some of that soccer.

- Awesome!

- Now listen buddy, your mom is gonna need us both now.

- I know, I've kind of been studying up.

Once mom's body accepts the new liver,

it's the psychological stuff that's the hard part.

- You know, I am learning a lot from you.

- Yeah?

- Yeah.

(hospitals bells)

- Oh, ah.

Oh thanks.

(kiss smack)

- How are you feeling?

- Like new.

It's funny what oxygen will do to the brain'll do for you.

- Ah, Dr. Orecchio says you'll be able

to come home at the end of the week.

- Oh, I know, I haven't been so excited

about anything since Drake was born.

- Ah, I'm pretty excited myself.

- Something we have to talk about Frank.

- Yeah?

- Now I know this sounds crazy,

but when I was in surgery,

I had a vision.

- Don't worry, Dr. Orecchio said,

it's common to have visions.

I know it's common to have hallucinations under the knife,

but Frank there was nothing common about this.

There I was, still alive after hours of surgery

with this strangers liver inside me.

I had this vision,

it was a virtual epiphany.

Frank it really, changed my life.

- That's good, Jenny.

- It came to me with startling clarity that

I was being saved so that I can help others.

But in order to help others, I had to help myself first.

Frank,

I want you out of the house when I get home.

- You what?

- Didn't it seem strange to you,

that I just skipped anger and denial

and settled so easily for acceptance?

- Jenny, I love you.

- I love you too Frank, that's why I'm letting you go.

We're both lead fuller and better lives.

- You can't do that.

- Yes I can and I am.

I know you better than anybody Frank.

And that is your beauty.

Frank McPike, the unbending guardian of right.

It's impossible for you to do anything

that is wrong by your standard.

Hah, it just came to me Frank

and I know it's not all your fault,

but this marriage has been killing me

one millimeter at a time.

- Jenny when we get home, you'll have time

to think this over, you'll feel better, you will.

- I've been thinking about it for 19 years, Frank!

This marriage took a liver from me.

Now you have found a way to give me one back,

let's just call it even.

(slow country music)

(bumps loudly)

(gun fires)

(crowd talking)

(outdoors traffic)

(couple breathing heavily)

(storming loudly)

(soft music)

(upbeat music)