At the offices of trading firm Braddock & Todd, a shooter kills a stockbroker named Sean Alvarez. The victim had received blackmail threats from Mitchell Simms, a client of Alvarez' boss Bruce Valentine. But Simms has already died in an apparent suicide with the same gun that killed Alvarez. The prosecutors learn that Alvarez filed a harassment suit because of the blackmail, and Braddock & Todd settled out of court for $2m. Furthermore, the blackmail messages didn't come from Simms but were planted by senior management.
It becomes clear that Valentine and the CEO Carl Braddock faked blackmail in order to create a cover for bribing Alvarez not to report his knowledge of their insider trading. Valentine tells the prosecutors that Joey Dantoni Sr. and Jr., the father and son heads of the Dantoni crime family, ordered Alvarez and Simms to be killed. But the Dantonis, who use Braddock & Todd to launch companies, insist their money is clean - and that Valentine was responsible for the murders. The evidence supports this, so Valentine is charged.
McCoy takes a closer look at the figures and realizes that $2m of the Dantonis' money is unaccounted for. He produces evidence in court that Valentine stole the $2m that was supposed to be paid as a settlement to Alvarez. Rather than pay Alvarez to keep quiet, Valentine took the money for himself. He hired Simms to kill Alvarez, and then shot Simms in a staged suicide. Valentine is found guilty and the jury decides that he should receive the death penalty.
This episode contains examples of:
- Buy Them Off: This was what was supposed to be done with Alvarez, but Valentine had other ideas.
- Charity Workplace Calendar: Alvarez had once appeared nude in one, and the photos were used as part of a phony blackmail threat in order to create an excuse to buy his silence.
- Deal with the Devil: The prosecutors are well aware of the implications of making a deal with the Dantonis to testify in the case. But, in the absence of evidence that the Dantonis have done anything wrong this time, there's little choice.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: With the list of crimes the Defense attorney shows being extremely long, it's easy to miss the deatails. If you pause the show and read it, one near the bottom reveals that one of the Dantoni's family was areested or charged for "Pistol whipping a priest". Gold.
- Insurance Fraud: Valentine and Sean created a fake lawsuit against the company so that Sean would get paid without the company paying anything. Then Valentine murdered Sean so the insurance payment would go into the company's investments.
- I Take Offence to That Last One: In court, Valentine's lawyer reads out an extensive list of felonies attributed to the Dantoni Family, and asks Dantoni Sr., if he has anything to add. Dantoni Sr. says he objects to being accused of bribery (the least serious crime on the list) because he was formally acquitted.
- Jury and Witness Tampering: One of the many charges read out from the list of crimes of the Dantoni family is "jury tampering".
- Left Hanging: Even though Simms killed a receptionist at Braddock & Todd before shooting Alvarez, it's not mentioned again and Valentine seemingly isn't charged with this murder.
- The Mafia: The Dantonis are an Italian-American Mafia crime family.
- Never Suicide: Predictably, Simms' suicide wasn't one.
- Outliving One's Offspring: After the death of Sean Alverez, his parents are being questioned by the police.
