CSI:New York

Season 1 - Episode 13 - Tanglewood

Written by Anthony E. Zuiker
Directed by Karen Gaviola

Mac and Stella investigate the brutal murder of a young man, Paul Montenassi, who is beaten to death with a baseball bat at night in a park. Nearby impressions in the snow indicate that he was assailed by three, possibly four attackers. The evidence shows that this wasn’t just a random beating – Paul’s face is covered with high-velocity blood splatter, indicating that he had shot someone the night he was attacked.

Detective Flack meets Danny and Aiden at the scene of a car accident, the victim, Marta Santo, a 30 year old, Hispanic female. Evidence on the car indicates a hit-and-run. Marta’s body shows signs of trauma, indicating rape or rough sex. The forensic evidence leads the CSIs to the Wuhan Spa and Sauna in the East Village where scandal is uncovered between an astute businessman, wife, and his mistress.

Aiden and Detective Flack are called out to a crime scene at a bodega in Spanish Harlem. The owner, Harish Lev, is distraught at the shooting of his brother, Mihok Lev, during a robbery the night before. When Aiden views the store’s surveillance tape, she discovers that the robber is none other than Paul Montenassi. Not only that, but Harish Lev is seen chasing him out of the store with a baseball bat.

Case closed? Not so. Harish’s bat was aluminum, but the one used to kill Paul was definitely a wooden one. And it wasn’t any old bat at that, but a real collector’s item, signed by New York Yankees legend Mickey Mantle himself.

As it turns out, Billy Butts’ Sports Bar a local hangout of rival suburban gangs from Tanglewood and Pelham Bay, is missing a Mickey Mantle bat that used to be proudly displayed on its walls. Paul was a Tanglewood wannabe, desperate enough to do anything to gain admittance into their gang. Mac and Stella suspect he was given the task of assaulting a member of the Pelham Bay crowd, an assignment that could have had fatal consequences for him.

The CSIs track down the leader of the Pelham Bay gang, Johnny Lucerno, in the New Rochelle Mall, where he and his posse are causing trouble. He’s arrogant in the extreme, one of the new breed of rich kids who think nothing can touch them, and even if they do happen to get caught, their rich daddies will pull a few strings and get them off. And he just happens to be sporting stitches from an assault the previous night. The weapon? A baseball bat. The attacker? Paul Montenassi.

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