CSI:New York

Season 2 - Episode 4 - Corporate Warriors

Written by Andrew Lipsitz
Directed by Rob Bailey

It’s a crisp fall afternoon and Manhattan’s San Gennaro Festival, the city’s oldest street fair, is in full swing: people crammed between the cannoli-eating contests and sausage eating booths. As we work through this organized chaos a man staggers towards the statue of San Gennaro himself, making an apparent grab for the massive tree festooned with contributory bills of all denominations. A group of five large men pounce on him and when they finally back away, the staggering man is dead. Mac and Stella arrive on the scene ready to announce the death as a beating but back at the M.E.’s office Stella is surprised to find that the beating wasn’t the cause of death. The victim was stabbed in the heart with what Stella identifies as a sliver of as lacquered wood. But there’s no evidence of stabbing from the scene. The trail takes Stella and Danny back through the food stalls of the festival to a pool hall where they witness a scene of minor devastation—broken walls, mirrors and smashed pool cues. The weary bartender tells of an incredible martial arts battle royal between the victim and an unknown assailant. Could there be any truth to such a fantastical story? And if so, where will our CSIs find the roaming urban ninjas?

Meanwhile, Mac and Lindsay have been called to a case in Central Park, where they find a body -- totally decapitated. The victim’s head still rests on his lifeless body. What could have made such a cut? In a not-so-coincidental twist Mac realizes that this victim worked at the same company as Stella and Danny’s San Gennaro victim. Mac knows that “everything is connected”, and all of the CSIs must come together to find the murderous link in a company where the executives are trained martial artists, total loyalty is demanded, and revenge is the noblest cause of all.

Hawkes faces his most emotionally turbulent case yet as he investigates the death of a young chess prodigy in an apartment fire. He discovers that the fire was set deliberately using an unusual accelerant that leaves almost no trace, but a last minute decision by the arsonist suggests that the killer may not be a professional, and the boy’s death is a horrible mistake. The trail takes Hawkes into the world of competitive chess in Washington Square Park, where he finds himself in battle of wits that will ultimately spell checkmate for the killer.