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Living Legend
Legend
Season 7
Number 9
Writer Carol Mendelsohn,
Douglas Petrie
Director Martha Coolidge
Original Airdate November 23, 2006
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Previous Episode: Happenstance
Next Episode: Loco Motives

Living Legend is the ninth episode in Season Seven of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Synopsis[]

The Cadillac of an infamous 1970's mob boss, Mickey Dunn, is found in a lake after he disappeared years ago. Shortly afterwards, a string of murders occur in which the killers almost eagerly leave evidence of their appearance for witnesses and the CSIs. Furthermore, an old picture of the victims standing next to Dunn outside the Desert Inn Casino is planted on their bodies. The team must then find out what the connection is between the murders and Dunn.

Plot[]

Victim: Ken Billings (deceased)

On the case: Entire team

A news report fills the viewer in on Mickey Dunn, a legendary mob boss in Vegas in the 1970's. He's shown getting out of his gold Cadillac that had a hood ornament of a gun and a license plate that read "CHAINSAW." Mickey would live the high life until 1976, when he was linked to the murder of a low-level mob informant. On the night the arrest warrant was issued, Mickey and the gold Cadillac disappeared, never to be seen again.

In the present day, a Spanish-speaking fisherman shows the news reporter that he has snagged the hood ornament from the car and knows that it's tied to Mickey's disappearance. Catherine and Warrick arrive on the scene, both somewhat skeptical that this has anything to do with Mickey. Sure enough, though, the Cadillac is pulled out of the water with the "CHAINSAW" license plate still intact.

Later that night in a karaoke bar, a man sings a rendition of Frank Sinatra's "That's Life" that really gets one patron in a celebratory mood. When the two men meet, the singer introduces himself as Michael Myers, while the wheelchair-bound patron says his name is Ken Billings. The two get their pictures taken for the bar's Wall of Fame and end up drinking and reminiscing deep into the night. After closing, in the parking lot, Michael pushes Ken past his car and down a hill into a busy road. Ken is struck and killed by a party limo.

Grissom arrives on the scene and notes that the wheelchair brake attachments were loosened on both sides of the chair despite the impact only happening on one side. Lack of blood at the scene indicates that Ken was killed upon impact with the limo, not with the ground. David Phillips finds Ken's wallet and pulls a photo from the shirt pocket; it's an old black-and-white photo of Mickey and four other men standing in front of the gold Cadillac. Two of the men have large black X's on their faces.

The bartender at the karaoke bar recognizes Michael Myers and Ken from the photo that was taken of them and tells Brass that Ken was a regular. Nick finds Michael's name on the karaoke board. They also find that Michael was drinking a top-shelf lager that isn't sold very often; the bartender gives them the trash to sift through. Nick says that this will give them the fingerprints and DNA they need. There's also a video of Michael singing karaoke. Nick remarks that their killer is making things very easy for them.

In the CSI garage, Catherine and Greg unwrap the gold Cadillac. When its doors are opened, 30 years of sludge and water splash out onto the tarp. As Catherine sifts through the mess, she uncovers a skull with a bullet hole in the center of the forehead. Meanwhile, in the A/V lab, Sara and Archie watch the video of Michael's karaoke performance. She marvels at the fact that they have the suspect's name, photo, DNA sample, handwriting, and fingerprints, but they still can't find him in the system. Michael also seemed to know where the cameras were while he was performing, so he clearly wasn't trying to hide his face.

In the lab, Nick works on the photo of Mickey that was shoved into Ken's pocket. Using different lights, he's able to remove the black X's and get better visuals of the people in the picture. The camera fixates on one of the men in the photo, then transitions to the man in the present day. After he says his goodbyes to a hooker, the man walks down a hotel hallway. An elderly woman stops the man and asks for help moving her suitcase. When the man enters the room to help her, the woman closes the door behind him and strangles him to death.

Sara observes that the most recent victim likely died from suffocation, and the hooker tells Sofia that she didn't see or hear anything. The room is registered to a Pamela Voorhees; security cameras in the hotel lobby might be able to give them a face. Sara picks up the suitcases and is surprised by how light they are. She finds nothing in the suitcases, and Sofia sees that the closet is empty, as well. They guess that the suitcases could've been a lure. David Phillips arrives and finds another photo of Mickey Dunn and his associates shoved into the victim's mouth. He remarks that this is the second one he's found today, which means the team may be looking at a hit list.

Greg continues to sift through more of the contents in Mickey's Cadillac and finds more bones, a tie pin, and a bullet. In autopsy, Catherine and Warrick look at all of the bones laid out on a table. The bullet recovered matches the bullet hole in the skull; Warrick admires the bullet, a lead .38 round-nose. Despite being just a kid in the 70's, Warrick tells Catherine that he grew up on mob stories, including one called "Ghost Rider." As the story goes, motorcycle cop Eddie Sanchez was the last person to see Mickey Dunn and his Cadillac. Eddie and the motorcycle disappeared that night, never to be seen or heard from again; however, legend has it you can still hear the Ghost Rider gunning it up and down the highway. Warrick notes that the .38 round-nose bullet is the same type of bullet the Nevada Highway Patrol used back in the day. He theorizes that Mickey was trying to skip town with his money when he was pulled over by Officer Sanchez. The officer then shot him and ran off with the money. Catherine looks at the gold tie pin and tells her own story about meeting Mickey. In a flashback, a 16-year-old Catherine meets Mickey in a casino; he's wearing the same tie pin they just found. He whispers in her ear to meet him outside of the casino at 2 AM sharp, but never shows.

Security footage from the hotel shows Pamela Voorhees paying in cash to avoid identification, but signing her name on the registry. Nick shows Grissom the blown up photo of Mickey and his associates standing in front of the Desert Inn Casino, a casino that Mickey allegedly owned a percentage of. He notes that the guys standing with Mickey look like casino employees, and the question is why someone would want these guys dead now. Grissom gets a call from Brass; apparently, someone believes that the ghost of Mickey Dunn is trying to kill them.

That someone is Johnny D'Angelo, who is afraid to come out of his house. Brass shows Johnny the photo and asks him to point to the person who's trying to kill him; Johnny points to Mickey. When asked why Mickey would have a beef with him, Johnny tells a story about old Vegas and how Mickey was the king who had everyone working under him from top to bottom. The guys at the bottom were Johnny, Ken Billings, Mason Carter and Derek Paul. On the night of Mickey's "disappearance," they watched him leave the casino in a hurry, throwing a suitcase in the trunk of his Cadillac. Since the guys hadn't been paid in months, Derek came up with the idea to follow Mickey. They were able to chase Mickey off the road; there, Derek shot Mickey through the passenger's side window. In the present, Johnny takes a nitroglycerine pill and explains to Brass that he has a bad heart. He's also unconcerned that he just confessed to armed robbery.

Back in autopsy, Doc Robbins walks in on a paparazzi taking photos of the skeleton laid out on the table. After tripping the man and having security take him away, the doc notices that the bones are now glowing.

Derek Paul is found and brought to the station for questioning. Sofia tells him that, based on Johnny's story, he's guilty of armed robbery. When presented with Johnny's story, he tells Sofia a different one—the four guys took a joyride looking for Mickey in order to confront him. When they caught up to him, they found that someone had beaten them to the punch. They found Mickey's Cadillac sinking in the lake and whoever killed Mickey was long gone. Sofia shows Derek pictures of Michael and Pamela, but he doesn't recognize either one of them.

A gunshot is heard and Derek is found lying dead in his driveway with Johnny standing over him. Johnny takes out another black-and-white photo and tucks it in Derek's pants pocket. As Derek's mother comes out and sees what happened, Johnny takes an apple from Derek's groceries and walks away.

Brass and some officers go looking for Johnny at the chicken restaurant he owns. As he walks past a broken picture frame on the floor, he notices a smell coming from the kitchen. When he opens the oven, he finds Johnny's body curled up inside holding the same black-and-white photo. Brass checks for a pulse and notices some kind of residue on his fingers.

Hodges tells Greg that the bones in autopsy were glowing because they contained tetracycline. Greg, who is still processing the Cadillac, finds another gun-shaped hood ornament under the driver's seat. He discovers that the hood ornament found by the fisherman doesn't fit on the hood of the car; however, the one just found under the seat does.

Grissom, Greg, Sara and Warrick go over the information they have so far—all four people in the black-and-white photo with Mickey Dunn have been killed in the last 24 hours, and Mickey has been dead for 30 years. Warrick says that he went through the police files and found information on Eddie Sanchez, who would now be around 55 years old. The officer has family down in Mexico, and Warrick theorizes that Eddie shot Mickey and took his money down south. They realize that the Mexican fisherman who found the Cadillac is about the same age that Eddie would be. Greg points out that the hood ornament the fisherman found is fake. Regardless if someone paid the fisherman to plant the hood ornament or not, someone knew the Cadillac was in the lake and that it was missing its hood ornament. Grissom points out that the only way someone would know that is if they were present the night everything went down. He looks at the photos of their murder suspects and leaves the room without saying another word.

On his way back to his office, Grissom is told by Hodges that Johnny had been dead for two days, which is before the Cadillac was found. Furthermore, the trace on Johnny's body came back as materials used to make dental impressions. In his office, Grissom measures the width of the murder suspects' faces from eye to eye and find that all measurements are identical. He explains his findings to Catherine and Archie and says that the fisherman signed his television release as "F. Kreuger." They realize that the names F. Kreuger (Freddie Kreuger, Nightmare on Elm Street), Michael Myers (Halloween) and Pamela Voorhees (Friday the 13th) are all fictional characters from horror movies. With the photos of the suspects on the screen, they realize that they're looking for one killer.

An incredulous Brass tells Grissom that he stood close enough to Johnny D'Angelo to identify him. Evidence is suggesting that Johnny was wearing state-of-the-art prosthetics, meaning Brass was likely looking at someone else. Whoever the impostor is has the "real" Johnny's wallet, along with his driver's license. Because of this, the impostor could be anywhere wearing Johnny's face. We soon see "Johnny" cruising down the highway and singing along to Frank Sinatra's "That's Life." Several officers are giving pursuit and soon pull him over. "Johnny" is arrested; when the trunk of the car is opened, Brass finds three masks—the fisherman, Michael Myers and Pamela Voorhees.

In interrogation, "Johnny's" wig is removed. He pulls a mask off of his face to reveal that he's actually Mickey Dunn, back from the dead. Mickey recognizes Officer Sanchez from his photo, and Catherine reveals that the bones found in the Cadillac were Eddie's. Eddie had been taking tetracycline to treat his acne, which is why the bones glowed under ultraviolet light. When accused of shooting Officer Sanchez point-blank, Mickey says he actually shot him from 40 feet away with a soaking wet revolver. A flashback shows the officer driving up on the sinking Cadillac. All of a sudden, Mickey emerged from the water and shot him in the chest. Mickey then smashed the officer's teeth in to make him unidentifiable. Mickey recognizes Catherine from their interaction back in the day and tells her that he blew her off because Sam Braun threatened him. Before Catherine leaves the room, Mickey suffers a heart attack.

In the hospital, Mickey wakes up handcuffed to the bedrail and seems surprised by his surroundings. Catherine mentions an x-ray showing a bullet embedded in Mickey's chest, guessing that the bullet is a .38—the same caliber that killed Derek and Officer Sanchez. She recaps what happened that fateful night—Mickey's associates chased him down and Derek shot him in the chest. They took the money from the trunk, threw the gun into the car, and pushed it into the lake. Officer Sanchez rolled up on the scene a while later, and Mickey emerged from the lake and shot him. Mickey then changed clothes with Officer Sanchez, put the body in the lake with the car, and drove off on the officer's motorcycle.

Mickey laughs at the story and tells Catherine that he had fun coming back to life and trying on new faces. Flashbacks show him revealing to Ken that he's Mickey Dunn before pushing him to the street, strangling Mason, and making a mold of Johnny's face in order to kill Derek. After all of that, he tells Catherine that the hardest part was learning Spanish.

When asked why he decided to exact his revenge now, Mickey says the bullet Derek shot him with has moved closer to his heart; doctors have given him a week or two to live, and removing the bullet would kill him outright. He figures he would go out with a bang and never see the inside of a jail cell. Catherine surprises him by showing him that the bullet was removed and tells him that mob doctors can't be trusted. She informs him that he'll spend the rest of his life in a federal penitentiary where fellow inmates won't know who he is. As Catherine leaves the room and Mickey is resigned to his fate, Frank Sinatra's "That's Life" plays us out.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Cast[]

Quotes[]

Johnny: Now get out there and arrest the ghost of Mickey Dunn or get off my property.
Brass: We're the cops, not the Ghostbusters.

Goofs[]

  • When the victim is hit by the car, it shows him get run over by the front right wheel of the limo. Later on, the body is "thrown 45 feet" and is ahead of the stopped limo.
  • Near the end of the episode during the flashback of the crime, Mickey Dunn's car is pushed into the water. A cable can be seen trailing behind the car, most likely to make it easy to pull it back out later.
  • When Mickey Dunn is singing karaoke, the words he is singing don't always match up with the words scrolling across the screen behind him.

Music[]

  • Love Machine by The Miracles
  • That's Life by Frank Sinatra

Notes[]

  • Greg remarks to Catherine that he read about Mickey Dunn in Lois O'Neill's book, Kicks & Kisses. He received a signed copy of the book from Lois in the episode Kiss-Kiss, Bye-Bye.

Trivia[]

  • Mickey Dunn appears to be inspired by missing mob affiliate Jimmy Hoffa.
  • Roger Daltrey played Mickey Dunn. Daltrey is the co-founder and lead singer of the Who, the band responsible for the theme songs of every installment of the CSI franchise. In fact, Daltrey is the voice behind the famous scream at the end of the song "Won't Get Fooled Again," used as the intro to the theme for CSI: Miami.
  • The photograph used to show the mob hit that brought down Mickey Dunn is an actual photo of the corpse of Bonanno crime boss Carmine Galante, who was gunned down in July of 1979.
  • This episode also has a very obvious 'green screen' moment in the start of the show, during the interview. The background is a later shot seen when the car of Dunn is being pulled from the water. This method was chosen due to time constraints on how long the production crew would be allowed to film at Lake Mead.

See Also[]

CSI:Las Vegas Season 7
Built to Kill, Part 1Built to Kill, Part 2Toe TagsFannysmackin'Double CrossBurn OutPost MortemHappenstanceLiving LegendLoco MotivesLeaving Las VegasSweet JaneRedrumMeet MarketLaw of GravityMonster in the BoxFallen IdolsEmpty EyesBig ShotsLab RatsEnding HappyLeapin' LizardsThe Good, The Bad, And The DominatrixLiving Doll
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