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| Tales from the Undercard | |
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| Season | 6 |
| Number | 20 |
| Writer | Aaron Rahsaan Thomas, Steven Fidler |
| Director | Skipp Sudduth |
| Original Airdate | May 5, 2010 |
| Navigation | |
| Previous Episode: Redemptio | |
| Next Episode: Unusual Suspects | |
Tales from the Undercard is the twentieth episode in the sixth season of CSI: NY.
Synopsis
The team uncovers an underground fighting league after they discover the body of a retired boxer buried under concrete at a construction site.
Plot
A fight between striking workers and a foreman at a construction site takes a bizarre twist when blood starts to seep through recently laid concrete. The CSIs excise the body and Sid and Hawkes set about chipping away at the concrete in the morgue. They find bruising on the dead man’s face and determine he was asphyxiated when the concrete was poured on him. Lindsay finds two sets of tread marks at the scene, one from a small sports coupe and a larger one from a vehicle that likely broke through the chain fence at the site. Adam identifies trace from under the victim’s nails as marijuana and an enhancer sometimes paired with the drug. Though there’s nothing in AFIS on the man’s prints, Adam is able to trace the marijuana to medical center in New Jersey and identify the patient most likely to be their victim: Colby Jenkins. Danny and Flack go to Colby’s apartment and find it in a messy state, but when a spacey Colby returns home, it’s obvious he’s not their victim. Danny shows Colby a picture of the victim and Colby recognizes him as “The Gladiator.” When Sid and Hawkes finish removing the body from concrete, they find the man is indeed dressed in gladiator clothes. Hawkes pulls glass from the outfit, and Sid finds a large hole in the man’s chest. The coroner determines the man died forty-eight hours ago and that there was bleeding in his brain. He also recovers a bone fragment that didn’t belong to the victim. Mac recognizes one of his injuries as a common one for boxers and wonders if the man is an amateur fighter named Joe “The Gladiator” Carthage.
Mac makes a trip to see Joe’s trainer, Telly Gines, who confirms the dead man is Joe and tells the CSI that Joe couldn’t fight anymore. He had three brain contusions that could have ruptured and killed him. Telly tells Mac Joe was working as a bouncer at Dirty Drew’s Bar. Mac stops by the bar, where the bartender tells him that Joe defended her from some sleazy patrons who were hitting on her. Flack and Stella find the guys, a pair of wealthy brothers named Alex and Rick Contoursi, and match the tires of their car to the sports coupe treads found at the construction site. The young men admit to following Joe to continue the fight, but when they found him in gladiator gear, they backed off, assuming he was crazy. Danny and Hawkes discover the glass found on the body is a unique tinted variety not available on the open market, and trace it to a vacant building. Once there, they discover a broken window, blood and security cameras pointing to one area of the room. Hawkes finds blood from multiple sources, and Adam finds the bone fragment found in the body was whalebone. Lindsay identifies the impression of a battle crest from a Viking war shield on the wall. The answers lead the team to a website: Blood and Guts Brawling, where boxers dress up and duke it out for show.
Stella and Flack question Al Branson, the owner of the website, who tells them he doesn’t attend the fights, just organizes them. He claims he’s sorry to hear about Joe, but insists both Joe and his opponent walked away from the fight alive. Flack arrests Al for organizing illegal fights, but on the murder front, his story checks out. Stella wonders if Joe suffered a cerebral hemorrhage after the fight and his opponent panicked and hid his body. The CSIs find Joe’s opponent, Erik Overson, but he swears he left Joe alive, and had no idea the man had a brain injury. When Hawkes discovers an amateur fighting pendant belonging to Telly Grimes in the concrete, Mac realizes it was the trainer who buried Joe. Mac confronts Telly and learns Al convinced Telly to get Joe back into fighting. Al texted Telly the night of the fight: he found Joe sitting on a bench, totally unresponsive. Assuming Joe was dead, the two drove to the construction site and buried him. Mac angrily accuses Telly of taking advantage of Joe’s passion for fighting—and tells him the fighter was still alive when Telly and Al buried him in the concrete.
Cast
Main Cast
- Gary Sinise as Mac Taylor
- Melina Kanakaredes as Stella Bonasera
- Carmine Giovinazzo as Danny Messer
- Anna Belknap as Lindsay Monroe
- Robert Joy as Sid Hammerback
- A. J. Buckley as Adam Ross
- Hill Harper as Sheldon Hawkes
- Eddie Cahill as Don Flack
Guest Cast
- Ken Moreno as Joe Carthage
- Graham Beckel as Telly Gines
- Brendan Fehr as Al Branson
- Jess Allen as Erik Overson
- Fernanda Andrade as Yvonne
- Tommy Savas as Rick Contoursi
- Drew Tyler Bell as Alex Contoursi
- Michael William Freeman as Colby Jenkins
- Anthony Molinari as Jimmy Allen
- Brian Oerly as Lester Rhodes
- Hollywood Yates as Lumberjack