NARRATOR: In the criminal justice system
the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups,
the police who investigate crime
and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders.
These are their stories.
Look at the line. Chicago's gonna be sold out.
I told you we should've gotten here earlier.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
If we'd left the house when I wanted to. I said, I hear you.
Hey, punk. Watch it.
See, this is why I hate coming into the city.
I'm tired of your excuses, Bob.
Now, this move is awin-win.
No. This is a very...
(sun FIRING) (PEOPLE SCREAMING)
What's the condition of the victims?
One DOA at the scene, one on the bus on the way to the OR.
Is he gonna make it?
Shot in the abdomen. He was conscious.
So who's the DOA?
OFFICER: Roman Rybakov, 45, Queens address.
Took one in the chest and in the back of the head.
We're trying to reach the next of kin.
You guys catching this one?
Yeah. Detective Green from the 27.
This is my partner, Joe Fontana.
Marley, Public Information.
What can we do for you, Lieutenant?
I got two actresses on a ride-along,
background for a buddy movie.
Oh. I don't recognize 'em.
Supposed to be big on basic cable.
(SIREN WAILING) Anyway, we were around the corner on Sixth.
They think they might have seen a person of interest
fleeing the scene.
I owe you one.
Okay, Lieutenant. Looks like your Hollywood ride-alongs
just became our witnesses.
Ladies, I'm Detective Fontana.
I think he was black.
You think?
Well, black but Hispanic.
You know, not American.
Cuban, maybe.
He, singular? Just one shooter?
There were more than one?
You think the man you saw with the gun was Hispanic.
You heard an accent?
No, you can just tell.
Something about them says Hispanic.
Uh-huh, okay. So, how tall was he?
Oh, I don't know. How tall is he?
Yeah, I saw 'em. Them?
Yeah, it was two dudes for sure.
One of 'em was, like, real short.
I didn't see anything.
I heard two shots.
I was on the ground by the time I heard the next two.
Two, and then two more?
Yeah, four. Total.
Look, I really need to be on my way.
So, over there on the sidewalk,
is that what they call "brain matter"?
Yes, as a matter of fact, it is.
So, you saw someone get into what you think
may have been a getaway car.
It was blue.
Or black. I'm not sure.
And I was turned this way, facing east.
Actually, that's west.
One guy, he threw open the door
and hejumped in the back seat.
It was blue. A blue SUV.
There you go. Now, that wasn't hard, was it?
Now, what did the guy look like?
CHIEF: The Commissioner wants a daily briefing
so he can apprise His Honor of your progress.
VAN BUREN: Of course.
Detectives.
Chief. Chief.
Twenty-seven eyewitnesses,
and the only thing a majority agree on is four shots fired.
So we're looking for a tall, white, Haitian, Hispanic midget
with maybe an accomplice who took the subway?
Or, according to the two starlets that I interviewed,
drove off in a blue SUV.
By the way, who are going to make
very believable police officers. (KNOCKING ON DOOR)
Got a seven on the survivor.
Ernesto Borges, Broadmore Medical.
Looks like he's gonna pull through.
You should be there when he gets out of surgery.
And if they remove any rounds,
get them over to Ballistics.
The boss call, he say, "Somebody sick. You work?"
I say, "Sure, I work."
lgo in. I wake up here.
Take it easy. I didn't see nothing.
Honest.
I'm not gonna lose my job?
No, you're not gonna lose your job. (CELL PHONE RINGING)
You see, we're not interested in your immigration status,
if that's what you're worried about. Yeah.
But we are interested in finding the guy who shot you.
Soifyou remember anything, call us, okay?
All right. s1.
ED: All right. Later.
The DOA from Queens, Mr.Rybakov? Yeah?
He's a diamond merchant. Oh.
No offense to Mr. Borges,
but I'm guessing that Rybakov is the real target.
The store manager tells the Lieutenant
that there's diamonds missing from the store.
A lot of 'em.
Missing diamonds? Uh-huh.
A target and a motive?
I like that.
We received a shipment of 22 uncut blue flawless stones
from Amsterdam two months ago.
How much is something like that worth?
Ten thousand per karat per stone.
I'm talking wholesale, of course.
Of course.
So, roughly a quarter of a million dollars?
We cut and polish them and put them in the safe.
After I heard what happened to Roman,
I checked our inventory.
Then I called you.
So, you think Mr. Rybakov had those diamonds with him?
I didn't take them.
Roman often carried a fortune in stones
from one appointment to another.
He'd put them in an envelope,
wrap them in a handkerchief, stick them in his pocket.
That's pretty casual, isn't it?
It's a handshake business.
You can't go around with armed guards.
You have any idea where he was going yesterday?
I assume lunch with Terry and Natalie Donner, at their shop.
ED: You assume?
Like every Thursday.
Do you think that Mr. Rybakov was taking the diamonds to them?
Possibly. Or somewhere else.
With the Donners, it wasn't always business.
Sometimes lunch was just lunch.
And they had lunch together every Thursday?
For the last 10 years.
TERRY: Who didn't show?
Roman had a good nosh, left us the stones, and went on his way.
Wait a second.
Are you saying that you do have Mr. Rybakoxfs diamonds?
Diamonds? What are you talking about?
His manager told us he was carrying
about a quarter of a million dollars worth.
I hope you don't mind me saying,
but you guys don't seem to know which end is up.
Roman brought over 42 class-C peridots.
Semi-precious stuff.
Nice, but worth 20,000 tops.
Did he say where he was going when he left?
Sure. Something about the dentist, a loose filling.
Kept complaining all through lunch.
About his dentist, lwouldn't know.
You should ask his wife.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
Yes, Mom.
Mrs. Rybakov, your husband told the Donners
that he was on his way to the dentist,
that he had a problem with a tooth. Do you...
I don't know anything about that.
He didn't say anything to me.
David. Please.
Go ahead, Mama. Ask.
Sit down, please.
Detectives, I need my husband's body.
When can I get him back?
Well, Mrs. Rybakov,
when the Medical Examiner's Office is finished with it...
My father should be buried within 24 hours after he dies.
Until we bury him, we cannot begin to mourn him.
(SOBBING) Oh, my God, David, what are we going to do?
Mama...
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
Anything you can do to get him back for us as quickly as possible.
We'll make the call, of course.
DAVID: Thank you.
Mrs. Rybakov, if you know where your husband was going yesterday,
or why he was carrying the diamonds.
Roman never discussed business with me.
Really, please, what difference does it make about diamonds?
He's gone.
(SOBBING) Mama.
(SHUSHING) Oh, God.
The slugs recovered from Borges and Rybakov
were fired from two different guns.
Hey, what do you know, the kid with the skates was right.
There were two shooters.
Speaking of Mr. Borges, he took a powder.
Checked out of the hospital.
Social Security's fake.
Probably an illegal. He didn't know anything anyway.
Innocent bystander, caught in the crossfire.
You checked with Rybakov's dentist?
Rybakov “ed to the Bonnets.
He did not have an appointment with his dentist.
And according to the Medical Examiner,
there was nothing wrong with his fillings.
He didn't want anyone to know where he was going or what he was carrying.
What do we know about Rybakov?
So far? He's a successful businessman,
very influential in his community.
What community is that?
The Bukharan Jews, out in Queens.
They're from the former Soviet Union.
Bukharan? Mmm-hmm.
It's in Central Asia, near Afghanistan.
That's a tough neighborhood.
You thinking Russian mob?
Soviet immigrant, diamond merchant, it's worth a look.
I know a detective in Queens who's Jewish.
You could talk to him. He'll know this community.
LEVY: I've been a community liaison officer
with these people for some time.
They started coming over to New York in the mid-'80s,
when perestroika opened things up.
You know them well?
I do and I don't. These are tough Jews
from a very rough part of the world. Uzbekistan.
An isolated community with its own language,
its own customs, very tight-knit.
Still is. Very difficult for an outsider to get into.
ED: Orthodox?
Traditional, but not religious.
And coming up under the Soviet system,
not a hell of a lot of respect for authority, either.
Lots of family businesses. Silk, diamonds, gold.
Those are all cash businesses, right? Absolutely.
What about ties to the Russian mob?
Some of them, definitely.
And let's face it, every community has its gangsters.
How about Roman Rybakov?
Definite ganef.
Shady for sure, and everybody knew it.
After he got shot, word on the street was
that he may have had a problem.
Problem with the Russians?
The Russians, the Albanians, the Columbians,
the Dominicans, the rumors are flying.
I did get a line on the man's lawyer
who must have sent his kids to college on this Rybakov.
Three words, Detectives, and I'm sure you've heard them before.
Attorney-client privilege?
Don't you love it when you can just cut to the chase?
All right, let's see.
I can tell you this much,
Roman wasn't headed to the dentist.
ED: How do you know?
Because where Roman Rybakov was going, I was going, too,
and my teeth are just fine, thank you.
Now, if you'll pardon me a moment,
I have to use the facilities.
I'll be back in exactly three minutes.
(DOOR OPENS)
(DOOR CLOSES)
lsaacson and Rybakov had a 1:00 in Brooklyn.
"Assistant United States Attorney Mike Warner,
"Criminal Division."
Roman Rybakov was cooperating with you, Mr. Warner?
Helped us bust open this Russian diamond scam a mile wide.
Serge Andropov, and his comrades-in-crime.
Andropov's an up and coming mobster, a real rising czar.
ED: What was the scam?
You know about blood diamonds?
The fighting in West Africa, right?
Right. The rebels sell stolen diamonds
on the black market to finance the fighting.
So, now, all legit diamonds have to have an ID.
So how the scam works is, the Russians smuggle 'em in from Amsterdam.
And the late Mr. Rybakov put a cut and polish on them.
Along with a bogus serial number, nothing but profit.
We're talking millions of dollars.
Well, apparently Rybakov was on his way to see you
with a briefcase full of those diamonds when he got shot.
I wasn't aware of that.
How did you get onto Rybakov to begin with?
A couple of anonymous calls.
ED: About the Russians?
About Rybakov.
The tips were so damn specific.
Diamonds from here end up there,
this date, that route.
But without an ID on the snitch,
you can't get a search warrant.
Didn't need one.
Everything the anonymous rat said panned out 110%.
Whoever ratted out Rybakov to the feds
had dates, times, and places.
Had his comings and goings to a
Inside stuff. You talk to his co-worker?
We're working on it. I cross-referenced his phone calls.
He made a whole bunch of calls to this club in Brighton Beach.
Brooklyn South Narcotics raided it a few years back.
Look.
Oh, I know this place. It's a strip club.
Run by the Russian mob.
(FUNKY MUSIC PLAYING)
ED: Why don't you take another look, Cholenko.
I already tell you, I do not know this Rybakov.
Very sorry.
You do too know him, Chucky.
Chucky?
Rybakov has this huge diamond pinky ring.
Comes in all the time with his friends, the Jewish guys.
They practically live here.
Really? Good customers.
They actually know the difference between presidents.
You mean, between Jackson and Washington?
Exactly. You put a bill in my G-string,
make it Andrew, not George.
Better yet, make it Ben Franklin.
Well, you know that Franklin wasn't a president.
He wasn't? He should've been.
Let's you and I have a little conversation about this.
Me and you are gonna work on your memory lapse, Chucky.
Come on.
Good morning, gentlemen. I'm Detective Green.
This is my partner Detective Fontana.
What can we do for you gentlemen?
Which one of you is Andropov?
That is me.
And you, sir, are?
Egan Ludovic.
Yeah, I recognize you from your picture at the U.S. Attorney's office.
U.S. Attorney has my picture? Harassment.
He's right, you know. They're legitimate businessmen.
We own a strip club. You should come by.
Yeah, we were just there.
We were asking about your good customer, Roman Rybakov.
Rybakov?
Shot dead in broad daylight.
You know, the same Roman Rybakov
that you're involved with in the diamond scam.
Diamonds?
The scam you're about to be indicted for by the Attorney's Office.
Because we know that you knew that he was cooperating.
Rybakov... Rybakov?
(BOTH SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
Oh, yes.
Something happen to him?
I don't read papers.
I don't think you know how to read at all.
VAN BUREN: So, in addition to being involved with Russian mobsters,
Mr. Rybakov had a fondness for ladies other than his wife.
That's right. But far as we can tell,
his cooperation with the feds, and the ladies,
was strictly on the QT.
(CELL PHONE RINGING) Well, I'd say the Russians found out somehow.
Van Buren.
I think it was a little pillow talk
between him and one of his girlfriends from the club.
She gets mad at him for something,
and rats him out to the Russians?
Exactly. Wouldn't be the first time
a girl made an anonymous call, got a fellowjammed up.
You sound like you're speaking from personal experience.
All right, thanks.
That was Warner's office. Mr. Borges?
Our illegal dishwasher.
Our second shooter.
You're kidding?
VAN BUREN: CSU printed him in the hospital
when they thought they were going to lose him.
Interpol coughed up a hit.
His real name is Stefano Granados.
He's wanted in three countries for contract murder.
Damn. Let me guess,
the place where he worked never heard of him?
Oh, they've heard of him, all right.
But if you want details,
you should go talk to the owner,
one of the Russians on Warner's hit parade.
I love this job.
KALINOV: Anna? Natalia?
(SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
Dishwasher, seemed like such nice young man.
Who knew?
Leaves me short-handed on evening shift.
Ivan, a killer uses your place as cover for a hit,
that makes you an accomplice to first-degree murder.
If you know someone who needs work...
You know what? You talk to him.
If you don't talk, I'm sure Granados will.
I thought you don't know where he is.
ED: Oh, we're gonna find him.
The doctors say in his condition, he ain't gonna get that far.
Know what I got here, tovarisch? Hmm?
In about 10 seconds,
I'm going to start smiling like a village idiot
and peeling off $100 bills on your shiny brass bar.
What are you talking about?
And then my partner here is going to start dropping
"thank you's" and "tell us more" like there's no tomorrow.
Which means, if your friends back there
ain't deaf, dumb, and blind,
you're gonna have a little trouble.
Don't.
I don't know why he was here.
I put him on books as favor.
A favor to who? Andropov?
Where's Granados?
Here comes the first C-note.
Is there anything you want us to tell your widow?
I'll tell you what I know.
There is this doctor.
DOCTOR: He told me he was cleaning his gun.
And you bought that?
Law says you have to report a gunshot wound, Doctor.
I know. This isn't a misdemeanor, Doctor.
This is a serious offense.
We're gonna arrest you, and you're gonna lose your license.
Oh, man. What can I do?
What can you do? You can tell us all you know,
that's what you can do, and we won't take you out of here in cuffs
in front of your patients.
If you cooperate, you might be able to cut a deal
with the D.A.
Okay, okay. He paid me 20 grand in cash.
Do you know where we can find Stefano Granados?
Did he leave a number? An address?
No, but I heard him confirming a flight on his cell.
He's flying to Bogota later today.
I told him he was in no shape to fly, but he wouldn't listen.
That's all I know.
I swear.
You better go call your lawyer, bro.
Granadosjust paid 20 Gs cash for a bulletectomy,
I don't think he's gonna be standing in line
waiting for a commercial flight, do you?
Mmm-mmm.
I'm gonna check private flights with the FAA.
Hey, give me that bag.
Come here, come here.
Get out. Get over.
(YELLS)
Stefano Granados, you have the right to remain silent.
You have the right to an attorney.
And you understand the charges against you, Mr. Granados?
Si.
How do you plead? He pleads not guilty, YourHonoL
Given the defendant's medical condition and immigration status...
We don't oppose remand, Judge.
So ordered.
Protective custody, awaiting trial?
So ordered.
Ms. Southerlyn, Counselor.
Have a better one.
We have a pretty good idea who hired your client to kill Mr. Rybakov.
Then you should arrest that person and ask him.
But like I said, my client isn't interested in a plea.
How do you know till you hear it?
Go ahead, Jack,
offer him a misdemeanor gun beef and six months.
He'll pass, because otherwise
he's gotta cooperate against the Russians.
If you're concerned for his safety,
we can put him in witness protection.
You'll bring his parents and six brothers and sisters up
from Nicaragua?
If not, it's gonna be chain-saw night at casa Granados.
How did he get shot?
A stray slug, ricochet.
What happened to the diamonds?
Did your client take them from the scene?
I have no knowledge of any diamonds, and neither does my client.
Now that I can tie Andropov to a homicide.
You can tie him?
Mr. Branch, if Granados cooperates,
he can give us the other shooter.
With the other shooter, I can roll up Andropov's whole organization.
Mr. Warner, what do you really have here?
Conspiracy to defraud? Tax evasion?
Violation of the federal import-export laws?
I mean, you can't make a homicide case out of this and we can.
All right. Charge him with murder.
Maybe he'll deal the rest of his crew on the diamond smuggling.
We know Rybakov took the diamonds from the safe,
and we know he “ed to the Bonnets
about where he was going that day.
Someone obviously knew where he was going.
JACK: If we can identify that person,
we'd have a better idea of how the Russians set up the hit.
And may I suggest you two work together on this?
There's just no sign of Rybakoxfs diamonds.
And your eyewitness statements
don't even mention anyone going near the bodies.
If this even was a robbery.
I mean, if Rybakov told anyone where he was going,
I just can't find it.
There's got to be another layer to the onion.
We just have to figure out how to peel it.
Hey, Mike... Rybakov's attorney?
Svi lsaacson.
His offices are in Brooklyn, right?
Court Street just off Joralemon. Why?
Brooklyn's a 718 area code.
Rybakov's house LUDs show a call to a 212.
And the phone's registered to a Mark Edleburg, attorney-at-law.
If Rybakov hired another lawyer,
I'm sure I would've heard about it.
Maybe Rybakov felt lsaacson was compromised in some way.
Maybe hejust couldn't tell you.
If you didn't want to discuss the matter, Mr. Edleburg,
why on earth did you let your secretary set up this meeting?
Part courtesy, part curiosity.
Iwondered why the big, bad Manhattan D.A.'s office
would interest itself in a lowly matrimonial matter.
Matrimonial? What are you talking about?
You remember Domestic Relations Laws from law school.
Divorce, alimony, custody.
Any of this ring a bell?
Roman Rybakov wanted a divorce?
Roman? Never met the late Mr. Rybakov.
I represent his widow, Mrs. Zina Rybakov.
Many things can happen in a marriage.
Some you live with.
Others, you simply cannot forgive.
You were married 20 years.
Yes, my vows were sacred to me.
That's why I put up with it for so long.
It?
The lies, the deceit, the humiliation.
The girls at the club.
And the gangsters that Roman did business with.
This was something new?
Well, no, I knew about that part of Roman's life long before I married him.
His whole family was, you know.
They were mobsters.
But there was never any violence
until he began with the Russians.
Those people scared me.
So, you knew about the illicit diamond scheme.
Is that why you asked for a divorce?
I was very frightened for my children.
The kids are getting older, he's getting in deeper,
the company he's keeping is getting rougher.
And she's finally had enough.
I think she's the one who dropped a dime on him with the U.S. Attorney.
The anonymous calls to Warner's office?
They came from a pay phone in Zina's mikvah.
Mikvah? Pardon my ignorance.
Ritual cleansing baths for Orthodox Jewish women.
Zina Rybakov set her husband up to go to jail?
For his own good.
Then why hire Edleburg?
She makes the calls.
Months later, he's still walking the streets,
she puts two and two together
and figures he's cooperating with the feds
and that he's not going to be going away after all.
So she retains Edleburg. Using what for money?
All the family's assets were in his control.
She knew the combination to the store safe.
The missing diamonds.
A quarter of a million dollar nest egg.
Roman Rybakov never had the diamonds on him.
She could have taken them at any time.
(PHONE RINGING)
Southerlyn.
We'll be right there.
Granados' attorney.
MOLLOY: I received a call from my client's cousin in Nicaragua.
His family has left the country.
They're in a safe place. He's ready to deal.
You wired them money?
I bought them bus tickets to Tegucigalpa.
Go ahead.
What do you want to know?
Who hired you to kill Mr. Rybakov?
Clemente got the call.
Clemente?
Paolo Clemente, the other shooter.
He talked to the Russians, not me.
They set it up.
Then you're really not much good to us.
Unless you can give us Clemente.
He can give you Clemente, no problem.
Murder two. 20-to-life.
Is that the best you can do?
For a contract murder? Count your blessings.
We want the exact deal you gave Granados, only better.
Granados gave us your client.
What's he got to offer?
The man who hired the hit on Rybakov.
Sergei Andropov?
CHAGALS: Do we have a deal?
Twenty-to-life, not a day less.
That's not better.
We'll arrange for him to serve his time in a better facility.
How would that be?
(WHISPERING)
Andropov. He hired me.
I hired Stefano.
You spoke to him directly? No intermediary?
Si. I spoke with Sefior Andropov myself.
I told him, certainly the jeweler can be eliminated, but...
SERENA: What happened at the scene?
How did Granados get shot?
Andropov said no loose ends,
so after Stefano shot the jeweler, I shot Stefano.
We find ourselves in the enviable position
of having an overabundance of charges and evidence
against Mr. Andropov.
My client's looking for a big drop-down
from the top count, Mr. McCoy.
Let me explain the facts of life, Mr. Laval.
We go up the food chain, not down.
Wheel man, shooter, button man, chief.
You think Mr. Andropov is all there is to this?
Unless you're offering up Vladimir Putin.
What he's got is more in the line of a lateral move.
He gets what everyone else got, 20-to-life,
and we could talk about where.
(WHISPERING)
Why did you have Mr. Rybakov killed?
He was snitch. Selling us out to save his skin.
JACK: How did you find out?
Jeweler's wife.
Mrs. Rybakov? What about her?
She told us her husband was talking to the feds.
She told you how?
She called, anonymously.
Told us how to get to her husband, when, where.
She called you anonymously?
We figured it out. It had to be her.
Who else knew?
You talked to her personally?
My associate, Egan Ludovic.
And he'll testify?
Unfortunately, Egan is in Russia now.
He thought it prudent to leave country.
So we're just supposed to take your word about these conversations
between your associate Ludovic and Zina Rybakov.
You believe what you want.
If you want to make a deal, Mr. Andropov,
you better convince us that your story is true.
You hired two killers to execute Mr. Rybakov.
They're both in custody.
They'll both testify against you.
Sure, I hired them. With her money.
Are you saying Mrs. Rybakov paid you to murder her husband?
$50,000.
Why would she want to have her husband killed?
I mean, what's her motive? Why wouldn't she just divorce him?
Shelooked into that, Arthur, she even hired a lawyer.
So what's she up to?
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
We're sure this Andropov is on the level?
His story checks out.
Four calls from Zina's mikvah to the Russian social club.
And over the last few months,
cash withdrawals of more than $100,000 from Zina's accounts.
So she did pay the Russians.
Well, it looks that way.
On the other hand, Andropov never spoke with Zina directly.
She never solicited him to kill her husband.
No. She just dealt with his associate.
Andropov can still testify as a co-conspirator.
You know, in a perfect world
we'd have this other Russian gangster
dotting the "I's" on this one for us.
I'd settle for an arrest warrant for Mrs. Rybakov.
L-le'slyir19-
I never met this Andropov.
I never gave the Russians any money for anything.
Certainly not to kill my husband.
You called the federal authorities
about your husband's activities.
My husband was doing business with mobsters.
Zina. No, please.
With mobsters.
I did that to protect my family.
You wanted him to go to prison.
And when he made a deal with the feds instead,
you called the Russians directly,
told them what your husband was doing,
and that he was going to testify against them.
I wanted them to leave my husband alone.
You wanted him dead.
No. I thought that when they realized what he was doing,
when they realized what he was telling to the government,
that they would panic, go back to Russia.
If you wanted to be rid of your husband,
why didn't you just go forward with the divorce?
That would not have protected my children.
You could have moved.
In her community, she would also have needed a get
to move her children even a block away.
A yer;
GREENBLATT: A religious divorce.
In Orthodox Judaism, only the rabbinical court,
the bet din, can grant a dissolution of the marriage.
Then she should have applied to that body.
GREENBLATT: She did. SERENA: And?
I'm waiting for it to happen.
GREENBLATT: So why would she want to kill her husband?
Her civil divorce is in the works,
her religious divorce was pending.
It was all just a matter of time.
You have to understand, Mr. McCoy,
that the bet din does not grant the get.
The husband does.
The bet din talks to the husband, reasons with him.
And if he refuses?
Without the husband's consent, their hands are tied.
Mrs. Rybakov's lawyer told us
that she was still waiting for a decision
at the time of her husband's death.
She might have had to wait for the rest of her life.
He said no?
We appealed to him to give his wife what she wanted.
What can I say?
He was not inclined to let her go.
And there was no way to force him?
Even though he was a known adulterer and a criminal?
It's not for me to judge.
Hardly seems fair.
The process favors the husband.
This is a tradition, thousands of years old.
And without a get, where does that leave the wife?
She would remain agunah, a woman in chains.
Unable to break free of her marriage.
Even if she got a civil divorce?
She would still be unable to remarry within our community.
Or to retain custody of her children.
If Mrs. Rybakov was unable to obtain a get,
is there any other way that she could have
extricated herself from this marriage?
If she became a widow.
CLEMENTE: We followed Sefior Rybakov when he left the shop.
Stefano was in front of me.
He shot Rybakov once in the chest,
and stepped up and shot him again, in the back of the head,
very close, just to make sure.
What did you do?
I shot Stefano. Twice.
The second shot missed.
JACK: And then?
I rushed up to him, as if to help him, and took away his gun,
so it couldn't be traced back to us.
Why didn't you shoot him again,
to make sure he was dead?
There were too many people, too close.
And I thought he would die, anyway.
I stood up and walked away into the crowd.
Nobody stopped me.
Mr. Clemente,
have you ever met my client, Mrs. Rybakov?
CLEMENT E: No.
Have you ever spoken to her?
No.
How did you know where to find her husband?
SefiorAndropov told me.
Nothing further.
ANDROPOV: We knew Rybakov was in gem business,
we knew he liked strippers at club.
We approached him. He was receptive.
JACK: And what did he do for you?
Cut diamonds, polished, forged documents, gave them ID number.
And how much was he paid for these services?
10% of net, about $200,000 per delivery.
Maybe $2 million last year?
And how did you discover that Mr. Rybakov
was cooperating with the federal authorities?
His wife called us.
You spoke to her?
She spoke to my associate, Mr. Ludovic.
What was your understanding
after your conversation with Mr. Ludovic?
Objection. Overruled.
I understood Mr. Rybakov was preparing to testify against us.
And did there come a time when you learned
where Mr. Rybakov would be on the day he was shot?
Mrs. Rybakov told Ludovic her husband had appointment that day.
And you hired two men
to waylay and kill Mr. Rybakov?
Stefano Granados and Pack: Chmenke.
And how much did you pay them for this?
$25,000.
That's a lot of money.
Yes, but Mrs. Rybakov paid us $50,000.
To kill her husband?
To kill her husband.
Mr. Andropov, the two men you hired to kill Roman Rybakov,
tell us again how they knew where to find Mr. Rybakov,
how to recognize him?
I told them. Showed them pictures.
You told them? Did you give them the money?
Yes.
Did you tell them about his standing lunch
with the Donners every Thursday?
Yes.
And you knew about that lunch because you knew Rybakov,
knew his habits,
were involved in a criminal enterprise with him.
No, his wife told us.
Told you?
Told Ludovic.
According to you.
According to you, a devout mother of four
paid you, a career criminal, to kill her husband.
Yes.
GREENBLATT: You had a very good reason of your own to kill him, didn't you?
No. Not really.
A stiff sentence in a federal penitentiary? Not a good reason?
We might have done for free,
but why should we, when his wife is willing to pay for it?
And with your extensive criminal record,
and in light of your plea bargain
with the District Attorney's office,
why should we believe a word you say?
Nothing further, Your Honor.
Yes, I called the federal prosecutor.
You wanted your husband arrested?
I wanted him stopped.
He was putting us, he was putting our children in jeopardy.
And when Roman made his agreement with the federal prosecutor,
did you feel better protected?
No. Nothing changed.
The women, the late hours,
the gangsters that he did business with. Nothing changed.
So, you hired a divorce lawyer.
A civil divorce I could obtain,
but I also needed a religious divorce.
Why?
I would be nothing if I left my husband without a get.
I would be without friends, I would be without family.
My own mother and father would turn their back on me.
I would lose my children.
My children, do you understand?
Your husband would have custody?
Worst than that.
They themselves, if I wanted to see them, my children,
they would not want to see me.
Did you ask your husband for the get?
Many times.
He said it was out of the question.
He said divorce would diminish our prestige in the community.
Our prestige.
Everyone knew what he did for a living,
everyone knew what he was.
And when he turned you down, what did you do then?
I took diamonds from the store safe.
I sold them, it was not hard.
And what did you do with the money?
I brought it to the rabbis
who would hear my plea, the bet din.
The religious court?
Yes. I donated $50,000
hoping that they would use their influence
to put pressure on my husband to grant me the divorce.
Did you ever give any money
to Mr. Andropov or Mr. Ludovic?
No, never.
Did you ask them to kill your husband?
No, I did not.
Did the rabbis take your money?
Yes, they did.
Did they apply the pressure?
They timed.
They went to the synagogue.
They tried to shame him before the community.
Did your husband relent?
Did he give you the get?
No. He was by this time beyond shame.
He didn't care.
The bet din told me there was nothing more to be done.
Sounds like you had every reason in the world
to want your husband killed.
And four very good reasons not to. My children.
I would never take their father away from my children,
no matter what he did.
But your husband is dead.
Not by my hand.
The rabbi confirms his synagogue received the donation
from Mrs. Rybakov.
So Andropov lied to cut a deal with us?
She had a quarter of a million dollar slush fund to work with.
I have no doubt she paid him to hit her husband.
But we can no longer establish that fact to a certainty.
Zina's testimony perfectly sets forth
her motive to kill her husband.
And at the same time undercuts our case in its entirety.
That woman's like a wet bar of soap.
The harder we squeeze...
JACK: The guiltier we know she is,
the more innocent she seems.
You know, when you come right down to it,
all Zina Rybakov ever did was make a phone call.
That set the whole thing in motion.
She knew exactly what would happen.
Oh, yeah, she got the get.
And I tend to agree with you, Jack,
that morally she's culpable of the murder.
And legally?
Legally, I don't know what she's guilty of, exactly,
without credible proof of payment.
The jury will have to make that call.
We've gone this far.
Look, we've got the shooter
and the guy who hired him behind bars for a long time.
Don't you think it's beginning
to look like we're persecuting a poor widow?
A self-made widow.
Ofa gangster.
Look, I'm not suggesting that Mr. Rybakov deserved to die.
Even though we do tend to reap what we sow.
I just think you might want
to put a more magnanimous face on this thing.
What?
That's just Arthur's way of barking an order.
JACK: Your Honor, at this time,
for the reasons previously discussed,
the People withdraw all charges against Zina Rybakov.
Counsel is aware that jeopardy has attached
and this defendant can never be retried on these charges?
The People are cognizant of that fact, Your Honor.
Then the People's motion to dismiss the charges
against this defendant is granted.
(GAVEL BANGS)
These proceedings are ended.
She committed a murder without committing a crime.
She knows exactly what she did.
And so does every member of her community.
She won't be persona non grata to everyone.
There are other women in her position.
She's a role model?
I imagine there will be some glasses raised to her
in that neighborhood tonight.
Yeah, there'll be some nervous husbands, too.