CSI: Miami

Season 2 - Episode 18 - Wannabe

Story by John Haynes
Teleplay by Elizabeth Devine & Steven Maeda
Directed by Fred Keller

In the upper-class neighborhood of Coconut Grove, Isreali Mobster Avi Golan stumbles out of his house bleeding from his chest. He wanders into a local park and is killed by an unseen assailant with a butterfly knife. When Horatio and Alexx arrive on the scene, both Avi’s body and the murder weapon lead Horatio to comment that this was clearly a professional job.

Speedle is processing the long blood trail left by Avi, and Horatio tells him to make sure to get lots of samples as the killer may have been bleeding as well. Speedle notices a man he doesn’t recognize in a CSI jacket inside the crime scene. The man grabs a piece of evidence and takes off with Speedle in pursuit. After a brief chase, the mystery man makes it to his Vespa scooter and escapes.

Meanwhile, Calleigh and Delko are processing the body of a beautiful club girl found in a dumpster. Calleigh notices that the body is wearing sensible shoes; she’s probably a waitress. A 9mm pistol is recovered down the alley from the body and Delko finds an ID; the murdered woman is named Barbara Nance.

In the autopsy theater, Alexx finds a shaved area on Avi’s thigh, sure evidence that he has been wearing a wire. FBI Special agent Dennis Sackheim arrives and explains that Avi was working with him to get evidence on Danny Fisch, a top hit man for the Isreali Mob that recently killed a family of four. Avi’s death leaves Sackheim with no case so Horatio asks him to bring Fisch in for questioning.

Speedle drops off the blood trail evidence to DNA expert Carrie Delgado. She is livid that he has brought in fifty separate samples and says that she will process half of them to see if they are all the same. Afterwards, Speedle goes over photos from the crime scene and discovers that the missing piece of evidence is a latex glove.

Alexx has moved on to the autopsy of the waitress Barbara Nance, and confirms that she was killed by multiple gunshots. One of the bullets recovered has silver latex flecks caught up in the tip. The bullet was fired through something before it hit Barbara. In Barbara’s stomach, they find undigested fried ants, which lead them to a Columbian


themed nightclub near where the body was found. A waitress at the club confirms that Barbara worked there and mentions that she often fought with bartender Mark Hobbes. Hobbes is cool during the interview, but Calleigh noticed that he clicks when he walks. A 9mm shell casing is caught in the tread of Hobbes shoe and he is taken into custody.

Fisch shows up with his high-powered lawyer and is cocky in the interview. His lawyer tells Horatio that they know about the missing evidence and that it will not be usable, even if they find it. Agent Sackheim tells Horatio that they need to find that glove and prove that no one tampered with the evidence.

Speedle goes back to the scene and finds evidence that the person that stole the glove is a fan of forensics. Using video shot at the scene, Speedle traces the fan to an organization called the Miami Dade Criminalist League. Wally Shmagin is delighted and impressed when Speedle shows up at his door. He is impressed at how quickly they found him and wants to know exactly what evidence he left behind. Speedle is amazed at the forensics museum that Wally has put together – it even includes a seat from the ValuJet crash. He gives Speedle a quick tour and surrenders the glove, but Speedle takes him into custody.

Delko and Calleigh discover that the trash bag that Barbara Nance was placed in came from a break room that only waitresses had access to. They interview waitresses Jen Kemp and Rachel Bailey and ask to see their keys. Jen’s keys have the same silver latex found in one of the bullets that killed Barbara, the kind of latex that covers lottery scratchers. Jen tells them that all the waitresses play the lottery. Still the CSIs believe the murder took place in the bar and a quick spray of Luminol confirms it.

The glove proves Danny Fisch killed Avi Golan, but Horatio knows it may be inadmissible because of Wally’s theft. After Fisch’s lawyer files a motion to suppress the glove, Horatio tells Speedle to prepare Wally to give testimony. If Wally can hold up in court, they just might have a chance. Speedle at first hates the weird man and can’t understand why Wally would do the things he has done, but eventually he comes to see that Wally’s heart is in the right place. Speedle even lets Wally help him do some routine paperwork, a very exciting prospect for the fan.

Wally misses court the next day and Speedle fears the worst. When Wally’s body is discovered in his own museum, the case suddenly becomes personal for Speedle and Danny Fisch is going down by any means necessary.