CSI: Miami

Season 5 - Episode 3 - Death Pool 100

CSI: Miami's 100th Episode
Written by Ann Donahue & Elizabeth Devine
Directed by Sam Hill

Mr. Ice, jeweler to Miami’s A-List, hosts a luxurious “see-and-be-seen” pool party for his wealthy clients.  The party is interrupted by two masked gunmen who demand everyone’s jewelry.  Gun shots ring out; two party guests are dead, including Dakota Hudson, a young socialite famous for “being famous.” 

Horatio and the team process the bodies of Hudson and Ethan Parker, a hot young guy in the city’s club scene.  Ice estimates the heist is valued at thirty million dollars.  The scene is splattered with 9 mil casings. Natalia finds a nylon mask left behind, and it is traced to Rodrigo Garza who, during questioning tells Horatio that he didn’t shoot Parker -- he just grabbed him.  Delko finds a casing embedded in the pool’s drain, indicating Dakota was shot by someone in the pool.   The gun is traced to Kevin Iverson, who claims his gun had been stolen some time back.   Horatio confronts Iverson about the Death Pool list on his desk; the list consists of the names of famous people and players bet on when they’ll die.  Iverson tells Horatio he won big when Dakota died.

 Tripp and Horatio check out an offshore gambling boat called The FortuneMaker, where Horatio meets Lee Choi, who runs the operation and flaunts his “barely legal” (because it is outside the three-mile limit) success.  Wolfe and Calleigh investigate Rebecca Lamar, one of the Death Pool participants, while her seven year-old son Tyler waits on a bench.  Horatio stops to talk and bond with Tyler, while Rebecca tells Wolfe she sold Dakota’s name to Todd Barnasky, another Death Pooler.  Barnasky confesses he owes a lot of money to The Fortune Hunter, and a Mr. Shin had come to collect.  They find a stack of brand new one hundred dollar bills stuffed inside Shin’s pocket.

 Peter Elliott tells Calleigh the bill is a supernote; the highest quality of counterfeit – so good it could undermine an entire economy.  Wolfe confirms that A List hottie April Worthington was hanging out with Parker at the party.   April admits when the shots rang out she used Parker as a human shield.  Calleigh learns that even Wolfe once played the Death Pool.  Delko and Horatio confront Lee Choi about the counterfeit money, and Calleigh discovers that Ice’s jewelry was fake, then catches Ice destroying it.  Ice says it was April’s plan to get rid of Parker, who had discovered Ice’s jewelry was all fake.  She was afraid he’d ruin her reputation and get her bumped off the A-List, so she told Ice, who put together the party and the heist to take the fake bling out of circulation. 

 Agent Greg Cole tells Horatio they know all about the counterfeit money on the Fortune Maker and traced it back to North Korea.  Iverson confesses he faked a robbery so his wife wouldn’t find out he was gambling again.  Iverson’s wife Katrina admits to killing Dakota; she thought with a big win they could have a fresh start.  Rebecca confesses she gave her son to Hover, the ring that operates The Fortune Hunter, for collateral.  Horatio busts in on Mr. Choi and takes Tyler back; Cole and his team bust up the counterfeit ring and April must dodge the paparazzi.