Episode #015

Air Date: 1 Feb 1985 (NBC)
Director: Paul Michael Glaser
Writer: Miguel Pinero

Episode Summary
During routine surveillance of some drug smugglers, Crockett and Tubbs see something strange — a drug deal where the money changes hands, but the drugs don’t. They follow the man who handed over the money, a smuggler named Robert Morales, to a yacht, where they see what appears to be a woman tied up inside. Morales goes on board the yacht, which explodes seconds later. Morales, miraculously, survives, but his captive wife does not.

The next morning at OCB, Castillo tells them that there have been a number of kidnappings of smugglers recently, all ending in murders. The smugglers were bringing large shipments of cocaine into Miami. He sends Crockett and Tubbs to a meeting with a man named Ed Waters, to find out more about this. When Sonny and Rico show up for the meeting, Castillo is already there. Waters tells them that all the smugglers being killed had records and had been under investigation. They were well known to law enforcement and he believed someone in one of the agencies — DEA, FBI, or local police — had to be arranging these killings. He asks Crockett and Tubbs to pose as smugglers and go to Cartagena to make a big drug buy. Trudy is to pose as Tubbs’ wife, the bait back in Miami. Roberto Morales has agreed to cooperate and identify Tubbs as his cousin, to clear the way for the deal in Cartagena. Waters says he doesn’t care how Crockett and Tubbs get to and from Cartagena; he just wants them to get there and he doesn’t want to know the details.

Sonny and Rico go to a local drug den and find an informant who gives them the name of someone who might be able to provide transportation, a bush pilot named Jimmy. Crockett and Tubbs go to see Jimmy, and agrees to fly the plane, but makes it clear that’s all he’s agreeing to do, no more. [Smuggler's Blues]

Once in Cartagena, Sonny and Rico go to meet their contact, a man named Grossero, but he refuses to make a deal with them at the first meeting; it seems they can’t agree on a price. As Crockett and Tubbs are leaving the meeting, some street bandits accost them. Cops show up; Jimmy forces Sonny to flee with him, while the cops arrest Rico. While Tubbs sits in jail, Jimmy and Sonny have some time to get to know each other and find they have one thing, at least, in common — Vietnam. Both had lost countless buddies there, but Sonny tells Jimmy that he must wait for Tubbs.

He doesn’t have long to wait because the cops are on the take and working for Grossero. After checking out Tubbs, they’re satisfied that he’s a bona fide drug smuggler, and let him go. Even better, they arrange for him to meet Grossero again and sample the cocaine.

Crockett and Tubbs meet with Grossero again. In a bold show of bravado, Rico pulls a gun on Grossero, apparently unconcerned about the number of armed guards around him. Tubbs tells Grossero he doesn’t appreciate his techniques, but Grossero simply insists he has to be careful. Tensions ease, and the deal is arranged. Later that evening, the money-for-drugs exchange is smoothly executed, and Sonny and Rico think they’re home free. But as they prepare to leave in the plane, people show up who try to prevent them from taking off. Luckily, they make it out of Caragena. On the way home, the plane swoops down low over a swamp, and the cocaine is jettisoned.

Back in Miami, Crockett and Tubbs head out to the swamp to retrieve the cocaine. Once there, they are met by the bad cops who announce they’ve kidnapped Trudy, and they want money in exchange for her safe return.

Trudy, meanwhile, is being held in a trailer that may or may not have a bomb in it. Crockett goes into the trailer with a bomb expert. As they suspected, there’s a sophisticated device planted in the trailer, with a sensitive triggering mechanism linked to any movements from Trudy. While the bomb expert works to defuse this mechanism, Tubbs receives a call from the kidnappers telling him where and when to leave the ransom money. Tubbs isn’t sure whether to deliver the money or not, and Castillo refuses to make the decision for him.

Tubbs goes to the site and as instructed, drops the money off a bridge into the kidnapper’s passing boat, but then jumps into the boat himself. He fights with the man in the boat. The situation appears to become a standoff between Rico’s back-up on the bridge, and the detonator the man in the boat is holding. Suddenly, the cornered man decides to push the detonator trigger. The trailer blows up, and Tubbs shoots the man. Rico immediately worries that he’s just gotten Trudy killed, but soon gets a message from Crockett on the radio, letting them know that everyone got out of the trailer before it
blew. The man they fish out of the water turns out to be a local homicide lieutenant. Case closed.

– Daryle Gardner-Bonneau