Faccia a Faccia 

A mafia hit man who was in the witness protection program turns up dead in Central Park. A mafia boss is implicated, but his defense wants him declared mentally incompetent to stand trial.

Director:

Martha Mitchell

Writers:

Dick Wolf (created by), Rene Balcer

Stars:

Jerry Orbach, Benjamin Bratt, S. Epatha Merkerson

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Jerry Orbach	...	Lennie Briscoe
Benjamin Bratt	...	Rey Curtis
S. Epatha Merkerson	...	Anita Van Buren
Sam Waterston	...	Jack McCoy
Carey Lowell	...	Jamie Ross
Steven Hill	...	Adam Schiff
Philip Bosco	...	Mr. Dobbs
Michael Rispoli	...	Johnny DeMayo (as Michael Rispolt)
Kathrine Narducci	...	Vicky Grant (as Katherine Narducci)
David Wohl	...	Ward Salsman
Rochelle Oliver	...	Judge Grace Larkin
Rocco Sisto	...	Brendan Hall
J.K. Simmons	...	Dr. Emil Skoda
Barton Tinapp	...	Adam Campos
Ken Marks	...	Agent Ruggiero

Storyline

Detectives Briscoe and Curtis investigate the murder of Tony Legrasso, a former mafia hit man who is found dead in Central Park with six bullets in the chest. It takes the police some time before they identify him however as he had been living in another state under the federal witness protection program. He was continuing to cooperate and was scheduled to give evidence against top mob boss Alberto Napoli who ordered one of his men, Johnny DeMayo, to eliminate him. DeMayo is cooperating with the DAs office but Napoli's lawyer claims his client is mentally incompetent as a result of a recent stroke. McCoy thinks Napoli's illness is all an act. He then concludes that DeMayo isn't the shooter so they go back to square one.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 February 1998 (USA)

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Wolf Films, Universal Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

47 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The title, "Faccia a faccia", is Italian for "Face to face".

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Quotes

Detective Lennie Briscoe: [carrying a suspect's book, JFK Jr., to Rey] Don't worry, I just bought it for the picture.

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Connections

References Larry King Live (1985)

User Reviews

Died with his boots on

A Mafia hit-man who is supposed to be in Montana in the witness protection program is found shot to death in Central Park. Obviously he grew up on westerns because he requests to die with his Montana cowboy boots on.

Turns out that this guy has shaken his FBI handlers and that's appropriate since his street name was 'Nicky Shakes' and he's in town to discuss a book deal. But a whole lot of people are keeping tabs on him even if the FBI has fallen down on the job. It's why he winds up dead.

The guy who has the most to gain with the deceased's demise is Frank Savino who is a Mafia Don putting on a crazy act. See how Dr. Skoda gets under his skin.

Who actually does the deed is a bit of a surprise, but the motive is completely understandable.

A great Law And Order story.