- In the nation's largest city,
the vicious and violent members of the underworld
are hunted by the detectives
of the Organized Crime Control Bureau.
These are their stories.
- The K-O and the Marcy Killers are going after the Italians.
- Nice to set eyes on you, Nova.
- Good to see you too, boss.
[people screaming, glass shatters]
- Penda!
- Why is she here?
- She works for me.
- You are walking a very tight rope.
- I had to prove my loyalty.
[all cheering]
- You're gonna use this to keep in touch.
You're in our circle.
- I wrote this. Just read it.
- Liv!
- Elliot.
What the hell happened?
- Drugs. Someone--someone dosed me.
- Okay, we need to get you to a hospital immediately.
- No, no. - Yeah.
- I need-- I need you...
To let me in.
Let me in.
- Come on.
[voice distorted] There's a protocol
when a UC is forced to take a controlled substance.
- [slowly] I felt I had to come here.
- You felt?
- We never talked.
We never talked about what happened.
- I have nothing more to say
about what happened with Navarro.
- Not Navarro. Us.
- Elliot, now's not the time for us to talk.
Now is the time for us to figure out what you ingested
and have it vouchered and lab-tested,
so I am gonna call it in.
- I didn't write the letter.
[apprehensive music]
- What?
- I didn't write the letter.
- The letter that you gave me when you came back from Rome?
- Kathy.
- Kathy, your wife...
Wrote the letter that you told me that you wrote?
- Yes. It was her idea.
It would be easier to talk when...
We see each other after so much time.
I tried and I tried, and then...
Kathy helped dictate.
- That what we were to each other was never real.
And that we got in the way
of each other being who and where we needed to be.
- That was Kathy.
- And if there was a man in my life,
you hope he's the kind, faithful, and devoted
man that I deserved.
- Kathy.
- "But in a parallel universe...
- "It will always be you and I."
I wrote that.
I slipped it in there before sealing the envelope.
Liv.
- Hey.
- [groans]
[tense music]
♪
- [grunts]
[groans]
- He is a grown-ass man, Ayanna.
And grown-ass men should have friends they can turn to
when they need them in the middle of the night.
- He was drugged.
He did what he had to do to not blow the operation.
- You're lucky you're cute.
- That's right, I am cute.
- Here, tell him we're fresh out of oat milk, or soy milk,
or whatever the hell white people are into these days.
- [laughs]
Was it something you ingested?
Did they spike your drink?
- No. [sniffles]
I barely drank anything.
Um, it was administered orally
by a girl who slipped it in my mouth.
With her mouth.
- Did you blow your cover? - No, I kept it together.
- Until you got to Benson's.
- Why? What'd she say?
- Just that you were pretty messed up.
- Well, that's true.
- You know what would have happened
if she reported this.
- Yeah, I'd automatically be taken off my UC assignment
and given a drug test.
- And hospitalized to monitor you
for unforeseen side effects.
- Ayanna, you can't pull me out of there.
We're almost where we need to be to bring down Kosta.
- You don't have to tell me twice.
[phone buzzes] But it's on me to decide
if it's safe for you to go in the field, and I--
That's not our burner. - Present from Jon Kosta,
and AB is Albi Briscu.
And I'm going off to see him.
Mm. Tell your wife I like it black.
[tense music]
♪
- Jesus, Eddie. You had great night, no?
- You wanted to see me? - I need favor.
Personal favor.
I want you to make it look like he died in a fire.
- Well.
You want me to build a fire hot enough
to get rid of the fact that he's got a bullet in his head?
I mean, you want temperatures that high,
you're gonna have three fire departments at the scene.
- Why you bring me problem?
- You want to dispose of a body quick and easy
where you don't have to answer no questions.
I got the place.
- The hell is this place?
- Used to be a mental institution.
This is where they buried all the John Does that died there.
[grunting]
All right. Yeah.
That's deep enough. That's good.
- There's a reason I pay you off the books for this.
- Okay. - This never happen.
You was never here. And you never saw that body.
- What body?
♪
- Any idea who the guy was? - None.
- And definitely not the K-O's usual MO.
When they kill, they want their enemies to know.
- That's why I think it's personal.
And, by the way, if Albi trusts me,
it means I'm one step closer to getting face time
with Jon Kosta.
- That's the goal.
- Oh, just the person I want to see.
- This better not be a meeting that could have been an email.
- The K-O put me on their friends and family plan,
but I can't make calls,
only incoming and outgoing texts.
- I can clone it to my laptop and do a deep dive
when I get back to the city, where I belong.
At first glance, it looks like an ordinary smartphone,
but it's been stripped of its GPS, Internet,
camera, and microphone.
You can't even make calls on it.
- And you can't track it. Clever.
- I was able to retrieve some deleted texts
from the phone's trash,
but as you can see, they're heavily encrypted.
- How long will it take you to crack the encryption?
- That's the bad news.
This level of sophistication is basically unbreakable
without a decryption key, but there's good news too.
I was able to isolate a recurring portion
of the encryption code.
At regular intervals, it mimics a World War II-era
British signal's intelligence algorithm.
- Translate? - It's like a signature.
When you're this good, you want to take credit for your work.
Malachi. That's his code name.
Nobody knows his real name or even what he looks like.
- Well, how do you know he's the one
that made the texting app that the K-O use?
- He's who I'd hire, if I were them.
And I'd bet that's his signature embedded in the code.
Sergeant, request permission to attend the Capture the Flag
competition in Queens this weekend.
- The who? What is that?
- Ah, I've heard about those.
Hackers and members of the cybersecurity community
get together and see who can backdoor their way into banks,
government agencies, and media sites for fun.
There's booze and prizes.
- Guys like Malachi travel all over the world
to compete in them.
It's a can't-miss opportunity.
- Okay.
- Maldonado, you'll go with her.
- If you don't mind me asking, Congressman Kilbride,
what's your interest in Damon's case?
- Frankly, Sergeant Bell, I fear you're facing
a real uphill battle with this case.
- Oh, we're well aware of that.
They've already tried to get Ayanna
to back channel a lowball offer to me.
- I want you to consider partnering with my old firm,
Kilbride, Weathers and Douglas.
They'll take the case pro bono.
- Congressman-- - I have no financial stake
in the firm any longer.
I just know where this is going,
and I want you to have the muscle behind you
that you're going to need to ride it out.
- And what's in it for you?
Besides a little social justice warrior street cred?
- Ayanna.
- Sergeant Bell, I carried the NYPD badge for 26 years.
I earned my street cred before you were even born.
- Pop that now. Pop that, pop that, pop that.
There you go.
- Reggie!
- Oh, it's about time. - What?
- Turn my back for a second at the restaurant last night,
and you Houdini on me.
Like you had someplace better to go, huh?
- I didn't think you needed me.
- You thought wrong.
I don't know.
You got that phone,
maybe you think you don't need me no more.
- Reg.
You're my man. Always will be.
You're the reason why I'm here.
- Don't forget that. All right?
Hit me back when I text you.
- Look, man, this thing don't work.
That thing that Kosta gave me.
Man, I tried to call you, nothing.
- It's text only. Everything else is disabled.
That's how we roll. - Oh.
- Reggie. - Hold this.
I'll be right back.
What, are you pouting 'cause you didn't get the invite?
- I don't pout.
- You're invited when Kosta says you're invited.
- Tell me something, Eddie Wagner.
Why is a man like you working for the idiot
who's working for my husband?
- A man's gotta make a living. Who's your husband?
- They call me Mrs. Briscu.
- Oh, hey, how are you? Nice to meet you.
- You can call me Flutura.
- Okay.
- They say you used to be a boxer.
You've still got the arms.
- Yeah, what else do they say about me?
- [laughs] From where I sit,
you hear all kinds of things.
For example, I know you walked away
from that skanky little vajze
who threw herself at you last night,
which has me wondering, what's Eddie Wagner's deal?
Is he celibate?
Queer?
Need a pill to get it up?
Next time I see you, I'm gonna want some answers.
- How'd it go? - Fine.
Let's go get something to eat.
- What's up?
- Cho got a hit on our John Doe.
- Tristan Vucaj. Second-generation immigrant.
28 years old. A construction worker.
- All I see here are a couple of arrests
for petty theft and a DUI.
He doesn't look like a major player.
- Could have been related to one of Albi's rivals.
- And Albi killed him for what, to send a message?
That doesn't track with the secret burial in the woods.
Is there an address? - It's in the folder.
[suspenseful music]
♪
- Oh, that looks good. What is that?
- Qofte te ferguara. Fried meatballs.
- Qofte te ferguara. - [scoffs]
- What are you laughing about? She--well, it's good, right?
- You have a very strong accent.
- Very strong.
- Hey, listen. - Hmm?
- I saw you talking to Flutura in the gym.
- Oh, yeah, Mrs. Briscu, yeah.
- Well, do yourself a favor, don't do that, okay?
Albi doesn't like nobody mackin' on his wife.
- What you talking about? I'm not mackin' on anybody.
- I'm just trying to keep your head from ending up
in one zip code and the rest of your body
in another, you feel me?
Albi's old school.
You mess around, you get on his bad side,
there's not much I can do for you.
- All right. Enough said.
You gonna eat all that? - [laughs]
[police siren wails] - Yeah, you're telling me.
- Look at these guys.
- Hey! - Oh!
- Hey, you! - You didn't pay
that parking ticket? - Hey, you!
Let me see your hands.
- What the hell? - Hey!
- Anything in your pockets I should know about?
- Yeah, your mother's number.
- Any weapons? Sharp objects? - Stop! Stop!
That's not him!
That's not the guy.
The man who hit me has hair
on the top of his head, and he's way younger.
- Sorry about that sir. - Oh, now it's--
- Are you okay? - Don't touch me.
- If you'd like to report this incident to our supervisor--
- Tell your supervisor to blow it out his ass.
- These frickin' cops.
They damn near tear your head off,
and then they ask you if you want to file a complaint.
With them. It's ridiculous.
Right, Eddie?
Eddie.
You said you didn't pout.
♪
- Hey. - Hey.
- If you're looking for Tristan,
he hasn't been around for a couple of days.
- Yeah, I know. Do you know where he went?
- People come and go from that apartment.
I'm just a manager. I don't ask questions.
- Oh, okay. Hey, I left something in there.
Thought maybe you can help me out.
I just need to get in there for a few minutes.
What do you say?
- I don't think Mrs. Briscu would look too kindly on me
letting you into her apartment.
- Flutura's the one who sent me.
- Listen, I don't want no problems.
Briscu's the name on the lease.
- Come on, Nova. Where the hell are you?
- So if nobody knows who he is,
how do we know which one is Malachi?
- I'm guessing he'll be the one
who wins the hacking competition.
- He won't win. He doesn't need to.
But it'll be obvious he could if he wanted.
I just have to look for the guy who's pulling his punches.
Don't touch that.
- Sergeant Bell, I need a word with you.
Private.
Nova missed a meet-up.
In six years, come hell or high water,
she's never done that.
- Jet, can you come in here please?
I'm assuming you tried her cell.
- Yeah, of course. She's been offline.
- We'll send someone to her apartment,
put a APB out on her car.
What does she drive?
Jet, run a trace on Nova's phone,
find out her last known location ASAP.
- I already have her last known location.
She's right outside. - What?
- She pinged me ten minutes ago to let me know
she was on her way in.
- You scared me half to death, girl.
Where you been? - New Covenant.
- New what? - It's a church.
- You went AWOL on me to go to church?
- It was Penda's church.
- I'm gonna assume you went to church as part of your cover.
But when I set a meet, it is your job to show up.
- Sergeant Brewster, if I can suggest--
- No, you cannot!
She's my UC, my responsibility.
Do you have anything meaningful to report?
- I'ma need some time off. - Excuse me?
- Penda's funeral's in South Carolina.
That's where her family is. They want to bury her there.
I'm going. - Request denied.
- It's not a request.
- Look, Hugo's walking out of Rikers any minute now.
- Hugo's getting out?
- It's why I called the meet-up.
It's a game-changer, and I need you here for it.
I need you to focus. - I can't.
I loved her. I still do.
- I am ordering you to let this go.
[sentimental music]
♪
[footsteps approaching]
- I know Sergeant Brewster can be pretty tough,
but I think he believes he's doing what's best for you.
- Don't work me.
- I'm not working you, Nova.
- Good, 'cause I don't know you,
and I don't need no pep talk.
So you can take that sister girl performance
somewhere else.
- All I'm trying to say
is that I know something about what you're going through.
I just lost someone a couple months ago.
Her name was Gina.
She was my undercover, but we were close.
- The bitch got sloppy and ended up dead.
Got it. Cool story, sis.
I know you think me and Penda was just a couple hood bitches
running with the Marcy Killers and playing kiss the fish.
But I've been deep cover for six years,
working from the inside.
I don't get to sit behind a desk
and make charts all day
and then go home and cuddle up in front of the TV
with my respectable businessman husband
who's so supportive of me being a cop.
[pensive music]
♪
- You're right.
You don't know me.
So don't presume you know what I think or who I go home to.
My wife is a lawyer.
♪
- Don't worry. I won't blow your cover.
I'm just gonna play the background
while you do your thing.
They won't even notice me.
- We walk in, and you get asked
to name your favorite vulnerability attack scenario.
What do you say?
They'll peg you as a cop in ten seconds.
I'm going alone.
[upbeat electronic music]
♪
[cheering]
- User Freedumb has been eliminated.
Quarterfinal round complete. Advancing to semifinals.
- Sergeant Bell, this is a surprise.
- I wanted to speak to you away from Denise.
I know she wants what's best for Damon, and so do I,
but I suspect your interest stems from something else.
- Sergeant Bell, if you think I'm after a piece
of the windfall that you're hoping to get from NYPD,
let me put your fear to rest.
I don't usually hold out hope for something
that's never going to happen.
- What they're offering Damon isn't a lot,
but he's entitled to something.
His hand is destroyed.
His future as a musician is gone.
- Don't get me wrong, what happened to Damon
was horrific, and he deserves justice.
But I've seen a million cases like his,
and they just don't move the needle with the public.
To put it bluntly, ain't no protesters gonna be
stopping traffic on Fifth Avenue
because some Black kid can't play the guitar.
- You'd rather he ended up a hashtag?
- I'd rather this not happen to him at all.
But we don't live in that kind of world.
So why don't you and I change it?
- Change what?
- The world.
Truth is, you're half right.
There is something behind my interest in Damon's lawsuit.
You.
- I don't understand.
- I'm guessing you were once like me,
a young Black cop who thought the only way
to make systemic change was from the inside.
But you must know by now that if policing in America
was ever gonna self-correct, it would have happened already.
- I'm a cop because I believe in the job,
Congressman Kilbride.
- I have no doubt.
I've been following your career.
Now, that little setback with Richard Wheatley
notwithstanding, you are a rising star.
But soon, you are going to smack your head
against the blue wall, and then you'll see what I saw--
real power is not in enforcing the law;
real power is in making the law.
- I'm not after power. And I am not a politician.
- Not yet.
But it wouldn't take much to turn you into one.
- So the name on the lease of the apartment
that Tristan Vucaj lived in is Flutura Briscu.
- Albi Briscu's wife? - The very same.
I think that Tristan was the boy toy
that Albi found out about.
- Poor bastard probably never knew what hit him.
- Yeah, I also think that's why Albi came to me
to help him get rid of the body.
He didn't want anyone else in the family
to know that his wife had a side piece.
- You think Flutura knew that
her husband murdered her boyfriend?
- I don't know. Why?
You think she's worth trying to flip?
- Mm, if she cared about her boo thing.
- Ah, it's hard to know what she cares about.
But I think it's worth a shot.
- Semifinal round complete. Advancing to finals.
[cheers and applause]
[tense music]
♪
- Malachi's on the move. - Copy that.
What's he look like? - Like a fleeing criminal!
You can't miss him!
- [grunts]
- Nice to meet you, Malachi. - Never heard of him.
- I'd recognize you anywhere.
- Nice-looking nails.
Complements your hair.
- I like a man who notices things like that.
- I was told to stay away from you.
- Yet here you are.
- Just wanted to make sure that you knew
that I wasn't celibate or queer.
- Well, that's promising.
- I also don't want to make an enemy of Albi Briscu.
- Albi could care less what I do.
I can't remember the last time he touched me.
- I find that hard to believe.
- Ours is a marriage of convenience.
He can't keep his hands off other women.
I conveniently pretend to look the other way.
I think it's only fair that I get to do as I please as well.
- So he knows about your friend Tristan?
- What friend?
- Tristan Vucaj.
You don't know him? - No.
I don't know anyone by that name.
- [scoffs]
Eh, the guys back at the gym, they just, you know.
- Let me tell you something about Albanian men.
They gossip more than women.
So when are we gonna get together?
Hm?
- Sooner rather than later.
[tense music]
♪
[siren chirps]
- You can't park here. Move your vehicle.
[engine turns over]
Move along.
[dance music playing]
[indistinct chatter]
- Hey. Where's the bathroom?
Hey.
- Why are you following me?
- I'm not following you.
Albi, you came to me. We got rid of a body.
You didn't wany anybody else in the family to know about it.
I was worried about you.
- Not what you think.
- I'm not thinking anything.
- I'm not a fag, you know.
- I didn't say you were.
[car alarm chirps]
[hammer clicks back]
- Get in.
- Where are we going?
- Somewhere quick and easy,
where I don't have to answer questions.
[ominous music]
♪
[car alarm chirps]
[shovel clangs]
Pick it up.
Move your ass.
- So was he extorting you or falling in love with you?
- Shut up and keep digging.
- He was going to out you.
- I said shut your mouth.
- Either way, it makes sense. He's young.
You've got money.
But I'm betting he fell in love with you.
[pensive music]
♪
You didn't mean to shoot him, did you?
- I tried to reason with him!
He was stubborn.
Stupid.
I'm a man!
You see?
My culture, you don't just--
I'm a man. - Yeah, you are.
- Yeah!
- So what is your plan now?
You just gonna kill everyone who finds out, forever?
- Maybe.
Keep digging.
- I'm not your problem, Albi.
The other people finding out's your problem.
I mean, me, I'm an outsider. You said it yourself.
I'm an outsider. I don't care about this.
Whatever this is, I don't care.
And I don't talk. I'm a businessman.
You're my boss.
You tell me whatever I need to do, and I go do it.
You tell me I didn't see something, I didn't see it.
I got nothing over on you.
You're the one holding all the cards, Albi.
All I'm asking for is my life.
And in return, I swear to you,
I swear to God and all the saints,
I will protect your secret with my life.
♪
- Blessed are those who die in the Lord.
That was for Penda, not you. You and me are done.
Did Brewster tell you to come here?
- Sergeant Brewster doesn't tell me what to do.
I quite Narco 'cause I didn't want to take orders
from a little man with a big ego.
You were gonna marry Penda here,
in her favorite church.
- I was thinking about asking. Never got around to it.
- I'm really sorry for your loss, Nova.
- Carmen. That's my name.
You know who started calling me Nova?
Hugo.
Said it was short for Casanova,
'cause of how I used to pull so many girls.
Penda came along and shut all that down.
- Yeah?
It happens when you find your one.
Carmen, I think you should come back to the task force.
Not for me, not for Brewster,
but for the lives you still have the opportunity to save.
Look, you said it yourself,
you've spent six years of your life trying
to take down the Marcy Killers.
That's more than a job, that's a calling.
- It won't bring Penda back.
- No.
But it will honor her memory.
- Detective Maldonado said you wanted to see me?
- Oh, yeah? What else did he say?
- That you refused to give your real name,
that your prints are nowhere to be found in the system,
and I'm the only person you want to speak to.
- You know, you're the first person
ever gave me a run for my money.
I'm not sure I would have captured the flag.
I'm trying to give you a compliment here.
- Thank you.
- I can't remember the last time I saw exploit development,
reverse engineering, lateral movement,
and exfiltration all from the same competitor.
I wonder, though, does it bother you?
Wasting your God-given talents working for the man?
- It beats working for the Albanians.
- I don't work for the Albanians.
I don't work for anyone.
- You created the encrypted texting app
they're using to run their criminal enterprise.
- It's not against the law to create an app.
People do it every day.
- It's against the law to knowingly assist
transnational criminal organizations
import and distribute narcotics.
- Operative word is "knowingly."
I have no knowledge of any of the things
that you just described.
- Just like I'm sure you have no knowledge of someone
hacking into the personnel files
at Fort Rucker in Alabama last month.
Or stealing $200,000 from a Cayman Islands bank
in a phishing scam.
- Yeah, Fort Rucker is named
after a Confederate Army general.
Screw that guy.
And as for the Cayman Islands Federal Bank, it's 2021,
and those idiots are still using remote networking.
A five-year-old could have breached their security.
- I never said it was Cayman Islands Federal.
- Lucky guess?
- His real name's Adam Mintock.
The app he created for the Albanians is called SpeakLow.
He's willing to give us the decryption key in exchange
for lighter sentencing on some other crimes.
- Wow. - Okay, but how did you--
- You're welcome.
[alarm beeping]
- [chuckles]
- Come on, man.
- Heard about your girl. You a'ight?
- We got work to do. That's how I make this right.
- I always knew you was a real one.
So let's go. You know where to take me.
- Uh-huh.
- Well, looks like she's back in the game.
- Yeah, that's pretty impressive,
considering the hit she just took.
With Nova back inside the Marcy Killers
and you with the K-O, we're back on track.
- Brewster, he good? - Mm.
Brewster wants to be chief of detectives someday,
so anything that gets him closer to that, he's good.
- How about you?
- I might have bigger ambitions.
[tense music]
♪
- Breathe on every shot, right? - Yeah.
- Where are you looking at? - The triangle.
- You're looking at the triangle.
Ah, how many times you getting hit?
You gotta keep those eyes up. - Yeah, man.
- Hey! There he is!
- [laughs] - Eddie!
What happened?
I put a girl in your lap the other night,
all right, would have done anything you wanted.
You turn her down cold?
Why? She wasn't hot enough?
- No, no, she was plenty hot.
I mean, honestly, I would have slipped her the Mickey,
but someone slipped me a Mickey.
- Is that what happened?
- I just wish Albi had called me.
He had three girls back in his hotel room.
- [laughing] Okay.
All right, boys, let's go talk business.
- You heard the boss, Eddie.
What are you waiting for?
♪
[wolf howls]