Episode 6: "The One That Got Away"
Credits :: Screen Captures :: Video Clips
Amber figures out how much she and Isaac owe the government, and pays them off. She then tells Isaac she's enrolling him in Gambler's Anonymous. At this point, Isaac is actually eager to help Frank and the government. Frank pretends not to know Vinnie, but once Isaac is gone, he informs Vinnie that Winston has put a restraining order on Vinnie and Bobby that forbids them from entering Radiance Recording's main office building. However, the government has been able to counter that with a "show cause" order, so he can still enter for now. Vinnie sighs that with Eddie Tempest dead, all of his leverage is gone anyway. All he's doing now is keeping an eye on Isaac, their more useful mole.
Meanwhile, Winston is getting drunk, feeling sad, and rambling about irony, actually affected by the death of his wife (or at least by the fact that he now has no one to play mind games with). He now tells Isaac he only did what he did because he wanted Isaac to work for him. Isaac sees him make a deal to sell cleans of Eddie's records overseas, and later reports it to Frank. Frank sends a man to intercept Winston's representative in Japan.
Once Bobby is served with the restraining order and realizes that they've been essentially kicked out of Radiance and relegated to contractual obligations Winston is looking to unload, he turns on Vinnie, upset because he turned down that initial $20 million Winston offered previously - $8 million of which would have been his. "We're ruined!" he cries. But when he's served, Vinnie pulls out the "show cause" order, to Bobby's delight.
When Vinnie and Bobby go to Winston's office to inform him personally that his attempt to kick them out has failed, Vinnie throws in that he's a Sicilian and, in his best mobster voice, says, "if you don't honor my contract with Dead Dog, you will become one." While this scares Winston, it also makes him want to find out more about Vinnie's past. He calls a mole in the senator's office, and a file is prepared on Vinnie that includes everything. It's mailed to Winston.
Winston calls Bobby in to his office to threaten him that if he so much as arrives an hour late, he'll be fired. Bobby asks him why he has to abuse him so much when he's poured himself into his business and gives his best to whatever company he works for. Winston sneers that he's just an "adequate professional" who doesn't care about success, he just cares about making enough to live the good life. He says Bobby just goes along for the ride, taking up space. Bobby angrily tells him to go to hell. When Winston just laughs, he counters with demands to see all of Radiance's financial records. He demands access. Winston decides to give him access alright - in the mailroom. Vinnie and Bobby are now the company's "postal partners" - technically they have access to everything, but in reality, they're just sorting the mail. Bobby at first is insulted, but then he realizes that he does indeed have access... and he intends to put it to good use.
Over at OCB, the investigation of Winston is hitting serious snags. They've found evidence of the sale of the cleans, but they can't find where he's putting the money. Winston's latest scam is to sell Eddie's "last songs" overseas - material he recorded with Radiance which had not yet been released. Unfortunately, since all of this is happening outside of the country, OCB's hands are tied in many ways. In order to nail Winston, the money needs to come back into the U.S., or evidence of smuggling within the U.S. needs to be uncovered. Therefore, the investigation is pretty much stalled. They suggest that Vinnie give up.
Vinnie is discouraged when he's informed of the OCB's decision to call off the investigation. He goes back to the office to find Bobby eagerly uncovering all sorts of shady deals by looking through the mail. Vinnie can't join in the fun, though - he feels like a failure. He knows the government will pull him out soon. "It doesn't matter. Next case," he mutters. Bobby doesn't get what he means, and tries to comfort him by saying he at least is earning money, not realizing Vinnie will never see any of the profits. To encourage Bobby and give him ideas about how to function once Vinnie leaves, Vinnie suggests that Bobby use this job to get another job. He can ask Winston to buy out his contract, which Winston will no doubt gladly do. Vinnie says he's getting out of the business and he advises Bobby to get out of Radiance as soon as he can. As they talk, Bobby opens the package containing Vinnie's file from the FBI... and discovers he's a cop. After a moment of shock, he jumps up and confronts him.
Immediately, Vinnie hustles Bobby out of the building and into a cab, taking him to a place where they can talk privately - the docks. They have it out. Bobby rails at him for using him and taking advantage of him. Vinnie counters that Bobby was already pretty much finished and if anything, Vinnie helped him out. That doesn't matter to Bobby. He's lost all respect for Vinnie as a businessman. He used to think Vinnie was a huge risk-taker, but now he realizes Vinnie never had any of his own money at risk. He was being bankrolled by the government, so he could afford to take crazy chances. This leads Bobby back to the $20 million dollar deal. Vinnie only turned that down because he had another agenda in mind, Bobby argues, and that agenda cost Bobby $8 million.
Vinnie's apologetic... "I'm sorry..." but Bobby complains that means nothing. He's ruined. "I'm sorry," Vinnie repeats, "But I'm going to have to shoot you." Bobby's jaw drops. Vinnie says threateningly that Bobby's a liability now, and if he talks, not only Vinnie but a host of other people would be compromised and put in danger. Bobby stammers that he'd never talk. Vinnie reaches into his coat... "oops, forgot my gun." Bobby, who's just had the scare of a lifetime, lets out a huge sigh of relief. But Vinnie tells him that one thing is true: what Bobby knows could get Vinnie killed. "I consider you my friend," Bobby says, "And I would never do anything to hurt a friend." Vinnie still looks worried. Bobby jokes that with all the suffering Vinnie will do worrying about Bobby's big mouth, they're about even.
Vinnie tells Bobby about his investigation of cleans, and Bobby tells him in five minutes what it took Vinnie and the OCB all this time to figure out: Winston is untouchable because all the money is overseas. "I could have told you that on the day we met." Vinnie mutters that makes him feel a whole lot better. But Bobby has a plan. The trick to nailing Winston is to tempt him with something he wants, but doesn't control. Bobby has just this kind of thing - Eddie's basement tapes - and he'll give them to the government to use in a sting if he's given Dead Dog Records in the end.
Vinnie takes Bobby to Frank, and Bobby pitches his plan. Their biggest concern: Bobby's big mouth. Plus, dangling the basement tape in front of Winston is entrapment. Vinnie knows it's true, but there is one thing that they need to deal with regardless: the mole who provided Winston with Vinnie's file. He and the senator he works for are arrested for sending confidential information on a government agent to the subject of an investigation - high treason.
Later, Frank goes to Isaac to tell him the investigation is off. Isaac can't believe it - so much for his big plans on sticking it to Winston! But he's not out of the game yet...
The next morning, the sting is set up with the mole and Winston. It takes place in a restaurant near Radiance Records. To the dismay of Frank and Vinnie, they see that Isaac, Amber, and Bobby have all coincidentally shown up at the same restaurant! The sting is that the mole get Winston to admit to paying for information on Vinnie, but Winston suspects something is up and won't actually say he'll pay the money. Desperate, Vinnie calls up Bobby and tells him to go over to Isaac and pitch the basement tape scam with his phone on speaker so it can all be recorded. He knows that Isaac will call Winston over and make the proposition that he sell the tapes. Since Amber owns the rights to Monroe Blue, that would actually be legitimate, but Isaac also gets Winston to confess to selling cleans of Eddie's tapes. After getting rid of Bobby, Winston gets down to business. He hands over the money, buys the tape with intent to distribute it illegally, and is immediately busted. Bobby comes over to where Vinnie and Frank are and is congratulated by Vinnie for being the instrument that put Winston in jail - and he was able to do it without looking to be a part of it in any way. He's safe, and Winston spends the night in jail.