User Reviews

For the entire length of the run of Law And Order the Masucci crime family has figured into any number of episodes. This two part episode marks the first Masucci appearance. It even has a real live Godfather Masucci played by Charles Cioffi.

As played by Cioffi, Frank Masucci is a combination of John Gotti and Joey Gallo a couple of mob guys who did like the attention of the public, always dressed quite nattily and was always available to the media. The last part raised a lot of hackles with his peers.

It all starts with the bludgeoning of a store owner over his refusal to sell untaxed smuggled cigarettes leaving him in a coma. The trail leads up the food chain from hit-man Stephen McHattie, importer/exporter Robert Fields, and real estate magnate Bruce Altman who is Cioffi's brother-in-law.

This episode shows just how difficult it is to get a conviction on an organized crime case. These guys come well prepared into court and you can't ever assume that even the muscle in the crowd is stupid.

But this is only part 1 of a 2 part story.

When the Russian merchant Mr. Spivak is assaulted in his store and almost killed, Sgt. Greevy and Mike investigate the case. They find the aggressor Joe Pilefsky, who is connected to the mafia and to the sale of cigarette packages without taxes. Stone decides to find the link between Pilesky and the mobsters Hary Beigel, Mario Zalta to catch the powerful mobster boss Frank Masuchi in the murder of a union leader, but one of the links fails.

"The Torrents of Greed: Part 1" is another good episode of "Law & Order" that shows how difficult is to send powerful people to prison and keep them locked. They find holes in the laws and corrupt judges to get rid of their sentences. In this case, the presumption of EADA Benjamin 'Ben' Stone, using the testimony of low-life, destroy his case against several mobsters and, the worst, does not catch the powerful boss. In this episode, justice fails but is realistic. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Torrentes da Ganância - Parte 1" ("Torrents of Greed: Part 1")

Season 1 of 'Law and Order', the first show in the 'Law and Order' franchise (so the original) and my personal favourite (despite it not feeling the same post-Briscoe) was a very solid one, with even the weakest episode "Everybody's Favourite Bagman" still being pretty good. Outstanding, ones rewarded my highest rating, episodes were not many, with most of the episodes getting the very good to great ones. The outstanding episodes were there though in Season 1.

"The Torrents of Greed: Part 1" is one of the outstanding episodes. In fact, both parts of the "The Torrents of Greed" two parter are pretty outstanding, with a slight preference for the more tension-filled Part 2, and among the best episodes of the season. Perfect examples of why the early seasons of 'Law and Order', so pre-Briscoe and the early Briscoe years, are worth watching and not deserving of being forgotten in favour of the more frequently aired Season 7-onwards episodes.

All the cast are on top form here. George Dzundza and Chris Noth are as hard-boiled as ever and Michael Moriarty squeezes out every bit of juice from Stone (a character that the writers always seemed to have fun with). Christina Baranski made Katherine an increasingly interesting and strongly developed character, but it's Charles Cioffi's truly sinister Masucci (one of the early seasons' most formidable opponents based on John Gotti) that dominates. They are helped by a tautly structured and thoughtful script and well drawn characters, it doesn't get much more threatning than the Mob and mob bosses and Masucci proves that.

Furthermore, the story is ceaselessly compelling and piles on the tension. The conclusion makes one shocked and angry as ought. The slickness in the production values still remains, as do the stick-in-the-head-fast theme tune and appropriately placed and understated background scoring.

Overall, outstanding. 10/10