Retro Television Review: Crime Story 1.15 “Torello on Trial”

Posted on August 17, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Mondays, I will be reviewing Crime Story, which ran on NBC from 1986 to 1988. The entire show can be found on Tubi!

This week, Luca prepares for Vegas.

Episode 1.15 “Torello On Trial”

(Dir by Gary Sinise, originally aired on January 16th, 1987)

Buh-bye, Chicago!

Seriously, this is a huge episode.

It doesn’t start out as a huge episode. It starts out as just another courtroom drama. Mike Torello has been called by Ray Luca’s defense attorney to testify about the accusations that Frank Homan made against him. By defending himself against Homan’s false claim that Torello was on the take, Torello will also be destroying the credibility of the state’s case against Luca, Phil Bartoli, and Paulie. Torello’s not happy about it. He’s even less happy when U.S. Attorney Brietel’s aggressive cross-examination reveals that Torello actually does have several acquaintances who are connected to the mob. Of course, most of those acquaintances have been killed over the past few episodes. As Brietel puts it, violence tends to follow Torello around.

Fortunately, the next day, David Abrams requests to be allowed to cross-examine Torello. David reveals that Torello was a decorated soldier in Korea. He reveals the Torello has been given regular commendations by the Chicago Police Department. David makes Torello look like a saint.

As a result, the jury decides that Homan is not a credible witness. Luca, Paulie, and Bartoli are all acquitted. Brietel is told that the Justice Department has decided to drop the indictment against Torello. Torello tells Brietel that the blood of anyone killed by Luca will be on his hands. Brietel is not having a good day.

The first 35 minutes or so of this episode were solid but still felt like a standard and slightly predictable episode of Crime Story. It wasn’t until the last 10 minutes or so that this episode really took off.

At a conference held immediately after Luca and company are acquitted, Manny Weisbrod convinces Chicago gangster Dom Tranchita (Joseph Ragno) to agree to invest ten million dollars in Luca’s plan to take over Las Vegas. In return for the money, Manny agrees to allow Dom to continue to deal drugs in Chicago. Luca and Paulie make plans to immediately head to Las Vegas to start their new lives.

The night, before leaving town, Luca drops in on Tranchita and shoots him dead. Then, Luca goes over to Bartoli’s house and kills him as well. We’re reminded that Luca is someone who can kill without hesitation. It doesn’t matter that he and Bartoli worked together. Luca is cleaning up all of the loose ends before he leaves Chicago.

Meanwhile, Torello is invited to a meeting in a hotel. U.S. Deputy Attorney General Patrick Hallahan (Jann Wenner) tells him that the Justice Department is setting up a national task force to take down Luca and that it’s going to be headquartered in Chicago and Las Vegas. He asks Torello to be in charge of it. Torello says that he has no interest in working with the same Justice Department that tried to throw him in prison. Hallahan reveals that Brietel has been “reassigned to Anchorage” and that David Abrams will be working with Torello. The members of the Major Crimes Unit will be reassigned to the strike force.

There’s only one condition. As much as Torello wants to take Luca down, he’s going to have to wait until he has enough evidence to take down the entire organization with him.

Torello nods. He’s going to Vegas!

It makes sense really. Torello has nothing left in Chicago. He’s divorced, he has no real friends outside of the other members of the Major Crimes Unit. Torello’s only purpose in life is to stop Ray Luca. What choice does Torello have but to follow him to Vegas? Torello is obsessed and, if he had to stay in Chicago while Luca went to Vegas, he would have been miserable. It’s good for the government and good for the show that Torello agreed to take charge of the task force. But, as the episode ends, it’s hard not to feel that it won’t be good for Torello’s mental health.

This turned out to be a great episode, To be honest, I was starting to get a little bit bored with Crime Story. But now, with the story heading in a new direction, I can’t wait to see what happens!

Retro Television Review: Crime Story 1.14 “Fatal Crossroads”

Posted on August 10, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, guess who screws up?

Episode 1.14 “Fatal Crossroads”

(Dir by Gary Sinise, originally aired on January 9th, 1987)

As much as I want to like David Abrams — and I did like him for the first few episodes — he’s just dumb. Offended by the fact that Luca is using his legal advice to try to beat his indictment, David starts this episode out by approaching Luca in public and announcing that he’s not only quit the public defenders office but that he’s also decided to join the D.A.’s office, specifically so he can take guys like Luca down. Then, later on in the episode, David approaches Luca again and, this time, he brings along his father (Nathan Davis). David’s father, a former low-level gangster, brags about how smart David is and how he’s going to take Luca down.

So, of course, Luca has someone put a bomb underneath David’s car.

And, of course, it’s David’s father who decides to borrow the car to go to the store and who ends up getting blown up.

And yes, it’s a terrible thing that David’s father got blown up. BUT WHAT DID DAVID THINK WAS GOING TO HAPPEN!? He knows who Luca is! He knows that Luca will kill people without a second thought. So why the Hell is David walking up to Luca and basically daring him to try to kill him? I mean, David’s father was in the rackets! David should have known better and, for that matter, David’s father should have known better.

I’m sorry but David Abrams is a moron.

For some reason, Luca also tries to take a hit out on Torello, despite the fact that Luca’s entire legal strategy depends on Torello denying Homan’s claims that Torello is crooked. Fortunately, Torello is somehow brilliant enough to realize that Luca is going to take a hit out on him and the members of the Crime Squad are smart enough to take a look at a building and somehow figure out exactly which room a sniper would be hiding in. If only David Abrams was as smart!

This episode featured a few too many coincidences and a bit too much of David Abrams suddenly acting like an idiot. It was directed by Gary Sinise, who is one of my favorite people. Sinise does a good job of capturing the drizzly gangster movie atmosphere but the script could have used a bit more work.

Retro Television Review: Crime Story 1.10 “For Love Or Money”

Posted on July 13, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, the Major Crimes Unit follows a ring of things from Chicago to Iowa!

Episode 1.10 “For Love Or Money”

(Dir by Bobby Roth, originally aired on December 5th, 1986)

An investigation into a new Chicago robbery crew leads the Major Crimes Unit to the small town in Iowa that the crew calls home. After the MCU busts the crew, the Mayor is so thrilled that he gives them all the key to the city and invites them to party at the local bar, which turns out to be a surprisingly happening place. Torello, who has just signed his divorce papers, gets drunk, steals a car, and sleeps with the mayor’s wife. That’ll teach him to hand out keys to the city!

Meanwhile, Danny feels sorry for one of the thieves. Howie Dressler (a very young Gary Sinise) is not a ruthless criminal. Instead, he’s someone who has lost his job and who is desperately trying to pay the bills His wife (Moira Sinise) is a victim of polio and lives in an iron lung. Danny wants to cut a deal with Howie.

Unfortunately, though the thieves don’t fully realize it, the thieves work for Ray Luca’s organization. Luca and Paulie take Howie for a ride to a warehouse, where they tie him to a chair. Howie swears to them that he’s not going to rat them out. He says that he’ll take the fall and that the only reason he talked to the MCU was to protect his wife. Howie says that he did what any real man would do in the situation. Luca seems to be sympathetic and motions at Paulie to let Howie go.

Or does he?

Later, Torello, Danny, and the boys are called to another warehouse where the bodies of the thieves have been found. The majority of them were beaten to death. Howie was hanged.

Yikes!

Back at the bar, Danny gets drunk. When Torello shows up to take him home, Danny says that he should have let Torello execute Ray Luca when he had the chance. Torello nods and then says, “I will kill Ray Luca.”

This episode really gave us a look into the mentality of Torello and the other members of the Major Crimes Unit. We’ve always known that Torello is obsessed with Luca but, in this episode, we saw just how obsessed. Torello seems to feel that he’s now on a holy mission to personally kill Luca. The members of MCU obsess over the criminals they chase and, when they don’t have a criminal to chase, they end up losing control, getting drunk, and impulsively stealing cars. Say what you will about Ray Luca, he’s at least a little bit more disciplined.

I get the feeling none of this is going to lead to a happy ending.