LAW & ORDER {LAW AND ORDER}: TRUE CRIME: THE MENENDEZ MURDERS {EPISODE 1} {SERIES PREMIERE} (TV)
Summary
The first of two programs on this asset. The first installment in this fact-based eight-part miniseries, part of the long-running "Law & Order" franchise of dramas dealing with the investigation, arrest, and prosecution of criminals, based on the infamous 1989 murders of wealthy couple Jose and Kitty Menendez by their sons Lyle and Erik. In this episode, on August 21, 1989, the Beverly Hills Police Department receives a panicked 911 call from a young man reporting that his parents have been murdered. Detectives Les Zoeller and Tom Linehan examine the grisly scene, and 18-year-old Erik tearfully explains that he and his brother Lyle were at the movies at the time. Lyle, 21, guesses that one of his father's ex-employees is to blame, adding that his mother was unstable and suicidal. Elsewhere, defense attorney Leslie Abramson secures probation for a young man who killed his abusive father, and Zoeller is taken aback when the brothers request access to the home, still a crime scene, saying that they must get to tennis practice. In the house, the cops find a number of guns and many medications prescribed to Mrs. Menendez, and Jose's secretary explains that her Cuban-born boss "ran a tight ship," noting that they "had to" move to Beverly Hills after Erik's run-in with the law.
The brothers are comforted by extended family members at a hotel, wondering if the killers may be after them as well. Jamie, Lyle's slightly older fiancée, whom Jose believed to be a "gold-digger," arrives to console him, and Erik's psychiatrist Dr. Jerome Oziel offers his assistance. Needing "pocket money" until the wills are found, the brothers receive their father's company credit card and soon begin spending lavishly on clothes and expensive jewelry, feeling that they need to "look sharp" for the memorial. Zoeller expresses doubt that an outsider would have murdered the couple with 15 shotgun blasts, and though Lyle seems collected, Erik is overcome with emotion as he speaks about his parents at the service. At home, Abramson and her husband discuss their plans to adopt another child, and when she catches sight of news reports about the murders, she is immediately sure that "those boys did it." Zoeller learns that the brothers were not tested for gunshot residue despite their implausible story and notes that they have received special "rich-kids" treatment, and Lyle dodges his bodyguards, seemingly unconcerned for his safety.
Lyle's former tennis coach tells Zoeller and Linehan that the boys "insisted" upon meeting him at their home and "got lost" on the way to their intended restaurant on the night in question, and as Lyle ponders buying a restaurant and expanding his business, Erik suffers nightmares about his mother's unhappiness. He learns that his father had been taping his and Lyle's phone calls, and his cousin Harry soon calls Oziel, worried about his mental state. Oziel's mistress Judalon Smyth questions him about his "famous clients," and Zoeller and Linehan question Erik's school friend Craig Cignarelli, who admits that he and Erik once wrote a screenplay together in which a young man kills his parents and collects a large inheritance. Gerald Chaleff, the family's "consigliere," demands to know if the brothers are suspects, admitting to Abramson that he has covered up their mischief in the past. Aunt Marta confirms that the brothers opened their parents' safety-deposit box shortly after their deaths and that they are "immature" about money, and the brothers learn that without the will, they stand to automatically inherit their parents' entire $14 million estate. Other relatives, however, reveal that Jose repeatedly discussed writing his irresponsible sons out of his will to teach them a lesson, and that a computer file that may have been the updated document seemed to have been erased from Jose's computer.
Zoeller's suspicion mounts when they track down the computer technician who was paid by Lyle to delete the file titled "will," while elsewhere Jamie urges Lyle to "focus" and be less reckless with his business plans. Lyle fires his bodyguards as Abramson observes that the crime was clearly one of personal anger, not simple business greed. Erik returns to the family home, which has been thoroughly cleaned and restored since the murders, but he finds himself overwhelmed by thoughts of the bloody crime scene. Commercials deleted.
For synopsis and credits of the second program on this asset, see ACCNUM 131043.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: November 30, 1999 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:26:53
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 130524
- GENRE: Drama, police/detective
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, police/detective; Drama, legal; True crime; Murder
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 2017-
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Dick Wolf … Executive Producer
- Peter Jankowski … Executive Producer
- Arthur W. Forney … Executive Producer
- Lesli Linka Glatter … Executive Producer, Director
- Rene Balcer … Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
- Cary Jones … Co-Executive Producer
- Mark Dragin … Producer
- Gina Gionfriddo … Consulting Producer
- Diana Son … Consulting Producer
- Atli Örvarsson … Music by
- Edie Falco … Cast, Leslie Abramson
- Miles Gaston Villanueva … Cast, Lyle Menendez
- Gus Halper … Cast, Erik Menendez
- Chris Bauer … Cast, Tim Rutten
- Josh Charles … Cast, Dr. Jerome Oziel
- Anthony Edwards … Cast, Judge Stanley Weisberg
- Heather Graham … Cast, Judalon Smyth
- Sam Jaeger … Cast, Detective Les Zoeller
- Elizabeth Reaser … Cast, Deputy District Attorney Pam Bozanich
- Sterling Beaumon … Cast, Glenn Stevens
- Larry Cedar … Cast, Milton Andersen
- Cliff Chamberlain … Cast, Detective Tom Linehan
- Lolita Davidovich … Cast, Kitty Menendez
- James DuMont … Cast, Brian Andersen
- Dominic Flores … Cast, Henry Llanio
- Alejandro Furth … Cast, Uncle Carlos Baralt
- Carlos Gómez … Cast, Jose Menendez
- Carole Gutierrez … Cast, Aunt Terry Baralt
- Molly Hagan … Cast, Joan Vandermolen
- Louis Herthum … Cast, Sgt. Edmonds
- Jean Louisa Kelly … Cast
- Constance Marie … Cast, Marta Cano
- Bailey Noble … Cast, Jamie Pisarcik
- Michael B. Silver … Cast, Gerald Chaleff
- Zach Tinker … Cast, Craig Cignarelli
- Alejandro Barrios … Cast, Roberto Lopez
- Laura Carson … Cast, Neighbor #1
- Greg Collins … Cast, Bodyguard #1
- Irene DeBari … Cast, Grandma Maria Menendez
- Celeste Den … Cast, Taryn
- Daniel DiVenere … Cast, Young Lyle
- Megan Easton … Cast, Hotel Clerk Paula
- Mitchell Fink … Cast, Perry Berman
- Richard Gleason … Cast, Roger Gorson
- Rene Hamilton … Cast, Craig's Mother
- Nick Hoffa … Cast, Court Deputy
- Doug Hurley … Cast, BHPD IT Tech
- Stephen Jared … Cast, David Geffen Type
- Nicola Lambo … Cast, Jewelry Store Clerk
- Angela Martinez … Cast, On-Air Reporter
- Tim Meinelschmidt … Cast, Bill
- Cornelius Peter … Cast, Neighbor #2
- Patrick Quinlan … Cast, Young BHPD Officer
- Kurt Quinn … Cast, Ed Hayman IBM Tech
- Michael Santorico … Cast, Michael Ovitz Type
- Eric Wentz … Cast, Howard Witkin