Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
What do you say, Larry?
The eagle, the shark?
Oh, I think the eagle.
More stability.
Let's go, bro.
Show us how it's done.
Ah, that close
yeah, all right.
Watch this.
All right, go for it.
Oh, yeah.
Oh! Nice!
Nice throw, brother.
Sweet, right?
You know, Don, you and
I are very alike.
We're both focused on large,
possibly unattainable goals--
me trying to explain all the
workings of the universe
Yeah.
What am I doing?
Trying to take all the unworkable
workings and put them in jail.
Good luck to both of us.
Eppes.
Yeah.
All right.
Okay, I'm on my way.
Sorry, guys, got to go.
You know, work.
I'll see you, all right?
There he goes, back
to the unattainable.
Hi.
They killed the father
when he tried to resist.
Seems just like the third robbery.
It's the same guys-- ski masks
physical descriptions match
the other home invasions.
This puts us up to seven in six months
so they're coming at faster intervals.
They go after any specific items?
Yeah.
Jewelry, paintings,
high-end furnishings.
The deceased is Dr.
Richard Bloom.
He and his wife arrived home
with their 15-year-old son, Jordan
after a school track meet.
Three guys rushed them
at the front door.
Bound them up with duct tape.
Did you see this?
Yeah.
The son put up a struggle,
and one of the burglars hit him.
The father tried to stop them
and they threw him in the pool
hands and feet still bound,
and laughed while he drowned.
Daughter's name is Jill.
She was at a friend's house.
Her friend's mom brought her back home
saw something was wrong.
She called 911.
Daughter didn't see anything.
Thank god.
Right now, someone has to
tell her her daddy's dead.
We all use math every day
to predict weather
to tell time
to handle money.
Math is more than formulas and equations.
It's logic
it's rationality.
It's using your mind
to solve the biggest mysteries that we know.
So, we got seven home
invasions, right?
This is before LAPD asked
for our help.
This is after.
What we know is that they-they
do have weapons
although they haven't fired them
so we have no useful forensics.
And they all live in
exclusive neighborhoods
they all have high-end,
expensive valuables in their homes
and they all have security systems
but the attacks take place
just as they're coming in
and the alarms have been turned off.
Who are they?
They're both fathers.
They both fought back
to protect their families.
I mean, we can't even figure out
how these guys are picking the homes.
No.
So far, there's no commonalities
between the families.
You know, other than the
fact that they're wealthy.
Let's try data mining.
It's a system for
analyzing information.
Army intelligence uses that to identify
possible terrorist attacks.
I design an algorithm
based on these crimes.
The algorithm then takes the
data and identifies correlations.
All right.
I'll get you everything
we have on the families.
Yeah, where they live, where
they go to school, shop, dine out.
Who cleans their pools,
who fixes their cars.
I'll need more than that.
More than everything on the families?
More on everything.
All crime stats for the past six
months for the entire county.
Wouldn't that much data
make it harder to find
what you're looking for?
The opposite.
More data means more
chances to find something.
It's like when you're trying
to put together a jigsaw puzzle.
You start with a few pieces,
and the rest are in the box.
All the pieces you have should
eventually fit your puzzle.
All the pieces and nothing
more come in the box.
But with a real-world problem
that's just like trying to
solve a jigsaw puzzle
when all the pieces you need
are mixed in with pieces
from many other puzzles.
Now, when you grab a few pieces
from the box, most won't fit.
You got to go through the entire box
and pull out the pieces
that fit your puzzle.
The algorithm goes through it all,
pulls out what fits together.
All right.
Well, I'll get you
our reports, Okay?
Hey, guys.
Hey, I've got a complex
data analysis problem.
Either of you free? Well, both
of you? I'd prefer both.
I well, I have some,
a couple of hours.
Charlie, have you seen the guest
lecture schedule for this week?
No, I haven't.
Why?
Oh, don't damn it.
Don't tell me I've gotten stuck
hosting another reception.
No.
Some guy's giving a talk on the
asymptotics of random matrices.
Hey, you've done some distinguished
work there, haven't you?
The guest lecturer's name is
What the hell is that son
of a *** doing here?
To whom are you referring?
Marshall Penfield.
It's the guy--the guy
that's giving the talk.
Oh, really?
Marshall and I--we attended
Princeton together.
Every chance he got,
he slammed my work.
And the only keg party I ever
threw--he stole the keg.
Marshall.
Hey, Eppesy.
You coming to the talk?
It's gonna be a good one.
Well, I just heard about it.
Ever so excited.
Wondering what your subject could be.
Oh, same old same old.
Hi.
How you doing?
You found a new approach?
Only because I recall
your earlier attacks
on my analysis of plancharel measures.
You made an *** of yourself.
Yes, but unlike you, I continued
to work in the field.
And I've made some
interesting findings.
Elaborate.
A flaw in your work.
I'll spare you the details.
I'll save it for the talk
but, bottom line--your big breakthrough
the Eppes convergence?
It's wrong.
It was nice meeting you.
These things-- most of them have
been in our families for years.
I don't care about any of this.
But Richard--he was only
trying to protect our son.
I know, Mrs.
Bloom.
I'm so sorry.
He just couldn't bear
to see people hurt.
It's why he became a doctor.
I just think if maybe you could tell me
anything about one of these pieces
it might help me find
your husband's killer.
There's a lamp.
It was, uh
made by Dirk Van Erp.
It's one of a pair.
Richard got the first one for
me as a wedding present
and he spent years trying
to find the other one.
He finally found it.
He said they belonged
together, just like we did.
So, this lamp's worth, like, $100,000.
Which, I imagine, you can't
just sell just anywhere.
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking.
We should check into whatever
markets deal with this kind of stuff
see if there's any buzz.
Penfield hates me.
It drove him crazy.
I became the youngest person
to ever publish a major paper
and when I gave my first
seminar on the Eppes convergence
he shows up with a button that says, uh
"don't believe the hype.
"
Okay.
Well, that's a
little confrontational.
But, I mean, you were
a star in your field.
You-you got to expect
this kind of attention.
This man has singled me out.
No.
Your status has singled you out.
I mean, people-people are
scrutinizing your work
because of your reputation.
You must understand--
that's why he's doing it.
To ruin my reputation.
The Eppes convergence made me.
If it's wrong, then what am I?
Well, you're a talented,
theoretician with an ego problem?
I'm sorry?
Hello?
Yeah, I'll be right there.
I got to go.
Okay.
The computer lab says the algorithm
for Don's case kicked out some findings.
Yeah.
Well, wisdom and genius
--rarely present in equal abundance.
I don't remember where I got this lamp.
Probably some estate sale.
Wrong answer.
Hands behind your back right now.
What's going on?
You know what's going on.
You can tell us where you got it here
or you can tell us down at our office.
That's after we walk you through
your show room full of customers.
Wait, wait.
Okay.
Where did you get it?
I was introduced to this
guy a few months ago.
His name is Roley.
He told me he got the lamp
from a bankruptcy procedure.
But you knew better, didn't you?
Colby.
Your brother is starting
to freak me out a little bit.
What, just a little?
Hey.
What's up?
Calendars are wonderful
analog mathematical tools.
They create a universal
timeline for societies
by interpreting astrophysical movement.
What are you talking about?
Calendars aren't based on
easily divisible factors.
Okay?
You know, they originally tried
to make them like that.
but it doesn't match with what
you see in the night sky
so ancient calendars would add
an extra month every eight years
or tack on five extra days.
What, these were all the
dates from the home invasions?
Right.
Once I got the data mining
algorithm up and running
I started a fourier analyses on the
chronologies-- the dates, the times.
We've actually been looking to try
and find a timeline pattern, Charlie
but we can't come up with anything.
Because you weren't looking in
the same way my analysis does.
The red days are known attacks.
The blue days are when the analysis
says there should be attacks
but there aren't.
And what we must ask ourselves is:
How do you know there aren't?
No homes were hit
on those dates, right?
Let's assume that these same
guys commit other types of crimes.
You mean, not just home invasions.
So, you're saying, what,
if we find new crimes
maybe we find new evidence?
I think you should
be looking for crimes
committed by gunmen that
fit the same description
that occur in these days
that I've marked blue.
And Charlie, the pattern.
Can it tell us when the
next attack would be?
Patterns like this are-are
clearer in hindsight.
I mean, they're not really
used as-as predictors.
I mean, there's an
erratic frequency here.
I mean, you know, there's several
robberies a couple days apart
and then there's just one or
two hits, and then a shorter break.
Just point us in a direction.
This is my best guess.
It's possible that the next attack
could occur in three days.
I checked the incident
reports on the days
where Charlie said there might
have been related crimes.
I found three carjackings done
by three guys in ski masks
that match the physical
descriptions of our home invaders.
Our guys go for the high-end
goods, though, Megan.
The cars stolen were a Mercedes,
Range Rover and a Porsche.
Any of them found?
No, which means either they
were repainted and given new VINs
or they were sold outside the area.
These guys seem to know how
to move expensive items.
And there's something else.
We've never had a gun fired in
any of the home invasions
there's a gunshot in the carjacking.
Yes, there was.
At the Porsche robbery
one of the members of the crew
shot a round into the
air to scare the owner.
We find that bullet, we might
be able to make a match.
You want to find a bullet
fired straight up?
It's not gonna be easy.
It's not impossible.
Just find the cops who
responded to the call.
They would've done a neighborhood
canvas to id the round that was fired.
We should be talking to the
people whose cars were jacked
running down the lead from
the antique store owner.
What's the fence's name?
Roley.
I'm on it.
A bad time?
No, come on in.
I'm just sitting here, waiting for a new
run of the data mining program.
Emergence theory.
The whole is greater than
the sum of its parts.
Individually, ants have
limited capabilities.
But the colony can be viewed as
a single complex organism.
But you guys aren't here to
talk about ants, are you?
No, actually, we have a little bet.
David here seems to think that you might be
able to help us find a needle in a haystack.
A bullet in Brentwood, to be exact.
Checking the time periods where you
thought there might be related crimes
we found three carjackings--
one of them, there was gunfire.
We find that bullet, we might
be able to match it to a gun.
This bullet, was it fired parallel to
the ground or at an angle?
According to the crime
report, into the air.
We're not sure of the exact angle.
What type of gun?
Uh, we're actually not
certain about that, either.
Okay, we're looking at
at least two variables.
Any handgun's going to fall into
a certain range of muzzle velocity.
Now, we're assuming that
the gun was pointed up
not exactly vertical? Okay.
So that'll give us a radius of
Two to three thousand feet.
Roughly half a mile.
Only there are a lot of assumptions
built into these calculations
but i suppose that can't be helped.
Agent Sinclair, agent Granger,
this is Dr.
Penfield.
Sorry to interrupt.
I just heard the familiar
staccato clacking of chalk
I thought it might be
something interesting.
You're still coming to
my presentation, right?
I might get something wrong about
hermitian random matrices.
You know, I've moved on
to sequences with orthogonal
symmetry, man.
Oh, really?
Well, that's funny, 'cause that's
the exact same thing.
Resonances in quantum chaotic systems.
That's a simplistic analysis.
You always were testy when challenged.
You know, I was talking
about that with Amita, um
You were, were you?
Yeah, yeah, last night.
We were hanging out,
you know, got a little dinner
long conversation-- that doesn't
bother you, does it?
Marshall, do whatever you like.
Just you remember, Amita's
a sharp mathematician.
So no matter how hard you try
you're never gonna get her to
believe that this is six inches.
I bet with you that
subject's never come up.
Ooh, math fight.
Hey, that was carjacking
victim number three.
Just like in the home invasions
these robbers targeted specific items.
They went right for his watch,
which was hidden underneath his jacket.
Carjacking victim number two
they made give up a $55,000 ring.
All right, so they're
being followed, right?
Forced to pull over.
No, no.
Carjacking victim number one
locked her keys in her car.
She called AAA on her cell phone
and ten minutes later,
these guys showed up.
Victim number two got lost
entered the destination into
her navigation system.
And victim number
three ran out of gas.
He called his onboard assistance service
and spoke to a real operator,
but the robbers got there
first with a can of gas.
It's like they're eavesdropping on
their cell phones or something.
Maybe, but that doesn't explain their
knowledge of their personal possessions.
And they all have different
cell phone carriers.
I mean, they're tapping into
them somehow, right?
Yeah.
The question is,
what's the common link?
Just don't push the wrong button
or else we'll be looking for that
bullet the old-fashioned way.
It's Okay, all right
Charlie's already programmed the
trajectory equations into the calculator.
Yeah, we have the
origin point of the shot.
The equations will generate high
probability areas for a search.
It's you plugging in those
variables that has me worried.
Hey, man, it's only two variables, Okay?
We got muzzle velocity and inclination
of the weapon when fired.
I can handle it.
At least I've used a
graphing calculator before.
Really? You have?
High school, man.
Why? You didn't?
I went to high school in the Bronx.
Get your gear.
We found Roley.
Roley?
He's the fence that sold that stolen
lamp to the antique store, right?
Yeah, we're setting up a buy.
Hey, Charlie.
Hey.
What's going on?
I was doing my work from my,
uh, city planning days.
See, I'm taking it all down to the
offices that we're leasing now.
You're really starting a consulting
company with Stan Fischer, huh?
Why not? You know, I miss work.
Now I can be my own boss and
I can concentrate on the
aspects of design and planning
that I always enjoyed, myself.
It's a big investment.
Oh I have money.
Thanks to you buying this
house at the asking price.
So you're not worried about the risk?
well, that's business.
In fact, that's life.
You know, I never
really wanted to retire.
But when your mother got sick,
there really wasn't much choice.
And now, I have a choice.
I'm really happy for you, dad.
You Okay?
You seem a little, uh stressed.
Yeah.
Why? What's wrong?
Marshall Penfield,
fellow Princeton graduate
has come here to rip apart
five years of my work.
And it's made me realize that I
haven't focused on
anything new since then.
I've been wasting my time
with this stuff for Don.
Oh, come on.
You don't mean wasting your time.
You're right, I don't.
I'm not wasting my time, I'm just
so easily distracted.
Yeah, well, it's more like,
you're easily fascinated.
I need to devote myself to
something significant in my field--
important to other mathematicians.
Yeah, well, you know
what I think, Charlie?
I think your life's work should
be what you find important.
Are you the lady Jay sent
over from his store?
Yeah.
He said you get him some
of his best inventory.
I'm Roley.
This here's Timmy.
Hi.
Sorry to make you come out
so late, but you know how it is.
Oh, I've been to worse neighborhoods.
So, let's see if we could
do a little business.
You, uh, brought money, right?
Oh, I brought better than money.
FBI! FBI!
You stop right there! Stop!
Drop on your knees!
Hands behind your head!
You know where this came from, right?
I'm really not one to
ask many questions.
No? Maybe you ought to rub
it three times and find out
where it's about to send you.
This is a list of everything
that was in your storage unit.
And this is a list of everything
that was stolen from
seven home invasions.
They're kind of similar.
I had no part of that.
Having this stuff makes
you a part of that.
I'm telling you, I am not
that kind of guy.
You got a nice painting or a
good piece of period furniture
I can find you a buyer.
Who's not gonna ask too many questions.
That's right.
I find people with money who are
interested in deals on luxury items.
That's my niche.
Killing? Not my niche.
Well, how'd you get all this stuff?
It wasn't from any crew, it
was just it was two guys.
And how'd you meet them?
They came up to me at a bar,
said they knew me by reputation.
And what makes you think that
these guys aren't robbers?
One of them was dressed
better than my lawyer.
And the other guy, he was
just a total geek.
I'm gonna need their names.
Mr.
Brown and Mr.
Gray.
That's all I know.
Then I feel sorry for you, Roley.
Wait a minute.
All right, these guys, they're
not barehanders, all right?
They're way too business.
How so?
For one thing, they gave
me a list, like this one.
With everything they were gonna
bring me weeks in advance.
Said it was so I could locate
buyers ahead of time.
Roley's description of the
men he dealt with
don't match what we have.
So then, we could be looking
for five different guys?
Maybe not five different guys
but maybe two guys that case it
and three guys that do
the actual robbery.
I'm telling you, the cell
phones tie into it.
Yeah, but every single person
uses a different service.
And how would they know
what's in the homes?
And what about the data mining?
I'm working it.
The analysis finds all kinds of links
and I have to gauge which
ones are meaningful.
For instance, the data mining found
that all the victims
buy bottled water.
Well, that's meaningless.
When army intelligence
tried to use data mining
to spot commonalities
between terrorist attacks
one of the people it picked
out was Condoleezza Rice.
Okay, so it's thorough, but
it's not discriminating?
Whatever you can do, Charlie.
You're the one who said we're
talking about three days here.
Yeah, I know.
A variable two-way muzzle velocity.
We're working with a nine millimeter
but these guys like to play rough.
Now, I'm thinking they're
packing something stronger.
Yeah, but muzzle velocity changes
with the grain of the bullet, anyway.
The heavier the projectile,
the slower it goes.
Right.
Okay, let's just say, you're a
guy into invading people's homes
and you're getting off
on messing them up.
Right.
What's your weapon of choice?
Semi-automatic with a big clip.
Lots of stopping power.
.
45 acp, 180 grain rounds.
That's a muzzle velocity of
Oh, yeah, man, plug that one in.
The development of any type
of representation theory
is usually split into two stages.
The first is a description of all
elementary representations.
The second consists of
constructing certain natural
representations of the group
and decomposing them
into irreducible ones.
What we see when we get deeper
into the Eppes convergence
is a small and, until now,
undetectable conceptual roadblock.
It's an expression
floating through these
quations like a tiny blood clot
until it lands here, at the
infinite-dimensional simplex
which causes a stroke
to the entire theory.
Maybe these guys are into revolvers.
You know, a nice little .
38,
or a .
357, maybe.
I'm telling you, man, they're physical
they're pumped,
they're flush with cash.
These guys buy a gun, it's going
to be a .
40 caliber 45 hk.
David, we can talk muzzle
velocities all day long.
But if this joker fired straight up,
it doesn't matter
because the bullet would
have landed right here
within a 50-foot radius of
where the guy fired from.
So, the question is:
Do you think it's possible that
he actually fired straight?
Yup, I do think it's possible.
Yeah? Based on what?
Based on I just found the bullet.
Charlie?
He does have a valid point
about the end-point process
on the one-dimensional lattice.
Right.
Penfield's blood clot to my brain.
Or was it the torpedo in the
engine room analogy? I forget.
Hey, Amita, there you are.
You still up for pie n' burger?
Sure, let me grab my stuff.
Hey, Eppesy.
Heard you got a substance
abuse problem with lemon meringue.
It's a "gateway" pie, you know.
Why don't you come meet us out front?
You know, there's a whole
crowd of people going.
I'll pass.
What's the matter?
I can't make any headway
on this FBI case.
And there's my life's work
going up in flames.
Well, you're spreading
yourself really thin.
You're spending a lot
of time with Marshall.
He's an interesting thinker.
It's not a big deal, Charlie.
You've got your FBI work,
your teaching, your research
yeah, and you've got
your astrophysics work
your work with Dr.
Keppler.
I know.
I'm focused on my work.
I'm not sure that I want to
focus myself socially right now.
I guess I can understand that.
You sure you don't want some pie?
No, I go eat pie
Please.
I need to think.
Okay.
Do you two realize what's in here?
Well, in your case, a lot of
unanswered voice mails.
I can tell you that.
After 9/11, the FCC mandated
that all cell phones
be able to locate people in
the event of an emergency.
Oh, right.
That a GPS locator chip has to be
put in every new phone by 2005.
And newer phones can be used to track
people within a range of 30 feet.
But you're still going to need
access to classified data.
Are you saying that these
robbers have figured out
how to intercept encrypted
material from a military satellite?
No, that's impossible.
Listen, somehow they've
gotten that GPS information.
They've gotten into the phones.
But that doesn't explain how
they knew who to rob.
Look, this is a two-part problem, Okay?
Part one: How do they know who to rob?
And part two: How do they know
where the victims are?
The phone is the key to
part two--locating victims.
Part one: How they know who
owns what, I still can't tell you.
But you can be positive that all
the families will have it in common.
Hey, Charlie, you seen my cell phone?
I been looking all over
for it, I can't find
what are you doing with it?
We'll put it back together.
You can't use one of your own?
Well, I refused to allow the small
quiet moments of my life
to be invaded by these
devices of distraction.
Which means you don't have one?
And I need mine.
Look, Charlie, I'm not a
homebound retiree anymore.
I happen to be starting a new business.
And having a cell phone might
come in handy.
Right?
Look, you'll have it back in one hour.
Dad, we need to look at your GPS chip.
What do you need to do that for?
Every new phone comes
embedded with this tiny chip
that acts as a global
positioning receiver.
And it's my theory that
these home-invasion robbers
are using them to track their victims.
How would they do it?
Well, a cell phone's
essentially a radio.
Whenever it's on
it's sending radio signals
to let cell towers know
where the phone is so a person can move
from one cell zone to another
without losing a call.
At the same time, the GPS chip
receives signals from outer space
specifically, from at least three
geosynchronous satellites.
Using the geometric method called
"three-dimensional trilateration,"
the GPS chip uses the signals
from the satellites
to calculate its exact
location on earth.
The data generated can be
used by police, roadside assistance
emergency services,
tracking truck fleets--
and even lets parents keep
tabs on their teenage children.
Ah, it's too "big brother" for me.
I'll stick with my rotary dial-up.
But intercepting these
signals is really
beyond the grasp of most criminals.
If all my years of working at urban
infrastructure has taught me anything
it's that there's always somebody
who gets into the system.
Charlie was right.
Three days on the button.
Married couple, 74 and 77 years old.
From the evidence, it looks like the
man struggled with the robbers.
Yeah, they beat him to death,
they got the woman over here.
They strangled her.
Doesn't look like they
put up much of a fight.
They're acting more frequently,
and killing more readily.
I am crossing my fingers
that this has to be
the bullet from the carjacking.
Not a lot of bullets lying
around Brentwood.
No, it's more of a slash-your-throat
kind of neighborhood.
Well, we're running the slug
through the ATF bullet trap database
hoping to match the gun it was
fired from to a previous crime.
We need this lead.
And after eight hits, they're
going to think they're invincible.
That we can't catch them.
They're going to be more
reckless, more dangerous.
Bingo.
Yeah, I heard on the radio--
two more people killed by these
robbers Don is trying to catch.
Yeah.
It's bad.
And the data mining is not yielding any
connections you can work with?
Well, it's hard to say.
You know, one commonality that
the analysis keeps highlighting
is cell phones.
But, you know,
everyone has cell phones.
Then there's a second commonality,
that has no defined value.
The algorithm keeps pointing out
that the families all have rare,
collectible items.
And all were insured.
You really should get
this program to Amita.
She is the best coder we've got.
I don't think this is
where the problem is.
And Amita's off
chilling with Penfield.
Well, he is a brilliant
mathematician and, I assume
a sparkling conversationalist.
Are you serious? Oh, you're great.
You're just another member
of the Penfield fan club.
Right?
Well, I do understand his analysis of the
Eppes convergence was a bit pointed.
I'll admit, he's a bright fellow.
He's got all sorts of insight.
But he's so full of himself.
He's so annoyingly confident.
"Certainly in extending
the calculation for S
to the infinite unitary group
it would be obvious to anyone
that my genius would mandate--
upon my death--the inclusion of
my brain in the smithsonian.
"
I would actually prefer
someone take my brain
on a road trip like they did
with Einstein's.
But
Hey, Charlie.
Hello.
Charlie, Marshall and I went to
your office looking for you
and we kind of saw what
was on the chalkboard.
Yeah, you had a problem
that was of interest to me
because it relates to my
main field-set theory.
Oh, wellthis is it, isn't it?
This is the same thing right here.
Could be.
Why?
Marshall's new research at
Princeton is inset theory
in something he calls
"deep current" sets.
What are those?
Chalk.
Connections between groups
that are hard to detect
but that affect all the other sets.
Kind of like how currents
beneath the ocean surface
can influence the weather
patterns in the atmosphere.
There's something
underneath we can't see.
Things that seem to have no connection
are all linked by a common factor.
Marshall, have you developed
methods of analysis
to help you define the
unidentified connections?
Oh, yeah, sure.
Even if I can't tell you where
the deep current is
I can tell you where to look.
But, Charlie, all eight families have
different insurance companies.
Sure, but the data mining found that there's
a powerful connection between the victims
and it's not something we can see.
It's an unseen set, a deep current set.
I'm sure that means something.
Right.
The victims' families all
had high-end valuables
like the Dirk Van Erp lamp that
you guys tracked down, right?
Right, that the robbers all
knew about in advance.
The victims' families all had
different insurance companies
but my analysis suggests that the insurance
companies have something in common.
So like what?
Well, apparently, when
covering rare, high-cost items
insurance companies
often purchase a rider
a backup policy from another firm.
Yeah, insurance riders, of course
which wouldn't show up
on a criminal reports
because the customers don't
even know they have them!
Colby, Charlie's got a good idea--
check out if any of the insurance carriers
bought riders from the same firm.
If I'm right, you'll find a company
common to several victims.
And someone with access to
that company's list of clients.
And would know how to hack
into cell phone signals.
Megan, get a list of local employees
with criminal records from the
wireless companies.
All right?
I have that.
- You are fast.
- Thank you.
Don, I already looked
at three of them.
They used the same underwriter.
It's a BTL, limited.
so I'm gonna check see
if I can get employee lists.
Good.
Great.
Now, compare
that list to Megan's list
and maybe we'll find one guy on both.
No, we're looking for two guys,
Mr.
Brown, and Mr.
Gray.
Remember, one will know cell phones,
one's gonna know insurance.
This is the FBI's version
of data mining
finding links the old-fashioned way.
Oh, yeah, by hand and by luck.
Here we go, Herbert Quilty,
service tech for Vertech wireless.
Two years ago, pled guilty to
selling stolen cell phones
served three months in county gail.
What's his link to the
insurance company?
Same time as Quilty was in jail
a guy named Thomas Maynard was
serving weekends on a DUI conviction
Maynard was a supervisor
at BTL underwriters.
How did Roley put it?
"One dresses better than my lawyer
And one is a total geek.
"
Freeze! Hands behind your head!
Down on your knees! Down!
Herbert Quilty, you're under
arrest for ***.
I had that wine at Morton's last week.
FBI! Get on the ground!
On your knees! Down!
Hands behind your back, Maynard!
You're working with some
nasty dudes, Maynard.
Where'd you meet guys like that?
Weekend lockup seems a
bit tame for stone killers.
No evidence connects
me to any crimes.
Can't control these guys, can you?
Thought you we're getting
into the robbery business.
Switched the game
on you, didn't they?
You set it up so they
could stalk their victims
in their homes, in their cars.
That puts you right in
the middle of things.
Walter Gordon.
His friends call him "demento.
"
Leader of a San Fernando
valley skinhead gang.
Never seen him before in my life.
Yes, you have.
What happens to you now?
What do you think he's gonna do to you
the next time the two of
you run into each other?
And what about your family?
If you're locked up,
and he's out there?
They weren't supposed
to hurt anyone.
That's all on them.
I picked people from
the company files.
Quilty rigged the phones.
With GPS to the node signal.
Demento's crazy.
I tried to keep him to a schedule
but he wanted to move
faster and faster
he decided to pull these carjackings.
Said he wanted to be known
for selling expensive wheels.
Nice timing on the photo.
Forensics matched the bullet
we found in Brentwood
to one shot through the head of a fast food
worker in Tarzana about two years ago.
Witness in that case id'd
Walter Gordon, aka demento.
What I don't understand
is how did Quilty's phone
let the robbers know where
track victims were?
WellQuilty must have
put a sniffer on a node.
A node is something that takes
all the calls coming into a cell tower
and then relays those signals
to where they're going.
A sniffer is an electronic device
that detects specific calls
then sends that signal to a phone
the robbers must have.
And you think Quilty's
phone could do that?
I think so.
All he needed was access
to the cell towers.
Because he worked at a wireless
company, he had that.
And the gear required
well, he could buy that at any
electronics store, couldn't he?
All right, so Maynard gave Quilty
phone numbers of people
who owned valuable things.
Right, and Quilty had his sniffer
search for those numbers.
When those signals came in
the locations went to the phone
that he gave the robbers.
They could follow victims,
move in as they arrived home.
Walter Gordon, aka demento,
has no known address.
LAPD's been looking for him
since the tarzana killing.
Okay, so Maynard and
Quilty set up Gordon
with phone numbers
of potential victims.
See if they picked any new victims.
I mean, if we can't find Gordon
let's find out where he's going.
Come on, take me to your home.
There's the volvo.
This family will not
know what hit them.
I got the driver, you get the girl!
Out of the damn car!
Get out of the car now!
Drop the gun! Drop it!
Don't move! Get your hands
behind your back!
Get him up.
What the hell is that?
Shut up, can't you see
the baby's sleeping?
Marshall.
Eppesy.
I just thought you might like to know that
your insight on the subset commonality
helped the FBI catch three murderers.
Wow.
That's, uhthat's, that's great.
So, thank you for your help.
You're welcome.
I hope you understand
I didn't work on the Eppes convergence because of you.
I did because, uh
well, because it's great math.
You know, back at Princeton
you were always the guy
with the deep ideas.
This one just fascinated me.
Well, I have to admit
your work shows tremendous insight.
Thank you.
Though I've taken another
look at your analysis.
Oh, no, I know that tone.
And I think I've found a way to
address the flaw that you've identified.
That's the basic idea.
That negates the whole need for
the flawed section, then.
How about that?
Great professor Charlie
Eppes has done it again.
Now, that's hokum.
This approach was only
apparent because of your work.
So I'm going to call this
the Penfield variation.
Great.
Way to make me feel like a real ***.
Door's open.
Hi, Mr.
Eppes.
Hi.
Charlie's supposed to come
with us to a seminar.
Oh, he's out in the garage.
Hey, Charlie, your friends
here he comes.
Been out in the garage all day.
Hey, guys, you know what?
Go on ahead without me--
Maybe I'll catch up with you later
'cause I'm a little caught up
with something right now.
what are you working on?
A unified theory of the neural network
in higher cognitive functions.
The math of the brain.
I'd better stick to it, too.
It might take me a whilesay,
several decades.
Attaboy.
Yeah, what is it they say?
"The journey is more important
than the destination?"
So true.
You're doing a jigsaw puzzle.
Oh, yeah, it's 5,000 pieces.
My wife used to do them all the time.