Yankee Dollar

Yankee Dollar
Season	2
Episode	13 (35th overall)
Airdate	January 17, 1986
Repeat Airdate	June 6, 1986
TV Rating	TV-14 V
Writer(s)	Daniel Pyne & John Mankiewicz
Director	Aaron Lipstadt
Guest Stars	Ned Eisenberg Austin Pendleton Anne Carlisle Clayton Rohner Audrey Matson Pepe Serna
Previous Episode	"Definitely Miami"
Next Episode	"One Way Ticket"

"Yankee Dollar" is the thirteenth episode of Miami Vice's second season. The episode premiered on January 17, 1986 and was repeated on June 6, 1986

Summary

The death of Crockett's friend leads to a man who mediates deals but doesn't actually involve himself in them.

Plot

On a Friday afternoon the Vice team are discussing their weekend plans. Switek and Zito are going to see 101 Dalmatians, with Switek worrying about getting the evil eye from five year olds because his height blocks their view. Gina and Trudy want to wrap up a case so they can have some time off. Tubbs is setting up a date with a girl named Donna. Crockett, having not made any plans, decides to visit an old friend, a stewardess named Sara Davis (Audrey Matson), whom he surprises at the airport and takes home. Sara says she is really tired and wants to rest up, but promises to meet him the next day. Crockett goes back to the car and sees that Sara had forgotten the flowers he had brought her. As he goes back to give them to her, he hears Sara screaming. Crockett busts in and finds Sara in the bathroom convulsing. Crockett takes her in his arms and rushes her to the hospital, but the doctors are unable to revive her.

The ER doctor tells Crockett that Sara died from a ruptured balloon full of cocaine inside her GI tract; there were four more intact cocaine-filled balloons (totalling 23 grams) inside. Crockett and Tubbs go to Sara's house and find someone knocking at her door; they confront the man and he says he's there to sell her his BMW for $5,000. They chase the man off and check her house, finding a deposit of $5,000 in her account two days before her death, which they figure is her payment for muling the drugs. Crockett deduces she's been running the same route (Miami to Bogota to Paris and back to Miami) for the past two years. Tubbs says the autopsy found the cocaine to be the purest ever seen in the area. Another man pulls up looking for Sara and flees when confronted by Crockett and Tubbs. Crockett tackles him on the beach and he reveals that he is Tim Davis (Clayton Rohner), Sara's brother. When informed that Sara has died, his first thought is "Where's the body?", which prompts Crockett to punch him in the face and arrest him.

Under intense questioning, Tim says Sara was carrying the drugs because she wanted money for the BMW, and Charlie Glide (Ned Eisenberg) was her contact. Crockett (as Sonny Burnett) goes to see Glide, offering 10 keys of cocaine that didn't make it to the police lockup as incentive to be an investor. Glide sees a very big deal on the horizon and thinks he could use Sonny. Tubbs (as Cooper) gets money from the police lockup and asks Glide's assistant Max Rogo (Austin Pendleton) to invest money for a profit in drugs. What Crockett and Tubbs don't know is that Glide is maneuvering them to deal with each other, taking himself out of the loop (which is how he has escaped prosecution so many times); furthermore, he has deduced that Burnett and Cooper are cops. Glide asks Max to "take care of" Tim Davis for screwing up the drug deal involving Sara; when Tim stops by the office to offer "expensive information" and threaten Max with what he knows, Max shoots him.

The deal goes down and Crockett and Tubbs find they've been had; to save the case, they tell Glide the money used in the deal is counterfeit, implicating Glide, as he has already deposited it in a safe deposit box. Glide wants to make a deal - a free walk in exchange for him giving up a Peruvian drug dealer named Zabado, who fled Peru before a military court-martial. He came to Miami with his chemist - who tried to patent his cocaine formula - and a local purchaser, Lydia Sugarman (Anne Carlisle), widow of a rich local electronics owner, wants capital for a leveraged buyout of her late husband's company. Crockett and Tubbs reluctantly agree to work with Glide, and arrange the deal over dinner with Sugarman and Zabado (Pepe Serna). Max spills the beans about Crockett and Tubbs being cops to Sugarman, claiming the Peruvian had rolled over on the cops.

Crockett and Tubbs take a boat to the meet, only to find it is another trap set by Glide and Zabado. They manage to escape the boat house before it explodes. They chase down Max and force him to take them to the real meet with Zabado and Sugarman. Before they arrive Sugarman kills Zabado, intending to kill Glide and take everything, but Crockett and Tubbs burst in and a shootout begins. Max and most of the thugs are killed; Sugarman tries to get away but is stopped by police backup. Glide tries to worm his way out by saying both parties set Crockett and Tubbs up. Crockett is about to slug Glide before Castillo stops him. Crockett vows to stay on top of Glide and nail him for the slightest crime. Castillo shows Glide a gun in evidence wrapping, asking him if it is his. Glide admits it is, and Castillo has him booked for the murder of Tim Davis, as it was the gun used in the killing (though it was actually Max who pulled the trigger). Glide is insistently in denial, but Crockett gleefully tells him he thinks Glide did it, and that he's going to jail either way.

Cast

• Don Johnson as Metro-Dade Detective James "Sonny" Crockett
• Philip Michael Thomas as Metro-Dade Detective Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs
• Saundra Santiago as Metro-Dade Detective Gina Calabrese
• Michael Talbott as Metro-Dade Detective Stan Switek
• John Diehl as Metro-Dade Detective Larry Zito
• Olivia Brown as Metro-Dade Detective Trudy Joplin
• Edward James Olmos as Metro-Dade Lieutenant Martin "Marty" Castillo

Guest Stars

• Ned Eisenberg as Charlie Glide
• Austin Pendleton as Max Rogo
• Anne Carlyle as Lydia Sugarman
• Clayton Rohner as Tim Davis
• Audrey Matson as Sara Davis
• Pepe Serna as Zabado

Co-Starring

• Marilyn Dodds-Frank as Dr. Bergin
• Lou Colombo as Weber

Notes

• The Jan Hammer music played during Glide's dealings is the same used during "Golden Triangle (Part II)" during the final scene with General Lao Li's grandsons and the following shootout.
• Pepe Serna would return to Miami Vice in the Season 3 episode "Down For The Count (Part I)" as Oswaldo Guzman, who has Zito killed.
• When the episode was repeated in June, 1986, it marked Vice's time slot change to 9:00 which would continue for nearly two years.
• Zabado's mansion was used in the Al Pacino classic Scarface, which inspired many elements of Miami Vice.
• Crockett's sad luck with women is again demonstrated in this episode, as Sarah dies from cardiac arrest follwing a cocaine balloon exploding inside her. His girlfriend Theresa would have a similar problem, this time using drugs instead of muling them.
• This episode features one of the few times something slipped past censors, as seen when Sonny and Rico approach Max after the failed bomb attempt, when Max jumps over the bar he can clearly be heard saying "Oh shit!"
• At 43:14 you can see a object move from the upper left corner off the screen to the other side of the screen really fast.

Production Notes

• Filmed: December 2, 1985 - December 11, 1985
• Production Code: 60047
• Production Order: 36

Filming Locations

• 1500 Brickell Avenue, Miami (Crockett driving Sara to her home)
• Georgia Street / S. Broadwalk, Hallandale Beach (Sara's house and Crockett chasing Tim on beach)
• 485 W Matheson Drive, Key Biscayne (Glide's Villa)
• Miami Marine Stadium Key Biscayne (Crockett/Tubbs meet Glide)
• 1000 Brickell Bay Drive (Glide at bank)
• Yaze Marina Restaurant at Rickenbacker Marina 3301 Rickenbacker Causeway, Key Biscayne (Crockett/Tubbs meet Max)
• Miami River at NW 17th Avenue, Miami (Boat house for bogus meet and boat explosion)

Music

• "Par Avion" by Mike + The Mechanics (during opening)
• "The Harder They Come" by Jimmy Cliff (at dinner with Sugarman)
• "Your Time Is Gonna Come" by Russ Ballard (during explosive boat ride)

Jan Hammer Music

• "The Search" (Crockett/Tubbs meeting with Glide)

Quotes

• "I know you don't wanna hear this, but I'm afraid I'm gonna have to notify the proper authorities [referring to Sara's death]." -- Doctor to Crockett "You already have." -- Crockett's reply to doctor
• "Sara's not here right now, pal. Can I help ya?!" -- Crockett pointing gun at man looking for Sara
• "I promised myself when the Dow broke 1400, I would buy myself a present" -- Charlie Glide
• "It's karma, Charlie...be happy you finally get to pay!" -- Crockett to Glide
• "I didn't do it! I think you did it, and I think you're going to jail! -- Glide and Crockett