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Cool Runnin'
Episode #003

Air Date: 05 Oct 1984 (NBC)
Director: Lee H. Katzin
Writer: Joel Surnow

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Episode Summary
It's 5:00 in the morning, and Crockett and Tubbs are on a drug stakeout. The parties to the deal show up, but then shooting starts and people are killed. The bad guys take off in a van, with Sonny and Rico in pursuit in their own van. The thugs fire into the windshield of the cops' van, causing them to crash. The bad guys get away. When Vice Lieutenant Lou Rodriguez shows up at the scene of the wrecked van, we learn that there have been a series of similar drug rip-offs over the past month, and things are getting nasty. The particular stakeout Sonny and Rico were involved in came about as a result of wiretap information received by Switek and Zito.

We next see Crockett hosting a party on the St. Vitus, with a number of his fellow officers, including two undercover detectives, Jake and Bobby. Some good-natured ribbing occurs, in which Crockett bets Jake and Bobby that he and Tubbs can score more dope in busts over the next month than Jake and Bobby can.

The next day, Crockett and Tubbs visit Switek and Zito, who are working a stolen goods operation, in search of more information about the botched drug deal that occurred a few nights earlier. They learn that a middleman named Desmond Maxwell set up the drug buy. At this point, we're introduced to one of Vice's more memorable characters - Noogie Lamont, who saunters in hoping to sell some stolen merchandise to Switek and Zito. Noogie is arrested and dragged off to the OCB.

As Noogie is coming in, Jake and Bobby are leaving, heading out for a meeting with a dealer. Sonny asks where their backup is, but they reply that no backup is needed, since this is just a preliminary meet.

Sonny then makes contact with Gina and sets up a date for a romantic evening on the St. Vitus. In the process, Trudy walks in and hands him an envelope containing divorce papers filed by Caroline. Although Sonny is obviously upset by the news, he rejects Gina's offer of a rain check.

Noogie, meanwhile, is searching for a way to deal himself out of trouble. He swipes a report off Sonny's desk while Sonny is gone, and comes across the information about Desmond Maxwell. Now, all of sudden, Noogie is willing to talk. He claims to know Desmond and offers to set up a buy with Crockett and Tubbs, in order to regain his freedom.

They head to a local bar in search of Desmond. Noogie claims to have spotted Desmond's right hand man and weasels $60 from Crockett with which to buy some information. He heads to a back room and escapes out a window. When Crockett and Tubbs finally catch up with him, Noogie tells them he doesn't really know Desmond at all. They stuff him in the trunk of their car with the intent of returning him to the OCB.

Sonny goes to a restaurant to meet Caroline and her lawyer. Much to his dismay, he finds out that Caroline has accepted a job in Atlanta and plans to move there with Billy, their son. He's upset, but eventually agrees, as Caroline is standing firm on her decision. As Sonny storms out of the restaurant, upset and angry, he's hailed by the maitre d' to receive a phone call. It's bad news; Bobby has been killed, and Jake is badly wounded and in the hospital - another drug deal gone bad.

As it turns out, Bobby and Jake audiotaped their meeting with the dealers, and Sonny and Rico listen to the tape back at the OCB. After the shooting occurs, Jake attempts to identify their assailants on the tape, but it's difficult to make out what he's saying. Crockett asks a technical colleague to clean up the tape.

Noogie continues to be full of surprises. Trudy and Gina have run a background check on him, only to find that he's done time with Desmond Maxwell; Maxwell is no stranger to him after all. Sonny and Rico now threaten Noogie with the horrors of prison if he doesn't cooperate and introduce them to Maxwell. Noogie reluctantly agrees. The meet occurs at a local reggae club [Jammin'], and a deal is set up between the two Vice cops and Maxwell. Crockett gives Maxwell Noogie's phone number as the point of contact. This upsets Rico, who feels Crockett is endangering a private citizen, but Sonny feels obligated to do the best he can for Bobby and Jake by catching Bobby's killers, even if it does put Noogie at risk.

It appears, however, that Rico's fears are a moot point, when Crockett and Tubbs receive word that Homicide has arrested one of the shooters driving the van used in the earlier shootout. Noogie is released, and Sonny and Rico return to the OCB. The alleged shooter is Haitian, which confuses Tubbs, who feels sure that the voices on the tape were Jamaican, not Haitian. The Vice squad now has an opportunity to listen to the cleaned up audiotape and, at this point, are able to hear Jake identify the shooters as three Jamaicans driving a red El Dorado, not a van. Sonny and Rico recontact Noogie, only to find that the Jamaicans are in Noogie's apartment.

With the help of the SWAT team, the Vice squad prepares to move on the apartment. But Sonny sees this as too risky for Noogie, and proposes an alternate plan. Sonny goes into the apartment, as if planning to go through with the deal. The SWAT team is strategically positioned but unobtrusive. The Jamaicans want to see the cash which, Sonny says, is in his car. He's escorted out by one of the Jamaicans, and when they open the trunk of Sonny's car, Rico hops out, subdues the Jamaican, then dresses in his clothes. He now escorts Crockett back to the apartment.

As soon as they knock on the door of the apartment, gunfire erupts. Noogie is shot, as is one of the Jamaicans. The other, who tries to use Noogie as a shield, is shot by a SWAT sniper from outside the building. In the final scene, Rico and Sonny go to the hospital to visit Jake, who has come out of his coma. As they enter the building, they encounter Noogie, whose arm is patched up. He's back to his old vibrant self again.

-- Daryle Gardner-Bonneau

Guest Cast and Music
Guest Cast
Charlie Barnett
Larry Riley
Belinda Montgomery
Additional Cast
Lionel Pina
Jerry Mayer
Parris Buckner
Cynthia Caquelin
Maria Chavez
Raymond Forchion
Dana Mark
Julio Oscar Mechoso
Afemo Omilami
Melanie Rodgers
Featured Music
Linton Kwesi Johnson, Reality Dub
Bob Marley and The Wailers, Jammin'
Augustus Pablo, King Tubby
Wailing Souls, Well of Souls (Feel the Spirit)
Production Credits
Created by
Anthony Yerkovich

Produced by
John Nicolella

Executive Producers
Michael Mann
Anthony Yerkovich

Co-Producers
Richard Brams
George E. Crosby

Executive Story Editor
Joel Surnow

Music Composed and Conducted by
Jan Hammer

Costume Designer
Jodie Tillen

Director of Photography
Duke Callahan

Art Director
Norman Baron

Film Editor
Buford F. Hayes

Unit Production Managers
Donald Gold
Penny Adams

1st Assistant Director
Alan Hopkins

2nd Assistant Director
Bob Warren

Casting (N.Y.)
Bonnie Timmerman

Casting (Miami)
Dee Miller

Extras Casting
Cheryl Louden
Colette Hailey

Set Decorator
Robert Lacey, Jr.

Sound
Michael R. Tromer

Music Coordinator
Fred Lyle

Sound Editor
Robert R. Rutledge

Music Editor
Charles Paley

Color by
Technicolor

Titles & Optical Effects
Universal Title