JAMES CROWE

James Crowe was something of a criminal entrepreneur. He had been a stick-up man in his youth, had been a fence, a shakedown artist, a drug dealer, and had been known to commit murder. He had been indicted seven times for activities including land fraud, bogus silver transfers, political bribes, commercial real estate tax shelters, commodities markets, municipal bonds packages, stock transfers, extortion, drug smuggling, Ponzi schemes, and blackmail, yet because of legal technicalities his many arrests had resulted in zero convictions. The District Attorney's office had never been able to accumulate enough evidence to guarantee a conviction, and so the police had lost interest in pursuing the case.

Crowe's most recent activity was a land fraud deal that scammed at least eight retirees out of a total of $400,000. One of his victims was Kelly Sutton, an employee at the Phoenix Foundation and a friend of MacGyver and Pete Thornton, who had lost his entire life savings of $35,000 to Crowe. Fearing that a conviction might not be possible, MacGyver and Thornton considered a plan to at least recover the stolen $400,000, and they were helped in their plan by Joanne Remmings, a new Phoenix employee who was an expert on bunko scams and was convinced that it takes a con to beat a con.

Crowe wore white silk suits with a Panama hat every day, and he spent a great deal of time at the track. He and his henchmen, Carl and Tony, had even resorted to beating up Benny, the horse trainer at the local track, when he refused to dope a horse to fix a race. MacGyver and Thornton used this information to set up the Boston Bang con, and they baited the hook by visiting the track and convincing Crowe that Thornton was a dirty narcotics cop with heavy gambling debts who needed cash to invest in the deal of a lifetime. Crowe took the bait and offered to put up the cash in return for a share of the take.

When Joanne insisted on participating in the con, she unexpectedly changed the scenario from the Boston Bang to the Toledo Twist, in which she portrayed Thornton's girlfriend who could convince him to cut Crowe in on a cocaine deal if Crowe would provide one pound of 90% pure cocaine. Crowe cautiously agreed.

The fake drug deal took place at the Beverly Canyon Hotel in suite 1609, with Thornton in the role of the drug dealer and Kelly Sutton, suitably disguised with a beard, a Stetson, and a southern accent, as the buyer. Crowe had brought the bag of cocaine, which was added to Thornton's case of nine pounds of powdered milk, and he joined MacGyver and Joanne in the adjoining suite 1611 to watch the deal unfold through a two-way mirror. As rehearsed, Kelly tested the cocaine, made the payment, then drew a gun, at which time Thornton fired blanks to "kill" him. However, Crowe feared the deal had gone wrong and he fired his own gun at Kelly through the mirror. Fortunately, Crowe's bullet missed, and Kelly only appeared dead as Crowe was rushed out of the room leaving the cash and the cocaine behind.

MacGyver, Thornton, and Joanne next persuaded Crowe to put up $400,000 in cash. MacGyver and Thornton would then use the money to gain entry to the police property room where they would load a trunk with two million dollars and leave undetected. Again, Crowe agreed to provide the money, but he took Joanne as a hostage until he had received his share of the money.

With Joanne's life at stake, MacGyver and Thornton had to shift their plan once again, to convince Crowe to enter the police station with them, where he could then be apprehended. At the Decker Street Police Station, Carl and Tony guarded Joanne in a nearby vehicle as MacGyver and Thornton forced Crowe at gunpoint into a van driven by Kelly, exchanged clothes between Crowe and MacGyver, bound and gagged Crowe, and stuffed him into the trunk.

MacGyver and Thornton delivered the trunk to the property room cage where they waited as Officer Tilley left to get the proper forms signed. Inside the cage, as MacGyver rewired the button to open the door, they cut the bottom out of the trunk and filled it with random electronics. Then they exited with the trunk, leaving Crowe locked in the cage.

When Officer Tilley returned and found Crowe inside his cage, he sounded the alarm, and the swarm of responding officers found not only Crowe in a compromising position but also Carl and Tony outside the building trying to recover the electronics that had fallen out of the bottomless trunk.

MacGyver released Joanne, and they joined Thornton and Kelly in the getaway van, this time in possession of the $400,000 that Crowe had stolen, and leaving behind enough evidence to finally arrest and convict Crowe and his partners.

Portrayed by: Richard Romanus

Cross Reference: Benny, Beverly Canyon Hotel, Carl, Decker Street Police Station, Joanne Remmings, Kelly Sutton, Tilley, Tony

Episode Reference: Twice Stung