The Troubles

"The Troubles"
←	L&O, Episode 1.20	→
Production number: 66214 First aired (US): 26 March 1991 First aired (AUS): 29 November 1993
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Teleplay By Robert Palm Story By Dick Wolf & Robert Palm Directed By John Whitesell

Mike Logan is forced to face his cultural biases when both a Cuban drug dealer and an Irish insurgent are suspected of killing a Lebanese drug smuggler and gun runner.

Plot[]

A Cuban drug dealer and an IRA soldier are suspected of the murder of a Lebanese drug smuggler and gun runner. Logan must deal with his own bias and sympathy towards the Irish suspect to investigate the crime. The assistant D.A.s must consult with international attaches and members of the New York Anti-Terrorist Division to prosecute the suspects.

Cast[]

Main cast[]

• George Dzundza as Sergeant Max Greevey
• Chris Noth as Detective Mike Logan
• Dann Florek as Captain Donald Cragen
• Michael Moriarty as Executive A.D.A. Benjamin Stone
• Richard Brooks as A.D.A. Paul Robinette
• Steven Hill as D.A. Adam Schiff

Recurring cast[]

• William Severs as Judge Henry Fillmore

Guest cast[]

• Anthony Heald as Ian O'Connell
• Donal Donnelly as Daniel Mallahan
• Paxton Whitehead as Fenwick
• Alan North as Defense Attorney Reilly
• Robert Silver as FBI Special Agent Axelrod
• Bill Nelson as Shelby
• Betty Miller as Bridget McDiarmid
• Kevin J. O'Connor as Patrick McCarter
• Michael Cullen as Roberts
• Ray Iannicelli as Damato
• James Canning as Pringle
• Harriet Sansom Harris as Sheila
• Paul-Felix Montez as Savino Montez
• Richard Russell Ramos as Coroner
• Gy Mirano as Interpreter
• Parvin Farhoody as Mrs. Mustafa
• Brandon Burke as Old Man #2
• Walter Flanagan as Old Lad
• Mike Alpert as Driver
• John McLoughlin as Court Clerk
• Richard Goteri as Policeman (uncredited)
• Rawleigh Moreland as Assistant District Attorney (uncredited)

References[]

• Ahmed Mustafa (victim)
• Battle of the Boyne
• Boston
• California
• Canada
• Michael Collins
• Cuba
• DEA
• Robert Emmet
• England
• FBI
• Harry Houdini
• Lebanon
• Libya
• INS
• Ireland
• Irish Republican Army
• Netherlands
• Elvis Presley
• Red Army Faction
• Sinn Féin
• Westies

Quotes[]

Damato: They should send them all back where they came from.

Greevey: What about I-talians, Damato?

Damato: I-talians is different.

Donald Cragen's realistic description about Federal agents: They don't cooperate. They think they're God Almighty. A case with Federal prisoners involved? Every time you even want to see one of them you got to see the superintendent of the facility, genuflect going in, coming out of his office.

Logan: You know, it’s weird. Two of our grandparents come from the same town. We've both got uncles as priests.

Greevey: And you're both Libras. That's destiny for you.

Max Greevey: Come off it, Mike. You forget why O'Connell was going to court? I grew up with the Westies. Nice polite altar boys. They make the sign of the cross when they slit your throat.

Logan about Arabic faxes: Looks like a break-dancing chicken wrote this.

Sheila: I like cops. But only when they're off-duty.

Logan: Was it that obvious?

Greevey: Anybody offering you any undercover assignments?

Sheila to Greevey: You don't know? The I.R.A.'s everywhere. In the prisons, on the streets. Maybe even in your own precinct. The Provos, the Sinn Féin...they're all the same. Bloody thugs.

McCarter: I'm no terrorist. I'm a soldier.

Mallahan: What he means is, he is a man of conscience.

Stone: What he means is, he is the misguided, romantic dupe of those who consider him completely expendable.

Axelrod: What's the matter with you guys in the D.A.'s office? Got no peripheral vision? Can't you see the big picture?

Robinette: We're just not blinded by it.

O'Connell: May I ask you a question, sir? How with the map of Donegal on your mug, did you ever end up with a name like Stone?

Stone: Happenstance, sir. Same way you ended up with the name of a real Irish patriot.

Background information and notes[]

• The title, "The Troubles", refers to the name of the decades-long armed warfare in Northern Ireland which lasted from the late 1960s until 1998, between British armed forces and the Provincial IRA, motivated by the politics of the UK's former governance over Ireland.

Episode scene cards[]