212 The OG

You’ve got yourself one person setting off over sixty murders …


Summary: An FBI agent is killed while undercover as a gang member; Don’s team investigates how he was killed as his cover was never blown.

Original air date:
January 6, 2006 (US)

Written by: Andrew Dettmann

Directed by: Rod Holcomb

Opening numbers:

1350: LA Street gangs
152,000: Members
504: Homicides
2.2: Square miles


Family Concepts: (character development)

  • Alan has three dates with Donna, the caterer from the wedding seen in Soft Target
  • David has done some work for the Long Beach FBI office
  • David starts volunteering at the 23rd Street Community Center

Episode Quotes:

  • Don: No offense, Charlie, it sounds to me like two math geeks that don’t date much.
    Charlie: I do take offense.
  • Charlie: The point, Fleinhardt, the point!
  • David: I’m not here to try and restore your faith in the system; I’m just trying to find this killer.
  • Don: Trust me, if Charlie’s math says they are connected, they are connected.
  • Alan: Thank you for your insights my little Don Juan.

Episode Synopsis:

Don and David are called to the scene of a shooting involving a gang member.  Don wants to know why the FBI is getting involved in something that is an LAPD issue, and David ID’s the shooting victim as Anton Rimes, an FBI agent working undercover for the US Attorney’s office.  Finding out who killed Rimes is complicated when Robin Brooks the AUSA refuses to let anything blow Rimes’ cover; there’s no evidence yet that Rimes was discovered and killed.  It’s a certainty that Rimes’ cover was not blown when the gang he was part of, the 23rd Street Bangers, retaliates against a rival gang, Hoover Park for the Rimes shooting.

Charlie tells Don and LAPD lieutenant Gary Walker he can figure out shot callers and other high members of area gangs by deciphering something he’s calling shooting chains, series of murders or shootings that can be linked.  Through Charlie’s research the FBI starts working on ten separate shooting chains that can be linked to one original shooter.  While working on the shooting chains, Hoover Park retaliates against 23rd Street and two more people are dead.

Colby discovers the gun used in one of the shooting chains was turned in to a buy back program and shouldn’t exist as those guns are melted.  Checking further he finds that Lt Walker was the officer who signed for the gun.  Don calls Walker in for questioning and Walker is adamant he had nothing to do with putting the gun back on the street.  While talking to Walker, Colby finds the gun used in twelve other shootings were also supposedly turned in to the buy back program and Walker signed for all of them.  Don however believes Walker and asks where the guns were turned in, Walker tells him the 23r Street Community Center. David gets the files from the community center of the volunteers who help with the program, but nothing really turns up.

Charlie asks Don how the investigation i going and i surprised when Don tells him they aren’t getting very far in finding the shooters for the original victims in each of the shooting chains.  Charlie wants to know why Don is concentrating on the first victim on each chain, when the true victim from the shooters point of view might be anyone within the first chain itself.  David, Colby and Megan are working through the first shooting chain and find a gang banger named Jesse Orosco was killed.  He was a suspect in another drive by shooting one that killed an innocent boy.

The FBI and the LAPD go to the home of the boy’s father, John Owens.  Owens worked at the 23rd Street Community Center and was present at all of the gun buy backs.  He started the shooting chains in order to kill the person responsible for shooting his son.  David had met Owens at the community center and tries to talk Owens into surrendering to the police. Owens instead shoots himself.