Houston Knights(1987–1988)

Mirrors (1)

There are two underlying stories here. The first is the murder of a Houston business man. The other is the pasts of LaFiamma and Lundy. It is the conflict between a Northerner detective suddenly transferred to a foreign land called Texas. Lundy is a laid-back cowboy. LaFiamma is pushy. How they investigate crimes are totally opposite. At the end of this episode they are both transferred to the Major Crime Unit, under an officer who formerly was Lundy's partner.

Mirrors (2)

North of the Border

The story is about an wealthy American going into a Mexican border town and getting away with murder. Efrain Figueroa is introduced here as Sgt Estaban Gutierrez as a recurring character. Estaban is a Matamoros, Mexico cop. He travels to Houston in the hopes of finding the killer, only to find the man is an important lawyer with connections.

Houston's Hero

A hero turns out to be the killer everyone is seeking. See Recap for more details.

Single in Heaven

A serial killer is on the loose, and one of the victims is a friend of Levon's. Danni, a novice journalist overheads Joe & Levon talking and prints what she heard Joe say. The killer connects with Joe, invading his home, his work, and even proving he can get in and out of Danni's apartment without her knowledge. The showdown comes at Levon's ranch where the killer intends to kill Levon and Joe and take over Joe's personality.

Yesterday's Gone

A high school friend of Levon's is shot at in a hotel lobby. The boys are assigned the case. Joe sees a Chicago 'mob tailor' and talks with him. Levon learns that his friend, Bobby, has been laundering money for the mob. The Feds tape a meeting between Joe and 'the tailor' figuring Joe is the hit man sent to kill Bobby. In the end, Bobby is killed because the Feds won't allow Joe to enter the house. The boys push past the Feds and get in and kill the hit men. The Feds leave in disgust when they discover they were wrong! Joe realizes his family connections could get him into a lot of trouble.

Bad Girl

At a rich boy's party, things suddenly turn deadly when someone dies of laced cocaine. One of the party girls makes a play for LaFiamma. As Joe is turned on more and more by this girl, he begins to get romantically involved with her. Lundy tries to tell his partner that the woman is just playing with him for kicks, but Joe won't listen. Joe soon learns however that the lady deals in drugs and is very dangerous to be around. Her father's wealth and connections has kept her from being prosecuted until some video tapes turn up indicating just what her role really is. Used with permission of JoeyPare, Houston Knights Roundup

Scarecrow

A motorcycle cop is murdered during a traffic stop. A young black man named Scarecrow says he witnessed it. The Knights find him and put him in a safe house, but the young man flees, so they put him in a jail cell and he ends up dead. A young social worker clashes with the boys over how the case was handled, and during the ensuing investigation it is discovered that she is the one who actually saw the killing not Scarecrow. In the end, she identifies the killer.

Moving Violation

An off-duty officer is killed doing some private investigation. It is soon learned that he was working on a stolen car ring. The Knights spot a daylight heist of an Excaliber and follow it to a warehouse. As the Knights moved around inside the warehouse, Joe discovers HIS car, a Shelby Cobra, stolen in Chicago months ago. Two suspects escape in Joe's car! Later the car is ditched and one of the men runs into a blind woman as he escapes. Using Joey as a guide she gives a detailed description of the man. In the end, Joe's car is taken in evidence, but he does it get back. In this episode, Jamie Kincaid is introduced. She is the wife of the off-duty officer.

Heads, I Win - Tails, You Lose

The show has two separate storylines. One deals with date rape, the other with a prison breakout. In the date rape, a man at a fitness center feels women are coming on to him because of how they dress when they exercise. This storyline gives us the impression that Joe is a women's rights activist. In the prison breakout, the Knights get involved with a retired Texas Ranger who feels the justice system has failed. He hinders their investigation. It is discovered that a recent armor truck heist was not for the money but for the prison breakout. Levon uses an 18-wheeler to stop the truck.

Desperado

The Desperado is Bodine,(Rex Smith of STREETHAWK), who robs from the bank that repossessed his oil rig, his house and his life. He is a modern day Robin Hood as he gives the money he takes to street people and other unemployed oil workers. No one wants to give him up. Then he mets the daughter of the banker that destroyed his life. Soon Ms Devane is the Desperado's getaway driver. Things change for the 'good bad guy' when he randomly shots a bank guard, and Ms Devane discovers she has been duped. Bodine shots a cab driver in his desperate flight to freedom but now the citizens who were on his side are also trying to capture him. He foolishly makes the wrong choice when cornered by the Knights.

Gun Shy

Three night club owners are killed within six weeks of each other. All killed with the same gun. The sixth killing comes on the same day as the anniversary of Lt. Beaumont accidently killing a 14 year-old-boy. The Knights discover a garbage collector is behind the killings. Beaumont is setup as a silent partner of a new club. When the collector pushes her take his offer, she says she has a better deal. Unfortunately she uses the phrase ""Case closed, cerrado,"" that she also used at a news conference earlier in the week and is recognized as a cop. She is grabbed and forced into the alley. There she wrestles free, but is lured into a similar dark alley as when she killed the teenage boy. She kills the collector as he comes up behind Joe at the end of the alley.

Lady Smoke

The Knights happen upon a ransom drop in progress. Teddy & Frank Stark decided to kidnap the daughter of Houston's wealthiest woman. Unfortunately as the Knights soon find out, the woman's wealth crashed when the oil boom went sour. When the ransom drop fails, the Stark Brothers contact a local radio DJ, Lois Smoke, and made their demand again. In the money exchange, Lois pulls the girl from Starks' van, but is pulled in herself. Shortly after it crashes into a wall, and Frank, the smarter one of the two, dies. Teddy grabs Lois and goes into a broken down building. It is a cool ending with Joey going in the back and Levon crashing through the front to rescue Lois Smoke.

God's Will

An attempt is made on an evangelist's life. At first the suspect is another evangelist. Soon it is narrowed down to a young man who works for Rev Summerfield's wealthiest contributor. The Knights hide Summerfield and his wife at Levon's former pastor's farm. While at the young man's house, the Knights intercept a call from a man who says, 'you must finish your mission.' The Boys race back to the farm, killing the man as they save the Summerfields. It is discovered that the son of the contributor wanted to be the sole beneficiary of his father's estate. He did not want to share it with any church.

Diminished Capacity

The Boys are put in charge of a man getting an early prison release. The public and Levon are not happy for the man he killed was a prominent businessman. The man, Jessup, says he was framed by co-workers. While Jessup visits his sister, the Boys disperse a mob outside her apartment. Jessup slips out and is later found dead. The Boys are suspended because they were responsible for Jessup. Still they hunt for the evidence his sister said was being mailed to her. Jessup's co-worker's send a man to the sister's place to also wait for the evidence. The Knights get their man - unfortunately, since they violated their suspension while being suspended, they were put on suspension again!

Home Is Where the Heart Is

Joe and Levon come face to face with the homeless in this episode. Chicken has a new cook who lives in an abandoned high-rise with her fiance, who is missing. The owner of the building isn't aware anyone is living in the building and arranges to have the building burned so he can collect the insurance money. The first explosion is near the area of Elizabeth and her kids. The Knights race to save her before the building is lost.

Secrets

Somebody to Love

It is Christmas in Houston, and once again Sgt Gutierrez is tracking someone from Mexico. This time the missing is a kidnapped baby. It turns out that an unscrupulous lawyer gets babies wherever she can for her private adoptions. Estaban takes the baby from the adoptive parents and heads back to Mexico, only to be caught near the border and held for identification. When the adoption parents arrive, they also see the anguish of the baby's parents and what has happened to them since the baby was taken. In the end, the baby is returned, and the adoptive parents are invited to Chicken's Christmas party for local orphans.

There's One Born Every Minute

Joey is sitting in a bar without a date when a pretty girl makes a play for him. He soon learns she has charged $300 on his credit card that he supposedly allowed with a nod of his head. When he and Levon go looking for the girl,Neely Lloyd, they find a dead girl in her apartment. It turns out the bartender and Neely are scamming partners, and are on the run because they scammed the wrong person - a mob collector. Who is also in trouble for losing the wrong money. They find Neely as she is setting up her next mark. In this episode, we also learn that Levon's father is an alcoholic and he only contacts Levon once a year on his birthday.

Vigilante

A man who has lived in Oman most of his life returns to Houston after his father is killed during a robbery. In the airport parking lot a man tries to rob Sandhurst, and Sandhurst gives him Middle Eastern justice. He cuts off the man's hand, and writes an Arabic letter in blood on the man's forehead. One of the things stolen from his parent's home is a gold handcrafted necklace. As the Knights track Sandhurst, Sandhurst tracks the robbers, killing anyone who may have touched the necklace. The showdown comes in a shop that deals in Middle Eastern art. A shop the fence had asked to find a buyer for. A little side story woven into this, is Levon agreeing to talk to Eric Kincaid about the 'birds and the bees.' Levon discovers that Eric is way ahead of him.

The White Hand

A young man who works for Councilwoman Sonia Zamora is killed by a hate group. At the scene the group leaves is a white hand painted on a wall. When one of the group's members fail to kill an assigned 'target,' the Knights get their first lead into the group. But the leader lures Joe and Levon to a pawn shop and as the Boys leave they are fired upon. They find a freshly painted white hand on the wall of the shop they were just in. The Councilwoman is an out-spoken advocate for alien's rights, so the leader of the hate group decides the best thing is to take her out. He dies in the attempt.

Sins of the Father

The Knights are teamed with a detective who is used to working solo. He assists Joe and Levon in a raid on a warehouse, and ends up saving LaFiamma's life. However, Lundy feels the man is really putting all their lives at risk with his tactics. The man, Dan Stocker, seems suicidal. His son overdosed several years ago, and at that time it was discovered that Stocker was working both sides. The death of his son was related to the dealings he had, still has, with a known drug dealer. In the final shootout, Dan takes a bullet meant for Lundy, and dies in Lundy's arms. The detectives and other officers console a young woman Dan was just getting to know - by telling him he died a hero. (Used with permission JoeyPare/Houston Knights Roundup. www.geocities.com/hk_roundup )

Crime Spree

Cajun Spice

Using a tip from Chicken, Joe & Levon raid a warehouse and discover cash hidden in cases of 'Cajun Spice.' The man they are seeking isn't there so they go to one of the bars he owns. There Joey meets Angie Duval who he later discovers is the niece of the man they are seeking, Charlie Beaupre. After Chicken's car explodes with one of his young delivery boys inside the Knights attempt to put Chicken under protective custody. Chicken however has other ideas. Without realizing it, Angie helps narrow the field as to who is trying to frame Beaupre and take over his business.

The Stone

Joe and Levon wrestle with a man who has been exposed to radiation. Joe did not like having to give up one of his best suits when told by a government official that all clothes were to be burned while they were scrubbed down. The boys learn that a radioactive stone was stolen from some medical equipment. In the background of this storyline is a persistent reporter who is looking for a story. After another man dies from handling this stone, the Knights realize this is far more dangerous than the government man told them. In the end, the government tells the Boys that nothing may be said about any of this, but the Boys quietly take the reporter aside and tell her an anonymous story which has happened in more places than Houston.

Burnout

Love Hurts

This episode is about the senseless murder of a quiet, suburban family. The only surviving member is college student, Aaron Frost, who stayed at his girlfriend's house that night. He has no idea why anyone would murder his family. But as the Knights begin their investigation they discover that Aaron's tuition is being funded by Steve Kayden a member of a local crime family. They also learn that Kayden is having problems inside his organization. Aaron knows who killed his family, and he in turn kidnaps Kayden's father and kills him. The Knights discover that Aaron has been doing money drops in the Cayman Islands for Kayden as he travels back and forth from Harvard. Aaron is no match for Kayden who kidnaps Aaron's girlfriend Mickey, when his hitman fails to kill Aaron. A tip leads the Boys to the warehouse where Mickey is hostage and Aaron is facing Kayden's gun. In the final moments Mickey realizes that Aaron really doesn't care for her at all. The Knights change the odds and bring down

Bad Paper

Three teenage boys pull off a burglary in a small grocery store that one of the boys had worked at. When the safe is open they discover a huge stack of bills wrapped in brown paper. They grab the money and take off. The Knights are in the area when the store's silent alarm goes off and catch one of the boys as they escape, but store owner refuses to press charges. It turns out the stolen money is fake, and the mob sends in a 'button man' to tie up loose ends and take care of the teens. The Button Man kills one of the teens, and uses another to draw out the third one. The ending comes in a shoot-out between the Button Man and Joe on the 19th floor of a building under construction.

For Caroline

The opening scene is a funeral. Levon is standing off to the side watching a man bury his mother. As the man walks back to his car, Levon attacks him! Lundy is sure this man is responsible for the death of his wife. Everything floods back about Caroline jeopardizes his present relationship with Jamie Kincaid. Beaumont tells Levon to back off the case, but Lundy can't. He and Joe track Corliss to a cabin after the man escapes his protective custody. But the man who really engineered the attempt on Lundy, Harrison Taylor, also sends men to the cabin. A stunned Lundy stares into the cabin, where Corliss lays dead and his partner injured. Joey tries to convince Taylor's secretary to find them the evidence they need. At first she refuses but later does. The evidence sends Levon directly to Taylor as he attempts to leave the roof of his building by helicopter.