Law & Order (season 1)

Suzanne Morton dies after a visit to a hospital emergency room during a hectic night shift. Her father, a former army medic in Vietnam, accuses the hospital of negligence and demands a police investigation. Logan and Greevey question a doctor who made adjustments to her chart, but are soon led to the respected Dr. Edward Auster, who they feel may have been drunk on duty. The other residents are reluctant to speak for fear their jobs may be in jeopardy, and Stone is faced with the awkward job of prosecuting a revered physician.

• Guest stars: John Spencer, Ron Rifkin and Erick Avari. 

A white woman shoots two black men in a crowded subway. The shooting at first appears to be self-defense, but further investigation shows that the motive may be revenge. Logan and Greevey argue about di Biasi's guilt, especially after learning that the dead man has a substantial record, and the living one cannot control himself in court. Laura di Biasi tries to make her case to Robinette, but he distances himself from the issue. Stone has trouble with the case, both in dealing with di Biasi's public defender, Shambala Green, and with the fact that the district attorney's office is divided over the issue.

• Guest stars: Cynthia Nixon, Akili Prince, and Lorraine Toussaint. 

Construction worker Bobby Holland is found shot to death in his apartment. Logan and Greevey investigate and soon learn that Holland was gay. After reading a magazine article, Greevey connects the death to another in San Francisco, which leads them to a similar murder in Los Angeles. The detectives arrest Jack Curry, who is connected to all three cases. Curry admits his involvement and claims that each man asked him to help them commit suicide because they had AIDS. Stone is troubled about prosecuting the case because of his doubts that Curry did anything wrong.

• Guest stars: Peter Frechette and Charlotte Moore. 

Paige Bartlett is found beaten severely in her Upper East Side apartment. She dies in the hospital. Greevey and Logan investigate her boyfriend Steven Feinstein, but find that they broke up the evening before she was killed. The detectives locate another boyfriend, Ned Loomis, and learn that he has a history of violence after another former victim comes forward. Stone is frustrated when he is not able to use Loomis' former crimes against him in court.

• Guest stars: Dennis Boutsikaris, Marita Geraghty, Thomas Calabro, and Haviland Morris. 

Alan Ralston is shot to death and his wife Janet wounded inside their building parking garage. In hospital, Janet identifies the alleged attacker from a police photo. One witness questioned early in the investigation is Gil Himes, a business associate of Alan. Police eventually piece together that the crime was not a random act of violence by the identified attacker. Rather it was the intentional murder of Alan and equally intentional wounding of Janet. Stone tries to get one of the suspects to testify against the other.

• Guest stars: Roxanne Hart and Bob Gunton. 

After local councilman and former bagman Charles Halsey is mugged and his throat slashed, Logan and Greevey investigate the case and the two young black male suspects initially caught. Their suspicion turns to organized crime when they link the victim to Masucci soldier Tony Scalisi. As Stone and Robinette continue their investigation, they uncover a corruption scandal involving a dirty councilman; the collection of parking meter violation fines has been awarded to a firm connected to organized crime. To avoid the appearance of impropriety, District Attorney Wentworth won't allow Stone to offer Scalisi immunity. However, in order to win their case, their only option might be to make a deal with the mobster. Stone discovers that case involves not only organized crime, but also elected city officials and a deputy police commissioner whom he accuses of changing his testimony and doctoring evidence in a past case. Stone is unable to use the police because of suspected corruption within the department, so he consults Assistant U.S. Attorney John McCormack.

• First episode of the series to be filmed.

• Guest stars: Roy Thinnes, Trey Wilson, Paul Guilfoyle, Dick Latessa, Michael Wikes, Marcia Jean Kurtz, Debra Stricklin, and Ron Foster. 

The discovery of an unconscious man named Diamond in central park leads Greevey and Logan to Diamond's previous activity and locale—with an escort named Jolene in a hotel room. Greevey poses as a "john" looking for Jolene. When she stipulates her fees and services, Greevey arrests her for solicitation. When Diamond dies, the investigation leads to Jolene's superior, Jasmine, then to Jasmine's superior, Laura Winthrop. Winthrop claims that she runs a catering service, but when Jolene's blood tests HIV-positive, the case takes a sharp tack questioning the safety of the escort service industry.

• Guest stars: Patricia Clarkson, Jenny Robertson, Bernir Barrow, Addison Powell, and Kelle Kerr. 

During a routine drug arrest, a veteran police officer, Fredo Parise, kills an young African-American man named Tommy Richardson, who may have been unarmed. Parise is accused of planting a gun on the victim to justify the shooting. Moreover, Parise has a similar incident already on his record. Richardson, was a student at Princeton University who was well respected for his contributions to his community in terms of time, energy, and money. But the investigation reveals that he sold drugs to get the money.

• Guest stars: John Finn, Al Freeman Jr., Erika Alexander, and Erik King. 

Greevey and Logan discover that an abused child has a cocaine-addicted mother, who is also being abused by her drug-addicted psychotherapist husband. The detectives investigate the doctor's checkered past, while prosecutors take a new tactic after the child dies.

• Based on the Lisa Steinberg case; for the first (and only) time during the show's run, a disclaimer at the conclusion of the episode explicitly stated that this was in inspiration for that specific show.

• Season 15's "Fixed", airing a few months after Joel Steinberg's actual release from prison, would later serve as a direct sequel to this episode.

• Guest stars: Marcia Jean Kurtz, Lorraine Toussaint, Louis Zorich, and David Groh. 

The apparent suicide of a controversial bisexual artist, who died while engaging in an apparent act of auto-erotic strangulation, leads Detectives Greevey and Logan into the city's bondage/S&M subculture. The initial explanation for the artist/victim's position is that he was involved in a "performance art work." Further investigation reveals that, in fact, he was one of a sadomasochistic trio that included the head of the New York Department of Cultural Affairs and his "mistress," a wealthy socialite dominatrix who instigated and monitored the S&M scene that led to the artist's death.

• Guest stars: Frances Conroy, Larry Keith, Amy Aquino, Marjorie Monaghan, and Fran Brill. 

A teenaged African-American girl claims to have been raped by white police officers. Police and prosecutors struggle to get the truth when an ambitious African-American congressman claims the investigation is a racially motivated cover-up. The conflict heats until Robinette learns from the girl's parents that she and her boyfriend had sexual relations. The family fears an unwanted pregnancy, so, with the urging of the congressman, they claim the girl was raped by police officers. Having admitted the hoax, the family avoids the congressman whose campaign has been destroyed. Prosecutors devise a solution involving all-round gag orders. They concede that reputations were seriously damaged, but they reason that, with its impetus deflated, the case will fade quickly from people's memories.

• Guest stars: J.A. Preston, Billie Neal, Frankie Faison, and Sandra Reaves-Phillips. 

After Mary Donovan, an anti-abortion protester, is killed in an abortion center bombing, detectives search for all of her potential co-conspirators. The victim's parents and brother prove to be as committed to the pro-life movement the victim. The first defendant arrested is Celeste McClure, who purchased the fertilizer to be mixed with the diesel fuel to create the bomb. Police determine that the central figure in the plot is Rose Schwimmer who is arrested. Detectives discover that the victim was pregnant and was secretly seeking an abortion. At trial, Schwimmer attempts to use her witness testimony to preach against abortion. Stone stops the attempt by asking Schwimmer that, if abortion is murder, is Schwimmer not guilty of murdering Mary Donovan's unborn baby. Schwimmer is visibly defeated by the question and remains silent for the remainder of the trial, including her conviction.

• Guest stars: Caroline Kava, Paul Hecht, Pat McNamara, Clark Gregg, and Bridgit Ryan. 

Stone temporarily dismisses rape charges against three defendants because the victim is a journalist of questionable character whose testimony has too many flaws. Greevey and Logan's subsequent reinvestigation uncovers a possible fourth assailant.

• Guest stars: Megan Gallagher, Samuel L. Jackson, Randy Danson, Sandy Baron, Al Shannon, Gil Bellows, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Kenny Johnston. 

Isaac Skolnick, a store owner, is severely beaten. His daughter tells police that he was being threatened by a man named Pilefsky whom she suspected of being related to organized crime. Eye-witness Edgar Hoover, a homeless junkie identifies Pilefsky from a photo line-up, and Pilefsky is arrested. Logan discovers that Mario Zalta, a man with connections to the Masucci Family, was a co-defendant of Pilefsky at an earlier trial. On investigating Zalta, Greevey and Logan discover that the Masucci Family is offering bootlegged cigarettes to store owners at lower-than-market prices and threatening store owners who don't comply. However, their evidence is obtained without a warrant and is inadmissible in court. They arrest a store owner selling the untaxed cigarettes, pressuring him into naming Zalta as another participant in the cigarette scam, and Zalta is arrested. While in temporary accommodation, Hoover accidentally dies and Robinette tells the police that without the witness testimony they have no case against Pilefsky. Logan threatens to charge Pilefsky with conspiracy in the manslaughter of Hoover. Pilefsky panics and mentions the name of Harv Beigel as another name connected with the cigarette scam. Biegal claims that he makes his living in real estate and that he is not connected to organized crime; he simply happens to be married to Katherine Masucci, sister of Frank who is head of the Masucci crime family. Beigel is arrested in connection with the cigarette scam. In return for a lesser sentence, Beigel offers to testify that Frank Masucci ordered the murder of Russell Mackie, a missing union labor leader. On the basis of Beigel's testimony, police arrest Frank Masucci for Mackie's murder. However, the prosecution's case unravels at trial. Beigel testifies that he witnessed a meeting at which Mackie's murder was planned, Pilefsky claims to have been present at the murder, stating that Mackie was garotted. The defense counsel reveals that Pilefsky was in hospital with appendicitis at the time of the alleged murder. Pilefsky's perjured testimony results in charges being dismissed against Masucci and Beigel for Mackie's murder. Pilefsky's and Zalta's plea bargains are vacated, they are prosecuted and given long sentences for Skolnick's assault.

• The episode's title is taken from Chapter 28, verse 251 of the Buddhist scripture The Dhammapada: "There is no fire like passion, there is no shark like hatred, there is no snare like folly, there is no torrent like greed." The witness Edgar Hoover recites this verse in its entirety at the beginning of his interrogation scene.

• Guest stars: Bruce Altman, Christine Baranski, Charles Cioffi, Robert Fields, Steven Keats, Stephen McHattie, Lee Richardson, Hy Anzell, Anna Katarina, Doris Belack,
  and Lynnie Greene. 

After having their primary case dismissed against Frank Masucci and Harv Biegal for murdering labor leader Russell Mackie, prosecution and police place close surveillance on Masucci and Biegal. Biegal is arrested again in connection with the cigarette scam; Biegal's wife Katherine warns Stone that Biegal's arrest (and likely offer of a lesser sentence in return for information on Masucci family operations) will result in his murder. In return for a lesser sentence, Biegal offers information about how murders are ordered in the Masucci family: Frank Masucci gives the murder target's name to Biegal; a car and driver is ordered for Biegal to pick up the hit man; in the car, Biegal gives the murder target's name to the hit man. Biegal emphasizes that he will not provide this information in court. After Biegal is released, police continue close surveillance on him. Shortly, Biegal is picked up by a Masucci family car. Police follow, but they are blocked by a traffic accident, and the Masucci car disappears. Masucci is arrested in connection with Biegal's disappearance, and high bail is set. Stone questions Katherine Biegal about her suspicions. She reminds him of what she told him in court the day Biegal was arrested; she also gives him the location of a "graveyard" in New Jersey for Masucci murder victims. At the graveyard, police and prosecutors discover the recently buried body of Harv Biegal with a gunshot wound in his head. Stone learns that Katherine Biegal has paid Masucci's bail, and he has been released. Stone instructs police to arrest Masucci for any reason. As they prepare to confront Masucci outside of a restaurant Masucci and his henchmen are shot dead on the sidewalk by an approaching group of men with machine guns. Stone theorizes that Masucci's murder was ordered by Katherine Biegal, his sister. Logan questions the logic of Katherine Biegal paying Masucci's bail and then murdering him, thinking that Biegal cannot recover her bail payment since Masucci cannot return to court. Stone states that, since the trial is no longer necessary, Biegal will have her bail payment refunded. Logan notes that Katherine Biegal has accomplished in short order what they had not been able to accomplish in several years; namely, put Masucci out of business permanently. At a formal dinner. Stone notes to Schiff that he fears a family war, resulting in many murders. Schiff advises Stone to wait a month and see who is left standing.

• Guest stars: Bruce Altman, Christine Baranski, Charles Cioffi, Robert Fields, Steven Keats, Stephen McHattie, and Lee Richardson. 

A twelve-year-old boy is injured and his infant brother is killed by gunshots. The investigation reveals the children were the accidental victims of a hit ordered by a drug dealer against a real estate broker. Tragically, the murders prove to be the result of an adolescent gunman targeting the wrong address because he knows more about operating automatic weapons than about basic reading.

• Future cast member S. Epatha Merkerson makes her first L&O appearance as the mother of the two victims. 

A truck with three handcuffed federal prisoners arrives at the 27th precinct. FBI and NYPD officials discover that one of the prisoners has mysteriously been murdered. The FBI officials assert jurisdiction and transport the other two to a federal prison. One of the two is a suspected IRA member who has been detained in the U.S. for five years without charge, trial, or bail. Shortly, the remaining prisoner is discovered hanging in his federal prison cell. A prison guard is discovered to be an IRA member; he confesses to the prisoner's murder. Detectives and prosecutors face resistance from federal authorities as they pursue murder charges against a suspected IRA member serving time in federal prison, after he is suspected of killing another federal prisoner.

• Guest Stars: Anthony Heald, Paxton Whitehead, and Harriet Sansom Harris. 

Captain Cragen ends up in the cross-hairs of an internal investigation into evidence tampering, and the DA's office is forced to put him in a precarious situation to implicate the conspirators.

• Last appearance of George Dzundza as Sgt. Max Greevey (though the character appears in the first episode of the next season, played by someone else).