‘Miami’ Faces A Familiar Nemesis In ‘Last Stand’

The thirteenth episode of CSI: Miami’s ninth season finds the team tracking down a cop killer in the infamous Mala Noche gang, and the man who killed Horatio’s wife returns to terrorize the city. (Major spoilers after the jump!)

According to CSI Files sources, “Last Stand” opens in a beautiful suburban neighborhood. This doesn’t seem like the type of place that would house a major drug lab, but the Miami-Dade Police Department is currently swarming all over one of the houses. Miami’s new State Attorney Nicholas Chandler (David Starzyk, “Backstabbers”) is leading cameras through the house, showing them the drug lab. He likes being on TV. Once he’s done showing the media around, Chandler heads back outside to do a press conference.

This is the latest strike against the Mala Noche gang. The police have already busted them three times in the past month. They raided a weapons stash, a prostitution ring and a distribution hub. With the addition of this latest bust, the gang’s money supply has dried up. Chandler invites Sergeant Jennifer Swanson up to the podium to thank her for leading the task force that made this all possible.

Meanwhile, an 11-year-old boy named Zach is riding down the street on his bicycle. When he gets close to the crime scene, he ignores cops telling him to go a different way. As he approaches the house and the press conference in progress on the front lawn, uniformed police officers close in on him. A plainclothes officer named Reynolds impedes his progress, and the cops joke about arresting the kid to give him a scare. Nearby, a car is approaching the scene.

When the car gets close to the press conference, a man in the passenger seat opens fire through the window. Swanson rushes to push Chandler to the ground, and Reynolds yanks Zach out of the line of fire. Zach’s bicycle gets shoved out into the road, causing the driver of the car to swerve and come to a stop in the middle of the street.

The man in the passenger seat starts shooting again, and the MDPD officers open fire on the car. The shooter is fatally wounded and falls from the vehicle, but the driver is able to peel away in the car. In the aftermath, the police are mourning the loss of two of their own. Chandler is also removed from the scene in a body bag. The shooter is still breathing when Horatio and Tripp arrive at the crime scene. As Horatio approaches the shooter, he smiles and delivers a message from the Mala Noche before he dies: this is only the beginning.

The team finds shattered glass from a pair of prescription sunglasses at the scene, and they are able to reconstruct the lenses and use them to locate the driver: Felix Medina. When they bring him in, Felix demands an attorney. Sharon Kirby is his court appointed lawyer, and he has something to tell her—something he wants her to tell Horatio. Sharon rushes out of the courthouse, calling Horatio and arranging a meeting to share what she knows. Before she can make it to the meeting, an old man moves up beside her and quickly slits her throat.

Things have changed in the Mala Noche gang. The new leader, Armando Salazar, prefers to run the gang like a business. The cops have had a hard time finding anything to tie him to the gang’s crimes, and they suspect the shooting was Salazar’s way of showing the rest of his men that he can do what needs to be done. However, Salazar and Mala Noche face a threat that could prove to be even more dangerous than the police: Memmo Fierro (Robert LaSardo). Memmo, the man who killed Horatio’s wife Marisol Delko-Caine (Alana De La Garza), was last seen escaping from the cops in “Manhunt” earlier this season. He’s back, and he wants to take charge of the gang.

Please note that the above plot details have not been confirmed by CBS, Alliance Atlantis or Bruckheimer Films, and until such time you should treat this information as you would any other rumour. The above information comes from early script drafts and the details of the episodes are liable to change before the episodes are shown.

“Last Stand” is expected to air February 20 on CBS.