Screencaps for Ep 4.11 added

The screencaps for Merchants of Death are now available on the episodes' page. Rivalry between two street gangs is getting hot when the Dragons start poaching the Kingsmen's territory. It all happens close to a youth project by street worker Eddie Griffin, performed by famous Greg Morris, who intervenes in a dispute in order to calm down both sides. Giffin's intervention, however, cannot prevent that the Kingsmen's leader, Buddy Winston, stabs one of the members of the Dragons to death, initiating a death-feud. In the meantime, two young boys, Rudy and Billy, who are occasionally washing cars at Griffin's youth project, inconsiderately steel a wooden cargo box out of a pier building, and later discover that the consignment destined for South America contains machine guns and smaller firearms. In an effort to get some money, they are considering to sell off the weapons. Rudy is still unsure, and asks his father - a salesman for pharmaceuticals - if someone who sells something is still responsible for if another one is hurt by what he initially sold. Little does Rudy's father know what his son is actually talking about, so answering as the salesman he is, he neglects any responsibility for the original seller. Rather unintentionally, Rudy and Billy offer the guns to Buddy Winston which turns out to be a dangerous idea. Put under pressure by Buddy Winston, the boys are forced to sell the weapons to his gang, taking the street gang rivalry to a new level. While investigating the original murder case, Mike and Steve are soon pointed to Eddie Griffin's youth project but the rivalry is already close to escalation. Rudy is seeking a second opinion and asks Griffin, who smells a rat. Rudy tells him the whole story but it's all too late. When the young boy does not front up as discussed, Griffin immediately get down to the piers and finds Rudy smashed down on the ground with all weapons stolen - and he already knows who stole them. Winston and the Kingsmen are already setting a trap for the Dragons and another rival street gang, the Centurions, but when police arrives on the scene, Winston's buddies are checking out as no one ever wanted to go as far as their leader and war chief. In all his desparation, Winston even fires at Griffin and Steve, before his is booked by police and taken in custody. This episode is one of many in the series dealing with actual contemporary (social) problems - and is a real winner in my personal opinion.

This episode guides us through old South Beach and Fisherman's Wharf. Griffin's car wash youth project is located in the heart of Fisherman's Wharf, right at Pier 45, where he observes the confrontation between the Kingsmen and the Dragons on a boat stage next to it. Although it is supposed to be in a walking (running) distance, the location of the crime scene (where Winston stabs down one of the Dragon's gang members) is far south in South Beach, the same goes for the warehouse in which Rudy and Paulie are hiding their capture as well as the location where Buddy Winston is chased by the Dragons. Rudy's house is located in the Marina, and Griffin later meets him at the Marina Green. We are also taken to South of Market when Rudy and Paulie are offering the stolen guns to Buddy Winston and his gang. Rudy meets Winston at the Marine Drive close to Fort Point, whereas Mike and Steve are on stake out in the Mission District. Following the attack by angry Buddy Winston, injured Rudy in treated at the former Presbyterian Hospital in the Pacific Heights, and on the final leg of this episode Griffin can convince Paulie to provide helpful info while they are talking at the Golden Gate Yacht Club, right before the Dragons as well as the Centurions are about to walk into the trap underneath the freeway ramps in South of Market again.