The X-Files

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Get the tape. Get it. It's in the back.

Come on!

It's all right. You don't have to do this.

No, I want to.

Why are you doing this?

Come.

His name was Isaac Luria. He lived in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn.

Home to a sect of Hasidic Jews since the late 19th century.

Also known for racial tension and hate crimes

- Yankel Rosenbaum, Tawana Brawley...

Now Isaac Luria - murdered two days ago

in the market that he owned.

Severely beaten and shot five times at point-blank range.

Police ruled out robbery cos the only thing that was missing was this videotape...

...from the surveillance camera. Police found it early this morning.

Where?

In the VCR of a 16-year-old named Tony Oliver.

That's him on the upper right.

Has he been arrested?

No.

Because he's dead.

He'd been watching this tape when he was strangled.

Very Old Testament.

Yeah, but with a new twist.

Brooklyn Homicide contacted the FBl's civil rights branch...

...with an interesting set of prints from the boy's body.

- Interesting how? - They belonged to Isaac Luria.

Risen from the grave to avenge his own death?

Some might assume that. It's probably what someone would like us to think.

- But you have your own idea. - I think that this is a crime of hatred...

...like the crime that spawned it. A hatred that goes back 4,000 years.

But masquerading as something else here.

A callow attempt at murderous retribution...

...disguised as spectral justice.

- A resurrection hoax? - And not a very good one.

Yeah. Spectral figures are not often known to leave fingerprints. Casper never did.

Somehow the killer got hold of Isaac Luria's fingerprints.

And we have been asked to prove how.

Excuse me, sir. We're with the FBI.

We'd like to speak with Ariel Luria.

- Is she home? - I'm Ariel's father, Jacob Weiss.

Why are you bothering her again? She's already spoken with the police.

It's all right. Let them in.

Please, come in.

Thank you.

We can talk in the study.

This is why you are here?

This is what you come to ask in this house of mourning?

What is this?

We'd like your permission to reopen Isaac's grave.

No! The answer's no!

Why does this have to be done?

We're looking for evidence in the murder of this young man. His name is Tony Oliver.

He's one of three suspects in your husband's murder.

We believe it was an attack of retaliation and that the other two suspects are targets.

- He's just a boy. - He's an animal.

A monster, like the others who killed Isaac.

Whose grave you're asking us to desecrate so you can protect them.

Tate, please.

But where were you when Isaac needed your protection?

When we called the police, they said that we were paranoid.

That there was nothing to worry about.

They always say that when someone threatens the Jews.

So there was a threat of violence?

The threat is always there.

Just this morning...

...this is what I found under our door.

And now you've come here not to help us...

...but to ask our help so you can impose yourjustice...

...on the only man who's taken justice into his own hands.

We'd be happy not to disturb the grave if you could tell us who that man is.

Even if I knew, why would I tell you?

Because this is a homicide investigation and you are required by law to assist us.

I know all about your laws.

I'm afraid that even without your consent,

we can get a court order to exhume Isaac's grave.

Do what you feel is necessary.

But leave us alone.

Let us mourn in peace.

I have a feeling he knows who killed Tony Oliver.

He doesn't want us disturbing the grave

because he knows what we'll find.

Maybe. But it's hard to fault his attitude

when you see something like that.

Anybody delivering justice to a people

who've known that kind of hatred...

- ...who wouldn't protect 'em? - Justice or revenge?

I'm not saying those kids don't warrant prosecution, but the hate goes both ways.

But the right to free expression doesn't extend to murder.

I bet whoever published that knows who killed Isaac Luria...

...and has a good idea who killed Tony Oliver too.

Sure I knew him. He owned the store across the street.

But I'd be lying if I said I was surprised it happened.

Why's that?

Well, you know how they are.

Always trying to find ways to make money off of honest folk who work for a living.

Can you think of anyone who held a grudge?

- I can't think of anyone who didn't. - Did you?

Why? I'm not... under any kind of suspicion, am I?

No, not directly, but these young men are.

We have reason to believe you know them.

Their names are Derek Banks and Clinton Macguire.

I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with them.

Well, are you familiar with this?

We think those kids are familiar with it.

Enough to incite them to murder Isaac Luria.

- You work for them too. - Who?

You know who. You look like you might be one yourself.

We work for the FBI, sir.

Who's the FBI work for?

That's right.

You call me paranoid, cos that's exactly what they want you to do.

But there is one thing you can't call me and that is a Zionist collaborator.

You take a long look at these photos.

It may be your last chance to save their lives.

One of their accomplices...

...Tony Oliver, was found murdered this morning.

- Why tell me this? - You haven't heard the rumours?

- What rumours? - That Luria is back from the dead.

That he's risen from his grave.

What kind of Jew trick is this?

A Jew pulled it off 2,000 years ago.

We're just relating the evidence, sir. You can draw your own conclusions.

But I know you wouldn't want to be responsible for...

...endangering these young men's lives.

Bless you.

Derek?

You sure about this?

I heard them, man. I'm not waiting around to find out if it's true.

Damn!

- What's wrong? - It's nailed shut.

There's some tools in the trunk.

I got it open, man! Get down here!

Hey, Clinton. Check it out.

Clinton!

Hey, Clinton. Check it out.

Clinton?

You trying to mess with me?

Oh, man.

The ligature marks on the victim's neck are consistent with our vigilante's MO.

Forensics come up with anything?

A second set of footprints, but the mud was too soft to take a mould.

My guess is Clinton was here with Derek Banks.

Looking for what?

Maybe they came to desecrate the corpse as retribution for Tony Oliver's death.

Seems pretty redundant.

Messing up somebody you've already killed?

I think they came here because they were afraid.

Afraid?

Afraid that the man they hated enough to kill wasn't really dead.

Look.

There goes your theory of how Luria's prints got onto the victim's body.

What does that look like to you?

The body wasn't embalmed, as according to custom.

Maybe it's postmortem lividity or some kind of tattooing.

It's hard to tell at this stage of decomposition.

What's this?

A little bedtime reading?

- You owe me for two weeks. - Where have you been?

Is it true? You and your friends killed the Jew?

Just give me my money.

What the hell were you thinking?

I never told you to kill anyone.

No?

What did you expect me to do?

Hide back here like you, licking envelopes in the dark, calling them names?

We're working to spread the truth.

The truth?

You're as pathetic as they are.

L.-

I am exposing their lies.

Man, those are just words.

You think they killed my friends with words?

That's right. Clinton's dead too.

Now I'd like my money.

It's called the Sefer Yezirah, the Book of Creation.

The earliest known Hebrew text on man's mystical communion with the divine.

- Is it ever buried with the dead? - No.

In observance with the Jewish belief, the corpse is buried only in its shroud.

No personal symbols of class or worldly position are allowed.

Has it ever been known to spontaneously combust?

Uh, no. No, it hasn't.

It's a book on mysticism, not mysticism itself.

Is it printed on special paper or with special ink?

No, it's just a book. Leather and paper.

I suspect somebody's playing a trick on you.

Possibly moisture may have leeched into the coffin...

...into the binding and the pages of the book.

If the groundwater was contaminated,

arsine gas could've created a combustible mixture.

Is there anything that distinguishes this particular Sefer Yezirah from other books?

Yes, but it's barely legible because of the burning.

It's a name engraved in the leather, or stamped into the leather.

- A name? - Yes, a Hebrew name.

Weiss.

Jacob Weiss.

Jacob Weiss.