The Conspirators story
Joe Devlin is a renowned Irish poet, author, and raconteur. He, along with his own family and the heads of O'Connell Industries, is secretly a fundraiser and gun-runner for the Irish Republican Army. He raises money in Los Angeles for his radical cause through a charity ostensibly meant to help victims of terrorism. Devlin has a strong belief in honor. Thus, when Vincent Pauley, an arms dealer selling guns to Devlin, tries to skim off $50,000 for himself, Devlin shoots and kills Pauley for being a traitor. With Columbo hot on his trail, Devlin now in possession of the guns must arrange for their shipment out of the country. Final clue/twist: Columbo discovers that a bottle of whiskey at the crime scene has the same glass markings that Devlin habitually makes when he drinks from a bottle. Because every diamond has a unique cutting habit, Devlin's ring, which he uses to mark his bottles, is proof of his presence at the crime scene. Devlin accepts that Columbo has caught him, and is only disturbed when at the last minute Columbo foils his gun-smuggling scheme (Columbo had realized the guns were not yet on a ship going out to Southampton, but were on a tugboat escorting the ship to sea; Columbo saw the tugboat had the colors of the O'Connell shipping line). This was the last episode of the Columbo series broadcast on the NBC television network. Columbo's last line is "This far, and no farther", words spoken by Devlin as he marked a whiskey bottle to determine how much he would drink in a session. These words were taken from a speech by the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) leader Charles Stuart Parnell, a 19th-century Irish politician and supporter of Home Rule. A noted IPP politician of the same name as the fictional killer in this episode, Joseph Devlin, represented West Belfast early in the 20th century and opposed the use of violence in the cause of nationalist politics. Directed by: Leo Penn. Story by: Pat Robison, Howard Berk.
14 total · 2 choice · 4 major · 8 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| murder | choice | The Irish poet, author, raconteur, and secret IRA operative Joe Devlin shot dead an illicit arms dealer without leaving a trace of evidence to connect him to the crime - or so he thought. One gathers that he would have gotten away with it had it not been for the meddlesome Lt. Columbo. |
| the desire for vengeance | choice | The villain of the story Joe Devlin shot the illicit arms dealer Vincent Pauley dead for what Joe saw as Pauley betraying their common cause of freeing Northern Ireland from British rule. Joe's placing of a whiskey bottle with the slogan "Let each man be paid in full" on the label next to the dead body belied his motive of revenge. |
| arms trade | major | Joe Devlin and his fellow conspirators were working with illicit arms dealers to smuggle firearms into Northern Ireland. |
| independence struggle | major | The plot turns on Joe Devlin and his fellow conspirators endeavoring to smuggle firearms into Belfast to support the Irish Republican Army in its fight to end British rule. |
| law enforcement | major | The bumbling but sharp-witted homicide detective Lt. Columbo was tasked with solving the following murder mystery: Who shot dead the arms dealer Vincent Pauley? |
| terrorism | major | Joe Devlin and his fellow conspirators hatched a plot to smuggle firearms to the Irish Republican Army. Joe Devlin had spent time in prison as a teenager for attempting a terrorist attack on English soil. It came to light that an Irish terrorist, named Michael Dolan, had been hanged for the murders of five people, including one child. |
| alcohol abuse | minor | Joe Devlin made no bones about being a heavy drinker. He put the words "you think I drink too much" into the mouth of his assistant, Kerry. |
| betrayal | minor | Joe Devlin was upset about being betrayed by the arms dealer he had trusted and performed an execution style murder. |
| creative writing | minor | Joe Devlin signed copies of his autobiography, "Up from Ignorance", during at event held for that purpose at the bookstore. |
| mobility impairment | minor | Mrs. O'Connell was in an electric wheelchair. |