Wall Street financier Gabe Erickson stole millions of dollars, but also set up mob connections to guarantee himself a government sponsored parachute. The hook Team Leverage uses to get in is his love of vintage cars.
Tropes stolen in this job:
- Boring, but Practical: Erickson's small scams he works even under Witness Protection. They are called "Parking Lot" scams and simply are means of milking a bit of money for things which are free, like charging $5 for the internet wifi password at the bookstore he works at without his boss catching on. This scam and others around town have allowed him to amass several hundred thousand dollars in just ten months.
- Bullying a Dragon: Don Brancato acknowledges this concept when discussing things with Ford. He notes he has no claim to the money Erickson stole from people and doesn't wish to try to claim some if it means going against Nathan Ford and his crew. This is also one of the reasons he spares the life of Erickson, who is a snitch.
- Call-Back: Hardison, in the guise of a rival bidder, specifically references Erickson's cars he lost when the feds captured him and claimed all his assets... implying that he bought and dismantled them to use their parts in his artwork, as a means of ensuring that the mark is motivated to outbid him.
- Car Porn: The team sets up a vintage car show. Whoooeeeee.
- Contrived Coincidence: Erickson calls his old friend just as that friend is about to be killed by the mobsters who also hate Erickson and the friend needs a bargaining chip to make them show mercy.
- Corrupt Cop: Marshall Ellie has sold out the Marshall Service for the price of $5 million.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: The don of the New York mob embraces the pragmatism of this concept when going after Erickson. Rather than attack him when he is captured by police, he stays back and retreats. Later when he speaks with Nate, he acquiesces to Nate's request to leave the guy alone.
- Psychopathic Man Child: Erickson behaves like an overgrown teenager. He's incredibly immature, fails to realize how much danger he's in, endangers himself to get a fancy car, and petulantly demands to shoot Nate like a kid asking to drive for the first time.
- Spanner in the Works: The victim of the week just happened to run into Erickson on the golf course. Had that not happened, the Marshall Ellie and Erickson would have likely maintained their pretense and he would eventually have paid her to get him out of the system.
- Stupid Crooks: Despite being reasonably clever, as noted above, Erickson is remarkably oblivious to how much danger he's putting himself in for the sake of owning a car.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Unusually, this happens to the villain. At the end of the episode his immunity deal has been ruined, he's facing jail time for both his old and more recent crimes, and the team has liberated all of his stolen money, but Nate does convince Don Brancato not to have him murdered in prison, pointing out that with his immunity deal ruined, Erickson doesn't pose a threat to him anymore.
- Villain Ball
- Erickson contacts his old car buddy to get information on the car, which allows the New York mob to track him to Portland.
- Marshall Ellie leaves the tracking on the cellphone which allows the mob to get their exact location. She owns up to this mistake.
- Don Brancato averts this by not seeking to anger Nathan Ford when things are done. He has heard enough of Nathan and the crew (likely from their dealings with the Boston mobsters who didn't end up so well for the mob) and wants to avoid a fight.
- Villain Respect: Don Brancato mentions to Nate that the mob was originally founded to police areas and people that the police couldn't or wouldn't, showing that he respects what the team is doing.
- Xanatos Gambit: Erickson sets up one with his mob ties. While it is minor things he did for them, it makes him money while things go smoothly and is enough of a chip to play should the feds come after him for his other financial crimes. Once played, he gets out with a new life and identity.
