Hi everybody! I hope everyone's Christmas was Merry! And if not Christmas, then holiday or season. :)

back in the bullpen:

"What've you got, McGee?" Gibbs strolled in, fresh coffee in hand. Tony stared at the cup as discreetly as he could, slight jealousy written on his face. He glanced at his cheap break room coffee.

"Abby confirmed the victim's name as Markus Gallo," Tim began. "He w-"

"Markus Gallo? As in the Gallo family scandals? The arms dealers?" Tony interrupted.

"Gallo...Italian crime? Like your movie, Tony. The Godmother."

"The Godfather, Ziva. You know, making an offer he can't-"

Gibbs promptly head slapped his agent.

"Thanks, Boss."

"Would someone please explain this Gallo family scandal? I feel it might be important," Ziva said with some impatience.

"Back in the 1980s there was a killing spree in upstate New York. Seven members of the Navy were killed. The prime suspect was Ernest Gallo, the family...patriarch at the time. They did an investigation," McGee explained.

"An undercover one. An NCIS agent was sent in to find the kind of evidence that could be used against Gallo in court," Gibbs put in. "Never got it." His agents turned to look at their boss.

"You, Gibbs?" Ziva said, already knowing by the look on his face that it was.

"Knew he looked familiar," Gibbs muttered. After that, his expression became unreadable again. He walked out of the bullpen without a word. There was a pause, then Ziva said quietly. "What else, McGee?"

"Well, Ernest Gallo never studied in law, but he had an exceptional understanding of the legal system. He had a way out of everything."

"Not to mention the fact that he could afford the best lawyers in the country, McDramaqueen," Tony said, smirking.

Tim glanced at him but continued. "They searched his home up and down, tailed him, but really, to know much about the Gallo family, you had..have to be part of the Gallo family."

"They are the mafia, yes?" Ziva asked.

"Well, they're more of a splinter group. They don't really answer to anyone we know of, they just do business with them. Their income has come from lots of things over the years. Smuggling arms, illegal clubs, all very 1920s era sort of thing."

"Wait, how do you know all this, McGee?" Tony questioned.

"Friend of mine's dad was part of the team that tried to take him down," Tim said. "But he walked."

"Well of course he did," Tony said. "It's almost impossible to actually hold something against that kind of criminal. They're too good at hiding things."

"Do we know he was really guilty?" Ziva said.

"I know," Gibbs said, as he strolled through the area, dropping an enormous file on Tim's desk, and continuing up the stairs to the director's office. Tony all but pounced on the file. Tim rose quickly and he and Ziva crowded around, trying to see.

Scribbled in practically illegible handwriting, were details about Gibbs' time undercover. He spent most of it working as a 'lawyer' for Ernest Gallo, learning as much as he could. He worked closely with Ernest and his young sons, Markus and Thomas. But in the end, all of the evidence fell through. Not even Gibbs could prove that Ernest was guilty, because anything incriminating would simply disappear before a witness could do a double take.

"So, Gibbs' trusted rule about not involving lawyers seems kind of weird now that I know he was one." Tony said.

"He was just undercover, Tony." McGee said. "The biggest thing is how even after all that, Gallo's charges were all dropped."

"Wait," Ziva said. "Look." She pointed to a line at the bottom of the page, where a single line of red ink told its readers:

Suspect found dead in the Striesmont Hotel, New York, 2 weeks after mission was aborted.

"Does it say why the mission was aborted?" Ziva asked. Tony flipped through the pages.

"It just says that it was becoming dangerous to continue, they weren't learning anything, and Gibbs was needed elsewhere."

"Elsewhere?" McGee said in question.

"Oh, it was around the time that he and Director Shepard began their series of operations," Ziva said.

"Learned anything yet?" Gibbs demanded in his usual way as he reentered. Tim leapt back to his chair.

"Markus Gallo, 32 years old, no kids, no wife. Parents both dead. He was a member of the Navy, active duty and then reserve. After that, he's only in the FBI database as a known active member of the Gallo family. He managed to stay considerably under the radar since."

"He seemed somewhat older than 32," Ziva said, thinking to herself more than to her teammates.

"He's always looked older," Gibbs said gruffly. "Just a family trait."

"He was found with a wallet. Nothing in it but a fifty dollar bill and a room key to the hotel down the street from where he was found. He had his old dog tags in his pocket, which is why we were called out," Tony spoke up.

"Did Abby get the DNA on the knife?" Gibbs asked of his junior agent.

"Yeah..." McGee pulled up the info on the screen. "Abby confirmed the blood to be Markus' and Ducky says that the blade could match with the slash in his throat."

"So we have the murder weapon?" Ziva questioned.

"But nothing else," Tony said pessimistically. Tim and Ziva glared.

"Sorry," DiNozzo muttered. "I'm just a little..." He trailed off, giving another glance at Gibbs' coffee.

"I will call the hotel he was staying at," Ziva said.

"McGee," Gibbs said.

"I'll find his home and phone," the agent responded.

"DiNozzo."

"Boss?"

Gibbs took the thick file off McGee's desk and onto Tony's. "I want to see a timeline from this to now," Gibbs said.

"Yes, Boss." Tony moved to sit at his desk, and Gibbs moved to leave the bullpen.

"And DiNozzo."

Tony's head shot up."Get yourself some coffee and stop staring at me," Gibbs all but barked.