 Throughout the episode, Crosetti discusses with Lewis various conspiracy theories about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States. Crosetti disputes the accepted theory that actor John Wilkes Booth killed Lincoln and instead theorizes that Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States of America, organized the murder. Crosetti's assassination theories about Lincoln would be a recurring theme throughout the rest of the first season. Crosetti's fascination with the Lincoln assassination was based on Tom Fontana's real-life obsession with it. During an early scene in which a suspect tries lying to Munch, the detective berates the suspect for treating him as if he were Montel Williams instead of Larry King. King is a long-time television journalist and host of CNN's Larry King Live, whereas Williams is a more tabloid-style television show host. Williams is also a Baltimore native, which becomes a point of discussion between Munch and Bolander. Munch tells a lying suspect that his false story has an "Elmore Leonard quality", a reference to an American novelist and screenwriter.
