A bust goes sour on the beach. Two of three arms dealers open automatic fire, and Tubbs understandably goes nuts.

So where did these guys get the .30 calibers? The one prisoner drops a big name: Tony Amato, part-time smuggler, gun-runner extraordinaire. Once he’s out of his waterfront house, Crockett, Tubbs, and a surveillance expert conduct a massive bugging, then dock Sonny’s boat just offshore in stakeout position. But suddenly the watchers find themselves the watched and federal agents are boarding the boat. Seems Amato got his hands on some Defense Department property--Stinger missles! Now the FBI wants to take over, but Crockett & Tubbs refuse to pull out. A joint surveillance is agreed on, with a little help from Elvis, Sonny’s alligator! Sonny quickly finds another reason to hate their suspect besides the machine guns. Amato beats the tar out of his wife, Rita. The bugs pick up the unthinkable, Rita setting up a meet with a hired gun. If Tony is killed, the missles might never be recovered. Rico replaces the fed as Amato’s buyer, while Sonny waits to hear where Rita’s meeting is. He goes, chases off the hitman, then confronts Rita himself. Before revealing he’s a cop, Sonny listens as Rita tells one or two horror stories about Amato. Sonny convinces her to go home and wait, so their cover isn’t blown. Just a few days and Tony will be gone, he promises.

Meanwhile, Rico gets a full demonstration of the Stinger from Ramon, Amato’s distributor, firing one off and setting up the meet to buy the rest. But that night, the feds announce they’re pulling rank and picking up Amato and threatening him with ten years to get the missles’s location. Because of Rita, Sonny’s not happy about this, and nearly blows up in Castillo’s office. Rico smoothly buys them more time, so they can have the entire package, Amato, Ramon, and the missles all at once. The feds agree, but Castillo thinks they’re hiding something. It’s almost blown that night when Amato finds the bug, but Tubbs calls him for a immediate meeting to prevent Amato’s backing out. Vice and feds follow from the meet to the exchange, and the deal goes down smooth. But the feds announce their presence before Tubbs is clear! Amato runs as Tubbs disables Ramon, but quickly finds himself on the end of Tubbs’s gun.

The next morning, Crockett & Tubbs escort a smug Amato to the courthouse only to meet with even more smug feds with an order for his release! They want him for a contact into his suppliers, so the scum’s getting off. He begins to brag, but Rita pulls up and sees it all. Sonny screams as Tony is shot dead. Next time, it might be wiser to have a battered wife handle matters than to let the feds screw up everything.

This episode was directed by another TV cop, David Soul of “Starsky & Hutch”.

Thanks to the fellow Miami Vice Fan that wrote this synopsis