 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 . 
