louis freeh promoted his longtime friend, tom pickard, to deputy director. was not good news for agent o'neill. it was pickard who decided o'neill would not lead the investigation in east africa. and now, pickard and freeh decided john o'neill would not get the big job in new york. >> my daddy always said, "don't kill your mavericks; they might save your life someday. and they're the ones that will always have the great ideas, so try to take care of them." and john was a maverick, a brilliant maverick. >> narrator: the buzz around the new york office was that the new boss, barry mawn, wasn't keen on keeping o'neill around. >> barry was a skeptic. he had heard sort of the headquarters' gossip about john o'neill's style. but it was funny; i can remember saying to john, "barry doesn't stand a chance. if you decide to win him over, you'll win him over. >> there was a knock on the door, and john was holding two beers. and he said, "well, i understand you're an irishman and you like to drink beer. these are for you." so i laughed. he wanted to stay in new york. he