Meanwhile, Roy Cohn discovers that he has advanced AIDS and is dying. Defiantly refusing to publicly admit he is gay or has AIDS, Roy instead declares he has liver cancer. Facing disbarment for borrowing money from a client, Roy is determined to beat the case so he can die a lawyer and he attempts to position Joe in the Justice Department with the aim of having a friend in a useful place. When Joe at last refuses his offer, he flies into a rage and collapses in pain. As he awaits transport to the hospital, he is visited by the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg, whom he prosecuted in her trial for espionage, and who was executed after Roy illegally lobbied the judge for the death penalty.