He has many friends among New York's elite, including powerful politicians, judges, and businessmen. Over the show's run, however, many of these friends prove themselves to be either corrupt or hiding secrets. The politician who first asked that he run for district attorney, Edward Vogel (George Martin), later tries to use their relationship to quash the prosecution of his son's murderer to avoid having his son's homosexuality revealed. In another case, one of his closest friends, Judge Edgar Hynes (Louis Zorich), commits suicide after being caught taking bribes. Another, Carl Anderton (Robert Vaughn), a high-powered CEO, is discovered to be suffering from bipolar disorder and attempts to arrange an unjust punishment for his similarly affected grandson Terence (Sam Huntington), who had killed his half-sister during a manic phase, to hide his own condition. The once solid friendship destroyed, Anderton seeks vengeance and backs Schiff's opponent Gary Feldman (Cliff Gorman) in a primary election; Schiff nevertheless is reelected.