Errores

At an auction where Leon Lamarr was bidding on antique jewellery, Columbo interrupted Lamarr's bidding process by waving his catalogue to catch his attention. When Lamarr told the auctioneer Columbo was not bidding the auctioneer reprimanded Columbo for waving his catalogue as it was being taken as bids. However the auctioneer did not bring down the hammer on Lamarr's last bid, but went straight into another auction.

When Columbo is showing Leon the f-stops on the camera, he passes it to him lens first. The close-up then shows it with lens pointing away from Leon, then the next long shot lens first - at which point Columbo turns it round.

When Columbo realizes the origin of the winning numbers, there is a close-up look to the camera lens. We can clearly see the values on the aperture ring as 4,5,6,8,11,16. However, the correct aperture sequence on photographic lenses is 4,5.6 (decimal number), 8,11,16.

A lottery ticket is a "bearer instrument." There are no names on it; whoever turns it in wins the money. Once it is learned that Leon has killed his nephew, the money would not go to the nephew's wife, as Columbo says. There's no legal way to prove Freddy ever had the ticket. Had he dropped it in the street, whoever picked it up and cashed it in would get the money. He didn't sign his ticket. There is a line on the back to sign your name, which you are advised to do if you win.

However, Columbo might very well be aware of this. He is trying to elicit a confession, and all he needs for this to work is the two other characters believing him.

At the cemetery, Columbo speaks fluent Italian with one of the mourners (Momma). Four years later in Columbo: Strange Bedfellows (1995), Vincenzo Fortelli speaks Italian to Columbo, and Columbo replies that he doesn't speak Italian. However, having just been kidnapped in that scene, he probably just wants his captors to believe he would not understand anything in case they switched to Italian among themselves.

When Leon breaks the watch, he waits for the second hand to stop. This was clearly achieved by freeze-framing, rather than the watch actually stopping.

Freddy's death was apparently an accident, so why would a homicide detective like Columbo be called in to investigate? Homicide detectives investigate murders, not accidents.

Columbo mentions that he and his wife have their 25th anniversary coming up, but in a previous episode, he said he was married 27 years and was looking forward to his 30th anniversary.