For some time, the escape plan is threatened when Abruzzi's associate on the outside, Philly Falzone, cuts off Abruzzi's cash stream and takes his prison privileges from him as payback for failing to find Fibonacci. Together, Michael and Abruzzi decides to frame Falzone in the episode "Sleight of Hand", allowing Abruzzi to restore his control of PI. When fellow escapee T-Bag becomes an obstacle, Abruzzi has one of his men on the outside kidnap T-Bag's cousin. The job goes bad, resulting in the death of the cousin as well as his young son. Abruzzi is deeply shaken over the death of the toddler and turns to religion as an outlet for his pain, causing him to spare T-Bag's life even though he had intended to kill him. This proves to be a big mistake, as T-Bag immediately takes the opportunity to slash Abruzzi's throat. He is evacuated by helicopter to receive treatment for his injuries. Abruzzi survives and returns six episodes later in "The Key". Upon his return he appears to have become very religious and friendly; it is soon discovered to be a ploy, as Abruzzi ruthlessly plans to kill most of the team and arranges to kidnap Veronica Donovan to force Fibonacci's location out of Michael, although this fails since Nick Savrinn released Veronica. After the escape, Abruzzi attempts to gun down T-Bag, but he handcuffs himself to Michael to avoid getting shot at. Abruzzi exacts revenge on T-Bag, cutting off his left hand with an axe, the one he attached himself to Michael with. He is one of the group of five who are forced to run on foot after his plane leaves them behind.
