Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series)

Counselor, It's Chinatown (2019)

Mariska Hargitay: Captain Olivia Benson

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Quotes 

• Evelyn Lee : No speak English.

  Olivia Benson : Please stop. I'm looking at your record. You've been here for 30 years and this is your tenth arrest. So I'm not buying it.

  Evelyn Lee : Ten arrests, no conviction. Charges always drop. I run legal massage business.

  Olivia Benson : Where your workers are forced to perform illegal sex services.

  Evelyn Lee : I take care of my girls. Like a mother. Food, medicine, cake for birthday. No force. Force is, uh, hit, starve.

  Olivia Benson : Is that what happened to you? You know, if you really cared about these girls, you would help me find the people that are running them and running you. Ms. Lee, you're in a lot of trouble.

  Evelyn Lee : Trouble? We both know your UCs can't unzip, so your case gonna go south. I call my legal aid lawyer, make bail. I'm back in business by the weekend. You know, you look like you are under a lot of stress. Need massage. Come by. On the house.

• Evelyn Lee : I am so sorry she died. Lily was like daughter to me.

  Olivia Benson : But not like your real daughter. The one in China; Jia.

  Evelyn Lee : She good girl. She know nothing about this.

  Olivia Benson : Oh, she's a good girl, and she's a smart girl, from what I understand. She just got accepted into UC Davis.

  Evelyn Lee : What do you know about that?

  Olivia Benson : I know that universities don't like bad publicity... and I know that they don't accept tuition paid for by sex traffickers.

  Evelyn Lee : She get accepted on her own. No

  [speaking Chinese] 

  Evelyn Lee : , no back door.

  Olivia Benson : That won't matter. They find out about you, they won't take Jia.

  Evelyn Lee : No.

  Olivia Benson : You've worked hard your whole life so Jia would have the break that you never did. But I pick up the phone to the dean of admissions of Davis...

  [snapping and blowing air] 

  Olivia Benson : ...that all goes away.

  Evelyn Lee : What do you want?

  Olivia Benson : I want you to tell me about the Changs. Where do they get the girls? Where do they get the money? Not from Rick Olin.

  Evelyn Lee : No. He take money for rent to grease building inspector, politicians. But the real money... we pay to mai-mai ren. The buy/sell man.

  Olivia Benson : So, an intermediary. And what's his name?

  Evelyn Lee : Lester Ping. He run World Wide China Travel Agency. I see him once. He help fancy lady get out of fancy car.

• Olivia Benson : So, what do we have on this creep?

  Katriona Tamin : Theo Pappas, 30. No record, no job.

  Olivia Benson : And no idea who the friend is.

  Odafin Tutuola : Some guy who rents out the space.

  Olivia Benson : Okay, are we any closer to tracing the leasing agent?

  Katriona Tamin : On all four parlors that we raided, it's just a firewall of LLCs from the Caymans to Korea to Hong Kong.

  Olivia Benson : So Theo is all we have. Mei Mei and Lily IDed him. Will she testify?

  Odafin Tutuola : Rollins took Mei Mei to a shelter. She's shaky.

  Olivia Benson : And Lily?

  Katriona Tamin : She went back to the massage parlor, but she's feisty. She wants to do this.

  Olivia Benson : Set up a meet away from the spa. Walk her in.

• Dominick Carisi Jr. : I have a grand jury waiting.

  Olivia Benson : And they just texted and they're on their way.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Yeah, they'd better be. Mei Mei backed out, same as the two workers from the Yorkville spa.

  Olivia Benson : You still have Theo's assault video.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Yeah, without Mei Mei supporting it.

  Olivia Benson : Enough for an indictment. And Theo? Two hours in Rikers, he'll wet the bed.

• Lily Song : You get undressed.

  Sergeant Joe Chin : Lily, right?

  Lily Song : Mm-hmm.

  Sergeant Joe Chin : Now, my, uh, buddies say that you're good with full service?

  Lily Song : Yeah. You want executive release, number one, honeymoon?

  Olivia Benson : [watching the surveillance feed]  That's it.

  [into her radio] 

  Olivia Benson : All units, game on.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Here we go.

• Olivia Benson : And they know nothing about him?

  Katriona Tamin : Just that he sweats gin and has enough hooks to get a free pass.

  Amanda Rollins : So, we lean on Mamasan. Charge her with aiding and abetting unless she gives him up.

  Odafin Tutuola : She won't. She lets him rape her girls. He's too connected for her to turn on him.

  Olivia Benson : Mamasan knows the game. She told me she'd be out on bail and open for business by the weekend, and she's probably right.

  Amanda Rollins : Maybe that's not such a bad thing. I mean, Mei Mei said that he's a Sunday regular, so maybe we just let her re-open.

  Olivia Benson : It's worth a shot, but this guy's connected. Is he really gonna talk?

  Odafin Tutuola : A piece of crap like that? He'll flip to save his own ass.

• Olivia Benson : So, we arrested four johns. They all claim they were getting a "massage."

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Yeah. Tough to prove otherwise. Who else?

  Sergeant Joe Chin : Charlie Hu. Bodyguard/muscle. Carrying an unregistered .45.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Hey, we can work with that.

  Olivia Benson : Other guy's over here.

  Odafin Tutuola : The mamasan, Evelyn Lee, she's hanging tough.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Well, no surprise there. What about these women?

  Olivia Benson : We're waiting on a translator for the ones who don't speak English, and, uh, Kat and Rollins are with two who speak some English. Kat says she's not fluent, but she does have some Cantonese, Mandarin, and Hokkien.

  Odafin Tutuola : Of course she does.

• Sergeant Joe Chin : Dates, names, amounts. Villages in China.

  Amanda Rollins : [into her radio]  Captain, we just broke into the Changs' iron mountain.

  Olivia Benson : [in the car, as Rollins texts photos]  We'll need more forensic accountants. Look at this. Okay, what about an arrest warrant for the Changs?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : I'll call my new best friend, Hadid.

• Olivia Benson : So, we know that you rent out at least 11 of the buildings that you manage to these spas. So these spas are all connected. But the women are debt slaves. They get moved around from one to the other to the other.

  Avi Olin : That, I can't speak to.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : What can you speak to? How about the syndicate behind the whole operation?

  Counselor Art Blumfeld : Here's where we stop. You want Mr. Olin's cooperation, it's simple. Your boss guarantees no charges will ever be filed against Rick Olin.

• Olivia Benson : Hey, guys, listen up. So, welcome to Operation Dragon Slay. This is Sergeant Joe Chin from the Human Trafficking Task Force.

  Sergeant Joe Chin : Thank you, Captain. Our focus: massage parlors that are fronts for sex slavery and debt servitude, undocumented women being forced to pay off their family's debt to smugglers.

  Olivia Benson : So, SVU has been tasked with investigating the Sweet Joy Relax Spa down on Eldridge.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : How long have we had them under watch?

  Odafin Tutuola : This one, a week. The girls are let out one hour a day, always escorted by Charlie Hu. He's illegal with ties to Chinatown gangs.

  Amanda Rollins : We estimate off-menu extras bring the spa around 50k in cash a week.

  Katriona Tamin : The women keep the bare minimum for food. The rest they turn over to the spa's mamasan, Evelyn Lee. Korean-Chinese.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : So she's the manager? Do we know who they lease the space from?

  Amanda Rollins : Not yet. The buildings and spas are hidden behind a web of offshore LLCs.

  Sergeant Joe Chin : UCs will pose as clients. The goal is we arrest the johns, management. We flip 'em, we follow the money, we get the owners.

  Olivia Benson : Okay, but the girls we do not arrest, right? If they talk, great, but if not, we still offer them immigration, legal, and medical assistance. Take them to social services.

• Olivia Benson : Surveillance cameras in the smoke alarms.

  Sergeant Joe Chin : All nine rooms. Mamasan's nine eyes.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Not security for the girls?

  Odafin Tutuola : No, to keep an eye on the cash.

  Amanda Rollins : TARU went through the servers. It turns out the cameras were routed to Mamasan's nail salon across the street. I went through some of it. It's... it's pretty ugly. Each woman services over a dozen men a day. Um, I found this in there.

  Olivia Benson : [watching a feed]  Okay, turn that off. That's rape.

  Sergeant Joe Chin : Mm-hmm.

  Olivia Benson : Who is she?

  Amanda Rollins : This is Mei Mei. I-I spoke with her. She didn't say one word about this.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Of course she didn't. She's scared of Mamasan.

  Olivia Benson : So, bring Mei Mei in and let her know that if she helps us, we will take Mamasan down.

• Olivia Benson : So, Carisi says that we lost the Changs.

  Katriona Tamin : What?

  Olivia Benson : The feds took the case.

  Katriona Tamin : Did he say why?

  Olivia Benson : Apparently, they didn't have to.

  Odafin Tutuola : We knew those two were connected.

  Katriona Tamin : What about the rape case against Theo and Rick?

  Olivia Benson : Theo pled guilty. Uh, they're asking the judge for seven years. And Rick, they're still negotiating.

  Katriona Tamin : You mean he's gonna get off.

  Olivia Benson : Kat, why don't you punch out?

  Odafin Tutuola : [watching her leave]  She's not gonna last here.

  Olivia Benson : Hold on, Fin. The girl that she was supposed to be protecting jumped out a window.

  Odafin Tutuola : That's not her fault.

  Olivia Benson : Well, she doesn't believe that.

• Olivia Benson : Let me ask you a question, Mrs. Chang. Did the mothers know what you forced the girls to do to pay off the debt?

  Counselor Josh Wang : These criminals...

  Christine Chang : Enough! When I was growing up, the Cultural Revolution was ruining China. My parents were doctors. They were arrested for practicing Western bourgeois medicine. Sent to the countryside...

  [speaking Chinese] 

  Christine Chang : ... for "re-education." My sister and I... no one would talk to us because our parents were criminals. And no food to eat... no place to sleep.

  Olivia Benson : That doesn't justify what you did...

  Christine Chang : Please, please!

  Olivia Benson : ...to those girls.

  Christine Chang : And then a man helped me to come over. He helped me to get over here. I came with nothing. A-And what can a girl do, huh? With no education, no resources. You can guess. I promised myself if I could, I would help other girls escape, and I would. I have helped hundreds, thousands of girls make their way here. But... in... my zeal to help others down the golden path... my path has deviated. And for this... I must atone.

• Avi Olin : My first set of kids, they turned out fine, but Ricky, he's a little dim. But he's no criminal.

  Olivia Benson : Let's agree to disagree, Mr. Olin. Your son is looking at conspiracy to rape and sex trafficking.

  Avi Olin : What, so he got a few freebie, uh, happy endings? I told him to slow that down, but how is that sex trafficking?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : He's on camera taking cash from somebody that he thought was the parlor's bag man.

  Avi Olin : What "bag man"? It's rent.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Oh, it's rent. So you... you know about the payments. So if we go through your books, we're gonna see $15,000 a week in cash rent?

  Avi Olin : Ricky might be behind in the paperwork.

  Olivia Benson : I don't think you understand what we're saying. You know your son's friend Theo? Rick gave him permission to do anything he wanted to those women, including rape.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : So in answer to your question, Mr. Olin, that is how we get to conspiracy to rape and sex trafficking.

  Avi Olin : You're talking to me because you want something. I'm a great deal-maker. So let's talk.

  Olivia Benson : Good.

• Evelyn Lee : I never meet these people.

  Olivia Benson : I'll buy that, but you do know them by name. Chang, Christine and Arthur. Right? They own the spa and many others. They supply the girls.

  Evelyn Lee : No. Girls show up, need work, I give work. Massage. Massage very good...

  Olivia Benson : Stress, I know, I know. You know what's stressful? Prison. And I know that you're out on bail now... but you're looking at sex trafficking, abetting rape.

  Evelyn Lee : Rape? No. My girls would tell me.

  Olivia Benson : Stop. We have your own surveillance video. You knew what was goin' on. You allowed it to happen. And when Lily was going to testify, you threatened her family, and that's why she jumped.

• Counselor Josh Wang : The Changs among the most well-respected business leaders in New York.

  Olivia Benson : Okay.

  Counselor Josh Wang : These are wild, baseless and, frankly, offensive accusations.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Offensive? Yeah. Baseless? No. In addition to trafficked sex workers, a mamasan, and a bag man, your lead CPA, Lester Ping, has agreed to cooperate.

  Christine Chang : Lester, he's only our travel agent.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Well, you should have paid him more. He's still walking our forensic accountants through your maze of money laundering. Smuggler pay-offs, bribery, fraud, embezzlement. From here to Guangdong.

  Counselor Josh Wang : The Changs know nothing of any of this.

  Olivia Benson : Really?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Is that true, Mrs. Chang? Because in your home village, Dalang, six girls were smuggled out last year.

• Christine Chang : Sex trafficking? That cannot be. My husband and I only own legitimate businesses. Restaurants, travel, real estate, import/export, hotels.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : And, uh, transportation, right? The Silver Rabbit Bus Line?

  Christine Chang : Yes, uh, very successful. We started this because we have so many restaurants. We needed to transport our workers. Other bus lines charge too much, but... our Chinatown buses became very popular.

  Olivia Benson : Okay, Mrs. Chang, we read the articles. Thank you very much. And we also know that you use the bus lines to transport girls from one massage parlor to another under armed escort.

  Christine Chang : To protect them.

  Olivia Benson : No, no, it's so they don't run away.

  Christine Chang : They are freelance. They want to work for us.

  Olivia Benson : They want to perform sexual services a dozen times a day six days a week while you take away their pay?