24x11 - Soldier Up

[bunniefuu]

In the criminal justice system,

sexually based offenses

are considered especially heinous.

In New York City,
the dedicated detectives

who investigate these vicious felonies

are members of an elite squad

known as the Special Victims Unit.

These are their stories.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

Noah, call the police.

I was with my son,

and a g*ng came after
me with a machete.

- You all right?
- I will be,

once I get my hands on Oscar Papa.

Well, I got a call under Bronx Gangs.

You call Duarte.

He's our expert on BX .

Are you saying you wanna
liaise with me?

If you think that you can separate

the g*ng problem from the
r*pe problem up there,

I would like to see you try.

SVU Bronx needs a new squad now.

I don't have the authority
to hire anybody.

You and Bruno should be vetting them.

While you go after Oscar Papa?

It's the reason that I came up here.

The kid that I sh*t
just got out of surgery.

Remember me?

You're that white lady who sh*t me.

You're lucky it wasn't your head.

[SCOFFS]

Would have been doing me a favor.

If you're worried about retaliation...

We have armed guards in the hall.

I don't care what happens to me.

My whole life's a mess.

So why don't you let us
help you clean it up?

What do you want from me?

I want confirmation,

that Oscar Papa is the one

who put the hit out on me.

You know I can't do that.

You're protecting a guy
that thinks you're disposable.

[COUGHING]

[SPEAKING SPANISH]

Is he talking smack about me?

What'd he say?

Nothing bad.

How old are you?

I'm .

Oh.

[PENSIVE MUSIC]

How did you get involved in BX ?

I came up on La Bestia.

The beast.

Train from Chiapas.

I walked from El Salvador,

climbed up on the train one night.

We rode the roof
for thousands of miles.

We?

It was so cold.

Me and some stranger huddled together.

[SPEAKING SPANISH]

He taught me to look up at the stars.

I liked those three little ones,

all in a row.

Orion's Belt.

That makes sense.

Why'd you come to New York?

I was looking for my moms.

She came to New York
when I was ten to work.

Did you find her?

She didn't want nothing
to do with my ass.

And why is that?

Why do you think?

BX .

They r*ped her,
threatened to do it again

if I didn't soldier up.

I told you,

you should have just
sh*t me in the head.

♪ ♪

- The kid give you anything?
- Not yet.

We're working him.

Working him.

Just a little bit of empathy, Duarte?

You wanna hug that kid in there, fine,

but do it after I solve my case.

- Your case?
- Yeah.

The one McGrath told me to solve.

All due respect,
you're still the victim here.

Little bastard did try
and chop you up, Captain.

Imagine if you hadn't
been packing extra heat

- in those designer shoes of yours.
- Okay.

Look, I'm flattered
that you two wanna protect me

from what seems like
self-sabotaging denial,

but, my first order of business here

is to reconnect Fugazi with his mother.

If you want, Captain, I can
take Muncy and go find her.

That's exactly what I want.

I see what you're doing,

your little ploy to flip that kid.

- That boy needs his mother.
- If you say so.

BX r*ped his mother
to force him into that g*ng.

He is a victim,

just like his mother,
and she needs to know that.

I told you.

This g*ng stuff is a lot more
complicated than you think.

Is this about the apology
that you think I owe you?

I don't want your apology.

- Not yet.
- No, you wanna savor it.

With a nice glass of Cabernet.

That's still your drink, isn't it?

That's not happening, Duarte.

That's not happening until

whoever greenlit me is behind bars.

Well,
that might happen sooner than you think.

Let's take a drive.

I wanna show you something.

[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]

♪ ♪

I should have worn my hiking boots.

We're almost there.

♪ ♪

Oh, God.

Enough, Duarte.

Please tell me this is not

what I think it is.

Not the first time r*pe has
been used as a w*apon of w*r.

Just happens to be a g*ng w*r.

BX put this here.

Kids like Fugazi, Sabo, Ricky, Sleep,

they come up from South
and Central America

thinking they escaped the g*ng problem.

But they didn't.

The first day of school in
New York, they're approached.

And they say no once.

But no one ever says no
to BX a second time.

Because this is what happens
to their mothers, if they do.

♪ ♪

[YELLING]

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

♪ ♪

We got Ronnie Samuels
for the m*rder of Renee Perry.

It's about r*pe cases clear.

Don't get ahead of yourself.

Ronnie still has to go to trial.

Well, for now, let's just pretend

this little stack is cleared.

That mean you guys are leaving now?

It's gonna take a lot more
than that to get rid of us.

It's gonna take a lot more
than me, a D- ,

and a white shield
to get these cases cleared.

Well, as part of our federal mandate,

we've been given broad latitude
to hire new detectives.

A full squad's worth.

That's great, but who's gonna vet them?

According to McGrath, that's
what Benson's here to do.

Speaking of which,

where the hell is she?

She'll be back.

Well, until then,
you're an SVU sergeant.

Over two decades under your belt?

I wouldn't even know where to start.

Start here.

Don't look at me.

Who is she, some kind
of velvet house cat?

Hardly.

Churlish may be low on the totem,

but she's got her sights set high.

Guys around here used
to call her the Mayor.

She's gonna be both our bosses one day.

I'll keep that in mind.

I want every single pair of underwear

cataloged, and processed for DNA.

There's gotta be over pairs.

And every one of them is evidence.

A r*pe tree?

I prefer to call it what

- it is, a recruitment tool.
- [SCOFFS]

How long did you know about this?

A year, year and a half.

Oh, you knew about this for a year?

You knew about this the whole time,

- and you didn't tell me?
- Hey, hey, hey, hey!

The whole time I was working with you?

- What, do you not trust me?
- Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!

- I don't trust anyone.
- Calm down. Muncy, calm down.

- Take a second.
- Are you kidding me, Duarte?

- You knew about this.
- Listen...

Duarte, she worked with the
women from this neighborhood.

You've been sitting on this
for a year and a half?

I don't even know how
you're standing here,

but I gotta tell you,
this makes you just as bad

as the men who use this to recruit.

I was trying to get a
surveillance op off the ground.

It's not like Bronx SVU was any help.

Oh, yeah, well,
now everybody's gonna know.

'Cause neighborhoods like this,

gossip travels at the speed of sound.

He's right... there goes
your surveillance op.

Well, now that you're here,
we don't need it anymore.

You were att*cked by the
only witness that matters.

Who, Fugazi?

He was shown this tree,
brought here by the recruiters.

He can ID them.

So you wanna bring him back here

so we can traumatize him a second time?

If putting him back in
touch with his mother

doesn't do it first, yeah.

Thank you, Captain Duarte,

but your presence in what is now

a sprawling sexual as*ault case,

is no longer needed, or wanted.

You're the victim in a g*ng crime,

which, might I remind you,
has its roots in my borough.

[TENSE MUSIC]

♪ ♪

I'll get McGrath involved
in this if I have to.

But let me assure you
that from here on out,

we're doing this my way.

Which means what?

Reading bedtime stories to the
kid that tried to chop you up?

[SCOFFS, LAUGHS]

We're gonna try to ID
as many r*pe victims as we can

who will undoubtedly

point us to the same recruiters

that you claim to be after.

You mean the same women that
have been silent for years?

Yeah, we're gonna
convince them to talk,

and it's gonna get us to
Oscar Papa, same way as yours.

My way's faster.

You're talking about changing
the way a neighborhood works.

I'm talking about putting
the screws to one kid.

One kid...

And retraumatize him
more than he's already been.

Captain.

I'm talking to her, not you.

I'm gonna go to my
old girl g*ng contacts,

see if we can find Fugazi's mom.

Maybe one of them knows
who the recruiters are.

All right,
that's a good place to start.

Velasco, I want you back at Bronx SVU.

I want you to have the Feds
expedite the DNA

from this tree and have
Fin and Churlish and Bruno

help you make the IDs.

[PHONE BUZZES]

- Chief.
- Captain.

Yeah, I just got a call from
Avital and Wise over at DOJ.

They're wondering where you're at.

Well, do you really wanna know?

Well, officially no,

but, even Fin can't lie
to U.S. attorneys forever.

Look, you sent me up to the
Bronx to close open cases,

not to go to w*r with Oscar Papa.

We may have just stumbled
on a way to do both.

Jesus, what am...

What am I looking at?

or so open r*pes.

Ah, jeez.

What, are you out of your mind?

Perpetrated by known BX recruiters,

against women, and children,

whose cases are no doubt languishing

in Bronx SVU's open pile.

[LAUGHS] Well, that's
a coincidence, isn't it?

No.

No, it isn't.

Look, g*ng v*olence is sexual v*olence.

We all learned that this past
summer with the subway case.

So if these cases are open,

that means you're gonna
close them, right?

It's a pretty good way to get the DOJ

- off your back, isn't it?
- [SCOFFS]

What, so this is about me,
about my image?

Not about you chasing down Oscar Papa?

- I didn't say that.
- Wow.

Well, at least you and Duarte
are finally on the same page.

I didn't say that, either.

I gotta go.

And...

This must be the end of
the line for the free donuts.

Feds asked Fin and Bruno
to put together

a new Bronx SVU squad.

- DOJ's leaving?
- Not yet,

but they agreed to expedite DNA

from that tree you guys found.

Maria.

You'll meet up with us?

Great.
I'll see you there.

- One of your contacts?
- Yeah, Maria Garcia.

I got her a job at the dollar store.

Went to go talk to her,

some guy came in and she clammed up,

but I could tell there was
more she wanted to say.

Well, sometimes silence says it all.

It turns out she was r*ped by
two guys in the Tremont clique

last year right before her
brother got jumped into BX .

What happened with her case?

She withdrew.

Jesus.

Why is she so willing to talk now?

Because her brother
Rodrigo got mowed down

a few weeks ago by th Street.

I hate to be the beneficiary
of bad luck, but...

Yeah.

What happened to my brother
is a tragedy.

Yeah, your parents came here
for a better life.

Yeah, they weren't expecting
to lose their son.

We're so sorry, about what
happened to your brother Rodrigo,

but there may be a way,

to get justice for both of you.

No.

I told you, I'll talk about
what happened in private.

She doesn't wanna speak in court.

And why not?

My parents don't know
what happened to me.

In their minds, my brother
is still a good kid.

I'd rather keep it that way.

Did Rodrigo ever mention this tree?

[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]

♪ ♪

No.

But you remember the circumstances

around your brother joining BX .

The day he turned ,
Rodrigo came home upset.

Me and my mother asked what happened.

He said he was approached
by BX at school.

Muncy said that your brother was

a really sweet kid, a good boy.

He liked comic books.

He had a kitten he loved.

He said no to them at first.

And then,

one night, I was leaving work.

Hey.

No one is gonna know you talked to us.

Okay, I promise.

It's okay.

Go on.

Two guys were waiting
in the backseat of my car

when I got in to drive
to my boyfriend's house.

They surprised me.

And when they were done, they stole...

more than just my smile.

♪ ♪

Are you saying one of those is mine?

BX uses r*pe,

to recruit members.

Rodrigo joined the g*ng that night.

Do you know who recruited him, Maria?

The same guys who r*ped me.

We're gonna need their names.

And no one will know
that you talked to us.

We promise.

We're looking
for Lindsay Del Toro, age ,

street name Bug Bear,

and Hector Suarez, age ,

street name Sacrilege.

- Sacrilege?
- Yeah.

From what I hear, he robbed a church.

Adorable.

[TENSE MUSIC]

♪ ♪

[MUFFLED VOICES]

[UPBEAT HIP-HOP MUSIC PLAYING]

This way.

No, don't move!

Muncy, he's going out the back!

Let me see your hands!

Go, go!
Let me see your hands!

Yo, okay, all right!

No, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!

It's meant to k*ll grizzlies.

Drop it!

[TENSE MUSIC]

- NYPD!
- Oh, okay!

- Hands up!
- Okay, bud!

No sudden moves, just stay put.

I think I messed myself.

[g*nsh*t]

♪ ♪

Thanks.

You Mirandize this guy?

He didn't ask for a lawyer.

He just wanted dry pants.

Do I wanna know why?

[INHALES SHARPLY] Not really.

What about his buddy,
the one Duarte sh*t?

At the hospital.

But he was wearing a vest,
so alive, unfortunately.

This guy doesn't need to know that.

Wanna take a run at him?

Sure, why not?

Age before beauty.

You first, moneybags.

I'm Sergeant Tutuola.
This is Detective Bruno.

How you doing, Lindsay?

Nobody calls me that.

You're not Bug Bear here, son.

And trust me, you don't wanna be.

I didn't do nothing.

You ran from the cops.

We didn't know they was cops.

Thought it was a rip crew
coming to rob us.

That why your buddy
pulled his grizzly g*n?

- Self-defense.
- [SCOFFS]

Kinda had the opposite effect.

[TENSE MUSIC]

What you mean?

How do I say this?

You boy Hector's dead.

Now,

what I wanna know is,

what your crew gonna say
when they find out that you ran,

and left him to die.

We can put that word
on the street real easy, huh?

Yeah.

Unless,

you give us who told
you to start using r*pe

as a recruitment tool.

How's Amanda?

She's grading papers.

You know what that means?
No machetes, no black eyes.

Yeah, but paper cuts are a bitch.

Speaking of paper,
your boy Duarte is gonna be

buried under some, huh?

Yeah, I'm talking to FID
about it right now.

Look, he's gonna be fine
despite having a grizzly g*n

aimed at his vest.

Would have ripped right through that.

And the next five apartment buildings.

I hear Duarte sh*t the perp
who robbed Saint Anne's.

As a practicing Catholic,
let me thank you both.

What do you need from me?

Multiple blood warrants for DNA,

on whoever he and his friend
will flip on,

- ideally Oscar Papa.
- Well, he's elusive.

He could be in San Salvador by now.

That's the bastard who r*ped my mother!

- I'll k*ll you! Let go of me!
- [LAUGHING]

Let go of me!

I'm gonna k*ll him!
I'll k*ll you!

You disrespect my mom, I'll k*ll you!

- Disrespect my mom!
- Hey.

- I'll k*ll you!
- You think it's funny?

I don't even remember his mom, so...

You know, we found
your r*pe tree, dumbass.

And the Feds are combing
through it as we speak.

You don't think they're
gonna find your DNA on it?

I want a lawyer.

I bet you do.

Looks like you wasted
a trip, Counselor.

What about that kid you sh*t, Fugazi?

You think he'd be willing
to talk to us?

You mean Albert Diaz.

Let's just call him the kid
who att*cked you

with a machete from now on, okay?

He's a child.

So what?

Well, he's also a gangbanger,

so he's not the most reliable witness.

Yeah, but he did just
make a de facto positive ID.

He's on painkillers, right?

So you wanna fight
that battle in court?

Well, I'll get the nurse
to put him on non-narcotics.

Well, I'd prefer not to, okay?

He's in pain,

he's unaccompanied, and he's scared.

Who's the victim here, you or him?

Look, we're not in court, Counselor,

so how about you not cross-examine me?

Okay, well, then, as your friend,

you're protecting this kid.

Why?

♪ ♪

So we've made major inroads
on the Tremont clique,

but the only way to
dismantle this group

is to take down our
new favorite person.

Oscar Papa.

So what do we have so far?

Lindsay Del Toro, aka Bug Bear.

He copped to his boy Sacrilege

using that tree you found
as a recruitment tool.

How did you get him to do that?

We told him we'd tell his crew

he ran from the police raid.

So you lied to get
the confession out of him?

It's not technically illegal,

but his lawyer
could make it seem coerced.

Well, it's not our finest police work,

but it did put some of our new

Bronx SVU candidates to the test.

And with their help, we managed to link

upwards of open r*pe cases
directly to BX .

And Muncy has another one.

- Here it is.
- Who's she?

A contact of mine.

She ID'd both Bug Bear and Sacrilege

as the two guys who r*ped her.

- Did she report it?
- Over a year ago,

and then pulled it,
and they never followed up.

But she did ID a garment
of hers in the tree.

That's a good start.
Can we get her to testify?

So far, no.

So what do we actually have,

that substantiates
arresting Oscar Papa?

A whole lot of nothing.

Even worse.
Something gonna waste.

Churlish.

Do you have something you wanna say?

A direct order
to greenlight an NYPD captain

might not be a bad thing
to have in our back pocket.

[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]

What do you say, Captain?

Let's go rattle that banger you sh*t.

It's not like we have
any other viable leads.

You know what they say, Liv.

If three people tell you
you're drunk, you're drunk.

Point taken.

Muncy, any luck finding
the boy's mother?

Yes, she's a seamstress
at a shop not far from here.

Me and Churlish,
we're gonna go there next.

Okay. Pick her up.

Meet me and Duarte at the hospital.

Visiting hours end at : .

♪ ♪

Hey there.

If you were in BX ,

you know what your
street name would be?

Aspirin...

'Cause I get a headache
every time you're around.

Well, I'm basically a member

since you and your buddies
jumped me in.

Talk to us, Albert.

This way, we don't have
to keep coming back.

I already told you everything I know.

You're just here to use me
and throw me out,

- just like everyone else.
- That's not true.

Look at me.

You're not disposable anymore.

- My life is over.
- Why?

Because a monster r*ped your mother?

Albert, your life, is just starting.

He was right there, laughing at me.

Sacrilege isn't gonna be
laughing like that for long.

- He's going to prison.
- And you're gonna help us

put him there.

You wanna soldier up?

This, this is how you do it.

This is your chance to be a hero.

Yeah, a dead one.

We can put you in Witness Protection.

You and your mother together.

My moms?
Are you stupid?

I told you, she don't want
nothing to do with me.

I'm not stupid, Albert.

But I am a mother.

And I know what
that kind of love is like.

And it's a lot tougher than you think.

When you came to k*ll me
the other night,

I would have d*ed for my son.

But I wanted to live for him more.

And that's what
your mother wanted to do,

is live for you.

And that's why she couldn't be around.

Your mom got hurt once.

That's why she had to stay away.

No. No.

What Captain Duarte is trying to say

is that she wanted to be there

when you grew up, when you got out.

You don't know that!

You two are just playing me
to get me to talk.

She don't want me.

Why don't we let her
be the judge of that?

[APPREHENSIVE MUSIC]

♪ ♪

Albert.

Mommy.

[SPEAKING SPANISH]

[CRYING] I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry.

He made me do it.

Maestro, he forced me.

He told me to k*ll her.

♪ ♪

Gotta hand it to you, Benson.

This touchy feely stuff
is brutally effective.

You think I was playing the kid?

Look, I did what I had to do

to give them a chance.

- That boy needs his mother.
- Either way, it worked.

All we gotta do now
is have this little prick

- tell us who this maestro is.
- Look, tomorrow, all right?

For now, let's just give them
a few hours to get settled.

I hate to say it,
but one of these days,

your empathy is gonna be your undoing.

Yeah, well, I could say the same thing

about your lack of it.

Muncy.

Captain, I got a call from Maria Garcia

as we were leaving just now.

She said she had some kind
of change of heart.

You think she'll testify?

No idea.

She's at her parents'
restaurant, La Capital.

Okay.
Have her come in tomorrow.

I don't know, I'm worried
she'll change her mind.

You know where this
restaurant is, La Capital?

It's a few blocks from here.

I could hop out and meet you there?

Uh, no.

You and Velasco make sure that Albert

and his mother get settled.

Duarte and I'll take it.

Okay.

- Hello?
- Anyone here?

I see you got my message.

[TENSE MUSIC]

♪ ♪

You know this guy?

You do too.

From your crime board.

Ah.

Oscar Papa.

I hope you like pupusas, Captain,

because Mrs. Garcia,

she makes the best in the neighborhood,
no?

Please, have a seat.

♪ ♪

No, thanks.

You could use some meat
on those bones, Captain.

Well, I'd almost be flattered

if you hadn't tried to k*ll me.

I don't k*ll people, Captain.

No.

No, you have kids do it for you.

That's a pretty galling
accusation, don't you think?

Coming from a woman
who just crippled a teenager?

Mm.

What's up, Duarte?

You were right.
These are good.

So you two do know each other.

We've never had the pleasure.

But all the same, I know this prick.

He likes to buy diapers
for my guys' girlfriends

when they get pregnant.

Rented an ice cream truck one day,

for all the kids in the neighborhood,

like some kind of little perv,

giving out candy from a van.

You r*pe moms, and groom
their sons to be K*llers.

And I'm a perv.

I didn't r*pe no one.

So then what is all this about?

I wanted to clear the air.

That's pretty funny
coming from the head of BX .

Ah...

I'm a concerned citizen.

Hmm?

I have a mother,

a girlfriend,

- a daughter.
- So let me guess.

They just found out that you
use r*pe as a tool to recruit?

I didn't have anything
to do with that tree.

But you knew about it.

I found out
when you found out about it.

How is that possible?

I've been sitting on that for a year.

Nice guy.

Believe what you wanna believe.

All I know is,
that tree is embarrassing,

to everyone with Latin blood.

So why am I here?

Maybe if Bronx SVU wasn't so messed up,

you wouldn't have evidence of r*pes,

literally hanging on a tree.

You know, that I'm not Bronx SVU.

But everybody in NYPD knew
that place was messed up,

probably the brunt of jokes
for years now, I'm telling you.

So what now?

I just wanna let you know that

the problem's being dealt with.

You wanna clean up this mess,
turn yourself in.

- For what?
- Racketeering, smuggling, prostitution,

m*rder, extortion.

How about, systematic r*pe?

Hey, guys.

I'm just a local businessman.

[LAUGHS]

With a whole crew at his disposal?

Well, that's what
you don't get, Duarte.

I started BX in high school,

to protect me, and other
South and Central American kids

from being picked on,
by norteños like you.

Okay, so I'm the bully.

[SIGHS]

We're not a g*ng.

[TENSE MUSIC]

We are a brotherhood.

An idea.

And you just can't k*ll one of those.

Unlike people.

That looks like it hurt.

You want some ice for that?

Are we free to go?

♪ ♪

You're free to go.

I'm sorry.

That makes two of us.

I've seen psychopaths before,

but never one with an army behind them.

[PHONE BUZZING]

Fin.

DNA came in from that tree.

We can tie Bug Bear
and his buddy, Sacrilege,

to about potential r*pes.

Well, that's leverage.

So we play them against each other

and we see who flips first.

You lied to me about Sacrilege.

- He's in here alive.
- You wanna talk about lies?

We can connect your DNA,

to the underwear on that tree.

That's r*pes.

If they're consecutive,
might get you out in what,

, years?

Unless you talk.

Are you crazy?

This place is crawling
with th Street,

not to mention BX .

For my client to talk,
he's gonna need protection.

And he'll get it.

But first, we need to know
what he's offering.

And it'll have to include
testifying at trial.

I gotta think.
I gotta think.

And we're out of time.

We're talking to Sacrilege next.

And what if neither of them talk?

We still got Maria.

Maybe she's willing to make amends

for setting us up by testifying.

Well, I wouldn't hold my breath.

[ALARM BLARING]

What the hell is that?

[INMATES SHOUTING]

[TENSE MUSIC]

♪ ♪

Well, I guess
we know what Oscar Papa meant

by the problem being dealt with.

So Bug Bear's dead?

More holes than a colander.

He d*ed from his injuries

an hour after getting stabbed
in front of me and Duarte.

So Duarte's leaning into Sacrilege.

If he wasn't talking before,

he's sure as hell not talking now.

So I got DNA,

but I got no viable witnesses.

What about Maria Garcia?

Maria has always been a good girl.

I should have seen it for what it was.

- A setup?
- CARISI: Well, in the meantime,

I got no case against Oscar Papa.

Not for the r*pes, not for
the hit on an NYPD captain.

What about that kid you sh*t?
Did he tell you anything?

Albert, he kept talking
about some maestro

- putting him up to it.
- Maestro.

You mean maestro, teacher?

I didn't press him on it.

He hadn't seen his mother
in God knows how long.

So, he just needed a minute.

Now that they both know

their safety is our
number one priority,

maybe you should ask him.

I think the biggest hurdle
is gonna be his loyalty,

and not to his mother, but to his g*ng.

You sound like you know about that.

Better than you think.

Congratulations.

You just became my maestro.

You're coming with me.

I can't tell you who the maestro is.

You said, you rode the top
of the train with him.

You told me that
he showed you the stars.

This is the guy that told
you to k*ll Captain Benson.

Look at me.

I know what you're going through.

I know what it feels like
to be your age

and to have no identity.

But guys that age, they just...

[SOLEMN MUSIC]

They know more stuff than
what they're telling you.

At least he saw me.

So is that what it is?
You feel invisible?

'Cause you're not.

Don't let him be invisible.

[SPEAKING SPANISH]

Albert...

Do you wanna see the stars again?

I know that you do.

But you gotta tell me
who the maestro is.

Tell me.

♪ ♪

A driver.

He works for Oscar Papa.

He approached me and my friends,

offered us a way to make
the jump to soldiers overnight.

By k*lling me.

[TENSE MUSIC]

♪ ♪

Policia! Policia!

Kids, stay back.

♪ ♪

[GROANS]

- Benny Barros!
- NYPD!

- Hands up!
- Baby, who are they?

- I don't know.
- You're in trouble again?

And I thought you put
all this behind you!

Ma'am, sit down!
Be quiet!

Hey, don't talk to her like that!

Hey! Let's go.
We're taking you in.

♪ ♪

I didn't do nothing.
You hear me?

You got the wrong guy.

Here, let's go.

You gotta hit me.

- What?
- Seriously, hit me.

Otherwise, they're gonna k*ll
me in jail just like Bug Bear.

Shut up, you son of a bitch!

You're wanted for the attempted
m*rder of a police officer.

- It wasn't me!
- Get in the car now!

Ugh!

What the hell was that?

Empathy.

♪ ♪

I told those kids the first one

to k*ll Captain Benson
gets to soldier up.

"Soldier up"?
What does that mean?

That they become
full-blooded members of BX .

Why do they call you "maestro"?

Because Oscar Papa
is the word, knowledge.

I'm the one who spreads it.

And by that, you mean
you're his mouthpiece?

Correct.

Unfortunately, I can't
just take your word for that.

I can corroborate
everything I'm saying.

- I know names, dates, places.
- Victims.

My client has all his boss's
phone conversations on tape.

Kept a recording device in his car.

And he's willing to testify
to this, in open court?

Under the right protection?

Yes.

Ever since my cousin Ricky was shivved,

I've been waiting
for you guys to show up.

What do you want in return?

Freedom.

From?

There's only two ways out of BX .

One's the witness box,
the other's the pine box.

Let's just say I'm choosing the former.

That enough?

Yeah.
For now.

Let's get started
on your grand jury testimony.

- It's pretty quiet in here.
- [LAUGHS] Yeah.

Like the morning after a snowstorm.

Well, it turns out you were right.

- It's not the first time.
- [LAUGHS] Yeah.

Yeah, but this time,
we both got what we wanted.

I mean, you're about to bring down

the guy who tried to k*ll you...

And you got the DOJ out
of your underwear drawer.

Yeah, speaking of underwear,

cases on their way
to being cleared in two days.

That's uh...

Well,
that's a hell of a clearance rate.

I can't tell if you're happy.

Well,

I'll be happy when
Oscar Papa is in prison.

That makes two of us.

Where do you want
the new detectives to sit?

Let them sit based on seniority.

I'm not giving up my desk.

So what are you gonna do,

- now the DOJ's clearing out?
- I don't know.

I was so focused
on the deaf case we closed,

I don't even think about it.

How about a round?

You buying?

I could, but you're rich.

That's fair.

[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]

♪ ♪

Ahh.
[CHUCKLES]

Thanks for waiting, man.

Oh, that woman just won't quit.

Not a problem, Mr. Papa.

Hey, you're not Benny.

I wouldn't make any sudden moves.

She seems really pissed.

♪ ♪

Oscar Papa,

you're under arrest,
for r*pe and attempted m*rder.

Ah.

I have never been in a
position like this before.

I guess I need a lawyer.

Yeah. You do.

Would you like to do the honors?

You've been after this guy
longer than anyone.

- That an apology?
- No.

But it's as close as you're gonna get.

♪ ♪