04x08 - Sins of Our Fathers

[bunniefuu]

In the nation's largest city,

the vicious and violent
members of the underworld

are hunted by the detectives

of the Organized Crime Control Bureau.

These are their stories.

I got the results back
from the lab on that foil.

They're confirming it's heroin.

It's a distinctive
blend out of Kandahar.

Pop was drinking a lot.

He b*at the crap out of
this woman on a nightly basis,

and you were too stupid to notice.

I got myself suspended.

Just don't do anything stupid
like the old man did, okay?

There is something hinky going on

with Stabler's IAB case.

Warren blames Elliott for
what happened to his mentor.

Clean up this mess
as quickly as possible.

We have to see this through
to the end, boy.

Nobody has to know the truth, sir.

My Jessica has been on
that beach this whole time?

Where these girls were last seen

coincides with where your brother was.

Eric, no!

Drop it!

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

Facial reconstruction on the
oldest victim came through.

It's my mother.

♪ ♪

♪ Our house ♪

♪ In the middle of our ♪

♪ Father wears his Sunday best ♪

♪ Mother's tired, she needs a rest ♪

Eric?

♪ ♪

Eric.

Do you need help with your homework?

No.

Are you doing your homework?

No.

♪ ♪

[SIGHS]

He wasn't the smartest kid,
but he was so sweet.

Look, it's just adding fractions.

It's easy. I'll show you.

There weren't any signs
of what he'd become.

Or maybe I just wasn't
looking hard enough.

K*llers that young are rare
but not unheard of.

I've seen a few in my time at SVU.

Eric did not do this, not to our mother.

How can you be so sure?

His love for her.

She was his whole world.

I can't do it anymore, Clay.
I won't live like this.

So where would you go?

What would you do? Live with him?

Haven't you embarrassed
this family enough?

This fight was worse than the others.

There was a finality in my mom's voice,

a desperation in my father's.

My brother headed
straight into the fire.

Maybe he was just used to it,
or maybe he didn't care.

[TENSE MUSIC]

But me?

I couldn't take it anymore.

♪ ♪

I ran as far as I could,

as fast as I could.

♪ ♪

That was the last time
I heard her voice.

♪ ♪

I can't believe he did this to her.

You think your father did this?

They'd had the fight before,
but this was different.

I think he believed her this
time, that she was leaving.

♪ ♪

He was not going to let her go.

But you didn't see anything?

No, I spent the night
at a friend's house.

My dad knew where to find me.

The next morning, he brought me back,

took me straight to my room.

[MUFFLED SPEECH]

I could tell right away
something was wrong.

He said Mom packed a bag and left.

He wasn't sure if she'd ever come back.

Now that I think about it,
the way he said it,

it was so final.

And I believed every word of it.

I had to believe it.

♪ ♪

All this time, I thought
she abandoned us.

I have been so angry
with her for so long.

You were a child.

There's no way you could have known.

I was not innocent.

I was blind.

I have looked the other way
my whole life,

protecting him.

While he protected Eric.

Eric?

He was still at the house.

Do you think he saw what
happened to your mother?

Monsters make monsters.

Isn't that what they say?

Her neck was broken.

The ME found all these fractured bones.

If he was there and saw what
our father did to our mother...

He suppressed it all these years.

He did this. We know who did this.

We have no proof,
no witness, and no evidence

to a crime that happened 40 years ago.

♪ ♪

Let's get out there and find him.

♪ ♪

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

There's no statute
of limitations on m*rder.

Yeah, but you still need
evidence, witnesses.

Fractures on 40-year-old bones
isn't enough to build a case.

That could have happened
post mortem for all we know.

Then how do we get him?

- Al Capone.
- Capone?

I don't get it.

He was a m*rder*r and a racketeer.

Feds couldn't get him
on that so they found

another way to take him down.

Tax evasion.

I want everything you
can find on the judge

and his buddies, okay?

Can't you just be present for once?

Could you just be nice for once?

He's got more important things
to do than be with family.

Exactly. Take a look at the bird, boys.

Say hi.

- What?
- No, not you.

I'm gonna get back to you
guys as soon as I can.

Bye.

There are just so many
memories in this place.

We can't get rid of all this stuff.

Well, you can't take it with
you to the new place, Ma.

It... it's only got one bedroom.

I know. I know.

Oh.

Here they are.

Uh, I made one of these
for each one of you.

We should ask the kids
to pick the one they want.

You know, just something
to remember me by.

Don't talk like that, Ma.

I'll make sure everyone gets one, Mama.

Thanks, honey.

Lookie here. Remember this?

- Oh.
- Huh?

Is that the one with
Mickey Mantle's signature?

Yes, it is.

I know a guy who works in collectibles.

This will bring a pretty penny.

You know the story behind that?

No.

Mickey Mantle's last season,
batting practice.

Pops sees him, he goes,
"Hey, Mickey, if the bat's

too heavy for you, try choking up".

He thought it was funny,
so he signed the ball for him.

Yeah, you got my autograph on there too.

See that little red streak?

Came home late one night and the old man

chucked it at my head.

Bloodied my nose
and, uh, chipped a tooth.

You said you'd gotten
in a fight at school.

Well that's what you say
when you protect

- your little brother.
- Is that what you did?

- That's what I did.
- You didn't tell me.

Yeah, I didn't tell you. That's right.

Because the man was your hero and you

- weren't ready to listen.
- All right.

All right, just stop. You
two are driving me crazy.

You're just always going
at it. Just stop it.

Yeah, I can't either.

- I got to get out of here.
- Bye, honey.

Bye, Mama. Love you.

Bye-bye.

♪ ♪

- See you.
- Yeah.

See you.

♪ ♪

What's going on with him?

♪ ♪

[INDISTINCT CLAMORING]

Did you talk to the feds?

I told them everything I know.

This whole thing is
such a terrible tragedy.

Those... those poor girls.

Obviously, I am going to assist
the investigation

however I can.

But right now, I'm just in shock.

- [CROWD CLAMORING]
- Judge!

Judge!

We're supposed to believe
you knew nothing?

♪ ♪

[CROWD CLAMORING]

♪ ♪

[KNOCK AT DOOR]

Hey.

- What are you doing here?
- I'm taking charge.

We're officially in OCCB territory.

And since you can't be in
the office, we are making do.

- So you're back, back?
- End of the week.

I just wanted to get a head start.

And clearly, you need me.

Reyes is on leave, Sam
is taking care of Stacy...

somebody has to provide the muscle.

Muscle?

Seriously?

We all know Judge Bonner,
and we've been introduced

to some of his associates along the way.

Westbrook DA Noah Cahill, now deceased.

Frank Andersson is
a contractor who moonlights

as a city councilman.

I can't imagine anything
shady is going on there.

Lou Watson is the ADA conveniently

lined up to take Cahill's job.

And then we have Officer Logan,
police chief's right hand

who serves as security for all
of them during his off hours.

Okay, how does all this tie together?

Well, we started by doing a
deep dive on Westbrook itself.

Now everything we've seen so far

suggests not only police corruption

but judicial malfeasance.

The conviction rates
in their jurisdiction

are 44% higher per capita
than the rest of New York.

And their sentencing 22% more severe.

We analyzed their closed
cases and the likelihood

of convictions without a confession.

All the data shows that
many, if not most of them,

would not have held out.

Not if they were decided by a jury.

But guess who was on the bench
when all this was going on?

The judge.

So we're looking at
high confession rates

and abnormally long sentences.

We have the what, but
we still don't have a why.

Actually, we do.

Turns out all these men
have one thing in common.

They're partners in a subsidiary

of Letien Investments.

Real estate developers.

Whose bread and butter
is private prisons.

They've built seven in the last 10 years

on the East Coast alone.

- It's a billion dollar venture.
- Wow.

I had no idea prisons
were this profitable.

Just got to keep them running.

So for that, you need
prisoners and a steady stream.

Which these guys were
in a position to produce.

For a price.

Supply and demand at the
cost of people's freedom.

And you can bet some of them
are actually innocent.

- Well, all we need is one.
- Yep.

One case.

Expose one injustice, that'll
open the door for the rest.

Well then, let me introduce
you to our greatest hits.

Michael Lim.

as*ault with a deadly w*apon.

He was given 15 years
for throwing a book

at a teacher when he was 16.

Juwan Lester.


marijuana possession.

Roy Clark was 21 when he was convicted.

Roy Clark?

That's Jessica's brother,
one of Eric's victims.

Roy Clark was convicted
on circumstantial evidence.

No witnesses.

Bench trial.

All the markings of a guy
who got railroaded.

Sounds like someone I need to talk to.

♪ ♪

[DOOR SHUTS]

You should have told me.

I would have been there for you.

It was complicated,

but I really did love your mother.

I know it was you.

[DARK MUSIC]

I have no idea what
you're talking about.

Was it anger?

Jealousy?

Did she embarrass you?

That's not what happened.

All those fractures.

It wasn't enough for her to just die.

You had to break her.

She gave up on us.

She gave up on our family.

Everything I've ever done

was to protect you and your brother.

- You're protecting yourself.
- Meredith...

No.

It's finished.

You're done.

Don't do this.

There's nothing more to say.

♪ ♪

Please leave.

♪ ♪

Who the hell are you?

Someone who believes you,

wants to try and get you out of here.

I'm gonna assume that you
know about your sister.

Yeah, they found her body at the beach.

Yes.

And it was Eric Bonner this whole time?

Yes.

That damn family.

You know, his father is the one
who put me in here.

I know.

I also think he set you up.

I have been saying that for 20 years,

and you are the first
person to believe it.

Let's make sure I'm not the last.

[TENSE MUSIC]

♪ ♪

Well, what do you want to know?

♪ ♪

I can assure you,
everything's on schedule.

His actions don't affect our plans.

Your son is a g*dd*mn
m*rder*r, and to protect him,

you blamed it on one of us.

You don't get to make
those calls on your own.

They break ground on
the new prison next week,

and with all this attention
and you front and center, I...

This will die down.

It always does.

They'll move on to the next story,

and we go back to business.

Trust me.

This will be over soon.

♪ ♪

Our man inside Lawndale

says Roy Clark has a visitor.

Who?

Your daughter's new best friend.

Apparently he's not through
with us after all.

We can't ignore this anymore.

You're right. Take care of it.

What about Meredith?

She's not to be touched.

Is that understood?

♪ ♪

My sister disappears,
and he sat on his hands,

like he was waiting for us
to stop caring.

My mom was curled up in bed for months,

and I was the one out there
fighting for Jessica.

God, Bonner wanted to shut me up.

He needed to shut me up.

And he found a way.

The man you were convicted
of k*lling, Lonny Jackson,

tell me about him.

Well, there's nothing to tell.

What does that mean?

I mean, it makes a great story.

He's a cop.

So I guess they thought, I don't know,

I was mad at one of them so
I was just mad at all of them.

But I had an alibi.

A friend of mine was with me
the entire night.

Somehow they got to him.

How well did you know Lonny?

I didn't know him at all.

He reached out to me.

He said he knew something
about my sister's case.

You think that's why he was k*lled?

Well, he was dead seven days later.

[DOORBELL RINGS]

Meredith?

Oh, my gosh.

Are you...

are you okay?

I've been watching the news.

Is it true, about Eric?

Unfortunately, yes.

Mrs. Jackson, sorry for the intrusion.

We have a few questions
we'd like to ask you

about your husband.

Well, that's everything.

It's mostly his old notebooks.

I couldn't bring myself
to throw them away.

Lonny was so determined.

He wanted to make detective
before he was 30.

Your dad was always
telling him to slow down.

So what's this about?

One of the girls they
found on the beach,

we think Lonny was
on to the truth back then.

So he knew something about the murders?

Well, if he did, it'd be in his notes.

So we were hoping that you'd give us

permission to take them.

I know it's a lot.

I'm asking you to trust us,

to let us finish what Lonny started.

Did you know that not only
do these companies build

the prisons, they operate them as well?

Letien investments pulled in
$1.3 billion last year.

- Corruption pays.
- [NOTIFICATION CHIMES]

Oh, I got to get to IAB
for my interview.

- You need a ride?
- Yeah, that'd be great.

Oh, did you get that thing
I asked you for?

Yeah.

I'll just be here.

Chief?

Oh, hey. How's Laura?

- Due any day now.
- Oh.

- Are you back?
- I never really left.

I'm just taking a break
from the spotlight.

I'm sure you can understand.

Yeah. It must be a lot to deal with.

Is my dad here?

- I haven't seen him.
- Okay.

- Thanks.
- All right.

- Take care.
- You too.

[OMINOUS MUSIC]

♪ ♪

Meredith, I've been looking for you.

I want to offer my condolences.

Oh, I appreciate that.

Something I can help you with?

Oh, I'm just picking up
some personal effects.

♪ ♪

[BELL RINGS]

You're a long way from home, Cap.

- There he is.
- Hey.

Good to see you, Elliot.

Good to see you.

I was a little surprised
to get your call,

but glad you traveled
all the way out here.

You know why I'm here.

Ayanna sent you?

Well, she thinks you're not
taking this IAB investigation

seriously enough.

Look, I just don't know
what to tell you.

It's out of my control.

It might help if you stop pissing off

the people evaluating you and violating

the terms of your suspension.

I'm not out here
on an official capacity.

You think this
Investigator Warren cares?

Look, you need to know this.

He's connected to Gus Hanson.

My father's old partner? How?

He was Warren's rabbi.

Mentored him for years.

Warren basically owes his career to him.

Well, Hanson is not a big fan of mine.

Wasn't.

He d*ed about six weeks ago.

I hadn't heard.

So that's why this guy is on my ass?

Hanson bequeathed his grudge?

Looks that way.

But I don't think
Warren knows the truth.

Gus Hanson and your father
were dirty cops.

Now I know you don't
wanna hear that right now,

but you have got to accept it.

♪ ♪

Let's say this is a vendetta.

Then the truth is not gonna matter.

Warren is one man.

You've got an entire army.

Everybody is fighting for you,
except you.

Nobody move!

Keep your hands where I can see them.

♪ ♪

Open the register!

Put it in the bag.

- I'm gonna need a distraction.
- When?

You'll know.

I don't think they're here
for the money.

Let's go!

They're after me.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

♪ ♪

I want everyone to see
my hands are in the air.

I'm giving myself up.

This is not a robbery.

They want you to think that,

but these men are here to k*ll me.

Oh!

Help me! Please help me.

♪ ♪

[g*nsh*t]

[g*nshots]

♪ ♪

Heart att*ck?

I thought it worked.

Call an ambulance.

Call an ambulance!

♪ ♪

Thanks for coming in, Logan.

Why am I here?

Because he's never
gonna give you that badge,

and because he's lied to you

just like he's been lying to us.

This isn't going away.

He's compromised, and he refuses

to do what needs to be done.

What you know needs to be done.

♪ ♪

The kid wouldn't drop the g*n.

He said, "This is for Papi",
and pointed it

at Detective Stabler,
forcing him to act fast,

not only to save his own life,
but the lives of everyone

on our team.

By throwing him onto a marble
floor and nearly k*lling him?

The aftermath is unfortunate.

But in the moment, there was
no other course of action.

Stabler did what he had to do,

and he did what I would have
done if I were in his position.

He defused a deadly situation.

You know as well as anyone
that these things happen.

The worst thing IAB can do right now

is mistake unfortunate for unjust.

Thank you, Sergeant.

I appreciate you coming in.

We're not done. Sit down.

Do you have something
to add about that night?

No. Not about that night.

I'd like to talk about the night

that Gus Hanson sh*t and k*lled
an unarmed teenager

and then covered it up.

Look, I'm sorry for your loss,

but your mentor was a dirty cop.

And he hated Stabler because
Stabler knew he was dirty.

He could have made this public,
but he didn't.

Maybe he was trying
to protect his father.

Maybe he thought Hanson's guilt
was punishment enough.

I don't know.

Me?

The only dog I have in this
fight is the one on my team,

and I am not about to let him go down

for some dead man's grudge.

If you had the complete wrong idea

about a man you knew well,

how can you pass judgment
on anybody else?

♪ ♪

I want everything run through my office.

Keep the press away from this.

- Okay.
- Good.

It'd be great if you could stay in town,

in case we have more questions.

Oh, I'm not going anywhere.

You missed.

You think I did this?

It doesn't matter what I think.

But I'll tell you what I know.

You've lost your son,
you've lost your daughter,

and now you're losing control.

And something tells me
it's that last one

that hurts the most.

[CELL PHONE CHIMING]

Go.

Yeah, I've been tracking the cell phones

- of the judge's associates.
- Yeah?

They're at Cahill's
beach house right now.

Without the judge?

Yeah. It seemed weird to me, too.

Even his right hand, Logan.

He just left a minute ago.

Where is he headed?

♪ ♪

[PHONE BUZZING]

[PHONE LINE TRILLING]

Yeah?

Hey. You hear about the diner?

Ah, the hold-up?

Yeah. I heard it on the radio.

It wasn't a hold-up.

It was an ambush.

They were there to k*ll me.

♪ ♪

Chief? Chief?

[GRUNTING]

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

♪ ♪

[g*nshots]

[PANTING]

Chief? Chief?

I'm in here.

[GROANS]

I called it in.

Are you hurt?

I'm a little banged up, but
the other guy got it worse.

Do you know who it was?

He was masked,

but I think it was Logan.

He had these on him.

I think he was gonna
make it look like an OD.

Chief, look at me.

Do you think your father
was behind this?

Honestly?

No.

Well, then he really has lost control.

[PHONE RINGING]

Yeah?

We got your smoking g*n.

Didn't expect it to be on a VHS tape,

but I'm not really surprised
by much anymore.

Okay.

We digitized everything from
the Roy Clark investigation.

I'm sending you a screen grab now.

[PHONE CHIMES]

♪ ♪

What am I looking at?

That's Roy Clark's friend
with Clay Bonner.

He claimed they were
repairing Roy's truck

the night of the m*rder, till Bonner

got him to change his story.

They went to an auto parts store

to pick up some stuff
on the other side of town.

Yeah, we pulled the store's
transactions from that date,

confirms their story.

Then there's the stuff you pulled

from Lonny Jackson's garage.

You were right.

He suspected Eric was
behind Jessica Clark's

disappearance, started looking
into it during his off hours.

He knew he was stepping on
toes, but he didn't stop.

The judge must have got wind of it

and found a way to quiet Roy
and Lonny at the same time.

I mean, who better to frame than the guy

that's railing against the police?

What happened to Roy's alibi?

We're tracking him down now.

And this isn't the only case.

We found more than
a dozen others that are

gonna have to be re-examined.

Got an ID on the sh**t from the diner?

Prison guard at Lawndale.

You can bet he's on the cabal's payroll.

We got to bring in the ADA.

Already did.

They gave us the green light
to go after these guys.

Conspiracy, obstruction of justice...

that's just for starters.

Okay, well, let's start at the top.

- Vargas?
- Pinging Bonner's phone now.

Dropping the coordinates.

All right. Watch yourselves.

The cavalry is right behind you.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

♪ ♪

You good for this?

Think so, yeah. You?

Yeah, except, um...

♪ ♪

Consider yourself deputized.

♪ ♪

Let's go around the back.

♪ ♪

Detective?

My God.

♪ ♪

Still warm.

- Drop your g*n!
- Drop your g*n!

I told him to stay away from you.

Drop your g*n! Drop your g*n!

This ends here, Dad.

After all this time,

how did we come to this?

♪ ♪

It's funny.

Your mother,

she never wanted a family.

I had to talk her into it.

You idolized her.

I'm the one who loved you,

protected you,

everything for you.

It's all been lies, Dad.

Put the g*n down.

Hm.

I never thought much about legacy.

Maybe that's a good thing.

Dad.

♪ ♪

You say you love me.

Don't do this.

♪ ♪

Don't do this to me.

♪ ♪

Clay Bonner,

you're under arrest.

You have the right to remain silent.

[HANDCUFFS CLINK]

[SOFT MUSIC]

Hey.

Sure you're okay?

Yeah, I'm good.

Am I good?

The IAB report hasn't come in yet,

- if that's what you're asking.
- Oh.

I thought you didn't care.

Caring is not one of my problems.

Stubbornness, on the other hand.

Authority issues, resistance...

Yeah, we get the point.

How about the rest of the cabal?

We grabbed two more at the airport

about to board their private jets.

We'll have more names once they
inevitably turn on each other.

Good.

You ready to get the hell out of Dodge?

Knock, knock.

Before I head home,
I thought I'd stop by,

see how you're feeling.

Oh, honestly, all I really feel is guilt

for all the things I didn't do.

Feds offer you a deal?

Yeah, I'm not taking it.

I'll give them full cooperation.

If they find something
to pin on me that happened

on my watch, so be it.

I have to undo what's been done here.

It's admirable.

It's the least I can do,

right the wrongs one at a time,

starting with Roy Clark.

Well, there you go.

It's never too late to start over.

For either of you.

Well, I hope you won't have to.

You are a damn fine cop,

and we need more of you, not less.

Thanks, Chief.

Stop.

Thank you for everything.

If you hadn't come, I would
still have my eyes closed.

Hey.

Good luck with the next chapter.

Maybe you can build a new legacy.

[SOFT MUSIC]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Where is my chair?

Hey.

Hey.

Everything's here in the file
if you wanna read it.

Nah.

Just skip to the end.

- Detective Elliott Stabler...
- Mm-hmm.

Welcome back.

Not that you were ever really gone.

Mm.

I hid the chair.

Thank you.

- Hey.
- Hey.

Oh, see you got your little brooch back.

Now you can get free donuts again.

The only reason why I became a cop.

[CHUCKLES]

Ma around?

She's in the bedroom packing
up the rest of her stuff.

Rumor has it she's gonna
be living with you?

Yeah, yeah. I meant to tell you.

You know, I got to looking at
that paperwork for the place

- that we picked out, right?
- Right.

- It's a total scam.
- Is it?

It's ridiculous. You know?

So I said hey, Ma, let's...

let's take the time
and find the right place.

You know? I'ma stay here in the city.

She's gonna live with me,
and we'll take our time

and we'll find the right place.

Yeah.

So that's what I'll do.

Who are you talking to?

- You couldn't do it, could you?
- Do what?

I took her down there.

You went over there, you took one look

at the place she was gonna live,

and you couldn't pull the trigger.

Not that place, no.

All this time you've been
breaking my chops.

I could have pulled the trigger
if it was the right place, okay?

We need to find the...

Right place, is that what you think?

It's worth it to take the time.

Oh, kind of like... kind of like
what came out of my mouth.

- Okay, there, big dog.
- Yeah, whatever.

- [CHUCKLES]
- Listen.

Let's talk about something
serious here, huh?

When are you gonna tell me
what's going on with Joe Jr.?

When are you gonna tell me about Pop?

One thing at a time.

I know one thing at a time.

Just tell me about Pop.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

♪ ♪

Just tell me.

Tell him.

Ma.

Just tell me.

I wanna know. I need to know.

He k*lled himself.

♪ ♪

He was found in the garage
with the engine running.

♪ ♪

Here's that quilt I made for you.

See?

Oh.

♪ ♪

We'll need the good stuff for this.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

♪ ♪

[WOLF HOWLS]