Law & Order: Organized Crime (2021) s03e21 Episode Script
Shadowërk
1
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.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
[THUNKING]
Curtis McCrary, FBI.
Junior Suarez's DNA
was found at the murder
of a HOA president?
I'm glad that bitch got killed.
Must be some mistake at the lab.
And these walls? They move for no man.
Inmates that get a request
for a hit from the outside,
so then they earn
an unofficial furlough.
Junior Suarez, he gets paid for one hit
when none of the other convicts
get paid for theirs.
So the money that he sends his sister
had to have been earned
from somewhere else where?
What can you tell me
about your attacker?
[SOBBING] He knew my name.
When he was done, he took a selfie.
We're looking at some kind
of market for revenge rape.
I had nothing to do with
Maria being attacked.
OC is working two murders.
DNA from both scenes
matches one of our rapes.
Maria Varga.
I think you and I
are working the same case
from opposite ends.
Okay, partner.
Olivia Benson, meet Rachel Lee Sprague.
- Your HOA lady.
- Mm-hmm.
Talk about an outlier.
57-year-old female, Staten Island,
murdered by a BX9 inmate, Junior Suarez,
who goes on to rape your nanny.
- Okay, uh
- Smells bad, doesn't it?
Uh, yeah, it does.
Kind of like a cop who hasn't
showered in a couple days.
Hmm.
Well, look, you know, I just [SIGHS]
Where did that end?
You talk to the neighbors?
Mm-hmm. They all hated her.
- Why?
- Power trip.
You know, she was a stickler,
so she was fining people left and right
about the small stuff in fractions.
My mother, Detective Bernie,
thinks that she was acting out,
she was in pain because she'd
recently lost her husband.
You're wearing your wedding ring again.
[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC]
I'm not Rachel Lee Sprague.
I found it in a drawer.
And don't do that.
You're doing that with the eyes,
with the head cock
and the dime-sized pupils.
It's called empathy.
♪
[SIGHS]
I saw her.
♪
Kathy.
Okay. Where?
Over there,
sitting down in a hospital gown.
Just kind of, like,
waiting to be interrogated.
[SIGHS]
Well, maybe she wanted
to interrogate you.
I'm not losing my mind.
Okay.
Well, El, you know,
if there's, um,
one thing that I've learned
after all these years, it's that, um
if we don't deal with our
trauma, the world will.
I'm not a victim.
♪
But you are a survivor.
♪
And sometimes, that's just as hard.
♪
We need to find out
who paid Suarez to do these things.
[INHALES DEEPLY]
So let's head back up to Green Haven.
- Good.
- Good.
In the meantime,
I would get some sleep.
♪
Yo, yo, why you making a mess?
'Cause we know you had a
cell phone in there somewhere.
We're not allowed.
So this girl
your DNA is all over her rape kit.
[ITEMS CLATTERING]
Yo, this is my home, man! Take it easy!
Yo.
How'd you get the job to rape her?
- There it is. You see that?
- I certainly did.
Like a little boy who just stole a 20
out of his mama's purse.
What are you gonna do?
I'm already in jail for life.
Junior, who paid you?
I was moonlighting.
Like you cops do when
you work security at Walmart.
Found something.
- That's not mine.
- It's not?
- No?
- [CHUCKLES]
Well, then you won't mind
if we take it with us.
[SPUTTERS]
Let's go to the prison library,
check out the computers.
[SPUTTERS]
[SOFT SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
♪
Yo, yo, yo, yo!
My parole documents are in there, man!
I already took your eye.
Don't make me take your tongue, too.
♪
Captain Benson.
♪
100 or so open rapes
perpetrated by known BX9 recruiters.
Oscar Papa put the hit out on me.
- I'm sorry you were hurt
- Mom!
It pains me more that
your son was traumatized
If you say one more word about my son,
it will be your last.
[TENSE MUSIC]
♪
You are like ASMR for the soul.
♪
Is there a problem?
We were just on Questlaw,
doing legal research.
Yeah, well, that's gonna have to wait.
Who are these guys?
Well, this charmer right here
likes to decorate trees
with women's misery.
Were you why I had to go up
to Woodstock and get Noah?
That who you are?
[CHUCKLES]
Huh?
[CHUCKLES] Keep doing what you're doing.
Yeah?
- [LOUD CLATTERING]
- Hey! Elliot.
Stop.
♪
Captain, I'm glad you got
somebody who cares for you.
♪
You deserve that.
♪
I wish you hadn't done that.
- If someone tried to kill me
- I'd kill him.
Well, then, compared to you,
I showed remarkable restraint.
He gave me his word. Noah is safe.
Protect the case, not me.
[SCOFFING] He gave you his word? Okay.
Look, these guys are not gonna
tell us who hired 'em.
Neither can Rachel Lee Sprague.
All right, well,
while Jet is working the computers,
maybe Bell can meet with
the one person who can talk
your rape victim.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
♪
Sarge, Maria Varga's here.
Rape vic Benson sent us.
Yeah, let her in.
Hi, Maria. I am Sergeant Bell.
Have a seat.
[DOOR CLICKS]
Did SVU tell you why
we wanted to meet with you?
Captain Benson said
there might be a break in my rape case.
What's it have to do
with organized crime?
Well, we have reason to believe
that what happened to you
may have involved money changing hands.
Are you saying someone paid
to have me raped?
And we want to stop it
from happening to someone else.
[SIGHS]
If I showed you some pictures,
would you be able to point out
the man who attacked you?
[SOFT SOMBER MUSIC]
♪
That's him. That's the man who raped me.
He didn't even try to hide his face.
That's very helpful. Thank you, Maria.
The original detectives said
that there was some sort of
mix-up at the lab,
that the DNA on my kit belonged
to some guy in prison.
Yeah, he was in prison
and they let him out.
To hurt me?
That's what we're investigating.
[SIGHS]
I'm really sorry.
I know this is difficult,
but is there anybody in your life,
maybe a man you rejected,
that would've paid to see you raped?
I told SVU there are no men in my life.
Well, SVU mentioned that
you had a sexual relationship
with your previous employer.
Yeah. Derek. We slept together once.
Is there any reason
he might want to hurt you?
♪
Maria ID'd Junior Suarez as her rapist,
but she's never met the guy before.
We already know that Suarez
didn't get this job
out of the Green Haven whisper network.
He got it from an outside source,
so the question is how and who?
What about the guy Maria nannied for?
- Derek Scully?
- Mm-hmm.
SVU interviewed him. He denied it.
Yeah. Jet, did we get
anything off the phone
that we found
in Suarez's cell this morning?
Some Bitcoin transfers. 25k.
The Bitcoin, he turned it into cash
and gave it to his sister.
Where'd the Bitcoin come from?
All anonymous. Went through a mixer.
Pretty sophisticated
for a mid-level banger.
How 'bout the computers
that we got out of
the Green Haven library?
Drives are clean, mostly.
Prison system puts censorship
protocols on all its computers.
- Anything else?
- Yes.
Some enterprising, young banger
jerry-rigged the port.
Probably used for an external hard drive
to bypass proxy servers.
That's how they got to the internet.
- Mm-hmm.
- Email, social media?
- Anything and everything.
- So Junior Suarez might've
gotten the job to rape Maria
online after all.
Mm.
Whelan and I can head back
to Green Haven,
try and find that external drive.
I think it's long gone.
Suarez knows we're onto him.
But [CLEARS THROAT]
How 'bout if we approach this
from the opposite end?
Meaning?
Get Derek Scully's computer
to see if he had contact with Suarez.
What do you say?
We're gonna need
an electronic search warrant.
- Mm-hmm.
- So I'll reach out to the ADA.
You two, I need you
to pay a visit to the Scullys.
[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC]
I don't understand.
You want Derek's computer?
Not just his.
We're here for every laptop,
iPad, phone in the house.
We'll also be stopping by your office
and confiscating your devices as well.
- A'ight, come on in.
- May I see the warrant?
Yeah. You can show us where to look
or we'll be happy to redecorate.
You should see the last place.
They tore that thing down to the studs.
I already told SVU
I had nothing to do with Maria's rape.
He was here with me all night.
Well, that may be true,
but somebody paid
for Ms. Varga to be raped.
Mm-hmm, since we have
no other suspects
What, you're just here
to destroy our family?
Derek, why don't you make this easier
on your wife and kids
and come talk to us in the car?
So you can arrest me?
So you're saying
there's a reason for that?
Look, this whole thing
is straight out of
some kind of nightmare.
It's clear someone's setting me up.
You think I wanted to get Maria raped?
Considering your recent affair.
The anger you must've felt
when it ended
Stop!
You don't need to take
Derek's computer or his iPad.
You can just take mine.
[TENSE DRAMATIC MUSIC]
To be clear,
my client is in no way
associated with BX9,
a murder-for-hire scheme in Green Haven,
or a Junior Suarez.
We're not saying she is.
She's just a normal,
everyday wife and mother.
As well as being an accessory to rape.
I'm not a rapist.
I'm not, I'm not!
That may very well be true, Ms. Scully,
but right now, you're facing
a rape one charge.
- Can't you do something?
- While you were home,
tucking your children into bed,
the woman who used to care
for them was being raped.
With the kids that she now nannies for
right in the next room.
Now, that is dark, even for a sociopath.
[SOFT TENSE MUSIC]
Where'd you get your psychology degree?
30 years of human depravity.
All right, look.
We're getting ahead of ourselves here.
Ms. Scully is in possession
of invaluable material information.
And before she spills it,
you want to make a deal.
I'm a defense attorney.
That's how this works.
She talks, you give some concessions.
What's the ask?
Total indemnification.
♪
For facilitating rape? Try again.
Okay, how about this?
She tells us everything she knows
and then we tell you how valuable it is.
♪
Okay.
Why did you hire Junior Suarez
to rape your ex-nanny?
[SIGHS SOFTLY]
She slept with my husband.
Oh, so it was purely vindictive?
♪
Derek and I are trying.
My life will never be the same.
Well, neither will hers, now.
I don't even know Junior Suarez.
So how'd you get in touch with him?
He [SIGHS]
A woman at work heard me
crying in the bathroom
and she told me about a website.
It's called Shadowerk.
Shadowerk. Umlauts.
German?
I'm guessing this isn't a site
you just stumble across.
You need a Tor browser.
And you need to be invited.
How's it work?
It's like Kickstarter.
But for human depravity.
Hmm.
You pay in Bitcoin and
a total stranger takes the job.
So weaponized anonymity?
To hide rape, murder.
Whatever you want done.
Okay, are we satisfied?
[SIGHS]
You want indemnity?
Invite us in.
♪
Gretchen Scully isn't
gonna be arrested, is she?
Well, it's not my favorite
aspect about the case,
but yeah, if she cooperates.
Access to the site is key.
I'm only asking because
I think it's better
if we don't process her.
Why?
Because anyone who runs
a murder-for-hire site
is bound to be pretty sophisticated.
You think they might have eyes
on the NYPD booking server?
That's what I would do if I was them.
Noted.
You almost in?
Registering a username, and
[OMINOUS MUSIC]
♪
- Goodness.
- Gretchen wasn't kidding.
Uber Eats for violent crime.
And there's a whole lot of open jobs.
Look at this.
Someone wants to break
a rival cheerleader's legs.
Is there a page for completed jobs?
- Yeah, right here.
- [MOUSE CLICKS]
There's Maria Varga.
I'll let Benson know.
And your HOA president,
Rachel Lee Sprague.
♪
So once again, the Pareto Principle
turns out to be right.
20% of the perps
commit 80% of the crimes.
- Hang on.
- [MOUSE CLICKS]
Her murder was crowdfunded.
Shows nine anonymous users.
And I think I know exactly
what street they live on.
[TENSE MUSIC]
♪
So which one of these NIMBYS
do you think is the ringleader?
Well, obviously, we won't know
until we look at their computers,
but if I were to guess,
I'd say Julius next door.
♪
Rachel kept fining him for
leaving his Hanukkah lights up.
Oh. My neighbors hate when I do that.
And you wonder why
your invite to the holiday
party always gets lost.
My taxes put bread on your table.
You high-stepping gestapo bastard!
[GRUNTS]
Hey, I want your name and badge number!
[ENGINE TURNS OVER]
♪
To think it all started
with an election sign.
Trump-Biden, or?
No, the homeowner's association.
Rachel was a bitch before
she won, but afterwards?
She was an unholy terror.
Power just went to her head.
Yeah, we all have a Rachel in our life.
Phyllis Jackson would've
been a better choice
for HOA leadership, but, uh,
neighborhood didn't think it was ready
for a lesbian president.
So you all had Rachel killed?
Shadowerk.
[TENSE MUSIC]
You're familiar with it, right?
♪
Vinny, our treasurer, knew about it.
He's an IT guy in the city.
Okay, so how does that work?
You get together at a barbecue
and start talking about murder?
It was a Shabbat dinner.
How much did you pitch in?
Me? 500.
I thought it was a joke.
Well, it wasn't.
Just ask Rachel Lee Sprague's daughter.
Yeah. She's arranging a burial.
- Rachel had a kid?
- Mm.
I didn't know.
Am I going to jail for this?
[SIGHS]
Well, the bright side is,
now you'll have new neighbors.
Guys, it's urgent.
♪
I made a real-time heatmap
to track all these
revenge-for-hire jobs.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
These the open jobs?
- Japan, Belgium
- A few dozen countries.
What's with the swords?
Katanas, the neckbeard weapon of choice.
Neckbeard?
Kinda guy who lurks on Reddit all day,
fingers coated in a
faint patina of Cheeto dust.
Okay, so we're not looking
at an international ring
of techno-jihadists?
My guess, based on the umlaut alone,
the guy's a total chode.
Katana with no blood
means a job's been taken,
but not yet completed.
So when there is blood, let me guess.
[COMPUTER CHIMES]
Population of Kyoto just dropped by one.
[SIGHS] This is bigger than us.
The feds are gonna have to
handle the rest of the country.
And overseas?
Interpol. Used to deal
with them a lot in Vice.
There's an agent
I worked pretty closely with
on my old DEA task force.
- Make a call.
- All right.
[COMPUTER CHIMES]
Someone just took a job nearby.
Throgs Neck.
After someone's accepted a job,
what's the window of opportunity
to have that completed?
Timer starts at 24 hours,
then ticks down.
I'm assuming bad things
happen when it gets to zero.
If it's not completed,
it just keeps getting re-listed
until it is.
Well, you and me
let's go to the Bronx
and, uh, get there before
whoever accepted it does.
Any way to shut this thing down?
It's decentralized,
bouncing off multiple computers.
Whoever designed it is trying
really hard to stay anonymous.
So how do we find him?
Well, a name would help.
[SIGHS] And there's nothing
associated with the site?
No.
[KEYBOARD CLACKING]
But those selfies Benson mentioned,
they gotta be emailed somewhere.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
♪
[GROANS]
What's the matter? Coffee's no good?
Tastes like Chock Full O' Nuts.
Then why'd you bring us here?
I always just cover it
with sugar anyway.
Look, Mr. Longo,
someone put a hit out on you.
Any ideas?
[SUGAR CLACKS]
I got three ex-wives.
Okay. You want
to narrow that down for us?
Why does the NYPD care about
a hit on a guy like me?
Shouldn't you be out
making quality-of-life collars
like every other hump
with a badge in this city?
We're glad you hold us
in such high regard.
We're Organized Crime.
We think the hit is part
of something larger.
An online thing.
What, you mean like
Facebook or something?
You ever hear of Shadowerk?
It's a website where
people get paid for, uh,
freelance hits.
That's stupid.
When I was coming up,
about 40 years ago,
we did hits the old-fashioned way.
- That a confession?
- I'm kidding.
Are you gonna cooperate with us or not?
Yeah, 'cause we need to catch
whoever's coming to kill you.
So you can flip him and find
out who's paying him and why.
More or less.
Well, how much are you gonna pay me?
What do you mean, pay you?
We're trying to save your life.
- Can you believe this guy?
- No.
[CHUCKLES] All right, we tried.
No! Come on, come on, guys.
Sit down, come on, relax.
Take it easy. I'll help you out.
Relax.
You'll help us?
What do you want me to do?
[SIGHS]
Got a clear view of Longo's front door.
Any other entry points?
Just the window,
but it's a long way down.
All right. Nothing
at the door. All clear.
Yo!
You crazy. Who you talking to?
Vladimir Putin. He lives right here.
You hear him?
Here. It's good. My mom just made it.
Oh, man. That's really sweet.
Hey.
♪
[SNIFFS]
Mm.
How you holding up, Gary?
I lost money on the Wood Memorial Stakes
out at Aqueduct, but I'm all right.
[MUNCHING SOUNDS]
Yo, Reyes, what's up
with all the chewing?
Some kid gave me a sandwich.
[MUNCHING SOUNDS]
♪
We got a Core Global guy
pulling into the front of the building.
♪
Shaky.
Yeah, I'd be shaky, too,
if I was delivering packages
in this neighborhood.
It was a deal.
I bet.
- [PHONE CHIMES]
- That's him. What should I do?
You expecting anything?
Other than a non-negligible part
of my self-esteem wrapped up in how much
this scumbag is getting paid
to kill me, no.
Well, I hate to break it
to you, but it's only 2 grand.
Jesus Christ! That's it?
Just buzz him in.
All right, everybody
get ready to move in.
♪
[PHONE BEEPS]
[DOOR BUZZES]
♪
[ELEVATOR DINGS]
♪
[ELEVATOR DINGS]
[KNOCKS ON DOOR]
Core Global!
I'll sign for it.
You must be delivering
that SIG Sauer P229 I ordered.
Hey. Police. Don't move. NYPD.
Leave it on the ground now.
Before you end up there too. Come on.
♪
Do you think I can make a call?
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
- Where am I going?
- Relax.
♪
[GRUNTS]
2 grand? You were planning
to end me for 2 grand?
What cheap son of a bitch sent you?
Back off, back off. Relax, relax.
Son
[SIGHS] What's your name?
Josh.
Josh, you have no future
in this business.
But you can change
what is about to happen to you.
♪
How long am I gonna be here?
It's attempted murder, Josh,
not the express checkout line.
I wasn't even gonna do it.
I wasn't, I wasn't!
Mm-hmm.
So why'd you sign up for the job?
I-I needed the money.
The ad said he kept
a bunch of cash in the house.
So you were just gonna rob the guy?
What'd you need that much cash for?
- I'm saving up.
- Right. For what?
An engagement ring.
[SOFT TENSE MUSIC]
Well, Josh, we might be able
to cut you a deal.
♪
[SIGHS] I'm listening.
You got the hit through Shadowerk.
So you were supposed to take a selfie
over the victim's body, correct?
I told you I wasn't gonna
kill the guy. I wasn't!
We know what you told us,
but we want you to help us.
So you were gonna send that selfie to?
No Bitcoin without proof, right?
♪
Everything goes through this
guy named Hyakunin Giri.
Japanese guy associated
with a German site?
Yeah. I guess.
[KNOCK AT DOOR]
Sarge, his mother's here.
♪
Jail must be looking pretty
good for you right about now.
♪
[SIGHS] See what you can find
on this email account.
Some guy named Hyakunin Giri.
[SIGHS]
Where is Josh? Can I see him?
[SIGHS] Ms. Crocklin,
we apprehended your son in the
middle of an attempted murder.
What are you talking about?
My Josh is just a kid.
He's 27.
Do you recognize this?
- Looks familiar.
- Well, it should.
Because it's registered to you.
Josh can't remember to
put his clothes in the hamper,
and you're telling me that
he stole the gun that
I use for home protection
and was going to use it
in some sort of murder?
There's a website he found
that can explain some of his behavior.
♪
Look, Josh doesn't have a record.
He's been very cooperative,
so if he keeps it up,
we might be able to make
some kind of deal.
[SOFT SOMBER MUSIC]
What do you need?
His computer.
- [CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS]
- All right, cool.
Wait. We're done here?
- Yeah. Yeah, we're good.
- What? What, that's it?
- You guys are leaving?
- Yeah.
- You'll be fine. Relax.
- Yeah?
Is that what you say to all
your attempted murder victims?
Look, after this photo,
you'll be marked dead on the site.
Look. [SCOFFS]
Can't you guys put me
in witness protection or something?
Look, Gary, like I said,
the guy's in custody.
You're no longer a target, okay?
None of this rises to the level
of WITSEC.
Yeah, but my address
is already out there.
Every scumbag with Wi-Fi
is gonna come looking
for the money I got stashed
under my mattress.
Have you ever thought about retiring?
- Where?
- You got family out of town?
My sister in Fort Lauderdale.
Attaboy.
There we go. All right?
Pack up.
We'll drive you to the airport.
♪
We're closing in on the guy,
and obviously, I'll keep
you up-to-date on it.
Yeah. Look, hold on.
So Captain Benson has just informed me
they arrested four individuals
who ordered the rape
of their exes on the site.
- That's great.
- Yeah.
It's official. Reyes is a paid killer.
- [COMPUTER CHIMES]
- One just popped up in Sydney.
Nothing normalizes violent crimes
like a good user interface.
Well, according to Reyes's
contact at Interpol,
the cops at Antwerp
intercepted that hit in Belgium
- that we came across.
- This is good news.
And where the hell have you two been?
Whelan and I just put Gary Longo
on a flight to Florida.
Mm. Fate worse than death.
You get anything
on that Core Global kid?
- Yeah, his computer.
- And we got the email address
of the guy we sent that fake selfie to.
Who is he?
Name's Hyakunin Giri.
And we got his IP address.
Server's located in Dublin, Ohio.
It's like you said, though.
The guy's site is decentralized,
so it's bouncing from
multiple computers.
Well, the real question is,
is he physically in Dublin, Ohio?
Only one way to tell.
Get a court order to surveil
the physical address.
- In Ohio?
- Out of our jurisdiction.
But it's not out of McCrary's.
Yeah, and he does owe us.
We got Uncle Sam's $2 million back.
- It's a good place to start.
- Yeah. All right.
- [COMPUTER CHIMES]
- Oh!
Reyes's fake hit registered.
♪
And 2 grand just hit
Josh Conklin's crypto account,
along with a gif.
Guess he's not just some neckbeard
trying to make a few bucks.
No, he's a psychopath that
wants to watch the world burn.
[SIGHS]
Alamut Castle, a mountain fortress
located in what is present-day Iran.
It's legendary for its gardens,
but also known as
the fabled birthplace
for modern terrorism.
Does anyone know what "Alamut" means?
- Yeah?
- "Eagle's nest". In Farsi.
Also known as the Nest of Punishment.
But, uh, this isn't about birds.
This is about one man's
very dangerous idea.
Hasan-e Sabbah, the man
that owned Alamut Castle,
also invented modern-day assassin.
So his legend goes
he would go into the village,
recruit young men,
invite them back to dinner,
and have them drugged.
And they would wake up
in his lush gardens
with fountains filled
with wine and nude maidens
72 nude maidens
- Sounds like paradise to me.
- [CHUCKLES] Okay.
Yeah, well, the men believed
they had died
and gone to paradise.
After living like that for a few weeks,
Sabbah would have them drugged
once again
and they would wake up at his table,
rudely yanked back into normal life.
And then he would offer them
a way back to paradise.
Um, is anyone
anyone able to articulate why
this was such
an effective method of warfare?
[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC]
♪
Yeah, sir?
Well, if you can convince someone
that their death has more value
than their life
Go on.
You create a very dangerous individual.
♪
Well, first of all, congratulations.
Happily married and three kids, huh?
Did not think that was on my bingo card.
Yeah, well, I'm happy.
For you and for Carisi.
[SIGHS] Does Liv know?
Word on the street is Carisi
couldn't keep his mouth shut.
So she left me a message, but
- So you owe her a call?
- Yeah.
Um, how can I help you?
Well, we're tracking
someone who has started
a revenge-for-hire factory online.
- I'm intrigued.
- You need a Tor browser.
And it's a
a site that posts
murders and rapes-for-hire.
They upload the vic's information
and whoever wants it,
they got 24 hours to complete the job.
Then what?
They take a selfie for proof
that it has, in fact, been completed,
they hash it so it remains anonymous,
and get paid in crypto.
And you can't take down the site
until you know who built it.
We have a name. Hyakunin Giri.
- Uh
- Yeah, I googled it.
The Japanese competition.
Right, where the goal of the contest
is to see who can kill
100 people with one sword.
I did a lecture on that, too.
We have an address. Dublin, Ohio.
And you want to know who lives there?
I feel as though
it's a lot like the, uh,
the mindset of that Sabbah guy
that you were discussing.
- Hmm.
- Weaponizing individuals.
Turning strangers, even people without
any kind of criminal background
into murderers and rapists.
Right. Well, there's a thrill there.
- Mm-hmm?
- It's someone who feels
completely powerless in his own life.
He's looking to create chaos
like a toddler knocking down
a block castle.
Yeah, they get to feel in control.
Mm.
[SIGHS]
I gotta tell you,
you looked way more excited here
than you did in that lecture hall.
♪
How long have you been bored?
- The truth?
- Well, you could lie to me,
but I do interrogate people
for a living.
I love the students,
but I do miss the feeling
of solving a good mystery.
Carisi know?
That I'm bored?
I mean [SIGHS]
No, it'd break his heart.
He's the one that got me the job.
- How 'bout Liv?
- [SIGHS]
You, of all people,
should know how she reacts
when people leave her.
I see your quandary.
Well, hell, I've lived your quandary.
[SIGHS]
Well, I think you and I
can help each other.
How's that?
I bring a little bit
more mystery into your life.
- [CHUCKLES]
- And, uh,
you work up a psych profile
on this Hyakunin Giri.
♪
- All right.
- [PHONE BEEPS]
Jet?
That fed McCrary is here,
and he's pissed.
Well, okay. You want to tell me why?
There's a new hit on the site.
I just sent you the info.
- [PHONE BUZZES]
- [SIGHS]
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
Barbara Zeigler. Federal judge?
Not just any judge.
She's a personal friend.
Explains how you got
the electronic surveillance
warrant so fast.
Now I can't get a hold of her.
The unfortunate part of all this
is that now, some guy in Dublin, Ohio
knows we're monitoring him.
Now he's monitoring us.
Can't say I didn't warn you.
You were worried about
the NYPD booking services,
not federal warrant systems.
Judge Zeigler's office, please.
Got Unis on the way to her house now.
Any response from Zeigler herself?
No. She's not picking up.
Her clerk says she stopped for lunch,
but the restaurant says
she's not there, either.
Five Bitcoin. What's
that worth right now?
- About $130,000.
- That's a big incentive.
Yeah, we gotta get to her first.
You two, call the local precinct.
Try to get them to trace the route
from that restaurant to home.
[ELEVATOR DINGS]
♪
[SIGHS]
Tragedy struck just moments
ago in downtown Manhattan
when a federal judge was shot and killed
while driving in her car.
The police have not
Another quasi-civilized
person-turned-murderer?
[SIGHS] For all we know,
the mastermind who may
or may not be in Dublin
likely ordered the hit.
Well, he just took it
to another level with Zeigler.
It's personal.
El, Ayanna.
The judge is dead?
Yeah. She was McCrary's personal friend.
So I'ma go check on him.
I'll link up with you guys later.
Okay.
Why?
Well, we think
it's a paid hit in response
to an electronic surveillance
warrant that she issued for us.
This guy's looking for somebody
to rise to this challenge.
Well, challenge accepted.
Jet has an IP address
out of an escrow office in Dublin, Ohio.
We're waiting on a warrant
for physical surveillance.
Okay, good. So we're slow-playing it.
Mm-hmm.
If we're hasty,
he just gets a Tor address,
he sets up his operation somewhere else,
and we're back to square one.
- Ugh, Ohio.
- Yeah.
Feds are gonna have
to run point on that.
That would be McCrary,
and Bell would be with him.
All right. What about
international crimes?
Interpol through a contact
that Reyes has.
Well, if they need
any resources or need space,
let 'em know
they can set up shop with us.
Yeah, and there's someone else
I'd like to involve in the case.
With your blessing,
I think she'd be an asset.
- What acronym?
- There is none.
She's out of the private sector.
Okay. Who is it?
Hey, uh, sorry to interrupt.
Amanda?
Hey. I-I can wait. I'm
just double parked.
Well, congratulations, by the way.
- Surprise.
- Not really.
Carisi can't keep a secret.
Yeah, he's a great lawyer,
not a great witness.
No. He breaks under pressure.
Yeah.
[SOFT MUSIC]
I've been meaning to call you.
So I had Rollins, uh,
work up a psych profile
of the guy we're after.
Okay. Surprises all around.
Get down to business?
Yeah, so you're looking
for someone Caucasian,
younger, mid-20s.
He's disaffected, disenfranchised,
antisocial, highly intelligent,
and from a lower-middle class family.
But he's more sophisticated
than the expectations
put on him from those around him,
and he's frustrated
with that social circle.
He'd be fine socially
with people older or younger,
but as it is,
he might be entirely devoid of friends
from his own peer group.
Okay. Anything else?
Well, I think it's safe to say
that he's got a fascination
with systems.
And he sees the whole world as one,
and it's been cruel to him.
He understands the criminal pathology
that's lurking within himself.
The site is a call of the void
for others who might
have similar thoughts,
but are afraid to act on them.
- In fear of being caught.
- Yeah.
He's weaponized anonymity
and he'll do anything to keep it.
- [SIGHS]
- That's for sure.
[TENSE MUSIC]
♪
Any questions?
♪
[WOLF HOWLS]
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.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
[THUNKING]
Curtis McCrary, FBI.
Junior Suarez's DNA
was found at the murder
of a HOA president?
I'm glad that bitch got killed.
Must be some mistake at the lab.
And these walls? They move for no man.
Inmates that get a request
for a hit from the outside,
so then they earn
an unofficial furlough.
Junior Suarez, he gets paid for one hit
when none of the other convicts
get paid for theirs.
So the money that he sends his sister
had to have been earned
from somewhere else where?
What can you tell me
about your attacker?
[SOBBING] He knew my name.
When he was done, he took a selfie.
We're looking at some kind
of market for revenge rape.
I had nothing to do with
Maria being attacked.
OC is working two murders.
DNA from both scenes
matches one of our rapes.
Maria Varga.
I think you and I
are working the same case
from opposite ends.
Okay, partner.
Olivia Benson, meet Rachel Lee Sprague.
- Your HOA lady.
- Mm-hmm.
Talk about an outlier.
57-year-old female, Staten Island,
murdered by a BX9 inmate, Junior Suarez,
who goes on to rape your nanny.
- Okay, uh
- Smells bad, doesn't it?
Uh, yeah, it does.
Kind of like a cop who hasn't
showered in a couple days.
Hmm.
Well, look, you know, I just [SIGHS]
Where did that end?
You talk to the neighbors?
Mm-hmm. They all hated her.
- Why?
- Power trip.
You know, she was a stickler,
so she was fining people left and right
about the small stuff in fractions.
My mother, Detective Bernie,
thinks that she was acting out,
she was in pain because she'd
recently lost her husband.
You're wearing your wedding ring again.
[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC]
I'm not Rachel Lee Sprague.
I found it in a drawer.
And don't do that.
You're doing that with the eyes,
with the head cock
and the dime-sized pupils.
It's called empathy.
♪
[SIGHS]
I saw her.
♪
Kathy.
Okay. Where?
Over there,
sitting down in a hospital gown.
Just kind of, like,
waiting to be interrogated.
[SIGHS]
Well, maybe she wanted
to interrogate you.
I'm not losing my mind.
Okay.
Well, El, you know,
if there's, um,
one thing that I've learned
after all these years, it's that, um
if we don't deal with our
trauma, the world will.
I'm not a victim.
♪
But you are a survivor.
♪
And sometimes, that's just as hard.
♪
We need to find out
who paid Suarez to do these things.
[INHALES DEEPLY]
So let's head back up to Green Haven.
- Good.
- Good.
In the meantime,
I would get some sleep.
♪
Yo, yo, why you making a mess?
'Cause we know you had a
cell phone in there somewhere.
We're not allowed.
So this girl
your DNA is all over her rape kit.
[ITEMS CLATTERING]
Yo, this is my home, man! Take it easy!
Yo.
How'd you get the job to rape her?
- There it is. You see that?
- I certainly did.
Like a little boy who just stole a 20
out of his mama's purse.
What are you gonna do?
I'm already in jail for life.
Junior, who paid you?
I was moonlighting.
Like you cops do when
you work security at Walmart.
Found something.
- That's not mine.
- It's not?
- No?
- [CHUCKLES]
Well, then you won't mind
if we take it with us.
[SPUTTERS]
Let's go to the prison library,
check out the computers.
[SPUTTERS]
[SOFT SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
♪
Yo, yo, yo, yo!
My parole documents are in there, man!
I already took your eye.
Don't make me take your tongue, too.
♪
Captain Benson.
♪
100 or so open rapes
perpetrated by known BX9 recruiters.
Oscar Papa put the hit out on me.
- I'm sorry you were hurt
- Mom!
It pains me more that
your son was traumatized
If you say one more word about my son,
it will be your last.
[TENSE MUSIC]
♪
You are like ASMR for the soul.
♪
Is there a problem?
We were just on Questlaw,
doing legal research.
Yeah, well, that's gonna have to wait.
Who are these guys?
Well, this charmer right here
likes to decorate trees
with women's misery.
Were you why I had to go up
to Woodstock and get Noah?
That who you are?
[CHUCKLES]
Huh?
[CHUCKLES] Keep doing what you're doing.
Yeah?
- [LOUD CLATTERING]
- Hey! Elliot.
Stop.
♪
Captain, I'm glad you got
somebody who cares for you.
♪
You deserve that.
♪
I wish you hadn't done that.
- If someone tried to kill me
- I'd kill him.
Well, then, compared to you,
I showed remarkable restraint.
He gave me his word. Noah is safe.
Protect the case, not me.
[SCOFFING] He gave you his word? Okay.
Look, these guys are not gonna
tell us who hired 'em.
Neither can Rachel Lee Sprague.
All right, well,
while Jet is working the computers,
maybe Bell can meet with
the one person who can talk
your rape victim.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
♪
Sarge, Maria Varga's here.
Rape vic Benson sent us.
Yeah, let her in.
Hi, Maria. I am Sergeant Bell.
Have a seat.
[DOOR CLICKS]
Did SVU tell you why
we wanted to meet with you?
Captain Benson said
there might be a break in my rape case.
What's it have to do
with organized crime?
Well, we have reason to believe
that what happened to you
may have involved money changing hands.
Are you saying someone paid
to have me raped?
And we want to stop it
from happening to someone else.
[SIGHS]
If I showed you some pictures,
would you be able to point out
the man who attacked you?
[SOFT SOMBER MUSIC]
♪
That's him. That's the man who raped me.
He didn't even try to hide his face.
That's very helpful. Thank you, Maria.
The original detectives said
that there was some sort of
mix-up at the lab,
that the DNA on my kit belonged
to some guy in prison.
Yeah, he was in prison
and they let him out.
To hurt me?
That's what we're investigating.
[SIGHS]
I'm really sorry.
I know this is difficult,
but is there anybody in your life,
maybe a man you rejected,
that would've paid to see you raped?
I told SVU there are no men in my life.
Well, SVU mentioned that
you had a sexual relationship
with your previous employer.
Yeah. Derek. We slept together once.
Is there any reason
he might want to hurt you?
♪
Maria ID'd Junior Suarez as her rapist,
but she's never met the guy before.
We already know that Suarez
didn't get this job
out of the Green Haven whisper network.
He got it from an outside source,
so the question is how and who?
What about the guy Maria nannied for?
- Derek Scully?
- Mm-hmm.
SVU interviewed him. He denied it.
Yeah. Jet, did we get
anything off the phone
that we found
in Suarez's cell this morning?
Some Bitcoin transfers. 25k.
The Bitcoin, he turned it into cash
and gave it to his sister.
Where'd the Bitcoin come from?
All anonymous. Went through a mixer.
Pretty sophisticated
for a mid-level banger.
How 'bout the computers
that we got out of
the Green Haven library?
Drives are clean, mostly.
Prison system puts censorship
protocols on all its computers.
- Anything else?
- Yes.
Some enterprising, young banger
jerry-rigged the port.
Probably used for an external hard drive
to bypass proxy servers.
That's how they got to the internet.
- Mm-hmm.
- Email, social media?
- Anything and everything.
- So Junior Suarez might've
gotten the job to rape Maria
online after all.
Mm.
Whelan and I can head back
to Green Haven,
try and find that external drive.
I think it's long gone.
Suarez knows we're onto him.
But [CLEARS THROAT]
How 'bout if we approach this
from the opposite end?
Meaning?
Get Derek Scully's computer
to see if he had contact with Suarez.
What do you say?
We're gonna need
an electronic search warrant.
- Mm-hmm.
- So I'll reach out to the ADA.
You two, I need you
to pay a visit to the Scullys.
[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC]
I don't understand.
You want Derek's computer?
Not just his.
We're here for every laptop,
iPad, phone in the house.
We'll also be stopping by your office
and confiscating your devices as well.
- A'ight, come on in.
- May I see the warrant?
Yeah. You can show us where to look
or we'll be happy to redecorate.
You should see the last place.
They tore that thing down to the studs.
I already told SVU
I had nothing to do with Maria's rape.
He was here with me all night.
Well, that may be true,
but somebody paid
for Ms. Varga to be raped.
Mm-hmm, since we have
no other suspects
What, you're just here
to destroy our family?
Derek, why don't you make this easier
on your wife and kids
and come talk to us in the car?
So you can arrest me?
So you're saying
there's a reason for that?
Look, this whole thing
is straight out of
some kind of nightmare.
It's clear someone's setting me up.
You think I wanted to get Maria raped?
Considering your recent affair.
The anger you must've felt
when it ended
Stop!
You don't need to take
Derek's computer or his iPad.
You can just take mine.
[TENSE DRAMATIC MUSIC]
To be clear,
my client is in no way
associated with BX9,
a murder-for-hire scheme in Green Haven,
or a Junior Suarez.
We're not saying she is.
She's just a normal,
everyday wife and mother.
As well as being an accessory to rape.
I'm not a rapist.
I'm not, I'm not!
That may very well be true, Ms. Scully,
but right now, you're facing
a rape one charge.
- Can't you do something?
- While you were home,
tucking your children into bed,
the woman who used to care
for them was being raped.
With the kids that she now nannies for
right in the next room.
Now, that is dark, even for a sociopath.
[SOFT TENSE MUSIC]
Where'd you get your psychology degree?
30 years of human depravity.
All right, look.
We're getting ahead of ourselves here.
Ms. Scully is in possession
of invaluable material information.
And before she spills it,
you want to make a deal.
I'm a defense attorney.
That's how this works.
She talks, you give some concessions.
What's the ask?
Total indemnification.
♪
For facilitating rape? Try again.
Okay, how about this?
She tells us everything she knows
and then we tell you how valuable it is.
♪
Okay.
Why did you hire Junior Suarez
to rape your ex-nanny?
[SIGHS SOFTLY]
She slept with my husband.
Oh, so it was purely vindictive?
♪
Derek and I are trying.
My life will never be the same.
Well, neither will hers, now.
I don't even know Junior Suarez.
So how'd you get in touch with him?
He [SIGHS]
A woman at work heard me
crying in the bathroom
and she told me about a website.
It's called Shadowerk.
Shadowerk. Umlauts.
German?
I'm guessing this isn't a site
you just stumble across.
You need a Tor browser.
And you need to be invited.
How's it work?
It's like Kickstarter.
But for human depravity.
Hmm.
You pay in Bitcoin and
a total stranger takes the job.
So weaponized anonymity?
To hide rape, murder.
Whatever you want done.
Okay, are we satisfied?
[SIGHS]
You want indemnity?
Invite us in.
♪
Gretchen Scully isn't
gonna be arrested, is she?
Well, it's not my favorite
aspect about the case,
but yeah, if she cooperates.
Access to the site is key.
I'm only asking because
I think it's better
if we don't process her.
Why?
Because anyone who runs
a murder-for-hire site
is bound to be pretty sophisticated.
You think they might have eyes
on the NYPD booking server?
That's what I would do if I was them.
Noted.
You almost in?
Registering a username, and
[OMINOUS MUSIC]
♪
- Goodness.
- Gretchen wasn't kidding.
Uber Eats for violent crime.
And there's a whole lot of open jobs.
Look at this.
Someone wants to break
a rival cheerleader's legs.
Is there a page for completed jobs?
- Yeah, right here.
- [MOUSE CLICKS]
There's Maria Varga.
I'll let Benson know.
And your HOA president,
Rachel Lee Sprague.
♪
So once again, the Pareto Principle
turns out to be right.
20% of the perps
commit 80% of the crimes.
- Hang on.
- [MOUSE CLICKS]
Her murder was crowdfunded.
Shows nine anonymous users.
And I think I know exactly
what street they live on.
[TENSE MUSIC]
♪
So which one of these NIMBYS
do you think is the ringleader?
Well, obviously, we won't know
until we look at their computers,
but if I were to guess,
I'd say Julius next door.
♪
Rachel kept fining him for
leaving his Hanukkah lights up.
Oh. My neighbors hate when I do that.
And you wonder why
your invite to the holiday
party always gets lost.
My taxes put bread on your table.
You high-stepping gestapo bastard!
[GRUNTS]
Hey, I want your name and badge number!
[ENGINE TURNS OVER]
♪
To think it all started
with an election sign.
Trump-Biden, or?
No, the homeowner's association.
Rachel was a bitch before
she won, but afterwards?
She was an unholy terror.
Power just went to her head.
Yeah, we all have a Rachel in our life.
Phyllis Jackson would've
been a better choice
for HOA leadership, but, uh,
neighborhood didn't think it was ready
for a lesbian president.
So you all had Rachel killed?
Shadowerk.
[TENSE MUSIC]
You're familiar with it, right?
♪
Vinny, our treasurer, knew about it.
He's an IT guy in the city.
Okay, so how does that work?
You get together at a barbecue
and start talking about murder?
It was a Shabbat dinner.
How much did you pitch in?
Me? 500.
I thought it was a joke.
Well, it wasn't.
Just ask Rachel Lee Sprague's daughter.
Yeah. She's arranging a burial.
- Rachel had a kid?
- Mm.
I didn't know.
Am I going to jail for this?
[SIGHS]
Well, the bright side is,
now you'll have new neighbors.
Guys, it's urgent.
♪
I made a real-time heatmap
to track all these
revenge-for-hire jobs.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
These the open jobs?
- Japan, Belgium
- A few dozen countries.
What's with the swords?
Katanas, the neckbeard weapon of choice.
Neckbeard?
Kinda guy who lurks on Reddit all day,
fingers coated in a
faint patina of Cheeto dust.
Okay, so we're not looking
at an international ring
of techno-jihadists?
My guess, based on the umlaut alone,
the guy's a total chode.
Katana with no blood
means a job's been taken,
but not yet completed.
So when there is blood, let me guess.
[COMPUTER CHIMES]
Population of Kyoto just dropped by one.
[SIGHS] This is bigger than us.
The feds are gonna have to
handle the rest of the country.
And overseas?
Interpol. Used to deal
with them a lot in Vice.
There's an agent
I worked pretty closely with
on my old DEA task force.
- Make a call.
- All right.
[COMPUTER CHIMES]
Someone just took a job nearby.
Throgs Neck.
After someone's accepted a job,
what's the window of opportunity
to have that completed?
Timer starts at 24 hours,
then ticks down.
I'm assuming bad things
happen when it gets to zero.
If it's not completed,
it just keeps getting re-listed
until it is.
Well, you and me
let's go to the Bronx
and, uh, get there before
whoever accepted it does.
Any way to shut this thing down?
It's decentralized,
bouncing off multiple computers.
Whoever designed it is trying
really hard to stay anonymous.
So how do we find him?
Well, a name would help.
[SIGHS] And there's nothing
associated with the site?
No.
[KEYBOARD CLACKING]
But those selfies Benson mentioned,
they gotta be emailed somewhere.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
♪
[GROANS]
What's the matter? Coffee's no good?
Tastes like Chock Full O' Nuts.
Then why'd you bring us here?
I always just cover it
with sugar anyway.
Look, Mr. Longo,
someone put a hit out on you.
Any ideas?
[SUGAR CLACKS]
I got three ex-wives.
Okay. You want
to narrow that down for us?
Why does the NYPD care about
a hit on a guy like me?
Shouldn't you be out
making quality-of-life collars
like every other hump
with a badge in this city?
We're glad you hold us
in such high regard.
We're Organized Crime.
We think the hit is part
of something larger.
An online thing.
What, you mean like
Facebook or something?
You ever hear of Shadowerk?
It's a website where
people get paid for, uh,
freelance hits.
That's stupid.
When I was coming up,
about 40 years ago,
we did hits the old-fashioned way.
- That a confession?
- I'm kidding.
Are you gonna cooperate with us or not?
Yeah, 'cause we need to catch
whoever's coming to kill you.
So you can flip him and find
out who's paying him and why.
More or less.
Well, how much are you gonna pay me?
What do you mean, pay you?
We're trying to save your life.
- Can you believe this guy?
- No.
[CHUCKLES] All right, we tried.
No! Come on, come on, guys.
Sit down, come on, relax.
Take it easy. I'll help you out.
Relax.
You'll help us?
What do you want me to do?
[SIGHS]
Got a clear view of Longo's front door.
Any other entry points?
Just the window,
but it's a long way down.
All right. Nothing
at the door. All clear.
Yo!
You crazy. Who you talking to?
Vladimir Putin. He lives right here.
You hear him?
Here. It's good. My mom just made it.
Oh, man. That's really sweet.
Hey.
♪
[SNIFFS]
Mm.
How you holding up, Gary?
I lost money on the Wood Memorial Stakes
out at Aqueduct, but I'm all right.
[MUNCHING SOUNDS]
Yo, Reyes, what's up
with all the chewing?
Some kid gave me a sandwich.
[MUNCHING SOUNDS]
♪
We got a Core Global guy
pulling into the front of the building.
♪
Shaky.
Yeah, I'd be shaky, too,
if I was delivering packages
in this neighborhood.
It was a deal.
I bet.
- [PHONE CHIMES]
- That's him. What should I do?
You expecting anything?
Other than a non-negligible part
of my self-esteem wrapped up in how much
this scumbag is getting paid
to kill me, no.
Well, I hate to break it
to you, but it's only 2 grand.
Jesus Christ! That's it?
Just buzz him in.
All right, everybody
get ready to move in.
♪
[PHONE BEEPS]
[DOOR BUZZES]
♪
[ELEVATOR DINGS]
♪
[ELEVATOR DINGS]
[KNOCKS ON DOOR]
Core Global!
I'll sign for it.
You must be delivering
that SIG Sauer P229 I ordered.
Hey. Police. Don't move. NYPD.
Leave it on the ground now.
Before you end up there too. Come on.
♪
Do you think I can make a call?
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
- Where am I going?
- Relax.
♪
[GRUNTS]
2 grand? You were planning
to end me for 2 grand?
What cheap son of a bitch sent you?
Back off, back off. Relax, relax.
Son
[SIGHS] What's your name?
Josh.
Josh, you have no future
in this business.
But you can change
what is about to happen to you.
♪
How long am I gonna be here?
It's attempted murder, Josh,
not the express checkout line.
I wasn't even gonna do it.
I wasn't, I wasn't!
Mm-hmm.
So why'd you sign up for the job?
I-I needed the money.
The ad said he kept
a bunch of cash in the house.
So you were just gonna rob the guy?
What'd you need that much cash for?
- I'm saving up.
- Right. For what?
An engagement ring.
[SOFT TENSE MUSIC]
Well, Josh, we might be able
to cut you a deal.
♪
[SIGHS] I'm listening.
You got the hit through Shadowerk.
So you were supposed to take a selfie
over the victim's body, correct?
I told you I wasn't gonna
kill the guy. I wasn't!
We know what you told us,
but we want you to help us.
So you were gonna send that selfie to?
No Bitcoin without proof, right?
♪
Everything goes through this
guy named Hyakunin Giri.
Japanese guy associated
with a German site?
Yeah. I guess.
[KNOCK AT DOOR]
Sarge, his mother's here.
♪
Jail must be looking pretty
good for you right about now.
♪
[SIGHS] See what you can find
on this email account.
Some guy named Hyakunin Giri.
[SIGHS]
Where is Josh? Can I see him?
[SIGHS] Ms. Crocklin,
we apprehended your son in the
middle of an attempted murder.
What are you talking about?
My Josh is just a kid.
He's 27.
Do you recognize this?
- Looks familiar.
- Well, it should.
Because it's registered to you.
Josh can't remember to
put his clothes in the hamper,
and you're telling me that
he stole the gun that
I use for home protection
and was going to use it
in some sort of murder?
There's a website he found
that can explain some of his behavior.
♪
Look, Josh doesn't have a record.
He's been very cooperative,
so if he keeps it up,
we might be able to make
some kind of deal.
[SOFT SOMBER MUSIC]
What do you need?
His computer.
- [CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS]
- All right, cool.
Wait. We're done here?
- Yeah. Yeah, we're good.
- What? What, that's it?
- You guys are leaving?
- Yeah.
- You'll be fine. Relax.
- Yeah?
Is that what you say to all
your attempted murder victims?
Look, after this photo,
you'll be marked dead on the site.
Look. [SCOFFS]
Can't you guys put me
in witness protection or something?
Look, Gary, like I said,
the guy's in custody.
You're no longer a target, okay?
None of this rises to the level
of WITSEC.
Yeah, but my address
is already out there.
Every scumbag with Wi-Fi
is gonna come looking
for the money I got stashed
under my mattress.
Have you ever thought about retiring?
- Where?
- You got family out of town?
My sister in Fort Lauderdale.
Attaboy.
There we go. All right?
Pack up.
We'll drive you to the airport.
♪
We're closing in on the guy,
and obviously, I'll keep
you up-to-date on it.
Yeah. Look, hold on.
So Captain Benson has just informed me
they arrested four individuals
who ordered the rape
of their exes on the site.
- That's great.
- Yeah.
It's official. Reyes is a paid killer.
- [COMPUTER CHIMES]
- One just popped up in Sydney.
Nothing normalizes violent crimes
like a good user interface.
Well, according to Reyes's
contact at Interpol,
the cops at Antwerp
intercepted that hit in Belgium
- that we came across.
- This is good news.
And where the hell have you two been?
Whelan and I just put Gary Longo
on a flight to Florida.
Mm. Fate worse than death.
You get anything
on that Core Global kid?
- Yeah, his computer.
- And we got the email address
of the guy we sent that fake selfie to.
Who is he?
Name's Hyakunin Giri.
And we got his IP address.
Server's located in Dublin, Ohio.
It's like you said, though.
The guy's site is decentralized,
so it's bouncing from
multiple computers.
Well, the real question is,
is he physically in Dublin, Ohio?
Only one way to tell.
Get a court order to surveil
the physical address.
- In Ohio?
- Out of our jurisdiction.
But it's not out of McCrary's.
Yeah, and he does owe us.
We got Uncle Sam's $2 million back.
- It's a good place to start.
- Yeah. All right.
- [COMPUTER CHIMES]
- Oh!
Reyes's fake hit registered.
♪
And 2 grand just hit
Josh Conklin's crypto account,
along with a gif.
Guess he's not just some neckbeard
trying to make a few bucks.
No, he's a psychopath that
wants to watch the world burn.
[SIGHS]
Alamut Castle, a mountain fortress
located in what is present-day Iran.
It's legendary for its gardens,
but also known as
the fabled birthplace
for modern terrorism.
Does anyone know what "Alamut" means?
- Yeah?
- "Eagle's nest". In Farsi.
Also known as the Nest of Punishment.
But, uh, this isn't about birds.
This is about one man's
very dangerous idea.
Hasan-e Sabbah, the man
that owned Alamut Castle,
also invented modern-day assassin.
So his legend goes
he would go into the village,
recruit young men,
invite them back to dinner,
and have them drugged.
And they would wake up
in his lush gardens
with fountains filled
with wine and nude maidens
72 nude maidens
- Sounds like paradise to me.
- [CHUCKLES] Okay.
Yeah, well, the men believed
they had died
and gone to paradise.
After living like that for a few weeks,
Sabbah would have them drugged
once again
and they would wake up at his table,
rudely yanked back into normal life.
And then he would offer them
a way back to paradise.
Um, is anyone
anyone able to articulate why
this was such
an effective method of warfare?
[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC]
♪
Yeah, sir?
Well, if you can convince someone
that their death has more value
than their life
Go on.
You create a very dangerous individual.
♪
Well, first of all, congratulations.
Happily married and three kids, huh?
Did not think that was on my bingo card.
Yeah, well, I'm happy.
For you and for Carisi.
[SIGHS] Does Liv know?
Word on the street is Carisi
couldn't keep his mouth shut.
So she left me a message, but
- So you owe her a call?
- Yeah.
Um, how can I help you?
Well, we're tracking
someone who has started
a revenge-for-hire factory online.
- I'm intrigued.
- You need a Tor browser.
And it's a
a site that posts
murders and rapes-for-hire.
They upload the vic's information
and whoever wants it,
they got 24 hours to complete the job.
Then what?
They take a selfie for proof
that it has, in fact, been completed,
they hash it so it remains anonymous,
and get paid in crypto.
And you can't take down the site
until you know who built it.
We have a name. Hyakunin Giri.
- Uh
- Yeah, I googled it.
The Japanese competition.
Right, where the goal of the contest
is to see who can kill
100 people with one sword.
I did a lecture on that, too.
We have an address. Dublin, Ohio.
And you want to know who lives there?
I feel as though
it's a lot like the, uh,
the mindset of that Sabbah guy
that you were discussing.
- Hmm.
- Weaponizing individuals.
Turning strangers, even people without
any kind of criminal background
into murderers and rapists.
Right. Well, there's a thrill there.
- Mm-hmm?
- It's someone who feels
completely powerless in his own life.
He's looking to create chaos
like a toddler knocking down
a block castle.
Yeah, they get to feel in control.
Mm.
[SIGHS]
I gotta tell you,
you looked way more excited here
than you did in that lecture hall.
♪
How long have you been bored?
- The truth?
- Well, you could lie to me,
but I do interrogate people
for a living.
I love the students,
but I do miss the feeling
of solving a good mystery.
Carisi know?
That I'm bored?
I mean [SIGHS]
No, it'd break his heart.
He's the one that got me the job.
- How 'bout Liv?
- [SIGHS]
You, of all people,
should know how she reacts
when people leave her.
I see your quandary.
Well, hell, I've lived your quandary.
[SIGHS]
Well, I think you and I
can help each other.
How's that?
I bring a little bit
more mystery into your life.
- [CHUCKLES]
- And, uh,
you work up a psych profile
on this Hyakunin Giri.
♪
- All right.
- [PHONE BEEPS]
Jet?
That fed McCrary is here,
and he's pissed.
Well, okay. You want to tell me why?
There's a new hit on the site.
I just sent you the info.
- [PHONE BUZZES]
- [SIGHS]
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
Barbara Zeigler. Federal judge?
Not just any judge.
She's a personal friend.
Explains how you got
the electronic surveillance
warrant so fast.
Now I can't get a hold of her.
The unfortunate part of all this
is that now, some guy in Dublin, Ohio
knows we're monitoring him.
Now he's monitoring us.
Can't say I didn't warn you.
You were worried about
the NYPD booking services,
not federal warrant systems.
Judge Zeigler's office, please.
Got Unis on the way to her house now.
Any response from Zeigler herself?
No. She's not picking up.
Her clerk says she stopped for lunch,
but the restaurant says
she's not there, either.
Five Bitcoin. What's
that worth right now?
- About $130,000.
- That's a big incentive.
Yeah, we gotta get to her first.
You two, call the local precinct.
Try to get them to trace the route
from that restaurant to home.
[ELEVATOR DINGS]
♪
[SIGHS]
Tragedy struck just moments
ago in downtown Manhattan
when a federal judge was shot and killed
while driving in her car.
The police have not
Another quasi-civilized
person-turned-murderer?
[SIGHS] For all we know,
the mastermind who may
or may not be in Dublin
likely ordered the hit.
Well, he just took it
to another level with Zeigler.
It's personal.
El, Ayanna.
The judge is dead?
Yeah. She was McCrary's personal friend.
So I'ma go check on him.
I'll link up with you guys later.
Okay.
Why?
Well, we think
it's a paid hit in response
to an electronic surveillance
warrant that she issued for us.
This guy's looking for somebody
to rise to this challenge.
Well, challenge accepted.
Jet has an IP address
out of an escrow office in Dublin, Ohio.
We're waiting on a warrant
for physical surveillance.
Okay, good. So we're slow-playing it.
Mm-hmm.
If we're hasty,
he just gets a Tor address,
he sets up his operation somewhere else,
and we're back to square one.
- Ugh, Ohio.
- Yeah.
Feds are gonna have
to run point on that.
That would be McCrary,
and Bell would be with him.
All right. What about
international crimes?
Interpol through a contact
that Reyes has.
Well, if they need
any resources or need space,
let 'em know
they can set up shop with us.
Yeah, and there's someone else
I'd like to involve in the case.
With your blessing,
I think she'd be an asset.
- What acronym?
- There is none.
She's out of the private sector.
Okay. Who is it?
Hey, uh, sorry to interrupt.
Amanda?
Hey. I-I can wait. I'm
just double parked.
Well, congratulations, by the way.
- Surprise.
- Not really.
Carisi can't keep a secret.
Yeah, he's a great lawyer,
not a great witness.
No. He breaks under pressure.
Yeah.
[SOFT MUSIC]
I've been meaning to call you.
So I had Rollins, uh,
work up a psych profile
of the guy we're after.
Okay. Surprises all around.
Get down to business?
Yeah, so you're looking
for someone Caucasian,
younger, mid-20s.
He's disaffected, disenfranchised,
antisocial, highly intelligent,
and from a lower-middle class family.
But he's more sophisticated
than the expectations
put on him from those around him,
and he's frustrated
with that social circle.
He'd be fine socially
with people older or younger,
but as it is,
he might be entirely devoid of friends
from his own peer group.
Okay. Anything else?
Well, I think it's safe to say
that he's got a fascination
with systems.
And he sees the whole world as one,
and it's been cruel to him.
He understands the criminal pathology
that's lurking within himself.
The site is a call of the void
for others who might
have similar thoughts,
but are afraid to act on them.
- In fear of being caught.
- Yeah.
He's weaponized anonymity
and he'll do anything to keep it.
- [SIGHS]
- That's for sure.
[TENSE MUSIC]
♪
Any questions?
♪
[WOLF HOWLS]