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.
The perp is Sgt. Frank Foster, Brooklyn narcotics.
His kid ran away. Her picture turns up on this Web page.
Guy who took it won't say where she is.
Who's the hostage?
The guy who interviewed his daughter.
He films street kids and puts them on the Web.
Sgt. Foster's state of mind?
Wants his kid. How many in the room?
Four, plus the taker. Two are his family.
If it was my kid, I'd probably do the same thing.
We all might, Lieutenant.
Ready? We got him on the monitor.
Here you go.
Sgt. Foster...
this is Capt. Donald Cragen, Special Victims Unit.
Donny?
Frank, don't do this.
My gun is down. I'm not a threat. Coming out.
This isn't over until I know where my daughter is.
I want her safe. It's that, or you shoot me now.
Thanks, Captain.
He slaps me around. What's he gonna do to his daughter if he finds her?
We want her safe.
She didn't feel safe at home.
She tell you that?
You wanna see what she told me?
Mom, like, freaks about lipstick, like purple's gonna kill me.
Dad's like I don't exist. He said I couldn't find my way...
out of the neighborhood, like I'm stupid or something.
He beat you?
He's like a cop.
It sucks at my house. My parents blow.
She didn't run away for nothing. She's afraid of him.
Hey, Punk. What's up, Tito? Pretty thing.
Who's that? You need some money?
Kanick, bad news.
Guy who runs raves. Used to be hookers.
Get high, get down. Rainlight Rave, Saturday.
Make $500.
Tell us where she is.
I don't know.
She was hanging with these kids who hang downtown.
This capture's in the meat-packing district.
Your piece, Sergeant.
You're not gonna kick this over to missing persons. They did nothing.
What's the alternative here, Frank?
Cuff him.
Have a seat, Captain.
You understand this interview will be recorded?
I do.
You're being questioned pursuant to General Order 15...
about serious irregularities in the Foster investigation.
Refusal to answer any questions will result in immediate suspension.
I understand.
Are you waiving your right to have a union delegate or attorney present?
Yes. I have nothing to hide.
Then tell us your version of what happened.
I was the hostage negotiator on call that day for the borough.
Early afternoon I was notified that...
an armed man had taken hostages at the offices of an Internet magazine.
When did you first learn the identity of the hostage taker?
When I got there.
It was Sgt. Frank Foster, Brooklyn narcotics.
You know Sgt. Foster?
For more than 30 years, since we went to the Academy together.
But you already know this, don't you?
Is that why you failed to disarm Sgt. Foster on your first contact with him?
I assessed the situation, believed that he was no threat to anybody...
in that room. My assessment was correct. We disarmed him without incident.
After you allowed him to return to the room with his weapon.
You violated every rule of hostage negotiation.
I was not about to paint a bull's-eye on a good cop.
Frank Foster acted in the heat of the moment. His daughter had run away.
He was distraught, trying to find her. He was not gonna hurt anybody.
In your opinion, which certainly wasn't objective in light of your friendship.
You should have recused yourself.
Instead you proceeded on an investigation that would normally have been...
handled by Missing Persons.
Jill Foster was an underaged runaway...
the daughter of a cop. She was seen in the company...
of a convicted sex offender and pimp.
That put the case squarely on our turf.
I reached out to Vice. They lent me Monique Jeffries, one of my former detectives.
Another detective on my squad, Fin Tutuola, went undercover.
And you consider your actions normal operating procedure?
There was nothing normal about this case. It was a cop's daughter.
What would you have done?
Stay away from this guy. We'll start with him.
His name's Lance Kanick.
Tito has him as a promoter of Rainlight Raves.
In '87 he was running Ooo-Wee Escort Service...
providing top-shelf drugs and call girls to Wall Streeters.
Beat one of his girls to death with a tire iron.
It's in the Crime Scene Procedures text.
Should have been doing life, but a rookie contaminated the scene. Took a plea.
Did seven.
He's still dealing.
Raves are where you score X, GHB, ketamines. Big money for the dealers.
X pays off better than a thousand to one.
Well, you know that world. Munch, Fin, talk to Kanick.
Olivia, Elliot, Tito offered to help. Jeffries, you'll coordinate from here.
And, guys, this is more than just a favor to a fellow cop.
Kanick takes young girls, turns them into hookers. One hooker into a corpse.
I want Jill Foster off the street before either happens.
Tito, this is Det. Benson. Heard you wanted to help.
Nobody's talking to you and a mall queen.
What about the black chick?
The black chick has other duties.
What's this about?
This is how I capture runaway images without them freaking.
Nobody knows I have a camera.
Well, I can keep a secret if the mall queen can.
You okay?
Not gonna be okay till they find Jill.
Your union rep called me. They're trying for ROR.
What difference does it make? I took hostages. It's over for me.
Frank...
we're friends. I stood up at your wedding. Why didn't you call me?
And tell you what? My daughter had it with her lousy father and decided to take off?
What would you have thought of me then?
That you need help.
Every day I was out there taking dope off the streets.
Jill was putting it up her nose.
Smoking it, popping pills, whatever.
It was like she was intentionally slapping me in the face.
You're not the first cop whose kid has a drug problem.
Maybe not, but...
I did what any parent with his head up his ass would do. I made it about me.
How's the narc gonna look if he can't keep his own kid clean?
You saved my ass that night when we were rookies in East New York.
Waited one second longer, I'm lying in a box and we're never having this conversation.
You know, you don't owe me anything. You got something to ask...
ask it.
Did you in any way abuse your daughter?
I never touched her physically.
But I didn't respect her, either.
I called her loser junkie. That's abuse, isn't it?
I'll talk to our A.D.A., Alex Cabot. Maybe she can help you.
This isn't about me. It's about Jill.
Find her, Donny.
Please.
Yeah.
Hey, wake up. What?
Lance Kanick. He don't live here.
This was his last known address.
Look, we got 48 mailboxes...
and 46 apartments.
Kanick rents one of the extras.
When's he pick up his mail?
Guys pick it up for him.
They mention where he lives?
All I know is, he drives a big SUV.
What's the license plate number?
That's one of my hobbies, remembering license plates.
You like to try making them?
It's a dark green Excursion. I don't know the plate.
He get much mail?
See for yourself.
Bank statement, Cayman Islands.
Banking in the Caribbean. Not bad, six years out of Ossining.
Have you seen this girl?
Yesterday. I remember the shirt.
Was she with anybody? Kids, like those.
Cops.
You guys can't help but announce yourselves, can you?
Look at this, an invitation to Rainlight Raves, tomorrow night at 10:00 p. m...
but it doesn't say where.
There's an 800 number.
You call the day of the rave. That's when they tell you where it is.
All right, let's worry about today. Any of these kids recognize Jill?
No, but they know Kanick. They go to his raves, roll on his X.
They can't afford it, they barter.
Barter what?
Sex. What do you think?
There's huge money in barely legal teens.
Hey, Ronnie.
What's up, Tito?
I'm looking for this girl, Jill.
She looks like a lot of them. Anybody seen this girl, Jill?
All right. Why did you run?
The girl, I think she's dead.
Second floor in the rear. Go.
Shooting gallery stench.
This will cover it. No.
The girl we found wasn't Sgt. Foster's daughter.
Who was she?
Another throwaway kid.
Did her death affect...
the unit's decision-making process?
If you're asking, "Did we intensify efforts to find Jill Foster?"
The answer is yes.
Your C.O. stated that you, "Pulled out all the stops."
What's your point?
Thousands of kids on the street, Detective. We can't save them all.
Why did Jill Foster merit so much extra attention?
One runaway connected with Jill was already dead. We didn't want another.
Tell us, Det. Stabler, is it also your practice to enlist civilians...
to gather evidence for your investigations?
If you're referring to Tito Frank, he volunteered.
After you recruited him.
Tito knew the scene. His information was reliable.
He wanted to help us find Jill.
Did you register him as a confidential informant?
No, but my C.O. knew about it.
Did he clear it with Intel?
He didn't say.
Did Capt. Cragen give you other orders?
He told us to find Jill Foster, whatever it takes.
Your Jane Doe is approximately 14.
OD'd on a pharmaceutical cocktail particular to raves:
crystal meth, ketamine, and X.
I don't usually MRI an autopsy, but this girl, I wanted a record.
She was abused.
Scar tissue her skull has grown around.
Recurring fractures: skull, ribs, arms, femur.
When nobody claims her, I'll pay for a funeral.
She was waxed, Detective.
You mean like bikini wax?
I mean, except for scalp and brow, she was hairless: arms, legs, and pubis.
Kiddie porn.
There were six kids, and a guy gave us money to party.
Have sex?
Yeah, for the camera.
Sit down.
Describe the man who gave you money.
I can't. It was dark at the rave.
Okay. White, black?
Black. But a white guy drove us to the location.
Where you had sex for the camera?
Yeah.
Okay. What did the white guy look like?
We were dropping X in the back of the truck, and I didn't see his face.
The adults at the location?
We were on the bright side of the lights, and I couldn't see.
The dead girl you woke up with?
Just one of the girls partying.
Look, Will, you're in a lot of trouble...
if you can't give us anything else.
I mean, I remember a voice.
A girl saying, "Do her. Do him."
He's not much help.
He can't even make an ID. We've got nothing.
What about the new date-rape drug law? We could charge the creeps...
who doped him with facilitating a sex offense.
If we could find whoever gave him the drugs or shot the film.
Right now I need a perp. We need Jill Foster.
I'd prefer a witness who isn't a drugged-out street kid.
How about we call in Jill Foster's brother?
Did your sister use drugs?
She'd drop X just to get through dinner tweaked.
I should have said something.
Does your sister have any special interests?
Maybe art.
She was failing everything but art.
She ever talk to you about running away?
Yeah, I thought it would have been Disney World.
She said she wanted to see Dumbo.
Okay, where are we?
We look for Jill in D.U.M.B.O.
Why the art district?
She told her brother. He doesn't know that D.U.M.B.O.'s an acronym for...
Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass.
He's thinking the cartoon.
Yeah, and what about our Jane Doe?
An overdose.
Jane Doe has a name, Gina Lang from D.C.
Yeah? Have you notified her parents? Yeah.
They're very concerned by the cost of shipping the body.
Have we tied Kanick to any of this?
We can't find him.
Why not? No residence. No license.
Third parties pick up mail. He banks offshore. He's invisible and mobile.
Green Excursion, registration unknown. Circumstance ties him...
to Rainlight Productions. It's a licensed corporation...
promoting non-alcoholic events, raves.
The attorney of record is a Ted Bolger.
Bolger cut Kanick's plea on the hooker murder.
Thirteen years ago, nice to see they stay in touch.
But the scum specializes in prostitutes and pimps.
Now he's filing corporate papers?
Benson, Stabler, to D.U.M.B.O. Munch, Tutuola, take Bolger.
Who the hell are you?
Shut up and sit down.
Get out of my office.
I ain't going anywhere. I'll call the police.
For what? So you can show them all your cocaine?
What's your rate, man?
Who are you?
What's your rate? I need the privilege.
It's six bills an hour.
I got some business.
Fin? Yeah, Fin.
Okay, Fin.
You just bought yourself an hour.
So you're my lawyer?
For the next 59 minutes.
So everything I say has the privilege?
I take it to my grave.
Lance Kanick, where is he?
I haven't seen him.
He promotes Rainlight Raves. You're Rainlight's lawyer.
Who is he?
That's my Jew. Where's Kanick?
I got some young ladies who wanna work for him.
Okay, Fin.
Okay, that is his cell phone.
His line of work, it's better I don't know where he is, you understand?
And you didn't get that from me.
I understand you owe me 55 more minutes.
Shalom.
Last four digits, 5060. Your Jew? What if I called you my boy?
I'll be your boy, John.
This is not funny. We're not in Narcotics, you cowboy.
Fast and loose doesn't play here.
Look, we got his cell phone number, we got him.
And I got a small ventricular rupture pulled out of me with no warning.
What's the matter with you?
I love that t-shirt.
I wanted to trade her, but she wouldn't give it up.
When was that?
Two hours ago with those candy kids.
"Candy kids?"
Fuzzy clothes, plastic jewelry.
They went to Lorna Frankel's loft. All the kids hang there. It's at Johns and Gold.
Look for the big pig. Who's Lorna Frankel?
Think Salvador Dali's feminine side, and then give it fangs.
Right.
What's up, man?
When I asked the agency for men that defined the city...
did they think I was referring to Orlando?
Are you Lorna Frankel?
So far.
So take your clothes off, and arrange yourself on this sofa...
and I'll make something of it.
Who are these kids?
Don't know. They wander in.
She wander in, Jill Foster?
Well, if she did, she'd be here.
You see her?
He's not stealing is he?
She left an hour ago.
What's the quickest way to find her?
Do I look like Missing Persons?
Maybe I should check. Hey, get up! Party's over. Get up.
All right, I'm the police. Show me some ID.
They haven't done anything. This is a free country.
No, it's a democracy, and the majority of us do not like what's going on here.
Come on, empty your pockets. Put it down here. You know the routine.
Do what they say, but don't tell them anything.
License, registration?
Truck's leased to Rainlight Promotions. Driver's clean.
Lance Kanick...
step out of the car. We tracked you by your cell phone.
Where do you live?
If you can't tell us, we can provide you with an address.
I'm at the Biltmore.
Jill Foster's been seen in your company. She's a minor. Where is she?
She the Mayor's daughter?
She's the child of a police officer.
There are 39,000 of us. Anything happens to Jill...
we're all gonna be looking for a piece of you.
You run into Jill, you'll call us.
I hear you.
Hello, Mr. Police.
Come on, in here.
Hey, guys. Ask my partner.
Monique, would you...
Thank you very much. Thank you.
You two, come on, let's go.
Keep it down. Just walk straight ahead.
This is not a club. Come on.
You couldn't question them where you found them?
They were taking cues from Lorna Frankel.
Well, who's that?
D.U.M.B.O. artist. They were in her loft.
And kids like these, fear motivates.
Fin's good at that, fear.
So what do you think you'll scare out of these kids?
Where Jill is. On the way over here we got a rave she should be at tonight.
You blew it. Now word will get out on the street that we're looking for Jill.
Heads up, Bolger.
Fin role-played Bolger to buy him as a Miami gangster.
Undercover without clearance?
Nobody said anything? It doesn't matter, cause it's not admissible.
That's right.
I'm Ted Bolger. I'll be your attorney. Okay?
Juveniles with a $500-an-hour mouthpiece. There goes your...
motivational fear. How did he get here so fast?
Frankel's connected to Kanick. Monique, Tito.
Frankel and Kanick share a lawyer. If Kanick finds out you're helping us...
He'll kill me.
You have a place to lay low? Yeah.
All right, we need some background information on a D.U.M.B.O. artist name of...
Lorna Frankel. Right.
Now, these kids have to be released now. Wait here.
You enter uninvited a private home and without cause, intimidate my clients.
And then you haul them in here for questioning.
That's it. That's exactly what happened.
We're trying to find a missing minor.
I don't care if you're looking for Osama bin Laden.
This is still America, right, kids?
Come on, let's get out of here.
Come on. That's my lawyer right there.
John.
John, what the hell were you thinking?
A good cop's in prison, his daughter was...
mixed up with scum, and you and Fin are out of control.
If this compromises my investigation...
I'm holding both of you personally responsible.
Who authorized the undercover operation?
At the rave? Yes.
I don't know who authorized it. I was just told to do it.
By whom? By my captain.
But he would have never approved the operation without going through...
the proper channels.
Det. Benson, are you trying to cover for him?
Are you trying to jam up my boss?
We're simply attempting to ascertain who authorized the undercover operation.
You'll have to ask the Captain. He did not share that information with me.
And what about a tactical plan? Did he share that with you?
Yes.
Were all contingencies covered?
They were covered. We had backup. We were in constant communication.
You didn't cover all your bases, did you?
If you're implying that we screwed up, you're off base.
We're suggesting that your plan was flawed.
Some things you can't foresee.
Do you wanna try some of these?
Fin was right. This place is an open market for drugs.
Did you tell Tito to lay low? Yeah, well, he's here.
Security's got an eye on him.
Check him out. Yeah.
Tito, lay low mean anything to you?
I take care of myself.
Jill!
Cops! Everybody out!
Take your hands off me. Let me go. Someone help me! Let go of me!
I need backup, back room on the right. Follow the strobe.
Police, break it up. Get your hands off her guys.
Jill!
Get your hands off her. Get against the wall now.
Okay.
I'm Alex Cabot, D.A.'s office.
I want my phone call. It's been 12 hours.
Right.
You're lawyer's Ted Bolger? Yeah.
From your loft, images of minors engaged in sex.
And a wax strip with Gina Lang's DNA.
A 14-year-old who died after engaging in sex at your direction...
on this tape.
Your rap sheet. In '79 you were porn princess Layla Cream Cheese?
Between '83 and '87 you were arrested as call girl, Louise Francis.
Because of prior bad acts, I'm seeking for each count of minors performing sex...
consecutive sentences of seven years.
For the death of Gina Lang, the man two, max of 15.
Seven hundred and fifteen years.
You need to call a lawyer.
A Rainlight Productions check made out to you...
signed by Lance Kanick.
Bolger is Kanick's lawyer. Bolger is Rainlight's lawyer.
Bolger was the lawyer for Ooo-Wee Escorts and Kanick...
when he murdered...
one of Ooo-Wee's call girls. You remember?
Yeah, Wendy.
Both Bolger and Kanick benefit from illegal enterprises, to which we can only tie you.
You need to call a lawyer.
There's something you'll do for me?
I think Bolger's more than a lawyer. I think he's a partner.
You make that connection stick...
you'll be out of jail before menopause.
Bolger's just a lawyer I was supposed to call when this happens.
So if you got all of the tapes out of my loft, you've got Kanick.
A couple of times when he was coaching a few of the kids...
I turned the camera around.
It's dark, but it's there. He's feeding them drugs and other things.
You page Tito?
Yeah, three times. He finally calling in?
Homicide is.
Excuse me.
Ed. Elliot.
Beeper went off, recognized the number. Why were you paging him?
You mind? Go ahead.
Looking for a runaway...
he was helping us out.
My dad's in jail? This is my fault.
You can fix it. No, I can't.
Yes, you can. No, I can't.
What I did tonight... What?
That rave you pulled me out of, I had to roll...
and I didn't have the money... You rolling now?
A little.
All I had to do was take pictures. Now my dad will see them.
No, the cops have them.
My dad's a cop. They'll show him.
They're my friends. Your dad will never see them, I promise.
Your family's dying to see you.
I can't.
Where you gonna stay?
I got a place.
It's creepy, but it gets me a roof.
Bring the cops down on my rave. You brought this on yourself.
Tito?
Cold yet?
I'm willing to speak to you.
However, you have no legal authority to compel me to answer any questions.
We are well aware of that, Ms. Cabot. We're only trying to get to the truth.
Aren't we all.
After Tito Frank was murdered by Lance Kanick...
how would you describe morale on the unit.
Everyone was understandably upset and eager to apprehend Mr. Kanick.
What would you say was Capt. Cragen's state of mind at that point?
I would never speculate about another person's state of mind. Ask him yourself.
Do you agree that Capt. Cragen's
personal friendship with Jill Foster's father...
caused him to place undue pressure on you to cut a deal with Kanick?
Capt. Cragen made his opinions clear.
But if you're positing I cannot act independently, then you're wrong.
Would you agree, nevertheless...
that the investigation was handled poorly?
The Special Victims Unit acted in a completely professional manner.
An informant was brutally murdered.
Certainly you have an opinion about that.
If you are looking for someone to denigrate Capt. Cragen or the unit...
find someone else.
That chair. I want my lawyer.
We do, too.
It'll take eight years to exhaust his appeals.
He'll spend all of that time alone in a cell half the size of this room.
A call will be made to the Governor's home an hour before the execution.
Some bleeding heart with a desperate plea for his life. I intend to answer that call.
What can you do for me?
I can't talk to you since you requested a lawyer.
Forget all of that. Talk to me.
You waiving your Miranda rights?
Hell, yes. What can you do for me?
Give me evidence that Bolger is your partner...
not just your lawyer, and I will acquiesce to life without parole.
Man one, fifteen. You get Bolger and that girl you're looking for.
No deal.
No girl.
Lethal injection.
Heroin addiction.
There is one offer on the table, that's it.
A cop's kid, too.
I thought you all went the extra mile for one of your own.
It's my deal or the death penalty.
You've got 10 minutes.
This is a cop's child. What else matters?
The D.A.'s office has made worse deals.
We see murderers out on the street in less time for reasons with a lot less...
validity every day. We have to stomach that every day.
It's not just the people in this room, Alex.
Everybody in blue knows about the Foster case.
This is in the family.
Kanick will murder again.
So you're murdering now. How's that supposed to settle with the grunts?
What are you saying?
What he's saying is, it's harder to do our jobs...
if we've lost faith in the D.A.'s office.
Are you threatening me? It's a blanket statement.
Offer him 20 years. He'll be 60 by the time he gets out.
I'm not putting that animal back on the streets.
He killed with a tire iron, with a gun. No remorse.
He gets out in 20 years, he'll be killing with something else...
murdering someone else.
Alex, we can save a life today.
Not prevent some hypothetical murder 20 years down the road.
There's a girl out there that needs our help now.
He ain't giving it up. I know.
We can get it out of him. We don't do that here.
I heard the speech. And I'll listen to it, but not today.
Kanick won't deal, so don't ask me to do that.
Cabot's right. Kanick shouldn't get out.
So some little girl goes down the tubes? Look, my way we can get both jobs done.
I don't do that anymore. I'm old and it's tiring.
I'll do the heavy lifting. It's not the heavy lifting.
Everything you do comes back at you, blows to the soul.
It's the metaphysical heavy lifting I can't do anymore.
I can work this one alone. I don't wanna know about it.
Forest on Central.
Fin. Keys. I'll drive.
I got him. Give him here.
In the car on the way to Central Booking, Mr. Kanick volunteered where we could...
find Jill Foster.
Volunteered after you tuned him up...
is what you mean, isn't it, Detective?
Other than hitting his head...
on the roof of the car when we put him in, no one laid a hand on Mr. Kanick.
That's not the information we have.
Information from who, him?
I got the Combat Cross. I got a file full of commendations.
That does not give you the right to beat information out of a suspect.
He's a liar. We have a complaint of brutality.
Who are you gonna believe, me or that piece of garbage?
You tell us who should we believe.
Kanick gave us what we needed.
Yeah, tell Cabot she can get her warrant.
When I worked Narcotics nobody counted.
One drug dealer rips off another drug dealer. There were no good guys.
When I came over to SVU, it was different.
They got real victims, okay? Innocents like Jill Foster.
She didn't ask to do porno. She was forced to.
Jill, are you in here?
Jill, we're detectives. We wanna help you.
Jill, it's okay.
Elliot.
This is Det. Benson from SVU unit. We need to rush a bus to Avenue...
D and 3rd Street. Avenue D and 3rd Street.
Olivia.
We have a 16-year-old female...
Forget it. There's no pulse.
And I do whatever I gotta do to save a kid from a perv like Kanick.
You kicked the crap out of him.
Jill Foster's dead on account of Kanick.
I want my union delegate.
He's here.
Want me to go with you?
No.
We didn't get the information fast enough...
from Kanick to prevent Jill Foster's death.
Capt. Cragen, we have grave concerns...
about the actions of your detectives...
that at least one of them used excessive force with a suspect...
and that a confidential informant was...
improperly used and actually mishandled, leading to his death.
All these allegations still remain unsubstantiated.
That's not gonna stop you from making an example of someone, is it?
I take full responsibility for the actions of the detectives under my command.
We believe your failure to supervise warrants a five-day rip.
You wanna dock me five days of vacation, fine.
You really think that's gonna change anything?
Not this time, but hopefully the next.
A girl OD'd and died alone.
Her father, a decorated cop...
30-year career over, no pension.
His family in shambles.
But you know what really, really scares me?
That all you people are concerned about is some lying...
murdering sack of crap.
In this country that lying, murdering sack of crap has rights, too, Captain.
Tito. Jill Foster.
They're both dead. What about their rights?