Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series)

Counselor, It's Chinatown (2019)

Kelli Giddish: Detective Amanda Rollins

Photos 

Quotes 

• Mei Mei Li : Mamasan pay for funeral, but no one come.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : I'm sorry, Mei Mei.

  Mei Mei Li : Lily very good person. All the time, she make us smile. She very brave. She must be very scared if she jump.

  Amanda Rollins : She was threatened. Do you... you know who this is?

  Mei Mei Li : Lily mother. Mamasan do this. Mamasan know where all parents are.

  Amanda Rollins : So will you help us? You can testify against Theo, against Mamasan...

  Mei Mei Li : No. No, I can't. They hurt my family.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Mei Mei... is there anything that you can tell us?

  Mei Mei Li : If Charlie there, he no let this happen.

  Amanda Rollins : Why not?

  Mei Mei Li : Charlie love Lily. They saving up. He help pay off debt, then run away so no one find them.

• Amanda Rollins : If you could just tell us who this is.

  [Mei Mei says something in Chinese] 

  Amanda Rollins : Hmm?

  Mei Mei Li : Bad egg. Don't know name. Loud, do anything he want. Last week was my turn.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : When does he... he usually show up? After work?

  Mei Mei Li : No, he have no job. He used to come with friend. Now just alone. Wait. He come in on Sunday. He say we're his special hangover cure.

• Mei Mei Li : I still don't understand. Bad lady don't go to jail?

  Amanda Rollins : The federal government has her now. They decide.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Either way, you won't have to worry about your debt anymore. Mrs. Chang has agreed to pay off the smugglers. You're free.

  Mei Mei Li : To do what?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Mei Mei, we talked to your brother.

  Mei Mei Li : Did you tell him what I do?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : No, no. Just that you were working to pay off the money your family owed to the smugglers and that we busted that ring.

  Amanda Rollins : [handing her phone to Mei Mei]  He'd like to talk to you.

• Mei Mei Li : I cannot do more. I have to go back to work to make money. I... I have to... pay back every week or they hurt my brother.

  Amanda Rollins : If you testify against Theo and he turns against the owners, we could put them all away.

  Mei Mei Li : That is a good dream, Ms. Amanda. But it's not a come-true dream. I stay here tonight. Get rest. Then back to spa.

  Amanda Rollins : You don't have to do that.

  Mei Mei Li : [speaking Chinese and seeing Rollins doesn't understand]  Nothing can be done.

• Olivia Benson : And they know nothing about him?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Olivia Benson : Surveillance cameras in the smoke alarms.

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

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Not security for the girls?

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

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

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

  Sergeant Joe Chin : Mm-hmm.

  Olivia Benson : Who is she?

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

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

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

• Sergeant Joe Chin : Snakeheads smuggle girls from China, charge the family with insurmountable debt.

  Amanda Rollins : Which the girls are forced to pay off doing sex work at massage parlors.

  Vanessa Hadid : Yes, we all know how this works, and we're no longer supposed to arrest the girls, so the cycle never ends.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Which is why we're working our way to the top. Avi Olin here, he holds leases on a dozen slum buildings housing massage parlors.

  Vanessa Hadid : You dug him out behind his LLCs? He got sloppy?

  Amanda Rollins : No, his son did. We got him on a rape charge.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Yeah, to keep his son out of prison, Avi has given us Arthur and Christine Chang.

  Vanessa Hadid : You do know the Changs are one of Park Avenue's most prominent power couples? Hospital and museum boards, Asian charities.

  Sergeant Joe Chin : The classic Chinese-American success story, except they're also sex traffickers.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Avi Olin has agreed to testify that the Changs are behind every shadow spa company that he leased to.

  Vanessa Hadid : And the Changs will argue Mr. Olin cut a deal to save his son. Even if they do own the parlors, how can we prove they know what goes on inside?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Ms. Hadid, what do you mean?

  Vanessa Hadid : Hard evidence that they're behind the trafficking, or this is a no-go.

• Rick Olin : Yeah, I never saw that guy before today.

  Amanda Rollins : Uh, he beeped you, you came from your office, and you took a bag.

  Rick Olin : I thought it was a food delivery.

  Amanda Rollins : Then why'd you say "Give me the cash"?

  Rick Olin : You heard that?

• Amanda Rollins : You know this guy?

  Rick Olin : That's Theo. We, uh... we play squash together.

  Amanda Rollins : Yeah, you know he assaults women?

  Counselor Art Blumfeld : How could Rick know that?

  Amanda Rollins : Because Theo told us that Rick told him, "Do whatever you want to 'em. It's on the house."

  Rick Olin : I don't need to do that. These chicks... a guy like me walks in the room, they're, like, really happy.

  Counselor Art Blumfeld : Rick, basta. Detectives, at this juncture, let me make a phone call.

• Katriona Tamin : Uh, my friend and I were wondering if you would settle a bet for us?

  Rick Olin : Uh, for the two of you, I would be happy to. What.. what can I do for you?

  Amanda Rollins : Okay, she said that you would rather be cuffed, and I said you would rather walk to the car and get in the back.

  Rick Olin : I don't know...

  [they flash their badges]