Derek Pfeiffer is a subordinate both in business and criminal enterprise of drug ringleader Keith Gerard, later a liability to the operation.
History[]
Pfeiffer and his wife Laura, along with Laura's sister Denise Draper, used Denise's son Tommy as a cover for "family visits" to Mexico to obtain canisters of cocaine in baby formula bottles as part of Gerard's operations. They were most likely recruited from Derek filing for bankruptcy and needing a better income source. Their home was regularly cleaned by Lynn Hauser, a black woman who recently earned enough money to move to an apartment, partly from cleaning the Pfeiffers' apartment. The operation was threatened when Lynn stole a canister of the cocaine assuming it was baby formula, as she didn't have enough money at that time to get another canister. When she fed it to her son Jawan, he overdosed and eventually died.
Laura is notified and pretends to be horrified over the tragedy, but Derek is soon after suspected when SVU finds his financial records. He puts up obliviousness and says he has nothing to hide, but the detectives soon take him in for questioning. Before they get to the squad car, Ed Tucker from IAB personally takes him in for interrogation instead, lying by saying Captain Donald Cragen signed off the order to stall for time. Pfeiffer is released from not being of much use, but Gerard knows he is the weak link in the operation, so he has dirty cop and enforcer Brad Kendall slip past company security and strangle Pfeiffer in the bathroom with a cord. (SVU: "Risk")