Nikolai Rossovitch (alias Gavin Sipes) was the teenage son of ex-mobster Gregory Rossovitch, both of them in witness protection. He was also the prime suspect of a series of rapes of women connected to the mob.
Background[]
Nikolai's father Gregory was married into the family of the Russian mafia in California by his mother, Anna. Gregory was employed to work with her in the local chapter's embezzlement schemes to support their son and family. However, Anna got greedy and started skimming the books to get more, Gregory covering for her the whole way through. When she was killed by car bomb, Gregory ran with Nikolai to Witness Protection and was placed into protective custody. In exchange for selling out the divisions he knew, Gregory successfully hid with Nikolai under new identities. The movements and aliases put too much pressure on Nikolai, who once blew his cover as was scared by their liaisons to never do it again. Nikolai would grow to hate the mob for stealing for his and leaving his family living in fear, and he would also develop diabetes at an unspecified time in his life.
The Rossovitch's were relocated to New York, where they ran a local gym together, as "Gregory Sipes" and his son "Gavin". Nikolai would start getting into reckless habits of gambling into underground rings. His father would supply him money when he begged for more loans, but when he kept losing, Gregory cut him off. Nikolai was left in seriously high debt to his bookie, Joe Tucci, who threatened to kill him if he couldn't pay up. This was the final straw in Nikolai's free-willing spiral, and projecting onto the mob, he starting raping women connected to the local chapter and its boss, Sergei Pearlman.
Disappearing Acts[]
Nikolai is first seen after a third rape at the gym, providing information about latest victim Amanda Curry's membership. When the detectives blow the family's covers when suspecting Gregory, Gregory and Nikolai are relocated. After a legal battle with Assistant U. S. Attorney Claudia Williams, they're provided with Gregory's DNA to test, but the shock comes when a familial match reveals Nikolai as the rapist. But because Nikolai's scrambling to try and pay his debts, they can't find him. When they get their life story from Gregory, the detectives convince him and Williams' office to have Nikolai meet Gregory so they can arrest him for serial rape. But Nikolai made the catastrophic move of going directly to Pearlman for money, who agreed of Nikolai disposed Gregory's location. Nikolai got the full payment in cash and gave it to Tucci. But he and his liaisons arrived to see the grisly site of Gregory and his on-site marshal both shot dead, devastating Nikolai. The liaisons arrested Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson on the scene and detained them for hours for questioning on suspicion.
Stabler later met Nikolai in interrogation, where he was handling his insulin kit. Stabler asks his real name and the two talk about his family's life in the mob and Witness Protection. Nikolai personally laments on his father sitting by the window with a gun and muttering "someday". When Stabler accuses him of hating his family and taking it out his victims and Gregory, Nikolai said he never hated his family and hated the women in the mob for their criminal roles that made them far from innocent. He then revealed his meeting with Pearlman's lieutenant to speak with Pearlman on the phone, saying he thought Perlman only wanted to talk with his father. This is enough to arrest Pearlman and have Nikolai as a witness for the court system. But a mercenary sneaks into the site where Nikolai's being transported into custody and open's fire with an automatic weapon, shooting Nikolai dead, killing and wounding numerous other people, and being shot dead by police. Pearlman is then released without prejudice or direct evidence tying him even to the attack. (SVU: "Disappearing Acts")
Known Victims[]
- Petra Ivankov (a stripper paid with finances from the mob’s victims; raped)
- Tatiana Pearlman (Sergei Pearlman's sister; directed desperate candidates; beaten and raped)
- Amanda Curry (covered up the money laundering; struck with a sharp object, bound, beaten, raped, sodomized, and urinated on; left tied up naked in a closet)
- Gregory Rossovitch (revealed his location to Pearlman, who shot him dead)
- Deputy U. S. Marshal Raymond Lee (revealed his location to Pearlman, who shot him dead)