Law and Order
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"Once Upon a Time in El Barrio"
SVU, Episode 23.17
Production number: 23017
First aired (US): 7 April 2022
First aired (UK): 5 September 2022
First aired (CAN): 7 April 2022
First aired (AUS): 30 June 2022
  th of 502 produced in SVU  
th of 502 released in SVU
  th of 1271 released in all  
SVU2317
Teleplay By
Denis Hamill & Monet Hurst-Mendoza

Story By
Bryan Goluboff & Denis Hamill

Directed By
Oscar René Lozoya II

Summary[]

Velasco asks Benson for help finding three girls who were trafficked from his hometown to New York City.

Plot[]

Velasco approaches Olivia for help after he's contacted by a priest from his hometown of Juarez about three missing teenage girls — Maribel, Sofia and Valeria — who were in route to New York City under the impression they'd be pursuing a modeling career.

As it turns out, the three girls and several other women are being trafficked by a pair of siblings — Lourdes Padilla, who runs a bogus modeling agency with promises of opportunity and Jorge Padilla who handles the girls and puts them to work once they arrive in New York City. Jorge strips them of their ID & phones and when Maribel refuses, he throws her to the ground and sets her on fire, sending a strong message to other girls about resisting.

After being told by Benson to retire his investigation for the night, Velasco goes undercover in the city, in hopes to find where young, Mexican sex workers might be located. He approaches a woman who tells him and Velasco is subsequently arrested as she's also a police officer, Detective Rosanny Chavez. Chavez points them to the direction of Luisa, a woman also being trafficked who will only talk to Chavez as she has a fear of men, tells them that a police captain is involved.

In a strange turn of events, Detective Chavez is killed by the traffickers and Luisa escapes. After locating Luisa once again, they find out she told Chavez that her own superior, Captain Kubiak was receiving sexual favors from the women in exchange for protection for the men running the operation. A trafficker's phone is found and one of the recent numbers from the night Chavez was murdered belongs to Kubiak, with Benson confronting him with this information by calling the number in the same room as him. It's revealed that Kubiak was under the impression the traffickers would just scare Chavez instead of killing her.

After Luisa positively identifies him, Rubiak initially claims that Luisa was simply a girlfriend whom he was in a relationship with. However, it's revealed and confirmed by Juarez Police that Luisa is only 15 years old. Cornered, he agrees to help and sets up a meeting between the traffickers and an undercover Velasco.

They eventually locate Valeria and Sofia and get them back home safely.

Cast[]

Main cast[]

Recurring cast[]

Guest cast[]

  • Brad William Henke as Captain Don Kubiak
  • Karina Ortiz as Detective Rosanny Chavez
  • Alexis Cruz as Father Daniel
  • Yassmin Alers as Senora Juana Ramirez
  • Yanelisa as Lucía Benítez
  • Isa Garcia as Valeria Acevedo
  • Angel Rosario, Jr. as Jorge Padilla
  • Gabriela Gonzalez as Lourdes Padilla
  • Oriana Bustamante as Maribel Rodriguez
  • Sara Gutierrez as Sofia Hernandez
  • Alexander Pineiro as Ossiel Murillo
  • Rachel Sleek-Banuelos as Lucia
  • Mea Wilkerson as Latrice
  • Julie Megan Smith as Ani
  • Jennifer Apple as TARU Tech
  • Dalimar Irizarry as Receptionist
  • Helena Betancourt as Cleaning Woman #1
  • Pranav Behari as Desk Clerk

References[]

Quotes[]

quotes

Background Information and Notes[]

  • "El Barrio" (Spanish for "the neighborhood") is the nickname of the New York City neighborhood of East Harlem in Manhattan, otherwise known as Spanish Harlem and historically as Italian Harlem, where much of this episode takes place.
  • Carisi and Rollins do not appear in this episode, with the stated reason being that they took Jesse and Billie on a trip to Orlando with Beth Anne Rollins feeling better. This is the second episode in a row that Rollins hasn't appeared. In reality, Giddish had taken time off from filming to relax.
  • Fin asks Benson about Elliot Stabler being kicked off the Organized Crime Control Bureau, with Fin mentioning that he tried to call Stabler about it, but didn't get any calls back. Benson tries to tell Fin what happened but is interrupted by Velasco. Stabler getting moved off the Organized Crime Control Bureau happened in the Law & Order: Organized Crime episode "Takeover".
Previous episode:
"Sorry If It Got Weird For You"
"Once Upon a Time in El Barrio"
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Season 23
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"Eighteen Wheels a Predator"
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