Richard M. Wheatley, Sr. (né Sinatra) was a businessman with close ties to the Mafia and was strongly suspected to be involved in organized crime, with his online pharmaceutical company Contrapos believed to be a front for an illegal narcotics ring. He was also a suspect in the murder of Detective Elliot Stabler's wife Kathy.
The son of mob boss Manfredi Sinatra, he took the surname Wheatley from his first wife, who was a Black woman, as a jab at his father's racism.
History
Richard became the suspect of Kathy Stabler's murder, which started an investigation by the Organized Crime Control Bureau into his business and his possible role with Kathy's murder. (OC: "What Happens in Puglia")
Richard threw a COVID-19 vaccination party, in which he invited several friends to be vaccinated at his house. He also mourned the loss of his father Manfredi and flirted with his ex-wife Angela without his wife Pilar's knowledge. As well as this, he was also confronted by Elliot and Ayanna Bell about the burglary of several COVID-19 vaccines, which he smugly denied any involvement. He then talked badly about Elliot to Angela and his son Richard Wheatley, Jr. (OC: "Not Your Father's Organized Crime")
Richard told Richie to murder Gina Cappelletti after he found out that she was a detective. Richie initially refused to but after Richard started verbally abusing him, Richie agreed to murder her. He also met up for coffee with Stabler, where he threatened him to stay away from Angela. (OC: "I Got This Rat")
Richard was finally arrested after starting a hostage siege at a train station and was imprisoned, where he remained until awaiting trial. (OC: "Everybody Takes a Beating Sometime")
Richard met Benson outside the DA's office, where he sinisterly smiled at Elliot and verbally harassed Benson, who had him escorted him out of the area. Out for revenge against Angela, he bribed Detective Diego Morales with $2 million to poison her and take her away while she was seizing. (OC: "Forget It Jake; It's Chinatown")
To avoid a longer prison sentence, Wheatley cooperates with the federal government, namely Vince Baldi, on a number of criminal investigations. However, Baldi was convinced by Stabler and Bell to allow New York to try him for Kathy's murder. (OC: "Forget It Jake; It's Chinatown") His cooperation earned him a commuted sentence, though he remained in prison for his murder trial. (OC: "The Man With No Identity") After switching his attorney several times (going from Athena Davis, Lisa Turner, and two other attorneys in-between), he was tried for Kathy's murder and hired former ADA Rafael Barba to represent him. He got a mistrial declared and was eventually allowed to go free. (SVU: "People Vs Richard Wheatley", OC: "The Christmas Episode")
While a free man, Wheatley lost a lot of his wealth after his arrest and wished to regain it. He started consulting with the FBI and the New York state government on various cyber-crimes. Unbeknownst to them, though, he had set in motion the cyber-crimes, including the escape of hacker Sebastian McClane. (OC: "Nemesis")
McClane had a number of plans and legions of followers willing to help, which Wheatley took for his own. He enacted one of McClane's bigger plans, which involved taking over the New York City power grid, allowing him to hold the city hostage. He asked the city to meet several of his demands, including the release of his son from prison and into his own custody and his own private plane to get away. The city met his demands, allowing Wheatley to shoot Richie and set up his plane to whisk him to his next destination. He was with Angela in her car, but as they were driving to the airport, Stabler told her about Richie's death. She then drove off a cliff, falling to her death. However, while Angela's body was found, Wheatley's was not. Bell and many of the others believed Wheatley did not survive, but Stabler voiced uncertainty about this. (OC: "...Wheatley Is To Stabler")
Personality
Richard is an intelligent, corrupt businessman who is very ambitious and will not stop until he gets what he wants.
He holds strongly vile thoughts towards Elliot Stabler, often talking poorly about him to his family. He is also ruthless and cruel, doing whatever it takes to stop people investigating or questioning him as well as staying out of his family's life even if it means ordering for someone to get assaulted or even murdered, which even includes his own father, children and teenagers, with Elliot Stabler, Jr. an original target for a physical assault before he fled thanks to Elliot's warning. He shows no remorse or sympathy for any of his victims or anyone that is a victim of any crime or natural cause. Richard enjoys needling at people's weaknesses, as he told his ex-wife that she was not the woman Elliot loved and pestered Elliot to answer for him. When he met Stabler's former partner Olivia Benson, he realized she was the woman that Elliot loved and taunted them with this knowledge. He soon extended his harassment to Benson, making an enemy of her too.
Despite this, he deeply cares about his family, particularly his children and will do anything to protect them. Despite his soft spot for his children, they aren't spared entirely as he killed Rafiq for making copies of one of his products and mocked Richie for hesitating to assassinate Gina when her cover was blown. He even expressed pride in him for killing Gina, when thinking him soft. However, this did not prevent from killing Richie for betraying the family.
In spite of his vile behavior and traits, he has some morals, which was being disgusted by his father's bigotry and looking out for his son when he was suspicious of Gina being an undercover police officer.
Known Victims
- Unknown date: Rafiq Wheatley (his stepson; murdered)
- 2021:
- March 8: Kathy Stabler (murdered by Izak Bekher and Sacha Lenski)
- Unknown dates:
- Manfredi Sinatra (his father; murdered)
- Elliot Stabler (assaulted by Izak Bekher and then Richard)
- Gina Cappelletti (murdered by Richie)
- Izak Bekher (murdered by his bodyguards)
- Two unnamed people (held hostage)
- Angela Wheatley (assaulted; poisoned by Diego Morales, but survived)
- Unknown dates in 2022:
- Sebastian McClane (drugged and kidnapped; was rescued)
- Richard Wheatley, Jr. (his son; shot in the chest)
Trivia
- Richard, along with his wife Angela, are the only criminals who don't work in law enforcement or the justice system to be in the main cast of a show in the Law & Order franchise, excluding Law & Order True Crime, which was based on real events.
- Richard and Angela were the primary criminals in the first and second season of Law & Order: Organized Crime while Teddy Silas is the primary criminal in the third season, although Teddy's role is not as large as Richard's or Angela's as he isn't a main character.
Appearances
- Law & Order: Organized Crime (2 seasons, 15 episodes):
- Season 1: "What Happens in Puglia" • "Not Your Father's Organized Crime" • "Say Hello To My Little Friends" • "The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of" • "An Inferior Product" • "I Got This Rat" • "Everybody Takes a Beating Sometime" • "Forget It Jake; It's Chinatown"
- Season 2: "The Man With No Identity" • "The Christmas Episode" • "Nemesis" • "As Nottingham Was To Robin Hood" • "As Iago Is To Othello" • "As Hubris Is To Oedipus" • "...Wheatley Is To Stabler"
- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1 season, 1 episode):
 Law & Order: Organized Crime - Main Characters
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Squad Supervisors: Ayanna Bell Senior Detectives: Elliot Stabler Junior Detectives: Bobby Reyes • Carmen Riley • Jet Slootmaekers • Jamie Whelan Family Members: Randall Stabler • Angela Wheatley • Richard Wheatley | |