  |
This article's content is marked as Mature The page contains mature content that may include coarse language, sexual references, and/or graphic violent images which may be disturbing to some. Mature pages are recommended for those who are 18 years of age and older. If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page. |
| “ | You would not believe what gets people off. Crushed rhino horn, tiger penis, you name it. I once sold a case of pit bull testicles to the KGB. You want it, we deliver. | „ |
| ~ Bushido bragging about his poaching empire. |
Andre Bushido (Russian: Андре Бусидо) is the main antagonist of the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Wildlife". He is the head of an animal trafficking ring who murders people by feeding them to wild animals.
He was portrayed by Andrew Divoff, who also portrayed Djinn in the Wishmaster franchise, Richard Ganz in Another 48 Hrs., Luis Cali in Toy Soldiers, Ernesto Mendoza in A Low Down Dirty Shame, Boris Bazylev in Air Force One, Ivan Sarnoff in CSI Miami, first father in Criminal Minds, Nikolai Krukov in Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3, and Lev Kravchenko in Call of Duty: Black Ops.
Overview[]
Bushido is a Russian gangster who smuggles exotic and endangered animals into the U.S. from all over the world and sells them (or their various body parts) to the highest bidder. Prior to that, he was a human trafficker and pimp for 10 years, but he switched to smuggling animals because it was more lucrative and posed fewer risks.
His M.O. is to hire attractive women to smuggle his "product" by distracting customs agents so they don't properly search their carry-on luggage, which contains the animals they are bringing to the U.S. He is also notorious for punishing his minions for making mistakes by feeding them to the animals while they were still alive. At the time of the episode, he was connected to 13 open homicides.
He works with another smuggler, Victor Tybor, who is actually an undercover cop who is trying to bring down his smuggling operation.
"Wildlife"[]
When one of his "mules", Natalie Bleer, tries to make extra money working for another smuggler on the side, Bushido flies into a rage and feeds her to a tiger; he then butchers the animal and eats its remains for dinner. Finally, he has Tybor dump her mutilated corpse on the street like garbage.
Detectives Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler of the NYPD's Special Victims Unit investigate Bleer's murder, at first believing it to be a sexually motivated homicide. Medical examiner Melinda Warner reports that she was mauled to death by a tiger, however, which leads the detectives to investigate the black market for exotic animals.
They trace the sale of the tiger to a wannabe rapper calling himself "Gots Money", who bought it from Bushido because he wanted to imitate Tony Montana from Scarface. When Stabler and Detective Fin Tutuola threaten to expose him as a fraud, Gots agrees to set up a meeting with Bushido.
Gots and Stabler - the latter posing as a corrupt customs agent looking to make extra money by smuggling animals - meet with Bushido, who slaps Gots across the face for bringing a stranger into his warehouse. Stabler uses the distraction to take a clump of fur lying on the floor, which later proves to be from the same tiger that killed Bleer. After Stabler leaves, Bushido feeds Gots to a hyena.
The next day, Stabler again meets with Bushido, who treats him to a meal of "leftovers" from the tiger. He and Tybor then take Stabler to a safe house, where they order him to stay in isolation until they call him, threatening to kill him and his family if he disobeys.
At the request of Stabler's wife, Kathy, Benson goes to see Stabler at the safehouse to make sure he is alright. Moments later, Bushido and Tybor burst in, accusing him of breaking their rules. Thinking quickly, Benson poses as a prostitute to preserve Stabler's cover, so Bushido and Tybor throw her out of the house. Bushido chastises Stabler for disobeying him, and then takes him for a ride under the guise of picking up the "merchandise"; when they arrive at their supposed destination, however, Bushido shoots him twice in the chest and arm and leaves him to die.
Fortunately, Benson, who had been following them in her car, gets Stabler to a hospital in time to save his life. Ignoring his doctor's advice to take time off to recover, Stabler tracks down the animal feed store where Bushido buy the meat to feed their animals and finds credit card information showing that Bushido had also paid for a one-way plane ticket from Jakarta for a flight due that night at JFK International Airport.
Benson, Stabler, Fin, and SVU Captain Donald Cragen follow Bushido and Tybor from the airport to a tool and die factory, where they are in the midst of handing over an endangered baby gibbon, smuggled inside a basketball, to a client who wants to use the animal's finger bones as chopsticks. Bushido and Tybor take off running with Benson and Stabler in pursuit, while Fin arrests the client and Cragen tends to the gibbon. Bushido accidentally gets his leg caught in a conveyor belt, severely injuring himself in the process. He dares Stabler to kill him, but Stabler replies that he would rather see Bushido in a cage.
Police and paramedics arrive at the scene, with the former taking Tybor - who has revealed his undercover status to Benson - into custody and the latter taking Bushido to a hospital. As he is wheeled into an ambulance, Bushido screams that he will kill Stabler when he gets out of prison, but Stabler replies that he will never get out. Sure enough, Bushido is imprisoned for life for smuggling and multiple murders.
External links[]
- Andre Bushido on the Law & Order Wiki
