| “ | Let me go. I can make you both rich. | „ |
| ~ Gerard trying to bribe Detectives Olivia Benson and Fin Tutuola as they arrest him |
Keith Gerard is the main antagonist of the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Risk". He is a wealthy brokerage firm manager who secretly operates a drug smuggling ring.
He was portrayed by Joseph Murphy.
Biography[]
Background[]
A successful businessman, Gerard ran the Wall Street firm Chandler Hinton. However, he was really a crime lord who was running a drug ring by "renting" babies from employees and using them to smuggle cocaine disguised as cans of baby formula from Mexico into the United States.
Gerard brought in a corrupt cop, Brad Kendall, to serve as his enforcer and use his position to blackmail anyone into complying or to kill them should they step out of line.
"Risk"[]
Gerard's operation comes to the attention of the NYPD's Special Victims Unit after an infant fatally overdoses on cocaine because one of his employees, Derek Pfeiffer, accidentally let the child's mother borrow a tainted can of formula. When questioned, Gerard deflects attention to Pfeiffer, whom he then has murdered to cover his tracks.
After Pfeiffer's death, SVU Detective Elliot Stabler goes undercover as a corporate drug dealer to bust the ring from the inside. However, Stabler's cover is soon compromised and leads to Kendall committing suicide by cop.
Gerard decides to tie up loose ends by murdering all the employees involved in his drug smuggling ring. Detectives Olivia Benson and Fin Tutuola and Captain Donald Cragen discover that he is at his company's daycare facility where he is trying to convince one of his female employees to let him "rent" her baby, so they race there to confront him.
Seeing the cops, Gerard takes the woman and her child hostage, threatening to kill them both unless he is allowed to leave. Benson and Cragen try to talk him down by seemingly agreeing to let him go, putting away their weapons as a sign of good faith. Gerard lets his captive go to make a run for it. Just as he makes an exit, Fin, who had been hiding outside the door, knocks him to the ground and arrests him. Desperate, Gerard tries to bribe Benson and Fin, promising to make them both rich. Benson tells him he should save his money for a good lawyer to avoid the death penalty, before she and Fin take him into custody.
In the end, Gerard is convicted of multiple counts of first-degree murder and attempted murder, as well as drug smuggling, multiple counts of burglary, and negligent homicide. He is subsequently executed for his crimes.
Trivia[]
- Gerard's crimes are primarily inspired by a transatlantic drug trafficking ring that was busted in 2001; like Gerard's operation, this drug ring disguised their product as baby formula and employed people posing as couples with infant children to smuggle it into the United States.
External links[]
- Keith Gerard at the Law & Order Wiki
