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| “ | Your "gimme fives" are not going to keep your boat from sinking, and if I so much as get my hair wet, my young friend... Well, you get the idea. | „ |
| ~ Peter Bellingham threatening Jay Kendall. |
Peter Bellingham is the main antagonist of the Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode "Wasichu". He is a corrupt U.S. Congressman who orders the murder of a Secret Service agent who was going to expose his crimes.
He was portrayed by Bruce McGill, who also voiced Simon Turner in Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine and Lloyd Waterman and Mr. Coroner in The Cleveland Show.
Biography[]
Bellingham is a U.S. Congressman representing the Park Slope district of Brooklyn, New York, hence his nickname, "Park Slope Pete". He is popular with his constituents and well-connected to influential lobbyists such as Jay Kendall, with whose help he contributes a great deal of money to Native American tribes in New York. He uses his position to go on all-expenses-paid luxury "fact-finding missions" to exotic destinations, provided they have Native American-run casinos. These trips often had little to no relevance to his job, meaning that they were basically bribes. Kendall also illegally funnels money from his Native American clients to Bellingham through a sham fundraising PAC, Foundation for a Better Society, which is connected to Bellingham through his seat on the Congressional Committee for Indian Gaming.
He finds out that Kendall's wife Paula, an undercover Secret Service agent, is investigating him for corruption, and sends his driver Ted Bruno, a former police officer, to go to her home and find out if she has any evidence of his crimes. Paula catches Bruno burglarizing her house, however, so he kills her.
"Wasichu"[]
In the aftermath of Paula's death, Bellingham distances himself from Kendall and his clients, especially when Detectives Mike Logan and Carolyn Barek of the NYPD's Major Case Squad start investigating her murder. Before walking away, however, he asks Kendall for one last favor: putting Bruno's name on the guest list for a fundraiser that took place the night of Paula's murder in order to give him an alibi.
They find out that Kendall has been using his Native American clients' money to donate to an anti-gambling lobbying group that opposes the tribe's proposed new casino, thus tricking the tribes into giving him more money, much of which he gives to Bellingham's re-election campaign. They theorize that Paula's murderer was really looking for information on him, and killed her in a panic when she got home early. Logan and Barek tie Bruno to the murder, and confront Kendall with the reality that he is helping his wife's murderers get away with it in order to protect himself. They then convince him that he can redeem himself by helping them bring Bellingham down.
With help from Assistant District Attorney Ron Carver, Logan and Barek freeze Bruno's bank accounts, provoking him to go to Bellingham for money, who in turn goes to Kendall, who is wearing a wire. Kendall demands to know why Bruno was in his house, and Bellingham says that her death was an accident. Moments later, Logan and Barek burst in and arrest Bellingham for murder, and arrest Kendall for bribery and fraud. Bellingham is then imprisoned for life.
Trivia[]
- Bellingham is loosely based upon former U.S. Representative Tom DeLay, who resigned from his position as House Majority Leader after he was convited of money laundering and conspiracy to break election law.
External Links[]
- Peter Bellingham on the Law & Order Wiki
