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| “ | Too bad about the kid. I hear she's a real nice piece of ass. | „ |
| ~ Ricky Yao threatening Ping Wu's life after being charged with murder. |
Ricky Yao (Chinese: 姚瑞奇) is the main antagonist of the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Debt". He is the boss of a Snakehead chapter operating out of Manhattan who smuggles illegal immigrants into the country in order to trap them in debt slavery.
He was portrayed by Jack J. Yang.
Biography[]
Ricky was the boss of a Chinese Snakehead syndicate whose main business model was human trafficking. The Snakehead would agree to smuggle Chinese women looking for a better life into the United States, then when they arrived they would be put to work to pay off the immigration debt, under threat of death if they failed to pay on time. Anyone who was picked up by the immigration bureau would have their bail paid by corrupt immigration lawyer Roger Baker, who would send them to work for Ricky in order to "pay him back". If they were attractive they would be forced into sex work at Ricky's brothel in Flushing, Queens, but otherwise they would be put to work at one of Ricky's sweatshops. To cover up his pimping Ricky had the brothel registered in someone else's name and forced the victims to pretend to be foreign exchange students.
One of Ricky's victims was 15-year-old Ping Wu, whose mother Jiao paid him $50, 000 to bring her to Manhattan. In return, Jiao was put to work at a sweatshop making counterfeit designer handbags to work off her debt. However, when Ping arrived in the country and was forced into sex work, Jiao threatened to go to the police, so Ricky slit her throat and had his enforcers bury her body at a neighbouring property to the brothel under the guise of repainting the neighbours garage.
"Debt"[]
The NYPD's Special Victims Unit begins investigating Jiao's disappearance after her two young daughters are found abandoned at her apartment. After tracking down her sister, Li Mei, Detectives Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson find out that Jiao had paid the Snakehead to bring Ping into the country and begin to suspect that they killed her for non-payment.
Stabler and Li Mei travel to Chinatown to question the locals and find out that Ping was detained by the immigration bureau but has since had her bail paid and is now in the hands of the smugglers. Soon after, Ricky finds out that Li Mei has been talking to the police and beats her up before telling he that her sister is dead and she must now work off Jiao's debt once she is well enough to do so.
After Li Mei is released from hospital, Ricky sends her a photo of Ping being prostituted in order to warn her of what will happen if she fails to work off the debt. Li Mei is almost frightened out of continuing to collaborate, but Stabler convinces her to keep going by showing her the bodies of other women the Snakehead has killed and warning her that they will keep doing it if she doesn't help them. Li Mei agrees to help and a sting operation is set up where she gives Ricky his money while the SVU watch from outside. As soon as Ricky accepts the money, Stabler arrests him for extortion, alongside one of his enforcers, Tommy.
Under interrogation, Ricky refuses to talk and sexually harasses Benson when she tries to threaten him. However, Tommy cracks under pressure and tells Stabler that Ricky called him to the brothel in Flushing after killing Jiao and told him to bring a shovel to bury the body. Jiao's body is recovered from a nearby property, but the brothel itself has been vacated. Back at the station, Assistant District Attorney Casey Novak charges Ricky with Jiao's murder and offers him a plea deal, but he refuses and insinuates that he will have Ping killed if the charges are not dropped. Knowing that Ricky will order Ping's death the moment he arrives at Central Booking and gets his one phone call, Stabler arranges for a relative who works at Central Booking to misfile the paperwork and have Ricky sent to Attica, giving the SVU time to find Ping.
Meanwhile, several of Ricky's prostitutes are arrested by the Vice Squad. Benson and Stabler interview them and discover that Roger Baker has been turning immigrants over to the Snakehead. Baker is arrested and tells Stabler that the new brothel has been opened on Mosco Street. However, in the meantime the clerical error has been discovered and Ricky's lawyer argues that his rights have been violated; although Novak convinces the judge it was a mistake, the judge still agrees to release Ricky without bail until a grand jury has heard the case. The moment he is released, Ricky has one of his men call the brothel and order the staff to execute Ping. Novak manages to catch them and has Ricky and his henchman returned to custody, but is too late to stop his orders from being relayed to the brothel. The SVU arrive at the brothel seconds before Ping is to be killed and Stabler manages to shoot the thug tasked with executing her, saving Ping's life and allowing her to testify against Ricky, who is presumably found guilty of Jiao's murder and conspiring to murder Ping.
External links[]
- Ricky Yao on the Law & Order Wiki
