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"Rooftop"
SVU, Episode 3.04
Production number: E2318
First aired: 19 October 2001
  th of 502 produced in SVU  
th of 502 released in SVU
  th of 1271 released in all  
Fin Rooftop
Teleplay By
Robert F. Campbell & Jonathan Greene

Story By
Neal Baer,
Robert F. Campbell & Jonathan Greene

Directed By
Steve Shill

When a series of increasingly violent rapes occurs in an African-American community, Detectives Benson and Stabler are quick to suspect a known sex offender recently released from prison, especially when they find him on a rooftop with a fourteen-year-old girl.

Summary[]

Stabler has his eye on Leon Tate, an HIV-positive male with a record for assaulting and raping underage girls. When a series of rapes and murders of young African-American girls occurs, it is first believed that Leon is a suspect. But after Leon overdoses on a rooftop, the detectives search for the real serial rapist and murderer.

Plot[]

An ex-con named Leon Tate takes a young woman onto a rooftop in Harlem for a sexual tryst. However, the girl hears footsteps approaching, those of Detectives Benson and Stabler, who arrest him on the spot. The girl admits to being 14, causing him to turn on her, accusing her of lying about her age. The detectives reveal that he's HIV-Positive, shocking her and she nearly attacks him. Stabler takes Leon away, while she informs Benson that they hadn't had sex yet.

During Stabler's interrogation, he tries to find out how many other young girls Leon might have fooled around with, but he refuses to answer. Though the squad presumes he's guilty, A.D.A. Cabot is there to argue that they can't imprison him for what he might be planning. The only alternative seems to be to consult Dr. Huang to make the case for psychiatric institutionalization, but this fails as well. Suddenly they find a young African-American woman has been raped by a man who claims to be able to get her a rap-music deal. Captain Cragen urges Stabler not to pin it on Leon automatically; however, when he and Fin arrive at the hospital and interview the girl, they both suspect Leon, because the man used the same lines, despite the fact that he called himself "Andre." The fact that she contracted A.I.D.S. from the rape prompts Stabler to talk the captain into letting them question Leon again. During the stakeout Fin reveals that he grew up in the neighborhood, and hates to see people like Leon turning it into such a bad place to live. Sure enough, they find him walking back to his apartment with another girl who seems to be older, and they arrest him again, and reveal his disease. Unfortunately, none of any of his known victims were able to identify Leon or any of the other four men as their rapists, and they're set free.

Meanwhile, another young rape victim was set on fire and thrown off a roof in the same part of Harlem. The girl happened to be the sister of Rodney Thompson, a friend of a family that Fin knows. They suspect Leon of the murder, and their suspicious are intensified when they ask his former juvenile detention counselor about his record, which includes torturing small animals and arson. While searching for Leon again, they question his mother Alva Tate, who blames his fate on the girl he raped 15 years earlier as well as the NYPD. They also question a friend of his, who refuses to talk to them. Finally while on another rooftop, Stabler and Fin discuss how each of them used to spend time on their respected roofs, when Stabler discovers the body of Leon Tate himself, after he overdosed on heroin. During the investigation of this crime scene, Benson reveals that another girl was raped and murdered. While investigating that scene, Dr. Warner reveals that Leon can no longer be considered their suspect, because her death took place after his. Stabler blames himself for ignoring other possible suspects.

Upon learning of her son's death, Alva berates the squad for driving him to OD on heroin. While the detectives try to find out who else could be responsible, Rodney visits the precinct and blames her death on them as well, accusing them of neglecting the death of Afro-American girls. Just as he leaves, the rest of the detectives get a call about another young girl who has been raped and murdered. This victim's landlord reveals that she and her parents are good people and blames himself for not keeping the building safe. After he brings them to the apartment, her mother tells them that she sent her to a local grocery store for bread. A clerk at the store claims to have seen them, and says she left with a bald Afro-American man. They return to the victim's apartment and the landlord reveals that their suspect has an apartment in the building. They meet a man named Malik "King" Harris, who is shown not to be kind to women. Though he was busy having sex with another women closer to his age, he doesn't let her reveal this to the police until he decides to do so. As they leave the building, Thompson stirs up some local youths and tries to incite a riot by accusing the police of neglecting the murders of the girls simply because they're African-American, but Fin successfully calms them down. Later, Cragen orders Fin into his office and interrogates him about the melee. Despite maintaining order, he believes their complaints are justified. Cragen tries to show sympathy, but Fin won't hear of it. He leaves the precinct with Munch futilely trying to calm him down as he drives off to find an paid informant, shunning Munch's assistance. The informant claims that he knows that the NYPD is after King who buys dope from his dealers, pretending to be a rap music mogul in order to seduce young women, and gets the money from richer women whom he thinks he can smooth-talk, and who dump him once they wise up to his scheme. Fin tells Cabot what he knows, and she tells him they can bust him only for his drug purchases. As they do so, they find he's producing a rap record by another teenage girl and potential victim. King tries to avoid getting a DNA test by claiming he's a Jehovah's Witness, and though nobody believes him, the mere fact that he said so legally prevents Warner from testing him. Fin and Munch improvise by pretending to accidentally break King's sunglasses, and using the DNA from the broken sunglasses in another DNA test, which turns out to be a perfect match.

Unfortunately, before King can go to trial, his defense attorney, Cleo Conrad, claims the SVU violated his genetic privacy in order to make a conviction. Alex insists that they can still make a case against him. During arraignment on the drug charges, King is released on $2,000 cash bail, when suddenly Rodney flies into a rage and attacks him for his sister's death, punching and strangling him, but King bites him in order to escape, leaving his DNA. Fin quickly takes Thompson away to have the DNA tested.

King is promptly arrested again after a confirmed match, as Alex is convinced Fin set the whole attack up, which he denies, and she reluctantly accepts. Conrad also attempts to accuse the police of setting up the attack, but Alex denies it. Stabler later walks in with a letter from King's former hometown of Detroit, where, with the help of his DNA, they can link him to more murders and rapes of young women. King tries to negotiate a deal with the NYPD, but Fin promises the only deal he has a chance of getting is him serving his last meal before his execution.

Cast[]

Main cast[]

Recurring cast[]

Guest cast[]

References[]

Quotes[]

[Stabler is sitting across the table from Leon]
Stabler: So, how many little girls have you had sex with since you got out?
Leon Tate: Hey, man, you ain't have no right to follow me.
Stabler: Hey, hey, hey. Don't tell me how to do my job. Answer the question.
Leon Tate: So you can put me away again for nothin'? [shakes his head wordlessly] Hey, man, listen, the young ladies feel me. It's not my fault.
Stabler: It is if they're jailbait.
Leon Tate: They wanna pleasure me, who am I to stop them?
Stabler: If you infect them with your H.I.V., it's their problem, too, right?
Leon Tate: Look, man, you-you-you-you ambushed us before I even had an opportunity to tell her. I have protection.
Stabler: [leans forward] Her protection is me putting you back in your little cage.
Leon Tate: W-w-w-why don't you just get off my case, man?
Stabler: [shakes head slightly] 'Cause I don't like you.
Leon Tate: [licks lips; shakes head] Alright, well, I don't have nothing else to say 'til my legal aid gets here.
[makes a face and gets up]

[about Leon Tate]
Cabot: I'm surprised he said as much as he did.
Cragen: He has the personality of a repeater: he can do no wrong, nothing is his fault.

Cragen: I don't remember telling you to tail Leon Tate.
Stabler: I heard he was out. Just keeping my eye on him.
Cragen: Well, this squad doesn't have enough bodies for you and your partner to go freelancing.
Stabler: I'd like to think that we saved a young girl's life tonight.
Cragen: And we would need a new unit if we were to follow every perv that we thought might repeat. Leon Tate did his time and until somebody makes a complaint, he has rights.
Stabler: This guy's penis is a deadly weapon and he's got a thing for young girls. They got rights, too.
Cragen: Until Cabot gives us the word, you back off. Are we clear?

Tutuola: Problem is, even if the woman lies about her age, it's still the man's fault.
Munch: Ignorance is no defense.
Benson: Nashika Morris is 14. She's not a woman; she's a girl.
Tutuola: What's the guy supposed to do? Check the girl's birth certificate? I'm just as opposed to rape as everybody else in this room, but if she wanted to have sex, that's her choice. She wasn't forced.
Stabler: She's a minor. What she wants isn't relevant.
Cabot: [as she and Dr. Huang walk into the squad room] Are we interrupting?
Munch: Friendly disagreement.

[when the judge decides not to civily commit Leon Tate]
Benson: Judge was afraid to stick her neck out.
Stabler: Maybe she'll change her mind when we wheel a body into her chambers.

Stabler: [to Fin] You okay?
Tutuola: Yeah. I just don't like some guy making my home turf dangerous for young girls.
Stabler: I thought you grew up in Brooklyn.
Tutuola: Nope. About 10 blocks from here. Ground Zero for the '68 riots.
Stabler: What was that like?
Tutuola: I was six. My mother said the only way we're leaving our apartment was if somebody burned it down.

Stabler: [to a teenage girl about Leon] You know Casanova here has HIV?
Melissa: [to Leon] That the truth?
Leon Tate: Yo, man, don't believe them.
Melissa: No. Is it the truth?
Leon Tate: Yo, I got protection.
Melissa: I don't care if you got a bulletproof vest for that thing. You should have told me.

[about the murderer]
Dr. Huang: Rape is about anger, but I'm not sure it's the women that set him off. I think following him might have made his anger boil over.
Stabler: Oh, so Aisha Thompson's death is our fault?

Tutuola: Spent a lot of time on my rooftop when I was a kid. It was safe back then.
Stabler: Doing the wild thing with your girlfriend?
Tutuola: You know, when you live here you can't afford a vacation to Aruba, so you went to "Isle of Aroofa." Tar Beach. Plus the guys like to come up here 'cause this is where the girls would come hang out.
Stabler: I grew up in Queens. All I ever wanted was the excitement of the city. Sounds like all you ever wanted was quiet. We should've traded places.

[about Leon Tate after he dies from a drug overdose]
Munch: Guy OD's two weeks out of prison. Talk about bad karma.

[after another teenage girl who was raped and murdered murdered on a rooftop]
Stabler: Well, if it's Leon's work, he's improvising.
Dr. Warner: Couldn't have been Leon Tate.
Benson: What are you talking about?
Stabler: The victim's still in rigor. Probably killed this morning. Tate was dead by last night.
[Stabler looks shocked]
Benson: Elliot...
Stabler: I wanted it to be Leon.
Benson: Everything fit.
Stabler: We wasted time. Another girl's dead because I went down the wrong road.

Alva Tate: [to Stabler'] You happy now?
Stabler: Mrs. Tate, I'm sorry about Leon.
Alva Tate: Don't you dare say you're sorry. You're glad he's dead. He didn't kill those girls, but you killed him anyway. You murdered him.
Tutuola: Mrs. Tate, Detective Stabler was doing his job.
Alva Tate: My son was innocent.
Tutuola: Your son was gonna kill somebody with his HIV. We had to stop him. We didn't put the needle in his arm.
Alva Tate: You didn't, but you all stick together, don't you?
Stabler: Fin, thanks for taking my back with Mrs. Tate.
Tutuola: Leon was scum. He was gonna kill some innocent girl if you didn't stop him.

Stabler: Well, my old man never approved of a single thing I ever did, I don't go around raping and killing young girls.

Tutuola: An East Side socialite disappears, we got 50 cops on it. Black girls start getting executed, we got 4 cops.

Fin: [to Cragen] No matter what you say, Captain, you're not black and you're not from the hood.

Tutuola: Fin Tutuola: [talking to an informant in a car] I'm busy. This better be good.
Benny: [slouched down in the backseat] How 'bout a little respect? Time is money, and I'm losing it talking to you.
Tutuola: What the hell are you doing back there? Sit up like a man.
Benny: Hey, I get seen with you, my customers go elsewhere for their merchandise.
Tutuola: You got something for me, Benny, or did you just come here to run your mouth?
Benny: Word's out you're looking to jam up King.
Tutuola: Where'd you hear that?
Benny: I got sources, just like you.
Tutuola: What do your sources know about him?
Benny: King's a rap promoter wannabe. Manages a few unknowns, but doesn't have the goods to make it big. He uses the rap line mostly to pick up women.
Tutuola: So far, you're boring me.
Benny: How about: he buys his coke and dope from one of my corner boys?
Tutuola: Now you're talking. Where's he get his cash?
Benny: King's a kept man. Smooth-talks one of his ladies into paying for his lifestyle 'til they wise up... [imitates slashing his throat] ... dump him.
Tutuola: What's in this for you, Benny?
Benny: I don't like him. Consider it a freebie.

Munch: [arresting King while he's recording rap]] Maybe you should be recording Jailhouse Rock.

Cleo Conrad: It was a setup.
Cabot: We arranged for your client to bite Rodney Thompson? I don't think so.
Tutuola: Bit yourself in the ass with your big mouth this time, King.

King: [on the verge of a death penalty for the murders] I want a deal.
Tutuola: Want a deal? How 'bout right before we execute you for killin' those girls, I bring you your last meal? How's that?

Background information and notes[]

Episode scene cards[]

1 2 3

Chambers of Judge Elmore
60 Centre Street
Tuesday, March 20

Office of Burt Ferris
Assistant Corporate Counsel
Thursday, March 22

Apartment of Alva Tate
376 St. Nicholas Avenue
Thursday, March 22

4 5 6

Harlem Apartments
180 West 127th Street
Friday, March 23

Trax Recording Studio
336 West 51st Street
Saturday, March 24

Chambers of Judge Seligman
100 Centre Street
Monday, March 26

Previous episode:
"Stolen"
"Rooftop"
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Season 3
Next episode:
"Tangled"
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