Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series)

Dance, Lies and Videotape (2020)

Peter Scanavino: ADA Dominick 'Sonny' Carisi, Jr.

Quotes 

• Pornmonger Man : Ballerina getting nailed in a tutu. That's a whole genre. But what isn't? Rule 34, am I right? You gotta be more specific.

  Amanda Rollins : Okay, well, this was posted two days ago.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : And there's been an official complaint. You need to take this down.

  Pornmonger Man : So, it's revenge porn. You still can't just waltz in here, flash a badge, and expect me to fold like a cheap tent.

  Amanda Rollins : And why is that?

  Pornmonger Man : Well, in case they didn't teach you this in cop school, there is a little thing known as the First Amendment.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Well, I actually went to lawyer school, where they taught us about subpoenas. So how about I go get one for every hard drive in this dump?

  Amanda Rollins : We start kicking the tires, you don't think we're gonna find dozens of minors in your little video cache?

  Pornmonger Man : Maybe we got off on the wrong foot. Let's start again. I can scrub this from our site, but it's not gonna mean anything. Nothing disappears from the Internet. No, it gets pirated, goes airborne, and then mutates like the plague.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Well, for now, let's eliminate Patient Zero. How did you get this?

• Edward Jenkins : It was just guy stuff.

  Brad : A competition. You know, with, like, points and everything. We didn't hurt anyone.

  Amanda Rollins : Why don't you ask Dehlia? I mean, you're still rehearsing together. Did you even talk to her about any of this?

  Brad : My mom told me not to talk about this to anyone because there's... legal stuff involved.

  Attorney Turner : My son feels terrible about this being distributed on porn sites and had absolutely no involvement in that.

  Amanda Rollins : He distributed it via text to all his dance buddies.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : First degree. An E felony.

  Attorney Turner : Clearly an overreach. Look, maybe this rises to the level of misdemeanor harassment.

  Amanda Rollins : Hmm.

  Attorney Turner : We all know the real felon here is Jason. Surveillance, dissemination, it's all on him. My clients can help you make that case.

• Attorney Turner : Unlawful surveillance?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Mm-hmm.

  Attorney Turner : It's obviously consensual. The girls look like they're playing to the camera.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Well, they all say that they weren't aware they were being recorded.

  Attorney Turner : Well, my clients say otherwise. Maybe the girls have regrets now.

  Amanda Rollins : Well, they swear they didn't know they were being filmed, and they absolutely did not want the videos shared. Have you seen the texts between the boys? Here's a transcript. Shall we read it out loud?

  Attorney Turner : All this proves is that they're idiots. I should know, I'm Brad's mother. Being an idiot is not illegal.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : But dissemination is. And they're definitely guilty of that.

• Olivia Benson : Okay, so Brad and Edward are willing to testify that Jason set up the camera?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Well, in exchange for bumping them down to misdemeanor harassment.

  Amanda Rollins : Can't we get them on misdemeanor dissemination?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : She's smart. She doesn't want that on their records.

  Olivia Benson : Okay, so this is our best chance to get one of the three boys on a felony.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Yeah, and with their testimony, we can get Jason on unlawful surveillance, dissemination, and toss in revenge porn for the hat trick.

  Olivia Benson : Which is gonna be tough to prove, because we have to show intent to harm, which, even so, is just a misdemeanor.

  Amanda Rollins : So, texting the video to a friend is worse than posting it on a porn site?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Tech lobbies, corporations, civil libertarians; they got their fingerprints all over the state's revenge porn bill. It's basically toothless.

  Olivia Benson : But Jason doesn't know that. And he hasn't lawyered up yet. This might give us some leverage.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Yeah,

  Amanda Rollins : Yeah, well, what's Jason gonna give us that don't already have?

  Olivia Benson : You never know.

• Jason Harris : Revenge on Dehlia? Seriously? I get plenty.

  Olivia Benson : Well, then why did you send the video to a porn site?

  Jason Harris : I don't know. I thought it was a goof on Brad.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Well, Dehlia didn't consent to being filmed.

  Jason Harris : Well, that's not what Brad told me. How was I supposed to know?

  Olivia Benson : Because you're the one who installed the camera in Studio X.

  Jason Harris : What are you talking about?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Yeah, your dance buddies told us the whole thing was your idea.

  Jason Harris : Okay, hang on. I-I don't know who set up the camera, but it wasn't me.

  Olivia Benson : Well, that's not what they said. And they're willing to testify.

  Jason Harris : Testify?

  Olivia Benson : Mm-hmm.

  Jason Harris : Like, at a trial?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Yeah, like at a trial. And with unlawful surveillance and dissemination charges, you're looking at felony jail time.

  Jason Harris : This is total crap. I'm the fall guy. Everybody in the company knew about it. Brad, Edward, Sascha.

  Olivia Benson : Sascha? Your choreographer?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Jason, if you know more than you're saying, now would be your last chance to help yourself.

  Olivia Benson : And start with Sascha Thomas.

  Jason Harris : We showed him some stuff before. He never said boo. H-He would... he would watch the videos like the girls were auditioning for him.

  Olivia Benson : And he never told you to stop?

  Jason Harris : If he liked something he saw, he'd ask a girl out, and if she said yes, he'd make me delete it.

• Katriona Tamin : [listening to Hasim's undercover wire]  He's pretty good.

  Olivia Benson : I'm buying it.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Let's hope they do.

• Amanda Rollins : We need to know how all this works.

  Ashley Fallon : Every year, at the gala, dinner with the prima goes to the highest bidder.

  Amanda Rollins : Mm-hmm.

  Ashley Fallon : Everybody knows it's more than just dinner. This year, I was on the auction block.

  Sergeant Hasim Khaldun : How did he get you to agree to this?

  Ashley Fallon : Same way he got everybody else. He had a video. Me, Brad, and Jason.

  Amanda Rollins : Does Sascha know about this?

  Ashley Fallon : He gave Alistair the video.

  Sergeant Hasim Khaldun : What did Alistair say to you, exactly?

  Ashley Fallon : He said I'd already worked my way through the dancers and the choreographer for my career, so compared to that, this was a small ask.

  Amanda Rollins : And if you refused?

  Ashley Fallon : The video would be made public. He said, after that... the only way I'd be able to make a living was in porn.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : [watching with Benson]  That's enough for an arrest warrant.

  Olivia Benson : Better idea. We pick him up now.

• Olivia Benson : That's an admission.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : It's more like an innuendo. Ashley still needs to show she's willing to play for pay.

  Katriona Tamin : So, he's a trafficker and we're going after the victim?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : She has not been cooperative so far, right? We need the leverage. I know you wish there was a better way, but...

  Olivia Benson : Yeah, I do.

• Dominick Carisi Jr. : Okay, so the highest bids at every gala auction are for "dinner for two with a ballerina." That doesn't prove these women are being sex trafficked...

  Olivia Benson : You said that you wanted a pattern, and we have one.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Go ahead.

  Olivia Benson : So, the male dancers are secretly recording the women having sex with them. Sascha is using the tapes to blackmail these women into re-enacting these videos, right? So if they consent or if they just fail to fight him off, they get solos.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Yeah, but none of these women are willing to testify.

  Amanda Rollins : Rose Sullivan is. She told us that Sascha coerced her, and when she went to Alistair with it, he doubled down, blackmailed her, and told her if she didn't sleep with the highest bidder, that she would lose her job.

  Olivia Benson : We're looking at sex trafficking here.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Okay, maybe. Did she actually go through with it? No?

  [groaning in frustration] 

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : So the board's gonna circle the wagons, the dancers aren't talking, and these donors sponsoring ballerinas, they certainly won't. So at the end of the day, this is Rose's word against Sascha and Alistair's.

  Amanda Rollins : All right, you got any ideas, or are you just gonna keep playing the "I'm the ADA, I need more" card?

  Olivia Benson : Rollins.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : You know what would be helpful? A confession. How about that idea?

  Amanda Rollins : I don't see that happening.

  Olivia Benson : Or we catch him in the act. This year's gala is tomorrow night after the premiere. We put in a UC, and we get Alistair on tape promising to deliver the goods.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Huh.

  Amanda Rollins : How about Hasim Khaldun?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Your transit-groper cop?

  Olivia Benson : He could pass as an oil heir.

  Amanda Rollins : Or a venture capitalist from Silicon Valley. He's... he's a chameleon.

• Dominick Carisi Jr. : Tina said the sex was consensual?

  Amanda Rollins : But it wasn't. She just doesn't wanna see it that way. Sascha's her boss, he gave her the choice of losing her job or getting a solo, depending on whether or not she was gonna re-enact that video with him.

  Olivia Benson : It's forcible coercion, rape three.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : In theory, yes. But his defense attorney's gonna say the relationship was consensual. At worst, transactional, one in which she was a willing part of.

  Katriona Tamin : Sascha? From what the other dancers said, this is happening all the time at the company.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Then we need to try to establish a pattern. Are there any other allegations against Sascha?

  Amanda Rollins : No official complaints lodged with the National HR department.

  Katriona Tamin : Yeah, the cone of silence in ballet is real. I knew a few bunheads at LaGuardia; rehearse nonstop, never spoke out of turn, never ate... I mean, that kind of conditioning sticks with you

  Olivia Benson : Listen, this isn't just ballet. It's churches, news organizations, movie sets. When your boss is a predator, people are afraid.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Well, unless someone breaks ranks, we're stalled.

  Olivia Benson : [checking her phone, she groans]  More bad news. Cybercrime said somebody ran Dehlia's image through facial recognition. Her identity has gone viral.

• Jason Harris : Testify? Like at a trial?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Yeah! Like at a trial.