Richard Wheatley

**Richard M. Wheatley, Sr.** was a corrupt businessman with close ties to the Mafia, and was suspected to be involved in both organized crime, with his online pharmaceutical company Contrapos believed to be a front for an illegal narcotics trafficking ring. He was also a suspect in the murder of Detective Elliot Stabler's wife, Kathy Stabler.

## History

### Season 1

Wheatley talks with Richie in his wine cellar about the different types of wine in the cellar. Ryan then interrupts their meeting to notify Wheatley that Sinatra was waiting for them upstairs. Wheatley then approached Sinatra in the living room and started becoming hostile towards Sinatra, after he starts insulting Wheatley's adoptive son, Rafiq. Wheatley then tries to throw Sinatra out of his house but Pilar interrupts their conversation. After Pilar leaves, Wheatley tells Sinatra that he used Sinatra's warehouse for business only before throwing Sinatra out of his house. Later, Wheatley meets with Sinatra at the Wonder Wheel in Coney Island. Wheatley encourages him to ride the ferris wheel to which Sinatra does. While riding the ferris wheel, Sinatra tells Wheatley that he wants to do business with him and Wheatley accuses Sinatra of betraying the family. Sinatra then apologises for his racist comments towards his family but Wheatley doesn't forgive Sinatra. When Stabler arrives at the Wonder Wheel, Stabler discovers Sinatra's dead body but no sign of Wheatley. After meeting with Sinatra, Wheatley arrives home and discovers that Angela is sitting there waiting for him. Angela then starts disrespecting Wheatley and Wheatley responds by warning Angela not to speak to him like she did. (OC: "What Happens in Puglia")

While Wheatley was at dinner with Pilar and another couple, Wheatley received a phone call from Angela who notified him about Sinatra's death. Wheatley pretended to act shocked about his death before hanging up the phone. Later, Bell calls a meeting where she fills the team in on their information about Wheatley, which is that he is a hacker and drug dealer who manufactures custom and dangerous drugs. Stabler then asked Bell if he could be introduced to Wheatley. Stabler and Bell then approached Wheatley while he was walking out of the building of his company. Stabler accused Wheatley of ordering the robbery of the COVID-19 vaccines and Sinatra's murder. Wheatley then denies the accusations before leaving to attend Sinatra's funeral. Later, Wheatley threw a COVID-19 vaccination party, in which he invited several friends to be illegally vaccinated at his residence, using vaccines that he hired Dr. Laurence Valentine to steal. (OC: "Not Your Father's Organized Crime")

After ordering Valentine to rob COVID-19 vaccines, Wheatley held a charity event with his wife where he donated thousands of illegally obtained vaccines to the community. When the Organized Crime Control Bureau attempted to arrest him for robbery, the numbers on the vaccines Wheatley had didn't match the ones that were stolen. However, when Bell attempted to arrest him for using a venue without a permit, Wheatley showed her the permit allowing him to use the warehouse, signed by the mayor himself. (OC: "Say Hello To My Little Friends")

Wheatley held a birthday party for Richie at his home, where he introduces Richie's date, Gina Cappelletti, to his wife. After everyone sits down for dinner, Wheatley makes a toast to Richie, telling him that he will always be a child in his eyes. During dinner, Wheatley makes fun of Gina for being a cocktail waitress which upset her and Richie. (OC: "The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of")

Wheatley shows up at Gina's door one day and Wheatley admits that he had her followed. Wheatley tells Gina that he is suspicious of her and has gained knowledge of her prior arrests and asks her for more details. Gina then tells him that she fought off a group of racists at a bowling alley. Wheatley then starts to hit on Gina creepily but Gina tells Wheatley that she will not sleep with him because she has feelings for Richie. Wheatley tells Gina that she passed the final test and offers to drive her to work. While Wheatley is driving Gina to work, Wheatley gets a call about a knock-off drug lab and they stop at the lab and Wheatley tells Gina to wait in the car. After Wheatley goes into the lab, Gina exits the car and starts investigating before hearing gunshot noises. Gina then rushes back to the car before Wheatley returns. Later, the squad pulls up audio from their bug that was placed in Wheatley's office. Wheatley talks with Bekher about getting a lawyer while Bekher searches for a bug. Bekher then finds the bug and destroys it. Stabler then confronts Bekher and Bekher said that he had to destroy the bug to keep Wheatley's trust. Bekher then tells Stabler that the Purple Magic hit was definitely Wheatley and he asks Stabler to be more patient. Later, after Stabler meets with Angela at the university, Wheatley shows up and threatens Stabler, telling him to stay away from his family especially Angela. (OC: "An Inferior Product")

After Stepan Komarov was arrested by Stabler and Bell, Wheatley learns that they can't make the deal because of his arrest. Joey then informs Wheatley that Gianluca Silvano, who is working for the police, wants to make the deal with him. Wheatley becomes suspicious but Silvano manages to win Wheatley over by claiming that he is familiar with Wheatley's work. At the precinct, Stabler gets a call from Wheatley asking him to get coffee with him to talk about Angela. At the coffee shop, Wheatley mentions Stabler's time in Rome and then he switches to talking about Angela. When Stabler brings up Angela's children, Wheatley tells Stabler that Rafiq was murdered during a police raid and claims that Stabler is using Angela to get to him. Wheatley tells Stabler that he can't trust anything Angela tells him because she is still in love with him. Stabler then asks why Wheatley hasn't killed him yet for being a nuisance and Wheatley tells Stabler that if he had killed him then they wouldn't be enjoying their cup of coffee together. Stabler then shows Wheatley a photo of Kathy and says that she wasn't vengeful but she will be the end of Wheatley. Later, at the Wheatley home, Dana informs Wheatley that she spotted Gina plant a bug in Wheatley's wine cellar on camera. Wheatley then tells Dana not to tell anybody about this. Wheatley then walks outside and sees Richie and Gina together. Wheatley takes Richie aside and tells him that Gina is a cop and that she planted a bug in his wine cellar. Richie refuses to believe that Gina is a cop but Dana shows him the footage of her planting the bug. Wheatley then orders Richie to take Gina for a romantic getaway but kill her on the way. Richie refuses at first but Wheatley taunts him and Richie tells Wheatley that he will kill her. (OC: "I Got This Rat")

At the Wheatley home, Wheatley discusses with Richie and Bekher about picking up Silvano to make the deal. When Bekher asks Richie if he wants some orange juice, Wheatley tells Bekher that Richie is not a boy anymore because of how he killed Gina. Wheatley then brings in a group of armed security detail to warn Bekher. Wheatley then has one of his men shoot Bekher in the head which killed him. While Wheatley drives to make the deal with Silvano, Wheatley tells Richie that he had to kill Bekher because he witnessed Richie kill Gina and he would have held that over him for the rest of his life. Wheatley claims that he likes his new security group because they have no conscience. In the car, Wheatley tells Silvano that Bekher will no longer be meeting with them and Stabler and Bell listen in. Wheatley and his men arrive at the location where they want to make the deal and one of their security units tell Wheatley that they found a camera that wasn't there yesterday. Wheatley then moves the location for the deal elsewhere. Bell and Stabler follow him to the new location. Jet also meets them at their new location. Bell informs Morales and Washburn on Wheatley's new plan as Stabler and Bell track Wheatley to a subway station. Washburn and Morales then head down to the subway station and go undercover as pedestrians. In the station, an undercover detective posing as a homeless woman reports in on Wheatley. Jet claims that because they are underground, the earpiece that she gave Silvano won't work. Jet then goes undercover as a pedestrian and gives the undercover detective a bun with a microphone in it. Jet, Stabler and Bell listen in on their deal while Wheatley makes the deal with Silvano. Wheatley then asks Silvano to kill one of his rivals but Silvano counters for more cash and claims that Wheatley can be reckless. After the account transfer goes through, the squad goes in to arrest them. Wheatley then attempts to escape on the subway but Stabler catches up to him. Wheatley attempts to beat up Stabler before Stabler arrests him. (OC: "Everybody Takes A Beating Sometime")

Wheatley was put on trial for the murders of Manfredi Sinatra and Kathy Stabler. After Richie heard that Wheatley was being charged with his grandfather's murder, Richie sold him out and ordered him to be murdered. Before that, Wheatley bribed Detective Morales to kill Angela while she was in witness protection. When Wheatley was being transferred to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Wheatley was shot at by three hitmen under the orders of Richie and Hugo Bankole. However, Stabler shot the hitman who attempted to kill Richard. Wheatley was then shot in the leg and was held hostage alongside Bell and Stabler. After the hitmen were arrested by a team of police officers, Wheatley was taken to the U.S. Attorney's Office as ordered by Lieutenant Marv Moennig. At the U.S. Attorney's office, Stabler told Vince Baldi, a federal prosecutor, that Wheatley murdered his wife and he wanted to prosecute him for her murder. Wheatley was then arrested and taken to a maximum security prison. Wheatley then searched for his phone underneath the bed, which he smuggled in, and called Pilar to send a message to Olivia Benson as Elliot. (OC: "Forget It Jake; It's Chinatown")

### Season 2

Wheatley starts cooperating with the feds and as a result the charges of money laundering, embezzlement, drug trafficking and assault have been dismissed. He claims to intend to be more good than anyone has ever imagined and to make himself the worst enemy of every criminal organisation in the world. However, the murder charge of Kathy Stabler has not been dismissed and Wheatley is back at Rikers to await trial for the murder charge. (OC: "The Man With No Identity")

Wheatley becomes suspected of hiring a man to kill a woman named Mia and frame Eli for her murder. Wheatley claims that he had nothing to do with her murder and that when he gets out one day he doesn't want to be Stabler's nemesis. However, Stabler mentions that Wheatley might have paid this guy with the cryptocurrency that he tried of pawn off on his undercover. However, Wheatley told Stabler that Dana is in charge of the cryptocurrency business which leads Stabler to suspect Dana of ordering Mia's murder. Later, Barba meets with Wheatley in his cell who tells him that the DA's office has decided not to forward from the case and that Wheatley is now cleared of the murder charge and is a free man. (OC: "The Christmas Episode")

After getting released from prison and cleared of the murder charge, Wheatley continues to work with the FBI as an informant and helps them find a high-security convict named Sebastian McClane who escaped prison. The Organized Crime Control Bureau and the FBI were brought in and Brewster reveals to Bell and Stabler that the FBI has brought in their own specialist. As they enter the room, Stabler locks eyes with Wheatley, who is grinning at him. Stabler angrily leaves the room and Brewster and Bell catch up to him. Stabler claims that Wheatley is making a fool out of him and the squad and Brewster claims that Wheatley has assisted the FBI in another high-profile case. However, Wheatley walks up to Stabler and Bell and joins the conversation. Wheatley accuses Stabler of stalking him, claiming that he is capable of managing his own emotions when it comes to the greater good. Wheatley then tells them that unlike Stabler, he doesn't hold grudges. (OC: "Nemesis")

While Garcia was giving his press conference, Wheatley told McClane about how he is going to get revenge against Stabler and New York City. Wheatley tells McClane that he has plans to remarry Angela, remake his fortunate and get revenge on New York City. After questioning Sebastian's ex-girlfriend, Stabler started to suspect that Wheatley and McClane were working together. Later, Wheatley met with Garcia and advised them that more ransom demands will come. Stabler managed to realise that Wheatley was assisting Garcia, over a video conference. Stabler attempted to convince Garcia that Wheatley was a criminal mastermind but Garcia didn't believe Stabler. After getting an unexpected phone call from Bernadette, Stabler spotted Wheatley outside his home with a slice of pizza and confronted him. Stabler threatened to kill Wheatley if he came near his family again. Later, before McClane could be taken into police custody, Wheatley ordered one of his men to pretend to be an FBI agent and to kidnap him. McClane woke up in Angela's care and Angela gave him the keys to his car. McClane then met with Wheatley and they both escaped using a helicopter. (OC: "As Nottingham Was To Robin Hood")

Wheatley started to suspect that Angela was seeing somebody and approached her at her home. Wheatley threatened Angela with a knife because he can't stand the fact of her being with somebody else. While the team focused on Angela, Wheatley entered her home and started snooping around. Wheatley found a half-naked selfie of Stabler and a message from Stabler asking Angela to meet with him. While Angela met with Stabler, Wheatley watched them and became jealous. Stabler pretended to be in love with Angela because he knew that Wheatley was watching them. While Angela was at her job interview, Wheatley barged into the room and Angela told the interviewers that Wheatley was having a psychotic break before making him leave. Later, Wheatley kidnapped Angela and asked her if she was sleeping with Stabler. Angela claimed that she wasn't sleeping with Stabler. After McClane attempted to leave, Wheatley got mad and McClane dared Wheatley to kill him. To allow McClane to leave, Angela seduced and kissed Wheatley while McClane left the room. Stabler approached Wheatley in an elevator and punched him in the face. Wheatley claimed that he was assaulting a private citizen and Stabler showed him Angela's panties that the detectives stole and the two started fighting. However, Stabler got a call from Bell who told him to back off. (OC: "As Iago Is To Othello")

After McClane was poisoned by a young hacker, Wheatley showed up at her door and took McClane under his care. Wheatley then woke McClane up and forced McClane and Angela to play a game of Russian Roulette. Wheatley asked McClane for a favour and McClane refused to help him with what he needed. Wheatley then threatened to kill McClane but McClane told him that he doesn't care if Wheatley shot and killed him. When Wheatley threatened to kill Angela, McClane told Wheatley that he would help him with what he needed. Later, McClane gathered his followers under Wheatley's orders and they got involved in a series of bomb threats. Later, Wheatley freed Angela from captivity and it was revealed that Angela was apart of the plan to manipulate McClane into gathering his followers. After one of McClane's followers gave up Wheatley while under arrest, Stabler and the team concentrated on finding Wheatley. While Wheatley and his gang broke into their next location, Stabler and the squad found McClane injured and in need of medical attention. The team sifted through Wheatley's blueprints and found out his next plan. When the team arrived at the control center where Wheatley was last spotted, Wheatley had already disappeared but left a message for Stabler. However, one of the officers accidentally touched the mouse which activated a timer. After the timer elapsed, a blackout was caused. (OC: "As Hubris Is To Oedipus")

### Death

Wheatley televised a list of his demands which included wanting his son to be released from prison and wanting Stabler to pay for what he did to him. After Richie was released from prison into Wheatley's care, Richie met with Wheatley at a secret location. Wheatley then pulled out a gun and shot and killed Richie with the NYPD watching. After ordering Bernadette to be kidnapped, Wheatley instructed Stabler to make a video while he chanted his crimes as a local film crew filmed. Wheatley made Stabler tell them how many people he shot while he was on the job. Stabler did everything that Wheatley made him say. The crowd then followed and called Stabler a rogue cop. While Bernadette was in Wheatley's hands, Wheatley showed the video of Bernadette pleading for Stabler to rescue her from Wheatley. Wheatley then told Stabler that Miles worked for him and was hired to manipulate Bernadette. After Stabler had Miles arrested, Stabler went after Wheatley and Angela and told Angela over the line that Wheatley murdered Richie. As a result, Angela drove herself and Wheatley over a cliff, killing herself and Wheatley. However, Angela's body was discovered but Wheatley's was never found. (OC: "...Wheatley Is To Stabler")

### On SVU

Benson explained to IAB Captain Renee Curry that she believes that Richard Wheatley is targeting her and the car crash she was involved in was linked to Wheatley. Benson explained that Wheatley hacked Stabler's phone and texted Benson to meet Stabler at the hospital where Morales was keeping Angela and that it was all about his vendetta against Stabler. (SVU: "And The Empire Strikes Back")

Before Wheatley could be tried for the murder of Kathy Stabler, Wheatley fired his lawyer, Counselor Lisa Turner, and hired Barba to represent him in court. After Angela's testimony, Wheatley became furious with Barba for cross-examining her. Barba then told Wheatley that Richie was going to be cross-examined but Wheatley claims that he shouldn't worry about him and that Richie has wet the bed for half of his life. At the trial, Wheatley requested to testify at the trial which is his right. Wheatley testified and claimed that he had nothing to do with Kathy's murder. However, after Carisi cross-examined Wheatley, Wheatley had a breakdown on the stand and threatened to kill Carisi. In the end, the jury was deadlocked but Wheatley was remanded in Rikers until the next trial. (SVU: "People Vs Richard Wheatley")

## Known Victims

### Personal

* Rafiq Wheatley (murdered)
* Manfredi Sinatra (murdered)
* Gina Cappelletti (stalked and harassed)
* Two unnamed people (held hostage)
* Elliot Stabler (assaulted)
* Angela Wheatley (kidnapped and assaulted)
* Sebastian McClane (attempted to murder)
* Richard Wheatley, Jr. (murdered)

### Proxy

* Kathy Stabler (murdered by Izak Bekher and Sacha Lenski)
* Elliot Stabler (assaulted by Izak Bekher)
* Danny Lizer (assaulted by Izak Bekher)
* Gina Cappelletti (murdered by Richard Wheatley, Jr.)
* Izak Bekher (murdered by one of his bodyguards)
* Angela Wheatley (poisoned twice by Diego Morales; survived)
* Olivia Benson (ordered one of his men to crash her car)
* Sebastian McClane (ordered one of his men to kidnap him; later poisoned and held hostage)
* Unnamed security guard (murdered by Gunther)
* Miles Darman (assaulted by his men)
* Bernadette Stabler (kidnapped by his men)

### Indirect

* Cole Braverman (died as a result of an overdose on the drugs from Wheatley's company)

## Appearances

* Law & Order: Organized Crime
	+ Season 1: "What Happens in Puglia" • "Not Your Father's Organized Crime" • "Say Hello To My Little Friends" • "The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of" • "An Inferior Product" • "I Got This Rat" • "Everybody Takes A Beating Sometime" • "Forget It Jake; It's Chinatown"
	+ Season 2: “The Man With No Identity” • "The Christmas Episode" • "Nemesis" • "As Nottingham Was To Robin Hood" • "As Iago Is To Othello" • "As Hubris Is To Oedipus" • "...Wheatley Is To Stabler"
* Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
	+ Season 23: “People Vs Richard Wheatley”