The Human Trafficking Ring (exact name unknown) appeared in Season Six of Criminal Minds.
Background
Not much specific detail is revealed about the ring, other than it targeted stressed-out college students from all across the U.S. and illegally transported them all around the country and presumably the rest of the world. Their headquarters was at a completed building that was meant to be a rehabilitation center, but usage of it was canceled by investors. The ring has been pursued by SSA Andi Swann and the Domestic Trafficking Task Force for three years. When a member, Kyle, got involved in a car accident while transporting the corpses of two of their victims, leading to their discovery, the ring caught the attention of the BAU.
Supply and Demand
In "Supply and Demand", two ring members are first seen throwing Renee Matlin, an undercover agent working for Swann, into a vacant cage as one of them complains about the absence of a third member. Renee looks out of her cage and watches as hands stick out of the neighboring cages. Later, four members take Renee and several girls out of their cages and take them out. Meanwhile, Garcia manages to find a gas station where Kyle was spotted before dying. Rossi and Morgan go to the gas station and find via security camera that Kyle briefly went off to the bathrooms after paying. Renee and Lucy are seen holding food and Renee realizes that their captors might have put sedatives in it. A member then arrives and takes Lucy away as Renee protests. Lucy is taken downstairs, where a crowd of other members wait. At first, Lucy appeared to be fearful, but then, she smiles and says, "Welcome back, everyone."
She later watches as one of the members beats up a male captive, just as two members come back and tell her that Renee won't stop yelling out and Lucy excuses herself. Lucy returns to Renee and tells her how to get out before realizing that Renee is an undercover cop. Revealing herself to be the leader of the ring, Lucy takes Renee downstairs and plays a game of Russian Roulette in front of several members. Meanwhile, the BAU and SWAT manage to break in, killing a guard and arresting all of the members present. However, Lucy, who was informed of their presence beforehand, flees to a red SUV with a member and orders him to run over the policemen outside. However, it is an elaborate plan to get herself placed out of suspicion, but it fails, and Rossi finds out. However, Morgan shoots her dead before she can kill Rossi.
Modus Operandi
The ring targeted vulnerable college students in the continental U.S. who lived low-risk lifestyles and were stressed out with their lives. They would find their victims in shopping malls and clubs and presumably use a ruse to abduct them and hold them captive in secluded locations. Several times a year for a couple of days, they would go to metropolitan areas and hold events for high-paying customers to torture and brutalize their captives in various ways, such as throat slashing or fatal strangling. To avoid being electronically traced, they only paid in cash at the locations they went to while traveling and didn't use cellphones or GPS devices, only contacting each other using payphones.
Profile
The unsubs were initially assumed to be a lone offender. Because of the clothes the victims were found wearing, it was believed that the unsub, and possibly the victims, were part of a cult, which is inconsistent as cult members typically die from committing suicide and not from being tortured. Both victims were abducted months apart, held captive, and traveled with the member, which means he was criminally sophisticated and had likely done it before. Later on in the investigation, the BAU deduced from the member's crimes that an organized operation was actually responsible, as opposed to an individual offender.
The victims that were found were different genders and living different parts of the U.S., which means they were not killed by a traditional unsub. They hunt for victims all over the country but all they need are cars to abduct and transport their victims, so they are low-tech and organized. It is believed they hold events for a couple of days in metropolitan cities in which they let their customers do whatever they want to their victim and then disappear. This group needs space and solitude, especially if they are holding multiple victims. The victims live in different cities, but were somehow targeted. To the ring, the victims are their assets, and it would not make sense for the ring to kill their victims unless they tried to escape or their clients were adapting. The ring's clients are extremely depraved and when the act of sex is not enough for them anymore, they may be demanding more extreme forms of release. Despite the ring letting their victims be killed, they also cared for them since they were given medication before being killed.
They do not stay in one location long after performing an abduction. As such, they move quickly and efficiently. Because they lost their driver, they will feel that they are in trouble and survival will be their new top priority for them. The ring is cohesive and loyal, and the promise of money motivates them to be efficient, as does fear. A group such as them requires a strong leader, since the members have unstable personalities. The ring had progressed from abducting their victims so that they could be used for sex, but then began adapting to killing their victims, because the leader saw the growth potential in his assets. Instead of just disposing them, he uses the victims as part of shows, which is why the victims are so young. The customers will pay large amounts of money to see the victims being tortured. The ring's clients are most likely successful upstanding citizens who are incredibly deviant and would have to prove themselves to the ring by performing criminal acts, such as money laundering.
Known Members
- Lucy (leader; deceased). Portrayed by Angela Sarafyan.
- Max (deceased). Portrayed by Maximillian Alexander.
- Leon (incarcerated). Portrayed by Massi Furlan.
- Kyle (deceased). Portrayed by Matt T. Baker.
- Eighteen other unnamed members (one deceased; the rest incarcerated). All portrayed by uncredited actors.
- Presumably numerous other members active elsewhere in the U.S. and maybe even other countries
Known Victims
- Numerous unnamed victims abducted and/or killed prior to Supply and Demand
- Unspecified dates and locations: Seven unnamed women (all abducted; were eventually rescued in 2011)
- December 2010, Arizona: Jake Wattay (beaten and fatally strangled by an unknown member)
- 2011:
- February, Ohio: Paige Hawley (her throat was slashed by an unknown member)
- May, Washington, D.C.: Renee Matlin (abducted by several members, then beaten by Lucy; was rescued)
- May 18, Virginia: The raid at the ring headquarters:
- An unnamed SWAT agent (attempted; was shot at by an unnamed member, but missed)
- Derek Morgan (assaulted by Leon)
- Two unnamed police officers (Max attempted to run them over, but they shot him dead before he could do so)
- David Rossi (Lucy attempted to shoot him)
Notes
- The ring is the first human trafficking ring to appear in the show's history. The second one appeared in the Season Ten premiere episode X and the Season Ten finale episode The Hunt.