Al Giardello

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Al Giardello is a fictional character from the television drama Homicide: Life on the Street. The character was played by Yaphet Kotto.

Al Giardello — generally called "Gee" — is the shift commander of the Homicide unit followed by the series. His rank is lieutenant for most of the series, as his hopes of advancement are usually dashed by political arrangements of those above him. He is also introduced early on as a widower of mixed Sicilian American and African American heritage. He has two daughters and a son. He takes a degree of pride in both heritages and can speak near fluent Italian. At the same time, he has stated that black women have discriminated against him romantically because his appearance was "too black." He also expresses missing his late wife in several episodes of the first four seasons as well as his devoted, if on occasion strained, relationship with his children.

Gee is generally supportive of his detectives and usually places their success or welfare over the desires of those above him. An early example of this concerned his discovery that his superiors were hiding the fact they were removing asbestos from the squad building. The show presents his fighting against "the bosses" as a substantial part of his initial failures at advancement. That being said he can express rage at his detectives that borders on fury and at times felt it necessary to force a detective to apologize to "the bosses" for the good of the squad. Curiously at his most angry Gee expresses a kind of whimsical and "bubbly" attitude, but one that comes with hints of menace or threats.

Gee is also in many respects "old school." He expresses nostalgia for the Baltimore of his youth at times. Although he is critical of the abuses of his early days in the police force he expresses a grudging respect for what he feels the harder approach accomplished. In 'Black and Blue' he disliked Frank Pembleton's suspicion a cop committed the shooting and implied that loyalty to other cops is above loyalty to the citizenry, including the African American citizenry. This was relevant as the shooting occurred in a mostly black neighborhood and had become a racially charged issue.

In the movie Gee runs for mayor on a platform in favor of drug legalization. The events of the film lead to his assassination.