Joe Fontana (Law & Order character)

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This article is about the Law and Order character. For the Canadian Member of Parliament and London, Ontario Mayoral candidate, see Joe Fontana.

Detective Joe Fontana
Law & Order character

Time on show	2004-2006
Preceded by	Lennie Briscoe
Succeeded by	Ed Green
First appearance	Paradigm
Last appearance	Invaders
Portrayed by	Dennis Farina

Detective Joe Fontana is a fictional character portrayed by Dennis Farina on NBC's long running drama series Law & Order.

Joe Fontana was a homicide detective in the 27th Precinct of the NYPD. Fontana was partnered with Detective Ed Green and, for a brief time, with Detective Nick Falco while Green was recovering from a gunshot wound. He was supervised by Lieutenant Anita Van Buren. Fontana originally had a rocky start with Green, who was still upset about the retirement of his old partner, Lennie Briscoe.

Given time, however, Green warmed up to Fontana, and the two established a strong partnership. Nevertheless, Green had more than once found himself caught in the middle of a fight between Fontana and Van Buren. Fontana somewhat resembled Mike Logan, a popular character who left the show in 1995, in that he sometimes bent, and even broke, the ethical code. His unorthodox methods were even a little bit like those of Green when he first joined the 27th precinct. Prior to partnering with Green, Fontana worked with a homicide squad in the Bronx — although the episode entitled "Ghosts" suggests that the Bronx may not have been Fontana's first stop in New York.

Fontana, from the Little Italy neighborhood of Chicago, was a member of the Chicago Police Department before coming to New York. He left his posting in Chicago because of conflict with a superior officer, although he refused to elaborate further. He had never been married. Fontana was known for his flashy lifestyle - he drove a silver Mercedes-Benz SL500, was fond of impeccably tailored suits, and often carried a 'walking-around' money roll of several thousand dollars. That initially was cause for suspicion with his new coworkers, who wondered how he could afford those expensive things on his salary. Although Fontana paid a great deal of attention to his appearance, he did have his limits; in one episode, for example, he saw a woman who has died after having liposuction, and said he would rather go on the South Beach Diet.

In 1995, he started a two-year investigation, while in the Special Victims Unit (since it was a sex crime), into the murder of 12-year-old Sara Dolan. Convinced that her father was involved, Fontana would not let go of the case until another murderer confessed to the crime in the episode "Ghosts." Only after the father had to testify against the second culprit did Fontana question his original judgment.

Fontana was in touch with his Italian background. He had mentioned travelling to Italy, and was fluent in the language. Although he occasionally joked about not paying attention in school, he appears to have been fairly well-read — enough so, for example, to identify a quotation from John Keats.

Fontana was originally a very dry character, but this made him unpopular with fans, so he was given a better sense of humor.

Fontana was named after Homicide: Life on the Street producer Tom Fontana, a close friend of Law & Order producer Dick Wolf.

On May 30, 2006, Farina's spokeswoman announced that he would be leaving the show after two seasons.[1] To explain the character's departure, the seventeenth season premiere revealed that Fontana had retired, and had been replaced by Green as senior detective.