The following is a list of character summaries from the FX Networks television series, The Shield.
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Chief Bankston is the former LAPD Chief of Police, who started after the Gilroy scandal. He was eventually replaced by Chief Johnson. Bankston was not happy with Aceveda's performance and planned to fire him if he lost the election for City Council. Aceveda won and Bankston allowed him six months more on the job and suggested to Claudette that she replace Aceveda as Captain.
Billings is an underhanded detective who routinely takes credit for Dutch and Claudette's detective work in season four, while the two are blacklisted by the DA's office. When Dutch discovers that Billings stood by and watched a murder take place out of cowardice, his attempt at blackmail ends with the two detectives attacking each other. Later, after Monica Rawling is fired, Billings is promoted to acting Captain. Despite being a powerless figurehead, Billings is able to maintain a working relationship with Vic, giving him total control of the Strike Team in exchange for fast results and for keeping his fellow officers from revolting against Billings. Near the end of season 5, Billings is removed as Captain by the Chief of Police and is replaced by Claudette Wyms. He becomes a detective once again and is partnered with Dutch. It is also revealed that Billings is the owner of the vending machines, which had been an often-featured subplot during the season. Billings regards his partnership with Dutch to be a mutually beneficial relationship, as he believes that both he and Dutch negate the others weaknesses. Billings also thoroughly enjoyed working with Ronnie Gardocki on a meth distribution bust, even going as far as to comment that he would "like to log in some Strike Team time", much to Dutch's amusement.
Tension between Billings and Dutch began to rise, however, over Dutch's continuing blackmail over the vending machines, resulting in Billings setting up Tina with Hiatt and arranging for Dutch to meet under the assumption of a dinner date at Tina's house. Billings watched with amusement as the lovestruck Dutch arrived with a bottle of wine, only to witness the pair having sex and being spotted by Hiatt.
At the end of Season 6, Billings informs the department that he is suing the city for over $3.4 million dollars, stating that injuries sustained from hitting a desk during a fight between Vic Mackey and Jon Kavanaugh resulted in headaches and sensitivity to light. In spite of the fact that he has informed Dutch of the headaches, Claudette feels that Billings is merely attempting to defraud the city out of millions and informs him it is a crime to do so.
For all his faults, Billings is portrayed as a devoted family man, especially toward his two young daughters. Billings also shows zero tolerance to those who exploit children, yelling at a father whose late daughter had run away because of her father's molestation: "Your daughter is dead! You molested her, she ran away, and you got her killed!", before storming off in anger. He has also been shown to have better decorum with female victims than Dutch.
Waylon heads up the Decoy Squad, a team of undercover officers brought in to serve at the Barn under Claudette Wyms. Waylon develops a semi-friendly rivalry with Vic Mackey when they are assigned to the Strike Team's room. When he loses a bet with Vic and is required to streak through the Barn, he is far from modest. He becomes furious with Claudette when she neglects a memo about a mole when ordering a wiretap and puts Waylon's teammate Trish George in danger. Because of this, he requests for his team to be transferred out of the Barn.
A police officer from the Farmington station, who appeared to make immature jokes, and was usually accompanied by his equally childish partner, Officer Paul Jackson (Frank Grillo). After a transvestite bit Danny Sofer and there was concern she could have contracted HIV from it, Carlson and Jackson helped Officer Julien Lowe orchestrate a "blanket party" beating of the transvestite. When Julien was outed as a homosexual by his former lover Tomas, Carlson and Jackson put up posters ridiculing him. Carlson later organizes the beating of Julien by several officers. When Julien recovers from the attack, he assaults Carlson and breaks his arm. Carlson returned in the seventh season, now as a private security specialist whom Vic hires to watch over his family.
As a new detective, Terry Crowley was placed into Vic's unit by Aceveda to be a possible replacement if Vic didn't work out. He was to keep tabs on the team's illegal activities. Ben Gilroy, however, informs Vic of this plan, but didn't expect Vic to take such drastic measures to protect the strike team. To keep Terry from turning them in, Vic murders him with Shane as a witness; the other team members, Lem and Ronnie, are not involved in his murder. When Vic, Shane, and Terry entered a room in the house of a drug dealer, Vic and Shane shot and killed the drug dealer after being fired upon. Vic, as Shane looked on, then picked up the drug dealer's gun and fired at Terry, making it appear to investigators that Terry had been shot by the drug dealer. The bullet impacted Terry's face and exited out the back of his head. Terry remained conscious long enough to look up at Vic Mackey and realize what had happened to him. The injury was fatal, but Terry did not die until shortly after his arrival at the hospital. Mackey would later express remorse on several occasions over Crowleys death.[2]
The actor, Reed Diamond, was advertised as a main cast member in season 1 (and appeared in the pilot's opening credits), to surprise viewers with his death in the first episode. His only subsequent appearances on the show came in a flashback sequence in "Our Gang" and in "Co-Pilot", a flashback episode in Season 2. Although he was killed in the pilot episode, the effects of his murder continue through the series, as Vic's superiors try to pin Crowley's murder on him on more than one occasion (although no one could prove the dirty deed was done by Vic). In the penultimate episode Terry's murder is the first of the crimes Vic confesses to in exchange for an immunity deal.
A late addition to the Strike Team, Tavon was put in there after demands for a minority member to be put on the team. Tavon showed a tendency for brutality and even participated in an illegal wire tap set up by the Strike Team. However, Shane and Tavon developed a deep rivalry based on Shane's jealousy. When Tavon, under Vic's instructions, went to Shane's apartment to try and smooth things out, he took offence to a comment by Shane telling him to "know his place". This was further aggravated when Shane called him a 'darkie'. A bloody fight broke out Shane's apartment, with Tavon kneeing Shane in between the legs and getting the better of him, then Shane's fiancé, Mara, sneaking up behind Tavon and hitting him in the back of the head with an iron. Tavon stumbled away and left in his van, but in his impaired condition he crashed into a parked car, leaving him in a coma. To protect Shane, Vic and a reluctant Lem convince Tavon, that he nearly killed Mara in a furious rage. Tavon's fate was unknown until the sixth season. Tavon had mostly recovered from his injuries, and returned to the force working out of Hollywood division. He confronts Shane and reveals that he remembers everything about their fight, and that he never hit Mara.
Trish George is a member of the Decoy Squad, a team of undercover officers brought in to serve at the Barn under Claudette Wyms. Trish is flirtatious with some of the Barn's officers and seems to like Vic. Trish is required to streak through the Barn, when Waylon loses a bet with Vic. Waylon becomes furious with Claudette when she neglects a memo about a mole when ordering a wiretap and puts Trish in danger. In order for her to maintain her cover, she has sex with a would-be killer and sniffs cocaine. He also gives her a beating, but she takes it all in the line of duty. She does not like Claudette and gladly transfers out of the Barn with the rest of her team.
Assistant Chief Ben Gilroy was a friend and supporter of Vic Mackey. Gilroy often used his power to get Vic out of small jams and helped ensure his position as leader of the Strike Team. The Strike Team was a hard sell to the Chief though, and demanded quick results to allow its existence. This pressure was responsible for Vic and the team taking shortcuts and performing illegal acts to get the job done, which set the path for the Strike Team's corruption. Gilroy protected Vic and his team from new captain, David Aceveda, who disliked Vic from the very beginning. He also informed Vic that Aceveda's addition to the Strike Team, Detective Terry Crowley, was looking to implicate the team in illegal activities, though he didn't expect it to result in Terry's death. When Shane Vendrell's Navigator, containing stolen drugs, was stolen, Gilroy told Mackey to let Shane take the fall, since Gilroy couldn't protect the whole team. When Julien Lowe reported the drug theft and Aceveda attempted to bring the team down, Gilroy told Mackey that he didn't have his back anymore. However, Gilroy soon needed Vic's help when he was found to be using his political influence to facilitate an illegal real estate scam, as well as running over a Hispanic gang member and murdering the only witness who could link him to the hit and run. Stripped of his power and facing indictment, pressure and alcoholism led Gilroy to become mentally unstable. When it appeared that Gilroy would offer to testify against the Strike Team in exchange for a reduced sentence, Vic arranged both a new identity for him in Mexico and a hit man in California who would kill him if he ever returned. Gilroy eventually died in Mexico, homeless and destitute, suffering cirrhosis of the liver. He asphyxiated on his own vomit. Vic, Lem and Ronnie attended his funeral but Shane did not.
Officer Wayne "Scooby" Haimes was first introduced at the scene of a siege where he shot an attacking dog, earning a visit from an angry Assistant Chief Roy Phillips. Vic Mackey helped defuse the situation by saying 'He was reaching...' when the Chief looked at the dog, there was a handgun laying next to its lifeless body. Scooby and his partner Carl Miller were killed by Nigerian thugs organized by Antwon Mitchell's half-brother, Jason Porter.
Tina arrived at The Barn as a young, attractive, female police officer, and Julien's trainee. She is Spanish and speaks it fluently, and as such is sometimes utilized as an interpreter, but her inability to take her job seriously lead to her making countless mistakes in the field. She posed as a prostitute in order to help the Strike Team take down a sex slavery ring, trying to prove that she can hold her own, but later, back on patrol, she failed to identify an undercover officer and allows the real criminal to escape. She was about to be fired, with both Julien and Dani supporting the move, when photos of her undressing in the locker room begin circulating the barn. Dutch discovers that Billings was responsible for installing the camera, in an effort to catch thieves who were vandalizing the vending machines, so one of Billings' last acts as captain is to offer Tina a deal to remain on the force, overlooking her mistakes to prevent any charges against him. She will remain a patrol officer, but will also work with Dutch for further training. This was done to ensure Dutch's cooperation with Billings in regards to revealing Billing's double dealing as captain and vending machine owner. Dutch had feelings for her and wanted to establish a relationship-an impossible feat were she to be fired. Billing's corruption and incompetence along with Dutch's character testimony would serve as a lifeline for Tina's career. Very early in Season 6, Tina catches on to Dutch's attraction to her and transfers out of Farmington, to take a promotion of sorts with the Department's new public relations campaign. She returned 3 weeks later, with a rather inflated ego, telling Sergeant Dani Sofer that she had met high ranking people in the Department, and was "not impressed with Sergeant's stripes". Tina also turned her attractive eye on Strike Team Leader Kevin Hiatt, much to Dutch's dismay. In the Season 6 episode "Recoil", Tina had sex with Hiatt after both she and Hiatt were encouraged by Billings to pursue each other. This was orchestrated by Billings as a mental attack on Dutch to make him jealous. However, when news spread of the incident, as well as Hiatt's avoidance of her, Tina deeply regretted sleeping with Hiatt, viewing it as "a big mistake." She also admitted to Danny that Dutch indeed stood a chance with her, but he never took it. She later apologized to Dutch for hurting him. In the series finale, Julien congratulates her on a year of service and throws her a small party in the Barn. However, before they can eat the cake, a siren rings and the officers rush out.
Hisk was Julien's partner introduced in season three. The two worked well together until Julien was sent back to work with Danny since the quality of his police work seemed to be affected by his beating at the end of season two. Later on Hisk's ex-wife and son were killed in a robbery. When it was discovered that the murderer was a drug addict Hisk had hired to steal a collection of coins from the house a week earlier Hisk was fired. Hisk later resurfaced to try to get his job back with no success. He committed suicide in the station parking lot.
Carlson's partner and fellow tormentor of Julien Lowe. He was fired with Carlson and also took part in the beatdown of Julien.
Current Chief of Police for the LAPD.
Internal Affairs Lieutenant in charge of the corruption case against the Strike Team. Later sentenced to jail for falsifying evidence against Vic Mackey.
Patrol Officer Carl Miller and his partner "Scooby" Haines were kidnapped and stabbed to death by Nigerian drug dealers acting on the orders of the Russian arms dealer on whom they issued a parking ticket. Farmington drug lord Antwon Mitchell and his half-brother, Jason Porter hired the Nigerians at the Russian's request. The two policemen's bodies were dumped in an abandoned house as a deliberate attack on Captain Monica Rawling's asset forfeiture policy. Captain Rawling's obsession with seeing Antwon prosecuted for his part in the murders led her to deliberately sabotage his immunity deal with the DEA, thereby leading Chief Johnson to fire her from the Department.
Murray is a federal agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. After I.C.E. could not make progress with the investigation of the San Marcos murders, Murray's investigation was shut down. A body dragging murder gives her a new angle back into the Mexican cartel investigation and the Los Angeles scene. The dragging also launches a working relationship between her and Vic Mackey, who then repeatedly helps her make cases. When her file shows up in Cruz Pezuela's blackmail box, Mackey works to help retrieve it. She is instrumental in Mackey's relationship with I.C.E. and the key to his efforts to cut a deal granting himself full immunity. After Vic's shocking confession after signing the immunity papers, Olivia was filled with rage and disgust of a man who has up till then been playing her for a fool. While Mackey and Gardocki successfully infiltrate Beltran's drug location, Olivia and ICE agents arrive at the scene, as well as Aceveda. While during the bust the drugs are not at first visible, they are found hidden moments later, completing Mackey's immunity deal. Claudette requests that Olivia place Corrine and Mackey's kids into the witness protection program. With this, Olivia could deliver a personal blow to Vic, for tricking her into giving him the immunity deal. At the end of the finale, Olivia knows who the true Vic Mackey is and sees to it that for his next 3 years, working in a purgatory-like office job, he'll always be suffering.
Phillips replaced Ben Gilroy as the Assistant Chief of Police. He's apparently an acquaintance of Vic Mackey's, though their relationship has never been clarified—in a private conversation, Mackey said they "have years" together. He appears to be honest, and prefers to wear a full uniform (as opposed to Gilroy's suits). "The Cure" revealed that he is a dog lover who sent a missive ordering them not to be shot. This led an officer into trouble when he shot a dog that was biting his leg. He has often been the bearer of bad news, such as Monica Rawling's termination and Vic forced retirement.
A former soldier returned from Iraq, Army became Shane's partner when Shane left the Strike Team at the end of Season Three. Army allowed himself to be drawn into an alliance between Shane and drug kingpin Antwon Mitchell. Eventually, both Army and Shane were framed by Mitchell for the murder of a 14-year-old girl. Vic helped Army and Shane get out of trouble, although Army refused to take a lie detector test that would exonerate the two. While Shane and Captain Rawling were livid at Army's refusal to take the test, Vic and Lem both separately told Army that they agreed with his decision and allowed Army to walk away from the Strike Team. Army was never officially on the Strike Team—he worked in Vic's anti-gang unit to head up the seizure policy.
Cruz Pezuela's higher associate in the Mexican cartel who arrives in Farmington in Season 7 to evaluate Pezuela's progress. ICE has high interest in capturing Beltran along with his cartel. Vic plans to bust Beltran and serve him up to ICE in order to strike a deal to obtain full immunity on his past crimes, including the execution-style slayings of Terry Crowley, Margos Dezerian, Guardo Lima, and many others.
Margos Dezerian was a powerful and high ranking hit man for the Armenian Might. He amputated the feet of his victims to satisfy a foot fetish. Margos was first seen with several of his gangster associates during a drug deal. He killed one of the associates just as the Strike Team broke in. He was brought to The Barn for questioning but refused to say a word. Instead, he broke another prisoner's neck and later escaped by jumping out of a moving prison van. After the Strike Team stole millions of dollars from the Armenian Might's money laundering operation, Margos's bosses ordered him to find and murder the people responsible. Margos then left a trail of grisly murders, first two Armenian mobsters, then Diagur Leyva (Byz Lat leader) and finally O'Brien (a man who found marked money), amputating the feet of his victims to indulge a fetish. Margos also kidnapped Sosi, a young Armenian girl, as insurance. Once he was located by the Strike Team, he stabbed her in the back of the neck and left her for the Team to find. Vic decided to bring the dying girl to the emergency room, which allowed Margos to escape.
Ultimately, Mackey spreads a false rumor that an Armenian Might lieutenant [named Goma] had given the police information that led to a bust, to lure Margos to Goma's home. When Margos went to Goma's house to kill him, Vic ambushed him at gunpoint. After Margos dropped his gun and surrendered, Vic shot him dead and rigged the crime scene evidence to look like self defense.
Alex is an Armenian mob boss who owns his own dance bar. He wants an associate, Hrach, to be executed for killing one of his hitmen. Vic promises to kill Hrach, but takes an already dead victim and blows his face away with a shotgun in order to deem him unrecognizable. Once Alex agrees furthermore to go along with Vic's plans, Vic takes down the entire Armenian mob operation in that region. After Vic takes down Eznik and the rest of that Armenian operation down, they discover the money train.
Leader of the Byz Lats in Season 6. He maintains a firm relationship with Vic, although he was pressed for information about Lem's killer and was thrown out of Vic's car in the beginning of Season 6.
A suspected serial killer, Gardner is adept at concealing any evidence of his alleged crimes. He proves to be a difficult case for Dutch and Claudette, seeing through their false claims of evidence and witness testimony. However, Kleavon's previously protective sister finally begins to believe she may be living with a murderer and agrees to cooperate with the police. She disappears, and the detectives tell him they are adding her murder to his charges. While trying to prove he is innocent of his sister's murder, Kleavon confesses to the other murders. As he is being led away, he finds that his sister is alive and has been aiding the police. Kleavon returned for the final season of The Shield and, acting as his own defense, attempted to discredit Claudette's investigation. He focused on the fact that Claudette was on medication and that she had no other suspects in her and Dutch's investigation.
Hagop is one of Alex Eznik's top associates in the Armenian mob. Hagop follows Vic around while Shane Vendrell is left as insurance in the custody of Alex. Hagop gives Vic some addresses to check out in order for their operations after believing that Hrach was taken out by Vic. However, when Hagop sees Hrach at the station, he is attacked by Vic so that no message is sent to Alex involving Hrach still being alive. Vic manages to take down the entire organization under Alex and pull Vendrell out safely.
Hrach was an associate for Alex Schenenik's Armenian mob until things went sour and he gunned down another associate. Once Alex decided to have him taken out, Hrach gave himself up to the Strike Team. Vic sets up Alex by assuming the role of a bad cop, which wasn't too hard for him to begin with, and shows the body of an already dead victim to Alex. Alex falls for this, thinking that its Hrach, and this leads to his eventual capture, along with all his men. Although Hrach gave up some details, his most important peace of information was about the Money Train operation. The first actual time that the Money Train operation is mentioned to the Strike Team is by Hrach. After finding out that this operation truly exists, Vic and his team try to pull off the heist themselves, resulting in furthermore problematic situations in upcoming seasons.
A young college girl and devout Orthodox Christian, turned boss of an Armenian Mafia Family. After Shane was booted from the Strike Team by Vic, he took to moonlighting as an enforcer for Diro and her dying father. After Shane uncovered the names of three African-Americans who were robbing the Kesakhians' stable of Russian hookers, Diro arranged for the trio to be castrated. Vic, however, attempted to drive a wedge between Diro and Shane by revealing his stormy past with Antwon Mitchell. Panicking when Diro attempted to end their arrangement, Shane told her that Vic and Ronnie robbed the Money Train. To his horror, Diro responded by putting out contracts on Vic, Ronnie, and their families. When Shane pleaded with her to leave the families out of it, Diro coldly responded, "We can't leave the people we love out of the choices we make." Shane responded by transferring his allegiance to Ellis Rezian, her main rival. Together they forced Diro to flee to Germany, where she had been attending college, but not before euthanising her father. Before catching her flight, she told Shane, "Your sentimentality will destroy you."
Former leader of the Byz Lats gang. Replaced former leader Garza when the Strike Team took him down. Allied with Vic, but was murdered (his feet chopped off) by the Armenian Might, most likely Margos Dezerian, when they connected him, through Vic, to the Money Train Robbery.
A Salvadoran drug lord falsely believed by Vic to be responsible for Lemansky's murder. After a kidnapper (in actuality Vic), kidnapped his girlfriend, Guardo came out of hiding and attempted to find the kidnapper. However, no one arrived to take the ransom and Guardo was instead captured by Vic, who followed him to his safe house. Guardo was taken to a secluded area, where, after giving Vic a false lead, he was beaten bloody with chains, and shot in the head by Vic as "retribution" for Lem's death. His body was later burned in order to keep his fate a mystery. Guardo was later revealed to have ordered the grisly murder of 11 Mexicans at the San Marcos apartments.
Former leader of the One-Niners gang and a rapper. Was assassinated on orders of Antwon Mitchell in a robbery involving the Strike Team, as he posed a threat to Mitchell's leadership of the gang.
Kern Little, an aspiring rapper, was a friend of Detective Vic Mackey's CI (confidential informant) Rondell Robinson. In the Season One episode "Dawg Days", a dispute between Kern and a rival rapper from another gang known as 'T-Bone' is brought to the attention of the Farmington Division after causing a number of fatalities out on the street. After repeated warnings from Mackey and the Strike Team to stop the rivalry before it was in danger of escalating into a full blown gang war, Kern and T-Bone could not stop their dispute. In a dilemma, Mackey and Lem decide to send hoax calls to each rapper, informing each one that the other was unaware of the other's next move. Kern and T-Bone were then instructed by Mackey to meet at a rendezvous point, where it became clear he was leading each one to the other. Mackey and Lem tricked the two rappers into walking into a large storage depot, into which both men were then locked together under the instruction that they would have to settle their differences or finish things once and for all. Mackey opened the door of the storage unit early the next morning, where he was surprised to see Kern emerge looking bemused. As Lem asked Kern what happened to T-Bone, the rapper calmly replied that there was nobody else coming out of that unit, having killed T-Bone during the night. Kern offered to have his associates clean up the mess but Lem volunteered instead.
Kern would work with the Strike Team several times over the next few years. He eventually was killed while Mackey helped Antwon Mitchell's associates break into a police warehouse in exchange for Mitchell's mercy on Lem during his prison stay. Antwon hadn't told Vic that Kern was a threat to his power in the gang, and so Kern was shot dead by the other man Antwon had sent with Vic, much to Vic's shock. A guard was killed as well and Mackey covered up both incidents, though he was very distressed.
Member of the Byz Lats. Was assaulted by the Strike Team and would later attack and orally rape Aceveda. Worried about the embarrassment and humiliation this incident would bring Aceveda, as Lozano was threatening to speak publicly of the incident, Aceveda made a DEA immunity deal with Antwon Mitchell in return for Antwon murdering Lozano. Lozano was then murdered by Antwon with a 40 pound weight from a barbell.
Goma is one of Margos Dezerian's contacts. He has connections with the Armenian Might. However, once Vic pinpoints him as a traitor to Margos, he fears for his life, as the entire Armenian mob might try to kill him for trying to help Vic. Vic uses this as a method of setting up Margos, who goes to Goma's house to execute him. Vic takes this opportunity to kill Margos.
A drug kingpin who, having been released from a lengthy prison sentence, tried to reinvent himself as an upstanding black community leader out to aid the black citizens of Farmington, while secretly flooding those same citizens with black tar heroin. He is currently imprisoned for personally gunning down a 14-year-old police informant, ordering the kidnapping and stabbing deaths of two cops from The Barn, and trying to blackmail Detective Shane Vendrell into murdering Detective Vic Mackey.
Leader of the One-Niners on the street in season 6. Very loudspoken and cocky. Moses and Shane had an antagonist rapport with each other for the teenage girl they were both sleeping with
Was briefly Julien's lover and small-time crook. Was arrested by Vic while he and Julien were having an affair in Tomas' apartment. This arrest and sexual encounter is what Vic used to blackmail Julien into getting the drug charges dropped on the strike team. He disappeared into the penal system after season 2 after assaulting Julien's Sexual Reorientation sponsor, following his public outing of Julien.
T.O. took the place of Rondell Robinson as the Strike Team's way to control the drugs in Farmington, using his comic book store as a front for his operations. His store was burnt down by Armadillo Quintero, but his safe recovered intact by Claudette Wyms during the investigation. The safe contained evidence pointing to a suspected illegal arrangement with Vic Mackey, though T.O. denied any connection when questioned. He was later murdered by Armadillo Quintero, which infuriated Mackey, leading him to beat and torture Armadillo.
A Mexican real estate developer and diplomat, Pezuela has a great deal of land and construction interests in the Farmington area and is backed by several wealthy investors in Mexico, many of whom hold positions of power in the Mexican Government. Pezuela seeks out David Aceveda, seeking to use him to not only get the feel of the Farmington area, but also to allow him access into the local government and police. It is at Pezuela's behest that Aceveda begins to push for the San Marcos murders to be solved, especially when Pezuela offers to make a generous donation to fund Aceveda's mayoral campaign. As time passes and Pezuela not only begins to appear at the Barn, but also to offer information and leads into the killings, Vic Mackey's curiosity is aroused and he begins to investigate Pezuela's possible involvement in the San Marcos killings. Pezuela realizes the threat Vic poses and attempts to convince Aceveda into testifying on Mackey's behalf in order to keep him employed. When Aceveda declines, Pezuela instead offers Vic another form of compensation to get the detective off of his back: the camera phone picture of Aceveda performing oral sex on a gang-member. Pezuela reveals his secret contempt of Aceveda, telling him that the Councilman "instead of standing up to his attacker like a man, he got on his knees and took another man's dick in his mouth." He gives the picture to Vic to use at his disposal, but advises him to "stop digging." Vic, however, used the picture to build an alliance with Aceveda in an attempt to prevent his own forced retirement. After revealing Pezuela's close ties to the Mexican drug cartels, Vic stole a car containing Pezuela's blackmail material on high ranking City officials, thereby scuttling the Cartels' attempt to take over the neighborhood and saving his own job.
Armadillo was a young, psychopathic drug trafficker who arrived from Mexico hoping to take over Farmington's drug trade. As a child, he was given an IQ test and scored well above the genius level. He was known for necklacing his rivals. He was also responsible for the rape of a 12 year old girl who had offered to testify against him. He would mark his rape victims with a tattoo of a dove on their face. Although previously mortal enemies, the Farmington street gangs Los Mags and The Toros agreed to unite under Armadillo's rule.
After Armadillo's crew murdered his drug dealing ally T.O., Vic Mackey became enraged and attempted to intimidate Armadillo into returning to Mexico. When Armadillo refused, Vic brutally beat him up with a heavy law book and burned his face on the kitchen stove in his house. Seething with hatred, Armadillo put out contracts on all members of the Strike Team. He also arranged for Ronnie Gardocki's face to be similarly disfigured as payback.
Realizing the Strike Team was going to murder him, Armadillo arranged to turn himself over to the police willingly. Armadillo then threatens to ruin Vic's career by revealing who disfigured him. Although Vic was willing to admit to the attack, Shane and Lem disagreed and secretly convinced one of Armadillo's disgruntled underlings to get himself arrested. Longing to return to the prison he once ruled, the gangster approached Officers Danny Sofer and Julien Lowe and blew marijuana in their faces. After the two officers put him in the same holding cage as his boss, Shane and Lem slipped him a shiv and watched as he stabbed Armadillo to death.
A leading figure of the Armenian Mafia. He is set up and arrested by Shane Vendrell. Even from prison, however, he is determined not to allow Diro Kesakhian to become the boss of the Armenian mob. Therefore, he teams with Shane near the end of the sixth season in order to stop Kesakhian from unleashing retribution on Mackey's family. In the aftermath, however, he vowed to hold the Money Train Heist over Shane's head. Rezian said that if Shane didn't do what he was told of if the Armenians received any problems from the police, he would murder Vic, Ronnie, and their families. He coldly added that he would save Shane, Mara, and their children for last.
In the seventh season, Rezian is released from prison, and falls in a trap set up between Vic Mackey and Shane Vendrell, where he is dragged into believing that the Mexicans are after him, led by Pezuela. However, this threat was fictitious and created by Vic himself. As Vic played Rezian and Pezuela against each other, making Pezuela believe that Rezian held the contents of the "box," which supposedly held information on Pezuela, and making Rezian believe that the Mexicans were targeting his gang. In a last ditch effort to remove Rezian, Mackey sets up a trap, where Shane barely slips out of. Rezian is set up to be murdered by Vic Mackey by two of Pezuela's thugs. Shane barely manages to get out of the crossfire as Rezian is ruthlessly gunned down along with some of his lieutenants. Afterwards, although realizing that the threat of the Armenian mob has been neutralized, Shane also understands that Vic and Ronnie set him up to be murdered along with Rezian as payback for the slaying of Lem.
A major drug dealer in the Farmington neighborhood with links to the Farmington One-Niners. Rondell was Vic's major supplier of drugs, he was used by the Strike Team in order for them to keep track of what was put on the street. Rondell was murdered at the end of Season 1, after a series of confrontations with rival dealers and the Nation of Islam forced Vic to switch his support to T.O.
Kail Saffian is a high-ranking member of the Armenian mob. He is rather overweight. Meanwhile, Vic needs to take out Margos Dezerian before he takes out the entire strike team. Saffian is caught in a parking lot along with many associates, with a ton of drugs being carried in Middle Eastern carpets. Vic tries to interrogate Saffian on the whereabouts of Margos by shoving his face in a container of waste oil. Once Saffian struggles to breathe, Vic realizes that the strike team is being watched by Dezerian from afar in a high level building. By the time they get to the top, Margos is gone and Sosi, a young girl whom Margos had kidnapped, was stabbed by him.
White is the second in command of the One-Niners gang under Antwon Mitchell. He was a go-between for the gang leader and the cops when Shane and Army started their relationship with Mitchell. When he threatened to report their relationship, Shane and Army badly beat him. White would return the beating when Antwon's thugs jumped them and killed Angie with Shane's and Army's guns. Later, when trying to get White to overthrow Antwon, he was accidentally shot in the shoulder by Army and spent some time in the hospital. He recovered and eventually worked as an informant for the Strike team.
Zadofian was one of Diro Kesakian's closest enforcers and had previously worked for her father. After Diro learned of the Strike Team's robbery of the Money Train, Zadofian was sent to murder Vic's family. However, the plan went sour when he was ambushed and shot in the stomach by Shane.
In Season Seven, Vic and Ronnie found him hiding in a hotel, tied him to the bed, and squeezed him for information regarding the contract on Vic's family. Once Zadofian confirmed that he was responsible, Ronnie ordered him to place a cell phone call to Diro. Before Zadofian could answer, Ronnie shot him in cold blood. Shane, who was in the vicinity, entered the hotel and found Zadofian's corpse. In order to make it look like an Armenian Mafia slaying, Shane severed Zadofian's feet and left the scene.
Aurora is David Aceveda's wife and supporter of his political campaign. She is certain to remain by his side during his campaign, no matter how their personal relationship is at the time. Their relationship hit a rough patch after David was raped but they eventually moved past it. The Acevedas have a young daughter.
Vic's first partner and training officer. Makes his first appearance that shows Vic taking a bullet for him. Was once a respected police officer, but was booted from the force after attacking a young man who assaulted his partner. Soon after, his family left him and he also lost his pension. He got over his rough patch and is an enforcer for apartment owners.
Defense attorney who convinces Claudette to take a second look at a case she had closed with Dutch. She is initially distrustful of Vic after his testimony caused one of her clients to be convicted, but he convinces her to help bring down a sex slave ring. Vic later enlists her to help defend the Strike Team from the Internal Affairs investigation, which she accepts under the impression that Aceveda and IAD are seeking scapegoats for their own misdeeds. When it is revealed that they are under investigation for murder, Becca confronts Vic, who admits to certain aspects of his wrongdoing, including embezzlement, but insists that he wants to change and have a fresh start. Becca believes him and continues to work for the team. Vic and Becca get involved romantically but she eventually discovers, through Lemansky, that the Strike Team was indeed involved in the Armenian Money train and that people were killed because of it. She no longer trusts Vic and refuses to help him.
The mother of a budding teenage serial killer. She is attracted to and befriended by Dutch. Dutch believes that her son, Lloyd, planned a burglary of their own home in order to shoot the would-be burglar.
Rita is initially convinced of her son's innocence but later seems to have doubts. Before she can act on her doubts, she mysteriously disappears and is presumed to have been killed by Lloyd.
A crack-addicted prostitute and single mother. Vic was very sympathetic to her due to her having a baby son. Near the end of season 1, Vic helped Connie go through detox for the sake of her son. Despite the process, Connie relapses and sneaks out to get high. When Connie disappeared after her relapse, Connie's son is put into foster care. However, Vic checks on him repeatedly to make sure the foster family is treating him appropriately.
In season 2 she appeared at the Barn one day completely clean and wanting to scrape up some money by working as a C.I. for Vic. Vic reluctantly agreed. Later, during a fugitive case that the Strike Team was working on, Connie got involved without Vic's consent. A hostage situation ensued, resulting in her being fatally shot. A horrified Vic, unable to help her, was forced to watch her die.
Jorge Machado, the "Kingmaker" becomes Aceveda's political ally and supports him on his bid for city counsel. He even looks past some of Aceveda's major blunders and eventually leads him to nomination.
Vic's oldest daughter. Cassidy recently confronted Vic about his unethical past, after hearing some vicious stories about Vic from the father of one of her friends, who is also a defense attorney. Vic was ashamed that Cassidy was aware of some of his past, but lied and denied everything. Cassidy also met her half-brother, Lee Sofer, the son of Sergeant Danny Sofer and Vic. Cassidy refused to hold Lee, and wanted to leave right away, ashamed of her father.
Vic's son. He is diagnosed with autism, requiring expensive doctors and therapy.
Note: Joel Rosenthal's final episode was "On Tilt"
Vic's youngest daughter. Megan also has autism.
Vic's estranged wife, and mother to his children. Vic's job and other stressful events puts a strain on their marriage, eventually causing them to separate. Corrine now must balance the challenges of being a single mother and an Emergency Room nurse. She also had a relationship with Dutch Wagenbach during the Fourth Season.
In Season 5 she was brought into the Internal Affairs investigation against Vic. When Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh interrogated her she told him about the bag of $65,000.00 of stolen money Vic gave her. Kavanaugh then asked her to turn over the remainder of the money as evidence for his investigation. On Vic's suggestion, Corrine hired an attorney, but Kavanaugh refused to offer her a deal for cooperating and later froze her assets to prevent Vic from using her for money to bail out Lem. He also told Corrine about Danny Sofer's longtime affair with Vic and her pregnancy. Corrine confronted Danny about the child, angrily calling her a whore and saying that her unborn child is a bastard. Later, after Vic slept with Lieutenant Kavanaugh's ex-wife, Kavanaugh tried to follow suit by seducing Corrine. When she rejected him, Kavanaugh tried to rape her, but could not bring himself to go through with it.
In Season 6, after Vic was charged with the murder of Lemansky, Corrine stormed into The Barn, angrily confronting the Lieutenant. She then filed charges of harassment and attempted sexual assault on the investigator, who was later stripped of his badge and imprisoned.
Strangely viewing all of Kavanaugh's accusations against Vic to be completely groundless, Corrine brought his children to appear on his behalf at a Department Review Board in the finale of Season 6. She assured Vic that they would always be there for him.
As the series wound to a close, however, Corrine learned from Mara Vendrell of the full extent of her ex-husband's crimes. After briefly agreeing to help him, she learned that Vic was trying to kill Shane and Mara. As a result, she approached Dutch Wagenbach and offered to help him build a criminal case against her ex-husband. After learning of Vic's immunity deal with ICE, a horrified Corrine pleaded with Dutch and Claudette to protect her and her children. Claudette responded by arranging for them to disappear into the witness protection program.
A single mother (special needs son name Sebastian) and longtime informant for Vic Mackey, Emolia witnessed Curtis Lemansky steal a kilo of heroin and reported it to Internal Affairs. She remained Vic's informant for six months, giving him information and accepting his favors for her son. Vic becomes attached to her, expressing a wish for her to leave the informant business and to find work for her elsewhere, but ultimately discovers that she was also serving as an informant for IAD Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh. Vic manages to get her alone and instructs her to not reveal any more information, under threat of violence. She was nearly killed in a Salvadoran grenade manufacturing plant during a sting and later expressed regret to Vic for betraying Lem. When Lemansky accepted a deal, Kavanaugh's investigation disintegrated. In the aftermath, Emolia tried to convince Vic to accept her as an informant once again. Vic, however, would not be persuaded and, after using her services one last time to obtain information of the Salvadoran Mob's current operations, he cut all ties to her.
In Season Six, however, Emolia returned to the lives of the Strike Team when Kavanaugh fed her a false story in exchange for witness protection, hoping to convict Vic Mackey of the murder of Lemansky. However, her story was later disproven by Dutch Wagenbach, who discovers that Kavanaugh and Emolia had never met at the place they had described. Although Emolia was about to retract her testimony after a lecture from Claudette about how she would look back at this period of her life and how she has been manipulated by both Mackey and Kavanaugh. However, a guilt ridden Kavanaugh entered the interrogation room and confessed to feeding her the story and planting evidence in Vic's apartment.
Later in Season Six, Vic commented to Shane that, although Salvadoran drug lord Guardo Lima was aware that Emolia was "snitching," he chose not to kill her in order to stay off the Strike Team's radar.
Mara Sewell-Vendrell was introduced at the opening of season 3, though it was not clear how Shane met her. She is very moody and has a foul temper, often demanding a lot of Shane's attention. She doesn't like Vic and is jealous of his close friendship with Shane. Shane and Mara had a rocky relationship at first, with her becoming furious when he thought things were moving too fast until Mara announced very unceremoniously that she was pregnant. Shane, having old-fashioned Southern standards, immediately wanted to get married. Mara agreed, but became angry for reasons unknown to Shane. He later realized the reason for her ire was because he hadn't got her a ring and set out to get one. The two later married near the end of season three.
Things got interesting when Mara discovered the receipt with "Cletus Van Damme" from the storage locker where the Strike Team was storing their money from the Armenian Money Train robbery. Mara helped herself to about $7,000, some of which was marked by the United States Department of Treasury. During an investigation by Dutch, it was discovered that some of the marked money was spent it Indio, California and that the Feds were on the way to investigate. Upon hearing of Indio, Shane's curiosity was piqued. Later in the evening, Shane was on the phone with Mara's mother, where she revealed that Mara had sent her the missing $7,000. At this point, the Strike Team moved the money to another storage locker, without telling Shane the location, fearing Mara would discover it again. The circumstances of the Armenian Money Train Robbery were not revealed to Mara or her mother; they bought Shane's story of just "skimming it off of drug dealers"
Mara put herself on the line for Shane when Tavon Garris and Shane had a physical altercation in Shane's apartment. Tavon had come over to clear up any bad feelings between him and Shane. Shane then called Tavon a racial slur ("darkie") and the fight broke out. Tavon kneed Shane in the groin, causing Shane to practically paralyze. Mara entered the apartment to see Tavon on top dominating Shane, and she picked up a laundry iron, and smashed him across the back of the head with it. Tavon then left the apartment to drive back to the Barn, however, due to his head injury from the iron, he crashed his vehicle into another, and was in grave condition for the remainder of the season. He would not be seen again until the season 7 episode, Animal Control. This incident with Tavon, in addition to Mara taking the $7,000 from the Money Train, is what began the tension that eventually led to the Strike Team's collapse at the end of Season 3.
Mara played a lesser role through seasons 4 and 5, but she was featured more heavily in season 6. When Mara discovers that Shane was having an affair with a girl who was barely eighteen, she is enraged and throws him out of the house. In an attempt to come back home, Shane confessed to Mara that he, not Guardo, was in fact the one who murdered Curtis Lemansky. Mara, seeing how badly Shane's guilt was tearing him up inside, took him back.
Mara and Shane's love grew to be very strong and she even killed someone while trying to save Shane from two drug addicts that he was in a fight with, injuring herself in the process. When things look bleak, Shane poisons Mara and their young son so that they can "always be a family" and to save her from doing time in prison.
Vic and Danny's son, and half-brother to Vic's children with Corrine.
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