Phil Cerreta

Sergeant Philip "Phil" Cerreta is a fictional character portrayed by Paul Sorvino on NBC's long running drama series Law & Order.

Character overview

Cerreta is portrayed as an Italian-American Catholic who, unlike his successor, Lennie Briscoe, uses charm and manners to investigate cases. Little is revealed about Cerreta's personal life, except that he and his wife Elaine (played by Maria Cellario) have five children, and he had served in the military before becoming a police officer. His family has a history in the textile and printing businesses (L&O: "The Working Stiff") and are loyal trade union members. He has a 15-year-old daughter named Linda (L&O: "Wedded Bliss") born 1976 or 1977. He became a police officer in 1969 (L&O: "Prince of Darkness").

In the show

Cerreta joins the 27th Detective Squad after Sgt. Max Greevey (George Dzundza) is murdered (L&O: "Confession"). Greevey's partner, Det. Mike Logan (Chris Noth), is initially very critical of Cerreta, who was originally brought in to lead the investigation into Greevey's murder and hence is seen by Logan as an interloper. In later episodes, however, the two develop a close working relationship.

Cerreta went undercover to broker a deal with gun dealer George Lobrano (Mark Margolis) in order to break a Colombian drug ring that had ordered a murder. However, during the course of the transaction, the hyperactive dealer panics and shoots Cerreta in the stomach. Cerreta survives, but the bullet damages some nerves and weakens his legs (L&O: "Prince of Darkness"). Believing that he could no longer function as a street cop, Cerreta reluctantly tells Logan that they can no longer work together (L&O: "Point of View"). Ceretta accepts a desk job that the Chief of Detectives offered at the 110th precinct. He is succeeded by Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach).