List of The Shield characters
The following is a list of character summaries from the FX Networks television series, The Shield.
The Strike Team
Vic Mackey
(Michael Chiklis) - Leader of the Strike Team.
Shane Vendrell
(Walton Goggins) - Vic's best friend, and member of the Strike Team.
Ronnie Gardocki
(David Rees Snell) - The Strike Team's surveillance and electronics expert.
Julien Lowe
(Michael Jace) - The most recent member of the Strike Team, used to be a street cop but was promoted in season 6.
Former Members
Curtis "Lem" Lemansky
(Kenny Johnson) (Seasons 1-5) - Member of the Strike Team and the group's conscience, Lem (or "Lemonhead" as he is referred to in the first couple of episodes during the first season) is a good natured detective whose sense of ethics often put him at odds with his fellow teammates, especially Shane, who later kills him.
Kevin Hiatt
(Alex O'Loughlin) (Seasons 6) - Was Vic's replacement as the leader of the strike team for about half of season 6 until he was trasfered out by the captain in the season 6 finale. a
Terry Crowley
(Reed Diamond) (Season 1 episodes 1 - 2, Season 2 episode 22)
As a new detective, Terry Crowley is placed in Vic's unit by Aceveda to find out if they are illegally smuggling drugs. Ben Gilroy, however, informs Vic of this plan. It should be noted however that Gilroy didn't expect Vic to take such drastic measures to protect the strike team. To keep him from turning them in, Vic murders him. Shane witnesses the killing, but the other team members, Lem and Ronnie, are not involved in his murder. When Vic, Shane, and Terry entered a room of 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 dealers 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.
The actor, 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 is killed in the pilot episode, the effects of his murder continue through the rest of the series, as Vic's superiors try to pin Crowley's murder on him on more than one occasion.
Tavon Garris
(Brian White) (Season 2-3) A late addition to the Strike Team, Tavon is well-liked by Vic who begins grooming him as a possible protégé. Shane and Tavon develop a deep rivalry mainly based on Shane's jealousy and racism. Their feud ends with a bloody fight in Shane's apartment, with Shane's fiancé, Mara, sneaking up behind Tavon and hitting him in the back of the head with an iron. Tavon stumbles away and leaves in his van but in his impaired condition he crashes into a parked car, leaving him in a coma. To protect Shane, Vic and a reluctant Lem convince Tavon (who can't remember what happened) that he nearly killed Mara in a furious rage. The character's fate is unknown, though it is hinted at by Vic that Tavon's injuries were severe enough to have him removed from active duty. Although Tavon was not corrupt, he showed a tendency for brutality and even participated in an illegal wire tap set up by the Strike Team.
Armando "Army" Renta
(Michael Peña) (Season 4) - A Marine reservist returned from Iraq, Army becomes Shane's partner when Shane leaves the Strike Team at the end of season three. Army allows himself to be drawn into an alliance between Shane and drug kingpin Antwon Mitchell. Eventually, both Army and Shane are framed for the murder of a young girl. Vic helps Army and Shane get out of trouble, but Army refuses to take a lie detector test that would exonerate the two. While Shane and Captain Rawling are livid at Army's refusal to take the test, Vic and Lem both separately tell Army that they agree with his decision and allow 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).
Administration
David Aceveda
(Benito Martinez) - Politically ambitious former police captain. Gives up his position as captain for a seat on the City Council at the beginning of Season 4, although he remains a regular character.
Ben Gilroy
(John Diehl) (Season 1 episodes 2, 4, 7, 8, 12, 13; Season 2 episodes 22, 23; Season 4 episode 43) - Gilroy is Vic's longtime friend and supporter, often using his power to get Vic out of small jams. However, Gilroy is 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 lead Gilroy to become mentally unstable. When it appears that Gilroy will offer to testify against the Strike Team in exchange for a reduced sentence, Vic arranges both a new identity for him in Mexico and a hit man in California who will kill him if he ever returns. Gilroy dies in Mexico, homeless and destitute, dying of uncertain—but internal—causes, possibly cirrhosis of the liver.
Roy Phillips
(Nigel Gibbs) (Episodes 3.09; 4.01; 5.01, 5.10, 6.07): Replaced Ben Gilroy as Assistant Chief of Police. Apparently an acquaintance of Vic Mackey's, though their relationship has never been clarified.
Monica Rawling
(Glenn Close) (Season 4) - Succeeds Aceveda as captain of the Farmington precinct. A morally strong woman, she tries to redeem Vic and Ronnie by involving them in a controversial asset forfeiture program designed to clean up Farmington. The program, however, is extremely unpopular with the citizens of Farmington. However, she continues to keep the seizures in place, believing that they are doing more good than harm. She also uses the same ideology with Vic and the rest of the Strike Team as she begins to grasp their true nature. Rawling later sacrifices her job in order to invalidate a plea bargain between the federal police and drug kingpin Antwon Mitchell to make certain Mitchell spends the rest of his life rotting away in a prison cell.
Claudette Wyms
(CCH Pounder) - A veteran detective, Claudette is the self-appointed voice of morality at the Barn and often butts heads with Vic over his tactics. At the start of the third season, Claudette is supposed to take over as captain of The Barn, but Aceveda stays throughout the rest of the season, and even steals some of Claudette's new ideas. At the end of season three, Claudette is being groomed to take over running the Barn as the new Captain. But she loses the promotion when she charges a public defender with negligence, resulting in countless convictions being overturned. In season 5, Claudette admits to Dutch that she has had lupus for fifteen years and that it has been flaring up recently. Claudette collapses at the end of the seventh episode of season five, following a particularly harrowing interrogation. She returns to the Barn shortly thereafter, and is soon appointed to Captain after bringing Billings' shortcomings to the attention of the Assistant Chief.
Tom Bankston
(Ron Canada) (Episodes 2.10, 2.12, 2.13; 3.02): Former Chief of Police for the LAPD. Came in after The Gilroy Scandal. Was replaced by Chief Johnson.
Chief Johnson
(John Cygan) (Episode 5.11): Current Chief of Police for the LAPD.
Other police
Dutch Wagenbach
(Jay Karnes) - An intellectual and highly-effective detective with limited social skills, a rather large ego, and an obsession with psychological profiling of serial killers and rapists.
Steve Billings
(David Marciano) (Seasons 4-?) - 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 throughly 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 $1 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.
Danielle "Danny" Sofer
(Catherine Dent) - Patrol officer who aspires to become a detective. She has an on-again, off-again sexual relationship with Vic, and a complicated history with Dutch. Aceveda trusts her, helping her get reinstated after she is fired and arranging for her to be reassigned to Julien Lowe. Sofer becomes a mentor for Lowe, though the two don't see eye to eye on several personal issues and aspects of police work. In season 5, she is assigned to desk duty as a result of her pregnancy. The identity of the father is unknown and is the subject of an office pool among her co-workers. Even though she is driven to the hospital by Julien, in her hospital bed after giving birth, she tells Vic that she will let the baby know, "When he's old enough." In Season 6, Captain Claudette Wyms promoted Danny to the rank of Sergeant, however, since open sergeants positions were filling rapidly, Danny was told she would have to end her maternity leave immediately in order to get a guaranteed full time position.
Danny is partnered up with Tina Hanlon and the two clash frequently as Danny feels that Tina is too inexperienced to be relied upon while Tina feels that Danny doesn't respect her or her skills. Things escalate when both women fix their eye on Kevin Hiatt, though Danny later admits that it was only to see if she could still "get her girl on." Later on, after hearing a confession, Danny consoles Dutch in the locker room and the pair share a kiss.
Tina Hanlon
(Paula Garcés) (Season 5) - A young, attractive, female police officer, and Julien's trainee. She speaks Spanish fluently, and as such is sometimes utilized as an interpreter, but her inability to take her job seriously leads to her making countless mistakes in the field. She poses 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 fails to identify an undercover officer and allows the real criminal to escape. She is about to be fired, with both Julien and Danny 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. Very early in Season 6, Tina catches on to Dutch's attraction to her after and transferred out of Farmington, to take an assignment with the Department's new public relations campaign. She returned 3 weeks later, with a rather inflated ego, telling Sergeant Danny 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 her 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 avoidence of her, Tina regrets sleeping with Hiatt, viewing it as "a big mistake," and also admitted to Danny that Dutch indeed stood a chance with her, but he never took it. She later appologized to Dutch for hurting him, but the damage was done as Dutch spoke to her in a fatherly way, telling her that she had nothing to apologize for. Her eyes follow him longingly as he walked toward Danny to request assistance in interrogating an informant.
Jon Kavanaugh
(Forest Whitaker) - Internal Affairs officer determined to take down the Strike Team using any means at his disposal. Has degrees in both criminology and psychology, and frequently plays mind games with people under surveillance to find out what their motivations are. After trying to frame Vic for Lem's murder, he confessed to planting evidence and coaching his witness, and was last seen behind bars, with Vic triumphantly reminding him that he couldn't play at his level. Despite his career ruined and Vic lording it over him, Kavenaugh seemed relieved that he was once again doing things honestly.
Oddly enough, it was Kavanaugh that wound up disclosing Shane's involvement in Lem's murder. During a report that Dutch was researching for more information into the murder, Vic finds Kavanaugh's notes, which reveal that he was shorthanded the night of the pursuit and that only two vehicles, Ronnie's and Vic's, were pursued, rendering Shane's earlier statement that he had been tailed false.
Ray Carlson
(Matt Corboy) (Seasons 1-3) - 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 has not been seen since then.
Paul Jackson
(Frank Grillo) (Seasons 1-2): Carlson's partner and fellow tormentor of Julien Lowe. He was fired with Carlson and also took part in the beatdown of Julien.
Joe Clark
(Carl Weathers) (Season 2/season 6) - 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.
Criminals
One Niners
Antwon Mitchell
(Anthony Anderson) (Seasons 4-6) - A drug kingpin who, having been released from jail after a lengthy prison sentence, tries to reinvent himself as an upstanding black community leader out to aid the black citizens of Farmington, while secretly securing power as the main drug boss in the district.
Kern Little
(Sticky Fingaz) (Seasons 1, 2, 3, 5): 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.
Moses
L. Michael Burt Season 6 Leader of the one niners on the street in season 6.
Halpern White
(Laurence Mason) (Seasons 4-?): Second in command of the One-Niners gang.
Rondell Robinson
(Walter Jones) (Season 1): 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.
Theodore "T.O." Osmond
(Cedric Pendleton) (Episodes 1.11, 1.13; 2.01, 2.02): Tio took the place of Rondell as the Strike Team's way to control the drugs in Farmington, using his comic book store as a front for his operations. He was murdered by Armadillo Quintero.
Mexicans
Diagur Leyva
(Frankie Rodriguez) (Season 3): Former leader of the Byz Lats gang. Replaced former leader Garza when the Strike Team took him down. Allied with Vic, but was murdered by the Armenian Mafia when they connected him, through Vic, to the Money Train Robbery.
Juan Lozano
(Kurt Caceres) (Episodes 3.05, 3.10; 4.12): 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 an DEA immunity deal with Antwon Mitchell in return for Antwon murdering Lozano. Lozano was then murdered by Antwon with a 50 pound weight from a barbell.
Armadillo Quintero
(Daniel Pino) (Season 2 Episodes 2.01, 2.02, 2.05, 2.08) -
Armadillo is a Mexican gang leader seeking control over Farmington's drug trade. He is known for burning his enemies to death. He is also responsible for the rape of a 12 year old girl. Vic Mackey becomes enraged when learning that Armadillo is responsible for burning his drug dealer ally and friend T.O. to death, and while attempting to force Armadillo to leave town Vic burns Armadillo's face on a stove in his house. Armadillo responds by ordering a hit on all Strike Team members, and later burns Ronnie's face as payback. Realizing the Strike Team will kill him, Armadillo arranges to turn himself over to the police willingly. Armadillo then threatens to ruin Vic's career by revealing that Vic disfigured him. To keep him from talking, Shane and Lem convince a rival gang leader, who is losing business to Armadillo and wants to go back to prison where he was in charge, to get himself arrested so he can be put in the same holding cage as Armadillo. They slip him a shiv, and watch as he stabs Armadillo to death.
Santi
Current Leader of the Byz Lats. 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.
Salvadorans
Guardo Lima
(Luis Antonio Ramos) (Seasons 5-6): A Salvadoran gang leader believed by Vic to be responsible for Lemansky's murder. After a kidnapper (in actuallity 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 safehouse. Guardo was taken to a secluded area, where, after giving Vic a false lead that turned up dead, Guardo was beaten bloody with chains, and later murdered by Vic, who saw shooting the incapacitated man in the head 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.
Armenians
Margos Dezerian
(Kurt Sutter) (Season 1 episode 5, Season 3 episodes 3.14-3.15) -
Dezerian is a powerful and high ranking hit man for the Armenian Mafia. He amputates the feet of his victims to satisfy a foot fetish. Margos is first seen with some of his mob associates in the middle of a drug trade. He kills one of the associates and the Strike Team breaks in on this instant. He is brought to the precinct for questioning but doesn't say a word. Instead, he kills another prisoner by snapping his neck. The first time Margos is arrested, he manages to escape after jumping out of a moving prison van. After the Strike Team steals money from the Armenian Mob's money laundering operation, the Mob sends Margos after them. Margos leaves a trail of murders by amputating the feet of his victims. To stop Margos before he gets to them, Vic spreads the word that a mob associate plans to become an informant. When Margos goes to the informant's house to kill him, Vic ambushes him. After Margos surrenders, Vic kills him and changes the crime scene to make it seem like he shot him in self defense.
Diro Kesakhian
(Franka Potente) Season 6 - A young college girl turned boss of an Armenian Mafia Family. After Shane is 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 past relationship 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. Shane responded by transferring his allegiance to 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 sentiment will destroy you."
Others
Kleavon Gardner
(Ray Campbell) (Season 4 episode 6, Season 5 episodes 6 & 7) - 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.
Cruz Pezuela
Season 6) - 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 weathy 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 curiousity 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.
Tomas Motyashik
(Brent Roam) (Seasons 1-2): Was briefly Julien's lover and small-time crook. Disappeared into the penal system after season 2, following his public outing of Julien.
Connie Reisler
(Jamie Brown) (Seasons 1–2): 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 appears at the Barn one day completely clean and wants to work as a C.I. for Vic to scrape up some money. Vic reluctantly agrees. During a case that the Strike Team was working on, Connie gets involved without Vic's consent. A standoff ensues and she is shot and killed as Vic, unable to help her, watches her die.
Gangs
- The Armenian Might
- One-Niners: The most powerful black gang in Farmington. Notable members include Antwon Mitchell and Kern Little.
- Farmtown 12: A black gang. Was powerful in Farmington until its neighborhoods were overrun with Latino immigrants.
- Los Magnificos (or "Los Mags"): A Mexican gang. Disbanded upon forming of The Torrucos.
- Los Toros: A Mexican gang. Disbanded upon forming of The Torrucos.
- Los Profetas: A Mexican gang with a strong religious bent.
- El Salvadorans
- The Torrucos: A unification of the Los Mags and Toros formed by Armadillo Quintero
- The Byz Lats: A Mexican gang.
- Spookstreet Souljahs: A black gang.
- K-Town Killers: A Korean gang.
- The Horde: A national biker gang
Other characters
Corrine Mackey
(Cathy Cahlin Ryan) - 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 has a relationship with Dutch Wagenbach in the fourth season. In season 5 she is unwittingly brought into the IAD investigation against Vic. When Kavanaugh interrogates her she tells him about the bag of $65,000.00 Vic gave her for their autistic children. Kavanaugh then asks her to turn over the remainder of the money as evidence in his investigation. On Vic's suggestion, Corrine hires an attorney, but Kavanaugh does not offer her a deal for cooperating and later freezes her assets to prevent Vic from using her for money to bail out Lem. She later confronts Danny about her child and angrily tells her that the child will not be cared for if Vic is indeed the father. When Vic is suspected for the murder of Lemansky, Corrine storms into the barn, confronting Kavanaugh and files charges of harrassment and attempted assault on the investigator.
Becca Doyle
(Laura Harring) (Season 5) - 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.
Emolia Melendez
(Onahoua Rodriguez) (Season 4, Episodes 10, 11 & 13, Season 5, Episodes 1, 2, 5, 8, 11) - An informant for Vic Mackey, Emolia witnesses Curtis Lemansky steal a kilo of heroin and reports it to Internal Affairs. She remains 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 on the Team for Kavanaugh. Vic manages to get her alone and instructs her to not reveal any more information, under threat of violence. She is nearly killed in a Salvadorian grenade manufacturing plant during a sting and later expresses regret to Vic for reporting Lem. When Kavanaugh's investigation disintegrates because Lem accepts a deal, Emolia tries to convince Vic to accept her as an informant once again. Vic will not be persuaded and, after using her services one last time to obtain information of the Salvadorian Mob's current operations, he cuts off ties with her. Emolia, however, returns to the lives of the Strike Team when Kavanaugh finds Emolia and, with an offer of witness protection, feeds her a false story in order to indict Vic Mackey for the murder of Lemansky. However, her story is later disproven by Dutch Wagenbach, who discovers that Kavanaugh and Emolia never met at the meeting place that was designated and, after a lecture from Claudette about how she would look back at this period of her life and how she has been used by both Mackey and Kavanaugh, is prepared to overturn her testimony until a guilt ridden Kavanaugh confesses to feeding her the story. Her fate is unknown, though it's possible she may be in police protection.
Cassidy Mackey
(Autumn Chiklis): Vic's oldest daughter. Cassidy recently confronted Vic about his unethical past, after hearing some vicious rumors from father of one of her friends, who is also a defense attorney. Vic was obviously ashamed that Cassidy was aware of some of his past, but denied everything. Cassidy also met her half-brother, Lee Sofer, the son of Sergeant Dannielle Sofer and Vic. Cassidy refused to hold Lee, and wanted to leave right away, almost feeling ashamed of her father.
Mara Sewell-Vendrell
Mara Sewell-Vendrell (portrayed by Michele Hicks) was introduced at the opening of season 3, though it was not clear how Shane met her. Mara and Shane began a romantic relationship, but things began to get difficult as Mara expressed great dislike for Vic Mackey, Shane's partner and best friend. Mara felt as though Vic was holding Shane back from success. The truth was that Mara was jealous of the close bond between Shane and Vic. Mara and Shane were about to break up, until Mara announced very uncerimoniously that she was pregnant. Shane, having old-fashioned Southern standards, immediately wanted to get married. Mara agreed and the two were married in the middle of season 3.
Things got interesting when Mara discovered the recepit 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 peaked. 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. Tavan 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 has not been seen since. 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 was pretty much absent through seasons 4 and 5, but she was featured more heavily in season 6. Mara discovered that Shane was having an affair with an underaged prostitute, and, in attempt to come back home, Shane confessed to Mara that he, not Guardo, was in fact the one who murdered Curtis Lemansky.