BEWARE OF SPOILERS! To prevent the page from being whited out entirely, only spoilers from the final season (5) are whited out!
HR has its own page, while Vigilance is covered under Other Antagonists.
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The Mafia
Elias
Carl G. Elias
"I am the evolution of organized crime."
Played by: Enrico Colantoni, River Alexander Aguirre (1981) & John Magaro (1991)
Introduced in: "Witness"
Aliases: Charlie Burton
Introduced in: "Witness"
Aliases: Charlie Burton
"You and I are outliers — we're not really a part of civilization; we're something... older."
The leader of an organized crime syndicate intent on reuniting the five Italian mob families and taking over the organized crime business in New York. His secondary goal is to remove the growing Russian mob influence from Brighton Beach.
- Affably Evil: Seems genuinely polite most of the time, is respectful to Carter and is regretful towards John when he finally reveals himself. He even seems delighted to hear from him on the phone at one point.
- Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: In the pursuit of Simmons for killing Carter Team Machine is very pissed and out for blood. However, neither Reese, Shaw, nor Fusco actually kill him or Alonzo Quinn. Reese's blood jams the gun when he tries to shoot Quinn and Fusco arrests Simmons instead of killing him to honor Carter's memory. While resting later in the hospital, Simmons is visited by Elias who gives a very elegant speech about civility and the righteousness Carter held within her and which was instilled into Team Machine. He and Simmons, however, are cut from a much darker and older cloth of malevolence. As such, Elias watches as his man kills Simmons for the debt he owed Carter and could not fully pay back to her in life. And in Season 5, he personally blows up the contract killer/cleaner known only as 'The Voice'.
- Barefoot Poverty: Detective Bernie Sullivan remembers Elias walked all the way to the police station with no shoes.
- Bastard Bastard: He's the illegitimate son of a mobster who murdered his mother and later tried to kill him. Elias's own rise to power largely coincided with his efforts to get revenge for the lifetime of suffering he experienced. However, this is a downplayed trope, as he's one of the most affable and honourable criminal masterminds ever depicted in fiction, and even Finch notes that Elias's rise has brought order to the city's criminal underworld. He is, in short, vastly less malevolent than any other criminal organisation in the city.
- Beard of Sorrow: In season four, he's seen with a scraggly beard after Scarface's demise.
- Berserk Button: He can forgive a lot of things, such as killing his mother, incarcerating him or even trying to kill him. But the one thing he can't stand is betraying him. As HR and his father found out the hard way. HR in particular irks him, when they came to him for assistance in rebuilding their operation, he lulls them and convinces them to set up the assassination of a Mafia don who's secretly made peace with Elias to go horribly wrong presumably as a Take That! for leaving him hanging out to dry in "Flesh and Blood," allowing him to get arrested. When members of his organization join Dominic (resulting in Anthony's death) he wants a hit list drawn up. At the end of the episode, he prepares to start working his way through the people on it.
- Beware the Quiet Ones: This man spent three years working as a teacher, getting close to the children of his enemies, as part of his long run plan.
- Big Bad: The closest thing that Season 1 had to one.
- Boom, Headshot!: How he ultimately goes out.
- The Chessmaster: Both figuratively (in the sense of manipulating NYC's criminal underworld) and literally (one of his laments about prison is that it's hard to find a worthy opponent among his peers). Also in his first appearance: part of the reasoning behind him hiding as a high school teacher was to use his position to influence the children of rival criminals away from their parents' lifestyle choices, in a very long term strategy to starve the rivals of recruits.
- The Corrupter: Inverted in a way. He used his position as teacher to get to know the children of his enemies and know just what is needed to turn them against their families (who are criminals). One student even helps him and Reese out, stating he was the best teacher he ever had.
- Debt Detester: After Carter saved his life in the end of Season 2 he averts this as he never shows any qualms with being in Carter's debt. He never pushed her into a spot to make her call on him. He treated her with great respect. And with her murder by Simmons, he sees his only viable means of paying the debt is to kill Simmons, as he knows Team Machine cannot do it without destroying the good Carter sees in them.
- Defiant to the End: Not particularly fazed when Yogorov and HR take him on what was supposed to be a "one way" prisoner transport, or when Dominic is pointing a gun at him.
- Diabolical Mastermind: He is a calm, patient, but still dangerous man who has a deep understanding of the city's criminal underworld. He knows how to read the lines between the lines and play things accordingly.
- Disc-One Final Boss: He was built up as the Big Bad of the first season, and really does fulfill the role for most of it, but he's eventually defeated with a considerable amount of episodes left in the season. However, while he was seemingly defeated but as later episodes have shown, he still has a considerable amount of power over the city even in jail.
- The Dog Was the Mastermind: In his introductory episode.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: In "YHWH" he's unceremoniously shot by a Samaritan sniper during a purge of individuals it deemed deviant and influential enough to be threatening to Samaritan's rule. This was done deliberately on the part of the creators to emphasise just how dangerous Samaritan is. However, it's eventually subverted when it is revealed that he survived.
- Enemy Mine: With Carter against the HR/Russian Mafia partnership. He also suggests this to Yogorov against HR.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Scarface, as it turns out, as well as his accountant Bruce. They were kids together in the same horrible reform school.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Averted; unlike his rival Dominic, he understands Reese and Finch quite well.
- Evil Is Petty: Averted. He's a very forgiving person. While John got him incarcerated, he was only mad at him for a little bit but still felt gratitude toward him for saving his life (and considered incarceration as a blessing in disguise, allowing him to focus on running his business). Even when the Russian mob leader tried to execute him, he saw it as completely fair since he killed his father. The one thing he won't forgive though, is betraying him, as HR finds out when he lures them into a killing that he's set up to fail in advance just to give them a Take That! when they come to him for help on rebuilding their operations. And he even treats Carter with a friendly attitude despite her being his new warden.
- Evil Counterpart: To Finch - Reese even mentioned that Elias made him think of Finch - though not as blatantly so as Root.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- "I'm true to what I am." He has his own code of ethics he works by. He also places a great deal of value on loyalty, and is contemptuous of HR because they are "oath breakers." Elias also had great respect for Carter, which leads him to kill Simmons to avenge her death.
- This is invoked by John to try and get him to help save a child's life, because if Elias permits children to be kidnapped and sold in his city, he's just as evil as the scum he's fighting against. Subverted when Elias uses the child in a Sadistic Choice, knowing John Would Not Hurt A Child. He is a ruthless crime boss after all, and while Elias claims afterwards that he wouldn't have gone through with it, he knows that John couldn't take that chance.
- Ex-Big Bad: He's the main villain of Season 1, but is imprisoned rather than killed, spending the rest of the show's run as a Friendly Enemy to Team Machine and occasional ally in later seasons.
- Expy: He's basically a 21st century Lucky Luciano with his desire to consolidate and organize the criminal underworld under his united control. His path to revenge also has some shades of Michael Corleone, with him conducting his own hits on the Dons of New York.
- Faking the Dead: Team Machine help him fake his death when Samaritan targets him.
- A Father to His Men: When his right hand man got gunned down, he had his prison bodyguards paroled so that they could guard over him in the hospital. Carter noted that as evil as he was, he was loyal. This is in contrast to his opponents at HR who don't mind knocking off each other if they fail to do their jobs or threaten the success of the organization.
- Foil: To Dominic in Season 4. Dominic doesn't care if his soldiers die for him. Elias is willing to take their place.
- Freudian Excuse: Besides his entire origin being a Bastard Bastard trying to seek his father's approval, he also grew up in a troubled child home where it's implied he suffered quite a few traumas. This speaks volumes as to the man Elias became.
- Friendly Enemy: For quite some time, he was Team Machine's biggest threat. But over the years, he came to respect them and vice versa. By the fourth season, that respect turned into outright friendship - to the point where he would willingly risk his life for Finch.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Started off as an orphan in the foster care system, then a low-level Mook for his father, and eventually became New York City's most powerful crime boss.
- Graceful Loser: If he's beaten or outmaneuvered, he'll acknowledge it. Though, if he sees any other option, he'll take it instead. And he probably has one or two tricks in reserve. Like a vault rigged with C4 in "The Devil You Know". Or nothing but a bank account number and pneumatic tubes in "Asylum".
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Scarface.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Near the end of the fifth season, he dies protecting Harold from a swath of Samaritan mooks. It was his and Root's deaths that finally drove Harold to go all-out on the offensive against Samaritan and Greer.
- Hidden Villain: In the episode he's introduced.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Has a team of gunmen ready to kill the families of the HR members if things go wrong. Harold gets wind of this and reveals it to Simmons, the second in command of HR. As Simmons loves his family, he pulls the support he was giving to the plot to kill the Five Dons and as a result, Elias gets arrested when Fusco calls for backup.
- I Owe You My Life: Considers himself still in debt to Reese. He's practical about it and won't let it interfere with his plans, but is otherwise willing to use his authority over the crime world to protect John and his associates. As of Season 3, he makes a similar offer to Carter after she saved him from getting wiped out by HR and Yogorov, offering to have a gang of Russians eliminated but she declines.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Had a good and strong one all through the show. Samaritan finally voids it when it implements The Correction at the end of season 4. But then Team Machine cheats the expiration by saving his life, allowing him to stay alive and in hiding throughout season 5, until he finally meets his end protecting Finch after his cover gets blown.
- Kick the Dog: Most of the time he acts against those who are worse than him or hurt him personally; the only time he's ever broken this is when he murdered Bernie Sullivan after the retired detective started re-investigating the Marlene Elias case.
- Last Stand: Elias comments in late season four that his war with Dominic has essentially reduced him to a last stand.
- Lesser of Two Evils: Lesser of many evils, in fact. Compared to the other criminal organizations, Elias is by far the most honorable and least actively evil one. Even Finch comments Elias's presence brought order to the city's crime.
- Might as Well Not Be in Prison at All: According to Finch, being imprisoned didn't slow his criminal business down.
- Mundane Wish: Is convinced to use his contacts to help Team Machine out from behind bars on condition of Finch becoming his chess partner.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He actually thanks Finch for putting him in jail, telling him that it allowed him to cut out distractions and focus on what was important. He implies that being in jail allowed him to focus entirely on his business.
- Noble Demon: Firmly believes that one good turn deserves another. Since Team Machine has saved his life many times, he treats them as friends, even when their do-gooding inconveniences him. This is why he avenges Carter's death, and refuses to tell Dominic anything about Finch even when tortured.
- Not Quite Dead: He's initially believed killed by a Samaritan sniper, but it's later revealed that he survived and that Team Machine is keeping him in their safe house, unbeknownst to the rest of the world. He's not in great physical shape, though.
- Not So Stoic: It takes him four seasons but Elias finally looses his cool when he is forced to kill his best friend. After surviving Samaritan's attack, he's also clearly shaken and traumatized.
- Parental Abandonment: He is the child of a mobster who never acknowledged him as a son and had his mother murdered.
- Patricide: Part of his plan in Season 1 is to kill his father for ordering the death of Elias' mother and ordering Elias' own death years ago.
- Pragmatic Villainy: While he's grateful for Team Machine for saving his life, he makes it clear that his help in Season 4 comes with the expectation that Team Machine will return the favour.
- Properly Paranoid: As of Season 4 he's reclaimed his stature once more in the New York underworld. He now has his own sniper team providing him with security as John and his enemy Dominic found out. He becomes even more paranoid after Samaritan's attack, with eminently justifiable reasoning. He correctly recognizes that the wisest course of action for him is to hide from the world, since it's the best way of preventing Samaritan from finding him again, or even from knowing that he survived.
- Pyrrhic Victory: He eventually does get his revenge and takes down the entire Mob Family that he hated so much, but as a result, he winds up in prison. Although this hasn't really affected his control of the criminal underworld.
- Occurs for him in "The Devil You Know". Elias ends the episode alive, walking on the boardwalk proclaiming "I remain unconquered" in Latin, but Scarface is dead, his other best friend is in Dominic's sights and his empire is falling bit by bit to Dominic.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge:
- He spent a good part of Season 1 plotting revenge for his mother's murder.
- During "The Devil's Share" he personally oversees the killing of Officer Patrick Simmons.
- At the end of "The Devil You Know," he launches one against The Brotherhood for killing Scarface.
- Scars Are Forever: Has deep scars on the palms of his hands from when his father tried to have him killed with a garotte wielding assassin.
- Scary Shiny Glasses: Shown in a few episodes, when the light hits them just right. Given his character, it's almost certainly deliberate.
- Smart People Play Chess: One of his past-times. He asks Finch to play with him in exchange for a minor favor, and won't rat John out to Donnelly when they meet in Rykers because he'd lose the one person who's an intellectual equal to him as a chess partner. He also plays with Carter in "The Perfect Mark".
- Start of Darkness: Kicked off with his mother's death, making him seek the criminal's path to prosper. However, it really kicks off when his father attempts to murder him, turning a small time criminal with no ambition or planning skill into the Carl Elias we know today.
- Troll: Does this to HR, sending them on a wild goose chase after a Mafia don who's made peace with Elias and making sure it fails with the don forewarned and ready with a hidden bodyguard to kill HR cops sent to kill him and leaving only Lionel alive to give a message.
- True Companions: He is this with Anthony and his accountant named Bruce. He cares about them deeply as they lived in the same group home for troubled boys in their youth.
- Undying Loyalty: He will never turn on a friend. He tried to surrender himself to Dominic to rescue Scarface, and he refused to give up Finch, even when being tortured.
- Universally Beloved Leader: Everybody loves Elias. Even after his death, people still help Team Machine in finding the people who killed them.
- Villainous Friendship: With Scarface.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Scarface advises Elias to kill Reese, but he refuses. While Elias genuinely admires him, and appreciates Reese and Finch saving his life, it's also clear that he hopes to eventually recruit them to his side.
- Wicked Cultured: Very knowledgeable about history, enjoys good food and wine, and is an excellent cook.
- Worthy Opponent: Sees Finch as one. And Carter for beating him in "Flesh and Blood" and later saving his life.
- Would Hurt a Child: Elias claims he is personally against hurting children, but he's willing to at least appear to be willing to hurt them in order to get some much needed information out of John ("Baby Blue") and as potential leverage against various members of HR ("Flesh and Blood"). Does it to Carter by kidnapping her son in "Flesh and Blood." and it comes back to bite him with Finch convincing Simmons from HR who loves his family to leave Elias hanging out to dry once he's made aware of the plan to kill off the HR family members.
Scarface
Anthony S. "Scarface" Marconi
"I'da just shot you, but the boss has got a soft spot for you."
A member of Elias's mob group, and is his second-in-command and principal enforcer. He is also informally known as Scarface (both among the fandom and in-universe) due to an easily identifiable scar on his right cheek, coupled with the fact that, for three and a half seasons, his name was never mentioned by any of the characters in any episode he appeared in.
- Alas, Poor Villain: While he was still a ruthless criminal who clashed with Reese several times, his death is very heartfelt, with him laying down his life to save his only friend, Elias, from the Brotherhood in a epic Heroic Sacrifice/Taking You with Me.
- Armour-Piercing Question: Uses one to devastating effect in putting Link in his place minutes before he gets killed from the hidden explosives Elias activated.
- Character Death: Requests that his boss provide a false safe code which activates a booby trap. Elias does so and Scarface is caught in the blast, along with some Brotherhood gunmen.
- Chekhov's Gunman: His first appearance on the show is as a beat cop and Satellite Character to Carter.
- A Death in the Limelight: He gets more focus (and his backstory is explained in detail) in "The Devil You Know". It's also the episode of his Heroic Sacrifice.
- Defiant to the End: As he prepares to face his demise, Scarface grins and says "As the Romans would say...Morior Invictus.", "I die unvanquished".
- The Dragon: For Elias.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He, Elias, and Bruce grew up together in the same terrible group home.
- He loved his mother enough to kill his father and save her from his abuse, hence how he got the scar.
- Evil Counterpart: Like Reese, he serves as the ultra-loyal gunslinger to his hidden chessmaster boss. He even becomes a Badass in a Nice Suit wielding a BFG in one episode.
- "Facing the Bullets" One-Liner: Morior invictus. Translates to "Death before defeat.", sometimes also translated as "I die unvanquished".
- Face Death with Dignity: Very calm and solemn when his end comes.
- Freudian Excuse: He had an abusive father (whom he had to subsequently kill) and grew up in a Orphanage of Fear of sorts. No wonder he's a brutal thug.
- Evil Scars: He has his affable moments, but he's still a ruthless killer with a big scar.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Okay, he's no hero, but when compared to the Brotherhood, he and Elias are definitely the lesser of two evils. So when he sacrifices himself to blow up several members of Dominic's gang, he's enacting this trope.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Elias.
- Impersonating an Officer: When he first see him, he's apparently a uniformed patrolman. He keeps doing this too, something he has in common with Reese.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Even after Elias was sent to jail, he remained at large. Eventually, his luck runs out as he ends up dying in a conflict against the Brotherhood.
- Kick The Son Of A Bitch:
- Personally kills Don Moretti and his son with a car bomb.
- Scarface gets to do the honors and garrotes an injured Officer Patrick Simmons to death in his hospital bed.
- Mad Bomber: Takes on this role in "Flesh and Blood", taking out a few mafia Dons with car bombs.
- The Mole: Elias' inside man in the NYPD.
- No Name Given: Initially, but now fully averted as his given name was used in "All In."
- Patricide: Murdered his father for beating his mother.
- Perpetual Smug Smiler: It shines him in a constant aura of Dissonant Serenity.
- The Quiet One: Speaks when he has information to impart, but otherwise accompanies Elias and carries out his duties in silence.
- Red Herring: In his first appearance, Finch wonders if he is Elias.
- Reveal Shot: Used repeatedly whenever he does something
cool and nefarious. A mysterious figure will show up (an assassin double-tapping the Russian mob boss in "Witness"; a man walking into a botched diamond exchange to nab both sides' jewels and cash in "Liberty"; the 'friend' stepping out of the shadows in Simmons' hospital room with a garotte in "The Devil's Share"; an FBI agent strolling through the precinct to kidnap this week's POI in "Pretenders") before the camera pans up to show us exactly who it is. - Sacrificial Lion: His death is what truly sets ablaze the conflict between Elias and Dominic, which was before just a business rivalry.
- The Stoic: He rarely gets more than a smile to show his emotions. He was even very cool when beaten up by the Brotherhood and covertly asked Elias to give the Brotherhood a code to the safe, knowing it wouldn't open it but set off a bomb and would kill him.
- Not So Stoic: When Elias gives them the combination to blow up the safe, he's noticeably emotional.
- Subordinate Excuse: It's hinted throughout the series that he's as much Elias' friend as he is his Dragon; confirmed in "The Devil You Know".
- Taking You with Me: Through Elias' bomb activation code, he takes out the Brotherhood members who were bound to kill him afterwards.
- True Companions: He is this with Elias and Elias' accountant named Bruce. He cares about them deeply as they lived in the same group home for troubled boys in their youth.
- Undying Loyalty: He is more than willing to die for Elias. And ultimately does.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Disappeared for a while after his Boss' defeat in "Flesh and Blood". Made a brief reappearance in "C.O.D.," was referenced in "All In," and may have been the "lieutenant" wounded offscreen by HR in "God Mode." As of "Liberty", he's alive and well and back in action, picking up some uncut diamonds for his boss in order to fund his comeback. Makes another appearance in "Endgame" and "The Devil's Share", killing Simmons. Season 4 has him returning to help Reese deal with a drug gang. He drives a large truck into the getaway car some of their members were using and in another episode helping Reese and Fusco attack a Brotherhood gang depot.
Bruce
Bruce Moran
- Beard of Evil: He has a pretty thick beard.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Bruce is a ruthless criminal, but he does care deeply for his brothers-in-arms.
- The Evil Genius: He's the mafia's accountant under Elias.
- True Companions: With Elias and Scarface.
Moretti
Don Gianni F. Moretti, Sr.
The former lover of Marlene Elias, and the father of Carl Elias and Gianni Moretti, Jr.
- Archnemesis Dad: To his bastard son, Elias, whom he despises and eventually meets his end by.
- Asshole Victim: Moretti is a ruthless murderer and greedy mobster, so it's hard to shed tears for him.
- Bald of Evil: A bald old man and a nasty Mafia don.
- Character Death: Elias has him blown up along with his son Gianni Jr.
- The Don: Of his crime family.
- Evil Old Folks: He's in his old age, with two middle aged sons, but he hasn't exactly mellowed.
- Evil Sounds Raspy: An aged mafia don with a hoarse voice.
- Jerkass: Aside from being deeply evil, he's basically an unpleasant and repulsive man.
- Karmic Death: Murdered by his own bastard son, who he tried to kill as a boy.
- Offing the Offspring: Moretti attempted this on Elias, but failed.
- Red Baron: Was quite good with a knife in his youth. It earned him the nickname "The Blade".
- Sealed Evil in a Can: By the first season, Moretti was imprisoned. Carter attempts to ask him about Elias, but to no avail.
- Smug Snake: So very much like the other Dons.
- Would Hurt a Child: He tries to have a teenaged Elias killed.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: When a young Elias meets with his father for the first time, Moretti is pretty nice to him, even complimentary and encouraging. It's all an act.
Moretti, Jr.
Gianni Moretti, Jr.
The son of Gianni Moretti, half-brother of Carl Elias and the don of the Moretti crime family.
- Asshole Victim: Junior was a vile jerk with zero redeeming qualities beyond his love for his father; it's hard to feel much sympathy for him considering what he is.Elias: My esteemed half-brother. A man who not only imports drugs, but young girls.
- Bald of Evil: Like father, like son.
- Cain and Abel: He's the Cain to Elias' very dark Abel.
- Character Death: Along with his father, he dies in a car explosion.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He does at least love his father.
- Hot-Blooded: He's rather short-tempered and angry.
- Inadequate Inheritor: Junior isn't much respected by his father's men or his contemporaries. When Elias was brought to be executed by Don Moretti's men back in 1991, the two Mooks said the Don had one idiot son and didn't need two.
- Jerkass: Like father, like son.
- Properly Paranoid: He's angered by Don Zambrano's apparent callousness about his father's kidnapping, and his suspicions prove correct when Zambrano reveals that he's teamed up with Elias.
DeLuca
Vincent DeLuca
Played by: N/A
Appeared in: "The Fix" (corpse)
Appeared in: "The Fix" (corpse)
A former capo (captain) who answered to Don Gianni Moretti.
- Asshole Victim: His death is seen as either a "public service homicide" or "divine retribution."
- Failed a Spot Check: Accidentally left a partial fingerprint on the knife he used to stab Marlene Elias, requiring a bribery to keep him out of jail.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Stabbed with the kitchen knife he used to murder Marlene Elias.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: DeLuca originally got away with murdering Marlene Elias due to a hung jury, but nearly 40 years later, her son Carl came after him.
- Retired Monster: His days as a capo are long-gone by the time he shows up (as a corpse) in the present day.
- Would Hit a Girl: His most infamous crime was murdering Marlene Elias.
The Yogorov Family
Peter
Peter Yogorov
"The cops might kill a kid; my people have standards."
The elder son of Ivan Yogorov, who was the head of The Mafiya in Brighton Beach until Elias had him killed ("Witness"). Takes over the organization and forms an alliance with HR. Has vowed revenge against Elias for killing his father.
- Affably Evil: He's not that bad in person (particularly in comparison to other mobsters, save for Elias), even Carter agrees.
- Beard of Evil: The head of a Mafiya family and has a full beard.
- Butt-Monkey: His family as a whole. Elias and Team Machine have run roughshod over them repeatedly over the course of the series.
- Deadpan Snarker: Lets the snark fly loose when he meets Shaw.
- Defiant to the End: He was determined to go down fighting against HR, but Carter's intervention keeps him from doing so.
- Dragon Ascendant: Following his father's death.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Very protective of his brother Lazslo, who HR has kept in prison as leverage.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Says so explicitly in "Razgovor"; see quote above. He also seems to have a disgust for whistleblowers.
- Honor Before Reason: He follows a "criminal code" that sometimes leads to this, such as his refusal to rat his comrades out.
- Noble Demon: Yogorov is a classic type of "old-fashioned mobster", with standards and code of honor, contrasting with HR.
- Pragmatic Villainy: While he's contemptuous of whistleblowers—"I'd rather rot in prison than be labeled a rat."—he's perfectly willing to become one to protect his brother.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: In "Endgame," vows to kill HR cops en masse if his hijacked drug shipment isn't returned. In "The Devil's Share" he sends a team of gunmen to attack the safe house Alonzo Quinn is being hidden in by the US Marshall's. Unfortunately, Team Machine gets there and Root decimates most of the hit squad before they can even get inside the building.
- Satellite Character: While he has reasonable depth, it is noticeable that his only role in the show is to further other villains' plotlines (usually HR or Elias).
- Shotguns Are Just Better: Utilises a Benelli M4 during "Endgame" as the partnership with HR falls to pieces. After what happened with Shaw using him as a blood donor, it's a pretty wise decision.
- You Killed My Father: The main reason he hates Elias so much.
Ivan
Ivan Yogorov
- Asshole Victim: Due to his arrogant and smug dismissal of Carter's well meaning efforts at mediation and his underestimating of Elias, its impossible to feel sorry for him when Scarface breaks into his residence and enters his study with a suppressed pistol in hand.
- Character Death: Dies when Scarface double-taps him at his desk.
- Jerkass: Incredibly condescending to Detective Carter.
- Smug Snake: Believes himself to be untouchable. Elias and Scarface prove him wrong with the latter breaking into his residence and shooting him dead in his study.
- This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself: In the opening dialogue of "Witness", he expresses the desire to kill Benny D'Agostino personally, showing him his face after shooting him.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Only lasts one episode. Elias sends Marconi to break into his study and double-tap the man while he's sitting at his desk.
- You Killed My Father: Intended to kill Elias for the hit on his brother. When Elias wasn't at the bodega, he substituted Benny.
Lazslo
Laszlo Yogorov
Peter's younger brother.
- Archnemesis Dad: Elias mentions that his kids hate him.
- Break the Haughty: Goes through an epic one in "Witness" with Reese taking him hostage and his intended target kneecapping him and escaping. To top things off, he gets incarcerated and used as a bargaining chip by HR.
- Defiant to the End: Tries to goad Elias into killing him, because he'd rather die than have Elias run Brighton Beach. Elias chooses to kneecap him.
- Distressed Dude: Laszlo is captured by Reese near the end of "Witness" and incarcerated for the rest of the show.
- Hell-Bent for Leather: Wears a black leather jacket as part of his getup.
- Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: In "Witness", especially when Reese manages to separate him from his men and make off with him before they realize what has happened.
- Leeroy Jenkins: Attempts to charge into the housing project to chase down Elias before being stopped by Peter.
- What the Hell Are You?: Gives this speech to Reese while tied up on the ferry."Hey, what are you? Corrupt P.D.? Gun for hire? What kind of guy takes money to protect a scumbag like your boss here? You think he's gonna testify? After everything he's done? He's tearing this town apart."
- You Have No Idea Who You're Dealing With: Gives this to Reese once he realizes that Reese has no idea who Elias is."You're in the middle of a situation that you don't even understand." [Cue Elias pulling a gun on Reese]
The Brotherhood
Dominic
Dominic "Mini" Besson
"There's only one rule. We all die in the end."
The mysterious leader of the Brotherhood.
- Animal Motifs: He has a tendency to compare him and Elias to lions fighting over a Pride. Even Reese catches onto it by dubbing him "The Young Lion" at one point.
- Berserk Button: Goons who do not follow his orders. Obeyed and failed, he's kind of fine with. Disobeyed gets them a bullet.
- Big Bad Ensemble: Alongside Samaritan in Season 4, though he's the more immediate threat for most of it. However as the season starts wrapping up, the trope directly below takes hold...
- Big Bad Wannabe: For all of his strength and legitimate talent, he is not competent enough to actually maintain power or deal with the greater game he's involved himself in.
- Boss in Mook Clothing: A literal example as when first introduced we think he's merely a Giant Mook, only to find out at the end of the episode he's the boss of the brotherhood.
- Catchphrase: "We all die in the end."
- Chekhov's Gunman: In addition to first being mentioned (and the gang he runs being introduced) in "Panopticon", Dominic himself is first introduced as Brotherhood muscle.
- The Chessmaster: His entire intro episode shows that his size is actually the lesser threat compared to his cunning. To start with, he completely tricks Shaw into his Unwitting Pawn.
- Cultured Warrior: Dominic's a fairly competent shooter, and very cultured in history and philosophy.
- Devil in Plain Sight: That two-bit thug Shaw held as a hostage? Yes on the thug part, definitely not the two-bit part.
- The Don: The boss of The Brotherhood
- The Dreaded: Even Elias is somewhat intimidated by him, and when they meet to discuss Elias's interference in Dominic's operation, brings along a sniper-team for security.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: On purpose; his headshot comes out of the nowhere and is rather anti-climatic for the character. But it's only to show how efficient and ruthless Samaritan is.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Perhaps the singular moment Dominic seems emotionally phased is when he suspects Link has betrayed him.
- Evil Counterpart: To Caleb Phipps. Both were inspired by Finch's teachings in "2-Pi-R" - but Caleb went a positive way, while Dominic went a negative way.
- Evil Genius: Has a first-rate intellect with a ruthlessness only matched by someone like Elias. In his first appearance, he makes a complete and utter fool out of Shaw.
- Evil Sounds Deep: He has a very low voice, which only increases his menace factor.
- Eviler than Thou: To Elias. Elias is a Diabolical Mastermind, but he has a strict code of honor and is a reasonable man at heart. Dominic is just as smart as him, but has none of the honor or heart.
- Expy: Dom and his whole crew seem like they came right out of The Wire. They even constantly talk about "The Game".
- The Fatalist: The gist of his catchphrase. He states that regardless of what happens, what we do or what we are, we all die in the end.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: "Point of Origin" reveals that once he was just The Quiet One in the back of the class that no one paid attention to.
- Genius Bruiser: He's introduced as a mere muscle, and clearly isn't afraid to get his hands dirty. We later learn he's a mastermind that rivals Elias himself. In "Blunt", he is also getting money from people playing Freemium style games that requires them to transfer their own money for "gold". The money would be transferred to a bank account that Dominic would use to collect that money. Even the stoner he was talking to was generally impressed.
- The Ghost: Not even the Machine knew what he looks like, which really works out for him.
- I Lied: The biggest difference between him and Elias. When Elias gives his word, he sticks to it, while Dominic changes his deals to suit him.
- Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance: He thinks that Elias could make Finch give up his surveillance system.
- Improbable Age: He was young enough to be studying high school maths in 2012. He's nineteen, twenty years old at best. He's competing with a mafia boss who spent decades consolidating his power.
- Ironic Nickname:"Boys call me Mini... 'cause I'm big."
- Large and in Charge: Source of his Ironic Nickname of "Mini".
- Moving the Goalposts: Elias surrenders to him in "The Devil You Know", in exchange for Anthony's life. He then asks for the vault code as well, changing the deal.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Dominic knows he looks like Dumb Muscle, so plays this role when Shaw captures him.Link: They always underestimate you.
- Out-Gambitted: Elias catches him completely off-guard with his vault bomb, which throws a monkey wrench into Dominic's plan and allows Elias to escape unharmed.
- Outside-Genre Foe: He ends up on the wrong end of this trope and is killed by a sniper sent by Samaritan, whose existence he's not even aware of.
- Pet the Dog: The only redeemable aspect of Dominic is that he treats Link with some respect and kinship.
- Pride: Elias considers this to be Dominic's weakness. He is powerful but thinks he can take on a chessmaster like Elias with simple efforts. Dominic knows with Elias there is always a game in a game but he still didn't realize Elias fed him a code to activate the bomb hidden in his safe house, wounding and killing many of Dominic's forces until Elias spelled it out to him.
- The Rival: Dominic has very swiftly established himself as a counterpart to Elias; a young, highly intelligent criminal looking to oust the old overlords and take control himself. Elias however, does not fall into the same arrogance and complacency the Russian Mafia and Five Families had about him when he himself was coming up in the criminal underworld and treats him with the respect and caution he deserves.
- Scary Black Man: Oh, he's terrifying in both size and cunning.
- The Sociopath: At the end of the day, he couldn't give a toss about the men Marconi and Elias manipulated him into inadvertently killing.
- Straw Nihilist: His experiences in life have convinced him there's nothing worth valuing in life apart from money and power, and even that is ultimately fleeting. It's why he doesn't actually care that his gang abandoned him, because that gives them a chance to get the money.
- Too Clever by Half: As Reese best states, he isn't dumb, just smart enough to get himself killed.
- Torture Always Works: Averted, seeing as he is torturing Reese, Fusco and Elias to no effect.
- Unwitting Pawn: Elias plays him like a fiddle against his right-hand-man.
- We Have Reserves: One of the more overt similarities the Brotherhood has to Decima.
- Wicked Cultured: Similar to Elias, Dominic loves doing historical and philosophical references. He and Elias constantly trade Roman Empire allusions with one another.
- Worthy Opponent: Elias considers him to be an enemy that ought to be taken seriously. Dominic shares the admiration. Additionally, Dominic is one of the few villains on the show that shows a genuine respect for Reese.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Highly intelligent, but has no clue whatsoever that he's in a science fiction show about dueling AIs instead of the crime drama he thinks he's in. He ends up getting killed by Samaritan's agents. As an example: when he figures out the existence of Team Machine, he erroneously assumes that Finch is the one in control of the team's capacity to access the government's Sinister Surveillance.
- You Have Failed Me: He'll order the execution of minions who have screwed up royal....but that can't happen if guys. Don't. Follow. Orders. Guys like that, don't have a place.
Link
Lincoln "Link" Caldwell
"It's not enough to hit back. You gotta put your enemy in the ground."
A high-ranking member of the Brotherhood.
- The Dragon: To Dominic.
- Even Evil Has Standards: When Dominic dismisses the loss of manpower with We Have Reserves, Link stares at him in disbelief. Link may be a ruthless criminal, but he cares for his men.
- Evil(er) Counterpart: In many ways, he's a mirror of Scarface. They're both The Dragon in their criminal enterprises, but Link has more scruples than his boss while Scarface is implied to have less, and their Evil Scars are on opposite cheeks.
- Frame-Up: Elias frames him as a traitor so that Dominic would kill him. It works.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: He has a noticeable scar on the left side of his face.
- Jerkass: Link is an absolute jerk, treating others with disdain. However, he shows care for the lives of the "good soldiers" that died in Elias' penthouse explosion, where his boss does not.
- Noble Top Enforcer: He's not a nice man, but compared to Dominic he shows a lot more standards, such as care for his men and a rather civil treatment of Scarface, beatings aside.
- No One Could Survive That!: In "The Devil You Know", he manages to outrun an explosion that costs the lives of several of his Brotherhood allies. He appears later with his arm in a sling and some bandages.
- Number Two: To Dominic.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: He goes entirely by 'Link'.
- Pet the Dog: Link actually treats Scarface with some respect and they actually seem to bond over their status as Number Two to a crime boss.
- Unknown Rival: Downplayed. Since his initial defeat at Reese's hands, Link has been bearing a grudge against him (although he knows Reese as 'Detective Riley'). Reese remembers him, but doesn't seem to consider him anything special.
- Would Hurt a Child: He shows no hesitation or discomfort when leveling his gun at a teenage boy or threatening his preteen sister.
Floyd
Floyd
A high-ranking member of the Brotherhood.
- Dark Action Girl: The only female member of the Brotherhood.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: She's tiny compared to Dominic (and the rest of the Brotherhood for that matter).
- Sole Survivor: By the end of season 4, she's the last surviving lieutenant of The Brotherhood, with both Link and Dominic dead.
- Villain with Good Publicity: She is first seen working at a community center and even gives a kid money to buy a new basketball, likely hoping the good PR will net The Brotherhood some new recruits down the line.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: After getting kneecapped by Reese in the season finale, she is not seen again. Presumably, she was arrested along with Dominic and Elias.
