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Fargo Crime Syndicate
In General
- All There in the Manual: Their names are only revealed in the credits. Numbers' and Wrench's first names are revealed in the credits of the Season 2 finale.
- Composite Character: Of their predecessors, the Gerhardt crime family and the Kansas City crime syndicate. They have the local, tight-knit quality of the Gerhardts and the methodical business savvy of Kansas City. This is fitting, because their leader was formerly an enforcer for the Gerhardts, and was responsible for the destruction of both organizations.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Hanzee Dent, who has just become Moses Tripoli, helps his future enforcers, Numbers and Wrench, with some bullies on a baseball field in the Season 2 finale, planting the seed of the Fargo Syndicate.
- End of an Era: The prophetic words Hanzee Dent ignored in 1979 finally ring true in 2006, when, like the Kansas City syndicate and the Gerhardts before them, the Fargo mob collapses and falls into the sea.
- Killed Offscreen: The fate of the majority of them.
- Mister Strangenoun: Mr. Wrench, Mr. Numbers, and Mr. Tripoli. These turn out to be their real names.
- Mugging the Monster: They have no idea how dangerous Lorne Malvo is.
- Mythology Gag: Their building is named the Showalter Block.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Subverted. Mr. Tripoli, Mr. Wrench, and Mr. Numbers seem like aliases, but the Season 2 finale reveals that these are actually their names.
- Revenge: They get involved with the plot because they want to avenge the murder of Sam Hess.
- Trademark Favorite Food: They seem to frequent the Chinese restaurant next door.
Leadership
Moses Tripoli
Moses Tripoli (Formerly Hanzee Dent)
"Dead. Not apprehend. Dead. Don't care extramarital. Don't care not related."
Played By: Mark Acheson
"Kill and be killed. Head in a bag. There's the message."
The head of the Fargo Crime Syndicate.
- Always a Bigger Fish: He's gunned down by Malvo to signal the end of his reign in the criminal world and to establish how Malvo is truly Eviler than Thou.
- Ambiguously Brown: Likely the Intended Audience Reaction. His first name comes from the Hebrew, and his last name is the name of a city in North Africa (the Libyan capital, to be precise). He's portrayed by an actor of European descent and season two reveals he's a Native American man who has undergone extensive plastic surgery to conceal his original identity.
- Character Death: Malvo sinks his entire empire, which includes gunning down Tripoli in his building.
- The Don: Of the Fargo Crime Syndicate.
- Fat Bastard: A crime lord who is as ruthless as he is overweight.
- Formerly Fit: Back in The '70s, he was quite physically fit, and a perfect example of Lean and Mean when he still was Hanzee Dent.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: After the fall of the Gerhardts he built his criminal empire practically from scratch, eventually becoming a dreaded criminal lord.
- Karmic Death: Dies an ignoble death, helpless to change the outcome when he could have easily handled it in his youth... like Otto Gerhardt, the boss whose family Tripoli betrayed in the 70s. For extra Irony points, he also dies offscreen, same as Otto.
- Killed Offscreen: His death is heard, but not seen, when Malvo breaks into the Fargo Headquarters and kills the entire syndicate.
- Magic Plastic Surgery: He was born a Native American member of the Sioux Tribe, which thanks to plastic surgery, you'd never guess from looking at him.
- Meaningful Name: In the words of the man who chose it: "And so... great empires fall and are forgotten ... Tripoli ... was founded in Libya in the Seventh Century by the Phoenicians, then was conquered by the Romans. And then by the Spanish, and then by the Turks. You see where I'm going."
- Two Aliases, One Character: The season 2 finale reveals that he is also Hanzee Dent, the ultimate Big Bad of Season 2.
- Villainous Glutton: He barely pauses in eating his fancy dinner while ordering the deaths of his enemies.
Mr. Carlyle
Carlyle
"Yield so far 9,000 unique credit card numbers with a credit limit of approximately 1.1 million minus real estate, minus labor, minus R&D."
Played By: James Binkley
"Assets deployed, Mr. Wrench and Mr. Numbers. Three days, plus lodging plus mileage."
A member of the Fargo Syndicate.
- Bald of Evil: He's bald and is a member of a criminal organization.
- Evil Genius: Carlyle has a good head for numbers and seems to be behind the syndicate's more technical aspects.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: A glasses-wearing mobster.
- Killed Offscreen: Shot to death during Lorne Malvo's rampage.
- Spock Speak: His speech is very technical and bureaucratic.
Associates
Mr. Jergen
Jergen
"Soy sauce and another mai tai. Mai tai? Mai tai!"
Played By: Andy King
"So he's got the stick in his mouth, right? Biting down. And I grab the arrow. Then Craig is in the car having a giggle. Thinks the whole thing's hi-larious. Which that's my cousin out there, right? So I slip the knife outta me boot and give him the old what-for. Held the knife to his bloody face."
A member of the Fargo Syndicate.
- Amoral Afrikaner: Presumably.
- Character Death: Shot twice in the chest and thrown out of a window by Lorne Malvo.
- Destination Defenestration: Falls out of a fourth story window.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Jurgen mentions pulling a knife on a man who laughed at Jergen's cousin after his cousin was wounded with an arrow.
- Hellbent For Leather: Jergen is a professional criminal with a leather jacket who puts up a brief fight against Malvo.
- Noodle Incident: Always seems to be talking loudly about his various exploits, including an associate falling in love with a sex slave and his cousin getting stuck with an arrow.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Only appears in two brief scenes.
- What the Hell Is That Accent?: Australian? New Zealander? South African? It's unclear exactly where he's from, though his Dutch surname suggests South African Boer heritage.
Sam Hess
See Other Characters
Max Gold
Max Gold
Played By: Brian Markinson
A lawyer working for the Hess family and Hess & Sons Trucking, and, by extension, the Fargo crime syndicate.
- Amoral Attorney: As the lawyer for the Hess family, he has connections to organized crime.
- Bald of Evil: Or rather, Bald of Amorality.
- Deadpan Snarker: Has shades of this in his interactions with Mr. Numbers.
- Villainous Friendship: He was friends with Sam Hess, despite the latter's Jerkass tendencies, and wants his death to be avenged.
The Book
The Book
Played By: Phillip Williams
A man who helped Tripoli gain his initial power.
- Cassandra Truth: The Book warns Tripoli that seeking to replace the Kansas City Outfit will just set him up to take a fall of his own one day, and sure enough, he's right.
- Master Forger: He's a confident, easygoing supplier of fake ID's.
- Mysterious Benefactor: He supplies Tripoli with a fake passport and access to a plastic surgeon, but it's unclear if he's Only in It for the Money or has some past connection with Tripoli and the Gerhardt's.
- No Name Given: His real name is unknown.
- Wicked Cultured: He's a sophisticated criminal who's quite knowledgeable about ancient empires and mythological creatures like the phoenix.
Enforcers
Mr. Wrench
Wes Wrench
Played By: Russell Harvard
A deaf contract killer, employed by the Fargo Crime Syndicate, Mr. Wrench is sent in to find out who killed Sam Hess, a local trucking boss, and "dispose" of the problem. Working with his partner Mr. Numbers, Mr. Wrench will use whatever means necessary to track down his target, even if it means piling up a few more bodies along the way.
- Anti-Villain / Anti-Hero: While he is an antagonist in the first season, and a protagonist in the third, in both he demonstrates a deep commitment to honor and loyalty to his partner, while his skills as a killer also keep him ruthless and precise.
- Badass Bookworm: He's a Professional Killer who firmly believes that every town should have a library.
- Bantering Baddie Buddies: In between shootouts and drowning victims in a frozen lake, he and Mr. Numbers use sign language to banter in front of people and occasionally argue like an old married couple.
- Best Served Cold: He waits five years before executing Emmit Stussy to avenge Nikki's death.
- The Bus Came Back: After fleeing at the end of season one, he shows up almost two seasons and four in-universe years later, on the bus carrying Nikki to prison.
- Cartwright Curse: A platonic example, but so far, every person he's teamed up with has died. His first partner, Mr. Numbers, has his throat cut by Lorne Malvo during an assassination attempt. His next partner, Nikki Swango, dies in a shoot-out with a state trooper while she tries to murder Emmit.
- Consummate Professional: The single most effective assassin in the entire series. Lorne Malvo is the only target he failed to kill, and even then, Malvo was so impressed by him that he let him live. As the series shows, he is impeccably precision-oriented and carries himself like a seasoned soldier, but at the same time is deeply honorable and isn't detached from his humanity.
- Fire-Forged Friends: With Nikki Swango, after their ordeal in the forest being pursued by Varga's henchmen.
- Handicapped Badass: Wrench is deaf, only communicating through sign language. He also happens to be a Professional Killer and one of Fargo's best hitmen. Shown even more with his return in Season 3, where he ably helps Nikki escape Varga's men as they're hunted through the woods, ultimately killing one and cutting off Yuri's ear by throwing an ax, then ripping apart the weakened chain that had been holding them together with his bare hands.
- Heartbroken Badass: He's devastated after the death of Mr. Numbers in the first season, and while we never see his initial reaction to Nikki's death in the third, it's clear his reaction boiled down to the same as he's willing to wait five years before putting a cap into the back of Emmit's skull (whom he clearly blames for Nikki's death).
- Iconic Outfit: His tasseled cowboy jacket that doubles as a Shout-Out to Midnight Cowboy. It's a lot more conspicuous than Mr. Numbers's outfit. The creators note that the tassels draw attention to his constant signing.
- It's Personal:
- Wrench's pursuit of Malvo takes a more personal turn when he kills Numbers, but also because Malvo killed his bosses at Fargo, so the job is no longer a factor.
- Same motive when he kills Emmit Stussy after 5 years because of his indirect involvement with Nikki's death.
- Leitmotif: His and Numbers's appearance is frequently accompanied by a jazz drumbeat.
- Like an Old Married Couple: The actors were told to interact with each other like one, and their argument in the diner certainly comes off this way.
- Manly Tears: He is a man who does not shy away from his emotions, and as the rest of the page shows, incredibly badass. He starts crying in his hospital bed when he's informed that Malvo executed Numbers, and later very nearly tears up when Nikki bids him farewell and gives him all of the money she stole from Varga. Similarly, he is on the verge of tears when he executes Emmit Stussy, his years-long mission of avenging Nikki now finally over.
- Noodle Incident: How exactly did he end up on the same prison bus as Nikki Swango? It's never explained, and even more baffling is that neither the police or Narwhal can make heads or tails of who he even is, despite the bus's manifest. The strong implication is that his presence is a form of Divine Intervention put there by Paul Marrane, hinted by his line that he convinced the "others" that he is now walking a better path.
- Not So Stoic: Played with. Upon learning that Numbers perished, Wench maintains a stoic expression, but his eyes are red and watery.
- Odd Couple: A non-romantic variant with Nikki in Season 3.
- One-Man Army: Able to take down Meemo and four more of Varga's heavily armed goons in an ambush.
- Professional Killer: He is a ruthless killer employed by the Fargo syndicate.
- Pyrrhic Victory: At the end of season 3, Wrench has a nice 2 million in his pocket, Varga's operation is finished, and he killed Emmit Stussy. But with Numbers and Nikki long dead by then, Wrench has no friends left in the world.
- Recurring Element: So far, he's the only character to appear in three out of four seasons.
- The Quiet One: Due to being deaf.
- Shout-Out: He dresses like Joe Buck from Midnight Cowboy.
- Silent Snarker: Wrench lets his expression do his snarking for him.
- Single Tear: Wrench has one when he finds out Malvo killed Numbers.
- Spanner in the Works: He puts a seriously gigantic wrench in Varga's entire operation simply by being seated and cuffed next to Nikki Swango on a prison bus. That utterly random happenstance ultimately cost him his entire organization, minions, money and possibly his freedom.
- Took a Level in Kindness: By 2010, he is a much better person, to the point that Paul Maranne seems convinced that he is "on a better path" and allows him to return with Nikki to help her in her mission.
- Undying Loyalty: If there's any one character who embodies the concept "Honor Among Thieves" in the show, it's Wrench. This is best exemplified in the third season; instead of running for freedom upon breaking out, Wrench stays by Nikki's side for months on end helping her take revenge on Emmit and Varga at practically no benefit to himself. He's furious when Nikki dies and takes it upon himself to exact Nikki's revenge upon Emmit after she dies, misguided as it may be.
- Unexpected Character: Given the limited connection between seasons, his reappearance near the end of season three was quite surprising.
- Unknown Rival: He turns out to be key to stopping Varga, as the practically omniscient villain has no idea he even exists. This gives Nikki an advantage she otherwise would not have had.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: He and Numbers are constantly bickering and annoying each other, but are stalwart partners and have been friends since they were kids.
- Wicked Cultured: The first thing he does on arriving in Bemidji is lament the town's lack of a library.
- Worthy Opponent: Malvo tells a hospitalized Wrench that he and Numbers came closer to taking him down than anyone else ever has.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Paul Marrane believes Wrench is walking a "better path" than he did from when he was a hitman for Fargo. A slight subversion however, in that Paul never actually tells this to Wrench directly, but rather to Nikki.
Mr. Numbers
Grady Numbers
Played By: Adam Goldberg
Mr. Numbers is the partner of and sign language translator for Mr. Wrench. When an associate in Minnesota is murdered, Wrench and Numbers are sent to Bemidji, MN to track down the killer and dispose of him as quickly as possible.
- Bantering Baddie Buddies: In between shootouts and drowning victims in a frozen lake, he and Mr. Wrench use sign language to banter in front of people and occasionally argue like an old married couple.
- Big Guy, Little Guy: More like regular guy, huge guy.
- Character Death: Malvo brutally cuts his throat during a show-off in a blizzard.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Numbers is stabbed by Malvo with limited buildup. Somewhat subverted given the brutal, harsh nature of the episode.
- Leitmotif: His and Wrench's appearance is frequently accompanied by a jazz drumbeat.
- Like an Old Married Couple: The actors were told to interact with each other like one, and their argument in the diner certainly comes off this way.
- Professional Killer: He is a ruthless killer employed by the Fargo syndicate.
- Shout-Out: He dresses like Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo from Midnight Cowboy.
- Slashed Throat: How Malvo finishes off Numbers.
- The Snack Is More Interesting: In a deleted scene, he and Wrench stop at a gas station and Numbers heads to the convenience store to eat a bag of Scrunyons, in spite of Wrench's insistence that they're pressed for time. When the convenience store is being robbed, Numbers is just hanging around, eating his chips, while the robber is making his demands. Though when the robber's back is turned, Wrench puts his gun into the bag, and offers the guy a chip, before shooting him in the head through it. After killing all the witnesses, he makes sure to rob the place... and take another Scrunyon bag for the road.
- Trolling Translator: He frequently mistranslates Wrench either for a laugh or so the two of them can have private conversations, like when they were mocking Hess's lawyer right in front of his face.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: He and Wrench are constantly bickering and annoying each other but are stalwart partners and have been friends since they were kids.
