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CIs
Connie Riesler
Played By: Jamie Anne Allman
A prostitute and crack addict who serves as Vic's unofficial informant.
- Butt-Monkey: Let's see: She's addicted to drugs, she's gets beaten badly during an undercover sting, her mother dies of a stroke which leaves her the only one to take care of her baby, nearly raped, shoots at a john because of the experience, is forced to go cold turkey unsuccessfully, and finally is killed in a hostage situation in Season 2.
- Classical Anti-Hero: Connie struggles with drug addiction and self-loathing, but she's a genuinely good person and one of the few people in Vic's orbit with actual morals.
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: A sweetheart of a gal who uses the money to raise her baby.
- Ignored Epiphany: After trying to get clean throughout Season 1, she gives up on it entirely and declares herself a lost cause, putting her son into foster care. It's subverted in Season 2 which revealed she's kicked her heroin addiction and is getting back on her feet.
- The Informant: One of Vic's CIs. She frequently comes to Vic with news of various crimes she hears in her line of work, and after kicking her drug addiction she hangs onto her status as one to help get her life back together.
- Morality Pet: To Vic. She's the only CI he treats with genuine compassion and he genuinely tries to help her battle her drug addiction.
- Nice Girl: She's sweet and friendly to just about everybody.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Right when things are looking up for her, she's murdered by Mike Holden.
Emolia Melendez
Played By: Onahoua Rodriguez
Another Confidential Informant for Vic in the El Salvadoran community. A single mother with an autistic child, whose testimony puts the Strike Team in IAD's sights.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She comes across as a scared, single mother just trying to make ends meet. But a few times, when she has information she knows is more valuable than usual, she'll play hardball to get more money out of the deal, no matter what the consequences are.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: She jumps back and forth between helping Vic and helping Lt. Kavanaugh during their escalating war in Seasons 5 and 6. Claudette even compares her to a "ping-pong ball".
- I Did What I Had to Do: Justifies her selling of information to Vic and later Kavanaugh, saying she needs the money to support her austic son, Sebastian.
- The Informant: Seems to be her main source of revenue, first acting as a mole among the El Salvadorans for Vic. Later, she informs on the Strike Team for Kavanaugh.
- Nothing Personal: She's genuinely surprised that Vic and the Strike Team don't want to keep her as an informant after her testimony gets Lem arrested, and ultimately killed at the end of Season 5. After all, it's not like she informed on the rest of them, right?
- Only in It for the Money: She flat out says this to Claudette, when asked why she's turned on Vic in favor of Kavanaugh.
Van Bro
Played by: David Raibon
One of the Strike Team's original CIs, Van Bro is an amateur street artist and retired gang affiliate who nevertheless keeps his hand in the pulse of the street, especially for any juicy intel.
- Handicapped Badass: Averted. He is an example of what happens when a gangster ends incapacitated without abilities to compensate for it and thus is forced to retire. Most of his living is made through incredibly garish street art and payments for being in the informant payroll.
- Nice Guy: He's nothing but friendly and jovial, and comes off as a decent guy for the most part. Notably, he's one of the few CIs the Strike Team doesn't mistreat.
- Retired Monster: He's a former gangbanger, but he's been paralyzed from the waist down and currently makes his living as a police informant and through paintings.
Felipe Gomez
Played by: Jonathan Hernandez
A teenage drug dealer working for Armadillo who Vic press-gangs into helping with a sting operation.
- Forced into Evil: As Felipe points out, he isn't serving Armadillo by choice and would have been killed had he told him no.
- Put on a Bus: After he's exposed as an informant, Vic has him out in witness protection and sent out of state.
LAPD Administration
Lanie Kellis
Played By: Lucinda Jenney
"When I ask for something I ask politely because that's my nature, but when you make me ask a second time I lose my patience....The people I work for want answers. They expect me to get them. I have the power to recommend changes, get people fired, even shut down this entire building if it's warranted! Do you understand what I'm saying detective!?"
A civilian auditor appointed by the City Council to supervise the Barn's activities following the events of Season 1. She and Armadillo Quintero serve as the main antagonists of Season 2.
- Ambition Is Evil: Implied. She commits some pretty heinous actions just for the sake of scoring points with her superiors in the City Council.
- Big Bad Ensemble: Of Season 2 alongside Armadillo Quintero. Throughout the season, the Barn is compelled to maneuver around her intrusive supervision while carrying out its law enforcement duties before ultimately weathering the fallout from her overly damning report after it's leaked to the press.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: When first introduced, she acts very polite and respectful towards the police officers of the Barn. However, she quickly turns nasty and overbearing when they are less than prompt in providing her with the information she requests.
- Drunk with Power: Upon being appointed by the L.A. City Council to supervise the Barn's activities, she becomes a petty tyrant who routinely coerces law enforcement officers into giving her their unwavering attention and obedience even when they are engaged in vital police work and threatens to use her authority to ruin their livelihoods if they don't.
- Hero Antagonist: Downplayed. Kellis is a Jerkass and an Obstructive Bureaucrat clearly drunk on her own authority, but she's largely motivated by her realizatiom that the Strike Team are corrupt and Aceveda is aiding them and her desire to expose them.
- Jerkass: When she drops the "polite civil servant" routine, she is insufferably arrogant and condescending towards those around her.
- Jerkass Has a Point: As she points out, while her report ignores a lot of the competence of the Barn's staff, the Strike Team are prone to Police Brutality and Aceveda's given them free rein to go hog wild and kept Claudette Locked Out of the Loop when she tried raising her concerns about them multiple times, ultimately resulting in them orchestrating Armadillo's death in custody. While her report jeopardizes the staff's livelihoods, she's still not wrong in her assessment.
- Karma Houdini: She never does personally atone for the harm she does to the Barn.
- Lawful Stupid: Shows shades of this. She's more concerned with minor infractions and following the letter of the law rather than the spirit of it.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: She expects all officers to halt all their work until complying with her "requests" (even when citizens' lives are at stake) and inserts herself into EVERY aspect of Farmington's police business merely for the sake of digging up dirt on Aceveda.
- Principles Zealot: As far as PR is concerned.
Jon Kavanaugh
Played By: Forest Whitaker
"Why is it that the guy with the conscience always gets caught holding the bag? And we don't ever want that guy, do we? We want the guy that put him into motion."
An IAD officer who goes after Vic Mackey and the Strike Team.
- Anti-Villain: Type III. Forest Whitaker name checked this trope in at least one interview.
- Arch-Enemy: To the Strike Team, especially Mackey.
- Berserk Button: Watching his meticulously crafted plans end in failure and anything involving his ex-wife, Claudia.
- Big Bad: Of Season 5. He starts off the season as an arrogant but principled officer trying to bring a thoroughly crooked cop like Vic to justice. It's the means he resorts to in pursuit of this end that ultimately lead him to become an outright villain.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Kavanaugh's an eccentric oddball for sure, he has the habit of passing out gum to people, which he says is a good way to detect if someone buckles under pressure. But he's clearly very good at his job. Well...until his conflict with Vic gets personal that is
- By-the-Book Cop: Initially; he refused to bend the rules for his partner or even his ex-wife.
- Driven to Madness: Attempting to take down Vic and the Strike Team takes a toll on his sanity and morality, and eventually becomes just as bad as they are, but he eventually realizes this and decides to face justice for his crimes.
- Entertainingly Wrong: Some of his theories about the Strike Team’s crimes are only a few degrees off. In particular, he concludes that Lem wasn’t hit by the Salvadorans, but by Vic because he knew too much. He’s almost correct, only it was Shane who killed Lem, not Vic.
- Fallen Hero: Became corrupt when he tried to take down Vic.
- Fatal Flaw: His obsessiveness and intense drive to win at all costs is ultimately what dooms him. He stoops to similar lows as Vic in order to get what he wants. But unlike Vic, he realizes what he's done and ultimately decides to face justice for his crimes.
- Foil: To Vic. As much as they are enemies, they are both alike. They are both very driven to do what they think is right, and stoop to dirty tactics in order to get what they want, and both are eventually screwed over because of their obsession with their work. The difference is that Kavanaugh realizes that he is becoming no better than Vic, and turns himself in while keeping his dignity intact, while Vic gets Shane to kill his pregnant wife, son, and himself, sells Ronnie out to save his own ass, and loses everyone and everything that he cares about.
- Good Is Not Nice: While he is genuinely committed to bringing down crooked cops like Vic Mackey, he is also arrogant, vindictive, and obsessed with winning at all costs. It is these qualities that ultimately drive him to jump off the slippery slope just for the sake of "beating" Mackey.
- Graceful Loser: He loses his private war with Mackey, but is able to hold his head high after turning himself in. When Mackey visits him in jail, he's at peace, intending to serve his time and rebuild his life, confident that karma will take care of Vic eventually.
- Heel Realization: Realizes just how far he's fallen and decides to confess to his crimes.
- He Who Fights Monsters: After being outmaneuvered one too many times by Vic Mackey, he resorts to targeting the Strike Team's family members and conspiring with murderous thugs like Antwon Mitchell to bring Vic down.
- Hero Antagonist: The Hero part gets muddled as the season goes on.
- Internal Affairs: He's a lieutenant who works for IAD.
- It's Personal: What starts as a professional case to bust the Strike Team for corruption soon spirals into a private war between him and Vic Mackey, especially after Vic has sex with his ex-wife.
- Jerkass Has a Point: He's an unpleasant and manipulative bully at the best of times and his time trying to bring down the Strike Team brings out his worst qualities. Nonetheless, he is absolutely correct that Vic is a reprehensible excuse for a police officer and that it's disgraceful that he has been allowed to get away with all of his various crimes, including murdering other cops.
- At the end of his meeting with Ronnie, Kavanaugh all but advises him to cut ties with the Strike Team as they will bring him down if it continues to associate with them as is. The grand finale has Vic sell out Ronnie, making him The Scapegoat for the Strike Team's crimes to save his own skin.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Realising he can't bring in Mackey without breaking the law himself, he calls it quits and confesses to planting evidence and intimidating a witness.
- Manipulative Bastard: He certainly tries, but often times his machinations fall short and he has to resort to intimidation or threats.
- Married to the Job: His ex-wife explicitly describes him as such.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Seeing what he's done to Emolia, and realizing how many moral compromises he's made trying to bring in Vic and the Strike Team give him a full on Heel Realization, leading him to confess his crimes to Claudette.
- Rules Lawyer: Comes with being an IAD officer.
- Sanity Slippage: He becomes more and more unhinged as he becomes more obsessed with nailing the Strike Team.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: He has the ear of the Chief of Police, so he can get away with things no other IAD investigator could.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Kavanaugh is zealously committed to bringing corrupt cops to justice by any means necessary. Indeed, the one thing that keeps him sympathetic is that he's completely correct about Vic and co.
- Worthy Opponent: Although he hates Vic and the Strike Team by extension for their continued allegiance, Kavanaugh does exhibit some respect for both Ronnie and Lem. Praising the former for how capably and thoroughly he has covered his tracks, Kavanaugh even encourages Ronnie to get out of the Team's grasp while he can, pointing out that their recklessness will land him in trouble he's too clever to get entangled in. In the case of the latter, he eventually expresses sincere regret over how much misfortune his investigation into the Strike Team has caused Lem, and following his death, he explicitly calls out Vic for corrupting him.
Frances Housely
Played By: April Grace
An IAD officer assigned to investigate Terry Crowley's death. She later returns to investigate Julian's testimony of having seen the Strike Team stealing drugs from a crime scene.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: After serving as the main recurring IAD throughout Season 1, she disappears for the rest of the series.
- Failure Hero: Both times she appears, she fails to successfully charge the Strike Team with corruption.
- Flat Character: She doesn't get much personality outside of being an IAD.
- Horrible Judge of Character: She comes to the conclusion that Vic had nothing to do with Terry's death and lets him off without charges.
Sedona Tellez
Played By: Lana Parrilla
A corrupt LAPD accountant and Gilroy's lover who aids him in his real estate scam.
- Dragon-in-Chief: To Gilroy. He is undeniably culpable in the real estate scam, but it's implied Sedona came up with the idea.
- Karma Houdini: Thanks to making a plea deal with Aceveda, she's able to avoid prosecution and flees the country with most of her and Gilroy's money.
- Manipulative Bitch: She's able to play Gilroy like a fiddle, and gets off scot-free by making a plea deal with Aceveda since she knows that out of the two of them, taking down Gilroy would do far better for Aceveda's political career.
- My God, What Have I Done?: She's implied to be ashamed of having betrayed Gilroy, hiding when he's hauled into the Barn in handcuffs so he won't know she sold him out. She still ultimately leaves town with most of their money, so it likely wound up being an Ignored Epiphany.
- Put on a Bus: She leaves town with most of her and Gilroy's money after the events of Season 1.
- The Starscream: She turns on Gilroy and makes a plea deal with Aceveda in exchange for her freedom once it becomes clear their scheme is doomed.
Families
Corrine Mackey
"She's told me more in the past ten minutes than you've told me in the past ten years."
Played By: Cathy Cahlin Ryan
Vic's wife. Corrine resents her husband for his aggressive and neglectful attitude, and spends much of the series unsuccessfully trying to escape hkm.
- Genre Savvy: She very much realizes that any deal with Vic is inherently a Deal with the Devil and that he's an inherently corruptive influence on anyone around him, and does her best to stay out of his vicinity entirely. Unfortunately, Vic refuses to let her leave.
- Mama Bear: The first season finale, where she took the kids and ran, proved this in spades. She's extremely protective of her children, and she does her damnedest to get them the best education possible and keep them away from Vic's influence.
- Nice Girl: She's never anything less than polite and kind towards most people. She's much more abrupt with Vic, but she still gives him a lot of second chances.
- Only Sane Man: Quite possibly the smartest character in the series. Even before she realizes what a monster Vic really is, Corrine is well-aware of how toxic he is and is one of the few to realize that the best option is to stay out of Vic's orbit entirely. Not that Vic lets her leave, that is.
- Stepford Smiler: She acts polite and like a content housewife for the most part, but she clearly hates Vic and is deeply troubled by both his actions and his attitude.
- What the Hell, Hero?: She rightfully calls Vic on keeping Armadillo's hit on the Strike Team a secret from her, since he had put her into danger without even letting her know and resulting in one of Quintero's men invading their home.
Mara Vendrell
Played By: Michele Hicks
Shane's abrasive, easily riled up wife.- Doting Parent: In spite of her general irritability, she's nothing but completely sweet with her son Jackson.
- Freudian Excuse: Considering how utterly callous, controlling, and unpleasant her mother is shown to be, it's not at all surprising that Mara carries as much emotional baggage as she does. Additionally, the speech she gives to Vic during the third season heavily implies that she's suffered in numerous bad romantic relationships prior to Shane.
- Jerkass: Though not to the degree that her husband does, Mara also demonstrates a quick temper and a great deal of possessiveness.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's an irritable bitch in general and doesn't get along with people easily. But she sincerely loves Shane and wants what's best for him, and loves her son Jackson dearly.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: She gives one to Vic during the third season.
- Undying Loyalty: Deconstructed, Mara's devotion to Shane is so strong that she ends up committing crimes in attempts to protect him, ranging from assaulting Tavon and nearly killing him during his fight with her husband, becoming Shane's accomplice when he turns fugitive and refusing to protect herself and her son from the consequences of his actions even after both Claudette and Shane himself offered the chance to turn herself in, and even accidentally killing a women in an attempt to save Shane from a gang of ex-contacts of his.
- Violently Protective Girlfriend: She clocks Tavon on the head with an iron when he gets into a fight with Shane. During the penultimate episode of the series, she even shoots at a group of Shane's ex-contacts when they threaten him – and inadvertently kills an innocent woman in the process.
Other Professionals
Rebecca Doyle
Played By: Laura Elena Harring
A criminal defense attorney retained by Vic to represent the Strike Team in the face of Kavanaugh's investigation.
- Hello, Attorney!: It's a given being played Laura Elena Harring.
- Horrible Judge of Character: She completely buys Vic's line about how the Strike Team are basically good cops being made into patsies by the brass.
Olivia Murray
Played By: Laurie Holden
A special agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement who helps Vic bust The Cartel...and becomes his last hope for a lifeline when his web of lies and crimes starts to unravel.
- Anti-Hero: She will not violate the law. However, after learning of Vic's crimes, she aims to make him suffer any way she can as long as her methods are legal. She is convinced to get Vic's family into witness protection, not out of altruism, but because she is assured that keeping Vic from seeing them will cause him pain.
- The Dog Bites Back: She's the one who really puts the screws to Vic and ensures his deal turns into an Ironic Hell.
- Fair Cop: Being played by Laurie Holden certainly qualifies.
- Forced into Evil: She's one of Pezuela's many blackmail victims and jumps at the chance to take him down.
- Horrible Judge of Character: She even lampshades it in the Grand Finale. But she scores a monster payback.
- Loophole Abuse: When she realizes that Vic's immunity deal doesn't specify what he is to do while serving with ICE for three years. She makes it her personal mission to make Vic's time at ICE as unpleasant as possible.
- My God, What Have I Done?: When Vic unveils the true extent of his evil... just after she gave him total immunity for his crimes.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: After realizing how Vic tricked her into immunity for his crimes, she plots to make him suffer whatever she can without violating the law. In the end, she hides his family in witness protection. When Vic asks to say goodbye to them, she refuses his request, telling him he said his goodbye when he murdered another police officer. Since Vic's immunity does not specify the type of job he gets with ICE, Olivia sticks him in a Soul-Crushing Desk Job. She also makes it clear she intends to make his time with ICE as unpleasant as she can, and if he takes any action that violates their deal, she will send him to prison.
- Unwitting Pawn: One of many to Vic; see above.
Gordie Liman
Played By: Mark Rolston
A private detective Vic hires to find Corrine and his children.
- Nice Guy: He's extremely understanding of Vic's predicament and does his best to give him advice and comfort him. He also warns Vic that buying a high-tech security system from him is going to put him in debt, and only goes ahead with it when Vic confirms it.
- Private Detective: He's a private investigator, and a rather well-off one too given his numerous employees and access to high-tech security systems.
Civilians
Joe Clark
Played By: Carl Weathers
Vic's mentor and former partner, who was fired from the LAPD after beating a suspect.
- Cool Old Guy: Subverted. He initially gives off this vibe, but it becomes increasingly clear that Joe's washed-up, bitter, and has nothing left in his life but old grudges.
- The Corrupter: It's heavily implied that Joe's influence is what turned Vic into the Dirty Cop he is today.
- Never My Fault: He was fired after being sued by a suspect who he assaulted unprovoked. While the man was a legitimate criminal involved in gun smuggling, Joe had no evidence of such and refuses to admit he could've been at fault, placing the blame entirely on him,.
- Retired Badass: Completely averted. Joe is a washed-up loser barely making ends meet since he lost his pension, and makes his living off of sketchy and questionable legal jobs.
- Shadow Archetype: He represents what Vic will become should he continue his corrupt antics: a broken man who's lost his family, friends, and job. Vic does recognize it to an extent, but chooses to ignore it.
Jorge Machado
Played By: Efrain Figueroa
An influential investor and developer who offers to back Aceveda's campaign in exchange for potential favors.
- Corrupt Politician: He has a habit of making friendships with potentially influential people in exchange for favors. While some of them are benign (such as investigating the murder of his maid's husband), others are not (such as covering up a friend's sexual assault charges).
- Properly Paranoid: He expected some sort of scandal to happen during Aceveda's election, so he's prepared when Lanie Kellis's report drops and causes an uproar against him. Of course, his solution is to start a smear campaign against the competition, something Aceveda rejects.
Yassirah Al-Thani
Played By: Veena Bishada
A Syrian immigrant who launches a lawsuit against Danny for shooting her husband.
- Ambiguous Situation: During the same time as Yassirah's lawsuit, Danny is subject to crank calls, has her car vandalized, and has marijuana planted in her car for IAD to find. Danny suspects Yassirah of doing it to harass her, but it's never directly stated if she did.
- Anti-Villain: Can be interpreted as such if you view Danny's shooting as justified, as Danny made several Islamophobic remarks and Zayed's breakdown was caused by a slew of racist harassment.
- Jerkass Has a Point: She's vindictive and spiteful towards Danny, but Danny did nothing to help her husband with a slew of racist harassment from his neighbor and victim-blamed him for it due to 9/11 being caused by Muslim extremists. Adding to that that no one else witnessed the shooting, and it's easy to understand where she's coming from.
- Karma Houdini: If she did harass Danny and damage her property, then she gets away scot-free with it and even helps her get temporarily fired.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Repeatedly calls out Danny for shooting her husband and her unsympathetic attitude towards his plight prior to it.
Zayed Al-Thani
"I am not a terrorist!"
Played By: Navid Negahban
A Syrian immigrant harassed by an Islamaphobic neighbor.
- Anti-Villain: He's eventually driven to pull a gun on his neighbor, but considering he had death with constant harassment from her up to that point and Danny had done nothing to help and even sided with said neighbor, it's easy to sympathize with him.
- Small Role, Big Impact: He's killed off in the same episode he's introduced in, but his death at Danny's hands impacts her storyline throughout Season 2.
- Too Dumb to Live: He refuses to drop his gun when Danny demands him too and continues waving it around in the air. Unsurprisingly it gets him shot.
Emma Prince
Played By: Marguerite MacIntyre
The head of a women's shelter who has an affair with Vic.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She's blonde, and a fairly virtuous person.
- Nice Girl: She's sweet and good-natured to a fault. She runs a women's shelter to help fellow abuse victims, expresses nothing but empathy to everyone around her, and only has an affair with Vic because she believes he's divorced.
- What the Hell, Hero?: She calls out Vic for forcing an abused woman into her shelter against her will, pointing out the woman needs to leave at her own pace and that it's to satisfy Vic's need for control more than anything else.
Teresa Varela
Played By: Sandra Purpuro
An investigative reporter with a vendetta against Aceveda.
- Good Is Not Nice: She's harsh, confrontational, and blunt, but she genuinely believes she's taking down a Corrupt Politician and rapist.
- Hero Antagonist: She isn't exactly pleasant, but she genuinely believes that Aceveda raped Maureen Wilmore and wants to see him punished accordingly.
- Intrepid Reporter: At great personal risk to herself, she tries to bring down Aceveda for what she believes is a rape he committed.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Her quest to bring down Aceveda results in her being fired from her job. Admittedly he didn't rape Maureen Wilmore, but Teresa undoubtedly believed he did and genuinely wanted to see justice done.
Maureen Wilmore
Played By: Katy Boyer
Aceveda's college ex-girlfriend who accuses him of rape.
- Anti-Villain: She accuses Aceveda of rape, but it's because she was genuinely traumatized by being raped by some of his classmates because he had told them she "likes it rough" and casually slut-shamed her.
- False Rape Accusation: Played with. She was raped, but it wasn't by Aceveda. She blames him because he had spread rumors about her "liking it rough" and slut-shaming her, which inspired some of his friends to actually rape her.
- Misplaced Retribution: Aceveda didn't actually rape her, but she blames him anyway because he was friends of the rapists and his slut-shaming of her was what inspired them to go after her.
