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NYPD 64th Precinct:
Detective Harlee Santos
- Played by: Jennifer Lopez
- Action Girl: Comes with the territory of being a police officer.
- Anti-Hero: She doesn't like the idea of being a corrupt cop to help clean the streets, but she sticks to it if it helps.Harlee: You have no idea what it takes to be a good cop... You don't get it. Violent crime is down, drugs and gangs away from schools because of this unit, because of Wozniak.
- Bittersweet Ending: Harlee has to go to prison for a while and will also never be a cop again, so she asks Wozniak to take care of Cristina for her, but at least Cristina will be safe and Stahl is dead so he will no longer bother her.
- Daddy's Girl: She's very close to her Parental Substitute, Wozniak and it kills her she's forced to spy on him.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Had an abusive boyfriend for many years before she framed him for a crime he didn't commit just to get away from him.
- Dirty Cop: One of the many in the 64th. And she's The Protagonist.
- Experienced Protagonist: Been in the NYPD for a few years now, starting from being a uniformed officer.
- Fair Cop: Being played by Jennifer Lopez helps.
- Mama Bear: The reason why she's a Dirty Cop? To support her daughter. She reacts violently to any perceived threat against Cristina, in no uncertain terms. This included putting Cristina's father in prison for a murder he didn't commit so his abusive ways wouldn't affect her.
- Manipulative Bastard: She's skilled at lying and manipulating people, which how she's able to navigate being forced into becoming a rat while still trying to protect Wozniak.
- Near-Rape Experience: Finds herself in one once per season, first at the hands of her abusive ex, then at the hands of Stahl.
- Sanity Slippage: After her kidnapping by Stahl, she sees and hears things that aren't there. She ends up shooting a man after seeing Stahl's face on him.
- The Mole: Became the unwilling mole for the FBI in Wozniak's unit.
- Sex Goddess: Nava comments positively on her sexual prowess several times.
- Struggling Single Mother: She struggles to raise her daughter on her own, and the main reason she became a Dirty Cop and later The Mole, was to be able to provide for her.
- Trapped in Villainy: The FBI forces her to be The Mole in the 64th, or else they'll arrest her and her daughter will end up in foster care. She accepts for their deal for the sake of her daughter.
Lieutenant Matt Wozniak
- Played by: Ray Liotta
- An Offer You Can't Refuse: Agrees to be a mole for the FBI in the 2nd season.
- Bitter Sweet Ending: He gets to have Cristina as part of his family, but Harlee will not be a cop under his command anymore and it's implied he is still going to be haunted by the hallucination of Anna-Kate.
- Cop Killer: Gets rid of Saperstein in "Undiscovered Country", under the Wrong.
- Da Chief: He's in charge of the 64th Precinct.
- Dark and Troubled Past: He lost his daughter to suicide after being treated for depression for some time. He couldn't get over it.
- Dirty Cop: In charge of dirty cops in the 64th.
- A Father to His Men: He looks after the crew seriously as if they were his family.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: While he's known for being a Dirty Cop, "Cry Havoc" ramps it up when Homeland Security gets a notice out that he kidnapped the son of a known cartel boss.
- Only in It for the Money: Matt tells Harlee that he wants to do the unsavory jobs outside of his NYPD duties to get enough money to retire and support his wife and himself and not to be a security guard.Matt: I've got five years till retirement. I've seen these pension-strapped mopes working security in parking garages. I'm not gonna do it. I've worked too hard for that.
Harlee: ...If we do this, you won't have to worry about your pension. - Pet the Dog:
- Matt helps Harlee and her daughter, Cristina, once in a while. He even offers to help Harlee get her car fixed by asking the precinct's mechanic to help get it repaired.
- After he finds out that the others tried to kill Loman, Matt tries to let him know that he went through it and it's best to make peace with his mistake.
- Properly Paranoid: Once he gets suggestions that a mole was inserted into his unit, Matt thinks about subjecting everyone to polygraphs. He decided against it anyway since he taught everyone, including Harlee, to beat it.
Detective Tess Nazario
- Played by: Drea de Matteo
- Dark Action Girl: Is a competent female officer with few squabbles about all the dirty work she does.
- Dirty Cop: Another one in the 64th.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Gets promoted back to detective at the end of the final episode.
- Fair Cop: One of the most attractive officers in the 64th.
- Woman Scorned: Tess doesn't like the idea that someone wants to have an affair with her husband and would have killed the woman he cheated her on with if it wasn't for Espada's intervention.
Detective Marcus Tufo
- Played by: Hampton Fluker
- Casanova Wannabe: According to the character profile released by NBC, he fancies himself as The Casanova, but isn't actually any good with women.
- Dirty Cop: One of the male officers known to Wozniak.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Gets promoted back to detective along with Tess at the end of the final episode.
- Those Two Guys: Is seen together always with Saperstein.
Detective Carlos Espada
Detective David Saperstein
- Played by: Santino Fontana
- Acquitted Too Late: Is killed by Wozniak who suspects him to be The Mole. By the time they find out it wasn't him, he's long dead.
- Dirty Cop: One of the male officers known to Wozniak.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: Wozniak killed him in the hospital, making it look like he died from complications from his injuries.
- Those Two Guys: Is seen together always with Tufo.
Officer Michael Loman
- Played by: Dayo Okeniyi
- Book Ends: In the beginning of the show, after Loman kills a drug dealer who was only playing a video game, Harlee helps him cover it up and make it look like a justified shooting. During the first episode of the final season, Loman does the same for Harlee after she killed an innocent man after hallucinating Stahl.
- Break the Cutie: The others decide that he needs to be taken care of 'cause he's having second thoughts of covering an accidental death of an unarmed drug dealer.
- Broken Pedestal: Once Loman saw Harlee and the others intercept the armored truck.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Loman goes into this after he realizes that the drug dealer he shot by mistake was just playing a videogame.
- New Meat: In the 64th. He partners with Santos on his first day.
- Protagonist Journey to Villain: By the end of the show, Michael slowly becomes a Dirty Cop.
- Token Good Teammate: One of the few in the 64th to not be involved in the Dirty Cop lifestyle. This annoys the others that they decide that he's a liability. Averted later on when he slowly adopts dirty tactics to keep New York safe.
Assistant District Attorney James Nava
- Played by: Gino Anthony Pesi
- Character Death: At the end of the first episode of the third season he is gunned down by another group of dirty cops.
- Hello, Attorney!: The male version of this in the show. He's handsome and Harlee is smitten by him in no time.
- Love Interest: He's Harlee main love interest in the show, until he's killed off in season 3.
Donnie Pomp
- Played by: Michael Esper
- Asshole Victim: No one would miss him if he gets killed.Loman: He was a bad cop who did bad things and something bad happened to him. Amen.
Wozniak: Amen. - Dirty Cop: He's one with Wozniak.
- Character Death Shot and killed by Loman when Pomp tried to shoot him with Wozniak's old Marine Corp sidearm.
- The Mistress: A male example, as he one was Wozniak's lovers.
- Mole in Charge: In charge of the NYPD IA Department.
Tom Verco
- Played by: Dov Davidoff
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Considering that his job is to catch potential Dirty Cops, he's not that liked.
- Inspector Javert: Serves as an antagonist in the story since the protagonists are all Dirty Cops
- Internal Affairs: His job at the 64th. And his first case there was to check what happened to Donnie.
Captain Jordan Ramsey
- Played by: Bruce McGill
- Big Bad: Of the third (final) season.
- Dirty Cop: Doesn't hesitate to use his status to cement his underworld partnership nor kill off any IU officers who are about to squeal on him or who don't go corrupt.
- Hero Killer: Masterminded the death of James Nava.
- Karmic Death: Just as he's about to be transferred to prison, Wozniak appears on the bus and strangles him to death.
Detective Theo Bennett
- Played by: Christopher James Baker
- Boom, Headshot!: Cole shoots him in the head when he manages to convince Ramsey that he isn't the mole.
- Dirty Cop: Along with Ramsey and the intelligence unit.
- Hero Killer: He fired the bullets that killed James Nava.
- Speak Ill of the Dead: Matt and Harlee were about to decide he's not worth it and walk away. Until Bennett says that Nava cried like a baby before he died. Leading to Harlee and Matt changing their minds and arresting him, and earning him a punch in the face from Matt.
- Undying Loyalty: Refuses to give up anything incriminating against the intelligence.
Detective Cole
- Played by: Nich Wechsler
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In the Grand Finale, he decides that it's too dangerous to testify against Ramsey and the last we see of him he is boarding a ferry out of town.
- Token Good Teammate: He knows that the unit has fully turned to Dirty Cops, but can't do anything as he would be easily killed.
FBI:
Special Agent Robert Stahl
- Played by: Warren Kole
- Ax-Crazy: Becomes increasingly unhinged after being removed from the FBI. To the point of stalking Cristina and kidnapping Harlee. His sanity continues to slip away as time goes on.
- Blackmail: He uses it to get Harlee's cooperation when he implies that he can get her arrested for being a corrupt cop.
- The Bad Guy Wins: While being dead, he proved to be right about never being free unless you face your transgressions to Harlee, hence why she turns herself in and goes to prison at the end of the show.
- Character Death: Harlee finally kills him when he breaks into her home in the penultimate episode.
- Enemy Mine: Harlee asks him to help get Cristina out of the park she's in when Bianchi's hitman stalks her.
- Frame-Up: Kills Gina (The woman he hired to pose as Harlee.) and plants the bloody knife in Harlee's car.
- The Heavy: While every season has a criminal serving as the Big Bad, and Stahl is usually also working against them, Stahl remains the primary antagonist for Harlee for all seasons, until he's finally killed by her in the Grand Finale.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Executes Linklater for killing his partner, as well skirting through FBI regulations just to bag his man.
- JerkAss: Casually says that Anna Kate's suicide points to Matt's characteristic as a father. Harlee couldn't believe he said that.
- Jerk Ass Has A Point: Before he was killed by Harlee, he did clarify that Harlee will never be healed unless she faces her transgressions, something she quotes at the end of the series in her letter to Cristina when she's sent to prison.
- The Spymaster: He's running the sting op and he uses informants/electronic eavesdropping to get the dirt on the 64th Precinct.
- The Determinator: Still stalking Harlee after the kidnapping, he refuses to just give up on it.
- The Handler: He serves as Harlee main contact with the FBI.
- Lust Object: He has an unhealthy sexual obsession with Harlee, to the point he hired a look-alike prostitute.
- Murder-Suicide: Stahl planned to kill Harlee and himself since nothing else he tried worked, thankfully Harlee foiled that plan.
- Villainous Rescue: When a hitman sent by a cartel leader is about to assassinate Harlee, Stahl of all people sneaks up and kills the hitman.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Is berated for "arresting" Harlee, knowing that he'll be forced to take responsibility if the NYPD ever learns of a sting op made against them.
Stahl: Detective Santos was having second thoughts, and that's to be expected. We work through them.
Gail: By ordering an agent to pull a gun on her?- Molly berated him for ordering her to threaten Harlee with her sidearm.
- Gail warns him that he needs to resign after Harlee shows proof that he's threatening her by investigating Miguel's disappearance by masquerading as a PI.
- Wild Card: In the third (final) season where his presence along hinders Ramsey's unit or Wozniak's.
Special Agent Molly Chen
- Played by: Annie Chang
- But Not Too Foreign: She's Chinese-American.
- The Comically Serious: Molly's not above making a funny line. For instance, she asks Stahl if he has OCD for having a neat apartment.
- Mr. Exposition: Molly gives background information to Stahl (and to the audience) with whatever she can find regarding those involved in the Dirty Cop probe.
- New Meat: Recruited into the task force straight after graduating from Quantico.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Stahl calls Molly out for releasing Miguel Zepeda earlier than expected in "What Devil Do".
- Number Two: To Stahl in the task force.
- Whatever Happenedto The Mouse: Is not seen in season 3.
Gail Baker
- Played by: Leslie Silva
- Black Boss Lady: In charge of the FBI's New York branch.
- Old Friend: She used to be a friend of Harlee, although their relationship is never really elaborated on.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Gives Stahl some time to investigate alleged security breaches after Molly informed her that no one "officially" knows of the FBI's sting in the NYPD chain of command.
Civilians:
Cristina Santos
- Played by: Sarah Jeffery
- Morality Pet: Her presence helped Harlee get them away from her abusive boyfriend. And is used by Stahl to get Harlee to cooperate or risk arrest.
Linda Wozniak
- Played by: Lolita Davidovich
- Dark and Troubled Past: She lost her daughter to suicide after being depressed for some time. Unlike Matt, she was able to move on.
- Woman Scorned: She leaves home after she finds out Wozniak cheated on her with other men.
Anna Kate Wozniak
- Played by: Karsen Liotta
- Driven to Suicide: According to Matt, what drove her to suicide (Overdose from taking 9 pills) was after they had a fight where Matt had meant to say she was wasting her potential, but said she was wasting space.
- Hallucinations: Has appeared to Matt as a hallucination a few times in the third season.
- Posthumous Character: She died right before the show started.
Nathan Wozniak
- Played by: Cameron Scoggins
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: He beat up the drug dealer who sold Anna Kate the drugs she overdosed on and left him for dead, would have ended up in jail had Julia Ayres not covered it up.
Julia Ayres
- Played by: Anna Gunn
- Corrupt Politician: She is in on Wozniak's activities. She also is in league with Bianchi.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: For Nathan when she covered up his beatdown on the dealer who sold drugs to his sister.
- Villain with Good Publicity: She's a councilwoman running for mayor of New York.
Criminals:
Raul Mendez
- Played by: Otto Sanchez
- Asshole Victim: A Jerkass drug dealer that suffers violent torture and rape after trying to blackmail Woznik.
- Break the Haughty: He's completely broken by the torture he suffered under Woznik.
- Fate Worse than Death: Instead of just killing him, Wozniak subjects Mendez to brutal torture in the hands of two gay men. There's one sequence that includes the implication that he's forced to suck a gay man's penis.
Michael Bianchi
- Played by: Ritchie Coster
- Asshole Victim: After he gets pushed by James, he breaks his neck. Then Harlee smothers him to death to help cover James' tracks and make it look like self-defence.
- Bad Boss: He executes one of his soldiers with a shot to the head, due to not doing his job.
- Big Bad: Of season 2.
- Would Hit a Girl: He has no problems threatening to hurt Harlee, in part for framing him.
- Would Hurt a Child: He has a hitman try to kill Cristina.
Terrence Linklater
- Played by: Stephen Lang
- Boom, Headshot!: When Harlee and Matt try to hand him over to Stahl and the FBI, Stahl refuses their offer and shoots him in the head and orders them to stick to the assignment of getting Julia Ayres.
