Al Giardello
Encyclopedia
Alphonse Michael Giardello, Sr. is a fictional character
from the television drama Homicide: Life on the Street
. The character was played by Yaphet Kotto
. He is based on Baltimore Police Department
Shift Lieutenant Gary D'Addario
, a member of the BPD homicide unit described in David Simon's book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets
which served as the inspiration for the series as a whole.
heritage. He originates from Southeast Baltimore, where his father was from Baltimore's Little Italy
and his mother was from a neighboring housing project known as the Perkins Homes
. He played three sports and was Prom King when he was in high school. He takes a degree of pride in both heritages, speaking near fluent Italian and fraternizing with many of the BPD's African American
and Italian American
officers alike. According to the episodes "Black and Blue" and "Narcissus", he began his career in the department in 1968.
Gee enjoys cooking and is an excellent Hearts player, as revealed in the episode "All Through the House". As Bayliss
tries (and fails) to hustle him out of some easy cash during a slow night, he learns from the other detectives that Gee put one of his three children through college by playing Hearts for money.
In the Season 6 episode "Lies and Other Truths", it is revealed that Gee has kept in touch with a former KGB
agent who apparently held him captive at some earlier point in his life. The agent tried to brainwash Gee for four months, without success, and Gee eventually persuaded him to defect
to the West with the help of a $300,000 bribe.
A physically imposing, highly articulate man, Giardello's cultural attitude stands in sharp contrast to both his Baltimore upbringing and many other officers in the Department. Despite his authorative nature, Gee is essentially a humorous, good-natured man who seems to see himself as a mentor and father figure to his detectives, who are tremendously loyal to him. He also has a particular fondness for children, the flip side of which is that he is particularly outraged when children are murder victims, an attribute shared by many other detectives.
(whom Charisse refers to as Al Jr.). He has one grandchild by his daughter, Charisse. He also expresses missing his late wife in several episodes of the first four seasons as well as his devoted, if on occasion strained, relationship with his children. In Season 4, Gee delays his flight out of Baltimore for a daughter's wedding for so long that by the time he does get to BWI, the weather has made it impossible for him to fly to the event in San Francisco, and he is left devastated. In the seventh season Gee's son, FBI Agent Mike Giardello
, comes to Baltimore from Arizona and considers leaving the FBI to join the Baltimore Police Department
. In the final episode, Teresa and Mike appear at his promotion ceremony.
from the squad building. When someone under his command gets too far out of line, though, he can take them to task very sharply, at one point even forcing Bayliss
to apologize to "the bosses" for making an angry phone call to them over a case. Curiously, at his most annoyed or angry, Gee expresses a kind of whimsical and "bubbly" attitude, but one that comes with threats or hints of menace. He is only rarely given to physical outbursts of rage, such as sweeping everything off his desk or attacking a storage cabinet with a baseball bat.
Gee is also in many respects "old school"; at times he expresses nostalgia for the Baltimore of his youth. Although he is critical of the abuses he endured in his early days on the police force, he expresses a grudging respect for what he feels the harder approach accomplished, including the fact that in the old days, cop-killers would not survive to face juries and trials. Giardello also possesses an intense belief in loyalty among fellow police officers as a "brotherhood"; in the episode "Black and Blue", he disagreed with Detective Frank Pembleton
's suspicion that a cop had committed a shooting, and implied that loyalty to other cops is above loyalty to the citizenry, including the African-American citizenry. This was relevant, as the shooting occurred in a mostly black neighborhood and had become a racially-charged issue.
Giardello tends to allow his detectives to investigate murders in a manner that is more efficient but less discreet, very much unlike the preferred methods instructed by the department's upper command. Gee's command style allows for cases to be cleared and allows his subordinates a form of investigative freedom which may result in more negative press for the department than what the upper command wishes for.
Gee's leadership style and earned respect from his detectives mirrored the real-life dynamic with Lt. Gary D'Addario.
, a college-educated bureaucrat who is less experienced on the street and is more interested in appeasing those who outrank him. Barnfather eventually grows to work with Giardello, however, following the African Revival Movement fallout. Giardello finds most of his trouble throughout the department with Deputy Commissioner James C. Harris
. At one point in Giardello's career, Harris proved to be a useful ally whom Gee could turn to; that relationship, however, deteriorates with Gee's growing acts of command-oriented rebellion. As Gee allows Detective Frank Pembleton
to compromise a scandal involving congressman Jeremy Wade resulting in a lost election, Harris seeks retaliation. To punish Gee for the lost election, Harris purposefully promotes an incompetent and bigoted officer named Roger Gaffney
to a captain's position that Gee had earned and expected. As Gaffney is a "fat Irish ass" very much like Gee's racist training partner Mickey Shea, Harris sends Gee a reminder that his days in the BPD will be subject to dealing with contempt from the department's upper command. Gee, however, gets the last word on Harris following the fallout with the African Revival Movement, in which Harris' one-time partner Burundi Robinson provides Gee with incriminating information regarding Harris and a drug case where a large amount of heroin went missing; Harris stole the drugs and sold them to a dealer, and when Robinson protested, said that they would flip a coin and whomever lost the toss would resign and the other would bury the story. After Robinson's suicide, Gee leaks this information to the press, and Harris is forced to resign in disgrace, with the ever-pleasant Gaffney pretending that he's upset about Harris' "long and distinguished career" being ruined because he wants to anger Gee. Near the end of the final season, Gee is offered a captain's position, which he eventually declines as it is not within the department's Homicide Unit.
city. One of Gee's first experiences on the force dealt with the Baltimore riot of 1968
, which occurred in response to the assassination of African American
leader Martin Luther King Jr. Gee described the event to Detective Frank Pembleton
as a test of his loyalty, in which Gee was forced to determine if he would side with his community or his department. Gee experienced racism first-hand at the orders of his training officer Mickey Shea, an Irish officer who had forced a young Giardello to ride in the back of the patrol car. Shea told Gee that he "wouldn't share the front seat of his car with a nigger
," intentionally trying to provoke Gee into assaulting him so that he could be brought up on charges and thereby kicked off the force. Gee had also found conflict by other African American
s both professionally and socially. Within the BPD, Gee is repeatedly passed over for promotion to captain by African American
commanders Deputy Commissioner James Harris
and Colonel George Barnfather for White officers Megan Russert
and Roger Gaffney
, both of whom are less experienced and less competent. Gaffney is specifically promoted over Gee as punishment from Deputy Commissioner Harris due to Gaffney's racist attitude, large frame, and Irish background that resembled Shea. Off the job, Gee claims that African American
women have discriminated against him romantically on the basis of his appearance being "too black
" (It is also noteworthy that Gee's African American
supervisors are of a much lighter complexion than him and may hence practice similar discrimination). It is stated by his son Michael
that Gee was one of the department's first Black Lieutenants and that the police department had a long history of hatred towards Baltimore's Black community. (Michael says he was the first black lieutenant, but Gee is ranked by Black officers such as Com. Harris and Col. Barnfather, who most likely made rank before him.) Despite the various racial setbacks, Gee nevertheless advances in the department, managing to find camaraderie amongst many of the department's officers while maintaining a supportive attitude of Baltimore's majority African American
community.
, Gee runs for mayor on a platform in favor of drug legalization and builds a considerable lead in the polls. The events of the film lead to an attempt on his life, which in turn prompts all of his living former detectives to come together and find the shooter. After emergency surgery (during which he is shot again, along with one of the doctors operating on him) and one last talk with his son Mike, Gee succumbs to an aneurysm
and dies. He subsequently finds himself in an afterlife version of the homicide squad room, where he briefly meets the spirit of Adena Watson before sitting down to play cards with fellow officers Steve Crosetti
and Beau Felton
while they wait for the next "arrival".
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
from the television drama Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide: Life on the Street is an American police procedural television series chronicling the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore Homicide Unit. It ran for seven seasons on NBC from 1993 to 1999, and was succeeded by a TV movie, which also acted as the de-facto series finale...
. The character was played by Yaphet Kotto
Yaphet Kotto
Yaphet Frederick Kotto is an African-American actor, known for numerous film roles , and his starring role in the NBC television series Homicide: Life on the Street .-Early life:Kotto was born in New York City, the son of Gladys Marie, a...
. He is based on Baltimore Police Department
Baltimore Police Department
The Baltimore Police Department provides police services to the city of Baltimore, Maryland and was officially established by the Maryland Legislature on March 16, 1853...
Shift Lieutenant Gary D'Addario
Gary D'Addario
Gary D'Addario is a retired police commander, television technical advisor and actor from Baltimore, Maryland.D'Addario joined the Baltimore police department in 1967...
, a member of the BPD homicide unit described in David Simon's book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets is a 1991 book written by Baltimore Sun reporter David Simon describing a year spent with detectives from the Baltimore Police Department homicide squad...
which served as the inspiration for the series as a whole.
Biography
Al Giardello — nicknamed "Gee" after the only thing he could say when called to his first murder scene as a rookie as well as a reference to his last name — is the commander of the Homicide unit shift followed by the series. Holding the rank of Lieutenant, he encounters a number of opportunities for promotion during the series, only to have his hopes dashed by the political maneuvering of his superiors. He is introduced early in the series as a widower of mixed Sicilian American and African AmericanAfrican American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
heritage. He originates from Southeast Baltimore, where his father was from Baltimore's Little Italy
Little Italy, Baltimore
Little Italy is a neighborhood located in Baltimore, Maryland, United States.Situated just east of the Inner Harbor, it has one of the city's busiest restaurant districts. It is so named because of the large number of Italian immigrant families that moved into the area during the 20th century. The...
and his mother was from a neighboring housing project known as the Perkins Homes
Perkins Homes, Baltimore
The Perkins Homes are a public housing development in Southeast Baltimore located in between Fells Point and Little Italy bounded by Pratt Street on the North, Eden Street on the West, Dallas Street on the East, and Bank Street to the South...
. He played three sports and was Prom King when he was in high school. He takes a degree of pride in both heritages, speaking near fluent Italian and fraternizing with many of the BPD's African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
and Italian American
Italian American
An Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...
officers alike. According to the episodes "Black and Blue" and "Narcissus", he began his career in the department in 1968.
Gee enjoys cooking and is an excellent Hearts player, as revealed in the episode "All Through the House". As Bayliss
Tim Bayliss
Timothy Bayliss is a fictional detective on Homicide: Life on the Street. He was a primary character, and was played by Kyle Secor. He was loosely based on the real-life Det...
tries (and fails) to hustle him out of some easy cash during a slow night, he learns from the other detectives that Gee put one of his three children through college by playing Hearts for money.
In the Season 6 episode "Lies and Other Truths", it is revealed that Gee has kept in touch with a former KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
agent who apparently held him captive at some earlier point in his life. The agent tried to brainwash Gee for four months, without success, and Gee eventually persuaded him to defect
Defection
In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state or political entity in exchange for allegiance to another. More broadly, it involves abandoning a person, cause or doctrine to whom or to which one is bound by some tie, as of allegiance or duty.This term is also applied,...
to the West with the help of a $300,000 bribe.
A physically imposing, highly articulate man, Giardello's cultural attitude stands in sharp contrast to both his Baltimore upbringing and many other officers in the Department. Despite his authorative nature, Gee is essentially a humorous, good-natured man who seems to see himself as a mentor and father figure to his detectives, who are tremendously loyal to him. He also has a particular fondness for children, the flip side of which is that he is particularly outraged when children are murder victims, an attribute shared by many other detectives.
Family
Gee is introduced as a widower whose wife has been dead for at least seven years prior to the first season. According to the episode "La Famiglia", he has three children: two daughters, Teresa and Charisse, and a son, MichaelMike Giardello
Alphonse Michael Giardello Jr. is a fictional character from the television drama Homicide: Life on the Street. The character was played by Giancarlo Esposito.-Biography:...
(whom Charisse refers to as Al Jr.). He has one grandchild by his daughter, Charisse. He also expresses missing his late wife in several episodes of the first four seasons as well as his devoted, if on occasion strained, relationship with his children. In Season 4, Gee delays his flight out of Baltimore for a daughter's wedding for so long that by the time he does get to BWI, the weather has made it impossible for him to fly to the event in San Francisco, and he is left devastated. In the seventh season Gee's son, FBI Agent Mike Giardello
Mike Giardello
Alphonse Michael Giardello Jr. is a fictional character from the television drama Homicide: Life on the Street. The character was played by Giancarlo Esposito.-Biography:...
, comes to Baltimore from Arizona and considers leaving the FBI to join the Baltimore Police Department
Baltimore Police Department
The Baltimore Police Department provides police services to the city of Baltimore, Maryland and was officially established by the Maryland Legislature on March 16, 1853...
. In the final episode, Teresa and Mike appear at his promotion ceremony.
As Commander
Gee is generally supportive of his detectives and usually places their success or welfare over the desires of those above him. An early example of this concerned his discovery that his superiors were hiding the fact they were removing asbestosAsbestos
Asbestos is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals used commercially for their desirable physical properties. They all have in common their eponymous, asbestiform habit: long, thin fibrous crystals...
from the squad building. When someone under his command gets too far out of line, though, he can take them to task very sharply, at one point even forcing Bayliss
Tim Bayliss
Timothy Bayliss is a fictional detective on Homicide: Life on the Street. He was a primary character, and was played by Kyle Secor. He was loosely based on the real-life Det...
to apologize to "the bosses" for making an angry phone call to them over a case. Curiously, at his most annoyed or angry, Gee expresses a kind of whimsical and "bubbly" attitude, but one that comes with threats or hints of menace. He is only rarely given to physical outbursts of rage, such as sweeping everything off his desk or attacking a storage cabinet with a baseball bat.
Gee is also in many respects "old school"; at times he expresses nostalgia for the Baltimore of his youth. Although he is critical of the abuses he endured in his early days on the police force, he expresses a grudging respect for what he feels the harder approach accomplished, including the fact that in the old days, cop-killers would not survive to face juries and trials. Giardello also possesses an intense belief in loyalty among fellow police officers as a "brotherhood"; in the episode "Black and Blue", he disagreed with Detective Frank Pembleton
Frank Pembleton
Francis Xavier "Frank" Pembleton is a fictional homicide detective on the television drama series Homicide: Life on the Street portrayed by Emmy Award winning actor Andre Braugher. He is a primary character of the show through the first six seasons...
's suspicion that a cop had committed a shooting, and implied that loyalty to other cops is above loyalty to the citizenry, including the African-American citizenry. This was relevant, as the shooting occurred in a mostly black neighborhood and had become a racially-charged issue.
Giardello tends to allow his detectives to investigate murders in a manner that is more efficient but less discreet, very much unlike the preferred methods instructed by the department's upper command. Gee's command style allows for cases to be cleared and allows his subordinates a form of investigative freedom which may result in more negative press for the department than what the upper command wishes for.
Gee's leadership style and earned respect from his detectives mirrored the real-life dynamic with Lt. Gary D'Addario.
Relationship with Bosses
The show presents his fighting against "the bosses" as a substantial part of his initial failures at advancement. Giardello is considered to be a renegade commander and a thorn in the bosses' side due to his tendency to alert the media about investigations and command his officers to perform in a way that while effective, is not representative of the department's political objectives. Early in the series, Giardello finds conflict with George BarnfatherGeorge Barnfather
George Barnfather is a fictional Deputy Commissioner in the Baltimore Police Department on Homicide: Life on the Street, played by Clayton LeBouef.Barnfather first appeared in the series as a Captain whose command was over the Homicide Section...
, a college-educated bureaucrat who is less experienced on the street and is more interested in appeasing those who outrank him. Barnfather eventually grows to work with Giardello, however, following the African Revival Movement fallout. Giardello finds most of his trouble throughout the department with Deputy Commissioner James C. Harris
James C. Harris
James C. Harris is the fictional Deputy Commissioner of Operations of the Baltimore Police Department on Homicide: Life on the Street, He was played by Al Freeman Jr.-Biography:...
. At one point in Giardello's career, Harris proved to be a useful ally whom Gee could turn to; that relationship, however, deteriorates with Gee's growing acts of command-oriented rebellion. As Gee allows Detective Frank Pembleton
Frank Pembleton
Francis Xavier "Frank" Pembleton is a fictional homicide detective on the television drama series Homicide: Life on the Street portrayed by Emmy Award winning actor Andre Braugher. He is a primary character of the show through the first six seasons...
to compromise a scandal involving congressman Jeremy Wade resulting in a lost election, Harris seeks retaliation. To punish Gee for the lost election, Harris purposefully promotes an incompetent and bigoted officer named Roger Gaffney
Roger Gaffney
Roger Gaffney is a fictional police officer of the Baltimore Police Department on Homicide: Life on the Street. He was played by Walt MacPherson....
to a captain's position that Gee had earned and expected. As Gaffney is a "fat Irish ass" very much like Gee's racist training partner Mickey Shea, Harris sends Gee a reminder that his days in the BPD will be subject to dealing with contempt from the department's upper command. Gee, however, gets the last word on Harris following the fallout with the African Revival Movement, in which Harris' one-time partner Burundi Robinson provides Gee with incriminating information regarding Harris and a drug case where a large amount of heroin went missing; Harris stole the drugs and sold them to a dealer, and when Robinson protested, said that they would flip a coin and whomever lost the toss would resign and the other would bury the story. After Robinson's suicide, Gee leaks this information to the press, and Harris is forced to resign in disgrace, with the ever-pleasant Gaffney pretending that he's upset about Harris' "long and distinguished career" being ruined because he wants to anger Gee. Near the end of the final season, Gee is offered a captain's position, which he eventually declines as it is not within the department's Homicide Unit.
Experiences with racism
According to Gee's childhood associate Felix Wilson, there were few Black policemen in Baltimore when they were growing up. Giardello joined the BPD in 1968 during a racially turbulent era and was subject to working under a predominantly White department in a largely African AmericanAfrican American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
city. One of Gee's first experiences on the force dealt with the Baltimore riot of 1968
Baltimore riot of 1968
The Baltimore Riot of 1968 began two days after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. Rioting broke out in 125 cities across the United States, and spread to the city of Baltimore, Maryland on Saturday, April 6. The Governor of Maryland, Spiro T...
, which occurred in response to the assassination of African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
leader Martin Luther King Jr. Gee described the event to Detective Frank Pembleton
Frank Pembleton
Francis Xavier "Frank" Pembleton is a fictional homicide detective on the television drama series Homicide: Life on the Street portrayed by Emmy Award winning actor Andre Braugher. He is a primary character of the show through the first six seasons...
as a test of his loyalty, in which Gee was forced to determine if he would side with his community or his department. Gee experienced racism first-hand at the orders of his training officer Mickey Shea, an Irish officer who had forced a young Giardello to ride in the back of the patrol car. Shea told Gee that he "wouldn't share the front seat of his car with a nigger
Nigger
Nigger is a noun in the English language, most notable for its usage in a pejorative context to refer to black people , and also as an informal slang term, among other contexts. It is a common ethnic slur...
," intentionally trying to provoke Gee into assaulting him so that he could be brought up on charges and thereby kicked off the force. Gee had also found conflict by other African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s both professionally and socially. Within the BPD, Gee is repeatedly passed over for promotion to captain by African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
commanders Deputy Commissioner James Harris
James C. Harris
James C. Harris is the fictional Deputy Commissioner of Operations of the Baltimore Police Department on Homicide: Life on the Street, He was played by Al Freeman Jr.-Biography:...
and Colonel George Barnfather for White officers Megan Russert
Megan Russert
Detective Megan Russert is a fictional character on Homicide: Life on the Street played by Isabella Hofmann. At the time of her introduction in the premiere episode of the third season, she is a lieutenant who takes charge of the homicide unit's second shift after the previous commander's retirement...
and Roger Gaffney
Roger Gaffney
Roger Gaffney is a fictional police officer of the Baltimore Police Department on Homicide: Life on the Street. He was played by Walt MacPherson....
, both of whom are less experienced and less competent. Gaffney is specifically promoted over Gee as punishment from Deputy Commissioner Harris due to Gaffney's racist attitude, large frame, and Irish background that resembled Shea. Off the job, Gee claims that African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
women have discriminated against him romantically on the basis of his appearance being "too black
Colorism
Colorism is prejudice or discrimination in which human beings are accorded differing social treatment based on skin color. The preference often gets translated into economic status because of opportunities for work. Colorism can be found across the world...
" (It is also noteworthy that Gee's African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
supervisors are of a much lighter complexion than him and may hence practice similar discrimination). It is stated by his son Michael
Mike Giardello
Alphonse Michael Giardello Jr. is a fictional character from the television drama Homicide: Life on the Street. The character was played by Giancarlo Esposito.-Biography:...
that Gee was one of the department's first Black Lieutenants and that the police department had a long history of hatred towards Baltimore's Black community. (Michael says he was the first black lieutenant, but Gee is ranked by Black officers such as Com. Harris and Col. Barnfather, who most likely made rank before him.) Despite the various racial setbacks, Gee nevertheless advances in the department, managing to find camaraderie amongst many of the department's officers while maintaining a supportive attitude of Baltimore's majority African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
community.
The Movie
In Homicide: The MovieHomicide: The Movie
Homicide: The Movie is a television movie that aired 13 February 2000, one year after the completion of the American police drama television series Homicide: Life on the Street...
, Gee runs for mayor on a platform in favor of drug legalization and builds a considerable lead in the polls. The events of the film lead to an attempt on his life, which in turn prompts all of his living former detectives to come together and find the shooter. After emergency surgery (during which he is shot again, along with one of the doctors operating on him) and one last talk with his son Mike, Gee succumbs to an aneurysm
Aneurysm
An aneurysm or aneurism is a localized, blood-filled balloon-like bulge in the wall of a blood vessel. Aneurysms can commonly occur in arteries at the base of the brain and an aortic aneurysm occurs in the main artery carrying blood from the left ventricle of the heart...
and dies. He subsequently finds himself in an afterlife version of the homicide squad room, where he briefly meets the spirit of Adena Watson before sitting down to play cards with fellow officers Steve Crosetti
Steve Crosetti
Det. Steve Crosetti is a fictional character on the television drama series Homicide: Life on the Street portrayed by actor Jon Polito for the show's first two seasons. He is believed to be based on Baltimore Police Department Det...
and Beau Felton
Beau Felton
Det. Beauregard D. 'Beau' Felton is a fictional character on the television drama series Homicide: Life on the Street portrayed by Daniel Baldwin for seasons 1-3. He was loosely based on Det...
while they wait for the next "arrival".