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Vic Mackey

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Vic Mackey, Head of the Strike Team

Detective Vic Mackey is the fictional leader of the Strike Team, a four-man anti-gang unit in The Shield. Mackey is played by Michael Chiklis.

Little is known about Vic Mackey before his career with the Strike Team, though he was a detective in another district before his transfer to Farmington. He's extremely dedicated to his job, and though he's corrupt in instances, he simply sees his harsh methods as a means to an end. In that regard he's an extremely successful cop. He manages to keep himself in check for the most part too, only unleashing himself against those who, arguably, deserve little or no sympathy.

Despite his brutality, Mackey still possesses humane qualities. He genuinely cares about cleaning up the streets and will often go beyond the call of duty to keep the peace. Mackey was willing to go to prison to prevent Armando "Armadillo" Quintero — a sociopathic druglord and rapist — from returning to the street. During the money train heist, Mackey was ready to abandon his role in the robbery in order to stop gang members from murdering innocent civilians in an initiation ritual. He has also shown several instances of compassion, as seen in his friendship with Connie (a prostitute), his devotion to his kids and his loyalty to his team.

The Original Sin

Arguably his worst crime was murdering the fifth member of his team, Terry Crowley, who was sent by the Captain David Aceveda and the Justice Department to prove the Strike Team was working with a drug dealer. While on a raid in a criminal's house during police work, Mackey shot Crowley in the head, fatally wounding him. Acevada immediately suspected Mackey murdered Terry and set out to prove his guilt, but ultimately his attempts were unsuccessful.

Mackey and Shane are the only members of the Strike Team aware of the murder, though Lem would eventually be given a form of the events years later. Mackey has since occasionally expressed regret over Crowleys death.

After the Crowley murder, Mackey also tried to steal money from the Armenian Mob. Regardless of how he succeeded, the Armenians were able to find out about his robbery attempt and they sent Margos to decimate the Strike Team. In order to cover up for his criminal activity and the robbery he had attempted, Mackey killed Margos in an anticlimactic showdown to save his team and his reputation.

The Crimes of Vic Mackey

The Strike Team has committed several crimes that would probably place them in prison for a long period of time.

  • Hijacking a police evidence van.
  • Blackmailing a police officer to get him to recant his allegations against the Strike Team.
  • Functioning as a go-between in allowing drugs to flow through Farmington.
  • Embezzlement of thousands of dollars from seizures, arrests, or other police related activities.
  • Terry Crowley would not be Mackey's last murder. He also murdered Margos Dezerian at the end of the third season to not only cover up his link to the money train, but also to stop the hitman from killing him and his team.

Mackey and Aceveda

The tension between Mackey and Aceveda has evolved in different ways from the birth of The Shield. In the first season Aceveda was heavily bent out to prove Mackey's guilt, putting out all his effort to take him down. At the start of the second season, Aceveda, not wanting a scandal in the midst of his political career, agreed to watch Mackey's back if the Strike Team cleaned up their act and exhibited professionalism at all times possible, creating a very subtle, bumpy friendship between the two. The "friendship" at the start of season 4 seemed to be definitively done for.

Family Life

Mackey was married for a little over 12 years to his wife, Corinne. However, problems between the two resulted in the marriage disintegrating. Though he often cheated on his wife, he was devastated when she left him. He loves his three children deeply and will do whatever he needs to do in order to help them. In season one, his son Matthew was diagnosed with autism. Mackey took on double shifts to support him and his mother, and is suspected to be a motivating factor in robbing millions from the Armenian mob.

Other Relationships

Mackey also had a close friendship with a hooker, Connie, whom in an unseen story he found "lying in a bathroom in a pool of bloody crystals," trying to end her pregnancy with drain cleaner and a plunger. He told her if she ever needed any help she could call him, and since then they've always had a deep bond. Unfortunately, Connie was killed in season 2 while shacking up with a murderer in a criminal informant assignment. Since her death, Mackey occasionally checks in on her son, Brian, who is in foster care.

Vic was rumored to be the father of a fellow officer's child as well. It is alluded to, throughout the 5th season, that a one-night tryst with Officer Danielle "Danny" Sofer resulted in her pregnancy. Sofer's child, a boy whom she names Lee, is revealed to be Vic's child during the final episode of the fifth season.

During another episode in the fifth season Vic, in an attempt to throw Kavanaugh from his game, sleeps with Kavanaugh's wife and proceeds to inform him of this action.

Mackey’s Notable “Incidents”

Some of Mackey’s most notable incidents include:

  • Broiling a gang leader's face on a stove (in retaliation for the gang leader's rape of a twelve-year old and for burning to death a CI who was a friend of his)
  • Stacking tires around a suspect's body and threatening to light him on fire
  • Nearly drowning someone in a bucket of crude oil
  • Threatening to throw a man out a window after forcing him to write a crudely written suicide note
  • Taking a murderer and transporting him across the border, where he was planted with a weapon and arrested by Mexican police
  • Interrogating a teenager by handcuffing him to a metal pole and shocking him with the suspect’s own stun gun
  • Threatening a CI with a knife when she was going to work with Internal Affairs against him
  • Stopping an attack on a Hispanic man by rioting teenagers by using a firehose.
  • Threatening to plant crack cocaine on a teenager unless he told who he saw ambush and kill two Farmington cops.

Trivia

  • Mackey appears to favor a Smith & Wesson Model 4506-1 Pistol in .45 ACP and carries a snub nosed revolver as a backup gun.
  • Mackey wears a Cartier Must 21 wristwatch.
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