Vincent Terranova (Ken Wahl)
Vincent Michael “Vinnie” Terranova is an undercover agent who is 30 years old when the series begins. His job is to infiltrate criminal organizations, gather evidence, and then destroy the organization and bring the guilty parties to justice. At the beginning of the show, he is estranged from his family because of an eighteen-month prison sentence (meant to establish his “wiseguy” credentials with the criminal underworld) and continued ties to criminals. His Italian-born mother, Carlotta (Elsa Raven) calls him “Vincenzo” but we are given to understand that his legal name is Vincent. Vinnie was often seen wearing Fordham University sweatshirts and hats so by inference he is a Fordham graduate.
Note: there was a real-life wise guy named Vincenzo Terranova, often anglicized as “Vincent”, brother of Ciro Terranova and fellow leader of the Morello crime family; he was killed in 1922.
Frank McPike (Jonathan Banks)
Frank McPike is Vinnie’s superior officer, who assigns Vinnie to cases, supplies him with important information and coordinates back-up support. Since McPike is a known law enforcement official and Vinnie is deep undercover, McPike will often have Vinnie arrested on a trumped-up charge, so that he can talk to Vinnie without revealing his identity.
Daniel “Lifeguard” Burroughs (Jim Byrnes)
Lifeguard (whom Vinnie communicates with almost exclusively by telephone) is Vinnie’s other contact person. Vinnie (ideally) calls him every morning with the latest updates on the case, and Lifeguard provides him with quick updates. He also, under the name of Mike Terranova, provides Vinnie with an emergency contact number (555-4958, a play on Vince’s agent number), without revealing Vinnie’s true identity. (The cover location is “Sailor Hardware”; the codephrase “Uncle Mike” indicates an emergency request for assistance).
