Name | HR |
First Appearance | “Pilot” |
Last Appearance | “The Devil's Share” |
Leader | Alonzo Quinn |
Purpose | Group of corrupt personnel in law enforcement and public office |
Connection | NYPD |
Status | Disbanded |
HR, initialism of Human Resources (“Bury the Lede”) is an organization of corrupt law enforcement and public officials. It is led by Alonzo Quinn and his second-in-command Patrick Simmons, who work with the criminal underworld to maintain order in New York. They are involved with enterprise criminals, foreign cartels, and also mafia families looking the other way at criminal activities in exchange for sharing profits and helping control the city. Unlike many cases of corruption involving single individuals and very small groups, HR is notable in that it is a massive, highly organized conspiracy with far reaching influence and thousands of members, many of whom are infiltrated in key positions in the New York Police Department, most if not all aspects of New York City's society and infrastructure as well as possibly other organizations.
History[]
HR began as a loose confederation of dirty cops using their badges to conduct criminal activities. As the organization grew, they aligned themselves with Carl Elias, a nascent organized crime boss and de-facto leader of New York City. Elias used elements of HR to advance his influence and look the other way at his criminal activities in exchange for sharing his profits and helping control the city, primarily by moving against hostile organized criminals, most notably the Russians.
HR activities are overseen by an inner council of high-ranking police officials, made up of Councilman Seth Larsson, New York Police Department detective Sam Romano and New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police captain Peter Lewis. Street-level activities are managed by Officer Patrick Simmons. HR’s activities include, but are not limited to, extortion, money laundering, drug trafficking, smuggling operations, contract killing and, most prominently, providing protection to organized crime groups in exchange for a percentage of their wealth and influence . They have corrupted and absorbed select elements of the New York District Attorney’s office in order to influence the outcomes of key trials. The Five Families, old school Italian mob, are aware of their activities, and collude with them when necessary. However, Alonzo Quinn, the head of HR, remains unidentified, allowing him to work quietly in the background, controlling politics in New York as the Mayor's chief of staff.
HR maintains a fragile balance between Elias, the mob and its own activities. When Elias attempts to solidify power by assassinating any of the Five Families dons who refuse to cooperate with him, HR severs its ties with Elias’s organization. As a result, Elias is arrested and sent to Rikers Island, and HR makes a major enemy of him. (“Flesh and Blood”)
Bringing Down HR[]
Reese and Finch first become aware of HR when Reese discovers ADA Diane Hansen and Det. James Stills’ attempt to influence the outcome of a trial. (“Pilot”) Among Stills’ confederates is Det. Lionel Fusco, whom Reese forces to work with him under threat of exposure. Fusco, a reluctant participant in HR who believes he can still be a good cop, agrees.
To track major crimes in New York, Reese instructs Fusco to go undercover in HR, with the aim of gathering enough information to bring down the entire organization by having Fusco use HR to cover up the death of corrupt IAB detective Ian Davidson. (“Blue Code”) After months undercover, Fusco is brought before the HR Inner Council who have been hired to kill Caroline Turing. Fusco is able to get a picture of the Inner Council and their mole in the FBI and after the operation fails, anonymously sends the pictures to Special Agent Donnelly of the FBI. Donnelly arrests the Inner Council and the mole who are convicted of their crimes by Landon Walker who is secretly a member of HR himself. Eventually, Fusco is able to identify all of HR's members and anonymously reveal it to the FBI. Agents led by Donnelly perform a city-wide crackdown that arrests more than 75 dirty cops on HR's payroll. The FBI begin searching for a ledger belonging to deceased Mafia Don Vittorio Zambrano that contains information on all of HR. Under threat from Simmons, Fusco steals the pages containing his own name and Simmons' from the ledger. Landon Walker is exposed as the "boss" of HR, but the true head, Alonzo Quinn is not in the ledger and is able to avoid exposure with Simmons, who states that HR is down but not out and continue working. (“Bury the Lede”) Donnelly later tells Carter that the FBI considers HR "degraded to the point of irrelevance." (“Shadow Box”)
The New HR[]
With Quinn still operating, HR begins re-establishing its membership, and revenue stream. Initially it was hoped that a reconciliation with Elias might be possible, but he aggressively refuses their ovations, and makes it clear their relationship is over. (“C.O.D.”) As a result, HR establishes a new business arrangement with new Russian mob boss Peter Yogorov and his brother. In order to do this, they frame Detective Bill Szymanski as dirty, but he is cleared by Carter, forcing HR to murder Szymanski to prevent him from testifying against the Yogorovs. (“All In”) Quinn later orders the murder of his godson, Detective Cal Beecher, after Beecher begins investigating the framing of Szymanski. (“Trojan Horse”) After Carter keeps investigating Beecher's murder, HR tries to assassinate her but fails. In response, they frame her for the murder of a suspect she shot in self-defense. After Terney threatens her to drop her investigation, HR moves on Elias, attempting to assassinate him by faking a prison transfer. However, Carter learns of the assassination plot, rescues Elias, and escapes with him. HR's successful framing of Carter results in her demotion to patrol officer. (“Zero Day”) (“God Mode”) (“Liberty”)
Following her demotion, Carter begins surveillance of HR with the intention of locating the boss and bringing the organization down properly. By following Terney, Carter is able to gather enough evidence to identify and arrest half of HR within months, but refuses to make a move until she can identify HR's boss. As part of her efforts, Carter builds a board of the high-ranking members of HR she has identified inside her closet. In an attempt to spy on Carter and stymie her efforts, HR assigns her Mike Laskey, a Russian cop as her rookie. However, Carter recognizes Laskey as a member of HR and eventually blackmails him into being her mole within the organization. Laskey eventually begins to question HR after he is forced to bury his friend, Russian deli owner Morozov and reveals that HR is stockpiling millions of dollars they have gathered from protection payments and have seeded the police force with twelve Russian cops, giving them more cops loyal to them and cementing their relationship with the Russian mafia. (“Liberty”) (“Nothing to Hide”) (“Razgovor”) (“Mors Praematura”)
With Elias out of the picture, HR successfully rebuilds itself from the ashes with the aid of the Russian Mafia. As part of the new HR, they attempt to use a new synthetic drug to take over New York City's drug trade and make themselves rich with HR manufacturing the drug and the Russians distributing it. However, wannabe-spy Genrika Zhirova records a conversation between Simmons and Peter Yogorov about the plot and she is targeted by HR, drawing the attention of the Machine and consequently, the team. While rescuing the young girl, Shaw locates the drug lab and destroys it, cutting off HR's main source of profit. (“Razgovor”)
In order to clean the kickback money they get from the Russians for looking the other way, HR blackmails antique dealer Sven Vanger into laundering money for them by depositing HR money into his accounts and using it to bid on worthless baseball items at auction put up for sale by a seller representing HR which then puts the money into HR's accounts. HR is able to successfully launder millions of dollars this way, but Carter learns of it when HR brings in Laskey to kill Sven and the Machine points the team towards Hayden Price, a con artist who is scamming Sven. Price is able to scam Sven into buying a rare baseball that is actually worth $4.4 million with HR's money which HR attempts to reclaim. With the help of Laskey, Carter, Reese and Shaw are able to prevent HR from getting the ball back and it is instead stolen by Natalie Boal, Price's girlfriend and another con artist.
While reporting on the situation with the stolen baseball to Quinn, Simmons is photographed by Laskey who had been assigned to follow him and take pictures of everyone he meets with by Carter. As Laskey turns over the pictures to Carter, the two are caught by Terney who kills Laskey and is in return mortally wounded by Carter. At Carter's begging, in his last moments, Terney identifies Alonzo Quinn as the head of HR to a shocked Carter. (“The Perfect Mark”)
End of HR[]
Having learned the identity of the leader of HR, Carter meets with Quinn and claims that after the death of Laskey, she is dropping her investigation into his death as she realizes that fighting HR is a battle she can't win. However, Carter secretly performs a forced pairing of Quinn's phone during the meeting which allows her to learn of a meeting between Simmons and Peter Yogorov during which time she learns of a drug shipment HR is supposed to be protecting, the fact that they didn't release Laszlo Yogorov as promised, that HR is demanding ten percent more money for their protection and that the Russians killed Cal Beecher on HR's orders.
As part of her plan to take down HR, Carter has Elias approach Peter with accusations that HR will betray the Russians and leave them a folder with the names and pictures of top-level HR members. As the Russians drug shipment arrives, Carter ambushes the truck with Resse's grenade launcher and hijacks it, leaving a burner phone with Quinn's number on it next to the unconscious driver and making it seem like HR betrayed the Russians. Peter then contacts Quinn and threatens to kill the men Elias gave him the identities of if HR doesn't return the drugs "they" stole. As Quinn and Simmons discuss their failing alliance with the Russians, Carter shoots up Quinn's office with a sniper rifle, making him believe that Peter tried to kill him. Quinn then orders Simmons to have HR round up and execute the top-members of the Russian Mafia in retaliation.
Following Quinn's orders, HR uses their status as cops to round up the Russians by arresting them for various things. However, Carter is able to get to Peter before the Russians can and takes him into protective custody. Carter is able to successfully convince Peter to sign a sworn statement implicating Quinn as the head of HR by pointing out the threat HR poses to his brother Laszlo in prison. Carter then plants her stolen drugs on HR Detective Stan Mitchell and tips off the FBI to HR's plan to kill the Russians over the drug shipment. As a result, the FBI interrupts HR's attempt on the Russians' lives and discovers the planted drugs. The HR cops are all then arrested by the FBI.
Having gotten Peter's sworn statement, Carter contacts Judge Andrew Monahan for an arrest warrant for Quinn. However, Monahan is on HR's payroll and betrays Carter to HR. Carter is taken before Quinn, Simmons and several dirty cops to be murdered. In the confrontation, Carter challenges Quinn to kill her himself unlike what he did with Cal Beecher and he confesses to murdering Beecher while taunting Carter. Carter then reveals that she anticipated the betrayal and called Finch and Reese for help. Finch then replays Quinn's confession to having Beecher killed for him over Quinn's own cell phone, having used Carter's forced pairing to access Quinn's phone and record the conversation. Reese then bursts in and rescues Carter who apprehends Quinn as they escape. However, Simmons is able to get a picture of Reese from the dash cam of a police cruiser Reese disables. (“Endgame”)
In order cover up what happened at Judge Monahan's house, Simmons murders him and makes the crime look like a robbery gone bad. Simmons then orders a bounty put out on Reese to all of HR and the affiliated gangs and for Carter and Quinn to be taken in alive. To keep Carter from reaching the Federal Building, HR shuts down all of the trains and puts up roadblocks at the only routes from Queens to Lower Manhattan. Using a stolen ambulance, Reese and Carter attempt to sneak past the roadblock at the Brooklyn Bridge, but Simmons notices a bloody handprint on the ambulance and orders it stopped. With the help of covering fire from Fusco, Reese and Carter are able to make it through HR's roadblock and into Manhattan. However, Fusco is captured by Simmons, William Petersen, and Lin.
Simmons, Petersen and Lin take Fusco to a fortune cookie factory where they torture him for the location of Carter's safe deposit box containing her evidence against HR. Fusco refuses to break so Simmons threatens the life of his son. Fusco finally gives Simmons the address of the wrong bank and when Simmons finds out, he orders both Fusco and Lee murdered while he searches for the right bank. However, before Lin can kill Lee, he is rescued by Shaw who kills Lin after having realized that HR might go after Fusco's family. Fusco then manages to escape and kill Petersen.
Reese and Carter manage to get four blocks from the Federal Building, but are spotted by a gang working for HR and are forced to hide in the city morgue. HR eventually invades the morgue and Reese leaves Carter behind while he causes a distraction so she can get Quinn to the FBI. Reese is able to take out all but one of the HR cops searching the building and is chased outside where he is saved by being arrested by two honest cops called in by Finch. Finch takes out the HR guard left in the morgue and alerts Carter who is finally able to take Quinn to the FBI.
With the arrest of Quinn and the evidence Carter collected against HR, the FBI are able to arrest all but Simmons who eludes capture. The Machine calculates that with the arrest of all but Simmons, HR is 98% neutralized and Carter is promoted back to detective. However, in an act of revenge, Simmons opens fire on Reese and Carter, seriously wounding Reese and killing Carter. (“The Crossing”)
Following Carter's murder, Simmons becomes the most wanted man in the city while all of the criminals want Quinn dead as he turned state's evidence on them. In order to find Simmons, Reese storms the safe house where Quinn is being held and forces him to give up Simmons escape route. Though Reese tries to kill Quinn, his gun fails to fire and he collapses. He is then taken for medical attention while Fusco finds the paper Quinn wrote Simmons escape route upon. Fusco intercepts Simmons and brutally beats him. However, in honor of Carter's memory, Fusco arrests Simmons instead of killing him.
After Simmons' arrest, he is visited in the hospital by Elias. Simmons states that HR is dead and believes that Elias is there to gloat. However, Elias feels he owes Carter a debt and as he liked her "very much" and as Simmons killed her, its his responsibility to deal with him. Elias then has Simmons garroted to death by Scarface. With the last free member of HR dead and its leader in custody, HR is finally ended. (“The Devil's Share”)
Members[]
- Main article: Portal:HR
- Alonzo Quinn: Leader of HR (Incarcerated)
- Patrick Simmons: Second in Command (Killed by Scarface on Elias' orders as revenge for killing Carter and becoming Public Enemy #1)
- Seth Larsson Third in Command (Incarcerated)
- Samuel Romano Fourth in Command (Incarcerated)
- Peter Lewis: Port Authority Police Captain and Fifth in Command (Incarcerated with everyone in his department)
- Raymond Terney: Simmons' partner and Sixth in Command (Killed by Carter as revenge for killing Mike Laskey)
- Stanley Mitchell: Seventh in Command (Incarcerated)
- Arthur Lynch: Corrupt Cop and Captain of 51st Present (Killed by Reese and Fusco for botching an armored car robbery. Everyone in his department Incarcerated)
- Womack: Corrupt Cop and Captain of the 8th Precinct (Active as of In Extremis later Incarcerated)
- Lionel Fusco: Member of POI team (Undercover)
- Ian Davidson: Internal Affairs detective and Vargas's informant (Killed by Reese to save Fusco's life and get Fusco into HR undercover)
- James Stills: Corrupt Cop 8th Precinct Narcotics (Killed by Reese to get him into the precinct undercover as Detective Riley.)
- Louis Azarello: Corrupt Cop 8th Precinct Narcotics (Incarcerated)
- Doyle: Corrupt Cop 8th Precinct Narcotics (Incarcerated)
- Sagan: Corrupt Cop RTCC (Incarcerated)
- Lulick: Corrupt Cop (Deceased)
- Bowman: Corrupt Cop and Hired Gun (Killed by Grifoni on Elias' orders)
- Craig Bogle: FBI Mole (Incarcerated)
- Leonard Pitt: Corrupt Cop (Incarcerated)
- Mike Laskey: Dirty cop and Carter's rookie (Killed by Terney after being exposed as a rat.)
- Jerry: 51st Precinct Vice Squad (Deceased)
- Dominic Brady: Corrupt Cop (Incarcerated)
- William Peterson: 51st Precinct Robbery (killed by Reese and Fusco for botching an armored car robbery with Artie Lynch)
- Lin: Corrupt Cop (Incarcerated)
- Calvin Beecher: Quinn's godson and Carter's partner (Killed by HR Hitmen when his informant snitches on him blowing his cover)
- 63 captains and soldiers of HR (Deceased, Incarcerated, At Large, or Missing)
- Diane Hansen: Corrupt Lawyer and POI #1 (Incarcerated)
- Landon Walker: Corrupt Lawyer (Incarcerated)
- Andrew Monahan: Corrupt Judge (Killed by Simmons to cover up HR's operations and the murders)
Known Associates[]
Gang Leaders[]
- Carl Elias (former associate)
- Andre Wilcox (arrested)
- Neil Vargas (deceased)
- Tara Verlander (arrested)
- Vittorio Zambrano: Link to Mafia (deceased)
- Peter Yogorov: Link to the Russian Mafia (At Large)
- Don Luciano Grifoni: Link to The Mafia (former associate)
Hired Guns[]
- Tommy Clay (deceased)
- Frank Lowell (deceased)
- Mick Norton (deceased)
- Jablonski (deceased)
- Mandel (deceased)
Others[]
Known Victims[]
HR has amassed a sizable number of victims, many anonymous or unknown, in its rise to power and in its efforts to maintain control of the city. Among its notable victims are:
- Lawrence Pope: shanked to death on Diane's orders (“Pilot”)
- Caroline Turing: Root hired HR to kill Turing, her assumed identity; failed (“Firewall”)
- Christopher Zambrano: killed in a shootout under Quinn's manipulation (“Bury the Lede”)
- Maxine Angelis: targeted on Walker's orders: failed (“Bury the Lede”)
- Detective Bill Szymanski: shot twice in the chest by Quinn (“All In”)
- ADA Melinda Wright: shot twice in the chest by Quinn (“All In”)
- Detective Cal Beecher: killed in a shootout on Quinn's orders when his informant snitches on him. (“Trojan Horse”)
- Donnie: Beecher's CI, killed in a shootout on Quinn's orders (“Trojan Horse”)
- Unnamed Elias Lieutenant (possibly Anthony Marconi): gunned down on Quinn's orders; survived as of the end of season two. (“God Mode”)
- Carl Elias: targeted on Quinn's orders; failed. (“God Mode”)
- Genrika Zhirova: targeted to die; failed. (“Razgovor”)
- Morozov: killed by Simmons. (“Mors Praematura”)
- Sven Vanger: targeted to die; failed (“The Perfect Mark”)
- Hayden Price: targeted to die; failed (“The Perfect Mark”)
- Natalie Boal: targeted to die; failed (“The Perfect Mark”)
- Mike Laskey: shot once in the chest by Terney after he gets exposed as a rat. (“The Perfect Mark”)
- Peter Yogorov and the entire Russian Mafia loyal to him: targeted under Quinn's orders; failed due to intervention of the FBI and Carter. (“Endgame”)
- Judge Andrew Monahan: shot once in the chest by Simmons (“The Crossing”)
- John Reese: targeted to die; failed (“The Crossing”)
- Detective Lionel Fusco: tortured and later targeted to die; failed (“The Crossing”)
- Lee Fusco: targeted to die; failed (“The Crossing”)
- Detective Joss Carter: targeted under Quinn's orders; survived but framed; later shot fatally once in the chest by Simmons (“Zero Day”) (“The Crossing”)
- Don Luciano Grifoni: targeted to die; failed when Grifoni shoots Bowman so Fusco can deliver a message to HR.(“C.O.D.”)
Note: HR was involved in an armored car robbery designed to steal a large amount of platinum. Armored car "hopper" Tommy Clay, along with his girlfriend Ashley, a waitress in a local diner, were also involved. The robbery resulted in five fatalities: (“Matsya Nyaya”)
- Murray Langston: shot twice in the chest and once in the head by Tommy Clay
- Frank Lowell and Mick Norton: each shot twice in the chest by Tommy Clay
- Tommy Clay: shot once in the back by Ashley
- Ashley: shot once in the chest by Artie Lynch
Trivia[]
- It was established by an article of Maxine Angelis' that "HR" indeed stands for "Human Resources" as had been suspected by many. (“Bury the Lede”)
- Lionel Fusco, Patrick Simmons, and a few other cops are not in the ledger of HR members, as the pages were torn out by Fusco on Simmons' orders.
- In the simulation of a world where the Machine was not created, HR was taken down and its members sent to prison. Fusco avoided prison as he was "the first rat to turn." A newspaper article showed that the top members of HR were exposed and sent to prison while Carter eventually was promoted to lieutenant for her work on the case. (“.exe”)
- Finch's forced pairing program plays a major role in the fall of HR: after discovering Raymond Terney is a high-ranking HR cop, Carter uses the program to track him and run extensive surveillance on HR. She later uses it through Mike Laskey after blackmailing him into being her mole in HR. Presumably many of the recordings Carter made came from her usage of the program. Carter later used the forced pairing program to follow Alonzo Quinn and foil his plans. Finch also used the program to record the damning evidence against Quinn that brought down HR.
- In their efforts to take down HR, Reese and Carter utilize similar methods: Reese blackmails Lionel Fusco into being his mole to collect evidence on HR and Carter blackmails Mike Laskey.
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