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| Status | Deceased |
| Social Security # | 498-00-3145 |
| Occupation | Police detective |
| Affiliation | NYPD 8th Precinct Homicide Task Force Undercover NYPD Narcotics Detective (formerly) |
| Associates | Lionel Fusco Iris Campbell |
| First appearance | “Panopticon” |
| Last appearance | “return 0” |
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John Riley is John Reese's untraceable cover identity created by The Machine. Along with Harold Whistler, Sameen Gray, and 3 other unrevealed identities, it is one of 6 such covers The Machine created to protect her allies from Samaritan's network. Riley's cover job is a detective with the New York Police Department, partnered with Lionel Fusco. Riley's badge number is 8231.
Detective Riley's badge as seen in “Q&A”
Background[]
At the end of season 3, Shaw and Root break into a Samaritan sever facility to place 7 servers that have been altered to ignore 7 cover identities in its hunt for the Machine and her allies. The first 6 servers contain one simple identity that, if compromised, can be targeted upon by Samaritan and Decima. These identities are given to Reese, Finch, Shaw, Daizo, Jason Greenfield and Daniel Casey. Although Root does receive a cover similar to the others to protect herself, her identity is different as that her cover can be compromised and re-established, as well as changed in order to help The Machine combat Decima, several times without arousing suspicion from Samaritan.
History[]
Anything history prior to Samaritan coming online did not actually happen and was simply fabricated. Within that fabricated story, Reese leads many to believe that he and Carter were rather close friends and he was undercover when she was murdered and that her death is the reason he has taken certain actions, such as record high number of shooting incidents or assisting an IAD officer, which can be considered reckless behavior. Immediately after starting to pose as Riley, Reese started to work undercover at Narcotics, arresting some serious players in the drug world.
With the help of Sameen Shaw, Carl Elias and Scarface, Reese busted a major yearly heroin shipment from Mexican cartels known as "the Whale." As a result, he got promoted to Homicide as Lionel Fusco's new partner, taking over Carter's old desk. (“Panopticon”)
As Riley, Reese got into trouble for breaking the rules and regulations to catch the bad guys, doing things such as climbing on top of a double decker bus to shoot a fleeing suspect in the back of the leg rather than waiting for backup. Captain Moreno noted that this was the fourth guy who had been kneecapped in that month by Reese. In addition, Reese had been supposed to be working a case elsewhere at the time and no cases had been closed recently. Reese chafed at the bureaucracy that he was forced to operate under as Riley, but agreed to try harder after being berated by Fusco. Reese then began using some of his more illegal skills to solve several open murders as Riley, partnering up with Moreno while Fusco was investigating professional wingman Andre Cooper after his number came up. Reese was then assigned a Priority Homicide which Reese had to focus on or risk blowing his cover. This kept him from being able to help when Fusco and Cooper were kidnapped by Mickey, although Reese was able to use his access as Riley to the city's surveillance feeds to help Shaw. Reese's investigation ended up leading him to the docks in time to help rescue Fusco and Cooper and take down Mickey as the homicide he was investigating was the reason that Cooper was being targeted in the first place. The arrest of Mickey as well as some Latvian mobsters taken down by Root left Moreno pleased with Fusco and Riley's work. (“Wingman”)
As Riley, Reese earned the attention and ire of IAB by tricking a suicidal man off of a roof only to shoot him in the leg in front of several backup officers. As a result, Riley was placed on desk duty and was forced to attend therapy with Dr. Iris Campbell. (“Prophets”)
After taking down the Armorer, Elias turned over his arsenal of advanced weapons to Reese as Riley to be destroyed. (“Pretenders”)
Reese later used his cover as Riley to investigate the betrayal and eventual murder of Tomas Koroa's gang and the theft of the Marburg virus. While distracting Devon Grice and Brooks, Reese and Fusco took the precaution of wearing ski masks so as to keep the ISA operatives or Samaritan from being able to identify them. (“Honor Among Thieves”)
As Riley, Reese took on a job as an instructor at the police academy to protect Dani Silva who turned out to be an undercover IAB cop. Together, the two and Bear infiltrated the Trinitarios' base and arrested Alex Ortiz, the Brotherhood's mole. Dominic Besson later stated that Detective Riley's constant interference in his plans was the one thing keeping Dominic from ruling the streets of New York. (“Point of Origin”)
Frankie Wells, a bounty hunter from Florida, stole Riley's police badge and used it in her hunt for Ray Pratt, her brother's murderer. Reese eventually stopped Frankie from killing Pratt, only to get into a gunfight with Pratt and Callum Worthy's men. Harper Rose negotiated a deal where Worthy would get all of the incriminating evidence against him and Detective Riley agreed to let him go while Pratt would surrender to him and Frankie would give up on trying to kill Pratt. When Pratt tried to kill Frankie once the deal was over, Reese shot him in the leg and arrested Pratt. As Riley, Reese later had the NYPD arrest Worthy on the GW bridge, noting that he'd promised to let Worthy leave the building, not the state. (“Skip”)
Months into his career as Riley, Reese reopened the unsolved murders of the Patterson family, a case originally investigated by his old friend Detective Joss Carter. Reese ultimately solved the murders, stopping the real killer Gil and saving the life of Chase Patterson, the prime suspect who was exonerated by Reese closing the case. At the same time, Detective Lionel Fusco stated that as Riley, Reese wasn't "exactly employee of the month" and that Reese made a terrible cop. (“Terra Incognita”)
After fighting and evading Samaritan operatives while saving the Machine from destruction, Reese returned to the 8th Precinct which caused his cover as Riley to slide back into place. As a result, Samaritan stopped hunting for him after identifying John Riley on the precinct's security cameras. (“YHWH”) (“B.S.O.D.”)
Reese later took Fusco's advice and joined the department's bowling team. (“SNAFU”)
After growing tired of Reese and Finch not telling him the full truth, Fusco decided to sever ties with them. As part of that, Fusco ended his partnership with "Riley" and began seeking a new partner. (“Reassortment”) (“Sotto Voce”)
After "the Voice" resurfaced, Reese, as Riley, led the police effort to locate and disarm the criminal mastermind's bombs, resulting in a SWAT team being caught in a blast. Later, Reese told Fusco the truth about the Machine after Fusco had his back during a shootout in the 8th Precinct and the two reconciled their partnership. (“Sotto Voce”)
After Elias was killed and Finch was taken by Samaritan operatives, Reese investigated the scene as Riley. A witness, out of respect to Elias, gave Reese the information that he needed to find Finch. (“The Day the World Went Away”)
Trying to stop a Presidential assassination, Reese uses his badge as John Riley to try to get into a fundraiser. When Logan Pierce arrived, Reese claimed that his job was to protect Pierce who got Reese inside the fundraiser. After the assassination was stopped, Pierce reveals that his team got Reese and his team as an irrelevant number to protect. When Pierce gave Reese the paper with the number, the number was shown to be Detective John Riley. Pierce commented that once he realized Riley was actually Reese, it was easy to determine he was the victim and not the perpetrator, something Pierce claims took the fun out of it. (“Synecdoche”)
Samaritan was able to get Root's cochlear implant and as a consequence learned of the Team's cover identities. In response, Samaritan gave an anonymous tip to the police that John Riley was actually the Man in the Suit, resulting in Reese and Fusco's lieutenant turning on them. They were then apprehended by cops bribed by Samaritan to murder them but were rescued by Finch and snipers hired by Thornhill Corporation. Despite Reese's identity as Riley being exposed along with Fusco's association with him, Fusco was able to retain his job after Samaritan was destroyed. (“return 0”)