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This article is about the character from the television series. For the movie rendition, see Gina Calabrese (Film).
Gina Calabrese

SS as Gina

Affiliation
Metro-Dade Detective, OCB, Vice Division
Born
1959
Relatives
Elena Obregon (mother)
Played By


Detective Gina Navarro Calabrese (born 1959) is an officer with the Metro-Dade Police Department, working undercover in the Organized Crime Bureau, Vice Division. She is the partner of Detective Trudy Joplin.

Calabrese is a very dependable detective who was able to crack cases by doing the so-called "grunt work" with her partner Trudy, working with the local prostitutes to get information on cases, as well as go undercover to bring down terrorists, mobsters, and drug lords.

She was played in the television series by Saundra Santiago.

Biography[]

Life before Vice[]

Gina was born in Cuba around 1959, when the Castro Revolution took place, to Elena Obregon, a nightclub singer and her father, who was killed in the Revolution. Obregon was a very attractive woman who had a steady boyfriend, Klaus Herzog. In 1961 Herzog proposed marriage, and Elena accepted, but that night a romantic rival, Orrestes Pedrosa, shot Elena dead during a performance. Gina had five siblings and her family fled Cuba with her aunt for the United States.

Career in Vice[]

Gina joined the Metro-Dade police as a uniformed officer, then became a detective in the Organized Crime Bureau-Vice Division. Along with Trudy Joplin, she was frequently used as a "lure" for the many prostitution johns in the Miami area, wearing expensive and provocative dresses, and limited to doing most of the legwork for Senior Detectives James "Sonny" Crockett and Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs. Eventually Gina's role as a lure was reduced and she spent more time working undercover. Her first assignment was in 1984 working with a drug lord named Ramirez, who forced Gina into sex (which she felt trapped into maintain her cover), which left her feeling humiliated and "dirty", but she vindicated herself by bringing Ramirez down. She was very strong-headed in cases she handled, occasionally getting personally involved. In 1985, Gina had a friend, Odette, who was raped by the son of a former Bolivian general, Nico Arroyo. Gina pushed Odette hard to press charges against Arroyo, but his father arranged for a payoff to her mother in exchange for Odette dropping the charges, angering Gina, but after Odette's suicide Gina shot Arroyo when he tried to rape her. In 1986, Gina fell for a former IRA terrorist, Sean Carroon, who tried to convince her he was a pacifist, but was really interested in bringing down the Concorde airplane, and Gina was forced to kill him to prevent it. In 1987 she was reunited with Herzog, her mother's former love, and helped him in his efforts to kill Pedrosa, her mother's murderer. In 1988 Gina had another undercover assignment with a mobster, Frank Mosca, and once again she had to give in to his sexual requests to maintain her cover, with the same results for Gina (though both were drunk at the time and she got some valuable information out of Mosca), but the mob boss made her for a cop and Gina killed him to prevent his killing Crockett. In 1989 Gina had another assignment with a drug dealer named Enriquez, but she was made (by an elaborate setup by the dealer and his attorney) and a young boy that was helping her with groceries was killed for it, to Gina's horror. In 1985, Gina was shot and badly wounded by operatives from the Revilla drug cartel during a DEA party, she underwent successful surgery and had a full recovery.

Personal Life[]

Gina had an on-again, off-again relationship with Crockett, who was on the rebound after divorcing his wife, Caroline. The relationship faded out as Gina realized they mainly got together when one or both needed someone. Crockett was very protective of Gina, and had some jealousy when Gina was involved in relationships with the people she was undercover with, but was the first one to be there for her when things went wrong. Gina was upset when Crockett married Caitlin Davies, because Gina wanted to be that person, but she ended up helping arrange for Crockett's honeymoon to New Zealand. Gina and Crockett were such close friends that when Crockett was near death, Gina cried inconsolably after feeling that if he died that the last thing Crockett would remember is a fight they had over some meaningless paperwork.

Vehicles[]

Gina's main vehicle was a 1971 Mercury Cougar convertible, first shown in "Bought And Paid For" in white, then changed to a 1973 silver Cougar convertible. In "Calderone's Return (Part I)", she was driving with Trudy in a Pontiac GTO convertible, as well as driving a Chrysler LeBaron convertible in "Fruit of the Poison Tree" and "The Lost Madonna".

Weapons[]

Gina and Trudy both carried Smith & Wesson Model 36 revolvers chambered in .38 Special as their sidearms, and were rarely seen to use anything else (although both have been seen using Mossberg 500 shotguns on occasion).

Main Characters:

James "Sonny" Crockett Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs Gina Calabrese Stan Switek Larry Zito "Big Booty" Trudy Joplin Martin "Marty" Castillo Lou Rodriguez

Minor Characters:
Caroline Crockett Billy Crockett Caitlin Davies Isadore "Izzy" Moreno Nugart "Noogie" Lamont Esteban Calderone Orlando Claderone Al Lombard Lester Kosko Valerie Gordon Frank Hackman Oswaldo Guzman Frank Mosca

Miami Vice Film:
James "Sonny" Crockett Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs Trudy Joplin Zito Castillo Gina Calabrese Michael Switek

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