Sleazy, small-time hustler Arthur 'Whitey' Morelli (Tony Rosato) has a deal cooking downtown with Tony Kendall (Rufus Crawford), an ex-con safe-cracker buddy who has boosted stolen goods he hopes Whitey can fence.
Among the items liberated is an envelope full of emeralds. In the dead of night, after he receives the stolen goods Whitey witnesses Kendall get murdered by a mysterious trigger-man (Jorge Montesi) and barely escapes with his own life intact.
Whitey is often informant of choice for cops of the Midsouth precinct Detective Kevin O'Brien (Scott Hylands) and his partner Detective Frank Giambone (Jeff Wincott). After they begin investigating the murder and run down a list of the victim's known associates Whitey is naturally at the top. But they can't find him which is unusual since he is always seen peddling ill-begotten goods on city thoroughfares.
The low-level vendor of stolen goods is in no hurry to tell what he knows as it will implicate him before he can try and get his one big score after years on the street via fencing the stolen emeralds. But he is also assuming a greater level of risk than he ever has before. His life is in danger and O'Brien and Giambone can't help him unless he turns himself in - yielding the opportunity to leave the street behind and retire early to some place warm.
Tony Rosato made a name for himself on the Canadian sketch comedy SCTV before moving on to a season long tenure on NBC's iconic Saturday Night Live in 1981-82. He returned to Canada after appearing in a failed network sitcom. After he landed a recurring role of Whitey on 'Night Heat' he stole scenes for four seasons in 54 of the 96 episodes with a character which was one of the better aspects of the show.
Whilst an ingratiating character it may seem a little much that O'Brien and Giambone overlook Whitey's long-term wave of petty crime in exchange for information. Keep in mind they work major cases and he is a small-fry. He can get info that an undercover cop won't have to risk his or her life to get and they know they can always bust him if they have to.
But they carry the 'friendship' angle a little far here. O'Brien and Giambone's affection for their snitch better reflects that of fans of the character and the actors that worked with Tony Rosato over the course of his time on the show than real cops would have for an informant no matter how helpful he may have been.
If they had gone for realism in crafting Rosato's exit from the series Whitey would have been killed.
Among the items liberated is an envelope full of emeralds. In the dead of night, after he receives the stolen goods Whitey witnesses Kendall get murdered by a mysterious trigger-man (Jorge Montesi) and barely escapes with his own life intact.
Whitey is often informant of choice for cops of the Midsouth precinct Detective Kevin O'Brien (Scott Hylands) and his partner Detective Frank Giambone (Jeff Wincott). After they begin investigating the murder and run down a list of the victim's known associates Whitey is naturally at the top. But they can't find him which is unusual since he is always seen peddling ill-begotten goods on city thoroughfares.
The low-level vendor of stolen goods is in no hurry to tell what he knows as it will implicate him before he can try and get his one big score after years on the street via fencing the stolen emeralds. But he is also assuming a greater level of risk than he ever has before. His life is in danger and O'Brien and Giambone can't help him unless he turns himself in - yielding the opportunity to leave the street behind and retire early to some place warm.
Tony Rosato made a name for himself on the Canadian sketch comedy SCTV before moving on to a season long tenure on NBC's iconic Saturday Night Live in 1981-82. He returned to Canada after appearing in a failed network sitcom. After he landed a recurring role of Whitey on 'Night Heat' he stole scenes for four seasons in 54 of the 96 episodes with a character which was one of the better aspects of the show.
Whilst an ingratiating character it may seem a little much that O'Brien and Giambone overlook Whitey's long-term wave of petty crime in exchange for information. Keep in mind they work major cases and he is a small-fry. He can get info that an undercover cop won't have to risk his or her life to get and they know they can always bust him if they have to.
But they carry the 'friendship' angle a little far here. O'Brien and Giambone's affection for their snitch better reflects that of fans of the character and the actors that worked with Tony Rosato over the course of his time on the show than real cops would have for an informant no matter how helpful he may have been.
If they had gone for realism in crafting Rosato's exit from the series Whitey would have been killed.