Dennis Farina As Albert Lombard
It’s hard to believe that Albert “Al” Lombard, a crime boss who owns much of Miami’s underground gambling world, was actually played by Dennis Farina, an actor who used to be a real-life cop for almost two decades. Lombard is your classic rags-to-riches crime lord story and had a similar story to that of Al Pacino’s Tony Montana in Scarface.
The crime boss lasted for two of the last episodes in Miami Vice’s first season and was presumed to be dead after being shot by Federico Librizzi. Lombard eventually made a surprising comeback during season five in the episode “World of Trouble”, but ended up dying for good towards the end of it.
Lou Diamond Phillips As Bobby Diaz
Eddie Trumbull's partner, Bobby Diaz, aspired to become a sergeant along with his trusty friend. The two had a very bad ending during the "Red Tape" episode, with Trumbull getting killed by an explosion and Diaz being shot to death by Glenn McIntyre, a Metro-Dade SID Officer who had switched sides and turned into a bad guy.
Bobby Diaz was a memorable character, and we wish he would have survived for at least a few more episodes. Lou Diamond Phillips, the talented actor who portrayed Diaz, ended up appearing in many other crime shows over the years.
Lou Diamond Phillips– After the show
Lou Diamond Phillips has appeared in more than a hundred films and TV shows from 1984 up to today but mostly takes small and short-lived roles. He recently appeared in a few episodes of crime shows such as NCIS: New Orleans, Criminal Minds and Blue Bloods. Phillips is an avid activist for the Native American community and was actually adopted by a Native American family.
Some of the actor's best roles are as Cisco in The Big Hit, Yerzy Penalosa in Supernova, and Jose Chavez y Chavez in Young Guns, arguably his best role to date. One of Lou Diamond Phillips's most successful recent films is 2015's biographical disaster film The 33, where he plays as Luis "Don Lucho" Urzúa.
Dennis Farina– After the show
Before Miami Vice, Dennis Farina was an actual police officer. He served three years in the United States Army during the Vietnam Era and 18 years in the Chicago Police Department's burglary division from 1967 to 1985. After the show, he appeared in many successful films such as Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan. Ironically, he preferred portraying various criminals and mobsters throughout the years.
Dennis Farina was also the host and narrator of the popular true-crime show Unsolved Mysteries on Spike TV. He had an interesting fascination with crime and the law throughout life, which led to many of his iconic roles. The actor died in mid-2013 due to lung cancer. His last significant television role was in HBO's Luck, in 2012.
Stanley Tucci As Steven DeMarco
There was no actor more fitting to play Steven DeMarco than the Italian prodigy, Stanley Tucci. DeMarco appeared on Miami Vice's third season, in an episode called "Baby Blues". DeMarco was the adoptive father of two Colombian children from lawyer Howard Famiglia.
Although he had a short and sweet role in the show, Tucci managed to show his acting abilities and eventually went on to become one of the most recognized actors in Hollywood.