Tommy Markin was a dirty cop and the former partner of Donald Ressler's father.
Background[]
Tommy was an officer in the Detroit Police Department and the partner of Robert ”Bob” Ressler. Tommy was also a dirty cop unlike his partner who refused to take dirty money. As a result, Tommy set an ambush for his partner while they were hunting a drug dealer, allowing the man to shoot Bob in the back before calling in an officer down and killing the drug dealer. As his partner died, Tommy lamented that he should have taken the money and promised to look after Bob's wife and children. Tommy then delivered the news to Bob's family.
Tommy's superiors whitewashed the murder since they were also corrupt and did not want a trial. While Tommy was attending Bob's funeral, he headed outside to take a phone call in which he discussed Bob's murder and how they were in the clear. Unknown to Tommy, Bob's troubled son Donald Ressler overheard the conversation and learned that Tommy had murdered his father. With his brother Robby refusing to believe him and needing evidence, Donnie broke into Tommy's house, but was discovered in the middle of his search. Drawing his father's gun, Donnie demanded the truth from Tommy who attempted to talk the young man down. However, when Tommy taunted Donnie that he wasn't tough enough to pull the trigger, Donnie shot Tommy in the abdomen, apparently killing him. Donnie called Robby for help and with all signs pointing to no one having heard or at least reported the gunshot, Robby sent Donnie home to wipe down and return the gun while he cleaned up the crime scene and took the body to Ray Field for burial. However, Tommy had only been unconscious and not dead and he woke up as Robby dug the grave. Robby confronted Tommy over his father's murder who claimed that killing him wouldn't make them even and that Bob's murder was just business. Enraged over his father's murder and to protect his brother, Robby impaled Tommy with his shovel, finishing him off and then buried Tommy's body in the grave that he had dug. Robby chose not to reveal the truth to Donnie and let him believe that Tommy had died of the gunshot wound.
The murders of both their father and Tommy Markin would have a profound impact on the Ressler brothers. Robby, who was planning to become a police officer himself, decided that he could not follow that path any longer and instead remained in Detroit, moving between jobs and haunted by his actions. In contrast, the events inspired Donnie to turn around his life and go into the police academy, eventually becoming a FBI agent.
Season 3[]
”Kings of the Highway”[]
While talking with Reven Wright who suggests being somewhat flexible with Harold Cooper and Samar Navabi, Donald Ressler states that Tommy Markin had said the same thing. Ressler explains how Tommy was his father's partner and they would sit around discussing the dirty cops running their precinct before his father was murdered by a drug dealer in a trap set by the dirtiest cop of them all: Tommy Markin. Ressler states that Tommy was protected by the other dirty cops and never prosecuted and as a result, Ressler is adamant that he not betray his principles, feeling like it will be betraying his father who had died for his.
After being shot by Laurel Hitchin, a dying Reven mentions Tommy Markin's name as her last words.
”The Director”[]
Laurel Hitchin tells Donald Ressler that the last time she spoke to Reven Wright, Reven had mentioned an associate named Tommy Markin and suggests that Tommy had something to do with Reven's disappearance. Stunned, Ressler lies that the name means nothing to him, but he privately reveals to Aram Mojtabai that it means that Reven is dead. Ressler had only told Reven about Tommy Markin and Hitchin just asked about him meaning that she works for the Cabal.
Ressler later tells Tom Keen about how Tommy Markin had set his father up to be murdered and admits that he's no longer sure if his father died for the right thing.
Season 4[]
”Mr. Kaplan: Conclusion”[]
After finally finding Reven Wright's body, Ressler tells the task force that he knew that Laurel Hitchin was the killer because of Tommy Markin, the man who killed his father and got away with it. Ressler explains that he had told Reven the story about how he became a cop to stop other Tommy Markins from getting away with murder. Reven was the only one Ressler had told and then Hitchin asked him to look into Tommy Markin as a suspect. Ressler believes that Reven was using Tommy Markin's name to send Ressler a message through her killer begging him to solve her murder. Ressler's friends reassure him that he has succeeded and that they can use Reven's murder to force Hitchin to help them.
Season 7[]
”Nyle Hatcher”[]
Robby visits his brother and warns Donald that Ray Field is getting dug up and that their secret is in danger of being exposed.
”Brothers”[]
Donald returns to Detroit with Robby who explains that Ray Field is getting dug up to make an outdoor mall, meaning that Tommy's body will be found if they don't act quickly. The Ressler brothers dig up Tommy's skeleton and sanitize the grave, but Robby's car with the skeleton in the back is stolen by Albanian mobsters working for Jakov Mitko who uses the corpse to blackmail Donald into stealing a file on an undercover FBI agent for him. Robby reveals the truth about Tommy's death to his brother and offers to turn himself in instead of allowing Donald to be blackmailed, but Donald decides that they will both turn themselves in. Donald confesses to his colleague Elizabeth Keen who agrees to help them, but is reluctant about revealing her friend's crime.
Keen helps Donald and Robby organize a sting that leads to Jakov's arrest and the recovery of Robby's car and Tommy Markin's body. Jakov attempts to use Tommy's murder to make a deal with the FBI, but they find Tommy's body gone and the trunk clean with no sign of a corpse having ever been in it, allowing Donald and Robby to finally put the matter behind them and move on. Having realized that Keen did is responsible, Donald later confronts her, confused over how she scrubbed the car clean or what happened to Tommy's body. Keen states that she had learned from Raymond Reddington and explains that she needed to save Donald who is the one person she can rely on to be there for her.
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