Charles "Chucky The Enforcer" Pancamo is a fictional character, played by Chuck Zito, on the HBO series Oz.[1] Pancamo is a member of the "Wiseguys", a collection of Sicilian-American inmates connected to the Mafia.
Character overview
"Prisoner #97P468: Charles Pancamo, a.k.a. "Chucky the Enforcer." Convicted June 4, 1997. Sentence: 35 years, up for parole in 15."
Pancamo is introduced in the show's second season. His grandfather worked for
Antonio Nappa
. Pancamo runs the gambling and drug businesses in Oz. He is generally regarded as one of the most feared and respected inmates, but makes several mistakes as a leader of the Sicilians. He is shown to be less cunning than other gang leaders such as Morales and Adebisi, however, unlike Morales and Adebisi, Pancamo usually finds a way to come out of each situation on top and is the only leader in Oz to survive the entire duration of the show.
Development
Tom Fontana, who hired Chuck Zito to play Pancamo, said, "I'm going to push you and your character. I'm going to take you to places you've never been." Zito replied, "That's fine. But there's one thing you should know. I don't do rapes, and I don't get raped. And I do my own wardrobe."[2] Zito is one of the few actors on the show that has spent time in prison.[3] When Zito auditioned for the role, the characters first name was "Sam", but was changed to Chucky after Zito received the part.[4]
Fictional history
Season 2
Pancamo acts as second-in-command to Peter Schibetta. Pancamo does not really like the black inmates who work in the kitchen and calls them "moolies". He helps Schibetta try to kill
Kipekemie Jara
, an elderly, African man who has Adebisi under control, then Wangler and his paisans can work together with the Wiseguys and they will all call a truce. Wangler kills Jara and the Sicilians accept the Homeboys as their business partners.
Season 3
The season starts with Adebisi being released from the psych ward and coming back to work in the Sicilians kitchen. When Nappa gets infected with
Nat Ginzburg
murder Nappa.
Adebisi comes to Pancamo, asking to be partners in the drug trade. Adebisi asks him that if he kills the other Homeboys, can he be their new partner. Pancamo agrees. Adebisi, with help from the Latinos, burns Poet and Pierce in the kitchen with hot soup and then Wangler is left without any help and at Adebisi's mercy. As a result, Pancamo, Adebisi and Hernandez now are three way partners in the drug trade in Oz. Pancamo represents the Sicilians in the Oz boxing tournament. After easily knocking out a Biker in round 1 of his first match, in Pancamo’s next bout in the tournament, Pancamo somehow loses to
Yuri Kosygin
. With advice from O'Reily, Pancamo gets Kosygin placed in isolation by tricking him into trying to kill Stanislofsky.
Later, racial tension brews in Oz, and Pancamo tells Adebisi to cool the rhetoric or else they will be unable to sell drugs if Oz is locked down, 24/7. Adebisi refuses and Hernandez points out to Pancamo that Adebisi is in an insane state of mind again.
Warden Glynn
however locks Oz down going into the new millennium.
Season 4 Part I
Oz is no longer locked down and things for the time being go back to normal until a mass shooting takes place in Emerald City. In Em City, Pancamo sponsors a new Italian-American prisoner named
Johnny Basil
. They all ask Mobay to do a variety of tests to prove that he can be a reliable gangster such as taking repeated punches from Pancamo and snorting heroin (which undercover police officers are forbidden to do) among other things. A straw poll is then taken to determine if Mobay is worthy where Pancamo votes yes, Adebisi votes no and Morales abstains. To break this tie, they resolve that he will be a worthy ally under the condition that he kills an inmate, far from Em City. Mobay does so and for the time being has Pancamo's support.
Things get even better in the drug trade when new unit manager, an
Mondo Browne
, Pancamo is assaulted by a black guard named Officer Johnson with a billy club for protesting. Pancamo and Morales both talk to Adebisi about how they are disappointed with the way things are set up as a result. Adebisi tells them that he is cutting them out of the drug trade completely and when Morales threatens to go to war, Adebisi says that they will both lose since Em City is now overwhelmingly black and then tells them that he and Querns have arranged for the Sicilian and Latino inmates to be transferred to general population. In Unit B, Schillinger suggests to Pancamo and Hoyt that an all-white unit should be created which Unit B manager, McManus ardently rejects.
Season 4 Part II
After Adebisi has been killed by
Kareem Said, Em City is running back to normal. With no leader the Homeboys are out of the drug trade so Pancamo and Morales are both cruising comfortably. Things get complicated when the Homeboys are brought back into the fold by new inmate Burr Redding. Pancamo and Morales offer a partnership that Redding rejects. As a result, Pancamo and Morales tell ex-communicated Homeboy Supreme Allah, whom Redding despises, that he can be their partner if he kills Redding. Supreme says yes with time so that he can get the approval of other Homeboys. In the meantime, Morales frames Redding for murdering a Chinese refugee and as a result Redding plans his own attack on the Latino and Sicilian inmates. The Sicilians and Latinos are playing basketball in the gym when the Homeboys are ready to ambush them. A deadly fight would have occurred had Augustus Hill
not tipped off the COs. Supreme Allah is then killed and Redding is back in full swing.
Season 5
Pancamo is called to an interrogation by FBI
Frank Urbano
takes over for Pancamo and helps them regain their standing. The Sicilians fight back against the Aryans and Urbano negotiates a favorable deal to take back their share of the drug trade.
Season 6
At the beginning of season 6, Pancamo is released from the hospital ward and his partnership in the drug trade with Morales is running smoothly.
hash brownies
in the cafeteria. The Sicilians corner him and kill him with hot steam from a pipe inside the storage room. In the end, the Sicilians have a monopoly over the drug trade, with the Homeboys working as telemarketers and the Latinos leaderless after Morales is killed in the infirmary. In the meantime, a gay nightclub owner named Alonzo Torquemada is sent to Oz and sells designer drugs called D-Tabs. Torquemada approaches Pancamo with an offer he can't refuse - A partnership using his connection through Pancamo's nephew, Angelo as a reference. Pancamo accepts and to celebrate their new partnership, Torquemada gives Pancamo some free D-Tabs for him to pass among the Sicilians.