Dignam

Dignam
Aliases:	Staff sergeant Dignam Detective sergeant Dignam
Film:	The Departed
Notability:	Supporting character
Type:	Law enforcement A-Hole
Gender:	Male
Location:	Boston, Massachusetts
Status:	Alive
Born:	1971
Actor:	Mark Wahlberg

Dignam is a fictional police staff sergeant featured in the 2006 crime drama film The Departed, directed by Martin Scorsese. He was played by actor Mark Wahlberg.

Biography

Dignam is a man in his late thirties who works for a special task force of the Boston Police Department, holding the rank of Staff sergeant. In his past, he has worked as an undercover agent, routing out members of the Irish-American mob operating out of Southie. He later took an office position under Captain Oliver Queenan. Dignam was charged with vetting other officers who were going to be placed undercover in the cartel run by crime boss Frank Costello. The cadet assigned to this position was one William "Billy" Costigan - a native Bostonian who already had ties to the mob in his family tree. Dignam was particularly brutal in his analysis of the cadet, hurling multiple profanity-laden insults in his direction. In truth, he wasn't certain whether Costigan could get the job done. Dignam also had a contentious relationship with Captain George Ellberby, but despite their seeming animosity towards one another, there was also an undertone of mutual respect.

Another officer to get on the bad side of Dignam's radar was detective Colin Sullivan. At the time, Dignam was unaware that Sullivan was a mole who was secretly working for Frank Costello. The Boston PD were aware of the presence of the mole and ironically, chose Sullivan to investigate. Sullivan tried to get Dignam to reveal the identities of all of his undercover operatives, but he refused.

Following the deaths of Captain Queenan, Frank Costello and Billy Costigan, Dignam eventually discovered that Sullivan was the mole. He went to Sullivan's apartment wearing plastic shoe covers and waited for him. When Sullivan came home, he realized that he was a goner. He scoffed at Dignam as he held up his hands and said, "Okay", and Dignam shot him dead.

Notes & Trivia

• The character of Dignam was created by director Martin Scorsese and writer William Monahan based upon characters originally developed by Alan Mak and Felix Chong.

See also

• A-Hole
• Billy Costigan
• Boston
• Colin Sullivan
• Detective
• Oliver Queenan
• Southie
• Staff sergeant

External Links

Character links

• Dignam at IMDB

Film links

• The Departed at AMG
• The Departed at IMDB
• The Departed at Metacritic
• The Departed at Wikipedia
• The Departed at Themoviedb.org
• The Departed at Rotten Tomatoes

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