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Released from Newark State Penitentiary after an 18-month stretch, Vinnie Terranova (Ken Wahl) apparently wants nothing more out of life than to plunge back into the criminal pool. Getting a job as a busboy at a restaurant frequented by the Steelgrave crime family, Vinnie connives to get on the good side of Sonny Steelgrave (Ray Sharkey), who takes such a liking to the pugnacious ex-con that he hires Vinnie as his personal driver. What Sonny doesn't know is that Vinnie is an undercover agent, working for the anti-crime organization OCB--and that his arrest and release was all part of a master plan to topple the Steelgrave empire. Originally telecast as a single two-hour TV movie, the pilot episode of Wiseguy has since been re-edited as two one-hour episodes for syndicaiton.