Carl G. Elias, also known as Charlie Burton, is a mob leader intent on reuniting the five mob families, and taking over and ruling the organized crime business in New York.

BiographyEdit

1981Edit

A young Carl Elias was implied to have been living with a foster family. He was being treated for wounds sustained during a fight which broke out after he was called a bastard due to his lack of a father. He asked his foster mother if she was willing to help him research his father, but she asked him to let it go. ("Flesh and Blood")

1991Edit

Elias formally met his father, Don Gianni Moretti, at a restaurant. Moretti recognized his son and promised Elias a place in his organization as long as he remained loyal, tenacious, and capable.

Later, Elias found out that Moretti double-crossed him and had ordered his execution. Before he could be executed, Elias fought back. He managed to kill his executioners and escape, though he sustained a wound which later scarred on his hands after grabbing a razor wire meant for his throat. ("Flesh and Blood")

2011Edit

Elias first showed up on Reese and Finch's radar when he had Sam Latimer have his men, including an undercover John Reese, retrieve a file titled "Elias, M." Latimer delivered the file to him, but to cover his trail, Elias had him killed and fled. ("Mission Creep")

After he acquired the file he found the name of the man who killed his mother and sought revenge on Vincent DeLuca. He went to the Vincent's house and stabbed him to death with the same knife he used to kill Elias' mother, Marlene Elias. Later when the Carl realized that the detective investigating the case was on his trail he went to retired detective Bernie Sullivan's house and killed him. Unfortunately for him Detective Carter was on her way when he killed him and a shootout occurred where his blood was left at the scene. ("The Fix")

Reese came into direct contact with him for the first time while Elias was pretending to be Charlie Burton, a school teacher trying to avoid getting killed by a rival Russian crime family. Although Elias was intended for murder, Reese was unaware that he was a murderer himself. He and Reese became friends while trying to escape from the men that were after him, until they succeeded and Elias showed his true colors. Elias captured one of the sons of the rival family that was after him and shot him in the leg. He then forced Reese to tie himself up and left the scene. He was later seen escaping with his men as he expressed his goal to reunite the five families. ("Witness")

He was a main suspect when Detective Carter's number came in from the Machine. It was revealed he was indirectly involved by hiring her C.I. to complete the hit. He left a vase of flowers on Carter's desk with a message mourning her loss and stole a file marked Elias from her desk. ("Get Carter")

2012Edit

Carl Elias resurfaced after Reese called him using a phone left in a trashcan by Scarface who was impersonating a police officer, and later killed a criminal working for the SEC. ("Risk")

Upon his father's release from prison, Elias ordered some of his men to kidnap him. His plan failed when Carter and Reese intervened and took Moretti into protective custody. Reese later called Elias, requesting his help to find a child kidnapped by an Eastern European gang. Elias agreed to help, but threatened the child himself once Reese had found her. Reese was forced to give up Moretti's location in exchange for the child's life, and Elias let them both go. Although Reese tried to save Moretti, Elias succeeded in capturing his father. ("Baby Blue")

Elias's plan to unite the five families required him to kill the five Dons. He recruited HR, a cabal of dirty cops, and used them to help him take down the Dons. After killing one Don with a car bomb planted by Scarface and gunning one Don down in front of Carter, Detectives Carter and Fusco took the remaining three into protective custody, barely escaping Elias's men. Elias then personally went to where they were hiding out with some HR cops and ordered the kidnapping of Taylor Carter. He was unaware however, that Harold Finch had shown Officer Simmons, an HR cop, photos of Elias's men watching the families of HR cops. The HR cops severed their ties with him and several clean police officers came to the hideout. Carl Elias was forced to surrender.

After being processed and put in jail, he made one final phone call to Gianni Moretti, telling his father he wished he could be there to see. Moretti's car was then blown up by Scarface, killing him and his legitimate son Gianni Moretti, Jr., and Elias hung up the phone with a slight grin. ("Flesh and Blood")

Several weeks later, Elias received a visit from Finch who asked for his help in one of their cases involving several mafia groups and hit men. Being thankful that Finch and Reese had saved his life, Elias took advantage of his power even from behind bars and helped them. In return, he asked Finch to play chess with him. ("Triggerman"). It is later revealed that he lost the game, and was upset by losing. ("Prisoner's Dilemma")

After several more weeks of living at Rikers Island, Elias noticed that Reese had been arrested on suspicion of being "The Man in the Suit." He told Reese that he knew all about Donnelly's investigation and that he could help Reese in any way that he could. When Donnelly dumped Reese out into the masses in an attempt to get him to reveal his true identity, Reese was attacked by Byron and because he couldn't fight back, Elias broke up the fight. ("Prisoner's Dilemma")

2013 Edit

After HR joined forces with Peter Yogorov many of Elias' men were transferred out of Rikers to make him more vulnerable. While playing chess with Finch, Elias revealed his desire to discover the identity of the person who was orchestrating all this events. Later Cal Beecher paid a visit to Elias in prison to learn if Bill Szymanski was on Elias' payroll, as insinuated by Alonzo Quinn. Elias said that Szymanski was clean and that Beecher had been played by HR. ("Trojan Horse")

One of his men is killed outside a bodega along with a bystander by the Russian Mafia. Carter later remarks to Reese that the Russians are worse than Elias, due to fewer rules, and more man power.

Scarface, his right-hand man, was later gunned down and taken to the hospital. Elias was reported to have gotten his bodyguards paroled in order for them to guard Marconi. He is targeted next and taken to the woods by detective Raymond Terney (who is a member of HR) and Peter Yogorov, but before he is executed, Carter appears and save him. He asks Carter "What are you going to do?" and she says "I don't know." ("God Mode")

VictimsEdit

• Two unnamed assassins (killed in self-defense)
• Sam Latimer (shot twice in the chest)
• Vincent DeLuca (stabbed in the chest with the same knife Vincent used to kill his mother)
• Bernie Sullivan (shot to death) Retired Detective. Killed to prevent Carter from finding out about Elias before he was ready.
• Joss Carter (shot while escaping from Bernie's apartment and later tried to have her CI, Bottlecap kill her)
• Ivan Yogorov's brother (killed by hitman)
• Six unnamed Russian mobsters (all killed by Elias' hitmen)
• Ivan Yogorov (shot twice in the chest by his enforcer, Anthony)
• Sydney Baylor (bludgeoned to death by hitman)
• Adam Saunders (attempted to have him killed and framed for Sydney's murder; failed on both ends)
• Doug Rasmussen (shot once in the head by his enforcer, Anthony and made to look like a suicide)
• Two unnamed bodyguards (both killed by Elias' hitmen)
• Taylor Carter (abducted by Elias' men; rescued)
• Unnamed security guard (shot to death by Anthony)
• The Mafia Don Massacre
  • The first car bombing (four fatalities; committed by Anthony)
    • Caparelli
    • Three unnamed bodyguards
    • One innocent bystander (injured only)
  • Basile (shot to death by a hitman)
  • Luciano Grifoni (attempted to have killed; failed)
  • The second car bombing (two fatalities; committed by Anthony)
    • Gianni Moretti (abducted first and was later rescued only to be killed in the bombing)
    • Gianni Moretti, Jr.
• Detective Bowman (shot once in the heart by hitman)

TriviaEdit

• There are several discrepancies regarding Elias' year of birth and age. The Machine's data, as well as his statement that he was born in 1965 conflicts with other sources of information. His likely year of birth is 1969, meaning he is 42 years-old.
  • According to the "Flesh and Blood" press release, Elias' flashbacks showed him when he was 12 and 22. If he was born in 1965, he should have been 16 in 1981 and 26 in 1991.
  • News accounts of Marlene Elias' death stated that Elias was 3 years old in 1973.
• Elias knows Finch as Mr. Crane. ("Triggerman")
• Elias seems to be one of the few to know that Detective Carter is working with Reese and Finch.