also frequently blurs the lines between investigating Mackey and protecting him. Wired suggests Aceveda is only "interested in leveraging what [he knows] (or, at least, suspects) about the Strike Team to climb further up the ladder." In the first season, Aceveda is heavily bent on proving Mackey's guilt, putting all his effort into taking him down. While Mackey detests Aceveda's political ambitions, Aceveda continued to label Mackey as "Al Capone with a badge." At the start of the second season, Aceveda, not wanting a scandal in the midst of his political career, agrees to watch Mackey's back if he could make the Strike Team appear to clean up their act and exhibit professionalism at all times. This creates a very subtle, bumpy friendship between the two. This friendship, however, ends when Aceveda left for his City Council position, but not before writing a scathing letter that makes Mackey out to be an ineffective detective and acussing him of Terry Crowley's murder, irreparably damaging his career. After Vic arranges an immunity deal with ICE, Aceveda is enraged that Vic can never be prosecuted for any of his crimes. The two collaborate one last time, however, in order to arrange the arrest of drug lord Guillermo Beltran. While speaking over the phone, Aceveda expresses satisfaction that ICE had realized that, "they have a reptile working for them." Uninterested in Aceveda's views on his character, Vic coldly reminded Aceveda about "respecting each others' endgames", marking the final communication between the two men. Other relationships Mackey's training officer and first partner was Joe Clark, who taught him how to deal with violent street criminals and how to bend the laws to his advantage. Clark was eventually dismissed from the force for beating a suspect. Clark's legacy to Vic was the justification that they always "did more good than bad". In season 6, Mackey re-encounters Clark, who has become a for-hire enforcer who uses his intimidation skills from his days as a cop to earn an income. Mackey participates in one raid, and realizes this type of occupation is both dangerous and unnecessarily cruel. Mackey also has a close friendship with a prostitute, Connie Reisler, whom in an unseen story he found "lying in a bathroom in a pool of bloody crystals", trying to end her pregnancy with drain cleaner and a plunger. He told her if she ever needed any help she could call