Chucky Pancamo

Chucky Pancamo
First appearance	"Ancient Tribes" (episode 2.02)
Last appearance	"Exeunt Omnes" (episode 6.08)
Reason/Cause	End of Series
Details
Prisoner No.	97P468
Aliases	Chucky the Enforcer
Gender	Male
Age	50
Date of Conviction	June 4, 1997
Affiliations	The Italians & The Mafia
Spouse	Unspecified
Relatives	Angelo Pancamo (Nephew)
Kill Count	3
Episode Count	46 Episodes
Portrayed by	Chuck Zito

Charles Pancamo, also known as Chucky the Enforcer, is an Italian inmate featured in Oz. Portrayed by Chuck Zito.

Character Summary

"Prisoner number 97P468, Charles Pancamo AKA Chucky the Enforcer. Convicted June 4, 1997 - Murder in the second degree. Sentence: 35 years, up for parole in 15."

―The Narrator^[src]

Nicknamed 'The Enforcer', Pancamo is introduced in the show's second season. He is an Italian-American gangster serving time for tying a woman in a bag and throwing her into the ocean. Extremely muscular, he is primarily an enforcing member of the titular prison's Italian gang until he is asked to take over by Mafia boss Antonio Nappa. Pancamo runs the gambling and drug businesses in Oz. He is one of the most feared men in Oz, but makes several mistakes as a soldier and as a leader of the Italians. But he does find a way to come out of each situation through his toughness and is one of the few leaders in Oz to make it through the duration of the show. For some reason he's got a hell's angel tattoo under his shirt (Chuck Zito, the actor portraying Pancamo, is a former Hell's Angel).

Plot Summary

Season 2

Pancamo serves as a lieutenant, second in command to Nino Schibetta's son, Peter Schibetta, the leader of the Italians. Like all the Italians, Pancamo despises the black inmates who work in the kitchen and often calls them "moolies". Schibetta wants Simon Adebisi, the leader of the black inmates, dead for killing his father. Schibetta thinks of a plan to take down Adebisi and decides to have him ambushed in the kitchen. Pancamo assists Schibetta in this plan. They seem to have the upper hand of this battle however, Adebisi proves to be a powerful enemy and is able to defeat both of his attackers. He knocks Pancamo out with a commercial can opener and a can of peaches. Adebisi then rapes Schibetta but Pancamo will not confirm that it has happened since he was unconscious. When Pancamo gets out of the hospital, the black inmates, especially Kenny Wangler and Junior Pierce, make fun of him for being beaten by Adebisi and berate him by calling him a "guinea".

Things look up for Pancamo and the Wiseguys when Antonio Nappa arrives and brings them back into power. After taking Adebisi off of heroin for the time being with the help of staff member Lenny Burrano, Nappa and Pancamo steal Adebisi's drugs and offer Kenny Wangler and the Homeboys a deal. Nappa, Pancamo, and Don Zanghi tell Wangler that if he kills Kipekemie Jara, an African man who has Adebisi under control, that he can work as their partner and they will call a truce. Wangler kills Jara and the Italians accept the Homeboys as their partners.

Season 3

This season starts with Adebisi being released from the psych ward and coming back to work in the Italian's kitchen. Pancamo is cautious of Adebisi and advises Nappa on how to deal with the Homeboys. He often reminds Wangler not to get too cocky whenever he deals with ordering around the Italians. When Nappa gets infected with HIV, he gives control to Pancamo. In the meantime, Chucky finds out that Nappa is publishing a book detailing all the mob hits and criminal acts that have taken place over the last century. With authority from the outside family, Pancamo has the book destroyed and has gay inmate Nat Ginzburg murder Nappa.

Adebisi comes to Pancamo, asking to be partners in the drug trade. Pancamo is still angry with Adebisi for knocking him unconscious. However, Adebisi tells Pancamo that he could be a strong ally since he was a strong enemy against Pancamo. Pancamo also realizes that Adebisi is the best black inmate to do business with in the drug trade. Pancamo tells him that if he takes out the other Homeboys, he can be their partner. Adebisi burns Poet and Pierce first with a pot of hot soup and Kenny 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. Pancamo also represents the Italians in the boxing tournament. After easily knocking out a Biker in round 1 of the first fight, Pancamo somehow loses to Cyril O'Reily, the younger and mentally handicapped brother of Ryan O'Reily. Wondering how he lost to an inmate who he had over 60 lbs. on, he is told that the fight was fixed by a Russian mobster, Yuri Kosygin who is serving time in Oz. With advice from O'Reily, Pancamo gets Kosygin placed in the hole by informing him that Nikolai Stanislofsky has informed people of his involvement in drugging the water. Later, racial tension rises in Oz, and Pancamo tells Adebisi to cool the rhetoric or else they will be unable to push drugs if the prison is locked down. Adebisi refuses and Hernandez points out that he is in his "loco" mode. Vern Schillinger also calls Pancamo and all the other White inmates to a meeting claiming that they must all stick together because they are bound by the color of their skin. 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 shooting takes place in Em City. In Em City, Pancamo sponsors new Italian inmate, Ralph Galino a contractor who is imprisoned for his alleged part in a collapsed building. Galino then reveals that he has no criminal connections, works an honest job, and despises Italian-Americans like Pancamo who give the rest of them a stereotypical criminal image. This has Pancamo cause the Italian inmates to ignore Galino as he is unable to provide any use to them. Meanwhile, Hernandez is having a nervous breakdown given his frustrations with trying to kill Miguel Alvarez. He also snitches on Adebisi for getting the gun inside Oz. In the meantime a new Latino inmate, Enrique Morales arrives in Oz. Because Morales comes in with credibility and Pancamo thinks Hernandez is on the verge of a mental breakdown, he prefers that Enrique run the Latinos in the drug trade giving him Hernandez's third if he is eliminated. Morales agrees that Hernandez is going "loco" and then has Bob Rebadow kill him. In the meantime, Desmond Mobay, a Jamaican inmate wants into the drug trade. Unknowing to Morales, Adebisi, and Pancamo, Mobay is actually an African-American narcotics detective named, Johnny Basil. They all ask Mobay to do a variety of tests to prove that he can be a gangster such as taking punches from Pancamo and snorting heroin (which undercover police 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. They all decide that Mobay could be in the drug trade under the condition that he kills an inmate. 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 African American named Martin Querns comes to Oz. Querns likes Adebisi and his followers and tells him that they can have unrestricted drug dealing if his supporters prevent violence from happening. He enforces this by making Pancamo, Morales, and Adebisi trustees. Pancamo likes this system because it can allow Em City to be like Little Italy in the old days. In the mean time, Hank Schillinger, son of Aryan Brotherhood leader Vernon Schillinger, beats a murder charge for killing the son of Tobias Beecher. Beecher comes to Pancamo and hires him to arrange a hit on Hank, which he does after Beecher promptly pays him. Things get complicated, however, when several of the white inmates and guards are transferred out. All the new guards and inamtes are black and ally with Adebisi. When fellow wiseguy, Don Zanghi is thrown into solitary confinement for getting into a fight with Mondo Browne for calling him a "nigga", Pancamo is beaten by the black guards for sticking up for Zanghi. With things getting out of hand Pancamo and Morales both talk to Adebisi about how they are disappointed with the way things are going in Em City and the drug trade. Adebisi tells them that he now controls the drug trade completely, and when they threaten to go to war, Adebisi first points out they will both lose since Em City is now overwhelmingly Black and then tells them that he and Querns have arranged for the Italian and Latino inmates to also be transferred out. In Unit B, Schillinger suggests to Pancamo and Hoyt that an all-white unit should be created which Tim McManus ardently rejects.

Season 4, Part II

Adebisi has been killed by Kareem Said and 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 with the drug trade. Things get complicated when the Homeboys are brought back into the fold by Burr Redding. The Italians and Latinos offer a partnership with Redding, but he rejects their offer. As a result, Pancamo and Morales tell ex-communicated Homeboy and Five-Percenter 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 other Homeboys on his side. In the meantime, Morales frames Redding for murdering a Chinese refugee and as a result Redding plans his own attack on the Latino and Italian inmates. The Italians and Latinos are playing basketball in the gym when the Homeboys and Jia Kenmin ambush them and there would have been a number of dead inmates had Augustus Hill not tipped off the S.O.R.T. team. Supreme Allah then says to Pancamo he will get Hill to kill Redding since they are not on good terms for the time being. Things backfire when Supreme Allah dies and Redding is back in full swing against the Italian and Latino inmates.

Season 5

Pancamo is called to an interrogation by FBI agent Pierce Taylor, who tells him that an Italian hitman named Gaetano Cincetta has implicated him in a hit on Hank Schillinger. Pancamo denies everything and then tells Tobias Beecher that if he is asked by Vern Schillinger what has happened, he will not implicate him. The Aryan Brotherhood attacks Pancamo after calling him an ethnic slur in the gym. As Pancamo prepares to assault Schillinger, James Robson approaches him from behind and stabs him in the side, putting him in the hospital. Peter Schibetta then goes out for revenge, but is instead gang-raped by the Aryans.

At the end of the season, Pancamo nearly dies in the hospital from a staph infection brought on by poor medical treatment, but he survives thanks to Oz's chief physician, Dr. Gloria Nathan.

Season 6

Pancamo is out of the hospital and helps the Italians retake the drug trade. Ryan O'Reily lies about Peter Schibetta wanting to curse the Italians with the evil eye but Pancamo and Urbano believe him and kill Peter by removing his eye. Pancamo sees that James Robson has been exiled from the Aryan Brotherhood, and tries to attack him in the library for shanking him. Robson seeks protection from Aryan inmate, Wolfgang Cutler, who makes him his prag in return for his protection. Pancamo tries to kill Robson in the kitchen but Cutler intervenes and attacks him.

When Redding takes the Homeboys to work as telemarketers, Glynn gives Pancamo control of the kitchen under the condition that he stays away from the Aryans. In the gym, Pancamo, Urbano, and the other Italians approach Robson with an offer. They tell him that if he kills Cutler, they will forgive him. Robson convinces Cutler to hang himself, making it look like a suicide. Pancamo is then approached by Redding, who asks him to stop any attempt the Homeboys do at dealing drugs so they can come back to work as telemarketers. Chucky gladly does so and has one of Poet's connections killed on the outside. The Italians then discover a new inmate selling marijuana brownies and they kill him (since they believed that he would steal all of their profits while selling the brownies). In the end, the Italians have a monopoly over the drug trade, with the Homeboys working as telemarketers and the Latinos leaderless.

Appearances

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4, Part I

Season 4, Part II

Season 5

Season 6

Kill Count

Personal

Unnamed Woman: Tied up and thrown into the ocean. (1997)
Peter Schibetta: Murdered for allegedly betraying the Italians. (2003)
Stanley Bukowski: Murdered for cutting into the Italians' profit. (2003)

Proxy

Antonio Nappa: Ordered his death for planning to reveal incriminating evidence against the Italians. (1999)
Hank Schillinger: Hired by Tobias Beecher to have him killed through outside contacts. (2000)
Sky Bar: Ordered his death to monopolize the drug trafficing in prison by cutting off the Homeboys drug supply. (2003)

Indirect

Raoul Hernandez: Arranged Morales to get him killed to have him to take Hernandez's part in the drug trade
Wolfgang Cutler: Convinced by Robson to hang himself, in exchange to the Italians leaving Robson alone. (2003)

Trivia

Several times when Pancamo is shirtless, you can see he has a tattoo of the Hells Angels logo on his chest. This is because the actor who portrays Pancamo, Chuck Zito, was a former chapter president in the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.

The Italians
Antonio Nappa - Chucky Pancamo - Nino Schibetta - Peter Schibetta - Dino Ortolani - Frank Urbano - Salvatore DeSanto - Joey D'Angelo - Don Zanghi - Mario Seggio

Characters who took part in Boxing
Chucky Pancamo - Kenny Wangler - Hamid Khan - Cyril O'Reily - James Robson - Jason Cramer - Miguel Alvarez - Steve Pasquin