Orgel was assigned to desk duty and ended up committing "cop suicide" by attempting to arrest a suspect high on "angel dust" carrying a shotgun.
Crockett promises Tubbs that they will get him, but as reconciliation asks him if he is interested in a career in "Southern Law Enforcement" (e.g., transferring from the NYPD to the MDPD), thus beginning their new partnership.
Crockett's hard exterior stems in part from the type of work he performs and also from rough experiences from his past, losing friends, partners, and other people he has been close to or otherwise deeply cared about.
He is very close with his friends and colleagues, Switek, Zito, Gina and Trudy, as well as with his supervisor, MDPD Lieutenant Martin Castillo, and especially with his partner, Ricardo Tubbs.
This part of his persona is emphasized by the fact that he lives on a sailing yacht moored in Miami's luxurious Miamarina and keeps an alligator as a pet on the same boat, and drives a Ferrari - first a black Daytona Spyder, and after it is destroyed by a Stinger missile, a white Testarossa.
Due to the stress brought on by Crockett's profession - working as an undercover vice detective, "living the life" away from home to maintain his "cover" - Caroline filed for divorce in 1984 and planned to move to Atlanta with Billy.
[9] After getting caught in a boat explosion while undercover, Crockett suffered amnesia and briefly adopted his cover of Sonny Burnett, starting working for Miami drug cartels.
However, having lost the trust of his friends and facing the risk of being jailed for the crimes committed as Burnett, Crockett escaped from custody and took down the rest of the cartel, saving Tubbs' life in the process.
In addition to the aforementioned personal tragedies, he also lost faith in his work when he realized that he cannot win the battle against all the drug cartels and crooks with several others waiting in the wings to replace those he busted, and encountered increasing corruption in the justice system he was working to uphold, with the wealth of lawyers and politically-minded senior police officials all too eager to handcuff his attempts at fighting the influx of drugs for the sake of advancing their own careers.
The breaking point would come in the final episode of the series, when the two of them are assigned with protecting General Borbon, the military dictator of Costa Morada, who would testify against major drug producers in his home country.
Having packed up his few personal possessions in a duffel bag, Crockett meets up with Tubbs, who is going back to New York, one last time and offers him a ride to the airport in his "stolen" Ferrari, while he himself intends to "head further south, where the water is warm, the drinks are cold, and I don't know the names of the players".
[15] The name "Sonny Crockett" had previously been used for a criminal played by actor Dennis Burkley on Hill Street Blues in 1983, where creator Anthony Yerkovich was a writer.
[16][17] The film version of Crockett is shown to be stern, cavalier, reservedly flirtatious and somewhat impulsive, but nonetheless a dedicated undercover officer who is loyal to his team.
In describing his portrayal of the character, actor Colin Farrell stated, "If I was to think about the early Crockett, I would have been in trouble because I would have been arguing over the suits that I wanted to wear and no socks with my slip-ons, and all that kind of stuff".
[21] In 2006, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories was released, and included a character based on Crockett, who interacts with Lance Vance, voiced by Philip Michael Thomas, and Phil Collins himself,[22] who performs a full length in-game version of "In the Air Tonight".
In the TV comedy series 30 Rock, Kenneth Parcell has a pet parakeet called Sonny Crockett,[23] but the fact he had owned it for 60 years[24] suggests it was not named for the character.