87th Precinct

The character of the State Department official is billed as Jim Spencer in the ending credits but referred to as Harry Spencer in the dialogue.

The character of Roger Havilland was killed off in one of the early 87th Precinct novels but got resurrected when NBC decided to turn them into a weekly television series.

The murdered police officer is referred to as both "Eddie Haines" and "Eddie Holmes" in the dialogue.

The set for the Phelps house was used two episodes prior as the King house in King's Ransom.

The characters of homicide detectives Monaghan and Monroe are recurring throughout the novels on which the series was based.

One curious thing about this episode is that in other episodes the territory covered by the 87th Precinct appears to be mostly working class but apparently the 87th has some well-to-do sections as evidenced by the King home.

For some reason North Carolina native Gregory Walcott's Southern accent is more pronounced than usual in this episode.

The character of Frankie Spain appears to be loosely based on Frankie Carbo, a real life mobster of the period who had strong ties to boxing.

In the novel on which this episode is based, the bride-to-be is Carella's sister. Here, she's changed to the daughter of an old family friend.

The physical description of Detective Meyer Meyer in the novels is quite different than that of his portrayer in the series, Norman Fell. The Meyer of the novels was overweight and bald.

Nitpick: in the scene where Joe Czepreghi and Steve Carella are arguing in the squad room, Ross Martin suddenly loses most of his foreign accent.

The character of informant Danny Gimp was a regular in the 87th Precinct novels although this episode marks his only appearance in the TV series.

Sadly, the character of Claire Townsend would be killed off in the 87 Precinct novels. Author Ed McBain later stated that this event led to him receiving the highest number of letters in protest of a storyline in the entire series of novels.

This episode marked the only appearance in the series of Captain Howard, the commander of the 87th Precinct. In the novels on which the series was based Howard was mostly mentioned in passing and rarely appeared.

In the novel on which this episode is based, Killer's Wedge, the character of Virginia Colt is named Virginia Dodge. Perhaps Dodge automobiles was a sponsor of the show and thus the change of name.

Norman Fell was billed ahead of Gregory Walcott in the opening credits of the show but Walcott was billed over Fell in the ending credits.

The role of Detective Steve Carella was played by Burt Reynolds in the poorly received 1972 film Fuzz. Jack Weston played Detective Meyer Meyer and Tom Skerritt played Detective Bert Kling.

Robert Lansing originally played Detective Steve Carella in the 1960 film The Pusher. When Lansing began playing the role in the TV series he claimed that the producers told him they were unaware he'd previously played his TV character on the big screen.