Burt Ryan was a plain clothes officer of the New York City Police Department during the 1950s. He was a racist who was not above threatening civilians and engaging in questionable tactics in the course of his work. He held a likeness to Gul Dukat.
Ryan and his partner Kevin Mulkahey harassed Benny Russell. Ryan gave Russell a hard time about his suit, wondering how a black man could afford a nice one. He also took Russell's drawing of Deep Space 9 before giving it back to him and finally allowing him to go.
Ryan and Mulkahey were responsible for the death of Jimmy, a young criminal and acquaintance of Benny Russell. At the time of Jimmy's shooting, Russell tried to help him but was forcibly restrained by Ryan and Mulkahey, receiving a severe beating in the process. (DS9: "Far Beyond the Stars")
Burt Ryan was played by actor Marc Alaimo.
His name comes from script. The script's cast list calls him Burt Dickson, while the rest of the script calls him Burt Ryan. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion - A Series Guide and Script Library)
The authors of the Star Trek Encyclopedia, 4th ed., vol. 2, p. 243 thought Burt Ryan "may have existed in some alternate reality, or perhaps only in certain reaches of Ben Sisko's mind."
External links[]
- Burt Ryan at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works