Which Danbury Politician Played a Cop On An Episode of Miami Vice?

Which Greater-Danbury politician once acted on an episode of Miami Vice?

Get our free mobile app

The answer is Danbury Mayor Dean Esposito.

Danbury Mayor Dean Esposito joins us each week on the I-95 Morning Show and he told us the Miami Vice story on the Friday (8/11/23) edition of the show.

I-95: You definitely buried the lead this morning. You were on Miami Vice?

Esposito: "Miami Vice. You know I had to bring it up with you guys. You know my brother lives down in Florida, he mentioned to me the other day saying hey the other day those guys were talking about Miami Vice and back in the 80's it was a popular show, he asked, did you tell them that you were on there as an extra? I go, no I did not but I'll bring it up the next time I see them and obviously this is the next time but it was a lot of fun.

You know my brother was big on, down there in Florida at the time they would post it in the paper: Needed Extras. So, I was down there visiting him, I was a beach bum at the time hanging out with him and he says, you want to go? I said oh absolutely!

So we ended up in Miami Airport the free zone so they were open for filming and all the crew was there it was a top-shelf production thing going on, I was pretty impressed. My brother is a semi-pro, he was positioning himself to make sure he got on camera and I ended up being selected to be a police officer.

I had a suit on and they said you're an undercover policeman now, I said OK. They brought me downstairs, they gave me a shoulder holster and a 9 mm pistol with blanks in it, they showed me how to shoot it and I went back upstairs. I was positioned to kick the door down and run down the stairs and I said OK, simple enough.

After about 15 minutes, here comes Don Johnson and Phillip Michael Thomas and we're in the doorway, a little hallway and there was another gentleman that I met there who was a real State Trooper, he was an extra as well, him and I were going to kick the door open and run down this out stairs flight of stairs.

So, I said alright and here comes Don Johnson and Phillip Michael Thomas, you know Tubbs they called him on the show and he was a great guy. He was very nice, asking us where we're from and then there is Don Johnson right? Mullet hanging low, he says where we at he says to me. I said excuse me, he goes where we at? What are we doing here, what is the scene? I kind of seized up and I don't know.

They start rolling the scene, I kicked the door open, I run down the first flight of stairs which was the top flight and we start, we're shooting at the bad guys and Don Johnson runs down behind us and Phillip Michael Thomas runs down behind us and they stop and they start shooting and one of the shells from the gun kicks out and hits Don Johnson right below his eye, it didn't hit him in the eye but right below it.

Oh my God! He starts crying, I gotta stop the scene! It was unbelievable and there was all of these stunt men there, these tough guys and they are like oh this guy is brutal. He went back to his trailer and he had to put ice on it. Poor Don Johnson." 

Don Johnson was on the losing side of that story but not surprisingly "Tubbs" comes out squeaky clean.

This dude even looks cool pitching English Muffins in a parking lot which sounds like a radio station promotion that I will have to do at some point.

Listen to the rest of the Mayor's story below.

Dean Esposito being on Miami Vice actually tracks for me. There is not one part of my brain that says these things don't match. This Mayor is an interesting dude, this is the same guy who sacked NFL Legend Steve Young in high school.

Check out the Ethan, Lou & Large Dave Podcast on Apple and Spotify