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Phil Mayhew

Philmayhew

Affiliation
Con Artist
Status
Running cons with Sarah MacPhail
Episode Appeared In
Played By


Phil Mayhew (born in Whitechapel, London) is a long time con man, beginning in his youth running fairground games, then a shill at pony tracks, then an open party out of an apartment in Chelsea, took young rich types for 30,000 pounds in a phony record deal, one of which was with the Soho mob, so he fled England before the muscle could get him.

He moved to Miami and ran a con as a game show host for the local-TV game show Rat Race, where he rigged the game to ensure a plant, Joe, would win the top prize of $100,000, with Joe getting $20,000, but Phil took all the money and went on a spending spree, buying a new Lamborghini, car phone, telescope, clothes, house, jewelry, and interior decorations. Then he runs a con with drug dealer Tony Rivers' girlfriend Sarah MacPhail to make drug deals with prices that undercut Rivers' offer for the same weight. Sarah had no idea of Phil's plans, she lets Rivers in on Phil's doings, and Rivers (after roughing Phil up some) agrees to the deals, but only if Phil acts as middleman (and for this he gets...life!) James "Sonny" Crockett and Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs plan to arrest Phil, but he agrees to help them bring Rivers and Sarah down in exchange for immunity, the Vice cops agree and set up the deal, which was at Phil's house (with the other buyers from his party), but Phil leaves to pick up the drugs (and takes their money, except for Crockett and Tubbs, who "go where their money goes") from Rivers at an amusement park. During the enusing shootout Phil and Sarah fled in his car, and he got away with all of the money, later Phil and Sarah were seen on television, running a fake faith-healer scam.

Trivia[]

  • Mayhew's name is likely a portmanteau of Phil Collins and John Mayhew (the drummer in the band Genesis who preceded Collins)
  • At the end of "Phil the Shill", Mayhew is seen to be running a new scam playing a faith healer/televangelist. Collins would later play a similar unscrupulous televangelist character in the 1992 music video for the song "Jesus He Knows Me" by his band Genesis.
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