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This article's subject relates to Season 1 of 24.

Mark DeSalvo was the warden at the Saugus detention center in California, one of twenty-seven top-secret Mobile Underground Detention and Detainment facilities run by the Department of Defense.

Biography[]

Early life and career[]

Mark DeSalvo was born thirty-six years before Day 1. He was married to Teresa DeSalvo, until her death on 11 June 2000 due to complications from pancreatic cancer.

DeSalvo served in the United States Army, graduating from the Ranger Training School and achieving the rank of Master Sergeant with the 10th Mountain Division, serving in Somalia in 1993. Eventually he was promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant and served at the U.S. Army Command post in Seoul, South Korea and with the Capture Management Program in Albania in 1999. Around this time he graduated from the Army's Interrogation and Intelligence Gathering and Prison Management Systems and Theories courses.

Following his terms of duty, DeSalvo was assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency's Special Unit for Counterintelligence Initiatives in 2000, and in 2002 received a posting as a warden at the Department of Defense's top-secret Mobile Underground Detention and Detainment prison network. In particular, DeSalvo oversaw the Saugus detention center, hidden underneath the Saugus Wildlife Preserve in California. (Findings at CTU)

Day 1[]

1x20 corridors

DeSalvo was on duty on the day of the California primary, when a classified high-value prisoner was scheduled to be delivered at 7:20pm. CTU agent Jack Bauer, following a lead from Pacific Electric employee Alan Morgan, stumbled upon the facility at 7:10 and was briefly taken prisoner by the guards. In questioning, Jack warned DeSalvo that Morgan had been paid by the family of Victor Drazen to shut off the power to the facility at 7:20, and urged him to call for back-up. Concerned, DeSalvo agreed, but said that it would take time for the request to work its way up the chain of command. In the meantime, he agreed to outfit the guards and maintenance staff on duty in combat gear and greet the arriving prisoner in full force, hopefully deterring any planned attack.

At 7:19 the helicopter approached, and Jack, DeSalvo and the men from the facility came out from underground with their weapons raised. The lights from the facility guided the helicopter. After nothing went wrong with the prisoner handoff at the detention facility, DeSalvo questioned whether Jack’s claims were genuine. Jack asked to speak to the prisoner, but DeSalvo replied that it was outside his authority; even he, as the warden, wasn't allowed to know who it was. However, he agreed to call his superiors and attempt to gain clearance.

DeSalvo caught Jack sneaking into a room and looking at live feeds of the prisoner and admonished him for breaching security. Jack, stunned, realized that the prisoner was Victor Drazen, whom Jack had believed killed in Operation Nightfall two years prior.

After interrogating Drazen, Jack realized the prison was still under threat and arranged with DeSalvo to evacuate with the prisoner. Meanwhile, Andre Drazen and his team outside destroyed the facility's power transformer to prepare for their raid. Jack, DeSalvo and the guards were in the process of moving Victor Drazen down the corridor toward a maintenance exit when the lights in the facility flickered and then faded. ("Day 1: 7:00pm-8:00pm")

Minutes later, an explosion blasted open a nearby wall. Jack and DeSalvo retreated back into the facility with their prisoner. Andre and his commandos stormed the detention hallway and found Jack with his gun trained on Victor. They in turn held DeSalvo at gunpoint, and Jack relented in the standoff. As he released Victor, Andre shot DeSalvo anyway, killing him on the spot. ("8:00pm-9:00pm")

Memorable quotes[]

  • Mark DeSalvo: Don't release that prisoner! Don't do it, Bauer, don't do it! ("Day 1: 8:00pm-9:00pm")

Background information and notes[]

  • This character was named after the winner of an auction set up by 24's producers to raise money for the families of victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks. The real Mark DeSalvo, a Manhattan stockbroker, paid $5,200 to have his name appear on the show. See also Rae Plachecki, Melissa Raab and Lee Schulman.
  • Lou Diamond Phillips received the "with" credit in the Special Guest Star section.
  • DeSalvo is Andre Drazen's only direct kill on the show.

Live appearances[]


See also[]

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