Rafael Scarfe

Rafael Scarfe was an hard-nosed detective of the New York City Police Department who investigates Luke Cage with his partner, Misty Knight.

Biography
When Mercedes "Misty" Knight was promoted from beat cop to detective about ten years before 2016, no other detectives wanted to mentor her. Rafael Scarfe, a humorous member of the Harlem station, decided to do so, with the two becoming close friends. At a certain point Rafael's son Earl found his loaded pistol at their home, resulting in him shooting and killing himself. Misty would note that Rafael made a lot of jokes but didn't smile.

Perhaps from burnout or depression, Scarfe became corrupt, taking bribes from Cornell (Cottonmouth) Stokes, a scion of the Harlem Stokes crime family. Knight remained unaware of her best friend's corruption. Scarfe recorded all his meetings and deals with Cottonmouth, as well as the corruption of his fellow officers such as Lt Perrez, a superior officer in the Harlem squadroom. In 2016, Scarfe and Knight were operating an operation on Cottonmouth. When a gun deal of Cottonmouth's went wrong, with his and rival gang leader Domingo Colon's men dead, Scarfe and Knight attempted to track down the surviving assailant, Chico Diaz.

When Cottonmouth's aide attempted to kill Diaz, he shot up Harlem 'Switzerland', Pop's Barber Shop. Although Pop died, and Luke Cage and a young boy miraculously survived, Diaz was wounded and taken to hospital. At the hospital, Scarfe earned Diaz's trust, he used this as an opportunity to meet with Diaz and kill him for Cottonmouth. He also learned from Diaz that the person busting Cottonmouth's operations was Cage, to whom Diaz had given all his information on Cottonmouth's operations.

Family

 * Earl Scarfe † - Son

Allies

 * New York City Police Department
 * Misty Knight - Partner
 * Lieutenant Perez - Ally turned antagonist
 * Claire Temple
 * Luke Cage
 * Pop †
 * Zip †

Enemies

 * Wilfredo "Chico" Diaz † - Victim
 * Cottonmouth † - Ally turned Killer

Appearances

 * Luke Cage
 * Season One
 * Moment of Truth
 * Code of the Streets
 * Who's Gonna Take the Weight?
 * Step in the Arena
 * Just to Get a Rep
 * Suckas Need Bodyguards

Trivia

 * In the comics, Rafael Scarfe was Misty Knight's partner, and an honest police officer until he eventually began to murder criminals that had gotten away with their crimes.
 * He was a vegetarian.