Background
Cragen comes from an Irish Catholic working-class background, and graduated from a Catholic university in New York City, although different episodes have given conflicting information about exactly which school; he calls St. Raymond's University his alma mater in the first season episode "Sophomore Jinx", but says it is St. John's in the third season episode "Justice". Cragen served as a Green Beret in the Vietnam War before joining the New York Police Department, where he was a homicide detective partnered with Max Greevey (George Dzundza). Cragen had been married to a flight attendant named Marge (Ellen Tobie) and the two had no children, although, in a continuity error, an early Law & Order episode indicated they had a teenage child.
The episode "Prescription for Death" establishes that Cragen is a recovering alcoholic. He says that his drinking problem had become so severe in his early career that Greevey insisted he would no longer partner with him unless he joined Alcoholics Anonymous. Cragen finally hit rock bottom when he pulled his service revolver on a taxi driver while in a drunken rage; horrified, he quit drinking and joined AA, and has been sober ever since. Nevertheless, he admits that he feels a daily temptation to drink due to the horrors he witnesses on the job.
Cragen is jaded by city politics and no longer votes. He is a fan of the New York Mets, and keeps an autographed baseball in a case on his desk.
Cragen's primary weapon in Law & Order is Smith & Wesson Model 36, which he continues to carry in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. His primary weapon throughout Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, however, is a Glock 19 9mm semiautomatic pistol.
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