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Andy Garcia has appeared in numerous movies and TV shows, but fans remember him most for his portrayal of Vincent Mancini in The Godfather: Part III, a role that earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Older and still as charming as ever, the actor is now in Landman, playing Gallino, aka Danny Morell, and bringing along a lot of corporate chicanery with him. His character is a cartel boss, but he is keen on being seen as a legitimate businessman, so he has an investment firm, through which he pours money into the oil industry.

Gallino first appeared in the Season 1 finale, where he saved Tommy from the cartel leader Jimenez. He might have seemed like an angel to Tommy, but he is now proving to be his worst nightmare. In Season 2, Gallino first messes with Tommy’s head by funding an independent oil company belonging to the landman’s son, Cooper. He then gets into the head of Cami, causing her to accept an investment offer he had been dangling in front of her. This creates friction between Cami and Tommy, as the latter knows Gallino’s true colors. But who really is Gallino, and what does he want?

Gallino’s First Move: Use the Tadpole To Attract the Frog

Paramount+

Danny Morrell is a fake name that Gallino uses to appear as a legitimate businessman. As revealed in Season 2, Episode 4, he’s married to an Italian woman named Bella, whom Tommy, Angela, and Cami are introduced to at the clubhouse. All Bella knows is that Danny is from Cuba, and he cannot return because of political reasons. She knows him as a tycoon and seems oblivious to the fact that he is a cartel boss.

Under the name Danny Morrell, Gallino founded Sonrisa, an Odessa-based financial and investment institution. Tommy later learns this because of his son Cooper’s activities. Without informing his father, Cooper gathers leases and drills six wildcat wells. All of them hit oil, meaning Cooper’s gonna be "very rich." But he needed some investment to pull it off. Where did it come from? Sonrisa.

It turns out Sonrisa financed the entire drilling operation, which cost $48 million. According to Cooper, he and Sonrisa are meant to split the revenue 50–50 until a recoup, then the company drops to 18% after that. Upon hearing the information, Tommy is alarmed as he is certain no company would offer such terms to a first-time wildcatter. The deal is simply too good to be true. He thus asks Nathan to dig into Sonrisa.

Nathan’s findings are interesting. The Odessa‑based company Cooper partnered with is not where the actual money comes from. It’s from a financial fund in Dallas, owned by none other than Gallino. Nathan tells Tommy that the cartel owns potentially drillable land in Texas and sees this as a route to get legitimate oil money, instead of only dwelling in narcotics.

Eager to save his son and avoid dealing with Gallino, Tommy analyzes all possible strategies. After discovering Gallino’s loan to Cooper wasn’t paid, he offers (through M-Tex) to buy out the leases and cover incurred costs to free Cooper. Tommy then informs Gallino, but the drug lord is unbothered because he has another move in play. Cami just asked him for a loan.

Gallino’s Second Move: Position Himself as the Only Source of Water

Paramount+

Now that Gallino has attracted the frog using the tadpole, he suggests that for the two and everyone else in their clan to survive, they will need his water. In this case, it’s his money. How does that happen?

Let’s circle back a bit. Cami, Rebecca, and Nate discover that during Monty’s time at the helm, the insurance company paid M-Tex a lump-sum settlement of approximately $400 million after an offshore oil well in Louisiana burst. This payout required the company to drill a replacement well. Instead of using the settlement for the replacement well, Monty put it in a separate entity called M Miller Insurance and Casualty (a C-corp), to avoid tax. He then invested the money in various private equity funds.

Predictably, the insurance company realized the treachery and is now demanding that the replacement well be drilled quickly or M-Tex gets slapped with a major lawsuit that could sink the company. M-Tex cannot repay the money either, since the $400 is currently illiquid. Withdrawing it would mean losses and heavy penalties.

M-Tex is thus left with two choices: either file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy or take up risky financing. During the meeting with Gallino, he had informed Cami that he was an investor (he knew what he was doing), so she requested a loan. When she informs Tommy, he is understandably against the idea, because making a deal with the devil could trap them in hell. However, Cami is all for it. She believes they are in their last chance saloon, and she cannot allow her late husband’s empire to crumble. Additionally, she argues she has plausible deniability about Gallino’s dealings. Cami thus enters into the Faustian pact, paving the way for Gallino to become the company’s biggest investor.

Does Gallino Want To Get Rid of Tommy?

Billy Bob Thornton as Tommy Norris in Season Two of Landman on Paramount+.Paramount+

The blistering ethical-dramatic question that drives Season 2 is: What does Gallino really want? One thing’s for sure. The Gus Fring imitator doesn’t intend to push Tommy away. He wants to make a lot of money in the best possible way without the "trafficker" tag. You could see how his eyes burned during that office confrontation where Tommy called him a drug lord. The term is derogatory to him. Despite making most of his money illegally, he wants to be in Forbes, not on the DEA or the FBI’s most wanted list. Gallino neither hates nor likes Tommy, though he leans more towards the latter. He is simply an ambitious criminal who gets what he wants. Every time he talks to Tommy, he indirectly gives him the Thanos warning: “I am inevitable.” Gallino will get his way, whether the landman likes it or not. So, it’s up to him to decide whether he will get in line or prove a nuisance and be crushed.

Gallino understands Tommy’s skepticism, but that is of no concern to him. He benefits nothing from M-Tex staying clean. He only benefits if the company takes his money. Because he thinks of himself as the superior person in this entire game, his ideal situation would involve the experts and industry veterans bowing down to him. Cami might have been married to one of the biggest oil tycoons in the land, and Tommy might know where every well is, but, in his view, they should all serve his purpose because he is better.

In Episode 6, Gallino, after noticing the tension between Tommy and Cami, gives him some advice. "When those sharks smell her doubt in you, they’re gonna poison her with reason to get rid of you," he says. He implies that other M-Tex figures will attempt to push out Tommy if they notice the hostility. The drug lord positions himself as a friend, but what he really wants is for the two to get along because a stable M-Tex is good for him.

So, whether Gallino unleashes his claws or stretches out an arm for an embrace will largely depend on whether Tommy decides to play hero or servant. If Tommy accepts the situation as is, his head lowered and jutting like that of a faithful Labrador Retriever, all will be well. The only problem that might pop up later is an investigation by the authorities. If Tommy decides to dangle on his moral compass, we could be in for a wild battle, one that pits him against Cami and Gallino. Grab your Kale chips... because... well... popcorn is overrated.

Release Date November 17, 2024

Writers Taylor Sheridan, Christian Wallace

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Tommy Norris

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Angela Norris

Set in the proverbial boomtowns of West Texas, Landman is a modern-day tale of fortune seeking in the world of oil rigs. Based on the notable 11-part podcast “Boomtown,” the series is an upstairs/downstairs story of roughnecks and wildcat billionaires fueling a boom so big, it’s reshaping our climate, our economy and our geopolitics.