While in Bluff City, Finnegan Hands owned “The” Scuba Shop, which he inherited from his mother despite not being particularly good at diving. He is good with engines, better with boats.
He hired Doyle MacKaye and was a mentor figure to Sonny Veranda. It was this relationship that would be his downfall, as Sonny asked Finnegan to steal Rupert the bird from his family’s vault.
After’s Sonny’s arrest, Finnegan was forced into one of his own submarines by Sonny’s uncle, Vinny Veranda, as retribution for stealing from the Veranda family. Unable to return to shore for fear of the Verandas, Finnegan drove the submarine until it ran out of fuel, deep underwater and far from Bluff City.
Some time later he arrived in Blough City, where Achilles Apollo helped him gain work as a charity santa.
At the time of his first appearance, he was 55 years old. When seen in Messy Business, he is 62 years old and is described as "scarred, battered, broken by one too many good ideas" and "miserable here [in Blough City] a world where “good faith” is worth nothing but a target on your back".
While in Blough City, Finnegan lived in a tiny ranch house out near the Thicket. It was “fine” inside, messy with "the mess that accumulated through effort being spent elsewhere rather than negligence", with evidence of cooking, takeout containers, a record player, 16 records (some of which are duplicates), a desk, and a santa costume in a plastic bag on a floor. It is described as a “sit down anywhere” kind of place. Finnegan drives an old beater car which is dented, although this car was left behind in Bluff City.