Rico Santos is a former street racer from the Dominican Republic and the friend of Tego Leo. Rico aligned himself with the likes of Dominic Toretto and Letty Ortiz in a Robin Hood-esque crew to steal oil from rich corporations to turn a profit. When Dominic was framed by Hernan Reyes for the death of three DEA agents, Rico aided the crew in the effort to steal $100 million to start new lives. Rico later helped in the rescue of Brian Marcos, the son of Dominic and Elena Neves, when he was kidnapped by notorious cyberterrorist, Cipher.
Biography
Meeting Dominic Toretto
Sometime between 1989 and 1991, Rico Santos was sent to Lompoc Prison for blowing up a bank with his friend Tego Leo, although Tego claimed that it mainly was because they were "driving while brown" and didn't care about the fact that they blew up a bank. While serving their sentence, it was there they first met Dominic Toretto, who was serving a two year sentence at Lompoc for assaulting Kenny Linder for the death of his father, Jack Toretto. There, Rico discussed the cars they were tuning, and pointed out a fuel line crack. This inadvertently made Dominic realize that his younger brother, Jakob Toretto, tampered with Jack's car, which resulted in their father's death.
Los Bandoleros
Rico and Dominic Toretto helped liberate Tego from prison, the latter who cuts a hole in the prison fence. He and Tego reconnoiter at a local club where Dominic meets with their contact, Elvis, a politician who provides them a window of opportunity to hijack an oil tanker owned by a rich corporation and aid an impoverished community.
Oil Hijackings
Tego and Rico participate in the oil tanker hijack, driving a modified Chevrolet R3500. After the first two tankers were stolen by Han Seoul-Oh and Cara Mirtha, Tego turns around into reverse gear and pulls up behind the tanker.
Rico then grabs a hook and lays it down, connecting it to the tanker. When Letty is able to disconnect the oil tank from the truck, Tego and Rico are able to pull away and escape with the oil tank. Later, Leo and Santos are given each get an equal share of the money earned from the stolen fuel.
Liberating Dominic Toretto
Following the death of Fenix Calderon and the arrest of Arturo Braga, Dominic was sentenced to prison with no possibility of parole for his past crimes. When Mia Toretto and Brian O'Conner plot to free him before he arrives at Lompoc Penitentiary, they enlist the help of Rico and Tego, who flank the prison transport in a modified Pontiac Trans-Am.
Rio Heist
When Dominic and Brian O'Conner assembled their team for the Rio heist, Dom called upon Rico and Tego join due to having previously worked with them hijacking oil tankers. Rico and Tego are part of all of the major operations in the heist - in particular they set explosives in the piping system in the police station to cause an explosion allowing them to enter the police station as repairmen and hack into the CCTV.
During a chase through Rio, they drive a garbage truck to switches a decoy safe with the real one. They take their equal share of the money to a casino in Monaco where they play Roulette; Tego places all his chips on red whilst Rico places all of his on black, it is unknown who wins or loses.
Gambling in Monte Carlo
Rico and Tego are briefly mentioned during the crew's first meeting when Brian asks about them, to which Han replies that they were last seen hitting up the casinos of Monte Carlo.
Recovering Deckard Shaw
Rico appears alongside Tego in New York City when helping Dom to save his son from Cipher. They disguised themselves as ambulance workers to recover Deckard Shaw.
Returning for a Barbecue
After the successful Project Aries mission, Rico is seen attending Toretto's crew's barbecue celebratory meal at 1327, which was being rebuilt following its destruction five years prior. He tells Mia that Leo has opened up a restaurant in New York, and jokes that the food is bad, but hipsters love it.
Dante Reyes' Vengeance
When Dominic discovered Dante's vision board, he discovers a list of people that Dante has been tracking that he intends to get revenge with. One of these people being Rico whose name appears on his list due to his involvement in the Rio heist.
Relationships
Allies
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Enemies |
Gallery
F9
Trivia
- Rico is portrayed by Don Omar, who contributed songs used in the soundtrack for multiple entries in the series.
- In Fast & Furious, the character is not named but credited as Don Omar. However, Fast Five names and credits him as Rico Santos.
References