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Florentino Cruz

Florentino "Indian Charlie" Cruz (died 22 March 1882) was a Mexican outlaw of the Wild West and a member of the Cochise County Cowboys gang.

Biography[]

Florentino Cruz was born in Mexico, and he was a half-blooded Native American. He became a cattle rustler, stage robber, and outlaw with the Cochise County Cowboys gang, and he served as Curly Bill Brocius' translator during the gang's raids into Mexico. Nicknamed "Indian Charlie", he took part in the ambushes of Virgil Earp and Morgan Earp, wounding the first and killing the second. During Wyatt Earp's "Vendetta Ride", they tracked down Cruz as he was chopping wood, and he was shot between 10 and 12 times.

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