
Ricardo Blanco (1832-1869), popularly known as Rico Bandito, was a Mexican bandito and revolutionary who was active along the Rio Grande border with Texas during the 1850s and 1860s. A disgruntled Mexican Army veteran of the Mexican-American War, "Rico Bandito" bore an immense hatred for Americans after blaming them for the deaths of his family members during the American invasion of Mexico in 1846-1848, and he launched several cattle raids into West Texas and even fought against the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War and the Franco-Mexican War. After the French invasion came to an end, Rico Bandito was hunted down by the restored republican government, which assigned a detachment of Rurales to eradicate his gang. He was killed in a final-stand shootout with the Rurales at Santiago Papasquiaro in his home state of Durango in 1869.
Biography[]
Ricardo Blanco was born in San Francisco de Mezquital, Durango, Mexico in 1832, one of seven children. Blanco was raised in an impoverished rural family, and, when he was fourteen, he accompanied his 17-year-old brother Mario in an attempt to steal a horse from a wealthy neighbor in order to sell it and make enough money for the family to afford food for the next month. That night, however, Mario was killed by a shotgun blast from a guard at the hacienda, and Ricardo was forced to flee empty-handed. His family, which had been unaware of his and Mario's plans, disowned him for breaking the law and failing to save his brother, so Blanco - now homeless and wanted by the law for his attempted horse theft - fled to the United States, joining a caravan of cattle merchants bound for El Paso in Mexican Texas.
Blanco worked as a ranch hand in El Paso until the outbreak of the Mexican-American War, during which he faked his age and joined the Mexican Army. He fought at the Battle of Resaca de la Palma and the Battle of Monterrey, during which he was wounded and abandoned by his comrades. Blanco was captured by the US Army, but he escaped from behind enemy lines after successfully stealing his first horse. Blanco was viewed as a war hero and nicknamed "Rico Bandito" for his swashbuckling getaway. He was discharged because of his wounds, but, when he returned to San Francisco de Mezquital to visit his family, he found that they had all died of starvation or disease amid the American invasion. This experience left Rico with a hatred for Americans, and he soon found that the roving bands of banditos who roamed the devastated Mexican countryside following the American invasion were searching for experienced soldiers to join their ranks. Rico joined a band of bandits who operated in the Rio Grande valley of Texas, taking part in cattle raids against white American settlers across the border throughout the late 1840s and 1850s.
During the 1860s, the American Civil War and the Franco-Mexican War led to a collapse of central authority in both the American Southwest and the whole of Mexico, and Rico Bandito assumed command of his band of outlaws after its previous leader was killed during a failed raid on a ranch in Lajitas, Brewster County in West Texas. His band of desperados joined forces with Benito Juarez's revolutionary army in exchange for a pardon from the republican government, and, especially after 1865, the band took part in several clashes with the soldiers of the former Confederate States Army on the border and in Mexico proper. During a daring raid on Marathon, deeper into Brewster County, Rico Bandito killed seven American ranchers and stole twenty cows and seven horses; he acquired a reputation as a fast-riding and quick-shooting pistolero who became a boogeyman of Texas border ranchers.
However, Rico Bandito's war of revenge against Texas fell out of favor with the Mexican government with the end of the French war in 1867, after which the Mexican government - aiming to improve cross-border relations with America - began to crack down on banditry. A special task force of Rurales was sent to track down and kill Rico Bandito and his gang, who rode at night to evade capture. A shootout near Parral, Chihuahua in May 1868 left 4 of Rico's 12 comrades dead, but Rico Bandito managed to escape the shootout by sliding down the edge of a rocky cliff and running down the valley on foot. He was rescued by one of his escaping comrades, who brought with him a spare horse, and the outlaws regrouped at El Carrizo, a few miles to the south, back in Durango.
Rico Bandito and his gang were ultimately tracked down to the town of Santiago Papasquiaro in 1869; there, Rico Bandito had murdered a local who had, not unlike the young Blanco, turned to horse theft to provide for his family, and attempted to steal Rico's horse. This shooting was reported to the authorities by the young man's mother, whose cousin was among the Rurales sent after the bandit. Rico Bandito and his four followers holed up in a local farmhouse once the Rurales rode into town, upon which they opened fire on the policemen. Three Rurales were killed in the opening volley, but, within hours, the four bandits faced 20 Rurales. The bandits managed to hold the lawmen at bay until they ran out of ammunition, upon which the Rurales stormed the farmhouse. Rico Bandito had the opportunity to flee through the back door as suggested by one of his comrades, but he instead decided to rush the Rurales as they entered the house. Using an unloaded revolver as a blunt object, he knocked out two Rurales at the entrance of the farmhouse before running onto the porch and then towards the line of rifle-toting policemen holding the perimeter. He was mowed down by a volley of bullets, and three of his comrades were killed in the same shootout. The fourth one, Pedro, was eventually captured while attempting to flee, and he was hanged in Chihuahua City. Rico Bandito's body was laid to rest in his hometown, where his legend was soon forgotten.