Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs (born 1949) was an undercover detective who worked for the New York Police Department (NYPD) in New York City before moving to Miami to work with Sonny Crockett to avenge his brother Rafael's death at the hands of Esteban Calderone. From 1984 to 1989, Tubbs and Crockett took down several criminals during the fierce drug wars in Miami.
Biography[]
Ricardo Tubbs was born in New York City, New York in 1949 to a family of African-Americans, and he worked as an undercover detective for the New York Police Department (NYPD) alongside his brother Rafael. He worked with Valerie Gordon and Clarence Batisse at various times, and he had a romance with Gordon for many years. Rico's life was changed when he lost his brother Rafael to the drug dealer Esteban Calderone, and he decided to seek revenge against Calderone, trying to hunt him down in September 1984. However, Calderone fled to Florida, and Tubbs followed him there, and he met fellow detective Sonny Crockett there. Tubbs and Crockett managed to capture Calderone, but Calderone was freed on bail, and Tubbs was offered a position in the Metro-Dade police force to continue the hunt. Tubbs and Crockett worked together over the next few years; the partners were very different, as Tubbs was cynical and worldly, while Crockett was a beach bum. In 1989, both Tubbs and Crockett quit the police force when they finally realized that they could not win the battle against every drug cartel and criminal, having suffered several traumatic experiences over the past five years.