Here's another character bio from my screenplay "Bordertown"--this one of Rafael Osorio, the Army General who's supposed to be involved in drug interdiction but is really involved in drug trafficking. You can see I've really developed the plot, connecting the General, the DFS (secret police) Commander and the drug mafia padrino.
Let me know what you think and if you have any ideas. I really appreciate the input.
Bordertown Character Biographies: General Osorio
Rafael Osorio Gomez was born, in the mis-30's, near Ojinaga, Chihuahua, into a large family who tried unsuccessfully to make a living through farming. The Osorios were one of a group of families who created an ejido, a communal farm. They obtained communal title to the land and a bank loan. Rafaels mother and maternal grandmother stressed the value of honest work, and the Osorios worked hard, clearing the land and planting cotton, which they sold to repay the loan. Early on, they had little money, too little to buy food. They often resorted to hunting wild burros, clubbing them or chasing them over cliffs. More and more, Rafaels father and paternal grandfather began to make money through their supplementary form of income: smuggling.
During Prohibition, his grandfather smuggled sotol moonshine. After Prohibition, he smuggled candelilla, a wax used in chewing gum and shoe polish. Smuggling candelilla out of Mexico was illegal. Smuggling into the United States was not. The Mexicans required candelilla producers to join a union and sell the wax exclusively to union buyers. Why do that, when you can sell it the Americans for a lot more? The Mexicans buyers are just going to sell it to the Americans, anyway, Rafaels grandfather figured. Why shouldnt we pocket the extra money? Its not surprising then that candelilla smuggling proved very profitable. Its not surprising either that the Mexican government, through its well-trained, well-armed enforcement agents, the forestales, tried their damnedest to stop it.
Little Rafael loved to hear his father and grandfather tell of their exploits, avoiding arrest from the vicious, corrupt forestales. In one instance, the forestales, while pulling a trailer of saddled horses on a hilltop, observed the Osorio's band of smugglers in a valley below. They mounted, descended on them, and opened fire, hitting their burros between the eyes and riddling one of their wax storage tanks with holes. They forestales didnt arrest anyone, but before they let everyone go, they confiscated the wax, which they, no doubt, kept for themselves. Osorio's father and grandfather learned their lesson. The next time the forestales tried that, the Osorios were prepared with heavy fire power. Under such an onslaught the forestales were forced to retreat. When it comes to dealing your enemies, his father told him, you should never underestimate the importance of instilling fear.
When a series of bad storms destroyed the ejido, washing away the fruits of years of work, Rafael saw that hard work didnt always pay. As a teenager, Rafe would go into the smuggling business, riding on horseback alongside his father and grandfather through the borderlands mountains and canyons. Rafael developed great skill as a rider, a skill that would stand him in good stead as a cavalry officer.
Graduating in the late 50's from Mexicos Heroic Military Academy as a second lieutenant, he quickly moved up the ranks. He became a general and commander of the Chubasco garrison. When rebels, led by Pochos college friend, Jesus Arroyo, kidnaped Pedro Dvila, Sr. Chubasco governor and father of its current governor, the President established a joint DFS/Army strike force, Los Intocables" (The Untouchables), authorized to kill, torture, kidnapwhatever it tookto secure Dvilas release and the insurgents destruction. The group was headed by General Osorio and DFS Commander Grijalva, who was earlier involved in the Tlateloloco Massacre.
One day, as Osorio, Grijalva and company search what they believe to be a guerilla safe house, in reality, a cocaine warehouse, they come into contact with traffickers, led by Chubasco Cartel padrino Armando Castillo, A.K.A. El Rey de los Cielos (King of the Skies) because of his huge fleet of drug-transporting airplanes. Los Intocables and Castillo soon came to an agreement, whereby the Mexican security forces would provide protection from state, federal and local prosecution in exchange for a large share of the drug traffickers profits.
Los Intocables may have had luck securing for themselves a lucrative protection arrangement, but they were having no luck finding or freeing the kidnaped governor. Finally, under the president intense pressure, they agreed to pay the guerillas ransom on one condition: that the guerrillas make the release look like a rescue. After the payment of the ransom and a staged rescue, the President stepped up his pressure on Los Intocables to capture the rebels and their leader, Jesus.
Eventually, they did capture Jesus, who became one of the many desaparecidos (disappeared) in La Guerra Sucia, Mexicos Dirty War. Jesus mother, Ramona Quesada de Arroyo started a protest movement on behalf of her son all the others who vanished, and probably died, after being taken into custody. Little did Ramona know that her son was alive and working for the DFS.
The DFS forced him to. Grijalva told him, if he didnt do everything the agency wanted , the DFS would kill his mother. The DFS higher-ups saw that a skillful guerilla fighter like Jesus could be useful, much too useful to kill. So use him the DFS did. Jesus did lots of things for the agencydirty deeds he didnt want to do, but nothing as bad as his current assignment: to take the rap for the Guerrero assassination.
Let me know what you think and if you have any ideas. I really appreciate the input.
Bordertown Character Biographies: General Osorio
Rafael Osorio Gomez was born, in the mis-30's, near Ojinaga, Chihuahua, into a large family who tried unsuccessfully to make a living through farming. The Osorios were one of a group of families who created an ejido, a communal farm. They obtained communal title to the land and a bank loan. Rafaels mother and maternal grandmother stressed the value of honest work, and the Osorios worked hard, clearing the land and planting cotton, which they sold to repay the loan. Early on, they had little money, too little to buy food. They often resorted to hunting wild burros, clubbing them or chasing them over cliffs. More and more, Rafaels father and paternal grandfather began to make money through their supplementary form of income: smuggling.
During Prohibition, his grandfather smuggled sotol moonshine. After Prohibition, he smuggled candelilla, a wax used in chewing gum and shoe polish. Smuggling candelilla out of Mexico was illegal. Smuggling into the United States was not. The Mexicans required candelilla producers to join a union and sell the wax exclusively to union buyers. Why do that, when you can sell it the Americans for a lot more? The Mexicans buyers are just going to sell it to the Americans, anyway, Rafaels grandfather figured. Why shouldnt we pocket the extra money? Its not surprising then that candelilla smuggling proved very profitable. Its not surprising either that the Mexican government, through its well-trained, well-armed enforcement agents, the forestales, tried their damnedest to stop it.
Little Rafael loved to hear his father and grandfather tell of their exploits, avoiding arrest from the vicious, corrupt forestales. In one instance, the forestales, while pulling a trailer of saddled horses on a hilltop, observed the Osorio's band of smugglers in a valley below. They mounted, descended on them, and opened fire, hitting their burros between the eyes and riddling one of their wax storage tanks with holes. They forestales didnt arrest anyone, but before they let everyone go, they confiscated the wax, which they, no doubt, kept for themselves. Osorio's father and grandfather learned their lesson. The next time the forestales tried that, the Osorios were prepared with heavy fire power. Under such an onslaught the forestales were forced to retreat. When it comes to dealing your enemies, his father told him, you should never underestimate the importance of instilling fear.
When a series of bad storms destroyed the ejido, washing away the fruits of years of work, Rafael saw that hard work didnt always pay. As a teenager, Rafe would go into the smuggling business, riding on horseback alongside his father and grandfather through the borderlands mountains and canyons. Rafael developed great skill as a rider, a skill that would stand him in good stead as a cavalry officer.
Graduating in the late 50's from Mexicos Heroic Military Academy as a second lieutenant, he quickly moved up the ranks. He became a general and commander of the Chubasco garrison. When rebels, led by Pochos college friend, Jesus Arroyo, kidnaped Pedro Dvila, Sr. Chubasco governor and father of its current governor, the President established a joint DFS/Army strike force, Los Intocables" (The Untouchables), authorized to kill, torture, kidnapwhatever it tookto secure Dvilas release and the insurgents destruction. The group was headed by General Osorio and DFS Commander Grijalva, who was earlier involved in the Tlateloloco Massacre.
One day, as Osorio, Grijalva and company search what they believe to be a guerilla safe house, in reality, a cocaine warehouse, they come into contact with traffickers, led by Chubasco Cartel padrino Armando Castillo, A.K.A. El Rey de los Cielos (King of the Skies) because of his huge fleet of drug-transporting airplanes. Los Intocables and Castillo soon came to an agreement, whereby the Mexican security forces would provide protection from state, federal and local prosecution in exchange for a large share of the drug traffickers profits.
Los Intocables may have had luck securing for themselves a lucrative protection arrangement, but they were having no luck finding or freeing the kidnaped governor. Finally, under the president intense pressure, they agreed to pay the guerillas ransom on one condition: that the guerrillas make the release look like a rescue. After the payment of the ransom and a staged rescue, the President stepped up his pressure on Los Intocables to capture the rebels and their leader, Jesus.
Eventually, they did capture Jesus, who became one of the many desaparecidos (disappeared) in La Guerra Sucia, Mexicos Dirty War. Jesus mother, Ramona Quesada de Arroyo started a protest movement on behalf of her son all the others who vanished, and probably died, after being taken into custody. Little did Ramona know that her son was alive and working for the DFS.
The DFS forced him to. Grijalva told him, if he didnt do everything the agency wanted , the DFS would kill his mother. The DFS higher-ups saw that a skillful guerilla fighter like Jesus could be useful, much too useful to kill. So use him the DFS did. Jesus did lots of things for the agencydirty deeds he didnt want to do, but nothing as bad as his current assignment: to take the rap for the Guerrero assassination.
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Actually, I was expecting my friends list to be cut in half when I came back.