Rick Deluca

Concept: Upscale drug dealer

AKA: Rick never goes by his real name if he can possibly help it. Nearly all of his of his clientele know him as “Quinn” or “The Eskimo”. 

Desc: Tall and kind of skinny. Pale, as if it’s been a while since he’s gotten any sun at all. (which is true.)  Talks low and kind of fast. Can be a little hard to understand at times as a result. Specs, already losing his hair in his late 20’s. Often looks as if he hasn’t slept in days. Is perfectly at home in hospital scrubs and sneakers. Watery blue eyes that have some intelligence showing.

History: Ricky decided at an early age that he wanted to be a doctor. And in truth, he’s talented, at least in his hands. But as he got deeper and deeper into med school it started becoming apparent to him that he might not exactly have the grades.  He might have gutted it out and be doing a residency somewhere, but we’ll probably never know for certain.

   As Rick was in the process of losing his scholarship, which likely would have sent him packing back home, one of his neighbors in the student ghetto asked him if he was interested in picking up some extra cash.  He indicated he was, and one short meeting  with a supplier later, Ricky was on his way to a new and lucrative career in dealing drugs.

   Now, Rick got lucky insofar as his supplier was relatively chill and sold coke instead of grass or meth or crank.  Coke meant a slightly more upscale clientele. After all, you have to have some serious jack to have a coke habit. and since Ricky was a white boy, he could mix and mingle without anybody looking twice at him. You think some dude named “Pablo” is going to be able to wander around a gated community without someone coming around to ask him some pertinent questions with the business end of a billy club? 

   Not only that but while Ricky didn’t come from money himself, he’d met quite a few of those kids in Med school and already had an idea of how many were using speed to prop themselves up. Ricky used his last semester as a full-on student to network for his new career.  It got him invited to a few upscale parties, and business just took off from there.

    In fact, Rick has been branching out. He’s found that a number of his clients like exotic chemical entertainments and are willing to pay a premium for them. Rick’s not stupid. He cleared all of this with his primary supplier first and cuts the guy in for a slice. In exchange, Rick’s supplier makes contact with cooks who can make acid or DMT or whatever the kids are craving these days.  

Now it’s not all kittens and rainbows certainly. Rick still hasn’t mentioned to his parents that he’s not in Med school anymore. Although push comes to shove, there might still be a way for Rick to score a license credential. There are guys who can put that shit together and make it look good.  Rick’s supplier has his hooks into the local narcotics department, so often they can see the law coming from a mile off.  But there is one real weak link security and that’s the clients.

   It’s fairly simple. Some kid gets popped for a traffic violation and maybe he’s real nervous and sweaty, and maybe the cop searches the vehicle and finds a kilo in the trunk.   Well, that particular rich boy is now looking at possession with intent to sell.

And that particular rich boy hasn’t been raised all of his life in a culture that loathes squealers. So he sings. Oh yes. Arias.

    It looked pretty touch and go there for a while. Until Rick came up with a plan and told his supplier.  When Pablo heard the plan he actually smiled for the first time since Rick had known him.  They waited. The kid had parents with serious money and serious lawyers, and so naturally in return for “cooperation”, they released the kid.  The kid had been back all of 2 days before someone put the bag on him. They found him the next day wandering around his parent's tennis club in some kind of haze.

Their relief turned to horror when the haze didn’t lift. Someone had lobotomized him. He’d apparently been under when it happened and couldn’t even describe his assailants.  The Prosecutors case fell apart and Rick skated.  After that, he went very very covert, and of course, word got around about what would happen if you squealed on the Eskimo. Pablo made sure of that.

Attitude: “I used to want to help people.  I kind of still do...But my career has moved into helping people have a good time. I used to worry about what my parents would say. I used to worry that I would get jailed. and I used to worry that I was ruining lives left and right....But you know. as my man Pablo would say, I never forced any of those people to buy drugs off of me. And let’s face it, money in the bank tends to bring with it a certain amount of Buddhistic calm.  And as long as people can keep their mouth shut, nobody has to get hurt.”

Skills: Decent dex and pretty good with a knife or taser. 3 dots of medicine and 3 more dots of science with a specialty in chemistry. He could probably go into the cooking end of things if he ever amasses enough operating capital. But he also knows that would put him in management and he’s paid enough attention to the way Pablo does business, to know that he’s not exactly keen to do that. He’s got some pretty decent socials and is developing a real talent for subterfuge, both telling them and knowing them when he hears them.  In a pinch, he could pull out a bullet or stitch a wound or even a few things beyond that, should it be necessary. 

Gear: Hand-held taser, Burner phone, Personal phone (with NO criminal stuff on it at all. It’s just that his mom calls sometimes.) and a phone which is not actually a phone, but is, in fact , a two shot gun. Carries a doctor bag in the trunk with actual useful materials in it.  Many times, he’ll go for a suit and keep his money in an actual bank deposit bag. driving his escalade. No one looks at him twice.   He’s gotten in the habit of having a dozen bank accounts so that he can drop cash as fast as possible. Dropping product is more difficult obviously but again, suit and Escalade means he’s virtually never been stopped.

Home: Owns a pretty decent sized house out in the sticks. The house also has a barn which houses exactly two things. The tractor, for mowing and an operating theater. The barn has been heavily soundproofed.  You know, just in case there’s screaming.

Circle: Rick has become fairly connected.He’s interested in making connections with criminal specialists of all sorts. He may never need the service of a professional arsonist, but fuck man, you never know, right? Also, Rick has used drugs and money to work his magic on the local airport.  He’s found a way to work with other drug dealers which prevent things from going south. They meet in an airport VIP lounge, which means both parties have been searched and scanned for weapons, once the money gets handed over for a bulk order. Rick calls his guy at long term parking, hands over a key, and the buyer finds his merch in the trunk. So far, it’s worked like a charm. Rick is starting to realize that he’s actually good at this crime thing...Maybe management isn’t such a bad idea after all?

Story Uses:

“Dude. I sell coke to a lot of people’s sisters. you’re going to have to be more specific.”

Sure. He’s criminal scum. but he’s not dumb and you’ll have a hard time bringing him to justice in any conventional way.

Cops can’t really touch him

“Yeah. I can cook that up for you here if you like. Big party you say?”

For certain types of characters having an upscale drug dealer on speed-dial isn’t an option, it’s a must.

Connections:

* Has occasionally worked with Marcie Hawkins. Senses a kindred spirit there maybe. One job required a solution of DMT and DMSO to suitably distract a set of security guards without killing them. Fortunately, Rick was along for the ride, because the safe cracker got shot during the job and they needed his medical expertise too. Marcie, for her part, recognized someone who doesn't rattle easily.

* Also knows T.C. Mitnick. Pablo can't stand talking to that guy, but occasionally dealing requires information management. So since Rick doesn't make him nervous...Rick gets sent. A nervous T.C. tends to jabber more than usual.

* Milo Karanikas =steady demand for poppers and ecstasy. Bread and butter money. Not a bad dude to know. Sexually, Rick tends to be a bit uptight but Milo has seen to loosening him up some. He had Rhonda do that thing with her tongue to him...and well... It damn blew the top of his head off.

* Clavo Hernandez Let's just say that if Rick needed to disappear tomorrow, he could do so with about 10 minutes lead time.

* No discussion of an upscale drug dealer would be complete without a discussion of The Vermillion House. Quinn the Eskimo is considered an honored guest within the House. Maybe not member material..but he has shown unusual promise for one with such lowly beginnings. Who knows?

* Deals to Dj Razor Burn at The Caboose. Many of the ladies there also like exotic chemical entertainments of various sorts. Rick is very discrete in here. He's fairly sure that Carl is onto him.