Tony Rico

Syntax

Tony

## History

Tony was born in the Broker area of Liberty City to his father, Don, and a currently unnamed mother. He spent the first several years of growing up with both of his parents, though his father was abusive and constantly in trouble with the law. This led to his mother taking him to a different home, where she picked up a new job working for Strawberry Tarts as one of his "tarts" at a strip club. He never met his father again after this and continued to grow up through a war between the Kelloggs and General Mills cartels.

His childhood led to him vowing to become a police officer, hoping to distance himself from the crimes of his family. He changed his last name to his mother's maiden name, Rico, and soon signed up for the LCPD academy. After graduating, he started work as a beat cop for several years, during which he would occasionally give in-school lectures about the dangers of drug use. It was at one of these, during recess before the lecture, that he bumped into Honey Bunches of Oates beneath an apple tree, causing her to drop an apple onto a game of jacks. They fell in love at first sight and talked together for hours, getting married later on.

Tony's close partner, Jimmy, had been dating Kelly Morocco at the time. Unbeknownst to both of them, however, Kelly was also known as Coco Pops and was working for the Kelloggs Cartel. The four of them all became rather close, going on double dates and generally having a good relationship. However, this changes months later when Kelly murders Jimmy by stabbing him during his marriage proposal, keeping the blood-covered ring for many years. During all of this, Rico had been investigating a drug trafficking ring led by a gangster known as Lucky, who had been "slinging his charms" down the eastern seaboard. When hearing of Jimmy's death, Rico grievingly returned home to Honey, only to find her gone. They don't meet again until a decade later in Los Santos.

From there, it became Rico's life goal to track down and put an end to the Kelloggs Cartel, and to bring justice to Jimmy. This led to him starting to drink heavily and working off-duty to find information about the cartel. Once, while surveying the dealers at Honey's former school, he saw one of her students being lured by Snack, Crackle, and Pop to a warehouse where they were going to test a new brand of charms on the kids. Tony followed them to the warehouse before they were able to inject the students, drawing his service pistol and telling them to stop. Overcome with grief and the memory of Honey, however, he fired at Snap and Crackle as they raised their firearms, killing them both. Though he was able to save the students, this led to an investigation, later being cleared by internal affairs for active duty.

As time went by, he continued his campaign against the cartel, only to be constantly caught in roadblocks caused by corruption in the PD and DOJ. Thankfully, he eventually caught a break upon witnessing the start a large arms deal gone wrong at the docks. When hearing gunfire, he radioed in the location and began to chase down Special K, who was fleeing from the firefight. Eventually, Tony had him cornered and held up at the end of the dock. During this, however, he was told over the radio that a group of other troopers had Tony the Tiger cornered at a nearby warehouse. As he lowered his firearm and instructed Special K that he would be letting him go, K suddenly drew his firearm and attempted to shoot Rico, only to be suddenly struck by lightning, causing him to fall into the ocean below. His skin would take years to recover, and he was then renamed to Special K Driedberry.

Rico then responded to the warehouse, where Tony the Tiger had locked himself away in a fortified office in the back. Upon breaching, officers realized that the warehouse was actually the production site of Lucky's 'Charms.' As the troopers took care of the Kelloggs' guards, Rico and a few others cornered Tony in his office. He entered to try and talk down the irate Tony the Tiger, who had panicked and dressed fully into his tiger fursuit from the stress of the situation. As Rico got closer, the Tiger attempted to pick up his AK-47 and open fire, but the large paws of the suit caused him to fumble with the weapon. This led to Rico charging forwards and tackling Tony, thus the first known use of the notorious: *"Get Rico'd!"*

Rico spent the next few months tearing down the rest of the cartel's infrastructure in Liberty City and was regarded as a cop hero for several years. He was also involved in many different busts on other major organizations through the years before being rewarded for his work. His heavy drinking continued, however, leading to an embarrassing incident that caused him to leave and apply for an open position as the colonel of the San Andreas State Police.

## Personality

Rico generally has a more dynamic personality, often able to tell jokes or partake in bits with fellow officers and criminals alike. He's generally more lighthearted in his attitude, with this being more prevalent when he's near the people he knows best.

This, however, is contrasted by the more serious side of his personality. Usually, this is seen when it comes to business on the Kelloggs or General Mills, with perhaps the darkest example of this being when he milkboards Rice Krispies (Liam Cullen) in the holding cells below Mission Row PD. Rico, during these times, begins to show just how affected by his past he really is. The thought of breakfast cereal and milk is enough to send him into a state of anxiety, with just the presence of milk sometimes causing him to pass out from distress when on duty. There's also the more thoughtful side of his personality, prevalent only when he's around the people he knows best or the people he cares for. Moments where this shows through could include Winchester's tribunal, when finding JCVD asleep in an old telephone booth, tending to Paul Forester or other officers as a medical, etc.

In general, Rico's a good leader with an innate sense of justice, willing to do whatever it takes to get things done. Whatever it takes.

## Timeline

### **Kelloggs Cartel: The Return**

Having been quiet for almost a decade, it was a shock to hear news of the Kelloggs being active, especially around San Andreas. At that point, Rico hadn't heard from his wife, nor from any members of either cartel since the incident back in Liberty City. Slightly skeptical, given that the members of the cartel were locked away for years to come, business continued as usual. That is, before a certain concert by the pier.

The night begins as usual- Patrol, chases, catching criminals, etc., before the time arrives for a concert to be held on the yacht by the newer pier in town. Various shenanigans, such as Rico trying to avoid a stalker, ensue before the concert begins, for which himself and several other officers are employed to guard. Shortly before the talent and guests arrive, he's pulled aside by Daisy Hicks, who explains that she had some highly sensitive information on a dangerous group of individuals. Although Rico says that it should wait, or that the information should just be given there, Daisy instead insisted that it was absolutely *urgent*and needed to be given now and in a secure location. Reluctantly, Rico accepts, and the pair walk down the pier to the beach, far out of audible range of anyone else.

It's there that a black truck suddenly pulls up from cover, and familiar voices from inside demand for Rico to enter, with various barrels belonging to class-3 weapons pointed in his direction. Urged on by this, he follows the voice's instructions, and the last he hears before the doors close is Daisy's apologies.

Though this is witnessed by a few fellow officers and concert attendees, nobody's able to reach Rico in time before the truck speeds off, resulting in a massive chase through the rural areas of Paleto and Sandy. (they pause at the sheriff's office in Paleto momentarily, where Rico's tracker is deactivated, and the pursuit continues from there.) During all of this, the many units following behind remain dark and silent and follow far back, in order to remain concealed from the sight of the vehicle.

After more of this, the truck eventually halted at the sawmill in the Paleto Forest. Inside, the floor is covered, ankle-deep, in Kellogg's Frosted Flakes, with empty cartons of milk piled in the corners. As it turns out, Rico's kidnappers were far from disgruntled robbers, but were instead loyal members of the Kelloggs Cartel, including Rice Krispies (Liam "Pop" Cullen,) Raisin (Ray) Bran, Muesli Bars, and Honey Combo. There, they reveal their extensive escape from Liberty City, and that Rico's oldest foes were out and about and hunting him down. Upon this revelation, he forever swears off all cereal and holds his ground against his adversaries, leading to Bars committing a truly heinous act against the colonel and taking an immense bite out of his still-warm meatball sub, which was stashed in Rico's pockets for future use.

Infuriated, he did what he could to repel the Kelloggs, but was wounded and collapsed from the grief of the lost sandwich. While on the ground, Krispies began pouring colossal amounts of skim milk and frosted flakes over Rico, causing him to panic and struggle to breathe. Upon hearing the strain, the SASP, led by Eleanor Strickland, breached into the mill and entered into a firefight with the Kelloggs. After prolonged exchanges of gunfire, the Kelloggs were eventually downed, and paramedics were dispatched to treat Rico. Shocked by the events of the past hour, he finds himself only able to mutter: *"They frosted me...frosted me..."*

This marked the return of the Kelloggs Cartel, and the start of a new type of criminality never before witnessed in Los Santos.

## Relationships

* Mia Bright's ex-fiancé
* Adoptive father to Jean-Claude Van Dan, Desiree Stray, and Molly Darling
* Honey Bunches of Oates's widower
* Grape his gambling "friend" and the cause of tony being broke.
* Rosa Garcia's "Friend" who tony has a full back tattoo of.

## Trivia

* Rico's favorite food is a meatball sub, specifically those from Liberty City
* He sometimes feels the irresistible urge to don a pineapple mask, transfiguring him into his most powerful form (which happens to be his usual form, just with a pineapple mask.)
* He's been fighting an ongoing familial war between himself and the O'Malleys, "recruiting" various people into his clan. Despite the intention to use his kin in familial warfare, Rico still finds himself caring for his adoptive children as his own
* There are some moments where Rico reveals his godlike powers, though whether or not he knows about the extent of his abilities remains to be seen...

## Quotes

* "GET RICOOOOO'D!"
* "The O'Malley clan... Weak CHINS... Weak BLOOD..."
* "WHATTTTTT"
* "It was a whole thing"
* "UPON THIS..."

## Moments

### **Media**

* Tony Rico: Official Intropresented by SkrappEdits
* Ravage's videos on Twitch, with highlights including early Kelloggs and Mills lore

### **Clips**

* *"I am a professional."*
* *"Wake up, Van Dan!"*
* *"WEAK CHINS, WEAK BLOOD..."*