Senor Suerte aka Senor Muerte
(Ramon Garcia)
Context
This profile only covers the first one, Ramon, who first appeared in 1973 in Luke Cage, Hero for Hire. So it’s not Jaime (Señor Suerte II) nor Philip (Señor Muerte III).
The name plays on the hoary observation that in Spanish, only one letter separates a stroke of luck (“suerte”) from the jaws of death (“muerte”).
This guy is a very, very 1970s villain. One keeps expecting to see Starsky and Hutch on the next page.
Background
- Real Name: Ramon Garcia.
- Other Aliases: Mister Luck, Mister Death (English translation of aliases).
- Marital Status: Single.
- Known Relatives: Jaime and Philip (brothers).
- Group Affiliation: His own mob.
- Base Of Operations: Mobile among his businesses and properties.
- Height: 6’2” Weight: 195 lbs.
- Eyes: Brown Hair: Brown
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Powers and Abilities
Garcia was a remarkable man, with superior intelligence, managerial talent and charisma. Two of his key assets were even more unusual :
- He had a strong, remarkably accurate intuition (which he trusted).
- He enjoyed unbelievable luck.
He understood that luck is the most useful thing to have. Through experimentation, he grew confident that, somehow, taking calculated risks would almost always work out in his favour.
This level of luck was presumably some sort of unconscious, subtle psionic ability on Suerte’s part. It was just too consistent throughout his life. But heh, he may just have been a statistical fluke.
Garcia was tall, strong and powerfully built. He also seemed to have streetfighting experience.
¡Muchachos!
Señor Muerte commands a cadre of enforcers. He will personally lead when he wishes to make a clear statement – such as shutting down a rival operation.
His muchachos have the usual mob associates stats. They are generally well-armed. They’ll pack submachineguns, precision rifles, etc. – plus smaller blunt weapons such as saps and brass knuckles to beat people with.
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Soundtrack
For those who want some appropriate atmosphere for this article… Well, anything related to Latin music in 1970s New York City nigh-automatically means Fania Records artists, so let’s have something classic and high-profile by the Fania All-Stars.
It also gives a sense of men’s fashions and haircuts of these years, in this place. Also, moustaches.
History
Ramon Garcia was from Puerto Rico, an unincorporated American territory. Even as a kid he was outrageously successful, especially after he scored 100% on an intelligence test in school.
Unlike most, Garcia attributed his success (including the intelligence test) to his luck, a property he possessed unbelievable amounts of. He became a gambler, and his gains allowed him to progress to the next stage of his plan.
Smooth criminal
With his taste for the high-risk, high-reward lifestyle, Garcia became a criminal. He established clandestine casinos, plus related properties and operations. The core of his operations was apparently in New York City. His main casino was in the West 50s, and he had seven other operations in town. Garcia considered that he owned the New York City illegal gambling scene.
Thanks to his luck, Garcia’s operations were never hit by the police. He racked in at least $5,000 a day, net (in 1973 dollars – that would be closer to $25,000 in 2009). Due to his luck and his obsession with chance, Garcia was nicknamed “Señor Suerte” (Mister Luck).
Since he preferred to do the important hits himself, Suerte had a super-villain-style costume and armament built. He came to refer to this colourful guise as “Señor Muerte” (Mister Death).
The costume did not include a mask. It wasn’t a secret identity, though few associates ever saw Señor Suerte as Muerte. And though Garcia considered Señor Muerte to be “his other self”.
Got lucky last night
Yet, things did eventually go wrong. In 1973 a customer, Mr. Jenks, lost far more than he could afford. He foolishly threatened to hire muscle and raid one of Suerte’s operations to get his debt erased.
Jenks went as far as to try to meet with Luke Cage, Hero for Hire. But Suerte’s men caught him right before the meeting could take place. Cage dispersed the men, but Jenks had already been killed.
Cage investigated – he was uncomfortable with people getting killed for trying to meet with him. Suerte’s men made further attempts to kill Cage, to no avail.
All ends with beginnings
Following up on an intuition about the latest attempt on Cage’s life, Suerte dressed as Muerte. He then followed his hit squad, which he indeed found defeated at Cage’s hands. Muerte shocked Cage unconscious. Then he took him to a waterfront tunnel equipped with strong chains and manacles.
This tunnel was Garcia’s high-end execution site, reserved for his worst enemies. He left the hero for hire there to die, drowned by the rising tide. Yet Cage escaped – to the furore of Garcia, who decided to kill him mano a mano.
Muerte confronted Cage in an extensively booby-trapped casino. But the Hero for Hire beat all the traps. As he fought Señor Muerte, Cage used his chain-belt to throw Garcia’s aim off. As a result, the crime lord was fatally electrocuted.
Description
See illustrations.
Personality
Smooth, confident crime boss. Garcia was delighted to have such powerful luck and intuition, to the point of fetishism. He had come to actually rely on random chance to take some important decisions. Since, well… that kept working.
For instance, if he intuited that a hireling might be up to something wrong, putting the guy in a random life-or-death situation was part of Suerte’s standard processes. If the henchman was innocent, Suerte’s luck would protect him. And if he was guilty Suerte’s luck would likely result in the traitor’s death.
His weird and often murderous rituals about letting chance decide arguably were a sort of insanity. Garcia took sadistic pleasure in putting people in situations where chance might result in their death, seeing this as “pure”.
He did, in fact, seem to have a sort of low-key murder addiction. If so, his DC Heroes RPG Rage Drawback doesn’t mean trying to kill the person outright. Rather, it means subjecting the person to a random chance of dying.
Other traits
Garcia came across as proud, confident, macho. He was determined to relentlessly and brutally affirm that he was the man in charge, and that New York City gambling was *his* turf. Had he not clashed with Cage, Garcia’s pride and ambition would likely have led to his death in a gang war against the Kingpin or the Maggia.
He also seemed to collect call girls – chiefly Latina lasses.
Having always been lucky and successful, Garcia had next to no tolerance for frustration and problems. Furthermore, since he’d always been successful and things always turned in his favour, he was becoming jaded and blasé. Mister Luck was looking for thrills in new and increasingly bizarre manners.
Of course, he spoke a comic book version of Spanglish.
Quotes
“Matters always resolve themselves to my benefit ! One-in-a-million chances are even money to me !”
“It’s a game, amigo — a game I wish you to play. When this dial ceases to revolve, I want you to touch whichever of my hands you choose.”
“No, amigo — I do not need to improperly improve my odds. I play fairly. My luck is all that is needed to sustain Señor Suerte.”
“My name, at the moment, is Señor Muerte. After I dispatched my men [to this place], I suddenly felt that they would not be successful. I decided to come [here] myself… and I see that my legendary luck has once again served me well.”
“It is an elegant death, Cage — one saved for my most esteemed enemies. To escape it, you would have to be luckier than I am. And nobody is. ¡ Adios, Luke Cage ! ¡ Vaya con el Diablo !”
“All right, muchachos ! I see no reason for delay ! This dog must learn not to tempt the wrath of Señor Muerte !”
Game Stats — DC Heroes RPG
Tell me more about the game stats
Señor Suerte
| Dex: 04 | Str: 04 | Bod: 05 | Motivation: Power |
| Int: 05 | Wil: 06 | Min: 05 | Occupation: Crime lord |
| Inf: 06 | Aur: 05 | Spi: 05 | Resources {or Wealth}: 008 |
| Init: 017 | HP: 035 |
Powers:
Danger sense: 09, Probability Control: 03
Bonuses and Limitations:
- Danger sense extends to his key assets, such as threats to his criminal operations.
- Danger sense can never get more than 1 RAP – it’s just a feeling.
- Danger sense and Probability Control both are Form Function.
Skills:
Accuracy (ELECTRICAL HARNESS): 05, Charisma*: 06, Martial Artist: 05
Advantages:
Language (Spanish), Luck, Ultra Luck.
Connections:
Street (Low), Underworld (Low).
Drawbacks:
Serious Rage, SIA toward using chance to make decisions, MIA toward Sadism.
Equipment:
ELECTRICAL HARNESS [BODY 04, Energy blast: 08, Lightning (No Range): 13, Lightning immunity: 12, Skin armour: 01, Limitation: Lightning has no AV (as usual on WORG), but can be Combined With a hand-to-hand attack].
These electrified gloves can instantly incinerate most persons (and knock even Cage out with one touch), and include heavy-duty electrical insulation. They are connected to a roulette wheel on Muerte’s chest. The wheel can be spun to randomly determine which of the two gloves is going to be electrified (there is no ball, so the result is presumably determined by whether the red or black ends up in the 12 o’clock position when the wheel stops spinning).
The gloves can also shoot an energy blast (which may or may not be electrical in nature, and likely has limited Ammo).
Casino Royale
Garcia had also had an extensively booby-trapped casino built. That presumably was because he expected to run into increasingly dangerous enemies, and/or as a sadistic pastime. This strange place (on 354 ½ West 44th) was likely also useable as a standard clandestine casino when all the traps were turned off. The traps that were witnessed were:
- A large roulette wheel on the floor that suddenly starts spinning at high speed when one steps on it [BODY 06, AV 08, EV 05 — victims are launched in the air and slam against the ceiling or upper walls].
- Sharpened cards [BODY 03, AV 05, Projectile weapons: 06, Range: 02, Advantage: Autofire]. An unseen mechanism that shoots a stream of metallic, sharpened playing cards.
- Razor-sharp coins [BODY 03, AV 05, Projectile weapons: 06, Range: 02, Advantage: Autofire]. About the same thing – a one-armed bandit that always hit jackpot and then shoots a stream of sharpened coins.
- Dice of doom [BODY 08, AV 09, EV 08]. This trap rolls two metallic dice, each about two meters high, down a corridor that is barred by a steel door. Whatever is in the corridor will presumably get crushed. Think Indiana Jones.
Game Stats — DC Adventures RPG
Tell me more about the game stats
Señor Suerte/Muerte — Averaged PL7.4
| STR | STA | AGL | DEX | FGT | INT | AWE | PRE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 02 | 03 | 01 | 01 | 03 (05) | 02 (03) | 01 (02) | 02 |
Powers
Mister Luck ● 25 points ● Descriptor: Psionics ?
– Luck control 2 (spend to negate, force reroll), Luck 5, Beginner’s Luck.
– Luck plays such a role – Enhanced Attributes (Fighting 2, Intellect 1, Awareness 1); Enhanced Advantages (Defensive Roll 1, Ranged Attack 2, Seize Initiative), Enhanced Skill (four Ranks in Expertise (Gambling)).
Devices
Electrical harness ● 16 points (Removable) ● Descriptor: Technology
– Protective — Protection 1.
– Insulated — Protection 10 and Enhanced Fortitude 10, both Limited 3 to lightning.
– Array:
- A touch is all it takes — Close electrical Damage 13, Accurate, Improved Critical 1.
- Ranged electrical Damage 7, Unreliable (five uses).
These electrified gloves can instantly incinerate most persons (and knock even Cage out with one touch), and include heavy-duty electrical insulation. They are connected to a roulette wheel on Muerte’s chest. The wheel can be spun to randomly determine which of the two gloves is going to be electrified (there is no ball, so the result is presumably determined by whether the red or black ends up in the 12 o’clock position when the wheel stops spinning).
The gloves can also shoot an energy blast (which may or may not be electrical in nature, and likely has limited ammunition).
Combat Advantages
All-Out Attack, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll 1 (2), Improved Trip, Ranged Attack 2 (4).
Other Advantages
Beginner’s Luck, Benefit 2 (Independently Wealthy), Connected, Contacts, Language (Spanish, Spanglish), Luck 5, Seize Initiative.
Skills
Athletics 2 (+4), Deception 3 (+5), Expertise (Crime lord) 6 (+8), Expertise (Gambling) 4 (8 – +10), Insight 4 (+6), Intimidation 4 (+6), Perception 4 (+6), Persuasion 4 (+6).
Offense
| Initiative +1 |
| Unarmed +5, Close, Damage 2 |
| Electrocution touch +7, Close, Damage 13 |
| Ranged blast +5, Ranged, Damage 7 |
Defence
| Dodge | 06 | Fortitude | 07 |
| Parry | 06 | Toughness | 03*/05/06** |
| Will | 07 |
* Without Defensive Roll
** With defensive roll and harness
Complications
- Señor Suerte always makes a killing He seems to have something of a murder addiction, and more than a hint of sadism.
- Leave it to chance Suerte likes leaving decisions to chance, including the lives of others.
Powers Levels
- Trade-off areas. Attack/Effect PL 10, Dodge/Toughness PL 6, Parry/Toughness PL 6, Fort/Will PL 7.
- Points total 113. Abilities 30, Defences 15, Skills 16, Powers 25, Devices 16, Advantages 11. Equiv. PL 8.
Notes
Suerte has more Luck ranks in M&M than in DCH, due to the higher dice volatillity.
Casino Royale
Garcia had also had an extensively booby-trapped casino built. That presumably was because he expected to run into increasingly dangerous enemies, and/or as a sadistic pastime. This strange place (on 354 ½ West 44th) was likely also useable as a standard clandestine casino when all the traps were turned off. The traps that were witnessed were:
- A large roulette wheel on the floor that suddenly starts spinning at high speed when one steps on it [+12, Close, Damage 4 — victims are launched in the air and slam against the ceiling or upper walls].
- Sharpened cards [+7, Ranged, Multiattack edged Damage 4]. An unseen mechanism that shoots a stream of metallic, sharpened playing cards.
- Razor-sharp coins [same as the cards]. About the same thing – a one-armed bandit that always hit jackpot and then shoots a stream of sharpened coins.
- Dice of doom [+14, Close, Damage 8]. This trap rolls two metallic dice, each about two meters high, down a corridor that is barred by a steel door. Whatever is in the corridor will presumably get crushed.
Source of Character: Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #10-11 (1973).
Helper(s): Darci.