El Gordo
Leader of the Sons of Swine. Master and commander of the criminal underworld. The legendary, and infamous, Kingpig of Crime.
Miguel Ravelino was a pampered, pudgy child indulged by a doting mother. This combination made growing up in Hogsburg’s brutal Trough district a harsh childhood. Fight after fight, Miguel was the neighborhood gang’s favorite victim to torment.
But he was the son of Clara Maria Ravelino, the Godmother of the Ravelino syndicate. Miguel watched his mother and learned her lessons well. The ‘toughest’ rarely meant being the strongest, or the smartest. It meant being the most prepared.
After all, everyone has a vice, a flaw, a weakness to exploit. Miguel only had to find those vices, then squeeze just a little to gain control. That control was everything.
This realization motivated Miguel to study works by Machiavelli, Musashi, and others; books on the arts of war to the philosophy of strength. That gave him the tools he needed to manipulate people, control them, or break them down and rebuild them into what he could use.
On the physical side, Miguel threw himself into an intense, daily physical regimen. He was greedy for the strength and power to back his newfound philosophies. This transformed him. The tall Miguel kept his square frame and bulk, but instead of ‘pudgy’, it was now layers of hard muscle.
With those skills, he would break a victim’s body or mind; often both for fun.
He used the childhood nickname of “El Gordo” as a badge of honor and a reminder of his past. The local gangs never knew what hit them. Soon they all answered to El Gordo, or didn’t answer to anyone ever again.
Over the years, El Gordo suffered the occasional setback, but he always returned stronger than before.
The most dramatic was in his early 20s that left him near death. El Gordo recovered, his face scarred, and his need for control and power greater than ever. Using the horrible scars as another tool, El Gordo had a permanent Day of the Dead mask tattooed on his face. One that incorporated his scars into the design.
This also started his fascination, or ‘romance’, with death. El Gordo would celebrate each successful business deal by abducting a problematic rival, or troublemaker, for his ‘beloved’. After slowly torturing them for days, often using an electric broiler with power tools, El Gordo would later carve their skulls into a unique Day of the Dead mask.
It was a ‘love token’ for his ‘dearest’, death itself.
Throughout his criminal career, El Gordo worked to exploit others' weaknesses and greed. He used that knowledge as a weapon, subduing each victim, then turning their vice into his gain. At least, until someone found his flaw and squeezed.
His most trusted confident, Mateo “El Ciclón” Bolea used one of El Gordo’s few, if only vulnerabilities: his beloved mother. El Gordo fought back, but in the end, El Ciclón staged a coup by squealing to the authorities about El Gordo and his mother’s crimes.
Before his arrest, El Gordo committed one last act: revenge. El Ciclón met his demise when El Gordo lured him into a death trap at the Hogsburg Steelworks, like a pig to slaughter. The Kingpig may have been arrested, but Bolea’s coup drowned in a pool of molten metal after El Gordo ripped him limb from limb.
El Gordo is serving 89 years in Maincastle Prison. The charges range from corruption of public officials, multiple counts of conspiracy to commit murder, to tax fraud, and infiltration of legitimate businesses. During his days in prison, El Gordo continues his exercise regimen and is the head of the Maincastle chess club.
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