Rafael “Rafe” Alvarez is a teenage Vela Cartel assassin.
History[]
Rafe was recruited by cartel lieutenant Eddy Blanco to join, being taken to Mexico for training in shooting assault rifles. He and the other kids he worked with would be brought to mansions for party lifestyle, from expensive buys to prostitutes to drugs, which originally made Rafe vomit. He dissociated to the point he saw his crimes as being like a video game.
Rafe and another mercenary, Sammy Molina, would use assault rifles to shoot targets the cartel ordered them too, while their getaway driver was Carlos Cavessas. In New York, they killed Nina Wilshere, a drug trafficking partner who went to a rival cartel, the Roman family, and appeared in a song by their propaganda band, Los Vagabondos. The Vela Cartel’s own band, Los Guerreros, would release tracks bragging about the murder that Blanco wrote as threats.
The mansion was raided and the boys were arrested, and while legal aid counselor Esther Pinne was assigned to the group, Marcus Woll ended up taking her place. Rafe was the weakest link, as he still had family in NYC who loved him, and a deprogrammer insisted that should be reinforced in his mind. Rafe’s emotions overcame him when his mother’s home-cooked meal was brought to negotiations, and he testified to the grand jury to get Blanco indicted.
When Molina was killed in jail, Rafe shut up again, too scared and depressed to testify even after numerous pleas from the prosecution. His trial outcome is left unknown. (L&O: “Boy Gone Astray”)
Known Victims[]
The following were committed with Sammy Molina with the assistance of Carlos Cavessas and under the orders of Eddy Blanco
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvia: Unnamed drug dealer (shot with assault rifles)
- Newark, New Jersey: Unnamed drug dealer (shot with assault rifles)
- New York City, New York: Nina Wilshere (shot with an assault rifle)