Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs is a fictional character from the television series Miami Vice and the film of the same name. In the TV series he was played Philip Michael Thomas, while in the film he was played by Jamie Foxx.

Early life

Ricardo Tubbs was born and raised in the Bronx. He had apparently grown up under the wing of his brother Raphael Tubbs since his parents were never mentioned. Raphael was much older than Ricardo, but still raised him the best he could.

Death of Raphael

Finally Raphael joined the NYPD sometime in the seventies, and Rico followed suit. But not much longer after Ricardo had started working alongside his brother, Raphael was shot and killed in an undercover drug deal ordered by Colombian drug lord named Calderone. Seeing his brother die in his arms, Rico became enraged and vowed to find and payback Calderone for what he did. He tracked him down to Miami.

Miami

Once in Miami, Rico managed to forge his interagency memos and get inside the drug operation cases in south Florida. There he met up with Detective James "Sonny" Crockett, who happened to also be looking for Calderone, only having to know the drug dealer's as 'The Colombian.' Once they settled their differences, Tubbs and Crockett managed to befriend each other and make their way into Calderone's drug empire under the undercover names of Sonny Burnett and Teddy Prentiss, a name Tubbs had found who was an accomplice of Calderone in New York.

After meeting with Calderone's messenger, Trini DeSoto, and also talking business with Calderone himself the duo thought they almost had him. But a leak inside the department gave DeSoto the clue Tubbs was a cop, putting a hit out on the young detective. Tubbs managed to fight off DeSoto, who had dressed as a woman to try and fool Tubbs once the assassination was in progress. After finding the leak, Crockett and Tubbs managed to cross off and apprehend Calderone at the docks where a large cocaine operation was going down. But Calderone had paid bail once at the courthouse, and was on the run again; this time he was leaving the country and left the two standing on the runway, gazing out at the evacuating plane.

After his identity was let out of the bag, Tubbs couldn't go back to New York unless he wanted his badge taken away, so he joined Crockett on the Miami police force. Soon, Calderone entered the picture again, only with a different approach. He had sent the assassin Ludivicio Armstrong to try and kill Crockett. This confused Tubbs, since he was the one who was most dedicated to try and bring down the murderous killer. But when the assassin tried to shoot Crockett at his boat, Lieutenant Lou Rodriguez got in the way of the crossfire and was gunned down. After a long shootout with the killer, Carlos Mendez revealed that Calderone was in the Bahamas, giving the two the chance to go after him.

Vengeance

Once in the Bahamas Tubbs and Crockett assumed their undercover roles and befriended Jimmy, a bartender at a St. Andrew's Island bar located at their hotel. Crockett had taken Armstrong's name for the reservations, making Calderone and his accomplices think of any suspicions. Once meeting with Calderone's messenger as Armstrong, Crockett told him he wanted an extra thirty thousand for the hits. Once Calderone heard this he sent his henchman, armed with UZIs, after Crockett and Tubbs. Once through the gunfiring chase through St. Andrews the duo asked Jimmy if he had seen this woman who was in a picture in Calderone's case file. Jimmy said it was Angelina, a school teacher who worked in the northern part of the island. Tubbs himself went there in search for the woman and invited her to dinner. But with news Calderone had left from Bahamian police chief Albury, Tubbs went to Angelina to tell her goodbye; but the short rendezvous resulted in the two sleeping together. Only later Tubbs found out from Angelina that Calderone was her father. Knowing this, Crockett and Tubbs knew this was a ticket to Calderone.

Later that night with Angelina at a masquerade, Tubbs revealed his identity and told her he needed to meet with her father. She led him there, only to find that Crockett had been abducted by Calderone's men at the beach party. Calderone then gave a command to shoot Crockett but before this could be carried out Tubbs entered the room with his shotgun at hand. He immediately commanded that Calderone make his men put their guns down, or he'd blow the drug lord's brains out. This startled Angelina, who was promised nothing would happen to her father. But one of the henchman fired a machine gun, making Tubbs shoot to protect Sonny. But when Calderone ran and quickly removed a pistol, Sonny took the machine gun for himself and wasted Calderone by the pool. Tubbs apologized for how it turned out, but Angelina accused Ricardo of coming to the island for vengeance more than justice, before being driven away in the back of a squad car.

Return of Angelina

About a year later the two were warned by an informant that Tubbs had a price on his head by Calderone. This made Tubbs angry and also confused because he had seen Calderone die with his own eyes. But everything made sense when Angelina appeared in Miami with a baby son, who she said was Tubbs' from their night in the Bahamas. Angelina also told Tubbs that the dealer who wanted him dead was her half brother who was just as ruthless as his father. The young Calderone then captured Angelina and the baby, putting her in a car rigged with a bomb and giving the baby to a relative; what happened to the infant was never revealed during the rest of the series' run. Angelina then decided with Tubbs standing only a few yards away, to press the car horn to trigger the bomb. The car went up in flames, letting Castillo (who was observing the meeting between Tubbs and Calderone from a distance) give the order to open fire on a beach shack where Calderone and his henchman stood inside it. After numerous rounds were fired the small shack also blew up. Tubbs has not gotten into another relationship as strong as his with Angelina except for Valerie Gordon.

Valerie Gordon

Valerie was an NYPD detective who worked with Rico in their division. After Tubbs moved to Miami, Gordon showed up looking for her sister who had become a prostitute in south Florida: this reunited Tubbs and Valerie once again. After getting Gordon's sister out of the prostitution ring, her pimp sent his guard to kill her, which made Valerie go after him with a vengeance. Tubbs soon found out about it and tried to stop Valerie: but they were too late. By the time they got there she had already shot the pimp and his guards.

Gordon reappeared in Season 2's premere episode when Crockett and Tubbs traveled to New York City on an investigation of the Ravillas Brothers. Valerie was put deep undercover, however Tubbs ruined it. After Sacco, the dealer who found out about Gordon's cover tried to shoot her, Tubbs killed him which blew the case for NYPD. It was revealed Valerie also had to sleep with Sacco on numerous occasions: this angered Tubbs.

Valerie appeared for the last time in Season 5, when she asked Rico to help cover a murder her friend had committed; it was concluded in that episode that she and Tubbs could no longer be together, and broke off the long lived relationship.

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