Air Date: 10 Feb 1989 (NBC)
Director: Eugene Corr
Writer: William Conway
As the wedding procession leaves, they are ambushed by an RV full of heavily armed men, who open fire on all the cars in an effort to get to Pedroza. They take Luis out and many of his guards before getting away. Luis Pedroza dies in his new wife's arms.
At OCB, Rico tells Castillo what happened, and Crockett guesses at what kind of power struggle might ensue betwen Luis' son Ramon and Luis' sister-in-law Lucia, now that Luis is dead, as well as who might have carried out the hit. Switek tells the group what kind of guns were used by the ambushers, but that doesn't point to any direct suspects.
Caroline calls Sonny at the office, asking him to come see Billy because he's been getting into trouble at school. When he arrives he discovers she's pregnant again, and due soon. They talk about Billy having problems dealing with his stepfather Bob, and the fact that his mother is pregnant. Sonny wonders if the pregnancy might be part of the reason for the problems he's having. She doesn't have any answers, and as she starts to get excited and angry, Sonny calms her down, teasing her by asking if they'll name the new baby Sonny.
Rico talks with Pedroza's widow, Maria, at the cemetary. She tells him how they were introduced, and how she thought they'd have time to get to know each other and fall in love after the wedding. As Rico goes off to talk to Ramon, Maria invites him to come visit them at the house. Ramon asks Cooper to help him move a large new shipment coming in, as well as meeting with the DeMarco's top shooter, Tony Moratti, and offer him a deal, to convince the DeMarco muscle to come over to the Pedroza family.
Cooper meets Tony at a restaurant, where the deal is pitched. But before anything can be discussed, they're ambushed by a female shooter with a shotgun. Rico takes her out, but not before Moratti is killed.
Cooper confronts Ramon back at the mansion, letting Ramon know that he doesn't appreciate being set up as bait. Ramon lets him know that the truce has been agreed to, as well as the shipment and a $100,000 bonus coming Cooper's way. He then invites Cooper to a party celebrating the new-found truce.
Sonny and Billy talk about Caroline's pregnancy and he discovers how left out Billy feels from the new family structure. Billy also doesn't like the reins that Bob has placed on him. When Billy asks if he can come live with him, Sonny reminds him of the demands on his time that his job has, as well as the dangerous people he has to associate with, and that's no way for a kid to grow up. Sonny assures Billy that Bob does care for him, but Billy snaps that because of the baby neither Bob nor Caroline want him around anymore.
Lucia chastises her son Carlos for not taking this opportunity to take the leadership of the family. He says that that role got his father killed, and he wants no part of it. She's digusted that he dares even call himself a Pedroza.
Caroline tells Sonny she's been thinking about getting Billy into therapy, but Sonny doesn't think that would be a good idea. He also tells her that he doesn't see Billy enough, and that maybe it's time that Billy start spending more time with Sonny in Miami, summer vacations and the like.
At the party, Rico notices a lonely Maria standing away from the crowd, and begins to warm to her. Ramon has to calm down his aunt, who attacks DeMarco, furious that her husband's killer is in her home. Maria cannot stand the scene any longer, and asks Rico to take her away from there.
Sonny and Caroline reminisce over the times when Billy was a baby, the trouble Sonny had building the first crib, with Billy being sick, and more. Caroline gets a call that Billy's been in a fight at school, and has run away.
Sonny tracks Billy down at a movie theater, watching the classic Frankenstein. Sonny tells him how worried Caroline and Bob are about him. Billy wonders how Sonny feels that Caroline's having Bob's baby, and tells Sonny how much he hates it. Sonny tells him that he'd be missing out on something special... having a younger brother. Sonny then tells him a story about how his own older brother Jake once saw Sonny in a fight and came to his rescue. Billy tells him that it's different, because Sonny was the younger one, and that they both had the same parents. Billy thinks that he'd have a hard time being friends with his new half-brother. Sonny tells Billy that his mom is having a hard time, and asks him to try harder to be nice to her.
Maria confides to Rico that when she was young, all she wanted to do was come to the city, but now that she's there, all she wants to do is go back home. She admits having feelings for Rico, and that she feels guilty for having them.
While Rico stands alone with his thoughts, someone screams. He runs to find Lucia dead. Carlos accuses Ramon of killing her, but Ramon insists that she was drunk and must have fallen. Carlos threatens revenge on Ramon for murdering his mother.
At OCB, Rico reports about Ramon's shipment, and tells them that Maria thinks that Ramon may have had his own father killed so that he could take over. Gina says that assumption could be correct since other sources say that it was not the DeMarco's who orchestrated the hit. They arrange to pick up Ramon after the drop is made. Rico asks Castillo to keep an eye out on Maria, since she's the heir to most of Luis' estate, and he feels that she'd be the next one to be hit.
At the drop, Ramon and Cooper begin to make the deal, but before he can test the drugs, they are ambushed by a large number of heavily armed gunmen. Ramon tries to grab the money and merchandise, but Rico tells him to leave it and run. Ramon is upset that the deal's been blown, but Rico tells him that it's better to be alive.
Ramon is incensed, vowing vengeance on DeMarco. Maria is immediately worried at seeing the Rico's wounded shoulder, and she offers to patch it up for him. She tells him that she would hate to see something happen to him, that's she's worried for him if the DeMarco's are indeed out to eradicate everyone in the Pedroza family. Rico tells her that's why he's worried for her. Maria says she has to stay for the good of the family, to keep Ramon from stealing everything. She tells Rico to leave, but he's not leaving without her. After they make love, Rico promises to get her someplace safe, despite her objections. He promises to come back for her as soon as he can.
After Rico's gone, Maria gets up, and heads for Carlos' room, where she proceeds to comfort him. The two of them come downstairs to confront Ramon about Lucia's death. Maria instigates Carlos, and Ramon realizes that she's been manipulating Carlos. Carlos draws his weapon, hesitating at first, finally shooting when he sees Ramon pull a gun from his jacket.
As Carlos marvels at how strong he feels with Maria behind him, she checks to make sure Ramon is dead, then takes Ramon's gun and kills Carlos, telling him that the only reason is because he's Pedroza.
At the morgue, Castillo and Tubbs look over one of the dead gunmen from the ambush of Ramon's drop. Rico recognizes a tattoo on the body, marking him as belonging to the Escorpionistas, a Columbian clan of assassins. Rico realizes that if they are at war with the Pedrozas that Maria is in far greater danger than he'd imagined, and leaves to find her. Castillo notes that the gun he had was the same as the one found at the hit at the wedding.
Castillo goes to meet Guerrero, to question him about Maria Ortega. Guerrero admits that he didn't find Maria, but that her family found him once they heard that Luis Pedroza was looking for a bride. They even went to great lengths to make sure she was the one Luis chose. He confirms for Castillo that the family called themselves Escorpionistas.
Sonny tells Billy that he's made plans for the two of them to be together for a whole month of sailing, fishing, diving, the whole nine yards. But he tells them that until then, he's to mind his mother.
Rico finds Maria coming out of the shower, and he tells her that he knows who's killing the Pedrozas. He tells her to get dressed quickly so he can get her out of there. Maria tells him that no matter what happens, she loves him. As he's reassuring her that nothing will happen to them and kissing her neck, he notices that she also has the scorpion tattoo.
Rico demands to know why she set up the whole family. She tells him a story of how the Pedrozas came to her village when she was little and killed the alcalde, her father, torturing him for not helping them with the local growers. She listened to her father's screams, and watched them kill both her parents.
Maria assures him that even though she was pretending with Luis, the feelings between them were real, and she still wants to be with Rico. Two of her brothers come in the room, reminding her that Rico also has to die. Maria pleads with them to spare Rico's life, telling them that she loves him and wants to stay with him. Castillo has also snuck into the house, and just as the Escorpionistas start to fire at Rico, he fires at them, taking them both down, but one of them gets a shot off before falling, hitting Maria. She dies in Rico's arms.
Fishing off the St Vitus Dance, Rico tells Sonny about how he felt about Maria. Sonny tells Rico about Caroline having another child, and how she just might have been The One That Got Away. Rico states that his plan will to be to find a woman who's not in the business, doesn't have a career, and will love him with all her heart. Sonny finishes the fantasy... babies, the white picket fence, Winnebago and weenie roasts [Carry Me (Like A Fire In Your Heart)].
They laugh and realize that that's not for them, and never will be.
-- Jo Brooks
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Guest Cast Elpidia Carillo Miguel Ferrer Rafael Ferrer Mary Lou Rosato Belinda Montgomery Clayton Barclay Jones |
Additional Cast Xavier Barquet Parris Buckner Sal Carolo Will Knickerbocker Francisco Padura Alexander Panas Joe Petrullo Seth Steiger Duke Vincent |
Featured Music Chris DeBurgh, Carry Me (Like A Fire In Your Heart) Bryan Ferry, Bete Noir |
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Music by Tim Truman
Supervising Producer
Co-Producers
Created by
Executive Producer
Co-Executive Producer
Co-Executive Producer
Casting
Associate Producers
Executive Story Editor |
Executive Story Consultant Ken Solarz
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Theme by
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Edited by
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Miami Casting by |
Casting Assistant Majorie W. Morhaim
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