Carlos "Vibora" Ruiz is a minor villain in the Starz series Power. He is a Hispanic drug kingpin and a friend of Ghost. He works inside the same drug distribution network as Ghost and is the leader of the Puerto Rican gang Soldado Nation.
He was portrayed by Luis Antonio Ramos.
Biography
Season 1
Ruiz meets with Mexican drug kingpin Felipe Lobos to persuade Lobos to make him his new drug distributor in New York. Lobos doesn't accept Ruiz's offer as he believes Ruiz's gang isn't organized enough. Ruiz later gets attacked at a strip club by Pink Sneakers while celebrating his anniversary party. Ruiz gets stabbed but survives thanks to one of his men, Nomar Arcielo, finding him and getting him to safety. Ruiz and Tommy later force Ghost to kill Rolla after evidence turns up suggesting he is the one responsible for the attacks on their businesses. Ruiz later finds out Nomar is sleeping with his 14 year old daughter Isabel. Ruiz asks Tommy to kill Nomar. Tommy accepts and fatally stabs Nomar.
Season 2
Ruiz attends Nomar's funeral and whispers to Nomar's corpse that he hopes he suffers. Later, Ruiz attends a meeting with all the gang leaders in Ghost's organization, including Serbian gang leader Vladimir Jankovic and Haitian gang leader Drifty, in order to meet up with Felipe Lobos and set up a new drug business with Kanan Stark in charge and Lobos as their distributor once Ghost is dead. However, things change as Tommy and Lobos are arrested. Tommy is released while Lobos is still locked up and the drug lords agree to have Ghost murdered. Drifty and Vladimir are later murdered by Ghost and Ruiz leaves New York after Ghost tells him that Lobos is going to kill them both since they both have seen his face. Ruiz and his family leave New York and go into hiding in California. The FBI tried to track them but lost trace of them after they landed in California.
Season 3
FBI agent Greg Knox tracks down Ruiz and finds where Ruiz is hiding. Knox meets Ruiz at his place of employment. After leaving New York Ruiz started working as a janitor in a kitchen. Knox lies to Ruiz and tells him Lobos' men have found him and are coming to kill him and his family. Knox offers Ruiz a deal of immunity in exchange for testifying against Lobos. The deal is later called off after Lobos escapes from his prison convoy and is murdered by Ghost. Knox later offers another deal to Ruiz to snitch on Ghost which he accepts and Ruiz becomes Knox's off the books confidential informant. Ghost finds out and tells Ruiz to give the FBI a bigger catch then him. Ghost tells Ruiz to give up Serbian drug lord Milan to the FBI. Ruiz meets with Milan and discusses business with him. Tommy learns from Tasha that Ghost is planning to get rid of Milan using Ruiz. Tommy later fatally stabs Ruiz and dumps his corpse in a stolen car.
Murders connected to Ruiz
- Nomar Arcielo: Stabbed by Tommy Egan on orders for having sex with his 14 year old daughter.
Appearances
| Power, Season 1 | |||||
| #01 | "Not Exactly How We Planned" | #04 | "Who Are You?" | #07 | "Loyalty" |
| #02 | "Whoever He Is" | #05 | "I Gotta Go" | #08 | "Best Laid Plans" |
| #03 | "This Is Real" | #06 | "Who You With?" | ||
| Power, Season 2 | |||||
| #01 | "Consequences" | #05 | "Who You Are and Who You Want to Be" | #09 | "Time's Up" |
| #02 | "No Friends on the Street" | #06 | "Why Her?" | #10 | "Ghost Is Dead" |
| #03 | "Like We're Any Other Couple" | #07 | "You're Not the Man" | ||
| #04 | "You're the Only Person I Can Trust" | #08 | "Three Moves Ahead" | ||
| Power, Season 3 | |||||
| #01 | "Call Me James" | #05 | "Help Me" | #09 | "I Call the Shots" |
| #02 | "It's Never Over" | #06 | "The Right Decision" | #10 | "In My Best Interest" |
| #03 | "I Got This on Lock" | #07 | "Don't Go" | ||
| #04 | "Don't Worry, Baby" | #08 | "Trust Me" | ||