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| “ | There's nothing scarier than doing business with a man who has nothing to lose. | „ |
| ~ Duran as he sizes up Detective Elliot Stabler. |
Antonio Duran is the main antagonist of the street racing arc in season 3 of Law and Order: Organized Crime.
He is a Cuban drug lord who runs a vast crime syndicate in Havana, Miami, and New York City.
He was portrayed by Tony Amendola, who also played Konstantinos Kostas Papakota in CSI NY.
Early life[]
Duran started out as a drug dealer in his native Cuba, but he left the country on the Mariel Boatlift in 1980 to escape Fidel Castro's regime. He settled in Miami, Florida and rose up the ranks of the drug smuggling underworld until he was one of the most powerful crime lords in the country, with a fearsome reputation for having associates and enemies alike killed for the slightest offense.
While his operations were based in Miami, he also did business back in Cuba and built a major smuggling operation in New York City. Eventually, however, he was arrested for drug trafficking and sentenced to 16 years in prison. While he was incarcerated, he murdered another prisoner who had a reputation as a "snitch". He also learned that he had an adult daughter and a grandson, and he built relationships with both of them by exchanging letters with them.
Upon being released from prison, he rebuilt his empire through a series of robberies committed by his lower-level soldiers, whom he recruited from local street racing crews; they would rob banks and high-end businesses in the city and then escape in their race cars.
His best and most loyal lieutenant was Bernanda Menendez, who made him so much money that he made her his second-in-command; he was also her lover. He tasked her with running his operations in New York, promising that he would one day give her full control. Unbeknownst to her, however, he was merely setting her up to take the fall for his crimes should the police ever get too close.
"The Infiltration Game"[]
While Duran is mentioned in the episode "Trap" as the head of the drug smuggling operation that Detective Elliot Stabler of the NYPD's Organized Crime Task Force is trying to take down, he does not actually appear until the following episode, "The Infiltration Game". He is first seen in the bar and restaurant that he launders his drug money through, where Bernanda introduces him to Jamie Whelan, the getaway driver whom she and her right-hand man Cristobal had just committed a robbery with - and, unbeknownst to them, an undercover member of Stabler's team. Duran berates him for attracting too much police attention and has Bernanda throw him out.
Soon afterward, Stabler, posing as a drug dealer, approaches Duran with a recording of him supposedly killing Whelan - which he and Whalen faked as part of his cover - and a briefcase full of money as an introductory offer to join Duran's smuggling syndicate. Duran is intrigued, but he becomes more guarded when Stabler claims to have no family; Duran's usual practice upon going into business with someone is to use their loved ones as "collateral" to prevent them from betraying him.
When the DEA unexpectedly raids Duran's restaurant, killing Cristobal in the process, Duran quickly goes to ground, fleeing back to his mansion and leaving Bernanda alone and defenseless. Stabler eventually arrests her, and he and Whelan tell her that Duran was lying to her about giving her control of his New York operations; they reveal to her that he is not looking out for her, but for his daughter and grandson, whom she did not even know existed. Hurt and angry, Bernanda agrees to be their informant and meet with Duran wearing a wire so they can arrest him.
The next day, Bernanda meets with Duran at his home, where he is playing with his grandson. He sends the boy away and takes Bernanda upstairs, where she tries to get him to incriminate himself by talking about his drug smuggling operations. He senses that she is wearing a wire, so he says that he does not know what she is talking about and that any drug-related crime she "got mixed up in" is her own problem. Heartbroken, she points a gun at him and confronts him about promising to make a family with her. When he coldly replies that he already has a family, an enraged Bernanda shoots him twice in the chest, killing him right in front of his grandson. Stabler shows up moments later and arrests Bernanda, who is imprisoned for life.
External links[]
- Antonio Duran on the Law & Order Wiki
