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Daniel "Danny" Lugo is the villain protagonist of the 2013 black comedy film Pain & Gain. He is based on the real life criminal of the same name. Daniel is the leader of the Sun Gym Gang, a gang that kidnapped, tortured and killed rich people just to take their money and become rich.

He was portrayed by Mark Wahlberg, who also played David McCall in Fear, and Daryl Booth in Flight Risk.

Biography[]

Daniel Lugo was an instructor at the Sun Gym in Miami. He is a former convict who served time for Medicare fraud. John Mese the owner of the Sun Gym hired him to increase membership. Lugo increases the gym's membership by 300% within six weeks and befriends trainer Adrian Doorbal, a fellow bodybuilder who uses steroids. Lugo soon lusts after the earnings and lifestyle achieved by Victor Kershaw, a sleazy wealthy new member he started training. Lugo gets inspired by a motivational speaker by the name of Jonny Wu, Lugo decides to be a "do-er" and hatches a plan to Kershaw for his assets by kidnapping and torturing him. Lugo recruits accomplices Doorbal and Paul Doyle, a recently released, cocaine-addicted convict who has turned to Christianity.

Though Doyle is reluctant to join the team, he soon acquiesces after being kicked out of the halfway house he is living in, after the priest running the home makes a sexual pass at him. This "Sun Gym gang" unsuccessfully attempts to kidnap Kershaw at home, and a second time in public, but later incapacitates him with a taser outside his deli and takes him to a small warehouse he owns (which is stocked with sex toys). The kidnappers wear masks and Lugo disguises his voice, but Kershaw identifies Lugo from his distinctive cologne. The scheme goes as planned otherwise: Kershaw makes calls, under duress, to provide false explanations for his disappearance, gets his family to move out of state, and signs the documents that transfer his assets to Lugo. Lugo even bribes John Mese to notarize documents in Kershaw's absence, by presenting documents signed by Kershaw and using Kershaw's money to sponsor the Sun Gym. 

The Sun Gym gang is able to collect Kershaw's money and assets, but they realize releasing him is a bad idea. Therefore, Lugo concocts a plan to kill Kershaw by forcing him to drink liquor and crash his BMW, making it appear like a drunk driving accident. When Kershaw survives the crash, the gang burns the car with Kershaw in it. Kershaw escapes the blazing vehicle, so the gang runs over his body, twice, and leave him for dead. Unbeknownst to them, Kershaw survives and is hospitalized. The Sun Gym gang members spoil themselves with Kershaw's riches. Lugo takes over Kershaw's car and his home in a ritzy Miami suburb.

The Sun Gym then target Frank Griga after Doyle spends his cut. After a promising discussion at Griga's mansion, the gang invites Griga and his wife Krisztina Furton to Doorbal's home to propose an investment scheme. Griga insists on meeting with someone more senior and questions Lugo's amateurish business savvy. This angers Lugo, who attacks Griga and accidentally kills him. Krisztina discovers this and tries to shoot Lugo, but Doorbal injects her with a potent horse tranquilizer. Lugo and Doyle try to use the combination obtained from a heavily sedated Krisztina to open a safe at her and Griga's home, but the combination does not work.

When Krisztina rouses and tries to escape, Doorbal gives her a second injection, accidentally causing her to fatally overdose. Lugo and Doorbal purchase equipment to dismember and dispose of the bodies and dump the parts in oil drums (which they sink in a secluded swamp outside Miami). On June 17, Lugo is at the gym and spots the approaching police force and flees. Although struck by a police cruiser, he escapes and heads out by sea in Kershaw's speedboat. Kershaw and DuBois deduce Lugo is going after the former's hidden bank account in Nassau, Bahamas and accompany the police to capture him. Lugo's pursuers catch up with him, and he attempts to escape.

After DuBois shoots Lugo, Kershaw chases him in a car and incapacitates him, and the authorities arrest him. Lugo is brought back to the United States and stands trial with Doyle, Doorbal, and Mese. At the trial, Doyle rolls over on Doorbal and Lugo with a full confession, Lugo is sentenced to death, plus 30 days for being an asshole to a guard. 

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • The real Daniel Lugo is still on death row to this day.
  • Mark Wahlberg bulked up to 212 pounds for the role.
  • Director Michael Bay wanted the character of Daniel Lugo to be as tan as possible. So Wahlberg, throughout filming, had to get a full-body fake tan every week for the movie.
  • Mark Wahlberg said that his sons loved the enormous, muscular, body-builder physique that he was sporting during filming, but his daughters hated it.
  • When Daniel and Adrian are chopping up the bodies of Griga and his wife, they strip down, and Daniel is wearing Calvin Klein boxer briefs. Early in his career, Wahlberg modeled Calvin Klein underwear.
  • In the film Lugo passes on Sorina to Doyle however in real life Lugo and his stripper girlfriend remained together until his sentence, the real Lugo was also married twice before the murders while in the film he appears to be single at the start.
  • In real life, Lugo was of Puerto Rican descent, not Caucasian.
  • In reality, it was Doorbal that wasn't surprised by the death sentence, not Lugo.
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