- "Romero "Romeo" Parada, ex-Mexican military commando, enlisted by Jose Galindo to head up his cartel's strategic enforcement unit."
- ―Lincoln Potter, to Eli Roosevelt
Romero "Romeo" Parada is a former Mexican special forces soldier and now a high-ranking member of the Galindo Cartel on the FX original series Sons of Anarchy. Played by American actor Danny Trejo, Romeo makes his debut on the episode "Booster" in the series' fourth season. One of SAMCRO's new gun buyers, it is revealed that Romeo is actually an undercover CIA operative. Playing a recurring role through the series' fourth and fifth seasons, he acts as one of the two main antagonists of the series' fifth season (the other being Damon Pope), and was last seen in the Season 5 episode "Darthy".
Biography[]
Background[]
Romero Parada is former a high-ranking Mexican Special Forces (Grupo Aeromóvil de Fuerzas Especiales del Alto Mando) soldier, who joined Galindo Cartel with his underling Luis Torres and was part of Galindo's secret CIA collaboration deal. In reality he worked with Torres for CIA's National Clandestine Service. He led Galindo Cartel's strategic enforcement unit and Luis Torres was his second-in-command in that unit.
Season 4[]
It is revealed in the second episode of season four that the Sons' alliance with the Mayans was for more than guns, it was for protection in Stockton. The Mayans' connection to Parada's cartel was what kept the Sons safe from the Russians in jail. His cartel has such influence in the California underworld that most of the Latinos in prison protected the SOA. He establishes a gun trading business and works with SAMCRO throughout Season 4. At the end of the season, Parada prevents Lincoln Potter and his squad from arresting everyone involved in the gun trade by revealing that he and his partner, Luis Torres, are undercover feds who plan on blackmailing SAMCRO with Potter's RICO case in order to ensure that the club doesn't end the business relationship (and eventually bring them and the Irish kings down as a result). Shortly afterwards, Jax shows up asking for the club to be out of the deal. In response, Parada reveals his undercover status and the RICO case against the club and prevents him from doing this as a result. He also states that he needs Galen to remain a part of the deal as well. Due to the fact that Galen will only work with Clay (since he trusts him more than Jax), Jax is unable to avenge his father and kill Clay, but still usurps his position as president as a result.
Season 5[]
In Season 5, Jax, who is now the president of SAMCRO, continues to begrudgingly work for Parada and the cartel. However, he goes behind Parada's back and has Tara try to convince Otto to recant his involvement in the RICO case against the club. Eventually, Tara succeeds in restoring Otto's trust in the club, which causes him to murder Pamela Toric in cold blood in order to render his testimony useless and ruin the RICO case. With the case discredited and of no threat, Jax promptly ends his relationship with Parada and the Galindo Cartel, but not before setting up Henry Lin and the Lin Triad as their replacement. During the introductory meet between the Cartel and the Lin Triad, Henry Lin states that he'll be able to deliver the guns on a regular basis, but will need time to sort other factors out. Parada agrees, but tells Jax that he wants him to convince Galen at their next meet to supply the guns Lin will be short on to keep relations good. At the meet, Jax successfully convinces Galen to supply the guns, but Parada and his gang crash the meet and decide to take the guns personally since the Cartel and the IRA do not trust each other. This results in a shootout between the three gangs which results in many Cartel and IRA members getting killed. After the shootout ends, Parada takes the guns and the money for Galen (as compensation for his deceased men) and officially ends his relationship with SAMCRO. This incidents creates bad blood between the True IRA and SAMCRO as a result.
Murders Committed[]
- Unnamed Russian Mafia member - Shot in the head ("Booster")
- 3 unnamed Lobos Sonora Cartel members - Shot in the head ("Call of Duty")
Appearances[]
Season 4 appearances | ||||
"Out" | "Booster" | "Dorylus" | "Una Venta" | "Brick" |
"With An X" | "Fruit For The Crows" | "Family Recipe" | "Kiss" | "Hands" |
"Call of Duty" | "Burnt and Purged Away" | "To Be, Act 1" | "To Be, Act 2" |
Season 5 appearances | ||||
"Sovereign" | "Authority Vested" | "Laying Pipe" | "Stolen Huffy" | "Orca Shrugged" |
"Small World" | "Toad's Wild Ride" | "Ablation" | "Andare Pescare" | "Crucifixed" |
"To Thine Own Self" | "Darthy" | "J'ai Obtenu Cette" |