Ricardo Diaz

"This city, ah this city, it's primed for a takeover. See, guys like you never understand these things. Why destroy a city when you can take it over?."

- Ricardo Diaz to Cayden James

Ricardo Diaz, known by the alias Dragon, is a crime lord and drug kingpin who manufactured an illegal drug akin to steroids. He was a member of Cayden James's criminal cabal and unknown to Cayden James at the time, Diaz had his son Owen Post killed. Diaz would later kill James following the disbandment of the cabal.

Early life
Ricardo Diaz was a member of The Scorpions, an organized crime group operating in The Glades of Star City but later he started to operating on his own.

In early 2017 he hired Carl Iskov to kill Owen Post in order to influence Cayden James and make him start a war with Green Arrow, then he killed Iskov to tie up loose ends and doctored a photo of Oliver as Green Arrow. It is unknown how he knew the Green Arrow's real identity.

Drug dealing
Ricardo Diaz, known under the alias "Dragon", headed an illegal drug operation in Star City. When he sent his men to retrieve the components of a military-grade 3D printer, they were intercepted by Team Arrow. Dragon appeared, setting off a smoke bomb, before walking away. Sometime later, Dragon met John Diggle when he went directly to his supplier, hoping for more drugs. Diaz checked him out, simply assuring him that they had no FDA approval and thus had to be careful. Later that night, Diaz assisted his crew with stealing a 3D printer from Palmer Technologies' bio division. He stepped out of a car, much to the surprise of Green Arrow, managing to shoot the vigilante. Shortly following Dragon was at their manufacturing warehouse, when Team Arrow showed up. Diaz dropped a drum of petrol, lighting it on fire, burning all of his drugs, before escaping. He was later contacted by Cayden James to join his criminal cabal. Although he was originally skeptical of how effective the group could be, James assured him that there was more to come. Later he was present when James told Jerry Bertinelli he wanted to take the port. Due to Green Arrow finding James' location, Diaz and the rest of the cabal appeared forcing the vigilante to flee. Afterwards Diaz went to the port with an army who were confronted by the Green Arrow and the Bertinelli crime family but the combined efforts of Vigilante, Black Siren and the Bratva with Diaz's army were enough to fend them off. Diaz then executed Bertenelli.

Diaz was present at a meeting to discuss the death of Sheck. James sent him and Anatoly to see that the bomb was moved and they escaped before Green Arrow could go after them.

Later, Diaz and the rest of the cabal were thanked by James for their contributions to his plan and after noticing the helicopters meant for their escape didn't come, he departed to not be there when the detonation of the bomb occurred. While leaving, he was captured by Wild Dog and Mister Terrific and brought to James who suspected him of being a traitor along with Black Siren and Anatoly. He managed to escape but was chased by Spartan, whom he fought with before fleeing. Diaz later appeared to the arrested Cayden James and told him that he'd used James to take over Star City saying that it's ripe for the taking and that James was narrow - minded to think he was controlling Diaz. He also stated James doesn't understand that things should be taken over and not destroyed while revealing he bribed the new police captain. He then murdered James telling him he was the who had his son killed and calmly exited the building.

Personality
Ricardo Diaz is shown to be ruthless in killing as shown in his debut episode as well as betraying Cayden James. He is extremely patient as his plans to take over Star City began at least one year ago. He is intelligent enough to realize how Cayden would react to his doctored footage by attacking Green Arrow and assembling a powerful enough Cabal to weaken Star City.

Abilities

 * Genius-level intellect/Master tactician/Leader: As a crime lord, Diaz is able to manufacture drugs all while remaining off charts and covering up his tracks. Although he was a part of Cayden James's criminal cabal, Diaz was only there to use James as a means for him to take over Star City.
 * Expert marksman/Firearms: As a crime lord Diaz is an expert in the use of many types of firearms.
 * Master hand-to-hand combatant: Diaz is shown to be a master hand-to-hand combatant displaying a huge amount of skill as he was on par John Diggle who is a master hand-to-hand combatant himself. He was however swiftly subdued by Wild Dog and Mister Terrific though this was due to them having the element of surprise, overpowering him quickly before he could react. However, it could also be that he intended to be captured to stop Cayden James from blowing up Star City as he wanted to take it over.

Behind the scenes

 * In the comics, Ricardo Diaz is a crime lord and martial artist based out of Seattle, as well as a founder of the Longbow Hunters. The shared multiverse's iteration's nickname is a reference to the pre-The New 52 version of the character, Richard Dragon.