Zabado was a right-wing Peruvian military man who fled his native land ahead of a court-martial for torturing prisoners, then met up with his cousin, a chemist from Cal Tech who is alleged to have patented a new formula for nearly pure cocaine, and is selling the drugs now in large quantities. Zabado, through his intermediary Charlie Glide, set up a deal with heiress Lydia Sugarman to sell a huge amount of drugs in exchange for making money for a leveraged buyout of her late husband's business. James "Sonny" Crockett and Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs got into the deal trying to set up both Zabado and Sugarman, but Glide's assistant Max Rogo tipped them off and Crockett/Tubbs are nearly killed in an explosion. Later during the deal Sugarman (who was told Zabado was part of the cops' plan) killed Zab