Smiley Lopez

Ruben "Smiley" Lopez was the Los Angeles-area leader of street gang MS-13. Lopez lived on 17th Street in Boyle Heights.

Biography

Lopez and his gang had been hired on occasion to take part in terrorist attacks by the anarchist Zapata, who had been a member of MS-13 in his youth. Lopez also had knowledge of Kyle Risdow, one of Zapata's frequent associates.

While Jack Bauer was undercover inside the Federal Holding Facility as part of a mission to capture Zapata, Christopher Henderson had become the subject of a CTU Internal Affairs investigation regarding misappropriated funds that he and Peter Jiminez had stolen. He hired Lopez and his companions inside the prison to kill Jack in order to prevent him from testifying, in exchange for reduced or commuted sentences. Lopez's second-in-command, Oscar Cisneros, and several other MS-13 members attempted to kill Jack on the same night, but were defeated every time. As a result of the attacks, Jack and his cellmate Emil Ramirez staged a prison break and escaped into the city.

After having sex with his girlfriend, Lopez was watching fight reruns on television when Henderson called him and furiously demanded to know why Jack was still alive. Lopez warned him to back off or face the gang's retribution; in turn, Henderson told him to keep after Bauer or his men in custody would pay for it.

The next afternoon, a hitman from a rival Ukrainian gang, Franko, raided Lopez's home and nearly killed him and his girlfriend. Franko had been sent by Zapata to silence him, but he was stopped by Jack Bauer, who had learned about Zapata's connection with MS-13. After injuring Franko and chasing him off, Jack and Lopez made a deal. The Ukrainian gang was planning to sell a large amount of methamphetamine to a local dealer, and Lopez wanted Jack to steal it for him. In exchange, he would tell Jack everything he knew about Zapata. With no other options, Jack agreed to the deal.

When Jack returned with the meth shipment several hours later, he found both Lopez and Oscar Cisneros, another escapee from the holding facility, waiting for him. The two attempted to double-cross Jack and kill him to honor their deal with Henderson, but Jack took Lopez hostage and shot Cisneros in the head. He then shot Lopez in the foot and held his gun on the wound, ordering him to give up what he knew. In extreme pain, Lopez gave up Kyle Risdow's name and address in Temescal Canyon. Jack left the house and called CTU, telling them to arrest Lopez and saying that the gang leader knew who had been trying to kill him since the previous night.

Peter Jiminez was sent to arrest Lopez, but shot and killed him instead, reporting to Henderson that he was no longer a threat. (Chaos Theory)