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Darnell Garcia is a former martial arts champion, author, actor and former
DEA
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA; ) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within the U.S. It is the lead agency for domestic enf ...
agent. At one stage in his martial arts career he was rated 7th in the United States. He had roles in the martial arts films ''
Enter the Dragon'', ''
Black Belt Jones'', ''
Blind Rage'' and ''
Enforcer from Death Row
''Enforcer from Death Row'' was a film that was directed by Marshall M. Borden and Efren C. Piñon. It starred Leo Fong, Booker T. Anderson, Ann Farber, Darnell Garcia, John Hammond, James Lew, Cameron Mitchell and Mariwin Roberts. The film ...
''.
In the 1990s, Garcia became embroiled in a drug and corruption scandal.
Background
Garcia was born in New York and grew up in California,
[in.com
In.com was an online venture from Web18, a Network 18 group company and one of India’s online networks based in Mumbai. It was on-line 11 years, from August 2008 to August 2019. In.com was ranked No. 18 in the Alexa traffic rankings in India. ...]
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In.com
In.com was an online venture from Web18, a Network 18 group company and one of India’s online networks based in Mumbai. It was on-line 11 years, from August 2008 to August 2019. In.com was ranked No. 18 in the Alexa traffic rankings in India. ...
Darnell Garcia Bio/ref> and is of Puerto Rican heritage. His high school years were spent in California. While in Los Angeles, he wasn't the most popular with his neighbors due to his car racing. Garcia was thrown out of
Manual Arts High School, but what possibly saved him was his gymnastic skills. The Washington High coach got Garcia on the team and he managed to keep out of trouble until he was able to graduate and get his high school diploma. He worked in a steel plant and then for an aircraft company. He was drafted into the army in 1966.
According to an article in the ''
Los Angeles Sentinel'' dated January 21, 2016, Bridal Path Films were in negotiation with major studios to make a movie based on his life.
Martial artist
Garcia began training in
American Tang Soo Do in 1968 when he enrolled at a Chuck Norris Karate Studio in El Segundo, California. In 1972, Garcia earned his black belt from Chuck Norris under the tutelage of fellow Norris black belt Gheral Taylor. Garcia would then compete as a member of Norris' competition team. At the Grand National Championships, Garcia was fighting in his fifth tournament as a black belt. Garcia fought against Fred Wren and won 7-5.
In December that year, and after only holding his black belt for a year, he competed in the 1972 International Karate Championships in
Long Beach
Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California.
Incorporate ...
,
California. Before a crowd of 8000, he won against champion
Joe Lewis, taking the Grand Championship title.
Garcia appeared on the cover of the February 1973 issue of ''
Black Belt
Black Belt may refer to:
Martial arts
* Black belt (martial arts), an indication of attainment of expertise in martial arts
* ''Black Belt'' (magazine), a magazine covering martial arts news, technique, and notable individuals
Places
* Black B ...
'' magazine and featured in a 7 page article.
Garcia appeared in the
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
financed documentary, ''
The New Gladiators'', released in 2002. The documentary which was begun in 1974 was deemed missing for many years then finally found and restored.
Garcia was also the advertising director for ''
Inside Kung Fu
''Inside Kung-Fu'' was a monthly United States magazine founded in December 1973. Its last issue was in April 2011.
History
The magazine featured articles on modern wushu and kung fu as well as tournaments and events in the United States and ...
'' magazine.
Film work
Actor
By the age of 28, he had appeared in ''
Black Belt Jones'' and ''
Enter the Dragon''.
[''Black Belt'', January 1976 ]
Page 26 Man on the Street
/ref> In ''Enter the Dragon'', along with Mike Bissell and fellow Tang Soo Do instructor, Pat Johnson, he was one of the three hoods who come up to harass John Saxon on the golf course. He also appeared in '' Blind Rage'' and ''Enforcer from Death Row
''Enforcer from Death Row'' was a film that was directed by Marshall M. Borden and Efren C. Piñon. It starred Leo Fong, Booker T. Anderson, Ann Farber, Darnell Garcia, John Hammond, James Lew, Cameron Mitchell and Mariwin Roberts. The film ...
''. The Efren C. Piñon directed ''Blind Rage'', which was filmed in various locations including Manila was a tale about five blind men robbing a bank. Garcia was billed as one of the main actors. The film also starred D'Urville Martin
D'Urville Martin (February 11, 1939 – May 28, 1984) was an American actor in both film and television. He appeared in numerous 1970s movies in the blaxploitation genre. He also appeared in two unaired pilots of what would become ''All in the ...
, Leo Fong
Leo Fong (; 23 November 1928 – 18 February 2022) was a Chinese-American martial artist, actor, Boxer (boxing), boxer, and Methodism, Methodist minister (Protestantism), minister who had been making films, acting, and directing since the early 1 ...
, Tony Ferrer
Antonio D. Laxa (June 12, 1934 – January 23, 2021), better known by his stage name Tony Ferrer, was a Filipino actor, film director and producer. He was tagged as the James Bond of the Philippines for his films in which he played a spy named To ...
, and Rick Adair and Fred Williamson
Frederick Robert Williamson (born March 5, 1938), also known as The Hammer, is an American actor and former professional American football defensive back who played mainly in the American Football League during the 1960s. Williamson is perhaps ...
. Garcia worked with Fong and Piñon again in ''Enforcer from Death Row''. Later he appeared in ''Death Force
''Death Force'' (also known as ''Vengeance Is Mine'') is a 1978 martial arts exploitation film directed by Cirio H. Santiago and written by Howard R. Cohen. The film is an international co-production of the Philippines and the United States, an ...
'', a 1978 film directed by Cirio H. Santiago which starred James Iglehart
James Iglehart (b. September 12, 1949) is a former American actor who appeared in six films during the 1970s and was the leading actor in the 1973 blaxploitation film ''Savage!''.
Iglehart also had a role as the violent womanizing Randy Black i ...
, Leon Isaac Kennedy
Leon Isaac Kennedy (born June 1, 1948 or January 1, 1949) (sources differ) is an American actor, disc jockey, film producer and playwright. Kennedy's acting roles include Martel "Too Sweet" Gordone in Jamaa Fanaka's ''Penitentiary'' (1979), ''Peni ...
, Jayne Kennedy and Carmen Argenziano.
Other film work
In addition to acting, Garcia worked for Fred Williamson with Williamson's company Po' Boy Productions. Garcia's work with Williamson was mainly behind the camera. He had moved into stunt work as well.[''Los Angeles Sentinel'', January 21, 2016 ]
Redemption: Ex-DEA Agent Darnell Garcia tells the truth and nothing but the truth By Brandon I. Brooks, Managing Editor
/ref>
Law enforcement career
Having been drafted into the army in 1966, Garcia eventually became a military policeman. He took exams during basic training and was only two points away from Officer Candidate School. That was enough to encourage himself to think deeper about where he could head to. He turned down offers to enroll in Warrant Officer Flight School and became a military policeman. After graduating from Leadership Training School in Georgia, he was sent to Anchorage
Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...
, Alaska. While there he served as a stockade guard, the personal bodyguard to a very senior medical officer and also managed to talk a prisoner out of killing himself. Garcia had seven letters of commendation by the time he finished his military service in 1968. He then returned to Los Angeles.
Prior to his becoming a DEA agent, he was with the LAPD
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...
. In 1985 Garcia was fired by the DEA because he refused a transfer to Detroit. A case was made on the basis of national origin discrimination and it went to court. In 1986 he won his right to be reinstated in a decision by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
In the early 1990s, Garcia and fellow agents, John Jackson and Wayne Countryman appeared in court for stealing drugs and money laundering. In 1991, Countryman was sentenced to 5 years. In 1997, Garcia was sentenced to 80 years imprisonment for his part in drug trafficking and money laundering.
Publications
Filmography
References
External links
Imdb: Darnell Garcia
Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia, Darnell
American actors of Puerto Rican descent
20th-century American male actors
Male actors from New York (state)
American male film actors
Hispanic and Latino American male actors
Drug Enforcement Administration agents
American police officers
American tang soo do practitioners
American male karateka
American male writers
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
American sportspeople of Puerto Rican descent