On General Hospital, crime doesn’t pay unless your last name is Corinthos so poor Ric Lansing – the mob boss’s revenge-minded half-brother who employed just about every dirty trick in the book – found himself one of the many characters in soap opera history who fought daytime’s Teflon Don and lost.
Rick Lansing And His Vendetta
Upon arriving in Port Charles, Ric tried to avail his services to a disinterested Sonny who had a nagging feeling that the legal eagle wasn’t exactly what he seemed. Sure enough, slimy Ric soon showed his true colors when he led Carly to believe that they had spent a drunken night together and then blackmailed her to build him up in Sonny’s eyes.
When the truth was outed, Sonny confronted Ric and demanded to know why he was a target of the man’s ire. However, Sonny wasn’t quite prepared for the answer – Ric was Sonny’s half brother.
They shared the same mother, Adela Corinthos, who choose to abandon Ric and leave town with her eldest son. Furthermore, Ric’s father Trevor poisoned his son’s mind against his sibling by telling him that Sonny had purposefully shoved Adela down a flight of stairs hoping to induce a miscarriage – a claim Sonny strenuously denied.
Eye for an Eye, a Womb for a Womb
Despite the truth being outed, Ric persisted in destroying his relative. He joined forces with Corinthos enemy Faith Roscoe and even tried to force Sonny’s sister Courtney into marrying him. However, Ric found himself falling for Elizabeth Webber and eventually they married.
But a jealous Faith – angered at being tossed aside – became determined to get back at her former lover. When she discovered that Elizabeth was pregnant, she pushed her down a flight of stairs and the fall resulted in a miscarriage.
Convinced that Sonny had caused his child’s death, Ric kidnapped a heavily pregnant Carly and held her captive in a secret panic room he had installed in the house he shared with Elizabeth. Once Carly gave birth, Ric planned to steal the baby and give it to Elizabeth to raise.
The plan was rumbled when his wife stumbled upon Carly and then a series of hijinks ensued when Carly was kidnapped by another party and Ric had to track her down and “redeem” himself.
The Enemy of My Enemy
Anytime Ric Lansing had an opportunity to stick it to Sonny or someone Sonny loved, he took it. Even when it meant joining forces with some less than savory individuals. He worked with Lorenzo Alcazar to frame Jason and Sam for the murder of Diego and other shady dealings.
And he joined forces with his father Trevor (a man he hated almost as much Sonny) and the Zacchara crime family, who had their own vendettas against the Port Charles Godfather. Ric even fell into bed with Claudia Zacchara but lost her to his rival.
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All in the Family
Ric began to cozy up to Alexis Davis once his snooping uncovered the fact that her daughter Kristina had been fathered by Sonny. But he actually began to develop real feelings for her, and they decided to marry when her child’s paternity was made public.
However, Ric managed to once again screw up a good thing. When he misinterpreted seeing Alexis in a clinch with her boss, he had a drunken one night stand with Sam, whom Alexis had just learned was the daughter she had given up for adoption!
Alexis witnessed the act but kept silent for a time, concerned that her recent lung cancer diagnosis would prove fatal. When she recovered, she filed for divorce and briefly lost custody of baby Molly, the child she and Ric shared.
General Hospital Blame Game
Realizing he had pushed away the two women who had actually loved him – Elizabeth and Alexis – Ric left town for a number of years. Upon his return to General Hospital, he was accused of working for the Jeromes, a crime family out to destroy Sonny and his empire.
Ironically, this was the one time that Ric was erring on the side of the angels and when he found himself framed for the murder of Lucas Jones, he worked with the PCPD to stage his death and then disappear into the witness protection program.
He was eventually found and kidnapped by former ally Johnny Zacchara. After surviving a near assassination, Ric began to reconnect with Elizabeth. But when she fell hard for Jake Doe (AKA Andrew Cain), he hired a con artist to claim to be the man’s wife.
When Elizabeth realized Ric’s role in the deception, she permanently cut him from her life. Subsequently, he married Nina Reeves on orders from his new lover Madeline (Nina’s mother), so that he could gain access to his wife’s multi-million-dollar trust fund.
Nina figured out his scheme, and when Madeline murdered Silas Clay, Ric wore a wire and elicited a confession from her under the proviso that he get immunity for his fraudulent marriage. General Hospital airs weekdays on ABC. Check your local listings for airtimes.
Video Credit: Amanda Swain
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