Arturo grew up as an orphan. His Serbian mother and Mexican father had abandoned him in America, they had returned back to Mexico after he was born. During his adolescence, he bounced all over adoption homes. Arturo grew up with a distaste for his real, adoptive parents and any authority figures. He always caused trouble and that resulted in him never really getting a good education at the time or getting along with his guardians, but that all changed. In the last adoption home he was in, his stepfather at the time was an abusive person. Arturo hated his guts, much like the rest of his adoptive parents, but he formed a connection with his stepmother. She seemed to genuinely care about Arturo. One night Arturo was awoken in the dead of night to his stepmother screaming. Arturo's fight or flight kicked in as he walked down the stairs to witness his stepdad beating the life out of his step-mom. Arturo saw red. In a fit of rage, Arturo grabbed his stepfather's revolver from the drawer and shot his father 5 times in the chest. Arturo then walked over to his dead stepfather and fired one more shot in his head. He felt free, he felt powerful and he felt good. This high didn't last for long, he knew he'd be in trouble so he decided to flee.

Arturo decided to live on the road but after 2 years of living a nomad life, he felt alone, more alone than he had ever felt. He looked for somewhere to call home, that was Liberty City. He joined a local Hispanic gang called Vagos and he was eventually blooded in after beheading a member of the Triads. He got the same high he had when he killed his stepfather, only now he didn't have to run. Now he had a place that accepted him for who he was, or so he thought. Arturo loved to hurt, but he drew the line at women and children. He became close with Javier. Their loyalty and respect for each other were unmatched. They joked about moving on from the Vagos and starting their own group somewhere else. That joke was forced into reality when Arturo challenged the chain of command, El Jefe ordered Arturo to kill a Triad's wife. Arturo refused and was excommunicated from the gang and was hunted down. Javier helped Arturo escape and they fled from the Vagos. El Jefe found out about them helping and they were also forced out. They managed to get out and agreed to separate until the heat died down.


Arturo kept his head down for another year, once again feeling alone. Arturo's goal was to fund children in his position through college, but without education of his own, he needed to make money in more illicit ways. But before that, he decided to maybe give an honest living a shot. He went to law school for 2 years before finally dropping out. Shortly after Arturo got a call that Javier was starting his own group up and needed Arturo in Los Santos. He headed out for Los Santos.