Dark Chicago      Los Borritos

“Used to be they sold tacos and tamales out the window. Now they sell bullets, secrets, and something that howls under the floorboards.”

Description - Exterior

Los Borritos squats on the corner like it’s daring the city to knock. Its stucco façade is cracked and sun-blistered, with old menus still ghosting the glass. The front window is shuttered with corrugated metal tagged in red and black—burning roses, crossed knives, and arcane sigils hidden beneath gang scrawl. Broken neon flickers “ABIERTO” even when the doors are bolted.

Description - Interior

Inside, it’s dim and sour. The counter still stands, stained with grease and blood, while old booths host card games, planning sessions, and the occasional summoning. A back hallway leads to reinforced rooms, one of which is always locked. A shrine to Santa Muerte glows red in the kitchen—bones, candles, and a stolen wedding ring laid at her feet.

History

Los Borritos served Canaryville and Back of the Yards for two generations before the Salazars turned it. After the patriarch’s mysterious death in ’49, the family flipped—turning the shop into a base for Los Asesinos. It's been raided twice, but CPD never finds anything. Or maybe they know better than to look too close.

Owned By

Los Asesinos (Faction) – The building is controlled and maintained by the gang, with ties to Little Mexico and deep roots in blood rites.

Run By

Soledad Salazar oversees the sanctified space. She rarely speaks, but her authority is absolute inside the walls.

Employees

• Rafa “Mala Sangre” – cook turned enforcer, known for his red eyes and sharper knives
• Tía Rosita – keeper of the shrine, speaks to spirits more than people
• Chucho – look-out and runner, only 12, knows the alleys better than maps
• “El Mudo” – silent guard, rumored to be part spirit
• Carlos – part-time mechanic, part-time necromancer apprentice
• Lucita – bookkeeper and charm crafter, uses pink ink and razor wire

Regulars

• Beto – gunrunner with a limp, favors mole and mezcal
• Reggie – strung-out Veil dealer who claims this is “where the ghosts hang out”
• Rosa – widow who brings offerings to the Santa Muerte shrine weekly
• Victor “La Sombra” – Veil-touched street prophet, speaks in riddles
• Skips – only comes for the tacos, leaves when things get spooky
• Silent John – sometimes seen just standing out front, watching

Notes

• One of the back rooms has Veil wards carved into the floor beneath loose tiles.
• A rival gang once tried to torch the place—nothing caught fire except their own truck.
• The freezer hums wrong. Like there’s something breathing inside it.
• Occult scholars quietly call Los Borritos a "resonance knot"—a Veil vortex.
• On certain nights, the tamales are free. Nobody knows why. Those who eat them report vivid dreams.
• PCs might find themselves invited inside during a truce meeting, a drug deal, or a séance—maybe all three.