09/24/2025
Hundreds of motorcyclists attended the funeral of a little boy no one wanted to say goodbye to, because his father was serving a sentence for murder.
The director of the funeral home called us after spending two hours completely alone in the chapel, waiting in vain for someone to appear to bid farewell to Tomás Lucero.
The boy had lost his battle against leukemia after three years of suffering. During that time, the only person who visited him was his grandmother, who just one day before the burial suffered a heart attack and ended up hospitalized.
The social authorities claimed to have done their part, the foster family said it wasn’t their obligation, and the parish excused itself by saying they could not be associated with the son of a criminal.
So that little boy, who in his final days asked if he was still loved by his father, was about to be buried in a municipal niche, with no one to accompany him, and only a number engraved on the headstone.
At that moment, Miguelón, leader of the Nomad Riders, made a firm decision: “No child goes into the ground alone. I don’t care whose son he is.”
What we didn’t know was that, at the same time, in a maximum-security cell, Tomás’s father had just learned of his son’s death and had decided to take his own life that very night.
The guards were watching him, although we all know how those stories usually end. What happened next not only gave the boy the farewell he deserved, but also prevented a broken man from losing the hope to keep living.
I was having my coffee at the club headquarters when the call came. Emilio Pardo, director of the Eternal Peace funeral home, spoke with a trembling voice, as if he had been crying.
“Manolo, I need help,” he said. “I’m facing something I can’t handle alone.”
Five years earlier, Emilio had organized my wife’s funeral, treating her with immense dignity despite how devastating cancer had been. I felt I owed him one.
“What’s happening?” I asked.
“There’s a child here. Ten years old. He passed away yesterday at the General Hospital. No one has come. No one will come.”
“A foster child?”
“Worse. He’s the son of Marcos Lucero.”
That name sounded familiar, and not just to me. Marcos Lucero had taken the lives of three people in a vendetta four years earlier. He was sentenced to life in prison, and his case had appeared on every news broadcast.
“The boy had been sick with leukemia for three years,” Emilio continued. “His grandmother was all he had, but yesterday she suffered a heart attack and is in intensive care. The authorities want him buried as soon as possible. The foster family wants nothing to do with it. Even my own staff refuses to help. They say it’s bad luck to handle the son of a murderer.”
“What do you expect from me?”
“I need pallbearers. People to accompany him. He’s just a child, Manolo. He didn’t choose who his father would be.”
I stood up immediately. “Give me a couple of hours.”
“Manolo, I only need four people—”
“You’ll have more than four,” I cut him off.
I hung up and rang the club bell. Within minutes, thirty-seven Nomad Riders were gathered in the main hall.
“Brothers,” I began. “A ten-year-old boy is about to be buried alone because his father is in prison. He died of cancer. No one claims him. No one will cry for him.”
The hall fell into absolute silence.
“I will go to his funeral,” I added. “I’m not forcing anyone. This isn’t club business. But if you believe that no child deserves to leave this world without company, meet me at Eternal Peace in an hour and a half.”
Old Bear was the first to speak: “My grandson is ten.”
“So is mine,” said Hammer.
“My son would be that age,” murmured Ron with a trembling voice. “If that drunk driver hadn’t…” He couldn’t finish.
Then Miguelón stood up: “Contact the other clubs. All of them. This isn’t about territories or patches. This is about a child.”
The calls began. Rebel Eagles. Steel Knights. Asphalt Demons. Groups that hadn’t spoken in years, with deep grudges. But when they heard the name Tomás Lucero, they all responded the same way: “We’ll be there.”
I was the first to arrive at the funeral home. Emilio was waiting outside, bewildered.
“Manolo, I didn’t mean—”
The roar of engines interrupted him. First came the Nomads, forty-three motorcycles. Then the Eagles with fifty. Then the Knights, thirty-five. The Demons, twenty-eight.
And they kept coming. Veterans’ clubs, Christian groups, even enthusiasts who had seen it on social media. By two in the afternoon, the parking lot of Eternal Peace and several nearby streets were jammed with bikes.
Emilio’s eyes were wide: “There must be about three hundred.”
“Three hundred and twelve,” corrected Miguelón, approaching. “We counted.”
We entered the chapel. There awaited a small white coffin, accompanied only by a simple bouquet of supermarket flowers.
“Is that all?” asked Serpent with a raspy voice.
“The hospital sent the flowers,” Emilio admitted. “It’s protocol.”
“To hell with protocol,” someone growled.
The hall filled. Tough men, many with tears in their eyes, passed before the coffin. One placed a teddy bear. Another, a toy motorcycle. Soon, the coffin was surrounded by gifts: flowers, toys, even a leather jacket with the inscription “Honorary Rider.”
It was then that Headstone, a veteran of the Eagles, broke everyone’s hearts. He placed a photograph next to the coffin and said: “This was my son, Javier. He was the same age when leukemia took him. I couldn’t save him, Tomás. But now you’re not alone. Javier will guide you on your way to heaven.”
One by one, the bikers shared words. They didn’t speak directly of Tomás—almost none had known him—but of lost children, stolen innocence, and the certainty that no child should pay for the sins of his father.
Suddenly, Emilio received a call and returned pale.
“It’s from the prison,” he explained. “Marcos Lucero already knows. He knows about the funeral. They’re watching him because they fear he’ll take his life. He’s asking if… if anyone was with his son.”
The silence was heavy.
Miguelón stood up: “Put it on speaker.”
With hesitation, Emilio did. A broken voice filled the chapel.
“Hello? Is anyone there? Please… did someone accompany my boy?”
“Marcos Lucero,” replied…