Esai Morales is about to feel the magic…

The 49-year-old Puerto Rican actor has signed to star in Starz‘s Miami-set period drama Magic City.

Set in 1959 Miami just after the Cuban Revolution, Magic City tells the story of Ike Evans (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), the owner of Miami’s glitzy Miramar Playa hotel, who is forced to make a deal with local mob boss Ben Diamond (Danny Huston).

Morales, an NYPD Blue alum, will play Carlos Ruiz, a former rebel who once fought beside Castro but now works to free Cuba from the man he once considered a brother.

Morales—who rose to acclaim for his role as Ritchie Valens’ troubled brother in the 1987 biopic La Bamba—recently recurred on Fairly Legal and Caprica.

Filming on Season 2 of Magic City starts this week in Miami for a 2013 premiere.

Returning are creator/executive producer Mitch Glazer and cast members Morgan, Olga Kurylenko, Yul Vazquez, Dominik Garcia-Lorido and Elena Satine.