Has anybody else noticed that there is a character in the 2nd Laura Bow game who is awfully similar to Ugarte? He serves the same purpose in life (a guy who hears juicy and important information and sells it to people) and the voice is exactly the same.

Yep, clearly the folks at Sierra were big fans of Casablanca (Ugarte, Ferrari, the Blue Parrot Inn). It was a very popular film. A likeness of Ugarte even shows up in some old Looney Tunes animations.