Antonio "Tony" Camonte was the main protagonist of the 1932 movie Scarface played by Paul Muni. Born in New York City in 1940, Tony grew into a street savvy, and charismatic gang leader. After Tony killed his boss, Big Louis Costillo, who controlled the South Side of Chicago, Johnny Lovo made him his second-in-command though continuously told him not to mess with the Irish Gangs led by O'Hara. Tony soon disobeys these rules and starts war with the Irish Gangs and soon sends his best friend, Guino Rinaldo, to kill O'harra. Lovo soon finds this out that Tony has been pursuing his girlfriend, Poppy, and sends assassins to kill Tony while he's driving. Tony survives where he and Rinaldo kill Lovo and takeover his criminal empire. Tony killed Rinaldo after he found out that he married his sister, Francesca Camonte, who he is over-protective of, and brings a distraught Cesca back to his apartment. Inspector Ben Guarino and the rest of the police soon infiltrate his apartment and kill Cesca, who is killed by a stray bullet and Tony becomes crazy after Guarino throws a smoke grenade at his room. Tony then comes out surrendering but decides to make a break for it, only to be killed after he is shot multiple times.
History[]
Born in New York, Tony Camonte was a low level criminal, being a member of the notorious five points gang. He lived with his Mother, and his two sisters. He was very possessive of his younger sister Cesca. Tony’s friend Guino Rinaldo was his partner in crime. Eventually Tony and his family moved to Chicago, and he became an enforcer for Big Louis Costillo, the head of the South Side gang, and one of the last old fashioned Mobsters left in the city.
During the splintering of the gang, Johnny Lovo had Tony kill Costillo for him. After a brief trouble with the cops, Johnny brought in Tony as his right hand man. Tony wanted to move in on the North side of Chicago, run by the Irish Gangsters, but Lovo forbade him from doing this.
With some of Costillo’s people going independent, Lovo sent out Tony and his friends to take over the other speakeasies in the south side. They then went over and shot up an Irish speakeasy run by gang leader O’Hara. The next day when they learned that their competitor they tried to kill was in the hospital and Alive, they went there and killed him. Johnny was angry about the Irish bar shootout. As payback, the Irish gang killed one of Johnny’s men, and threw his body in front of their social club, with a note warning them to stay out of the north side. Tony then had O’Hara killed by Guino at his flower shop. Tony’s rising status allowed him to movie into a fancy and gaudy townhouse.
Tony started making moves on Johnny’s girlfriend Poppy. One day she came to see him at his home, and he showed her a billboard sign outside his office that said “The World is Yours”. Overtime, they both started to fall for each other.
O’Hara’s successor Tom Gaffney declared war against Tony. He prepared his men for open gang warfare in the south side, however Tony and his men were prepared, and struck back hard. Even massacring Gaffney’s men at their garage on St. Valentine’s Day, Killing a large number of Gaffney’s men. The police vowed to bring Tony down after this. One day, Tony hears that Gaffney is at a bowling alley, and he goes there with his crew and kills him.
During dinner at a nightclub, Johnny Becomes jealous of Tony and Poppy’s feelings for each other, when they dance and flirt right in front of him. Tony sees Cesca dancing with another man at the club. He forces her back to their mothers home, and hits and yells at her. Later on, a group of hitmen sent by Johnny try to kill tony, however he survives, and kills Johnny. Thus taking over the South Side gang. He takes poppy on a vacation to Florida to get away from the police and news. Cesca starts to see Guino behind Tony’s back.
One day, Tony learns from his mother that Cesca has moved in with another man. He finds her living with Guino and kills him in front of her, however he feels guilty when he learns that they had gotten married, and were planning on surprising him. Cesca then ran away devastated, and Tony returned to his house. The police come with a warrant for Tony’s arrest, and surrounded his building. Cesca slips in and threatens to kill Tony, but calms down and she professes her love for Tony. They both grab guns and fire at the cops outside, however a stray bullet hits Cesca, killing her. Tony, devastated, turns himself in, but then tries making a run for it, and was then subsequently shot and killed.
Trivia[]
- Camonte was based on Chicago crime lord Al Capone, who also headed the South Side gang, known more as the Chicago Outfit. Capone was also nicknamed Scarface due to scars on his cheek.