Scarface Is the Nickname Which Was Given

Scarface is the nickname which was given to one of the most famous and infamous members of organized crime. Scholars and crime-buffs throughout the United States know all about Alphonse "Scarface" Capone and how he grew to head the mafia in Chicago, Illinois in the 1920s. Capone was able to achieve his success in the underworld by being smarter and perhaps luckier than his enemies. He was a strategist, as focused on the destruction of his opposition as any general of any army. Although his actions were nefarious and his endeavors only intended to his financial betterment, it cannot be denied that the likes of Capone served an important role in the formation of American history. The original film Scarface is based on the life of Al Capone, gangster films being very popular in the 1930s and early 1940s while the 1980s remake of Scarface tells a similarly themed story of criminal success and ultimate failure but changes the setting, the ethnicity, and the story arc while at the same time removing all historical context from the story.

During the time of the Great Depression, organized crime became a big business. After the passage of the 19th Amendment, Prohibition went into effect. Consequently, there was higher demand for illegal substances, particularly liquor. Criminal enterprises had been around for a while, providing prostitution and gambling to the major cities, but Prohibition would lead to the rise of the famous American gangster. Bugs Moran, John Dillinger, Lucky Luciano, and of course Al Capone, along with their corporations, like Murder, Inc. became household names during the period. Many of these early gangsters were first or second generation immigrants, primarily from Italy (Shanty 12). When the immigrants, came to the U.S., many were unable to speak English. So, they formed themselves into tight groups of people with similar backgrounds. In Brooklyn, New York, a group of Italian immigrants met in what would become Little Italy (Al 1). Being unfamiliar with the language, most immigrants could only get low-paying, menial jobs. The fastest way to get out of the rut of slum life in these ethnic neighborhoods was to join gangs and commit crimes, which though decidedly illegal were also highly profitable. Like many of his countrymen, Capone joined a street gang in Brooklyn at a very early age. He quickly built up a reputation among the ranks as being both highly intelligent and aggressively vicious when slighted. After proving himself somewhat in New York, Capone moved to Chicago to work for the Italian crime syndicate (Raab 42). His assertiveness and ruthlessness moved him quickly up the ladder until he was running the crime family. Chicago, Illinois was the home of many hardcore gangsters. Gangs within the city were constantly doing battle for territory. Things came to a head between Capone and his main rival, Bugs Moran who was the head of the Irish gang in Chicago. This culminated in the famed 1929 St. Valentines' Day Massacre, where members of the Capone gang arrived at a car garage dressed as police officers and executed their gangland enemies who were inside playing cards (Schoenberg 209). Although it was widely understood that Capone had orchestrated the assassination of several rival gang members, he ensured that he was out of the state at the time of the attack and thus the crime could not be pinned on him. Al Capone was indeed a smart man and a brilliant criminal. However, he was not able to avoid the long arm of the law forever. He was finally arrested and convicted, not for any violent crimes, but for tax evasion (Raab 41). When he was released from prison he was riddled with syphilis and unable to retain his position in the hierarchy of organized crime.

The story of Al Capone is told in the film Scarface: the Shame of a Nation but he has been renamed Tony Camonte to escape legal or vengeful repercussions from the still-living Capone. During the 1930s, America had something of a love-hate relationship with the members of the mafia. They were appalled by their violence and the fact that very often innocent bystanders would be injured or even killed by the warring mafia families. At the same time, the people admired how the men were able to take whatever they wanted and to obtain massive fortunes when they came from such dire circumstances of birth. This system led to the birth of the gangster film. For two hours Great Depression audiences made up of men and women who had little money and little food and perhaps no home and watch as these outsiders fought the law but, at the same time, the Haye's Code was still in place. This was a system of rules in Hollywood wherein moral and ethics were upheld in all films, including the idea that all criminals had to be punished by the end of the film. It was alright to glamorize the gangster so long as he wound up dead or in prison and the law ultimately won out. This is also why the film had to have the subtitle The Shame of the Nation to show that the actions of the gangster were to be deplored, not emulated.