Antonio "Scarface" Camonte (died 1932) was an Italian-American mobster and the boss of the Chicago Outfit from 1930 to 1932, succeeding Johnny Lovo. Camonte rose to power after betraying his first boss Louis Costillo and his successor Lovo, dominating Chicago's criminal underworld after wiping out the North Side Gang. He was ultimately killed in a shootout with the Chicago Police Department in 1932.
Biography[]
Antonio Camonte was born in Sicily, Italy, and his family emigrated to the United States when he was young. Raised by a single mother alongside his sister Francesca, Camonte grew up in Brooklyn, New York City and was facially scarred in a barfight. His family later relocated to Chicago, Illinois to evade Brooklyn's gang violence, but Camonte's criminal career continued as he joined the Chicago Outfit and became a bodyguard to the crime lord "Big" Louis Costillo. Camonte and his friend Guino Rinaldo shared ambitions of rising to the top, and, in 1920, Camonte assassinated Costillo at the behest of his ambitious lieutenant Johnny Lovo.
Lovo made Camonte his right-hand man as he attempted to assert his control over the Outfit, as three of its associates refused to follow Lovo's lead. Camonte responded by assassinating Jim Meehan and his allies, shooting Meehan in the hospital. While Lovo contented himself with running the South Side's 3,000 speakeasies and wished to avoid conflict with the North Side Gang, Camonte ignored Lovo's orders and gradually expanded the Outfit's control in Chicago. In 1924, Camonte had Rinaldo kill the North Side Gang leader O'Hara at his flower shop, and, after surviving a drive-by shooting ordered by O'Hara's successor Tom Gaffney, Camonte waged all-out war against the North Side. In 1929, he had nine North Side gangsters lined up against a wall by henchmen disguised as police officers and massacred them with Thompson submachine guns. In 1930, Camonte himself killed Gaffney at a Chicago bowling alley, establishing the Outfit as the dominant syndicate in the city.
Camonte in 1930
Lovo, who had passively allowed for Camonte to usurp his power, made up his mind to kill Camonte after his underling seduced his girlfriend Poppy. After the assassination attempt failed, Camonte and Rinaldo confronted Lovo at his office and executed him. Camonte and Poppy went on a long vacation to Florida to evade the law, as the city's prominent citizens rallied against Camonte in the wake of the deaths of innocent schoolchildren in the crossfire of a shootout. By the time Camonte returned in 1932, Chicago was a very different place, as Mayor Anton Cermak resolved to destroy the city's criminal underworld.
Downfall[]
Camonte's death
Camonte brought about his own downfall when he visited the apartment of his sister, who had left the family home unannounced. On finding that she had moved in with Rinaldo, the jealous and over-protective Camonte murdered Rinaldo; his sister explained that they had married just one day earlier. The police were sent in to arrest Camonte for Rinaldo's murder, besieging his luxury apartment. Cesca joined Camonte there, initially intent on murdering him, but later suicidally deciding to help him fight off the police by loading his guns. Cesca was killed by a stray bullet as the police fired into the apartment's windows, and, after Camonte sprayed the police with submachine-gun fire, the police lobbed tear gas into Camonte's room. A blinded Camonte was forced to run down his stairs, where he was confronted by the police. Camonte cowered before them and asked them not to shoot, only to run past them into the street, where he was riddled with bullets at the entrance of his home.