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Tony Montana is the iconic Cuban gangster from Brian De Palma’s 1983 crime thriller masterpiece Scarface. And Al Pacino’s portrayal of Montana – despite Pacino being very not Cuban – has endured as one of the most famous and brutal depictions of organized crime ever portrayed on the screen.
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Tony Montana is the iconic Cuban gangster from Brian De Palma's 1983 crime thriller masterpiece, Scarface
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And Al Pacino's portrayal of Montana, despite Pacino being very not-Cuban, has endured as one of the most famous and brutal depictions of organized crime ever portrayed on the screen
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So, today, we're getting high on our own supply, as we tell you about the real-life inspiration for Scarface
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Everyone remembers where they were at the beginning of 2020, at home watching Tiger King on Netflix
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The wild but true tales of Joe Exotic, Carol Baskin, and Doc Antle found a surge of popularity when their docuseries dropped on streaming
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But it was a less prominent player in the series who may have inspired the character of Tony Montana
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Mario Tabro, who appeared on the Netflix series, runs a non-profit organization called the Zoological Wildlife Foundation
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but he was also a former drug trafficker who many say was the real-life inspiration for Tony Montana
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Friends of Tobrow even believe that screenwriter Oliver Stone consulted him about the film's script
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Much like Tony Montana and his less-than-reputable associates, Tobrow frequented Miami's nightlife and was a major player in the underground crime scene
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transporting drugs worth upwards of $75 million. In 1987, federal agents launched Operation Cobra
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a name that sounds like something out of G.I. Joe. In reality, it was an effort to take down
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Tobro, who was at the time covering up his vast drug dealings with the front of an exotic animal
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import company called Pets Unlimited. Larry Nash was an undercover agent for the Bureau of Alcohol
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Tobacco, and Firearms, aka the ATF. Nash met a gory demise in 1980 at the hands of Tobro and his associates
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Tobrow would refute his involvement in the killing in the 2020 docuseries Tiger King
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But after Nash's body was found, burned, and dismembered, information on his death began to trickle out
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Many witnesses testified that they watched Tobrow do the deed himself with a machete Others say his body was cut up using a circular saw and burned in a trough Whatever the real cause of death the movie latched on to the legend
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and the infamous Scarface bathroom chainsaw scene was concocted. Throughout the film, Tony Montana, Frank Lopez, played by Robert Loja, and Manny Ray
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played by Stephen Bauer, do their business and misdeeds in various nightclubs throughout Miami
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And what may seem like a classic case of Hollywood embellishing the facts for a plot
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is actually not too far off from the Magic City in the 1980s
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In his book Hotel Scarface, author Robid Farzad described the Florida city as a veritable drug boomtown
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While the rest of the country was busy dealing with oil shocks and skyrocketing insurance rates
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Miami's economy was flourishing thanks to a little help from a lot of white powder
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During that time, cocaine could be bought for $1,000 a kilo in Colombia
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then turned around and sold for 50,000 a kilo in Coconut Grove, Miami
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The city was drowning in cash, as well as crime, and law and order essentially ceased to exist
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So much so that a federal judge declared that Miami was on the ragged edge of anarchy
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Hmm, sounds like a pretty good movie idea. In Scarface, Tony and his nefarious associates could usually be found kicking back in the neon-tinged, always-smoky Babylon Club
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Turns out, the club was yet another character in the film based on real events
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this time taking on the likeness of notorious real-life Miami drug lord hangout, the Mutiny Hotel
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The hotel-slash-club-slash-criminal hotspot boasted 130 rooms and was a free-trade zone. for gangsters looking to cash in on Miami's debauchery, or maybe even escape from it for a bit
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The Mutiny was an exclusive members-only club that could count CIA affiliates
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Jackie Onassis, and members of Led Zeppelin among its guest list in the 1970s. Maybe they were there
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to hang out and grab a drink, or maybe they were there to rub elbows with drug lords and cocaine
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cowboys Drug lords often lead opulent lifestyles and the Mutiny reportedly sold more bottles of Dom Perignon than any other establishment on the planet This was reported by DP distributors who visited the site in the early 80s
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to be sure the numbers coming out of the mutiny were real. The Miami Hotel also had a champagne cave, which featured a secret compartment
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where drug lords could hide weapons they might need if their legitimate business dealings ever went sideways
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Allegedly, a hostess would even hide your piece up her skirt if the uncompromised cops should ever start sniffing around
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Sniffing being quite the operative word when it comes to the product these businessmen were dealing
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Oliver Stone wanted his crime thriller to be as close to real life as possible
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so much so that he ended up going method during the screenwriting process, so to speak
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Stone researched his script by spending time in Miami and the Caribbean
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having conversations and taking notes from both sides of the law. Stone said the experience gave him a lot to work with for his planned film
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or as he described it, a sun-drenched, tropical third-world gangster, cigar, sexy Miami movie
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That's a lot to fit on a poster. The experience wasn't all productive, however
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as Stone was dealing with his own dependency and addiction issues at the time
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which the research only kicked into a higher gear. To maintain his focus and get away from the riffraff
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Stone moved to Paris, where he could write the story in peace, far away from easy access to the drugs that fueled Tony Montana's world
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The 1983 Scarface was not Hollywood's first foray into the story, with a 1932 version directed by Howard Hughes
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telling the story of an Italian kingpin loosely based on Al Capone
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This version stars Paul Muni as Tony Camante, also known as Scarface
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released before the Hayes production code caused studios and filmmakers to censor and avoid certain content
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The violence and subject matter of the film surprised a lot of moviegoers in the 1930s
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When Stone took up the Scarface mantle, he opted to base his Tony Montana on the real-life Mario Boatlift
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in which hundreds of thousands of Cuban refugees traveled to Miami by boat
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Scarface uses actual footage from the boatlift, and Oliver Stone used the prevailing American government attitude that the Marialitos were the quote crazies to motivate his outlandish operatic character While many in the Cuban immigrant camp admire Tony climb to the
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top, the portrayal is a divisive one in the community as the film perpetuates several harmful
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stereotypes against Cuban Americans. Also, again, Al Pacino is simply not Cuban, making that accent
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really something. In Scarface, Robert Loja plays kingpin Frank Lopez, one of the big baddies in
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the film. Lopez is based on real-life Cuban immigrant and prominent Miami drug figure
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Carlos Carlin Quesada. Getting his start in cocaine trafficking around 1969, Quesada claims to have raked in over $3 million from his criminal enterprise
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equal to about $10 million in today dollars. But Quezada also reached across the aisle
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acting as a police informant and snitching on his competitors while shielding his own business
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from the law in the process. Because of this, he was able to flaunt his crimes in front of police
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who had no power to stop him. Quezada was busted trying to bring his operation to Los Angeles
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with presiding judge Pamela Ann Reimer opining that this community does not need the exporting
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of Miami Vice. Quezada was sentenced to 25 years in prison and fined $250,000
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but none of that stung more than Judge Reimer's sick burn. Frank Lopez's right-hand man was a Weasley character named Omar Suarez, played by the
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incomparable F. Murray Abraham. The criminal-turned-double-agent character pales in comparison to the real-life inspiration, Ricardo Monkey Morales
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which sounds like the name of a wisecracking sidekick on a Saturday morning cartoon
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was in reality a brutal, murderous Cuban-American immigrant involved in spying, counter-spying, bombings
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and dope dealings during his time as a criminal and informant. And that's according to his obituary
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Morales met his end much like his Scarface film counterpart, Grandley, after getting shot during a bar fight
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one which allegedly kicked off after someone assumed Morales' sexual preference in a way that was not very appreciated in 1983
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We can excuse murder and drug dealing, but we draw the line at homophobia