Tiger King: Was Mario Tabraue Really The Inspiration For Scarface?

[aleksandrored]

https://screenrant.com/tiger-king-netfl ... y-montana/

[Pogo The Clown]

Tony Montana was based on the character Tony Camonte from 1932 movie Scsrfsce. Tony Camonte was of course inspired. Y Al Capone.


Pogo

[Antiliar]

Tony Montana was based on Tony Camonte, who was based on Al Capone, but he was also based on Cuban drug lords. Mario Tabraue was a big-time drug trafficker whose name was all over Miami newspapers two years before the updated version of Scarface came out. Tabraue wasn't born in Cuba, but his parents were. There were also lots of Cuban drug dealers in Miami in those years, but Tabraue was the only one with an exotic animal farm. In fact, a book published in 2018 made the same claim: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/event/ ... rface.html

[Pogo The Clown]

I'm not seeing it. The 1983 Scarface is essentially the same movie as the 1932 Scarface. The same plot, the same characters and even a lot of the same dialogue and references. They just modernized the story by making Tony a Cuban immigrant drug dealer in 1980s Miami instead of an Italian immigrant bootlegger in 1920s Chicago.


Pogo

[PolackTony]

Not the story but aesthetics of TM probably (mansion, tiger, etc) drew on guys like Tabraue.

[Antiliar]

I have a book on the background of the film, plus Oliver Stone's autobiography. Stone wrote the script and for his research interviewed DEA agents, read newspaper articles, traveled to Bimini to meet and interview people connected with the coke business, and visited the club described in the article. Stone doesn't name any names, but as I mentioned above Tabraue was in the papers along with stories of his animals. Unless Stone tells us directly, all we can say is that it's likely that Tabraue was one of the sources of inspiration for the updated character. So I sent him a message. We'll see if he responds.