Tony Camonte
Tony starts out as a low-level Italian immigrant working in the service of mob boss Johnny Lovo. Camonte rises up the ladder and eventually takes over from Lovo to become the king of the rackets in a story that draws many parallels to the real life story of Al Capone.
Johnny Lovo
Johnny Lovo starts out as the boss of the South Side who enjoys all the perks of such a position: nice house, nice clothes, nice mistress. He will soon find out that giving Tony Camonte some important jobs to take care of that involves stirring up the man’s bloodlust is not the most intelligent executive decision he ever made.
Poppy
Among the things that Tony will take from Johnny Lovo is Poppy. A beautiful, coolly elegant blonde with a hot streak simmering just beneath the surface. That passion comes exploding to the surface as a result of Tony’s far greater love for violence than Johnny ever exhibits.
Cesca
Cesca exhibits the very same passion on the surface which her brother, Tony, demonstrates. Tony’s demonstrable passion seems to be related to an only slightly suppressed incestuous sexual desire for Cesca. This desire eventually erupts into Tony’s most personal murder: Rinaldo. The fact that he didn’t yet know Cesca and Rinaldo were married seems beside the point.
Tony Camonte
Rinaldo is Tony’s second-in-command and makes the fatal mistake of falling for Cesca. Cesca’s hot passion seems sublimated away from her own incestuous feelings toward her brother and so she finally convinces Rinaldo to marry her. Big mistake.
Gaffney
The leader of the North Side gang is Gaffney, who primarily exists to up the ante of warfare by introducing the Tommy Gun into street battles turning the city into a battle zone. He will eventually make as a big a mistake as Rinaldo by deciding to go for a final strike at the bowling alley without seeming to notice the arrival of Tony and his minions from the South Side.
