Was the 1930 gangster movie Little Caesar based on Al Capone, Buggsy Goldstein or Salvatore Cardinella?
The film’s title character was based, in part, after the character of real-life, ruthless gangster Al Capone – a vain and cruelly vicious Italian mobster who experienced a similar rise and fall. [Little Caesar also resembled Brooklyn underworld gangster Buggsy Goldstein.] The character of Diamond Pete Montana (played by Ralph Ince) was modeled on Big Jim Colosimo (a Capone murder victim in 1920) – “King of the Pimps” and “Father of the Chicago Mob,” and the “Big Boy” kingpin (played by Sidney Blackmer) was based upon corrupt politician and Chicago mayor Big Bill Thompson.
