Osgood Perkins as John "Johnny" Lovo and Paul Muni as Antonio "Tony" Camonte in a scene from the film's trailer.
In 1920s Chicago, Italian immigrant Antonio "Tony" Camonte (Paul Muni) acts on the orders of Italian mafioso John "Johnny" Lovo (Osgood Perkins) and kills "Big" Louis Costillo (Harry J. Vejar), the leading crime boss of the city's South Side. Johnny then takes control of the South Side with Tony as his key lieutenant, selling large amounts of illegal beer to speakeasies and muscling in on bars run by rival outfits. However, Johnny repeatedly warns Tony not to mess with the Irish gangs led by O'Hara who runs the North Side. Tony soon starts ignoring these orders, shooting up bars belonging to O'Hara, and attracting the attention of the police and rival gangsters. Johnny realizes that Tony is out of control and has ambitions to take his position.
Meanwhile, Tony pursues Johnny's girlfriend Poppy (Karen Morley) with increasing confidence. At first, she is dismissive of him but pays him more attention as his reputation rises. At one point, she visits his "gaudy" apartment where he shows her his view of an electric billboard advertising Cook's Tours, which features the slogan that has inspired him: "The World is Yours."
Tony eventually decides to declare war and take over the North Side. He sends the coin flipping Guino Rinaldo (George Raft), one of his best men and also his close friend, to kill O'Hara in a florist's shop that he uses as his base. This brings heavy retaliation from the North Side gangs, now led by Gaffney (Boris Karloff) and armed with Thompson submachine gunsâa weapon that instantly captures Tony's dark imagination. Tony leads his own forces to destroy the North Side gangs and take over their market, even to the point of impersonating police officers to gun down several rivals in a garage. Tony also kills Gaffney as he makes a strike at a bowling alley. Johnny believes that his protÃ©gÃ© is trying to take over, and he arranges for Tony to be assassinated while driving in his car. Tony manages to escape this attack, and he and Guino kill Johnny, leaving Tony as the undisputed boss of the city.
Tony's actions have provoked a public outcry, and the police are slowly closing in. Then he sees his beloved sister Francesca ("Ceska", Ann Dvorak) with Guino, and kills his friend in a jealous rageâbefore the couple can inform him of their secret marriage. His sister runs out distraught and tells the police what he has done. The police move to arrest Tony for Guino's murder, and Tony holes up in his house and prepares to shoot it out. Ceska comes back, planning to kill him, but ends up helping him to fight the police. Moments later, however, she is killed by a stray bullet. As the apartment fills with tear gas, Tony leaves down the stairs, and the police confront him. Tony pleads for his life, but then makes a break for it, only to be gunned down by the police. Outside, the electric billboard blazes "The World is Yours."
What character is a coin flipper?
Guino Rinaldo