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"Mature Content Warning!" |
| No matter how big a guy might be, Nicky would take him on. You beat Nicky with fists, he comes back with a bat. You beat him with a knife, he comes back with a gun. And if you beat him with a gun, you better kill him, because he'll keep comin' back and back until one of you is dead. | „ | |
| ~ Ace describing Nicky's personality |
This is one hell of a wrathful mob enforcer you don't wanna mess with.
Hello, and welcome to my third proposal on another candidate from a mafia movie (which was the 30th anniversary this year) who would easily fit the criteria. After watching the film, I decided he was worth qualifying. This permission was granted by RhinoBeloved a while ago.
What's The Work?
Casino is a 1995 epic crime film directed by Martin Scorsese, adapted by Scorsese and Nicholas Pileggi from the latter's nonfiction book Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas. It stars Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci, Don Rickles, Kevin Pollak, Frank Vincent and James Woods. The film was the eighth collaboration between director Scorsese and De Niro.
Who Is He?
Nicholas "Nicky" Santoro is the main antagonist of the 1995 crime film Casino. He is based on the real life Chicago Outfit enforcer Anthony John "The Ant" Spilotro. As the Mafia's enforcer, Nicky is assigned to protect Sam Rothstein and help the mob skim money from the Tangiers Casino. He was formerly Ace Rothstein's long time childhood friend.
What Has He Done?
As a ruthless, high-ranking member and enforcer for the Chicago Mafia, Nicky was noted as a sociopath as he will whack anyone that he sees as a threat and is willing to attack innocent people too. Earlier in the film, when a gambler at the casino mocked Ace and tells him to "shove it," Nicky violently stabbed and killed the man in the neck with a pen, kicked his head, and mocked him for crying. While the man was being rude towards Ace, this was a bit unnecessary for Nicky to do this. He repeatedly uses threats and physical intimidation to control bookmakers and others. In one instance, he graphically threatens a banker (Charlie Clark) over a failed investment to show his power.
Meanwhile, Nicky asked Ace if he could come with him to Las Vegas. Ace agreed and tried to warn Nicky to keep a very low profile, where all of the authorities had a zero tolerance policy to organize any crime. Nicky however, ignores the warning and attempted to to start a crime in Las Vegas. His antics had also got himself being banned from all casinos and added to the Black Book. Nicky himself forms his own crew, known as the "Hole in the Wall Gang," and engages in widespread criminal activities including jewelry burglaries, strong-arm tactics, and loan sharking to take over the town's underworld.
He alongside with his crew brutally beat up and torture an Irish-American mobster named Tony Dogs (who also shoots up one of the boss's bars and kills an innocent waitress) for two days and nights, sticking ice picks in him, before ultimately putting his head in a vice until his eye pops out to get information during an interrogation, as Dogs refused to talk and insulted Nicky who even tried to reason with him. Dogs would even be killed by Charlie M. Frankie who slitted his throat. It is also implied that Nicky used ice picks on the victim's testicles off-screen.
At Ace's request where he discovers that Ace's wife Ginger McKenna has been giving money to her ex-boyfriend Lester Diamond, Nicky had his crew severely beat Ginger's ex-boyfriend, Lester Diamond, in front of her to force Lester out of the picture and watches in sadism. This caused Ginger to be verbally upset.
Nicky was then send by one of the mafia bosses to kill a businesswoman by the name of Anna Scott eating breakfast at a restaurant by shooting her head, who was suing the casino's owner, Remo Gaggi, which leads to more intense police scrutiny and an FBI investigation.
Nicky also intimidates Ace's local banker, Charlie Clark, with graphic threats of violence to recover money lost in an investment.
Nicky then meets Ace out in the desert, by angrily telling him to never talk behind his back again, with the two also being so angry at each other as Nicky curses at Ace. Out of spite, Nicky had showed up at the Tangiers, despite being banned beforehand. After Ace tells Nicky to hurry up and get out, Nicky then loses his patience again, this time, on Billy Sherbert. He calls him a Jew prick and assaults him with a phone before Frankie stops him.
Nicky begins an affair with Ace's wife, Ginger, as he had betrayed his long time friend Ace due to a serious violation of mob rules.
He and his crew start to do very reckless things, mostly shooting up cop's houses after the cops murdered one of their members.
He was heavily implied to be the one responsible for setting a bomb on his former friend Ace's car which caused an explosion and almost got him killed in an attempt to eliminate him.
Near the end of the film, Nicky arranges a meeting with Frankie and the other mob bosses in a cornfield, only to notice that they beat his brother Dominic to death with aluminum baseball bats, as they hold down Nicky and force him to watch as he begs for Frankie to stop. Frankie and the other mob bosses had also repeatedly beat Nicky and push him along with his brother to a shallow grave where they bury the duo shoveling dirt while Nicky is seen breathing, but confirmed alongside Dominic to be dead while they were buried.
Heinous Standards?
Yes, he easily stands out as he has participates in murdering and torturing anyone. Examples include, stabbing the man's neck with a pen to death, torturing an Irish-American mobster by putting his head in a vice by tightening it and popping his eyes out, assassinating Anna Scott by shooting her in the head, and was willing, if implied, to set a bomb in Ace's car which almost got him killed. Even if villains in this film for example who did worst like, Remo Gaggi, who orders the killing of various individuals who might have testified against the mob bosses once the FBI started investigating the skimming operation, and is willing to maintain his Casino operations under his control of his criminal activities, Nicky has less resources by committing murdering or torturing anyone that is very brutal in hindsight.
Mitigating Qualities?
Well I should explain this, but i would later get onto detail on what really prevents him from being Pure Evil. To say that his mitigating qualities aren't too very frequent, like, he used to be friends with Ace Rothstein (who is known to be a Jewish handicapper) during their childhood since they both worked for the Mafia by getting along with each other, and even defend him from being made fun of by that rude man at the Casino. Their friendship however turns out to get worse, due to Nicky's volatile and reckless criminal activities, which drew too much attention from law enforcement and threatened Ace's legitimate casino front. Tensions rose further when Ginger, Ace's wife, began an affair with Nicky, betraying his long time friend as he would even have Ace killed in a car explosion since he might have been aware if Nicky was responsible for this. His friendship with Ace has been subverted.
While he has comedic moments that make him come across as hammy, he's still taken very seriously in-universe with his crimes also being played dead seriously due to committing numerous murders who is willing to whack anyone and attack innocent people too.
While his death was brutal by Frankie and the other mob bosses being beaten with a baseball bat and buried under a shallow grave, it wasn't played for sympathy and he deserved it for his murderers and betrayal to Ace as he was willing to take over Las Vegas and maintain his control there.
What Prevents Him From Being Pure Evil?
Now lets get into what really stops from being a complete monster.
- Despite his horrible actions, he does have some standards. Like, he even got mad at a degenerate gambler and at his friend for putting his feet on a casino table. He was even disgusted at Tony Dogs for shooting an innocent waitress when she shouldn't have been working.
- He cares for his son as he would attend his presentations at school, as well as get him into a Little League baseball game. He even cooked breakfast for his son and commented how smart he was. Nothing indicates that he subverted his care.
- He also genuinely cared for his younger brother Dominic as they both treat each other with respect and loyalty. He was even devastated and upset when the mob bosses beat Dominic with baseball bats to death as they forced Nicky to watch.
Verdict
I say yes to this sociopathic and hot-tempered mobster, as he's played by the same actor who also portrayed Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas.