Fat Tony

"I don't get mad, I get stabby."

- Fat Tony

Marion Anthony "Tony" D'Amico, also known as William Williams or, more commonly, "Fat Tony", was the Capo of the Springfield Mafia. He has been behind several of Springfield's criminal enterprises. His rackets include illegal gambling, cigarette smuggling, and bootlegging. He has also been seen bribing and making secret deals with Mayor Quimby.

Fat Tony has a son named Michael, who he drives to school. He is a widower and refers to his wife's death as; "She was whacked, by natural causes." Fat Tony and his associates meet in what is known as the Legitimate Businessman's Social Club.

Fat Tony died of a heart attack after Homer betrayed him while working undercover for the FBI.

Biography


An Italian-American mobster in his early forties, "Fat Tony" is the head of the D'Amico Crime Family, the prime family in the Springfield Mafia. His fellow mobsters include Joey, Legs and Louie, and occasionally Johnny Tightlips. Tony's schemes have ranged from supplying rat's milk to the school cafeteria to dabbling in the illegal fireworks racket. His gang also attempts to monopolize various legitimate business. Fat Tony is also a very competent violinist. Fat Tony lives in his mansion, which strongly resembles that of Tony Montana from the movie Scarface, in the upscale residential area of "Springfield Heights", which is also resided by the Jewish entertainer Krusty The Clown and actor Troy McClure. D'Amico has owned several cars such as a black Lincoln Navigator, white Dodge Caravan and an Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8B.

"Business" dealings


Fat Tony has been behind most, if not all of, Springfield's criminal enterprises. He and his associates meet in what is known as the "Legitimate Businessmen's Social Club." Tony's rackets include the usual organized crime activities such as illegal gambling, cigarette trafficking, and rum running, but he will sometimes branch out into more unusual activities.

Homer once entered a deal with the Springfield Mafia to help Marge's pretzel franchise by driving out rival snack food distributors. Fat Tony demanded 100% of the profits from the business in exchange, only to be stopped by the local Yakuza (brought in by Marge's rivals). The two gangs then started a mob war (which continued off-screen), with Fat Tony and his gangsters displaying very impressive fighting skills, rather than just pulling out their guns as usual. Krusty the Clown pays the Mafia to keep McDonald's and Burger King out of Springfield, so that Krusty Burger can have a monopoly.

He made a product called Squeaky Farms Brand Genuine Animal Milk.

Much of Springfield's municipal government is involved with the Mafia. Chief Wiggum has been seen taking bribes from Fat Tony (although at the same time Chief Wiggum also tries to hunt him down even going as far as to compare Tony as being a cancer to Springfield, and tries to compare himself to the cure for cancer), and Mayor Quimby is more often than not in on the bribing procedures. Once, Fat Tony bribed Mayor Quimby to allow him to deliver counterfeit milk to the schools, and left Quimby under the impression that he intended to use dog's milk or higher. After his bodyguard, Homer Simpson, stumbled upon the milking facility and blurted out that they're actually milking rats, Quimby was outraged. In retaliation for a raid on their rat milk facility, Fat Tony attempted to take out a hit on Mayor Quimby. Tony once put out a contract on Homer after his private security business interfered with the mob's interests. Homer would have been executed gangland-style if not for Maggie coming to the rescue with her rifle. Marge usually has a more peaceful relationship with Fat Tony, even driving his son Michael home from school. She mentions that the Mafia frequently congregates outside her house, and that she often brings them lemonade.

Family


Fat Tony is a widower; he had a wife who was "whacked by natural causes." Tony has a son named Michael, whom he planned to have follow in his footsteps as the leader of the Springfield Mob.

Death
After he found out that his new "family member" Nicky was a spy, he suffered a heart attack and died. His cousin Fit Tony, who later became known as Fat Tony, took over from him.

The Simpsons Hit & Run
Although Fat Tony himself does not appear in The Simpsons: Hit & Run, the Legitimate Businessman's Social Club appears along with Louie. It is also shown that Tony owns a business called Fat Tony's Construction, for which a cement mixer can be seen.

Behind the Laughter
Originally, Tony was going to be voiced by Hank Azaria. However, since Fat Tony wasn't a very good drawing, Matt Groening decided to make a Special Guest Voice do him. Groening chose Joe Mantegna. In one DVD commentary it is stated that Mr. Mantegna is so enamored with the character that he has forbidden to allow anyone else to voice Fat Tony; he even voiced him when the script only called for a couple of grunts ("Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes"). However, this didn't stop Phil Hartman filling in for him on one occasion ("A Fish Called Selma").

Inspiration
Fat Tony is a pastiche of Mafia characters from movies and dramas, especially the Godfather franchise (and in later seasons ). His nickname may be a reference to "Black Tony", the Don of the fictional Stracci family in The Godfather. After 1999 Fat Tony is clearly based on Tony Soprano of The Sopranos. In several episodes the Sopranos intro theme ("Woke Up This Morning" by Alabama 3) is played in scenes with Fat Tony. Another viable possibility of inspiration is Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno, a New York mobster who passed away in a Springfield, Missouri hospital.

"Moe Baby Blues" featured several interesting references relating to Fat Tony. To entertain his subordinates, Fat Tony puts an orange slice in his mouth in imitation of from . Minutes later, Fat Tony responds to an emotional scene by saying "I haven't cried this much since I paid to see " (in which Mantegna played the character, one of the inspirations for Fat Tony). His son's name is a reference to.

On several occasions Fat Tony's has said something that begins as ominous gang language, only to be proven innocent; one example is "We are going for a ride... By which I mean the carpool" and "Now who's ready to sleep with da fishes?... Because I brought this Finding Nemo comforter!" This also led to some confusion among his fellow mafia members, such as the time when Troy McClure was involved in a scandal involving a sexual attraction to fishes, and he told his fellow gang members that he was "sleeping with the fishes", causing them to misinterpret the meaning to Troy having died when he was actually meaning that McClure was literally sleeping with the fishes. His house also strongly resembles that of Tony Montana in the movie.

Fat Tony also bears similiarities to notorious mobster Al Capone.

Trivia
Fat Tony being a competent violinist is a reference to the Thompson sub-machine gun (Tommy) which was the mafia's weapon of choice and was nicknamed the "Chicago Violin".