Read more about Francisco Scaramanga at: Wikipedia Official Site: Ian Fleming Publications Francisco Scaramanga is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the James Bond film and novel The Man with the Golden Gun. The film was so named because it described Scaramanga's possession of a golden gun. In the novel, the character is nicknamed "Pistols" Scaramanga and is also called "Paco" (a Spanish diminutive of Francisco). Scaramanga was played by British actor Christopher Lee, who is also the cousin of Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond. Francisco Scaramanga, of Catalan origin, became a trick shot and performed in acts in a circus owned by his father Enrico while a youngster, and he also cared for one of the circus elephants, which he stated was his only real friend. When the elephant went on a rampage during the circus visit to Trieste, Scaramanga witnessed a policeman kill him. The enraged boy retaliated by killing the policeman with a single shot through the eye, being 16 at the time. He then made his way to the United States from Naples, where he found employment as an enforcer for the Spangled Mob, an outfit that plays a role in two other Bond novels: Diamonds Are Forever (where they were the main foe of Agent 007) and Goldfinger as an accomplice to Auric Goldfinger's Operation Grandslam. He acted like a pitboy at the casino of Tiara Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, while in fact he was executioner of cheats and other transgressors within and outside the gang. In 1958 he was forced to emigrate from the U.S because of his gun duel with Ramon "The Rod" Rodriquez, his opposite from the Detroit Purple Gang, also featured in the novel Goldfinger, killing Ramon and earning $100 for it. He spent some time travelling the Caribbean as a representative of Las Vegas interests in real-estate and plantation dealing, later switching to Trujillo of the Dominican Republic and Batista of Cuba where he settled in 1959, in Havana. While remaining a Batista man he started an undercover work for Fidel Castro's party, becoming an "enforcer" for DSS after the revolution. By the time Bond finally encounters him in The Man with the Golden Gun, Scaramanga is a Caribbean gunman who often works for Fidel Castro's secret police, in addition to being engaged in other criminal enterprises such as drug-running into the United States in partnership with the KGB. Bond's service has evaluated him as one of the finest shots in the world, and M authorizes Bond to assassinate Scaramanga— if he can. |