Alejandro "Alex" Sosa is a fictional character and the main

antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the chief foe of the protagonist. Etymology The English word antagonist comes from the Greek ἀνταγωνιστής – ''antagonistēs'', "opponent, competitor, villain, enemy, riv ...

in the 1983 American crime film '' Scarface'' and the 2006 video game '' Scarface: The World Is Yours''. He is an international Bolivian drug lord and the chief supplier of cocaine for his business partner Tony Montana. Only when Sosa was betrayed did his relationship with Tony Montana end. Sosa is portrayed by Paul Shenar in the film. He is based on the Bolivian drug lord

Roberto Suárez Gómez Roberto Suárez Gómez (January 8, 1932 – July 20, 2000), also known as the King of Cocaine, was a Bolivian drug lord and trafficker who played a major role in the expansion of cocaine trafficking in Bolivia. In his prime, Suárez made $400 mi ...

Overview

''Scarface'' (1983)

Alejandro Sosa is presented in the film as a Bolivian landowner, hailing from a rich family, educated in England and currently the business brain and drug overlord of an empire that stretches across the Andes region. He is immensely wealthy and has wide-reaching political and criminal connections, both in Latin America and in the United States. Frank Lopez ( Robert Loggia) sends Tony Montana (Al Pacino) and Omar Suarez (F. Murray Abraham) to make a drug deal with Sosa who asks them to guarantee the buying of a certain amount of cocaine every month. After some issues, Montana promises Sosa to talk with Lopez about sharing the risk. When Sosa is informed that Suarez was previously a police informant, Suarez is beaten by Sosa's henchmen and then hanged to death from a helicopter, which Tony witnesses. Sosa gives immediate respect to Tony due to his honesty and straight-forward demeanor, even agreeing that Omar fooling Lopez "could happen to anyone". When Lopez hears of the developments, he refuses to believe that Omar was a "stoolie" and even suspects that Tony has some ulterior motives. Lopez and Tony separate after the argument and the latter proposes marriage to Lopez's girlfriend Elvira Hancock. When Lopez becomes aware of Tony's aspirations regarding Elvira, he sends two hit-men to have him killed. The plan backfires and Tony kills the two hit-men. Tony then goes to Lopez and has his right-hand-man Manny kill Lopez and a corrupt police detective after Lopez confesses to hiring the hitmen to kill Tony. Tony becomes a drug lord in Miami and for a while, enjoys a period of mutual business prosperity with Sosa. When Tony Montana is arrested for tax evasion, Sosa offers to use his government contacts to keep Montana from going to prison. In exchange, Montana is to assassinate a journalist who is threatening to expose Sosa's illicit activities. Montana agrees and heads to New York City with Sosa's henchman Alberto "The Shadow", planning to detonate a bomb in the journalist's car. However, the journalist is unexpectedly accompanied by his wife and children, causing Montana to call off the hit. Shadow refuses and intends to detonate the bomb, causing Montana to shoot The Shadow in the head. Later, when Montana reaches his home, Sosa calls him angrily and inquires about the incident. Montana offends him and in retaliation the infuriated Sosa sends his assassins to Montana's home to finish him. Despite the casualties he inflicts, Montana is ultimately killed in the attack when Sosa's personal hitman "The Skull" sneaks up behind him, shoots Montana in the back with a double barrel shotgun, causing him to fall into the fountain with the symbolic "The World Is Yours" globe sign above it. This is notably similar to the final scene of the original '' Scarface'' film.

''Scarface: The World Is Yours'' (2006)

In the 2006 action-adventure video game ''Scarface: The World is Yours'', the ending of the film treatment was altered to establish that Tony won the climactic battle against Sosa's men, escaping before the police showed up, although Sosa had succeeded in ending Tony's drug empire. Tony quits using cocaine and the game focuses on Tony's efforts to rebuild his old drug empire on the ashes of his old one and to exact revenge upon Sosa. Sosa is not seen (though his voice is heard through much of the game) until in the final mission where he held a meeting with Gaspar Gomez and George Sheffield regarding the fact that Tony has taken over all of Miami and is now after them. Montana confronts Sosa in his living room after killing Gomez and Sheffield, and wiping out Sosa's men in his mansion in Bolivia. Sosa tells Montana he warned him not to betray him, but Montana did, referring to the incident with the journalist in the film. Sosa says that in their business, sometimes children have to be killed, particularly so "heroes don't go on

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...

", referring to the journalist who on national TV named him and many of his allies as reputed drug traffickers. Montana then executes Sosa by shooting him 30 times with an AK-47, unloading the entire magazine, leaving his bullet riddled corpse slumped against his couch. Tony Montana heads back to Miami, Florida where he proceeds to celebrate his control of the city's drug trade, Sosa's assassination, and the destruction of Sosa's drug empire.

Reception, influence and legacy

The character of Alejandro Sosa was well received. '' Complex'' has ranked Sosa as 27th in its list of 50 best villains in movie history. Rapper

Pitbull Pit bull is a term used in the United States for a type of dog descended from bulldogs and terriers, while in other countries such as the United Kingdom the term is used as an abbreviation of the American Pit Bull Terrier breed. The term was f ...

said in 2014 that "I wanted to be Sosa – educated, good-looking, a good dresser". The song "

Criminology Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioural and so ...

" by Wu-Tang Clan rapper Raekwon, from his debut album Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..., begins with a dialogue between Montana and Sosa where Sosa calls the former a "fucking little monkey". Rapper

Chief Keef Keith Farrelle Cozart (born August 15, 1995), better known by his stage name Chief Keef, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. His music first became popular during his teen years in the early 2010s among high school s ...

popularly goes by the nickname "Sosa" and he named his fifth child "Sno" meaning "The White Sosa". Montana's killing, ordered by Sosa, has been listed by ''Complex'' as the 1st one in its "Top 50 Movie Assassinations" list. The character Colonel Sanders in the ''

South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boys Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand th ...

'' episode " Medicinal Fried Chicken" is similar to Sosa.

References

External links