| Tommy O'Shea | |
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 "Ah now, Reggie, you know damn well that if you don't say shit, you lose ninety percent of your vocabulary." | |
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Gender |
Male |
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Born |
April 24th, 1940 |
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Died |
1994 (Aged: 54) |
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Titles |
Irish Mobster |
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First Appearance |
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Portrayed By: |
Michael Parks |
Tommy O'Shea is an Irish-American mobster and leader of the O'Shea Gang and main antagonist in Death Wish 5: The Face of Death. He is portrayed by actor Michael Parks.
History[]
Irish Mob[]
Tommy had risen to the top of the Irish Mob in New York City over a period of 16 years starting in the late 1970's and had operations and influence all over the city. The police had been investigating him the whole time but due to the high levels of political and police corruption Tommy had created, he was never convicted of any crimes. He also had a corrupt police informant, Lt. Hector Vasquez, who made sure to cover all of Tommy's tracks. At some point he married fashion designer Olivia Regent and had a daughter with her named Chelsea. Eventually the marrige ended and Olivia left Tommy and took Chelsea with her. This prompted Tommy to start taking profits from businesses in the New York Garment District which included her fashion factory where he would freely take money, destroy property and brutalize employes. The O'Shea Gang consisted of mostly Italian-Americans despite Tommy himself being Irish-American and he also employed a number of associates such as hitman Freddie "Flakes". His harassment continued like this until Paul Kersey stood up for Olivia and her business and tried to take Tommy down by getting Olivia to testify against him.
Against Paul Kersey[]
One day, Olivia invited Paul to a fashion show at her business and all things were going well until Tommy and two of his enforcers Chicki Paconi and his older brother Sal Paconi showed up to cause trouble in the factory. Tommy complained to the factory manager Al that their factory wasn't making enough money and after cutting him with an electric saw threatened to kill him if things didn't improve. After Tommy started harrassing Olivia, Paul stepped in and confronted Tommy, Chicki and Sal in the factory. Getting a clear idea of Tommy's nature, Paul asks her to testify against him. Later after Paul proposes to Olivia at a resturant where Tommy and some of the members of his gang are, Freddie "Flakes", who was disguised as a woman bashes Olivia's face in a mirror in the women's restroom to threaten her not to testify. This angers Paul but he is convinced by the police that instead of taking revenge against Tommy, they should testify. Knowing his gang could be taken down by having Olivia testify, Tommy sends Chicki, Sal and Freddie "Flakes" to kill Olivia and Paul. They kill Olivia but Paul escapes and decides that he will once again get justice his way. As Paul starts killing off members of the O'Shea Gang such as Chicki and Freddie "Flakes", Tommy pulls out all of the stops to try to kill him including sending Lt. Hector Vasquez to kill him which fails. Tommy takes legal action and gets Chelsea back from Paul knowing he will come after her. When Paul does, Tommy tries everything to kill him while Paul makes his way through Olivia's fashion factory where he and some of the members of the O'Shea Gang are held up in. In the end, Paul wipes out the highest ranking members of the gang and kills Tommy by kicking him into a pool of acid.
Personality[]
Tommy is a ruthless and remorseless gangster. He is in charge of his own gang consisting of mostly Italian-Americans despite the fact that he himself is of Irish-American descent. He maims the workers the clothing factory on a regular basis and has no remorse for all of the people he kills. He sometimes blends in humor with violence and does impressions of people as he threatens them. He usually employs assassins to kill his targets and uses his enforcers to carry out his violent orders. He seems to not care weather or not he kills cops which is odd for members of organized crime families. He is able to avoid being arrested for any of the crimes he commits despite being a well known Irish mobster. His greedy and remorseless nature led him to be killed by Paul Kersey by being thrown into a pool of acid. He is the only character in the Death Wish series to be in the Irish Mob.
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