Charlie Cappa

**Charles "Charlie" Cappa** is the titular main protagonist of Martin Scorsese's 1973 crime film, *Mean Streets*. He is a small-time gangster in Little Italy, who is deeply worried about his responsibility over his mentally unstable friend, Johnny Civello.

He was portrayed by Harvey Keitel, who also played J.R. in *Who's That Knocking at My Door*, Ben Eberhardt in *Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore*, Sport in *Taxi Driver*, Judas Iscariot in *The Last Temptation of Christ* and Angelo Bruno in *The Irishman*.

## Biography

### Early life

Charles Cappa Jr. was born in 1948 in New York City and raised in Little Italy. Cappa was born to a Mafia-related family, especially with his uncle, Giovanni, a crime boss in Little Italy. As a child, Charlie befriended, John "Johnny Boy" Civello, a crazed wannabe gangster, similarly to Charlie. Charlie was raised a Roman Catholic.

### 1973

In 1973, Charlie is now a small-time gangster, who is trying to climb the ranks of the Mafia. At this time, Charlie starts to feel torn with his dream of being a man in the Mafia and keeping it safe with the Church of Roman Catholicism. Eventually, Charlie starts to worry about Johnny, as he has been acting out of control and has now been in debt to various loan sharks, including Charlie's friend, Michael Longo.

Giovanni starts complaining to Charlie about his social life, including his relationship with Johnny and his sexual relationship with Johnny's cousin, Teresa Ronchelli, who has epilepsy. After realizing he has failed to receive redemption in the Church, Charlie attempts to sacrifice himself for Johnny's behalf. At a bar, Michael has had enough with Johnny's excuses for not paying his debts, to which Johnny then insults him, with Charlie asking Johnny to leave town for a while, along with Teresa.

While driving through Brooklyn, a car that had been following the trio, drives up to their car, and is revealed to be driven by Michael, and his associate Jimmy Shorts. Jimmy shoots his gun, which leads a bullet to hit Johnny's neck, while Johnny tries to jump into Michael's car, with another bullet hitting Charlie's hand, causing him to crash into a fire hydrant. While Charlie and Teresa are revealed to be injured but still alive, it is left ambiguous to what happened to Johnny.

## Personality

Despite longing to be a high ranking member of the Mafia, Charlie still has a moral compass, as he is constantly praying to God for forgiveness, wishing for an upcoming redemption and even being referred to as "Saint Charles" by his friend, Joey. Not to mention, that throughout the film, Charlie is never seen doing anything "morally wrong", as he doesn't murder people and barely uses violence against others.

Charlie is also very caring for the people he is closed to. Out of everyone in the film, Charlie is the only one who deeply cares for the people in his crew, especially Johnny and Tony DeVienazo. When Giovanni advises Charlie to stay away from Johnny and Teresa, Charlie begins standing up for them and is very reluctant to the idea. When Johnny and Tony start fighting, Charlie tells them to stop and that "we're all friends here". All together, Charlie is still a wannabe member of the Mafia, despite being very caring and selfless for others.

## Trivia

* Charlie's last name, Cappa, comes from Martin Scorsese's mother's maiden name.