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| “ | Find out who of my enemies did this... and bring them to me. | „ |
| ~ Raúl Ventana ordering Jorge and Escobar to kill his enemies. |
| “ | Jorge and Escobar. I couldn't trust them anymore so,... take a long look. If you lose my trust, this is your fate. | „ |
| ~ Ventana briefing the rest of his men on the consequences for losing his trust while displaying Jorge and Escobar's corpses hung by their feet at his warehouse. |
| “ | Somebody better start talking soon or I'm gonna make shit rain down on all of you! All of you are going to know what it is to stand in the middle of a shit hurricane until someone begins telling me what I want to know! So, who wants to start? | „ |
| ~ Ventana demanding answers from his current hostages. |
Raúl Ventana is the main antagonist of the 2000 crime comedy movie, The Crew. He is a reputed South American drug lord who runs a drug and cigar smuggling operation mainly in Miami.
He was portrayed by Miguel Sandoval who also portrayed Mr. Escobar in Get Shorty and voiced Mendez in Batman Beyond and Nacho Contreras in Scarface: The World is Yours.
Personality[]
As a mob boss, Raúl Ventana can be very intimidating, mean, strict, cruel, and aggressive. Beneath his businesslike exterior, Ventana can be impatient, threatening, temperamental, and easily offended/insulted when someone like Mouth refuses to tell him what he needs to know or if some of his men prove to be either stupid or incompetent when they fail to comprehend and accomplish something right up to a point where he kills some of them before displaying their corpses hung by their feet as a warning if he loses his trust in the rest of his men in the end.
However, Ventana can prove to be merciful when he tries to demand answers from his victims the easy way before resorting to shooting them unless they talk.
Biography[]
Having recently learned that his father, Louis Ventana has been murdered by unknown assailants at a hotel in Miami, Raúl Ventana vows vengeance by sending two of his top thugs, Jorge and Escobar to find out who of his enemies from different rival gangs did it and kill them while saying his last good-byes to his now-headless father in church (the missing head now replaced with a small framed profile photo of the deceased); unaware that his father, a former patient sick and senile with Alzheimer's having escaped from a retirement home (thinking it was prison) a few days ago, was already dead after suffering a heart attack in the nude on the beach one day long before having had his head blown off by four elderly retired mobsters: Robert "Bobby" Bartellemeo, Joseph "Bats" Pistella, Anthony "Mouth" Donato, and Michael "The Brick" Donatelli who stole his corpse from the mortuary where Brick works at to use as a "victim" in order to stage a murder in the lobby of their building, The Raj Mahal, hoping to make the apartment building undesirable to new tenants due to a recent double-rent increase since it has become a hot spot for young affluent couples, thus, forcing many of the young renters to leave while the four men are given cash and a rent discount by the complex to keep living there.
After his father's death has been "avenged" and his enemies have been dealt with, Ventana still mourns for his father while regaining some confidence at the same time one night at his house. However, having had his house accidentally burned down on the same night by the same people who "murdered" his father and who were actually attempting to burn down his neighbor, Pepper Lowenstein's house only using a rat with a burning rag tied to its tail in order to make it look like they had murdered her as well so as to silence Mouth's stripper girlfriend and Pepper's stepdaughter, Maureen alias Ferris who was blackmailing them due to Mouth (usually a silent guy hence his nickname) having accidentally spilled the beans, Ventana still thinks that someone is out there to get him and has both Jorge and Escobar murdered for their failure and incompetence. After briefing the rest of his men on the consequences for losing his trust while displaying Jorge and Escobar's corpses hung by their feet at his warehouse, Ventana offers a $100,000 reward for whomever brings him the head of the one responsible for everything, fearing they might come after his latest upcoming drug shipment next time, while dealing with one of his men, Miguel's stupidity and incompetence at the same time; much to his annoyance as the corpses fall down one by one due to Miguel's poor knotting skills.
Later, Ventana is tipped off by a crooked, dirty cop working for them on his payroll named Detective Steve Menteer about the four old guys living at the same hotel where his father was "murdered"; suspecting they might know something about both the "murder" and his house being burned down. So, he sends some of his men including Miguel to abduct and bring them straight to his warehouse. However, his men manage to capture only one of them, Mouth along with Pepper, Ferris, Detective Olivia Kneal (Bobby's long lost daughter), and surprisingly, Steve (Olivia's partner and cheating ex-boyfriend). At his warehouse, Ventana demands some answers while threatening his current hostages. Then, Ventana is further angered when Mouth, for one, refuses to talk until he finally notices Steve amongst them. Reprimanding Miguel for his latest act of stupidity and briefing him on Steve's involvement in his operation in Spanish, Miguel naively reveals the latter's involvement in English, which provokes Olivia to kick Steve in the face in anger twice before Ventana has Miguel set him free. After Steve leaves (even if it means leaving his former girlfriend and partner for dead while scolding her for not trusting him in the first place), Ventana proposes they start over. When everybody still refuses to talk, Ventana finally threatens to shoot them; starting with Olivia, which provokes Mouth to break his silence and confess. Then, Ventana threatens to shoot him just for lying and is easily annoyed and angered by both Ferris and her stepmother trying to reconcile with each other out loud before silencing them and later, being informed by his men that the drug and cigar trucks have arrived. So, Ventana instructs his men to prepare a meal for him and nothing for his hostages when he returns.
Noticing a carnival cruise line bus having arrived at the docks, Ventana sends Miguel and some of his men to investigate. As it turns out later on, the occupants are none other than Mouth's friends having recruited all of their still-living former associates to lead a raid and rescue party. During the gunfight, while some of his men are either captured or killed and his hostages have been rescued by the old men, Ventana suddenly appears out of nowhere and holds Olivia at gunpoint in front of Bobby while demanding to know who he is and to drop his gun as well, which the latter eventually does after much hesitation. However, unwilling to lose his daughter again after 30 years, Bobby deliberately jumps towards both Olivia and Ventana who manages to shoot him in the arm twice before they are all tipped over and fall overboard where Ventana is knocked unconscious by Bobby who finally reveals himself to be Olivia's own father.
In court, Ventana is sentenced for life in prison for his crimes. As he is being dragged out of court, Ventana simply asks who were those guys who foiled his operation non-stop until suddenly, he loses it when he doesn't get an answer from anyone at all. With both Ventana, his men, and of course, Steve arrested, the drug shipment is turned over to the police with Olivia taking all the credit for the bust while promising not to rat the old guys including her own father out. Unknowingly, a truckload of Cuban cigars is taken by the four men and their associates and used to make their apartment complex into "a retirement home for old wise guys who are down on their luck." Then, Mouth marries Pepper, Ferris takes a new job after undergoing therapy, and Bobby finally reconciles with Olivia even though she has already forgiven him; leaving Bats to deal with Brick's stupidity non-stop.
Trivia[]
- Raúl Ventana dislikes being referred to as "Chief" by Steve and yet, he allows his men to call him "Jefe", which is ironically Spanish for the word, "Chief".
- Though South American, it is unknown which country Ventana hails from despite being known for smuggling Cuban cigars into the States.
- At his father's funeral, Ventana mentions that his father, Louis was once padroned and treated with the respect of a god, thus, implying that his father was probably the original leader of the drug smuggling ring before suffering from Alzheimer's and being committed to a retirement home he later ran away from due to his senility.