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| “ | You took Tony away from me! The Capilano Brothers! | „ |
| ~ Sal as he attacks his brother's wife |
Sal Capilano is the main antagonist of the Criminal Minds episode "The Capilanos". He is a violent sociopath who robs and murders people while dressed as a clown, with the reluctant help of his brother, Tony.
He is portrayed by Jonathan Brooks.
Early life[]
Sal and his younger brother Tony were raised by their mother and their abusive, alcoholic father, with Sal taking the worst of the abuse to protect his brother; at one point, their father cut Sal's mouth in a drunken rage, leaving the boy with a permanent scar. Their father eventually murdered their mother right in front of Sal and abandoned him and Tony, leaving the brothers to be raised by the traveling circus that had employed their father as a "daredevil" stuntman.
While Tony rejected their father's violence and grew up to be a loving husband and father, however, Sal was molded into a violent sociopath by the abuse and spent his adult life in and out of jail for assault and theft. They both worked for the circus as clowns until it went out of business in 2017. They both got new jobs at another circus, but Sal was fired after getting into a fistfight with one of the troupe's bullfighters, and both of them were blacklisted from every major circus act in the U.S. They occasionally found work with migrant circuses, but the work was sporadic, and the pay was low.
Sal eventually enlisted Tony in a scheme to make money by breaking into people's houses, stealing their possessions, and pawning them. Tony, desperate to make enough money to start a new life in Florida with his wife, Dina, and their son, Mikey, reluctantly agreed to drive the getaway van after Sal committed the robberies.
One night, Sal broke into Sam Franklin's house, only to find that Franklin was home. Sal, seeing Franklin as a surrogate for his and Tony's father, beat Franklin to death after robbing him, and immediately became addicted to the rush of adrenaline. He told Tony he had merely tied Franklin up, but secretly decided to kill their victims from then on. To add an extra bit of thrill, he started committing the robbery-murders while wearing his clown makeup in order to scare their victims before killing them.
In "The Capilanos"[]
Sal breaks into the home of Mark Wilson and hides under his bed when he comes home from work. Hours later, when Wilson's young son Dylan comes into Wilson's bedroom after having a nightmare, Sal emerges from under the bed and beats and stabs Wilson to death right in front of the boy. He nevertheless lets Dylan live because the boy reminds him of himself at that age, and escapes. He and Tony drive away, and he once again lies to his brother that he did not hurt anyone.
The following evening, Sal breaks into the Richardson family's house and kills the parents, Jon and Bella, while sparing their children. Once again, he gets into Tony's van, and they drive away. They run into a police blockade, however, and Tony panics, believing that they are about to get caught. Sal assures his brother that this is only "a challenge" as he wipes off his makeup. When Tony notices the blood on Sal's clown costume, Sal says that he and Jon got into a fight, but again tells his brother not to worry. They then turn around to bypass the blockade.
The next day, Tony sees a story on the TV news about the robbery and learns that Jon and Bella Richardson had been murdered. Horrified, he confronts Sal, demanding his share of the money so he and his family can move to Florida immediately. Sal admits that he gambled away the money, but he then says that he has staked out another house to rob, this one belonging to a rich family. Tony refuses at first, but Sal talks him into it by saying that it is his only chance to provide for Dina and Mikey.
The night of the robbery, Tony goes into the house with Sal to make sure he doesn't kill anyone. The homeowner surprises them with a gun, however, Sal flies into a rage and shoots the man in the shoulder, seriously injuring him. He and Tony flee the house before the police arrive, with no money to show for it. Having finally had enough, Tony says that he, Dina, and Mikey are leaving for Florida the next day, and tells his brother to get out of their lives. Faced with losing the only person who cares about him, Sal sinks into an angry, drunken depression.
Meanwhile, the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) investigates the murders, profiling the killer as the dominant partner of a two-person robbery team who has a long criminal record for assault and burglary, while the submissive partner drives the getaway vehicle, which they theorize to be a van. They deduce that the dominant partner comes from an abusive home, judging by the wrath with which he murders the parents and his choice to spare the children, and that he wears clown makeup because he identifies with circus culture, meaning that he most likely grew up in a circus family. Finally, they theorize that he paints his face because he hates his own appearance due to facial scarring, possibly inflicted by an abusive parent.
BAU Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia cross-references arrest records for violent crime with employment records of area circuses and finds Sal. Since Sal has no fixed address, Agents Jennifer Jareau and Matt Simmons question circus owners in the area about his work with them until they find the circus who had recently fired him, where Sal is scheduled to pick up his last paycheck.
Sal gets drunk and attacks Dina at the motel where she and Tony are living, accusing her of taking his brother away from him, and is about to kill her when Mikey wakes up from a nap. Not wanting to inflict the trauma on Mikey that his father did on him, he lets Dina live, and instead goes after Tony. He finds his brother in the circus dressing room and tries to repair their relationship, saying that Tony owes him for protecting him from their father. Tony refuses to give him another chance, however, so he storms out of the dressing room in a rage, shouting that he is going to ride one of the bulls for old time's sake.
He runs into the circus' manager, Lenny Borman, and demands money, but Borman refuses and orders him to leave. Sal then produces a handgun and shoots Borman in the knee before once again storming off. Tony hears the commotion and begs Sal to help him get Borman to a hospital, but Sal does not listen, instead daring Tony to call the police and spitefully telling him that Dina will leave him eventually, even sneering that he should pimp her out to at least get some money out of the marriage. Enraged, Tony knocks Sal to the ground and takes his weapon, which he aims at his brother, unsure of what to do.
At that moment, Jareau and Simmons, who had been waiting at the circus to apprehend Sal, realize that Tony is the submissive partner in the robbery team, and entreat him to prove that he is a better man that his brother by putting the gun down and surrendering. In a final act of defiance, Sal grabs his brother's hand and presses the gun to his own forehead, daring him to pull the trigger. Tony ultimately lowers the gun and surrenders, however, and Jareau and Simmons arrest him and his brother. Tony is sentenced to 10 years in prison because he did not personally kill anyone, while Sal is imprisoned for life.
External links[]
- Sal Capilano on the Criminal Minds Wiki
