Tony Tarracino, commonly called Captain Tony, was an American saloonkeeper, boat captain, politician, gambler, and storyteller in Key West, Florida.
11 Facts About Tony Tarracino
1.
2.
Anthony Tarracino was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey to a bootlegger father.
3.
Tony Tarracino dropped out of the ninth grade to make and sell whiskey, illegal at the time due to Prohibition.
4.
From 1961, Tarracino was the proprietor of Captain Tony's Saloon at 428 Greene Street in Key West, the original location of Sloppy Joe's bar frequented by Ernest Hemingway in the 1930s.
5.
Tony Tarracino sold the bar in 1989 but remained a fixture there until shortly before his death.
6.
Tony Tarracino was politically active in Key West politics running for mayor four times before winning office in 1989 by only 32 votes out of more than 6,000 cast.
7.
Tony Tarracino was the author of Life Lessons of a Legend with Brad Manard.
8.
Tony Tarracino had several wives and was married to his fourth, Marty, for 38 years at the time of his death.
9.
Tony Tarracino fathered 13 children, including former Survivor: The Australian Outback contestant, Keith Famie.
10.
Tony Tarracino outlived his first three wives, Mimi, Mae, and Shirley, and one of his sons.
11.
Tony Tarracino was portrayed by Stuart Whitman in Cuba Crossing, a 1980 movie about adventurers who get caught up in a plot to kill Fidel Castro.