James Fagan

A Photographer in the Slaughterhouse James Fagan

Tired of tending sheep for the rich barons of the Abruzzi mountains, Antonio Bruno signs a labor contract and immigrates to America, taking with him only the clothes on his back and his cherished sketchbook. He is sent to a mining town in Wyoming where he becomes indebted to the railroad and realizes he has only succeeded in exchanging one form of servitude for another. By chance he meets a photographer who admires his sketches and encourages him to pursue photography. Tony leaves Wyoming and goes to Chicago intending to work until he can save money to establish a photography studio. He meets Mary, a young girl from the streets of Little Italy, and despite her checkered past decides to marry her and start a family. It is the Roaring Twenties in Chicago: prohibition, speakeasies, gangsters, flappers. Despite his wife's opposition, Tony starts his photography business. However, Tony must pay protection money to the mob to safeguard his studio. One night, he accidentally crosses two gangsters and is forced to flee for his life, taking with him only his camera and tripod. His wife is suddenly in charge of the family. Or is she? Her son, Vito, who hates his father and always challenged his authority, convinces his younger brother to become a boxer to support his mother and his siblings. Meanwhile, Tony hides out in Wyoming, knowing the only way back to his family is to confront the gangsters before he runs out of time. Will he find the courage to act decisively? Or will the mob, the cowboys, the Great Depression, or Esmeralda, the Snake Charmer keep Tony exiled in Wyoming forever?