A brutal, unflinching portrait of ambition, violence, and organized crime, Scarface by Armitage Trail is one of the earliest great gangster novels. Trail's prose is urgent and cinematic, combining hard-boiled realism with the mythic scale of a rise-and-fall gangster epic, strongly influenced by the exploits of real-life American gangster Al Capone.

Set in the smoke-filled backrooms and bloodstained streets of 1920s Chicago, this novel follows Tony "Scarface" Guarino, a cold-blooded criminal driven by ambition, cunning, and ruthless violence. As Prohibition fuels the explosive growth of organized crime, rival gangs battle for territory, political favors are bought and sold, and the line between law and lawlessness begins to disappear. Determined to claw his way to the top through fear, bootlegging, and corruption, Tony will stop at nothing to seize power—until betrayal, paranoia, and the devastating consequences of his own brutality threaten to destroy the criminal empire he has built.

Recognized as a landmark of American crime fiction and the inspiration for the iconic Scarface films, Trail's gritty, fast-paced, and unsentimental novel helped shape the modern gangster story. Perfect for fans of Mario Puzo, Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain, Patricia Highsmith, and Raymond Chandler. Ideal for libraries, collectors of Prohibition-era mafia fiction and twentieth-century crime thrillers, and readers fascinated by organized crime and the enduring mythology of the American gangster.