Mr. Big is the main antagonist of the 1954 novel by Ian Fleming called Live and Let Die as well as its 1973 film adaptation.
Biography[]
Mr. Big was born November 15, 1918 in Haiti. His real name was Bounapart Ignace Gallia. His past is shrouded in mystery. However, he was in the American military during the Second World War. After the war ended, he left the military life altogether and became a high value associate of the Russian Mafia syndicate known as the Grubozaboyschikov Bratva, the same one which Le Chiffre was connected to. In Haiti, Mr. Big discovered a young female performer named Simone Latrelle doing a mind reading act at a cabaret. Recognizing the value of her abilities, he took her under his employ and used her as an entertainer at some of his bars and casinos. Eventually he even planned for her to bear his children. Taking the name Solitaire, she virtually becomes his hostage, with basically no personal autonomy. Publicly, he owned a nightclub in Harlem called The Boneyard and a black market company in St. Petersburg, Florida called Ouroborous Inc. which deals in whale blubber, shark fins, and other products from endangered marine wildlife. He also laundered 17th century gold on behalf of the Russian mob at both places.
Mr. Big, using his yacht, smuggled 17th century gold coins from Bloody Morgan’s Cove in Jamaica into St. Petersburg, Florida. The coins were then held in one of his warehouses. In seemingly innocent fish tanks, the gold coins were hidden under the dirt and guarded by piranhas. They were then trickled down into the black market. All of this was done in order to make more moola for the Russian mob.
Her Majesty’s Government unleashed James Bond on Mr. Big in February of 1952 so that he could get revenge on the Russian mob. Bond traveled to New York and was interrogated by Mr. Big and Solitaire inside his club and Mr. Big broke one of his little fingers while feeding an American CIA agent named Felix Leiter to a shark. Leiter turned out to have survived but had an arm and a leg amputated as a result.
Mr. Big met his demise in Jamaica when Bond, Quarrel and John Strangways found Mr. Big’s hideout in a coastal cove. Bond placed an explosive on Big's yacht in the cave. He sunk it when it was doing a smuggle run. Although Mr. Big actually survived the explosion, he was killed moments later by the swarm of barracuda and sharks that not only devoured him, but his remaining henchmen as well.