So mysterious even his nationality is disputed, Soze began his criminal career in Turkey as a low-level drug smuggler. One day, rival smugglers working for the Hungarian Mafia invaded his house while he was out, raped his wife and held his children hostage, killing one of them when Soze arrived to show him they were serious. They then threatened to kill his wife and remaining child if he didn't surrender his business to them. Saying he "would rather see his family dead than live another day after this," Soze killed his wife and child, along with all the smugglers save one, whom he let escape to tell his bosses what happened. After burying his family, he went after the Mob with a vengeance, killing dozens of people, including the mobsters' families, friends, and debtors. He then "went underground," never doing business in person and remaining invisible even to his own henchmen, who almost never knew who they were working for. When he did personally commit crimes, it was always in disguise and under a fake name, with no one being the wiser.

Soze's ruthlessness was legendary, having enemies and disloyal henchmen brutally murdered, along with everyone they held dear, for the slightest infractions.

Over the years, his criminal empire, centered around the drug trade, flourished, as did his legend, becoming "a spook story that criminals tell their kids at night." Since no one ever reported having seen or talked to Soze (and lived to tell about it), it was widely believed that he wasn't real, that he was simply a fearsome persona for criminals to hide behind. In "The Usual Suspects" Söze is played by Kevin Spacey, who pretends to be criminal Verbal Kint. Söze is about to be released from prison as Kint, but is forced to tell the tale of his experiences working with other criminals, including 'Keaton' played by Gabriel Byrne, while working for Söze. Söze fabricates a story, which is the main story told in the film "The Usual Suspects" and is then released from prison, having fooled the police for the last time. And, as he told the officers while pretending to be Kint, Söze would go underground and never be seen again.

External links

• "The tale of Keyser Söze"