Johnny Ramm

Johnny Ramm
First Appearance:	April 7th, 1938
Known Associates:	Stud Bronzen (deceased) May Lin (deceased)
Created By:	Chester Gould
Can Be Found:	The Complete Dick Tracy Vol. 5

Johnny Ramm was a key player in an immigrant smuggling ring that operated in the Chinatown area of Dick Tracy's city. He had deep-set eyes, dark wavy hair and a moustache.

Biography

Johnny Ramm maintained a reputation as a legitimate businessman who owned a popular Chinese restaurant. In addition to this, Johnny Ramm and his gang were part of a criminal operation that smuggled Chinese immigrants into the United States. At some point, Ramm and his associate May Lin abducted the unofficial Mayor Chiang of Chinatown and had May Lin take his place. This allowed Ramm greater freedom to operate.

Ramm came to Tracy's attention after the young woman Noana announced that she had been intended to be delivered to Ramm's restaurant to work as a dancer. This gave Tracy his first clue as to where the human trafficking ring might be based. Dick Tracy faked his own death and infiltrated Ramm's gang under the disguise of "Pete Reppoc" ("copper" spelt backwards). Ramm was eventually caught and arrested by Tracy.

Appearances In Other Media

1990 Feature Film

Possibly Johnny Ramm

In the 1990 film, Johnny Ramm was present as the meeting held by Big Boy (apparently the man in green sitting next to Pruneface). He was also present at Big Boy's party and was later arrested by Dick Tracy in a meat packaging store.

Notes

• The conclusion of the Johnny Ramm storyline sees the end of over a year's worth of inter-connected plots, starting with the Perfume Thieves and the introduction of Johnny Mintworth, through the Danny Supeena - The Blank - Stud Bronzen stories.
• Johnny's physical appearance seems to be based on actor Clark Gable (see also Jimmy "Trigger" Doom).
• While Johnny was closely involved with the Chinese population and was the owner of a Chinese restaurant, it was implied that he was not Chinese and had little appreciation for the Chinese culture.
• It was not clearly established if Ramm was the head of the entire criminal organization that operated the immigrant smuggling ring or if he was a part of a larger group. Lee Ting, a member of the organization, referred to it as "The Syndicate", which may mean that Ramm was part of an early incarnation of the The Apparatus.