Anthony "Tony " Sardo was an established crimelord in the 1940`s. Hearing that the Original Human Torch had gone amok, he was surprised to be informed by one of his men that the grass around the pool was burning.Sardo assumed it was the Human Torch and quickly put on a diving suit and found the Torch laying on the bottom of his pool. He managed to put the the Torch into a large tube, then had his men haul the Torch and tube out. The Torch was still partially active and assumed that these men were helping him and wanted to be friends. Sardo instead brought the Torch to the Acmen Warehouse, Inc.(a business that refused to pay him protection money), placed inside the warehouse. Sardo threw a wrench at the tube shattering it and when the Torch`s body hit air it burst into flame .This caused the warehouse to ignite and be destroyed. When the Torch questioned why would his friend cause this destruction, he then realized for the first time that Sardo used him for a criminal act. The Human Torch flew back to Sardo estate and burnt his mansion, defeated Sardo`s henchmen and went to arrest Sardo himself. Sardo had hid in a bomb shelter but the Human Torch melted an opening. Trying to stop the Torch Sardo threw a bottle containing sulphuric acid, but it exploded from the heat of the Torch`s body and killed Sardo instead .