| In his youth, Zucco was a mobster in Gotham. His first wife was a young mail order bride from Asia named Meili Lin, and Tony was violent and possessive towards her. When the couple visited Haly's Circus, Meili took the opportunity to escape Tony's abuse and fled into the crowd, taking refuge in the trailer of a young acrobat named John Grayson. The circus performers roughed Zucco up and threw him out when he tried to enter the trailer, with John sarcastically giving him a carnival prize teddy bear as compensation. Meili traveled with the circus for some time and formed a relationship with John, eventually becoming pregnant with his child. |
| When the circus passed through Star City, Zucco kidnapped Meili from the trailer and left the bear in her place. He lay in wait for John then pistol whipped him from behind and broke his hand when he came into the trailer. He took Meili to Bludhaven where John would be unable to find her, and six months later she gave birth to a baby girl, Melinda. Tony suspected that Melinda was not his, but claimed her as his daughter to save face and eventually convinced himself that she was. When Melinda was eight, Meili left him and took Melinda with her, and this time Zucco did not try to stop her. However, Zucco did kill the Graysons by making them fall to their deaths during a trapeze stunt in retaliation. |
