Who is Luca, the Eskimo from The Monkey's Raincoat and what is their importance?

Luca, who Elvis calls The Eskimo, is a large Eskimo man who works for Duran. Luca is Duran's right-hand man, one of the head thugs in his operation. He is extremely large, calm, and deadly. However, Elvis defeats him in a fight at the end of the book.