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Saturday, July 25, 2015

Don Francis Xavier Pentangelli

Concept:Mafia Boss (Old School)

Desc: A fringe of white hair atop a head that has seen and done a lot.  The wrinkles are earned and so are the scars. The eyes betray an intelligence that would curdle most souls. While the Don can still get around with just a cane, He’s using the little motorized chair more and more. At home, he gets more done in his Pyjamas than most people manage in a week. When he goes out, though, he is immaculate in his tailored suits. He favors dark purple for ties. He still cuts quite a figure for a man of 68.

History: Born and raised in America. Came up in a rough neighborhood. His father worked in a junkyard and his mother took in neighbor’s washing to have enough money to send Francis and his brothers and sisters to Catholic school. There comes a point in a young man’s life where he looks around and decides he wants more.  The question is, will he work for it, like a chump...Or will he take it from someone else?
   To give Francis his due, He worked for a few summers at his dad’s junkyard to save up money to go to school. But then the war came along, and so did the draft.  Francis went overseas and what he saw and did there, well. let’s just say that when he came home, he had a different attitude about the sanctity of life, and a few new skills related to the formation of that attitude. (To this day, The don never goes anywhere without a straight razor on his person.)
Francis had grown up around goombahs all his life. Knew them. Went to pre-school with some of them, so when he came home, he reached out to a number of those guys, and after a little talk went into La Famiglia and never looked back.
Francis is smart. Moreover, Francis is JUST paranoid enough to be ultra-careful, but not so paranoid that he isn’t functional. As I say, Francis has seen some stuff.  You don’t generally get to be the head of a mafia organization without some supernatural prick pulling the strings behind the scenes. But Francis managed it. He probably wouldn’t have if he were still in Jersey. Or New York, or Chicago.
   He does this by insulating himself well. He’s also learned a thing or two about counter-intelligence. Most supernatural critters can’t get within 600 yards of him.  Well, that’s not true entirely.  But the ones who would be able to get near him are not usually the ones that you have to worry about. It’s the ones with the powers to affect the mind and the heart, that scare Francis.  And he keeps a close eye on those guys that are part of his inner circle for signs that someone might have gotten next to them. And while he’s not exactly pleased about it, He’s made certain strategic alliances with the Vermillion House to provide himself some supernatural insurance.  Mind you, those people are still degenerate freaks, but they do understand a thing or two about influence peddling.

Attitude: “This is all well and good. But the question remains...What to do about the future?  La Cosa Nostra is waning in power and influence. There’s a whole generation of dumb fucking kids who think they’re going to take over when the time comes but don’t know shit about the world. Don’t know shit about business. and DON’T FUCKING KNOW SHIT about how to comport themselves. Dominic is only about half as smart as he thinks he is.
Joseph is far too hot-headed. Leo’s a faygeleh. The only one of his offspring who takes after him at all is Angelica, and I don’t care how smart she is, no gangster is ever going to take orders from a girl.  Not to mention, most of his guys, they’re mostly in their 40’s and 50’s. They’re all like a bunch of old cats anymore.  Not lean and hungry like they used to be.  You know who’s hungry anymore?  Those Vietnamese gangs. Those triad boys.  The Russian guys who seemingly are without fucking number...or any sense at all. THOSE guys are hungry.  How can I hand off power and responsibility to some Kettel One swilling, duck-face-selfie-taking shmuck who thinks he knows some stuff because he’s seen “The Godfather.”

And those supernatural people...THEY don’t ever seem to get old...do they?”

Skills: Back in the day, Francis was pretty handy with a knife. Still is. But he’s old now, and slow. Should that CHANGE for any reason, like say...Becoming a vampire or stumbling on a blood-bathing ritual, or some other means of mystical rejuvenation. Well. some of those combat skills are going to get dusted off. As it is, the only things that still get a regular work out are his persuasive skills and his tactical thinking. He’ll have high socials and a damn high number of dots in ALL of the social skills. (yeah. even Animal Ken, He loves his dogs.)  He has decent dots in academics with some specializations in Tactics, and business. Most of this is reading he’d done on his own.  He never did get to go to college.

Gear: Beyond the aforementioned straight razor, The Don never carries a weapon on his person. He is rarely without his little flip phone. although one of his people usually has a smartphone at the ready, just in case. He has a little Filofax notebook and a zebra 750 fine point. The notebook is in Italian and is in some kind of homebrew code.  Even so, Don Pentangelli rarely puts anything in it that is actually incriminating. The Zebra is made entirely of steel and could probably kill a guy if you cared enough. The don is also never without at least one roll of Butter Rum Life Savers. He also tends to carry an iPod full of opera music. (“Sue me. I know it’s a cliche, but I visited La Scala back in the old country and they made a believer out of me. What can I say?”)

Home: While there is a very nice home in Florida which the family visits at the worst of the winter weather. The Don’s compound sits on a hill with a narrow road going up to the house itself. Some have found, to their shock and amazement that trying to beard the lion in his den is a bad bad mistake and he’s got enough ammo and supplies to wait out an extended siege. He’s even gone in for hidden rooms, an escape door built into the back of a grandfather clock. hidden passageways and architectural gingerbread designed to hide weapons, or even occasionally a sniper.

Circle: But none of that makes Don Pentangelli a dangerous man. The man has a truly dizzying amount of influence.  It works like this. He’s got his capos.  Each of those guys is a retainer. A retainer with a crew of their own.  and each guy on that crews kicks up power, money, and influence to the man at the top.  So the Don has his hands effectively into anything his boys can get him into. Not to mention the Don’s own personal power. There are many people, Entertainers, Judges, legislators who PERSONALLY owe Don Pentangelli.  Some owe the entirety of their success to him and others merely owe him for specific things he’s done for them.  Not to mention that resources 5 and a small army of people who are willing to commit violence on your behalf tends to get things done.  The Don’s reach is long and pervasive. Certainly not as long as the Vermillion House, but since he’s willing to trade favors with them...
Additionally, it should be noted that he’s been giving money and arms to a few hunter cells. Occasionally, some supernatural becomes a pain in the ass and needs to be removed. A simple request and a packet of information on the target and the problem gets handled.  The Don has always been careful to make certain that the information in the packet is as accurate as possible, He’s always clear as to what is KNOWN and what’s just speculation.  and he ends each report with the admonition that nothing in the report is false, but not all of it may prove to be true. Some hunter groups pay attention to that admonition. Others...Well. Not so much.

I should take a moment and talk about the various rackets that the Don’s family is involved in:
*Loan Sharking/Juicing
*Sports book
*high-end Bordellos
*Informal betting clubs (Which is a nice way of saying floating poker games.)
*Stock manipulation and the occasional bust-out scheme  (A bust out scheme is where the mob gets control of a business and then runs up huge bills buying equipment which goes right out the back door to be re-sold until the original owner is finally told, to simply declare bankruptcy.)
*The Family still has the occasional hand in murder for hire, but still won’t deal with drugs due to the Don’s distaste.

Story Uses:
*”This man will not listen to reason.”
While Don Pentangelli is not unwilling to deal with supernaturals, he usually does so at a remove. Over the phone, through intermediaries, on one memorable occasion, via carrier pigeon.  So it’s not impossible to get connected and possibly get him to do things for you...for a price.

*”You have an interesting little set-up here. But I’m afraid you’ve made a slight mistake. Easily fixed my friend. You need to let me wet my beak.”
If you move into some criminal activity, especially something in the Don’s territory or in his bailiwick, You might get visited and certain considerations will have to discussed.  Unless you have a way to keep the Don out of your business, you may end up having to kick up to the old man.

*” Bring me the fuckers head.”
Francis is not one to lose his temper very often. But on those occasions when it does happen, he will attack on every front at once, Michael Corleone style. No place will be truly safe.  Not only will he comes after you with his soldiers, not only will he send the hunters and move his considerable influence to get at you, but he’ll call in his markers with other supernaturals. Better start clenching.

Connections:

*Russell Schwartz of Caligari's is a friend from the old neighborhood. Occasionally he stops into the club and he and the old man shoot the shit. The rest of the people in the club love it because the mob guys tip great. if something bad were to happen to Russell...It might be a bad thing for the perp involved. Just saying.
*While they've never actually met, the Don has Dr. Ronnette Franklin in his Rolodex. A few of his boys have needed impromptu patching.
* The Don occasionally enjoys taking in an evening watching the fights that Big Dan Tarleton runs. He's talked with him about the possibility of taking his organization to the next level.
*If he ever gets wind of Bryson Import/Export he'll want to wet his beak. This won't go well for them.
*The family taxes have been handled for years by Victoria North of Holmes, Gillis, Baker, Savage, North and Dean    

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