John Joseph Staglione

Concept: Mob Sniper/Grandpa

AKA: Answers to Johnny, or Joey. But you call him John-John or Jo-jo, and you’d better be ready for a smack in the chops. Sometimes among friends, he’s Johnny Two-Tap

Desc: in his 50’s and still got game. Dresses well. Shaves his head, because he used to have a serious head of hair back in the day, and now it’s all gone on top and gone gray all around the fringe.  Fuck that noise. He'd rather be smooth. His eyes still have a bit of twinkle and he still walks a 6-mile stretch every other day.  He’s the kind of dude who can pull off a canary yellow dinner jacket, bright green pants, and white shoes, and not look like a putz.

History: Johnny is a career man. He grew up in the kind of neighborhood where you got into the Outfit if you wanted to go anywhere in life.  He started young as a runner and a bag-man. they put him to work as a soldier when he was old enough and discovered he had a talent for it.  In fact, one of the older guys, who’d had some experience overseas, worked out that Johnny had some serious talent with long arms and he taught him all he knew about the gentle art of sniping.

  Don’t misunderstand, Johnny’s plenty capable of handling himself in a fight. Or a least he used to be, but with a long arm in his hands, he is more than capable of putting a target on the deck from over a half mile away.  Still is.

   He swears he’s retired now. He made decent money killing people for the mob, and occasionally being hired out to take care of problems for other criminals.  He’s even got a young person who he’s teaching, He’s never been greedy, that shit never paid for anybody coming up in the ranks. So he’s got a certain amount of credibility.

   But every once in a while someone needs to be shot down, and maybe the guy is impossible to get at by other means, and maybe the Don asks Johnny a favor...And Johnny, for his part, although he plays it cool, gets the itch sometimes. And hey, he can always shovel some of that money into his grandkids college fund.

Attitude: "It’s all about stillness. You have to learn how to be conscious of all the little twitches and ticks the human body is heir to. You have to learn to calm your mind and slow your breathing. You have to be able to squeeze the trigger not jerk it like some guys prick. The slightest movement won’t have an effect on shooting close-up. but shooting close up is a whole other set of problems.  But stillness is what you need to hit a target a long way off. Okay, Lisa...Hit the match heads. Make Grandpa proud."

Skills: Firearms 4 possibly even 5. Dots in Sniping FS. A couple of dots in melee and brawl too. at least a couple of dots in athletics (“You laugh Tony, But walking, isometrics, and yoga make me shoot better and helped me get my diabetes under control. So shut the fuck up.”)  He’s not the most educated guy, but he’s got a decent amount of native cunning to be able to do okay at business and his life in the mob means he’s got a dot or two in politics. Socially, he’s pretty adept.  He can intimidate without coming on all heavy, and he’s still got strong game when it comes to the ladies, His wife has been dead for a few years now, so he and his girlfriend have been much more open about their relationship, at least to the kids.  Johnny is a pretty decent dancer too.

Gear: Johnny favors tools in the field that are durable. His arm of choice is an old and well cared for Dragunov. The FBI could likely close 40 cases if they could ever get their hands on that weapon. He keeps it broken down in a safety deposit box along with its ammo in a neighboring box.  He also carries a mini-uzi with a silencer for any work he’s forced to do close up. A pearl-handled switchblade (which was a present from the Don) and a strangling wire round out his basic field kit.  He carries an attache case for most of these operations, and walking away from the scene looks for all the world like a bank manager hurrying back from lunch. Never carries a phone while working. 

Home: Johnny owns his own home under the auspices of a “Tactical and security consultancy firm” that the IRS would dearly love to prove is bullshit, except that Johnny has gone to some lengths to make it into an actual business, and one that pays pretty damn well.  He lives in a decent sized place in the “Really Nice, but not SUPER rich”suburbs.   His kids live near him, not because they can really afford to, but because Johnny loves being able to stroll down the block and see his grandkids whenever he wants.  His son at least knows that it’s possible that his father might go away on “Business” and never come home again.   His daughter has worked very hard to be completely unaware of this, to the point of screaming and crying anytime her brother brings it up.

Circle:

Most his social circle consists of his old goombah friends and a few of his “Clients” and a couple of people he knows at his church.

Story Uses:

“There...That ought to...What the fuck?”

Of course, the most direct way to meet up with Johnny Two-tap is to be in his cross-hairs. Not that this will ever be fun for the target, but it might not be fatal... Johnny has seen some weird shit in his time, though, and he doesn’t rattle easily. So just because you got back up, doesn’t mean you’re necessarily off the hook.

“Hmm. Can you make your approach from right there, where I'm pointing? That opens up my field of fire.”

Every once in a while, it’s good to know a criminal specialist. It can mean the difference between a successful negotiation and a blazing clusterfuck.

Connections:

*  Don Pentangelli wishes he had a dozen just like him. While they didn't come up in the same neighborhood, they have found the other one to be "Their kind of people"  The Don appreciates talent and composure. Both if which Johnny has in spades. Johnny appreciates an even temper in the people he's doing work for. That's Francis all over.

* Has heard good things about Marcie Hawkins but has yet to work with her directly. They'd get on well, though.

* While the Mob has a certain amount of institutionalized racism, one tends to get respectful in the face of real talent and competence. NOBODY but the dumbest of fuckers calls Immanuel Washington a "fucking eggplant" The one thing that bugs Johnny though is that Manny seems to have "Rules" with a capital "R"   Johnny doesn't care about that stuff. If the Don says the target has to go, then they have to go.  Granted, The don isn't likely to order a hit on an innocent. But Manny has to fucking check for himself all the time.

* Once, Johnny went along and kept a watchful eye on a little operation being run by Lawton Krase It went SO badly, that Johnny packed up his gear in disgust and ex-filled before it was all over. If that dumb son-of-a-bitch managed to survive it, he'll likely fall over dead from shock.