Post by Vittorio Castucci on Sept 9, 2014 18:43:42 GMT
VITTORIO CASTUCCI
(Vincent Piazza)
(Vincent Piazza)
Full Name:
Vittorio Francesco Castucci
Nickname(s):
Vito
DOB (Age):
September 8th, 1893 (Age 26)
Birthplace:
Mazara del Vallo, Sicily
Job/Profession:
Bootlegger
Affiliation:
The Black Hand Gang
Sexuality:
Heterosexual
Hair Color:
Dark Brown
Height:
5'10
Weight:
175lbs
Distinguishing Features:
Long Scar (right cheek)
Appearance
Aside from the lengthy scar that runs down his right cheek, causing his eyelid to droop in a considerably menacing fashion, the first thing you might notice about Vito Castuccio is that his hair is thick with pomade and kept neat at all times. His clothes are expensive and he dresses in a snappy fashion; an outcry to be taken seriously by the older generation, in which many of the "young turk" types follow suit. He's olive skinned, a true Italian immigrant, through and through. On his right pinky finger is a signet ring, adorned to identify himself as a member of the Black Hand. At 5'10" and 175lbs Vito doesn't look like much of a fighter, but what he lacks in build he makes up for in ruthless viciousness tenfold. Rarely smiles.
Personality
Just as a schizophrenic would have two completely separate personalities, so too do many bootleggers and gangsters. On the one hand, Vito is a decent, upstanding family man; the breadwinner. On the other, he's a playboy, a gambler, a cold-blooded killer. It's the dark side that shows most often, as a hustler is almost always hustling. Vito can be hot headed and quick tempered, sometimes when insulted, but especially if his business has been affected. A close friend once said, of Vito: "If you get into an argument with him, make sure you keep an arm's length away, because he will stick you." When the smokescreen of the violence has been put to one side Vito, along with his partners, has the street smarts and the brains to make his dreams of becoming a boss a reality.
Background and History
Born in Mazara de Vallo, Sicily in 1893, Vittorio Franceso Castucci was the first and only child of Vincenzo Castucci and his young wife, Francesca. Vincenzo was a man of honor, who fell afoul of a local Don when the elderly gent took a fancy to Vito's mother, Francesca. Vito was six at the time, and with a stroke of courage and brilliance, his father sent both he and his mother to the port to board a passenger liner for America, while he himself went to confront the old boss. Before he could even walk up the causeway to the Don's Villa, Vincenzo had been shot dead by the bodyguards. It was shortly before his seventh birthday that Vito arrived in America, the date was August 19th, 1900. He and his mother quickly found their way to lodgings in Little Italy; a small, dank apartment. She was forced to take up work as a seamstress, a new experience for her as Vincenzo had always earned them money. Vito was placed in a school where he picked up most of his English, but he was constantly in trouble for fighting with other boys and stealing.
At twelve, the school finally decided that his behavior could not be tolerated and excluded him permanently, refusing to relocate him to another school afterwards. To help his mother, Vito took a low paying job selling newspapers. A year of skulking in the gutter went by, and he actually started to miss his days at school, until an opportunity came his way. While fleeing a crime scene in 1906, Italian hood Paolo Vaccarelli, better known as Paul Kelly, literally ran into Vito and sent his newspapers flying up into the air. Paul quickly told young Vittorio to be careful and darted down an alleyway to the left. A moment later two bulls came flying around the corner after him and asked where the Kelly went. Vito pointed in the opposite direction, he was no friend of the police. The next day, Kelly visited Vito at his newspaper corner and gave him double what he was paid for a week of working the papers as a thank you for what he did. He also extended an invitation to come to his headquarters at 24 Stanton Street, where Paul recruited all youth members of his gangs to.
It was at Stanton Street that Vito first met Frankie Yale, then known as Francesco Ioele, a boy the same age as himself. They were both introduced to an up and coming young bootlegger at the time by the name of John Torrio, whom Paul had been grooming for some time. Torrio was the perfect example of what could become of a young criminal with Kelly's tutelage. For Vito, this was it, this was the life. There was no going back. How could he go back to earning a lousy pay with the newspapers after this. He and Yale, like many other young boys who came into contact with Kelly, were intoxicated by the taste of the life that had been offered to them. They were getting rich quick and if they were tough and smart enough, they'd make even more money without getting caught. While they were young boys, they were far from innocent. As they showed promise, Torrio ushered them into the Five Points Gang.
Over the next few years, Ioele and Castucci fought side by side for the gang and operated as excellent thieves. In 1909, Castucci was just sixteen, and John Torrio moved to Chicago following an invite from his aunt's husband, respected brothel boss "Big Jim" Colosimo. Ioele americanized his name to Yale, and the two young men continued their business, which included smashing up a few bars in Coney Island, Brooklyn. In 1912, Yale was arrested on charges of homicide and asked to implicate his accomplice for a reduced sentence. He refused, earning him great respect throughout the underworld, but even more so with a grateful Vito, the second gunman. The charges never stuck and Yale was released. Over the next five years, Yale and Castucci found themselves meeting more young men like themselves, whom the "Mustache Petes" had already started to call "Young Turks". They established a reputation for themselves all the way from Little Italy in Manhattan to Coney Island in Brooklyn. They were the up and comers now, no longer boys.
In 1917, Frankie Yale opened a bar, the Harvard Inn, in Coney Island to establish the territory for his own. The Young Turks broke off from the Five Points Gang and had a new headquarters of their own, in Brooklyn. Their gang were the premise for a "new-style" of Italian crime family. They'd work with fellow Italians from all regions as well as with other ethnic groups if it was good for business. Now, Vito works with his friends to fight their Irish enemies on one hand while planning to counter the old Italian families on the other.