Santino Romanesco
About
The saturnine underboss of Italy's crime empire. Ambition and wild energy when he was young allowed him the drive to become a "Gang Star," and now here he is, nearly 30 years later. He didn't rise quite to the top, but that wasn't what he really wanted, anyway. Instead, he's in perhaps the best spot to balance prestige and stability, and all of that ambition spent, he now solemnly overlooks his slice of the underworld with responsibility and only the slightest hint of regret.
Personality
Santino's countenance is grim but surprisingly revealing. He is quiet about the exact nature of his past, opinions, and beliefs, but spending time with him, it becomes clear that he takes things very seriously and feels his emotions deeply. Melancholy but never a sad sack, his presence looms over rooms he occupies like a raven perched upon a corpse.
Background
Past
Santino was his father's only son, and though he had other relatives, none was
so special to him as his cousin Belladonna. She was bright and funny, creative
and in love with love. They were 9 years apart, so he couldn't really regard her
as a peer or like a child, but he adored her all the same. They got along
wonderfully and he was very protective over her, all the way until she grew up
and their paths finally parted. His dreams of becoming a "Gang Star" couldn't go
unanswered any longer, and finally, seeing an opportunity for himself, he ran
off, leaving the whole family behind. He kept a little email correspondence with
Belladonna, but was very careful not to tell her details. And that, to his
dismay, was how he found out she had a boyfriend. Some airhead from Livorno that
she'd never even met was taking up all her time, and in a moment of weakness, he
pulled some strings to have him "taken care of." Perhaps he was lucky that this
attempt on Donzelle Agnello's life failed. But even so, he never really forgave
the would-be assassin, even if she did make the right decision. She later
contacted him and [CONFIDENTIAL - DATA EXPUNGED].
But fate caught up with him in an ugly way, and a routine cleanup job was seen
by the wrong set of eyes, and a bullet went into the wrong head. Santino stopped
contacting his favorite cousin and upon finding out that Belladonna, now
Rughetta, had moved to the same city he'd settled in, he started going out less
and less during the daytime, afraid of what she'd say if she saw him.
Present
Success is enjoyed differently by everybody, and though he has a melancholy air
and his share of regrets, Santino would be hard pressed to say he would have
done all that many things different. He's doing well for himself, has a stable
family life, and his son's trajectory is surprisingly promising. Giada
Napolitano serves as an invaluable asset even now, acting as a powerful backbone
for Dante's racketeering outfit, and Santino oversees the entire region with
efficacy and grace.
Relationships
Beatrice "Bea" Romanesco
Santino doesn't "love" his wife, not really. But he like her well enough, and that's good enough for him. She gave him a son and doesn't embarrass him, and that's all he could really ask of her. Plus the two of them have a pretty easy understanding not to get too bothered about each other's affairs, which never hurts.
Dante Romanesco
A boy will always take after one parent or another, and to Santino's chagrin, Dante is absolutely his mother's son. Still, he's not useless, and even if he is obnoxious and uncouth at times, Santino is willing to teach his son to be a "Gang Star" just like he was, hopefully without quite the same mistakes.
Giada Napolitano
Fellow mobster and confidant, placing Giada as Dante's second-in-command much to her dissatisfaction. Speaking of mistakes... [CONFIDENTIAL].