Strongarm - The Politics of a Criminal Underworld (Organized crime rpg)

[Count Epsilon]

character sheet:
NEW JERSEY STATE POLICE DEPARTMENT
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SUSPECT FILE#KCRW33
Special Detective Julius Libriani

NAME:
ALIASES:
DATE OF BIRTH:
PLACE OF BIRTH:
MODUS OPERANDI:
PAST CONVICTIONS:
BACKGROUND:

story:
From the mid-1970s to the late-1990s, facets of the Italian-American subculture known as "La Cosa Nostra" were crumbling. In fact in actuality, there are 5 families that control Italian-American organized crime all throughout the world, and even now they have miniscule power in the criminal underworld. They're known as "crime families". They began making their bones during 1920s through strongarm, and extortion, and via bootlegging during the prohibition. When the prohibition had finally resolved, the La Cosa Nostra find itself at an immeasurable monetary loss: bootlegging alcohol, and tobacco was the most lucrative and profitable scheme that they'd ever had before. Now what were they to do? Racketeering. Their rackets could be anywhere from fencing stolen goods from the back of a mover's truck, to hosting rigged gambling games in the back of an eatery. Albeit this would prove to be the strongest, and longest-standing method of generating revenue for the subculture, they didn't ignore their other options: contract killing, and prostitution. The darker the racket, the more the money. In fact one member of the La Cosa Nostra had completely monopolized the porn industry during the late-60s and retained control until his death. In some cases, individuals and syndicates alike have chosen organ trafficking on the black market as their desired source of income.

All of this lead the mafia to a new point in their criminal careers: drug trafficking. From heroin, and cocaine, down to the nitty gritty marijuana, and prescription medications, the mafia was shifting it all. Narcotics were seen as a sin by the traditionalist mafia, saying that it was contradictory to the beliefs of The Omerta, a Sicilian code of honour fathered by the La Cosa Nostra. As the younger generation of gangsters continued to push narcotics through the United States, tension grew between they and their traditionalist counterparts. It got to the point where members of the same family began plotting against each other, leaving their connections, and relationships in the dark. They stopped being "counterparts" and became "adversaries". This internal conflict grew to the point where men, who were once friends, began killing each other in cold blood. Perhaps one of the most notorious and well-known events of this nature is the infamous Paul Castellano assassination. One John Gotti Sr. was pushing narcotics with his cousin Gene, and Paul told them to put a stop to it. The pair ignored Castellano, and rumors surfaced that Gene had a contract out on his head, and it was Castellano's order. John Gotti Sr. reacted to this by having Castellano killed before the contract could be affirmed.

The rise of drug trafficking in the Italian mob brought about a new criminal act known as RICO - Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations. This act would completely cripple the Italian-American criminal conglomerates, seeing the most powerful of gangsters placed behind bars. This would truly be the strongest test of them all: the test to prove if you have what it takes to make it in the mob, or if you're just another loser trying to make some money the fast way. The most resilient and admirable members of the La Cosa Nostra started giving up their closest friends; "Bodies are buried here, here, and here," or "then Joe shot the guy". The most powerful criminal organizations in the history of the United States of America had been completely crippled by 1985 in our universe, opening avenues for the lesser factions to flourish. The New Jersey mob, in particular, completely seized control of the drug trade and entirely revolutionized its distribution; "mob mogul" Vincent Cacciopoli founded the Pantone Sanitation Management company with co-signer, and alleged criminal underboss, Angelo Bernardis. The completely re-engineered "mob mentality" saw the success of a new criminal archetype known as the "turk" - a younger member of the criminal underworld who are less likely to abide by the Omerta - or Sicilian code of honour. The next 15 years would completely disorient and dishearten the organized crime task forces assigned to combat the Italian-American mafia. Over this period of time, they didn't see 1 New Jersey wiseguy convicted under the RICO act. Until now. One mistake made by the notorious Vincent "Vinny Catch" Cacciopoli would have he, Angelo Bernardis, and top earning "caporegime" - or captain - Michael Santoro placed in Ossining prison.

The last remaining facet of the North Jersey/Vincent Cacciopli crime family, Thomas "Tommy Dee" D'Ercoli, assumed role of "acting boss" or "street boss" - which is an individual who conducts the business of the mafia for the de facto boss while they are ill, under house arrest, incarcerated, or otherwise unable to run the family themselves. This is, however, an interesting turn of events as Cacciopoli is the uncle of D'Ercoli, and the two have notoriously had problems, especially since D'Ercoli's father, Anthony D'Ercoli, died of stomach cancer. An attempt was made to take D'Ercoli's life on March 11, 1999, and it's been said that Vinny Catch was behind the contract, though nothing has been proven.


combat system: Friday Night Firefight (if your assailant is 3 feet away from you and shoots you in the face with a pistol, you're dead) - all "assassinations" must be confirmed by me or another "administrative figure" of the game, both in-game, and out-of-game.
"telephone calls" can be done through PM, but must be in-character.
minimum of one paragraph, though there is no limit to how much you can write.
wait 2 posts to post again.
out of character conflicts are fine, but if they are visibly affecting in character relationships and interactions, then either the offender, or both players, will be reprimanded.
please submit your CS to me in PM before posting it. i want to confirm or deny before they're revealed.

- - - Updated - - -

Mob Vocabulary
Crime Family Structure

[Count Epsilon]

NEW JERSEY STATE POLICE DEPARTMENT

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SUSPECT FILE#KCRW33
Special Detective Julius Libriani

NAME: D'Ercoli, Anthony Thomas
ALIASES: Tommy Dee, Tom Eckly
DATE OF BIRTH: August 23, 1955 (aged 45)
PLACE OF BIRTH: Camden, New Jersey
MODUS OPERANDI: Labor racketeering, narcotics trafficking, shylocking, and strongarm (extortion, or murder)
PAST CONVICTIONS: May 5, 1977 (assault and battery, possession of weapons deady) released on April 11, 1981
BACKGROUND:
This guy, Tommy Dee, is Vinny Cacciopoli's nephew. That doesn't make a difference to these guys though, because they do not get the fuck along. In fact the only reason that D'Ercoli's running North Jersey right now is because he took out Jerry Palmenti - Cacciopoli's top earner. I mean we can't prove it, but the math just fucking adds up: Palmenti gets bigger kicks, and starts running the numbers in Camden while Vinny Catch is in lockup, and then a month later Palmenti goes M.I.A. and D'Ercoli's running the show. Shit like that doesn't just happen. D'Ercoli's a predator; he's violent, he's analytical, and he is not your friend. Let's stiff up a lip and do our fucking job here, boys. Let's put these cocksuckers behind bars once and for all.

[Doctor Blood]

NEW JERSEY STATE POLICE DEPARTMENT
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SUSPECT FILE#KCRW34
Special Detective Julius Libriani

NAME: Lorenzio, Victor
ALIASES: "V"
DATE OF BIRTH: September 29, 1980
PLACE OF BIRTH: Rome, Italy
MODUS OPERANDI: Strongarm (extortion, murder) alleged hitman
PAST CONVICTIONS: N/A
BACKGROUND: V was born into the Italian mob, his old man ran the show down south, and he's a respected young guy. His first hit was on the guy who iced his father, V was only 15 when he did the job. V got close with the Sicilian bosses, and earned their trust pretty quickly, and so they sent his sorry ass out here to us, for us to deal with. This kid's stone cold, believe you-me. He came out to take care of a rat for the made guys out in New Jersey, but when Tommy D'Ercoli asked the "other side" - Sicily - if V could stick around and do a few more jobs, they accepted. Now this guy's another sorry sonuva bitch on our list.

[Canonized]

NEW JERSEY STATE POLICE DEPARTMENT

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SUSPECT FILE#KCRW35
Special Detective Julius Libriani

NAME: Terranova, Dominick Matthew
ALIASES: Nicky Nova, Nicky the Terror
DATE OF BIRTH: December 6, 1971
PLACE OF BIRTH: Camden, New Jersey
MODUS OPERANDI: Strongarm (extortion, or murder), fencing stolen goods, drug trafficking
PAST CONVICTIONS: March 17, 1992 (possession of unlicensed firearm, expired driver's license, possession of narcotics) released October 22, 1996
BACKGROUND:
This kid's Tommy D'Ercoli's nephew. He's like a fucking prodigy or something, this kid was born with the world on his shoulders. His old man Matthew was running Atlantic City for his brother-in-law, Anthony D'Ercoli - Tommy D'Ercoli's father. While Vinny Catch was busy with that drug deal with the blacks from Harlem, Tony Decks and Matty the Terror were both running guns out of the Fulton Fish Market. When Matty got incarcerated, rumors surfaced that he was going to flip, and so he was murdered in prison. A year later, Tony Decks died of stomach cancer, leaving young Nicky Nova the Fulton Fish Market project. We busted down on that place pretty hard last year, but we didn't find anything; we think he might have moved the operation to a dock on the shoreline, but between the privately owned Russian warehouses to the Pantone Sanitation centre, there's no way to pinpoint where we think he's running his angle. He's just a young guy striving to make it in the mob. Right now? Not much to worry about.

[Count Epsilon]

anymore takers?

[sweetangle66]

Claudia Gaetano
Circa 1997
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SUSPECT FILE#KCRW36
Special Detective Julius Libriani

NAME:Gaetano, Angila Claudia
ALIASES: Cherry, Cherry Blossom
DATE OF BIRTH: September 20, 1975
PLACE OF BIRTH: Sienna, Italy
MODUS OPERANDI: Prostitution, racketeer (prostitution)
PAST CONVICTIONS: March 18, 1994 (minor theft, assault, prostitution; soliciting & loitering) released December 1, 1995
BACKGROUND:
This broad is a flat 10, fucking beautiful. You can look at this dame all you like boys, but I'll tell you right now, if you wanna taste these goods? Be prepared to drop at least a g-note for the night. She's hot, she's wanted, she's good at what she does, and most of all, she's fuckin' expensive.
Cherry’s career in prostitution is a result of childhood neglect; she turned to soliciting sex, we imagine, as an avenue of attention, and income. She started when she was hardly 16 fuckin' years old. Do you believe that shit? Well, as you can imagine, the more she was pimped, the better she got, and she had what it took; beauty and talent. She's gotten so popular over the past few years that it's said that show girls go to HER for a job. They don't go lookin' for Nicky Nova, they go straight to this broad. Speakin' of that cocksucker Dominick Terranova, this broad's under him. She makes the money, sucks the cock, runs the sex game, all for this slimey greeseball. She's been able to find success, and has earned quite the reputation, but the money was never enough for this broad; she had a coke habit like you would not fuckin' believe. Even though this broad's been off the streets for a few years now, she still gets herself a little action so she can get a taste of the coke. But what she mainly does is fuck around with politicians, and celebrities. I told you, boys. She's on high demand. She runs at least 3 other women, and they all make loot. Apparently she only gets a 15% cut from what our guy on the inside tells us. It's cut like this: Ralphie Brancato takes 5%, Claudia keeps 15, Terranova takes 35, and the big boss him-fucking-self takes a 45 piece off the whole thing. It's a dirty scheme these guys got going. Poor girl.

[Count Epsilon]

IC

[Count Epsilon]

still accepting characters.