BASIC INFORMATION:
NAME: Vincenzo Vespucci. AGE: 44. PLACE OF BIRTH: Rome, Italy. AFFILIATION: The Sovrani. OCCUPATION: Head of London. FACE CLAIM: DJ Cotrona. AVAILABILITY: TAKEN.
BIOGRAPHY:
It was always supposed to be Daniele. The man had been built to withstand the weight of Rome’s arm of the Sovrani squarely on his shoulders, just as their uncle, Lorenzo—self-proclaimed King of the Eternal City—had always planned. The Sovrani’s underboss had seen potential in Vincenzo’s big brother right from the start, and with no son of his own, it fell to Arlo’s children to carry on the bloodline leadership. Perhaps it should have offended him that he’d never been considered for inheriting the title, but back then, he’d never understood how people could willingly embrace such a lifestyle, anyway.
So, he didn’t.
With Daniele so clearly suited for the role laid out for him, Vincenzo had never felt any of the same pressures that came with the Sovrani’s lifestyle. If anything, in hindsight, whilst at the time they seemed supportive, he realizes it’s more likely they were too focused on his brother to care how he chose to direct his life. Whilst not always a criminal, Vincenzo was a fighter; it had been such a normal part of the world around him, embracing it had seemed natural. Sparring with Daniele and his other friends was one thing, but he kept the rest for the boxing ring and avoided taking it to the streets. And he was good.
When he took his skills and embraced the sport on a professional level, it became clear to him it was the first time his father was truly proud of him. Vincenzo didn’t know whether the revelation offered pain or relief. Soon after, he took to the international circuit, and left Rome and the Sovrani for good.
Or so he thought...
Despite his absence, Vincenzo kept in close contact with his family. That was something you never turned your back on—whether you wanted a part in the organization, or not. So, when he’d heard of his brother’s fatal street racing collision, he’d been utterly heartbroken. Daniele had been the most important person in his life. He’d taught him how to be a man in ways his father never made the effort to try. Vincenzo bailed on one of the most important fights of his highly successful career, and returned home to Italy immediately.
The family was in absolute disarray. Loss of a loved one aside, they had been grooming this man for the best part of two decades to one day run things, and now he was gone. Vincenzo couldn’t help but feel a certain level of responsibility. As though, by steering his life away from the Sovrani, he was letting down the Vespucci name, especially now they were fresh out of options, and wholly relying on him to step up to take his brother’s place. Crime would never have been his first choice, but family was, and he would never leave his hanging. When his father attempted to dissuade him—genuinely supportive, this time, of his life away from Rome—it tipped him over the edge.
He could do this. He could want it if he willed it enough.
Vincenzo started things off running a small crew, mostly focused on protection rackets and illegal gambling in one of the kinder corners of the city. With the right support, it was just uneventful enough for him to find his footing in an utterly foreign landscape. As it turned out, this world really was in his blood. Vincenzo took to the work with ease. He even carried on fighting in the underground circuits to keep his skill-set fresh. During this time, he met his best friend, Giorgio Pecatti, a man who was referred to in their business as ‘The Gentleman.’ Together, they worked their way up through the ranks—until they were taking orders from his uncle directly—as though they’d been born for it. One of them had, after all...
Just as it felt like he was finally finding his rhythm, the head of their organization, his cousin, Alessia Auditore, completely flipped his world upside down all over again. Only this time, he couldn’t help but feel that, perhaps, it was going to be a good thing.
The Auditores were planning on making a push for Porto Velho.
They needed someone to take charge.
Launceston had always been too unpredictable to be left to the inexperienced, and Alessia knew she couldn’t abandon the Sovrani stronghold there, but Vincenzo had made big enough waves in Rome for her to take note, and when she offered him the chance to expand their business into California, he obliged. If he was going to learn how to lead Rome one day, running a city himself would be the only real way to prepare himself. So, with Giorgio and a few other of his most trusted companions at his side, he made his way to the city that would be his home until the eventual assassination of the woman who had made it all possible.
Everything they’d achieved in Porto seemed to unravel in an instant.
It was hard not to blame himself.
Whilst the battle between the French and the Rutherfords was so massive it was beyond Italian control, perhaps if he had done something—anything—differently, the leader of the Auditore family, a woman who’d entrusted him with a huge responsibility when he maybe hadn’t deserved it, wouldn’t have met her end during her visit to the city.
They all suspected the Russians had been involved with her murder, but they couldn’t prove it.
But they no longer cared for the presence of evidence.
Bitter wars between the Russians and Italians had been raging in Launceston for longer than he’d been alive, but by God, when he took the first available flight back to that shit hole of a city, he was ready to fight with a rage so caustic, one could’ve easily assumed he’d suffered at their hands personally. Vincenzo rescinded his leadership of Porto Velho, despite protests from Alessia’s father, his uncle Bartolomeo, who was adamant that he had been doing everything right. He didn’t feel worthy of the title after allowing that to happen on his watch. To the woman who had given him the chance in the first place.
In Launceston, he was no longer bound by the responsibilities of setting an example to subordinates. Vincenzo was just like everybody else; ready to murder any Russian he could get his fucking hands on and by any means necessary. All he’d wanted to do was prove himself worthy of her faith in his abilities, and they’d taken both it, and her, away from him.
For almost two years, he waged an ultra-violent campaign against anybody who dared affiliate with the Vorshevsky family. Vincenzo was not alone in his pursuits.
Launceston had never seen darker days, and whilst he couldn’t attest to that personally, those who had known nothing else but the city that was now burning realised that this time was different from the others. The Sovrani were ready to end things, once and for all. It was no longer about fighting over business or territory. It was about eradicating a family that had plagued them since they’d made the original journey from Russia.
When it became apparent said Russians had murdered Alessia’s nephew, Vinnie, during their own expansion to London, it was a twist of the knife.
There was only one thing to be done.
Whilst he might’ve fucked up leading Porto Velho to Italian dominance, Vincenzo doesn’t plan on making the same mistake twice. Convincing Bartolomeo that sending a small gang of Sovrani members to London both to aid their French allies, and prove to the Russians that there is nowhere on the face of the Earth they can hide from their greatest enemy, had proven to be far easier than he’d expected. What hadn’t been expected was for Bartolomeo to give him full autonomy on how to deal with it. So stricken by grief at the loss of his eldest daughter, the old man no longer cared how the Vorshevskys were dealt with so long as they were.
Vincenzo won’t let down another Auditore who is placing their faith in him.
The few years spent in Launceston changed him irreparably, but arguably set him up perfectly to deal with the city that is now in front of him. It fuelled his anger to a point of no return. Made him bitter beyond his years. Cold. The violence was no longer sport, but a necessity. In their attempts to rid their city of a monster, the Russians had created an entirely new one, and Vincenzo will spend every waking moment in London making sure that they fucking regret it.
SOCIAL CONNECTIONS:
RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Single. FAMILY: Arlo Vespucci (father, unplayable), Daniele Vespucci (brother, deceased), Lorenzo Vespucci (uncle, unplayable), Bartolomeo Auditore (uncle, unplayable), Alessia Auditore (cousin, deceased), Vito Auditore (cousin, deceased), Lucrezia Auditore, Mauro Auditore (cousins, unplayable) CONNECTIONS:
Giorgio Pecatti: Best friend. Whilst they originally met through the rampant underground fighting scene in Rome, it was by introduction to the Sovrani that Vincenzo truly came to trust him. Though they seem polar opposites, Giorgio ever the outgoing and charming compared to his subdued nature, they complement each other well, both personally and professionally. If there is one person he will drag with him all the way to the top of Rome if he gets there, it’s Giorgio.
Giordana Rossi: Good friend. Though compared to his friendship with Giorgio which has been over fifteen years in the making, their relationship seems short, it doesn’t mean he trusts her any less. Vincenzo was wary of those in Launceston at first (perhaps some Roman snobbery on his part) but she proved above all others that those stateside were just as important to the Sovrani as those back in Italy. When he told her he wouldn’t have gone to London without her, he meant it.
Kathleen Zhao: Friend. Vincenzo has never been one for making connections with those outside of the Sovrani, but he had met her as a result of her relationship with one of Alessia Auditore’s closest friends, and despite the fact they are no longer together, Vincenzo respects Dante enough to keep an eye out for her in London. Though she isn’t an Italian, she was always supportive and respectful of their family, so the Sovrani will look out for her like she’s one.
The Kurylenkos: Enemies. Whilst Vincenzo hates any and all Russians, there is a special place in the heart of all Auditore loyalists for the Kurylenkos. Long before the Vorshevskys took control of their family, they were the biggest enemies of the Italians, and both sides refuse to let history die. His uncle made clear that whilst he wants all of those affiliated with the Vorshevsky family to be eradicated for what they’ve done, the Kurylenkos are to suffer first.