Anthony Esposito
| Anthony Esposito | |
| Ethnicity | American |
|---|---|
| Citizenship | The Mob (rumored) |
| Occupation | businessman, financier |
| Employer | self-employed |
| Home town | Chicago, Illinois, USA |
| Title | Don |
Open Character, created by Wire Geek
Anthony Esposito is an adopted scion of a Chicago gangland family, who was sent Up by the family head due to his personality conflicts, as well as his desire to expand the family activities off of Earth. Those conflicts have since mostly-severed any connection between the Don and his earthbound family, which he is quite pleased with.
In comparison to the family he left behind, Don Anthony is practically a saint. Where his adopted family would use physical violence and threats of same to ensure cooperation with their policies and projects, Don Anthony has succeeded well with his 'enlightened cooperation' policy. His 'protection racket', as an example, is a legitimate protection service, marketed to high-risk crime areas (yes, there are a few), high-risk environmental areas, and others who need it.
To continue the trend, the Don has a loan policy that would make initial sense to his adopted family, but the devil, as they say, is in the details. Failure to repay a loan from the Don usually involves an intensive audit of the business in question, with an aim towards achieving a profit goal that will allow the Don to make his money back... with a side effect of you making your money back. The Don routinely trades ownership shares in this situation, though he usually balks at owning more than 20% of a company ('At that point, Mr. Reader, there's usually no way in hell even I can make it turn a profit!'). More common is a 5% or 7% buyout, where the Don contributes the necessary funds to the business in return for the ownership percentage (which includes a profit percentage, of course).
The Don has been known to rant at length about the foolishness of his Earthbound and Black Hat competitors, talking about the goose and golden eggs as one of his favorite examples.
The Don is one of the few people in Fenspace actively running a prostitution service, though he prefers to refer to it as a 'companionship' service. His differences from his Earth family show through here as well, as he keeps his girls 'in line' with educational and salary packages that are quite attractive (if not comparable to Candy Apple Red's), and a health care package that is held up as the Gold Standard across that industry. Don Anthony's girls are clean, healthy, and happy.
The Numbers racket is perhaps the closest that Don Anthony has kept to the Earth standard, with betting available on most Earth and Fenspace sporting events, with one major difference - the cutoff. Don Anthony keeps a close tab on anyone risking big or losing hard, and will cut someone off if they're in danger of losing more than a year or so of wages.
Which leads neatly into the biggest difference between Don Anthony and his Earthbound brethren - violence. Don Anthony is proud to state that he's never killed, except in self-defense. Defaulting on a loan or gambling debt results in the closest thing to indentured slavery that Fenspace has seen, though the Don is careful to leave a living wage for someone who is 'working it off', and makes an effort to calibrate the punishment so that it won't last longer than a year or two. And make no mistake - working for the Don is a punishment. A gambler in to his eyebrows may find himself raking a Grover's Corners septic dump over the Martian landscape, and following the new earth all the way through a growing season, preparing soil, weeding, planting, and farming - with a minimum of artificial help. The Don has made this profitable by marketing the product as 'hand grown', and sells at a premium over automated farming efforts.
The Don dislikes discussing the 'punishment' side of his business, though, and focuses instead on the main moneymaker - loans and services. With his own impressive business acumen and some of the best financial and operational planning people in Fenspace working for him, the Don can take your idea, teach you how to make it work, and provide the startup capital and retail/commercial/industrial space you need to get started. He calls it a 'foot in the door' package, and with a rate that varies between 1% and 10% of the company ownership (with the occasional 'voice of authority' contractual rider), many small businessfen have used the Don's services.
To quote the Don himself: "Hey, hey, I'm not a loan shark, I'm an investment banker. And you think it don't pay out? Lookit the ledger on the textile shop on Stellvia. I saved that gal almost 50% of her supply costs, using my shuttles to get fabric and fashion gear up from Earth, and that turns into pure profit... for both of us!"
Notable Mundane Attributes
- Filthy.. Stinking.. Rich? May have significant amounts of capital. Will not discuss matter, except to assure you that 'it can happen'
- I don't think you understand how this is supposed to be going: Not a 'gangster'. Prefers the term 'relationship facilitator'.
- Rocco, Take... Care... of this man: Has minions. Minions are extremely (95% chance) loyal, thought most are surprisingly intelligent and moral, if not geniuses.
- It's my all-pasta diet: Surprisingly healthy on a cardiac and general fitness level, though quite stocky, pushing 'obese', and pushing it hard.
'Wavium Abilities
None. Not Biomodded. Takes care to avoid biomodding, claims it isn't needed or wanted. Would probably take a non-major biomod in stride.
Quirks
- RESPECT, DAMMIT! Is very conscious of how he is treated in his presence and dealings with others, requires a certain level of respect and good faith. Failure to accede and cooperate with this can result in increasingly significant beatdowns from a Rocco.
- Hey, I like this suit: Primary clothing is a cream double-breasted suit, well tailored. Owns several. Add fedora for extra 'oomph'
- Mama Mia: Is strikingly fond of Italian cuisine, polish cuisine, and Vietnamese (!) cuisine.
- Sucker! Is not above playing a Black Hat (or Boskonian) type along far enough to take a serious bite out of their operations, but loves to be 'in' on the subsequent denouement.
Personality
Don Anthony Esposito is a cheerful man, happy to talk shop with anyone, though he is very careful not to provide business advice to anyone who isn't partaking of his services. With his clients, though, he is an avuncular man with a keen business sense, and loves entertaining new entrepreneurial ideas.
As yet, nobody has asked Don Anthony what he thinks of hockey.
