Post by Vittorio Esposito on Jun 17, 2009 23:03:46 GMT -6
Vittorio Alexander Esposito
Name: Vittorio Esposito
Known Aliases: Vince
Play-By: Josh Hartnett
Family: Esposito
Crew: N/A
Rank: Don
Convictions: No.
Date of Birth: December 27th, 1979
Place of Birth: Atlantic City, New Jersey
Age: 29
Relatives:
FATHER: Alejandro Esposito, Lawyer for the Esposito Crime Family
MOTHER: Dina Esposito (nee Henderson), stay-at-home mother
NO SIBLINGS
GREAT-UNCLE: Joseph "Joe the Gun" Esposito
Spouse: None
Children: None
Personality:
Workaholic. Perhaps one of the most visible traits of Vittorio Esposito is that he always has to be doing something useful. He loves burying himself in whatever the current task is, whether it is now being the new Don of the Esposito Family or, before, being the Chief of Staff for New Jersey Senator Ronald Dylan. If he has nothing to do, he gets fidgety and antsy, often accidentally breaking things. Of course, there is a dark side to his near-obsessive work ethic. He had to resign as Chief of Staff because he worked himself into exhaustion, being up several days at a time trying to oversee and coordinate everything for a major upcoming campaign. Add on the near continuous iced dead-eyes (coffee with three shots of espresso) and he ended up in the hospital suffering from acute/chronic exhaustion, high blood pressure and a major stomach ulcer to boot. Any potential relationships have also suffered as well which explains why he is in his late-20s and still a virgin with no future prospects on that front, but he usually does not mind it or even feel lonely at all--work has become a viable spouse it seems.
Intelligent. One does become a Chief of Staff for a major political player without good intellect, a melding of both straight book knowledge--he holds a PhD in Political Science from NYU--but also common sense, knowing the rules of the political game as it were. He knew who to brown-nose and who to put in their place, he knew whose favor he, and his candidate, needed and who could be ignored like some back alley yipping mutt. Obviously, he carries these political skills with him as he was chosen to serve as the new Don of the Esposito Family. One should not doubt his abilities to be cunning and manipulative when the situation calls for it.
Diplomatic. Along with his intellect is a skill for diplomacy. He does not like violence, preferring to use tact and gamesmanship to win friends, influence people and suppress opposition. It would be a mistake to take his willingness to negotiate and compromise as a sign of weakness, for he is just as willing to manipulate and force others--usually through threats to their reputation or promises of his favor if they do or do not do something--to support him. He tends to prefer consensus-building, working to get others to support him, but he is, on those occasions when it is required, to take charge, but he still usually prefers the soft form of leadership: convincing others why it is in their best interests, both individually and corporately, to go along with him.
Appearence:
Vittorio Esposito is certainly a very handsome man and, if he ever decided to spend more time wooing the women, he could be quite the player, but doesn't, so he isn't. Standing at 5'9" and weighing in at 170 lbs., he is in average physical shape, neither overweight nor particularly muscular. If it came to it, he could probably hold himself in a fight, but he prefers flexing his mental muscle than using his fists. His hair, which is kept short and close cropped, match his eyes: both are a pleasing shade of brown. He hates tattoos and thinks piercings are for women and swishes, so his body is blessedly free of both, and he has been fortunate enough to avoid scarring his average body or handsome face.
Background:
Vittorio Alexander Esposito was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the only child of Alejandro and Dina Esposito. Alejandro, being the nephew to the great Joseph "Joe the Gun" Esposito, held a position of high prestige and wealth in the Esposito Family, although he stayed in the more legitimate, specifically serving as the lawyer for the Family. As a baby, Vittorio was cared for by his mother with the assistance of the household staff (i.e. maids, a butler, etc.). She loved him dearly and would, until the day she died, take a strong personal interest in his love, wanting her only child to grow up to be successful. One might say that, as a youth, Vittorio was a perennial "Mama's Boy".
For elementary schooling, he was sent to an upper-crust academy in the countryside of New York--Alejandro wanted to make sure his son got off to a good start school-wise, viewing education as extremely important. During these times, he rarely saw his parents since he lived at the boarding school. After finishing primary school, he was brought back home and sent to a local private school for his junior high school education. It was primarily his mother who had insisted that their son be close to home for at least a few years in the key beginning of adolescence.
It was intended for Vittorio to attend a private high school in Atlantic City, but the untimely death of his mother--she suffered from chronic high blood pressure and cholesterol issues and, like many a stereotypical Italian, refused to curb her unhealthy eating habits, having grown quite plump in the years since Vittorio's birth, and ended up having a massive heart attack in her sleep, dying near instantly. Although Alejandro loved his son dearly, he also felt that his duties to the Esposito Family kept him too busy to properly care for and supervise his adolescent child, so he arranged for him to attend a prep school up in Massachusetts, just outside of Boston. Whether it was out of an ingrained love for learning or merely an attempt to try and work past the grieving process with a minimum of sadness, Vittorio quickly pushed himself extremely vigorously at his new school, quickly becoming a part of the Honor Roll and joining several academic/intellectual extra-curricular clubs, including the school's debate and chess teams, winning several minor accolades in both. He would graduate salutatorian or second in his class.
After finishing his secondary schooling, he would attend Harvard for his undergraduate degree, earning a dual Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations and Political Science, all the while serving in Student Government. It would be here that the political bug would bite him, starting with running for office in Harvard's SG and joining the leadership teams of several clubs, including the Delta Upsilon fraternity. Although he had wanted to be a part of an ultra-prestigious Final Club (Harvard's version of the Skull and Bones society), he was flat-out told not even to apply because of the dark parts of his family's background.
Once he had earned his Bachelor's degree, he would attend New York University and earn a PhD in Political Science, feeling destined to one day throw his hat in the political ring. After finishing his degree, including a published dissertation--a great sign of distinction to have one's doctoral dissertation published--addressing new theories in campaign management and election oversight, all just in time for the 2004 Presidential elections, he returned to New Jersey. At first, his father wanted him to get more involved in the Esposito Family, but after quite a blunt refusal, his father relented and helped him get a position on the campaign team of one Roland Dylan, a Democratic candidate for the US Senate from Vittorio's home state of New Jersey. Having attended Harvard and NYU and having a published dissertation and a father who had made sure to donate quite a bit of money to the Dylan campaign beforehand, helped ensure that Vittorio replaced Roland Dylan's current Chief of Staff.
As the new Chief of Staff, Vittorio was a diligent and effective operator, helping to ensure that Roland one his Senate seat in a near landslide. He was an extremely hard worker, earning the respect of Dylan and even of some of Dylan's opponents, one of whom even offered Vittorio a position on his own campaign. At first, Vittorio only intended to serve Dylan a couple of years before making his own attempt to run for local/state office, but he was strongly advised against such a move since if his family background ever became public knowledge, and it definitely would according to Vittorio's potential opponent, it would turn Vittorio into a public disgrace. Hurt and angered, Vittorio relented in his dreams of candidacy, resigning himself to always be behind-the-scenes, although he did prevent said potential opponent from ever winning his own political office through the tactical release of some key documents that implicated said potential opponent in a major sex scandal.
Perhaps to get past the grief at realizing his dreams had been dashed, he more and more buried himself in his work as Chief of Staff. His father passed away of colon cancer and Vittorio only increased his work load. Delegating as little as possible, he directly oversaw much of Senator Dylan's political operations, spending sleepless nights conferring with potential supporters, planning ways to keep opposition from posing a threat and planning for a potential White House run in 2008. More and more he traveled, representing Senator Dylan to key leaders in the New Jersey and national Democratic Party. With promises of possibly even serving as White House Chief of Staff if Dylan ever won the Presidency, Vittorio only heightened his involvement in political affairs and trying to manipulate things for 2008 or 2012 Presidential campaign. It had to be done, it would be done. Then he fainted from exhaustion while taking the elevator up to Senator Dylan's office in the Hart Senate Building in Washington, DC. Rushed to the hospital, he was diagnosed with severe exhaustion, as well as a dangerously high blood pressure. Even before the exhaustion, his gut had been painfully wracked by ulcers from all the acidity of coffee and espresso.
He would end up in the hospital a couple of weeks and then told to take it easy for some time. With no other choice, he resigned as Chief of Staff and spent his time writing and trying to relax, a very difficult task for the inveterate workaholic. It was during this time that the Esposito Crime Family suffered another decapitation as it were. After the fall of Pignatelli, there were no real front-runners to assume his position. Top caporegimes and the Consiglieri gathered to try and elect a a new Don, but there was continuous deadlock. Finally, the Consiglieri suggested Vittorio Esposito, the only living relative of the original "Joe the Gun" and who had shown himself to be quite skilled at political intrigue and such.
Mere days after finishing a long-needed vacation, Vittorio Esposito was approached by the Consiglieri of the Esposito Crime Family and offered the position of Don. With nothing else really going at the moment, Vittorio, with some reluctance of course, accepted.
RP Sample:
Vittorio Alexander Esposito leaned back in his executive swivel chair, running a hand across his furrowed forehead. He had promised himself and his physician that he would try to avoid stressing himself out too much, but that seemed easier said than done these days. Perhaps he should have told the Esposito Family's consiglieri where to go when he had told Vince of his election as the new Don, but he was not one to easily refuse something new and exciting and being done of a major Mafia family would most likely be quite exciting, but also quite stressful as he was learning the hard way.
He had already gone back to drinking too much coffee, actually setting up a large coffee pot in his office and it almost always seemed to be running. In one of the desk drawers, he kept a large bottle of Tums to counteract the acidity of the massive doses of coffee he poured down his gullet and strained esophagus. So far, he had yet to return to his old habit of lacing his coffee with espresso for that extra burst of caffeine, but he was fairly certain it was only a matter of time before it would become necessary again. After all, the more often you imbibed caffeine, the less affective it became and the more you needed to get that same jolt of energy. Hell, he had already gotten used to the feelings of jitters and sometimes trembling hands.
He knew he had to slow things down a bit and soon, but what could he do? It seemed in his nature to work...and work...work some more. He had to do something to stop doing so many things at so many times. Even though his doctor had put him on an aspirin regimen and hypertension medication, he knew his body could not sustain his continuous need to be active. Hell, here he was, only 29, and he was facing health issues. What would happen as he got older? Supposedly, he should be at his healthiest right now. Yeah, his doctor was most likely right: either get rid of all the stress or the stress will get rid of you. Damn. Damn. What to do though....
Looking at his desk clock, he sighed to himself. Several capos would be showing up soon for a meeting...another meeting. Well, planning for trying to increase the scope of his operations, especially Five Families held territory in New York, would require a lot of time, a lot of planning...yes, and a lot of added stress. Just thinking about this made him reach for the bottle of Tums in the desk drawer. Oh well, maybe he could hold himself up just a little longer...
