Editing Baroque Blue (section)

=====The Cammorae===== 

Fifty years ago, this was run by guys under the thumb of New York's Five Families. However, under concerted attack from the Midnight Samaritan and the Masks that were bringing unnatural power to bear, they swallowed their pride and reached out to groups that shared similar fears and operational guidelines.

Since they expanded to groups not Sicillian or Jewish, they have taken in Carribean, Mexican, Turkish and Irish leadership, not to mention accepting women into their ranks. They have been reaching out to the Chinese and Russian mobs, but Jade Mirror and Masha Voyevoda have both stood firm on the issue of operational independance.

Despite all the madness and shakeups - above all else, the ruinous fall of the Mediccani crime family - these guys stay at the top of the totem pole. They run pornography, pier theft, loansharking, illicit gambling, HMO fraud, extortion, labor racketeering and most of the drug trade. These methods aren't flashy, sure, but they amount for 75% of the financial gain of crime, and that sort of money buys power.

'''Gaetanno "Joey" Corrado , Anthony Passeria, Vito "Karma Karmine" Lucchese, Al Masseria''' and '''Nicky "Pussyface" Maranzano''' run the First Four Cammorae, the oldest remaining crime families in Baroque. They have strong ties with Empire City, New York, Emerald and Chicago. The Commission, and "Our Friends in High Places" will only ever talk to the First Four. That makes these Cammorae indispensible to the other, flashier and perhaps more powerful families, as they can call in firepower from other cities, and have a much easier time fencing, smuggling and buying legitimacy. Simultaneously, they realise they are far too weak to go it alone, so they bury their prejudices and at least pay lip service to the Second Council of Trent.

While it isn't worth listing the 48 guys with the name of capo, or the 500-odd soldiers who go by the name of the First Made Men, to indicate their real Sicillian blood and Mafia legacy, expect a whole lot of names like Paradios, Cefalu, Gotti, Persisco and Russo. These guys are dull. That is because they are OG, and they don't appreciate fuckups.

'''Terressa "Terrible Terry" O'Rielly''' the widow of Danny O'Rielly, leads the O'Rielly Clan. She has a huge crew of roughnecks at her disposal, with perhaps more Made Men than any other single Cammorae. Of course, they only go to prove that quantity is not quality.

'''Ahmed "Sultan" Agha''' commands the almost-autonomous Ninth Cammorae. Ahmed lives like a sultan in the closest thing to a mansion in his neighborhood. He has a large group of soldiers whom he calls The Sultan's Personal Army. All of these men are ex-military, and they too live in the more luxurious life. The Army "protects" the Middle Eastern immigration areas, including Littlest Persia. While he runs a sizable protection racket, most of his money comes in smuggling over 80% of the cities heroin from his allies in Turkey. He also has the loyalty of the Three Assasins, perhaps the most mysterious and effective killers in the city.

'''Esperanza "Brujah" de Velázquez''' runs the Eleventh Cammorae. Largely populated by Hispanics and Carribian criminals, they are the biggest power in the Messandre District district. They have a reputation for dabbling in the unnatural, and rumour has it some of their enforcers deliberately get infected with RTIP. 

Breaking all the previous rules, she is a woman, not of Sicillian or Irish descent, who has never fired a gun in her life. Traditionalists say she used the Evil Eye on the former capo, Don Mediccani. Others say she poisoned him, other that she merely bribed him. Reagrdless, after his mysterious dissapearance, his heir decided she offered much to the organisation. The Council of Trent has never looked back. She is perhaps the biggest single name in organised crime, her gang having close to a monopoly on the drug trade, arms dealing and an absolute monopoly on extortion in the Messandre District.

'''Mister Skitz''' runs the Thirteenth Cammorae, a dangerous crew who scar themselves ritually as they make the obligatory Blood Oath. While everyone takes care of their own problems as much as possible, these guys are getting reputations as bag men and hard hitters, not to mention some of the only people tough enough to muscle commands on the Inferno.

Medically speaking, Mister. Skitz is two people - the world's most extreme pair of surviving conjoined twins. Despite having only the one skeleton, he has three eyes, two sets of vocal cords, three arms, mismatched colours of hair and a gaping trio of leathery holes where his nose should be. ''Do not mention his appearance, of display disgust.'' This makes Mr. Skitz very angry. You don't want to make Skitz angry.

On a bad day, he can barely move. He has headaches, a cacophony of discordant mumbles matching the sounds in his head. His spine is a twisted thing, visibly pushing against the silky-white skin on his back. He shoots in futility at his tolerant and disdainful henchman, struggling to breath through his clogged nostrils.

So why was he made the leader of the 13th Cammorae, against all tradition and in defiance of all standards? Simple- on a good day, his three eyes give him amazing sight and accuracy, and he can fire three immense guns at once. He has two sets of muscles, making him inordinately strong. He has two brains all mushed up together, working in concert, making him a brilliant tactician. At these times, an animal charisma exudes from him, and he prowls the streets, recruiting minions from the poor, disenfranchised and crippled and seducing women, beautiful as you've ever seen. Some say he has two souls, one of which takes on all the sin they do, the other destined to storm the very gates of heaven when he dies.