Grandparents
Ambrogino "Gino" Fazzone was a member of the Sicilian Mafia from Enna, Sicily. As a young man he fell in love with a young woman from the DiCaprio Family of Catania. Their parents denied the right for them to marry as Gino's father had already promised his son to the local Don in Enna's daughter.
Gino, hot blooded and a bit stupid, refused to marry "that fat cow" and ran off instead. His actions lead to the bloody murder of his own father and a promise that the insult to the Don of Enna's bloodline would never be forgotten or forgiven. He would cut off the Fazzone family at it's root until not a single one remained - he swore it on his own blood.
In his travels, Gino met young Antonina and the two were wed. Fearing for Nina's life, Gino and she fled to the United States, finally coming to stay in Chicago and raise their son Niccola among the Chicago families. As Niccola grew, however, Gino became increasingly fearful that the Don's reach would extend to Chicago and one day rob him of his beloved son. So, one day during Nicky's childhood, Gino went back to try to settle debts.
Gino never returned from his meeting with the Enna & Palmero families and Antonina vowed to never speak of Sicily again, praying her son would never draw the attention of the men his father had made enemies of.
Parents
Nicky grew up in his father's shadow, walking in his footsteps to a position as underboss one of the southside Chicago families.
Her mother was born in Waterford, Ireland where she was raised by her father Michael O'Brian, a local pub owner/brewmaster & leader in the IRA of Dublin. Her mother Mary died in childbirth due to complications that medical science was incapable of dealing with.
More boy than girl at times, Emelia was willful and naughty, she cussed like a sailor and threw a punch like one too. She could not understand why the world saw her as less for being a girl and refused to accept her "proper place" despite everyone pushing her to do so. In order to reign his daughter in & keep her out of the IRA's battles (and out of the beds of the young men who fought in them!) - Emelia's father enrolled her in a finishing school where she met another woman with notions of women's rights... Teresa.
Teresa was far from home to keep her from wedding someone her family felt wasn't right for her, Santino Dicaprio. Both girls were terrors to their teachers and on more than one occasion were beaten for their outrageous antics. Bonded together by their ideals and willful natures - Teresa and Emelia swore on their blood they would be sisters forever - even after Teresa's family drug her back to Sicily leaving Emelia to face her world alone again.
Unable to accept her family's 'wrong headed ways' she stole the money for a ticket on a steamship bound for the USA. She hoped the new world, with all it's innovations would be more prepared to accept a modern woman like her! Sending a letter to Teresa, she encouraged Teresa to take Santino DiCaprio and elope so they could reunite in Chicago - there they'd champion women's rights together and be happy at last.
When Nicky Fazzone met Emelia O'Brian, he was instantly infatuated with the fiery red head with wacky notions of women's suffrage. He followed her around endlessly, always showing her with gifts and affection, though she resisted his every offer of having a relationship.
Nicky, however, wasn't so easily put off. He set about having every man and woman under him in the local mafia set about the task of learning what it was Emelia DID want more than anything. To his utter shock, she wanted to work - but not just any job, she'd been studying law and wished to be a police officer.
Using his ties to the local department Nicky got them to open up a position for her record keeping. When Emelia learned he had friends in the city's police department and that he'd helped her achieve her goal, Emelia finally agreed to a date... and then another and again. The two were married less than a year later and Santino & Teresa served as their Best Man and Maid of Honor.
Emelia only learned of her Husband's criminal connections after their wedding - worst of all was that Santino WAS ALSO part of the Sicilian Mafia and he and Nicky were the best of friends. Even as a modern woman, she still loved Nicky and feared the state of her immortal soul if she divorced. So despite their horrible fights about legal issues, divorce was out of the question. Needless to say, there was never a dull moment in the Fazzone household.
One thing caused a short term peace in their lives, the birth of their first and only child: Lucia Teresa.
Young Childhood
Lucia, or Lucy as everyone called her, was given a middle name for her mother's very best friend and was born a scant three weeks after the birth of Teresa's own son Frank Dicaprio.
Teresa was present in the room when Lucy was born and as it was for her mother before her, Emelia did not fair well. Emelia spent weeks recovering from complications that nearly took her life. While she did survive, the doctor warned Nicky he should stay far from his marriage bed because another child would most likely end his wife's life and leave him raising children alone. This was a pronouncement which added a great deal more strain to an already problematic marriage.
Little Frank and Lucy spent the first years of their lives side by side every day. Their fathers decided that they would join the DiCaprio and Fazzone families at long last with an arranged marriage - a tradition in Sicily still. So, before God and their families, Lucia was named Frank's fidanzati in casa.
One night, after dinner, Frank's home was fired upon by unknown assailants. Word on the street later was that the hit was called in from over seas. Compelled to protect her family, Nina finally told Nicky about the blood vendetta which the Don of Enna held against his father and his descendants - and how it cost his father his life.
Santino and Nicky went back to Sicily together with a plan they thought would resolve the problem once and for all... one that would allow the Don of Enna to profit greatly. Sadly, the deal did nothing for matters and shortly after returning home, Santino took his family to New York hoping to better protect them with his family's power base being stronger there.
Shortly there after, Teresa became a widow & Frank was without a father.
Lucy grew and for a time Nicky and Emelia thought they were safe. Eventually, however, Emelia was 'accidentally' caught in a crossfire of made men and was killed. Nicky knew the truth. His wife was only the beginning. The would come for him soon, likely after hurting Lucy. He couldn't live with himself. Nicky took to drinking heavily before driving off to confront the family responsible for the "accidental" death of his wife - the Whitehill Gang, a small mob under Tyler Durden.
Lucy, a precocious child, stole her mother's gun and hid in he backseat of his car while her father was passed out. When he woke and drove off for vengeance, he took Lucy along with him. The resulting gun battle claimed Nicky's life. During the fire fight, Lucy took a single shot with her mother's gun and killed Junior Whitehill before taking two bullets herself. One to her right thigh and the other which entered her stomach and lodged near her lungs and heart. Doctors left the bullet in her rather than risk the girl's life.
Chicago Gangsters still tell the tale of Lucky Lucy Fazzone, the little girl who proved how tough Chicago makes their people... the girl who took a bullet from, and killed, a Made Man before she was old enough for her first kiss. ( READ THE STORY )
Growing Up
Lucy was taken in by Gregory Whitehill who most people called Old Man Whitehill as even then he was of a considerable age for a gangster. Gregory was, at best, an absentee dad who only checked in on her when he needed her to do something. Gregory let the streets raise Lucy and his other two foundlings - Giuseppe & Tommy Malone.
Lucy and her 'blood brother' Tommy began running small cons on the street corners and petty crimes for any boss who'd throw her a bone on which to gnaw to survive. She lived out of the back of restaurants and flop houses, and fought for every scrap she could snag in order to survive another day. Were it not for Tommy's older cousin Giuseppe, she would have likely been the victim of horrors unimaginable. Sadly, Giuseppe was busy trying to get picked up by one of the Chicago families in his twenties and so he did not protect her every moment of every day and eventually something did happen...
In her late-teens, Billy Durden (a bastard son of Tyler Durden & local mafia boss) had some men 'invite' Lucy to his hideout for a 'job opportunity' and by opportunity he meant that she had no choice and by job he meant to make her one of his ladies in the red light district.
Despite her scars, Lucy was fast becoming a beautiful woman and Durden saw dollar signs. He offered to have her trained to be a high dollar call girl, one who could give men the time of their lives and lift secrets from their loosened lips. This way the Durden family would have all the dirt they needed on the other families of Chicago and Billy hoped he would earn his father's respect.
Lucy had no intentions of becoming Durden's whore, but saying no wasn't so easy as saying thanks and walking away. Lucy pretended to be amendable until the moment she and Durden were alone. Durden forced himself on Lucy and after a long night with her, he finally fell asleep. Lucy took the opportunity to slice his throat with a small pocket knife and ran. The knife's blade was small, so it did not kill him. To this day Billy Durden has a rough voice and ear to ear scar from Lucky Lucy Fazzone.
No longer able to count on the kindness of Chicago's families, Lucy lived on the lamb for months before finally giving birth to a baby girl who she did not name. Reaching out to Tommy Malone (who was now a goomba under Whitehill) she asked him to hide the girl away and swear never to speak of it to her or anyone else again. Without hesitation and still feeling a deep affection for Lucy, he agreed.
Tommy gave he baby to his paramour who had recently lost a child of her own. Before Lucy or anyone else could learn of it, her family sent her back to Ireland because of her 'undesirable' relationship with Tommy. The young protestant took little Kathleen (aka Katy) with her and wasn't seen by Tommy ever again.
While that was happening, Lucy took in Tommy's cousin Giuseppe as her bodyguard and began looking elsewhere for help surviving. She found it in TammyGato of Las Vegas' SMOG family. Welcomed in by Pollution Lucy began her professional career as a mobster far from the reach of Billy Durden and Old Man Gregory Whitehill.
