Joe Potrello

He’s a sorry sight these days. His power is ruined, his influence is gone, and he has one loyal henchman left - Lou Benito. Not even the Italian youth-gang, the Rocks, respects him. He knows the O’Bannion mob has him marked for death. He also knows that police are on O’Bannion’s payroll and fears that they might set him up (not true, Arkham’s police are not yet that corrupt).

Potrello came to the United States in 1900 at the age of twelve, sent here by his widower father to live with relatives in Arkham. He grew up in Arkham’s poorest Italian section, working in mills here and in nearby Bolton. By age eighteen he led a handful of toughs specializing in muggings and shopkeeper extortion. Dismissed from the Army after a few weeks when the Armistice was signed, Potrello established an ingenious illegal numbers game modeled on rackets popular in New York. The game turned a good profit. When Prohibition arrived, Potrello had the capital and contacts to locally distribute profitable booze from overseas.

Potrello comports himself modestly, and dresses in common working-class clothes. Most Italian-speakers know of him; many admire him. He is a good contributor to the Church, though professing a belief that his actions contradict. Those he has wronged know him as a stern opponent, and fear to speak to the police. The police fear him as a cool, shadowy figure who may someday become respectable enough that the Italians will elect him to the Town Council.

Current Location

Arkham

Year of Birth

1888 AD 32 Years old