Vincenzo Sportien
| Vinnie Sporteino | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
Vincenzo Georgio Sporteino December 15, 1950 Brooklyn, New York |
| Died |
December 15, 1995 (aged 45) New Prairie, WI |
| Cause of death | Suicide |
| Other names | Donald Davidson |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Spouse(s) | Maggie Sportien (wife) |
| Children | Maria Sportien (daughter) |
| Family |
Vito Sportien (father) Maria Lorenzo Sportien (mother) |
Vinnie Sporteino was a criminal mastermind and long-time businessman responsible for a resurgence in New Prairie.
Contents
Bio
Early Days In New York
Vinnie became best friends with Sonny Bellini at a very young age. In 1968 the two formed The Family, an organization to handle their semi-illegal activities. Later that year, Vinnie acquired an abandoned warehouse by the river to house his organization and after moving in, The Family grew into a well-oiled machine.
In 1969, Vinnie's muscle and dirty New York cop William Hoyt foils a scheme that almost gets Vinnie arrested. Seeing that Hoyt has started to get soft, Vinnie starts finding a way to get rid of him. A few months later, Vinnie attempted to make a deal with Anthony Zuitco, Sr., asking for 3/4 of his grocery business in exchange for free housing. Zuitco, Sr. refused to sell it saying he was insulted at the mere idea of working with him. Vinnie hired James Anderton to kill Zuitco, Sr. and his entire family. At the same time, Vinnie saw this as an opportunity to blackmail Hoyt for the murder of Zuitco, Sr. and his family.
Anthony Joins The Family
In 1972, Vinnie is introduced to Anthony Zuitco, Jr by Sonny Bellini, unaware that he is the surviving son of Anthony Zuitco, Sr. Sonny convinces Vinnie to hire Anthony as a personal bodyguard. Unsure of doing so, it's only after an angry man attempts to shoot and kill Vinnie on the street and Anthony stops the bullets with his body. Vinnie hires on full time later that evening while at the hospital.
In 1973, William Hoyt is acquitted of his jail terms and immediately revealed the location of Vinnie's organization. The police and Hoyt raided the base and arrested Vinnie, Sonny, Anthony, and the majority of the others. While on their way to Police Station, Anthony broke free of his restraints and took control of the cop car he’s in, only to free Vinnie and Sonny from their police vehicle. The three made a clean escape and started driving west to New Prairie.
A New Home in New Prairie
A few days after arriving in New Prairie, Vinnie started taking stock of who had been arrested and who wasn't. Contacting ones that got away, he told them to come to New Prairie and find him with the plan on rebuilding The Family. A few weeks later, Sonny confided in Vinnie on how he felt he let Vinnie down since it was he that brought on Hoyt in the first place. Ultimately, Sonny informed Vinnie that he'd be leaving The Family for good, in order to cause no more troubles for them.
Maggie, Marriage, and Her Death
In 1974, Vinnie met Maggie Loveland, a waitress working at a Partone's Restaurant. Vinnie quickly became smitten with Maggie and started visiting the restaurant on a regular basis just to see her. A short while later, the two begin to date and in December Vinnie purposes to her. The two marry February 27, 1975 and a few weeks later, Maggie finds that she's pregnant with their daughter Maria. On July 22, Maggie goes into labor a full month and a half early and after giving birth to Maria dies due to complications during childbirth. Vinnie starts a long-standing hatred towards his daughter for being the reason the love of his life was taken away.
A New Chapter & J.P. Derelli
Vinnie reorganized The Family and slowly started becoming the symbol of success throughout the Midwest. His paranoia, however, began to get the best of him and in 1977 he personally oversaw a hit to take place on Morboso Ave, by following along in the underground abandoned subway. While there, he stumbled across a newly blocked off portion of the old subway, which after busting through, he found a new cement tunnel leading directly into the basement of the Derelli Towers.
Vinnie contacted J.P. Derelli and made a deal with him for personal access to the tunnel as well as a few floors in the towers in exchange for protection from any ‘outside harm’. A short time later, Vinnie opened the main offices to his shipping business on the 32nd to 36th floors of the towers, which only expanded his power in the city.
Through further inquiries, Vinnie found that Derelli’s tunnel stopped just shy of TJ’s, a popular underground nightclub located 9 blocks away. Vinnie made a deal with the owner of the club and soon started using the secret rooms located behind the walls of the club to do his “business deals”. He built a small tunnel that connected one of the rooms to the Derelli tunnel, creating a private 'underground network' of his own.
Therapy & New Deals with Fanucci
During the next 20 years, Vinnie struggled with the loss of Maggie, going as far as nearly killing himself at his private cabin in the northern woods. At the urging of Anthony, he finally agreed to start seeing Dr. Louis Sonei for therapy
In 1986, Vinnie was contacted by Michael Fanucci, the head of a major Chicago-based organization, and the two agreed to a 'partnership' of sorts that would be a potential benefit for the two of them. Vinnie had the hopes of using his connection with Fanucci as a way to revitalize his name among the Midwest, however, as time went by Fanucci started mistreating Vinnie more and more.
In 1995, Fanucci contacted Vinnie for a meeting where he asked him to acquire 60 kilos of cocaine in an attempt to "expand his market". During the meeting, Vinnie told Fanucci he isn't a drug runner, in which Fanucci told him he's "barely even that". Reaching the last straw, Vinnie immediately put into action a plan to take Fanucci out once and for all. The plan was successful resulting in Fanucci and his men being taken out. However, with his dying breath, Fanucci revealed to Vinnie that he had already told "them". Paranoid, Vinnie continued his life more cautiously unsure of who "they" were or if they were coming for him.
Tom Cortini & Jerry Burr
Wanting to get rid of the cocaine now in his possession, Vinnie started to find an outlet for it. Sonny directed him to Tom, who offered to help get the drugs onto the market. Vinnie had his men run a background check on Tom, however, no information was found.
Vinnie hires JERRY BURR in October to take the unmarked packages of cocaine from him to TOM. During the transaction, which takes close to 2 months, Vinnie monitors SONNY, JERRY and TOM and soon finds out that TOM is actually Chicago Policeman LT. Jake Calvin, undercover. Sending some of his guys out to kill SONNY and JERRY (only to hear they managed to allude his men), Vinnie kidnaps MARIA from her and JERRY’s home and uses her as bait. At Vinnie’s warehouse atop CAMBIARE ROCK, he awaits for JERRY and SONNY’s arrival. Once they do, Vinnie confronts them, only to have SONNY confess Vinnie’s connection to ANTHONY JR.’s parents’ death after being shot accidentally by ANTHONY. ANTHONY, angered about the truth, threatens to kill Vinnie, but is instead shot and “killed” by Vinnie himself as part of a angered driven rash moment. JIMMY enters and purposes a deal to work with Vinnie as his new bodyguard, claiming that his “good guy” persona was just an act. Vinnie tells him that the only way he’ll believe him is if he kills JERRY. While JERRY and JIMMY are running around the warehouse, Vinnie thinks about all that’s happened and momentarily breaks down in the stairs leading up to the third level of the warehouse. He reaches the third layer in time to confront JERRY and end everything. He in turn is shot in the back once by MARIA, free of her restraints. A second shot, throws him over the railing, only to be caught by JERRY, who refuses to let him fall. Vinnie comes to peace with his life and actions and nonverbally pleas for JERRY to let him go. Vinnie’s hand slips and he falls three stories to the warehouse floor where he dies.
Death
Vinnie is buried in an unmarked grave somewhere inside Oak Park Cemetery. It is rumored he is near his wife Maggie and daughter Maria under the grave marker named Donald Davidson. Only the caretaker of the cemetery, Winstone Cooke, knows the actual location of Vinnie’s grave, being the one who buried him, but refuses to release the information.
Appearances
Films
- To Tom Cortini (2002) (First Appearance)
- To Tom Cortini 2: Return to Sender (2003)
- To Tom Cortini 3: Damaged Goods (2003)
- 12/13
