The following characters are fully detailed protagonists and supporting cast that the gamemaster can use to spur entire stories or to serve as an ongoing thorn in the gang’s side. Much like their film counterparts, these incidentals are intricate personas, each with their own desires, needs, and schemes. While these characters can be used as-is, they can also be adjusted so that their appearances garner the desired reactions. Rose Schweidel
“You are such a nice man. Does your family live nearby? My son visits me every week. Every mother should have such a son. Do you visit your mother?”

	fitness			awareness			creativity			reasoning			influence
	2			2			3			2			2

Skills: finesse 4, interrogation 5, design 6, streetwise 6, etiquette 5, negotiation 4, street cred 4
Gimmicks: church (synagogue) contacts, street contacts, multilingual, wealth, city compass, constitution, poor vision, weak Rose Morgenstern Schweidel heard the bells chiming from the harbor as her ship came to Ellis Island. It was the new year of 1900 and she was a young, pregnant widow come to join her mother and father already in the states. Her husband, Nochem, died in a fire in their hometown of Minsk, and her parents offered her a place at their home on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Rose had a son, also named Nochem but known as Nate, whom she raised while working in one of the sweat-shops. They had friends and relatives all through the region and she felt that they were happy if a bit poor. Despite encouragement from her family, Rose never remarried. Nate grew up, went off to school, and quickly became a successful lawyer with clients across the boroughs. Nate bought Rose a house of her own in Brooklyn’s Bensonhurst, and she no longer had to work. Rose continues to take the trains to shop at the stalls along the avenues, and has a particular fondness for Chinatown merchandise. Her big-shot, lawyer son visits for the Sabbath blessing every weekend, and they attend services together at the local synagogue. Rose often visits her aged mother in Manhattan, taking her out to lunch. Rose gossips during the week with other mothers in the neighborhood and plays cards every Wednesday evening with friends. Her best friend and neighbor is Anna DeLuca. Many of her neighbors call her a natural psychologist. She knows a little bit about everything and everyone in the area, and possibly knows a lot more. Although Rose is uneducated, she is wise to the happenings in her area and adores listening to gossip. She makes the perfect witness for a crime and has a natural talent for remembering details, although an interrogator could go insane waiting for her to get to the vital information. While Rose could provide essential details of a crime scene or villain, she intersperses them with memories of her childhood in Russia and laments of her late husband. If the characters are too hard on Rose, her son is a sufficient threat to get them off her back. Everything is revealed at Rose’s pace and she does not allow bullying. Anna DeLuca
“How long you gonna make me wait here?”

	fitness			awareness			creativity			reasoning			influence
	3			1			2			3			3

Skills: finesse 3, design 5, commodities 6, streetwise 4, etiquette 4, negotiation 6, street cred 5
Gimmicks: church contacts, gangster contacts, multilingual, internal clock, wealth, poor hearing Anna Gasbarro DeLuca came to America with her family in 1886 when she was only three years of age. Immediately upon entering the harbor, her parents and older siblings set off to work at whatever labor they could find. At eighteen, she married Victor DeLuca and proceeded to have four children, the last being born in 1909. Victor realized that he really was not a family man in 1915 and ran off to Chicago, leaving Anna to fend for herself and her family. Thankfully, Anna had the help of her family, who accumulated enough wealth in construction to sustain her and her brood. Her two sons went to work for the family business, and her two daughters eventually married and moved to start families of their own. Her eldest daughter married a shopkeeper on her street’s corner in 1930, and Anna works there for extra money. As several members of her family turned to a life of crime, she tried to look the other way, knowing that the illicit money her children received paid the bills and raised their standards of living. Although Anna’s family took care of her, she was thankful when Rose moved next door. Despite their differences in religion, the two women connected once they discovered the struggles both shared in their pasts. Rose is an understanding person with whom anyone could talk, while Anna is kindhearted and charitable, albeit loud and boisterous. Together, they welcome new women to the neighborhood, Rose with her astute understanding of how a neighbor is feeling and Anna with a welcoming bowl of food and friendly chatter. Anna is as much a gossip as Rose about the comings and goings of the people in their neighborhood. She does not talk about her own family’s activities readily, but anyone who crosses any of her children is fair game. Her family’s continued association with the mob may put her in danger; while threatening the well-being of someone’s mother may be considered the lowest of low acts, there are some in the association without scruples. This tactic could be used by law enforcement officers as well as gangsters. Written by Jennifer Schoonover.