Meet Vinnie

Vinnie Gabrianno is one of the on-going characters in my Razzman Mystery Crime Files series. He started out as somewhat of a minor character in the first book, Dead is Forever, and I thought when I wrote The End on the last page of that story, that Vinnie's involvement in my series would also come to an end. 

Boy was I wrong! 

Vinnie just couldn't stay away. He found himself making another appearance in book two, Deadly Passion. He was still somewhat of a side character, but with a bit more to say. He's a complicated guy with a questionable past. He was born in Brooklyn, NY in the eighties and, like all native Brooklynites, his love of good pizza runs deep. He had a tough upbringing and at times found himself on the wrong side of the law. His mom was a stay-at-home mother raising four boys while her husband had a hard time keeping a job. Vinnie, being the oldest, felt neglected while his mom raised his younger brothers. It forced him to grow up fast and out into a tough world while he was still a teenager. It's also the reason that even though as an adult, he's a man who likes to present a tough guy image to the world he has a soft spot for underprivileged kids.

His love of food started to really come through in Deadly Passion. He also began to add some comic relief, something that can help even out the tension in a murder mystery. My main character, Tony Razzolito, is usually the one egging Vinnie on, while Scott McHenry, Tony's partner in the PI business, plays the straight man. 

By the time book three, Dirty Air, was released, Vinnie had become a solid fixture in helping Tony and Scott solve the crime and mystery of that story. We get to see a little more of Vinnie's tougher side in this book, which keeps the question alive as to whether or not he has ties to the mob. 

One of the interesting discoveries for me as this series has evolved is that I tend to put the three crime fighting investigators into scenes that involve a lot of time eating and drinking. They're usually at a restaurant or in the office with plenty of grub while they go over their notes and theories on who the bad guys are. It's also when most of the shenanigans between them take place. When the book reviews started mentioning Vinnie as a character that stood out and that they liked, I knew I would have to expand his role in my upcoming book four in the series. Vinnie is introduced into the storyline sooner and with more scenes involving his unique way of investigating. I also decided that if his role is starting to expand, I needed to give a bit more of his backstory to the reader. I've included a sneak peak of the cover and an excerpt from the upcoming book four, Best Served Cold, that will give you a good idea of how Vinnie got to be, well, Vinnie.

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From Best Served Cold: A Tony Razzolito PI Story (Excerpt from chapter 12):

Vinnie Gabrianno enjoyed the finer things in life. Tailor-made suits, expensive jewelry, gourmet food, finely crafted imported beers, and Brooklyn pizza. He was born in 1980 and raised in the 80s and 90s as part of an Italian American family in Bensonhurst, a neighborhood on the southwest side of Brooklyn in New York City. His family didn’t have a lot of money—his dad always seemed to be involved in some get rich quick scheme that never worked out, and his mother had her hands full raising Vinnie and his three younger brothers. As the oldest, he felt forced into growing up fast, since his parents often left him on his own. This ultimately pushed him out into the harsh streets of the city. As a teen, he got caught up in the gang life. He was in and out of the juvy court system so often that it actually started to help his reputation for being someone that could keep his mouth shut. No matter the reason he was in front of the judge, he never ratted out his buddies, and that gave him street cred. He eventually caught the eye of Angelo “The Shark” DeLuca, who had ties to the Columbo crime family. DeLuca was mainly into bookmaking and loansharking, thus the nickname, and took young Vinnie under his wing. Seeing their son getting mixed up in a life of crime was hard on his parents. But the extra money he brought home helped keep a roof over their heads and food on the table, so they reluctantly looked the other way.

   When Vinnie was twenty-two years old, his friend and mentor, Angelo DeLuca, was convicted of racketeering and sentenced to life in prison. One week after they locked DeLuca up, they found him hanging in his cell. That was the wake-up call Vinnie needed to straighten himself out. He relocated to Florida to get away from the only life he’d known as an adult but moved to North Carolina after only a couple of years. He found the Florida weather a little too volatile for his liking and ended up settling in Charlotte, which he thought provided him with the best of everything he wanted out of his new life.

   He still dabbled a bit, taking a job here and there, but nothing close to what he had been involved in back in his Bensonhurst days. Nowadays, he divided his time between coaching youth baseball and soccer, along with occasionally helping McHenry Investigative Services.     

   He’d been offering his expertise to Scott ever since they’d met during one of Scott’s first PI cases. Of course, they were on opposite ends of the playing field on that investigation. But it had all worked out and Scott and Vinnie had been friends and part-time colleagues ever since.

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I hope you enjoyed this introduction to Vinnie Gabrianno. A tough guy with a warm heart. He's just one of the reasons to check out The Razzman Mystery Crime Files😎

You can find my books here: Razzman Mysteries

 

I appreciate you taking the time to read my blog. And of course, your thoughts and comments are always welcome. 😊