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Donatello Fadda
Donatello Fadda
Played By: Tommaso Ragno
The patriarch of the Fadda Family and kingpin of Kansas City since seizing power from the Milligan Concern.
- The Don: As the head of an Italian crime family, he's an archetypal example.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: In contrast to his monstrous Irish rival, Owney Milligan, he seems downright nice.
- Plot-Triggering Death: He dies in the first episode via a combination of freak accident and the medical care of Oraetta Mayflower, triggering a power struggle between his sons and Loy Cannon.
- Rasputinian Death: And a very undignified one at that. Digestive problems come close to provoke him to have a heart attack, then he is shot in the neck by a BB-gun, then he is carried by his men to a private hospital, from which he is refused, and then he is carried to another hospital, where a psychotic nurse poisons him.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: As far as crime bosses go, he's much more reasonable than both the psychotic Oweny Milligan, whom he overthrew; or his own reckless sons, who vie for the throne after he's dead. Unlike most of his crime syndicate, he's not bigoted towards blacks — comparing their situation as second-class citizens to that of Italian-Americans in a conversation with Loy. Had he lived, the peace would likely have lasted much longer.
- Villain with Good Publicity: His obituary makes no reference to his criminal activities, and he has enough influence to engage his son to an alderman's daughter.
Josto Fadda
Josto Fadda
Played By: Jason Schwartzman
The new head of the Fadda Family after the death of patriarch Donatello. Hot-tempered and impulsive, he has been left to deal with the rise of the rival Cannon Limited and a challenge to his leadership from his younger brother Gaetano.
- Boom, Headshot!: Joe Bulo executes him this way.
- Boomerang Bigot: He doesn't like his fellow Italians very much, constantly insists that they speak English around him, and refers to the bosses back in New York as "fucking Guineas".
- Cain and Abel: He and Gaetano vy for control over the Fadda family throughout the season, but Josto is the first one to try to arrange his brother's death. A move which ironically earns Josto Gaetano's loyalty.
- Catchphrase: "Bang!" also "I gotta take a piss."
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Not an episode goes by where he isn't frustrated that despite being the acting leader of the Fadda Family for all but some of the first episode, people don't show any fear of him.
- Even Evil Has Standards: For all his faults, he at least understands the value of loyalty, and thus gives Rabbi some nominally-important jobs within the family (like caring for Satchel and performing reconnaissance) in order to keep him in the fold.
- Fatal Flaw: His pride, arrogance and insecurity.
- Freudian Excuse: A lot of his emotional shortcomings become more understandable when we learn he was molested by Owney Milligan, the Irish mob boss to whom he was given as a hostage.
- Functional Addict: He has a fondness for drugs, but seems to use it only for recreative purposes.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Josto is angry and erratic, which is a terrible combination of traits to have when you're the new Don.
- Hidden Depths: He shows a surprising understanding of the evolution of race relations in the US.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: All of his disdain for the traditions and understandings that underpin his family's empire comes back to bite him in the ass when Ebal decides that he agrees that the traditions are untenable, stages a takeover, and has Josto executed for his supposed role in the death of the old Don.
- I Just Want to Be Loved: Josto really just wants to be loved and respected, whether it be by his men, Oraetta or his family. Just as it appears he’s getting some of this, his machinations comes undone.
- Jerkass: His greatest weakness is his complete lack of charm and social graces.
- Kick the Dog: Sees the body of his own brother-in-law Antoon lying dead in the snow after a botched assassination Josto sent him on in the first place. When asked what to do with the body, Josto spits "let him rot" while barely even looking at Antoon's corpse.
- Inadequate Inheritor: Josto is neither a blundering idiot, nor a bloodthirsty monster, but his lack of charisma and his many personal issues make him ill-suited to deal with a tense situation like the deteriorating relations with Cannon Limited.
- Mood-Swinger: Josto can go from relatively pleasant to horribly odious in a heartbeat. This makes his underlings often confused as to just what it is he expects from them.
- Not Me This Time: Josto does so much underhanded stuff that when he is accused of engineering the deaths of his father and brother, no one believes his protestations of innocence. It does not help that he has accidentally made himself look guilty as sin with the former, and actually did make an attempt on the life of the latter.
- Pet the Dog: He seems to be just about the only member of the Fadda family - his own father included - who seems to treat Rabbi with any measure of respect, despite the absolutely insane number of sacrifices Rabbi has made to them. It's one of Josto's few genuinely redeeming qualities.
- Pyrrhic Victory: "The Nadir" ends with he and Gaetano finally united... only to watch as the rest of their organization is torn to shreds by Mort Kellerman.
- Rape as Backstory: He was sexually abused by Owney Milligan during his time as a foster child/hostage for the Milligan Concern.
- Refuge in Audacity: When Rabbi grabs Satchel and runs, Josto turns the situation to his advantage by telling Loy that Satchel was murdered by Calamita under orders from Gaetano, and thus Loy has his blessing to kill Gaetano in retaliation, figuring that if Gaetano dies, his New York allies would come after Loy instead of him. Naturally, this backfires; Loy decides to free Gaetano instead, after informing him of Josto's treachery.
- Starcrossed Lovers: A very twisted example with Oraetta. He is completely unaware of just what a dangerous and disturbed woman she really is until she confesses she killed his father right before both are executed by the Kansas City Mafia.
- Would Hurt a Child: He orders Antoon Dumini, one of his henchmen, to drive Loy Cannon's youngest son Satchel out into the woods and kill him in order to provoke Loy into retaliating by murdering Gaetano, who is being held hostage. He also doesn't seem concerned about the possibility that the life of his youngest brother Zero might become forfeit too.
- Woobie Destroyerof Worlds: Josto was raped by Owney Milligan when he was sent as a hostage to him and most of his issues may stem from that childhood trauma.
- Xanatos Gambit: He sends Calamita, whose insubordination has caused him a lot of headaches, after Rabbi, who has betrayed the family. Whichever of the two kills the other, Josto has disposed of someone he wants to be rid of.
Rabbi Milligan
Patrick "Rabbi" Milligan
Played By: Ben Whishaw
The last surviving son of the Milligan Concern, the gang that ruled Kansas City before the Faddas, and now a foster son of the Fadda Family. Having grown up in three different crime families, and having seen two of them get violently deposed, he has no stomach for another gang war, and instead concerns himself with caring for Satchell Cannon, the family's new hostage.
- Abusive Parents: His biological father was Owney Milligan, a cruel old bastard who used him as collateral and yet still expected him to kill people for the family.
- Beware the Quiet Ones: As soon as Satchel is in danger, he abandons his reserved attitude and goes to extreme lengths to save him.
- Child Soldier: He lampshades the fact that he was forced to become a killer when only a child and he was never given a choice as to the path in life he wanted to take. He is determined to prevent the same from happening to Satchel Cannon. He will keep Satchel safe during the coming Mob War, and afterwards Satchel will be able to choose whether he wants to be a gangster or do something else with his life.
- Dark and Troubled Past: His childhood was pretty miserable, first being a hostage and traitor to the Moskowitz Syndicate, and then being a hostage and defector to the Fadda Family.
- The Dog Bites Back: He betrayed his biological family after being sent to be a hostage to the Faddas.
- Epiphany Therapy: After years of saying "we live with the choices we make", he realizes his situation has nothing to do with choice, and tries his best to give one to Satchel.
- Everyone Has Standards: He's very uncomfortable at the idea of killing Loy Cannon's eldest son. Or his younger son. Or anyone's son.
- Face Death with Dignity: When he's about to get sucked in by the tornado, he tries to resist at first, but ends up raising his arm peacefully, as if he was accepting that twister of fate.
- Fairytale Motifs: Rabbi is associated with the character of Goldilocks, as someone who tries to find his place, but never fits in or is rejected.
- Forgotten Fallen Friend: Averted. As Satchell is revealed to be Mike Milligan from season 2, it’s clear Satchell never forgot the loyalty and protection shown to him by Rabbi Milligan, and took his name as a show of respect.
- Friend to All Children: He's the Fadda family designated caretaker of kid, being both the one who helps Zero go to the Cannons, and taking Satchel under his wing.
- If I Do Not Return: Rabbi tells Satchel "If I don't come back, I'm either dead or in jail" so many times it's practically his Catchphrase. The one time he fails to do so is the time he doesn't return.
- Knight in Sour Armour: Rabbi is a cynical gangster, but he's still one of the most noble character of season 4.
- Knight Templar Big Brother: He and Josto grew up in each other's families, and later in the same family, and thus he feels a responsibility to look out for Josto and his younger brother Zero.
- Like a Son to Me: To him, Satchel is partly an uncorrupted version of himself, partly the son he never had.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: After teaching Satchel the basics of survival, he dies, leaving him alone and far from home.
- Only Sane Man: Rabbi seems to be one of the only members of the Fadda Family with any common sense.
- Parental Substitute: Seems to play this role for Satchel Cannon during his stay with the Faddas.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Rabbi decides to buy Satchel a cupcake for his birthday, a decision that leads him into the path of Constant Calamita, Omie Sparkman, and a tornado that swallows all three of them up.
- Protectorate: He swears that he will keep Satchel Cannon safe no matter what happens between the Faddas and the Cannons. He advocates for peace between the gangs, and when that fails, he does not hesitate to go against his bosses to keep the boy unharmed.
- Self-Made Orphan: He killed his own father in revenge for being repeatedly traded to other families.
- Troubled, but Cute: It's Ben Wishaw playing a traumatized yet badass gangster, it's a given.
- Undying Loyalty: Rabbi is very insistent about his loyalty to the Faddas, probably to avoid being rejected again. He then ends that loyalty in favor of protecting Satchel once the threat of a full-on Mob War becomes unavoidable and the boy's life is in danger.
Gaetano Fadda
Gaetano Fadda
Played By: Salvatore Esposito
The younger brother of Josto Fadda, and now a claimant for control of the Fadda Family. A brutish, old-fashioned thug, he spent years as a family enforcer in Italy, but struggles to adjust to operating in Kansas City.
- Assassin Outclassin': Kills at least two of his would-be assassins and sends the rest running for the hills through sheer Ax-Crazy relentlessness.
- Ax-Crazy: Easily the most unhinged member of the Faddas and possibly the entire season (barring sinister Cloudcuckoolander Oraetta). Gaetano is a bug-eyed, homicidal lunatic who carries around a can full of bloody teeth and fully espouses that "killing is business" in his line of work. His murderous tendencies are as much a danger to his own side as his enemies, as he almost sets off a mob war purely by ordering an needless hit on Loy Cannon's son out of petty pride and goes all the way by murdering the Cannons' peace broker, Doctor Senator.
- Bad Boss: Calamita has to restrain him from beating up random underlings for trivial reasons and he shrugs off accidentally shooting one of his own men dead during a tense standoff with Zelmare and Swanee.
- Been There, Shaped History: He claims that he and his gang helped capture and execute Benito Mussolini. He even has a tin can with a bunch of bloody teeth that he claims he pried out of Il Duce.
- The Berserker: He's exactly as bloodthirsty as he looks in a fight. When ambushed by rival hitmen, his response is to charge straight at them, wildly firing two pistols at once.
- The Big Guy: He is one of the larger members of the Fadda Family.
- Big Little Brother: A plot point, as Gaetano believes his size and strength advantage over Josto makes him the more suitable family boss.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Gaetano cares about strength, as well as "Business, Family, and Country". His perception of others is based on how they hold to these criteras in his mind.
- Cain and Abel: He tries to wrest control of the Fadda family away from Josto, but Josto's the one who makes the move to get Gaetano killed. A move which ironically earns Josto Gaetano's loyalty.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: His worldview has been informed and shaped by his time in Italy, where he betrayed his fellow mobsters in order to get into Mussolini's good graces, then betrayed Mussolini to the Allies when it became obvious that the Fascists were going to lose the war. Now he's contemplating betraying Josto in order to take over the family, as Josto appears to be weak and inexperienced.
- Dark and Troubled Past: He was only 11 when he got banished to Sardinia... just in time for the Fascists to take over the island, kill his guardian, and institute autarky on the island, which left him to nearly starve.
- Death by Falling Over: Moments after killing Odis, Gaetano accidentally trips and shoots his own brains out with his gun. This was actually foreshadowed several episodes earlier when his provocation for killing a random janitor was said janitor laughing at Gaetano slipping on ice; for all of Gaetano's rampaging brutishness, he seems to have a hard time keeping himself upright.
- Defeat Means Friendship: After he barely survives being killed by Loy due to Josto's machinations, Gaetano comes to realize that while he is physically stronger and more powerful than Josto, Josto is clearly more devious, and thus he finally pledges his loyalty to his brother, ending the conflict between them.
- The Dragon: After undermining his brother and making his own play to seize control of the family, Gaetano willingly becomes Josto's right-hand man once he comes to appreciate the extent of Josto's deviousness. The catalyst for this realization comes from Josto trying to manipulate Loy into murdering Gaetano by trying to have Loy's child killed.
- Evil Is Petty: From stealing a painting of his house to killing a young man for laughing at him, Gaetano is a massive prick all around.
- Guns Akimbo: Charges at the Fargo Crime Syndicate mooks with a pistol in each hand in "The Nadir".
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Anything can set Gaetano off. Calamita frequently has to restrain Gaetano from taking out his anger on his own allies. At one point, he murders a young janitor and a surly clerk because the janitor laughed at him for slipping on ice, and the clerk served him bad coffee.
- The Klutz: He's enormous, and a monstrously physical brute, but he has a case of two left feet. He tends to trip and fall every so often, and in fact, this is what causes his death, and not as surmised, some grandiose act of violence: He trips, falls, and accidentally blows his own brains out with the gun he was carrying.
- Large Ham: Is incredibly theatrical in everything he does.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: He was sent away to Sardinia after being caught fooling around with the daughter of one of his dad's lieutenants... and then stabbing said lieutenant in the eye.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Gaetano is basically an eleven-year-old that grew up surrounded by gangster mentality and fascist rethoric. The result is a man who is violently unstable, but also weirdly playful and affectionate.
- Ruthless Foreign Gangsters: He's spent most of his life in Italy, and even among the Faddas, he's a nasty piece of work.
- Rural Gangsters: Came up through the rural Sardinian branch of the Fadda Family, having been exiled there before the war for sleeping with the daughter of one of his father's lieutenants. His time in the countryside of Sardinia has seasoned him into a skilled, vicious enforcer and given him a ruthless twisted morality (even by the series standards) but also leaves him ill-prepared when he relocates to Kansas City to try and take over the family business after his dad dies, with him repeatedly failing to adapt to his new environment.
- Smarter Than You Look: When Josto chastises him for his foolish attempt at starting a war, Gaetano slyly destabilizes him with a reminder of his failure to kill Dr. Harvard for refusing treatment to their father.
- So Proud of You: He tells Josto this after he found out that Josto tried to manipulate Loy into killing Gaetano by trying to kill Loy's son. It's this ruthlessness and deviousness that finally earns Josto Gaetano's loyalty.
- Spanner in the Works: Josto and Loy's plans are repeatedly foiled or made to backfire due to Gaetano's constant interferences.
- Stupid Evil: In "Raddoppiarlo", he starts a gang war with the Cannon Limited when, in a fit of anger about not being allowed to retake the slaughterhouses, he orders Calamita and Rabbi to kill Lemuel Cannon, Loy's older son. Only Rabbi's quick thinking prevents anyone from getting killed, and the Cannons immediately retaliate by stealing a truck that turns out to have the bulk of the Faddas' arsenal.
- Surprisingly Sudden Death: He's a major character throughout the fourth season who anticlimactically dies in the penultimate episode when he trips over his own feet and falls, causing the gun he was holding to go off and blow his own brains out.
- Villain Respect: Villain-on-villain example — after being at each other's throats the whole season, with Gaetano vying to usurp Josto as head of the family and Josto manipulating events to see that Gaetano is killed, Gaetano eventually comes to see Josto as an equal. After being freed from his imprisonment by Loy, who informs Gaetano that Josto expected Loy to kill the former in retribution for Satchel's apparent death, Gaetano admires how underhanded that move was and admits that while he is physically strong, Josto is indeed the brains of the family. He then pledges his loyalty to Josto, but not before pummeling him unconscious as revenge, of course.
Ebal Violante
Ebal Violante
Played By: Francesco Acquaroli
The consigliere to the Fadda Family. Later the inaugural boss of the Kansas City Mafia.
- Affably Evil: Soft-spoken, extremely professional, polite, and almost always advocates balance and the path of least violence. Until Josto's lack of leadership, Gaetano's general insanity and recent events pushes him over the edge. Once he takes control, he becomes far more ruthless and Faux Affably Evil.
- Based on a Great Big Lie: His opinion of American society, where the claimed values contradict its history and everyone pretends to be something they're not. He's okay with it.
- The Consigliere: To Donatello Fadda and to Josto after him.
- The Don: What he becomes by the end of the season, successfully taking over the Fadda Family's businesses as the new head of organized crime, albeit one more structured like a business than one based on the "old ways".
- I Lied: He makes a deal with Loy to end the war between their two groups in exchange for things going back to the way they were. Once Loy cleans house, however, Ebal makes a few "minor adjustments" to their deal, seizing half of Loy's businesses by using the threat of his criminal network's reach across the nation compared to Loy's outfit in one city.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: After learning of Josto's apparent collusion with Oraetta, he finally has Josto deposed and takes over the Fadda family himself, creating the modern Kansas City Mafia.
- Only Sane Man: An even-tempered, thoroughly competent gangster surrounded by hotheads. It's only once Josto sends him away for an episode that the relations with the Cannon Limited fully go off the rails.
- Ignored Expert: An old mobster who knows the strings of the criminal underworld, but Josto does not listen to him much. It doesn't help that English is his second language, whereas Josto doesn't speak Italian very well.
- Mouth of Sauron: Regularly meets with Doctor Senator on behalf of the Fadda family.
- Perpetual Frowner: Even his attempts at smiling look grumpy.
- Stating the Simple Solution: While Cannon Limited can fight the autonomous Fadda family to a standstill, they're a very small organization compared to the American Mafia. Ebal, having no stakes in the family's independence, simply inform Loy that New-York can, and will, simply send more forces if he doesn't agree to peace on their terms.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: He is no longer the boss of the Kansas City Mafia in 1979, though it is unknown whether he was murdered, sent to prison, died of natural causes, or simply retired.
- Worthy Opponent: To Doctor Senator, with shades of Villainous Friendship. When he returns and finds out that Constant has killed him, he's momentarily taken aback. He even tells Loy that he considers Doctor Senator a friend.
Constant Calamita
Constant Calamita
Played By: Gaetano Bruno
A sinister, soft-spoken enforcer for the Faddas and Gaetano's chief killer.
- Assassin Outclassin': He manages to survive the ambush Omie set for him, then subdue him.
- Badass Boast: "There ain't a monster on Earth tougher than an orphan in a box."
- Cold Ham: He's pretty quiet in general, but has a fondness for theatrics when it comes to threatening his enemies.
- The Dandy: He is repeatedly shown taking care of his appearance and is always excessively well-dressed.
- The Dragon: To Gaetano. In the divide of loyalty between Josto and Gaetano, Constant is clearly the man most loyal to Gaetano and usually the one Gaetano trusts with tasks that go under Josto's nose.
- Dragged Off to Hell: Calamita is killed by an ambiguously supernatural tornado, as he is sucked into its swirl screaming.
- Even Evil Has Standards: For all of he and Gaetano's shared psychopathy, he's seemingly put-off when the latter kills a young janitor and a bartender because the janitor laughed at him for slipping and falling on ice, with Calamita asking him in all honesty why he felt the need to do that.
- Faux Affably Evil: The only thing separating him from Gaetano is his seemingly-lax demeanor and his debonair charm. At heart, Calamita is a stone-cold killer.
- Freudian Excuse: His childhood was pretty horrific, as his teenage mother died while immigrating to America, and he arrived to the US as a baby in a box. Subverted, as he sees it as the reason for his fierceness rather than an excuse for his villainy.
- Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: To reinforce his status as the archetypal old-school gangster, Calamita tends to smoke during tense situations.
- Lean and Mean: Tall, skinny and obviously seeking conflict.
- Nerves of Steel: He stands his ground when the Cannons hijack his gun shipment, and the robbers make a point of pressing the super-hot barrel of a gun to his cheek to brand him.
- Oh, Crap!: The only time he displays visible panic is when he sees a tornado right behind him.
- Psycho for Hire: Has an understated taste for blood nearly as prominent as Gaetano's. He's cheerfully willing to set off a mob war on Gaetano's behalf purely out of his shared taste for cruelty.
- Red Is Violent: He wears a bright red suit and is also a very dangerous assassin.
- Red Right Hand: After his run-in with the Cannon Limited, he's left with a noticeable ring-shaped burn scar on his cheek.
- Villainous Friendship: Aside from their common liking of violence, Constant seems to be genuinely fond of Gaetano.
Antoon Dumini
Antoon Dumini
Played By: Sean Fortunato
Josto and Gaetano's brother-in-law, and an enforcer for the Faddas.
- Dark and Troubled Past: He served in the Italian army during the war, nearly starved to death when Mussolini fell out of power, and was brought to America as a prisoner of war.
- Developing Doomed Characters: "Camp Elegance" reveals that he has a loving wife, Naneeda, and three adoring children, and then he gets the order to take Satchel for a drive and kill him, which naturally causes Rabbi to track him down and shoot him before he can go through with it.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He's a loyal mafioso and triggerman, but he loves his wife Naneeda, and his three kids. It's almost enough to make him reconsider killing Satchel.
- Even Evil Has Standards: It's clear he really doesn't want to go through with his assignment to murder Satchel, a child. Ultimately, he can't go through with it and puts his gun away. Unfortunately, Rabbi doesn't see this and kills him to save Satchel.
- Immigrant Patriotism: He dedicated himself to be a good American after suffering horribly during the battle of Monte-Cassino.
- In the Back: Rabbi shoots him from behind, killing him instantly.
- Nice Guy: Well, by mobster standards, anyway. It's even implied that he's too modest to ask for a promotion, despite being Josto's brother-in-law, so his wife asks Rabbi to put in a good word for him.
- Punch-Clock Villain: He's a loving family man when not working for the Fadda crime family.
- Would Not Hurt A Child: He's very reluctant to carry out the hit on Satchel, and though he does pull his gun on him when Satchel's back is turned, he ultimately can't go through with it. Sadly, it's not enough to save him, as Rabbi kills him, oblivious to his change of heart.
Ziromanu "Zero" Fadda
Ziromanu "Zero" Fadda
Played By: Jameson Braccioforte
The youngest son of Donatello Fadda, and a hostage of Cannon Limited.
- Children Are Innocent: Zero has a limited understanding of the danger he's in and the war between his brothers and Loy.
