Literature / testimone di gangster

A clash ensues between a pillar of justice and a pillar of lies. Now, judgment shall be passed...

testimone di gangster (The Witness for the Gangsters, ギャング側の証人) is a seven-chapter short story written by Keiji Ando to commemorate the 35th Anniversary of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and was published in the 2022 Winter issue of JOJO magazine on 19th December 2022. The Spin-Off was based on Golden Wind as a self-contained Prequel featuring minor antagonists Squalo and Tizzano.

When former gang member Pollo Albatero betrays Passione and sells out thirty-two gangsters for a money laundering scheme, it's up to Squalo and Tizzano to free the members and punish the snitcher in court. But it won't be easy when they are up against Italy's renowned prosecutor, Gilberto Falco, who seeks nothing but truth and justice. And there's also the matter of Squalo being ordered by their squad leader to kill Tizzano once the trial is over, regardless of the outcome.

Thus, chaos reigns in the courtroom full of deceit, lies and stands.

testimone di gangster contains the following tropes:

• Adaptation Expansion: While self-contained, testimone di gangster touches upon a little backstory into Squalo and Tizzano's life before they were promoted to The Boss' Elite Guard. Namely their relationship and the unfair mistreatment over the latter and his stand by their boss.
• A Day in the Limelight: testimone di gangster focuses on the minor part 5 stand villains and Battle Couple Squalo and Tizzano as they have to stop renowned prosecutor Falco from convicting thirty-two Passione members and exposing the organisation as a whole in the biggest courtroom case of Italian history. There's also a subplot where Squalo is ordered by their squad leader to kill Tizzano for the perceived uselessness of his stand and neither of them is having any of it.
• all lowercase letters: As the title is in Italian, it follows the appropriate grammar although the first letter isn't capitalized as it should be.
• Ambiguous Situation: Falco immediately deduced in seconds who orchestrated his downfall, staring directly and pointing at the culprits, despite the unnatural circumstances and lack of evidence. Squalo thought this was impossible for a non-stand user to figure out since Falco also instinctively knew to cover his mouth and bite off his tongue to prevent Clash and Talking Head from working. Whether he is that good of a lawyer or has a stand himself remains unclear.
• Amoral Attorney: In order for the trial to go in their favor, the defense has to pull every dirty trick in the book. The defense lawyer wears Pollo's half-sister's ring to intimidate him into changing his testimony while his apprentice is none other than Tizzano who puts the final nail in the coffin by using Talking Head to implicate Falco as the one holding Pollo's sister hostage and falsifying information to convict thirty-two "innocent" people as Passione members.
• Awesome by Analysis: Falco was noted to have a keen eye and that evidence always comes to him really quickly as proven when he manages to find Pollo's kidnapped sister after noticing his troubled expression and refusing to testify once the defender waves his sister's ring around. This trait almost compromises Squalo and Tizzano's positions, pointing menacingly at them upon realizing they are the only two people in court unfazed by the whole ordeal, but they manage to kill him before anyone else gets wiser.
• Bad Boss: Squalo and Tizzano's squad leader is an old-fashioned gangster who believes strength, violence and murder are the only answers to everything. He also doesn't acknowledge and despises the latter so much that he ordered the former to kill him once the trial is over regardless of the final verdict or their feelings for one another. However, this mindset and general incompetence made it easy for Tizzano to convince the other members and the Boss that his leader is a huge liability in Passione and should be dealt with immediately.
• The Bad Guy Wins: The duo successfully convinced the public that Falco is a no-good crook lawyer, kill him and the traitor Pollo and free almost all of the thirty-two persecuted Passione members, tarnishing the reputation of the Italian court system in the process. As a bonus, they also found a way to prevent Tizzano's assassination and get rid of their obnoxious squad leader in one fell swoop in the end.
• Batman Gambit: After thoroughly researching Pollo's background and discovering his half-sister Pollo neglected to tell Falco about, Tizzano began concocting a fool-proof, two-phase plan around this information:
  • Passione kidnaps the half-sister and makes the defense lawyer secretly but ostentatiously show off her ring to Pollo, putting pressure on the witness to falsely testify in the gang's favor. However, Falco figures out what was going on during the trial postponement and had his detectives rescue the half-sister and bring her to court the following day, gaining Pollo's complete trust and reassuring him into telling the truth. But Tizzano anticipated this and enacted phase two.
  • He signals Squalo who had been carrying around a thermos containing both their stands to drop it down the railing to reach Pollo's water bottle. Thus when Pollo goes in for a drink before his big testimony, Talking Head activates and uses his trust in Pollo against him by "accusing" Falco of kidnapping his half-sister then Clash shreds off Pollo's tongue in his confusion. Finally, Tizzano who was impersonating as the defense lawyer's apprentice baits Falco into defending himself, using a paid angry mob to egg him on, and repeating the process with him "confessing" to all of Passione's misdeeds including framing innocent people as criminals and falsifying the evidence for years before Clash kills him.
  • As a result, most of the thirty-two arrested Passione members get off scot-free, the organization becomes stronger than ever before and control Italy from the shadows and decades of law reinforcement regressed, all thanks to Tizzano's ingenuity and planning skills.
• Chekhov's Gun: Squalo brings in a thermos of coffee to the trial which he then "accidentally" dropped from the railing. Unassuming as it is, the thermos is instrumental in framing Falco and turning the case on its head with Clash and Talking Head smuggled inside to get closer to Pollo's water bottle when he goes for a drink as the stands require liquid and the target's tongue for them to work respectively.
• Crusading Lawyer: Gilberto Falco is a famous prosecutor nicknamed "The Seducer" for his ability to coax people into giving him vital information that even the police weren't able to pry during interrogation in the hopes of finding out the truth. This is all to bring the criminals and mafia alike to justice and become one step closer to cleaning Italy's streets of criminal corruption.
• Death by Irony:
  • Pollo, the snitch who dared testify against Passione, gets his tongue shredded by Clash after Talking Head made him falsely accuse the prosecutor who was trying to bring the organization to justice, both being the stands of Passione members.
  • Squalo and Tizzano's squad leader ordered the former to kill the latter for his perceived uselessness of having a weak stand. They responded by reporting their leader to The Boss for actually being useless, racking massive debts in the organization's name and having a lousy personality, and thus flipping his treat on its head since any confrontation with The Boss's stand is a death sentence.
• Defiant to the End: Despite the public eye turning against him in an instant and his death is imminent, Falco wouldn't go down without a fight. He swiftly bites off his own tongue to get rid of Talking Head, points accusingly at his assailants and says a few final words of his own, namely declaring that justice will always prevail and the two will burn in hell. And with that Clash finally finishes the job though not without leaving a lasting impression on Squalo who'll never know why Falco was so driven and full of spirit even when facing death.
• Didn't Think This Through: Wanting Tizzano dead, the squad leader secretly tasked one of his underlings to whack him off once the trial is over. This would have worked if it wasn't assigned to Squalo, Tizzano's fiercely devoted partner he had fallen in love with, who not only told him about the hit almost immediately but also planned to kill said leader instead since he always hated the disrespect Tizzano got from him.
• Dramatic Irony: Squalo comments on how the squad leader's short-sightedness would not be tolerated by the boss in the organisation, not knowing the boss has the exact same Fatal Flaw leading to his and old Passione's downfall in Golden Wind.
• Foregone Conclusion: The hit on Tizzano never went through as the story is a Prequel by nature and Squalo is very unwilling to take out his beloved.
• Given Name Reveal: Squalo's name wasn't revealed until the end of chapter 4 once his stand shows up and was only referred to as "Young Man" throughout beforehand. However, this isn't much of a surprise as he was prominently shown on the cover with Tizzano.
• Giving Someone the Pointer Finger: In his final moments, Falco accusingly points with both hands at Squalo and Tizzano who set him up and defiantly told them to go to hell.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: Talking Head's sole ability is to make the target unable to say anything other than the opposite of their intentions. Incredibly useless in a straight fight but excellent for psychological warfare in non-combat settings like a courtroom. This is how Tizzano managed to overturn a simple Open-and-Shut Case of convicting the arrested Passione gangsters against all odds by attaching the stand to Pollo and Falco's tongue and forcibly making them lie the latter is the mastermind behind it all. Alas, the squad leader sees no merit in his stand and still wants Tizzano dead even after completing the mission in Passione's favor.
• I Have Your Wife: Pollo's secret half-sister was kidnapped by Passione with the defense lawyer wearing her ring as proof, preventing Pollo from truthfully testifying scared of what they would do to her and postponing the hearing. Once Falco catches on and had her rescued and presented to the court, Pollo was beyond relieved and proceeds to speak his mind without fear, unknowingly leading to his and Falco's demise.
• Ineffectual Death Threats: Contrasting how Squalo was distraught and driven to murderous rage over his squad leader's hit on his partner, Tizzano himself brushes it off as another one of his temper tantrums and focuses solely on the mission. This was because he came to the same conclusion as Squalo in assassinating their leader but patiently waited until the trial was over before enacting his plan.
• Jerkass to One: There's no mention of any teammates from the duo's squad to compare with but given the leader trusts Squalo, who absolutely despises him and has serious doubts about his leadership, it's assumed he treats the others normally since they have physically strong stands and thinks they are loyal to him regardless. That is unless the gangster in question is Tizzano whom he's openly hostile to the point of wanting his death for simply coming up with rational ideas to his irrational ones alongside his Weak, but Skilled Stand.
• Meaningful Name:
  • On-brand with Passione's Edible Theme Naming, Pollo is "Chicken" in Italian so it figures he ended up chickening out and turning traitor once his cowardice got the better of him. Additionally, his last name Albatero roughly translates to "Albatross", someone who causes great problems you cannot escape from or prevents you from doing what you want, which basically describes Pollo's situation where the defense held his half-sister hostage to intimidate him from telling the truth.
  • Falco is the Italian word for "Falcon" in which the bird stands for freedom, intuition, and bravery as well as having a keen eye for detail and never missing an opportunity, all traits describing him as a quick-witted Crusading Lawyer who seeks the truth no matter what.
• Might Makes Right: The Squad Leader is a firm believer of action speaking louder than words, preferably the violent, murderous kind, and has an incredible bias that Stands must be physically strong and powerful to be useful. This puts him at constant odds with Tizzano, an anti-thesis to his beliefs, and refuses to acknowledge his efforts or worth. However, it gets deconstructed in that Squalo and Tizzano think of him as nothing but an all-bark, no-bite musclehead whose debts and narrow mindset had hindered their team for far too long and made the easy decision to kill him as soon as possible.
• Morton's Fork: The squad leader forced Squalo to carry out a hit on Tizzano with only two acceptable outcomes, either Tizzano dies or he dies alongside him should he refuse. He doesn't even care whether the trial goes well or not, the leader just wants Tizzano dead which led Squalo to take drastic plans to kill him instead.
• Named After Somebody Famous: Gilberto Falco was named and modeled after Giovanni Falcone, an Italian judge who made it his life mission to overthrow and bring justice to the Sicilian Mafia and was later assassinated by them which parallels Falco's fate. Similarly, the witness Pollo is named after Paolo Borsellino, Falcone's close friend and fellow judge who also died months later.
• No Name Given: Squalo and Tizzano's squad leader went without a name throughout the story and was only called "leader" by them.
• Not Helping Your Case: When Falco is accused of falsifying Pollo's testimony, he brings in secret footage of Pollo confiding in the truth. However, this had the opposite effect since the standard-issue tape recorder was mysteriously broken that day so the footage could be seen as engineering false evidence. Then the young prosecutor working with Falco proclaims he would never do such a thing in which his outburst ends up worsening the impression the public had of the prosecutors.
• Once More, with Clarity: Squalo kept glaring at Tizzano in the courtroom while muttering "I'm gonna kill him" under his breath, recalling his orders to take him out with Clash after the trial. However, the context completely changes once it was revealed these death threats were actually directed at their squad leader who put out the hit for the flimsy reason of Tizzano not having a conventionally strong, combat-oriented stand, infuriating Squalo to no end.
• Prequel: The short story takes place years before the events of Golden Wind and before Squalo and Tizzano were promoted to The Boss' Elite Guard.
• Shout-Out:
  • The English title may be a reference to Agatha Christie's short story The Witness For The Prosecution.
  • The "Great Gang Trial" is a homage to the Maxi Trial led by Giovanni Falcone whom Falco is based on.
  • Falco was compared to being more famous than star athletes participating in Serie A.
• Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: More of a sympathetic lawyer antagonist, but Gilberto Falco otherwise fits this role pretty well, being a Crusading Lawyer who wishes to bring the defendants in the Great Gang Trial to justice. Sadly, Squalo and Tizzano have other ideas.
• Take a Third Option: Not wanting to kill Tizzano or be killed for refusing, Squalo opted to kill the squad leader to get rid of the hit altogether, though Tizzano would suggest a fourth option of reporting the matter to the boss.
• Threatening Shark: Clash takes the form of a mechanical, size-changing, three-eyed shark which he used to attach Talking Head to the tongues of Pollo and Falco before it shredded them to itty-bitty pieces.
• Uncertain Doom: It's implied Tizzano and Squalo succeeded in terminating their squad leader for his utter incompetence and massive debts, but whether the latter killed him or the former convinced the rest of their team members to report him to The Boss isn't specified.
• Villain Protagonist: Squalo and Tizzano are the third and fourth Jojo villains to have their own Spin-Off after DIO and Hol Horse which is told from the former's perspective. As hardened gangsters tasked to free the arrested Passione members and assassinate the traitor Pollo, they must face Crusading Lawyer and Hero Antagonist Gilberto Falco in court.
• Violently Protective Boyfriend: Squalo really hates it when Tizzano gets disrespected by their leader and could barely contain his anger. Him being ordered to assassinate his boyfriend becomes the final straw and actually plan on torturing and killing the leader instead right after the trial was over, consequences be damned.
• What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Tizzano admits himself Talking Head isn't the best of stands in terms of raw power and although it can be extremely useful in certain circumstances, there are a lot of drawbacks. This includes being purely situational and support-based in nature, unable to move on its own (Requiring Clash to do all the heavy lifting and attach it to the target's tongue), cannot attack a helpless newborn or even lift a plastic bag. The only one to appreciate his stand was Squalo but their boss begs to differ, believing any successful mission he does to be a fluke and even attempted to assassinate him for his perceived uselessness.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: The squad leader tries pulling one on Tizzano for his weak stand and "defying" his orders for the last time by assigning Squalo to kill him once the trial was over. However, the two conspire to turn the tables on him after confirming he cannot be reasoned with and was never seen again after this.