History Literature / TestimoneDiGangster

* HeartIsAnAwesomePower: Talking Head's sole ability is to make the target [[EnslavedTongue 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 [[FrameUp lie the latter is the mastermind behind it all]]. Alas, the squad leader [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway sees no merit in his stand]] and still wants Tizzano dead even after completing the mission in Passione's favor.

* AdaptationalExpansion: 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.

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: The squad leader tries pulling one on Tizzano for his [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway weak stand]] and "defying" his orders for the last time by assigning Squlo 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 [[UncertainDoom never seen again]] after this.

* VillainProtagonist: Squalo and Tizzano are the third and fourth Jojo villains to have their own SpinOff after [[LightNovel/JoJosBizarreAdventureOverHeaven DIO]] and [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureCrazyDiamondsDemonicHeartbreak 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 CrusadingLawyer and HeroAntagonist Gilberto Falco in court.

* VillainProtagonist: Squalo and Tizzano are the third and fourth Jojo villains to have their own SpinOff after [[LightNovel/JoJosBizarreAdventureOverHeaven DIO]] and [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureCrazyDiamondsDemonicHeartbreak 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 CrusadingLawyer and HeroAntagonist Gilberto Falco in court.

* GivenNameReveal: Squalo's name wasn't revealed until the end of chapter 4 once his stand shows up and was referred to as "Young Man" throughout. However, this isn't much of a surprise as he was [[SpoilerCover prominently shown on the cover]] with Tizzano.

* OnceMoreWithClarity: 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 not having a conventionally strong, combat-oriented stand, infuriating Squalo to no end.

* MeaningfulName: On-brand with Passione's EdibleThemeNaming, Pollo is "Chicken" in Italian so it figures he ended up [[{{Pun}} 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 [[IHaveYourWife held his half-sister hostage]] to intimidate him from telling the truth.

* BatmanGambit: 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:

* IHaveYourWife: Pollo's [[SecretRelative secret half-sister]] was kidnapped by Passione with the [[AmmoralAttorney 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.

** 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 evidence for years before Clash kills him.
** As a result, most of the thirty-two convicted 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 [[CrazyPrepared planning skills]].

* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: Gilberto Falco was named and modeled after [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Falcone 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.

** Falco was compared to being more famous than star athletes participating in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serie_A Serie A]].

''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 ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' and was published in the 2022 Winter issue of JOJO magazine on 19th January 2022. The SpinOff was based on ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind 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.

* BadBoss: Squalo and Tizzano's squad leader is an old-fashioned gangster who believes [[MightMakesRight strength]], [[ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption violence]] and [[MurderIsTheBestSolution 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.
* ChekhovsGun: 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 [[FrameUp framing]] Falco and turning the case on its head with [[ThreateningShark Clash]] and [[EnslavedTongue 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.

* GivenNameReveal: Squalo's name wasn't revealed until the end of chapter 4 once his stand shows up and was referred to as "Young Man" beforehand. Although this isn't much of a surprise as he was [[SpoilerCover prominently shown on the cover]] with Tizzano.