Frank Smith was the original gangster. The Mob may have become synonymous with Port Charles under the Corinthos regime, but Sonny got his start with the father of all godfathers. Frank was a bit too obsessed with Luke and Laura, though, because it kept getting him killed. Something about Luke abandoning his daughter Jennifer at the altar. Oh, and stealing his little black book. Calm down, Frank, it wasn’t even the fun kind with exes’ phone numbers.
At first, Jennifer was more interested in Luke than in dad Frank Smith’s business. But then her reluctant beau jilted her at the altar and she went down an increasingly bizarre path that involved obsessing over Luke and being played by Sally Struthers and Roseanne. But now that Luke’s dead and gone, it looks like Jennifer’s fully embraced her Mob roots with… whoever’s on the West Coast.
Duke was one of the most prolific — but not exactly successful — mobsters out there. He kept getting stuck in various Mafia families and getting killed for his efforts. First, there was the McKays (which he took over after daddy Angus died), then the Jeromes and the Corinthoses. Duke died, his imposter Jonathan Paget died, and then Duke came back and died again. Lesson learned? Not in Port Charles.
Victor Jerome was an old-school mobster with enough of a code of honor that he didn’t want his whack-job daughter, Olivia, running things once he was gone. And he was gone pretty fast, because he was also an old-school romantic. Victor was so shocked that Lucy rejected his amorous advances, he swallowed a heart-shaped pendant he had made for her and choked on it. Who’s the crazy one now, Victor?
Poor Julian. At first, he was the white sheep of the Jerome family, but once Victor was gone, he dropped the good-boy schtick and took over. It got him “killed,” which was the first of many, many times he tried getting out of the Mob. He’s dead for real now (we think) after getting shot by one of Cyrus’ flunkies and then shot again while struggling with Sonny. Honestly, that may be one of the mobbiest ways to go out.
Olivia was always a little bit erratic. OK, make that a lot erratic. Her own dad vowed to never let her take over the business and trying to kill her brother, Julian, was something of a hobby. Plus, there was that obsession with Duke that made her try bringing him back from the dead in the body of his own son, Griffin. It… didn’t work. Do we need to mention that? Didn’t think so.
As Victor’s secret daughter with Delia Ryan, Ava was always the outsider. But that didn’t stop her from getting into the family business. She and Julian plotted to take the old Jerome territory back from Sonny, and along the way, she shot Olivia, killed Connie and tried to kill A.J. And then there was that time she donned a wig, slapped on a ridiculous accent and pretended to be Ava’s doppelganger, Denise. Classic.
They didn’t get much more dangerous than Anthony. It had nothing to do with him being the head of a mob family — OK, maybe a bit; he did like slaughtering the innocent families of his rivals — but with the fact that he was completely out of his mind. He headed up the Zacharras in name only, but that didn’t stop him from trying to kill Lulu, Maxie, Spinelli, Ric, Patrick, Robin, Elizabeth — you get the point. And so did anyone he didn’t like.
Ric Lansing’s dad, Trevor was suave, cool and in control — so in control that by the time the Zacchara Mob family had moved upstate to Port Charles, he was secretly running it! You know, on account of Anthony being nuttier than a peanut brittle. But then Trevor’s reign came to an end when he fell from the roof of the hospital. Which is a fairly common occurrence in Port Charles.
Anthony outlived Trevor, but he didn’t survive his son… er, grandson. (It was complicated.) Johnny put dear old dad granddad down like a rabid animal and took over. Sure, the younger Zacchara was a ruthless murderer, but he actually had something of a heart. He romanced Lulu and Maxie (not at the same time) and felt kind of bad about causing the accident that killed Starr’s family. Remorse in this economy?
Johnny’s sister-who-turned-out-to-be-his-mother, Claudia, never got to run the Zacchara empire, but she also never shied away from it. She took a hit or two out on Sonny (before they married, of course), put Michael in a coma so deep, he woke up about 10 years older and kidnapped a pregnant Carly. That last one may have been a mistake since Michael brained Claudia with an axe to keep his newborn sis, Josslyn, safe…
There would be no Corinthos crime family without Joe. He’s the man who took the runaway Sonny in back in Bensonhurst and groomed him to be a don. But he had to die after he popped up in Port Charles and tried putting the squeeze on his former protégé. Bye-bye, Joe. It was nice knowing you. Actually, no, it wasn’t.
Break out the jelly sandwiches because Joe’s son was always green with envy over the attention his father gave to Sonny. Maybe that’s why, when Junior showed up in Port Charles in 2012, he took the whole Mob thing a bit too far, teaming up with supervillains like Jerry Jacks and Cesar Faison. About all he got, though, was a bullet in the chest from Jason for his efforts. Inferiority complexes… They’ll get you every time.
Ah, Faith. Beautiful, vicious, deadly. She showed up in Port Charles bent on revenge after Sonny killed her husband and left her devastated poor. A.J. hired her to kidnap Michael from Sonny, but then she got grabby and nabbed a few too many of the don’s kids. Alas, that meant it was time for her hellraising to end, so her Quartermaine boss had her taken out.
Manny was a real piece of work — and we don’t mean his tattoos, either. When his father, Hector, refused to retaliate after Sonny had Manny’s big bro killed, the mobster offed his own dad, took over his organization and terrorized pretty much everyone in Port Charles. But then Jason threw Manny off the roof of the hospital. Told you that place is dangerous.
Hey, remember when Ernst Blofeld attacked? Oh, sorry — wrong rogues gallery. Remember when The Balkan attacked? European mobster Theo Hoffman, aka The Balkan, showed up in 2010 obsessed with revenge against Brenda. He blamed her for his son’s death, even though the creeper had been the one stalking Sonny’s ex. But Theo was so unlikeable, his own wife Suzanne slit his throat.
Luis came to Port Charles to take out Sonny and Jax. He’d saved Brenda four years earlier and had grown so obsessed with her that the only logical thing to do was kill off her past lovers. He failed — over and over again — but hey, he kept after those dreams. But about all he accomplished was killing Alexis’ sister, Kristina. So, the surviving Davis sib pushed him off a balcony. It was no hospital roof, but it had to do.
Mobsters are like weeds. Pluck one out and another pops right up. Lorenzo came to Port Charles to avenge brother Luis’ death. He wasn’t a monster, though, and since Alexis was a civilian, he decided to blame Sonny. OK, judging by the trail of bodies he left, he was a monster, but at least he was an honorable one. Luckily, that’s Carly’s type, which is probably why she fell for him.
Ric has never really been a mobster quite like his half brother, Sonny, or his dad, Trevor, but he has dabbled a bit here, there and, well, everywhere. He’s worked with the Alcazars, the Zaccharas and the Roscos and gone rogue a time or two with assorted kidnapping, blackmail and extortion. No matter what, though, he could never earn his dad’s respect. Maybe next time, he should just do something completely off the rails like being a decent human being.
Luke’s always had a dark side, whether it was his incredibly problematic start with Laura or his Mob work with Frank Smith. He did have limits, though. Laundering money — great. Assassinating people — not so great. But that all changed when “Fluke” took over and forced the Jeromes into working for him. Was it a double? A twin? A mask? No, it was Luke’s alternate personality! In Port Charles, therapy is out and starting your own Mob organization is in.
All things considered, Brad’s aunt, Selina Wu, seems like a half-decent gal. The Wus have been one of the Five Families of Port Charles since back in the days of Aztec treasure and jade Buddhas. Back then, mobsters were the bad guys, but these days, morality in Port Charles is a lot less black-and-white. Selina’s been more interested in working with Sonny than against him, so she can’t be all bad, right?
Say hi to Laura’s half brother. He’s one of the newest heavies to take on Port Charles, though he seems to spend the most time behind bars. Of course, running an empire from the slammer is pretty impressive in and of itself. And so is his extensive list of crimes — including his role in Julian’s death. These days, he claims to have found God and turned his life around in prison, but don’t expect us to turn blue from holding our breath on that one.
As Sonny’s right-hand man, Jason was a little bit of everything. Hitman, bodyguard, enforcer, handyman — OK, maybe not that last one, though he was pretty handy. “Fixer” might be a more accurate description. Jason even took over the Corinthos kingdom a few times, like when “Mike” was running around snogging Nina in Nixon Falls. Every now and then he’s presumed dead, but don’t worry, he always shows back up.
What, did you think we forgot Port Charles’ supreme don? Sonny was the man who made Mob life cool when he showed up in town back in 1993. Believe it or not, he wasn’t always the most powerful boss on the East Coast, either. He had to work his way up just like the rest of us, lying, cheating, stealing and killing until he was promoted from a Frank Smith flunky to head of his own Mafia family. Sonny’s not a bad guy. He’s just a guy who sometimes a lot of times does bad things.
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