Michael Luzio, 2018
In Liberty City crime was a daily part of life for anyone from the east island, this was especially true for Michael Luzio who grew up in the Broker area. Luzio found his way into the Amato Crime Family throughout the late nineties and early 2000s where he gained a reputation as a brutal mob enforcer under the caporegime Charles Prato. In the mid 2000s Luzio was arrested by the Liberty City Police Department on illicit gambling charges, weapon and racketing charges, in 2006 he was convicted of illegal gambling and a weapons charge by a grand jury of Liberty City where he spent the next six years behind bars until his release in 2012. Upon his release he began working for Amato crime family made man Benjamin 'The Chin' Zappa, he gained a reputation as Zappa's button-man. Within the following years Luzio was inducted as a made member of the Amato crime family under Vincent 'The Old Man' Amato. In the mid to late 2010s Luzio and Zappa ran their main base of operations out of Cayuga Avenue in the Broker area of Liberty City, their operations consisted of illegal gambling, arms trafficking, and rigging boxing fights around the city. In 2021, Benjamin Zappa was convicted for charges of a car theft ring that was conducted through the Liberty City Port. A court document states that Zappa with the help of Luzio would steal cars and ship them to West Africa through the Liberty City Port, he was convicted and sent to prison for fifteen years. Luzio was acquitted of all charges, however.
Luzio made his rise in the late 2010s when a conflict arise between the Amato crime family and the 10th Street Crew, after a threat was made to Luzio's life. He began to be known as 'The Nose' to those who didn't like him, used as an insult. The following week after the threat on his life, Angelo 'Beluch' Belucchio was shot outside of his pizza shop in Broker by three unidentified gunmen. Following this incident 10th street crew associate Nicholas Brusca was driving through Broker when a vehicle cut him off, causing him to crash. Witnesses then say three gun men exited the vehicle and shot Brusca dead in his vehicle. Law enforcement suspects these murders were committed by Benjamin Zappa, Michael Luzio, and Roy Cavalieri. After the bloody conflict the 10th Street Crew went defunct in the area. In 2019, Vincent Amato, the suspected boss of the Amato Crime Family passed away at his home from a heart attack at the age of 82. Following the death of the boss, Luzio took control of the crime family with support by John Scarpena, the long time Underboss of Vincent Amato after a brief internal power struggle.
Upon Luzio's ascension to boss, a powerful crime family was inherited and the family began shifting away from petty criminal activities such as gambling and loan sharking, moving toward arms trafficking and drug trafficking through an Orthodox Jewish man, Seymour Swartz. As criminal activities began to shift so did police pressure and presence on the family and Luzio's activities. In 2021 after a lengthy investigation a shipping container headed for Ghana in West Africa was cracked by port authorities and inside revealed a multitude of stolen luxury vehicles. After Benjamin Zappa was indicted and lengthy investigation on Luzio that failed to turn up any incriminating evidence. Luzio once again popped up on law enforcement's radar for an incident at a night club in Downtown Liberty City, Luzio and his entourage were insulted by two men identified to be Frank Leone and Leonard Graciano. A fist fight broke out in the night club between the two groups which lead to Luzio very badly beating Leone, CCTV footage shows Leone on the ground being kicked and stomped by Luzio's entourage. In the winter of 2022, law enforcement's cases against Luzio intensified as well as internal tensions. These internal tensions reached a boiling point when Amato associate and Luzio's nephew Nathan Manfredi was shot and killed on Cayuga Avenue in what law enforcement labels as a 'mob hit'. One month later an attempt on his own life was made outside of the Broker Meat Market when two unidentified gunman opened fire as he left the store, in the process James Arbassio was gunned down and shot multiple times as a fire fight ensued. Both of the attackers were found dead in the street and Luzio had fled the scene, many people suspect the son of former Amato mob boss, Andrew Riccobene was involved in the attempt on his life. Following a bloody civil war that claimed many lives and federal indictments closing in on Luzio, he fled the city forever, taking a flight to Los Santos with any personal belongings that could fit in his suitcase. He is described by close friends as a very self centered, greedy, and angry man. While he inherited a powerful crime family, his reign as Boss was marked with a rapid rise of power, his greediness, internal bloodshed, violence and law enforcement pressure on the family until his departure from Liberty City. After the bloody internal civil war and law enforcement indictments the crime family was left in shambles of it's former self.
This thread will follow and showcase the development of a Michael Luzio, now a washed up former crime family boss casted into retirement.
