CHARACTERS
“If you choose not to get involved in politics, you leave major decisions to people like my characters.”
– John Houle
HENRY MERCUCIO, 30, is lawyer and campaign consultant who ran Congressman Ray McNally’s campaign for Governor of Rhode Island and is the primary consultant for the Providence mayoral election. He is Irish-Italian, from a working family from the affluent Boston suburb of Wellesley, Massachusetts, and is a graduate of Boston College and Georgetown Law School. Henry has traded a promising law career for his passionate love of politics, having served as Congressman McNally’s political advisor during and after law school. He woos the love of his life, Lynsday Sinclair, the heiress of a tobacco fortune from North Carolina, who follows him to Providence, RI, where he runs Congressman McNally’s failed bid for governor. Henry joins McNally at the most prestigious Providence law firm, and when the opportunity arises for the firm’s candidate to assume power in Providence, Henry is recruited to run the campaign. A personal misstep almost derails his meticulously organized campaign plans, but the resolute Henry applies all his talent and tactics to outmaneuver his opponents in a high stakes political game. His unique skill set soon catches the eye of an unsuspecting patron, who introduces Henry to a world even more sinister than the one he retreated from. Despite his sometimes unscrupulous maneuvers, Henry at his core is good and fights for the ideals ingrained in him and which he is committed to preserve.
LYNDSAY SINCLAIR, 27, is Henry’s fiancée and a medical resident in the Medicine-Pediatrics program at Brown University’s medical school. A Southern debutante, she and her three sisters will inherit the Sinclair fortune, which dates back to the founding of the republic, flourished during the reign of tobacco, and transformed into an international conglomerate by Lyndsay’s father, Reggie Sinclair. Lyndsay herself is a kind soul, afforded the opportunity to choose any path in life and committed to treating children with cancer. She chose the MedicalPediatrics Residency Program at Brown University not only for its collegial nature, but to follow true love to Providence. Lyndsay’s unconditional love and support is instrumental for Henry overcoming his obstacles, but she is no shrinking violet. Her strength balances Henry, so he can focus on what truly matters in life.
JOHN CAMPAGNA, 45, is a city councilman from Providence’s Silver Lake district and a candidate for Mayor of Providence. The son of a gregarious political boss, the modest Campagna is a political technocrat who is also more comfortable helping his needy constituents than hobnobbing with the political and business elite. He represents the restoration of good government in Providence. During his term when the state faces its greatest challenge to its sovereignty, Campagna reluctantly accepts the democratic nomination for governor. He defeats a Republican challenger and guides the state through its darkest hour.
RAYMOND MCNALLY, 60, is a former Democratic congressman from Rhode Island, District 2, and current power broker and partner at a prestigious Providence law firm. McNally is the poster child for old time politics, having come up through the ranks of the local machine. A de facto father figure for Henry, he supports his career but intervenes in Henry’s campaigns as his own opportunities arise. A womanizer but talented pol, McNally is an anachronism of what the Me Too movement fights against. He is the consummate deal maker in both politics and business.
GERALDINE BEAKO, 40, was Congressman McNally’s former district director and now works as the senior vice president of CampCo Construction. Beako is Henry’s foil, the epitome of what Henry does not want to become. With her company’s business interests in jeopardy when the mayor flees the country, Beako is charged with recruiting and delivering a new mayor into power. She takes advantage of Henry’s major misstep, desperately attempting to hold on to power. While she is ultimately exiled from Providence, she returns in the future to ally herself with new interests.
MAYOR JACK DONOVAN, 55, is currently the longest serving Mayor of Providence, Rhode Island. A once promising politician, this youngest mayor of Providence with a bright political future chooses graft and corruption to support his cocaine addiction. Upon learning of his impending indictment on racketeering charges, he decides to flee abroad rather than face conviction. Escaping from a cultural exchange in Ireland, he makes his way to continental Europe where he hides out in Prague in comfort while enjoying every forbidden fruit. Taking up with a Lithuanian prostitute, he attempts a last ditch attempt to return to power.
TERRY SILBERMAN, 66, is Mayor Jack Donovan’s chief of staff who runs the largest organized municipal racketeering ring in the country. What starts as a minor bribes for city contracts scheme mushrooms into a full blown enterprise of corruption, all orchestrated by the savvy Silberman. Finding himself in federal prison, he keeps close tabs on the mayor’s sabbatical abroad. He ultimately finds redemption with an opportunity to apply his talents to help his country.
DANNY CONROY, 28, is special assistant to Mayor Donovan and Terry Silberman. The recently displaced special assistant to the mayor and Silberman, Conroy is a former bartender turned political handler. With one boss missing abroad and the other incarcerated, he becomes the instrument on the outside for Silberman to keep tabs on the mayor. When his own opportunity arises, he must choose between the woman he desires or the father figure who created him. Though he ultimately is betrayed himself, he makes himself an invaluable ally to Henry as his chief protector.
JANA STRAKOVA, 25, is a Lithuanian social worker living in Prague, Czechia. With little opportunity, she works as a high end call girl whose clients include diplomats and industrialists. She becomes the mayor’s sexual and business partner in his scheme to return to power. Her stunning beauty hides a cunning intellect, and she ultimately double crosses the men who think they control her. After disappearing with ill gotten treasure, she is found and recruited to apply her special talents.
REGINALD “REGGIE” SINCLAIR, 62, is Lyndsay Sinclair’s father and a Southern industrialist. The head of the Sinclair Group, he transformed his family’s tobacco fortune into a multinational conglomerate. The father of four daughters, he hails from Scottish royalty who helped settle the South, and has fought for freedom since the founding of the Republic. Recognizing the talents in his son-in-law, Henry, he plucks him away from politics to help run his empire. Inviting Henry into his internal world, he teaches Henry how the world of high finance and business operate.
JIMMY CALLAHAN, 35, is a Deputy US Attorney for the Rhode Island district. He develops the RICO case against Mayor Donovan, only to be thwarted by his disappearance. He launches his own personal crusade to find the mayor, selling his family home and taking an extended leave to search for the mayor in Europe. He is instrumental to the Mayor’s ultimate demise.
MICHAEL CARBONERRI, 43, is an FBI special agent investigating Mayor Donovan’s administration. He runs an undercover operation with an unsuspecting building developer to capture the mayor’s chief of staff on tape taking a bribe. He is instrumental in helping his colleague at the Justice Department, Jimmy Callahan, bring the mayor to justice.
FRANK PETROZELLA, 48, is a Providence building developer and FBI undercover informant. His lone brave act helps usher in a new day for Providence.