Mazz

Stephen Patrick Maslowe was Embraced over a century ago, and some of the habits of the time have died hard. As an English immigrant to the United States, he fulfilled his own Manifest Destiny and moved West, where he was Embraced after a brief affair with a woman who turned out to be a Kindred.

Shortly thereafter, he sank into torpor after a clash with his sire over who would be the sole Kindred in town. When he rose from his long sleep, Mazz didn’t miss a beat. In fact, aside from the obvious technological advances, he doesn’t think the world is too muchdifferent the police are all mavericks or morons; anyone with enough sense can stay ahead of the law and get rich doing it.

The society of Kindred hasn’t changed much since then, either. This time, though, he’s not going to be the one sent to torpor. With that frame of mind, Mazz caught a train to New York, where he had heard things weren’t too different from the frontier, in terms of Kindred matters. The city was avirgin territory, waiting to be exploited by somebody who knew how to do it.

Mazz started small, running a numbers racket in the East Village, but he expanded into minor extortion and protection. He co-opted a gang of Irish toughs, which helped him not only extend his sphere of influence but also bought him into the underworld scene he wasn’t a cowboy anymore, he was part of organized crime. That’s when things got weird.

As part of the love affair New York has with its quirky criminals, Mazz found himself in the tabloids and society pages here and there. Owing to the fact that he wasn’t exceptionally violent and didn’t traffic in drugs, the local media had created a NEW YORK BY NIGHT 88 mystique around the genteel “gentleman boss.

’’ After a while, the paparazzi even took to following him around when bigger celebrities couldn’t be found. By default, Mazz became one of New York‘s highest-profile Kindred. Mazz doesn’t squander his roots on his reputation, however.

He still runs numbers, still maintains protection rackets and counts himself as a “partner” in several East Village eateries and bars that’s why the locals love him. They know he’s a criminal, but no one’s ever been found overdosed or cut up in his wake. He’s a quaint, old-style gangster with whom the locals empathize for making his own way in a city that tried to tell him he couldn’t.

That’s not to say Mazz is soft; he’s quick to deal a drubbing if he suspects someone’s holding out on him or doesn’t give him the proper respect. But he’s no murderous drug fiend, like too many of the modern criminals who have no idea what the romance of the lifestyle means.

The local press had always represented Mazz as an eccentric, which bought him a little leeway regarding his “rough sex fetish” that sometimes left his partners bruised, bloodied and a little woozy. It also bought him fame and accolades among the Kindred, who admired that one of their own, through charisma rather than skullduggery, had acquired a social prominence in the city.

As such, many look to him for advice on behavior and decorum, and his opinion carries great weight among the young Kindred especially. For his part, Mazz treats his harpy status with an amused appreciation.

He likes the power it gives him, but he realizes that such things are fleeting should some other, more “serious” harpy come along, he wouldn’t be surprised if his own position lost some of its gravity. Still, that wouldn’t bother him too much.

As much as he enjoys being a harpy, leaving the responsibilities of that title behind would mean he could refocus on his rackets, which are currently handled by his right-hand man, Brian Rents.