Vincenzo (Vinny)
Santorini
Explosives
and Demolitions
Age:
38
Birthplace:
Palermo, Italy
Expertise:
Freelance
Munitions; Mining 1900, Special consultant to Italia Bridge and Tunnel, 1903-04,
demolitions expert, Sicily Construction 1904, explosives technician for
Bentivegna Family Concrete and Olive Oil Importers 1905, technical support and
advisor to Addario Meat Packing 1906, master’s degree in engineering and
demolitions; Delphi Prison Correspondence Reform Program 1909, bachelor’s
degree in advanced chemistry, Delphi Prison Correspondence Reform Program 1910,
technical overseer and hardrock blasting technitian, Whitmore Industries Mining
1913.
Background:
Vincenzo
“Vinny” Santorini is the eldest child of Humberto and Fabiola Sanntorini.
The parents own and operate a shop that specializes in floral
arrangements and holiday decorations.
Because of an unfortunate, and to date, unexplained explosion, the
Santorini family was forced to relocate their bussiness.
Young Vincenzo always seemed to have a passion for and a fascination with
fire, and was disciplined often as a small boy for lighting blazes.
After the accident with the flower shop in 1891, Vinny became more
obsessed with pyrotechnics and explosives.
He began to mix his own formula for TNT in 1894 when he was eighteen.
By the time he was twenty-two, Vinny was known as an accomplished amateur
chemist who specialized in explosive compounds.
It wasn’t until 1899 that he was able to prove himself professionally
in the field as an explosives expert. He
quickly grew in reputation and fame as an authority on demolitions, and garnered
the attentions of local businessman Enrico Bentivegna.
While in the employ of the Bentivegna family, Vinny seemed to drop from
public sight. Clues to his
whereabouts surfaced with the explosive destruction of several delivery trucks
of a business rival of Bentivegna. It
is known that Luca Addario approached Vinny about a career change in late 1905.
It is also known theat Enrico Bentivegna and four employees were killed
in an explosion that consumed their two automobiles.
Italian authorities were quick to place responsibility for the blast at
the feet of Vincenzo. He did a
stretch of time in Milan’s Delphi Prison, where he continued his education as
an expert in the fields of engineering and demolitions.
His sentence was reduced by forty-two years in 1911.
After that, employed with Whitmore Mining Division.
