Zanelli

## ザネリ

Zanelli (ザネリ) is one of the two soldiers under Bernardo's direct command and one of the five Capo candidates. He's the de facto commander of Ortolani's soldatos and associates, in charge of laying the groundwork, moving, and directing their men as needed and according to orders from the administration. Zanelli's commands must be obeyed, and no authority stands above him save for his immediate superior, the Caporegime.

When the capo, Bernardo, is absent or unavailable, Zanelli assumes command and reigns supreme. As a result, he must make ends meet as efficiently as possible while maintaining the status quo. Since Zanelli is the one entrusted with overseeing their compatibility and how they work, he bears the brunt of responsibility for any of the soldiers and associates under his leadership.

Thanks to his rank, Zanelli and his fellow capo candidates are given special rights to attend executive meetings and receive direct orders from either their immediate Boss or the second Capo himself. On business trips or day-to-day work, the capo candidates are also the first to accompany their capos, if not the Boss.

## Appearance

Zanelli has gray eyes and dark-blue grayish hair that falls to his shoulder that has a natural straight volume. In the story, he's characterized as having good looks and a trim build, with a preference for formal attire. Zanelli typically wears a two-piece gray suit with a black pair of glasses.

## Personality

Exhibiting a rather jaded and impartial demeanor most of the time, Zanelli has a very strong sense of responsibility and duty; conscientiously and obediently fulfilling what's expected of him.

Due to his field of work being mainly similar to that of information brokerage, Zanelli specializes in running background checks on parties that posses possible threats to the family, as well as, being well versed in knowledges that concerns the nature of their work.

During most times, Zanelli is rationally thinking and acting in accordance with reason and logic. He has a tight grasp on his gut reactions, managing emotions well in difficult situations, and not easily disturbed or affected in dire times. Though, there are some cases which are exceptions to his nature.

Owing to his serious nature, Zanelli almost never smiles save for rare, unexpected occasions.

In addition to his stern attitude, Zanelli talks in a glacial voice when giving commands which he switches from, to a calm tone in most tension-free situations. Gian describes Zanelli's voice when reporting as a rhythm that rides on the drowsy, rhythmic sound of a typewriter.

Zanelli is straightforward even with his superiors, he minces no words when speaking his mind nor spares effort to sugar-coat them. Furthermore, he has a methodical and systematic thought process or behavior, thanks to the nature of his work which involves independent work to identify possible problems and handling them as soon as possible, Zanelli relies mostly on his own critical thinking and judgment; not limited to act according to orders from above, worse, possibly acting against them.

Besides being diligent and working efficiently, Zanelli is consistently good in quality and is reliable therefore he gains the approval of his higher-ups ranging from Consiglieres to Capos including Gian who takes an interest in Zanelli knowing he'll be of great benefit to him later on.

Zanelli is especially trustworthy to Bernardo, who expresses his gratitude at one point for having Zanelli as one of his men.

## Weaknesses

Zanelli's sensible judgement, usually put in his superiors' best interest, shifts in times where orders clash with his own loyalty to his direct capo, Bernardo Ortolani.

A downside to his extreme sense of responsibility, Zanelli completely loses his cool and becomes stale when things he's responsible for get out of hand, believing utterly it's his fault, he blocks his thought process and ability to react.

## Biography

Zanelli mainly handles intellectual work varying from running thorough background checks on targets: knowing their location, tracing their every phone call, and keeping an updated profile on them, to offering assistance to the soldiers by providing necessary information and giving directions if needed.

Often studying key information and identifying patterns, this allows Zanelli to provide conclusions or offer predictions to help the top-brass make more well-thought decisions and operations.

In addition to processes of thinking, Zanelli composes up-to-date reports that contains all and highly technical information such as evaluations, reviews of processes, and the family's workforce. He gathers necessary data, including ones that helps with the overall financial development of the family, to present to his higher-ups.

In Demon's Ringlet, it's also revealed that Zanelli has an understanding of installation and inspection of electrical components, identifying electrical problems and workings of wires.

Considering the nature of Zanelli's work, he's almost never on the frontlines, but rather, spending the majority of his time in an office or working remotely with computers and telephones. Zanelli mainly works individually or closely with Bernardo and, at times, other top heads in the administration, including Gian.

## Trivia

Zanelli along with Campanella and Giovanni share first names with the characters from the Japanese novel, Night on the Galactic Railroad by Kenji Miyazawa, which is the inspiration the game writer, Suganuma, took for Lucky Dog 1's light novel Night of the Galaxy Way.

Zanelli's counterpart in the original novel is one of Giovanni's bullies and is later saved from drowning by Campanella who loses his life while saving him.

## Relationships

**Bernardo Ortolani:** Zanelli's apathetic and almost indifferent demeanor slightly changes when it comes to Bernardo; his tone of voice changes and his list of priorities shifts. In one instance, Zanelli stops Bernardo to ask him to take care after informing Bernardo about the whereabouts of their enemies' base. Given Zanelli's loyalty to Bernardo, he worries for him even outside of work, starting from suggesting that Bernardo take a break and delegate the rest of his responsibilities to his subordinates, to going out of his way to make Bernardo's work as convenient as possible, even when it comes to personal matters.

Zanelli holds Bernardo in high regard and trust, risking his position once by leaking information from the administration and other mafia leaders so that Bernardo could take the necessary precautions and be forewarned.

**Giovanni:** At the surface of things, Giovanni and Zanelli have a professional relationship that doesn't go further than work-related matters, however, Zanelli tags much of the time with Giovanni be it work or their days-off and the two are frequently seen together as both are Bernardo's direct Soldatos and his capo candidates. In fact, they have a shared camaraderie as Giovanni is Zanelli's closest workmate as well as his closest friend.

While it isn't always obvious, Zanelli is often the polar opposite of Giovanni: if Giovanni is moderately tolerant, Zanelli is ruthlessly stern; if Giovanni is more prone to showing different emotions, Zanelli isn't.

**Giancarlo Bourbon Del Monte:** Zanelli pledges absolute loyalty and obedience to him as Gian is his ultimate Boss. Gian runs into Zanelli at headquarters on a regular basis however doesn't know much about him past the fact he was Bernardo's subordinate. Later after observing him working and seeing how capable he is, believing Zanelli will prove useful to him in the future, Gian decides to learn of Zanelli's name and become more familiar with him.

**Gianpietro Campanella:** Aside from their shared fellowship as Soldatos and potential Cadres, Campanella and Zanelli's relationship is shallow to say the least.

However, at one time, after Campanella almost lost his arm while preventing a wiring fault that Zanelli devised himself, Zanelli felt terribly guilt-ridden for Campanella and offered to do anything he wanted as a compensation, but Campanella only asked Zanelli to invite him and Piaggi to dinner and to bring Giovanni along. This surprised Zanelli, who realized that Campanella didn't hold any ill feelings toward him as a result of the incident and was rather amicable with him, to which he was grateful for.