AmicoNostra

After a 25 year stretch, Phillip "Short-Cake" Battaglia, begins rebuilding his reputation.

Phillip Battaglia’s 1998 mugshot, where he was arrested for the murder of Lawrence Grossman. By the late 90s, Phillip was hooked on practically any pharmaceutical that had an anesthetic effect. Phillip was getting so high on his own supply, that he began costing himself serious money. On a daily basis, Phillip was consuming everything from cocaine to painkillers. Phillip’s biggest fear about prison, was that he wouldn’t be able to get high twenty-four-seven. As of 2023, Phillip is clean, and has been for over twenty years.

Phillip “Short-Cake” Battaglia- 1977, Liberty City. “Early Life” Phillip “Short-Cake” Battaglia was born January 3rd, 1956, in Hove Beach, Broker, Liberty City. Battaglia grew up in extreme poverty, in a mob-imprinted neighborhood, where wiseguys and crooks had a chokehold on local businesses. In Phil’s neighborhood, the only that mattered, were mob-guys. Throughout his childhood, Phillip painted a stereotype in his head, of what a working man is- a sucker. A submissive loser, who works hard all his life for a lousy pay, to pay off mortgage on his lousy house. It was engraved in Phillip’s mind at a young age, that he wouldn’t suffer the fait, of the average working man in his neighborhood. Besides powerful and well-structured crime organizations in the ‘70s and 80s, there were also many small street gangs in Liberty City, one of which was the “Hove Beach Gang”, who obviously stated by their name, operated in Hove Beach. Gangs like the “Hove Beach Gang”, were usually formed by young men, as well as teens, who didn’t have the age nor the notoriety to be picked up by mobsters. Some gangs had direct ties to organized crime families, but the “Hove Beach Gang”, was not one of them. In the early 70s, Phillip fell in with this wild bunch of misled teens, and quickly became a member of their clique. Phillip was an excellent car thief, as he knew everything there was to know about cars, since he had worked in his uncle’s auto shop since he was little. By hot-wiring and stealing cars, Phillip made a small fortune at a young age. “More Than The Eyes Can Bare” As much as Phillip felt at home with his new friends, who he now viewed as brothers, Phillip was levels ahead of the crooks he surrounded himself with, both mentally and when it came to making money. Phillip hadn’t progressed much when it came to rackets, as stealing cars, and selling certain parts, brought in enough money to please Phillip and fulfill his needs. On a late, snowy night in 1982, Phillip and his close friend, David DeMagnolio, decided to rob the house of an old lady, who supposedly was sitting on a bunch of cash, because she had no trust in banks. Phillip opened the front door with a lock pick, and the two headed inside. It was meant to be a clean job, the two were to sneak inside quietly, retrieve the money from the old lady, which was hidden in a small fireplace upstairs, and then get out of there. Unknowingly to Phillip, David had a .38 Smith & Wesson revolver tucked in his jeans. While David snuck upstairs to grab the money, Phillip searched the ground floor to find any valuables. Shortly after David went upstairs, Phillip heard a loud and haunting scream from the old lady, followed up by the roaring sound of a revolver being fired. Phillip ran upstairs, to find the old lady slumped over beside her bed. The wall and bedsheets were painted with her brains and blood splatter. For a minute, Phillip stood over the old lady in complete shock, before David grabbed his shoulder and said in a soothing voice: “I got the cash, Phill, let’s get the fuck outta’ here…” “Clean Slate” After that night, nobody saw Phillip’s face again. At first, people assumed he got picked up by the police and was now cooperating, but as time went by, it seemed he had just disappeared. In reality, Phillip was so shook up by the killing, that he packed his stuff immediately, and left for Los Santos the very next day. Phillip had family in Los Santos, so to him, it was an opportunity for a fresh start, and to ask the lord for forgiveness. Phillip planned to lead a straight life, free of murder and theft. In LS, Phillip got a job stocking shelves at a VHS store, but only showed up to work twice, before quitting the job. He then began driving trucks, and preferred it over stocking shelves. Phillip could spend time on the road, keeping to himself and his own thoughts. Sometime in the mid ‘80s, Phillip met his future wife, Catherine DeGrassi, who was a friend of his cousin. The two quickly fell in love, and it didn’t take long for them to move in together. Catherine didn’t work, so the two relied completely on Phillip’s short income. Phillip started working extra hard, over the next few years, but he was still making barely enough money to feed his wife. In 1988, Catherine became pregnant with Phillip’s child. Phillip knew right then and there, that if he wanted his kid to live a better life than his, he had to be able to provide for them, like his own parents never could. Phillip was determined to do so, no matter the cost. “The Accardo Connect” Through Phillip’s older cousin, Phillip got connected to a guy named Henry Rossi. Henry Rossi was a soldier with the Accardo crew, a crew that was linked to the biggest crime organization in Los Santos at the time. Henry was a middle-aged, half-assed wiseguy, with roots going back to Sicily, like Phillip himself. Phillip met Henry at a bar called “The Tatz Janeesa”, where Phillip offered Henry truckloads of electronics and other valuables, if Henry was willing to pay Phillip a commissions fee. Henry, being the eager Guinea he was, of course agreed without hesitation. And just like that, Phillip was connected to the San Andreas Crime Family. Throughout the course of a year, Phillip and Henry surprisingly grew very close. Henry spotted an inner soldier in Phillip, and therefor viewed him as more of a muscleman, than a truck driver. Eventually, Henry offered Phillip a full time position, working under him, as an associate to the Accardo crew. With a newborn son in the house, Phillip quickly agreed. “The Rise Of Short-Cake” In LS during the late 80s, most guys were scoring dope, or scoring bets and loans. Since Phillip was horrible with numbers, he decided to dabble into the coke business. Through Henry, Phillip had a connect who could offer grade-A cocaine at a fair price. Phillip wasn’t a dealer. His job was to buy the pure cocaine from his connect, and sell it to smaller fish in the sea. In ‘89, Phillip established a solid name and reputation for himself, in the underground world of Los Santos. Phillip was later given the nickname “Short-Cake” due to his tiny size. The early 90s were a glorious time. Phillip was kitted in Fila Tracksuits and Cartier watches, distributing cocaine like it was ice cream, and with that, polluting the streets and poisoning its citizens. Catherine knew something was wrong, when over the course of three years, Phillip moved the family from a 2 bedroom bungalow, to a 4 bedroom colonial home. However she enjoyed the fruits of Phillip’s labor, and therefor said nothing. Phillip now had two children: His oldest child, Robert Battaglia, and his youngest child, Isabella Battaglia. Although Phillip wasn’t home much, he loved his children to death. In 1998, things took a turn for the worst. Phillip was ordered by Henry Rossi, to kill an old, Jewish bookmaker in Las Venturas. Initially, Phillip abstained from doing it, since it secretly brought him back to when he witnessed an old lady get shot, but after little persuasion, Phillip agreed. In his Lexus SC300, Phillip drove to Las Venturas, with a gun in the waistband of his tracksuit pants, and a small picture of his target. Upon arriving late at night, Phillip drove straight to the bookie-office, and waited for the man to leave. After an hour, Phillip saw an obese man with a pointy nose, stagger out of the front door of the shop with a hunched-over back posture. Phillip slid out of his car, and walked towards the man, who was locking the door to his office. Phillip withdrew his gun and shot the man in the back of the head. As Phillip turned around to get back into his car, he saw a young couple across the street, looking straight at him. Both the couple and Phillip froze. Phillip abruptly ran to his car, and jumped back into the Lexus, speeding off. It took the cops two days to find Phillip, and when police came knocking at his door to take him away, he complied. Phillip was charged with first-degree murder, and was sentenced to 30 years in prison, with the possibility of parole. “The Fall Of Short-Cake” In 2004, Catherine Battaglia was diagnosed with lung cancer. She passed away the same year, leaving their two children as orphans. Phillip was devastated. He was at an all-time low. He tried several times to write letters to his kids, but got no word back. In prison, Phillip suffered from severe depression and anxiety. In 2023, Phillip was granted parole, and was finally released back onto the street. The streets that he once knew, had now changed completely. The game that he once knew, had new players, but the exact same rules. As an old man in Los Santos, Phillip is completely unknown. The reputation he spent years building, has now completely vanished. He is now nothing but a washed-up, old man. A shell of a tough-guy. In Phillip’s mind, at the ripping age of 66, there is no other thing he can do, than try to regain the reputation he once had.