General Hospital's Most Memorable Mobsters
Mobsters have been an important part of the Port Charles community, with Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) being the most powerful, as he controls the Northern Seafront on "General Hospital." Mob boss Frank Smith (then George Gaines) was the one who started it all back in 1980, and because of him and gangster Joe Scully (Robert Miano), Sonny wouldn't be where he is today. Throughout the years, there have been mentions of, and meetings with, a collaboration of all the major criminal organizations of the Eastern territories known as the Five Families. Many of their meetings have been presided over by a neutral arbiter named Consigliere Tucci (first David Grant Wright, then Ray Proscia). Some of these "families" included the Jeromes, the Zaccharas, and the Renault organization. Since 2015, the Five Families consisted of The Triad, the Five Points, the Russian Bratva, the Cosa Nostra, and the Northern Seafront.
Sonny eliminated Mr. Serge from the Bratva, and his enforcer, Jason Morgan (Steve Burton) blew up Vincent Novak and Charles Buscema of the Five Points and Cosa Nostra respectively. Now, Sonny and Selina Wu (Lydia Look) of the Triad are the only ones left, and have a tenuous alliance. Beyond Sonny there have been many other memorable mobsters in Port Charles, including Theo Hoffman, aka The Balkan (Daniel Benzali), Manny Ruiz (Robert LaSardo), and Cyrus Renault (Jeff Kober).
From among the ridiculous amount of "General Hospital" mobsters over the years, we present our list of the top five most memorable ones.
5. Chaing Wu aka Mr. Wu
In 2013, fans were excited to learn that troublemaker Brad Cooper (Parry Shen) was Selina Wu's nephew, when he told Lucas Jones (Ryan Carnes) that he was part of a mob family from Port Charles' Asian Quarter. His great-grandfather was the sinister Mr. Chaing Wu, played menacingly by Aki Aleong, who was in soaps like "As The World Turns" among many other TV shows and films. Mr. Wu oppressed the community, which included extortion and a slave trade. He searched for two jade Buddhas containing two black pearls, and was at odds with a kindly elder called The Ancient One, played by veteran character actor Keye Luke ("Gremlins," 1984). Robin Scorpio (Kimberly McCullough) had unwittingly acquired the black pearls, replacing her doll's eyes with them. After learning that Robert Scorpio (Tristan Rogers) and Anna Devane (Finola Hughes) were her parents, she ran away, and was captured by Mr. Wu.
Robert and Anna were aided by others including The Ancient One's grandson Yank Se Chung (Patrick Bishop) as they searched for Robin and worked to take down Mr. Wu. They were aided by Yank's rebel friends, the Green Shirts, and fantastic Kung-Fu fights broke out everywhere. It was great to see reliable actor/stuntman Al Leong, who's been in several films including "Die Hard" (1988), and "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" (1989), playing one of Mr. Wu's Kung-Fu battling baddies. This tale is memorable because it laid the groundwork for Selina's present-day criminal activities.
4. Olivia Jerome
Fans are no doubt familiar with Ava Jerome (Maura West), but some may not know about her criminal pedigree. Her father was Victor Jerome (Jack Axelrod), head of the Jerome crime family, and her siblings were Julian Jerome (first Jason Culp, later William deVry) and the unstable Olivia Jerome (Tonja Walker). The two vied for control of Victor's organization, causing a mob war to rage through the streets of Port Charles. Olivia obsessed over fellow mafioso, Duke Lavery (Ian Buchanan), and caused his then-wife Anna Devane to have a miscarriage, making the two women mortal enemies. But after interfering with Julian's schemes one too many times, he supposedly killed her.
Unsurprisingly, Olivia secretly survived and returned in 2017, wreaking havoc everywhere. She tried to get revenge on Julian by terrorizing his family, and even attempted to kill his pregnant daughter, Sam McCall (Kelly Monaco). In an unexpected, and thoroughly enjoyable twist, Olivia attempted to resurrect the deceased Duke Lavery by imbuing his soul into the body of his son, Griffin Munro (Matt Cohen). Who knew Olivia also dabbled in the Dark Arts? What made this story so much fun was that Walker really hammed it up as Olivia, who was completely out of her mind. With the help of Anna Devane and Sonny Corinthos, she was captured and sent up the river.
In 2022, Olivia's name was mentioned, and hopefully someday she'll escape prison to terrorize Port Charles again.
3. Faith Rosco
Before Ava Jerome was considered the Femme Fatale of Port Charles, there was the sultry, devious, and dastardly Faith Rosco (Cynthia Preston) on "General Hospital." Faith came to town in 2002, seeking revenge on Sonny Corinthos, whom she believed had previously killed her husband. Before she was assassinated by a sniper in 2005, she led a reign of terror that makes Esme Prince's (Avery Pohl) litany of crimes pale in comparison. Faith wasn't above killing her own grandmother with poison, drugging and kidnapping people, and committing all kinds of vile acts. She teamed up at times with the likes of Lorenzo Alcazar (Ted King) and Ric Lansing (Rick Hearst), but made the bad decision of hooking up with A.J. Quartermaine (then Billy Warlock) who convinced her to kidnap Sonny's kids: Michael Corinthos (then Dylan Cash), and his younger siblings, Kristina Davis and Morgan Corinthos. Big mistake.
In one of the most incredibly shot and choreographed gunfights in the history of "GH," Sonny, Jason, and FBI agent Reese Marshall (Kari Wuhrer), stormed Faith's base of operations in an effort to find the children. In spectacular slow motion, set to the tune of Mozart's "Requiem in D Minor," the battle raged on, and Jason — looking like the Terminator — fearlessly waded through the gunfire with a pistol in each hand, blasting Faith's minions to kingdom come.
Faith's unrepentant malevolence is still fondly remembered by fans today who get the occasional chill just thinking about her heinous deeds.
2. The Alcazar brothers
Rival gangsters are always coming to Port Charles to try and steal Sonny Corinthos' territory, and it was double the trouble when he clashed with the Alcazars.
Brenda Barrett (Vanessa Marcil) had been in a soapy love triangle with Sonny Corinthos and Jasper "Jax" Jacks (Ingo Rademacher) for years. However, she was believed dead when her gonzo mother Veronica Wilding (Jennifer Hetrick), decided to drive their car off a cliff. As expected, Brenda wasn't really dead because an international arms dealer named Luis Alcazar (Ted King) found her and nursed her back to health. After trying to eliminate Sonny and Jax, run guns through Sonny's territory, and cause general mayhem, Luis became street pizza when Alexis Davis (Nancy Lee Grahn) tossed him off his apartment balcony, 14 floors high.
Ted King was such a fan favorite that "General Hospital" brought him back as, you guessed it, Luis' equally-evil twin, Lorenzo Alcazar. His obvious motivation was revenge for his brother, so he went after Sonny and even kidnapped his wife, Carly Corinthos (Laura Wright). Things got ridiculous when she got shot in the head and had a coma dream about Lorenzo after which she awoke in love with him. Thankfully, that didn't last, and in the end, Jason Morgan slipped into the baddie's apartment, and shot him off-camera. However, King's ability to have both Alcazars get under people's skin so much so that they do wild things is what keeps this character alive in the viewers' memories.
1. Duke Lavery
Next to Sonny Corinthos, Duke Lavery is the most beloved and well-known mobster on "General Hospital." Although Sonny is considered a "good" mobster, or "the mobster with a heart of gold," Duke was one of nicest, most polite criminals you would ever meet. With his slicked back hair and Humphrey Bogart charm, he won the hearts of fans — and Anna Devane — almost immediately. He had worked with the Jeromes, and even tried to leave the mob for Anna's sake at one point, but we all know that never ends well. The couple often wowed everyone with their Tango routine. In 1989, after testifying against Olivia Jerome, he seemingly died in a warehouse fire, only to return with a new face and new name: Jonathan Paget (Greg Beecroft). But, Julian shot him dead, and Duke was thought gone for good — again.
Fans were mildly shocked when it turned out in 2012 that Duke had been in witness protection the whole time and came back to Port Charles. However, what they didn't expect was that it wasn't Duke at all. Instead, it was international super criminal Cesar Faison (Anders Hove) wearing a "Mission: Impossible"-style Duke mask. The real Duke eventually returned, rekindling his romance with Anna. But alas, as soaps often do, Duke was sadly killed yet again, this time by Carlos Rivera (Jeffrey Vincent Parise) — permanently, for now. As Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman always had Paris in "Casablanca," the fans will always have Duke and Anna's famous Tango dances to remember.