Lorenzo Valenti

Major Story Arcs

Lorenzo Valenti is leader of one of the five main gangs in New York in the Shadow’s universe, as portrayed in the Grendel vs the Shadow crossover.

One of his lieutenants is Johnny Palumbo, who helps him run the family’s business. Lorenzo’s daughter is Sofia, a strikingly beautiful and intelligent woman who is also extremely ambitious, and feels that her father’s management of the mob could be more expansive.

Lorenzo is very unhappy when Grendel (Hunter Rose) arrives in town and starts taking over all the organized crime in the city, starting with the Valentis. He is old-school and believes they are being disrespected. He had also planned on taking over all the mobs himself, so Grendel is ruining his plans. However he does appreciate the extra money that Grendel makes for the mobs. Meanwhile, Sofia starts to romance and seduce Rose.

Eventually Sofia manipulates Lorenzo into trying to kill Grendel and take over all the mobs himself, at which point she kills her father using Grendel’s fork. However she then reveals that she has been secret lovers with Johnny the whole time, and they plan to frame Grendel for Lorenzo’s death so that she and Johnny can take over the gang.

It turns out that Johnny shares the same last name as Grendel’s adopted daughter, Stacy Palumbo. It is possible that, at least in the Shadow universe and potentially also in the Grendel universe, Johnny and Sofia have children, one of which is either Barry Palumbo, Stacy’s uncle, or Stacy Palumbo’s parents. This would make Lorenzo either the direct or indirect ancestors of Barry, Stacy, and Christine Spar, and thus an important forefather of the Grendel legacy.