Database: Antonio

Date of Birth: 1443. Profession: Leader of the Gilda dei Ladri di Venezia (Venetian Thieves Guild).

Antonio was born at the very bottom of Venetian society. Records indicate his father was a cobbler while his mother was a live-in maid for the Bellini family.

Teaching himself to read and write between apprenticeship sessions with his father, Antonio applied to the University of Padua, but was denied due to his low social rank. Documents found in several Italian archives indicate he applied to other schools around Italy as well, and was denied at all of them. Around 1465, he drops out of the record books, only to re-emerge four years later in connection with a robbery of a notable Venetian estate that happened to be owned by the rector of the University of Padua.

In a statement recorded by the city guard, before Antonio mysteriously escaped from prison, he said: "Hard work is not enough to gain superiority in Venetian society. If one truly wants more, one has to take it!"