Mario was born in a little village in the middle of Sicily (Italy).

He grew up in a very religious Christian family.

During Christmas time he saw glimpses of an old man, dressed in a red suit and with a big white beard on television. When he asked his parents about him, they turned off the television.

When he kept nagging about him, they told him that he was a bad man who defiles the Holy feast of our saviour Jesus Christ. He was lost in confusion. How could this friendly looking grandpa who handed out presents be a bad man? When he grew up he wanted to be Santa Claus !
When little Mario became of age, he joined the local mafia family like the rest of his childhood friends. It was a fast way to start your career. Because of his robust appearance his first job was being the bodyguard of the local capo. He had a lot of talent with handling guns and was able to blend in well in spite of his appearance.

This led him to becoming a respected hitman of the Cosa Nostra.

The burden of his “hits” eventually became too much to bear.

He retired from his sinful life and thought of ways to repent for all his sins.  He remembered his childhood dream of becoming the new Santa. Mario posted a letter to the North Pole in which he solicited for an internship. A week later he got a response, written in a delicate handwriting, that after a thorough background check they had to respectfully decline his candidature.

Mario is now determined to persuade Santa to give him a second chance by devoting his life to making people happy as Mario the magician. Every evening he makes unexpected appearances at the most diverse locations throughout Sicily. With his magic tricks he gets the crowd astonished but at the same time laughing. In the grand finale he flies away with his umbrell-O-copter (he knows it’s not very original but has to give the thing a name) and vanishes.