Team Bucciarati

"A team we can trust... that's what we need to defeat the Boss."

- Bruno Bucciarati,

Team Bucciarati (ブチャラティチーム), also called Squadra Guardie del corpo (護衛チーム), is a squad in Passione whose members are all Stand users.

They are the primary allies to protagonist Giorno Giovanna in the 5th part of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series, Vento Aureo.

Description
Team Bucciarati is a 6-man team of gangsters belonging to the Passione gang. Like much of Passione, they are all men and Stand Users. Team Bucciarati is unique in that Bucciarati has built his team out of society's dregs, meeting each of his members at the lowest point in their lives and taking an active role in uplifting them. As such, they are a close-knit group united as much by comradery as by their deference to Bucciarati's leadership. Giorno Giovanna is the only exception to this, having instead convinced Bucciarati to let him enter the gang.

Team Bucciarati's main activity is to protect their assigned territory and collect the protection money from the restaurants and port, a job at which they excelled considering Bucciarati's popularity. It is shown that people gladly salute him on the streets, and at the same time Bucciarati hears their requests for help, for instance sending a man to investigate a woman's death to grant closure to the father. It is also stated that they performed menial "gang work" too.

After delivering Polpo's treasure to Pericolo, Bucciarati was promoted to the rank of capo, gaining all the territories and businesses under Polpo's management. However, the team had no time to enjoy their standing, as they were assigned a mission to bodyguard Trish Una, the Boss' daughter. Managing despite La Squadra Esecuzioni chasing them across all of Italy, Bucciarati managed to deliver Trish to the Boss, only to find out that he planned to kill her. Angered, Bucciarati would rebel and the majority of his team would follow him.

History
Bruno Bucciarati joined Passione in 1990, and formed his team over the years.

At two points in the past, Bucciarati recruited Leone Abbacchio, who was at the time a destitute policeman, and Pannacotta Fugo, who got thrown out of university.

The anime adaptation expands on both of these recruitments. Bucciarati met Fugo at the restaurant Libeccio when a then homeless Fugo attempted a dine-and-dash only to be caught but then explaining that the law would be lenient. Impressed, Bucciarati heard his story out and asked him to join his team, assuring him that his violent fits would be turned into a positive characteristic. Moved, Fugo was the first of Bucciarati's subordinates. At one point, Bruno heard about Leone Abbacchio and gave a chance for the former cop to have a new life. Abbacchio then accepted.

Pannacotta Fugo would then meet a hapless Narancia Ghirga, and introduced him to Bucciarati. Bucciarati then had Narancia taken care of and his eye disease cured. Seeing these two men treat him like a real human being despite being complete strangers, Narancia decided to work for Bucciarati. While Bucciarati was against him joining Passione, Narancia met Polpo on his own accord and entered the gang.

In 2000, Bucciarati heard of a certain Guido Mista who was involved in a shootout. Sensing potential in the teenager and knowing that the righteous Mista couldn't survive in prison, he pulled some strings and had him bailed out of jail and recruited in the gang.

Sleeping Slaves
In March 29, 2001, the team's fate was sealed. A florist asked Bucciarati to investigate the murder of his daughter. Bucciarati gave the investigation to Mista. Mista then encountered the sculptor Scolippi and his Stand Rolling Stones which predicted Bucciarati's death. Mista managed to break the stone but unbeknownst to the Gang, it predicted the death of Bucciarati, Narancia, and Abbacchio. At the same time, Bucciarati was tasked to find whoever killed Luca.

Vento Aureo
Bruno Bucciarati would meet Giorno Giovanna, the one responsible for Luca's death. Ordered to dispose of the boy, a fight ensued, but Giorno made a deal with Bucciarati, who was against the gang selling drugs in the streets. Bucciarati agreed to let Giorno infiltrate Passione but would not actively help him, especially if he was caught. Giorno Giovanna was then admitted in the gang, and killed Bucciarati's direct superior Polpo. Giorno was now part of Bucciarati's team and a place for lieutenant was available. The team headed to Capri in order to seize a treasure Polpo hid, defeating rival gang members Mario Zucchero and Sale on the way, and successfully gave several billions' worth of jewels to the lieutenant Pericolo. Bucciarati was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, but Pericolo immediately gave him an assignment meant for Polpo at the time of his death.

The team was assigned to Trish Una's protection and escort as she was the Boss' daughter, and they hid in the countryside for several days. However Formaggio of Squadra Esecuzioni, a team of assassins gone rogue, tracked Narancia and a violent fight ensued. While Formaggio was killed, the collateral damage would attract the other assassins, resulting in the Boss assigning Bucciarati another task.

The team was to retrieve an item in Pompeii. Giorno, Fugo and Abbacchio were sent, and retrieved a key while killing Illuso. The gang then headed to Naple's train station to take a train toward Florence. A turtle named Coco Jumbo was given to the gang so that its Stand Mr.President would help hide them. However the duo Prosciutto and Pesci managed to find them, and though both were killed by Bucciarati, they managed to stop the train and inform the assassin Melone of their whereabouts.

The team hitched a ride for a time until Mista knocked the driver out, forcing them to stop in a parking. Giorno suggested that they steal a car, and in order to confuse the assassins, transformed several cars into frogs to make it look like several cars were stolen. At the same time the gang was hijacking a car, Melone's Stand Baby Face almost managed to kidnap Trish and incapacitate Bucciarati, but Giorno managed to defeat the Stand and remotely killed Melone with a venomous snake. The gang was now free to roam.

The Boss then asked Abbacchio to rewind events inside the turtle, reenacting Pericolo's last instruction to retrieve a disk in Venice's train station before committing suicide. While the team would go to the city with a boat, Giorno and Mista were sent to retrieve the disk, and defeated together the assassin Ghiaccio. The disk contained the Boss' last instruction to the gang: head to the San Giorgio Maggiore island and have one person deliver Trish to the top of the belfry. Bucciarati accompanied Trish, but the Boss revealed his secret motive to kill her, an action which outraged Bucciarati. He rebelled openly and fought the Boss, however King Crimson's time erasure was an invincible power and Bucciarati barely escaped with the assistance of Giorno, dying but revived by him. Bucciarati then announced his rebellion to the rest of his subordinates, and though all were terrified, they joined Bucciarati in his rebellion save Pannacotta Fugo.

Still in Venice, Trish advised the gang to head to the island of Sardinia, where her mother encountered the Boss. They were then attacked by Squalo and Tiziano, however Narancia, with help from Giorno, defeated both Stand users. The group stole a jet and headed to Sardinia, but they were attacked by Carne's Stand Notorious B.I.G.. It proved invincible but the gang was saved by Trish who awakened her own Stand Spice Girl, and they reached Sardinia safely.

"Such... overwhelming force of will... from mere traitors... fated to die at the Boss' hands..."

- Squalo's last words

The Gang investigated La Costa Smeralda, where the Boss had taken a photo of Trish's mother, and Abbacchio's Moody Blues rewinded time to discover the Boss' face. However the event's age meant that it would take time to reach it. Bucciarati and Narancia were lured away by an attack, while Giorno and Mista looked over Trish. When Bucciarati came across a child tied up and with his clothes stolen, he realized too late that Abbacchio was left alone and defenseless, as he was killed by the Boss. Fortunately, his death was not in vain as the gang uncovered a mold negative of the Boss' face and handprints. While their search for any data concerning him was fruitless, it caught the attention of a third party which revealed the Boss' name: Diavolo, and proposed to meet in Rome so they would be given an Arrow able to unlock a power greater than that of King Crimson and able to defeat it. The group, despite initial skepticism, accepted the proposition and headed to Rome, followed by Diavolo himself.

As they reached the coast, the team confronted Cioccolata and Secco, two Stand users reluctantly sent by Diavolo who proved more than a match for them, incapacitating Narancia and forcing Trish to stay behind. In Rome, the group had to split up, Giorno and Mista defeating Cioccolata, and Bucciarati Secco. Both teams suffered massive wounds, with Bucciarati's body beginning to fail him as an undead. He fatefully met Doppio, Diavolo's split personality and was tricked into believing it was Trish, since he could only see people's souls, Trish's and Doppio/Diavolo's being extremely similar as family member. Diavolo would then use the opportunity of escorting the dying Bucciarati to the Colosseum and confronted the gang's ally, revealed to be Jean Pierre Polnareff, and although Polnareff was killed after a short fight, he used the arrow on himself. The newly awakened Stand Chariot Requiem put everyone in Rome to sleep once active.

The gang awakened, realizing that their souls, along with the entire population of Rome, were switched. Initially believing that Diavolo was in Bucciarati's body, they instead killed Doppio, and Diavolo killed Narancia in retaliation without anyone knowing how. The gang then followed Chariot Requiem into the streets of Rome to find a way to retrieve the Arrow from it, accompanied by Polnareff who was now in Coco Jumbo's body. Giorno realized that Diavolo was possessing one of them, but Diavolo hijacked Mista's body, having managed to find Chariot Requiem's weakness, and almost managed to take the Arrow. However, with help from Trish, Bucciarati sacrificed himself finishing off Chariot Requiem, forcing everyone's soul back in their bodies before Diavolo can use the Arrow.

Giorno, with newfound resolve from Bucciarati's spirit before it passed on, seized the Arrow, and used it to evolve his Stand into Gold Experience Requiem. Using its invincible ability, GER nullified King Crimson's power and Diavolo was promptly and finally defeated. With Giorno Giovanna and Guido Mista the only ones surviving the encounter, they went on to become Passione's next leaders, allowing Giorno to fulfill his dream of becoming a Gang-Star and changing the Italian mafia for the better.

Trivia

 * All members of the gang are playable in the game GioGio's Bizarre Adventure.
 * The anime adaptation introduces the Libeccio, a Napolitan restaurant that would become a recurring meeting point for Bucciarati and his team.