The First Ward district of Newark wasn't known as the "white collar" neighborhood. In fact, it was pretty much the polar opposite. Primarily middle-class families with just enough money to afford a handful of vacations and just enough love to keep them all from killing each other when the stress got to be too much. Most of the families came from either strict Irish Catholic or even more stringent Italian families … either one was as likely to have a mother who could wield a wooden spoon with deadly accuracy and a cluster of brothers and sisters that could throw you under the bus with said mother. The Williams clan was no exception, of course.
Ma Williams came from an Italian family, and you always knew when she was upset with you because she'd suddenly go from speaking English to spouting off in perfect Italian. All four kids learned early on to fear the silence that followed a half-whispered "madone." Pop was the quiet Irishman, always caught somewhere between exhaustion and elation as he came home to sleep between shifts at the firehouse and touch base with his family. He and Ma had been together long enough that sometimes, their relationship seemed more comfortable than romantic, but the fights were always silent and the roses that appeared from time to time put a smile on Ma's face. The house was never short on noise and the family never short on love.
Danny Williams took after his mother in many ways. He was the oldest of all the kids, and because the universe really did have a sick sense of humor, he was also the shortest. He learned to defend himself pretty early on, using either his mouth or his fists and the neighborhood kids stopped picking him by the time he'd given more than half of them a "reason to bitch." By the time Stella, Diane, and Matty came along, Danny had established himself as the neighborhood boss. He was the one other kids deferred to when figuring out what they were going do in Branch Brook Park on a Friday night or stood up to kids from other neighborhoods when they started bullying kids from his own area.
This led to his reputation preceding him in many ways, and by the time he was twelve years old, he'd accumulated a more than passing friendship with some older kids that tended to hang out at Red's Garage, a local business in the neighborhood. There was also a rumor that said garage was the home base for the New Jersey chapter of the Red and White. It became commonplace for him to be found hanging around the front entrance to Big Red's and it sparked a life-long fascination with bikes. He started learning about their upkeep and the unique culture that surrounded them; spending hours covered in oil and tinkering around with the engines. To their credit, both his parents tried to dissuade him from his associations with the garage but by the time it was brought to their attention, he was already half-adopted by the guys at the garage.
The first time he pulled up to his house on a Harley may or may not have caused Ma Williams to declare he was "gonna give me agita, Daniel. Agita!" (The fact that he was barely fourteen years old and nowhere near legal to drive a bike was another point she was quite vocal about). No-one was shocked when he opted for a motorcycle license, instead of a vehicle license. Everyone was surprised when he started riding around town on a cherry-red seventy-five Sportster that had the AFFA sprayed on the tank. In nineteen ninety-two, Danny Williams graduated from Barringer High School (middle of the class, thank you very much) and within days, he was working full time at the garage.
By nineteen ninety-three, Danno Williams had his first ink and his first arrest. Fingers from the garage bailed him out and gave him to get his first tattoo. His parents didn't find out until a few days later, and that was the beginning of the fractures in their relationship.
By nineteen ninety-nine, Danno hadn't spoken to his parents or his siblings for a few years, and the police in Newark knew both his bike and his temper intimately.
By the year two thousand, Danno had met and married Rachel. Grace was born in aught two and Rachel was killed in aught seven (the drunk that had t-boned her bike met with a messy end, courtesy of a few friends on the inside). In aught-nine, an opportunity arose for Danno to make a new home somewhere (don't ask about why this opportunity arose, nor the circumstances that caused it) and he found himself on a plane with his daughter bound for Honolulu. His Brothers had arranged for him to have a place to live and he was being picked up by the local chapter of Angels at the airport. Grace was buzzing with excitement at the idea of living in paradise … Danno was trying not to contemplate the idea of being surrounded by pineapples.