Paul Baldino is the fourteen-year-old son of a suspected local gangster, Sammy "The Shark" Baldino. Paul dress, acts and brags like a gangster himself. Because of his situation and his attitude, he was both feared and respected by the other boys. After telling everyone that he would get in the Lisbons' house and discover more secrets, he manages to infiltrate the house through the sewer system, possibly through a secret escape route that the narrators believe was installed by his father in his yard.