Dante was born in Sicily, on September 17th, 1991. His father, Stefano Santoro was a powerful crime boss of the Santoro family. Stefano and Dante's mother, Mary, were very much in love with each other and she was the only one who was able to keep Stefano under control. Their home life from what Dante can remember was pretty good, and Stefano shielded Dante from his world, at least until Dante reached 14-15 years of age.
This is when Stefano started slowly showing Dante the ropes of being a crime family. The ugliest parts of it which to was also the good, due to the money and power you got in exchange. By 16, Stefano had forced Dante to kill a man so Dante could "grow some balls".
Mary did her best to prevent this from happening but to no avail. By the time Dante reached 18, he got out from under his father with mental scars that would never fade and slowly turned Dante into someone who was described as stoic and never showing emotion. He went to college in 2009, met Miguel who is now his closest confidant, and tried to live a semi-normal life.
By 2017, Mary had been assassinated by a bullet intended for Stefano, and Stefano spiraled into insanity. Stefano pissed off every major family and ran the Santoro family into the ground, and he managed to get roped into the life by crime families trying to hold him responsible for his father's sin. Stefano was assassinated in late 2019.
Eventually in 2020 after the death of his father, he assumed the role of head of the Santoro family with Miguel by his side, and ever since then, he's made his name as one of the most ruthless, brutal, cold, calculated, and deadly crime bosses the century has seen.