Carmine Falcone (New Earth)

Carmine Falcone was one of the truly great crimelords of Gotham, back when it was a mafia-ran town.. Nicknamed The Roman for his unflinching ruthlessness and expansionism, his mafia network was often called "The Roman Empire." As of the events of "Batman: Year One," Falcone virtually controlled the entire city, with the Mayor, the City council, and the Police Commissioner (Gillian B. Loeb) under his influence. Falcone was completely untouchable by the law. But not by the Batman. When Batman made his first several appearances in Gotham, Falcone was his first real target. At a dinner party hosted at the Falcone mansion, attended by attended by Gotham's wealthiest and most corrupt residents, Batman makes his first announcement. He incapacitates the guards, breaks in, and informs Gotham's corrupt that they will be brought to justice. Despite Commissioner Loeb's promises that he will be stopped, Batman's attacks grow more brazen. At one point, he even invades the Roman's personal bedroom, assaults him, strips him to his underwear, and leaves him hogtied to his bed, then dumps his car into the river. Humiliated, Falcone orders Batman killed. But Batman is too elusive, and to the disbelief of the Roman empire, nobody is able to even touch him.

Finally, Falcone orders the wife and newborn child of police detective Jim Gordon (who had been stirring up trouble for Commissioner Loeb within the GCPD) kidnapped to bring him to heel. The plot is foiled by a joint effort on the parts of both Gordon and Batman. Eventually, with the help of District Attorney Harvey Dent, Commissioner Loeb is removed from office, and for the first time in years, Carmine Falcone's power begins to slip, just a little bit.

The Long Halloween

Later, during the events of The Long Halloween, a serial killer named "Holiday" begins targeting Gotham's crime families, with particular attention paid to the Falcones. Meanwhile Batman, Gordon and Harvey Dent form a coalition, and swear to each other that they will do whatever it takes, within the system, to bring Falcone down. The murders committed by the mysterious "Holiday" grow increasingly brutal, and begin to grow from simple hits to full out massacres of the Roman's men, and loved ones. Sometimes including members of other syndicates, such as those in the Maroni family, sometimes people not even involved in the mafia like Carmine's son Alberto. Also trying to find Holiday and out an end to his bloodbath, Batman grows even more persistent with Falcone. He and Harvey Dent even manage to burn an entire warehouse of piled up unlaundered cash to the ground. While fighting off the attacks against him from both sides, Falcone is reduced to hiring several of the new "costumed freaks" in Gotham to do special jobs for him. His family saw some disgrace in this, as otherwise the crime in Gotham was largely organized, and the "freaks" were seen as unpredictable, disrespectful, and "bad for business." Harvey Dent, while prosecuting Sal Maroni in court, is hit in the face by acid slipped to Maroni by one of his men. Harvey escapes from the hospital with half his face seared off, and disappears below Batman and Gordon's radar for a disturbingly long time, despite their attempts to find him. Falcone's seemingly weakest son Alberto is eventually revealed to be responsible for the Holiday killings, wanting his father to accept him into the family business. He is put in Arkham Asylum. It is important to note ambiguity was left as to the roles of Harvey and Gilda Dent in the killings, and Gilda seems to have committed at least one of the murders. Still loving his son, Falcone attempts to get Alberto to plead innocent, knowing he can get him off, but Alberto refuses. With his both his business and his family in shambles, Falcone returns to his house and finds Harvey Dent, the newly established Two-Face, waiting for him. Despite Batman's attempts to intervene, gathered with the Mad Hatter, Solomon Grundy, The Joker, Catwoman, The Scarecrow, Poison Ivy and The Penguin, Two-Face shoots Falcone in the head and ends his control of Gotham once and for all. The mob loses to the new power in Gotham, the so-called "costumed freaks."

In "Batman: Dark Victory," Falcone's grave is robbed and his body goes missing. His finger is cut off and sent to his daughter, Sofia Gigante, the new leader of the Falcone Family. This is described as an "old style message", signifying that someone is out to take everything away from the Falcone Family, crushing them both as a public business organization in the crime world as well as literally killing members of the family. Not until the end it is revealed that Two-Face has Falcone's body, having frozen it using Mr. Freeze's cryogenic technology.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

None known.

Abilities

None known.

Paraphernalia

Equipment: None known.

Notes

No special notes.

Trivia

No trivia.

Links and References

Carmine Falcone at Wikipedia.org

Footnotes

Batman Villain(s)
This character, team or organization, is or was primarily an enemy of the Batman, or members of the Batman Family. This template will categorize articles that include it into the category "Batman Villains."

Carmine Falcone (New Earth)

From DC Database

Contents

History

Year One