Mario Falcone

Mario Falcone is one of Carmine "The Roman" Falcone's sons and new head of the Falcone Family.

Batman: Dark Victory
His first appearance is in Batman: Dark Victory #1, where Batman finds Gotham City caught in the middle of a battle, between what's left of the Falcone and Maroni mobs, and freakish villains such as The Joker, Mr. Freeze and Catwoman. Meanwhile, the serial killer named Holiday seems to have returned to a life of crime. Batman investigates the death of Clancy O'Hara's, the chief of the G.C.P.D., one of the few uncorruptable. While still a sergeant years ago, he and then-officer Stan Merkel were noted for capturing then-teenage, Mario Falcone, who was prosecuted by then Assistant District Attorney Harvey Dent. He was the first victim of Hangman, found hanging from the Westward bridge with a rope around his neck. Falcone was glad that his arresting officer is now finished, but announces that his criminal activities are over.

In Batman: Dark Victory #2, Batman needs answers from The Riddler, who survived a murder attempt by the holiday killer, before another victim falls. Mario feels glad that the police are being taken down, but Sofia is interfering with his plans. Yet, another victim turned up. However, this was no regular victim, but Commissioner Loeb, the Police Commissioner before being fired and replaced during the events of Year One. He was a friend to both Carmine Falcone and Sal Maroni. Found hanging in his own residence with the typical clue sheet being a personal sheet of paper marked "From the desk of Harvey Dent, D.A," which leads to Commissioner Gordon believing for most of the story that Two-Face is the Hangman.

In Batman: Dark Victory #3, the Scarecrow has his way: a nasty little toy called "The Fear Doll." New nightmares are unleashed on Batman as he faces one of his most dangerous foes. Pino Maroni is seen as one of the suspects of the new Holiday killer, as the victims seem to be cop who came into contact with the mafias. Mario needs help, other than his guards or the police, to stop his sister from ruining their name. Meanwhile, the third victim is found. Arnold Flass was one of the more corrupt officers on the force, only to get caught in criminal activity, fired and prosecuted for affliating with the mob. Before his trial, he struck a plea bargain with prosecutor Harvey Dent to testify against Loeb for a lighter sentence. He was found dead outside, while on his cigarette break, of a strip club called "The Cheetah Room," where he was working as a bouncer to make ends meet. Judging from scratches and bruises on his hands, it appeared that he attempted to put up a fight in his final moments.

In Batman: Dark Victory #5, on Valentine's Day, Commissioner Gordon is dealing with his job and his wife, Barbara Kean Gordon, wondering about him. Bruce Wayne, as Batman, leaves Selina Kyle, hanging, where she turns to Catwoman to see what really is going on. She spies on many people, like the mafias and the Riddler. Janice Porter is actually surprised when Two-Face is behind her kidnapping, and says he could of just asked. She reveals that they are in love and have a sexual relationship. Mario Falcone finally finds how he should protect himself from any danger. However, it's all interrupted when the 5th victim is found. Pratt worked for the SPW Unit up until his death and during Branden's tenure was his second-in-command. After attempting to kill Batman as retaliation for being punched through a wall, he was killed on Valentine's Day.

In Batman: Dark Victory #6, things are heating up in Gotham City's underworld and the Penguin wouldn't have it any other way. With his hands tied by the Hang Man case, Batman is having a tough time from stopping Oswald from starting a gang-war. By his terms, he will plant evidence for starting a gang-war on each side. When the remaining side wins, Oswald will come in and take over. The Falcone's are against mostly the Maroni's, and anyone who oppose them, but Mario is having problems with Sofia and her condition. Janice Porter has an agreement with Mario, and has every evidence against Sofia, as she leads the empire into the ground, as he wants protection. The Joker is captured once again, and sent to Arkham, joining Alberto Falcone. Stan Merkel, a patrolman of downtown Gotham, Merkel was involved in a number of drug busts and hostage situations. Back when he was an officer, he was instrumental in bringing Mario Falcone to trial. Merkel was found dead on St. Patrick's Day, hanging on the former property of the house that originally belonged to Harvey and Gilda Dent, making him the sixth victim.

In Batman: Dark Victory #8, Bruce Wayne attends a night at the circus and a certain 10-year-old boy enters his life. Yet, Joker has just escaped Arkham and plans to blow up the whole city. Luckily, Batman and Robin fight and beat the Joker. Worried, the Maroni's are armed as they see if Commissioner Gordon can be found, they can too. This fact is also found both the police and the Falcone's. Janice Porter review more of Mario's inside info and makes progress on finding out who is behind these murders. Yet, protecting Gordon, the 8th victim is found. Gustavson was the bodyguard of Gordon, following the attempt on Gordon. He was murdered on Mother's Day, and found by Gordon hanging over his car in the GCPD underground parking lot.

In Batman: Dark Victory #9, the final act begins with a Father's Day look at two heroes, Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, whose lives were forever changed by the murders of their parents. Dick, while fighting with Batman, found his parents, John Grayson and Mary Grayson, dead, at the hands of Tony Zucco. Janice Porter is now worried as Mario worries on how his sister is working with the empire on how she looks the same, no improvement or illnesses. This is halted, when a gifted marksman, Mark O'Connor spent many years teaching use of firearms to cadets. One of the members of Gordon's Special Police Task Force, he was found dead hanging by a rope in the shower of his apartment on Father's Day. According to Batman, had he only been carrying his gun with him at all times, the Hangman would never have gotten him.

In Batman: Dark Victory #11, the number of clues, and the body count, continue to climb during the heat of the summer. Batman confronts Poison Ivy. Before Dent's trial, he told Porter to bring every piece of evidence he had on "Hangman". During the trial, Dent managed to hold back his other personality, but this lasted for only a short time, until Poison Ivy, Mister Freeze, and Solomon Grundy attacked the courtroom. Meanwhile, Dick Grayson gets closer to finding his parents' killer. Commissioner finds the recent victim and catches a break of the Hangman case. A newcomer to the G.C.P.D., Wilcox seemed to be a dilligent and articulate police officer with a dedication to upholding the law. She was important in the planning of and capture of Two-Face and bringing him to face trial. However, she was an informant to the Falcone family on payroll, leaking information to the acting head of the mob. During the trial, on Labor Day, she headed up to the courthouse via elevator, only to get hung by the Hangman. Her walkie-talkie left a brief recording of her final moments that led Gordon to learning the true identity of the killer. Janice Porter hears this, tells Mario Falcone, and immeidately goes to tell her lover.

In Batman: Dark Victory #13, it's Columbus Day, where Sofia revealed that she was never disabled, and that she committed the Hangman murders, targeting all the cops, whether honest or crooked, who had helped Harvey Dent's career. She then suffocated Alberto. She opened the gas lines and set Gotham City ablaze to smoke out Two-Face, who was hiding in the sewers. Saved by Batman, Two-Face turned on Sofia and shot her to death. It was the end of Hangman killings, but the start of the Columbus Day Massacre. Mario then realized that Porter was having an affair with Two-Face, and was giving him the information on the Falcone crime family, that Mario gave her. Sofia eventually died at the hands of Harvey Dent, who she had sworn to destroy. While Sofia was being buried, Alberto's body was apparently found. A broken man, and nearly driven to the brink of insanity, Mario set fire to his grandfather's estate.

Batman: Streets of Gotham
In Batman: Streets of Gotham #14, Two-Face sits at the head of a long table in the back of a restaurant. Surrounded by his men, most of them uneasy of what is going on. Two-Face has brought his gang together as the first step in his plan to take back Gotham following the capture of the Black Mask. As always, Harvey anxiously flips his coin answering questions that are only in his head, while waiting for some other men to show up. Suddenly, the power is cut and the men are left sitting in the dark. When the back-up generators kick-in and the lights return, a bloodied man, bound and gagged, has appeared on the table in front of them. Two-Face removes the gag, but the man is too hysterical to make any sense. Batman decides then to interject. He lets Harvey know that his men have been taken out, as well as his properties and other assets. Two-Face has a snitch in his midst who is giving information to the FBI. Batman attempts to offer Two-Face an easier way out, but turning himself in to the GCPD but before he can answer, the doors and windows are smashed in. The FBI orders all men to put their faces down and their hands behind their heads, including Batman. Despite Batman's insistence that he has everything under control the agent in charge blows him off and heads straight for Two-Face. Harvey enjoys the fact that Batman is being treated the same as him. When told to stand, Harvey of course turns to his coin to decide his next move. His men begin leveling guns at the federal agents as well and before Harvey can finish flipping his coin, all hell breaks loose. In the fray, Two-Face manages to get a hold of the federal agent and a stand-off between he and Batman ensues. Not wanting to allow any more bloodshed, Batman apparently lets Two-Face go.

Four hours later, Harvey has let the federal agent live. Leaving him behind at the restaurant, he heads to a rendezvous with Mario Falcone and his men on the premise that the Falcones are going to help out and lend a hand. Once the Falcones arrive, armed to the teeth, it is apparent that they have no intention of helping Two-Face. The men begin opening fire, and Harvey ducks behind cover all the while carrying on a conversation with Mario. As Two-Face flips his coin to decide his next move, Mario fires a shot that catches the coin in midair. When Harvey retrieves the coin it has now been scarred on both sides, leaving him without an answer. Panicked without his choice clear, Two-Face takes a moment and decides to blow through his own men. Chester, the last of his own men, Two-Face shoots on his way out, expresses his disgust at Harvey for shooting him. He pulls out a bloodied cell phone and drags himself painstakingly through the open doorway nearby. On the phone, he reveals himself as Special Agent Chester MacDonald and requests back-up. Almost immediately, he realizes he is not alone and Two-Face reveals himself to be standing just across the doorway from Chester. Two more of Two-Face's men make it out the door. Now realizing that Chester was the snitch all along, they grab him and take off.

Batman
In Batman #692, a explosion alerts Mario Falcone to his presence, forcing Dick to retreat but the distraction serves Catwoman's purposes just fine. The feline burglar had already made her way inside the Falcone mansion and was pilfering the family's stash of jewelry and other valuables when the explosion went off. Though she makes it out of the house unscathed, it seems that at least one member of the Falcone family did manage to catch a glimpse of the thief. Young Kitrina Falcone watches silently as the Catwoman disappears into the night. She says nothing of this development to her overbearing uncle when he bursts in to chastising her for being the one he believes led Batman to their location. It's clear that she isn't too pleased with being holed up in the dusty old house alongside Uncle Mario.

In Batman #693, Dick hobnobs with the usual suspects, and Huntress, in her secret ID of course, shows up to help Dick keep a watchful eye on an attending Thomas Elliot, as Bruce of course. The Riddler also manages to get involved as he is at the same function and interrupts a conversation Thomas is having with an Arkham doctor, which gets the attention of Dick and Helen. Huntress is then told by Oracle to go after a young girl named Kitrina, but gets caught in a bomb explosion! She manages to survive and goes out to pursue to girl. Going back into the night, Batman meets up with Commissioner Gordon and Harvey Bullock, after it appears a St. Valentine’s Day Massacre took out about 16 or so of Falcone’s men. Batman, then summarizes from the way the murders took place, that Black Mask must have brought in The Reaper to do the deed.

In Batman #694, Batman asks the Penguin about the girl from the party but Penguin says he does not know her and that he is clean. Batman is attacked from behind by Penguin's chauffeur, Lark, but he quickly knocks her and all of Penguin's men in the building out. Penguin finally talks saying the girl's name is Kitrina but he does not know what she was doing. Several hours later, in Devil's Square, the new Black Mask is screaming. They are having problems with the military, gangs, and Batman. As he is about to throw the mask into the river but Fright stops him telling him that Doctor Death has information on Kitrina Falcone.

Somewhere in the docks, Mario Falcone has Kitrina tied up and in a box asking her who helped her get into the safe. Kitrina says if she wanted to she could have screwed him over by giving the maps to the highest bidder since she is the one who created them. Mario has enough of her backtalk and has his men close the box and throw her into the water.

We shift to somewhere else in Gotham where Huntress tells Batman that Penguin has been attacked by Black Mask with some saying he is dead. Batman says he doesn't think Penguin is dead and he will resurface. Huntress mentions that The Riddler has not been seen since the bombing. Batman says that The Riddler was hired to follow Kitrina. Batman pulls out a picture of Kitrina from a week ago that was taken outside of Doctor Singh's place. Huntress says that Dr. Singh just made it home from Arkham.

In Batman #695, after threatening to throw him off a bridge, Dr. Singh finally answers all of Batman’s questions and reveals the girl Batman is finding is called Kitrina Falcone. Outside of the new Falcone’s estate, two of Mario Falcone’s men are bringing the box that Kitrina was in that was thrown into the lake back up. When they open it, they see Kitrina is not inside. Batman suddenly appears and takes both men out quickly, then tying them to trees. He asks them where Kitrina is and they say that she disappeared. Not liking the answer, Batman burns down the new Falcone estate.

In an abandoned animal shelter, that is now Catwoman’s home apparently, Kitrina is stealing back her maps that Catwoman stole, but before she can get away Catwoman arrives and quickly takes Kitrina out. Twenty minutes later, Catwoman has Kitrina tied upside down saying they have a lot to talk about. Kitrina says that she is the youngest daughter of Carmine Falcone and that Catwoman stole her maps. Catwoman says that is a lie because she knows if Carmine had another daughter. Kitrina says she does not care if Catwoman believes her as all she wants is her maps so she can collect the bounty on Black Mask’s head. Catwoman asks if she is talking about $50 million, and Kitrina says that she could use some help.

Scene shifts to Catwoman place, where Catwoman tells Batman she knows all about the Falcone family and that Kitrina is not a part of that family. Batman says it does not matter if she is or isn’t a Falcone, as he has something he wants to talk to her about. Catwoman guesses it’s about the maps of Devil’s Square. Batman asks if she left Kitrina alone and she says she did and she is not going anywhere though Batman retorts by saying unless she is a master escape artist. They go inside and see that Kitrina has escaped even though Catwoman tied her up using the rope trick Bruce taught her. Catwoman is pissed as Kitrina also took the maps. Batman is contacted by Oracle and he summons the batmobile to go to the location Oracle sent him.

In Batman #697, sometime later, Batman locks Dr. Arkham in Arkham Asylum with Commissioner Gordon saying that Dr. Arkham hasn’t said anything since Batman brought him in. Batman asks when his trial is and Gordon says its next week. We then see Batman on top of a gargoyle thinking about what has happened and we see images of Penguin, Mario Falcone, and Fright becoming one of Dr. Death and Hugo Strange’s False Faces.

In Batman #710, Mario Falcone is in his mansion, enraged about Two Face killing another one of his men, but a mysterious woman calms him down, asking him to do things her way. Early that night, Dick goes to meet with one of the Falcones who won’t necessarily try and shoot him at first site, Kitrina. He once again tries to get her to leave Gotham, and head to a boarding school for girls, saying she has the opportunity to have a normal life. Kitrina is defiant, but Selina, who shows up on the roof, agrees with Dick. Feeling betrayed by her short lived mentor, Kitrina leaves Dick and Selina, heading off on her own. A sleeping Two Face is woken up in his ratty apartment by the ringing of his phone. He goes to get his gun, but finds a note near it, telling him to answer his phone, and showing a picture his coin. Two Face looks out his window to notice a body in the phone booth outside his apartment, goes down to confront them, sees they have a gun, and shoots the person in the booth. He soon finds out that the person was already dead, and taped up with a gun pointed. Harvey picks up the phone to demand who did this, and a voice greets him, with gas coming out of the phone, knocking him out.

On the search for Two Face, Dick bursts into the club where his new found men congregate, he weeds out the leader, demanding to know where Two Face is, but it’s too late, as he’s been taken captive. Two Face wakes up to see Mario Falcone, with his coin, over him. Two Face instantly goes into a fit, telling Mario he is a disgrace to his own family, not even comprable to his father. Mario starts stomping on Two Face, telling him he has his life, his money, and something else. The mysterious woman stops him, Two Face is shocked, unable to believe what he’s seeing. The woman pulls out a gun, telling Mario that he promised she would be able to “do it.” As she wishes Harvey, a happy anniversary, Gilda Dent, his wife, shoots Harvey multiple times.

In Batman #711, at the Falcone house, Gilda speaks with Mario about the money they need. Gilda tells Mario that she’s been in contact with some buyers about the information they got from the Jade Society. The fact that Gilda talked to someone about a buy and not him angers Mario who begins to yell. Gilda fires back by bringing up Mario’s father, which brings Mario to slapping her. In the cliched sense of domestic violence, Mario instantly becomes remorseful and Gilda starts telling him that she loves him.

Two Face is woken up by a cold bucket of water. He wakes to see Riddler standing over him, and instantly goes to attack, but gets a gun to the back of his head thanks to Enigma. Riddler tells him it was he who set up the phone incident, but also gave Two Face a special vest that made it look like he was bleeding out. Apparently, it was all a plan by Gilda who is being held against her will by Mario. Two Face takes a moment to process the information, as Riddler offers him a chance to get his wife back, all they need is an army, Two Face’s army of mobsters and thugs.

In Batman #712, at a construction site, Mario Falcone and Gilda are waiting supposedly to sell off the Jade Compass Society’s secrets, but Mario is on edge, as he should be, because soon they are under siege by Two Face’s men. Mario tries to escape with Gilda, threatening to kill her for setting him up, but she denies it all. With a gun to Gilda’s head, Mario is shot three times in the back by Two Face, with Dick showing up shortly after that.

Trivia

 * Jeph Loeb has said that he tried to model each member of the Falcone family after a member of the Corleones, from The Godfather. Mario is based on Michael Corleone.