Carmine Falcone

Carmine "The Roman" Falcone is a fictional character in DC Comics' shared universe, the DC Universe, who made his debut in the four part story Batman: Year One written by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli in 1987.

Falcone is a powerful Mafia chieftain nicknamed "The Roman", where his stranglehold over Gotham City's organized crime is referenced as "The Roman Empire" at least once. Though his role in his debut story was almost non-existent, Falcone later appeared as major character in the Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale mini-series Batman: The Long Halloween.

Fictional character biography
In Batman: Year One, Falcone virtually runs the city, with the mayor, city council, and Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb under his influence. However, his power base comes under attack by the new mysterious and upcoming vigilante, Batman. In one scene, a dinner party is hosted by Falcone. It is attended by the commissioner and other corrupt high society members. When the issue of Batman is brought up in conversation, Commissioner Loeb's tries to assure Falcone that the new opponent may be a long term benefit. The assurance falls flat and Falcone's concern is justified subsequently by Batman's bold assault on the dinner party to announce that they will be delivered to justice. Despite Loeb's desperate attempts to stop him, Batman's attacks on Falcone's organization become even more brazen; Batman had The Roman's car dumped into the river, invaded his home, assaulted him, stripped him to his underwear, and left him hogtied to his bed. Humiliated, Falcone orders Batman killed. Batman is too elusive, however, as he later helps Catwoman attack the mafia head. Finally, Falcone orders police detective Jim Gordon's wife and child kidnapped to bring him to heel, but the plot is in part foiled by the Gordons while Batman rescues their child. Eventually, District Attorney Harvey Dent and Jim Gordon's investigations, with some secret assistance by Batman, restore law and order to Gotham; Loeb is forced to resign, and Falcone's power is put under threat by the new opposition he now faces.

The plot of The Long Halloween involves a serial killer named Holiday targeting Gotham's crime families, with particular attention paid to the Falcone family. While fighting the criminal justice system, Falcone is desperately trying to get a grip on his once-powerful empire, and he resorts to hiring "freaks" in the form of what becomes Batman's Rogues Gallery. Falcone's son, Alberto, confessed to all of the Holiday killings, as he wanted his father to accept him into the family business, but it is important to note Harvey and Gilda Dent are at least somewhat responsible for them. Harvey Dent was in fact the initial suspect, and the suspicions directed toward him were in part responsible for the accident in which he became Two-Face. While Falcone played a large role in The Long Halloween, he was killed in the end, shot in the head by Two-Face.

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.

Batman Begins
In the Batman Begins (2005), Falcone, played by British Oscar-nominee Tom Wilkinson, all but controls Gotham City, flooding it with drugs and crime. He is above the law, with most of Gotham's politicians and police on his payroll (examples being two councilmen, a union official, Judge Faden, Detective Flass, and an unnamed policeman). It was mentioned that he shared a prison cell with Joe Chill after Joe murdered Bruce Wayne's parents. Carmine had a female operative (disguised as a female reporter) kill Joe Chill for threatening to testify against him, depriving Wayne of the chance to take his own revenge. Bruce confronts him at an underground establishment who tells Carmine that not everyone in Gotham is afraid of him. Carmine dismisses the young billionaire as a harmless nuisance and has him thrown out to teach him a lesson. Years later, Falcone goes into business with Dr. Jonathan Crane and Ra's al Ghul, smuggling a fear toxin into Gotham inside toy rabbits. As a form of payment, Crane, who runs Arkham Asylum, diagnoses Falcone's henchmen as insane when they are arrested so they can avoid prison. Wayne, who by now has become Batman, discovers and foils the plan and knocks Falcone unconscious, leaving him tied to a searchlight for the police to find. The trussed-up mobster, surrounded by a tattered overcoat, projects a bat-like shape into the sky; this impromptu calling card would later evolve into the Bat-Signal. While in prison, Falcone tries to blackmail Crane into allowing him a part in the upcoming fear toxin project. Crane instead puts on a freakish scarecrow mask he uses in his experiments on the asylum's inmates and gasses him with the fear toxin. Crane literally terrifies his former partner-in-crime out of his mind and left in a wild state of psychosis. Falcone is incarcerated in Arkham, continuously muttering the phrase "Scarecrow". He was not seen amongst the many criminals that Ra's al Ghul's men released from Arkham as a diversion to get the toxin into the main waterline.

The Dark Knight
It was rumored that Falcone might return in the sequel The Dark Knight (which is partly inspired by and borrows plot elements from The Long Halloween). Wilkinson has said that he would definitely return to the new Batman franchise, so long as they can fit him in. However, it is stated that the crime bosses Sal Maroni and Gambol will be trying to take over the mob in his absence, and Wilkinson has said that he considers a return unlikely.

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