Carmine Falcone is a major supporting character in the television series Gotham. Based on the character of the same name from the Batman comic books, he was the head of Gotham City's criminal underworld, having managed all organized crime in the city for over 30 years. By the beginning of the series, however, Carmine's grip on Gotham is slipping as others both within and outside of his organization have decided to try and seize power for themselves.
History[]
Losing control[]
During their investigation of Thomas and Martha Wayne's murder, GCPD detectives James Gordon and Harvey Bullock consistently come at crossroads with Fish Mooney, who orders their execution when Gordon blames her for framing an innocent man, Mario Pepper, as the Waynes' murderer to quickly close the case. As Mooney's gang are about to kill Gordon and Bullock in her isolated plant, Falcone arrives with his men, gunning down Mooney's men while saving the two detectives. While confronting her right-hand man, Butch Gilzean, Falcone orders him to remind Mooney that she would need his permission if she wants to kill policemen in the future.
After the rescue, Falcone credits his friendship to Gordon's father - a former district attorney in Gotham City who knew how to manage the criminal element by working with Falcone - as the reason why he saved him and Bullock, and explains how "Gotham is on a knife edge." Falcone informs Gordon that Mario Pepper was framed for the Waynes' murder because the city needed to see swift justice done, ending their conversation by saying that there cannot be "organized crime without law and order.” Later, he orders Bullock to make sure that Gordon kills Oswald Cobblepot (Mooney's lackey, who had snitched on her) as a test of loyalty, and to be a "part of the program." While faking Cobblepot's murder, Gordon learned from him that Carmine's power is slipping, to the point where his rivals and even his subordinates like Mooney are about to rise up in a mob war. Unknown to Bullock and Falcone, Gordon defied his orders and faked his murder, and because of this Gotham will now get itself thrown into a crime war between Falcone and everyone else.
Falcone later makes a visit to Mooney's Nightclub, where he reveals to Mooney that Cobblepot told him about her plans to take control of the mob from him. After Mooney swiftly denies saying so, Falcone seemingly forgives her. However, this was a ruse as Falcone slyly extorts the identity from Mooney about her latest lover, a waiter in her club named Lazlo, and has him beaten by his men as a means of showing Mooney her place. After Falcone leaves, Mooney plans to bide her time until she has enough power to take him down.
Mob war[]
It is later revealed that Carmine is backing the Wayne Plan for the Arkham District that Mayor Aubrey James is endorsing. When Sal Maroni's restaurant is attacked, Maroni claims that Falcone's men are responsible. After Mayor James' plans for the Arkham District are announced, Jim Gordon mentions to Bruce Wayne that Falcone will control the small housing development while Maroni will handle the refurbishment of Arkham Asylum.
Maroni plans to rob a casino that is owned by Falcone's family. Later Don Falcone meets with the mob leaders on his side including Fish Mooney and a Russian mob boss named Nikolai. Carmine discusses with them about what to do with Maroni. A disguised Liza later visits Falcone in the park where she hums, and then shares, the aria "O Mio Babbino Caro" with him.
After finding out that Cobblepot is alive, Mooney meets with Falcone telling him to kill Gordon. Falcone wants to talk to Gordon and sends hitman Victor Zsasz to fetch him. Later on, Gordon and Bullock apprehend Mayor James and use him to get to Falcone in order to bring him in. Falcone anticipated this and revealed that he had Zsasz keeping an eye on Barbara Kean (who had returned to Gotham City in an attempt to talk Falcone into sparing Gordon). This caused Gordon and Bullock to give up their plan so that Falcone would release Barbara, which he does. Later still, it is revealed that Cobblepot was working for Falcone. A flashback reveals that the night that they had met Gordon, Cobblepot and Falcone formed a deal that Falcone would place Gordon in charge of killing Cobblepot since he knew that Gordon would spare him. In exchange, Cobblepot would forge an alliance with Maroni, snitching for Falcone, and tells him that Mooney and Nikolai are conspiring against him.
Falcone had Penguin abducted to find out if Maroni was responsible for the robbery of his money at the Armoury. However, Penguin vehemently denied to Falcone that Maroni had anything to do with the robbery. Penguin then suggested to him that he had a mole, suggesting Fish as the culprit. Despite Falcone doubting this due to Cobblepot's hatred of Fish, Penguin offered to find the mole to prove his suspicion to the Don. Later, Falcone had summoned all his lieutenants for a lunch, in which he kills Bannion for failing to secure the Armoury. As the blow had cost them dearly, Falcone tells them all that their tariffs would be raised 25% until the reserves could once again be filled. He also warns them that once he found the person who had robbed him, they would wish that they could die slow like Bannion did.
After Falcone has one of his men killed, he meets with Liza and offers to set her up with a business telling her that she needed to find a young man and get married. However, Falcone is told by Liza that she feels safe with him. Later, Falcone is contacted by an unknown person who tells him that they've abducted Liza and that an intermediary would be in contact with him soon. Afterward, Falcone calls Penguin telling him that he needed him, as someone took Liza. Falcone is later called by Fish Mooney, who pretends to parade as an intermediary. However, Falcone calls her as being Liza's kidnapper, and then agrees to Fish's terms of leaving Gotham with Liza, and never coming back. Victor Zsasz tries to give him a pep talk later and tells Falcone that he could take out Fish's crew easy, though Falcone tells him that his job was to keep him and Liza safe.
Soon after, Falcone is finally visited by Penguin, who informs him that Liza was the mole set on him by Mooney. Although Falcone is initially reluctant to believe Penguin. Falcone receives a phone call from Fish telling him to meet her at her place, for the transaction. When meeting with Mooney, Falcone requests that Liza be seen as part of the deal, where he mentions that a "little birdie" told him about their partnership. Zsasz and several mercenaries enter the building after killing a number of Mooney's gangsters waiting outside. Falcone strangles Liza to death in front of Mooney, scolding Fish for using a girl with his mother's likeness against him. Falcone calls for Oswald, who relishes having taken Fish down. Before Falcone has Mooney and Butch led away to their undetermined fates, Cobblepot takes the opportunity to mockingly say goodbye to Fish.
After Cobblepot attempts to betray Maroni and escapes near death, Maroni approaches Falcone and wants to kill Cobblepot. But Falcone makes a deal for Maroni to spare Cobblepot's life, and instead gives him a Judge for them both to torture and kill. Maroni agrees, although he confronts Cobblepot later on and assures him that when Falcone dies, he is going to kill him.
Retirement[]
Unknown to Falcone, Cobblepot was planning on betraying and killing him in order to become the ruler of the Gotham underworld. Cobblepot initiated a full-blown mob war when he sent an assassin to kill Maroni claiming it was from Falcone, only to end up with Maroni killing the assassin and his associate and declaring war. Falcone was hospitalized when a hitman fired a rocket launcher at him and he was critically injured. Falcone woke up in a room to find himself strapped to a table. Cobblepot and a brainwashed Butch arrived, with Cobblepot revealing to Falcone his plans and prepares to kill him, only for Gordon to arrive and rescue him.
Gordon wanted to keep Falcone alive in order to bring stability to Gotham and prevent Maroni coming into power. Falcone, Gordon, Cobblepot, Butch and Harvey Bullock managed to escape the hospital to a warehouse, only to find Fish alive with her own crew. She had them captured and it is revealed she has allied with Maroni. But when Maroni makes sexist remarks and refers to Fish as "Babes", she shoots him in the end, which causes both her side and Maroni's to go on a shootout with each other. Falcone, Gordon and Bullock make their escape, only to be recaptured by Selina Kyle and brought back to Fish. Falcone makes clear she has won and intends to leave. Before Fish could do anything else, Cobblepot fired upon them and chased her down. Gordon and Bullock escaped with Falcone and they headed to Barbara Kean's apartment, where they caught her being knocked out by Gordon's girlfriend Leslie Thompkins after Barbara had tried to kill her.
Once everything is over and Fish is presumably killed, Falcone says his goodbyes to Gordon and leaves Gotham. After his retirement, Cobblepot took over his businesses and became the self-proclaimed "King of Gotham".
Visits to Gotham[]
At the time when Gordon was incarcerated at Blackgate Penitentiary upon being accused of murdering Carl Pinkney, Bullock had to call in Falcone to help him get Jim out of Blackgate. With help from some of Carmine's contacts in prison, Harvey snuck Gordon and Peter Davies out of prison. After thanking Carmine for his help, Jim was offered to be snuck out of the country or be given a safe place to hide out in Gotham. Gordon opts to return to Gotham City and find a way to clear his name.
Carmine later visited his son Mario and Leslie at a restaurant. While mentioning that Mario brought honour to their family, Leslie stated that she had moved on from Gordon. Carmine then proposed a toast to their relationship.
Carmine hosted an engagement party for Leslie and Mario. He met Nathaniel Barnes at the party, who commented that Carmine should be behind bars. After stating that he was retired, Carmine told him that Gotham City was built by people like him and walked off telling Barnes to enjoy the party. The engagement party was later secretly attended by Dr. Maxwell Symon as Gordon and Bullock arrived in an attempt to apprehend him.
During a rehearsal dinner, a valet was killed by a car bomb planted in Falcone's car. When questioned by Gordon, Falcone assumed it was a failed mob hit, due to him making many enemies over the course of his criminal career. Falcone planned to deal with the matter himself, however Gordon refused and said he would find the people responsible. Falcone gave Gordon a day. It transpired that the hit wasn't intended for Falcone, but Mario himself. Mario was ambushed outside the hospital but Gordon saved him, however the assassins escaped. While Mario was kept at the GCPD for his own protection, Gordon visited Falcone in hopes of finding out why someone would want to have his son killed. But things were cut short when Gordon learned that Mario had walked out of the GCPD. Gordon rescued Mario again from a third attack, but managed to apprehend one of the assassins and brought them into custody. When the assassin was alone in the interview room, Falcone let himself in and began torturing the man with a knife. He extracted the man's tooth and found it had the symbol of an owl on it. Gordon and Bullock entered the room at that moment and threatened him with arrest, but Falcone assured them the suspect wouldn't be pressing charges. Before taking his leave, Falcone warned Gordon to stay out of it. Falcone later met Kathryn - a representative of The Court of Owls - in her limousine. Despite knowing the vast power of the Court, Falcone warned that if they harmed his son he would use everything he could to take them down, even if Gotham had to burn. Kathryn said she would stop going after Mario, but would call upon Falcone in the future.
On the day of Mario and Lee's wedding, Falcone had Gordon - who tried to warn Lee about Mario - removed from the premises. Falcone then did Lee the honour of walking her down the aisle and giving her away to his son. The happily married couple were then sent to a secret boathouse belonging to Falcone to enjoy their honeymoon. A panicked Gordon turned up at Falcone's office and warned him that Mario was infected with Alice Tetch's blood. Falcone began to piece together the reason the Court went after his son, but told Gordon he would be sending his own men to retrieve Mario. However, Gordon shot down the two of Falcone's underlings and convinced him to let him go and save Lee. Falcone made Gordon promise to bring Mario back home safely, and gave him the location of the boathouse. Despite Gordon's promise however, he ended up shooting Mario dead upon arriving after finding an enraged and infected Mario in the process of stabbing Lee from behind.
After Mario's funeral, Falcone contemplated putting a hit on Gordon in retribution for killing his son despite it being difficult as he had considered Gordon just as much a son as Mario. He asked Leslie about what to do and if she could bear Gordon being killed as she isn't used to regrets. Falcone hired Zsasz to do the job for him. Zsasz went on the hunt for Gordon and narrowly missed killing him only to be knocked out which led to Gordon's escape. After Leslie visited Nathaniel Barnes (who was also infected with the Tetch virus) at Arkham Asylum and saw how far it had driven him over the edge while realizing that Gordon was telling the truth, she asked for Falcone to call off the hit. As Zsasz was close to killing Gordon at his apartment, Falcone made a house call and told Zsasz to stop. Zsasz happily stopped trying to kill Gordon and went on his way. Gordon apologized for what happened to Mario, but Falcone left the scene quoting "If it were up to me, you'd be dead".
Upon finding out that Falcone paid a high-priced lawyer to represent Michael Ness who was responsible for the accident that killed Peter Gordon and had gotten Michael Ness' plea, Jim Gordon later paid a visit to Falcone. Although Carmine stated that Gordon had a lot of nerve showing up at his house after what happened to Mario, Gordon asked him for the identity of the man who orchestrated the hit on Peter Gordon. Falcone denied any involvement in the death of Jim's father since he still respected him and told Gordon that it was his uncle Frank Gordon that called the hit.
Second retirement[]
Having been told he was going to die due to an unknown disease, Falcone retired to his estate in Miami to be close to his only daughter Sofia. When Gordon traveled to Miami to persuade Falcone to help him win back Gotham from the Penguin, Sofia just came back from a horse ride and she and Gordon briefly noticed each other in front of the Falcone estate. While Gordon talked to her father on the terrace, Sofia interrupted them and Carmine introduced her and Gordon to each other. Sofia asked Gordon what he was doing in Miami, to which Carmine responded to Jim that he can go ahead, since he has no secrets from his children. Jim then began explaining that Penguin had taken control of Gotham and the GCPD had turned its back on the city, but there were still families loyal to the Falcones left and Carmine's help was needed to knock Cobblepot off his perch. Carmine thereafter asked Gordon if he was sure that it wasn't about Jim and his loss of power in Gotham. Jim replied that the issue was bigger than him, but Carmine told him that even though he always admired the fight in Gordon, he couldn't do what Jim was asking for. When asked by Gordon about the reason, Falcone told him that he was dying, although the doctors didn't know why, maybe old age or karma. Carmine then explained that he couldn't go back to Gotham with Jim, because the doctors seem to think the air is better down in Miami for him to give him more time and he was not one to argue with doctors. Consequently, Sofia responded that she would go back, but Carmine told her she was not ready for Gotham. In the end, Carmine explained to Gordon that there was a time in his life when he would have done anything for the city, but that those days were gone. Regardless though, Sofia followed Gordon back to Gotham to help him take down Penguin.
Death[]
Despite Carmine stating that he would not return to Gotham, he eventually made a deal with Penguin after the latter called and returned to the city to take Sofia back south. At the Falcone Mansion, Carmine met with his daughter who brought the uninformed Sirens with her. As soon as Don Falcone entered the room, his presence seemingly caused the Sirens to be tense. Sofia then asked her father why he returned to the city, but Carmine asked her a counterquestion, what he told her when she wanted to return to Gotham. Carmine called her a disgrace to the Falcone name and afterwards watched as Sofia said her goodbyes to Jim Gordon. Don Falcone then allowed her to collect some roses that her mother used to like. However, a black van showed up and opened fire upon Carmine, Sofia, Jim and the guards. Carmine died from the gunshot wounds.
The funeral of Don Falcone took place in the same church where his son Mario married Lee Thompkins about one year before. Many mourners attended, including Penguin and Victor Zsasz, the latter one very touched by the death of his longtime boss. It would later be revealed that Sofia was actually responsible for the crime and she had managed to make it look like Penguin was responsible for the hit, even being able to turn Zsasz against him.