Carmine Falcone is a major character in the television series Gotham.
Like his comic book counterpart, he is the most powerful crime boss in Gotham. He is the rival of Salvatore Maroni. Throughout most of the series he maintains a friendly relationship with protagonist James Gordon, due to being friends with Gordon's late father. Falcone struggles to keep control of Gotham City, which he fears is going down a dark path following the Wayne murders.
He is portrayed by John Doman.
Biography[]
Falcone has been ruling over the Gotham underworld for over three decades, and has kept order and control. He developed a rivalry with Salvatore Maroni, the second most powerful crime boss in the city, although tries to keep a decent relationship in order to keep peace and continue running a profitable organisation. Falcone reluctantly serves the Court of Owls, a powerful elitist group in the city that has been ruling the city since its foundation.
Prior to the events of the series, Falcone was friends with district attorney Peter Gordon, the father of James Gordon. Peter was a part of the Court, but they marked him for death and had Falcone put out a hit on him, which was staged as a car accident. Despite being forced to kill Peter, Falcone still had respect for him. Peter's son James would later become a detective in the Gotham City Police Department.
When billionaire Thomas Wayne and his wife Martha are shot dead, Falcone helps in covering it up and pinning it on a criminal Mario Pepper in order to help restore the public's trust in the Gotham City Police Department. But James Gordon isn't convinced, and begins to grill Falcone's most trusted lieutenant Fish Mooney in her part in the murders, believing the mob was involved. Fish attempts to have Gordon and his partner Harvey Bullock killed in a slaughterhouse, but Falcone and his men put a stop to the execution due to him not personally sanctioning it. Falcone introduces himself to Gordon, and reveals he was friends with his father. Falcone admits to having Mario set up in order to keep order in the city, which he fears is falling into chaos following the Wayne murders. Gordon is reluctant to let the matter go, but for the time being goes along with it having had his life spared. In order to make sure Gordon remains loyal, Falcone orders him to kill Fish's umbrella boy Oswald Cobblepot, who had ratted out the mob's involvement in framing Mario to the Major Crimes Unit. Gordon fakes Oswald's life by staging shooting him and pushing Oswald into the Gotham river, ordering him not to return to the city.
A few days later, Falcone visits Fish in her nightclub and reveals that he met with Oswald prior to his "execution", and that Oswald revealed to him that Fish had bragged about taking out Falcone and taking over the Gotham underworld. Fish denies Oswald's claims, and tells Falcone she is still loyal to him. Falcone drops the matter, although has Fish's lover Lazlo beaten up.
Oswald later makes his presence known, having been hanging out in Gotham for a couple of weeks and working under the Maroni crime family. Falcone sends his personal hitman Victor Zsasz in order to retrieve Gordon in order to meet him. Gordon flees and is rescued by Renee Montoya and Crispus Allen. Gordon teams up with Bullock and they storm Falcone's manor with the intent to arrest him for the Wayne murders. Falcone is relaxed about the situation, informing the pair that if they arrest him they won't make it out of his compound alive. Falcone reveals that he has had Gordon's partner Barbara Gordon captured, as she had previously met with Falcone to beg for Gordon's life. Gordon surrenders to Falcone, who returns Barbara to him safe. Although Falcone contemplates killing Gordon and Bullock for their treachery, he opts to spare them. It is later revealed that Falcone is secretly conspiring with Oswald, who had previously told Falcone to assign Gordon to kill him knowing Gordon will spare him. All along, Oswald has been secretly Falcone's snitch on order to spy on the Maroni crime family.
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Oswald ends up initiating a mob war between the Falcone and Maroni family by putting out a hit on Maroni claiming to be from Falcone. Maroni begins targeting Falcone's businesses and lieutenants. Maroni and Fish team up to have Falcone executed, although this fails when Fish and betrays and shoots Maroni dead due to his sexist remarks towards her. This escalates into a shootout between Fish's goons and Maroni's goons. Gordon and Bullock escape with Falcone to safety, with Falcone revealing that he has grown tired of the criminal life and will be leaving Gotham and retiring to Miami. Gordon is dismayed as Falcone is the only hope to keep order in Gotham, but later respects his decision. The pair part on good terms. Oswald later takes control of Falcone's organization after killing Fish.
A year later, Bullock enlists Falcone's help in getting Gordon out of prison, as Gordon was framed for the murder of a police officer. Using his contacts, Falcone fakes Gordon's death and smuggles him out. Falcone meets with Gordon on the outskirts of Gotham and offers to help him flee the country. Gordon instead chooses to returns to Gotham and clear his name. Falcone provides Gordon with a safehouse in Gotham in order to conduct his investigation, which leads him to exposing Edward Nygma as the true culprit.
Falcone later returns to Gotham for his son Mario's engagement to Lee Thompkins, Gordon's ex-girlfriend. Falcone gets assurance from Lee that she has moved on from Gordon. When Mario survives nearly being killed in a car bomb, Gordon looks into the matter. Falcone later discovers the Court of Owls were involved, and tells Gordon to drop the case. Falcone meets with the Court's representative Kathryn, and warns her to keep away from his son or he will be willing to burn Gotham to the ground to stop the Court. Kathryn assures Falcone that she won't target his son further.
Trivia[]
- He is based on Carmine Falcone, a character who originated in Batman: Year One (1987).
- In the Batman comics Falcone is still the ruler of the Gotham criminal underworld when Batman's crime fighting career begins, but in Gotham Falcone dies over a decade prior to Bruce Wayne becoming Batman.
- Falcone's backstory being saved by Bruce's father Thomas Wayne is omitted out of Gotham. Falcone never interacts with Bruce in the series.
- In the comics, Falcone was originally killed by Two-Face.
