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.

Biography

In The Long Halloween, Carmine Falcone's father Vincent Falcone brings a dying Carmine (who had been shot several times by Sal Maroni's father Luigi) to Thomas Wayne for help. Fearing Luigi Maroni would finish the job at a public hospital, he begs Wayne to perform surgery at Wayne Manor. A young Bruce Wayne watches his father save Falcone's life. At Thomas Wayne's funeral, Carmine Falcone tells Bruce that he can always ask a favor of him.

In Batman: Year One, Falcone virtually runs the city with the unnamed Mayor of Gotham City, the city council, Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb, and Arnold Flass in his pocket. His power base comes under attack with the arrival of the mysterious vigilante Batman. In one scene, Falcone hosts a dinner party, attended by the commissioner and other corrupt high society members. Batman crashes 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 has Falcone's car dumped into the river, invades his home, assaults him, strips him to his underwear, and leaves him hogtied to his bed. Humiliated, Falcone orders Batman killed. Batman is too elusive, and he later helps Catwoman attack Falcone and she leaves three scratch marks on his face. Finally, Falcone orders police detective Jim Gordon's wife and child kidnapped to bring him to heel. He orders his nephew Johnny Viti for the job. The plot is in part foiled by Gordon while Batman rescues his son, James Jr. Eventually, investigations led by Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, 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 faces. Angered by Johnny's failure, he orders his nephew killed. Johnny survives the attempt on his life, meaning Falcone now has to battle his sister Carla Viti, the head of the Viti crime family in Chicago.

The plot of The Long Halloween involves a serial killer named Holiday. This mysterious assassin targets Gotham's crime families, with particular attention paid to the Falcone family. Falcone's son, Alberto, confesses to all of the Holiday killings, in an attempt to be accepted into the family business.

During The Long Halloween, Falcone is able to frustrate his enemies with a careful mix of murder and influence. The situation changes when Batman and Dent discover one of Falcone's warehouses, containing millions in stockpiled cash. They burn the money, striking a blow against Falcone he cannot ignore. This drives him to take desperate measures, hiring "freaks" in the form of what becomes Batman's Rogues Gallery. He also has a hand in the birth of Two-Face: infuriated by Harvey Dent's efforts to disrupt his operations—and convinced that Dent is the Holiday killer—he persuades his former rival Sal Maroni to kill Dent while standing trial. Falcone's men provide Maroni with a vial of acid, which he hurls at Dent during a court proceeding. This happens on August 2, Falcone's birthday. The acid disfigures the left side of Dent's face, leading to him becoming Two-Face. At the story's climax, Two-Face led the rest of Batman's Rogue's Gallery (consisting of Catwoman, Joker, Mad Hatter, Penguin, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, and Solomon Grundy) into breaking into the Falcone penthouse. Two-Face kills Falcone following a coin flip that lands on the scarred side.

In Batman: Dark Victory, Falcone's grave site 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. Alberto is put under house arrest, and he begins to hear his father's voice in the home. Ultimately the dead body of corrupt District Attorney Janice Porter ends up in Alberto's bed while he is sleeping. His father calls him a failure, and urges him to commit suicide. Knowing his father abhorred suicide, Alberto figures out that the voice is part of a ruse, and shoots a mirror: Behind the mirror is the Calendar Man, who shoots him as he tries to escape. When Batman and Gordon investigate, they find secret passages and microphones for the Calendar Man to move freely about the house. They then learn that Scarecrow had laced Alberto's cigarettes with fear toxin. Not until the end it is revealed that Two-Face has Falcone's body in his possession, having frozen it using Mr. Freeze's cryogenic technology. Selina Kyle briefly visits the grave at the conclusion of the story, where it is revealed that she believes that Falcone is her biological father.


The New 52
In The New 52 (a reboot of the DC Comics universe), Carmine Falcone appears in the second issue of Batman Eternal determined to reclaim his empire after framing Commissioner Gordon for mass murder.

Falcone's plot to retake control of Gotham City progresses, with it clear that he controls Mayor Sebastian Hardy (who has been the Mayor of Gotham City for 5 years with Falcone's help) and also control of the Gotham City Police Department. While Falcone and Mayor Hardy instruct the police to hunt down Batman, Falcone's henchmen begin attacking arms caches belonging to his chief rival Penguin.

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