Frank Falcone

Frank Falcone
Biographical information
Gender	Male
Born	ca. 1905 Chicago, U.S.
Died	1955
Affiliation	Falcone family
Title(s)	Don

"There has to be control, there has to be protection, there has to be organisation, we can't have have everybody running around doing just what they please like a bunch of anarchists"

―Frank Falcone

Frank Falcone was the Don of the Los Angeles crime family. He controlled the movie unions and whorehouses, which provides the syndicate's main source of income. He was also a strong ally of fellow West Coast Don, Anthony Molinari.

Biography

Falcone was born and raised in Chicago, working in his family store until the age of fifteen, when his father and sister were killed in a stick-up. The police sergeant failed to act claiming it was nothing but 'dagos killing dagos in Dagotown'. A furious Frank managed to gain an audience with Al Capone, who had both the thief and the police sergeant eliminated. Frank then became a member of Capone's mob, while the shop was sold to a buyer from Trapani.

After Capone was arrested for tax evasion, Falcone moved to Los Angeles in the 1930s and set up his own syndicate. His connections spread out across the state, and eventually became involved in a business relationship with Don Molinari of San Francisco, in order to prevent unnecessary warfare between the two families.

Falcone was often distrusted by his fellow Dons due to his hand in show business. He controlled many of the movie unions, and was a friend of Billy Goff, who was later assassinated by the Corleone family for causing trouble for Johnny Fontane.

Uncertain allegiances

During the Five Families War of 1946, Falcone was on the side of the Corleone family. He spoke in support of the drug trade, however, as he saw that it was wiser to keep control over the business rather than to let dealers run wild. After the families were wiped out, Falcone began to suspect Michael Corleone had a hand in the murders of the Dons, and began to plot with Vincent Forlenza, the Don of Cleveland.

For this, Falcone was killed in a plane crash that also claimed the life of Molinari and two of their toughest enforcers, Richard Aspromonte and Lefty Mancuso. The plane was piloted by Nick Geraci, a Corleone caporegime who was unaware that his plane had been sabotaged by Michael, and sought revenge after surviving the crash. He was suceeded by his underboss Ignazio Pignatelli.

Personality and traits

Cunning and business savvy, Falcone did not openly support the drugs trade but realised it must be controlled, and thus it was better for the Families to get their hand in. He was close friends with Don Molinari, but was a difficult man to deal with, largely due to his Chicago upbringing, which had left him with a violent temper.

Notes and references

Don of the Falcone crime family
Preceded by: -	193?-1955	Succeeded by: Ignazio Pignatelli