Alberto Falcone
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Alberto Falcone is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe. As the serial killer Holiday, he is an enemy of Batman. He is featured in the Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale series' Batman: The Long Halloween and Batman: Dark Victory.
[edit] Background
Born to Gotham City crime lord Carmine Falcone and his wife Louisa on February 14 (Valentine's Day), Alberto Falcone was an outcast in his family of mobsters, a nonexistent part of the family business. His father favored his older siblings Mario and Sofia Gigante, igniting a deep, pathological jealousy. He fought his way up on a scholarship to Harvard University and later went onto Oxford. Alberto was always eager to follow in his father's footsteps and offered his service, but Carmine refused to let Alberto get involved in his "business", apparently wishing for Alberto to live a normal life. Alberto, however, had other plans.
[edit] The Long Halloween
Throughout Batman: The Long Halloween, various Gotham City criminals were murdered by a mysterious serial killer known only as Holiday. At first the murdered criminals were connected to Falcone. "The Irish," a gang of Irish hitmen for hire, were all put under the payroll of Falcone to kill then District-Attorney Harvey Dent by blowing up his house. Later, on Thanksgiving, they were all murdered in a hotel banquet room as they sit down to eat Thanksgiving dinner. By Christmas, Milos Grappa, the long-trusted bodyguard and consigliere to Falcone, was murdered in front of the Don's building. It initially seems to be the work of one of Falcone's rivals. On New Year's Eve, however, Alberto was apparently killed by Holiday during a party on board Falcone's yacht. His body was found and identified by his grieving father and Jasper Dolan, the Gotham City coroner.
During the next few months Holiday started killing members of Sal Maroni's mob. This led to a huge gang war between Falcone and the Maronis, forcing Falcone to employ "freaks" such as The Riddler and Poison Ivy to stabilize his empire. A large number of Maroni's guards, patrons, and business associates were killed alongside some of Falcone's guards at Maroni's only "legit" business; an Italian restaurant. Another amount of Maroni's men were assassinated at Maroni's safe house on St. Patricks' Day, just before Falcone's daughter could go there and pull a hit on them herself. On April Fools Day, Riddler was attacked but left unharmed, so he could publicly tell that Falcone was actively looking for Holiday himself. The place where Holiday's guns were made and bought was located in Gotham's Chinatown neighborhood, but the Chinese gun-maker was found murdered inside his shop on Mother's Day.
One month later on Father's Day, Maroni's father and founder of the Maroni family, Luigi Maroni, was shot and killed in his tomato garden. During the Independence Day celebrations, Jasper Dolan, the coroner, was found dead at the Gotham City Docks with two bullets to the chest. His aunt, Carla Vitti, launched an investigation of her own into his and her son Johnny's deaths, only to meet Holiday at the coroner's office and get shot to death on the day of what would have been the Roman holiday, the Feast of Lupercal.
On Labor Day, while Salvatore Maroni was being transported to a safer area after brutally scaring Harvey Dent in court, Alberto Falcone appeared from nowhere and killed Maroni with two shots to the head. He was arrested by Jim Gordon after Batman gave him a brutal beating that left him with no feeling in one arm and several bruises.
Alberto later admitted to committing all of the Holiday murders, including that of his cousin, Johnny Vitti. His father offered to use his influence to free Alberto; if he only admitted to killing Maroni. But Alberto refused, smugly saying that his new reputation as Holiday made him much bigger than his father and all the gangsters in the mob put together. He was convicted by the jury and sentenced to the gas chamber. Although Alberto initially received the death sentence, the Falcone influence allowed him to instead plead insanity. He was imprisoned in Arkham Asylum instead, across the hall from the Calendar Man, another holiday-obsessed villain who was afraid that Holiday might overshadow him.
[edit] Dark Victory
In Batman: Dark Victory, Alberto Falcone was released from Arkham with aid from D.A. Janice Porter, Dent's replacement. Alberto was now under house arrest in his family home outside Gotham, with his brother Mario and sister Sofia Gigante. A tracer was attached to his leg in order to prevent an escape. While in the house, Alberto is manipulated by The Scarecrow and Calendar Man into believing that he is being contacted by the ghost of his dead father. The gun from the Holiday murders was soon left in his possession, which he used to save Sofia from The Joker. On Carmine Falcone's birthday, a second gun was given to Alberto, to kill Sofia with in order to usurp powers of the five crime families (actually a part of Two-Face's plan to destroy the crime famililes). Alberto nearly killed her in a Holiday-style shooting, but ultimately stopped himself.
Following Janice Porter's death, Two-Face had her body left in Alberto's bed in order to trick Alberto into thinking he had killed her. This time Calendar Man and Scarecrow's fear toxins, bringing on Carmine's voice, tried driving Alberto to commit suicide. But Alberto knew that this advice did not fit in with his father's character, and he sees through the deception and exposes Calendar Man. Alberto attacks him in a rage, breaks his foot, and places his tracer on Calendar Man's leg, but not before being shot. Sofia took her wounded brother to a hiding place in the Falcone mausoleum. There Sofia criticized Alberto, recalling how Carmine had survived five shots to the chest. Alberto replied that he was not his father. Sofia, disgusted, smothered him to death.
