Vincent Mancini-Corleone

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Vincent Mancini-Corleone
First appearance The Godfather Part III
Created by Mario Puzo
Portrayed by Andy Garcia
Information
Nickname(s) Vinnie, Vincenzo
Aliases Vincenzo Corleone
Gender Male
Date of birth April 6, 1947(1947-04-06)
Date of death December 25, 2014 (aged 66)
Occupation Gangster
Title Don
Family Corleone family
Relatives Lucy Mancini (Mother)
Sonny Corleone (father)
Michael Corleone (Uncle)
Fredo Corleone (Uncle)
Connie Corleone Rizzi (Aunt)
Vito Corleone (Grandfather)

Vincent Mancini-Corleone (also known as Vincenzo Corleone, Vincent Corleone, or Vincent Mancini; portrayed by Andy Garcia in an Academy Award-nominated performance).

[edit] Biography

Vincent is the illegitimate son of Sonny Corleone and Lucy Mancini. (This plotline is exclusive to the movie, as it directly contradicts Puzo's original storyline, in which Lucy tells Tom Hagen she is not pregnant when he questions the motive for her suicide attempt). Vincent was named after Aldo Vincent Trapani, a very close friend of his father, mother and basically his entire family. Vincent has never been treated as a real member of the Corleone family and so is never given access to the family's criminal empire. He endears himself to his uncle, Michael Corleone, by trying to protect him from rival Mafia families, and the aging Don takes the hot-headed young man under his wing.

Vincent saves Michael from an assassination attempt orchestrated by rival Joey Zasa, whom Vincent then personally murders. Vincent's irrepressible violent streak often angers Michael, but not nearly as much as his burgeoning romance with Michael's daughter (and Vincent's cousin) Mary, whom Michael fears would be endangered by being involved in Corleone family business.

Despite their personal differences, Michael appoints Vincent the new Don and head of the Corleone family, and tells his nephew to call himself Vincent Corleone. His time spent with Michael has made him into a new man: much wiser, patient, and aware of his status as the new Don. In return for being elevated, Vincent ends his relationship with Mary. The same night the romance ends, however, Mary is killed in an assassination attempt on Michael. Vincent quickly kills the assassin responsible with a single shot to the chest.

[edit] Beyond the film

What follows in Vincent's story, according to author Mario Puzo and director Francis Ford Coppola, is not exactly known. However, on The Godfather Part III's DVD commentary, Coppola explains that both he and Puzo had envisioned a fourth part to the saga, one storyline of which would deal with Vincent's reign as head of the Corleone family. Vincent, in opposition to the morals of his predecessors, was to have involved the family in drug dealing, trafficking, and shipping cocaine, driving the Corleone clan into corruption, sleaze and eventual decline. The script ends with Vincent finally being hunted down and killed in a manner similar to the death of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. This proposed film, aptly titled The Godfather: Part IV, would also have flashbacks to Vito Corleone's early days as a Don (once again portrayed by Robert De Niro) and the boyhood days of Sonny, Fredo, and Michael Corleone, when they discover exactly what their father does for a living. They have composed a rough draft which has elements of the first three Godfather films, Scarface, and Miami Vice. Leonardo DiCaprio, Luis Guzmán, Ray Liotta, and Garcia himself have all expressed interest in doing this film. So far, nothing concrete has come from the planning. The film is unlikely to happen, due to the death of Mario Puzo in 1999.

Vincent Mancini was said by Coppola to, roughly speaking, amalgamate the males of the Corleone Family. Coppola describes Vincent as having Vito's cunning, Michael's ruthlessness, Fredo's sensitivity and Sonny's fiery temper.


[edit] Family

Preceded by
Michael Corleone
Head of the Corleone Crime Family
The Godfather

ca. 1980 -
Succeeded by
Classified