Alberto Falcone

During the next few months Holiday starts killing members of Sal Maroni's mob. This leads to a huge gang war between Falcone and the Maronis, forcing Falcone to employ "freaks" such as Riddler and Poison Ivy to stabilize his empire. A large number of Maroni's soldiers are killed alongside some of Falcone's guards at Maroni's only legitimate business; an Italian restaurant. A number of Maroni's men are assassinated at his safe house on St. Patrick's Day, just before Falcone's daughter could go there and pull a hit on them herself. On April Fools' Day, Riddler is attacked but left unharmed, so he could publicly tell that Falcone was actively looking for Holiday himself. Holiday's guns are traced back to Gotham's Chinatown neighborhood, but the Chinese gun-maker is found murdered inside his shop on Mother's Day.^[3]

On Father's Day, Sal Maroni's father Luigi Maroni is shot and killed in his tomato-garden. During the Independence Day celebrations, Jasper Dolan, the coroner, is found dead at Gotham Docks with two bullets in his chest. Alberto Falcone's aunt, Carla Viti, launches an investigation of her own into her son Johnny's death, only to be fatally shot at the coroner's office on the day of what would have a "Roman" holiday, Carmine Falcone's own birthday.^[4]

On Labor Day, while Sal Maroni is being transported to a safer area after disfiguring Harvey Dent in court, Alberto Falcone appears from nowhere and kills him with two shots to the head. He is arrested by Jim Gordon after Batman beats him so badly he loses feeling in one arm.^[5][6]

Alberto later admits to committing all of the Holiday murders, including that of his cousin Johnny Viti. His father offers to use his influence to free Alberto, if he only admits to killing Maroni. Alberto refuses, however, smugly bragging that his new reputation as Holiday makes him much bigger than his father and all the gangsters in the mob put together; Alberto then tells his father that the days of the mob controlling Gotham are over, and that "freaks" like himself will be the ones to control the city's fate from now on. He is convicted by the jury and sentenced to the gas chamber. Although Alberto initially receives the death sentence, his unstable mental state allows him to instead plead insanity. He is imprisoned in Arkham Asylum instead, across the hall from the Calendar Man, another holiday-obsessed villain who is afraid that Holiday might overshadow him.^[7]

Batman: Dark Victory

Despite the warnings of Commissioner Gordon, Alberto is released from Arkham with the help of Janice Porter, Dent's replacement as Gotham's district attorney; Porter argues that Alberto has been deemed 'cured' and that he was the victim of various civil rights violations during his arrest due to the brutal beating he received from Batman, to the extent that his right arm is still disfigured and apparently useless. He is placed under house arrest at the Falcone compound outside Gotham, with a tracer is attached to his leg to prevent escape.

While in the house, Alberto is manipulated by The Scarecrow and Calendar Man into believing that he is being contacted by Carmine's ghost; the Scarecrow, a former psychologist, determines that Alberto is most afraid of his father, and the Calendar Man poses as the Roman's 'ghost' to permanently eliminate his 'rival'. The gun from the Holiday murders is soon left in his possession, which he uses to save Sofia from Joker, the judges letting Alberto off on the potential violation of his parole due to the "exceptional circumstances" of saving his sister's life. On Carmine Falcone's birthday, Alberto receives another gun to kill Sofia to usurp powers of the five crime families (actually a part of Two-Face's plan to destroy the crime families). Alberto nearly kills her in a Holiday-style shooting, but ultimately stops himself.^[8]

Following Janice Porter's death, Two-Face has her body left in Alberto's bed to trick him into thinking he had killed her. This time Scarecrow uses his fear toxins to make Alberto hallucinate that his father's voice is commanding him to commit suicide. Alberto then knows that the voice is not real — his father did not believe in suicide — and he exposes Calendar Man. What happens next is never explicitly shown, but later events suggest that Calendar Man shoots and wounds Alberto, at which point Sofia Falcone attacks Calendar Man, breaking his jaw and attaching her brother's electronic monitoring ankle collar to him, leaving him unconscious outside the Falcone estate for Batman and the authorities to find (Sofia's role is not explicitly confirmed, but Gordon and Batman appear doubtful that Alberto could have injured the Calendar Man so badly himself). Sofia then takes her wounded brother to a hiding place in the Falcone mausoleum. There Sofia criticizes Alberto for complaining about the pain, recalling how Carmine had survived five shots to the chest. Alberto replies that he is not his father. Sofia, disgusted, agrees with this assessment and smothers him to death.^[9]

Alberto is later revealed to be the father of Kitrina Falcone.^[10]

In other media

Television

Alberto Falcone will appear in the upcoming TV series The Penguin, portrayed by Michael Zegen.^[11]

Film

• Alberto Falcone appears in the animated film Batman: The Long Halloween, voiced by Jack Quaid.^[12] This version is portrayed as much less willing to be related to his father, even stating before he was murdered that he has no interest in taking after Carmine, especially in terms of the family business, and would much rather have a normal life far from Gotham with his own family. He was married to Gilda Dent before the latter married Harvey Dent, but his father disapproved of the relationship, going so far as to force Gilda to have an abortion after the marriage was annulled. Because Alberto didn't stand up to his father, the true Holiday Killer kills Alberto in revenge.
• Alberto "Al" Falcone appears in the film The Flash portrayed by Luke Brandon Field.^[13] This version is the leader of a terrorist group that was causing disaster in Gotham City after attempting to steal a virus. He is brought to justice by Batman and Wonder Woman, with the assistance of the title character.

Video games

Alberto Falcone appears in Batman: Arkham Origins,^[14] voiced by Quinton Flynn. He is shown being tortured by the Penguin who wants Alberto to convince his father to retire from the weapons business only for Batman to intervene. It is also implied in a conversation late in the game that Alberto managed to convince his father to retire from the weapons business. Alberto is described as suffering from some form of mental illness. Recorded conversations collected by Enigma indicate Alberto is undergoing psychiatric treatment while another confirms his mental illness and murderous alter-ego Holiday. A series of holiday-related killings are described in-game, but these are attributed to Calendar Man rather than Alberto.

See also

• List of Batman family enemies

References