Léonard Koné

**Léonard Koné** was a recurring character in the first and second parts of *Lupin*. He was played by Adama Niane.

Léonard was employed as an assassin by Hubert Pellegrini, and was responsible for the murders of Babakar Diop and Fabienne Bériot as well as the kidnapping of Raoul Diop.

## History

### Background

Léonard was born in Rouen, Normandy, in April 1971, to a family of Antillean origin. Little is known about his childhood, when he turned to criminal activity, or when he began working with Hubert Pellegrini. In 1995, Léonard was in prison for attempted murder. He was briefly seen by Assane when the latter went to visit Babakar in prison. Shortly afterward, the guards discovered Babakar hanging from a noose inside his cell. Although the death was initially ruled a suicide, it was in fact Léonard who murdered Babakar at Hubert's instructions.

### Part 1

After Hubert gives his press conference about the contents of the Malaysia tape, Léonard follows Fabienne Bériot (who had asked Hubert a pointed question about his responsibility for the Kuala Lumpur terror attack) as she is walking to her home. Fabienne believes that she has successfully evaded Léonard; however, he manages to find out where she lives.

Later, when Hubert orders Léonard to track Assane down, he goes to Fabienne's home, telling her that he will kill her if she does not give up Assane's location. After Fabienne refuses to comply, Léonard murders her and stages her death as a suicide by hanging, mirroring the manner in which the prison guards had found Babakar in 1995.

When Assane leaves his house on the morning of December 11th to go pick up Claire and Raoul, Léonard follows him. A chase ensues, during which Léonard and Assane sprint up several levels of a parking garage. Assane escapes by hiding from Léonard on top of a low wall and then hopping across several rooftops until Léonard has no hope of catching him.

Léonard is, however, able to follow Assane, Claire and Raoul onto the train to Le Havre. He calls Hubert and asks him what he is expected to do. Hubert tells Léonard to kill Assane but to leave Claire and Raoul alone. Meanwhile, Assane notices Léonard's presence in a photograph that Claire has taken of the family. He gets up and begins loudly singing "Happy Birthday" to Raoul, looking pointedly at Léonard to alert him that he is aware of his presence. When Assane tells Claire that he is going to get drinks and leaves their car, Léonard follows him through the train. Upon reaching the final car, Léonard is surprised when he is attacked by Assane, who has hidden inside a storage closet. The two begin to fight; Assane, being the significantly larger of the two, overpowers Léonard easily and locks him inside the room.

Later, however, Léonard escapes, and after discreetly showing Assane that he is carrying a gun, he sits down next to Raoul, asking him if he and his parents are going to the Arsène Lupin festival in Étretat. Raoul says that they are, and Léonard comments that Assane has good taste. Claire finds Léonard's interactions with Raoul concerning, and asks Assane if the two know one another. Assane assures Claire that they do not, but Léonard disagrees. As the train nears the station, Assane urges Claire and Raoul to get off ahead of him. After they have left, Assane is told by Léonard that the two of them are going to disembark quietly. As soon as they exit the train, several police officers rush towards the pair and arrest Léonard, into whose pocket Assane has placed one of the gems from the Queen's Necklace in order to frame him for being "Paul Sernine," the Louvre thief.

However, the police let Léonard go after they learn that he has a license to carry his firearm, that he has a strong alibi for the time of the break-in, and that he doesn't resemble facial reconstructions made of Sernine. Léonard makes his way to Étretat, where he kidnaps Raoul from the beach while Assane's and Claire's backs are turned, throws him into the back seat of a BMW and drives away.

### Part 2

Once outside of Étretat, Léonard tries to call Hubert, but struggles with the lack of reception in the Normandy countryside. He puts Raoul, now bound and gagged, into the trunk of the car so that he can make a stop in the approaching town of Bourneville. Upon pulling into the town center, Léonard exits the car and tells Raoul, still locked in the trunk, that if he makes any noise, he will kill him. Léonard experiences hostility from the people of Bourneville, and is forced to buy a soda in order to make a phone call from a pub. Eventually, he manages to contact Hubert, who is shocked by what Léonard has done and reaffirms that he wanted Assane, not Raoul. Hubert angrily orders Léonard to fix his mistake.

Léonard leaves the pub and discreetly slips the soda to Raoul. As he gets into his car, Assane and Youssef Guédira arrive on the scene. Léonard waits until they have entered the pub and speeds off. Assane and Guédira give chase, but Léonard manages to stay ahead of them and drives to an abandoned hunting lodge. He forcefully drags Raoul into the house and ties him to a chair.

Aware that Assane and Guédira will find him eventually, Léonard sends a text to Assane, pretending to be Raoul and claiming that he has stolen Léonard's phone and escaped. When Assane responds with a message that contains an incorrect plot point from an Arsène Lupin book, Léonard replies in a way that indicates that he is unaware of the error, allowing Assane to discover the true identity of the person he is in contact with.

Assane marches onto a field in front of the house and calls Léonard, who answers and tells Assane that if he wants Raoul, he will need to come and get him. Night falls and Léonard, who has by this point locked Raoul back in the trunk of the car, is still waiting for Assane, clutching a hunting rifle. When Assane does finally enter, Léonard is unable to find him in time to shoot him, and the two begin a physical altercation that ends with Assane throwing Léonard out of one of the windows of the mansion.

Injured but alive, Léonard manages to stand up. He is enraged by his failure to capture Assane and loses any sense for the consequences of his actions, dousing his car in gasoline and setting it alight. The vehicle quickly goes up in flames, with Raoul still locked inside, and Léonard mockingly texts Assane, who is still searching the house for Raoul, the message “next time try the car.” Meanwhile, Guédira, having escaped from the bindings that Assane had used to tie him up, sees what has happened and hears Raoul yelling. He manages to rescue Raoul from a fiery death, and the two run away from the burning wreckage. Léonard shoots at them with his hunting rifle, but is unable to stop them from driving away. After Guédira and Raoul have left, Léonard calls Hubert and explains the situation.

Some time later, Léonard meets with Hubert and Pascal Oblet. Hubert, who has discovered that Assane is working with Benjamin Ferel, directs Léonard to the address of Benjamin's antiquary and tells him that he wants Assane to be taken care of once and for all. Unbeknownst to Léonard, Hubert has ordered his own death (for having made so many errors with Assane's family) and intends to frame Assane for it.

Soon afterward, Léonard follows Benjamin to Assane’s apartment. After Benjamin leaves, Léonard quietly enters and prepares to shoot Assane, who is happily making dinner while blasting the Four Tops' song "Reach Out (I'll Be There)" on his turntable. Before he can do the deed, however, Pascal enters, strangles Léonard to death, and quickly leaves before calling the police.

When Léonard’s body is discovered, Assane is suspected of the murder and quickly makes headlines as the most wanted criminal in France.

## Personality and relationships

Léonard was a determined and ruthless individual, who was skilled at tracking people down and intimidating or killing them. Although he was small in physical size, he made up for this with his strong sense of observation as well as his agility. Léonard’s calling cards as a murderer were hangings staged to look like suicides; he used this method in dealing with both Babakar Diop and Fabienne Bériot. Surprisingly, Léonard was shown to be even more unscrupulous than Hubert Pellegrini. He was entirely comfortable with hurting and, seemingly in a fit of rage, even attempting to kill Raoul Diop, despite Hubert’s explicit instructions not to harm the teenager. Like Assane, Léonard experienced racism frequently; unlike Assane, however, his crimes did not seem to be motivated by a strong sense of injustice.

Although one of Léonard’s major strengths was his ability to adapt and improvise, this ultimately proved to be his downfall when Hubert grew irritated by his tendency to go off-plan. Eventually, Hubert came to see Léonard as a loose cannon who was hindering him; thus, he ordered Pascal Oblet to kill Léonard while simultaneously framing Assane for the crime.

## Quotes

> "Don't be afraid, Raoul. Your father's coming. I'll take care of him. And then? I'll take care of you."
>
> ― Léonard threatens Raoul
>
>

> "You want your son? Come and find him."
>
> ― Léonard tries to lure Assane into the Norman hunting lodge
>
>

## Trivia

* Léonard, Hubert Pellegrini and Anne Pellegrini are the only characters who are played by the same actors in both the 1995 flashback sequences and the present day.
* Although Léonard's police file indicates that he was born in 1971, his mug shot states that he was born in 1969.

## Appearances

Part 1
* *Chapter 1*
* *Chapter 4*
* *Chapter 5*

Part 2
* *Chapter 6*
* *Chapter 7*
* *Chapter 9*