Alberto Falcone

**Alberto Falcone**is an antagonist in *Batman: Shadow War.*He was the son of Carmine Falcone, formerly one of Gotham City's most powerful crime lords.

## Biography

### Early Life

Born to Gotham City crime lord Carmine Falcone, Alberto Falcone was an outcast in his well-known family of mobsters, a nonexistent part of the family business. His father favored his older siblings Mario and Sofia, 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, wishing for Alberto to live a normal life.

### Batman in Town

During Batman's early years while investigating the serial killer Victor Zsasz, Alberto was kidnapped by the Penguin, a rival of Falcone, and brought on board his ship, The Final Offer. Penguin tortured Alberto because he wanted Alberto to convince his father to give up on the weapons business. However, Batman interrupted the torture session, and attacked Penguin, allowing Alberto to escape during the confusion.

Alberto was a patient of Professor Hugo Strange and was being treated for his mental illness. He became a suspect in the Calendar Man murders on Halloween and was under suspicion by Batman and Captain Jim Gordon because a young boy found dead with the M.O. of the serial killer was last seen alive getting into Alberto's limo. Carmine bailed him out by bribing the cops. Bruce Wayne, accompanied by Selina Kyle, goes to one of Alberto's parties so they can investigate him further. When Bruce and Selina confronts Alberto, Alberto becomes emotionally unstable over the accusations and denies them. Bruce immediately suspects Alberto to be the Calendar Man but later uncovers the truth that Alberto is not the killer, but is guilty of kidnapping a young boy in retaliation because Alberto got involved in a deal gone wrong and wanted to desperately impress his father. Alberto accidentally drowned the boy and felt great remorse from the incident.

### Death

After the death of his father by the Phantasm and fall of the Falcone crime family at the hands of the Joker, Alberto was the remaining Falcone in Gotham City. Seeking to follow in his father's footsteps, Alberto planned to take out the Joker in a deal and agreed to meet the Clown Prince of Crime to sell him unlicensed hygiene products for his latest scheme. Alberto acts tough in front of the Joker, showing apparent no fear of the lunatic until the Joker makes a dark joke regarding his dead relatives and plays a harmless prank on Alberto by squirting water from his flower lapel in his face. As the Joker bursts out in laughter in the enraged and humiliated Alberto's face, he angrily attacks the Joker and orders his bodyguards to kill the Joker and his men.

However, the slightly irritated yet amused Joker gets back up on his feet and pulls out a lit "bomb" to threaten Alberto and his bodyguards with, causing Alberto's goons to flee in terror as he tosses the bomb at the nerve-wrecked gangster. However, the bomb was revealed to be a fake, apparently another playful joke, popping out a jester puppet resembling the Joker. The Joker tells a relieved Alberto that he should learn to take a joke and stop taking himself so seriously. Then, then the Joker's lethal laughing gas suddenly sprays out of the jester's mouth and takes its effect on Alberto, causing him to literally die with painful laughter. The Joker then kicks Alberto's corpse into the river.