Fictional character biography
Born as the middle child of Gotham City crime lord Carmine Falcone on February 14, Alberto earned a scholarship to Harvard University and received post-graduate education at Oxford. As a young man, he is eager to follow in his father's footsteps as a crime boss, but Carmine rebuffed his son's efforts; it is suggested that Carmine simply wants him to have a normal life but does not know how to express those feelings. Alberto is nevertheless hurt and angered by the perceived slight, and grows pathologically jealous of his siblings, Mario and Sofia, as they are allowed to take part in the "family business".
Throughout Batman: The Long Halloween , various Gotham City criminals are murdered by the Holiday Killer, a killer known for striking on holidays, killing with his signature weapon, a .22 pistol, and leaving small holiday-themed objects at the scene of the crime. At first, the murdered criminals are connected to Carmine Falcone, starting with the death of his nephew, Johnny Viti. On New Year's Eve, Alberto Falcone is apparently killed by Holiday during a party on Falcone's yacht. [2]
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. [3] [4]
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. [5]
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. 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, the Scarecrow and Calendar Man manipulate Alberto into believing that he is being contacted by Carmine Falcone's ghost. 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, but ultimately stops himself. [6]
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. Sofia 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. [7]
