Michael Corleone (1920-1997) was the Don of the Corleone crime family from 1955 to 1980, succeeding Vito Corleone and preceding Vincent Mancini. Michael Corleone was drawn into his family's criminal lifestyle following the December 1945 assassination attempt on his father, and he became boss in 1955 following the death of his father (and the death of his older brother Sonny Corleone before he could succeed his father). He later attempted to legitimize the family business, but his life ended in tragedy, as he lost his family and died, alone and blind, in Bagheria, Sicily in 1997.
Biography[]
Michael Corleone was born in the Hell's Kitchen section of New York City, New York in 1920, the son of Sicilian immigrants Vito and Carmela Corleone. He was the youngest son of Don Corleone, and he had no desire to join the family business, instead enrolling at Dartmouth College and starting a relationship with a non-Italian woman, Kay Adams.
World War II[]
Corleone in uniform, August 1945
After the United States entered World War II in 1941, Corleone enlisted in the US Marine Corps, doing so against the wishes of his family. He was awarded the Navy Cross while serving in the Pacific theater, and he was once even featured in Life Magazine in 1944. In 1945, he was discharged after being wounded, leaving the military with the rank of Captain; his father bribed the doctor to exaggerate the injury so that Michael could return home. He returned to Dartmouth, and he continued to live a normal life back at home, resuming his relationship with Kay Adams.
Turn to crime[]
Corleone in January 1946
In December 1945, Vito Corleone was shot several times by two Tattaglia crime family hitmen on the orders of Virgil Sollozzo, and Michael visited his father in the hospital after the attempt. He discovered that the police had removed the Don's guards on the orders of the corrupt captain Mark McCluskey, and Michael had the nurse move his father to another room to prevent the assassins from killing him. Soon, family friend Enzo Aguello arrived, and Michael and Enzo guarded Michael's father until Captain McCluskey arrived and attempted to arrest Corleone. McCluskey broke Corleone's jaw when Corleone asked him how much Sollozzo had paid him to set up his father, but Michael's adoptive brother and Vito's consigliere Tom Hagen arrived and informed McCluskey that he had no reason to arrest Michael. Michael was let go, and, infuriated, he decided to volunteer to kill both Sollozzo and McCluskey for the family. As he was seen as a civilian, he was allowed to attend the meeting on the precondition that he be unarmed and alone. Caporegime Peter Clemenza had his associate Aldo Trapani hide a handgun behind a toilet in the Louis Restaurant in Midtown, where the meeting was to be held, and Corleone was to use the gun to kill Sollozzo and the chief at the meeting.
During the car ride from Jack Dempsey's restaurant to the Louis Restaurant, McCluskey apologized to Corleone, and Corleone and Sollozzo conversed in Italian at the restaurant, with Sollozzo declaring that he only wanted a truce. However, Corleone proceeded to ask permission to use the restroom, where he retrieved the hidden pistol. He then returned to the table, where, as a train passed by, Corleone shot Sollozzo in the forehead and McCluskey in the neck and the forehead, killing both of them. He then left the restaurant, with Trapani driving him to the docks.
Exile in Sicily[]
Corleone in Sicily
Corleone took a ship to Sicily, where he went into exile under the protection of family friend Lionele Tommasino, a local Mafia clan boss. He was given two bodyguards: Calo and Fabrizio. Corleone decided to travel to his family's ancestral home of Corleone, where he fell in love with Apollonia Vitelli, a local woman. The two married with the blessing of Don Tommasino, and they had a short-lived, but loving marriage. This was brought to an end when his bodyguard Fabrizio planted a car bomb in his car with the objective of assassinating Corleone; instead, the bomb killed Apollonia. Michael, now a widower, stayed in Sicily until it was safe to return to America.
Rise to power[]
Michael and his father in 1954
Michael was made acting boss of the Corleone family by his father in 1954, as his ailing father, who had lost his eldest son, Santino, needed another son to succeed him. Michael took over the Corleone crime family, and he replaced his adoptive brother Tom Hagen with his own father as consigliere. Michael Corleone intended to move the main family to Las Vegas, where it would become involved in the casino business and aim at becoming legitimate. He had to deal with the ramifications of the Five Families War, as the Barzini crime family continued to chip away at Corleone territories owned by the caporegimes Peter Clemenza and Salvatore Tessio. Corleone decided to lure the Barzinis into a false sense of security by allowing for them to capture Corleone territories, secretly plotting with his father to assassinate the heads of the other Five Families.
Consolidation of power[]
Michael receiving pledges of loyalty
Vito Corleone died on 28 July 1955, and Michael took over the family following his father's death. Michael had Tessio executed after discovering that he was planning to betray him to the Barzinis, and he proceeded to order the deaths of the heads of the other families while he was at the baptism of his nephew, Michael Francis Rizzi. This gave him an alibi, and he was at church at the same time as the swift elimination of Emilio Barzini, Philip Tattaglia, Carmine Cuneo, and Victor Stracci. He also had his brother-in-law Carlo Rizzi executed for betraying his brother Sonny to the rival families in 1948, and his father's old lieutenants pledged their loyalty to him following these executions.
Move to Nevada[]
Corleone in 1958
After consolidating his power, Corleone moved the family to Lake Tahoe, leaving Clemenza in charge of the family's New York operations. Corleone sought to legitimize his family's business due to a promise that he made to his wife Kay Adams, but Jewish Mob boss Hyman Roth plotted to have Corleone killed in revenge for Corleone's murder of his good friend, casino owner Moe Greene. Roth incited Clemenza's successor Frank Pentangeli to testify against Corleone in a 1959 US Senate hearing on organized crime, as he had Carmine Rosato attempt to assassinate him while claiming to be following the orders of Corleone. Corleone also survived an assassination attempt by Roth at his Lake Tahoe compound, and he decided to continue pretending to be a friend of Roth until he found out who had tipped off Roth about his location. During a trip to Cuba on the eve of the Cuban Revolution in 1958, Michael found out that his own brother Fredo Corleone had accidentally sold him out. Corleone felt betrayed by his brother, and he was also betrayed by his wife, who had an abortion and filed for divorce due to her disgust at Corleone's immersion in the criminal lifestyle.
The Culling[]
Corleone waited until after the death of his mother to deal with his enemies, among them Fredo, whom he banished from the family for betraying him. Corleone had Frank Pentangeli's brother Vincenzo Pentangeli flown in from Sicily to attend the hearing, and his cold stare at his brother Frank was enough to persuade him to recant his testimony. Tom Hagen later persuaded Pentangeli to commit suicide to preserve his honor, eliminating him. He then had Roth assassinated at the Miami International Airport as he spoke to journalists, with Rocco Lampone shooting him dead before himself being gunned down. Finally, he had Al Neri murder Fredo as they were on a boat in Lake Tahoe.
Retirement[]
Corleone becoming a Commander of the Order of St. Sebastian, 1979
During the 1970s, Corleone took great steps to legitimize the family, selling most of his casinos and turning over the criminal responsibilities of the family to New York street boss Joey Zasa. He used his wealth and power to restore his reputation, setting up the "Vito Corleone Foundation" and being awarded with the rank of "Commander of the Order of St. Sebastian" by the Catholic Church. His new connection to the Catholic Church led him to seek the opportunity to take overthe real estate company Immobiliare. Corleone decided to buy the Vatican's 25% stake in Immobiliare, and he also repaired his relationship with Kay Adams and with his nephew, Vincent Mancini. After Zasa eliminated The Commission in a helicopter attack on their meeting at Atlantic City, Mancini unilaterally acted by killing Zasa, and Michael made Vincent his heir apparent.
Immobiliare scheme[]
Corleone in 1979
Corleone soon discovered that the Immobiliare deal was actually an elaborate swindle concocted by company chairman Licio Lucchesi and corrupt Vatican officials Archbishop Liam Gilday and Frederick Keinszig to cover up their looting of the Vatican Bank. Hoping to salvage the deal, he sought the assistance of Don Tommasino, his late father's old friend. Tommasino directed him to the honest Cardinal Albino Luciani, who persuaded him to make his first confession in 30 years.
End of career[]
Corleone later returned to Sicily to watch Anthony perform at the Teatro Massimo. However, he soon became aware of two assassins, Mosca and Spara, whom Don Osvaldo Altobello, in league with the plotters, had hired to kill him. Mosca killed Tommasino, and Michael vowed before his dead friend's coffin to sin no more. Following this vow, Mancini, who had been spying on Altobello, revealed that Lucchesi was behind the plot against Corleone's life. He asked for permission to strike back, and Corleone decided to retire and make Mancini the new boss. That night, Michael, reconciled with Kay and his son Anthony, watched his son perform in the opera Cavalleria rusticana. That same night, Vincent, with Michael's tacit blessing, wiped out Lucchesi, Gilday, and Keinszig in a bloody wave of murders. However, Michael's daughter Mary was inadvertently killed in an assassination attempt on her father, being shot to death in front of her whole family. Devastated by this loss, Michael retired to Sicily and bought Don Tomassino's old villa in Bagheria, where he had lived with his first wife. He died there in 1997, distraught and alone, of a stroke while sitting in a chair in front of his villa.