Vincent Corleone

Vincent Corleone
Andy Garcia portraying Vincent Corleone
First appearance	The Godfather Part III
Portrayed by	Andy García
In-universe information
Alias	Vincent Santino Mancini (birth name)
Nickname	Vinnie
Gender	Male
Title	Boss Soldato
Occupation	Crime boss
Family	Corleone
Relatives	Fredo Corleone (paternal uncle) Michael Corleone (paternal uncle) Connie Corleone (paternal aunt) Vito Corleone (paternal grandfather) Carmela Corleone (paternal grandmother) Anthony Corleone (cousin) Mary Corleone (cousin)
Father	Sonny Corleone
Mother	Lucy Mancini
Half-brothers	Frank Corleone Santino Corleone, Jr.
Half-sisters	Francesca Corleone Kathryn Corleone
Born	1948

Vincent Santino Corleone (né Mancini) is a fictional character in the 1990 feature film The Godfather Part III. He is portrayed by Andy García, who was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance. Vincent is the illegitimate son of Sonny Corleone and his mistress Lucy Mancini. He eventually succeeds his uncle Michael as head of the Corleone family. Retroactive continuity ("retcon") was employed to create the character's existence for The Godfather Part III, as it is evident from Mario Puzo's original 1969 novel that Lucy did not conceive a child with Sonny.

Coppola has said that Vincent is an amalgamation of the five Corleone family males, having Vito's logical mind, Michael's duplicity, Fredo's vulnerability, Sonny's quick-temper and Tom Hagen's courage.

Fictional character biography

The Godfather Part III

In The Godfather, married Sonny Corleone and his sister's bridesmaid, Lucy Mancini were having an illicit affair; Vincent Mancini is the result of that union. Being illegitimate, as a youth he was not included in the Corleone family. When Michael Corleone offers him employment in one of the family's legitimate businesses, Vincent declines, preferring to work for Joey Zasa, who runs the remnants of the Corleone family's criminal empire in New York City. Vincent is eventually embroiled in a feud with Zasa when he senses that Zasa is trying to steal Michael's power. Michael tries to make peace between the two, but this fails; Zasa calls Vincent a bastard, and Vincent bites his ear. That night, Zasa sends two hitmen to kill Vincent, but Vincent kills them instead after forcing one of them to reveal who hired them.

Vincent attempts to ingratiate himself with his uncle by protecting him from rival Mafia families, who are in league with Zasa and an unknown traitor within Michael's circle. Encouraged by his sister Connie, Michael takes Vincent under his wing and starts mentoring him. Michael likes Vincent's courage and wit, but notices that Vincent has inherited Sonny's hot-temper and worries he will suffer his father's fate.

Vincent saves Michael from an assassination attempt orchestrated by Zasa at a Mafia summit in Atlantic City. That same night, Michael is hospitalized following a diabetic stroke. Believing Zasa will make another attempt on Michael's life, Vincent murders Zasa (with approval from Connie and Corleone assassin Al Neri). Michael is annoyed that Vincent used violence to deal with Zasa and did so without Michael's permission.

When Vincent begins a relationship with Michael's daughter Mary, Michael fears that his nephew's growing involvement in the family's criminal activity will endanger her life; he is also concerned about Mary having a relationship with her first cousin. Michael confides in Vincent that he always felt responsible for him, and while they were different and argued, Michael knew and never doubted Sonny's brotherly love and always knew Sonny would have done anything to protect Michael. Michael warns Vincent that Sonny's temper clouded his judgment, and Michael doesn't want Vincent to repeat his father's mistake.

When Michael learns that his old friend Don Altobello is the traitor within the family, Michael has Vincent spy on him. Vincent learns that Licio Lucchesi, a powerful Italian politician and criminal underworld figure, was the mastermind of the assassination plot against his uncle, and employed Altobello, Zasa, and corrupt Vatican officials Frederick Keinszig and Archbishop Gilday to undermine Michael's criminal empire.

Vincent wants permission to retaliate. Michael tacitly agrees, then formally retires as Don and names Vincent his successor, instructing him to call himself Don Vincent Corleone. Michael's guidance has made Vincent into a better man: tolerant, strong-willed, and acknowledging his position as the new Don. His first act is to order the murders of Lucchesi, Keinszig, and Gilday. Connie kills Altobello (her godfather) by poisoning him. In return for being made Don, Vincent agrees to end his relationship with Mary. That same night, Altobello's assassin Mosca accidentally kills Mary during an attempt on Michael's life. Angst-ridden, Vincent kills Mosca with a single gunshot.

Abandoned sequel

What follows in Vincent's story, according to author Mario Puzo and director Francis Ford Coppola, is unknown. In The Godfather Part III DVD commentary, Coppola explains that both he and Puzo had envisioned a story depicting Vincent's reign as head of the Corleone family during the 1980s, still haunted by Mary's murder. Vincent, deviating from his predecessors' morals, would have entered the family into the drug trade, driving the Corleone clan back into corruption and eventual decline and ending with his being killed similarly to Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.

This proposed film would have been titled either The Godfather Part IV or The Godfather: The Final Part. Flashbacks would include Vito Corleone's early days as Don, and the childhood days of Sonny, Fredo, Michael, and Connie Corleone, when they discover the precise nature of their father's business. The film would have portrayed the early days of Tom Hagen, Luca Brasi, and Johnny Fontane, and Vito's first meeting with Hyman Roth. According to Coppola, Puzo had composed a rough draft alternating between Vincent's reign as boss and the "Happy Years" of 1926–1939; passages from the original novel not previously incorporated into the movie storylines. Leonardo DiCaprio, Luis Guzmán, Ray Liotta, and García himself all expressed interest in the film. However, this project has lain dormant since Puzo's death in 1999.

Family

• Sonny Corleone—father
• Lucy Mancini—mother
• Francesca Corleone—paternal half-sister
• Kathryn Corleone—paternal half-sister
• Frank Corleone—paternal half-brother
• Santino Corleone, Jr.—paternal half-brother
• Vito Corleone—paternal grandfather
• Carmela Corleone—paternal grandmother
• Fredo Corleone—paternal uncle
• Michael Corleone—paternal uncle
• Constanzia "Connie" Corleone—paternal aunt
• Anthony Corleone—paternal cousin
• Mary Corleone—paternal cousin/lover
• Victor Rizzi—paternal cousin
• Michael Rizzi—paternal cousin