Fictional character, invented by
Mario Puzo.
The greatest gangster of all time. A man who made himself a legend by playing the game with a cool head and intelligence. Tony Montana's idol. His first name, Vito, is well known as it is thrown around by smelly ass skater trash who talk about "
Fat Don Vito from Viva La Bam" but have no idea of where that name came from.
Original name was Antonio Andolini. Father was murdered for speaking out against the local Sicilian
Don,
Don Cici. Brother Paulo killed by the
Don's men after swearing an oath of revenge. After seeing his mother blown away in front of him while she pleaded for her son to be spared, he escaped the
Don's clutches and with the help of
friends loyal to Antonio's father, he was smuggled to
America. He was twelve years old. At Ellis Island he was asked his name by an immigration official, and since he knew no English, did not respond; therefore the official looked over where he from, a Sicilian town named Corleone, and gave him that name. Here he worked during the Great Depression as a poor Sicilian teenager. Eventually, by meeting the right
friends and making smart connections, worked himself hard enough to become a small time mafia
Don. Many Sicilians and Italians heard about the principles of
Don Corleone and flocked to work for him. In his thirties, he returned to Sicily under the new name of Vito Corleone and visited
Don Cici, who was now too old to recognize a grown man as the young son he had vowed to kill. Vito got up close to Cici, whispered that he was Antonio Andolini, and stabbed the
Don in the belly.
He had three sons, Sonny, who would be killed by a rival gang family,
Michael, who would run the family after Vito died of a heart attack, and Fredo, who would be killed by his brother
Michael.
Don Corleone would coin terms like "I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse," and "A man who does not spend time with his family, can never be a real man." "Someday - and that day may never come - I'll call upon you to do a service for me."
