| |
| Frank Pentangeli | |
| Biographical Information | |
| Aliases | "Frankie Five Angels" |
| Gender | Male |
| Born | February 15, 1894 Partinico, Sicily |
| Died | March 10, 1962 Brooklyn, New York City |
| Affiliation |  Corleone crime family Clemenza crime family
|
| Title(s) | Don Capo |
Frank Pentangeli was an Italian-American mobster who was the boss of Brooklyn's Clemenza crime family from 1957 to 1960, also acting as a Caporegime for the Corleone crime family, running their territories in Queens. Pentangeli immigrated to America when he was young, and joined Vito Corleone's olive oil company to make a living. Pentangeli, however, believed that his boss Michael Corleone had arranged an assassination attempt on him in 1959, and betrayed the Italian Mafia, breaking Omerta by announcing the reality of the Mafia, and later committed suicide after his brother Vincenzo Pentangeli watched him in court, giving him mortal shame.
Biography[]
Francesco Pentangeli was born in the town of Partinico, not far from Palermo, in Sicily, in a very powerful mafia family. After Vincenzo, the older brother, had the control of the mafia clan in Partinico, Francesco immigrated to America and he was brought up in Little Italy, where he befriended future Corleone Capo Peter Clemenza, who was also an immigrant from Sicily, in 1917. Clemenza introduced Pentangeli to his future boss Vito Corleone in 1923, and they participated in bootlegging during Prohibition. Also, Pentangeli smuggled molasses into Canada with the Corleones, in addition to being a soldier in the family and taking part in the Genco Pura Olive Oil Company's olive oil importing and exporting from Sicily.
Pentangeli became a soldier in the Clemenza crime family of Brooklyn, meeting his future arch-enemies, fellow caporegimes Tony and Carmine Rosato. Pentangeli made time in Queens or in Lake Tahoe with the Corleone crime family, helping out with the family business. In 1957, when Pete Clemenza died of a heart attack (which he believed was murder), Pentangeli was entitled to take over his territories. However, he refused to give the Rosato Brothers the three territories in the Bronx that Clemenza had promised them in his will, causing them to join the Trapani crime family, an ally, but they were taking what they had, men and cash.
In 1959, the Rosatos split from the Trapanis, so Pentangeli begged for Don Michael Corleone to give the order to kill them, kill their made men; it was bound by Omerta that you would have to consent with other families to kill made men. Pentangeli and his protege, Dominic, took out the Rosato Brothers' made men one by one, but soon, Pentangeli was taken by surprise by his enemies in return.
At Richie Discenza's bar on the East Side, Carmine Rosato called for a truce. Pentangeli, Dominic, and Rosato met there, discussing terms. However, one of Carmine Rosato's buttonmen choked Pentangeli with a garrote wire, letting his sphincter loose all over the floor while he struggled to breathe. Pentangeli was knocked out, apparently killed, but was thrown into the alleyway yelling "Michael Corleone set me up!" due to the fact that the hitman whispered 'Michael Corleone says hello' to him.
Pentangeli defected to the FBI, telling them all about what the Corleone Family did: set up the murders of the Five Families in 1955, order many deaths in the Five Families War, gave names of known made men, told of the hierarchy of the families, and leaked tons of information, breaking the code of silence, Omerta. In 1960, he appeared in court to testify against Corleone as a part of the Kane Hearings, but when his brother Vincenzo Pentangeli appeared to watch him break Omerta, Frank denied all that he had said to the FBI Agents and the senate hearings ended abruptly.
Pentangeli was visited by family consigliere Tom Hagen in the home where he was under house arrest, and Hagen reminded him of how in Rome, a person who failed rebellion against his Emperor would be ensured that his family would be protected, before slitting his wrists and bleeding to death after throwing a party. Pentangeli concieved the thought that he was, indeed, the rebel, and that Corleone was the "emperor".
The next afternoon, at 14:00, he was found dead in his bathtub with blood everywhere. His body was discovered by FBI Agent Philip Parker, who was playing cards with Pentangeli and another agent at the table when Pentangeli headed to use the restroom. Murder was suspected initially, but the agents noticed the shaving razor that accompanied Pentangeli in the tub. Upon his death, Pentangeli's territories were taken over by Joey Zasa.