The Falcon

The Falcon, also known as Henry von Falkenberg is the main Bigger Bad antagonist of the very first Diamond Brothers novel The Falcon's Malteser. The Falcon is the titular antagonist and his death and subsequent funeral play elements in the plot.

Origins
The Falcon was presumably a Mafia agent because he comes from Italy. (It's mentioned that the Fat Man is an Italian man or his clothes are Italian, so it's very possible the Falcon was from Italy too.) The Falcon was very intelligent, able to use his surname - von Falkenberg - to make a moniker for himself: The Falcon, which he became known by in the criminal Underworld. The Falcon was respected and feared by many.

Mob life
The Falcon was a very rich businessman, who posed as a respectable businessman and was admired, but in reality he was a ruthless killer who would eliminate anyone who threatened his fortune or his possessions. He was emotionless and sociopathic, valuing greed and possessions above all else.

One day the Falcon was travelling with his best friend, Johnny Naples, a South American dwarf, who was also a fellow criminal, in La Paz, Bolivia, where the Falcon met an unlikely death - he was killed by a bus. It was commented by Chief Inspector Snape that the Falcon could've been gunned down by a rival gang or taken by police, but in the end he was hit by a bus. A trivial end to an extremely unusual life.

The Falcon had been extremely successful in his life, though - he had amassed about seven million pounds worth of uncut diamonds, because "The franc may fall, the ruble may rise, but diamonds hold their own." The Falcon alone knew the secret of his Diamonds, and he had buried them in every major city, but his greatest stash was hidden in London, his favourite city, where he amassed four million pounds worth of diamonds.

The police knew this but didn't know where to look. But in his dying breath, the Falcon told Naples where to find these Diamonds. So, after the funeral was arranged, Naples set off for England because he knew the Diamonds would be there.

Funeral and legacy
Because of a baggage handlers' strike which ironically took place the day the Falcon died, this led to setbacks in the Falcon's respective funeral arrangements. Because he lived most of his life in England he wished to be buried there, and was buried in Brompton Cemetery in London. It was really quite a lovely place when one came to think of it. The Falcon was buried there later in November, and despite his reputation as a major murderer and criminal, nothing was remarked of this, just with the message that he had been a successful businessman and deserved a good funeral. But the funeral was a joke, because the only "mourners" were criminal friends of his and it was all staged. The earth flew out of the priest's bowl and hit the priest in the face, and he hastily dashed from the scene. Also it was raining horribly, so the Diamond Brothers believed the only clue they'd picked up was pneumonia.