Don Fanucci

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Evil-doer
Full Name	Fanucci ( full name unknown)
Alias	Don Fanucci The Black Hand
Origin	Mario Puzo's The Godfather
Occupation	Gangster Black Hand extortionist
Powers / Skills	Criminal skills Intimidation Manipulation Charisma
Hobby	Extorting his neighborhood for money. Getting his family work.
Goals	Get his nephew Sandiago a job (succeeded). Get his hands on money and stolen goods earned by Vito and his allies (failed).
Crimes	Organized crime Extortion Racketeering Conning
Type of Villain	Arrogant Con Artist

“	Young man, I hear you and your friends are stealing goods. But you don't even send a dress to my house. No respect! You know I've got three daughters. This is my neighborhood. You and your friends should show me some respect. You should let me wet my beak a little. I hear you and your friends cleared $600 each. Give me $200 each, for your own protection. And I'll forget the insult. You young punks have to learn to respect a man like me! Otherwise the cops will come to your house. And your family will be ruined. Of course, if I'm wrong about how much you stole, I'll take a little less. And by less, I only mean - a hundred bucks less. Now don't refuse me. Understand, paisan? Understand, paisan?... Tell your friends I don't want a lot. Just enough to wet my beak. Don't be afraid to tell them!	„
	~ Don Fanucci extorting Vito Corleone.

Don Fanucci is the secondary antagonist of Vito’s story ,in the 1974 crime film The Godfather: Part II. He is a Mafia-boss wannabe who often extorts money from the neighborhood by using his title as a mobster rather than being a true mobster himself.

He was portrayed by the late Gastone Moschin.

Biography

He is a seemingly ruthless, but actually weak and arrogant gangster who was a Black Hand extortionist in Little Italy New York . Fanucci demands protection money from neighborhood business. He is first seen when Vito Corleone and Genco Abbandando attend a play of a young girl acting in it. Backstage, when he demands money from the playwright, he threatens to disfigure his daughter, the young girl from the play, if he doesn't comply, and so he does. He later costs Vito his job, when he demands that his nephew Sandiago be provided with money and employment.

In the novel and in the chronological film version re-edited for TV (The Godfather Saga), Vito witnesses an attack on Fanucci by two youths of the neighborhood who are tired of Fanucci's oppression over the neighborhood. Although Fanucci screams for help, nobody comes to his rescue and the attack ends only when the youths have robbed him, cut his throat, and run away. Vito knows from his own experiences that a real Don would probably be escorted by bodyguards, and that anybody who dared attack him would be dealt with severely and publicly. Furthermore, Vito witnessed how Fanucci used his hat to keep his suit from getting stained by his own blood. A powerful mobster would not care as they could simply have bought a new suit. Vito begins to suspect that Fanucci's power comes from the threat of force rather than force itself.

Soon, Vito meets Peter Clemenza, a young criminal who asks Vito to hide his gun from the police . When Vito does this favor, Clemenza repays him by helping him steal merchandise from other people's homes to provide for Vito's family, albeit initially at Vito's behest. Soon, they meet Salvatore Tessio, who becomes a business partner with the two of them.

One day, while Vito is driving a load of stolen merchandise, Fanucci jumps onto the moving vehicle. He explains that he has gotten word that Vito, Clemenza and Sal Tessio have participated in several robberies and are fencing the stolen goods. He demands $200 from the three men, but almost immediately states he will take slightly less if he is wrong on the amount. He also threatens to go to the police unless Vito “wets his beak “or gives him a cut of their profits. This confirms Vito's suspicions in the novel that Fanucci is not as powerful as he claims, as he would not have to anonymously get the police involved against Vito if he truly had the power and resources to retaliate.

He assures Fanucci that he will convince his friends to pay him. Later that night, Vito meets with Clemenza and Tessio and expresses hesitations about paying Fanucci. They both tell Vito that they must pay, and when Vito mentions two bookies across town who he says don't pay Fanucci anything, Tessio and Clemenza insist that someone else must collect from them for Fanucci's boss, the Black Hand leader Maranzalla, whom they fear retaliation from rather than Fanucci. Vito meets with Fanucci, but offers only $100. Impressed with the young man's courage, he tells Vito he will find him work for good money. Having shown weakness to Vito for accepting such a paltry sum of money (as real Sicilian mobsters would have taken Vito's offer as an insult), Vito sets in motion his plan to get rid of him.

After this meeting, Vito follows Fanucci into an abandoned building during the Feast of Saint Rocco, and then sneaks up on him. Fanucci notices him, and Vito then shoots him dead, the sounds of gunfire masked by the carnival outside and by Vito using a rolled-up towel as a makeshift silencer. After the hit, Vito retrieves the money that Fanucci had taken earlier and then destroys the evidence.

The lack of mob reprisals following Fanucci's death shows that Fanucci was more all bark and no bite. Even the police did not bother to investigate the crime as they see him as just another lowlife gangster getting whacked. However, word around the streets soon spread and it became well known that it was Vito who killed Fanucci.

This completes Vito's character arc from a reluctant criminal to a powerful mob boss, as Vito then assumes Fanucci's place. However, Vito is far more compassionate and shows the people of his neighborhood with far more respect than Fanucci ever would .