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| “ | You're fun at a card game or over drinks, I'll give you that. But people don't keep you around because they think you're smart, and they sure as sh-t don't trust you. Nah, people keep the Penguin around for entertainment, because everybody knows you're a goddamn joke. | „ |
| ~ Viti mocking Oz Cobb |
| “ | Sofia, please. These gentlemen know that there's a score to settle... | „ |
| ~ Viti trying to keep Sofia Gigante quiet; also his last words |
Johnny Viti is a major antagonist in the 2024 HBO miniseries The Penguin. He is the underboss of the Falcone crime family and an enemy to Oswald "Oz" Cobb and Sofia Gigante.
He was portrayed by Michael Kelly, who also portrayed Doug Stamper in House of Cards, Arquette in Black Mirror, Luke Dixon in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Richard Detmer in Chronicle.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Viti is Gotham City crime lord Carmine Falcone's underboss who runs the day-to-day operations of the Falcone family's criminal empire. He introduced Falcone to his cousin, Isabella Gigante, whom Falcone later married, and made sure that their children, Alberto and Sofia, kept out of trouble with the law.
When Falcone began abusing Isabella, Viti tried to help her flee Gotham with her children. Falcone caught her trying to escape, however, and strangled her to death; he then staged her death to look like she had hanged herself. Viti knew what really happened, but he went along with Falcone's story and kept working for him; his own ambition and fear of his boss being greater than his love for his cousin. Years later, Viti conspired with Falcone to frame Sofia for the "Hangman" murders that her father had, in fact, committed, and to have her sent to Arkham State Hospital.
A few years before the events of the series, Viti began an affair with Tina Falcone, the third wife of Falcone's brother Luca. Falcone found out about the affair, but he kept the evidence of it to himself, intending to use it as blackmail if Viti ever rose up against him.
In The Penguin[]
Following Falcone's death at the hands of The Riddler, Viti assumes temporary control of the family while Alberto, an alcoholic and drug addict, goes through rehab. He is assisted by his right-hand man, Milos Grapa. At the same time, he sets Sofia up at the Falcone family compound after she is released from Arkham, where she had been locked up for 10 years.
Viti summons Oswald "Oz" Cobb, the Falcone family's chief enforcer who runs its narcotics operation, to a meeting and tells him that he will no longer control sales of the hallucinogenic drug Drops, effectively cutting him out of the family. Cobb and Viti, who despise each other, get into an argument over who should lead the family after Alberto's recent disappearance; unbeknownst to Viti, Cobb had in fact murdered Alberto and disposed of his body as part of his plan to usurp control of Gotham's criminal underworld from the Falcones. He is also unaware that Cobb is conspiring with Sofia and rival mob boss Salvatore Maroni to overthrow him.
When Sofia decides that she cannot trust Cobb, however, she has Viti's men kidnap him so she can torture and kill him. During the torture, however, Cobb's accomplice Victor Aguilar sends Alberto's car - with Alberto's mutilated corpse in the trunk - crashing into the Falcone compound, leaving Viti speechless with horror and creating a disturbance that allows Cobb to escape.
Viti later orders Cobb to ride along with other Falcone soldiers in a FEMA truck they are using to smuggle Drops into the nearby town of Robbinsville - unaware that Cobb has conspired with Maroni to hijack the shipment. Cobb kills the Falcone soldiers and helps them steal the Drops and a priceless necklace that belonged to Isabella, but he still manages to make it look like Maroni is behind the heist. Viti remains suspicious of him, however, and attempts to solidify his own power by installing the weak and indecisive Luca as nominal head of the family, ensuring that Viti will run the Falcone empire from behind the scenes.
Meanwhile, Cobb makes a tentative alliance with Maroni's wife and underboss Nadia by showing her pictures of Viti having sex with Luca's wife Tina. He then has Aguilar plant the necklace in Viti's room in order to make it look like he set up the robbery. The plan goes awry, however, forcing Cobb to improvise and frame Sofia's underling Castillo, whom Luca murders.
Cobb and Sofia crash a hotel rendezvous between Viti and Tina and threaten to expose his infidelity with the boss' wife unless he backs up their scheme to go into business with the rival Triad family to sell a new designer drug called Bliss. Viti insults Cobb and tells Sofia that her new business partner helped put her in Arkham, which provokes an enraged Cobb to shove a cell phone in Viti's mouth, nearly breaking his jaw. He orders Viti to call Triad leader Feng Zhao and set up a meeting, and an intimidated Viti complies.
After the Maroni family nearly kills Sofia, Viti takes her in and has Julian Rush, her former doctor at Arkham, care for her. During a family dinner, Sofia makes a toast in which she condemns her entire family for turning their backs on her when she was in Arkham, even as a visibly angry Viti tries to keep her quiet. The following morning, Sofia kills the entire Falcone family save Viti and her little cousin Gia and then kidnaps the former. She tortures Viti by leaving him for hours naked and wet in a freezing cold warehouse. Delirious from the cold, Viti tells Sofia that her father did indeed kill her mother and frame her for murders that he committed, and that she will need him to take over the Falcone empire. She releases him and agrees to let him work for her.
Days later, Sofia and Viti hold a meeting of the Falcones' muscle, in which she promises to treat them with greater respect than her father did and declares that the family will now be known as "Gigante", her mother's surname. Viti condescendingly tells Sofia to be quiet and tries to take over the meeting; without another word, Sofia shoots him in the head, killing him instantly.
Trivia[]
- Viti is loosely based on a minor character from the main Batman continuity who appears in the Batman: Year One storyline.
External links[]
- Johnny Viti on the DC Database
- Johnny Viti on the The Batman Saga Wiki
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 Villains
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The Batman Falcone Crime Syndicate Others: Catwoman | Salvatore Maroni | Train Gang | Joker The Penguin Maroni Crime Family Gigante Crime Family Penguin's Crew Burnley Town Massive Triads LoBoys Sullivan Crime Family Odessa Mob Arkham State Hospital Others: Marcus Wise | Squid | Rex Calabrese See Also | ||