Frank Pentangeli

Character overview

Francesco Pentangeli was born in Partinico, Sicily, and left an older brother, Vincenzo, behind when he moved to America. In The Godfather Part II, he appears as a longtime loyal soldier to Vito Corleone, working under Peter Clemenza for thirty years before taking over as caporegime after Clemenza’s death. While Michael Corleone, Fredo, Tom Hagen, and the other capos are based in Nevada, Pentangeli runs the Corleone family’s New York operations from Vito’s old Long Beach estate.

His personal bodyguard is the veteran soldier Willi Cicci. Tensions grow between Pentangeli and Michael, leading Pentangeli to betray the family. The character was invented by Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo after Richard Castellano chose not to return as Clemenza; Pentangeli fills the role originally written for Clemenza, whose death was meant to mirror the young Vito’s partnership with him. Coppola has noted that the Senate committee hearings where Pentangeli testifies against Michael were inspired by the real-life Joseph Valachi hearings, and that Pentangeli serves as a Valachi-like figure.

In the film

Frank Pentangeli initially approaches Michael Corleone for permission to take out the Rosato brothers, New York rivals who claim Clemenza had promised them certain territories before his death. Michael turns him down flat, ordering Pentangeli to stand down because he doesn't want a gang war to jeopardize a business deal with Hyman Roth, who backs the Rosatos. Insulted, Pentangeli storms off. That same night, someone tries to assassinate Michael at his home.

Michael blames Roth. After finalizing the deal with Roth in Florida, Michael visits Pentangeli on Long Island and asks for his help getting even. He tells Pentangeli to make peace with the Rosatos so Roth won't suspect Michael is onto him. Pentangeli would rather fight openly, but he follows orders.

He sets up a meeting with the Rosato brothers. Leaving his bodyguard outside, he walks into the bar, where Tony Rosato attacks him with a garrote, whispering, "Michael Corleone says hello." A cop intervenes, and the scene turns into a street shootout. Pentangeli vanishes, presumed dead.

Later, at a Senate hearing on organized crime, Michael learns the committee plans to call Pentangeli as a surprise witness. Pentangeli and Cicci have been in FBI protective custody since the attempt on his life. Convinced Michael ordered the hit, Pentangeli gives a sworn statement accusing Michael of running the nation's most powerful Mafia family, controlling nearly all North American gambling, and ordering countless murders.

In popular culture

On January 25, 2019, this figure entered the national spotlight after being cited in the federal indictment of Roger Stone, a longtime adviser to President Donald Trump. Stone was taken into custody in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, facing seven charges from special counsel Robert Mueller III’s probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election: one count of obstructing an official proceeding, five counts of making false statements, and one count of witness tampering.

The indictment references a character from The Godfather: Part II who is pressured into refusing to testify against a mafia boss. It states that in late 2017, Stone told an associate, referred to as “Person 2,” to “do a ‘Frank Pentangeli’” before the House Intelligence Committee to avoid contradicting Stone’s own testimony. The filing explains that Frank Pentangeli, a character Stone and Person 2 had discussed, appears before a congressional committee and claims ignorance of critical information he actually knows.