Vincent Corleone

Vincent Santino Corleone (né Mancini) is a fictional character in the 1990 feature film The Godfather Part III. He is portrayed by Andy García, who was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance.

Vincent is the illegitimate son of Sonny Corleone and his mistress Lucy Mancini. He eventually succeeds his uncle Michael as head of the Corleone family. In Mario Puzo's original 1969 novel Lucy did not conceive a child with Sonny.

Coppola has said that Vincent is an amalgamation of the five Corleone family males, having his grandfather Vito's cunning, his father Sonny's temper, his uncle Michael's ruthlessness, his uncle Fredo's sensitivity, and his uncle Tom Hagen's absolute loyalty.

In The Godfather, married Sonny Corleone and his sister's bridesmaid Lucy Mancini, were having an illicit affair; Vincent Mancini is the result of that union. Being illegitimate (because his parents were unmarried), he was not included in the Corleone family as a youth. As an adult, when Michael Corleone offers Vincent employment in one of the family's legitimate businesses, Vincent declines, preferring to work for Joey Zasa, who runs the remnants of the Corleone family's criminal empire in New York City. Vincent is eventually embroiled in a feud with Zasa when he senses that Zasa is trying to usurp Michael's power. Michael tries to make peace between the two, but this fails; Zasa calls Vincent a bastard, and Vincent bites his ear. That night Zasa sends two hitmen to kill Vincent, but Vincent kills them instead after forcing one of them to reveal who hired them.

Vincent attempts to ingratiate himself with his uncle by protecting him from rival Mafia families, who are in league with Zasa and an unknown traitor within Michael's circle. Encouraged by his sister Connie, Michael takes Vincent under his wing. Michael admires Vincent's courage and loyalty, but notices that Vincent has inherited Sonny's hot temper and worries he will suffer his father's fate.

Vincent saves Michael from an assassination attempt orchestrated by Zasa at a Mafia summit in Atlantic City. That same night, Michael is hospitalized following a diabetic stroke. Believing Zasa will make another attempt on Michael's life, Vincent murdered him (with approval from Connie and assassin Al Neri). Michael is angry that Vincent used violence to deal with Zasa and did so without his permission, although he used the same logic to protect his father 34 years prior by killing Virgil Sollozzo.

When Vincent begins a relationship with Michael's daughter Mary, Michael fears that his nephew's growing involvement in the family's criminal activity will endanger her life. Michael tells Vincent that while he and Sonny were different, he knew Sonny would've done anything for him and warns Vincent that Sonny's temper clouded his judgment, and doesn't want Vincent to repeat the same error.

When Michael learns that his old friend Don Altobello is the traitor within the family, he has Vincent spy on him. Vincent learns that Licio Lucchesi, a powerful Italian politician and criminal underworld figure, was the mastermind of the assassination plot against Michael and employed Altobello, Zasa, a corrupt Vatican official Frederick Keinszig, and Archbishop Gilday to undermine Michael's criminal empire.