Vito Corleone is the respected and feared leader of one of the most powerful mafia families in America. He is a brilliant strategist who keeps politicians and judges in his pocket to protect his family from the dangers of the outside world. After his family was massacred in Sicily during his childhood, he migrated to America and built a massive criminal empire from scratch. As he defines himself, he is a 'businessman'; extremely generous to his friends and unprecedentedly brutal to his enemies. He refuses to enter the drug trade, believing it will shake his power in the future, and this decision drags the family into a bloody war. Despite surviving a heavy assassination attempt, he realizes he is getting old and hands the keys to his empire to his smartest son, Michael, whom he trusts most. In his final years, he dies in his garden as an old man looking only for peace.
When he was a young boy in the Sicilian village of Corleone, his father and family were killed by the local mafia boss, so he was smuggled to America alone. While working as an honest laborer in his youth, he reaches a turning point in his life when the local thug Fanucci demands protection money. By killing Fanucci with a cleverly devised plan, he both earns the respect of the people and takes his first step into the underworld. Over time, he solidifies his power during the Great Depression and eliminates rival gangs, earning the title of the greatest Don.
Despite his advancing age, he is quite impressive and sturdy. His face has deep lines that bear the traces of a life lived. He is short and dark-skinned. He usually wears custom-tailored formal suits and a fedora. After the assassination attempt, he loses a lot of weight physically and develops a stiffness in his gait.
Tom Hagen
His adopted son and the family's sensible, cool-headed consigliere.
Sonny Corleone
His eldest son, whom he loves very much but knows cannot be a mafia boss due to his impulsiveness.
Virgil Sollozzo
His enemy who disrupts the peace, wants to enter the drug business, and causes Vito to experience a real death threat for the first time.
Michael Corleone
The son he wanted to keep away from his family's dark business, but eventually handed his empire to, and trusts the most.